The Pilgrim

The Quarterly Bulletin of the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

Editor: P. Chenchiah

An Appeal to Members of the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

The changes in the executive and the Editorial Committee of the Christian Society for the study of Hinduism almost amounting to a re-constitution; the appointment of a new Editor in Madras necessitating the change of the press from Lucknow to Madras and obtaining permission from Central Government for the purpose, made it practically impossible to bring out any issue of the Pilgrim in 1948 after the January one. The Government machine moves leisurely, and it has taken several months to complete the formalities under the press Act. The permission was received only towards close of February, and we have brought out this issue without any delay.

We have in mind plans for making the Pilgrim larger and more varied. We intend to introduce new studies in Hinduism, Christian study of Hinduism and fellowship of Religions. We cannot carry on these changes without a very much larger circle of readers and larger space - at least a hundred pages. The Government however, in view of paper scarcity, has sanctioned only thirty pages. We have therefore to be satisfied with three studies:

1. Saiva Siddhanta.
2. Psychology of Hindu mind.
3. Hindu and Christian theology.

We hope an increase in size and membership will enable us to introduce other studies.

The scheme above indicated cannot: be carried out without the help of our readers. Since the sanction of the Government permits us to print 300 copies we can increase the membership to 250 leaving 50 copies for exchange and for sending sample copies to persons who are likely to become members. The Editor was supplied with a list of Sixty members only as on rolls in 1948. The list, we feel is not complete. The Editor will be thankful if each reader goes through the list and then circulates it among his friends. I request you to bring to our notice any omission in the list, so that we may send a copy to the member whose name is not found. Please scrutinise the postal wrapper and if you find any error in the spelling of the name or in the description of your designation or any defect in the address, please let us know.

Please give the address of any friend who is likely to become a new member. We will send him or her a sample copy:

1. Editorial

A change of editorship offers a convenient opportunity to state or restate the basic principles of policy and to sketch, however inadequately the proposed programme. A magazine to be of real use should have a definite objective and in its articles reduce the objective into ideas and techniques. I set down in this editorial what I hope will be the sustained policy, and programme of the ‘Pilgrim’ under my editorship.

The ‘Pilgrim’, has a vision and vocation. First and foremost it seeks as the official organ of the Christian society for the study of Hinduism to promote true scholarship in Hinduism which will give to the Christian an understanding of the Hindu mind and Hindu religious psychology, so that Christ may be presented to the Hindu in an appealing and arresting manner. While Hindu religion, especially, in its archaic aspect has attracted German, French, Russian and English scholarship, the Hindu mind of today may be said to be terra incognita. The Indian Christian by virtue of his heritage and profession, has qualifications for building a living bridge between Hinduism and Christianity. During our editorship we shall encourage every attempt calculated to bring about a true fellowship and understanding between Christianity and Hinduism. It will be our constant endeavour to present Christ to the Hindu and Hinduism to the Christian.

There have been till recently two persons involved in transaction - the missionary - Catholic and Protestant who brought the Christian message to India and the Hindu to whom the message was given. With the passage of time and by the fruition of missionary effort a third person has arisen, the Indian Christian who represents the Jewel of redemption wrought by Christ set in the golden casket of the heritage of Hinduism. The Indian Christian should be the embodiment of Indian Christianity and our programme will be to give body, features, language, utterance to Indian Christianity. Indian Christians alone can put the majesty and magnitude of Christian salvation in an idiom intelligible to the Hindu.

Indian Christianity has been undeservedly a term of reproach, an occasion for warning and admonition. All fears vanish if we remember that Indian Christianity has its anchor in Christ. It sums up the devotion and loyalty of the Indian to Christ. Far from toning down the Christian message or obscuring the features of the Nazarene, Indian Christianity welcomes Jesus into the Indian heart to be the in-dwelling Lord. Indian Christianity as a blueprint, consists of new lines of Christian thought and activity - all of which will be welcomed in the columns of the Pilgrim.

Indian Christian theology will be one of the ground notes of Indian Christianity. There have been vague aspirations towards Indian Christian theology during last decade which has found expression in the Indian Christian theological conference. Dr. Marcus Ward in his ‘our theological task in India’ crystallises the hope. The direct and original experience of Jesus and Holy Spirit which alone can be the true foundations of Indian Christian theology, will be encouraged and articulated in the columns of the ‘Pilgrim’. A school of Indian Christian theologians who are able to think for themselves have come into existence, and we shall make every effort to bring to light their contributions.

Another dominant note of Indian Christianity is Christian yoga. The contribution of Hinduism to humanity took the shape of stressing Realisation as the soul of religion. Not satisfied with the dogma of being-born, yoga seeks to discover how to be born. Western techniques of Christian practice are mostly institutional. Philanthropic Christian institutions developed by Westerners will be gratefully accepted by the Indian Christians. Without prejudice to social institutional Christian effort, Indian Christianity will offer as its special contribution the development of Christian personality. The sons of God are not words but embodiments of a new and exalted life. Yoga within Christianity, will be concerned with Holy Spirit - how to receive it, how to allow it to reshape body and soul? There has been one conspicuous yogi among Christians - Sadhu Sunder Singh who has captivated East and West by reproducing Christ in his life. While the yogi has come, yoga has not yet. Our columns are open to all that ashramas are doing in this direction and to all suggestions from Indian and European missionaries. We need to shift Christianity in India from creed to conduct, from conduct to new life.

Christian literature in a land of literary traditions should have a place of primacy in Indian Christianity. The song and the story, the drama and the novel, the book and the moving picture may all be instruments of evangelism. Indian Christian has done very little in this field. To encourage him to enter this field and emulate his missionary forerunners will be our special endeavour. Though much that may be written in these columns may not deserve the name of literature, some of it we hope will be of more than ephemeral value and may be worthy to appear in the permanent form of a book and some of it we hope may deserve the name of literature. We shall try to assemble in the pages of the ‘Pilgrim’ the Indian Christian effort and achievement in pioneering literature, evangelism and in philanthropic effort of an indigenous nature. What has been done maybe an incentive for what has yet to be done.

Free India expects Indian Christians to labour for the nation and to serve her in all fields. Free India has to face the constructive problem of freedom. Poverty, sickness, greed, sin have to be chased away; equitable distribution of essential commodities, a levelling of caste and class distinctions are urgently called for. Christ teaches us how to live worthily in every field of life. Every problem has a Christian solution (i.e.) a solution which uplifts and enlarges man. A battle between caste, capital and communism seems to be inevitable in India and the issue depends on our ability to transmit love of Jesus into politics. India asks the Christians ‘how shall I do it?’ We hope the Pilgrim will show to India the Christian way in commerce, politics and social life. This means hard thinking.

Indian Christians have not shown any initiative in originating and maintaining institutions. Depending too much on foreign help they have lost self-help. In secular walks they have done well as officers. They have taken well to the teaching profession - where they mostly occupy subordinate positions. They have only recently ventured into journalism. Except in Tinnevelly and Malabar where they have inherited the requisite aptitudes from Hindu ancestry they are not conspicuous in trade. Barrenness prevails in social and religious fields. One reason for this state of affairs seems to be poverty. This very fact that religion cannot move without money in modern world shows how far Indian Christians have moved away from true sources of power. Before Roman state became Christian the Christians were among the poorest in the State but spiritually most powerful. Spiritual power and Holy Spirit do not go with money. Nor are they dependent upon money. The Indian Christian being poor should develop moral initiative and spiritual power. With a view to encourage indigenous leadership and co-operation, we invite short sketches of indigenous activities and institutions and suggestions for their improvement. We need desperately a substitute for money. Naturally human effort offers itself as such a substitute. Exploiting and organising Christian effort in the midst of irremovable poverty, may tax the best brains among Indian Christians and their foreign well-wishers.

