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

88 SIVAGNANA BOTHAM.
one common law and common principle. Through sheer forget-
fulness of this common principle and through distance of time
and place, the true belief and practice has been lost sight of ;
and if preserved, the mere shadow of them are preserved ; and
when people speculate on them fresh, all sorts of theories and
explanations are given. And these remarks apply with very
great force to the doctrine in question. So far is true, that unless
God comes down as Man and Guru and touches man with His Arul
or Grace, he cannot attain salvation. But when we proceed further
and ask who this Guru is, when and how he appears and acts, why
and wherefore he appears, whom he purifies, and how he purifies, the
answers are returned as each man's fancy dictates to him, without
any reference to God's and Nature's laws. The doctrine of atone-
ment is as puerile as the belief of the villager who seeks to
appease his village deity by sacrificing a cock or hen ; and the
doctrine of mediation, admittedly based on no higher principle
than that of human agency, instances of which are the Judge,
prisoner and lawyer, King, subjects, and Viceroy, &c., which
clearly involves the impairing of the Omniscience and Omni-
potency of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, is equally unsatis-
factory. If the Guru is Himself God, how could he be a mediator.
God is in man and can appear to him as man but cannot become
man. He dwelleth in our hearts and understands all our wants
and He meets all our wants. He knows our disease and our
sufferings and He has a balm already prepared for us. No body
need therefore tell Him, what we want, what our disease and
pain are and to crave His mercy for us, as He is all Love and All
mercy. There is no mediation. The touch of the Guru converts
the already prepared baser metal into Gold. His touch is as the
surgeon's lancet which opens out and heals an abscess fully matured.
Just as the loving mother runs and takes to her breast the
crying child, so God reaches us the instant we lift our voice to
Him. It is also seen that it is necessary for God to appear as Man,
only so far, man and Sakalars are concerned ; and that as far as