Author: Meykandar

Tirumoolar is one of the earliest among the 63 nayanmars. By western references he is considered to have lived in AD but many tamil historians date him to BC. We say that Saivam was flourishing during more than 2000 years but its is languishing now. Why? The principles and the base of Saivam is in Tirumoolar’s Tirumandiram. The principle tenet is Siva in The One and The Ultimate and this brings clarity to us. This is based purely on science and given with scientific evidence unlike other faiths which consider science as separate and do not have answers to even basic scientific questions and facts. But we do not know the existence of neither this text nor realize that the everyday traditions and culture which are based on Saivam.

Siva as Vaitheeswaran, The Healer

Vaishnavam which has 25 tatuvams is encompassed inside the 36 tatuvams of Saivam. Vaishnavam is not separate from Saivam but a part of it. The maya is above the 25 purusha tatuvams of Vaishnavam. Saivam goes beyond both 25 Vaishnava tatuvams and maya as well. Buddhism and Vaishnavism say suffering is overcome when maya is removed. One of the most important distinction between Saivam and all other faiths is that Saivam mentions ignorance as the root cause whereas others mention desire. That is why Siva is called Vaitheeswaran meaning The Healer.

For a snake bite, the blood flow is stopped to prevent the poison from spreading to the other parts of the body.

Similarly, Maya is a malaise given by God to prevent a bigger malaise from spreading all over.

This is to make us realize the root cause and understand how to attain liberation. This is from the Tirukural by Thiruvalluvar Deva Nayannar and his words espouse the Saivam principles.

Actions and underlying purpose

Tirumoolar had transmuted into a body of a cowherd who had died due to snake bite. But the question arises whether he died because of the snake bite or that he had exhausted his karma hence left the world? There is a purpose to everything that happens in the world. The action is visible to the naked eye, but the purpose is invisible. The action was the snake bite, and the purpose was the exhaustion of his karma. The worldly people are attached to the visible actions whereas Saiva Siddhanthis are attached to the invisible purpose. When Tirumoolar transmutes into the cowherd’s body, the poison is removed simply by the force of his penance. All the accumulated karmas over births can be removed simply by feeding once, an original Saivaite saint. But the problem is not only in finding one these days but also be blessed to have such an opportunity.

Possessions and experiences

He explains the experience he got from Siva and only those can be given as divine instructions.

Everything is given to us by Siva Peruman, but we claim proprietorship over everything. We simply forget that we came empty handed and we leave empty handed. If we help someone and they talk bad behind our backs, then we will stop helping that person.  Whereas if that person is our child, we continue to help them because of our love. Similarly, Siva Peruman does the same but with infinite compassion. As our compassion for Siva increases, our sufferings decrease. One of the best gifts is to remember Siva in every moment. Even these divine instructions were received from Siva by tirumoolar.

Siva Peruman and Internal Worship

The bridge between the Padamukthi and Paramukthi is His Holy feet.

The experience of Siva called as Siva Anandam or Siva Anubhavam and is experienced in 2 ways by saints. One is via the physical senses, the beauty of this world and realize Siva in them called Padamukthi. The second is being apart from all this and experiencing in the astral plane called Paramukthi. Once a saint and his nephew were on a pilgrimage by foot. On the way the saint realized that he had forgotten his worship items. His nephew was more than willing to go all the way back and get the items. So, the saint was waiting under a tree and the local villagers who were passing by, started to gather around him. They asked if he needed anything to eat. Look at the way people are treating elders and saints. This was in the 17^th century and not long back. The saint said that he does not eat without doing worship to God. The villagers were sad and insisted that he at least drink some milk. He then started to do worship by singing to God called as worship at the soul level. He sings that he went to the orchard to pick flowers but saw Siva in them instead. Hence, he did not have the heart to pluck the flowers and hurt Siva. Siva will come wherever you think He is, if done with complete devotion and a pure heart. The only question is that are we ready to surrender with complete devotion and a pure heart.

Holy River Ganges and its meaning

The original Ganges is Siva ’s bliss which flows like the river. The River Ganges water that is bought in a small jar after a pilgrimage, is His holy feet. The water at home which is transformed into river Ganges using mantras is The worldly truth. Tirumoolar says that for saints like him, Siva has shown them His Holy Abode (Siva logam) on earth itself.