Our idea of studying Hinduism means much more than scholarly studies of Hindu Scriptures. It means a study of the Hindu mind and aspirations in the world of today. It means study of Hinduism in and through Indian Christian who is at same time a Hindu and Muslim Christian. The programme we have sketched for the ‘Pilgrim’ may, even as a first sketch appear to be ambitious. But with Jesus whose unsearchable riches are barely used for humanity and with the willing co-operation of Bhaktas East and West, why should we not be ambitious for the Kingdom of God? Jesus had great dreams about man and why should we not dream great dreams for Jesus and His Kingdom.

In this issue we have collected, though this has to be done in a hurry, articles on the topics indicated above. In fact, we have built the editorial notes round the articles - a procedure, we propose to adopt in the future.

Though somewhat belated, we wish our readers a happy Christmas and new year. May this year prove, under the blessing of God, in spite of all indications to the contrary - a year of peace and fellowship of Nations. May children of God pray and labour for the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

2. Is Indian Christian Theology Possible?

V. CHAKKARAI

Macaulay made a striking observation in his famous essay on THE HISTORY OF THE POPES and even tried to prove it in his dashing manner - that natural theology is not an inductive science like Physics or Mathematics, ever progressive and with no stoppage, probably, to its velocity. Likewise. Christianity as revealed religion, is not a progressive science. These two sections into which religion was dissected in his day, have, according to him, made no progress, the former since Socrates and the latter, since the time when the Canon of the New Testament was formed. If this principle be true how can there be any Indian theology, or for that matter, any theology at all? Such is also, indeed the view of the opponents of all theology, whose final thesis is, theology is superfluous, for it cannot contain anything new, for the Bible contains everything; but if it does contain any new doctrine, it must be false. Such was the boast of the famous Mussulman who burnt the Alexandrian Library. To this it may be said in reply that the older idea that the natural sciences are progressive ad infinitum, building higher and higher on well-laid foundations a tower of Babel to storm the very ramparts of Heaven, is not held today in the same manner. For do we not know that modern science has had to modify the Newtonian principles, and its progress today is not evolutionary, but revolutionary, practically changing the fundamental basis? But it is true that the aims of science remain the same, and new truths are being discovered though not arising always from the old ones but superseding them in many ways. Besides the accumulation of data is ever proceeding and practical uses for science are being multiplied indefinitely. And this so far as the experimental sciences are concerned.

When we come to theology in all its ramifications is the position altogether different, and, to speak generally is the position different in the social and moral sciences and in philosophy? Macaulay thought in his cocksure way there is progress, but it is the progress of a windmill, going round and round, raising the same questions about God, the human soul, immortality, duty, sin, redemption, the incarnation and receiving no clearer answers than in the days of Socrates or Paul. To this Newman gave a partial reply that theology was not an inductive science, no doubt, but a deductive science, for if the Bible is the fountain of Christian theology, with or without the traditions of the Church then new inferences can be drawn by authority with or without the Pope, Councils, and Synods. The Divine Voice has spoken once for all, and the question is what does it say and what does it mean? In this field there can be room and even necessity for progress, even if the time-honoured distinction of induction and deduction be upheld in its entirety - which cannot be by any scientific thinker today. Theology, both natural and revealed is more or less in the same position in more ways than one. It is constantly being exposed to historical criticism of the Bible and other ancient Christian documents. To meet the ever-changing phases of modern thought, theology must make adjustments and provide new defences. To take two examples, can we hold the old arguments about the existence of God, from design in the face of the doctrine of evolution, and can we maintain the divinity of our Lord and the Christian Faith in opposition to the devastating negative and hostile criticism of some modern scholars, both within and without the Christian Church? These questions which are fundamental to our Faith have been and still are engaging the talents and erudition of the theologians ranged on the side of the traditional Christian Faith in the Bible and Our Lord. I have been reading recently two books on the results of the modern criticism of the Bible, one by Hoskyns and the other by Sir Frederic Thenyon - called The Riddle of the New Testament and The Bible and Modern Scholarship - both works of very eminent scholars, defending against hostile attacks the scriptures. The problems discussed are no doubt highly technical, but they are not such as would have faced Augustine, Pascal, Paley, or even Newman. The books of the New Testament by the end of the last century were discredited by many German scholars and their following in England and America, as containing mere legends and myths, and as compositions of the latter half of the second century - views clean contrary to those of the Churches. To-day, as these two scholars show, the pendulum has swung, though not exactly to the older views still very near to them. While it is not possible to hold the crass fundamentalist view of the Christian Vedas and Agamas, as we may call the Bible, it is equally not possible to accept the drastic and ruthless criticisms of such, an ecclesiastic as Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham, probably the most distinguished mathematician of the Anglican communion, but not by any means even a second rate theologian or scholar. Hence, the task of the Christian scholar and theologian is manifold, various and complex in the highest degree, and it can therefore be confidently asserted that Macaulay’s truth is a mere truism, and it is both in theory and practice a futile one.

Turning to the creation of an Indian Christian theology I want to make some remarks by way of introduction, without dealing with any particular problem such as the incarnation, the atonement, or the Parousia or any other topic in the Christian catalogue. These remarks can be summarised as Why? How? And What? I must be very brief in describing these.

The Why

There are some good and even clever people who imagine that a real creative theology is an intellectual past-time or at best a hobby for the do-nothings among us who can be allowed to roam at large in the realms of fancy. A theology cannot be made to order like your shoes or coats (bush coats in these days). If it is to be an effective theology it must arise in response to deep spiritual and intellectual needs, or it will be a jejune affair. Are there such needs, felt by Indian Christians today, and are the Christian leaders and Rabbis and Pandits alive to any inner urge and surge of the spirit? If there are none, and we are satisfied with the Paradise of our present Christian life and thoughts, any theology, much less an Indian theology, is not wanted, and therefore it cannot come into existence But I am one of those who hold that this is not so, and let me explain. Do we not realise the difficulties of the Christian message in speaking of it to Non-Christians? I have felt it again and again though I know what the optimistic street preacher would say - he would give his testimony to what the Lord has done and leave it at that. This is a very interesting theme, but it is not so easy as it seems. What experience and how describe it and make it intelligible without being misunderstood? In India a new apologetic is needed not in the sense of an apology for Jesus who can be trusted to take care of Himself and our explanations. I think that the attempt to employ Barthian theology, and discredit non-Christian, faiths should be frankly given up though there are some among us who cling to it as the last plank of the ship wrecked sailor. I think such a problem must be one springing from our desire to evangelise not as a mere academic theory of our Theological Task. We must struggle with it as Jacob with the angel and get an answer apart from Western theological speculations having a different origin and purpose.

