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Thread: Tirumantiram Study - Nectar of Shiva's Infinite Blessings

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    Tirumantiram Study - Nectar of Shiva's Infinite Blessings

    Namaste,

    As most of you know already I am studying Rishi Sri Tirumular's Tirumantiram and Periya Puranam.

    I would like to share with you some interesting verses from my this week's study.

    Topics:
    I.Shiva=Parvati
    II.Fragrant flowers
    III.Rolled Leaf



    The Lord with Rishi Sri Tirumular

    I. Shiva=Parvati

    The One is He,the Two his sweet Grace...
    .....in all the Four witnessed....

    Notes(given in the book):
    The One-The Uncreated Eternal Being-Sivam
    The Two-Siva/Shakti.

    God is one Yet He is Two
    -the static and kinetic aspects of the One Formless Being

    The static aspect is Sivam;the kinetic aspect is His sweet Grace,His love for all creation,the Shakti.
    Shakti is the dynamic aspect of static Sivam.Shakti confers grace on the Jivas.

    Rishi Tirumular says "Anbe Sivam-God is Love"

    The Four are the four Vedas:Rig,Yajur,Sama and Atharvana

    The unity of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati is a universally known fact.

    Vagarthaviva sampruktau vagarthah pratipattaye |
    Jagatah pitarau vande Parvati Parameshwarau ||

    Meaning: The way Sound & Meaning of the word are united,those who have created sound and its meaning and those who are father and mother of the universe, to such universal Father Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati, I salute humbly.

    The praying together to this Couple yields powerful and long lasting positive results with out doubt. The way we love and respect our parents who gave this earthly body to us. Same way we ought to love, respect and worship the Divine Parents also every day for they gave us this Soul.Body is perishable and dies one day for all for sure. But soul lives and keeps moving from one body to another depending on its previous 'good or bad karma' and travels in the universe until it attains 'Moksha' (Unity with God). Therefore Praying to our Divine parents on Daily basis becomes all the more essential as our soul needs to go to another body in the life beyond life, as
    we do not know how long this goes on.

    (From:
    http://www.vedicyagyacenter.com/articles/daily-rudra-chandi-June2011.html)

    This equality of Shiva-Parvati is not just in theory of Shaivam but is in practice as well, you will see below in III.

    Could any one tell the corresponding Sanskrit terms for static aspect and kinetic/dynamic aspect?Is grace Anugraha(/Anugraha Shakti) in Sanskrit?

    II Fragrant Flowers:

    Confers Wisdom On Gods

    Him of the matted locks fragrant with Konrai flowers,
    Him who is with the Divine Mother,
    Him the Devas and the celestials,
    Adore for anything they require.
    (Wisdom to learn, Ignorance to dispel.)

    If you notice the first image you can see that the Lord is wearing flowers in his shinings hair,these are the Konrai flowers:

    Sri Sundarar:

    Adorned with strings of Konrai
    that carefully guards honey within;
    You, who can not be known,
    even by celestials who guard heaven;
    O Subduer Supreme
    guarded by the elephant at Anaikkaa
    O Being of Annamalai!

    Those who drop their guard
    of “I”-body-notion-attachment
    And seek your refuge,
    They, indeed,
    Become Aware (Realize the Supreme).

    Sri Appar :

    O Blue throated Lord,adorned with Konrai - the monsoon flower!

    O Lord Of Lotus feet
    O Lord of all deities,
    Who abides In beautiful Annamalai!

    How can I,Your servitor,
    Speak a word else
    Other than about your glory?

    Tevaram:

    With a body shining like glittering Gold,
    adorning below the waist the dress made of Tiger skin,
    and above all in the red coloured
    matted hair is the flower Kondrai.

    Sri Avvaiyar:

    Let us ever glorify and offer worship to the feet of the beloved konRai King, Siva!
    (konRai vEntan)

    Sri Sivaya Subramuniya Swami says that the Konrai's Golden Shower blossoms are the flowering symbol of Siva's honeyed grace in our life.





    One Shaiva devotee put his feelings as:

    The Yellow flowers of the Konrai are such a grand and unique sight and a marvelous feast to the eyes and the mind.Blessed are those who have been blessed with the Darshan of a Konrai tree in full bloom, with full knowledge and recognition of what they are seeing and enjoying.

    Why does the Lord,a Man,adorn Himself with flowers which are generally worn by women?
    I think maybe He does so as He is Two,maybe it is His way of expressing the Unity of Siva-Shakti.Isn't He ArdhanariIshwara(Lord whose half is a Man and the other is the Goddess),maybe that's why.Who knows every thing about Him?

    The Konrai(Cassia fistula)is known as the golden shower tree.
    Sanskrit names:Aragvadha(Killer of diseases), Chaturangula,Kritamala,Suvarnaka.
    It is used in Ayur Veda for preparing medicines.



    (translations of Sri Sundarar,Sri Appar,Sri Avvaiyar & Tevaram hymns from gkamesh.wordpress.com/tag/konrai/)

    III Rolled Leaf

    Sri TiruGnanaSambandhar:

    Behold Him
    with an ear having a plug of rolled palmyra leaf
    stuck in its pierced lobe,
    the Rider in the bull,
    the Wearer of pure white moon on His locks,
    the one smeared
    with the hot ashes of the cremation ground
    all over His body,
    the Stealer of my heart..

    The bull represents Dharma/senses and the Lord who Rides is the controller.

    The moon-time,mind,vegetation...The Lord who wears the Moon is verily behind every thing...

    Someshwara Shiva Someshwara
    The Lord saved the Moon god-Sri Chandra from the curse of his father-in-law Daksha and wore him on his head to protect him from destruction.

