A very pertinent question has been raised in response to my claim that historicism may ultimately be the cause of religious fanaticism, a view I noted in one of the verses of Appar. This insight comes to me not only as novel but also very profound, something that caught me by surprise by the depth and universality of its grasp and with which I am still struggling to come to terms with.
There is an UNDERSTANDING of the issue of human fanaticism where being fixated to the HISTORICAL and hence imprisoned to the notion of IMMORTALITY are brought in to explicate it. Now IMMORTALITY is NOT the same as Mukti and it may be possible that the tremendous emotional power of religious and racial hatred are related to freeing the mind of man from being fixated to the notion of IMMORTALITY so that he would begin to enjoy the genuine sense of Mukti and which would usher in genuine Bakthi, the killing of the Ego and submitting to BEING in all humility.
This may be the REAL meaning of world wars or at least great wars in addition to the personal crisis we face in life.
Why I say this? Let me explain a bit ( also to myself)
DEATH is Real
Wars are human praxis where the activities are organized to KILL and where also pervades as a real possibility of being killed . Every pretense to contrary is no more there for death is real -- there are comrades dying, innocents being killed and one continues to survive only because one has escaped being killed so far. Those in the thick of the battle do not think of anything else except on how to kill and how to escape being killed. But the poets, philosophers and statesmen directly or indirectly involved in the wars are FORCED to think about DEATH in ways that they cannot pretend that it does not exist.
But even here we see falsities and the generation of false metaphysics in which death is made IRREAL. The Indian Vedantic thinking is well known for this ( I think). Bagavath Gita while being a metaphysical exposition in the thick of Mahabaratha War, makes killing irreal by noting that the atman is Brahman and as such there is NO KILLING at all, the slayer ad the slain are the same and hence there is NO KILLING in the ordinary sense. Another escape route is provided by Sankaraites Vivartha Vada where everything is seen as kaRpitham, just simply mental constructions of various sorts, mere superimpositions one just as good as another and hence nothing is HISTORICAL really. Vedantic traditions seem to deny historicality and which may be one of the metaphysical strategies to REFUSE to face the reality of death.
Now if such a group of people were to be INSTRUCTED that the notion of IMMORTALITY that they entertain belongs to FALSE METAPHYSICS and that the TRUTH is that it is a transmutation or even a distortion of the genuine sense of Mukti, the TOTAL liberation of the soul from historicality , it appears to me that wars are the only way. The intellectual intransigeantcy and utter disregard for dialogic confrontation with its attendant openness to LEARN will require only wars as a way of INSTRUCTING them and probably this is what is happening now.
Facing Death
Some of the deep metaphysical understanding of Indian Civilization are buried in the PuraNaas which are unfortunately neglected by scholars. Below, Appar deals with the essence of MarkaNdeeya PuraNa, one of the famous Saiva puraNaas. This MarkaNdeeya, the model for the general eternally youthful person where the word means the one who has seen death ( maar: death, kaNdu: having seen) , confronts death and escapes it by the blessings of BEING. A closer analysis indicates that this mythology draws a distinction between immortality and mukti and that distinction can be grasped only by encountering death face to face.
niila nanmeeni cengkaN vaLai veLLeyiRRan
arikeesan teedi varunaaL
kaalai nanmaalai koNdu vazipaadu ceyyum
aLavin kaNvantu kuRukip
paalanai oodavoodap payameytuvitta
uyir vavvu paacam vidum ak
kaalanai viidu ceyta kazal poolum aNdar
tozutu ootu cuudu kazalee
Kaalan, the God of death appears with a large Black Body as the embodiment of the Dark Stuff , the aaNavam itself , with burning eyes indicating immense anger, with long and warped teeth indicating immense greed, and also as one ready to
chop off the head of the living creatures and kill them mercilessly. Once when he came while MarkaNdeeya, the ever
Youthful was preparing himself to worship the Civalingam, early in the day and with a garland of flowers indicating Pure Love, the Kaalan spread the net of desires , the paacam, to snatch away his soul, making him run and run away from hisworship in the process. BEING on seeing this injustice, disclosed Himself there and kicked away Kaalan and therebyallowed MarkaNdeeya to live without the fear of death. This BEING, the Cataaciva who stands as the world itself and who wearing the brilliant anklets keeps away the death from the creatures, is the ONE who ought to praised and worshipped by all.
