Siva Ratri

[Guest guest]

Do Vaishnav's Celabrate it?

[Guest guest]

http://isdl.org/festivals-shivratri.html

[Guest guest]

Maha Shiva Ratri

 

BY CARU DAS

 

CALENDAR, Mar 2 (VNN) — Sunday March 2, 5 PM

 

Shiva Ratri will be celebrated in the Krishna temple at Spanish Fork with storytelling, a sacred bathing ceremony of Lord Shiva, the chanting of Lord Shiva's 108 names, music, dance, and feasting. Additionally, devotee actors have prepared a comedy entitled The Cobbler & the Brahmin.

 

Shiva Ratri is one of the most auspicious of days in the Hindu calendar. It means literally the night of Lord Shiva. In the Hindu pantheon, Lord Shiva is the Destroyer of Evil. He keeps the forces of darkness and destruction in check until it's time for the annihilation of the universe.

 

The Puranas (ancient scriptures in story form) explain the significance of this festival. Once when everything in all the worlds was reduced to darkness, the goddess Parvati worshipped Lord Shiva with great devotion.

 

The Lord was pleased by Her prayers and granted her a boon. She asked that in future whoever worships the Lord on the Shiva Ratri day with devotion, they should be blessed and given ultimate salvation.

 

The Puranas also narrate another incident. The gods argued between themselves as to "who is the greatest". Lord Shiva appeared before them as an unlimited pillar of fire, of which no one could find the beginning or the end.

 

They realized the greatness of Shiva and worshipped the Shiva lingam which is the form of the flame.

 

There are many incidents told about the greatness of this day. Once a hunter in a jungle was chased up a tree by a tiger. The tree was a bilva tree, special to Lord Shiva.

 

The tiger sat under the tree waiting for him to come down. The hunter to stay awake was plucking the leaves and dropping them on the ground, where there happened to be a mound of earth in the crude form of Lord Shiva.

 

The whole night (which happened to be Shiva Ratri night) went on like this. Lord Shiva was pleased by the fasting and worshipping of the hunter even though it was unconscious. Both the hunter and the tiger were awarded moksha, liberation.

 

Guests are invited, if possible, to bring some vegetarian preparation to augment the feast, or fruits or a flower. Admission is free, and to help the temple construction, there will be a modest suggested donation for the feast.

 

Krishna Temple/ 8628 S Main St./ Spanish Fork, Utah / 798-3559/787-1510/ www.iskcon.net/utah

[anveshan]

Venturing upon the great political rival of the 'Vaishnavites'.....

 

Shiva was the oldest of the deities Indians worshipped.

 

The fourteenth day of every month, which is the darkest night, is Shiva Ratri. Most powerful of all the 12 such shivaratries is the Maha Shivrati. It is said on this day there is natural upsurge of energy in the human system, which enhances one's benefit of saadhna. On this day the planetary positions and it is easy for the saadhakas to move the upsurge of energy upwards.

 

To help this, one should wake up throughout the night, and keep the spine vertical.

 

Concentrate on that third eye, of the Pure Consciousness, and recite the panchakshara mantram......

 

..yajnaswaroopaya jatadharaaya

pinakahastaya sanatanaya

divyaaya devaya digambaraya

tasmii 'ya'karaya namah: shivaaya:

[Guest guest]

 

Shiva was the oldest of the deities Indians worshipped.

 

 

Shiva - the Oldest God in the World

http://www.gunn.co.nz/anand/hinduism/shiva.html

 

Lord Shiva - The Dancer Who Recreates

http://www.indiaprofile.com/religion-culture/shiva.htm

 

Legends of Shivratri

http://www.123mahashivratri.com/

[Vaishnava_das108]

 

Shiva - the Oldest God in the World

 

 

 

anadir adir govindah; sarva karana-karanam.

[Guest guest]

shiva lingam is a symbolic representation of the unlimited tube of fire whose ends couldn't be observed by brahma and vishnu. It showed the greatness of lord shiva.

[Guest guest]

I love Arunachala ....

 

http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/mountain.html

[Guest guest]

another site on the glories Arunachala

 

http://www.omarunachala.com/

[Guest guest]

Caitanya and Brahma-samhita

 

[Vaishnava_das108]

This story is to be found in a Shaivite Purana, probably Shiva or Linga Purana.