Siddhars and Saivam

The Siva Siddhars do good to the world using the powers they have obtained from The Grace of Siva.

Siddhars are those who have gained one of the 8 possible powers by virtue of their penance and worship to Siva. Saivam asks questioningly if all Siddhars are on the path to Siva since some of them stop once they get these supernatural powers. They are focused on doing transmutations and alchemy for the either material or other gains. They are called Avasiddhars. Also, not all Siddhars share or have shared their secrets with the world for various reasons.

Compassion and Siva Peruman

Instead of getting something from Sivam, one should get Sivam from Sivam itself.

Saint Arunagirinathar sings that the people who are running behind materialistic things, when will they seek for Siva ’s grace. The reason why the Saivaite Saints compassion is huge because they have mixed with the infinite compassion of Siva. Oil and water do not mix, similarly only when we have compassion, will we mix with Siva ’s grace. Without compassion, there is no possibility to attain His holy feet. The stars twinkle in the night, but we do not see the starlight when the sun rises because it mixes with the sun light. This means that the starlight still exists but has mixed with the sunlight. Similarly, our compassion is like starlight when alone but becomes part of sun light when it mixes with Siva ’s grace. Siva cannot be understood using the five senses but only experience and realized.

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Agamas is said to be in 3 levels. In the form of Tandirams or mantras or divine instructions. Tandiram is a wide field in which mantras are encompassed. And finally, divine instructions are encompassed within the mantras. The soul’s conscience is the reason why Sivam encompasses the soul within Himself. If the soul was inanimate, then there would be no need to do the same.

Our understanding of God

In our daily life, we have so many problems. And many of them continue for days altogether without any respite in sight. Amidst all this, the soul subconsciously searches for The Ultimate for realization. There is a fundamental difference between how we have understood God and how the canonical scriptures explain the understanding of God.

When Saints talk about the body, they are talking about the astral body and not the physical body.

When someone saves us from trouble, we tell that god came in the form of that person and saved us. Hence our definition is that God is someone who saves us from our troubles. All our troubles manifest in the form of physical or mental harm. God gives us this body and then He says that realization is only if we let go of the same. This is confusing. How many hues or shades of a color, the eye can distinguish. That much finesse has been given to us through these physical senses. But why did He give all this if He meant us to give up this body? The physical body is a shirt that one changes often and is given by our parents.

Physical and astral body

How often do we even know what we have seen? how often do we often realize whether we have seen anything at all? Even though two persons see a tree, one does not remember whereas the other does. Why? Because one saw only with the physical body whereas the other saw with the astral body. The astral body is where the Manas resides and hence the second person registers the same at the Manas level. This means that the physical body and the underlying body must be in sync for the experience to register. The astral body is the one given by God whereas the physical body is the one given by parents. We discard and wear new shirts on every death and rebirth.

When Saints talk about discarding the body, they are talking about the astral body.

Those who commit suicide are only removing their physical body, but their astral body remains. That is a far worse scenario because our desires can be satisfied only with the physical body. Hence, they roam around without being able to satisfy their desires.

Traversing from the world, to Siva

We are doing yogam when we are with this physical body. Yogam means union. This type of yogam is called avayogam meaning union with worldly or transient pleasures. The other is Sivayogam which is union with Siva. When we are in avayogam, we are blind to Siva and we are blind to the world when in Sivayogam. One cannot directly jump from avayogam to Sivayogam because the gap is vast. It is difficult and the one that bridges the gap is called tavayogam. So, one goes from avayogam to Sivayogam via the bridge called tavayogam. Tavayogam consists of Sariyai, Kriyai and yogam.

Sariyai is doing temple worship, cleaning, lighting lamps, doing service to followers of Siva and other related activities. The simple truth is that doing service to Saints or followers of Siva bridges the gap much more easily. The yogam we get in Sariyai and Kriyai is different from the Sivayogam. It is not mandatory that the heart should be in sync with actions in Sariyai. Sariyai is worship at the external(puram) level.