The How

I cannot describe the process of Theological development exactly. For one thing a very deep knowledge of the Bible is the first requisite which some of our would-be theologians do not possess. Up-to-date knowledge from modern scholarship is wanted - for without it, we shall be building on sand or weaving sand into ropes. As I believe that the Scriptures are the final authority and the store house for our thinking. I cannot conceive any theology built on fancies and mere pre-suppositions for what God can do or not do. I think in India, all of us must seriously ask if the existence of God and a supernatural order beyond the scientific can be proved. Because of the facile assumptions underlying this very controversy, we seem to proceed rather merrily to challenge the doctrine - I believe in God the Father Almighty. Then you are at sea. Both Christians and Non-Christians even of theological training would seem to be unconscious of the earthquake that has taken place in modern life. Do we really believe in God? Along with this, must go real and constructive knowledge of Indian philosophy and religion. I mean not only general knowledge of all this, but also special knowledge of the prevailing systems like the Tamilian Saiva Siddhanta, or advaita. Without a deep appreciation, though not acquiescence in all their teachings, no Indian Christian thought of any value is possible or can be of any practical use.

The What

How do you combine the two? This depends on the mentality and spiritual life of the theologian. If he is an abstract thinker, he may produce an abstract theory or theories. But I want to be of use in our evangelism and in the building up of the thought-life of Christians, and so I shall bring them into close contact with the Hindu and Christian categories in relation to modern problems. We are concerned today with man’s life in this world - therefore we must show how it agrees or disagrees with what God’s will is. What are the scriptural views of Hinduism and Christianity for man’s life on this earth? Our theology must be this worldly first and foremost, though death and the other world cannot be easily forgotten. The bifurcation between this and that - so convenient for the man who prefers the Status quo and at the same time secure his place in heaven with an easy transition - this dreadful religious hocus-pocus must be destroyed in India. You can worship your gods and goddesses, while getting the world’s goods by the most corrupt means. Our theology if it is to lead the treacherous conscience of the Hindu and Christian away from this delusion - must take note of it - and not sail away into the inane. Mere metaphysical speculation of Either-or, Both-and or any other such thought cannot be of much use unless their bearing on life’s problems here and now are set out. Therefore, I ask if these baffling problems are worrying us, if they are, think and produce something that may be worthy of our calling and suitable for the present discontents.

3. The Psychology of the Hindu Mind and the Presentation of the Christian Message

P. CHENCHIAH

In the modern scientific education the psychology of the pupil occupies rather a large and conspicuous place. You cannot teach a child unless you know the psychology of child-mind. The child thinks in pictures, abstract ideas do not attract the child. Visual education for the child and aural education for the adult should be an axiom in pedagogy. Mediaeval education was a failure so far as the child was concerned because it endeavoured to teach classics to a child who can only speak and understand the language of story.

Modern Christian preaching like mediaeval teaching has proved to be largely ineffective because it totally neglects the psychology of the preached - the Hindu. We preach to the Hindu, Muslim, South Sea Islander, the same stereotyped theological religion without taking into account their respective psychologies and mental backgrounds. Much of the Christian preaching does not enter the Hindu mind either because it is alien to its ways of thought or because it fails to evoke memory or association on which the meaning and appeal of words and ideas depend. The Hindu does not reject Christianity Often he simply does not understand it.

Mind has different shapes and forms depending largely on the past history. The racial and the national mind has evolved out of racial history.

We do not realise that in our preaching we are trying to convey Jewish ideas - product of Jewish history to a Hindu who stands at the opposite pole of the thought world through the medium of a Western preacher who does not understand the Jew or the Hindu by reason of his peculiar national bent.

Laymen trying to preach or convey Christ to a Hindu feel this difficulty more than the professional preacher of the Catechist type. The writer once tried to convey to a village boy who Christ was. He spoke the same language as the boy but found it difficult to put across a single idea. The name Jesus so unlike Rama or Gopal did not grip. When he said that Jesus was born in Bethlehem he looked blank at him for he never heard of a town with that name. Jerusalem so charged with emotion and so rich in associations to the Jew did not convey anything to this South Indian boy. Madura stirred his emotion. Benares kindled his imagination, but Jerusalem left him cold, dead cold.

The difficulties are not the less even in the case of a religious Hindu. Words which mean much to a Christian signify very little to him. For ages, he was taught that life is a burden and salvation redeems him from re-birth. To the Christian salvation connotes re-birth. A Saviour who gives re-birth does not appeal to the Hindu as a desirable saviour for he and his forebears sought to be saved from the cycle of lives and deaths. The same word “salvation” may be used, but they convey different meanings. The Jew in St. Paul made him cry ‘who shall save me from this body of death’ where under similar circumstances the Hindu would have cried, ‘who shall save me from this body of birth and re-birth’. Their outlook on life differs. Salvation of the Jew looks to the Hindu like a bondage - like riveting the chains he tried to break.

The translator faces these subtle psychological difficulties. The writer of this article happens to be a member of a committee formed for the purpose of finding out Tamil and Sanskrit equivalents for theological terms. At every turn national psychology, affecting national language interposed almost in-superable difficulties. We can find a word for saviour or protector but none for Messiah - a conception so characteristically Jewish that it has no echo in other religions. Even so the word Maya - so characteristically Hindu, that we cannot find a word for it in other languages. So it was resolved to adopt the words Maya and Messiah as they are, seeking to explain their meaning rather than translate them.

The dominant note of Hinduism - joy - incapacitates the Hindu from entering into the meaning of the cross - which dominates traditional Christianity. Hindu has suffered as perhaps no other has done. But the Hindu never fell in love with suffering. He sought to escape, wisely or unwisely sorrow and suffering. To offer the cross as a symbol of salvation leaves him dazed and perplexed. Redemption by suffering conveys no acceptable idea to those who have been crucified in life. Possibly after a good deal of exchange of ideas he may see the value of suffering but prima facie the idea sounds fantastic if not absurd. It may be doubted whether West ever understood the Jew and his religion in spite of its devotion to Old Testament. The Old Testament of the Christian is not the Old Testament of Jew but an Old Testament largely distorted and transformed by an alien psychology.

We have been searching in Indian languages for equivalent to the ‘absolute’. While one can pick twenty words which nearly mean the same thing, not one word exists that means exactly the same. Para, Nirvicalpa, Nirakara, Athitha, Paramita Nirguna may all stand for Indian absolute but not for European absolute. The absolute of the West means unrelated - the absolute of Hinduism - unchanging. Sandarbhathitha may be an exact equivalent - but that word does not happen to be the current coin of Hindu philosophy and religion. The prominent idea in avatar is decent while the main idea of incarnation is taking body. But neither of them can be equated to the ‘son of Man’ another untranslatable term though we can easily find Tamil and Sanskrit words for ‘son of God.’

The value of national psychology was brought to our mind forcibly when reviewing Sir Radhakrishnan’s Baghavatgita. The mind of Sir Radhakrishnan, like most of us trained in Western institutions may be described as cosmopolitan, rather than Hindu. Yet we see the influence of racial psychology at every turn. The absolute has supreme attraction for him - indicating a bias in the Indian mind for something above personality, usually conceived non-personal though termed supra-personal. His conception of Trinity as absolute, cosmic and individual aspects of reality stands in contrast, to the idea of trinity as triune personality. Incarnation stresses less the flesh-blood body notion and stands more for a perpetual process of divinising of Man. This exaltation of spirit over body, idea over fact, cosmic over individual arises from the peculiar bent of Hindu mind created by the operation of certain intellectual influences.

We are not attempting to construct a picture of the Hindu mind. That task, a vital one, may be undertaken sometime in the future. In this article we are emphasising the fact that in evangelisation the preacher cannot afford to overlook the existence of an Indian mind peculiarly constructed and by reason of that structure revealing brain tracts along which foreign or new ideas travel. One could not be an effective preacher if one does not reckon with religious psychology.

