5.7 SUFFERINGS OF THE SOUL IN SAIVASIDDHANTHAM : “THE MALA-PARIBAHAM”(மலபரிபாகம்): IN REFERENCE TO SIVAGNANA SIDDHIAR.

In studying saiva siddhantha  we come across four major stages. They are
1.PASA STATE (பாசம்)
2.PASU STATE (பசு)
3.PATI STATE (பதி)
4.SADHANA STATE( சாதனம் )

The study when begins with pasa state we find that the soul(jeeva) suffers from pasathalais(pasa=attachments; thalais=strings). The pasa are described as 3 kinds of pasamala(mala=feces). The pasa mala are
1.ANAVA (ஆணவம்)[i]
2.KANMA (கன்மம்)
3.MAYA (மாயம்)

SIVAGNANASIDDHIYAR[ii] (சிவஞானசித்தியார்)was written by Arul nandhi(அருள்நந்தி சிவாச்சாரியார்) It is the most comprehensive siddhantha treatise. He describes the  malam qualities.

First let us see what ANAVA[iii] means,

1.it blinds the knowledge of the soul
2.it is knowledgeless
3.it corrupts the soul and makes it an orphan(anadhai) (அனாதி)
4.it is lifeless
5.it is powerfull and unitary
6.it is responsible for division of the soul into
     a)vignanakalar: anava+soul விஞ்ஞானகலர்
     b)pralayakalar: anava+kanma+soul பிரளயகலர்
     c)sakalar: anava+kanma+maya+soul சகலர்
7.it splits the soul and perishes it
8.it is responsible 3 kinds of AVASTHAIS(distress)
     a)kevala: lower state
     b)sakala: physical and mental agony
     c)suddha: problems from contamination and cleanlesness.
9.it is certain and diffuse
10.it causes atomness(smallness)
11.it has the potentials to
a) reduce the soul to the nature of pasu
b) blinds knowledge
c) kills the soul
d) drowses
e) contaminates
f) darkens
g) produces ignorance
h) blocks the progress of soul towards the supreme(pati)

Now we shall pass on to the qualities of MAYA[iv] from SIVAGNANABODHAM (venba7).   The maya is the part of siva and is imparted on the soul by him. It illuminates the soul impartially  or partially. It acts independently from anava or kanma. Thus we have two principal types of maya. They are,

1. Suddha maya (சுத்தமாயை)

2. Asuddha maya(அசுத்தமாயை)

3.The KANMA consists of external penuries of the soul namely, (கன்மம்)

1.AGAMYA: from body,mind or verbal. (ஆகாமியம்)
2.SANJITHA: by pava or punya deeds (சஞ்சிதம்;பாவ,புண்ணியங்கள்)
3.PRARTHA: natural processes like birth, illness, death ..etc. (பிரார்த்தம்)

The anava,kanma and maya are the three malams(மலம்). They have to be removed. The process has two ways . They are elimination and retention.  Depending upon the propulsion or retropulsion the soul suffers. The status malam and its progress is thus vital in siddhantham.

Let us see how a similar problem exists in psychoanalysis for the  human beings in early childhood in the following chapter.

