शिवज्ञानबोध (मेय्कण्डार - शैव सिद्धान्त का आधारभूत दार्शनिक सूत्र ग्रन्थ)

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subject himself to the laws of evolution—birth and death. Is it
not therefore that our sages one and all declare that He is
‘உதியா மரியா’ ‘இறப்பிலி பிறப்பிலி’ (without birth and death).
We challenge any body to point out in the vast puranic lore, any
story in which Siva is said to have been born in the flesh and
the very stories which exist, only serve to illustrate the difference
between Him and the so called Immortals, namely, that Siva
cannot die and be born, and that all others are capable of births
and deaths, and our poet says :
“ எல்லார் பிறப்பும் இறப்பும் இயற்பாவலர்தம்,
சொல்லாற் றெளிந்தேம்,—நம் சோணேசர்,
இல்லிற் பிறந்த கதையும் கேளேம் பேருலகில் வாழ்ந்துண்டு,
இறந்த கதையும் கேட்டிலேம்.”
and every Tamil student can recall to mind the popular Stanza
of Kalamegam in which he claims superiority to Vishnu who is
superior to God, as Siva has no births, Vishnu's births are ten
and his own are innumerable. The Churnika points out that all
object and subject (mental) phenomena are liable to decay, not
annihilation, but change. They so change from moment to
moment, they are so evanescent that they may almost be said to
have no existence at all, ‘இல்லே யெனு மாயை’ and these are
therefore called Asat. And to avoid further misconception, it
is defined as that which exists or does not exist according to the
objective or subjective attitude of the mind, bearing in mind,
however, Asat here includes all the phenomena of object and sub-
ject, both being objective to the soul. Asat or Maya therefore
does not mean nonexistent nor illusion nor Mitya. It simply
means ‘other than Sat.’ And this definition has to be borne in
mind fully, as the confusion of its meaning alone has given birth
to the tortuosities of the Idealistic School. The latter School
compares Asat to the imagined silver in the shell and the snake
in a rope. That this is a false analogy, without any meaning, is
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