The origin of Virasaivism, an offshoot of Saivism, can be traced back
to the twelfth century. Its philosophy has grown out of the twenty-eight
Saiva
Agamas and the writings of its early exponents. Virasaivas are
also known as
Lingayats on account of the immense importance they attach
to their conception of the term '
Linga'. For them,
Linga is not merely a
physical object, it is synonymous with
chaitanya, or consciousness, and
can be taken to be Siva himself. In their philosophy, the term
Linga
can be equated with the
Parabrahman of the
Upanishads, but it has other
connotations as well. It is the cosmic principle that is the source of
the universe and, in its physical form, it is the visible symbol of the
consciousness that exists in all beings. In addition, and this is
particularly interesting in view of the years Guhai Namasivaya spent at
Arunachala, it is often conceived of as a mass of light or a column of
blazing fire. Worship of the
Linga in all its forms is central to
Virasaivism.
The goal of
Virasaivas is the attainment of oneness with Siva. To reach this exalted
state, Virasaivas believe that one must submit to and serve a Guru who
has already attained that oneness. Thus, in the Virasaiva tradition, the
Guru is given immense importance, for it is he alone who can initiate
the disciple, purify him, and lead him to unity with Siva.
For a devout
Virasaiva, the spiritual path begins when he approaches a competent Guru
and asks him for initiation. Usually, the Guru will first test him for a
year to see how serious his spiritual inclinations are. When the Guru
is satisfied that the disciple's desire is genuine, he agrees to
initiate him and accept him as a disciple. The initiation given by the
Guru activates the power of
Linga in the three bodies, the causal, the
subtle and the gross, and removes some or all of the taints or
imperfections that reside in each of the three bodies. Virasaivas
believe that these taints, called
mala, prevent the disciple from
becoming established in
Linga, the Supreme Siva-consciousness.
In the initiation
ceremony the Guru first places his right palm on the head of the
disciple, thereby awakening the supreme Self in the causal body in a
form that is called
BhavaLinga. Simultaneously, through his power, the
Guru attempts to eliminate any impurities that dwell there. Next, the
Guru whispers the great mantra '
Nama Sivaya' in the right ear of the
disciple. All Saivas hold this to be the best and most potent mantra.
The act of whispering establishes in the subtle body a form or aspect of
the
Linga that is called
PranaLinga. The power transmitted by this
mantra initiation also cleanses the subtle body and removes some of its
imperfections. Then, in what is perhaps the most significant part of the
ritual, the disciple is given a physical
Linga. Virasaivas believe the
Linga is a great light in the innermost heart that can be brought out
and shaped into a physical form by the Guru. In the final part of the
rite, the Guru draws out the power of
Linga from the heart of the
devotee, establishes it in a physical
Linga, which is called
IshtaLinga,
presents it to the disciple and commands him to worship it as if were
Siva himself. The handing over of the
IshtaLinga removes the taints that
are attached to the physical body.
The Guru then
commands the devotee to wear the
IshtaLinga on his body at all times and
to worship it three times a day. The Guru also tells him that the
Linga
must on no account be separated from the body since such a separation
is equivalent of spiritual death. In the Virasaiva tradition, it is not
permitted to worship Siva in any other form except that of the
IstaLinga
or the
Linga installed over one's Guru's
samadhi. Virasaivas are
therefore forbidden from worshipping forms of Siva that have been
installed in temples.
We can assume
that Guhai Namasivaya underwent this initiation ceremony since it is a
compulsory rite of passage for all Virasaivas. He probably went through
it quite early in his life, for it was not uncommon for eight-year-olds
to be initiated in this way.
Sivananda
Desikar, Guhai Namasivaya's Guru, was an adept in a Virasaiva yoga
system known as Siva Yoga. When Sivananada Desikar noticed what a mature
disciple Guhai Namasivaya was, he initiated him into its practices.
From then on, Guhai Namasivaya alternated his time between physical
service to the Guru and the practice of Siva Yoga. In the course of time
he too became an accomplished Siva yogi.