In kriyai, worship is at the (agam)internal and (puram)external level and should unite in every activity. Worship in the form of reciting mantras, reciting the names of the lord etc.

The next is Yogam in which there are 8 different steps called Ashtanga yoga. Yogam is doing worship only internally.

Just as a mother will check the taste of the food before feeding her child but will not think about it for herself, the compassion increases when one rises through the steps.

But in simpler terms, Sariyai, kriyai and yogam are just indicators for the percentage of Love/compassion for God at each step. The higher one goes; the compassion increases exponentially.

Why the physical body?

He has given us this physical body to the astral body so that we can walk around this earth and satisfy our desires and then at least realize the transient nature of things.

Once the soul understands the compassion of the Lord, then the soul cannot be separated from God. We still think of Sivam like a supermarket where we can go and buy what we want. When we are linked with the body, we are haughty and all our lifestyles. When we fall unconsciously, we do not even remember or feel anything. Do we ask for a comfortable bed when unconscious? If we think deeply, all our experiences come from using this physical body. This is the gift of compassion that He has given us.

What is correct age for Temple worship?

One should go at the earliest when all the senses are fully functional and in good health.

Nearing death, the senses start failing one by one. Those who surrender to Siva wholeheartedly, will neither be afraid of death nor the suffering of death. We must warn Him that He bought us here and He must take us back without any suffering. Most people think that one should go to temples only when 2 or 3 of the 5 senses start malfunctioning. They think that old age is the ripe age to go to temples and do the yogams.

Having and experiencing are two different things

One can obtain everything from Siva at the physical level and that Is called Bhogam. But only when one experiences it with astral body that realization occurs and is called Yogam. Most people ask for wealth and other worldly pleasures. Even though they might get it, there is no guarantee that they will experience those pleasures. A person would have saved a lot of wealth but would not be able to experience it due to various circumstances. Do your duty with respect to family and society but always have Siva in the back of the mind.

A ship can be in the sea, but the sea should not be in the ship. Similarly, we can be in the world, but the world should not be in us.

A child going to the fair will look wide eyed at all the attractions but never let goes of her mother’s hand even for an instant. Similarly look at the world but never let go of Siva.

Opening one’s eyes

Just as we do not see a child growing everyday until he becomes an adult, listen to Tirumandiram so that the soul’s consciousness grows without us realizing it.

When people say that someone opened their eyes, what does it mean? It certainly does not mean the physical eyes but rather the realization which was until then not known to us even though it was in plain sight. This is because the soul cannot function by itself without the help of Siva. He dances in us so that we dance in this world. Due to ego, we can neither see nor realize the same. This ego can be removed only with the experiences in this world and hence, He has given us this body for the same.

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The metaphysical life and the physical body

There is the body and there is life, say some.

Tirumoolar asks them, “what is meant by dying?”

To which they reply, “the separation of the life from the body.”

Tirumoolar – “So you agree there is life inside the body?”

Them – “Yes.”

Tirumoolar – “so what happens to the body after death?”

Them – “the body breaks down into each of the 5 elements.”

“So the body which is made up of these 5 elements breaks down into them. But what happens to the life that was in the body?”

Tirumoolar

They looked stumped without a response.

Tirumoolar then explains – “Just as an inanimate object like the body mixes only with the 5 inanimate elements, the animate life will mix only with an animate Entity. That Animate Entity is Sivam and the life stays there temporarily until the next rebirth.”

The soul goes through the cycle of rebirth until it realizes the consciousness of Siva. Once it realizes Siva, it merges with Him in a state of bliss but still being separate from Him at the same time.

The attachment to the 5 senses makes the life/ soul desire the worldly pleasures. Just as someone who gets stuck in deep water because he does not know how to swim, the soul gets attached to the pleasures of the 5 senses. The soul wastes away its entire life drowning in these pleasures.

So, the question arises, “Where did the 5 senses originate from? Did the soul go looking for it?”

If I say, “God only gave those 5 senses” then the response will be “why did God give us the senses so that we drown in pleasures and then He comes and saves us via a guru?”

“The souls are the same and The God is One!”

