Poetic Rendering
Her words are sweet like sugar,
but in her heart hides poison.
To one she calls with smiles,
to another she whispers in secret.
O Koodalasangamadeva, hear me
do not trust the deceiver’s charm.
The poet warns of a person whose speech is as sweet as sugar, but whose heart conceals poison. This person speaks sweetly to one’s face but engages in secretive, divisive talk with others. He calls upon Kudalasangama Deva to witness this and declares that such a deceitful person should not be trusted.
Spiritual Context
Core Spiritual Principle: Spiritual integrity requires the discernment to see beyond pleasing appearances and recognize inner duplicity. Hypocrisy the disconnect between sweet speech and a poisonous heart is a corrosive force that destroys trust and fragments spiritual community.
Cosmic Reality Perspective: The Linga is the principle of absolute truth and unity (Sat). Duplicity is a manifestation of Maya in its most binding form, creating a world of separation, illusion, and conflict. To engage in or tolerate it is to move away from the fundamental unity of existence.
Historical Reality (Anubhava Mantapa context): For a revolutionary community like the Anubhava Mantapa, internal unity was essential for survival and efficacy. This vachana acts as a social and spiritual immune response, identifying and isolating the “virus” of gossip and betrayal that could destroy the Sangha from within.
Interpretation
1. “Her words are sweet like sugar…” : The “sweet words” represent the external performance of virtue, devotion, or friendship. This is the bait that disarms vigilance and creates a false sense of security.
2. “…but in her heart hides poison.” : The “poison” represents the inner realities of jealousy, malice, manipulation, and the intent to harm. This is the true, hidden payload. The metaphor highlights the extreme danger of this duality.
3. “To one she calls with smiles, to another she whispers in secret.” : This describes the operational method of the hypocrite: a friendly, engaging facade maintained with one person, while simultaneously engaging in divisive gossip or plotting with another. This action actively creates schism and breaks the sacred trust that binds the community.
4. “O Koodalasangamadeva, hear me do not trust the deceiver’s charm.” : This is both a prayer and a command to the self and the community. The poet invokes the ultimate witness of truth (the Linga) and declares that the appropriate response to such a person is not engagement, but conscious distrust and withdrawal.
Practical Implications: The seeker must cultivate Viveka (discernment) to see through social charm to the character beneath. This involves watching a person’s actions over their words, noticing inconsistencies, and observing how they speak about others in their absence. Trust must be earned through consistent integrity, not granted based on pleasantries.
The Cosmic Reality
Anga (Human Dimension): The human as a potential vessel of duplicity, where the body (speech) and the mind (heart) are in contradiction. This divided state is the source of social and spiritual toxicity.
Linga (Divine Principle): Kudalasangama Deva as the embodiment of perfect integrity and the ultimate witness before whom all hidden motives are laid bare. The Linga is the standard of truth against which all speech is measured.
Jangama (Dynamic Interaction): The Jangama is the active practice of spiritual discernment and the upholding of community integrity. It is the dynamic process of identifying duplicity, warning the community, and taking refuge in truth, thereby preserving the health of the spiritual body.
Shata Sthala
Primary Sthala: Maheshwara. This vachana calls for the fierce, warrior-like quality of the Maheshwara to cut through illusion and protect the spiritual path from the insidious threat of hypocrisy. It requires the strength to make difficult social judgments.
Supporting Sthala: Bhakta. When faced with such betrayal, the natural response of the Bhakta is to turn to God in helplessness and prayer, seeking refuge and clarity from the one source that is never duplicitous.
Practical Integration
Arivu (Awareness): Practice “listening with the heart.” Pay less attention to the content of words and more to the energy behind them. Cultivate an intuitive sense for when someone’s energy does not match their speech.
Achara (Personal Discipline): Make a personal vow of integrity: let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Avoid gossip and secretive conversations. Be the same person in public and in private.
Kayaka (Sacred Action): In your work and collaborations, prioritize transparency and honest communication. Choose to work with people who are direct and truthful, even when it is difficult.
Dasoha (Communal Offering): The highest Dasoha to your community is to be a person of utter integrity. Furthermore, help maintain the community’s health by gently and responsibly addressing behaviors that are divisive or two-faced, always aiming for restoration but never tolerating persistent poison.
Modern Application
We live in a culture of “spin,” political correctness, and social media curation, where image often trumps substance. “Sweet talk” is a valued social skill, while gossip and backbiting are rampant in workplaces, families, and online. This creates environments of pervasive distrust and anxiety, where no one feels safe to be authentic.
This vachana liberates by giving us permission to value truth over charm. It teaches us to stop being impressed by smooth talkers and to invest our trust in those who are consistent, honest, and authentic, even if they are less socially polished. It is a call to build relationships and communities based on the “sweetness” of genuine integrity, not the “poison” of hidden agendas.
Essence
The tongue speaks honey, sweet and kind,
The heart holds poison in the mind.
O Lord, give me eyes to see,
And from such deceit, set me free.
Metaphysically, this vachana deals with the concept of Mithyātva (falsity) in the realm of interpersonal conduct. The “sweet words” belong to the Vak Indriya (organ of speech), but when they are not aligned with the Antahkarana (inner heart-mind), they create a powerful negative karma based on deception. This duality strengthens the ego (Ahamkara) by reinforcing a false persona. The Linga, as Sat (Truth), is the antithesis of this state. The prayer is for the grace to perceive and abide in Sat, thereby developing an innate immunity to Mithyātva in all its forms.
The most dangerous people are not your open enemies, but false friends. True safety and peace are found in relationships grounded in unwavering honesty. Cultivate the wisdom to discern a pure heart from a clever tongue, and the courage to distance yourself from those who trade in deception. Your inner peace is too valuable to be poisoned by duplicity.
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