Siva Yoga
emphasises
dharana, dhyana and
samadhi, the last three stages of
Patanjali's Raja Yoga system, but it gives them a Virasaiva turn by
emphasising meditation on the three
Lingas that the Guru has established
in the three bodies. In the Siva Yoga system, worship of the
IshtaLinga, the
Linga given by the Guru to the disciple, is called
dharana, or uninterrupted concentration; worship of the Prana
Linga
established in the subtle body is
dhyana, or meditation; remembrance and
awareness of the
BhavaLinga in the causal body is called
samadhi.
According to Maggeya Mayideva, a Virasaiva saint, '
samadhi is the action
which includes both radiant worship and meditation on one's own
Linga'.
The yoga practice
is performed in the following way: 'Setting
IshtaLinga firmly in his
left palm, restraining the traffic of his other limbs, restraining the
movement of breath through breath control, or
pranayama, controlling the
modifications of the mind, focussing his physical eye on
IshtaLinga,
his inner eye on Prana
Linga and his intuitional eye on
BhavaLinga, being
one with
Linga and unifying the triple
Linga into one - he lives his
own Self.'
[1]
The goal of the
yoga is to find Siva in everything and to discover the fundamental root
of that immanent Siva manifestation in one's heart. Though Siva Yoga has
a strong
bhakti component, it must not be forgotten that it is also a
variety of Kundalini Yoga. The Siva yogis aim to make contact with the
power of the Lord. They believe that the contact finally takes place
after the
prana, rising through the
sushumna, has passed through all the
six chakras and moved on to the
bramarandhra, located at the top of the
head. Accomplished Siva yogis, at the time of their death, voluntarily
send all their
pranas out of their bodies through this
brahmarandhra and
merge into the all-pervading consciousness of Siva.
Guhai Namasivaya
practised this system of yoga for many years. When he had thoroughly
mastered it, Lord Mallikarjuna, the presiding deity of Sri Sailam,
appeared to Guhai Namasivaya in a dream and commanded him to go to
Arunachala and remain there as a Guru, giving teachings to mature
disciples who approached him. When he related this dream to his Guru,
Sivananada Desikar gave him his blessings and told him to carry out the
order. Shortly afterwards, Guhai Namasivaya set out on horseback for
Tiruvannamalai.
There is a
tradition in Tiruvannamalai that Guhai Namasivaya was accompanied on his
journey by Virupaksha Deva, the man who gave his name to Virupaksha
Cave. Ramana Maharishi occasionally told his devotees that the two of
them were Virasaivas who came from Karnataka to Tiruvannamalai at the
same time. It is reported that both of them had served Sivananada
Desikar for twelve years. Almost nothing is known about the life of
Virupaksha Deva except that he lived in Virupaksha Cave for a long time,
and that when he died there his body transformed itself into
vibhuti
(sacred ash). That
vibhuti is still kept in the cave and
puja is done to
it every day.
On his journey to
Tiruvannamalai Guhai Namasivaya came one evening to a village where a
wedding was in progress. The head of the house where the wedding was
taking place greeted him respectfully, invited him into the house, gave
him the place of honour and performed
puja to him. At the conclusion of
the
puja everyone present received some
vibhuti from the hand of Guhai
Namasivaya. Shortly afterwards, the house was completely destroyed by a
fire. Some people, associating the fire with Guhai Namasivaya's visit,
poured scorn on him by saying, 'The ash given by this yogi has turned
the house itself into ash'.
Guhai Namasivaya
was deeply hurt by this taunt, not personally, but because of the
ridicule to which the Lord's
vibhuti had been subjected. He therefore
meditated on Siva and through his grace was able to restore the house to
its former unburnt state. Subsequently, those in the village who had
formerly reviled him began to praise and worship him as if he were Siva
himself. Guhai Namasivaya, perturbed by all the fuss his visit had
caused, then took a vow that wherever he went in future, he would never
again stay in any house.
