from Saint Arunagirinatha by Swami Anvananda, (Madras: Pongi Publications, 1975), pages 91-98.
Almost all have been considering Sri Arunagirinatha as a Kaumara, for he has expressed his great adoration of Lord Muruga in his compositions, which are:
Many persons like Vannacharabam Dandapani Swami have also referred to Sri Arunagirinatha as a Kaumâra.
Long before the time of Sri Arunagirinatha, Sri Adi Sankara had established the Shanmatas, i.e. the six cults of Hindu worship. He named those who worship Lord Ganesa as Ganapatyas; the worshippers of Lord Muruga as Kaumaras; of Shakti as Shaktas; of Lord Siva as Saivites; of Lord Vishnu as Vaishnavas and of Sun God as Sauras. Sri Sankara did not only sanction the Shanmata for the external worship of God, but also propounded the philosophy of Advaita (non-dualism) or the One without a Second. He made a wonderful blend of both internal and external forms of worship. Though Sri Sankara performed external worship to the Gods like Shiva and Vishnu, he was always worshipping internally Goddess Shakti, and was really a Shakta. If we make a deep study of all the important works of Arunagirinatha, there is ample evidence to prove clearly that he adopted the philosophy of Advaita.
Sri Arunagirinatha explains that the One Supreme Brahman became manifested as so many different deities. He makes it clear that those who worship Lord Muruga externally worship only the Para Brahman. Of the six principal deities of the six systems of worship founded by Sri Sankara, five of them are male gods and only one is a female. If we make a deep study of the itihasas and puranas, we will find that the female aspect of God -- Para Shakti -- is the source of energy to all male gods. Therefore, whichever god we worship, we worship Shakti in addition and it is this Shakti who is the principal deity of the Shakta cult. She is called by many names, as Ambika, Devi, etc. This self-same Shakti manifests as various forms of Gods in all different forms of worship. But whenever we worship the female aspect of any god, we worship Her only. Abhirama Bhattar worshipped Shakti as the All-pervading Force in the universe. It is She who performs the tasks of creation, protection and destruction.
Without that energy or Shakti, even the great deities like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are powerless as stated in the Lalita Sahasranama. Not only the Trinity, but the other gods an devas also like Lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga, Sun, Moon, Indra, Manmatha, and Kubera and sages like Agastya and Durvasa are stated to be worshippers of Shakti. From this it is clear that all the deities worship Para Shakti and derive their energy from Her to perform their respective tasks. Therefore, when devotees worship gods, they worship only Para Shakti in truth. In this sense, all the devotees of different cults may be called Shaktas and it is no surprise if we call Arunagirinatha as a Shakta.
By the grace bestowed by Devi, Shaktas claim the ultimate experience of Nirguna Brahman by their worship of Para Shakti in its external form or Saguna Upasana. This is the greatness inherent in Shakti worship. It is not necessary that one who worships Shakti internally should worship Her in the external form as well. Similarly, there is no bar on those who worship other deities in the external form from worshipping Her internally. We are of the opinion that, though Arunagirinatha worshipped Lord Muruga in many of his songs, he worshipped only Devi internally in his heart and he may, therefore, be called a Shakta. We may also take note that many other saints besides Arunagirinatha finally became upasakas of Devi or Shaktas in their heart of hearts, though they had first started with external worship of Lord Muruga or Lord Krishna.
We may now examine some of the ideas of Arunagirinatha in his compositions as further proof that he was a Shakta:
He reveals in the Kandar Anubhuti that Devi incarnated in the world in Poorna Nakshatra for the uplift of mankind. In some other songs of his Tiruppukazh, he describes Devi of being green in complexion. In another Tiruppukazh, he describes the divine vehicles of Devi. Arunagirinatha says that Devi had incarnated at innumerable times for the benefit of mankind. He describes several holy places where Devi had incarnated and extols the great sanctity of such places.
Sri Arunagirinatha declares that not only gods and great saints but ordinary mortals also have worshipped and obtained the grace of Devi. He believes that the reason for such unique greatness of Devi is that She is the very personification of the Vedas. He has referred to the worship of Devi in the vamachara form also, thereby showing his familiarity with various rituals pertaining to that worship. It will be quite an experience to go through the works of Arunagirinatha showing his wide knowledge and experience of Shakti worship in all its respects. This great joy of Devi Upasana, he has disclosed to us in many of his Tiruppukazh.
We will now consider the natha title of Sri Arunagirinatha and some of the events in his life to strengthen our view that he was a Shakta. The title natha is normally conferred on one when he becomes an adept in the worship of Devi. Saint Agastya was initiated into the worship of Devi by Lord Hayagriva and was considered as a great devotee of Devi. The title natha was, therefore, conferred on him and also on Sri Tirumoolar, who was one of the twelve disciples of Agastyanatha. It can be easily seen from the works of both these saints that they were Shaktas. Though Saint Tirumoolanatha worshipped Lord Shiva externally, he was a Shakta in his internal worship. There are great similarities between Saint Arunagirinatha and Saint Tirumoolanatha. Arunagirinatha has adopted several ideas from Tirumoolanatha. From the very title natha conferred by Lord Muruga on Arunagiri, we can infer that he was a Shakta.
We may now see some of the experiences of Arunagirinatha with Devi as found in his works. He has said that Devi had removed his ignorance, sufferings and desires, destroyed his ego and showered Her grace on him and that She was his Mother and Protector at the time of his death. when Arunagirinatha externally worships the same Shakti like Lord Muruga himself, he prays to Sri Valli to come along with Him and give darshan. He records how Sri Valli has blessed him with sparsa diksha, which removed the effects of his karma.
There are many references in Arunagirinatha's songs in which he has extolled Sri Valli as greater than Muruga. In his descriptions of Lord Muruga's associations with Valli, Lord Muruga is made to say that He will not worship any other woman than Valli. He goes to the millet fields of Vallimalai to offer His salutations to the Golden Hunter Girl. He walked on thorns and rocks of the Vallimalai Hill, seeking the young hunter woman. He brought sheaves of leaves for the Shakti -- the Royal Hunter Girl -- to fashion a dress for Her. He spent all his time without any other thought in Valli's company. He became an errand boy of Valli. He was the Divine Suitor and companion to her Excellency the Hunter Girl, the Lover and bodyguard of Valli. He declared that He was Her slave for all time and had it so inscribed on Mount Meru, witnessed by the devas. He massaged Her feet; His head is often decorated by bowing down to Valli's feet. He grasped the feet of Valli treating it as the Seed of the Pranava mantra. Sri Arunagirinatha has worshipped Sri Valli and has referred to the method of Shakta worship by which the husband worships his wife as the World Mother or Para Shakti. Is this the inner meaning of Lord Muruga's worship of Sri Valli.
Note by Swami Anvananda:
One who is seeing a picture in a cinema, forgetting for the time how it is produced and projected, experiences the joys and sorrows caused by its semblance to real life. This forgetfulness will recur again and again unless he becomes the producer or one of the principal actors absorbed in the technique of acting under conditions true to life and nature within the studio. Every jnani or comprehensor, therefore, becomes a Shakta in the end when he tries to understand the manifestation of the universe as the play or sport of Devi.
To Arunagirinatha, Muruga, who married Valli or Iccha Shakti, became Her companion in the sport and Her slave or actor when participating in the play of which She is the Director. The Shakta cult, therefore, teaches that there is One Reality and nothing besides which is false or illusory to true knowledge and understanding.