The worship of Murugan in Sumeria - A Summary

Summary of the talk by a student of Dr Sivakumar

The worship of Murugan in Sumeria - Part 4

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The worship of Murugan in Sumeria - Part 3

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The worship of Murugan in Sumeria - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The worship of Murugan in Sumeria - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The Tamil Hermeneutics and Metaphysics - Part 19

The Thinking Dimension called Disconstruction In Religion.







I want to bring in the thinking dimension into religion along with faith, the practice of penances etc. I sincerely believe that this is the best way to combat religious fanaticism that exists in all religions in some form or other. In fact I want to bring religious dimensions of human experience itself as part of Depth Psychology especially Agamic Psychology, the roots of which are very ancient. 


In fact it goes back to the Sumerian times where we find yoga as part of temple culture and almost every major cultural development was guided by transductive perceptions. There it appears that many people had their third eye open and basically lived by the disclosures of BEING through opening up their third eye. There were the en-kum-ine, those who sat silently in a special chamber but within the temple. This we learn from the Kes temple Hymns of Enhudu Anna. The account of the Deluge, the documents related to temple building, war campaigns against the intruders and so forth mention that they were all guided by transductive perceptions, a capacity we all have but due to historical factors and lack of cultivation we do not enjoy it as much as the ancients did. The organization of religious life for cultivating these inherent capacities and enjoying transductive perceptions and through that experience BEING directly in various archetypal encounters such as those of the Nayanmars and Azwars is the life that constitutes to me, the authentic life and towards which the whole world is moving. I believe ultimately we do not need any intermediaries in any form.


True Yoga Sciences, called now the Inner Sciences by some, such as those of Patanjali, Thirumular and a host of Tamil Siddhas also develop this kind of psychology . With this understanding at the background let me outline my views about thinking and its meaning and how it is related to metaphysical experiences.


1. There are different kinds of thinking, the logical, interpretive, creative, lateral etc. And among these there is the DISCONSTRUCTIVE such as that practiced by Meykandar and later elaborated and applied to various systems of philosophies by AruNandi. Such disconstructive thinking has become an integral part of Saiva Siddhanta tradition by which it distinguishes itself from the Vedantic which are ultimately text based - either the Vedas or the Upanishads. Saiva Siddhanta tradition DOES NOT presuppose the authority of any scripture though it does not deny the reliability and necessity of studies of such scriptural utterances as one of the TOOLS for illuminating oneself. But the central goal remains directly experiencing BEING in whatever archetypal form He chooses to disclose Himself.


But no matter what kind of philosophical understanding or religious faith we have we must articulate the basic principles and DISCONSTRUCT that in order to FREE the mind from possible PREJUDICES that condition our thinking and feeling rather unconsciously.


Such disconstructions are also processes of freeing the mind from what are called "acat aRivu" in Tamil,  not false understanding but that which are historical and thus temporal thinking and reflecting disconstructively on such notions will free our mind from the historical temporal forms of knowledge, culturally conditioned precepts and believes and thereby FREE the mind towards enjoying the absolute, the TRUE


2. Thinking in this sense is also reducing the scope of FAITH and making the mind CLEAR so that there is NOTHING in the end that remains still as faith. When we qualify something as FAITH it only means that we have an understanding but still in the UNCONSCIOUS and hence something that has NOT been brought into the 'Iladattaanam', as Meykandar would put it, into the realms of clear consciousness, the "cutta caitanyam" as Akattiyar would put it, so that in experiencing it we are also led to feel the apodictic certainty , the indubitablity in the Cartesian sense. Thinking disconstructively leads us in the end to enjoy pure consciousness, Absolute Understanding, that which in experiencing it also informs from within its absoluteness and hence its indubitablity.


3. Such a kind of thinking is necessary for DEEPENING religious experience itself. As many have observed and as the Siddhas continuously mention it, "vaarttaiyaal onRum illai" -- mere words, a mere study of scriptures are worthless unless the soul is PURIFIED, made Cuttam as the Saivites would say . A soul becomes PURE in this sense when it suffers what are called Tiikkai, literally meaning being burnt singed and so forth. These are the various kinds of sufferings in life that are enacted in fact by BEING for wounding our Ego and making us humble. You can see this in Appar that I just finished translating. He is assailed by a disease that burns his belly and he cries out with unbearable pain and in that also surrenders himself to BEING recalling the Destructive Forms Civa assumes in His world play to combat the evil that is already in the world.


Sufferings that issues forth due to diseases, natural calamities, war and pestilence and now by acts terrorism make us THINK and think disconstructively, see the FAULT in us , the evil propensities that are already there in human beings and think of ways and means to get rid of it, to cleanse the soul with the GRACE of BEING. Disconstructive thinking is then a severe kind of self criticism, standing up to the weakness in oneself and having identified it , get rid of it so that we become converted into a higher kind of species. If all the cultures in the world have this orientation then we can reduce the incidence of barbarism in the world.

