Sivaanandalahari - 63

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Sivaanandalahari - 63 (3)(continued from 63 (2) )

 

The Saasthraas say of Bhakthi as saamaanya bhakthi and visEsha bhakthi.

Saamaanya bhakthi is called SaguNa bhakthi and VisEsha Bhakthis is called

Ananya Bhakthi. Again this Ananya Bhakthi has to be known in three ways as

saamaanya theevram, madhyama theevram and theevra theevram.

BhagavathpaadhaaL proclaims the mahima of these three types of Ananya

Bhakthi by the three different leelas in this story. The first one is

Kannappa Naayanaar tasting the meat before giving to Siva. What he gave to

Siva is the sEsham of what he ate. Therefore it was not a naivEdhyam at all!

This is to show that Siva is non-different from Kannappa Naayanaar. This is

saamaanya theevra bhakthi highlighted by AachaaryaaL when he said:

 

“KinchidhbhakshithamaamsasEshakabalam navyOpahaaraayathEâ€.

 

Next is madhya (or mridhu) theevra bhakthi. The swaroopam of this is madhya

theevra bhakthi is explained as follows: “GandooshaambunishEchanam

puraripOrdhivyObhishEkaayathEâ€. I.e. Ponmugali water mixed with the saliva

of Kannappa Naayanar that he poured on the lingam was like the cooling

waters of Ganga to Parameswara.

 

" There is no object other than my aathma that qualify for the anirvachaneeya

prema that I have on my Aanandhamaya aathmaa. Should I not offer that

aathmaprema to Parameswara? That alone is called bhakthi. If Parameswara

happens to be different from my aathma would it occur to me to have prema to

Parameswara? The mahaavaakya says: “ayam aathmaa Brahmaâ€, teaching that the

aathmaa is Brahma.

 

Therefore if we have to have aathmaprema on Parameswara we have to imbibe

the import of the mahaavaakya ‘Thath Thvam Asi†– That thou art. The

jeevaathma in the word 'thvam' should be dissolved in the Brahman contained

in the word 'thath' i.e. the ocean of Aanandha. Then only can one experience

Paramasiva as the prathyagaathmaa. Therefore the aathmaswaroopa should be

different from the relationship of the aathma chaithanya denoted by the word

“Iâ€, consisting of the following kosas:

 

The panchabhoudhika annamaya kosa that shines like the aathmaa;

The praaNamaya kosa that is the combination of pancha praaNa and

karmEndhriyas;

The monOmaya kosa that contains the mind;

The vignaanamaya kosa that contains gnaanEndriyaas and the buddhi;

The aanandhamaya kosa that has the anthakkaraNa with the sathwa guna as the

important constituent and that which does not roam on the objects but turned

inwards into the likeness of aathmaanandha;

 

This above vilakshaNam, we must understand, is the aathmaswaroopam that

keeps saying ‘I’ that has this Brahmaanandarasam. It is this aathmaswaroopam

that shines as ‘sath’, ‘chith’ and ‘priyam’. It is the 'Thvam'

padhaartham.

 

The brahmaanandharasam was the water that Kannappa Nayanaar carried in his

mouth. No wonder it completely cooled down the destroyer of the thripuras.

This Brahmaanandarasam is the lakshyaartha of the thvam padhaartham of the

Mahaavaakya ‘‘Thath Thvam Asiâ€.

 

This thvam padhaartham that has Brahmaanandhaswaroopam is the ponmugali

water that Kannappa Naayanaar carried in his mouth. Pouring this water from

the mouth onto the lingam is the nimiththa kaaraNam (efficient cause).

 

By the knowledge of the mahaavaakya ‘thath thvam asi’ Kannappa Naayanaar had

sunk the 'thvam' padhaartham into 'thath' padhaartham that shines as

Prathyagaathma and enjoyed the brahmaanandarasa. (Imagine here Kannappa's

act of pouring the water from the mouth on to the lingam and you will

understand the sinking very well) This is madhyama theevra bhakthi.

