Kannappa Nayanar - an example of pure BAKTHI than GYAN.

[Guest guest]

Tinnanar, the king of hunters at Uduppur in Pottapi Nadu, went out

hunting. A pig escaped from its net and was running away. Tinnanar

pursued it accompanied by two others, Nanan and Kadan. The pig was

tired and stood near a tree. It was quickly killed by Tinnanar.

 

He saw a temple of Lord shiva - on seeing the Lord there, he felt

supreme love surging in his heart. He embraced the Lingam and kissed

It. He began to shed tears of joy. He felt that the Lord was lonely

there, and that he should thenceforth remain with Him. Again, he

thought that the Lord might be hungry. Though he was reluctant to

leave the Lord alone, he quickly came down the hill to fetch some

food for the Lord. He took the best pieces of the pork, tasted them

and ear-marked the very best for Him. In the mean time, he gathered

from Nanan that the Lord was worshipped daily with water, flowers,

etc, before the food was offered to Him. So, he began to collect the

other articles of worship. He filled his own mouth with water from

the river. Flowers, he gathered and wore them on his head! He took

the pork, bow and arrow and went up the hill again, alone this time.

 

At the temple, Tinnanar poured from his mouth, the water that he had

brought for His worship. That was his `Abhishekam'. Then he decorated

the Lingam with the flowers he had brought on his own head. This was

his `Archana'. He then placed the pork before the Lord. He went out

and stood guard for Him, at the entrance, lest some wild animals

should hurt Him. In the morning again he went out to hunt and bring

fresh food for the Lord.

 

 

 

When Tinnanar left the temple in the morning to get food for the

Lord, Sivagochariar, the temple priest, came there for the usual

orthodox worship. He was horrified at the desecration that some

unknown person had done in the temple. He was well versed in the

Agamas (rituals of Siva-worship). He performed the necessary

purificatory rites and took bath again and began his formal worship.

He brought water in a holy pot, with a bandage around his own mouth,

lest the breath of his mouth should pollute it. He brought fresh

flowers in a holy basket. He brought fruits and sweets, newly made

and unpolluted by anyone tasting it, before the Lord for being

offered to Him. He went home after the worship.

 

Tinnanar returned with fresh meat. He removed the priest's

decorations, and did the worship in his own way, and then as usual,

stood guard at the entrance.

 

This went on for five days. The priest was greatly upset about the

desecration of the holy place. He appealed to the Lord to stop it.

Lord Siva wanted to show to Sivagochariar the nature of Tinnanar's

supreme devotion. He commanded him in a dream, to hide himself behind

the Lingam, when Tinnanar went to the temple the next day, and watch

what took place.

 

On the sixth day, Tinnanar went out as usual for getting the Lord's

food. While returning, he saw many ill omens, which made him feel

that something had happened to the Lord: he was so unconscious of

himself, that he did not think that something could happen to him. He

ran towards the Lord. He was grieved to see blood issuing from the

Lord's right eye. The articles he had brought for the worship dropped

from his hand. He wept bitterly. He could not find who had done this

to the Lord. He treated the eye with herbs he knew of. Still the

bleeding did not stop. A simple idea occurred to him: `flesh for

flesh'. At once, with his own arrow, he took out his own right eye,

and fixed it over the right eye of the Lord. The bleeding stopped. He

was very happy. When he was dancing in ecstasy, he noticed that the

Lord's left eye had begun to bleed. But, he had already found out the

remedy. There was only one problem: how to locate the eye of the

Lord, when his own eye had been pulled out. So, Tinnanar planted his

foot at the place where the Lord's left eye was on the Lingam, and

began to pull his left eye out, with his arrow.

 

At once, Lord Siva caught hold of his hand and said: `My dear child,

Kannappa! Stop plucking your eye.' The Lord repeated the word

Kannappa thrice. Kannappar was thrice blessed. Tinnanar became

Kannappar, because he gave his own eye to the Lord. Lord Siva took

him with both Hands, and kept him on His right side. Kannappar

regained his vision and lived as god himself. Sivagochariar

understood the true nature of devotion.