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[i] NATURE OF A'NAVA MALA.
1. A'nava Mala, with its many Saktis, is one. Pervading through the numberless Jivas as the dirt in copper, it binds them from Jnana and Kriya. It also affords them the capacity for experience, and is ever the source of ignorance. NOTE:- The dirt that is inherent in copper can be removed once for all only by alchemical processes; and, when it is so removed, the copper remains no longer copper but is transformed into resplendent gold. In like manner, the Jiva that is affected by Mala can be freed from it only when Sivajnana is attained; and the Jiva that is so freed from Mala remains no longer a Jiva but attains Patitva merging into Siva. The illustration of dirt and copper is favourite with the Siddhanta and should, therefore, be carefully noted.
A'NAVA AND MAYA DIFFERENTIATED.
2. Do you say, 'There is no other entity as Mala (A'nava) it is only the effect of Maya.' Understand well that Maya causes Iccha, Jnana and Kriya to arise in the Jivas but A'nava causes the same to disappear, that A'nava is inherent in the Jivas but Maya is separate from them and, besides, manifesting itself as the universe, forms the body, senses, worlds and enjoyments. NOTE:- This forms an answer to the false creeds that identify Maya with A'nava Mala.
PURVA PAKSHA VADA.
3. As a black cloud hides from view the brilliant sun, so Maya veils Jnana and Kriya of the Jivas. The sun begins to shine in his full glory when the cloud vanishes. So, Jnana and Kriya begin to shine in the Jivas with the dissolution of the body.
PURVA PAKSHA VADA (CONTINUED) AND SIDDHANTA.
4. As the expansive light disappears when the cloud veils the sun, so Jnana and Kriya disappear when the body screens the Jivas. Siddhanta. Iccha, Jnana and Kriya are manifest in the Jivas when they are embodied. When they are not, nothing but darkness prevails. NOTE:- 'Embodied' includes both the gross and subtle bodies.
SIDDHANTA (CONTINUED).
5. What veils Jnana and Kriya of the Jivas is the A'nava (whose existence you ignored). Since it is commingled with the Jivas, it may also be said to be one of their qualities. Maya graciously provides the Jivas with the Tatvas from Kala downwards, so that they may shake off the shackles of ignorance. These two, therefore, are as opposed to each other as darkness and light. NOTE:- By commingled, it is to be understood that Mala is separable from the Jivas and by 'one of the qualities' that it is so very intimately connected with them. The word 'also' indicates that A'nava is not a quality of the Jivas. Vide following stanza.
JIVA AND MALA DIFFERENTIATED.
6. Do you mean that ignorance (avidya) is a quality of Purusha (Jiva)? Then, Purusha should be matter. Would you say that the defect in the eye of a blind man is a quality of the eye itself? Possessing ignorance as its attribute, Mala always remains matter. But Jiva is spirit (chit) which has Jnana for its quality. NOTE:- It is clearly shown by the illustration that Mala is a defect, not a quality of the Jivas.
HOW THE THREE MALAS ACT.
7. The three Malas - A'nava, Maya and Karma - delusive in their character, veil the true nature of the Jivas, and produce, in them, illusory enjoyments, bondage and capacity for experience as the sprout, bran and chaff in paddy. There are also two other Malas which we will point out presently. NOTE:- A'nava Mala, in conjunction with the efficient cause, provides the Jivas with the capacity for experience as the chaff is the efficient cause of sprouting. Maya, being the instrumental cause, makes, with its effects - bodies and senses, the bondage of the Jivas, as the bran favouring the growth coexists with the other ingredients. Karma being the material cause, affords enjoyments to the Jivas as the sprout becomes manifest by a power latent in it.
THE TWO OTHER MALAS.
8. One is Mayoya, which is the effect of Asuddha Maya; and the other is Trodayi, a Sakti of the Pure that commands the three Malas to perform their respective functions. So the learned say. These five Malas stand adhered to the Jivas. NOTE:- Mayeya is the Mala that limits Iccha, Jnana and Kriya of the all-pervading soul.
REINCARNATION OF THE JIVA.
9. The soul, affected by the five Malas - A'nava, Maya, Karma, Mayaya, and Trodayi - passes in a moment at the good Lord's behest, through the wheels of birth and death, on earth, the higher and the lower worlds, like the whirling fire brand and the whirlwind which cease not in their motion. NOTE:- 'At the good Lord's behest' shows the agent with whose grace the escape from the wheel of birth and death can be effected.
RARENESS OF THE JIVAS.
10. When we consider the case of a Jiva which, after passing through the eighty four hundred thousand kinds of yonis (embryo), of four fold nature as Andaja, Swetaja, Utbija and Sarayuja, becomes human born, we can but compare it with an individual who has with his own hands swum the wide ocean. NOTE: - It is to be noted that the human frame only is fir for the attainment of eternal freedom by the Jivas.
RARENESS OF A HIGH CLASS HUMAN BIRTH.
11. It is a great blessing to be born in a land where savages do not inhabit but the study of the four Vedas reigns supreme. Escaping birth among the lower classes of the human race, rare is it that one should be fortunate to be born among the people privileged to perform religious austerities, and to profess the Saiva Siddhanta religion without falling into the ways of other creeds.
RARENESS OF BECOMING A SAIVA.
12. Very rare is it that one should be so fortunate as to enter with meekness the Saiva creed unaffected by the pride of riches on the one side and escaping the littleness of poverty on the other. Those who can worship the crescent-crested Being, with the high Sivajnana, have attained His Grace. NOTE:- Riches are of various kinds as ranks, youth, learning, wealth and power. To be born poor is indeed miserable. It is desirable therefore that one should be rich in a moderate degree so that he may not go a begging; but, he must not, however, be proud of it. Such meekness cannot be obtained but by devotion to the Lord. Thus meekness and devotion are almost synonymous. Sivajnana - knowledge of Siva. Have attained expresses certainty. SivagyAna SidhdhiyAr OF ARUL NANDI SIVACHARIYAR. J. M. Nallaswami Pillai, B.A., B.L.,

