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Fundamentally How Many Things Exist in the Universe?

Prayer of the Day

Prayer from Thiruvarutpayan (திருவருட்பயன்) 

 

உயிரவை நிலை

சத்து அசத்தைச் சாராது அசத்து அறியாது அங்கண் இவை
உய்த்தல் சதசத்தாம் உயிர்.  17

Song as Romanized text

 

uyiravai n-ilai

saththu asaththais sArAthu asaththu aRiyAthu angkaN ivai
uyththal sathasaththAm uyir.  17

Meaning of the Prayer Song:


 Intelligent being will not depend on unintelligent things.
Unintelligent cannot know (/ choose).
Whereas it is the semi-intelligent life 
that enjoy these (both Intelligent being and unintelligen things).


 Notes: 


1. This is a key principle of Shaiva Siddhanta.
Here Umapathi Sivam depicts where God, lives and
the world stand with respect to each other.

2.  சத்து அசத்தைச் சாராது 
The Pure Intelligent Being (God) will not get into 
the unintelligence / darkness. It is a common sense
that an intelligent being will not put itself voluntarily into trouble.
So, would the God - the Pure Intelligent Being, 
that stays ever fulfilled - ever get under the clutches of darkness?
Never! So the world - which is house of both limited happiness
and sadness - cannot be "only God and nothing else"
as the Ekatmavadins claim.

3.  அசத்து அறியாது 
Unintelligent things "can"not!
By definition they are unintelligent. They have no capability
on their own to expand, grow, evolve.
If you keep sand on the table it will stay as sand
unless something is done to it. So none of the
unintelligent things could have caused this nicely
evolved world!! The evolution of the world is due to the 
partial or full intelligent being. So the claim of the Nastikas that the 
world created itself on its own does not hold ground.

4.  இவை உய்த்தல் சதசத்தாம் உயிர்
One who enjoys both the reliance on God and unintelligent
material things is the life! This life is semi-intelligent (sat-asat).
It does not have the pure intelligence to stay away from 
any dependency. Nor is this unintelligent thing. It can evolve
expand within its capability. It can enjoy (or suffer from) its dependency
on God or material things.

5. So, in conclusion all the three things exist.
The Intelligent Being - God - which will never get into worldly suffering.
The unintelligent things that only get acted upon but have
no means of action on its own.
The semi-intelligent beings - the lives - that have limited
intelligence to enjoy and evolve, but not complete intelligence to stand on their own.

This truth of three things (pati , pashu and pasha - mupporul unmai) is the 
essential principle of Shaiva Siddhanta.

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