Date of birth : March – 25 – 044 before Christ; Time : Mid-noon. Place : Kaladi (Kerala);Longitude = 76*–59” East and Latitude = 8*–29’ North.Ayanamsa = 6*–09’ .
“It isn’t impossible to be a disciple/devotee of someone who lived long before you or one you have never met. However, the teachings of sankarachaariyar and thiru nyaanasambandha naayanaar are different.
I’m not sure where the idea of saiva sithaandham being ‘dualism’ came from. saiva sithaandham is suthathuvidham (suth-adwaitha). It is also non-dualism but, not interpreted in the manner that shankarachariyar interprets, which is kehvala adwaita. sankarachaariyar expounds on God being the soul as well and that the soul becomes God upon liberation. sithaandham states that God and soul are two separate intelligent entities with the soul being inferior. Upon liberation, the soul is merged in an inseparable, non-dual, subtle state with sivaperumaan where, its ego is banished and thus, it as no experience of itself but only God and thus, only identifies with God and experiences only a little of the Bliss of God, at a time — even so, even though They exist as one Entity, they are two.
Dhehvaaram truly is only one work (7th) of the 12 thirumuRaygaL. saiva sithaandham is mentioned by other names: aruneRi, thiruneRi, seneRi, muthineRi, etc. The thirumuRaygaL have to be seen as a self-complimentary whole so, as thirumandhiram is Its 10th work, it can not be said that saiva sithaandham is not mentioned in the thirumuRay and not taught by the other books. Before meykkaNDaar, thirumandhiram served as saiva sithaandha’s saathiram which explained the thohthiram, that is, thirumuRaygaL 1 to 9, and 11 and 12.
saiva sithaandham began even before the 1st (re)creation of the universe. sithaandham is sivaperumaan and thus eternal. It was taught to anandha dhehvar Who taught it to seekkaNDa paraman. seekkaNDa paraman imparted both the sivaagamaas and sivanyaana bohdham, which clarifies the aagamaas, to thiru nandhi dhehvar Who was given clarity of the sivanyaana bohdham directly from sivaperumaan, as thenmuga kaDavuL and thus, nandhiyaar became the Primary Student of sivaperumaan and first soul-sandhaana kuravar of saiva sithaandham. nandhiyaar has 8 students One of Whom is thirumoolar, Who was the first on earth to given the experience of sivabohgam in a language, being Tamil, and thus, thirumandhiram is considered to be the first time that the sivaagamaas were given on earth. Thus, saiva sithaandham is a collection of thoughts which are more ancient than time itself.
On earth, even in the Indus Valley Civilisation, sithaandham was practiced. thirumandhiram, which was started around 6000BC only put it into a more structured form. For this, It had to have been practiced for years before. This is where the extinct naanmaRay come in, which is concluded to be the Tamil-saiva sithaandha vehdhaa, which is even more ancient than thirumandhiram.
The sankrit aagamaas have South Indian written all over it. From this, it is clear that the Sanskrit Vedas represented a North Indian train of thought, which is actually a distortion of Dravidian thought which existed before the Aryans came into India, and the sanskrit sivaagamaas rerpesent South Indian thought. The aagamaas don’t specifically oppose the Vedas, even though it does, but more so, clarifies it. Using the sivaagamaas, we choose what to accept from the Vedas and how it is interpretted and, what to refute and the understanding behind the refutation.
//He said, “I challenge these opposing groups to follow the precedent of the child saint Tiru Gnana Sambandar and prove their spiritual strength by healing any paralytic patient on one side of the body, while I heal the patient on the other side, using nothing but my spiritual strength and healing energy.”//
By this, it shows that this Nithyananda dude, whoever he is, did not read properly the thirumuRay and has no proper understanding of saathiram and, if he made such a comparison of himself to sambandhar perumaan in front of people like myself, he’ll get beaten to death. sambandha perumaan healed the daughter of kollimaZHavan of muyalagan, a type of epilepsy. What this guy is confusing this event with is sambandha perumaan’s healing of koh koon paaNDiyan, Who emerged as naayanaar, thiru koh arikehsari ninDRaseer nedumaaranaar, of His skin-cancer, which He was inflicted with after agreeing for the Jains to set alight the madham of sambandha perumaan, which later became madhurai aadheenam.
If only my guru and my fellow colleges lived in India, we would. Maybe, by sivaperumaan’s Grace, one day, we will challenge him.
//He said, “Instead of violence, let us have creative competitions to see how many schools, colleges and hospitals each one can establish, how many spiritual discourses we can deliver, how many books we can author, how many people we can heal and transform.”//
Our saiva Saints, even though perform ‘miraculous’ acts, never claimed to perform them but, instead, attributed them to the Omnipotence of sivaperumaan, therefore, they can’t even be call miracles. Violence performed in siva-consciouness is Penance, which is beyond vinay, and is thus, neither bad nor good. This guy seems to only want to feed his ego and arrogance. Build as many temples, feed as many people, give as many discourses. At the end of the day, if it isn’t done in siva-consciousness, it is considered a sin.
It seems saiva sithaandham is as messed-up in India as it is in South Africa.
Btw., I publish Part-translations at a time of Sithaandha Vinaa Vidai by Maha Perum Pulavar Dr. Si. Arunaivadivehl, via e-mail. Anyone interested, please send a blank mail to siva_and_tamil-hq@yahoo.com”
Reply:
It is possible for one to follow the other. But, the fact is that Adi Sankara was not a follower of Gnana Sambandar, not because they never met but their thoughts differ in approach.