Tirumoolar

But who gave us the 5 senses? That is the important question. People get different physical bodies depending on what they must live through because of their karma. Even though we might be different physically, the soul is the same. That is why Holy saints look only at the soul and not at the physical body.

Darkness hides the realization but reveals itself whereas ego hides both the realization and itself.

The souls are here to remove the ego to which they have attached themselves. Siva helps to remove the ego through His immeasurable compassion.

We all refuse to accept that we have egos in our day to day lives, even for simple things. That is why it is so difficult to remove oneself from ego. That is why Siva gently removes the ego through His Grace.

The important point to note here is that Siva’s capability is never in question but are we willing to realize our own ego and subsequently our own ignorance?

Some will ask, “Why does He not remove it all in one go? It would be easier for everyone. Isn’t He capable of doing it?”

Ego and free will

How can you help someone who needs help but does not want to be helped? There is this story of a pious man taking a boat to cross the river.  The boatman asks if everyone on the boat knows swimming. All nod their heads except the pious man who replies God will save him if anything happens. Unfortunately, the boat capsizes in the middle of the river and others start swimming to save themselves. The boatman tries to save the pious man, but he pushes him away saying God will come to save him. Another person tries the same but to no avail. One more person tries but the pious man pushes him away as well. Finally, the pious man drowns and reaches another dimension where he asks God why He did not save him?

God replies, “You fool, I sent help thrice, but you rejected it all.”

God helps those who help themselves.

Siva is ready to offer Grace, but the soul must not only be ready to be able to receive it but also should do it of its own accord. This is the concept of free will.

Appar sings beautifully about this with a reference to farming.

First the land must be tilled with the truth.

Secondly, the seeds of intent and will must be sowed.

Thirdly, the land must be de-weeded from corrupt thoughts and actions.

Fourth, the land must be watered with patience.

Finally, a fence of steadfastness and discipline must be put to protect the crop.

Those who do this, obtain Siva’s Grace.

The worldly experiences and the ego

Siva gives you what your soul desires because He knows there is no point in giving anything else which is not useful for the soul to reach maturity. It is like giving a gold-plated pen to a small child who does not need it. People are afraid that Siva will bestow His Grace. When those doing penance do not easily receive it, what is the point of giving it to those who do not even asking for it? The soul first reaches out to Siva to remove sufferings and satisfy desires in this worldly existence. Siva will definitely give what you ask, you just have to talk to Him. Only that His response might not always be in the form that you can comprehend. We must raise our level of awareness and consciousness to be able to perceive His response. The soul which keeps asking for solutions to worldly problems finally understands the worldly existence itself is the problem. Just as every month one pays dues for the house or car or other things, the soul keeps on paying its dues. The burden is released only when the entire loan is repaid. Similarly, the solution to worldly problems ends only when the karmic dues are paid. This is difficult to understand at first, so He lets us experience the world and continue paying the monthly installments. There is no other God with whom one can talk, like with Sivam. Just as we need to speak with each native speaker in their own language, the language of Sivam is Compassion.

The important thing is that the soul asks for release by its own free will, else the guru does not appear.

So, to help the soul extricate itself from the clutches of the ego, He gives a practical learning by giving the senses and the body to the soul. When the soul suffers from these experiences, He comes in the form of a guru and teaches the way to elevate oneself not only from suffering but also from the ego.

Definition of success

A man was walking in the jungle when he notices a tiger. He runs like a madman out of fear and stumbles on to a well. He descends into the well and holds onto a branch on the side of the well. He then notices that two rats are gnawing at the branch, the tiger is hungrily looking at him from the top and there are poisonous snakes at the bottom of the well. Suddenly a drop of honey falls on his lips from a tree above and for a moment, he forgets everything except the taste of sweet honey. Our life is also like this. The tiger chasing us is the ego, the snakes are our karma, the branch is our body created from maya and the two rats gnawing at it are day and night. Amidst all this, the superficial pleasures are the drops of honey which we assume to be life.

As soon as one realizes that all successes and failures are due to Him, only success occurs to them.

