Guhai namasivaya--The virashaiva and the Sonesa Bhakta

[Guest guest]

Dear spirtual brethren,

 

Visitors to Virupaksha Cave, the place where Ramana Maharishi spent

about fifteen years of his life, may have noticed a small walled

compound a few hundred feet lower down the hill. This compound,

which one enters through a small gopuram on the eastern side,

contains a cave that was, several centuries ago, occupied for many

years by a yogi called Guhai Namasivaya. The cave and the few

buildings that surround it now bear his name.

 

Guhai Namasivaya is known to have been born around the year AD

1548 in Karnataka to a pious Saiva couple. According to his somewhat

hagiographical biography, his spiritual nature became evident at an

early age: he was virtuous in his conduct, adept at his studies and

evinced no attachment to worldly matters. Feeling a great longing to

receive the grace of the Lord, he embarked at an early age upon a

search that led him to Sivananda Desikar, a famous Guru who lived at

Sri Sailam. He became a disciple of this Guru and began to serve him

with fervent and selfless devotion.

 

Sivananda Desikar belonged to the Virasaiva sect. Since Guhai

Namasivaya immersed himself in this tradition for many years, a

brief account of the beliefs and practices of this sect will throw a

little light on the kind of life he led as a young man.

 

The origin of Virasaivism, an offshoot of Saivism, can be

traced back to the twelfth century. Its philosophy has grown out of

the twenty-eight Saiva Agamas and the writings of its early

exponents. Virasaivas are also known as Lingayats on account of the

immense importance they attach to their conception of the

term 'Linga'. For them, Linga is not merely a physical object, it is

synonymous with chaitanya, or consciousness, and can be taken to be

Siva himself. In their philosophy, the term Linga can be equated

with the Parabrahman of the Upanishads, but it has other

connotations as well. It is the cosmic principle that is the source

of the universe and, in its physical form, it is the visible symbol

of the consciousness that exists in all beings. In addition, and

this is particularly interesting in view of the years Guhai

Namasivaya spent at Arunachala, it is often conceived of as a mass

of light or a column of blazing fire. Worship of the Linga in all

its forms is central to Virasaivism.

 

The goal of Virasaivas is the attainment of oneness with Siva.

To reach this exalted state, Virasaivas believe that one must submit

to and serve a Guru who has already attained that oneness. Thus, in

the Virasaiva tradition, the Guru is given immense importance, for

it is he alone who can initiate the disciple, purify him, and lead

him to unity with Siva.

 

For a devout Virasaiva, the spiritual path begins when he

approaches a competent Guru and asks him for initiation. Usually,

the Guru will first test him for a year to see how serious his

spiritual inclinations are. When the Guru is satisfied that the

disciple's desire is genuine, he agrees to initiate him and accept

him as a disciple. The initiation given by the Guru activates the

power of Linga in the three bodies, the causal, the subtle and the

gross, and removes some or all of the taints or imperfections that

reside in each of the three bodies. Virasaivas believe that these

taints, called mala, prevent the disciple from becoming established

in Linga, the Supreme Siva-consciousness.

 

In the initiation ceremony the Guru first places his right palm

on the head of the disciple, thereby awakening the supreme Self in

the causal body in a form that is called Bhavalinga. Simultaneously,

through his power, the Guru attempts to eliminate any impurities

that dwell there. Next, the Guru whispers the great mantra 'Nama

Sivaya' in the right ear of the disciple. All Saivas hold this to be

the best and most potent mantra. The act of whispering establishes

in the subtle body a form or aspect of the Linga that is called

Pranalinga. The power transmitted by this mantra initiation also

cleanses the subtle body and removes some of its imperfections.

Then, in what is perhaps the most significant part of the ritual,

the disciple is given a physical Linga. Virasaivas believe the Linga

is a great light in the innermost heart that can be brought out and

shaped into a physical form by the Guru. In the final part of the

rite, the Guru draws out the power of Linga from the heart of the

devotee, establishes it in a physical Linga, which is called

Ishtalinga, presents it to the disciple and commands him to worship

it as if were Siva himself. The handing over of the Ishtalinga

removes the taints that are attached to the physical body.

 

The Guru then commands the devotee to wear the Ishtalinga on

his body at all times and to worship it three times a day. The Guru

also tells him that the Linga must on no account be separated from

the body since such a separation is equivalent of spiritual death.

