Date uploaded in London – 1 August 2024
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In Hinduism mirror is considered one of the auspicious objects. As soon as they get up in the morning, they look at their right-hand palm or a mirror. Young girls are invited to houses and mirror, comb and Kumkum are distributed to them during Navratri festival period. On the new year day, they look at the mirror when they wake up. When the god’s statue is taken in palanquin procession through the city streets, a mirror is placed in front of the idol so that people can see it from different angles. If mirror is broken by fall, they consider it as an ill omen.
Mirror is also used by all the saints to teach us about illusion, desire and reflection of the world etc. Lord Krishna started this , and we read in the Gita,
धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च |
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् || 38||
dhūmenāvriyate vahnir yathādarśho malena cha
yatholbenāvṛito garbhas tathā tenedam āvṛitam
dhūmena—by smoke; āvriyate—is covered; vahniḥ—fire; yathā—just as; ādarśhaḥ—mirror; malena—by dust; cha—also; yathā—just as; ulbena—by the womb; āvṛitaḥ—is covered; garbhaḥ—embryo; tathā—similarly; tena—by that (desire); idam—this; āvṛitam—is covered
dhumenavriyate vahnir yathadarsho malena cha
yatholbenavrito garbhas tatha tenedam avritam
Translation
BG 3.38: Just as a fire is covered by smoke, a mirror is masked by dust, and an embryo is concealed by the womb, similarly one’s knowledge gets shrouded by desire.
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Kalidasa
In the Raghu vamsa, Kalidasa imagines the face of Indumati (7—68) to be like a mirror. The face of Indumati shone with joy when freed from the sadness arising from the adversary. The mirror also resumes its brightness by the disappearance of moisture.
When the wind, charged with rain drops blows, a mist like moisture gathers on the surface of the mirror which obscures in transparency, similarly the infamy of the acceptance of Vaidehi who had dwelt in the house of Ravana which is a stain now come upon the royal family sprung from the sun and pure by virtues of good conduct (Raghu vasa 14-37).
in Sakuntam drama also Kalidasa used this image (AS 7-32)
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Adi Shankara says in his Viveka Cudamani (291):-
यत्रैष जगदाभासो दर्पणान्तः पुरं यथा ।
तद्ब्रह्माहमिति ज्ञात्वा कृतकृत्यो भविष्यसि ॥ २९१ ॥
yatraiṣa jagadābhāso darpaṇāntaḥ puraṃ yathā |
tadbrahmāhamiti jñātvā kṛtakṛtyo bhaviṣyasi || 291 ||
291. That in which there is this reflection of the universe, as of a city in a mirror – that Brahman art thou; knowing this thou wilt attain the consummation of thy life.
This refection of a big city or some object in a small mirror has been used by Tamil Poets Kapilar, Tolkappiar and Tiruvalluvar. It looks like it is popular imagery.
Famous Tamil poet Kabilar, in the laudatory verse Tiruvalluva malai, praised the book Tamil Veda Tirukkural and compared it to a small dew drop on a grass tip reflecting a big tree nearby. Every couplet of Tirukkural reflects big things like this.
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Ramakrishna Paramahmsa’s Quote on Mirror.
Tirumular in his Tirumanthiram says,
1681. மனத்தில் எழுந்ததோர் மாயக்கண் ணாடி
நினைப்பின் அதனின் நிழலையுங் காணார்
வினைப்பயன் போக விளக்கியுங் கொள்ளார்
புறக்கடை இச்சித்துப் போகின்ற வாறே.
1681 They seek Worldly Pleasures
From out of mind, mirror of illusion rises
Think of it, even its shadows they see not
And nothing they do for the fruits of Karma to drop;
The temptations of the backyard drain, they go after.
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எண்ணா யிரத்தாண்டு யோகம் இருக்கினும்
கண்ணார் அமுதனைக் கண்டறி வாரில்லை
உள்நாடி உள்ளே ஒளிபெற நோக்கிற்
கண்ணாடி போலக் கலந்துநின் றானே.
603: Look Within in Dhyana
Well may they practise Yoga eight-thousand year
Still they see not Lord,
Sweet as ambrosia
And dear unto apple of eye;
But if within you seek Him enlightened
He within you is,
Even unto reflection in the mirror.
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பூதக்கண் ணாடியில் புகுந்திலன் போதுளன்
வேதக்கண் ணாடியில் வேறே வெளிப்படு
நீதிக்கண் ணாடி நினைவார் மனத்துளன்
கீதக்கண் ணாடியில் கேட்டுநின் றேனே. 5
2986: He is Seen in the Mind-Mirror
He appears not in the glasses of the fleshly eye;
He is in the Lotus of the Heart;
He appears in the glass of Vedic Jnana;
He is in the mind-glass of the righteous that think of Him,
Him I saw in the glass of songs
Listening to that Divine Music,
I enraptured stand.
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உண்ணாடும் ஐவர்க்கு மண்டை யொதுங்கிய
விண்ணாட நின்ற வெளியை வினவுறில்
அண்ணாந்து பார்த்தைவர் கூடிய சந்தியிற்
கண்ணாடி காணுங் கருத்ததென் றானே.
223 God is Inward Where the Five Sense Controlled Meet
If you ask,
How the Heavenly Space within the cranium is,
Where the inward looking Five abide,
Verily it is,
Unto gazing upward into a mirror
(Seeing the self-reflected in crystal purity)
At a junction
Where the Five, in control, meet.
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Mirror in Early Tamil Literature
Tiruvalluvar himself used the mirror image in his work Tirukkural:-
The mirror reflects nearby objects; even so the face indicates emotions throbbing in the mind (Kural 706).
Tolkapiyam, oldest Tamil book, also used similar image. When the author Tolkappiyar explained what a Sutra (an aphorism) is he used this beautiful simile (1425)
A sutra is like a big mountain reflected In a mirror, shows/explains everything.
There are innumerable works where we come across mirror or looking glass in Tamil and Sanskrit works. I have already written about the Mirror Temple constructed by Sri Narayana Guru, a social reformer of Kerala. Big temples in Tamil Nadu has a beautiful mirror room for god where the idol is reflected thousands of times. Though God is one we see him in 330 million ways- that is the message these mirror rooms convey.
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Some Mirror Stories
Parrot and Mirror
The method by which a parrot is taught to speak is unique. The trainer places a big mirror in front of the newly caught parrot and talks to it from behind the mirror. The parrot thinks that another parrot is teaching it to talk and imitates the voice of the trainer. Trained in this manner, the parrot, picking up the language of the trainer, begins to talk fluently in the human language.
This is how a saint teaches his disciples. Apparently it is human being who is instructing them, but, verily, it is God hidden in the Guru that gives illuminating advice to the disciples. So, whenever the aspirant receives instructions from the Guru, he should consider that such instructions come from God himself. Truly, God and Guru are one.
Freedom is the Goal
In a war in Europe, a sailor was captured by the enemy and was put into prison. After fifteen years he was released, as the warring countries contracted an alliance through a treaty. On the day of release, a friend placed in his hands a purse containing £50/- When the sailor was passing through the streets, he saw a shop in which he saw various species of birds in cages kept for sale. He went up to the shop and bought all the cages from the money he possessed and, by opening the trap doors of the cages, set free the imprisoned birds one by one. The shop man was astounded at this. He asked why the sailor having bought the birds at such high prices, released them all.
—-subham—
Tags- Mirror , Viveka Chudamani, Tirukkural, Tirumular, Tirumanthiram, Bhagavd Gita, Tolkappiam, VC part 28, Paramahamsa
Tamil and Vedas 