In his Kandar Alankaram, Saint Arunagirinathar says that he will never fear death, for he has worshipped Lord Shanmukha’s spear and His peacock, said R. Narayanan in a discourse.
Lord Shanmukha is the One who saved Indra, the chief of the celestials. Shanmukha is the embodiment of jnana and is resplendent like the Sun. He wed Valli, whose hair is adorned with fragrant flowers around which bees keep buzzing. Shanmukha is the nephew of the valiant Rama, who killed the demon Ravana. When a powerful God like Shanmukha is beside Arunagirinathar, why does he have to fear anything?
Arunagirinathar speaks of the temple of Tiruchengode in quite a few verses of Kandar Alankaram. He prays to Lord Shanmukha of this temple to save him before his body, which he refers to as a ‘house,’ perishes. In verse 72, he says that those who worship Lord Shanmukha, who resides in the hill temple of Tiruchengode, will face no problems in life. Arunagirinathar, addressing his mind, asks: “When will you worship the Lord of Tiruchengode? When will you realise that sorrow and joy are one and the same? You have not praised the One whose spear pierced through eight mountains. That being the case, how will you ever be saved?”
In another verse, he says that his eyes are protected by His feet; his speech is protected by uttering the name ‘Muruga’; what saves him from the consequences of his sins are the twelve shoulders of the Lord; and when he ventures forth, the Lord’s spear and peacock protect him. The saint laments the fact that he has only two eyes. He wonders how he can take in the beauty of the God, who is the nephew of Lord Vishnu and the son of the dancing God Siva, without 4,000 eyes.
