I have written quite a few posts describing the approach Of Hinduism towards God.
God as The Reality, on the one hand is treated as A principle without Attributes, on the other it reveals God is closer to Man if one approaches Him with Devotion,Love.
Lord Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita that He would appear to the Devotee in the Form He wishes and prays and Grant him His wishes in the Form of the God He worships.
And in the Path of Devotion in Hinduism, God , can and was approached in the Form of a Relative,
Mother,Father,Son,Child,Friend……..in as many as forms as there are relationships.
God has also been approached as a Lover!
And He responded!
There is yet another instance that many, who do not know Tamil, may be unaware of.
That Sundarar, a Devotee of Lord Shiva, asked the Lord to go and mediate on behalf him to his paramour!
And The Lord obliged!
Shiva had earlier stopped Sunadarar’s marriage claiming that Sundara was Shiva’s Slave, as per the document executed by Sundarar’s ancestor and Shiva had documents to support it!
And in a Court, Panchayat, Shiva proved it.
During the course of the altercation on this issue, Sundara called Shiva as a Lunatic.Pitha(Tamil)
Later when Shiva asked Sundarar to compose Hymns on Him(after Sundarar realized the Man who visited him was none other than Shiva), Sundarar was at a loss and asked the Lord ‘
‘How can I sing on You, The Lord,whom I called as a Lunatic’
Shiva replied,
Start with the term thou have addressed Me, Pitha, Lunatic’, the first song of his Thevaram, the songs in praise of Shiva.
Sundarar composed.
‘
எத்தான் மறவாதே நினைக்கின்றேன் மனத்துன்னை
Piththaa pirai soodee perumaanee arulaalaa
Eththal maravaadhee ninaikkindreen manathunnai
Vaiththaai pennai thenpaal vennai nalloor aruththurayul
Aththa vunakku aalaai inee alleen enal aamee
Translation:
Oh mad! Oh Peruman with a crescent, Oh Graceful one, I am thinking about you without forgetting. Oh God of Thiru vennai nalloor in the southern bank of the river Pennai, how can I say I am not your slave?
Sundharar did not want to put his leg in the holy town of thiruvadhikai where Thirunaavukkarasar was born. So he stayed in the outskirts – sidhdhavada madam. In the night when he was sleeping, the God appeared as an old man and put His legs many times on Sundharar ‘s head. Sundharar shouted at Him. He disappeared from there. Realizing that the old man was God Himself, Sundharar sang this song…
Not only this, Sundarar asked Lord Shiva to mediate between him and his Paramour!
Shiva did!
Sundarar , Shiva altercation.
‘
while Sundarar was being married, the service was interrupted by an old ascetic who asked for Sundarar as his servant, making a name sake claim that Sundarar’s “grandfather pledged him” according to an ancient palm leaf manuscript in his possession. Sundarar and those assembled at the wedding were outraged and called the old man a madman (piththaan: Tamil). But a court of Vedic scholars concluded that the palm leaf was legally valid. Crestfallen, Sundarar resigned himself to servitude in the old man’s household and, following him to Thiruvennainallur village, was led to the Thiruvarutturai Shiva temple.
The old man was said to be Shiva (Lord Thiagaraja) himself, who told him: ” That the document shown was only a name sake reason and he wanted sundarar to be reminded of his actual form as alalasundarar a servitor in lord’s kailasam, who had to be born in earth both due to moments of worldly thoughts that overcame him as well as due to the fact that the southern tamil region that had done great thavam during kali age need be blessed with an account on lives of great nayanmars called tiru thondar thokai.You will henceforth be known as Vanthondan, the argumentative devotee. Did you not call me a mad man just a short while ago? Begin your hymn addressing me ‘O mad man!’”.Lord sivan had also advised vanthondar to” while on earth sing of us in words of Tamil”…
‘
Sundarar prayed to the Lord for His help in pacifying Paravayar. The Lord disguised Himself as Sundarar’s messenger, a Brahmin priest, and went to Paravayar’s house. The Brahmin pleaded Sundarar’s cause, but Paravai refused and sent them back. Yet she was grief-stricken at the separation from Sundarar.
When the Lord informed Sundarar of all that had happened, Sundarar was inconsolable and blamed that Shiva’s going there in the form of a messenger and not in His true form was the cause for the failure of the mission. The Lord once set out to go to the second time.
In the mean time, the devout Paravayar had understood that the Brahmin was no other than the Lord Himself and was suffering from terrible anguish for not recognizing Shiva. The Lord again went to her house: and this time He appeared before her in His real form. Paravayar at once prostrated before Siva and agree to obey his commands.
The Lord then informed Sundarar that He had pacified Paravayar and that Sundarar could now return to her. In the mean time, Paravayar had decorated her house beautifully and was eagerly waiting for her Lord. Sundarar, with his devotees, entered the house. Paravayar fell at Sundarar’s feet. Thus, they were re-united after a long separation.
Because of his adamant attitude to even the Lord, Shiva Called Sundarar as Vanthondar, One who is argumentative , prone to violence!
A word about the evidence of this incident
Sundarar is unique among the Nayanars in that both of his parents are also recognised as Nayanars. He was born into an adi saiva, temple priest Brahmin group.His original name was Nambi aroorar. The ruler of the local kingdom (Thirumunaipadi-Nadu), Narasingamunaiarayar a chieftain, adopted him and brought up as his own son, attracted by the beauty of the child he saw playing in the street. Sundarar was a contemporary of great Pallava emperor Rajasimha who was also a nayanmar saint and also author of many devotional hymn works in tamil.A temple inscription in tiruvarur says that sundarar’s father sadayan also a nayanmar saint belonged to the gotram or lineage of sage bharadwaja and his mother isaignani also a nayanmar saint belonged to the gotram or lineage of sage gautama. From epigraphs it is also inferred that a Sanskrit hagiography on sundarar namely sva swami mitra prabhandam translated as travelogues of he who became friend of lord is now not available.’
When we want to record the happenings today, we have them written in Newspapers, Text Books.
Now we have the electronic media and we have even digitalised our news , which would be History tomorrow.
If they question that the news was fabricated , then what?
If when the future looks at History and if these records we have created had been destroyed, is it that nothing has happened?
In the past the Kings were clever.
They created documents in the form of epigraph , built temples specifying the reasons for the temple and the Devotees like Sundarars’ Names are mentioned .
What more do we want?
That Shiva would come and testify?
He did ans He will.
I shall narrate that later.
Tiruvennainallur Temple, where Shiva revealed Himself to Sundarar -Basic information.
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| The temple is open from 6.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. and from 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. |
Sri Krupapureeswarar Temple, Tiruvennainallur-607 203, Tirukovilur taluk, Villupuram district.
Citation.
http://thiruppugazh-nectar.blogspot.in/2013/05/how-shiva-mediated-between-sundarar-and.html
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