[Advaita-l] Sivaanandalahari - 63

[Anbu sivam2]

Sivaanandalahari - 63 (3)(continued from 63 (2) )

The Saasthraas say of Bhakthi as saamaanya bhakthi and visEsha bhakthi.
Saamaanya bhakthi is called SaguNa bhakthi and VisEsha Bhakthis is called
Ananya Bhakthi. Again this Ananya Bhakthi has to be known in three ways as
saamaanya theevram, madhyama theevram and theevra theevram.
BhagavathpaadhaaL proclaims the mahima of these three types of Ananya
Bhakthi by the three different leelas in this story. The first one is
Kannappa Naayanaar tasting the meat before giving to Siva. What he gave to
Siva is the sEsham of what he ate. Therefore it was not a naivEdhyam at all!
This is to show that Siva is non-different from Kannappa Naayanaar. This is
saamaanya theevra bhakthi highlighted by AachaaryaaL when he said:

 “KinchidhbhakshithamaamsasEshakabalam navyOpahaaraayathE”.

Next is madhya (or mridhu) theevra bhakthi. The swaroopam of this is madhya
theevra bhakthi is explained as follows: “GandooshaambunishEchanam
puraripOrdhivyObhishEkaayathE”. I.e. Ponmugali water mixed with the saliva
of Kannappa Naayanar that he poured on the lingam was like the cooling
waters of Ganga to Parameswara.

"There is no object other than my aathma that qualify for the anirvachaneeya
prema that I have on my Aanandhamaya aathmaa. Should I not offer that
aathmaprema to Parameswara? That alone is called bhakthi. If Parameswara
happens to be different from my aathma would it occur to me to have prema to
Parameswara? The mahaavaakya says: “ayam aathmaa Brahma”, teaching that the
aathmaa is Brahma.

Therefore if we have to have aathmaprema on Parameswara we have to imbibe
the import of the mahaavaakya ‘Thath Thvam Asi” – That thou art. The
jeevaathma in the word 'thvam' should be dissolved in the Brahman contained
in the word 'thath' i.e. the ocean of Aanandha. Then only can one experience
Paramasiva as the prathyagaathmaa. Therefore the aathmaswaroopa should be
different from the relationship of the aathma chaithanya denoted by the word
“I”, consisting of the following kosas:

The panchabhoudhika annamaya kosa that shines like the aathmaa;
The praaNamaya kosa that is the combination of pancha praaNa and
karmEndhriyas;
The monOmaya kosa that contains the mind;
The vignaanamaya kosa that contains gnaanEndriyaas and the buddhi;
The aanandhamaya kosa that has the anthakkaraNa with the sathwa guna as the
important constituent and that which does not roam on the objects but turned
inwards into the likeness of aathmaanandha;

This above vilakshaNam, we must understand, is the aathmaswaroopam that
keeps saying ‘I’ that has this Brahmaanandarasam. It is this aathmaswaroopam
that shines as ‘sath’, ‘chith’ and ‘priyam’. It is the 'Thvam' padhaartham.

The brahmaanandharasam was the water that Kannappa Nayanaar carried in his
mouth. No wonder it completely cooled down the destroyer of the thripuras.
This Brahmaanandarasam is the lakshyaartha of the thvam padhaartham of the
Mahaavaakya ‘‘Thath Thvam Asi”.

This thvam padhaartham that has Brahmaanandhaswaroopam is the ponmugali
water that Kannappa Naayanaar carried in his mouth. Pouring this water from
the mouth onto the lingam is the nimiththa kaaraNam (efficient cause).

By the knowledge of the mahaavaakya ‘thath thvam asi’ Kannappa Naayanaar had
sunk the 'thvam' padhaartham into 'thath' padhaartham that shines as
Prathyagaathma and enjoyed the brahmaanandarasa. (Imagine here Kannappa's
act of pouring the water from the mouth on to the lingam and you will
understand the sinking very well) This is madhyama theevra bhakthi.

