இலண்டன் சைவ மாநாடு (சிறப்புமலர்)

7வது 6014-6 மாநாடு இலண்டன் 2004 ESSENTIALS OF SAIVISM: SOME VIEWS & A REVIEW Professor Kopan Mahadeva MSc, PhD, CEng, FCMI, Hon DLitt Saivism, also known as Saivaism, is, in my considered layman's opinion, the oldest human faith, practised by around a billion people on the face of this earth to-day. I am happy to belong to this tradition from birth, and to have been gradually initiated into it, both at home and at primary and secondary schools during my childhood in Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka. Also I regard myself lucky to have had the benefit of studying in Christian schools at some stages in-between, before entering University, and to have lived and worked with colleagues, some of them close friends who belong to the Buddhist, Christian (or Catholic) and Islamic faiths. I do study and do respect all faiths, but I have remained dourly loyal to Saivism and to all- embracing Hinduism, smilingly but strongly resisting brainwashing and conversion techniques directed at me by street-walkers and activists of some of the latter-day offshoot-faiths from the East, the West and the Middle-East, during my past 44 years in the United Kingdom. I follow the above path not because I know or understand all the precepts of Saivism, but because I do not wish to waste away my life in counter- productive debates and arguments. I opted rather to accept the universal wisdom that there must be a super-human entity controlling our lives, actions, attributes and destinies which we, also as guided by that same entity, define as God. There can therefore be only one God. And since my forefathers called Him Siva, and thereby my parents gave me one of His names, Mahadeva, it seemed to me, supported by my childhood training & initiation, that I would gain much, and lose nothing, by following my family's faith as best as I can while carrying on with the more pressing day-to-day toils and tribulations of today's modern, materialistic and technologically advancing, yet also progressively more enlightening and democratically liberating, working life and domestic retreats. Thus, I keep at home and pray to an image of Lord Siva several times a day. My hands automatically come up in salutation whenever I pass that serene image. Whenever I do remember, until I forget it, I chant, 'Siva Sivaa, Mahaadeva' and 'Nama Sivaaya' silently with each breath all day long and as I fall asleep, also often during sleep. This inbuilt habit gives me the moral strength and mental equilibrium to fight my problems of daily life. And I feel I am destined to continue fighting (I know, life is not a bed of roses!) until my last breath when I am sure to whisper those calming, winning words: Siva Sivaa, Siva Sivaa, Siva Sivaa. I have always wanted to learn more about my faith, whenever I was spared some time to ponder about it. I very well remember to have enjoyed my late friend Krishna Gnanascorian's, An Introduction to Saivaism two decades ago. I have also read with interest Elaiyathamby Subramaniam's, The Philosophy and Practice of Saivaism, an excellent book of 129 pages published in 1994 by the Brittania Hindu (Shiva) Temple Trust. Mr. Subramaniam wrote it when he was a mature 87 years old. Recently I had the opportunity to read, Insight and Research into Saivaism, of the Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples, U.K., a 277-page illustrated A4- sized collection of research papers and lay-type articles by South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamils. These helped me to acquire a wider knowledge of Saivism. It was at this stage that I was handed a manuscript of Professor R. Gopalakrishnan's, Essentials of Saivism, by Mr. N. Satchithananthan, with a request for a Foreword. Gopalakrishnan's book is also sponsored by the same Federation of Saiva (Hindu) Temples, U.K., who generously sponsored the last book I have quoted above. Mr. Satchithananthan was then the Federation's current Chairman. This book is a more modest, A5 sized, 120-odd pages endeavour, which was brought out to commemorate the Sixth Saiva Conference of the Federation organised in London during 16-17 August, 2003 where I also chaired a Seminar. 174