Shaiva Siddhanta
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Shaiva Siddhanta is one of the oldest extensively practiced[citation needed] Shaivaite Hindu school active today, encompassing millions of devotees, thousands of active temples and dozens of living monastic/ascetic traditions. It is the formalized theology of the words contained in the twenty-eight Shaiva Agamas.
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[edit] Gurus
The first known guru of the Suddha, or “pure,” Shaiva Siddhanta tradition was Maharishi Nandinatha of Kashmir (ca 250 BCE), recorded in Panini’s book of grammar as the teacher of Rishis Patanjali, Vyaghrapada and Vasishtha. The only surviving written work of Maharishi Nandinatha is the twenty-six Sanskrit verses, called the Nandikesvara Kasika, in which he carried forward the ancient teachings. Due to his monistic approach, Nandinatha is often considered by scholars as an exponent of the Advaita school.
The next prominent guru on record is Rishi Tirumular, a Siddha in the line of Nandinatha who came from the (Kongu Nadu (Mulanur) in South India to propound the sacred teachings of the twenty-eight Shaiva Ågamas. In his work the Tirumantiram, "Sacred Incantation," Tirumular put the vast writings of the Ågamas and the Suddha Siddhanta philosophy into the Tamil language for the first time.
Tirumular’s Suddha Shaiva Siddhanta shares common distant roots with Mahasiddhayogi Gorakshanatha’s Siddha Siddhanta in that both are Natha teaching lineages. Tirumular’s lineage is known as the Nandinatha Sampradaya, while Gorakshanatha’s is called the Ådinatha Sampradaya.
[edit] Saints and ascetics
Shaiva Siddhanta flowered in South India as a forceful bhakti movement infused with insights on siddha yoga. During the seventh to ninth centuries, saints Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar pilgrimaged from temple to temple, singing soulfully of Shiva’s greatness. During 5th-8th Century, the Buddhist and Jains were trying to spread their religion across Tamilnadu, which was purely a Shaivaite land. Saints like Appar who was a Jain initially then converted Saivam by Lord Shiva himself by saving him from a stomach pain. Also, Sambandar defended the concept of Buddhism and Jainism that Saivam is only path to understand "The Truth" by quoting this on his thevaram song,
ஆயாதன சமயம்பல அறியாதவன் நெறியின்
தாயானவன் உயிர்கட்குமுன் தலையானவன் மறைமுத்
தீயானவன் சிவனெம்மிறை செல்வத்திரு வாரூர்
மேயானவன் உறையும்மிடம் வீழிம்மிழ லையே Thirumurai, 1-11-2
The bolded words means Lord Shiva who could not be known by many religious which did not research by means of correct knowledge and personal experience to know the truth as it is. Sambandar and Appar fought against Jains on different occasions and the Jainism and Buddhism were wiped away from Tamilnadu at that time. Later on King Padyas Prime Minister Manikavasagar also debated with Jains and cured a dumb Jain girl, daughter of srilankan king at Chidambaram, Tamilnadu. Manikkavasagar, renounced the world of wealth and fame to seek and serve God. His heart-melting verses, called Tiruvasagam, are full of visionary experience, divine love and urgent striving for Truth. The songs of these four saints are part of the compendium known as Tirumurai, which along with the Vedas and Shaiva Agamas form the scriptural basis of Shaiva Siddhanta in Tamil Nadu.
In South India Saint 'Maikandar' and his disciple 'Sivagnana Sithiar' spread Saiva Siddhantha.Maikandar wrote 'Sivagnana Botham' in Tamil.With this as basis Maikandar disciple Sivagnana Sithiar wrote in Tamil 'Sivagnana Sithiar' .
[edit] Siddhas
Besides the saints, philosophers and ascetics, there were innumerable siddhas, “accomplished ones,” God-intoxicated men who roamed their way through the centuries as saints, gurus, inspired devotees or even despised outcasts. Shaiva Siddhanta makes a special claim on them, but their presence and revelation cut across all schools, philosophies and lineages to keep the true spirit of Siva present on Earth. These siddhas provided the central source of power to spur the religion from age to age. The well-known names include Agastya, Bhogar, Tirumular and Gorakshanatha. They are revered by the Siddha Siddhantins, Kashmîr Shaivites and even by the Nepalese branches of Buddhism.
[edit] Shaiva Siddhanta teachings
Rishi Tirumular, like his satguru, Maharishi Nandinatha, propounded a monistic theism in which Shiva is both material and efficient cause, immanent and transcendent. Shiva creates souls and world through emanation from Himself, ultimately reabsorbing them in His oceanic Being, as water flows into water, fire into fire, ether into ether.
The Tirumandiram unfolds the way of Siddhanta as a progressive, four-fold path of charya, virtuous and moral living; kriya, temple worship; and yoga—internalized worship and union with Parā Shiva through the grace of the living satguru—which leads to the state of jñana and liberation. After liberation, the soul body continues to evolve until it fully merges with God—jîva becomes Shiva.
Affirming the monistic view of Shaiva Siddhanta was Srikumara (ca 1056), stating in his commentary, Tatparyadîpika, on Bhoja Paramara’s works, that Pati, pasu and pasa are ultimately one, and that revelation declares that Shiva is one. He is the essence of everything. Srikumara maintained that Shiva is both the efficient and the material cause of the universe.
