Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Thus they reached heaven - mantrA 142

srigurubhyO namahA |
In the 142nd mantrA of the thirumandiram the sage speaks of the glorious state of attainment of the siva yOgi. From the first step of upadEshA or initiation to the final step of remaining immersed in the state of nAdasammiyam, the path is laid out clearly. He encourages the disciple to take up the suggested path and guarantees the supreme end.

போதந் தரும்எங்கள் புண்ணிய நந்தியைப்
போதந் தனில்வைத்துப் புண்ணியர் ஆயினார்
நாதன் நடத்தால் நயனங் களிகூர
வேதந் துதித்திடப் போயடைந்தார் விண்ணே. I.1.30.142


Who, in their minds, kept our Nandi's Holy Name,
Nandi, Wisdom's Lord,--they holy became;
As the Lord danced, they beheld Him with eyes enthralled,
While the Vedas sang in praise,
Reached Heaven's sacred shores. I.1.30.142

Com - Nandi, Wisdom's Lord, Lord siva, who is verily the form of pure consciousness, is the bestower of the greatest knowledge, Who, in their minds, kept our Nandi's Holy Name, --they holy became; And those who have filled their minds with the knowledge of this siva, are meritorious indeed. As the Lord danced, they beheld Him with eyes enthralled, These yOgIs experience endless delight through watching the supreme Dance of siva While the Vedas sang in praise, Reached Heaven's sacred shores. And they remain so engrossed in the pure space of the parAkAsha mandala, in the state of nAdasammiyam.

*This mantra is the last one of this subsection titled upadEshA. Here the sage paints a full picture of the supreme state of attainment of the siva yOgi. He reveals that those yOgis who have been guided by the upadEshA of the guru to experience the grace of siva on the crown of the head and who practise the dhyAnA of siva in the manner taught, will eventually reach to the plane of nAdasammiyam and transcending sound they will remain in the pure parAkAsha mandala or the pure ether of consciousness. These highly meritorious yOgis stay firm in that pure space, enjoying the sensation and the experience of watching the Dance of siva in the holy sabhA. Through this mantra the sage promises us, the readers, his disciples, that following his instructions properly and with faith will ensure that we too reach to that elevated plane which the siddars populate.

thirucchitrambalam |

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is your opinion on Sidhars. Are they still living with us? Read somewhere sometime that fed up with what the future holds, the sidhars themselves destroyed all their works and whatever we interpret now are works of later years.
Also, while the west can always back any claim with scientific evidence, if we are far far superior in culture, in religion, in science, then why is that we dont have any of claims backed by scientific data. This holds good for each and every claim we make about things related to our religion.

What do you say.

Trishna

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@Trishna
The title of 'siddhar' is given to those who are possesed of siddhis (supernatural powers)and it is also assigned to accomplished masters. In these modern days,it is even self assigned by some! But traditionally, there are the 18 siddars (of south India)and the 64 siddars also known as nAthAs (as they are from the nAthA tradition founded by matsyEndra nAthA)of the north. Of these many are immortal masters who have overcome the necessity for a physical death and have perfected their bodies through kAyAkalpA techniques.

So, to answer your question - in my opinion, the siddars do exist in this world and sometimes they do mingle among us. It is perhaps true that some of the siddars have expressed their disdain and even a sense of exasperation at the antics of the people who have yet to understand the essence of life. This is evident in their words and their attempts at educating the masses with regard to a higher reality.But I find it hard to believe that they would be fed up with what the future holds - as I imagine they are above such limted views and are masters at the art of 'observing' rather than fret or worry and act with limited awareness. The siddars are perfected beings and as such understand that all is the will of Siva. It is true that some the works of the siddars are lost to us forever, but it would be more likely to have been the hand of governments and societies at any given point of time which have been instrumental in this and not the siddars themselves. Their prime virtue is their compassion and it is this that has inspired all their works (yAn petra inbam peruga ivvayyagam - may the entire world share and enjoy this bliss that I have obtained).

mooligai sidhan said...

@ Trishna,
I hope that my words in the various posts in this blog have not conveyed to you the impression that we are far superior than others in culture, religion, science etc. It is not a question of which is superior or which is more ancient.I personally believe that sanAtana dharmA is precisely that - sanAtanA or eternal. It is not a religion or philosophy belonging to India. It is cosmic and it so happens that India has been the ground in which this way of life has been preserved in a more intact fashion than elsewhere in this cycle.

I respect science for what it is, but I dont know why spirituality is to be proven through science. But what I know is this - what we call science today, was called superstition and madness not so long ago! When some proclaimed that the earth was a sphere, they were killed or put in the asylum. And then the scientific proof caught up and when it was known that the earth was a sphere, it became an accepted fact.

Just like we need microscopes and other instruments to precisely measure or see something, the spiritual truths and concepts need other suitable instruments to measure or analyse. As it is a personal and an experiential field of knowledge, we need our internal instruments to be sufficiently tuned and then it is self evident. Not everything needs to be proven scientifically, but if you examine medicine,astronomy,maths,biology and many many other subjects you will find them all saying the same things that other sAstrAs and tantrAs speak about. Albeit in different terms and metaphors.

For example,our ancients named the planet jupiter 'guru'. The word 'guru' implies extreme heaviness or mass. And now with all our new technology and science our experiments reveal that jupiter is possesed of the heaviest mass in our solar system! It is up to us to see the signs and the corelations and find out for ourselves the truths that are echoed and at different times science will catch up.