4. The Grace of God in Saiva Siddhanta

H.A. POPLEY

In Hindu religious thought we first meet with the idea of the Grace of God in the Bhakti movements, which seem to have arisen from outside the regular philosophical schools some time about the first century A.D. Dr. Grierson in his article on this movement in the Dictionary of Religion and Ethics says that the idea of the grace of God came from what he calls ‘the outland’, that is the religious community outside the regular philosophical schools. The group from which this idea arose worshipped the adorable or effulgent one, called Bhagavad. The origin of the Bhakti movement is said to be referred to in a passage in the Chandogya Upanishad (3:176), which reads as follows:

    Ghora Angirasa, after having communicated this to Krishna, the
    son of Devaki, said to him - and he became thirstless - "At the
    time of the end one ought to take refuge in these three. Thou art
    the imperishable, Thou art the unchangeable, Thou art the subtle
    prana."

This teaching on bhakti is elaborated in the Bhagavadgita, which was probably composed about the first century of our era and has become the most important Hindu scripture on the bhakti teaching. In the Bhagavadgita we find that the original teacher of the movement has become a divine incarnation. The belief in divine incarnation is a very important aspect of the Vaishnavite bhakti movement, and such incarnations are said to have taken place through the grace of the supreme Lord. After the Bhagavadgita, the earliest textbook of this bhakti religion is the Bhagavata Purana. Dr. Farquhar puts the date of this Purana at about A.D. 900 and says that it was probably composed in the Tamil country by a community of ascetics belonging to the Bhagavata sect. Dr. Farquhar thinks that it is possible that these men were influenced by the Tamil Alvars, who were singing the songs of Vaishnavite bhakti in the Tamil land during the seventh and eighth centuries of our era. These songs are now collected in book form in the Nalayira, Prabandam. These show clearly that the idea of divine grace had taken deep hold in the religious consciousness of the Tamil peoples. We are not however concerned here with the development of Vaishnavite bhakti, except in so far as it shows that the ideas of divine grace and theistic bhakti were widely current in the Tamil country in those centuries.

The Sivadiyars arose in the Tamil lands slightly prior to the Vaishnavite Alvars and their songs of bhakti, in which the idea of the grace of God forms an important feature, were sung by them throughout South India from the seventh to the ninth centuries. The earliest of these Saivite singers were Appar and Gnanasambandar, who were contemporaries and lived in the seventh century A.D. After these two come Sundarar, who probably lived at the end of the eighth century. Then came the pearly-mouthed Manikkavasagar, the greatest and best of them all, in the ninth century. (Some place him earlier, but the general opinion today is that he came after the three.) The Tirumandiram of Tirumular appears to have been composed about the same time, though in his case also there are divergent opinions about his date. Then in the twelfth century Sekkirar wrote the Periya Puranam, which is an account of the lives of the sixty-three Saiva saints of the Tamil land and includes the Adiyars and Manikkavasagar. In all these the devotional aspect is prominent and except in the Tirumandiram there is no theological or philosophical account of the Saivite teaching. It is however quite clear from these devotional songs and legends that the Saivite songsters and devotees set great store by the grace of God and in their songs we find a fervent belief in the grace of the Lord and many accounts of their experience of it in their lives.

I propose, to begin with, to give illustrations from all these singers of their belief in and experience of the Lord’s grace and afterwards to take up the theological and philosophical descriptions in the expository treatises of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Apparswami was probably the earliest and was certainly the most lovable of the three singers. He was converted from Jainism, which was the religion of the ruling kings of the Tamil country at that time, by his sister Tilakavathi and was given the special name of Tirunavukkarasu, that is ‘the king of song’. He was bitterly persecuted by the Jain Pallava rulers, and it is said that ultimately he and Sambandar won them over to the Saivite religion. In these songs we often find the phrase ‘the sacred feet of the Lord’, which always signifies ‘the grace of the Lord.’ It expresses the thought of the undeserving soul clinging in humble penitence to the feet of God and receiving from him his gifts of spontaneous love and compassion. The following verse is one of the most beautiful in his songs and is said to have been sung while he was being persecuted in a fiery furnace.

    As faultless harp, as evening moon,
    As fanning breeze the south bestows,
    As early summer's swelling time.
    As pool where bees do humming swarm,
    So soothing is the shelter sweet
    Of God my father's sacred feet.

The following is a verse from a song said to have been composed after he had been miraculously delivered from the sea into which he had been thrown with a stone tied to his feet.

    He is our mother, father, our brother and sister too;
    He is the creator and guardian of the three worlds;
    He who comes to dwell in our hearts, our beloved,
    He, the Lord of Pathirippaliyur, is the unseen helper of his devotees.

In another hymn entitled ‘The destruction of sin’ he says:

    You, who seek the end of sin and guilt,
    Come to the sacred feet of him who dances in our hearts;
    Rejoice and adore him, our guardian true;
    He will abide with you and grant you grace.

In another hymn he sings as follows:

    The sacred feet of Tiruvayyar's Lord, who dances with snake and young moon,
    Will shine forth and freely shower fragrant honey
    On those whose minds are set on him, and drive away
    The crowding, clinging darkness of evil deeds,
    And grant salvation.

After his conversion to Saivism, when he was ordered by the Pallava king to renounce his new religion, he is said to have replied in the following fine song:

    No man holds sway over us, nor death nor hell we fear,
    No tremblings, grief of mind, no pangs nor cringing we feel;
    Joy, day by day unchanged, is ours, for we are his,
    His ever, who doth reign, our Sankaran, in bliss.
    Here to his feet we've come, which are as plucked flowerets fair.

I will now give a few verses from Tirumular’s Tirumandiram, which gives to some extent a reasoned statement of Saivism in devotional form. He must have come before Sundarar, as Sundarar mentions him in one of his verses. He has many songs on the wonderful grace of God in beautiful Tamil meters.

    By the grace of the Lord I sought the Lord,
    By his grace I was made one with him,
    By his grace I entered into true wisdom,
    By his grace I live and work.

— I 5:20

    Love and God are two, the ignorant say;
    That love and God are one to many is unknown;
    Who learn that love and God are one
    They in his love rest in God alone.

— I 27:1

In another verse he gives a fine picture of the overflowing grace of God.

    There is a wondrous lake of the love of God
    On unscalable heights,
    Which without any inflow, pours out streams
    Of love to men.

— VIII 31:9

Then in some stanzas he describes the blessings that come to men from the grace of God.

    Where the grace of God is, there is true wealth;
    Where the grace of God is, there is true wisdom;
    In the grace of God is found true greatness;
    Through the grace of God, God himself is found.

— VI 7:1

    The Lord by his grace stirred the great sea of nectar,
    And by his grace gave fervent love,
    Poured out the nectar of gracious bliss;
    And by his grace entered my soul.

— VII 9:10

    The Lord is the gracious one who shows the way of time,
    He is the saint who grants unforgettable grace,
    He is the primal Lord, the sea of good,
    He, as a friend, comes into my soul.

— VII 9: 12

From Sundarar, the third of the Adiyars, I will just quote one of his best known songs.

    O madman with the moon-crowned hair,
    Thou lord of men, thou fount of grace,
    How to forget thee can I bear?
    My soul hath aye for thee a place,
    Venney-nallur, in grace's shrine,
    South of the stream of Ponnai, there is
    My father, I became all thine;
    How could I now myself forswear?

Manikkavasagar is the Saivite bhakta who best expresses the wonder of the grace of God and the joy of its realisation. He has been called the St. Paul of Saivism. Like St. Paul he had a real experience of the call of God while on a journey to the West Coast for the Pandyan king and as a result of this he was completely changed and became one of the greatest of the Saivite bhaktas. His songs have been translated by Dr. Pope into English metre. Here I just give a few of them which especially express his ideas of the grace of God.

