Frequently Asked Questions - English
Part 2
[The readers are welcome to raise questions either in English or Tamil.
Dr.K.Loganathan will answer them.]
Question 1 (Miss Rama Letchumanan, Malaysia)
If what are disclosed in dreams become actual, how long does it take to be so?
First of all I must tell you that my own research into dreams indicate that while many
dreams are predictive of the future, NOT all dreams are so. Dreams are a species of
language through which the unconscious are disclosed to us. The dream processes seem to
underly our normal thought processes. We have to interpret these dreams appropriately in
order to understand them, and this involves relating them to what actually happens to us.
They are just as complex in their function as the ordinary language in everyday life.
Sometimes we request, sometimes we advise and sometimes we inform and so forth. These are
called SPEECH ACTS by modern linguists. In line with this, we can say that DREAMS are
speech acts of Siva, communications form within our own UNCONSCIOUS to help us to lead the
RIGHT LIFE. In this context some dreams tell us what will be the future consequences of
some actions that we begin to embark upon. The actions we effect seem to have a chainlike
connections with the future. My research indicate that most of such dreams become true in
this manner within about two years. But I must tell you that some dreams chart out in a
nutshell the whole course of our life and hence may take the whole life before we can
verify its predictive validity.
Question 2 (Miss Anjali Devi Nadarajan, Malaysia)
We are what we are through the Grace of God. If a person has attained Sivanjaanam, it is God's Will. Similarly if a person remains in ignorance, it is also God's Will. If an individual is unable to embark on a journey of self-discovery, or to persist in the pursuit of self-illumination, it is also God's Will. Please comment.
This is the defeatist and fatalistic attitude so characteristic of so many Saivites
to-day, one of the reasons why they have declined and Saivism is almost dead. We must
remember that among the entities that are anaathi, i.e. unoriginated we have in addition
to the pacu, the psychic entities, Pathi the Supreme BEING also Anavam the Dark stuff that
continuously strives to ensnare the pacus and bring about death and miseries. As
Thirumuular has already explained only by approaching Siva, the Supreme BEING that we can
distance ourselves from the death and misery bringing Anavam. It is within our CHOICE to
near HIM or distance ourselves from HIM. When we choose to be away from SIVA saying that
it is HIS will, it only shows that we are rationalising and not reasoning. SIVA forever
attracts or pulls every creature unto Himself. But so does Anavam. We are caught between
these two contradictory pulls. When we do not try to be near Siva, it only shows that we
are submitting our selves to the pulls of Anavam. This is FALLING and not living a
meaningful life. Even at this point Siva doesn't abandon us. He discloses pains and
miseries, deathlike experiences in order to indicate to us that we are falling. Even at
this point if we do not listen to HIM, of course death will be a reality and being reborn
again and again will continue. We must realise that life is an opportunity to LEARN and
thereby destroy the Darkess of Ignorance already within us. If we choose not assert
ourselves and learn, rationalising it by various means, we are the losers. Misery after
misery will follow and eventually because of sheer pain we will wakeup to the real meaning
of life and seek after Sivanjaanam.
Question 3 ("Sridhar, K.R.(Shelton)
KRnguSridhar@tvratings.com")
Is 'Karma Yoga', which is one of the main ideals of modern Hinduism as propounded by the Bhagavat Gita, prescribed in Saiva Siddhanta ? One reference to karma yoga that I have heard is the famous 'Avvinaikku Ivvinayay .... Thiruneelagandam' thevaram by Thirugnanasambandar. Are there other references?
Sorry I couldn't reply you immediately. Glad to hear you visit our Home Page and appreciate it. I am particularly happy that you read the books The Metaphysica Universalis of Meykandar and the Njaanamirtha Kattalai. With respect to your question you must realize that Bagavat Gita presupposes Samkhya system of philosophy and hence they can talk only in terms of gunas. The yoga is explained as activities concerned with bringing forth the Satvika guna. The concept of Niskama Karma which is central to it is not available in exactly the same form but rather in the form of Thondu, selfless service to the people. The notion of Thondu presupposes Love and hence doing without seeking any returns. Only in this way you will be able to develop LOVE as the central principle of life. The notion of LOVE as ARUL and Anbe Sivam and so forth are not available in Bagavat Gita because at that time only Samkya System of philosophy was available for interpreting the religious dimensions of life. There are more articles ex plaining SivaYoga in our Saiva Ulakam .Please read them. Almost all the verses in Thevaram and Thirumanthiram sing out eloquently ARUL and ANBU and the Nayanmars known as Thiruththondar exemplified a life on Thondu.
Question 4 (DR. M Arunasalam, Malaysia)
Absolute understanding, absolute clarity, absolute intelligence etc. : What does it really mean? The body can feel pain, sorrow, joy etc. In the same way can we also "feel" or know the Absolute Understanding?
The absolute understanding is SIVAJNANAM which is already there in the soul of every
creature though it remains concealed. It is this concealment or Thirobava, that makes us
ignorant of it and have only a preunderstanding and not a full understanding of it. Each
time we apprehend a truth as a TRUTH, a falsity as a falsity we gain a LUMEN which
destroys this concealment and lets the Sivajnanam glow within with greater RADIANCE and
because of which we have a better understanding of it. It is ABSOLUTE because only the
CIVAJNANAM is noninterpretive, all other forms of our understanding being interpretive.
For our ordinary seeing which is always with a "Cuddu" - a "thatness"
- provides a TEXT which we "read" and gain an understanding. Such understanding
because interpretive, are displaceable and hence 'acat'. Underlying all these
displacements is our preunderstanding of SIVAJNANAM, the full understanding of which is
non-interpretive. Please refer to my Metaphysica Universalis of Meykandar particularly the
commentaries to sutras 6 and 7 for more information. We already have a preunderstanding of
Sivajnanam though it's presence is not "felt" the way we feel pains and
pleasures. However it's presence and the fact we have a preunderstanding of it is
disclosed by the fact that we are philosophic, hermeneutic etc. Why should many of us seek
to gain absolute illumination at enormous sacrifices unless there is already a
preunderstanding of it but which we want to clarify further and gain an apodeitic
certainty? The gnawing uncertainty that drives us towards philosophical investigations
particularly of the metaphysical kind is the way we "feel" the presence of
Sivanjanam.
More to come; keep in touch.
Part 1
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