Hinduism

Selvasannithi Temple Annual Ther Festival

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

Selvasannithi Temple dedicated to Lord Muruka is situated at Thondaimmannaru in Vadamaradchy in the district of Jaffna and the chariot festival of this temple will be held on September 3rd and the water-cutting ceremony on September 4.

The Hindu temples are intended to instruct people in the art of removing the veil of attachment that covers their hearts. Thus, the renowned poet Thiagarajah cried in the temple of Thiruppathi "O! remove the veil within me, the veil of pride and hate.

Valourous youth

In fact, the worship at Selvasannithi Murukan Temple is unique. Further, the temple conducts regular poojas and the priests perform poojas covering their mouths with a cloth.

The origin of Murukan and the story of his Veneration are of great interest. Murukan as a valourous youth is said to have performed several brave deeds including the imprisonment of Brahma. God Muruka fought with Asura leader Surapadman and defeated him. Though Surapadman assumed several monstrous forms and shapes, he finally sought refuge in the form of a mango tree. Surapadman was ultimately defeated, was not slain, but was commanded to serve God Muruka in the form of a peacock and was also given a place in his Banner as a rooster cock. Thereafter the Devas were released and they celebrated the victory.

In fact, the leaf shaped spear 'Vel' is God Muruka's weapon for overcoming evil. Further, Lord Muruka in Gnanasakthi, his consorts Theivanai is Kiriyasakthi and Valli is Issasakthi. Lord Muruka's 'vel' in his hand also signifies that a man's knowledge should be sharp like that of Vel and it should not only be sharp, it should also be broad and deep. This shows that a man may be intellectually superior, but he should be very humble.

Clearly evident

It is very often said that the creator of the universe Brahma resides in the naval of Lord Vishnu similarly in the hearts of men reside the creative urge and faith. This is clearly evident from the manner the people of Jaffna pray to God Muruka at Selvasannithi Temple at Thondamanaru.

Murukan means beauty and knowledge and is often represented as the type of a perennial youth, sometimes as a Divine child and also as Arumugam.

The great scholar and patriot Sir Pannambalam Arunachalam describes that "Muruka would thus appear to be a deity who was rich with many legends and traditions, many aspects of religion and modes of worship, primitive and advanced.

Unlike any other temples in the Jaffna peninsula, one can see several Madams at this temple where Sanyasis reside and meditate. Even Hinduism considers giving 'Annadanam' also as pooja which is known as 'Maheswara pooja.

Divine power in the form of 'Murukan' conquers everyone and He is worshipped as the God of Wisdom by those who seek spiritual enlightenment.

Further, the spiritual atmosphere at Selvasannithi Temple heals physical and mental ailments of His devotees. During the 'Chariot' or 'Ther' festival a statue of Lord Muruka is decorated and illuminated and paraded along the streets followed by poojas, Bhajans and Arachanai offered by devotees.

Emblem of progress

In the tradition of the Hindu literature, the Chariot is a replica of the human body. The deity in the Sanctum or on the Chariot reminds us of the truth that the God is always in the heart of each individual.

The journey of the Chariot along the streets is an emblem of progress of life and the lesson is that throughout one's life man should control and guide the passions with the help of the soul. These passions are the driving force of life, but if unguided will lead to wreck man's life. This is the symbolic meaning of the Chariot festival.

Shaivaism in Hinduism - part 2

S. Shivapadasunderam

When it starts a wrong act as a reflex, we mend it. The mind is thus only a tool and not the agent. The agent is what our philosophy calls the soul. Mind and body are its tools.

We also see that our knowledge is very limited. There are phenomena which even the greatest scientist is still unable to explain. We are therefore not omniscient. But, when we see men possessing varying amounts of knowledge, the jungle-dweller having a drop of knowledge, and ordinary graduate a well of knowledge, a professor a sea of knowledge and a Raman an ocean of knowledge, we have a right to infer that the soul is capable of omniscience. Since men are actually not omniscient, there must be something which keeps down this omniscience. Our philosophy calls this Anava.

Impossible

The next teaching of our philosophy is regarding the Ultimate Cause of the Inanimate Universe. There was a time when atoms were regarded as the ultimate cause of the physical universe. But Siddhiar says that atoms cannot be the ultimate cause because they are themselves composed of other things. The ultimate cause must be a non-composite thing, which our philosophy calls Maya.

The soul gains full knowledge by the gradual lifting of the anavic veil. This it can do only by experience. When a soul finds itself in a situation which is altogether new, it is unable to adjust itself correctly and does wrong. It suffers in consequence and discovers some mistake in the adjustment. The next time it finds itself in a similar situation, it corrects the mistake and makes a better adjustment. But even this adjustment may not be quite correct and it suffers in consequence. It thus discovers some other mistake. This discovery of mistakes is a permanent addition to the knowledge of the soul. To put this in philosophic language, we perform acts which are called Karma, and experience the fruits of the Karma, which gives us additional knowledge. The attainment of such knowledge means slightly lifting of the anavic veil. It must be remembered that only acts which have a moral bearing are called Karma in our philosophy. Acts like solving mathematical problems and spinning cotton threat are not Karma in the Philosophic sense and are referred to in this book as actions. Secondly, the knowledge obtained by experiencing the fruits of Karma is absolute knowledge unlike knowledge obtained through the intellect, such as scientific knowledge. A man may be an ocean of scientific knowledge and yet be inferior in spiritual knowledge to an illiterate jungle-dweller.

