Vedanta
Vedanta or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta means "end of the Vedas", reflecting ideas that emerged from the speculations and philosophies contained in the Upanishads, it does not stand for one unifying doctrine. Rather it is an umbrella term for many sub-traditions, ranging from dualism to non-dualism, all of which developed on the basis of a common textual connection called the Prasthanatrayi; the Prasthanatrayi is a collective term for the Principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. All Vedanta schools, in their deliberations, concern themselves with the following three categories but differ in their views regarding the concept and the relations between them: Brahman – the ultimate metaphysical reality, Ātman / Jivātman – the individual soul or self, Prakriti – the empirical world, ever-changing physical universe and matter; some of the better known sub-traditions of Vedanta include Advaita and Dvaita. Most other Vedantic sub-traditions are subsumed under the term Bhedabheda.
Over time, Vedanta adopted ideas from other orthodox schools like Yoga and Nyaya, through this syncretism, became the most prominent school of Hinduism. Many extant forms of Vaishnavism and Shaktism have been shaped and influenced by the doctrines of different schools of Vedanta; the Vedanta school has had a central influence on Hinduism. The word Vedanta means the end of the Vedas and referred to the Upanishads. Vedanta was concerned with the jñānakāṇḍa or Vedic knowledge part called the Upanishads; the denotation of Vedanta subsequently widened to include the various philosophical traditions based on to the Prasthanatrayi. The Upanishads may be regarded as the end of Vedas in different senses: These were the last literary products of the Vedic period; these mark. These were debated last, in the Brahmacharya stage. Vedanta is one of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy, it is called Uttara Mīmāṃsā, the'latter enquiry' or'higher enquiry'. Pūrva Mīmāṃsā deals with the karmakāṇḍa or rituals part in the Vedas.
The Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita and the Brahma Sutras constitute the basis of Vedanta. All schools of Vedanta propound their philosophy by interpreting these texts, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi three sources; the Upanishads, or Śruti prasthāna. The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana; the Bhagavad Gita, or Smriti prasthāna. The Brahma Sutras attempted to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads; the diversity in the teaching of the Upanishads necessitated the systematization of these teachings. This was done in many ways in ancient India, but the only surviving version of this synthesis is the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana. All major Vedantic teachers, including Shankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka and Madhva, have composed commentaries not only on the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras, but on the Bhagavad Gita; the Bhagavad Gita, due to its syncretism of Samkhya and Upanishadic thought, has played a major role in Vedantic thought. The Upanishads present an associative philosophical inquiry in the form of identifying various doctrines and presenting arguments for or against them.
They form Vedanta interprets them through rigorous philosophical exegesis. Varying interpretations of the Upanishads and their synthesis, the Brahma Sutras, led to the development of different schools of Vedanta over time of which three, five or six are prominent. Bhedabheda, as early as the 7th century CE, or the 4th century CE; some scholars are inclined to consider it as a "tradition" rather than a school of Vedanta. Upadhika, founded by Bhaskara in the 9th Century CE Svabhavikabhedabheda or Dvaitādvaita, founded by Nimbarka in the 7th century CE Achintya Bheda Abheda, founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Advaita, many scholars of which most prominent are Gaudapada and Adi Shankaracharya Vishishtadvaita, prominent scholars are Nathamuni, Yāmuna and Ramanuja Dvaita, founded by Madhvacharya Suddhadvaita, founded by Vallabha The history of Vedanta is divided into two periods: one prior to the composition of the Brahma Sutras and the other encompassing the schools that developed after the Brahma Sutras were written.