 

It is not a satvic purana, rather a rajasic or tamasic one.

[Vaishnava_das108]

The link doesn't work.

[Guest guest]

Shiva devotees celebrating Shiva Ratri ..

Hara Hara Mahadeva

[Guest guest]

Readers interested in Shaivism can refer to authoritative link shown below .. - no speculations Shiva or Linga Purana

 

 

http://www.gurudeva.org/index.shtml

[Vaishnava_das108]

 

shiva lingam is a symbolic representation of the unlimited tube of fire whose ends couldn't be observed by brahma and vishnu. It showed the greatness of lord shiva.

 

 

[Crossposted from Dvaita List]

 

nR^isimho.akhilA~jnAnamatadhvAntadivAkaraH |

jayatyamitasajj~nAnasukhashaktipayonidhiH ||

 

shrI laxmIhayagrIvAya namaH

shrImadAnandatIrthabhagavatpAdAchArya gurubhyo namaH

shrI jayatIrthagurubhyo namaH

shrI vyAsatIrthagurubhyo namaH

shrI vijayIndratIrthagurubhyo namaH

 

Vishnu-sarvottamatva is one of the primary tenets of our philosophy. It is well known that our doctrine came to be attacked by other schools, around the time of Sri Vadiraja tirtha, Sri Vijayindra tirtha. Dr.BNK Sharma writes

highly of Sri Vijayindra tirtha's efforts in repelling those criticisms. Sri Vijayindra is said to have written 104 works, of which very few are available. His scholarship and the importance of such works can be

estimated by the fact that the Raghavendra Vijaya enjoins that only he, who has studied all works of Sri Vijayindra, be considered a paNDita.

 

I am going to briefly present here, Sri Vijayindra's replies to certain charges on 'Vishnu sarvottamatva'. The standard disclaimer about my lack of complete understanding applies with full force. What follows is only a pointer and should not be taken as representative of the original. These replies are contained in a book called 'nyAyamauktikamAlA'; the section called 'shaiva-sarvasva-khaNDanaM'. This section was published in 1983

along with 'sarva-siddhAnta-sAra-asAra-vivechanaM' by 'Brindavanam Office, Mantralayam'. A Kannada translation by Dr.Parthasarathy R Panchamukhi is also available.

 

The book starts with mentioning 11 anecdotes from the purANAs and general mythology (i.e., general impression, unsupported by Puranas) that contradict the idea of Vishnu sarvottamatva. There will be a series of postings covering all the eleven. Hereby are presented 2 anecdotes (the book

does not have them in the same order).

 

Q1. In a competition between Brahma and Vishnu, they take the forms of hamsa and varAha respectively, to find out the tip and bottom of the shiva linga; Vishnu's not finding it out is an indication of Shiva's supremacy.

 

Q2. Vishnu seeks Shiva's blessings to slay the demon, 'jalandhara'. With that purpose, he worships Shiva with thousand lotus petals every day. One day Shiva, to test Vishnu, hides a petal. To make up for that, Vishnu

takes out an eye of his. Pleased with that, Shiva grants him the sudarshana chakra. This also explains the reason for Vishnu's name being 'puNDarIkAksha'.

 

[Ambhrani sukta and other R^iks establish Vishnu's supremacy over everybody else; with that perspective these purANic anecdotes can be rejected as a 'mohanArthaka'. With that idea, Sri Vijayindra considers them and says]

 

A1. That is false. That anecdote can be disregarded because it contradicts Vishnu's sarvottamatva, which is known from sAttvika purANas. In any case, this anecdote appears in kUrma and linga purANas. That these two are

tAmasic is well known. It is also that it is contradicted by scriptures such as, 'uddhR^itAsi varAheNa kR^iShNena shatabAhunA' , 'Apo vA idamagre salilamAsIt.h tasminprajApatirvAyurbhUtvA imAM apashyat.h'. The first one

refers to the support of the entire life, i.e., earth or prakR^iti as being lifted by Vishnu. It cannot be said that whatever was lifted by Vishnu is not the liN^ga; for, there is no pramANa that the shivalinga is aprAkrita (not made of prakriti elements), or that there is no limit to the shivaliN^ga. It cannot be objected that there might be limits to the shivalinga's dimensions, but Vishnu is not aware of it. Such a contention will contradict (in addition to the second pramANa quoted above) Vishnu's

unparalled omniscience and powers established in this shruti: vichitrashaktiH puruShaH purANo na chAnyeShAM shaktyastAdR^ishAssyuH'.