Greater to this is theevra theevra bhakthi. Kannappa Naayanaar’s leela
mahima of this theevra theevra bhakthi was brought out by AachaaryaaL in the
sloka: “Maargaavarthithapaadhukaa pasupathErangasyakoorchaayathE”

Aathmaswaroopam is shining in all the three avasthaas of Jaagrath, swapnam
and sushoopthi. But when one avastha is shining others do not shine and
therefore do not exist. For example during the waking time the other two
avasthas of swapnam and sushoopthi do not exist. Therefore it becomes clear
that the avasthas are creations in aathma and not natural to aathma. In fact
the entire dwaitha prapancham is a creation in aathma, is the import of
vedhaantha. The aathmaa merely is a witness to the gross dwaitha prapancha
anubhavam, to the subtle vaasanaamaya swapna prapancha anubhavam and to the
ignorance of the sushoopathi avastha. We must know this aathma as the
Brahman.

Because the body made of panchabhoothas of the the world of waking state has
the characteristics of being born and dead and it cannot be considered
nithyam. Neither can indhriyas or pancha praaNaas because they are, like the
gross body, are objects of knowledge. Because mind is an instrument of
knowledge of objects, mind cannot also be considered as Aathmaa. The buddhi
as the knower of all objects also cannot be the Aathmaa because without
objects buddhi has no function. The jeeva who is a mere reflection of aathma
in the buddhi experiencing the enjoyment and sufferings cannot be Aathmaa
also for the simple reason it is only a reflection. Therefore beginning from
the vividly seen jaagrath prapancham at large to the jeeva who is a mere
reflection of aathma ending in the aanandhamaya kosa, this kootastha
chithEkarasa chaithanyam remains the witness that remains as the ‘I’ in all
the jeevaraasis from Hiranyagarbha to the amoeba, which ‘I’ is the ‘thvam’
padha lakshyaartham of the mahaavaakya ‘Thath Thvam Asi’. Kannappa Naayanaar
had lost this ‘I’ness in the paanchabhoudhika sthoola dhEham and
consequently lost the idea of ‘mine’ness too. Because of this he lost the
idea that the body is the aathma and the consequent idea that when the body
is lost the aathmaa is lost. He was merely enjoying his aathma as the
kootastha chithEkarasam. And because of this he put his left foot with the
worn out chappals on Siva’s face. Also because he had lost the ‘mama’kaaram
he took one eye off the body and put it on Siva and was ready to transfer
the next. Only to confirm to Sivakesari Munivar that Kannappa Naayanaar does
not have the ahamkaaram in his sthoola sareeram that Siva began shedding
blood from his left eye. In spite of his looks as a hunter Kannappa
Naayanaar was a Gnaani of the Akanda Satchithaanandha parabrahmaswaroopam.
‘Brahmaiva sann Brahmaiva Bhavathi’ says the Upanishads. Kannappa Naayanaar
attained Sivasaayujyam because of this. This complete loss of ahamkaaram and
mamakaaram in the devotion is called ‘Theevra Theevra Bhakthi’. He was none
other than saakshaath Mahaavishnu who in a earlier yuga did pooja to
ParamEswara with one of his eyes.

This is Advaitham.

Also the the four hills that Kannappa Naayanaar crossed to reach Sri
KaaLatheeswarar are not ordinary mountains. They are the VEdhaas with
parvatharoopam. He climbed to the top of the hill called ‘Thath Thvam Asi’
and performed his wonderous leela! This feat was best described in
Thirumandhiram as follows:

அன்பு சிவம் இரண்டென்பர் அறிவிலார்
அன்பே சிவமாவ தாரும் அறிகிலார்.
அன்பே சிவமாவ தாரும் அறிந்தபின்
அன்பே சிவமாய் அமர்ந்திருந்தாரே.

Also in this slOka AachaaryaaL teaches us the antharanga raaja yogam
embedded in the Mahaavaakya "Thath Thvam Asi"

Anyone who sings this slOka and do namaskaaram to ParamEswara is sure to
attain Sivasaayujya padhavi.

Aum Namasivaaya.