Disconstruction of self such as the sufferings in life promote, make it PURER and at the same better fit for the blessings of BEING in the form of the more of the engracing processes within that manifest themselves as deep and profound metaphysical insights, insights that really satisfy the soul and allow it to live in genuine santhi, in real peace.

More in due course.


ULLAGANAR

( Editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

Decoding the secret of Kantha Sasthi Kavasam - Part 5

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Decoding the secret of Kantha Sasthi Kavasam - Part 4

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Decoding the secret of Kantha Sasthi Kavasam - Part 3

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Decoding the secret of Kantha Sasthi Kavasam - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Decoding the secret of Kantha Sasthi Kavasam - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia.

In this first part, Dr Sivakumar talks about the historical aspect of Murugan, where he traces the worship of Murugan from Sumerian times. He reinforces our claim that Sumerians were Tamils with hard evidences. Dr Sivakumar also talks about the challenges that the Tamils are facing whereby every aspect of their culture and civilisation is being confused by irresponsible people with the intention to create a divide between Tamil and Vedic Sanskrit. He regrets that even some so called Tamil scholars are falling into this trap without proper understanding of the science that were developed to great heights by the Tamil forefathers.

He cites one example where Lord Murugan is being differentiated from Lord Subramania whereby Murugan is being claimed as a Tamil god and Subramania is Vedic god. He further elaborates that this kind of irresponsible work will confuse the Tamils and create a divide among them and make them weaker and ultimately if not addressed will be a big loss to the Tamil people, loss in the sense of losing the great knowledge that the Tamil forefathers have accumulated over their long history.

Ullaganar's view of holistic education

Ullaganar's view of holistic education

Having been in the educational field for several decades I could  not but regret the FAILURE  of current educational systems and curricula globally to develop the person as a whole. The educational institutions have become commercial centers for training the necessary skills for industries and education itself has become an industry of a sort!  And as such the PERSON and the DEVELOPMENT of the person have become either unimportant or something that is attended to only incidentally, a by-product  of some kind. The development of the person is seen as IRRELEVANT for the needs of the industry.  

Education has become equated with SKILLS TRAINING  and the educated person is seen someone skilled in some field or other.

This is where I think the notion of Holistic Education, as I see it, sounds like an attempt to recapture the original meaning of education, that which DEVELOPS THE PERSON as a whole and which certainly involves training in some basic skills but now those which would help the development of the person.

It is here where the notion of LEARNING  as that in which REDUCTION IN PRE-EXISTENT IGNORANCE takes place, a central  concept of Agamic Psychology,  becomes enormously important. Another notion inseparable from this is that LEARNING as such takes place only when there is SEEING. When a person is LED to SEE a certain thing  in a certain way so that the object seen is UNDERSTOOD in a  way TRUE of the object, then we can say  the person reduces ignorance about the object and hence effects learning of some kind.

Thus teaching is literally and metaphorically OPENING UP THE EYES so that the person thus helped begins to SEE things he has not seen before or sees the already familiar in ways now quite different and novel.

And when we range over all such seeings and categorize  the kinds of learnings that take  place, we  can categorize all into THREE types that I have called alpha-learning, beta-learning and gamma-learning. The alpha type pertains to the reduction of ignorance pertaining to the PHYSICAL dimensions of objects.; the beta-type to psychical and social 

dimensions of existence and gamma-type to the metaphysical .

These notions are derived from the Saiva Siddhanta notions of pasanjanam, pasunjanam and pathinjanam that I have worked out in great detail in many of my books books and articles.

Even the young child is capable of all these different types of learning and education becomes holistic only when all these three different types of learning are catered for and the child is initiated appropriately into all these.

Here the most basic is alpha-learning where the physical properties of objects are learned. However at the appropriate moments, learning about the SELF can be interjected so that the child begins to see what kind of a PERSON he is or friend is and so forth. For young children gamma-learning, that about the unconscious constitution of oneself, how 

one's psychical nature is constituted by the archetypes and so forth,  may be very challenging but not impossible. The gamma-learning in early childhood takes the form of FANTASIES and allowing them to fantasize as much as they can then slowly drawing  them into reality and make them SEE the presence of archetypes in the world and in the person 

actually constituting whatever one is and whatever that transpires as events in the world.

Pedagogy along these lines will be concerned with DEEPENING the visages of the child so that not only he sees more but also deeper and deeper. In this notion of education we become concerned with the will  to make the child WISER and thereby better developed as a person. 

While training in some skills, while economically useful, is not decried but where the concern with developing the PERSON as a wholesome individual is LOST in the skills training than there ceases education as such.

ULLAGANAR

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

Goddess Varagi field activation method - Summary

Summary of the talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia.

Goddess Varagi field activation method - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Goddess Varagi field activation method - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The Psychoanalysis of Appar - Part 7

Sexuality and Aesthetics

A new dimension in the Psychoanalysis of Appar emerges here where a link between sexuality and aesthetics is noted. The arts of dance and music are intimately linked with sexuality, the enjoyment of which is ritual bound, not only among human beings but also in all creatures. Like modern biologists who make a careful study of animal behaviour, so did the CaGkam Tamils, as the literature would show and in which they also noted the presence of sexuality not only as the most common element among human beings despite the various differences of all kinds but also among all creatures.

