Preface (research background)

1 Title and Topic of Research

This research titled “Bondage and liberation in Shivaprakasham” is an earnest venture made to bring out the nature and significance of bondage and liberation as enunciated in the work of Umapati Shivam in Shaiva Siddhanta. Shaiva Siddhanta is a philosophy, a way of life and religion. This system of philosophy believes that Lord Shiva is the Primal Being and that man wants to ultimately get liberated from the innate impurities within him and attain the immutable conscious Bliss of Lord Shiva. This philosophy of liberation from the bondage is well narrated in 14 Siddhanta literary works.

Shivaprakasham, one among these literary works, vividly describes this aspect.

2.1 Research background: Preface

Vedhandhath thelivam Shaiva Siddhantatthiran inghu derikkaluttram .
Dirimalamum agala uyir arul ser mutthi
Digazh mutthi idhu mutthith tiratthathame.– Shivaprakasham.

There are innumerable temples of Lord Shiva as well as Goddess Parvathi [Parvati] and other Gods like Ganesa, Subramanya and Bairava [Bhairava] for worship by people throughout India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Of course every God is accorded prime importance in the temple but prime importance is accorded to that God in the centre place. The method and approach to worship may differ from temple to temple and from deity to deity. The common notion among the people of today’s society is that all these are shaivaite forms of worship and this practice is a part of Hinduism.

Tamil Nadu has many temples for all the deities. All kings and emperors ruling the land, at that period of time, followed a religious belief, either Shaivism, Vaisnavism or Jainism etc. The contribution by them for construction of Shiva temples and temples for other deities are worth mentioning. These temples are considered treasures of art and are admired for the magnificence of construction, architecture, engineering marvellousness, method of offering worship etc. In addition, all temples emanate a religious flavour and a sort of spiritual awakening.

Not only the people of all walks of life throng the temples but foreign tourists from far and wide also visit these temples seeking something in addition to tourist attraction. Many foreigners and our people constructed similar temples in other countries and started practicing Shaivism.

What do all these people—Tamils as well as other language speaking people—want? What do they search for? It is true that everyone wants a comfortable life blessed with health and prosperity. It may be seen that both the affluent sections of society and the down-trodden offer their prayers in these temples. So it may be appreciated that these people seek not only health and prosperity but search for something that is not available anywhere else. What is it that is sought for by so many persons—elite as well as ignorant? There is no doubt that all persons going to these temples are generally longing for good living conditions, marriage for kith and kin and so on. In addition, there is some inflammable desire or thought for attaining some sort of bliss forever which awaits an ignition from an outside agency or from within themselves. When an effort is made to ponder over these aspects, different ideologies show their importance. So it is natural that an urge arises within to explore further into religious thoughts of Hindu philosophies and particularly into Shaiva Siddhanta which has relevance for today’s life.

Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy is well founded on three entities or basic principles namely, the Primal Being (Pati), the individual self (pashu) and the bondage of inner impurities (anavamala). The anavamala leads to other bondages of karma and maya . The fourteen Meikanda Shastras and twelve Tirumurais (Tamil literary works) along with the revelations of Vedas and agamas form the basis of Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy. These works are regarded as systematic, epistemological and logical. Meikandar, the first and foremost among the santana kuravars , followed the footsteps of the Tamil teachers while adhering to the Sanskrit tradition. He produced the basic work in Shaiva Siddhanta known as Shivajnana bodam . Arulnandi Shivam, in the lineage of the teachers, authored Shivajnana Siddhiyar Supakkam,Shivajnana Siddhiyar Parapakkam and Iruba Irubadhu . Umapati Shivam penned Shivaprakasham and Tiruvarutpayan in addition to six other Siddhanta works in Tamil. Shivaprakasham and Tiruvarutpayan explain the aspects of bondage and liberation of the individual self.

2.2 Necessity of this Research Work

Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy is well founded on the main work, Shivajnana bodam authored by Meikandar.This work is accorded prime importance and many commentaries by learned scholars on the work have come out. Arul Nandi Shivam has contributed by writing a secondary work, Shivajnana Siddhiyar , elucidating the main work andexplaining the niceties thereof. Many scholars have written commentaries on this work. Much research work has been undertaken on these two philosophical cum literary works in both perspectives.

Umapati Shivam has taken a lot of effort to put forward both the above works with further elucidation of philosophical aspects ofShaiva Siddhanta through his carbu nool—Shivaprakasham. Many works of commentary have come out on Shivaprakasham by learned authors. However research work on this book has not been undertaken to the extent it deserves. No special attention has been paid to the aspect of liberation of the individual self in accordance with this work. Hence this present research endeavours to focus on the title of “Bondage and liberation in Shivaprakasham” .

2.3 Purpose of the Research

Though the literary works in Shaiva Siddhanta deal with the aspects of bondage and liberation, the present research work makes an attempt

(i) to stress on the importance of explanatory aspect in Shivaprakasham among various other works.

(ii) to bring out this aspect in accordance with the mindset of the author of Shivaprakasham .

(iii) to impart the wisdom of performance of expiatory ceremonies for the sins in the real sense of Prayascitta [prayascittam] meaning atonement in a wide context by developing maturity of the mind—citta—through the progress of one’s life

(iv) The self-discipline of individuals forming the society may be improved through inculcation of the knowledge of liberation while living in this world itself.

The research also extends to considerations and conclusions regarding bondages and liberation of an individual, as detailed in Shivaprakasham, in a comprehensive manner. This is in addition to description of the related and inter-related aspects of bondage and liberation.

3 Research Problem

Viewed in the above background, a question arises as to what happens to the impurities within. Once a person gets rid of the impurities within, the other question regarding the fruits of his past and present actions follow. Following are some of the other questions that are taken up here for analysis: Whetherman gets liberated finally out of all bondages? Whether he can live in this world after liberation or is liberation possible only after his death? Whether anavamala shall persist in the liberated condition? Whether a person has to suffer necessarily for the sins committed by him? All these questions are taken up and analysed in this work.

4 Research hypothesis

We have many scriptures and shastras that are the foundations of Indian Philosophy. These include the four Vedas, Bhasyas [bhasyams] and commentaries of distinguished schools of thought and other shastras in Indian languages. All interpretations of the Vedas and agamas or interpretations refuting the Vedas and agamas lead to different schools of thought defining their own formulations and viewpoints. The regular course of development of philosophical truths in Hinduism and its present stage of wisdom in the ladder of understanding such truths is the basis for this research.

5 Scope of Research

The work of Shivaprakasham may be analyzed in many angles but this work has its scope to the extent of bondage and liberation of the individual self. The postulates of similar or varying views in other literary works wherever necessary are included. Similarly views of other philosophies have also been discussed.

6 Research Methodology

This research adopts descriptive, comparative and analytical methods following the footsteps of the author of Shivaprakasham.The interpretative approach is adopted to focus on understanding the phenomenon in a comprehensive way based on the subjective knowledge.