Little is known of schools of Vedanta existing before the composition of the Brahma Sutras. It is clear that Badarayana, the writer of Brahma Sutras, was not the first person to systematize the teachings of the Upanishads, as he quotes six Vedantic teachers before him – Ashmarathya, Audulomi, Kashakrtsna and Atreya. References to other early Vedanta teachers – Brahmadatta, Pandaya and Dravidacharya – are found in secondary literature of periods; the works of these ancient teachers have not survived, but based on the quotes attributed to them in literature, Sharma postulates that Ashmarathya and Audulomi were Bhedabheda scholars and Brahmadatta were Advaita scholars, while Tanka and Dravidacharya were either Advaita or Vishistadvaita scholars. Badarayana summarized and interpreted teachings of the Upanishads in the Brahma Sutras called the Vedanta Sutra "written from a Bhedābhed
Alvars
The alvars spelt as alwars or azhwars were Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused bhakti to the Hindu god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna in their songs of longing and service. They are venerated in Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu or Krishna as the Supreme Being. Many modern academics place the Alvars date between 5th century to 10th century CE, however traditionally the Alvars are considered to have lived between 4200 BCE - 2700 BCE. Orthodoxy posits the number of alvars as ten, though there are other references that include Andal and Madhurakavi Alvar, making the number twelve. Andal is the only female saint-poet in the 12 Alvars. Together with the contemporary sixty three Shaiva Nayanars, they are among the most important saints from Tamil Nadu; the devotional outpourings of Alvars, composed during the early medieval period of Tamil history, helped revive the bhakti movement, through their hymns of worship to Vishnu and his avatars. They praised 108 "abodes" of these Vaishnava deities.
The poetry of the Alvars echoes bhakti to God through love, in the ecstasy of such devotions they sang hundreds of songs which embodied both depth of feeling and felicity of expressions. The collection of their hymns is known as Divya Prabandha; the Bhakti literature that sprang from Alvars has contributed to the establishment and sustenance of a culture that broke away from the ritual-oriented Vedic religion and rooted itself in devotion as the only path for salvation. In addition they helped to make the Tamil religious life independent of a knowledge of Sanskrit; as part of the legacy of the Alvars, five Vaishnava philosophical traditions have developed at the stages. The word azhwar has traditionally been etymologized as from Tamil.'Azh','to immerse oneself' as'one who dives deep into the ocean of the countless attributes of god'. However Indologist Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan has established from epigraphy and textual evidence that the traditional term Āḻvār for Vaiṣṇavaite Tamil poet saints has been a corruption of the original Āḷvār.
It is investigated with a multi-faceted approach using philology, linguistics and religion. Palaniappan shows that what was Āḷvār meaning'One who rules', or' Master' got changed through hypercorrection and folk etymology to Āḻvār meaning'One, immersed'. Palaniappan cites inscriptional evidence and literary evidence from Vaishnavaite tradition itself for a gradual sound change from Āḷvār to Āḻvār over a period of two centuries from the 9th to the 11th century involving references to religious leaders in Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Jainism and to political personalities, he states: "āḻvār is but a corrupt form of āḷvār, used interchangeably with nāyanār in secular and religious contexts in the Tamil land" and "... Notwithstanding the Vaiṣṇava claim of unbroken teacher-student tradition, the fact that Nāthamuni has used the form āļvār but Piļļān, a disciple and younger cousin of Rāmānuja, ended up using the form āḻvār suggests that there has been an error in transmission somewhere along the teacher-student chain between the two teachers.
This error was due to the influence of the sound variation that has occurred in the Srirangam area and elsewhere". The original word ஆள்வார் compares with the epithet'Āṇḍãḷ' ( for the female canonized Vaishnava saint Gōdai and they share the same verb Tamil. Āḷ, the former being the honorific non-past form and the latter the feminine past form of that same verb. Palaniappan’s findings on ‘Āḻvār’ have been accepted by scholars like Prof. Alexander Dubyanskiy. In his article on Āṇṭāḷ, Dubyanskiy says, “Āṇṭāḷ was among the twelve Āḻvārs, the poet-saints, adepts of Viṣṇu, canonized by the tradition, which accepted the interpretation of the meaning of the word āḻvār as “submerged, plunged,” from the verbal root āḻ, “to plunge, to be in the deep.” But it was convincingly shown by S. Palaniappan that the term in question was represented by the word āḷvār, which reads as “those who rule, lords”, was applied in the texts, both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava, to Śiva and Viṣṇu accordingly. In the course of time the term underwent the process of sound variation, took the form āḻvār and acquired the folk etymology, accepted and fixed by the tradition.
It is worth noting here that this interpretation agrees well with the meaning of the poetess’ nickname Āṇṭāḷ, which means “she who rules.” Alvars are considered the twelve supreme devotees of Vishnu, who were instrumental in popularising Vaishnavism in the Tamil-speaking regions. The alvars were influential in promoting the Bhagavata cult and the two Hindu epics, namely and Mahabaratha; the religious works of these saints in Tamil, songs of love and devotion, are compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham containing 4000 verses and the 108 temples revered in their songs are classified as Divya desam. The verses of the various azhwars were compiled by Nathamuni, a 10th-century Vaishnavite theologian, who called it the "Dravida Veda or Tamil Veda"; the songs of Prabandam are sung in all the Vishnu temples of South India daily and during festivals. The saints belonged to different castes; as per tradition, the first three alvars, Poigai and Pey were born miraculously. Tirumizhisai was the son of a sage.
