We spend our entire lives without understanding why we have come into this world. A lot of questions and doubts arise at the twilight years for most of us. Whatever doubts, questions and fear that did not arise during the formative and youthful years, come home to roost in the twilight years. Did we live correctly ? Did we do the important things in life ? do we have any regrets ? all these doubts and fears arise during the twilight years. But Gnanis have a different view as they know that once they leave this physical body, they will be united with Siva. So, they associate with all Siva related activities during their stay in this world. Who is a Siva Siddhar and how do they look ? what are the differences between the Siddhars and the Siva Siddhars ? what is meant by Siddhars ? All these topics are dealt in depth in Thirumanthiram.
Goals in Life
There is a difference between Saiva Siddhantham and Siddhantha Saivam at the root. Siddhantha Saivam is a Samayam (note that this is different from Religion and has no word in the English lexicon) Whereas Saiva Siddhantham is a Tatuvam (Principle).Siddhantha Saivam is the destination and Saiva Siddhantham is the path. Hence Siva is not the destination but also the path. What would be a person’s response when you ask them their goal in life ? The generic response would be to buy a house, get married and settle down with kids. Some others will say that they would want to be independent till the end. Each one would have different goals in life. Saint Thirunavukkarasu sings that He had different goals at different stages in life. A youth studying in a university feels that getting a degree is her goal. A person who has a degree feels that getting a job is his goal. A person with a job feels that marriage is the next goal. A married person’s goal is to find a way to send his parents to a retirement home (sarcasm). As we can see, the goalposts keep on changing at different ages in life. Saint Appar sings that all these are not actual goals.
Understanding life and why we came here and focusing on attaining it, is the actual goal.
Are we really awake ?
There are so many life forms come into this world and depart from it. Is our life similar to other life forms ? Human beings are blessed with a 6th Sense whereas other life forms have 5 senses. To shape our life to understand life itself and the reason for our birth, is the actual goal. Some people realize this at a young age, some during their teenage years but others not even in old age. What is Saivam ? this was asked to Thirumular. Some people think Saivam means people who are vegetarian. They mistakenly assume that it is an eating habit like vegan. Tirumoolar says that Saivam means becoming one with Siva. We all think we are clear headed when awake but we are actually sleep walking. If you ask someone if God is present, the person will reply doubtfully. When pressed, they will say that God is yet to give that person all that he has asked, so God may not be present. We all ask for so many things, but we never ask why we are here and what we are doing here in this world ? Saint Tirugnanasambandar asks these questions to Siva.
The meaning of Saint Tirugnanasambandar’s name is making the Atmas to become one with Siva in Gnanam.
Becoming one with Siva
Once we become one with Siva, we are freed from all suffering instantaneously. The first step is becoming one with Siva with relation to this physical body. In this state, we apply the holy ash (thiruneer), wear the Rudraksha, do prayer, do temple cleansing and related activities. All these are body related activities. The next step is becoming one with Siva in thoughts. This includes thinking about Siva, listening to Siva related songs, discourses etc., mixing with other Siva devotees. The third step is becoming one with Siva at the life level. The closer one is to Siva at this level, the atma has lesser bonds that bind it to suffering. The more we are suffering means we are farther from Siva. The more we think about Siva, the farther from suffering we are.
Whenever there is suffering, one should go to any of the thirumurais to associate oneself with Siva.
Traversing the tatuvams
Once we are accepted Siva as The One, then one should not accept any other god as the one. This does not mean one should insult or disrespect other gods. Siva is The Supreme and the realization that He is the beginning and the end of all and everything in between. We highlight that we are slaves to Siva the moment we apply the holy ash.
Once one starts in this path of Siva, compassion and love grows and wherever compassion and love are present, bliss manifests.
Veersaivars always wear the Siva lingam around their neck. They do not even allow others to watch while they are doing puja. They do not look at any other God other than Siva. We are all Saivaites, and we go to other temples. We even wait for a couple of days to get darshan at certain temples. But veera Saivaites are so devoted that they do not even think of other gods. Saint Tirugnanasambandar only thinks of the Holy feet of Siva. Traversing the tatuvams is not simple. Even overcoming the simple tatuvam related to the tongue is exceedingly difficult and we have 31 tatuvams to overcome. When one is soaked in devotion to Siva, then what one considers as an obstacle becomes a step to the Divine. When one devotes oneself to Siva at each and every level, stay close to Him at each and every opportunity then each tatuvam becomes a stepping stone. Siva Siddhars are those who have done so and reached the Holy Feet of Siva. One has to consider the tatuvams as steps in a ladder and climb over them, one by one.
Realisation of the CIT
When one says to overcome the tatuvam of the tongue, it does not mean one should stop eating or speak. It means that one understands and realizes what the tongue actually is and becomes stoic with it. The eye turns our gaze to even things that are far away. But the actual realization is that the eyes were given to gaze at Siva and Sivan Adiyargal. So, one should take care and keep it healthy to be able to perform such actions soaked in Siva(ness). What we require ultimately is to obtain Bliss. That bliss sprouts only in Siddhi (Cit). But this Cit is obscured by ignorance. When this ignorance is removed, bliss occurs naturally. Only in Saiva Neri, God is considered to be Cit. Other beliefs do not consider their gods as cit.