In the Virasaiva tradition, it is not permitted to worship Siva in

any other form except that of the Istalinga or the Linga installed

over one's Guru's samadhi. Virasaivas are therefore forbidden from

worshipping forms of Siva that have been installed in temples.

 

We can assume that Guhai Namasivaya underwent this initiation

ceremony since it is a compulsory rite of passage for all

Virasaivas. He probably went through it quite early in his life, for

it was not uncommon for eight-year-olds to be initiated in this

way.

 

Sivananda Desikar, Guhai Namasivaya's Guru, was an adept in a

Virasaiva yoga system known as Siva Yoga. When Sivananada Desikar

noticed what a mature disciple Guhai Namasivaya was, he initiated

him into its practices. From then on, Guhai Namasivaya alternated

his time between physical service to the Guru and the practice of

Siva Yoga. In the course of time he too became an accomplished Siva

yogi.

 

Siva Yoga emphasises dharana, dhyana and samadhi, the last

three stages of Patanjali's Raja Yoga system, but it gives them a

Virasaiva turn by emphasising meditation on the three Lingas that

the Guru has established in the three bodies. In the Siva Yoga

system, worship of the Ishtalinga, the Linga given by the Guru to

the disciple, is called dharana, or uninterrupted concentration;

worship of the Pranalinga established in the subtle body is dhyana,

or meditation; remembrance and awareness of the Bhavalinga in the

causal body is called samadhi. According to Maggeya Mayideva, a

Virasaiva saint, 'samadhi is the action which includes both radiant

worship and meditation on one's own Linga'.

 

The yoga practice is performed in the following way: 'Setting

Ishtalinga firmly in his left palm, restraining the traffic of his

other limbs, restraining the movement of breath through breath

control, or pranayama, controlling the modifications of the mind,

focussing his physical eye on Ishtalinga, his inner eye on

Pranalinga and his intuitional eye on Bhavalinga, being one with

Linga and unifying the triple Linga into one - he lives his own

Self.'(1)

 

The goal of the yoga is to find Siva in everything and to

discover the fundamental root of that immanent Siva manifestation in

one's heart. Though Siva Yoga has a strong bhakti component, it must

not be forgotten that it is also a variety of Kundalini Yoga. The

Siva yogis aim to make contact with the power of the Lord. They

believe that the contact finally takes place after the prana, rising

through the sushumna, has passed through all the six chakras and

moved on to the bramarandhra, located at the top of the head.

Accomplished Siva yogis, at the time of their death, voluntarily

send all their pranas out of their bodies through this brahmarandhra

and merge into the all-pervading consciousness of Siva.

 

Guhai Namasivaya practised this system of yoga for many years.

When he had thoroughly mastered it, Lord Mallikarjuna, the presiding

deity of Sri Sailam, appeared to Guhai Namasivaya in a dream and

commanded him to go to Arunachala and remain there as a Guru, giving

teachings to mature disciples who approached him. When he related

this dream to his Guru, Sivananada Desikar gave him his blessings

and told him to carry out the order. Shortly afterwards, Guhai

Namasivaya set out on horseback for Tiruvannamalai.

 

There is a tradition in Tiruvannamalai that Guhai Namasivaya

was accompanied on his journey by Virupaksha Deva, the man who gave

his name to Virupaksha Cave. Ramana Maharishi occasionally told his

devotees that the two of them were Virasaivas who came from

Karnataka to Tiruvannamalai at the same time. It is reported that

both of them had served Sivananada Desikar for twelve years. Almost

nothing is known about the life of Virupaksha Deva except that he

lived in Virupaksha Cave for a long time, and that when he died

there his body transformed itself into vibhuti (sacred ash). That

vibhuti is still kept in the cave and puja is done to it every day.

 

On his journey to Tiruvannamalai Guhai Namasivaya came one

evening to a village where a wedding was in progress. The head of

the house where the wedding was taking place greeted him

respectfully, invited him into the house, gave him the place of

honour and performed puja to him. At the conclusion of the puja

everyone present received some vibhuti from the hand of Guhai

Namasivaya. Shortly afterwards, the house was completely destroyed

by a fire. Some people, associating the fire with Guhai Namasivaya's

visit, poured scorn on him by saying, 'The ash given by this yogi

has turned the house itself into ash'.

