Garland of Hymns to Arunachala
Garland of Hymns to Arunachala Isanya Desikar's Garland of Hymns to Arunachala is a collection of verses on various spiritual themes. After the traditional invocation to Ganesh, he begins by praising Arunachala as the Guru who freed him from spiritual bondage. Soon, though, he moves into a long section in which, following Tamil poetic tradition, he outlines all his faults and pleads for grace to transcend them. Midway through the poem he switches to a shorter metre and again begins to thank Arunachala for his liberation. Next, he moves into a teaching mode and reels off many verses that praise Siva, propound advaita philosophy, and offer hints on spiritual practice. The last section, from which I have selected only four verses, is a long serious of couplets that either praise Arunachala-Siva or, more frequently, seek his grace. The translation is based on an unpublished rendering by Dr T. N. Pranatharthi Haran, to wh...