அறுகுநுனி பனி

Verse 1

A tiny drop grows into a human form in the mother's womb.
The infant is born, speaking sweet, babbling words.
The loving parents become deeply attached to the child.
The child grows steadily through infancy and childhood into youth and adulthood.

Verse 2

The youth develops beauty, graceful manners, and pleasing speech.
He becomes attracted to women and believes worldly life, home, wealth, and family are permanent.
His mind becomes tightly bound by desires and possessions, clinging to them as though they were everything, like a flame flickering in attachment.

Verse 3

A wandering ascetic may come asking for alms, saying,
"Give for the higher world; give for your spiritual welfare."
Instead of helping, people become angry, chase him away like barking dogs, and insult him.
They fail to remember that destiny and death spare no one.

Verse 4

People spend their lives decorating and pampering the body, serving only worldly pleasures.
They ignore those who remind them of the afterlife, thinking,
"Who has ever returned after death?"
They mock saints and learned men instead of respecting them, speaking arrogantly.

Verse 5

Old age arrives with poverty, loss of wealth, arguments, weakness, disease, sorrow, and bodily pain.
The stomach swells with illness, eyesight fades, mucus and saliva flow uncontrollably, the body becomes frail and wasted, and even one's own wife begins to lose affection.

Verse 6

Relatives gradually avoid the dying person, saying,
"Women should stay away," or "Children should stay away."
The dying person experiences strange visions, as though a chariot and horses have come to carry him away to the burning cremation ground.
Speech falters, the eyes dim, breathing weakens, and life departs while people around discuss many things.

Verse 7

After death, relatives cry loudly and lament.
The widow falls upon the body in grief.
The dead person can no longer say,
"This is my property," or "These are my servants."
The funeral drums are beaten, the body is carried to the cremation ground, surrounded by spirits, and finally consumed by fire.

Verse 8 (Prayer)

O Destroyer of worldly bondage!
Will Your devotees, who worship Your sacred feet, ever be abandoned?
Grant me freedom from the two kinds of karma, from the three impurities, and from the endless cycle of birth and death.
Bless me with the supreme bliss of union with You, where there is no difference between You and me.
O Lord of Tiruvidaimarudur! O Supreme Lord of the universe! O Lord worshipped by the gods, shower Your grace upon me.

Overall Message

The hymn teaches that:

Human life passes through birth, childhood, youth, old age, and death.
Beauty, wealth, family, possessions, and social status are temporary.
Attachment to worldly pleasures leads only to suffering.
Death is certain, and nothing material accompanies us.
The only lasting refuge is devotion to Lord Murugan, whose grace alone frees one from karma, ignorance, rebirth, and grants eternal bliss.