 

A2. That Vishnu obtained sudarshana chakra from Shiva is contradicted by the shruti: charaNaM pavitraM (See P.S), that talks of Vishnu possessing the sudarshana always (charaNaM pavitraM vitataM _purANaM_). Even the idea of

Vishnu getting the appellation of 'puNDarIkAxa' is contradicted by the Chandogya statement: tasya yathA kapyAsaM puNDarIkamevAxiNI tasyoditi nAma sa eva sarvebhyaH pApmabhya uditaH. Here, it is only the form of Lord (bhagavadvigraha) that is considered 'aprAkrita' and it being beginningless and endless is mentioned. Due to these contradictions, the purANa statements can be rejected. Such anti-vedic ideas, generally found in tAmasic purANas, are also found in sAttvika purANas like varAha purANa, pUrva-khaNDa. In case of purANAs like the padmapurANa, there are three parts: sAttvika, rAjasa and tAmasa. Likewise, here too, it must be understood that the

pUrva-khaNDa of varAhapurANa is tAmasic and therefore, not to be taken seriously.

 

P.S:

This is from Mahanarayana Upanishad. I was quite perplexed that the word 'charaNaM' denotes 'sudarshana'. Answer was in Sri Dhirendra tirtha's commentary on the Mahanarayana Upanishad. Under the pertinent verse of Mahanarayana Upanishad, he writes: snAnAntaraM mudrAdhAraNamAha |

charaNaM iti | yatpavitraM pAvitryakAri vitataM bhakteShu dhAraNAdinA vyAptaM purANaM purAtanaM yachcharaNaM chakraM pavitram.h | 'charaNaM chakraM rathanemiH sudarshanaM cheti paryAyavAchakA hyete chakrasya paramAtmanaH'

iti vedanighaNTau | Thus, he quotes the Vedanighantu to support the meaning of charaNaM as chakraM.

 

There is a sub-commentary by Satara Raghavendracharya. He quotes padma purANa, uttara-khaNDa and writes 'charaNaM pApabhakshakaM pApanAshakaM pavitraM chakram.h | padmottarakhaNDe tathokteH |

[anveshan]

"Roopam roopavarjitasya bhavato` dhyanena yatkaplpitam

Stutyanirvachaneeyatam akhila guro` dooreekruta yanmanya.

Vyaptitvancha nirakrutam bhagavato` yatterthayatradina

Kshandavyam jagadeesha doshatrayam matkrutam"

 

Lord, in my meditation, I have attributed forms to Thee who is Formless. O You, the Teacher of the world by my hymns, as it were, contradicted Thee- for Thou art Indescribable. By going on pilgrimages I have, as it were, denied Thy Omnipresence. O, Lord of the Universe, pray, forgive me these three-fold faults committed by me"

[Vaishnava_das108]

What does this prove?

[Guest guest]

It prooves the ingnorance. Remember that both are one and the same. As creator, Rajas has to predominate, as perserver, sattvas has to predominate and as destroyer tamas. They are all one and the same and there is nothing gained by lowering others. Only those who realize this have realized the Absolut e

[Guest guest]

well now, the endless arguement over supremacy once again, this is the most important part of our Hindu culture and tradition, to understand the Supreme the way it was in ancient times before various spiritual leaders went their own way and altered divinity a bit.

 

first of all lets look at what the Vedas say to us, as those come from the mind of the Supreme Brahman. We know at this point that Brahman according to Vedas is beyond the limits of form and attributes, why? because the Supreme is even greater than infinity! Supreme Bliss at its Greatest Level, and even Higher than that!