 

Guhai Namasivaya was deeply hurt by this taunt, not personally,

but because of the ridicule to which the Lord's vibhuti had been

subjected. He therefore meditated on Siva and through his grace was

able to restore the house to its former unburnt state. Subsequently,

those in the village who had formerly reviled him began to praise

and worship him as if he were Siva himself. Guhai Namasivaya,

perturbed by all the fuss his visit had caused, then took a vow that

wherever he went in future, he would never again stay in any house.

 

On reaching Tiruvannamalai he stuck to his vow and lived in

public halls, temple flower gardens and occasionally in the

surrounding forest. He devoted himself to the practice of Siva Yoga

and became so accomplished in it that he was able to spend long

periods in samadhi, immersed in his inner Linga. Each day he visited

the entrance of the Arunachaleswara Temple but went no further

because, as a Virasaiva, he was prohibited from worshipping there.

It seems that Guhai Namasivaya either had a desire to worship in the

temple, or felt that he would benefit by doing so, for each day he

would gesture with his hands in the direction of the shrine and to

say to himself, 'Are you well without worshipping him?'

 

There was a sadhu called Sivakkira Yogi who noticed that Guhai

Namasivaya never went through the temple entrance, but merely made

strange gestures there. He interpreted this strange behaviour as

deliberate irreverence and decided to punish him by striking him on

the back with his cane. Guhai Namasivaya made no attempt to

retaliate, nor did he even reproach his attacker. He merely composed

an extempore venba verse in Tamil to the effect that the Lord had

struck him in order to drive out his evil propensities. When

Sivakkira Yogi saw Guhai Namasivaya responding in such a humble way,

he immediately realised that he had failed to recognise the latter's

greatness.

 

After this incident Guhai Namasivaya began to feel that it

would be appropriate for him to enter the temple and worship there.

While he was contemplating this breach with tradition, his Guru,

Sivananda Desikar, unexpectedly appeared, surrounded by a retinue of

his devotees. Guhai Namasivaya greeted him with great love and

devotion. In return, Sivananda Desikar spoke to him in a friendly

and intimate way. Then to Guhai Namsivaya's surprise, his Guru

entered the temple with his disciples, walked straight to the inner

sanctum and began to worship Siva there. Guhai Namasivaya, who had

accompanied his Guru into the temple, followed his Guru's example.

He threw himself full-length on the ground and, filled with ecstasy,

mentally worshipped the image of Siva that was enshrined there. When

he stood up he could see no sign either of his Guru or his fellow

disciples, but when he looked at the Linga he had been worshipping,

he saw only the form of his Guru. Spontaneously, the following verse

came to his lips:

 

 

 

Lord Arunagiri! Form of true knowledge! Guru to whom I call out 'Om

Namasivaya!' Do not scorn me as one who is devoid of Love for you,

who is a liar and without self-respect, who is mentally immature and

deficient in intelligence, but take me to yourself and be my Lord!

 

Guhai Namasivaya, realising that the appearance of his Guru had

been the play of the Lord, interpreted his vision to mean that he

now had permission to enter the temple and worship there. In

Virasaivism, the authority of the Guru is paramount. If the Guru

sanctions a practice, it immediately becomes acceptable even if it

contravenes traditional rules and regulations.

 

After this incident Guhai Namasivaya decided to take up

residence in the entrance to the temple. Each day he was there, he

composed a verse in praise of Arunachala-Siva and put together a

flower garland. He would then offer both of them to the Linga of

Lord Siva in the inner shrine. He described his actives in the

following verse:

 

Many times have I wreathed him with flower garlands and adored him

with song garlands. My tongue has sung a thousand melodies in praise

of him. To see him, the Lord Sonachala [Arunachala], famed all over

the earth, I, worthless as I am, need a thousand eyes.

 

During this period of his life Guhai Namasivaya supported

himself by begging for his food and seemed quite content with his

spartan existence: 'To beg for food and eat it, and to come here and

sleep at the sacred portals - this alone is my happiness.'

 

After he had lived like this for some time, Lord Siva appeared

in one of his dreams and commanded him: 'Remain in a cave on the

slopes of our mountain and carry on your yoga practice there.'