On reaching
Tiruvannamalai he stuck to his vow and lived in public halls, temple
flower gardens and occasionally in the surrounding forest. He devoted
himself to the practice of Siva Yoga and became so accomplished in it
that he was able to spend long periods in
samadhi, immersed in his inner
Linga. Each day he visited the entrance of the Arunachaleswara Temple
but went no further because, as a Virasaiva, he was prohibited from
worshipping there. It seems that Guhai Namasivaya either had a desire to
worship in the temple, or felt that he would benefit by doing so, for
each day he would gesture with his hands in the direction of the shrine
and to say to himself, 'Are you well without worshipping him?'
There was a
sadhu
called Sivakkira Yogi who noticed that Guhai Namasivaya never went
through the temple entrance, but merely made strange gestures there. He
interpreted this strange behaviour as deliberate irreverence and decided
to punish him by striking him on the back with his cane. Guhai
Namasivaya made no attempt to retaliate, nor did he even reproach his
attacker. He merely composed an extempore
venba verse in Tamil to the
effect that the Lord had struck him in order to drive out his evil
propensities. When Sivakkira Yogi saw Guhai Namasivaya responding in
such a humble way, he immediately realised that he had failed to
recognise the latter's greatness.
After this
incident Guhai Namasivaya began to feel that it would be appropriate for
him to enter the temple and worship there. While he was contemplating
this breach with tradition, his Guru, Sivananda Desikar, unexpectedly
appeared, surrounded by a retinue of his devotees. Guhai Namasivaya
greeted him with great love and devotion. In return, Sivananda Desikar
spoke to him in a friendly and intimate way. Then to Guhai Namsivaya's
surprise, his Guru entered the temple with his disciples, walked
straight to the inner sanctum and began to worship Siva there. Guhai
Namasivaya, who had accompanied his Guru into the temple, followed his
Guru's example. He threw himself full-length on the ground and, filled
with ecstasy, mentally worshipped the image of Siva that was enshrined
there. When he stood up he could see no sign either of his Guru or his
fellow disciples, but when he looked at the
Linga he had been
worshipping, he saw only the form of his Guru. Spontaneously, the
following verse came to his lips:
Lord Arunagiri! Form of true knowledge! Guru to whom I
call out 'Om Namasivaya!' Do not scorn me as one who is devoid of Love
for you, who is a liar and without self-respect, who is mentally
immature and deficient in intelligence, but take me to yourself and be
my Lord! [2]
Guhai Namasivaya,
realising that the appearance of his Guru had been the play of the
Lord, interpreted his vision to mean that he now had permission to enter
the temple and worship there. In Virasaivism, the authority of the Guru
is paramount. If the Guru sanctions a practice, it immediately becomes
acceptable even if it contravenes traditional rules and
regulations.
After this
incident Guhai Namasivaya decided to take up residence in the entrance
to the temple. Each day he was there, he composed a verse in praise of
Arunachala-Siva and put together a flower garland. He would then offer
both of them to the
Linga of Lord Siva in the inner shrine. He described
his actives in the following verse:
Many times have I wreathed him with flower garlands and
adored him with song garlands. My tongue has sung a thousand melodies
in praise of him. To see him, the Lord Sonachala [Arunachala], famed all
over the earth, I, worthless as I am, need a thousand eyes. [3]
During this period of his life Guhai Namasivaya supported himself by
begging for his food and seemed quite content with his spartan
existence:
'To beg for food and eat it, and to come here and sleep at
the sacred portals - this alone is my happiness.’ [4]
After he had
lived like this for some time, Lord Siva appeared in one of his dreams
and commanded him: 'Remain in a cave on the slopes of our mountain and
carry on your yoga practice there.'
Guhai Namasivaya
accepted the order and moved into a cave on the lower slopes of the
eastern side of the hill. He spent the remainder of his life in this
cave and thus acquired the title 'Guhai', which is the Tamil word for
cave.