Here Appar assimilating all these notes the presence of beauties both in shapes (vadivu) and colors (vaNNam) and the EYES to see them and appreciate them to the heart’s content as a precondition towards seeing at the depths of sexual unions the presence of Siva and Uma, with Siva dancing away in absolute bliss with Uma looking on and as sung even by the CaGkam Tamils.

The world is full of beauties of all kinds but normally we do not have the eyes to see them and derive pleasures of all kinds out of appreciating them. However when the ordinary sexuality is transmuted, the aesthetics that comes with it is also transmuted so that beauties hidden to the eyes before now become available for witnessing and enjoying.

Thus it would follow that the aesthetic culture also has the capacity to transmute sexual cravings into spiritual cravings.

7.

கடிமதிக் கண்ணியினானைக் காரிகையாளொடும் பாடி

வடிவொடு வண்ணம் இரண்டும்பாடி வாய் வேண்டுவன சொல்லி வாழ்வேன்

அடியிணை ஆர்க்குங் கழலான் ஐயாறு அடைகின்றபோது

இடிகுரல் அன்னதோர் ஏனம் இசைந்து வருவன கண்டேன்       கண்டேன் அவர் திருப்பாதம் கண்டறியாதன கண்டேன்

உரை:

பெரும் விளக்கத்து பாதி மதியை கண்ணியாகச் சூடி சந்திரசேகரனாக விளங்கும் இறைவனை அவனோடு யாண்டும் சரிபாதியாக விளங்கும் காரிகையாகிய உமை அம்மையோடு இணந்து பாடி அகத்தெழு ஞானக்கண்ணின் புதியப் புதிய வடிவகளையும்  வண்ணங்களையும் அவற்றின் வரு தெய்வீக  அழகுகளையும் பட்டிபாடி மகிழ்ந்து வேண்டுவன வெல்லாம் சொல்லியவா, அவற்றினை உலகத்தில் விளங்குமா உமை காண நின்றாடும் ஆர்க்குங் கழலானாக ஆடவல்லானாகும் காட்சி தரும் ஐயாறு எனும் சிவத்தலத்தை அடையும் போது, இடிகுரல் பன்றிகள் தன் துணைகளோடு அன்பின்  இசைந்து  வருவன கண்டேன். அதுபொழுது ஊனக் கண்ணால் காண்டற்கு அரிதாகிய சிவபெருமான் நாதவிந்துக்களை பெண்னென ஆணென உயிரினங்கள் எழுமாறு அசைத்தாடும் ஆனந்தத் தாண்டவத்து திருப்பாதங்களை ஞானக்கண்ணிற் கண்டேன்; அதுவரையிலும் நான் கண்டறியாதிருந்த ஆழ் உண்மைகளைக் கண்டு மகிழ்ந்தேன்.

7.

kadimatik kaNNiyinaanaik kaarikaiyaaLodum paadi

vadivodu vaNNam iraNdumpaadi vaay veenduvana colli vaazveen

adiyiNai aarkkuG kazalaan AiyaaRu adaikinrapootu

idikural annatoor eenam icaintu varuvana kaNdeen

       kaNdeen avar tiuppaatam kaNdaRiyaatna kaNdeen.

Meaning:

Siva stands as the Candrasekaran wearing the bright Crescent Moon as His headgear and with His beautiful Woman, Uma. I came along singing their joint presence and because of which my eyes were opened I began to see Shapes and Colors of outstanding beauties. Singing both of these beauties in whatever way that pleased me I was moving towards AiyaaRu where stands Siva dancing energetically (with Uma seeing it all) and with His anklets resounding with musical notes, and there I saw the boars of thunderous voice coming in love with their females. At that point I saw with my mental eyes, the Divine Feet of Siva, (where he creates the male and females of all species with agitating the Natam and Bindu). Thus I saw what are impossible to witness with the fleshy eyes alone.

Comments:

The new thing Appar says here is that sexuality is present even among the pigs, the swine herd and hence it is something universal. It is not only present among human beings but also all creatures including here the swine crowd. But the most import theme he brings out here is the link between sexuality and aesthetics. Whether human or nonhuman, sexual cravings lead to the appreciation of beauties both in shapes and colors. The desire for sexual consummation also requires beautifying oneself and hence the appreciation of aesthetics and within Music and Dance. It is also not surprising that even among the animals there are rituals of dance and music by way of stimulating sexually the partners.

However in the case of Appar here it is already spiritualized and sexuality remains transmuted into higher aesthetics where the Divine is seen and appreciated. The various visions of beauty that moves Appar so much that he prattles endlessly about them gives him a taste of the Divine, the Kalyana kuNas, as the VaishNavites would say. But unlike them he traces all to the Dance of Siva, the Dance of Bliss that He dances with Uma, a very ancient metaphor that has been sustained by Saivism because of its immense explanatory value.

ULLAGANAR

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )