SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

"
The
"
"
"
84 SOME ASPECTS OF THE GOD-HEAD.
(cannot be born) ought to distinguish and elevate the Siddhanta
from all other forms of Religion. And the rigid acceptance
of this one principle alone must prevent
it from its degenerating
into a superstition, and base idolatry, and man and fetishworship.
One great obstacle to the due recognition of the excel
lence of the Siddhanta is the obstacle thrown by certain names.
We use certain names as denoting God and as comprising the
characteristic attributes which we clothe Him with. But how
can we help
it ? We cannot forget our language, and its past
traditions ;
we cannot forget our religious past, however we
might try ;
and we cannot therefore coin new names, simply
because some others want us to do so. And what need is
there for doing so either ? If we use certain names, they
were so used by 90 per cent of the Indian population for the
last 30 centuries at least ; they were so used in the days of
the Puranas and Itihasas, they were so used in the days of the
Upanishat writers, and they were so used in the days of the
Vedic writers. And some of these Mantras and texts have
been used in the daily prayer of everybody. The publishers
of Theosophy of the Upanishats recommend to us
the following mantra from the Taittirlya Upanishat for our
daily prayer :
"Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma Anandarupam
Amritamyad vibhuti Santam Sivam, Advaitam."
And what is there sectarian about the word
"
Sivam
herein? Evan an Upanishat of the Type of Ramatapim has
this text with the same word, (quoting as it does the above
Mantra of course),
Sivam, Santam, Advaitam, Chaturtham manyante
".
There is one thing about the word "Sivam". Sanskrit
scholars say that the word in this form is not a neuter
noun but simply an adjective, and accordingly translate
it as gracious, benignant &c ;
but it is remarkable that this
word is always used in the Rig-Veda and other Vedas and
Upanishats in conjunction with the word Rudra, Sankara,