Name
: . Tiru Neelakanta Nayanar
Born : Thiru
Navalur
In Chidambaram, there
once lived an ardent devotee of Lord Siva. He was a potter by caste and
profession. He had the highest regard for the devotees of Lord Siva, too. He
was ever eager to serve them. He was leading an ideal household life. He made
beautiful begging bowls of clay and offered them free to the devotees of Lord
Siva, with great joy.
Siva, in His aspect of
Neelakanta was his sole refuge and prop. Hence, he was called Tiru Neelakanta
Nayanar. He would always tell others how, for the protection of the world the
Lord drank the virulent poison, and he would assure his friends that they who
took refuge under His feet would be purged of all sins and would finally be
taken to His Abode.
In spite of his
virtuous qualities, once he fell a victim to lust. One day, he visited the
house of a prostitute. When he returned home, his dutiful and pious wife
understood this. This irritated her, though she did not show this and continued
to serve him, as before. But, she had decided not to have any sexual relation
with him. Nayanar could not understand the reason. One day, as he approached
her with passion, she took an oath and said: ‘In the name of Neelakanta, I ask
you: do not touch us.’ Though she only meant herself, she had used the word us.
Since she took the Name of the Lord and since she had used the word us,
Neelakanta Nayanar decided that from that day he would not touch any woman in
the world. Such was his sincere devotion to the Lord. They continued to live
together. They did not want to make a fuss over their own resolve. No one knew
about it. Years rolled by and they had grown old.
Lord Siva wanted to
reveal the greatness of His devotee and thus to immortalize his name. So, in
the guise of a Siva Yogi the Lord came to Tiru Neelakantar’s house. Neelakantar
welcomed him and worshipped him. The Yogi gave him a begging bowl and said: ‘Oh
noble soul, kindly keeps this in your safe custody, till I come back for it. To
me it is extremely precious. It has the wonderful property of purifying
anything that comes into contact with it. So, please protect it with the
greatest care.’ Then the Siva Yogi left the place and Neelakantar kept the bowl
in a very safe place in the house.
After a long time, Lord
Siva came to the house of Neelakantar, as the same Siva Yogi and asked for the
bowl. The Lord Himself, by the power of His Maya, caused it to disappear from
the house! Neelakantar searched for it, but could not find it. It was a mystery
to him. He was ashamed of himself. Trembling with fear, he fell at the Yogi’s
feet and said that he could not find it. At this, the Yogi got very angry and
accused Neelakantar, calling him a thief and cheat. Neelakantar offered to
replace the bowl with a costlier one; but the Yogi would not accept.
Again and again
Neelakantar pleaded that he had not stolen the bowl and that by a divine
mystery it was missing from the house. The Yogi demanded that if that was the
truth, Neelakantar should say so on oath, holding his wife’s hand. When
Nayanar, who had resolved, in the name of the Lord, not to touch anyone,
declined this, the Yogi attributed this unwillingness to the fact that
Neelakantar had in fact been guilty of theft. They went to the court. The
Brahmins heard the case. They asked Neelakantar to promise, as desired by the
Yogi. Neelakantar got into the tank, along with his wife; they had a stick in
their hand, and each of them was holding one end of it. The Yogi objected to
this and wanted that Neelakantar should actually hold his wife’s hand with his
own. Neelakantar could not hide the secret relationship that existed between
him and his wife any more, and so, related the whole story to the court. After
this narration, Neelakantar and his wife caught hold of the two ends of the
stick and took a dip in the tank. A miracle happened. As they emerged from the
water, they shone with youth and beauty. The Siva Yogi disappeared from their
midst and Lord Siva and Mother Parvathy appeared in the sky, blessing all of
them. The Lord said: ‘Due to the merit
of having lived a life of self-control and devotion, you will live in My
Eternal Abode, forever youthful.’ The Lord thus revealed the glory of
supreme devotion to Him and a life of celibacy which bestows eternal
youthfulness on you, and the unostentatiousness of a saint’s virtue.
No comments:
Post a Comment