[Guest guest]

, " Senthil " <senthil_sym wrote:

>

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> Tinnanar, the king of hunters at Uduppur in Pottapi Nadu, went

 

Thanks Senthil, this story gives example that rituals are nothing

before pure devotion, but during last centuries, the rituals became

more popular than the actual devotion.

 

these stories have great education in them. My grandam used to

tell me a story. since i was young i used to laugh on the stories,

as they were funny...but now i understand the deep meaning behind

those simple stories, woven to tell common people about the depth of

our philosophy. I share one such story with you.

 

There was a shiva temple on the top of a hill, and the priest who

lived down in the valley used to climb up the hill daily and did

ritualistic worship of shiva.

 

One day one Jaat (illeterate & simple farmer), asked him why he

did so much labour to worship shiva. The priest replied -

Worshipping Shiva fulfils all desires. The farmer accompanied him

and worshipped shiva and requested Him to look after his bulls and

save them from lions.

 

The next day, one of his bull was killed and eaten by a lion.

the farmer was very angry and upset. He went upto the hill with

priest and despite priest's persuading to forget the incident and

take it as an accident, farmer decided he will give a good beating

to shiva linga for his carelessness in saving his bulls... and he

actually gave a blow of stick on the shiva linga

 

Now it became a routine. the farmer would daily go up the hill

with priest and will give a blow to shiva and came back...this

continued for more than a year

 

One day there was big storm and snow was falling. there were

land slides in hill and it was very cold. The farmer knocked at the

priest and asked him - come pundit..let us go to shiva temple..you

do your puja and i will beat him, as usual.

 

the priest said- dont you see the storm outside. We will surely

die if we go out in such severe snow storm... Shiva is not going

anywhere..tomorrow we will offer him double.

 

But the farmer thought - how can leave shiva without punishment

for a day... he will think farmer is coward. So he braved climbing

the hill and facing the deadly storm and reached the temple. He

spoke ill of shiva calling him careless and gave him a blow of

stick... and Lo Shiva appeared there before him and smilingly asked -

ask for a boon my son.

 

The farmer was perplexed- but why me ? i have been abusing you and

beating you...and the priest is worshipping you. You shud give him

the boon and me the punishment.

 

Shiva smiled and said - for me abuses or worship dont matter. What

matters is the dedication and devotion. The priest refused to come

and worship in this storm... but you faced all the difficulties..

not ever cared for your death to come and meet me here. What are

blows and abuses for me.... for me your continuous thought of me,

and your regularity and dedication matters.

 

The farmer asked for Gyana and became big saint.

 

I know these stories may not be real, but they give us great

lessons. god is not hungry of our offerings... we idiotically offer

him the flowers which belong to him and think he will be happy. Our

dedication, regularity and bravery is what matters in his eyes

 

AUM

[Guest guest]