 

Greater to this is theevra theevra bhakthi. Kannappa Naayanaar’s leela

mahima of this theevra theevra bhakthi was brought out by AachaaryaaL in the

sloka: “Maargaavarthithapaadhukaa pasupathErangasyakoorchaayathEâ€

 

Aathmaswaroopam is shining in all the three avasthaas of Jaagrath, swapnam

and sushoopthi. But when one avastha is shining others do not shine and

therefore do not exist. For example during the waking time the other two

avasthas of swapnam and sushoopthi do not exist. Therefore it becomes clear

that the avasthas are creations in aathma and not natural to aathma. In fact

the entire dwaitha prapancham is a creation in aathma, is the import of

vedhaantha. The aathmaa merely is a witness to the gross dwaitha prapancha

anubhavam, to the subtle vaasanaamaya swapna prapancha anubhavam and to the

ignorance of the sushoopathi avastha. We must know this aathma as the

Brahman.

 

Because the body made of panchabhoothas of the the world of waking state has

the characteristics of being born and dead and it cannot be considered

nithyam. Neither can indhriyas or pancha praaNaas because they are, like the

gross body, are objects of knowledge. Because mind is an instrument of

knowledge of objects, mind cannot also be considered as Aathmaa. The buddhi

as the knower of all objects also cannot be the Aathmaa because without

objects buddhi has no function. The jeeva who is a mere reflection of aathma

in the buddhi experiencing the enjoyment and sufferings cannot be Aathmaa

also for the simple reason it is only a reflection. Therefore beginning from

the vividly seen jaagrath prapancham at large to the jeeva who is a mere

reflection of aathma ending in the aanandhamaya kosa, this kootastha

chithEkarasa chaithanyam remains the witness that remains as the ‘I’ in all

the jeevaraasis from Hiranyagarbha to the amoeba, which ‘I’ is the

‘thvam’

padha lakshyaartham of the mahaavaakya ‘Thath Thvam Asi’. Kannappa Naayanaar

had lost this ‘I’ness in the paanchabhoudhika sthoola dhEham and

consequently lost the idea of ‘mine’ness too. Because of this he lost the

idea that the body is the aathma and the consequent idea that when the body

is lost the aathmaa is lost. He was merely enjoying his aathma as the

kootastha chithEkarasam. And because of this he put his left foot with the

worn out chappals on Siva’s face. Also because he had lost the

‘mama’kaaram

he took one eye off the body and put it on Siva and was ready to transfer

the next. Only to confirm to Sivakesari Munivar that Kannappa Naayanaar does

not have the ahamkaaram in his sthoola sareeram that Siva began shedding

blood from his left eye. In spite of his looks as a hunter Kannappa

Naayanaar was a Gnaani of the Akanda Satchithaanandha parabrahmaswaroopam.

‘Brahmaiva sann Brahmaiva Bhavathi’ says the Upanishads. Kannappa Naayanaar

attained Sivasaayujyam because of this. This complete loss of ahamkaaram and

mamakaaram in the devotion is called ‘Theevra Theevra Bhakthi’. He was none

other than saakshaath Mahaavishnu who in a earlier yuga did pooja to

ParamEswara with one of his eyes.

 

This is Advaitham.

 

Also the the four hills that Kannappa Naayanaar crossed to reach Sri

KaaLatheeswarar are not ordinary mountains. They are the VEdhaas with

parvatharoopam. He climbed to the top of the hill called ‘Thath Thvam Asi’

and performed his wonderous leela! This feat was best described in

Thirumandhiram as follows:

 

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Also in this slOka AachaaryaaL teaches us the antharanga raaja yogam

embedded in the Mahaavaakya " Thath Thvam Asi "

 

Anyone who sings this slOka and do namaskaaram to ParamEswara is sure to

attain Sivasaayujya padhavi.

 

Aum Namasivaaya.