    Indra or Vishnu or Brahm, their divine bliss crave not I;
    I seek the love of thy saints, though my house perish thereby;
    To the worst hell I will go, so but thy grace be with me;
    Best of all, how could my heart think of a god beside thee?

— Tiruc 1:2

    I fear no birth and no truck with death;
    I seek not even the heavens, and think nought of rule on earth;
    my Lord, god crowned with bee-sought oleander,
    My father, I long only for the day when I receive the grace.

— Tiruc 12

The following stanza refers to the legend that Siva drank of the poison that gods and men might be saved.

    He ate the poison from the sounding sea, that day arisen
    With mighty din, what means this wondrous act, my dear?
    Had he not eaten in that day the poison fierce, Ayan and Mal,
    And all the other gods of upper heaven had died, see Saralo.

— Tiruc 8

Then in the following stanza he sings of his coming in human form.

    Thou kuyil small, that dost frequent, the grove with sweet fruit rich,
        hear this,
    The gracious one, who left the heavens, entered this earth, made men his own;
    The only one, despised the flesh, entered my soul, and kills my thought;
    The bridegroom of the fawn-eyed one that gently rules, - go hither call.

— Kuyil 4

The following stanzas describe the salvation that comes as a result of the grace of God in terms almost reminiscent of the language of St. Paul.

    My meanness only hateful things can do; thy greatness still
    Forgives. The serpent - gem thou wearest; swells Gangai's stream thy crest;
    Thou by thy sacred grace the root of my births
    Dost cut away. Master, thy slave, I thee my refuge make.

— A Saikkal 2

    To me, a dog, who knew not anything of seemly right,
    He gave his heavenly grace, took me and cut off actions guilts;
    He gave unfailing love; light high and higher shone, him I
    In Tillai's court have seen, where the four mystic scrolls are conned.

— Kanda 9

    In deathless rapture's flood our souls he plunges, shows his changeless grace;
    Drives far away our deeds, dissolves the bonds of old iniquity:
    And makes us his. Come draw ye near the Pandi ruler's mighty foot:
    Press forward, take the gracious boon of him who made the circling world.

— Tiruppal 8

    He gave his sacred grace, that falseness all
    My soul might flee, and showed his golden feet.
    The truth himself, - he stood in presence there;
    This matchless miracle I tell not, I.

— Arputha I

    Melting in frame, granting thy grace, showing to me thy flowery feet,
    Erewhile thou madest me thine own, O sage, O first of sages all.
    My bliss, thou didst dissolve my soul, and dost my life consume,
    Grant me thy love, King of my soul, that so thy grace from shame may shield.

— Yen. 3

    To me, who toiled and moiled amid fools, that knew not way of final peace,
    He taught the way of pious love; and that old deeds might cease and flee.
    Purging the foulness of my will, made me pure bliss, took for his own;

    It was thus the father gave me grace O rapture. Who so blessed as I?

— Accho 1

Sekkilar in the twelfth century wrote the Periya Puranam, the lives of the sixty-three Saivite saints, including the Sivadiyars and Manikkavasagar. Each of these recounts the way that the grace of God was bestowed upon the saints and transformed their lives. In the same century Uyyavanthathevar wrote the Tiruvunthiyar and the Tirukalittruppadiyar from which the following two stanzas are taken illustrative of the work of God’s grace.

    The supreme being, who cannot be known and is spirit alone,
    Came in bodily form and gave himself.

— Tiruvunt. I

    Where are the Agamas, where the six systems,
    Where is Yoga, where is wisdom?
    If taking his gracious form he does not rule,
    Who can know that supreme form?

— Trukal. 5

Umapathi Sivasariyar in the Tiruvarulpayan (Fruit of divine grace) which belongs to the same period, has the following stanzas on the grace of God.

    Just as there is nothing greater than the object of one's desire,
    So in the world there is nothing greater than God's grace.

— 5:3

    Who on earth knows that Being.
    Who came to pour out grace by his grace.

— 5:3

    Divine grace comes as the sun, shining bright everywhere
    And bringing to fruition the fruit of deeds.

— 4:2

    His grace is widespread and sweeps away evil deeds;
    He comes and grants grace to all.

— 5:8

    If he comes not as guru, showing the way of bliss,
    Who can know the way?

— 5:9

    They who have wandered in sorrow in evil ways,
    Now wander in the flood of his love.

— 10:10

To the twelfth and thirteenth centuries belong the great expositors of the Saiva Siddhanta, but before considering their exposition of the grace of God we shall first finish the illustrations from the devotional works and give some extracts from the great devotional Siva mystic, Thayumanavar, of the eighteenth century, and Ramalingaswami of the nineteenth century. In the songs of both these mystical devotees there occur many beautiful pictures of the grace of God and the bliss that it gives rise to. First I shall give a few illustrations from Thayumanavar.

    A crore of crows cannot sit calm in face of a single stone,
    So a crore of (evil deeds cannot vex the soul of those
        who thirst for the divine grace.

— Yeng. 6

    There is no way of escape for me,
    Save through the vision of thy loving grace.
    Drive away the trouble of my mind, thou who art the wealth of those
        who love thee.

— Tonnai 27

    Thou lord of the golden hall, thou art the image of all grace,
    Thou didst banish my mind's delusion and the darkness has fled.

— Ponnai 26

    Thou art as the thick cloud that pours out grace that never cloys,
    So that the souls of thy loved ones may drink of its sweetest,
    Wonderful nectar of joy and wisdom.

— Ara 8

    O my King, this little one knows naught but thy grace;
    I hold thy hand that leadeth me to the ark of thy grace,
    That takes me to the heavenly shore.

— Tantar 3

    O God, my lord, thou flood of bliss;
    Who comes to pour out love and save my soul.

— Parapara 14

    O wise giver, who pours out grace like a mother,
    I will think of thee ever who gave me to myself.

— Padu 5

The following are some examples from the Tiruarutpa of Ramalingaswami.

    Light of grace, gracious sun, God of gracious light,
    Nectar of grace, fullness of grace, whose form is grace,
    Thou art the Lord who hast dispelled my darkness and taken thy abode in my heart.
    Thou art my wisdom, my life, my sweet companion,
    Thou art the bright jewel who drives away, my doubts, gold without alloy.
    Thou art the sacred Lord who grants truth, thou art the fount of wisdom,
    Divine King of all, accept this my humble song.

— Aruloil 6:1

    Can I ever forget thee? I know not how; if I forget thee I shall die.
    Not a moment can I live, this is thy command.
    Will thou ever forget me? If thou forgettest what can I do?
        To whom can I call?
    My father, thou art gentler than a mother. Even if thou forgettest,
    Thy grace which called into being the universe can never forget.
    Here am I filled with joy, O light of grace, come now speedily
        grant me thy grace.

— Periyer 8

The quotations given above are all from the devotional literature of the Saiva Siddhanta For these devotees the belief in divine grace was not so much an intellectual belief as a matter of experience.

Before passing on to consider the theological exposition of the conception of the grace of the Lord in Saiva Siddhanta I shall summarise the ideas that have been expressed in the Saiva Bhakti songs as shown in the quotations given. In the songs of these devotees the grace of the Lord is thought of and is experienced as a divine energy continually proceeding from the Lord as the light from the sun, which cleanses and illuminates those who receive it and which saves them from the effects of their past deeds. The rapturous songs which abound in these books show clearly that this is a real experience to them and is not a mere dream or phantasy. Such an experience of divine grace involves also the realisation of God as personal and as one who loves individuals. So the supreme God of the Saiva Siddhanta is thought of as father-mother, full of love and grace, whose heart yearns for his children enslaved in the coils of deeds and their effects.