Nammalvar
Nammalwar is one of the twelve alwar saints of Tamil Nadu, who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The verses of alwars are compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham and the 108 temples revered are classified as Divya Desam. Nammalwar is considered the fifth in the line of the twelve alwars, he is regarded as a great mystic of the Vaishnava tradition. He is considered the greatest among the twelve alwars and his contributions amount to 1352 among the 4000 stanzas in the Nalayira Divya Prabandam. According to traditional scriptures, Nammalwar was born in 3059 BCE in Alwarthirunagiri. In Hindu legend, Nammalwar remained speechless from his birth sitting in a tamarind tree and he first interacted with Madhurakavi Alvar, who saw a bright light shining to the south, followed it until he reached the tree where the boy was residing; the works of Nammalwar were compiled by Madhurakavi as four different works, the Tiruvayumoli, Thiruvaasiriam andPeriya Thiruvanthadi. The works of Nammalwar contributed to the theological ideas of Vaishnavism.
Along with the three Shaiva Nayanars Appar and Sambandar, they influenced the ruling Pallava kings of South India, changing the religious geography from Buddhism and Jainism to Hinduism. The Garudasevai festival in Nava Tirupathi, the nine Vishnu temples in Thoothukudi region and the Araiyar Sevai during the Vaikunta Ekadesi festival in Srirangam temple are dedicated to him; the verses of Nammalwar and other alwars are recited as a part of daily prayers and during festive occasions in most Vishnu temples in South India. The word alwar means the one; the Alwars are considered the twelve supreme devotees of Vishnu who were instrumental in popularising Vaishnavism. The religious works of these saints in Tamil, songs of love and devotion, are compiled as Nalayira Divya Prabandham containing 4000 verses and the 108 temples revered in their songs are classified as Divya Desam; the saints belonged to different castes. As per tradition, the first three alwars, Poigai Azhwar, Bhoothath Azhwar and Pey Azhwar were born miraculously.
Thirumalisai Alvar was the son of a sage, Thondaradippodi Alvar, Madhurakavi Alvar and Andal were from brahmin community, Kulashekhara Alwar a kshatriya, Nammalwar a Vellala, Thiruppaan Alvar a paanar and Thirumangai Alvar a kallar. The Divya Suri Charitra by Garuda-Vahana Pandita, Guruparamparaprabhavam by Pinbaragiya Perumal Jiyar, Periya tiru mudi adaivu by Anbillai Kandadiappan, Yatindra Pranava Prabavam by Pillai Lokacharya, commentaries on Divya Prabandam, Guru Parampara texts, temple records and inscriptions give a detailed account of the alwars and their works. According to these texts, the saints were considered incarnations of some form of Vishnu. Poigai is considered an incarnation of Panchajanya, Bhoothath of Kaumodakee, Pey of Nandaka, Thirumalisai of Sudarshanam, Namm of Vishvaksena, Madhurakavi of Vainatheya, Kulasekhara of Kaustubha, Periya of Garuda, Andal of Bhoodevi, Thondaradippodi of Vanamaalai, Thiruppaan of Srivatsa and Thirumangai of Sharanga, Rama's bow; the songs of Prabandam are sung in all the Vishnu temples of South India daily and during festivals.
According to traditional account by Manavala Mamunigal, the first three alwars namely Poigai and Pey belong to the Dvapara Yuga. It is accepted by tradition and historians that the trio are the earliest among the twelve alwars. Along with the three Shaiva Nayanars, they influenced the ruling Pallava kings, creating a bhakti movement that resulted in changing the religious geography from Buddhism and Jainism to Hinduism; the alwars were instrumental in promoting the Bhagavatha cult and the two epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The alwars were instrumental in spreading Vaishnavism throughout the region; the verses of the various alwars were compiled by Nathamuni, a 10th-century Vaishnava theologian, who called it the "Tamil Veda". According to traditional scriptures, Nammalwar was born in 43rd Kali of 3059 BC, he was born in a Pillai family at Thirukurukur in the southernmost region of the Tamil country. Some sources consider his to have been a princely family. Tradition says that he must have been born enlightened because as a baby he never cried or suckled and never opened his eyes.
