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

74 SIVAGNANA BOTHAM.
or think of Him as such, we have really advanced in any
way in our knowledge of God. And it is, on this principle
that the whole of the innumerable forms in Temple
worship has grown among the Hindus. Each form and every
detail in that form is symbolic of some idea or thought. These
forms are such that if to-day all our philosophical works and
Shastras, &c., are destroyed, it is possible to evolve, all our vari-
ous Hindu philosophical systems, Moral, Social and Religious
from these images alone, provided we possess the key. This is
not an idle boast, but it is want of space and fear of encumber-
ing the subject with too much of my own views that forbid me
to elaborate the subject further. However I will conclude this
article by referring to and explaining in part the most important
of the Saivite Forms, namely the image of Natesa and the
Chin Mudra. It will be too great a detail if I proceed to describe
the structure of the place or Temple called Chit Ambaram or Chit
Akas, Chit Sabha and Pundarikapuram or the city of the Heart
in the midst of which the Divine Dancer performs His Natak.
The pose is that of a dancer, and now dance is defined as the
music of motion. And when, as we have shown, God manifests
Himself as the great Energy or Force or Maha Chaitanyam, when
He wills that the whole universe of Mind and Matter should
undergo Evolution (creation, development and Reproduction).
what could be more appropriate than to regard this Grand
Moving Force as a great Dancer. In the words of our sage—
‘ காட்ட வனல் போல் உடல் கலந்துயிரையெல்லாம்,
ஆட்டுவிக்கும் நட்டுவன் எம்மண்ணலென வெண்ணாய்.’
(Our God is the Dancer who like the heat latent in the firewood
diffuses His Power in Mind and Matter and makes them dance in
their turn.) I prefer again to quote the famous authorof ‘ Nithineri
Vilakkam’ in order to explain a few of the other Symbols.
‘ பூமலி கற்பகப் பூத்தேள் வைப்பு
நாமநீர் வணாப்பின் நானில வளாகமும்