The grace of God has a threefold work: namely, to reveal the nature of God, the soul and the world; to save souls from evil deeds and the round of births and deaths and to inspire them to the service of God and their fellowmen. Sivagnanayogi, the great commentator of the SIVAGNANABOTHAM, defines divine grace in the following terms: “That divine mercy which frees souls from the taint of self-centredness and grants to them the divine nature.” Dr. G.U. Pope says of this “The Tamil word ARUL is used in every sense given to CHARIS in the New Testament.”

We shall now consider the theological exposition of the idea of divine grace as given in the philosophical Siddhanta books, the SIVAGNANABOTHAM of Meykandar and its commentaries: SIVAGNANASIDDHIAR, SIVAPRAGASAM, and the MAHAPADIYAM.

SIVAGNANABOTHAM is said to be a translation of twelve stanzas from the Sanskrit Raurava Agama, together with comments in verse form on them in order to explain their ideas. The author is Meykandar, who lived in the thirteenth century, and it was composed about the year A.D. 1220. Many scholars today consider that the Tamil stanzas are not translations from Sanskrit but are original in Tamil and that the whole work is an original Tamil work. There is nothing in the book to suggest that it is a translation from a Sanskrit work, and it is suggested that later in order to give it a Sanskrit original the twelve stanzas were translated into Sanskrit and interpolated in the Raurava Agama. As we have seen the ideas that lie at the heart of Saiva Siddhanta were already to be found in the devotional songs of the Sivadiyars, Manikkavasagar and Tirumular and so there was no need to find them again in some Sanskrit form. Meykandar gave them philosophical form and expression but did not discover them as they were already in existence and well known. It is not necessary to discuss this further in this article.

SIVAGNANASIDDHIAR was written by Arulnandi Sivachariar about A.D. 1250. This is an elaborate commentary on the SIvAGNANABOTHAM in poetical form, in two parts, the first PARAPAKKAM, controverting other religious systems and SUPPAKKAM, an exposition of the Siddhanta itself. SIVAPRAKASAM was written by Umapathi Sivachariar about 1313. The MAHAPADIYAM is a prose commentary on the SIVAGNANABOTHAM written by Sivagnanayogi of the famous Siva Mutt of Tiruvavadutthurai in the eighteenth century. He died in 1785.

I shall now quote from the SIVAGNANABOTHAM as well as from the various commentaries what they have to say about the grace of God and its operations in the world and in the souls of men. It will be found that this theological exposition bears out what we have already learnt from the songs of the Saivite devotees. It is clear that the thoughts and ideas were already there in the minds and experiences of men and that in these theological books they are only given logical and systematic exposition. We are not concerned now with the other ideas found in these books, though there is naturally interrelation between them. Those who wish to study them will find them in the PILGRIM of July 1947, which contains a complete translation of the SIVAGNANABOTHAM.

Stanza 2 of the SIVAGNANABOTHAN introduces the idea of the grace of God. It reads as follows: see Pilgrim, July 47, p. 34).

    The Lord, through his divine word, which is his gracious energy
    (Sakti), causes the souls to undergo the changes of birth and
    death. The Lord ever remains in unbroken union with his word.

This gracious energy or word of God is also called the spirit of God and is personified as Parvati, the wife of Siva.

The fourth section of Stanza 2 reads:

    The Lord and his word-his Sakti or gracious energy - are inseparable.

Meykandar comments on this:

    Like the sun and its light the Lord must be both one and two.

Arulnandi in his SIVAGNANASIDDHIAR says on this stanza:

    The Spirit of the Lord is seen in the principles of nature. The
    Lord himself is the essence of that spirit. All the forms that are
    caused by this spirit partake of the nature common to the Lord and
    his spirit.

— S.G.S 2:76

Again he says,

    The spirit arises from the Lord. From the spirit comes the
    creative energy (Sakti). These two in union give birth to the
    mental and material universe. The Lord is a young man and his
    spirit a young maiden to those who have learnt the truth.

— S.G.S. 2:77

According to Sivagnanayogi the spirit of the Lord, his Sakti, performs the following five functions:

1. Purification of the soul from worldly attachments.
2. Sanctification of the soul so that it no longer has the desire for such attachments.
3. The imparting of divine wisdom to the soul.
4. The causing of a state of mind indifferent to
5. The bringing about of an absolutely quiescent state in the soul.

Stanza 5 again speaks of the grace of God. This is what it says:

    The soul cannot know itself or the grace of God. As the iron is
    attracted by the magnet, so also the grace of God influences the
    soul and makes it to know, while God remains changeless.

Meykandar adds, ‘the soul knows only by means of the divine Sakti’ and comments:

    Grace is eternal in the Lord. That grace is his divine energy.
    (Sakti). Grace does not exist apart from him nor he apart from grace.
    To those whose sight is inspired by his grace the Lord appears as the sun.

Arulnandi comments on this as follows:

    The souls which know and experience the fruits of action cannot
    know the divine grace which guides and controls them. The Lord
    knows all and reveals all by his grace.

— S.G.S. 5:1

Umapathi in SIVAPRAGASAM says about this:

    One supreme intelligence, using the various faculties and organs of
    the soul and body in accordance with the fruit of actions, will be
    his grace teach all things to the soul, which can only know as it is
    taught.

— S.P. 5:2

    Just as men, by the aid of the sun which drives away the darkness,
    are enabled to see and to do their work, even though they
    may not realise that aid, so the soul, which spurns the divine grace,
    through which man obtains freedom from sense-evils, knows all by
    means of that very grace.

— S.P. 5:4

Arulnandi further comments:

    This grace of God. Which is the cause of the soul's knowledge, is
    his own energy. Without this grace there is no illuminating Lord,
    and apart from the Lord there is no grace. The Lord by his grace
    will drive away falsehood and grant the soul true knowledge, just
    as the sun by its light drives away the darkness from our eyes.

— S.G.S. 5:9

Stanza 8 describes the release of the soul from the sense-evils. I will quote the stanza in full, as it is important for understanding the work of divine grace. (Pilgrim July 47, p. 44)

    The Lord, on account of the soul's previous good deeds, has been
    indwelling in the soul, and now appears to him as a guru and teaches
    him that he is a king's son, who has been growing up in bondage to
    the five senses and so has forgotten his worship. Then the soul,
    realising this, leaves this bondage and comes to rest in inseparable
    union with the sacred feet of the Lord.

It must be remembered that in Saivite literature the expression ‘the sacred feet of the Lord’ always refers to the grace of Siva.

Meykandar in his second section points out the need for a guru to teach the soul about itself and about God. He says.

    O good learner as the breast-milk and the tears, signs of the
    inward love of the mother, do not appear before the child is born
    but only afterwards, so who can know the Lord, who like the
    shadow on the water exists unseen in the soul, until he comes in the
    form of a guru and teaches the soul.

Arulnandi in his commentary elaborates this idea in the following verse:

    As to a king's son, separated from him among savage tribes and
    knowing nothing of his true nature, the king himself comes and
    tells him that he is his son, separates him from the savages and
    makes him like himself and guards and guides him; so the Lord in
    the form of a gracious teacher comes to the soul, caught in the
    meshes of the savage five senses, harassed and deluded, and separates
    it from them, cleanses it from impurity, makes it as himself
    and brings it to his sacred feet.