The comment indicates in the next sentence ‘ However, the teachings of sankarachaariyar and thiru nyaanasambandha naayanaar are different.
Trite messages like follow-the-path-of-ahimsa, life-is-full-of-misery, respect-life, could not have gained Buddha so may followers. Esoteric ideas like Nirvana, dukkha, et al, could not have been the reason. People don’t change so much for so little! Or resist change so much when confronted by the sword!
This was obviously not because Buddha’s statues were prettier than the statues of previous deities. Or because Buddhist chants sounded better. If that, anyway, was the reason, the statues of previous divinities could have been prettified….
Buddhism for long disappeared from the Indian scene, but the fundamentals of its philosophy were formulated as part of Indian philosophical thought with its traditional polemics and constant exchange of ideas between different schools. This deep familial link of Buddhism with the Indian philosophical soil that engendered it is being missed by both Buddhist and Hindu philosophy studies. Buddhists study six Hindu darshans, but in a rather formal way as if these were dogmatic systems. Specialists on darshanas also formally study Buddhism. In my opinion, the important aspect missing is the mutual enrichment of both traditions, their constructive impact on each other. (via ‘Branches of Indology like religion flourishing in Russia’ – The Times of India….
So, what made Buddhism so attractive?
The axis of Confucian-Platonic authoritarian, ‘wise’ rulers, who were not accountable, was (and remains) the overwhelming model for the world. Property rights remained with less than o.1% of the people. Under the CRER principle, (cuius regio, eius religio, meaning whose land, his religion; CRER) even the most personal religious beliefs of the individual were subject to State approval, as per law….
Is it any surprise that the common Chinese loves and venerates the Buddha – and the Chinese Government lays so much emphasis on Confucianism?…
Indian religion and culture shapes half the worldeven today. China (Buddhism), Indonesia (considering that Mahabharata is their national epic and their use of Sanskritic names), entire South East Asia (except Philippines) and of course, India. What makes the Indian success remarkable is that this status has been acquired without significant military cost or economic expenditure.
After the destruction of Takshashila, in 499 AD(?), without access to the ‘Indian thought factory’, Buddhism soon became a religion outside India. Buddha in India, was another, in a long line of teachers. Not so in the rest of the world.
Main reason for Buddhism being sidelined is that Hinduism absorbed Buddhism.
Hinduism is flexible. personal and a way of life. You need not renounce the world to attain Godhood.
Vedic system has Polytheism,Henotheism,Monotheism, Dualism and Monism.
Host of Gods were worshipped, each symbolizing an aspect of Nature.As people evolved they began to understand the real meaning of the Vedas in its entirety and graduated into Henotheism,Monotheism. Still later as human thought evolved further, they have found Monism- Advaita-Non-dualism as the core.
Buddhism came into being when Karmakanda or Ritualistic approach to religion had become intolerable with no attention paid to Gnana -Kanda-Path of knowledge.
There was confusion galore in the method of worship and internecine feuds were not uncommon based on Religious beliefs.
Gnana kanda was completely forgotten and Mimamsa which speaks of only karma with out Eswara aggravated the situation further.
People lost hope in Hinduism.
Then came the Buddha.
His philosophy of Nihilism brought in a whiff of fresh air to people who were suffocating under the burden of numerous Gods and Religious sacrifices.
His total negation of Vedas brought in many a convert and his system was simple to understand. Adi Shankaracharya diagnosed the problem correctly and immediately organized the Shanmathas-Six Deity Worship Ganapathya,-Saurya,Kaumaara,Saiva,Saaktha and Vaishnava.
He preached the Vedic thoughts in a simple language that could be understood by all thus removing the shackles of the Scholarly approach to the Vedas.
He denounced sacrifices ;at the same time he spread the message that the sacrifices were symbolic and the Real Godhood can be obtained by Discipline,Love,Prayer,Knowledge.
He gave the Karma Kanda a secondary place to Gnana Kanda.
He laid emphasis on Bhakti,Devotion.
Theory of karma of Buddha was nothing new.It is nothing but what has been stated in the Vedas.Shankaracharya brought this fact into the fore.
He won over Kumarila Bhatta and Mandana Misra from their Mimamsic ways.
People were fed up with many Gods,so they switched over to Nihilism of the Buddha.
To win those back Shankarachaya explained the Monism-Non-Dualism of Vedanta.
To believe in a Reality that is ‘Nothing’ is difficult to grasp as it is difficult to grasp too many Realities.
Shankara’s Advaita struck a middle path and he was able to win back the converts.
The main reasons for Buddhism not flourishing in India are-
-Believing Nil as a Reality is difficult for the Mind.
-Though Buddha’s preaching was simple in Theory,it became very difficult for the followers to follow(because of incorrect interpretation)
Buddhism negated idol worship-His followers worship his statues. This move by Buddhists was seen as double standards /hypocrisy
Buddhism,over a period of time, developed rituals(which it vehemently condemned in the Vedas) .
-Though Buddhism started as one school of thought,it branched of into Mahayana,Hinayana and various other Sects. This ate away its strength.
As people started coming back into Hinduism,Rulers started promoting Hinduism.
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