Hinduism
Sithars - spiritual search for unity
Thilaka V. Wijeyaratnam
The word Sithars has its root in the North Indian word 'Sithi' -
meaning successful. These Mystics believe in the experience of reality
that is elevated above normal human understanding. It involves a form of
spiritual search for unity of self with God. Such Mystics may experience
trances, dreams of visions. Mysticism is based on Yoga.
They are said to be Jeevanmukthas - that is though they have
physically departed from this world, they move about in the midst of
people in astral form. By Yoga they perpetuate themselves.
Eight abilities
While they walk on earth, these Mystics have achieved eight
abilities, not possible for the common man to achieve. These are: 1. To
grow to massive proportions. 2. To become a minuscule form. 3. To be
light as air. 4. To be as heavy as gold. 5. To be able to rule over
everything. 6. To be able to attract everybody. 7. To be capable of
transmigration. 8. To be able to experience and enjoy whatever desired.
It is said to be that there were 84 such Mystics in North India.
South India speaks of 18 such Mystics. They had no proper dwelling
place. They are constantly on the move. Dressed in only a loin cloth,
having renounced all mundane desires, they roam the earth singing
philosophical songs to awaken people to realize the truth - God, taking
about the world, life, the body and soul. They expounded the theory that
everything originated from Sakthi and will end in Sakthi.
One God
The Saiva Saint Thirumoolar was one such famous Sithar. Others
well-known are: Agasthiyar, Pokar, Bamalinga Adigalar and Pattinathar.
The thirteen other Sithars' sayings are also, thought provoking and
enlightening. They believed in one God, in many forms.
His life is more or less a legend. After passing through the abode of
Sage Agastiyar, he finally reached a place by the banks of the river
Kavery at Tiru Avaduthurai in the Tanjore district. There he saw a herd
of cattle bellowing in distress and grief over the dead of their master
Moolan who died suddenly. Being moved at the grief of the dumb
creatures, he left his body in a safe place, and by his Sithic powers
entered the body of Moolan. The cattle rejoiced.
He herded them to their master's house but instead of going to the
house he turned back. But Moolan's wife called him home. He of course
was aloof. The woman complained about him to her people.
When her people came and saw him, they realized that he was in
Sivayoga and took her away.
Thirumoolar went back to find his body but could not find it. By his
superior knowledge, jnana, he knew it was the work of Lord Siva.
Inner mystics
"He created me well, so that I could sing His praise in Tamil," he
said, and he took it upon himself as an order from Lord Siva to spread
the 'Agama' knowledge through the Tamil language. Then he wrote his
3,000 songs which arose out of his inner mystic experience. He wrote
about the cosmic self, and his merging with Lord Siva. He was supposed
to have lived for 3,000 years composing one song per year when he awoke
from his deep meditation.
Though this is legendary, records say that Thirumoolar actually lived
in the Tanjore district in the 5th century BC. It is his philosophical
utterances that laid the foundation for Saiva Sidhanta philosophy. He
planted the seed of Saivaism in the minds of the people of South India.
It was Thirumoolar who sang,
"Keep at least a leaf to worship God with,
Give even a blade of grass to the cow,
At least a morsel of food to the hungry give,
A kind word shall you give to the affiliated,
Surely you can afford this."
It is having the mind to give that matters.
Our karma
He advises man to care for his body, for therein dwells God. "If you
cherish the body, it will in turn cherish the soul. When the body
perishes, the soul also leaves."
A well cherished soul will find another body to dwell in temporarily.
He insisted on the body being cared for, so that one can worship God
with all parts of the body. Further the body must be there to the
working out of one's own Karma. This is seen in one of his verses:
"Thou art the creator,
Of the fruits of thy actions,
Thou art the enjoyer thereof and,
Thou art the master of thy destiny."
Mayurapathy Sri Bathrakali Ambal Temple
Chelvathamby MANICCAVASAGAR
The Mayurapathy Sri Bathrakali Ambal Temple which is dedicated to
Goddess Kali is situated at Mayura Place, Wellawatte, Colombo and the
Chief Trustee of this Temple Pon Vallipuram is rendering yeoman service
for the last 22 years. The temple now has a dignified look and hundreds
of devotees from all communities congregate daily to perform poojas.
