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 36th 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.