5.5: SIDDHANTHIC SIMILARITIES FROM THIRUMANTHIRAM:  THE ORAL STAGE

The first 540 verses (first 3 chapters)confine to the description of the PATI qualities and the superego equalant of Freud (Siva qualities in general –ethics-esthetics-and praise of Siva).

From then onwards the chapters on yoga starts. They describe various ways of life which is good and that leads to salvation. They are the initial steps to self analysis. They are the initial steps in siddhantha self analysis. It is equal to a Freudian oral stage.   Like the child in the first year of life the individual is in a primary stage for the spiritual development. He is in the state of receiving form the mother. Like that the individual is in the receiving stage from the guru or god. He is preparing himself for the further stages. In this state he has to get the “iru –vinai-  oppu” by performing his duties.

He has to get the start in yoga way of life. By completing the yogic stages only he can leave this state to further steps in spiritual journey in saiva doctrines. For this he is completely dependent upon the guru. The sishya ( seedan)  is thus in a oral stage like position.

Iru-vinai-oppu refers to the  balance of actions in the human ethical responsibilities in the material world. There is a grace of god on which every man survives,grows and reproduce. The survival on the earthly base depends on his ability to master the physical environment. He needs food,shelter,security,love, happiness ..etc.  man’s strives must not interfere others for his survival. If there is growth of a body it depends on the effect on others.

 This is a fundamental law of physics and evolution. In the competitive process there is a need for ethics. The divine grace favours the ethical man. So man needs a material benefit from the physical world and for this there is a contribution from the divine .  the extraction of pleasure from the world and the divine grace depends upon the balance on an ethical scale.  The balance is very critical.

The saiva tenets proposes the yoga as a method for striking it. Sadhana as it may called.  The right sadhana leads to the iru-vinai-oppu. This is like the state of the child in the Freudian oral stage( 0-18 months). Here the the child completelty depends upon the care from the mother. The needs of the child are oneside and the care from the mother on the other side. There is an optimal frustration for the child in this process as there is always a demand and care inequality. Like the man’s need and the god’s grace.

The yoga chapters are fundamentals to sadhana also. In a person’s life one will be doing yoga till his age of 60 or 80. That is completion of the whole active life, to get the” iruviani oppu”. This successful completion will lead to malaparibaham and then to sakthinipatham may be at his age of 80. The mukthi can be only at the time of death for most people.

The Freudian oral stage is only for a year but its analogue in siddhantham-the yogam, is the almost the whole life itself.( Let us see the attanga (eight) yoga steps, அட்டாங்கயோகம்one by one as per thirumoolar’s sadhasiva agama later in the book).

Herein the yoga the soul is preoccupied with self-mind&body. Yoga is a state of self absorption and it values the human mind and physical health. Its philosophical position is only to that extant. Yogic self absorbed state is akin to the child of one year age in terms of the paucity of metaphysics in both states. This is Freudian equaling of oral stage.

Here the soul has not got the proximity of god completely. It strives for the god’s attention through the attanga (eight) yogic methods. It gets the divine grace intermittently like the child gets the breast feed whenever it cries. Sometimes without even crying and sometimes even after a cry it does not get the feed. Similarly in the life we get the divine attention sometimes through our rightful conduct thus getting the primary narcissism. Sometimes we fail to get the attention of god or his help. This leads to the secondary narcissism. The yoga steps are only the beginning.

Therefore :Oral stage=yogic state=iruvinai oppu

Successful yogic life leads to malaparibahamமலபரிபாகம் and then to sakthinipathamசக்திநிபாதம். Then comes the final union with the sivam. There fore this yoga aspects are the beginning of the self analysis in siddhantham. By going through the yoga steps alone we can go to the next steps like malaparibaham and sakthinipatham. These three stages in siddhantham – attanga yogam,malaparibaham and sakthinipatham- are the analogues to the Freudian oral, anal and phallic stages.