The mountain soon
became the main focus of his
sadhana. To understand how this came
about, it will be instructive to compare certain aspects of Virasaivism,
particularly the teachings on the nature of
Linga, with the spiritual
traditions that are associated with Arunachala. The Virasaivas conceive
of
Linga, in its unmanifest form, as a blazing mass or column of light
in the heart of each devotee. At the time of initiation, the Guru draws
out this power, installs it in a physical form, the
IshtaLinga, and
instructs the disciple to worship it as if it were Siva himself. In the
case of Arunachala, Siva initially appeared as a dazzling, limitless
column of light and then later transformed himself into the physical
Linga of Aruanchala. As Ramana Maharishi remarked on several occasions,
the hill is not the abode of Siva or a symbolic representation of him,
it is, like the
IshtaLinga of Virasaivas, Siva manifesting in a
Linga-shaped form. This is what he had to say to someone who enquired
which portion of the hill was the holiest and most sacred:
The whole hill is sacred. It is Siva himself. Just as
we identify ourselves with a body, so Siva has chosen to identify
himself with the hill. Arunachala is pure wisdom in the form of a hill.
It is out of compassion for those who seek him that he has chosen to
reveal himself in the form of a hill visible to the eye. [5]
There is a tradition in Tiruvannamalai that the
Lingam in the
Arunachaleswara Temple and the mountain
Lingam of Arunachala are one and
the same. Thus, when Sivananda Desikar manifested and superimposed his
image on the temple
Lingam, Guhai Namasivaya, who had been worshipping
that image, received the message that his Guru and Arunachala were
identical. This understanding is mentioned in the verse he immediately
composed. Furthermore, realising that the vision had authorised him to
regard Arunachala as his Guru, he began to worship the Mountain as a
Guru
Linga. He described this new relationship and the effect it had on
him in the following verse:
Taking into my heart as my Guru the Red Mountain Lord
[Arunachala], who now stands formless before me, I have put to flight
the unutterable arrogance of my good and evil deeds, my soul's
indissoluble threefold impurity and my unparalleled accumulation of
karma. [6]
In Virasaivism it is the Guru's job to cleanse the devotee of the
threefold impurities that cling to the three bodies. This process would
have been initiated by Guhai Namasivaya's human Guru, but as the above
verse clearly states, it was Arunachala-Siva who completed the
job.
By channelling
his devotional fervour towards the mountain, he was able to generate a
level of love that he had never experienced from worshipping his
IshtaLinga and practising Siva Yoga:
Except for the ineffable Lord Annamalai and His consort
Unnamulai, who sits at his Lordship's side, I have known no other gods.
Or, if I have known them, I have never cherished them in my heart of
hearts… Monarch who dwells as the Red Mountain! When I lauded you as the
Supreme One, worshipping and praising you with melting heart, when I
sought you with hands clasped and with tears running down from my eyes,
you granted me my boon, according to my desire. O King of compassion! I
find nothing which I can adequately offer in return. [7]
The boon he sought was nothing less than freedom from the cycle of birth and death:
My heart! By praising the bounteous one who drives away
the effects of evil deeds that torment perpetually the hearts of those
in whose mind there is attachment, we have received our boon. We have
received the fruit that is proper for this human birth: we have ceased
to be reborn. [8]

In one of his other verses he indicates indirectly that he obtained this
boon by thinking continuously and lovingly of the Red Mountain
Lord:
Those who desire the boons of fame, long life and
children, all praise the Red Mountain Lord. For those who praise him
continually, incapable of forgetting him even when asleep, there is no
further rebirth. [9]
Guhai Namasivaya makes no mention in his verses of the Siva Yoga that he
had perfected in his early life. He may have given it up sometime after
his arrival in Tiruvannamalai for he frequently asserts in his poetry
that devotion to Siva and complete surrender to him are quite sufficient
to attain liberation. His own devotional practices were simple and
direct. We know, for example from the writings of his best-known
disciple, Guru Namasivaya, that Guhai Namasivaya composed a four-line
verse each day in praise of Arunachala: 'Mountain to which Guhai
Namasivaya, performer of immensely great austerities, makes obeisance,
daily adorning him with a garland of one
venba verse.'
