Annamalai Venba

Annamalai Venba

by Guru Namasivaya

(Translated by Robert Butler)

Invocation

You whose feet are luxuriant flowers!

You, Supreme Lord [Ganesh], who lead the celestial retinue

Mounted on the rat!

Guide me as I, a mere dog at your feet,

Sing in delicate Tamil venba

A song garland to holy, everlasting Annamalai.

Mountain, dancer of the primal dance.

Mountain sought on that day by the two.

Mountain adorned with the bright moon and the dancing serpent.

Mountain where justice flourishes.

Mountain who summons wise holy men, Saying, 'Come':

Annamalai.

Blue-throated Mountain, three-eyed Mountain,

Mountain impossible for the inhabitants of all the worlds to praise.

Mountain who manifests to devotees.

Mountain who dispels the arising births

Of those who daily worship him:

Annamalai.

Mountain to whom Guhai Namasivaya, performer of great austerities,

Makes obeisance, daily adorning him with a garland of one

venba verse.

Mountain who abides in the blissful hearts

Of those who have transcended the waves of desire and all the rest:

Annamalai.

Mountain standing serene as a beautiful chakra;

Mountain who dispels the effects of his devotees' deceitful dark deeds.

Mountain, reformer of hearts;

Mountain of divine medicine,

Conferring the supreme attainment of true knowledge:

Annamalai.

Mountain whom the faithful walk around, keeping him to their right.

Mountain who steals away the entire burden

Of the past actions of those who circle It;

Mountain penetrating all the worlds.

Mountain where my father and Guru, Om Namasivaya, dwells:

Annamalai.

Mountain where gypsy maidens, slender as reeds,

Sport with the heaven-dwelling moon.

Mountain like red coral.

Mountain who, as Sadguru,

Placed his splendrous foot upon my head:

Annamalai.

Mountain who, taking the form of my spiritual Guru and Master,

Namasivayan, the compassionate heavenly Lord,

Held me in his power.

Mountain whom the Gods themselves praise,

Mountain who dispels all my mental suffering,

Evildoer that I am:

Annamalai.

Mountain where ripens a harvest of venba verse

In the affectionate thoughts of his devotee Guhai Namasivaya.

Mountain fathomed by those strong in devotion.

Mountain who grew as a column of red flame

As the Two sought It:

Annamalai.

Mountain whom my Guru, Om Namasivaya, approached,

Praising Him daily from his treasure house of devotion

In verses of true Tamil;

Mountain who flashes light in all directions;

Mountain who, as silver Sailas, abides with His consort;

Mountain who abides as liberation:

Annamalai

Mountain praised by my Guru, Om Namasivaya, in beautiful Tamil.

Mountain who affords a sweet sight

To those who, seeing, worship Him.

Mountain who, growing long, stretched from the root of the universe.

Mountain who prospers in the hearts of devotees

Who, praising, think on Him:

Annamalai.

Mountain who drives out the night of spiritual ignorance.

Mountain who is the lamp of true knowledge to devotees

Mountain in the form of abundant knowledge;

Mountain who came to me, a mere dog,

As father, mother and Sadguru:

Annamalai.

Celestial Mountain who, coming into the world

As my Guru Om Namasivaya,

Dwells within the heart of this devotee.

Mountain who wipes out the fruits of former deeds.

Mountain who abolishes all the suffering

Of a long succession of births, too numerous to tell:

Annamalai.

Mountain who stands with his Sakti,

To whom he gave half of Himself.

Mountain who sprouted forth as the cause of liberation.

Mountain praised in every quarter.

Mountain who removes the arising births

Of those who praise and extol him:

Annamalai.

Pure Mountain who unites with the hearts

Of those servants, clothed in eminence,

Who, eschewing the five senses which arise from the world,

Embrace the happiness of true knowledge.

Mountain who deludes the wicked,

Concealing himself from them:

Annamalai.

Majestic Mountain who, as my Guru,

Held me in His sway,

Keeping me from wandering through ever-increasing births,

Placing in my hand sweet, true knowledge,

And uniting his twin feet together upon my head:

Annamalai.

Mountain who yields up to the devotees who sing his praises

All the things that they desire,

The foremost of which is liberation.

Mountain clad in lasting glory.

Mountain who, as Sadguru, ruled over me,

Wicked wretch that I am:

Annamalai.

Mountain to whom it is seemly for love-filled devotees,

Contemplating him in their thoughts, to perform puja.

Mountain who dwells in the heart of true devotees

In whom attachment to the wavering mind,

Which leads to desire, has been destroyed:

Annamalai.

Mountain who, seeing the great austerities, without limit

Which She [Parvati} performed in solitude to save the whole world,

United with the Mountain's daughter as half of Himself

And gracefully stands affording his protection:

Annamalai.

Mountain whose meaning blossoms forth abundantly

For those who, taming the treacherous unruly senses,

And bringing them under control,

Have purified their minds and attained serenity.

Mountain of celestial ambrosia,

Who, whatever may befall, deigns to appear:

Annamalai.

Supreme Mountain!

Mountain who is the first cause, without beginning.

Mountain, one half of whom is the Mother.

Mountain who chants and sings the Vedas.

Mountain who is justice.

Mountain who is tantra and yantra.

Mountain who is the five-syllable mantra [Nama Sivaya],

proclaimed aloud:

Annamalai.

Mountain who imprints himself upon the hearts of those

Who, mastering the five senses, have attained knowledge,

So that the births caused by their evil deeds vanish away.

Mountain whom devotees perpetually praise and worship:

Annamalai.

Mountain of true knowledge, unreachable to Brahma and Vishnu,

Who travelled his length, diligently seeking,

But were bewildered.

Mountain who upon the earth,

Wears four different forms in the four yugas:

Annamalai.

Mountain whose throat is adorned with poison.

Mountain who came to cut off daily the evil deeds of His devotees

Mountain who melts the heart.

Mountain who engenders the sweetness of supreme bliss

In those who love Him:

Annamalai.

Mountain who embraces the hearts of those

Whose conduct is all one, both inwardly and outwardly;

Mountain who purifies desire;

Mountain who sits astride the prancing bull;

Mountain who cures me of the suffering of births:

Annamalai

Mountain who drives away suffering.

Mountain who removes the ancient burden of deeds.

Mountain who beckons his devotees to come to Him.

Mountain who reveals His holy foot.

Mountain who withers up the afflictions of devotees,

Who feel His presence in their hearts:

Annamalai.

Mountain who, spreading from the roots, along the trunk,

And up to the very tips of the branches,

Permeates the understanding of the true followers

Who have received His teaching.

Mountain resonant with the pranava [the sound of Om];

Mountain who calls out to devotees, great in austerities,

Bidding them come:

Annamalai.

Mountain who gracefully appears

Before those who, performing thrice-daily worship,

Joyfully praise Him.

Mountain endowed with more than a mother's sweetness.

Mountain who, as Sadguru, prospers in my heart, dog that I am

Annamalai.

Mountain who confers undying liberation.

Mountain who, destroying for His devotees

The indestructible residue of deeds,

Comforts them,

Decreeing that the impassable ocean of multifarious births

Shall henceforth be still:

Annamalai.