Even the President Mahinda Rajapaksa had visited this miraculous
temple twice to receive the divine blessings of Bathrakali Amman.
Besides, Prime Minister, Members of Parliament of successive Governments
have visited this temple several times.
Pon Vallipuram's service with the divine grace of Bathrakali Amman
for the improvement of this temple in various ways has been duly
appreciated and immensely recognized by the devotees belonging to all
communities and denominations. The temple has a wedding hall, a hall for
cultural activities and "Araneri School" for the benefit of the Hindu
students.
He invites Tamil scholars and religious personalities practically
every year during Aadipoora Mahotsavam and Chariot festivals of this
temple to deliver religious discourses and lectures.
Pon Vallipuram, being a highly disciplined and remaining very
religiously, traditionally and culturally rich has a broadmind and is
receptive to contemporary ideas for the sake of his religious
activities.
In recognition and appreciation of his tremendous service in the
spheres of religious, social and cultural activities, the members of the
"Ahila Ilankai Kamban Kalagam" organized a function recently to
felicitate and honour Vallipuram in his completion of his 80th Birthday.
A religious book titled "Arul Kalasam" consisting of God Kanapathy
Kalasam, Shiva Kalasam including Thevarams by the great saints like
Sampanthar, Thirunavukkarasu, Sundarar and Saint Manikkavasagar and
Vishnu Kalasam, Sakthi Kalasam, Luxmi Kalasam, Skanda Kalasam, Pal
Theiva Kalasam, Gnana Kalasam was released.
Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka
Continued from October 09 Part iv
S. Pathmanathan
The vertical strips, four in number, are found only on the cardinal
faces of the domical octagon, the intermediate octants being left blank.
From this flat top of the cornice of this eight-sided drum forming the
lower part of the story sprang an octagonal dome splayed like a bell and
ribbed at the angles. The dome was 11 ft. 3 in. in diameter at the
bottom.
Shrine
The vimanam as it once stood, seems to have had height of 31 ft. 9
in. above the ground. It was capped by a lotus mahapadma, which was 3
ft. 8 in. diameter. The shaft and finial which rose from its centre was
set on socket 4 in. square. From each side of the octagonal dome a
single "Caitya window" projects boldly as a large-boarded dormer.
The ground floor of the antarala differed in ornamentation from the
shrine only in the omission of niches and reduction in the number of
pilasters from six to four on the sides and to two in front, with a pair
of semi-pilasters flanking the entrance.
Of the flat lower roof of the vestibule less than half the elongated
slabs, which ceiled it horizontally, from east to west, remain in
position.
There were two subsidiary shrines within the premises of Siva Devale
No. 2 as suggested by the ground plan of minor buildings and other
evidence from architectural remains.
To the southeast a minor shrine set apart for the God Ganapati had
existed. It had two chambers, an 8 ft. square cell and an antarala that
was 6 ft. long and 5 ft. wide. A similar edifice was constructed at a
distance of three yards of the northwest angle of the shrine.
To be Continued
Vedas as a source of spiritual transmission
Prof. P. Gopalakrishna Iyer Dean/Facility of
Arts, University of Jaffna
The Vedas are the source of Hindu religion and culture. The Vedic
transmission is of a heavy antiquity, and his Vedic chanting is still
survive in Hindu religion. This tradition of hymn recitation remained
primarily of ritualistic nature. The Vedas are four in number. The Rig.
Veda, the Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.
In all the Vedic Samhitas consist of nearly 20,389 mantras. These
collections include repetitions especially of a number of Rig Vedic
Verses in the other Vedas. Devi Chand in his introduction to his
translation of Yajur Veda praises the genesis of the Vedas as follows:
Vedas are the word of God, revealed in the beginning of creation for
the moral, spiritual and physical guidance and uplift of humanity. They
are replete with eternal truths and throw a flood of light on the
various aspects of life to make a man perfect and ideal. God out of His
infinite source of knowledge reveals in the beginning of creation a part
of it adequate for the requirement of the soul, its spiritual
satisfaction, fulfilment of its thirst for truth and making its journey
of life successful.
The Vedas, literally meaning knowledge, are applauded as the
foundation of the early religious beliefs of the Hindus.