 

Vishnu is among the many gods praised to in the Vedas, and special attention refers him to his incarnation as the Dwarf "where he takes long strides," so we know this story then to be true, thus his incarnations and stories in the puranas are valid. But in the Vedas here he is not taken as the Supreme, but one of the many higher deities alongside Indra. Vedas also declare him being one of the Adityas "children of Mother Aditi," which is another name for Shakti, Mother of the universe.

 

 

there is a few mentions of Brahma in the Vedas, appearing to be created near the beginning before the worlds were formed, and in the Puranas we learn more that Brahma formed out of the mind of Vishnu and sprung from a sacred lotus.

 

now lets take our attention to Rudra in the Vedas. of course we know from our sacred texts that Rudra is the popular form of lord Shiva, and the part of the Hindu trinity that is destroyer of evil and ignorance, bringer of liberation. From Shiva mahapurana we find the eternal source of where this Rudra came from. no other puranas state the foundations of why Rudra was born to Brahma from Vishnu, only to have Supremacy over both? only because wanted a Son, allthough why do both bow down to the blissful Shiva when in danger of demons if they are Supreme over their own son/grandson?

 

it is known by the truelly graceful wise sages that Rudra is the form of the Supreme Formless Brahman in Shiva Purana, the Para Shiva it is called, the omnipresent Divine Consciousness encompassing all, fully blissful and compassionate to all beings, He is known as Pashupati (another name for the Brahman in the Vedas remember?) or in other words the Soul of all souls. Everything is a manifestation of that divine Shiva Mind, though our conscious minds are altered and different, though still eternally One.

 

Shiva became Rudra to rule the kingship of Destruction among the high gods, Vishnu and Brahma are also supreme gods allthough secondary, they both bow down to lord Rudra, who appears to be like them, though not all know His true nature. the Supreme Para Shiva enacts in the Five deeds of Creation, Sustainance, Maya or Illusion, Liberation, and Destruction. In the form of Shiva Lingam he created an endless ring of fire in which both Brahma and Vishnu were unable to encompass. Shiva then appeared to them as Sada Shiva, Supreme Lord, Dancer of Life and Death, and at once Vishnu bowed down first, and became almost equal to Shiva, and was always going to be praised with almost equal status from then on and would always be worshiped. (that is why we have vaisnavas and vaisnavism which is not a bad thing of course).

 

Brahma on the other hand committed great sin by buffering over his supremacy as he lied to Vishnu, stating he found the ending of the Fire Ring. Brahma was cursed never to be worshiped so strongly, though Shiva later forgave and blessed him for surrendering to His lotus feet.

 

of course i am a Shaiva Siddhanta devotee, i believe very strongly in my lord who has showed me the greatest wonders, i desire to provide everyone with the knowledge and wisdom to explore the path of Devotional Shaivism, as opposed to Kashmir Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Vedanta. if any more are interested or like to know more i'll be right here to help, if not may your path ever guide you to your destination, my blessings to Vishnu and all his sacred devotees, the lord will definately guide you home,

 

~Aum Namah Shivaya~

[Guest guest]

Sri Vakrathunda mahaakaaya kotisuryasamaprabha

nirvighnam kurume deva subhakaryeshu sarvadaa

 

Aum Namah Shivaya (Mukund priya )

 

I dont think you have much joy here most off them are Krishna Bhakta fixed in their view.

 

Jai Shree Krishna

[Pankaja_Dasa]

HK

 

Just as a devotee can't live without Krishna, so Krishna can't live without His devotee...Krishna will be very pleased with you (what to say of Lord Siva!) if you worship Lord Siva as the greatest pure Vaisnava....Haribol!

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sri Vakrathunda mahaakaaya kotisuryasamaprabha

nirvighnam kurume deva subhakaryeshu sarvadaa

 

Aum namah shivaya

 

Nice to here from a Lord Shiva devotee

If you are a bhakta and you do not want to merge with the lord and become one with him than I would be most interested to hear from you

I am aspiring to be Krishna bhakta but I always loved Lord Shiva. I do not see any difference in them. They both have declared in the shastra to be one.

My dilemma is like a child who is asked to choose between parents, I love them both.