 

Guhai Namasivaya accepted the order and moved into a cave on

the lower slopes of the eastern side of the hill. He spent the

remainder of his life in this cave and thus acquired the

title 'Guhai', which is the Tamil word for cave.

 

The mountain soon became the main focus of his sadhana. To

understand how this came about, it will be instructive to compare

certain aspects of Virasaivism, particularly the teachings on the

nature of Linga, with the spiritual traditions that are associated

with Arunachala. The Virasaivas conceive of Linga, in its unmanifest

form, as a blazing mass or column of light in the heart of each

devotee. At the time of initiation, the Guru draws out this power,

installs it in a physical form, the Ishtalinga, and instructs the

disciple to worship it as if it were Siva himself. In the case of

Arunachala, Siva initially appeared as a dazzling, limitless column

of light and then later transformed himself into the physical Linga

of Aruanchala. As Ramana Maharishi remarked on several occasions,

the hill is not the abode of Siva or a symbolic representation of

him, it is, like the Ishtalinga of Virasaivas, Siva manifesting in a

Linga-shaped form. This is what he had to say to someone who

enquired which portion of the hill was the holiest and most sacred:

The whole hill is sacred. It is Siva himself. Just as we identify

ourselves with a body, so Siva has chosen to identify himself with

the hill. Arunachala is pure wisdom in the form of a hill. It is out

of compassion for those who seek him that he has chosen to reveal

himself in the form of a hill visible to the eye

 

There is a tradition in Tiruvannamalai that the Lingam in the

Arunachaleswara Temple and the mountain Lingam of Arunachala are one

and the same. Thus, when Sivananda Desikar manifested and

superimposed his image on the temple Lingam, Guhai Namasivaya, who

had been worshipping that image, received the message that his Guru

and Arunachala were identical. This understanding is mentioned in

the verse he immediately composed. Furthermore, realising that the

vision had authorised him to regard Arunachala as his Guru, he began

to worship the Mountain as a Guru Linga. He described this new

relationship and the effect it had on him in the following verse:

 

Taking into my heart as my Guru the Red Mountain Lord [Arunachala],

who now stands formless before me, I have put to flight the

unutterable arrogance of my good and evil deeds, my soul's

indissoluble threefold impurity and my unparalleled accumulation of

karma.

 

In Virasaivism it is the Guru's job to cleanse the devotee of

the threefold impurities that cling to the three bodies. This

process would have been initiated by Guhai Namasivaya's human Guru,

but as the above verse clearly states, it was Arunachala-Siva who

completed the job.

 

By channelling his devotional fervour towards the mountain, he

was able to generate a level of love that he had never experienced

from worshipping his Ishtalinga and practising Siva Yoga:

 

 

 

Except for the ineffable Lord Annamalai and His consort Unnamulai,

who sits at his Lordship's side, I have known no other gods. Or, if

I have known them, I have never cherished them in my heart of

hearts… Monarch who dwells as the Red Mountain! When I lauded you as

the Supreme One, worshipping and praising you with melting heart,

when I sought you with hands clasped and with tears running down

from my eyes, you granted me my boon, according to my desire. O King

of compassion! I find nothing which I can adequately offer in return

 

The boon he sought was nothing less than freedom from the cycle

of birth and death:

 

My heart! By praising the bounteous one who drives away the effects

of evil deeds that torment perpetually the hearts of those in whose

mind there is attachment, we have received our boon. We have

received the fruit that is proper for this human birth: we have

ceased to be reborn.

 

In one of his other verses he indicates indirectly that he

obtained this boon by thinking continuously and lovingly of the Red

Mountain Lord:

 

 

 

Those who desire the boons of fame, long life and children, all

praise the Red Mountain Lord. For those who praise him continually,

incapable of forgetting him even when asleep, there is no further

rebirth.(9)

 

 

 

Guhai Namasivaya makes no mention in his verses of the Siva

Yoga that he had perfected in his early life. He may have given it

up sometime after his arrival in Tiruvannamalai for he frequently

asserts in his poetry that devotion to Siva and complete surrender

to him are quite sufficient to attain liberation. His own devotional

practices were simple and direct. We know, for example from the

writings of his best-known disciple, Guru Namasivaya, that Guhai

Namasivaya composed a four-line verse each day in praise of

Arunachala: 'Mountain to which Guhai Namasivaya, performer of

immensely great austerities, makes obeisance, daily adorning him

with a garland of one venba verse.'(10)

 

He had begun the practice while he was still living in the

temple entrance, and he seems to have continued it when he moved

into the cave on the hill. He must have composed thousands of verses

in praise of the mountain, but very few of them have been preserved.

