SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

"
"
As
ADVAITA ACCORDING TO THE AIVA SIDDIlANTA. 257
really explains the scope of an Upanishat, a misunderstanding
of which has led to no end of confusion. The Siddhanti takes
the Upanishat as the text-book of the Yoga Pada or School.
The higher stage or Pada being the Jnana Pada, the words
Upanishat, Ve"danta, Yoga, Saha-Marga or Sohamarga or
Hamsa-Marga are all synonymous ;
and as Vedanta strictly
means Yoga, the words Vedanta and Siddhanta are contrasted,
Siddhanta meaning the Jnana-Marga or Pada, though it
embraces all the remaining Padas, Charya, Kriya, and Yoga.
The practice involved in the Mahavakya-texts is this Soham
Bhavana or Sivoham Bhavana, and when this practice is matur
ed, the soul stands in complete allegiance to the Supreme One,
renouncing all idea of self and self-action; then can the soul say:
"I am all the world,"
tu/rCW u^evQ^^rueafi^^i/. (Sivajnanabodham,
2-1-4).
"In m e everything originated, in me everything esta
blished, in me everything merges. That secondless-Brahman
ami. (Kaival. Up. 21)."
As Professor Kunte speaks of the potential power of man by
calling out which he can become one with God; Sivajnana Y6gi
dwells at great length, and too frequently, on this special
characteristic or power of man whereby man can be said to be
come God ;
and this power is the power of the soul to become
that to which it is united, ^/^JOJ^/^JH^^, in the language of St.
*
Meykandan Or, <f(TiT^^^<ssr
(SuesoremiDiTpcu and ujirQ^n^r^iu^rS^r ^ipcsT
vSluj&yufT L] $<bpa)
in the language of St. Tayumanavar, and this
power is likened to that of the crystal or mirror.
Says Professor Henry Drummond :
All men are mirrors that is the first law on which this formula (of
sanctification or corruption) is based. One of the aptest descriptions of a
human being is that he is a mirror." This illustration is to be originally
found in the Upanishats and Gita.
a metal disk (mirror) tarnished by dust shines bright again after
it has been cleansed, so the one incarnate person satisfied and free from
grief after he has seen the real nature of himself. And when by real
nature of himself, he sees as by a lamp, the real nature of the Brahman,
then having become the unborn eternal God who transcends all tattvas,
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