THE HISTORY OF MANIKKA-VACAGAK, 121 



NOTE V. 



(^atti-tii-bathara (s^^^-rilur^-u^, Ijr'^f^'^Tff ) = 

 ' Cessation of Energy.' 

 The souls of men are found here in a state of bondage called the 

 'combined state' (u/^^ld). The ^aiva Siddhanta system traces its 

 passage into the ' free, emancipated state' (Qj^^^)- The eternal Soul 

 was, by a gracious interposition of the Supreme, made subject to vanity, 

 combined with material forms, and launched forth in a world of action, in 

 order that, the effect of deeds (eternal a parte ante) being removed or 

 cancelled, the Soul might at length be enlightened by special grace, and so 

 become gradually disentangled and purified ; the consummation of which 

 is Mutti (Note III), or final emancipation, and mystic, inefi:able, eternal 

 union with Civam.* In this second stage of embodiment, then, it is pre- 

 pared for the third and final stage. The passage into this is the great 

 crisis in the Soul's secular pilgrimage. The man is now no longer of the 

 world, but a devotee (^ sUsiTQjh^^dr), emancipate, yet in the flesh : one 

 in whom a great work of grace is being wrought. The steps by which 

 he has reached this threshold of a new existence are (1) his being 

 awakened by the energy (^atti) of (^iva, which is, in intention and 

 in fact, entirely gracious ; but as it arouses the Soul to painful conflicts 

 in varied experiences of successive embodiments, it is spoken of as 

 an energy of (divine) anger. (2) The second step was his coming 

 under the power of Maya, both pure and impure (matter or its 

 underlying essence, and sense organisation), whereby die has obtained 

 successive bodies, spheres of being, organs, and experiences. In these 

 embodiments he has consumed the fruit of his works,— those which 

 are actually his, and those which have been imputed to him and laid 

 upon him by the Supreme Power (by an eternal fate). (3) The third 

 step is, that the impurities in which from all eternity the Soul has been 

 involved have thus ' ripened,' or their fruits have become mature. This 

 is an idea which it is difficult for us to comprehend. It rests upon a 

 figure. The Soul has to partake of the results of these deeds which are 

 its eternally destined inheritance. This is compared to the eating of 

 fruit ; but these fruits can only be eaten when they are ripe, when the 



* See Pope's Nala diyar , xi , pp. 6(j-G9 



K 2 