Anonymous said...

i fully agree with you that just it has not proven by science, it need not be perceived as fiction. But here we are talking about history. Here we are talking about what we have to back our beliefs. Take for example Adi Sankaracharya. We still are not able to conclude the era to which he belongs. If that be the case, then how can we be sure of the authenticity of the songs ascribed to him. Now, again, when did Hinduism start moving to a formly worship. Take shiva panchakshara. Was it pre Adi Shankaracharya period or post period.
Compare this to todays western science / religion which to a large extent is able to authenticate the claims made by them backed by scientific data.

Pl be known that my intention is not to argue. Take this as a discussion only.

Are we looking too much into the past. Is it our nature, our includes tamil and india, to stake big claims to what we are not worth for?

Trishna

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

Dear Trishna,
I never assumed that you were trying to argue anything here - your comment was clear and I am delighted to hear from you.
I appreciate your point that we are not able to conclude which era Adi shankarAchAryA belongs to - and by 'we' I mean those who are trying to study this from the outside. This is not only the case with Adi shankarA but it is the same with thirumUlar, and pretty much most of our sages and seers. Not much is known about them personally, like the age in which they lived, often even their names are unknown.

Personally, I feel that this is due to the knowledge that the message is more important than the messenger. People have a tendency to focus on the surface so much so that they tend to forget what is actually important. For example, when a hand points them the moon, rather than focus their attention at the moon (which is what is being revealed here)they are more concerned about if the hand is white or black, if it is fat or thin etc and tend to forget the important thing (which is the moon).

The sages and siddars of yore were well aware of the fact that their physical bodies and identities and their lives were just a small blip in the ocean of time. They were also sufficiently divested of pride and ego etc. Thus they made sure that what they had to say was not overshadowed by their own personal story. Contrast this with the seers of the west and the modern day godmen and women of India - who are like hollywood stars! There is so much focus on 'guruji's' image and his personal story and this is often more important than the lessons they teach. They try so hard to project the image of a spiritual super star and in all the media circus forget the fact that they are trying to preach about the loss of ego and universal love!

Our ancient masters like shankarA and vyAsA and many other sages were different. Infact most of them actively tried to keep their identities and personal lives out of the picture and thus we dont have much data (as you pooint out)to scientifically prove the times they lived in etc.

As I mentioned before, the sanAtana dharmA is eternal. At different times some aspects are occluded (tirOdhAnA) and others revealed (anugrahA) and at other times different aspects are concealed or revealed. This is due to the difference in the ages and what actually is needed for the benefit of humanity and life in general. Just because something is/was not visible does not mean that it was never there - just like the mountain top being concealed by the clouds, though it is not visible, it still exists under the cloud cover. Thus, at different points in time the gods and rishis etc reveal truths and concepts that are necessary for that age. Thus siva panchAksharA has been there for eternity, never mind pre or post shankarA. The mArkandEya purAnA speaks of other manvantarAs past and cycles of creation so ancient that our science today does not even believe that humans were existing then on earth!

Western religion (any of the Abrahmic ones)are relatively recent in origin and has been growing side by side with modern science as we know it. So it is not too difficult to prove or back up some claims in the recent past. But when we speak of epochs long past when even the continents were different, it is a bit more difficult to track this through the limited science.

We are not looking too much in the past to gloat over a history we have no contribution towards. We are looking towards those truths that are constant regardless of the time (past, present, future). It so happens that our past has been more devoted to the pursuit of these subtle truths and higher sciences than today where most of us are confused as to the nature of anything at all and would gladly believe whatever we see on TV and in the media. Thus looking towards the past to search for the inspiration from the wise is not foolish or a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful explanations from you, i admit.

- the message is important, not the messenger.

--i just wanted to know if the message was the one brought by the messenger.

---About the hand pointing to the moon, i wanna be sure the thing that is pointed is indeed the moon and not a high beam car light or any other bogus light.

--But i agree 200 percent with the present day Seers. You made a mistake there calling them seers. These are nothing but business b.. if you would pardon me for the language.

And i agree with you on the point of western religion's origins.

But the only lingering doubt is, without knowing the true message, without knowing the true messenger, am i being made to go in knots by people who may have understood, may not have understood, may have got the true message, may not have got the true message...

Am just standing confused...

Trishna

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@Trishna
Thank you. One of the most amazing and really freeing (with respect to the seeker)aspects of sanAtana dharmA is that there is no ONE messenger with one message. Infact there are millions of messengers and millions of messages. These are known as 'revelations' and those revealing these are known as 'seers'.

The truth is but one; as the dEvi says in the saptasati 'EkaivAham jagatyatra dwithIyA kA mamA parA', but this one truth is echoed again and again through various metaphors to suit the different types of people and their varying spiritual maturity. And if you want to be sure that the hand is indeed pointing to the moon, then you only have to make sure you find the right hand to point!

Regarding your only lingering doubt, the trick is to find the right guru and the begin sincere practise. It is only the practise or sAdhanA that is the key to understanding the philosophy experientially and the means to know something without doubt. As you seem to know only too well, not everybody giving the impression of being the messenger is really one! So you will have to find a guru who is established in truth and then through his/her grace and guidance rid yourself of your confusion like the brilliant sunshine of the morning rids the mist that still clings on to the air.

Anonymous said...

hoo haa. A good explanation. Have a small request to make. If it is possible, can you explain in depth about Gayathri mantra. Its meanings. Its interpretations. Its practice. In your eyes.

Would be delighted.

Trishna.

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@Trishna
I will try to write a post sometime in the future on that topic. As it is a fairly mighty subject you will have to indulge me the time. Keep checking the blog and someday I might come up with the goods!