Yes Babaji, Pure Luv and Devotion is the ultimum. I donot know if the

post i made is a story or true incident, in fact it is claimed in our

Tamil culture and literatures that, there are 63 Nayanmars who live

in 6-8th century are praised for their pure Bakthi. You can find the

statues of these 63 Nayanmars who showed the devotion towards Shiva,

and how Lord Shiva accepts the devotion in almost all Shiva temples

down south here. This is a part of our education in our schoolings

aswell as a part of Tamil Literature. The 63 Nayanmars are

1. Sundaramurthi Nayanar

2. Tiru Neelakanta Nayanar

3. Iyarpahai Nayanar

4. Ilayankudi Mara Nayanar

5. Maiporul Nayanar

6. Viralminda Nayanar

7. Amaraneedi Nayanar

8. Eripatha Nayanar

9. Enadinatha Nayanar

10. Kannappa Nayanar

11. Kungiliya Kalaya Nayanar

12. Manakanchara Nayanar

13. Arivattaya Nayanar

14. Anaya Nayanar

15. Murthi Nayanar

16. Muruga Nayanar

17. Rudra Pasupathi Nayanar

18. Tiru Nalai Povar Nayanar

19. Tiru Kurippu Thonda Nayanar

20. Chandesvara Nayanar

21. Tiru-Navukkarasar Nayanar

22. Kulacchirai Nayanar

23. Perumizhalai Kurumba Nayanar

24. Karaikal Ammaiyar

25. Appuddi Nayanar

26. Tiruneelanakka Nayanar

27. Nami Nandi Adigal

28. Tiru Jnana Sambandar

29. Eyarkon Kalikama Nayanar

30. Tiru Mula Nayanar

31. Dandi Adigal Nayanar

32. Murkha Nayanar

33. Somasira Nayanar

34. Sakkiya Nayanar

35. Sirappuli Nayanar

36. Siruthonda Nayanar

37. Cheraman Perumal Nayanar

38. Gananatha Nayanar

39. Kootruva Nayanar

40. Pugal Chola Nayanar

41. Narasinga Muniyaraiyar

42. Adipattha Nayanar

43. Kalikamba Nayanar

44. Kalia Nayanar

45. Satti Nayanar

46. Aiyadigal Kadavarkon Nayanar

47. Kanampulla Nayanar

48. Kari Nayanar

49. Ninra Seer Nedumara Nayanar

50. Mangayarkarasiyar

51. Vayilar Nayanar

52. Munaiyaduvar Nayanar

53. Kazharsinga Nayanar

54. Seruthunai Nayanar

55. Idangazhi Nayanar

56. Pugazh Tunai Nayanar

57. Kotpuli Nayanar

58. Pusalar Nayanar

59. Nesa Nayanar

60. Kochengat Chola Nayanar

61. Tiru Neelakanta Yazhpanar

62. Sadaya Nayanar

63. Isaijnaniyar

 

Each one having a story behind explaining Bakthi.

Shivaya Namah Aum.

Thiruchitrambalam.

Senthil.

[Guest guest]

>Thanks Senthil ...what a beautiful story.Similar to Dhyanu's

story.Indeed bhakti is the greatest.Not even the gyaan of all the world

taken together can be anything half as pure bhakti . When a bhakta

desires material fulfillment, gyaan or moksha or anything for that

matter he will fall ten steps down and when he tries to become gyaani

he will fall twenty steps down. Its foolish to think that bhakti can be

compared to anything else.

 

Namaste baba. Namaste all.

 

love and prayers

[Guest guest]

Humble Obeisances to all. Todays two examples of Bhakti are very

appropriate ones. Here the devotees do not know the scientific

methods of worship but out of love and consistency, with available

means they worshipped Bhagavan Shiva daily, without break and also

without caring for own lives. This is ideal one no doubt, but the

state of affairs in present time is very different. With so many

alurements, so many bondages, various compulsions and the most

prominent proble of 'space', it may not be possible to do such

worship.

 

We are bound to do various jobs within the framework

of 'time'. Shift duties, problems of transport, distance of duty

place from home, nature of work obliged to be done, all purturbs

mind and we can not concentrate on anything properly. For that our

Advisers and elders, please suggest easy ways and means, so that we

can do sadhana in bus/train, while walking some distance, during

meal-breaks .

 

Can mantras prefixed by 'AUM' be chanted while

travelling/walking, as it required breath control and proper

concentration/alertness of road safety is also to be ensured

simultaneously. Week end days bring very busy schedule and so many

work to be completed within one day. In such case, we 'visit'

temples hurriedly and do not get time to sit in temple for an hour.

This fast track culture has made everybody fast in all respects.

 

 

For that to find out time for meditation is also very difficult. Hence

we are eager to hear from you, simple tricks for meditation for

short durations, chanting of specific mantras for mental peace and

devotion. In this busy schedules, we are deprived of readings and

studies of scriptures. In such case, if some series is started with

proper purports, it would help us very much. There are very learned

and experienced Seniors. So please think over this and guide us.

