padyams (verses) in it. Have you heard them?
When I said I had not, he read them out and gave the meaning thereof as follows: “He is Narakasura (a demon) who feels attached in the thought that he is the body. That attachment to the body itself is a Naraka (hell). The life of a person who has that attachment, even if he be a Maharajah, is hellish. Destroying the attachment to the body, and the self shining by itself as Self is Dipavali. That is the idea contained in those verses.” I asked, “Are all these verses in Nool Thirattu?”* Bhagavan said, “These were all composed extempore on the spur of the moment from time to time. Why include all these in that book?”
After the first publication of the book, when these verses were read out in Bhagavan’s presence, he asked, “Do you know why I wrote those verses?” When I said that I did not know, he said, “Is that so? One Dipavali day, Muruganar wanted me to write something about Dipavali. ‘Why don’t you write? Why should I?’ I asked. He said that he would