Sivaanandalahari - 1

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Sivaanandalahari - 1 (2) " Chandrasekharamaasraye mama kim karishyathi vai

yamaha " . This was the great shout with which Maarkandeya came running

towards Shiva and hugged the Lingam when he was being pursued by yama. (My

salutations to our great Mahaperiavaal Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi). And

Shiva bound by the great bhakthi of this child Maarkandeya took the form of

Lingothbhava moorthi and kicked Yama with his left foot and saved Markandeya

from death and he remained Chiranjeevi. Thus if we keep worshiping this

Mrithyunjaya we all would be able to cross the great ocean of kaala. There

is no doubt about it.

 

This sloka can be termed as the vyaakyaanam of Panchaakshari manthra because

only by Panchaakshari manthra can both Shiva and Shakthi can be satisfied.

" Shivaacha Shivascha Shivau thaabyaam Shivaabhyaam " . In this is contained

both Shiva thathva and Shakthi thathva. The Shakthi thathva is contained

with great difficulty in the 'ya' kaaram at the end of Panchaakshari

manthra.

 

Therefore anyone who does the japam of Panchaakshari mathra will have the

twin benefit of ihikam, aamushmikam and also have nivaaranam from all kinds

of diseases including the diesease of bhava (Bhava roga vaidhyanaathan)

 

In commenting on verse 1 I spoke about 'bhava'. It indicates that part of

the time that is yet to come, the future. In the division of time past is

irretrievably lost, the present is so fickle (kshanikam) that it is more an

illusion than real. However the reality is the future that is sure to

arrive! It is of the nature of consciousness in the prakrthi that people

carry the guilt and the misery of the past rather than the happiness. It is

because the nature of worldly existence is such that we have more dhukkam

than sukham. The Buddhists points this out (sarvam dhukkam, dhukkam) and

attribute this to the consciousness and therefore their remedy lies in the

loss of consciousness which they term it as Nirvana. This loss of

consciousness is not unknown to us for we experience it in our daily life in

the form of deep sleep where neither the world exists nor ourselves. However

as you wake up you realize that there has been a real you who has

experienced the deep sleep without whom you cannot recall the soundness of

your sleep. In this we Advaitins conclude that the pleasantness of the deep

sleep is not experienced instantly but only recalled due to the nature of

the sleep which is ignorance. Instead of coming to this conclusion the

Buddhists focus only on the loss of consciousness during the sleep as the

absence of dhukkam and then convert that sleep or ignorance to be made

permanent as the remedy! The Advaitins on the contrary point out that the

natural existence is consciousness and cannot be done away with. Gita says:

" Naasatho vidhyathe bhaavo naabhaavo vidyathe sathaha " . The unreal has no

existence, the real never ceases to be " . The Existence is Consciousness and

it is Real. This Conciousness exists even during the sleep (ignorance) as

its witness! So our panacea for the misery is really the breaking of this

sleep, this ignorance.

 

Time, Kaala, as we said before is Shiva who is Kaalabhairava. Bhava as part

of this Time is also Shiva as extolled in the Veda as " Namo Bhavaaya cha

Rudhraaya cha " . If the future holds out to be misearable for ever then Veda

is meaningless and we need not aspire for anything. Perhaps the endless

sleep of the Buddhists would be the one to crave for! But such is not the

case as Gita points out that " na abhaavo vidyathe sathaha " . And our Vedas

point out to Lord Shiva as the Bhava Roga Vaidyanaathan as our salvation to

misery.

 

Now on to second stanza.