    Salutations to him who is concerned about his devotees and saved His devotee by putting him on His head.
    Salutations to Him, who has manifested as a Jyotirlinga in the holy city of Somnath.

    Why does the Lord like ashes so much?
    I heard a learned one say thus,a dead body causes much sorrow &
    repulsion and once it is cremated the remains are scattered.But the Lord who always favours His devotees feels,these dearest devotees have worshipped me when they were alive,even after death I shall be close to them and they to me,I shall smear their ashes on myself.So much love the Lord has for his Bhaktas that he even wears the skulls of the devotees on His body,He places them on his body.That is why he stays in the cremation grounds to receive His beloved devotees even after death.And so many devotee remains he has been wearing since the beginning of time that the
    scriptures declare infinite are the number of skulls in His garland!Infinite is the garland's length!

    (I do not know why the Lord's ears has a plug of the Palmyra leaf but I have seen in a number of Murtis that the left ear does hold a round ornament.The left half portion of the Lord is Goddess Uma Parvati.The right year is usually empty or has a Sarpabharana(snake adornment) and in all ancient statues of Lord whether he is depicted alone or with His Devi the left ear always has the same round ornament(in the first pic too),probably to signify Shiva=Parvati once again[I am posting the images in a new post below.]Can anyone unravel the mystery of the rolled leaf?)

    Does any other Deva express such affection?Does any Deva carry his devotee on His head?Nay,Nay.

    The Lord of Gods,and of ours too,
    The Lord who all space pervades,
    And the seven Worlds,ocean-bound,transcends;
    None do know His nature true,
    May we sing His Grace Divine!

    All the fragrant seven worlds are His,
    But He chooses to remain in the cremation ground,
    If we do sincere penance,
    He is sure to abide in our hearts.

    Sing His praise,sing of His Holy Feet!
    Pour all your treasures at Siva's Sacred Feet!
    And they who shake off the clouded eye and disturbed mind,
    With them He ever stood,benignantly firm.

    If we tread the path of goodness shown by Him,
    He,the Lord of all ten directions,
    Will protect and impel us in the right direction.

    Himself the effort,and Himself, too,effort's end;
    Himself the rains,Himself the clouds rain-laden.

    May ours be His Grace Divine!
    And they who thus Siva daily beseech,
    Into their Heart He walks in and abides.

    To them He comes,who,in heart's deep confines
    Treasure His Name,
    He the Consort of Her of the gleaming brow,
    He comes like a deer to its fold.

    He of the fore-head eye is the Supreme,
    One-pointed in His concern for His devotees.

    Transcending He stands,bestowing everything with a glance.

    Sing His praise and become one with Him,
    The Lord,who is the source of all compassion.

    Him shall we praise,Him call,"Our Lord",
    And,thus adoring,His Grace attain.

    -Rishi Sri Tirumular

    Tirumūlar, desiring to see Agastya Rishi in the Pothigai Hills, left Kailasa and journeyed southwards. On his way, he visited many Saivite shrines. When he came to Tiruvavaduthurai, he took a bath in the Kaveri River then went to the Temple. Upon leaving the Temple and walking along the banks of the Kaveri, he noticed a herd of cows crying because their herder had died. Wanting to pacify the grief-stricken cows, the Nayanar entered the body of the cowherd after safely depositing his own body in the trunk of a tree. Mūlan, the cowherd, was a resident of Sattanur and drove the cows back into the village in the evening. Mūlan’s wife was expecting the return of her husband but when she approached him, he would not allow her to touch him, but said: ‘Oh lady, I am not your husband. Adore Lord Siva and attain Liberation.’ He left and went away to a nearby Math.
    The cowherd's wife complained to the village elders about her husband’s conduct. They examined him and after they came to the conclusion that he was a great Yogi who had attained spiritual eminence, instructed the lady to have no further contact with him. The next day, Tirumular followed the cows, but could not find his body in the trunk of the tree, where he had left it. It was the Lord’s Leela. Lord Siva wanted Tirumular Nayanar to write a book in Tamil on Saiva Philosophy, containing the essence of all Siva Agamas. Tirumular understood the Lord’s wish and returned to Tiruvavaduthurai.
    There he worshipped the Lord and sat under a Peepul tree in deep meditation. He was in Samadhi for three thousand years. But, every year, he would come out of samadhi and compose a stanza: thus, in three thousand years he wrote three thousand stanzas, and the stanzas were compiled into a book named Tirumandiram. Once he had finished, he returned to Kailasa.


    Millions of more words can be said but let us get back to our practice now.

    Iti Sivam._/\_


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    Re: Tirumantiram Study - Nectar of Shiva's Infinite Blessings

    Namaste,

    Here you can observe the left ear of the Lord.












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    Re: Tirumantiram Study - Nectar of Shiva's Infinite Blessings

    Namaskar,

    I too have been studying Tirumantiram, and it has showered me with many great insights and revelations. Only by Śiva's grace has my understanding of the literature become possible, and for this I am very grateful.

    I enjoyed reading your post and viewing the pictures as well. I am very fond of these older statues which you have displayed in your second post. There is something about these relics that seem to entice me, drawing me in on a very deep and profound level. Indeed there is Śakti within them; as I meditate on these ancient pieces of art I can feel their power resonating within the core of my being. Śiva is so beautiful; I can feel his presence through your post, and for this I feel much gratitude. Please, post more like this... thank you.

    Pranam

    ॐ नमः शिवाय,
    LightOfOm
    ॐ मृत्युंजयाय रुद्राय नीलकण्ठाय शम्भवे l
    अमृतेशाय शर्वाय महादेवाय ते नम: ll

    Sanātana Dharma Worldwide

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