 

Jai Shree Krishna

 

[Guest guest]

""Just as a devotee can't live without Krishna, so Krishna can't live without His devotee...Krishna will be very pleased with you (what to say of Lord Siva!) if you worship Lord Siva as the greatest pure Vaisnava....Haribol!""

my friend lord shambu u are kinda misguided here, not to sound arrogant but we must understand that Vaishnavism and Shaivism are two separate religious cultures. what to speak of Shaktism and Smartism and others? i'm not trying to say who's right here but we all need to understand each other to learn about each other's differences, we cant just come to one another and say things like Krishna is higher because it says so in Gita, or Shiva is higher because it says so in Shiva Purana. In my observations Most Vaishnavas dont research the devotional side to Shaiva history and kinda just dismiss it or never realize its even there, since most of the times you here about Shaivism, probably has to do with some Advaitic school, and the other sadly gets left behind and forgotten. but i know many Shaivas like myself who research Vaishnava and Hindu culture history besides our own, since its popular around the world. We must each to ourselves study our sages and saints, and our holy texts and personally make the spiritual choice of who we believe/know to be the Supreme and how we perceive God and the universe. Hinduism is like no other religion in the world with all this full knowledge, wisdom, and beauty, we are basking in divine love every moment of our lives as we seek and search to be united with unconditional Love which is our Creator in every way, keep searching if u are confused and never give up, the more u seek, the more u wise u become, and the path unfolds itself to you. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

(please note i'm not talking about advaitic schools of thought like Kashmir and Vira Shaivism or anything that has to do with Shankara's philosophy, i will be talking about Tamil Shaivism, or Devotional Shaivism, u will discover its not unlike Vaishnavism but there are significant differences i will point out below)

We both have different tenants, saints, and belief systems we adhere to that were brought up separately from each other. some of the most noted are:

1. Concerning the Supreme Deity of the Vedas (which should be our founding texts to determine the truth of later texts and beliefs such as puranas, saints, etc...)

a. Vaishnavas hold that Vishnu is the supreme deity mentioned in the Vedas, and that most of the devas as a whole are really praising Vishnu. Vishnu (Krishna for the gaudiyas) is held as a Supreme Personal Form of innumerable divine qualities, that are infinite and He is ever blissful, the gaudiyas explain His omnipresence by stating Vishnu incarnates in the whole world in every heart and soul and controls the universe with His divine energies, most earlier Vaishnava schools of thought state that it is by His energies that is the reason Upanishads declare the oneness of reality, that is because Vishnu's energy upholds and sustains us and is the very fabric of our being......"qualitive oneness" or Vashishtadvaita held by the Sri Vaishnavas. These devotees also place Sri Lakshmi in equal place beside the God, stating their truelly One.

b. Devotional Shaivas on the other hand hold that Shiva is the supreme deity mentioned in the Vedas, and that most of the devas as a whole are really praising Shiva. Shiva is held as the Supreme Formless Cosmic Mind that is beyond form and gender, who is ever blissful and beyond all qualities and attributes, Shiva is the eternal Spirit of Divine Bliss, which is Pure Consciousness, yet for the benefit of the whole universe He appeared in different forms as the embodyments of the Formless God, like lord Rudra, the divine Himalayan Sage complete with the most wonderful stories and pasttimes all for protecting his devotees. Shiva is Omnipresent everywhere, not just His energies, but the very fabric of His being we can feel through our love for Him. Shiva is Nataraj, the Lord of the Dance (*note how the horned god of the pagans is portrayed very similar), who dances the whole universe into existence, sustains, mystifies, liberates, and destroys at the end of Time, showing Time itself shall be devoured and a new age of light shall manifest once again. Our philosophy is also similar to "qualitive oneness," and we call it Shuddadvaita, the only difference is we uphold the great cosmic Shiva is everywhere formless and beyond form, whereas the Vaishnavas believed God has a supreme form as Vishnu. But is not form itself limiting? what to speak of the omnipresence, is not the Cosmic Mind beyond even innumerable attributes? we see Shiva as even beyond what we call infinity and eternal, even those are qualifications, Shiva is beyond even that for He created everything that is eternal and holy! Shakti is the great mother and formed from Shiva's mind as energy's embodiment, full with life and love for her Lord, they are truelly One yet lovers. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

 

---

 

 

 

""Nice to here from a Lord Shiva devotee

If you are a bhakta and you do not want to merge with the lord and become one with him than I would be most interested to hear from you

I am aspiring to be Krishna bhakta but I always loved Lord Shiva. I do not see any difference in them. They both have declared in the shastra to be one.

