63 Nayanmars - Life of Thiru Chandesa Nayanar !!


Jai Sriman Narayana !!

 
Jaya Jaya Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!

 


 
Andar Piran Un Thondar Thamakku  Adhipanaki Anaithu Nam
Unda Kalamum Uduppanavum Choodu Vanum Unakkaka
Chandichanumam Padhan Than Dhom Endran Kavarpor Adamudikuth
Thunda Madicher Chadai Kondrai Malai Vangi Chuttinar


Vichara Srumanar was born to Echcha Thathan in Thirucheynyalur, a famous village in Kumbhakonam known for preservation of Vedas and expansion of Vedic Cultures.  He was born in the lineage of Sage Kashyapa.  As glorious as his inheritance, Vichara Srumanar was mounted with abundance of knowledge in Veda, Sastras and Agamas at a young age.  His parents performed sacred thread ceremony to their child at the age of seven.  Immediately after, he was sent to learn Veda Sastras under the supervision of learned scholars.   Vichara Srumanar himself was a master of all the Knowledge & Wisdom realized the presence of God in every living being.  Soon his fervor towards Lord turned into untainted love. 

 
Once, Vichara Srumanar found a cowherd ill treating a cow and beating heavily.  His heart went out crying for the poor creature.  He could not tolerate this for long, immediately move towards the cowherd and ordered him to stop his mean behavior. His mind went on thinking about the preciousness of the cow as one of the superior creature belongs to the family of Bull – the celestial vehicle of Lord or Lords and an inescapable companion of Lord, which provides five holy substances such as Milk, Curd, Ghee, Butter and Holy Ashes in abundance.  Vichara Srumanar ordered the cowherd to leave the custody of the cattle at once and he took up the work of cowherd wholeheartedly.  

 

Vichara Srumanar took good care of the cattle, he protected them from dangers, he strides them out to lush green places for graze, he affectionately fed them with the grass and finally march them towards cool and shadowy places to relax.   He utilized leisure hours to worship Lord, he raised a platform and erected a Phallus (Linga) out of sand and started to worship Lord.  He utilized the flowers and leaves available on the river banks for worship.  His plain gesture of worshipping Lord with utmost faith and devotion grew into inseparable bond towards Him.

 

Vichara Srumanar took good care of the cattle and in return they provided him with large quantity of milk that he shared equally amongst the owners.  The owners were delighted at the self-less service of Vichara Srumanar, although he found abundance of milk remained idle that he blissfully utilized to perform sacred bath to Lord.  In this way Vichara Srumanar continued his service to cattle and worship of Lord concurrently. 

 

One day, Vichara Srumanar was performing his daily rituals after his everyday practice.  A villager was keenly watching Vichara Srumanar without his notice.   Vichara Srumanar erected a Phallus, offered flowers and performed sacred bath to Lord with the milk and continued in a state of meditation.  The villager was shocked to see the thoughtless act of Vichara Srumanar, he failed to see the devotion in Vichara Srumanar and thought as inconsiderate.  He immediately reported the careless act of Vichara Srumanar and thereby dissipating the milk on the mud.  All the villagers assembled forced Vichara Srumanar’s father to take an immediate action to resolve this serious issue.


 
As usual Vichara Srumanar continued his practice of worship of Lord.  His father eagerly observed the performance of his young boy.  As any other day, he constructed a phallus out of sand, offered flowers and leaves; he poured milk over the Linga and continued to worship.  His father was in a rage spanked him, but Vichara Srumanar did not feel the pain as he was in deep meditation.   It mounted the anger of his father; he pounced on him and knocked down the pots of milk kept for sacred bath of Lord.  It brought Vichara Srumanar wide awake from his meditation; he frantically took a dried wood piece and threw it angrily on his father.  At the will of Lord the wooden piece turned into an axe and severed his father’s leg.  He fell on the ground in a thud and died instantly.  Vichara Srumanar continued his meditation in a state of bliss.

 

The Lord of Lords delighted at the devotion of the young child appeared before him with his consort, accompanied by the sages chanting Vedic hymns, singing and praising the glories of Lord.  Vichara Srumanar hurriedly rose from the seat and prostrated the celestial couple.  Lord Shiva affectionately hugged Vichara Srumanar   for his absolute faith and devotion, his unyielding act against his father for the great sin (Shiva Aparadham) he had committed.  Instantaneously, Vichara Srumanar’s appearance turned into immortal with the brilliance of thousand Adityas, resemblance of Lord with three eyes, crescent crown, Axe and bull as celestial vehicle.  Lord proclaimed that Vichara Srumanar will be worshipped as Chandesa Nayanar/Chandeswarar and would be honored with the offerings and Bhog of Lord.  Lord Shiva blessed Chandeswara’s father with Salvation also attained the Abode of Lord Shiva.

 

Lord Chandeshwara is one of the most praised twenty five forms of Lord Shiva.   Most temples of Lord Shiva enshrine Lord Chandikeshwara/Chandeshwara and worshipped along with Lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga, Soma Skandhar & Goddess Parvati.   It is believed that before leaving the temple one should pay obeisance to Lord Chandeshwara and get his blessings to accept any Bhog from the temple.

 

In the Tamil month Thai – Uthiram is widely celebrated as Guru Puja Day to commemorate the above incident.


 
 Jaya Jaya Sankara  Hara Hara Sankara !!

 
Jai Sriman Narayana !!

1 comment:

Rudra Vasudev said...

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