According to legend, as a child he responded to no external stimuli and his parents left him at the feet of the deity of Sri Adhinathar in Alwarthirunagari. The child got up and climbed into a hole in a tamarind, sat in the lotus position, began to meditate, it appears he was in this state for as long as sixteen years when a Tamil poet and scholar in named Madhurakavi Alvar, born in Thirukolur and had travelled to North India on a temple trip. As he was performing his Nitya Anushtanam one day, he saw a bright light shining to the south, followed it until he reached the tree where the boy was residing. Unable to elicit any reaction from the child, he asked him a riddle: "If the small is born in a dead's body, what will it eat and where will it stay?" meaning, if the subtle soul is embodied in the gross body, what are its actions and thoughts? Namma
Shiva
Shiva known as Mahadeva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Shiva is known as "The Destroyer" within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that includes Brahma and Vishnu. In Shaivism tradition, Shiva is the supreme being who creates and transforms the universe. In the tradition of Hinduism called Shaktism, the Goddess, or Devi, is described as supreme, yet Shiva is revered along with Vishnu and Brahma. A goddess is stated to be the energy and creative power of each, with Parvati the equal complementary partner of Shiva, he is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. According to the Shaivism sect, the highest form of Shiva is formless, limitless and unchanging absolute Brahman, the primal Atman of the universe. There are many both fearsome depictions of Shiva. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children and Kartikeya.
In his fierce aspects, he is depicted slaying demons. Shiva is known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts; the iconographical attributes of Shiva are the serpent around his neck, the adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the third eye on his forehead, the trishula or trident, as his weapon, the damaru drum. He is worshipped in the aniconic form of Lingam. Shiva is a pan-Hindu deity, revered by Hindus, in India and Sri Lanka. Shiva is called as Bhramhan which can be said as Parabhramhan. Shiva means nothingness; the word shivoham means the consciousness of one individual, lord says that he is omnipotent, omnipresent, as he is present in the form of one's consciousness. In Tamil, he was called by different names other than Sivan. Nataraaja Rudra and Dhakshinamoorthy. Nataraja is the only form of Shiva worshipped in a human figure format. Elsewhere he is worshipped in Lingam figure. Pancha bootha temples are located in south India. Pancha Bhoota Stalam.
Tamil literature is enriched by Shiva devotees called 63 Nayanmars The Sanskrit word "Śiva" means, states Monier Monier-Williams, "auspicious, gracious, kind, friendly". The roots of Śiva in folk etymology are śī which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace"; the word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra. The term Shiva connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one", this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature; the term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics and the Puranas, as an auspicious deity, the "creator and dissolver". Sharva, sharabha presents another etymology with the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means "to injure" or "to kill", interprets the name to connote "one who can kill the forces of darkness"; the Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the god Shiva", this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect.
It is used as an adjective to characterize certain practices, such as Shaivism. Some authors associate the name with the Tamil word śivappu meaning "red", noting that Shiva is linked to the Sun and that Rudra is called Babhru in the Rigveda; the Vishnu sahasranama interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", "the One, not affected by three Guṇas of Prakṛti". Shiva is known by many names such as Viswanatha, Mahandeo, Mahesha, Shankara, Rudra, Trilochana, Neelakanta, Subhankara and Ghrneshwar; the highest reverence for Shiva in Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva, Maheśvara, Parameśvara. Sahasranama are medieval Indian texts that list a thousand names derived from aspects and epithets of a deity. There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns listing many names of Shiva; the version appearing in Book 13 of the Mahabharata provides one such list. Shiva has Dasha-Sahasranamas that are found in the Mahanyasa; the Shri Rudram Chamakam known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.
