________________
In the afternoon a copy of Thevaram was brought and the above two songs were picked out and Bhagavan read a few of them aloud. In the Madurai hymn Bhagavan referred to the last stanza and said, “When I explained the first stanza in the morning I gave the meaning as ‘Because the Lord is within me' though the words only mean ‘Because there is the Lord'. I was wondering whether I was justified in my interpretation. I find in the last stanza it is clearly mentioned by the saint himself that what he meant was ‘Because the Lord is within me”. Besides, the same is clear from the whole of the Kolaru padhikam. Look at the last verse in the Madurai decad. With what authority he sings, "No harm can approach those who sing these songs of the king of Shiyali (Sirkali) and the Master of Tamil. Similarly in the last song he says, 'By my order those who read these shall be saved'.”