The ignorance that covers our Atma and prevents it from the realization of the Cit can only be removed by compassion (Anbu).
A rich and powerful man used to have lots of people working for him. He once went into a dark room and asked his goons to beat up and remove the darkness from the room. Will it work ? He then asked them to give money to darkness and remove it. Will it work ? he asked his goons to serve lots of food to darkness and remove it. Will it again work ? But when one brings a small lighted lamp into the room, it dispels the darkness. This shows that darkness can only be removed by Light. Hence the ignorance engulfing our Atma cannot be removed by education, knowledge, wealth, power etc., but only by compassion. Lots of people think that knowledge can remove or dispel ignorance. But we can see that people with lots of degrees or education are not the happiest people. When ignorance is removed, happiness should occur and shine through by default. That is why Brahma, the lord of knowledge could not find the head of Siva and Vishnu the lord of wealth, could not find the holy feet of Siva. When Brahma and Vishnu themselves could not see Siva with all their knowledge and wealth, what hope do we have ? It shows that these are useful only to show off in this material world and not more than that but will not take us to the Holy Feet of Siva.
“What’s the point of education and wealth if it does not lead one to the Holy Feet of God.”
Saint Thiruvalluvar Deva Nayannar
A child cries when a mother leaves for some errand. No matter how one tries to entertain the child with toys and sweets, the child still yearns for his/her mother. When the mother returns, the child becomes a bundle of happiness. Similarly, the Adiyars are like children who are always in state of Siva consciousness in every breath. They have no interest in the worldly affairs or material things but yearn only for Siva.
Adoration with compassion
Many people think that the statue in the temple is Sivam and its sufficient to just pray to the statue. But the actual meaning is far from it. What it is, is actually an embodiment of compassion. It waits day and nights and over eons hoping that someday, instead of looking outside we look inside ourselves. Siva means bliss. Siva devotion is Bliss. Lighting a lamp, offering a flower etc., is not meant to be just an action but an act of adoration with compassion. When one does such Siva devotion with compassion, all the suffering and desire wash away, and bliss starts sprouting. This bliss sprouts from time to time when one listens to Thevaram, does Siva pujai, thinks and talks about Siva and His Adiyars. The very fact that you are reading this is due to His Bliss and not because you decided to read this.
Without His Grace, one cannot even hope to know about Him.
The Siva Siddhars hence ask for nothing but that everything should lead to the Holy Feet of Siva. Whereas we consider each tatuvam to be an obstacle, the Siva Siddhars consider them as tools to obtain the Bliss of Siva. So, when they traverse each and every Tatuvam, they get a nectar of bliss. The Bliss is such that no words or emotions are enough to explain or express it. One can notice that energy simply in the company of Siva Siddhars.
Thinnanar was hunting a wild boar for a long time. After some time, the boar got tired and slowed down. Using this opportunity Thinnanar hunted down the wild boar. Once done, he remembered that he was both thirsty and hungry but had forgotten about it while hunting the boar. Similarly, we are running behind material things in life and forget about God while in pursuit. Soon, Thinnanar’s friends nanan and kanan arrived after some time. Kanan started preparing a fire to cook the boar and nanan went with Thinnanar to get some water. Thinnanar and nanan see a grove at a distance and walk at a good pace to get to the river beside the grove. While nearing the grove, they see a hill and nanan points out that it was the mount Kaalathi. Nanan then adds that Kudimi Devar resides in the same hilltop. Thinnanar’s eyes glow when he hears the name of Kudimi Devar, and he gets a burning desire to go see him. So nanan and Thinnanar cross the chest deep waters of the river. While crossing the river, nanan reminds Thinnanar that he should drink some water as he was thirsty. But Thinnanar was totally immersed with the thought of seeing Kudimi Devar that he forgot that he was thirsty. Thinnanar crossed the entire river without even drinking a drop of water. Soon Nanan started climbing and Thinnanar followed. Saint Sekkizhar writes eloquently that even though Thinnanar was following, his compassion was in front along with Nanan. Saint Sekkizhar highlights that the very act of climbing the steps was the act of traversing and overcoming the 36 tatuvams.
Only two things accompany one at the end of one’s life. Good and bad deeds. Nanan and Kanan are nothing but the good and bad karma.
Only by the virtue of Nanan, Thinnanar hears about Kudimi Devar and hence nanan here becomes the guru as well, by showing the path to Kudimi Devar.
Manifesting Bliss
Patinathar sings with melancholy that Thinnanar reached The Holy Feet of God in 6 days and wonders whether he has such level of devotion like Thinnanar. This does not mean one has to renounce everything and become a godly person. But one has to use these senses at every opportunity to pay obeisance to God at every step. The senses are just a medium and not the end in themselves. One obtains bliss while using the senses to pay obeisance to Siva without even expecting it. The tatuvams in a pure state gives bliss and tatuvams which are in an impure state give suffering.
The tatuvams move from an impure to pure state by one’s concerted action of adoration and devotion to Siva and hence bliss manifests.