Only two of his poems have been published Arunagiri Antadi (100

verses) and Tiruvarunai Tanivenba (36 verses). A few other stray

verses of his can be found in quotations in the writings of other

people, but it would seem that the bulk of his poetic output has

been irretrievably lost.(11)

 

Although he was born in Karanataka and spoke Kannada as his

mother tongue, he thoroughly mastered the Tamil language. His

principal extant poem, Arunagiri Antadi is often used as a text in

Tamil schools to illustrate the intricacies of the venba metre.

Ramana Maharshi remarked on several occasions that this metre was

reputed to be the most difficult form to compose in; and Ganapati

Muni, a superb extempore poet, once confessed that the venba metre

was so difficult, he was unable to utilise it. Dandapani Swami, a

famous 19th century poet and scholar, felt that Guhai Namasivaya's

poetry was so good it could only have been composed as a result of

divine inspiration. In his verse biography of Guhai Namasivaya he

wrote: 'Although learned in no language other than Kannada, my Lord

Siva caused him to compose venba verses of an excellence that only

the most eminent of Tamil poets could equal. He could not have done

it had he relied on his own inspiration alone.'(12)

 

In addition to composing verse, Guhai Namasivaya also performed

pradakshina of the mountain and repeated the great mantra of

Saivism, Nama Sivaya. In several of his verses he encourages other

people to take up these practices and, in addition, to think

continuously of Arunachala.

 

 

 

Be they of lowly birth, without the advantage of learning, unable to

practise the virtue of liberality, it is of no account. Those who

perform pradakshina of holy Aruna, the Supreme, submit to his rule

and become his devotee, will excel even amongst the most excellent…

Recite the five-lettered name of the First One, the Red Mountain

Lord, and meditate upon it. Thus will the straight path, the

steadfast condition and the marks of true knowledge become manifest

to you. Your every wish will be granted, and fulfilment will be

yours… Taking a necklace of rudraksha beads, whose nature is suited

to solitude, recite the five letters [Na ma Si va ya] with full

voice, one by one, mindful of their meaning. Thus, earnestly seeking

the feet of Lord Sonagiri [Arunachala], whose ornament is the snake,

we shall obtain the boon of freedom from death for all eternity… My

heart! Fix your thoughts on the Red Mountain Teacher, who, if you

believe in his grace and praise him daily, will take hold of you,

desirous of your good, saying, 'Behold, I am here!' If you think of

him in this way, all the painful effects of your actions will

subside and go away

 

There is a famous story concerning Guhai Namasivaya that seems

to show that although he had great devotion to Arunachala, he was

still capable of displaying bursts of extreme anger. One day,

according to this story, he took pity on a poor man whose only goat

had been killed by a snake just before it was about to give birth.

Guhai Namasivaya asked the man to leave the goat's body with him and

to collect it the next day. When the man returned to pick up the

corpse, he found that not only had the goat been restored to life,

it had also given birth to two kids. As news of this miracle spread

around the town, some boys from the local weaving community decided

to play a joke on him. One boy, pretending to be dead, was carried

into the presence of Guhai Namasivaya by his friends. The boys

claimed that their friend had died of a snake bite and asked the

saint to restore him to life. Guhai Namasivaya, who could see that

they were merely making fun of him, cursed them with such vehemence

that the boy who was pretending to be dead actually did die. Then

Guhai Namasivaya cursed the whole weaving community, saying that

they would never prosper or flourish in Tiruvannamalai again. The

curse took effect: all the weavers were forced to leave town or take

up other occupations because none of them could make a living by

weaving in Tiruvannamalai. In the years that followed, all attempts

to re-establish weaving businesses in the town failed.