[ii] THIS is the second of the fourteen Siddhanta Sastras, and its author was the disciple of the Great Meikanda Deva and his best expender. Sivagnana Botham is called the "Muthal Nul" or Revealed Book, and this work is called the "Vazhi Nul" containing the best and the most lucid elucidation of Meikanda Deva's short and concise aphorisms. The author is the second of the Santhana Achariyas in canonized Saints of the Saivas, and his date may be with more or less accuracy fixed at about 1200 A.D. He is author of another short work called "Irupairupakthu" (இருபா இருபஃது), in which he states some of the most puzzling problems in Indian Philosophy in the form of questions addressed to his master, in such a form that the answers themselves are transparent. Arul Nandi Siva Chariya was his name after he met and was initiated by his master Meikanda Deva and his other name was Sakalagama Pandithar, which seems however not to be his real name but one conferred on him for his vast crudition and researches in the Saivite lore. And there can be no doubt that he has displayed in his works all his vast learning and knowledge, and 'Siddhiar' stands out as the bulkiest and most learned contribution in the field of Philosophy in the vast Tamil; and will bear comparison in that respect with the best production in Sanskrit. Umapathi Siva Chariya includes this among the best six books, required for a man to perfect himself in Tamil, namely Tiruvalluvar, with (Parimelalagar's commentary), Devaram and Tiruvachakam, Tolkapiyam, Sekkilar's Periapuranam, Sivagnana Siddhi. Many are the praises sung of him and his work and of these we select two. The author of Sivabogasara says:-

ஆறாறு தத்துவமும், ஆணவனும், வல்வினையும்
நீறாக முத்தி நிலை நிற்போற்குப்-பேறாகப்
பாரவிரித்த நுலெல்லாம் பார்த்தறிய சித்தியிலே
யோர் விருத்தப் பாதிபோகும்.

(To those who desire the path of Moksha, when all their lower Tatwas, Akankara and Karma will be burnt up to cinders, half a stanza of Siddhiar will (if understood) furnish the key for the understanding of all the vast lore of this world).

Our Thayumanavar

[iii] ஆணவந்தான் அநாதிஅந்த மடையா தாகும்  

அடையின்அந்த ஆன்மாவும் அழியுமெனிற் செம்பிற்  

காணலுறுங் களிம்பிரத குளிகைபரி சிக்கக்  

கழியுஞ்செம் புருநிற்கக் கண்டோ மன்றே  

தாணுவின்தன் கழலணையத் தவிரும்மலந் தவிர்ந்தால்  

தான்சுத்த னாயிருக்கை முத்திஅரன் தாளைப்  

பூணவேண் டுவதொன்று மில்லையெனின் அருக்கன்  

புகுதஇருள் போம்அடியிற் பொருந்தமலம் போமே.                  314 

நெல்லினுக்குத் தவிடுமிகள் அநாதி யாயே  

நெல்லைவிட்டு நீங்கும்வகை நின்றநிலை நிகழ்த்தீர்  

சொல்லியிடில் துகளற்ற அரிசியின்பா லில்லை  

தொக்கிருந்து மற்றொருநெல் தோன்றி டாவாம்  

மெல்லஇவை விடுமறவே இவைபோல அணுவை  

மேவுமல முடல்கன்மம் அநாதிவிட்டே நீங்கும்  

நல்லசிவ முத்தியின்கட் பெத்தான் மாவை  

நணுகிநிற்கு மாதலால் நாசமுமின் றாமே.                         315 

எவ்விடத்தும் இறையடியை இன்றியமைந் தொன்றை  

அறிந்தியற்றி யிடாஉயிர்க ளிறைவன் றானும்  

செவ்விதினின் உளம்புகுந்து செய்தியெலாம் உணர்ந்து  

சேட்டிப்பித் தெங்குமாய்ச் செறிந்து நிற்பன்  

இவ்வுயிர்கள் தோற்றும்போ தவனையின்றித் தோற்றா  

இவற்றினுக்கம் முதலெழுத்துக் கெல்லாமாய் நிற்கும்  

அவ்வுயிர்போல் நின்றிடுவன் ஆத லால்நாம்  

அரன்டியை அகன்றுநிற்ப தெங்கே யாமே.                         316 

[iv] கலைஆதி மண் அந்தம் காணில் அவை மாயை
நிலையாவாம், தீபமே போல--- அலையாமல்
ஞானத்தை முன்னுணர்ந்து நாடில் அதுதனுவாம்
தானத்தின் வேறாகும் தான்.