— S.G.S. 8:1

Sivagnanayogi in his commentary says about this:

    There are two kinds of intelligence, one that which knows in
    itself, and the second that which only knows as it unites with a
    higher intelligence. As the soul unites with the Lord it takes to
    itself the qualities of the Lord and becomes like him. In this way it
    may be said that it becomes the Lord; but as it only knows the
    Lord, with whom it is united, it ought to be described as the
    servant of the Lord. This union and likeness take place through
    the gracious energy (Sakti), the spirit of the Lord.

    The Lord reveals himself to the soul little by little and teaches it
    gradually. Like the moon, first coming with obscuring light, little
    by little it drives away the darkness of sense-impurity. As the
    darkness passes away so the energy of obscuration little by little,
    passes away and the transcendent energy of the Lord is revealed.
    As this energy increases and takes possession of the soul, abhorrence
    of sensuousness arises and the desire for the heavenly home
    increases. As this grows more and more, other truths are revealed
    to the mind, little by little, until the fullness of the divine wisdom
    shines out.

    This enlightenment of the soul takes place through the gracious
    energy (Sakti) of God. This works in the soul so that the soul may
    pass through the various stages of, purification until it comes to the
    divine teacher.

Arulnandi says about this in his book:

    The souls of men are divided into three classes: the perfected
    (Vignanakalar), the spiritual (Pralayakalar), and the sensuous
    (Sakalar). The Lord by his enlightening grace teaches the sensuous
    soul by means of the likeness of the two deeds and cleanses it from
    sense-impurity. To the former two classes he appears in the form
    of a gracious teacher and instructs the disciple and clears away all
    sense-impurity.

— S.G.S. 8:2

Meykandar in the fourth section of his comments on this stanza says: ‘The soul, realising its distinction from the five senses, unites with the Lord.’ This union with the Lord is spoken of as heavenly bliss and is regarded as the final work of divine grace.

Umapathi comments on this as follows:

    The true definition of heavenly bliss is the full realisation of the
    divine grace so that all sense-impurity is entirely done
    away with.

— S.P. 2:32

Arulnandi comments on this:

    The Siddhanta declares that the Lord will lead the soul through
    all its births by his grace, immerse it in the sea of wisdom, give it
    boundless joy, wash away all its evil, make it a freed soul, deliver
    it from the round of births and deaths and set it finally at the
    blissful feet of the Lord.

— S.G.S. 8:16

    After the soul has been prepared through enlightening grace,
    knowledge grows and by means of the grace of a teacher the soul
    performs the due religious rites and longs for purification, then
    looking at all things without attachment it becomes a freed soul
    and the form of the Lord alone is seen.

— S.G.S. 8:29

    They who unceasingly desire to attain the bliss of his sacred feet
    will reach this pure state and always remain there. Just as the
    green scum on the surface of a pool is cleared away when a stone is
    thrown into the pool and once again comes back and covers the
    surface, so the sense-impurities which have been cleared away
    when the soul has realised the Lord may return once more, we
    declare unto you the gracious way of the Lord by means of which
    these may be entirely dispelled.

— S.G.S. 8:39

Umapathi in the SIVAPRAKAsAM has the following verses:

    Just as there no sunlight when there is no sun, so there can be
    no wisdom without the grace of the Lord. The shining grace the
    Lord is his energy. (Sakti)

— S.P. 8:4

    That pure energy (Sakti) is the light of wisdom. Apart from the
    Lord there is no energy. That energy dispels the sense-evils which
    have clouded the soul and reveals the Lord, as the sunlight dispels
    the darkness and reveals the sun.

— S.P. 8:5

Stanza 11 shows how the soul attains oneness with the Lord. The following is the stanza:

    As the soul in union with the eye makes it to see and itself does, so
    the Lord in union with the soul knows and makes it to know. Thus,
    through unceasing love the soul unites with the sacred, feet of the Lord.

In this chapter the grace of the Lord is shown through his sharing in the experiences of the soul and in the creation of an unceasing love for the Lord in the soul The following are the comments of Meykandar on this love.

    Although the sun is the same for all, it is black darkness to the
    sightless. So though the Lord is everywhere the same, he is unseen
    by those held in bonds of sense. Like the sun which makes the
    full-grown lotus to flower, so the Lord by his gracious look cleanses
    from all sense-impurity those who through their love have come
    to know him.

    As the moon, day by day, little by little, dispels the existing
    darkness, so the Lord by his love abiding in the soul, day by day
    dispels its sense-impurity and draws it to himself; just as the
    magnet brings under its control the iron, without ever-growing
    weary. So he himself, remains changeless.

— Pilgrim, July 47, p. 50,51

Arulnandi makes the following comment on this:

    Perhaps it may be said that if the Lord is everywhere, then everyone
    must see him. That is not so, for to the blind the sun itself is
    darkness. To those who do not see with the eyes of his grace even
    the light of God is darkness. Just as the sunlight causes the full-grown lotus, which is rooted in the mud, to blossom and open, so
    the Lord gives to his saints who have matured by his grace the eye
    of wisdom. To them, he is revealed as the light of lights.

— S.G.S. II:8

In the following he shows how the soul though it receives the grace of the Lord and becomes like the Lord, yet remains a distinct entity.

    The difference between the Lord and the soul may be seen from
    the following. The Lord is the spirit of divine grace, the soul is
    spirit that receives that grace. The Lord is the spirit that destroys
    sin and gives bliss; the soul is spirit which sinks in, sin and bathes
    in bliss. The Lord is self-knowing spirit and the soul spirit which
    knows only as it is taught. Though the two unite they always
    remain distinct and cannot become one and the same. Thus, they
    are like the light of the eye and the light of the sun, inseparable
    entities. Although the soul is intelligent spirit it is always unintelligent
    in relation to the divine spirit.

— S.G.S. II:12

And again,

    Just as the magnet without changing itself draws to itself the iron
    filings, so the Lord without himself changing brings souls under his
    own control. As the flame makes the iron glow like itself and destroys
    only the alloy mixed with the iron, so the Lord makes the soul
    his own and destroys only the sense-impurity in it. Like the salt
    dissolved in water, the Lord causes his eightfold nature to be impressed
    on the soul. Just as the magic pill melts the copper and
    turns it into gold and hides it within itself, so the Lord transforms
    the soul and enwraps it within his own immanence. Just as when
    sugarcane juice, honey, milk and candy are all mixed together it is
    impossible to distinguish the various tastes, so in heavenly bliss the
    Lord unites with the soul

— S.G.S. II:12

The quotations given above from the devotional and philosophical literature of the Saiva Siddhanta show clearly that one of the fundamental elements in the teaching is that it is the grace of God - his Sakti which alone is the agent for the release of souls from the sense evils and their transformation into the likeness of God. This divine grace belongs to the very nature of God and proceeds from him as light proceeds from the sun. Apart from God’s grace the soul cannot free itself from these sense-evils nor can it bring itself to the feet of God to share in his nature and bliss.

Then it may be asked, How does the teaching of karma fit into this? Karma is the force of past deeds, and is one of the three sense-principles which are eternally operative in the world of souls. It is the operation of this principle which determines the growth of the soul and its passage through the three stages of Sakalar, pralayakalar and vignanakalar. In these first two stages the principle of karma is fully operative, and it is only in the third stage that it, has been overcome by the grace of God and no longer operates on the soul. It is also the principle karma that determines the nature of the soul’s rebirth in suitable bodies and the speed with which it moves towards the divine end or release and union with God - sayuchiam. It is only the grace of God that, like the sunlight, makes the growth of the soul possible and the work of the principle of karma may be likened to the operation of the soil and its properties which condition that growth.

