The Nayanars' Message For Us

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Sivaya Dear Siva Baktas, How shall we understand the wonderful spirit of renunciation that characterised the lives of many royal Nayanars, if we regard them as weaklings? They had understood the true nature of the world, and wanted only God. As the stories of the Nayanars illustrate, the devotee is ever ready to renounce all, in favour of devotion to Lord Siva. Chandesvara Nayanar, in his

complete absorption in His worship, could inflict a mortal blow on his own father: but, that was because he saw not his father, but an obstacle to Siva Puja. When Arivattaya Nayanar found, for instance, that his weak body was getting unfit to carry on His worship, he was ready to cut his own throat. If Murkha Nayanar chose to gamble and even resort to violence to carry out his vow of feeding Siva Baktas. Kannappa Nayanar would pull out his own eyes to serve the Lord! This great truth has been beautifully brought out again and again in these lives—love of God completely removes the devotee’s attachment to his own body and the world. Who could even approach Siruthondar’s breath-taking devotion to the Lord and His devotees?

The holy scripture Periya Purana (Periya – means Highest) was sang by none other than Sundaramurthi Nayanar who was none other than the most closest servant of Siva in Kailash. As per my previous postings on the short live of Sundaramurthi Nayanar who lived for just 18 years on Earth and at his age of 16, Lord Siva reminded that Sundara’s purpose of descendent on earth for the sole purpose of singing the glory of Great Siva Baktas for the benefit of other souls who want to reach Him. The first line of the song was given by none other than Lord Siva which states, “I am the Servant of my TRUE devotees.” Sundara sang the glory of 62 devotees and his name was added later by another divine devotee and in total there are 63 devotees live story contain in Periya

Purana, these noble devotees are known as Nayanars. All of these noble devotees who lived during Sundara’s stay on earth: 8th century and also before his time. Nayanars are extra ordinary because by their great devotion to Lord Siva, they were able to go beyond the illusionary boundaries (feelings, sentiments, family bondage, lust, greed, etc) and attained the Feet of the Lord. The name Periya (means the Highest) Purana was given by Lord Siva because He regards live stories of His devotees are greater than His own, in other wards Lord Siva regards His true devotees as higher than Himself. It is essential that, in our study of these great lives, we take them as a whole: the sixty-three blending into one marvellous scripture on devotion. Else, it might lead to perversion. Perversion in

spiritual path can be quite disastrous. A man who would catch fish in the Ganges, cut it and eat it, quoting (as a devil would) from the Gita: ‘Weapon cannot cut the Atma, which is immortal.’ The perverse intellect reads in the Gita, a sanction for the use of violence. Stories in which there is seeming use of violence by the Nayanars have to be read with this caution: we have to take them as allegories exhorting us to rout out the inner obstacles to our Sadhana, ruthlessly. The Key message we need to derive from their live stories is that the one and only way to attain Siva’s Feet is by TOTAL SELF-SURRENDER. Lord Siva is fond of testing His devotees. Siva even put Maha Vishnu under a test; Sri Hari (Maha Vishnu) used to worship Siva daily with a thousand lotuses. One day one lotus was hidden by Siva. He plucked out His own eye to make the number of a thousand. Siva gave Vishnu the Sudarsana Chakra or discus, being very much pleased with His devotion. It is this Sudarsana Chakra which Vishnu always bears. This discus is itself an embodiment of devotion. Tamil Saivites call Lord Krishna as Kannan because He once offered one of His eyes to Siva Puja. Sri Arjuna is also known by the name Kannappa because once he offered one of his eyes to stop the bleeding from a Siva Linga in a forest and was ready to pluck his next eye when he was stopped and blessed by Lord

Siva. I have already made a posting on wonderful devotion of Kannappa Nayanar. If we approach these saints with faith and devotion in our hearts, we shall grasp the message they have for us. We shall also understand why they gave such a great place to externals like the sacred ash, Rudraksha, etc. These symbols remind one constantly of God: and, when they are said to remove our sins, they remove our sinful tendencies, too, by constantly reminding us of God, and keeping evil out of our mind. Sivaya Namah

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[Guest guest]

, Selvaratnam Selvakumar

<selvauk wrote:

 

>

> Lord Siva is fond of testing His devotees. Siva even put Maha

Vishnu under a test; Sri Hari (Maha Vishnu) used to worship Siva

daily with a thousand lotuses. One day one lotus was hidden by Siva.

He plucked out His own eye to make the number of a thousand. Siva

gave Vishnu the Sudarsana Chakra or discus, being very much pleased

with His devotion. It is this Sudarsana Chakra which Vishnu always

bears. This discus is itself an embodiment of devotion. Tamil

Saivites call Lord Krishna as Kannan because He once offered one of

His eyes to Siva Puja. Sri Arjuna is also known by the name Kannappa

because once he offered one of his eyes to stop the bleeding from a

Siva Linga in a forest and was ready to pluck his next eye when he

was stopped and blessed by Lord Siva. I have already made a posting

on wonderful devotion of Kannappa Nayanar.

 

That sounds familiar. Didn't Lord Rama offer one of His eyes to

Goddess Durga, during a puja?

 

Blessings,

Stephen