[edit] Spread of Shaiva Siddhanta
In Central India, Shaiva Siddhanta of the Sanskrit tradition was first institutionalized by Guhavasi Siddha (ca 675). The third successor in his line, Rudrasambhu, also known as Amardaka Tirthanatha, founded the Åmardaka monastic order (ca 775) in Andhra Pradesh. From this time, three monastic orders arose that were instrumental in Shaiva Siddhanta’s diffusion throughout India. Along with the Åmardaka order (which identified with one of Shaivism’s holiest cities, Ujjain) were the Mattamayura Order, in the capital of the Chalukya dynasty, near the Punjab, and the Madhumateya order of Central India. Each of these developed numerous sub-orders, as the Siddhanta monastics, full of missionary spirit, used the influence of their royal patrons to propagate the teachings in neighboring kingdoms, particularly in South India. From Mattamayura, they established monasteries in the regions now in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra and Kerala (ca 800).
Of the many gurus and acharyas that followed, spreading Siddhanta through the whole of India, two siddhas, Sadyojyoti and Brihaspati of Central India (ca 850), are credited with the systematization of the theology in Sanskrit. Sadyojyoti, initiated by the Kashmir guru Ugrajyoti, propounded the Siddhanta philosophical views as found in the Raurava Ågama. He was succeeded by Ramakantha I, Srikantha, Narayanakantha and Ramakantha II, each of whom wrote numerous treatises on Shaiva Siddhanta.
Later, King Bhoja Paramara of Gujarat (ca 1018) condensed the massive body of Siddhanta scriptural texts that preceded him into a one concise metaphysical treatise called Tattvaprakasa, considered a foremost Sanskrit scripture on Shaiva Siddhanta.
Shaiva Siddhanta was readily accepted wherever it spread in India and continued to blossom until the Islamic invasions, which virtually annihilated all traces of Siddhanta from North and Central India, limiting its open practice to the southern areas of the subcontinent.
[edit] A new Siddhanta
It was in the twelfth century that Aghorasiva took up the task of amalgamating the Sanskrit Siddhanta tradition of the North with the Southern, Tamil Siddhanta. As the head of a branch monastery of the Åmardaka Order in Chidambaram, Aghorasiva gave a unique slant to Shaiva Siddhanta theology, paving the way for a new pluralistic school. In strongly refuting any monist interpretations of Siddhanta, Aghorasiva brought a dramatic change in the understanding of the Godhead by classifying the first five principles, or tattvas (Nada, Bindu, Sadasiva, Èsvara and Suddhavidya), into the category of pasa (bonds), stating they were effects of a cause and inherently unconscious substances. This was clearly a departure from the traditional teaching in which these five were part of the divine nature of God. Aghorasiva thus inaugurated a new Siddhanta, divergent from the original monistic Shaiva Siddhanta of the Himalayas.
Despite Aghorasiva’s pluralistic viewpoint of Siddhanta, he was successful in preserving the invaluable Sanskritic rituals of the ancient Ågamic tradition through his writings. To this day, Aghorasiva’s Siddhanta philosophy is followed by almost all of the hereditary Sivacharya(saiva-brahmins) temple priests, and his paddhati texts on the Ågamas have become the standard puja manuals. His Kriyakramadyotika is a vast work covering nearly all aspects of Shaiva Siddhanta ritual, including dîksha, saµskaras, atmartha puja and installation of Deities.
[edit] A dualistic development
In the thirteenth century, another important development occurred in Shaiva Siddhanta when Meykandar wrote the twelve-verse Sivajñanabodham. This and subsequent works by other writers laid the foundation of the Meykandar Sampradaya, which propounds a pluralistic realism wherein God, souls and world are coexistent and without beginning. Siva is efficient but not material cause. They view the soul’s merging in Siva as salt in water, an eternal oneness that is also twoness. This school’s literature has so dominated scholarship that Shaiva Siddhanta is often erroneously identified as exclusively pluralistic. In truth, there are two interpretations, one monistic and another dualistic, of which the former is the original philosophical premise found in pre-Meykandar scriptures, including the Upanishads.
[edit] Shaiva Siddhanta today
Today Shaiva Siddhanta has sixty million[citation needed] Tamil Shaivites in South India mainly in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. (See Hinduism in Sri Lanka) Prominent Siddhanta societies, temples and monasteries also exist in a number of other countries.
There a number of Aadheenams which are involved in maintaining and propagating Shaiva Siddhanta in Tamil Nadu. The most prominent are
1. Dharumai Aadheenam (Dharmapuram) 2. Tiruvaavadudurai Aadheenam (Tiruvaavadudurai) 3. Turupanandal Adheenam (Turupanandal) 4. Madurai Aadheenam (Madurai) and 5. Perur Adheenam (Perur)
These Aadheenams are headed by Acharyas. They are also the hereditary trustees of almost all the Siva/Sakthi/Subramanya temples of Tamil Nadu. The rituals in these temples are conducted as per the Agama Sasthras.
The United States island of Kauai, a part of Hawaii, is home to the Saiva Siddhanta Church, an organization that promotes the union of worldwide Hindus, Shaivites and others, through a publication called Hinduism Today.
This was founded by Maharishi Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001) one of the greatest exponents of Hinduism of this century.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
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