Commentary
This mythical theme is also a famous one among the Saivites and rightly so. It brings out the secrets underlying the worship of Civalingam and how it is related to living long and in good health, a theme very much emphasized and explored by the Siddhas who are mainly Saivites. In order to bring out the message hidden in the names and incidences mentioned, let us look at everything closely.
First we see that the Agent of Death is named Kaalan where Kaalam in Tamil means time. Thus the agent of death is TEMPORALITY itself or that which throws the creatures into temporality, historicity. Here it is indicated that DEATH as such belongs to historicity and hence to the temporal ways of Being-in-the World. As long we EXIST in temporality, there comes a moment where such an existence is snatched away from us and that moment being the moment of Death.
But who is really the AGENT?
What is personified as Kaalan is actually the Black One, the true Satanic Force , the Dark Stuff , the aaNavam, that non-sentient thing just as uncreated and eternal ( anaati) as BEING itself. It is DARK only because it BREEDS DARKNESS, engulfs, if allowed, the whole cosmos in utter Darkness, the simple primordial NOTHINGNESS where nothing is allowed to show itself as there.
Now when its function is thwarted and something is allowed to be AS-THERE, there emerges intense ANGER as indicated by the burning red eyes. When men are overpowered by this FORCE of Death and become Satanic, they become murderously angry when their desire to KILL is NOT allowed to be concluded by being thwarted on the way. This anger is also related to immense GREED, the Greed to EAT UP or consume everything and through that OWN everything as ones own body, i.e. dis-alienate the foreign through devouring, eating up and digesting as one's own. Now when this possibility is denied, then there emerges the MURDEROUS instinct, arikeesan, the desire to kill everything that does not allow being assimilated.
The FORCE against this Agent of Death is BEING who appears as Civalingam and who is worshiped as thus in moments of sun rise and with a garland of fresh flowers i.e. with genuine LOVE at heart. Again this notion of worship is immensely symbolic and we have to wrest out the meaning implicit.The Sun Rise indicates the flooding of the soul with the LIGHT of illumination for it is the metaphysical illuminations that we gain that is capable of driving away the inner darkness and hence the Kaalan itself. Temporality and historicity slip by when metaphysical illuminations are gained.
And this is possible only with LOVE as shown by the offering of garland of flowers. The metaphysical illuminations are granted only for those who have killed their EGO and in all humility LOVE BEING and moved by this bakti also love the whole of humanity.
Now we are ready to understand the message hidden in this mythical theme: it is LOVE unto BEING and hence to all that drives away the Agent of Death and that even when death approaches in terms calamities, diseases, disasters and so forth and thus FRIGHTENS the soul but some how or other such individuals will be rescued from being snatched away by death.
The story of Markandeeya that this verse refers to, has also another message built into it and it is shown by the name of Baalan, the ever youthful MarkaNdeeya. This carries the message that LIVING is a struggle , a struggle between the Death bringing forces and Life renewal forces. The Civalingam, as the embodiment of Natham and Bintu, the conjugation of the MALE and FEMALE is that which ensures eternal youthful vitality though conferring undying sexual virility. This virility is lost when we succumb to the Death bringing forces. However we can RECOVER it through gaining the GRACE of BEING who will burst into the life of the deserving individuals and drive away the DEATH bringing forces through lifting up the soul into realms of TIMELESSNESS where the temporal Kaalan cannot enter. These metaphysical excursions are also life renewing for each such excursion drives away the Dark Stuff within that is ever ready to bring death.
ULLAGANAR
( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )
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