My dilemma is like a child who is asked to choose between parents, I love them both.""

 

 

ty my friend, yes i am Shaiva Bhakta who does not believe in merging with the Supreme during liberation, but residing and serving our lord and lady (parvati, beautiful daughter of the Himalayas) forever. and we do exist with a wonderful culture especially in and around Tamil Nadu, our philosophy and tradition is called Shaiva Siddhanta and Shuddha-dvaita. This prominent Tamil based Shaivism was much like the Alvar version of Vaishnavism before the coming of Ramanuja, Madhva, and Chaitanya who systemized their versions of Vaishnavism more according to Vedic rites.

 

we are all here familiar with the Alvar saints right? they were some of the earliest accounts of vaishnavism around the time of the christ in israel, and they did so lovely, some of them not even caring about ascetism because in my tradition of Shiva the Lord grants salvation to anyone who loves him ascetic or not, however in early vaishnavism there were signs of it being important in order to shy away from worldy/mundane things, to more clairvoyantly know and love God without any taint on the devotees part such as forgetting, or loving something more than God, thus it would ruin the path to uniting with Brahman.

 

Devotional Shaivism actually came before even these Alvars, it was prominent even in Buddha's time, and there was not much mention of Vishnu worship during that time. Similar to the 12 Alvars, Shaiva Siddhanta attributes the 63 Nyanmars, the great saints of Shiva who sang beautiful hymns and performed the most amazing miracles, among the 63, 3 of them are most noted here and their names were Sambandar, Appar, and Sundhara. Sambandar and Appar especially i will deal with here because they are just so important to this great movement as a whole.

 

but once again as above i would like to reply to lord shambu who nicely told me that i serve Vishnu's mahabhakta and i will be blessed in that way. your understanding of the divine is primarily related to Vaishnavite literature, and thereby you interpret it to be this way from the saints that have foretold before. I dont want to be negative or argue, as i think discussion on our various hindu traditions are very good and pleasing, its good for our souls to bask in divine knowledge and learn more about our culture in all its forms.

 

You see i just see it the opposite, that Vishnu is mahabhakta to lord Shiva and of course will be pleased to ascend your spirit to Vaikuntha in all its glories, in fact, Shiva places the avatar of Krishna in the greatest importance over all the other deities and is closest to the spiritual abode of Kailash than any other, which is very interesting, because of the Chaitanya and hare krishna movement glorifying Krishna, as Shiva had stated this would happen to glorify his most beloved Son.

 

Vishnu's origins according to Shaiva texts is an important one to state here because this is the basis for the whole Shiva Mahapurana to understand this great deity known as Vishnu. Vishnu was the first born of all creation, the beloved Son whom was formed as baby Vishnu by both Shiva and Shakti, and who went on to become the great protector of the universe, he is even greater than Brahma who created much of the material worlds, thus he is the mahabhakta in all its glories.

 

Vishnu is leader of the devas, thus he is called mahavishnu, the great Vishnu who resides at the end of the universe Vaikuntha and nurtures the worlds.

 

when Appar (600ad around this time or earlier) came to the scene, he was at first a practicing Jain and rejected the Vedas and God for the most part of his early life, however his sister was a Shaiva saint, one of the first Nyanmars to be exact and prayed for her younger brother and took care of him wholeheartedly when their parents died.

 

He was granted to become one of the greatest saints whoever lived in a very short while, one day his stomach started burning, more intense as time went by to the point where he couldnt move and needed help, the jains could do nothing to help him no matter how much they tried, no secret mantra, spell, or healing helped so he asked for his sister to come before he died and see him. When his sister arrived she knew this was a most auspicuous chance for her brother to receive a great miracle from her Lord. She started chanting Aum Namah Shivaya, the most holy mantra in which the mere utterance grants liberation eternally, and the pain not only went away, Appar finally got up and cried his heart out to his sister, and saying "it was by the Lord's grace from your earnest requests today my stomach had burned, and now i am basking in the most wonderful love of Shiva.