Why are we here? Have we done or doing anything worthy? These are questions to ask oneself, but does anyone really do it? Once we retire, others ask at what we have saved for retirement. If you say that you have saved Siva’s grace, you will be looked upon as an idiot. Only worldly success is considered as success and spiritual success is not even considered. It is indeed difficult to not only live in this society but also live apart from it. Society does not considered devotion as success. We should learn to place our successes and defeats at the Holy feet of Siva.

The forgotten treasure

This body is a treasure that needs to be used properly for spiritual success.

Once a king in disguise was riding through the forest and saw an old man cutting wood. The old man was carrying the wood with much difficulty. The king asked him about his sons to which the old man replied that his sons had gone afar for different reasons. So, he had to cut wood and sell the charcoal to support his wife. The king then went away and instructed his minister to give 100 sandalwood trees so that the old man can live his life in comfort. After a few years, the king met the old man and was surprised to see that he was still living in poverty. He asked the old man what he did with the 100 trees that he received. The old man said that, he had cut them down as usual to make charcoal and sell it for a living. The king was aghast and told the old man that the trees were sandalwood trees and that each one was worth a fortune. Fortunately, there was one tree left and the king advised the old man to sell it and take care of himself. Similarly, Siva has been giving us our bodies in each birth, but we just burn it in the cremation grounds. Hence, we should take care of this body and attain Siva using the same instead of burning it away in the cremation grounds.

Taming the heart

Siva has wrung out these beautiful verses from the nayanmars and the saints for our benefit, but we do not have time to listen to them.

The greatest impediment to this is our heart. If one can overcome the heart’s desires, then one can attain the successes of the spiritual plane. The heart is never always at the same place as the physical body.  Only when the heart is at the same place as the body is, one will reap the benefits of one’s spiritual actions. That is why reading, listening, and singing the Tirumurais tempers the heart and brings it under control else the heart is always going behind the 5 senses. That is why even though saints and holy men live in our world with their 5 senses, the senses and their heart is under their control. Once the heart is under control, then bliss ensures. Also, when the saints see, drink, eat, smell, feel and experience they think of Sivam in all that. It is not mandatory for everyone to go the forest and dwell in caves, one can live anywhere with the control of the senses and the heart. Just as a corpse does not have any likes or dislikes, the saints live in that state.

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The 9 Tandirams are a condensation of the 9 agamas out of the 28 agamas. The 28 agamas are complete in themselves and each Agamas holds the knowledge of the remaining 27 agamas. The important aspect of the Tandiram is the arrival of the Guru. The guru is the one who helps the disciple burns away the ignorance that surrounds him.

Worldly desires and suffering

We ask for pleasure and contentment in these binds but never ask for release from the same binds and reach His holy feet.

Whatever one says or efforts one takes, the soul will suffer until it reaches Siva. We will say that we will be happy if we have something we wanted or when we reach a certain goal. When we attain that, more problems come up. This will continue and this will not release one from suffering. We have seen this since an age of understanding, but we are not ready to believe it. We want Siva but also at the same time hanging on to worldly desires. Siva just laughs and watches how far the soul will go before it realizes the futility of its efforts to attain desires and solve its problems. Siva never utters that He is the ultimate that needs to be realized. Talk about humility. The more the soul desires, the more it goes deeper into suffering. Starts with one’s spouse, then increases to include children, grandchildren etc., we’ll say that once we reach a goal, then we’ll pray to God but that moment never arrives because life has its own way of throwing curve balls.

Compassion, impurities, and Grace

Hence, a guru comes over to clean the impurities so that the soul is ready to receive Siva.

Siva arrives once we are mature. No one needs to recommend it; He knows it by Himself. As human beings we have choices to ask from Him. What you ask for is based on your level of maturity. If one needs Siva’s grace, then one must have compassion. Sivaprakasar asks Manickavasagar to share some of the compassion that he has received from Siva and not to hoard it. Instead of asking for grace, they ask for compassion which paves the path for Grace itself. What a brilliant idea! Siva does not offer His Grace directly because the soul needs to be clean of its impurities to be able to receive His grace. That is where He comes in the form of a guru to remove those impurities. When an elder guest is coming over, we keep our house clean. imagine what should one do when we need to welcome Siva Himself?