[10]
He had begun the
practice while he was still living in the temple entrance, and he seems
to have continued it when he moved into the cave on the hill. He must
have composed thousands of verses in praise of the mountain, but very
few of them have been preserved. Only two of his poems have been
published
Arunagiri Antadi (100 verses) and
Tiruvarunai Tanivenba (36
verses). A few other stray verses of his can be found in quotations in
the writings of other people, but it would seem that the bulk of his
poetic output has been irretrievably lost.
Although he was
born in Karanataka and spoke Kannada as his mother tongue, he thoroughly
mastered the Tamil language. His principal extant poem,
Arunagiri
Antadi is often used as a text in Tamil schools to illustrate the
intricacies of the
venba metre. Ramana Maharshi remarked on several
occasions that this metre was reputed to be the most difficult form to
compose in; and Ganapati Muni, a superb extempore poet, once confessed
that the
venba metre was so difficult, he was unable to utilise it.
Dandapani Swami, a famous 19th century poet and scholar, felt that Guhai
Namasivaya's poetry was so good it could only have been composed as a
result of divine inspiration. In his verse biography of Guhai Namasivaya
he wrote: 'Although learned in no language other than Kannada, my Lord
Siva caused him to compose
venba verses of an excellence that only the
most eminent of Tamil poets could equal. He could not have done it had
he relied on his own inspiration alone.'
[11]
In addition to
composing verse, Guhai Namasivaya also performed
pradakshina of the
mountain and repeated the great mantra of Saivism,
Nama Sivaya. In
several of his verses he encourages other people to take up these
practices and, in addition, to think continuously of Arunachala.
Be they of lowly birth, without the advantage of learning,
unable to practise the virtue of liberality, it is of no account. Those
who perform pradakshina of holy Aruna, the Supreme, submit to his rule
and become his devotee, will excel even amongst the most excellent…
Recite the five-lettered name of the First One, the Red Mountain Lord,
and meditate upon it. Thus will the straight path, the steadfast
condition and the marks of true knowledge become manifest to you. Your
every wish will be granted, and fulfilment will be yours… Taking a
necklace of rudraksha beads, whose nature is suited to solitude, recite
the five letters [Na ma Si va ya] with full voice, one by one, mindful
of their meaning. Thus, earnestly seeking the feet of Lord Sonagiri
[Arunachala], whose ornament is the snake, we shall obtain the boon of
freedom from death for all eternity… My heart! Fix your thoughts on the
Red Mountain Teacher, who, if you believe in his grace and praise him
daily, will take hold of you, desirous of your good, saying, 'Behold, I
am here!' If you think of him in this way, all the painful effects of
your actions will subside and go away. [12]
There is a famous story concerning Guhai Namasivaya that seems to show
that although he had great devotion to Arunachala, he was still capable
of displaying bursts of extreme anger. One day, according to this story,
he took pity on a poor man whose only goat had been killed by a snake
just before it was about to give birth. Guhai Namasivaya asked the man
to leave the goat's body with him and to collect it the next day. When
the man returned to pick up the corpse, he found that not only had the
goat been restored to life, it had also given birth to two kids. As news
of this miracle spread around the town, some boys from the local
weaving community decided to play a joke on him. One boy, pretending to
be dead, was carried into the presence of Guhai Namasivaya by his
friends. The boys claimed that their friend had died of a snake bite and
asked the saint to restore him to life. Guhai Namasivaya, who could see
that they were merely making fun of him, cursed them with such
vehemence that the boy who was pretending to be dead actually did die.
Then Guhai Namasivaya cursed the whole weaving community, saying that
they would never prosper or flourish in Tiruvannamalai again. The curse
took effect: all the weavers were forced to leave town or take up other
occupations because none of them could make a living by weaving in
Tiruvannamalai. In the years that followed, all attempts to re-establish
weaving businesses in the town failed.
