OM SHRI GURUBHYO NAMAHA
CHANDESWARA NAYANAAR
"Salutations at the feet of Chandeswara who cut the feet of his father with the axe"
- Sundarar Thevaram
Thirucheignallur or Thiru CheiNallur is a small town on the banks of Maniyaar one of the tributaries of theriver Cauvery. It is situated near Thirupanandaal which houses a famous shivitemutt. The town itself is credited tohave been created by Vishwakarma at the behest of Lord Subrahmanya who it isbelieved stayed overnight in the place and worshipped the Lord Shiva and hencethe name Thiru (divine) Chei (child) Nallur (good place). Thirucheignallur wasonce upon a time the abode of families that were steeped in Vedicpractices. The town will reverberatewith the chants of the Vedas and auspicious smoke will come out of the houseswhere daily agnihotram (fire sacrifice) is performed. There will always be a meeting of the learnedto discuss on the various aspects of the Vedas (vidwat sadas) and the entiresurroundings transported one back into the Vedic times.
In this town was born a child ofgreat good fortune in the family of a Vedic scholar Echa Dattan and his wifePavitrai. In Tamil, the word Lakshmi sometimes gets corrupted to Echumi and soEcha might have been a corrupted form of Laksmi, or otherwise too it means thatwhich remains (echam = sesham) after consumption of the whole. Pavitrai, as the name suggests was a very purewoman who worshipped her husband and was very much attuned to the religiousrites followed in the family. Theparents named their child as Vichara Sharman meaning one who is adept in raisingquestions which the child probably did as he grew up, in its unwavering questfor enlightenment. The sprightly boyinitiated into the brahmachari fold through upanayanam was quick to learn the Vedasfrom his preceptor and was considered to be very adept in expounding thenuances of whatever he learnt.
One day when Vichara Sharman wasplaying with his friends, he saw a cowherd beating a cow with a stick as shehad butted him with her horns. VicharaSharman stepped between the poor animal and its tormentor and told him that tobeat a cow was sin as all the 33 crore devatas were considered to reside in herand she is very important for survival of humans as well as for the continuanceof rituals. He offered to take forth thetask of herding the cows from then on. The cow herd readily agreed as he was tired of managing unrulyanimals. So, from the next day VicharaSharman took up cow herding as his duty after obtaining the permission of theelders of the village and in the morning after performing his ablutions herdedthem for pastures and once they had their fill would herd them back to theirmangers in the evening. The love and affection shown by Vichara Sharman drewthe animals to him and they started giving more yield than before whichsurprised the village elders who praised Vichara Sharman for discharging hisduties with care and concern. This wenton for a few months.
The cows which were experiencing an exaltedstate of happiness in the company of their mentor, would just pour out milk outof compassion. Seeing good milk goingwaste in this way, Vichara Sharman started collecting them in small earthenpots and decided to use the surplus milk to perform puja to the Lord. He took bath in the river Maniyar and in theshade of an Athi tree, made a Shivalingam out of sand and constructed theAvudaiyar (water spout) to allow the abishekam water to flow and performedabishekam to the Linga murthy with the milk obtained from the cows. The cows had enough milk to give when theyreturned back to their manger and no one felt there was any loss of milk. This continued for some months with the boyintensifying his puja. He would lead the cows to the pasture and then set aboutto worship the Lord whose image he would make every day from the river sand.
One day one of the villagers who waspassing by was drawn by the chants of Sri Rudram coming from the place wherethe cows were happily munching grass and he observed Vichara Sharman performingabhishekam to the Shivalingam made of sand. He promptly reported this matter to the village elders who felt that theboy was stealing the milk and was engaged in some silly play. They summoned Echa Dattan to the villagecouncil and complained to him about his son. The poor father who could not bear to have his name sullied thus, promisedto take action against his erring son if what they told was true.
The next day Echa Dattan decided tofind out the truth and went to the pastures without Vichara Sharmanknowing. There he saw his son in deepcontemplation before the image of Lord Shiva made out of sand and performingabhishekam of milk gathered in earthen pots. Feeling frustrated at being let down by his own son before the villageelders, in a fit of anger, the hapless father took up a stick and startedbeating his son abusing him all along for bringing disgrace to his family. Vichara Sharman was in another world andnever even realised that he was being subject to a verbal and physical assaultfrom his father and continued with his chanting of Sri Rudram pouring the milkover the Shivalingam as if nothing had happened. This enraged the father even more and notrealising what he was doing, he kicked away the pot holding the milk kept forabishekam. This act of insanity andsacrilege momentarily disturbed Vichara Sharman who picked up a stick and threwit at his father. The stick assumed theform of an axe and chopped off the father’s legs who cried out in pain andcollapsed.
Vichara Sharman woke up from hisdeep contemplation and saw before him the spectacle which is very rare even forgods like Brahma and Vishnu. He saw thesupreme Lord Shiva with His consort Parvathi on the celestial BullNandikeswara. The Lord embraced Vichara Sharman and said that with thisunwavering devotion he had earned for himself the most coveted post ofChandikeswara through whose hands should pass all blessings. Vichara Sharman’shuman body became a body of light and the Lord took a beautiful garland ofkondrai flowers from his head and placed the same on the head of VicharaSharman who thus was conferred the post of Chandikeswara. Echa Dattan andPavithrai also assumed divine forms and ascended the heavens – the fruit ofbeing parents of Vichara Sharman.
The fruits of our prayers (Prasadam)always pass through Chandikeswara who gets the first worship after the Lord. He is not offered any new clothes or flowersexcept those that adorn the Lord first. In all the temples of Lord Shiva, we find an image of chanikeswara justnear the water spout and it is held that one should not come in between theimage and the water spout. Chandikeswarais always in deep contemplation and hence we should not disturb him. When wecomplete our worship in the main shrine and are given the Prasadam by thepriest, we should take the prasadam to the shrine of Chandikeswara and offerthe same to him and then only take the same. We should not disturb him from hismeditation and hence it is customary to only chant Shiva Shiva clapping ourhands gently three times (thala thraya)
There are a few lessons to be learntfrom this episode. First and foremost is that we have to be kind to allcreatures. If we give those with whom we come into contact unconditional love,they will respond positively. To be drawn into worship of the Supreme is againnot given to all and sundry and only those whose previous karma phala is ripewill have this privilege. Hence to criticise them or to interfere in theirworship is something which will not be taken kindly by the divine. Each person is unique and would followhis/her own path although the ultimate goal is the same. Some may beritualistic, some may follow the path of bakthi and others may go into selfenquiry. We should refrain from imposing on others our beliefs and faith andrespect their freedom to choose their own path in self emancipation. Vichara means to enquire, and the story ofVichara Sharman needs to be contemplated by all of us in our mind when we standbefore the form of Chandikeshwara and seek his blessings to get the blessingsof the Supreme Lord.
Om Namaha Shivaaya
No comments:
Post a Comment