AUM
Sivamayam

FOUNDATION OF OUR FAITH

1. We firmly believe that the twelve Thirumurai and the fourteen Meikanda Shastras in Tamil are the basic scriptures of Saivism.
   Om Namah Shivaya.
2. We firmly believe that the four Vedas and the twenty-eight Agamas in Sanskrit are the words of God. We believe that they cannot be dated by our mundane human efforts, as they are revealed in each cycle of creation spanning over billions and billions of years and propagated in oral tradition before written down to the current format by the rishis in later periods.
   Om Namah Shivaya.
3.  We call the all-pervasive Almighty God who has no name, no form as Sivam in Saivam. When Sivam the Supreme as Parasivam, who has no form, birth or death, takes various forms and names and manifests itself out of its unconditional unlimited Love for us. This is the truth sought by each and every religion, scholar and study in all ages. This is the cause of all causes; This is the Eternal Truth; This is the Ultimate Goal. .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Om Namah Shivaya.
4.  It is God’s Love that connects us to God. This unconditional, unlimited Love is the basis of our relationship with God. This Supreme Love has special name in Tamil – aruL. We see this Love as Shakti, the Grace as the wife of God. Almighty Parasivam manifests in different forms as Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Sadasiva, Maheswara etc. out of his Grace. Shakti also manifests in corresponding forms as Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Uma, Manonmani and Maheswari etc. Thus, we see the various attributes of the one and the same Shakti as the wives of the one and same God in different forms. Shiva and his innate Love Shakthi are inseparable as two sides of the one and the same God.                                                                                                         Om Namah Shivaya.
5. Shiva is not just one of the Hindu Trinity gods of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. Shiva is the controller of the Trinity Gods and bestows them with their position and authority. Not only that, He is the only one empowers all other religions of the past, present and future and their paths. Shiva empowers all the gods, demigods, celestials and angels. He graces all those who worship whatever the form of God in whichever the way known to them in their religions by knowing their true intensions and involvement.                                                                                             Om Namah Shivaya.
6. The Triple Truths Saivism are namely Pati the God, Pasu the infinite number of spirit souls, the Paasa the fetter. These three are imperishable as they don’t have no beginning, no end; God does not create the spirit souls is the unique stand of Saivam. The spirit souls are afflicted the the prime fetter Anava from the time eternal. karma and maya are the other two fetters afflict the soul. Just as we use some soap and scrub to clean the burnt cooking pot, God adds karma and maya to cleanse the prime original dirt of ego. It is from māyā that the God creates these worlds, the objects of experience in them and the body-mind-sense complex of various living beings including ours.                                                                                                                                  Om Namah Shivaya.
7. When the intelligence of the individual soul matures by education and experience it gained through multitudes of births, it takes the steps of Sariya, Kriya, Yoga and Jnana towards the final perfection. Ultimately God himself comes as the Guru in human form to bestow His Grace.

 

•   Sariya is the virtues enforced from outside and followed out of custom, tradition and fear without mental involvement. Eg: worship God to ward off the evil of Saturn.
•   Kriya is the virtues done with involvement but still needs intermittent reminders, rewards and supervision.
  Yoga is entirely self-enforced practice of virtues with complete involvement.
  Jnana is exponential exploration, experiment and enjoyment of the virtues and experiencing different dimensions and sharing these to others. This Jnana is twofold – Apara Jnana and Para   Jnana.
  • Apara Jnana is Theoretical Learning:
   Studying such spiritual matters from prescribed books,
   Hearing these from others who have learned and experienced
   Organizing the learning of these for others,
   Teaching these to others,
   Contemplating on the learned stuff.

• Para Jnana: These five steps together with personal spiritual practice will leads to personal experience and enjoyment of the God, Para Jnana. Om Namah Shivaya.

8. Guru: Diksha Guru, Vidya Guru, Yoga Guru, Purohit Guru and many other Gurus will guide you through these stages according to the scriptures in various stages of human life birth after birth. Finally, when the intelligence of the individual soul matures and ripens, the God Himself comes as Jnana Guru, removes our remaining fetters, and enlightens us with Infinite knowledge, Infinite Love and Infinite Bliss. This is the Ultimate liberation Mukti.
Om Namah Shivaya.

9. All the sixty-three Saiva Saints – Nayanmars are saints who attained this state of personal experience of the God in their life. Through the stories and sayings of these Saints we are getting a glimpse of trailer experience of that state. For our benefit Saint Sundaramoorthy Nayanar documented 63 important Saints in his ten songs of Tiruttondathokai. It was further expanded by Sekkizhar in to 4286 songs in Periya Puranam, the 12th ThirumuRai.
Om Namah Shivaya.

10. Observing the Guru Puja days of these 63 saints are important for us to be in communion with them in our life.
• Among them, Guru Pooja days of Sambandar, Appar, Sundarar, Manickavasagar are the must to observe days.

• In addition to these we have to observe the anniversary Guru pujas of four Santhana Kuravar called Meykandar, Arunandhi Sivachariar, Maraignana Sambandar and Umapathi Sivachariyar. They gave us the philosophy of Saivam in 14 canonical texts of Meikanda Shastras.

• In addition to this, Guru Pooja of Thiruvalluva Nayanar who wrote the Tamil scripture Tirukkural are also important for us.

• We must observe Guru Pooja of Sekkizhar Nayanar who wrote the history of 63 Saiva Saints as Periya Puranam.

• These are the ten anniversary Guru pujas that we must observe without fail.

• Along with this, all the Saivas of Eelam should observe Guru Poojas of Srilasri Arumuga Navalar and Sivayogar Swamigal who have guided us in the recent past.
Om Namah Shivaya.

11. The Saiva symbols like Thiruneeru and Rudraksham, temple worship and the gathering of devotees are essential means of salvation for the soul in Saivam.
Om Namah Shivaya.