Karma

Our experience are the result of three factors. One of these is our past Karma called prarabdha. The second is that portion of the Karma of the present birth called drishta agamya, the third is our exertion or toil. The effects of these cannot cancel one another but may counter-act one another. For example, suppose, as the result of prarabdha, my house is burning and as a result of a good drishta Karma, a large number of people may just then appear on the scene, say, from a wedding procession and put out the fire immediately. In this case the drishta Karma, counteracts prarabdha. On the other hand if the house is reduced to ashes, I can rebuild it with the money that I earned by hard labour. In symbolic language, if our experience is denoted by y, our drishta Agamya by x, our toil by z and prarabdha by c, we find that Y = x+z+c. This shows that the more drishta agamya we perform, the more we labour hard, the more pleasant will be our experience in this world.

Stimulus

Our philosophy thus gives a strong stimulus to hard work, the more pleasant will be our experience in this world. Our philosophy thus gives a strong stimulus to hard work.

Whereas, pain is the consequence of wrong Karma, pleasure is the consequence of right Karma. This is the Law of Karma. While pain gives right understanding, pleasure confirms it. These consequences of Karma do not all reach the soul immediately after it is performed. The law is administered by God, and the pain or pleasure corresponding to a Karma is given to the soul at a time when its experience will give it the maximum benefit. If it reaches the soul in the birth in which it is committed it is called dhrishtam, it in some subsequent birth it is called adhristham; and if partly in some other birth, it is called dhrishta-dhrish-tam.

Everything that we get, whether wealth or poverty, loss or gain, health or disease, is the fruit either of our action or our Karma. We cannot get anything except as the fruit of some action or Karma. People pray to God for certain things. If they ever get them, it is according to the law of Karma or as a reward for labour but not in consequence of their prayer. No one gets anything from God for mere begging.

Godliness

One of the greatest glories of Shaivaism is that it offers godliness to each and every soul without exception. Godliness cannot be attained, in a single birth. We do not know the soul though we are ourselves souls; and we know next to nothing of God. Our spiritual knowledge is thus very poor. We also know that our spiritual progress in this birth is almost negligible. It thus follows that we must take several births before we can become godly.

To summarise Shaiva philosophy: There is one God. There are many souls. Their ability to know is hindered by Anava. This hindrance is gradually removed by their performing of Karma and experiencing its fruits. The law of Karma is 'Pain is the consequence of wrong doing, and pleasure is the consequence of right doing'. Every soul without exception will ultimately attain divine bliss. This requires several births. The doctrine of rebirth is one of the characteristics of Shaiva philosophy. The anavic veil varies in hardness from soul to soul, which explains, not only inequality in the present situations of souls, but also in the time taken by them to attain divinity. Millions of souls have already attained it and millions are left who will attain it in future.

Five elements

The evolution of the soul takes place in the mere presence of God. This consists of five elements. One of these is the soul taking a body so that it may perform Karma and get rid of the anavic barrier. This element is called creation. The body that the soul takes is such as will be fit to experience that portion of its past Karma called prarabdha. The body will be maintained till the whole prarabdha is exhausted. This element is called maintenance. When prarabdha is exhausted the body is destroyed. This is called dissolution.

The weakening of the anavic grip that took place during that life is called suppression. The granting of Divine bliss on the total removal of the Anavic barrier is called liberation. God's presence in virtue of which the soul undergoes evolution is called His Shakti. That which performs the first four acts is called the Adishakti or Tirodhana (pjnuhjhd) Shakti, and that which performs the fifth act called Arul Shakti. The two Shaktis are really one but are given different names during the performance of difference acts. Anava, Maya, and Karma are called Malams or Pasams.

Another glory of Shaivaism is that it is consonant with life. We are dependent on God and therefore feel bound to obey His laws. He loves us, and we love Him, adore Him and worship Him. But, there are several religions whose philosophy and life are poles asunder.

There can be no human being who will not commit at least one sin in his lifetime. So every man is bound to feel that he will surely be sent to hell. Having been destined to go to hell, whether he commits a single sin or many sins.

Hell

He prefers to commit a sin every time it is found to be expedient. If the religion says that all those who believe in the founder of the religion will not go to hell, the believer would commit sins still more freely as he would never be sent to hell. Such a philosophy is not helpful to righteous life. Besides, he cannot be a good god who creates souls afresh and is pleased to doom most of them to eternal suffering in hell.

