Pari's Blog

Mahavira — that is the name given by the Samanars to the accomplished ones. Mahavira means the “Great Warrior” (Samanars were one of the many precursor aboriginal cultures that later contributed significantly to Jainism in Tamil Nadu around 1st century AD; see article on Samanars).

While common society endows the title of “great warrior” on war heroes, these spiritual traditions recognized only those who had mastered themselves as the true warriors or conquerors. That is, not a conquest of lands and peoples, but the “conquest” and the mastery of one’s inner self. For these people, the pursuit of the Spirit, the spiritual path, was not for the weak, wavering, or half-hearted, but required the stealth and determination of a warrior. They were also critical thinkers well beyond their time, even by today’s measure. I can only imagine how intense their meditations had to be considering the layers of conditionings we mortals would have to shed to reach such heights of self-actualization. They took the most direct path, walking on the razors edge.

This is not limited to just the Mahaviras of the Samanars, but such direct paths can also be found in the traditions of the Siddhars, Aghoris, Nagas, the Native Americans (the spirit masters, medicine men/women, shamans, and naguals), the wiccans and pagans of pre-Christian Europe, the Aboriginals of Australia, Siberia, Mongolia, and so on.

The other parallel tradition and equally vigorous tradition, along with the Samanars, in Tamil Nadu that flourished in that time period was that of the Siddhars. The Siddhars, aimed at the perfection of the body (unlike other paths that did not put much importance on the physical body). This is not as in building form, but in activating certain energy elements in the body (kundalini chakras). By doing so, the Siddhar merges the body-spiritual (not the body-material) with the Atman. It’s probably from this focus on the perfection of the body (including methods for extending youth and longevity, regeneration, healing) arose the tradition of Siddha medicine.

The one book that’s considered the crest of the peacock on the subject of kundalini is Thirumoolar’s Thirumanthiram. I don’t understand 90% of it :), but still doesn’t prevent me from revisiting it every few years. Sometimes I feel maybe it’s Thirumoolar’s idea of playing a big joke on us before he departed (maybe yet another way of getting us to churn our souls in different directions and evolve). But then probably not, these sadhus don’t seem to have had any sense of humor. Most Tamil siddha texts are written in current Tamil, but is intentionally uses a mode of conveying things called sandhya basha (or twilight language), which unwinds or reveals itself only to those who ask the right critical questions (and not looking for the “right” answers — which can lead you down the wrong alley).

Books

• Shiva and the Primordial Tradition – Alain Danielou.
• Aghora – Robert E. Svoboda
• The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar – T. N. Ganapathy (poorly written, but informative and enlightening)
• Thirumantiram – Thirumoolar