Sdiva Sidddntam, 



217 



to life, — from birth to birth,— from age to age, — ever bounding 

 away from God, and never rebounding towards him ; as if it 

 were a planet of the solar system actuated by some chance or 

 other by the centrifugal force alone, without the co-operation 

 of the centripetal force likewise ; until its wayward course is 

 arrested and a new direction given to it towards the centre of 

 the orbit— even Pathi — "the Sun of wisdom." This takes 

 place at last when the soul's merit and demerit (kanmam) 

 have been cancelled, and there is no residue left to be eaten 

 up at future births. Then there will be a cessation of births, 

 and the soul will be ripe for liberation. The state of a man 

 who has arrived at this phase of existence is called Tivira 

 Satti nijmtham. It is thus described in Si vapprak asam : — 

 "For such a man this world will possess no charm. He will 

 ignore it. He will loathe his own body in the same manner 

 in which the bearers of a worm-eaten corpse will detest it, 

 when, on their way to the burial ground, the worms fall on 

 them. When he finds himself in union with the warring 

 mental faculties within his bosom, he will feel like an elephant 

 in the paw of a lion. When he sees that he is in co-operation 

 with the organs of sense and the organs of action, he will cry 

 out like a frog in a snake's mouth, The way in which he 

 will fear the influence of his family and friends, and leave 

 them, is like that in which one, who has lain down to rest 

 without knowing that there was a snake in his bed, will on 

 awaking and seeing the snake, hasten away with terror ; or 

 like that in which a person whose house is on fire, leaves his 

 goods and hastens to escape by some way or other which he 

 sees." 



The following stanza, from Sina Gndna sitti, gives with 

 great pathos and beauty (which are however lost in a trans- 

 lation) the manner in which God will reclaim the lost soul. 



"As a king, whose son had strayed away from him and 