The religion and culture of the Hindus are rooted in the Vedas and no
specialist either eastern or western has placed much later than 1500
B.C. some have placed them very much earlier. Sri Aurobindo thus says
the following words on the Vedas:
The wisest then depended on inner experience and the suggestions of
the intuitive mind for all knowledge that ranged beyond mankind's
ordinary perceptions and daily activities. Their aim was illumination,
not logical conviction, their ideal the inspired seer not the accurate
reasoner.
The Rsi was not the individual composer of the hymn, but the seer
(drsta) of an eternal truth and an impersonal knowledge.
The language of the Veda itself is sruti, a rhythm not composed by
the intellect but heard, a divine word that came vibrating out of the
Infinite to the inner audience of the man who had previously made
himself fit for the impersonal knowledge.
The words themselves, drsti and sruti, sight and hearing, are Vedic
expressions: these and cognate words signify, in the esoteric
terminology of the hymns, revelatory knowledge and the contents of
inspiration.
The Vedic concept of revelation there is no suggestion of the
miraculous or the supernatural. The Rsi had acquired by a progressing
self-culture. The revelation came only at the end: the light was the
prize of a final victory. The Vedas reflect the continuous image of the
journey of the soul's march on the path of truth. According to the
religious thinkers the Rig Veda may be regarded as a record of great
achievement made by humanity.
Devi Chand's view regarding the Rishis is that the names of Rishis
attached to the mantras are the names of those research scholars and
seers, who expounded the meanings of the verses and commented upon them.
They are not authors or writers of those verses as some say. Devata
is the subject matter of a verse, the topic discussed in it all good men
and beneficent forces of nature like air, fire, water, sun, moon,
breaths, lightning, father, mother, teacher, preacher and soul, which
are beneficial to humanity are called devatas.
On the antiquity of the Vedas, Sri Aurobindo mentions that the text
of the Vedas, which we possess, has remained uncorrupted for over two
thousand years.
It dates, so for as we know, from the great period of Indian
intellectual activity, which founded the culture and civilization
recorded in the classical literature of the land. He continues that we
cannot say to how much earlier a date our text may be carried. But there
are certain considerations, which justify us in supposing for it an
almost enormous antiquity.
An accurate in every syllable, accurate in every accent was a matter
of supreme importance to the Vedic ritualists. Devi Chand observes that
Swami Dayananda accepted the Veda as the rock of firm foundation, and
took it for his guiding view of life, his rule of inner existence and
his inspiration for external work. Further he regarded it as ever more,
the word of eternal.
Truth was the key word of Vedic teaching, truth in the soul, truth in
vision, truth in the intention truth in the act.
Western scholarship seemed to have classed the Veda for ever as a
ritual liturgy to Nature Gods. Devi Chand mentions that the genius of
the race looking through the eyes of Dayananda pierced behind the error
of many centuries and the intuition of a timeless revelation and a
divine truth given to humanity.
While discussing on the history of Vedas he mentions that Dayananda
does not believe in the history in the Vedas. Western scholars like
Griffith, Max Mueller, Monier - Williams, Mc Donel Bloomfield and few
Eastern scholars too believe in history in the Vedas. Swami Dayananda's
view on the history would be the history in the Veda militates against
the eternity and revelation from god and reduces it to a man-made
composition.
Dayananda affirms that the truths of modern physical science are
discoverable in the hymns.
According to him that Veda contains truth of science as well as truth
of religion. However Swami Dayananda has contributed immensely for the
correct interpretation of the Vedas and would be honoured as the
discoverer of the right clues. Even Aurobindo Ghosh, a great yogi and
rsi is of opinion that there are truths of science in the Vedas. The
Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda Contain sections which reflect scientific
truths.
There are different schools of Vedic interpretation: firstly the
Niruka, which was based on philological method: and secondly the
historic method which was termed by Yaska as aidhasika method which
consisted in elucidating a Vedic passage by referring particulars events
in known history, the mythological method being another school of
interpretation. The scientific method consists in identifying the Vedic
truths with natural phenomena and explaining them as physical scientific
truths.
The intuitional interpretation is extremely abstract method and is
possible only for those who are given to yogic spiritual discipline.
Yaska used this method in one of the chapter of his book. There are some
Vedic texts which cannot be explained in any way but only with this. The
ritualistic method is the easiest and most direct way of interpreting
the Vedic texts. |