We shall now try to find out the elements in the concepts of God, Soul and Malam. As these are not material things, they have no form. God is an eternally knowing thing and is hence called Chit. He has therefore no need to think. He does not see things in parts as we do. He is all love and this infinite love leads the infinite souls to liberation. Since there is no one more powerful than He to produce any change in Him, He is changeless. Being changeless and being perfect, He is the highest reality and is hence called Sat.

God's law

In His presence, the soul dwindles to nothing, as the light of a glow-worm does in sunlight. The Soul is therefore said to be Asat on this account. But, as Malam is non-intelligent and inanimate, the soul is Sat compared to it and Malam is regarded as Asat. So the soul is Sat-Asat.

According to Shaiva philosophy, the whole Universe obeys God's law, and everything that takes place is in accord with it. Since God is good, His law is good and every phenomenon in the universe must be good.

There are several religions in this world, each of which is followed by a large number of people. Since it is God's law which places a person in a particular religion, that religion is the best for him for the being. If he changes his religion, the new religion is the best for him for the time being. Shaiva philosophy has therefore no regular programme for proselytism. This is another glory of Shaivaism.

Shaivaism regards the various religions as the rungs of a ladder, the topmost of which reaches the feet of God Divine bless. Says Siddhiar, a soul follows alien religions, then enters those allied to Shaivaism, plods through the path of Smritis, enters the haven of Ashrams, practises rare Tapas, learns rare Vidyas, studies the Vedas and the right kind of Puranas and realises the truths of the Upanishads. It will then reach the Saiva Disshanta. There is practises Charya, Kriya and Yoga, and attains Gnana through which it reaches the feet of Shiva.

Not productive

Another corollary of the rule of the universe by God's law is that whether in this world or elsewhere there is nothing which is not good. That is there is no evil; neither is there anywhere any suffering, usually called misery, which is not productive of good to the soul in this world or elsewhere. He is all good, all knowing, all powerful. It is therefore impossible for either evil or misery to find a place anywhere. It is out of ignorance that we regard good as evil, and a salutary life as misery. But there are religions which are based on the existence of misery, and which try to find the means of evading misery. They collapse on the discovery of the non-existence of misery.

Misery is suffering which is harmful to us. But there is no suffering which is really harmful. On the other hand, suffering is the result or wrong Karma and is a means of increasing our true knowledge and of weakening Anava. It is therefore of great value to the soul and ought to be welcomed. Secondly, it is altogether untrue that suffering is universal. With most people, life in this world is on the whole rather pleasant. Sufferings come to them only occasionally. For a few, no doubt, sufferings come to them only occasionally. A few no doubt, suffer more than others and even of these few, most people get used to it and hardly ever feel it keenly. Fortunately for us, our philosophy presents no such false conceptions and keeps us always happy.

Shaivaism is thus a bright and elevating religion. Far from being gloomy and depressing, it regards all men as good. Though they do wrong they do no evil. Wrong doing leads to painful experience which causes the attrition of Anava and corresponding spiritual advancement. Thus, even wrong doing is good, and the wrongdoer is a good man. The difference is that the wrongdoer suffers and the rightdoer is happy. A child must write the letter 'a' several times wrongly, before it can write it correctly. One must sink several times before one becomes a swimmer.

Transcendence

The Shaiva religion begins where all other religions end. To enter the Shaiva religion, one must possess ethical transcendence, Anavic decadence, and spiritual illumination. He must have been a master of righteousness, which as become a second nature in him. As a concomitant of this mastery, his Anava must have become fairly impotent. He sees God as the only reality which concerns him and ignores other souls. By ignoring them, he gives up all thoughts of service or disservice to them. At a much earlier stage; he gave up disservice to them, now he gives up service also. This is called ethical transcendence. Actually, he does not give up service to other souls. He renders them service as service to them. Since God protects these other souls, he regards serving them as serving God.

Identity

Ethical transcendence and anavic decadence are attended by special spiritual illumination. This qualifies him for entry into Shaivaism. He gains admission to it by receiving Samaya Dheeksha. This section of Shaivaism is called charya. Here he renders bodily service in temples and performs pooja to one of the morphous images of Shiva. This service gives him further spiritual illumination and qualifies him for Visesha Dheeksha which places him in the Kriya section and then in the Yoga section.

These lead him to abundance of spiritual illumination, in which he sees the shadow of an identity of himself with God. Service to God is inconsistent with a feeling of identity with him. He therefore gives up service to Him. This is called religious transcendence, because he regards serving God to be no better than not serving Him. He then gets the last Deeksha the Nirvana Dheeksha, and enters the final section of shaivaism, called Gnanam. Here he gets complete deliverance from Anava, gets full spiritual illumination and becomes one with God. To be continued

Late Sri Lal Sri S. Shivapadasunderam was born in a family of Tamil, sanskrit, and Shaiva scholars at Puloly, Vadamarachchi.

Vavuniya Vel ceremony

The Vavuniya Kovilkulam Sivan Temple Vel cart parading the streets during the annual festival which held recently. Picture by T. Vivekarasa, Vavuniya Special Corr.