This grace or Sakti is believed to be a part of the Lord himself, his other half, known as Parvati. It belongs to his very nature and is not merely an energy that comes forth on particular occasions. At the same time it reveals itself from time to time to the souls that are fitted to receive such revelation as a divine guru incarnation. Such an incarnation is not thought of by the Siddhanta as a historic being who has a definite existence in time but as a theophany, which may appear and disappear. Arulnandi in SIVAGNANASIDDHIAR says about this incarnation:

    The Lord by his enlightening grace teaches the sensuous soul
    (Sakalar) the similarity of the two deeds and appearing in the form
    of a teacher abolishes sense-impurity. To the first two classes
    (sakala and pralayakalar) the Lord appears in the form of love and
    initiates the disciple into the spiritual path and abolishes sense-impurity.

— S.G.S. 8:2

The work of the guru is described in the following verses:

    As the purification of the soul is of many kinds the teacher uses
    many different methods to cleanse the soul from sense-impurities;
    such methods as gracious looks, touch, the word, similes, philosophy,
    yoga, symbolic rituals and so on.

— S.G.S. 8:3

    The Lord causes the souls of men to enjoy the fruits of their
    former actions in thought, word and deed, and thus destroys the
    those actions and brings the sense-principle of self-assertion
    to full fruition; then appearing as a divine teacher,
    he searches the soul to purify it from sensuousness and
    releases it from the accumulated fruit of previous action; and
    having abolished by means of experience the fruit of present
    actions, he destroys self-assertion and sensuousness by his wisdom.

— S.G.S. 8:10

Uyyavanthathevanar in his poem TIRUVUNTHIYAR speaks of the divine teacher as follows:

    The unknowable spiritual being came in bodily form and gave himself.

— Tiruc. I

Like the appearance to Manikkavasagar the coming of the divine teacher is only temporary and there is no earthly life-history attached to it. Once the purpose of his coming is fulfilled the vision passes away. Yogi Suddhananda Bharatiar in his recent work on Saint Meykandar says of this incarnation: ‘A guru is necessary to disentangle the soul from the meshes of the senses. God through the vastness of his grace comes as guru and instructs the soul.’ (p. 62). Sivagnanyogi in the MAHAOADIYAM says of the coming of God as a teacher:

    To the spiritual (pralayakalar) the Lord appears hidden in the
    human form similar to theirs and teaches them.

— p. 437

    Who can know the Lord who exists without form that can be
    known, like a shadow on the water? Only as he appears in
    the form of a guru and teaches the soul can he be known.

— p. 441

    He appears in the form of one who loves the soul, as we learn
    from the simile of the breast-milk and the tears which are
    the signs of love.

— p. 441

Thayumanavar speaks of the guru in the following glowing verse:

    He is a guru of the path of wisdom,
    A guru through whom wonderful powers, salvation, gifts and morality flower,
    A guru who comes like a mother and shows me myself
    A guru who lives in the temple of my heart.

— Udal. 82

Tirumular sings of his coming in the following stanzas:

    The divine guru places his feet on my head,
    And by his word he cuts the old cords and rules me.

    The true Lord comes as a guru and purifies the soul.
    Foolish souls cannot see the gracious one.
    Our eyes are blind to him. But those who are purified
    know him as father and worship him.

— Tiruc. VI I:6

These examples are sufficient to show clearly the importance which the Saiva Siddhanta attaches to the coming of the guru to the soul to teach it and to lead it on to its final stage of release and union with God himself. Without the help of the guru it is not possible for the soul to attain this release, and it is the guru who incarnates for the soul the very grace of God. Even though the incarnation is not a historic personality it is a reality to the soul and not a mere phantasy. The effects of this appearance show its reality.

The conception of divine grace inevitably involves the idea that the supreme God is personal. Says Dr. J.N. Farquhar in The Crown of Hinduism:

‘The serious, attempt to conceive the supreme as personal necessarily led towards moral ideas. Vishnu and Siva had been believed to be very gracious and kindly towards their own worshippers; and in the verse Upanishads we have the beginnings of the doctrine that Brahman is personal and full of grace. Hence, Vishnu and Siva conceived as the Supreme could not but be gracious. This finally led in each sect to the definite doctrine that the supreme is a god of love and grace. The theistic sects refused absolutely to receive the old Vedantic idea that God is non-moral. One of the most precious doctrines held by Indian theists is this, that God is full of love and grace.’

Printed by Fenn Thompson and Co., Vepery, Madras.

A School of Christ-Like Living

Kodaikanal Ashram Fellowship 1948

The Kodaikanal Ashram Fellowship plans to make its 1949 program one primarily of intensive training in Christlike living-one of re-creation of body, mind, and spirit. Youthful leaders of the Christ-like spirt are especially welcomed. Old leaders we hope, will profit greatly by the creative fellowship.

The following is the tentative program which will have to be adjusted to the convenience of the leaders concerned as their own programs develop!

It is planned to divide the fellowship into four work groups: “Our Devotional Life”; “Our Diet and Health”; “Manual Labour”; “Creative Thinking and Planning” which groups will direct the Ashram life in their own fields of interest and will be led by such experienced leaders as Bishop Pekenham Walsh, Mark Sunder Rao, Dr. J.P. Joshua, Dr. M.M. Keithahn, Mrs. Suganthy Charles and others. Each guest must join one of the above groups and thus contribute her or his mite to the fellowship as well as receive intensive training and experience in that field.

Further information may be secured from. Mrs. L.D. Honeggar, Ashram, Vellore, N.A. Dt. or R.R. Keithahn, Gandhi Gram, Ambathurai, S.I.R. Non-members must send Rs. 5 deposit fee with registration. Reservations should be made early. The Ashram opens April 22 and closes June 4.

Ralph Richard Keithahn, Secretary.

Our Contributors

1. Rev. Popley SENIOR - MISSIONARY LONDON, MISSION Author of ‘Indian Music’ in the Heritage of India series - translator of Saiva Siddhanta classic Sivagnana Bodham in the 1947 and 1948 issues of the Pilgrim - has given an article on the Doctrine of Grace in Saiva Siddhanta.

2. __Mr. V. Chakkarai Chettiar_ - EX-MAYOR OF MADRAS one of the leaders of Labour Movement In Madras, author of ‘Jesus the Avatar’ - and ‘Cross and Indian thought’ - contributes an article - ‘Is Indian Christian Theology possible?’

3. Mr. P. Chenchiah - THE EDITOR - writes on Psychology of the Hindu mind.

All Subscriptions and postal addresses of members have to be sent to the Treasurer:

Dr. C.S. Thoburn,
Leonard Theological College,
Jabalpur.

All literary contributions and books for Review, correction or change of address, complaints as to non-receipt of copies to be sent to:

P. Chenchiah, M.L.
Advocate,
Editor ‘The Pilgrim’,
28, Halls Road,
Egmore, Madras

The Editor acknowledges the receipt of a copy, of ‘The Religious Hunger of India’ by the Rev. J.F. Edwards for Review. The Review will appear in the next issue. The Editor has reviewed this book in the issue of 24th February of the ‘Guardian’ Madras. The next issue of the Pilgrim may be expected June.