இலண்டன் சைவ மாநாடு (சிறப்புமலர்)

7வது சைவ மாநாடு இலண்டன் 2004 SURVIVING AS SAIVITES IN 21ST CENTURY WEST Professor Kopan Mahadeva, PhD, CEng, FIMfgE, FCMI, Hon DLitt Okay, you were born and raised as a Saivite, possibly in relaxed surroundings in Southeast Asia. You are running daily rat races now, in this Western world, finding rather difficult to live a Saiva life. And this inability continually pricks your conscience and your head as when our older folks missed sesame-oil baths for months. And you think you would not, after all, go to heaven. You fear that you may not reach the end point in your birth-cycle, and thus could be reborn in this cruel world, say, as a fighting bull in Spain (with no chance at all to woe a nice cow and sire a stack full of calves) or as a budgie in a dangling cage owned by a computer- crazy Tamil kid (thus ordained to starve to a slow death), only to be reborn again and again in endless cycles. If that be the case, you are the type of person who can benefit from this article, written by a truly complacent Saivite, who is confident he has heaven within reach. How's that? It is really a simple matter to live a Saiva life, even in the West, even in this 21st Century, if you know how. As to how, I'll tell you, if you read on, but you must take me seriously and keep faith in my ways. Having Heart-to-Hearts with your Conscience, Instantly Improving Confidence: Your Step-1: Any task, however tough or tedious, could be satisfactorily finished if you take one step at a time. So, at first you must find a little time for this most important initial heart-to-heart, in- between two or more of your rat-race trips. It can't be difficult, as you might think by force of habit. May I make a suggestion? Just as an example. Are you dressed up and waiting for your wife, since she said she will be with you in a jiffy, to keep a dinner appointment. Yes? Then do not stand there, fretting, or pacing the lounge till her new carpet wears out. Consider yourself lucky, My Friend! Because she's sure to take at least half an hour to select a saree for the occasion from her lifetime collection, then find a matching blouse, search for three safety pins, a pottu and gum, etc., etc. Just tell her to lock up the house when she's ready, and come down to the car, where you'll be waiting. Make sure you take with you a copy of Prof. R. Gopalakrishnan's Essentials of Saivism. Sit relaxedly, as you would, before a driving test, to begin H-to-H-1, keeping Gopalakrishnan safely your dash-board - for reading whenever you have a similar, long wait in the car on another occasion. [I have arbitrarily assumed in the foregoing, that you are a married male. You could well be an unmarried male, or a boy like what Saint Thirugnanasampanthar was, or a married or unmarried female like Punithavathiyaar, or yet a schoolgoing girl. Your sex or age or marital status do not matter at all. Saivism welcomes everyone equally.] Now, ask yourself the following questions, trying to answer them as honestly as you can. You do not have to spend too much time struggling to crystallize your answers with long debates. involving past incidents in life, their outcomes, etc. After a short period of easy reflection, decide for yourself on a 'yes' or a 'no' to each question in turn. keeping a count. Maybe you would count each 'yes' on the right hand, and each 'no' on the left. You may be minutes from feeling good about yourself. Let us start. 1) When you wake up in the mornings and roll in bed, and before you dash to the bathroom to beat the others, do you whisper to yourself something like 'Siva Siva! (or Murugaa! or Paraasakthi! or Bairavaa! or Ganapathi! or Nadarajaa! or simply God! - since they are all the same), thank you that I am alive today, and my loved ones are alive and well too. Please guide us this day as you always do!'? Do you say something like that? Well, I hope you do. Then you are basically a Saivite! 2) Similarly when you go to bed, just before you doze off (even if you happen to be slightly tipsy). do you at least murmur, 'Siva Siva (or whatever other name you use), I have honestly done my very best this day under my trying circumstances, and survive with your help, minding others' interests along with my own, causing little or no harm to those 146