 

Guhai Namasivaya made better use of his power and his anger on

another occasion, with equally devastating results. A barbarian

chieftan called Agittu once invaded and looted the town. He murdered

many of the inhabitants, abducted a large number of the town's young

women and, in an act of deliberate desecration, he set up camp in

one of the temple courtyards and roasted an ox there. When news of

this reached Guhai Namasivaya, he became angry and rebuked Lord

Arunachaleswara in the following manner:

 

 

 

Lord Sonesan! Are your three eyes, including the eye on your

forehead, fast asleep? Has someone stolen away the battle-axe and

trident you wield? Haven't you any self-respect? Shall all your

devotees be abandoned to an accursed death?(14)

 

 

 

Arunachaleswara accepted the justness of the complaint and, for

the sake of Guhai Namasivaya, decided to intervene in the matter.

That night the Lord appeared to Agittu in a dream in the form of a

sadhu and struck him on the back with his stick. Agittu woke up

immediately and noticed that on the spot where he had been beaten

there was a rash that soon grew and developed into a large, swollen

abscess. He consulted some of the elders of the town, recounting his

dream to them. They all advised him that he could only save his life

by leaving the temple. Agittu, not wanting any further punishment,

abandoned the temple to the pujaris and the town's devotees who

cleared up his mess and reconsecrated the holy shrine. However,

Agittu could not escape the wrath of Guhai Namasivaya and Lord

Arunachaleswara. His abscess grew and worms appeared in it, which

gnawed away at his healthy flesh. All remedies failed, including one

horrific experiment in which he applied foetuses, taken from

pregnant women he had slaughtered for the purpose, to the wound.

When he eventually died in great agony, his death was celebrated

throughout Tiruvannamalai. The local people anointed themselves with

oil, put on new clothes, ate a special meal and danced in

exaltation.

 

When Guhai Namasivaya reached 100 years of age, the thought

occurred to him: 'The span allotted to man by Brahma is 100 years.

That is enough for this worldly life.' He had his disciples prepared

a samadhi pit for him, intending to enter it and give up his life

there. But, as he was lowering himself into the crypt, Lord Siva

spoke to him, ordering him to stay a further 100 years on earth. His

resigned response to the Lord's intervention is recorded in one of

his verses:

 

 

 

To me, a devotee of blissful Lord Arunagiri, who is kinder to me

than any mother or wise father, it matters little whether he ordains

that I should die, or that I should suffer on in this delusive body,

in spite of my 100 years.(15)

 

 

 

One hundred years later he had another samadhi pit prepared in

the cave that now bears his name. Before lowering himself into it,

he composed his final two verses:

 

 

 

I will no longer bear this delusive body, which is the dwelling

place of all the 360 diseases known to our science. Lord Arunesan,

who wears in his locks the holy waters and the waning moon! May you

wipe out at once this birth for the sake of your solitary devotee…

We have found refuge at the feet of our father, Lord Sonagiri. We

have crossed the threefold waters of our final birth. Behold! No

longer do we bow down to the lotus-born Brahma, the creator, nor to

Yama [the god of death] who rides the powerful buffalo.(16)

 

 

 

 

 

The only known image of Guhai Namasivaya. It comes from a granite,

bas-relief that is located in the rear of a mantapam that

adjoins the cave where Guhai Namasivaya was interred.

 

 

 

After saying these words, he descended into the samadhi pit and

seated himself in the full-lotus position. Then, utilising a

practice he had mastered during his days as a Siva yogi, he gave up

his life by sending the pranas out of his body via the bramarandhra

at the top of his head. His disciples erected a Linga on the spot

and instituted worship of it. Daily puja has been conducted there

right down to the present day.

 

 

 

 

 

Samadhi of Guhai Namasivaya

 

Thus ended the life of a great Arunachala bhakta. His long stay

on the mountain had taught him the simple truth that those who

surrender lovingly and completely to the Red Mountain Lord have all

their sins and karma washed away:

 

 

 

I have perceived the means of dissolving away all the manifold

maladies that beset my life and crush me down. I have taken into my

heart the lotus feet of the Red Mountain Lord. What then do I lack?

For those who are without love for the Red Mountain Lord, who

cleaves away falsehood and subjects us to his rule, will it be of

any benefit to mortify the body?… Whether he brings ruin upon our

heads, or whether he lifts us up through his grace, repeat the name

of Lord Sonesan and believe in his word.

 

Hope all of you enjoyed the story of this great shiva

Bhaktha.I roll in the dust of the feet of such great shiva bhakthas

for my ignorance to be removed.

Yours yogically,

Dattu