SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

~ A 1 7
"
-360 SAIVAISM IN ITS RELATION TO OTHER SYSTEMS.
We love a child. We deck it with precious jewels and
costly clothes. The child does not want them. It can hardly
distinguish between a piece of glass and a diamond. But yet
our acts mark our love. The same love induces a Christian to
build the most costly Churches with the richest ornamentation.
The London correspondent of * the Hindu of Madras once
gave us an idea as to what amount of money is spent in Europe
in decorating the Churches with flowers during Easter and
Christmas.
Even the most iconoclastic Mahomedans have spent
millions in marble, gems and richest brocades in ornamenting
their places of worship. If this be the mark of Bhakti or live,
the thousands of Saivite temples from Mount Himavat to Cape
Comorin and beyond, a hundred times more than that of any
other faith, attest the Bhakti side of Saivaism.
The number of canonised saints as given in the Agastya
Bhakta Vilasa and Upamanya Bhakta Vilasa in Sanskrit,
corresponding to the Periya Purana in Tamil, is more than sixty
three, whereas the list of canonised Vaishnava Saints (Alvars)
contains only eighteen. The out-pourings of love of the Saivite
Saints comprise twelve collections, the chief of which are called
"Devaram" or garland of God, and Tirnvafagam or the holy
utterence ,
the latter of which has been translated into excellent
English by Rev. Dr. G. U. Pope. Says he: These remarkable
poems are full of a simple fervour, which Tamil people find
absolutely irresistible and hence with
; Saivas, they quite t?.k"
the place occupied among Christians by the book of Psalms."
These collections are several times larger than the similar
collections among Tamil Vaishnavas.
However, I hope I have succeeded in showing that Saivaism
is in harmony with each and every one of the living
faiths of
the world, and I
pray to Lord Siva, the Source of all Power,
all Light and all Love, to speed the work of this Convention.
PRAISE BE TO MEYKANDA DEVA.