 

The Jains were very displeased, jealous, and angry, they would always mock and threaten Appar afterwords throughout his life. From then on Appar could see and hear the voice of the Lord, who's mere name he called upon to perform divine miracles most excellent as no one has ever seen before.

 

The most famous occasion was when he became imprisoned by a powerful Jain King, various tortures were put upon Appar such as feeding him poison, the stomping of elaphants upon his body, drounding in water, and even being burned in the fires of ovens. However they were astonished to see Appar had received no harm as he quietly chanted the holy mantra and meditated on the great Shiva in his heart. finally when he came out of that burning oven, all the jains who saw this marval lamented and the king was crying his eyes out for forgiveness, that wonderful saint appar converted them to the worship of lord Shiva that day and they went on to become his disciples, their lives turned completely around as holy saints! This was such a most glorious story with a most glorious saint who will be forever praised in all his glories for revitalizing Shaiva Siddhanta to the whole world.

 

The next most famous saint was the beloved young Sambandar, the Child of God. So amazing was this saint that the mere words he speaks will bring tears to any shaiva devotee. he lived around the same time period as Appar, they also met and became great friends, (*note how could they both be practicing the same philosophy in separate lives?). While a small child Sambandar's father took him to the river ganges, so he could bathe while the child played on the ground to watch, while the father was busy bathing and talking to friends the Lord Shiva and Shakti appeared atop Nandi the sacred bull gliding across the Ganges and they saw that crying baby who wanted his father to pick him up, only to receive the blessings of the Father and Mother of All!!! That great Lord saw that tiny baby crying and asked Parvati to offer the child her breast milk. She offered to him in a beautiful golden cup and blessed the baby that he shall become Shiva's great saint to come. When the father came back to see Sambandar, he became bewildered as to where the cup had come from and asked about it. The baby instantly talked and said all that had happened, and cried with great joy, even chanting to his own father the glories of the lord Shiva to which the father was so utterly amazed he bowed down himself!

 

Sambandar would grow to perform so many divine miracles the whole place of Tamil Nadu was astonished and praised him. Jain opposition was always threatening these great saints. One day Sambandar came across a depressed man who lost his daughter to some fatal disease and holding her urn of ashes. Sambandar told the man not to worry and uttered divine praises to Shiva, instantly the girl's ashes spread out like beautiful flashes of light and instantly there she appeared, and was all brand new, her life had been brought back from the very grave of death itself!!!! that had always been one of the most miraculous stories i've ever heard, and such a wonderful way to gain faith back that was lost before.

 

When it was time to leave the world, Sambandar, Appar, and many of the divine saints who tread all over India came with their families and loved ones, all to witness the very last moments they had with their sages. Those final moments will never again be forgotten as thousands of people were there to witness this marvel. The whole sky lit up, divine light spread in all directions, there were Vishnu, Lakshmi, Indra, Brahma, and all the deities of the heavens blessing that very land, and Shiva and Shakti then appeared with the abode of Kailash, telling the saints, its time to come home......all those who were summoned to leave this world entered into that most glorious abode and merged into the light of God, the saints and their loved ones.........

 

So now i've pretty much stated a nice summary of my saints and their lives, and my next post i will state deeper the practices and beliefs of my tradition. for all who have chanted that holy mantra Aum Namah Shivaya and were blessed in that great trance state, and saw in their heart all the pasttimes of lord Shiva from the time He saved the world from poison to the time He blessed lord Rama with the gift of killing Ravanna, there's nothing to ever describe the beauty of that Lord dwelling in your heart. truelly our philosophy states this life is a blessing when its with the Lord, do not be afraid of desires! they are a gift and shall not ever affect you! Love and Shiva, they are One, that was Sambandar's great teaching /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Guest guest]

 

RE

So now i've pretty much stated a nice summary of my saints and their lives, and my next post i will state deeper the practices and beliefs of my tradition.

 

I am eagerly waiting to hear more on Lord Shiva.It will be nice if the two tradition can come together and respect each other.if we can respect other religion and fight amongst ourself make no sense at all.

 

Respect

 

Aum Namah Shivaya

 

Jai Shree Krishna

 

[Guest guest]

hara hara mahadeva