With Heartful Regards. = Keshav.

[Guest guest]

>what a sweet story baba- just the way God is. I also remember such a

story of wisdom that I think I should share.

There were two neighbours- one of them was a priest at a temple and the

other was a thief. Each day early in the morning the priest would leave

for the temple and at this time he would meet the thief. The thief

would often chide him and mock at him because the priest was poor.He

would say- I leave only during the night for a few hours and look I

have money and I am so happy, you take so much pain and serve in the

temple but what did you get in return?

But the priest would never retort or loose his faith.

This continued for a long long time. One morning the thief came back

very happy. He saw that the priest fell down and got hurt. He mocked at

him again. Look he said I stole a bag of gold today and you got hurt

while on ur way to the temple. What did you ever got out of this

foolishness of yours?

A devatma saw this and couldnt bear the thief taunting the priest like

this. So he appeared and said- you fool you are so happy for this small

bag of gold. Had you not been so wicked you were destined to sit on the

kings throne today and this priest - had it not been for his good deeds

he was destined to get a death sentence today. It is for his good deeds

that he got away with this minor hurt.

[Guest guest]

, " i_free_spirit " <i_free_spirit

wrote:

a

> story of wisdom that I think I should share.

 

Thanks Aradhana..first senthil shared a true incident of south

india, and then your b'fully story... let us make it a parables day

today..LOL

----------------------

There was a temple and in the same street there was a

prostitute's house. In the evening there were Aarti sung by priest

alongwith many worshippers and in pros's house there were songs and

dances.

 

One day both pros and priest died and reached Yamaraja. Yama

ordered priest should be sent to hell and the pros to heaven.

 

the priest was very angry and asked Yama, why a person like him

who spent his life in worshipping god is being sent to hell and that

wretched woman who sold her body for money was being sent to heaven.

 

Yama told, while doing Aarti you were busy in thinking about

prostitute, as to what song she is singing, how many customer would

have come there etc etc

 

and the pros, even with her clients was listening to your arti

and crying in heart and confessing how bad she was. Your heart

remained in pros's house and her heart remained in temple!!!

 

Hari Aum

[Guest guest]

Heres another parable: a man said to Vishnu, Bhagwan I willdo anything

for you if you give me moksha! "

 

Suddenly Vishnu appeared before him, & said, Todays your lucky day.

Will you do anything? The man said yes.

 

Vishnu said, ok, just get me a glass of water. The man said, thats

all? You dont want food, sacrifices, money etc? But Vishnu said, no

just a glass of water will do fine.

 

The man went to a nearby river- there he saw a very beautiful girl, &

fell in love with her. He followed her home, & asked her father if he

could marry her. The father beat him & said, I wont marry my daughter

to a beggar. So our hero started a business. He spent years working

say & night, till finally he became rich. He again went the girls

house, where her father allowed the marriage this time. The man got a

big dowry, & expanded his business. Soon he was the richest man in the

village, & bought the whole villages land. He had several children &

grandchilren , who helped him in his business. One day, he went with

his whole family of 22 people to thank God for the wealth. But a

nearby dam broke, & the whole village was swept away. He first saw all

his wealth lost, then all the members of his family die one by one. He

himself held on to a tree. Finally he too was swept away, & thrown by

the river near a small island. He cried bitterly, saying God, what

have I done to deserve this.

 

When he looked up, he saw Vishnu standing there. Vishnu asked him " So

did you bring me that glass of water? "

[Guest guest]

, shanracer <no_reply wrote:

>

> Heres another parable: a man said to Vishnu, Bhagwan I willdo anything

> for you if you give me moksha! "

>

> how meaningful is this Shan ji .... We forget God when he is clearly

very close to us and we get engaged in foolish pursuits.

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Senthil ,

why not write about the other 62 also

 

Senthil <senthil_sym wrote:

Yes Babaji, Pure Luv and Devotion is the ultimum. I donot