The five actions of Siva

Whichever soul reaches that level of maturity, is liberated from the need for those 5 actions.

Creation, preservation, dissolution, concealment and revealing grace are the five actions of Siva. Why does Siva do this? Just as a cloth is washed to remove the impurities, then dried to remove the wetness and finally ironed to remove the creases, so does Siva perform these actions to remove the impurities and iron out the creases through feeding the experiences. These experiences are given in a measured way depending on the maturity of the soul. Lord Nataraja symbolizes these five actions through His dance. Tirumoolar says in one of his verses that Siva decided to stop the five actions, for him.

Daily living and cycle of life

Once the soul has been cleared of its impurities and reaches a level of maturity, Siva then bestows the revealing grace via Sakthi and removes the soul from this cycle.

Let us take the example of our daily lives. We wake up in the morning. Then we go around doing work and other things essential things for living. Then we go to sleep in the night. Like a prototype, our daily lives have been created to mimic the entire cycle of creation, preservation, and dissolution. Though, most of the bad things are done by us during our waking hours when we are supposedly conscious and clear headed and hence suffer. Only during our sleeping hours, where are unconscious, do we escape from this suffering.  As per siddhantham, morning means all states of consciousness and night, the state of sleep or unconsciousness. It is not related to day and night cycles literally. 

What happens between sleep and the next day until one wakes up? This is the power of concealment where one does not remember much of what happens. Every day one goes through these 4 states of creation, preservation, dissolution, and concealment. One’s entire life is played out in this way, daily. We simply do not realize it.

Material possessions and realization

At the core, renunciation is a matter of the heart and thoughts, not just physical attire, and outwardly actions.

We will be attached to material possessions until we believe that they bring We will be attached to material possessions until we believe that they bring happiness. When we realize that they only give us suffering, will we keep them? That is why ‘Gynanam’ comes only through realization and never through knowledge. We all know that we will carry nothing when we die, that is knowing. Realizing this on the other hand, cannot be explained as it implies it is beyond words. Two renunciates were once travelling and they came across a river where a woman was drowning. One of them jumped into the water, carried the woman to safety and resuscitated her. The woman then thanked him and went on her way. The two renunciates then continued their journey when one of them said that it was improper of the other to have touched a woman since they were renunciates. To which, the other replied that he had already left that woman at the river bank whereas the other was still carrying her.

Nadham and Vindhu – Primeval Sound and light

Sound is special because sound comes from Nadham. Whereas sound can be heard, Nadham cannot be heard. Same applies for light. Light can be seen by eyes whereas Vindhu cannot be seen by eyes. These two forms the basis for the 36 characteristics or thatuvams. Earth is the basic and one who stays there is said to be primitive. Starting from earth, one must ascend through the steps and reach the 36^th step. Most of us go back and forth between the first 26 steps or simply stay in one of them.

One should be like a cow especially when listening to discourses. The cow takes in as much as possible only to regurgitate and chew on it later. There is no point to trying to analyze while listening to discourses. One will miss the details if one does so and will have nothing to chew on later. Many of us hear through one ear and simultaneously let it go through the other ear. Doubts also will arise later while thinking of the discourses. It is important since it means that one is intelligent. The problem is when one has no doubts. There is no guarantee that one will understand the divine instructions coded in the discourses, immediately. Even Saints took their time to understand and realize the message in the discourses they received from the Gods.

The dance of Nataraja

Its a treasure to Saivam that Siva has manifested in the form of Nataraja.

Have we seen any other God dancing like Nataraja? In the whole world, the only God who dances is Nataraja. This is why other civilizations are in awe of this masterpiece and are paying enormous sums to either buy it or even steal it. The beauty of the cosmic dance has different meanings and captures the macro and the micro at the same time. The Lord dispenses the 5 actions as He dances. Just as rice separates milk and water, Lord Nataraja comes in the form of a Guru and releases us from this cycle. The Guru cleanses all the senses and hence releases us from accumulating karma by the action of those senses. So the karmic account does not change anymore and whatever is left, is burned under the guidance of a guru in the form of prayer and worship.

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