Guhai Namasivaya
made better use of his power and his anger on another occasion, with
equally devastating results. A barbarian chieftan called Agittu once
invaded and looted the town. He murdered many of the inhabitants,
abducted a large number of the town's young women and, in an act of
deliberate desecration, he set up camp in one of the temple courtyards
and roasted an ox there. When news of this reached Guhai Namasivaya, he
became angry and rebuked Lord Arunachaleswara in the following manner:
Lord Sonesan! Are your three eyes, including the eye on
your forehead, fast asleep? Has someone stolen away the battle-axe and
trident you wield? Haven't you any self-respect? Shall all your devotees
be abandoned to an accursed death?[13]
Arunachaleswara accepted the justness of the complaint and, for the sake
of Guhai Namasivaya, decided to intervene in the matter. That night the
Lord appeared to Agittu in a dream in the form of a
sadhu and struck
him on the back with his stick. Agittu woke up immediately and noticed
that on the spot where he had been beaten there was a rash that soon
grew and developed into a large, swollen abscess. He consulted some of
the elders of the town, recounting his dream to them. They all advised
him that he could only save his life by leaving the temple. Agittu, not
wanting any further punishment, abandoned the temple to the
pujaris and
the town's devotees who cleared up his mess and reconsecrated the holy
shrine. However, Agittu could not escape the wrath of Guhai Namasivaya
and Lord Arunachaleswara. His abscess grew and worms appeared in it,
which gnawed away at his healthy flesh. All remedies failed, including
one horrific experiment in which he applied foetuses, taken from
pregnant women he had slaughtered for the purpose, to the wound. When he
eventually died in great agony, his death was celebrated throughout
Tiruvannamalai. The local people anointed themselves with oil, put on
new clothes, ate a special meal and danced in exaltation.
When Guhai
Namasivaya reached 100 years of age, the thought occurred to him: 'The
span allotted to man by Brahma is 100 years. That is enough for this
worldly life.' He had his disciples prepared a
samadhi pit for him,
intending to enter it and give up his life there. But, as he was
lowering himself into the crypt, Lord Siva spoke to him, ordering him to
stay a further 100 years on earth. His resigned response to the Lord's
intervention is recorded in one of his verses:
To me, a devotee of blissful Lord Arunagiri, who is
kinder to me than any mother or wise father, it matters little whether
he ordains that I should die, or that I should suffer on in this
delusive body, in spite of my 100 years. [14]
One hundred years later he had another
samadhi pit prepared in the cave
that now bears his name. Before lowering himself into it, he composed
his final two verses:
I will no longer bear this delusive body, which is the
dwelling place of all the 360 diseases known to our science. Lord
Arunesan, who wears in his locks the holy waters and the waning moon!
May you wipe out at once this birth for the sake of your solitary
devotee… We have found refuge at the feet of our father, Lord Sonagiri.
We have crossed the threefold waters of our final birth. Behold! No
longer do we bow down to the lotus-born Brahma, the creator, nor to Yama
[the god of death] who rides the powerful buffalo. [15]
After saying these words, he descended into the
samadhi pit and seated
himself in the full-lotus position. Then, utilising a practice he had
mastered during his days as a Siva yogi, he gave up his life by sending
the
pranas out of his body via the
bramarandhra at the top of his head.
His disciples erected a
Linga on the spot and instituted worship of it.
Daily
puja has been conducted there right down to the present day.
Thus ended the
life of a great Arunachala
bhakta. His long stay on the mountain had
taught him the simple truth that those who surrender lovingly and
completely to the Red Mountain Lord have all their sins and karma washed
away:
I have perceived the means of dissolving away all the
manifold maladies that beset my life and crush me down. I have taken
into my heart the lotus feet of the Red Mountain Lord. What then do I
lack? For those who are without love for the Red Mountain Lord, who
cleaves away falsehood and subjects us to his rule, will it be of any
benefit to mortify the body?… Whether he brings ruin upon our heads, or
whether he lifts us up through his grace, repeat the name of Lord
Sonesan and believe in his word. [16]
[By Nadhia Sutara - First appeared in Mountain Path]