The Shiva-related tradition is a major part of Hinduism, found all over India, Sri Lanka, Bali. Scholars have interpreted early prehistoric paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, carbon dated to be from pre-10,000 BCE period, as Shiva dancing, Shiva's trident, his mount Nandi. Rock paintings from Bhimbetka, depicting a figure with a trishul, have been described as Nataraja by Erwin Neumayer, who dates them to the mesolithic. Of several Indus valley seals that show animals, one seal that has attracted attention shows a large central figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and ithyphallic, seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position, surrounded by animals; this figure was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro as Pashupati (Lord of Animals, Sansk
Shaiva Siddhanta
Shaiva siddhanta, provides the normative rites and theological categories of Agamic and Vedic Shaivam combined. Being a dualistic philosophy, the goal of Shaiva Siddhanta is to become an enlightened soul through Lord Shiva's Grace; this tradition was once practiced all over India. However the Muslim subjugation of North India restricted Shaiva Siddhanta to the south, where it merged with the Tamil Saiva movement expressed in the bhakti poetry of the Nayanars, it is in this historical context that Shaiva Siddhanta is considered a "southern" tradition, one, still much alive. The Tamil compendium of devotional songs known as Tirumurai, the Shaiva Agamas and "Meykanda" or "Siddhanta" Shastras, form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. Shaiva Siddhanta encompasses tens of millions of adherents, predominantly in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Today it has thousands of active temples there and numerous monastic and ascetic traditions, along with its own community of priests, the Adishaivas, who are qualified to perform Agama based Shaiva Temple rituals.
Monier-Williams gives the meaning of siddhanta as ‘any fixed or established or canonical text-book or received scientific treatise on any subject... as.. Brahma-siddhanta ब्रह्म-सिद्धान्त... Surya-siddhanta, etc.’ The name of the school could be translated as "the settled view of Shaiva doctrine" or "perfected Shaivism." Saiva Siddhanta's original form is uncertain. Some hold, it seems to others, that the early Śaiva Siddhānta may have developed somewhere in Northern India, as a religion built around the notion of a ritual initiation that conferred liberation. Such a notion of liberatory initiation appears to have been borrowed from a Pashupata tradition. At the time of the early development of the theology of the school, the question of monism or dualism, which became so central to theological debates, had not yet emerged as an important issue. From the fifth to the eighth CE Buddhism and Jainism had spread in Tamil Nadu before a forceful Shaiva bhakti movement arose. Between the seventh and ninth centuries, pilgrim saints such as Sambandar and Sundarar used songs of Shiva’s greatness to refute concepts of Buddhism and Jainism.
Manikkavacakar's heart-melting verses, called Tiruvacakam, are full of visionary experience, divine love and urgent striving for truth. The songs of these four saints are part of the compendium known as Tirumurai which, along with the Vedas, Shaiva Agamas, the Meykanda Shastras, are now considered to form the scriptural basis of the Śaiva Siddhānta in Tamil Nadu, it seems probable that the Tirumurai devotional literature was not, considered to belong to the Śaiva Siddhānta canon at the time when it was first composed: the hymns themselves appear to make no such claim for themselves. The Bhakti movement should not be exaggerated as an articulation of a'class struggle', there is a strong sense against rigid structures in the society. In the twelfth century Aghorasiva, the head of a branch monastery of the Amardaka order in Chidambaram, took up the task of amalgamating Sanskrit and Tamil Siddhanta. Refuting monist interpretations of Siddhanta, Aghorasiva brought a change in the understanding of Siva by reclassifying the first five principles, or tattvas, into the category of pasa, stating they were effects of a cause and inherently unconscious substances, a departure from the traditional teaching in which these five were part of the divine nature of God.
Aghorasiva was successful in preserving the Sanskrit rituals of the ancient Āgamic tradition. To this day, Aghorasiva's Siddhanta philosophy is followed by all of the hereditary temple priests, his texts on the Āgamas have become the standard puja manuals, his Kriyakramadyotika is a vast work covering nearly all aspects of Shaiva Siddhanta ritual, including the daily worship of Siva, occasional rituals, initiation rites, funerary rites, festivals. In Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta, the thirteenth century Meykandar, Arulnandi Sivacharya, Umapati Sivacharya further spread Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. Meykandar's twelve-verse Śivajñānabodham and subsequent works by other writers, all of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, laid the foundation of the Meykandar Sampradaya, which propounds a pluralistic realism wherein God and world are coexistent and without beginning. Siva is an efficient but not material cause, they view the soul's merging in Siva as salt in water, an eternal oneness, twoness. Saiva Siddhanta today is practiced among the Saiva's of southern India and Sri Lanka by members of the Vellalar community.
It is prevalent among Saiva's of the Tamil diaspora around the world. Prominent Siddhanta societies and monasteries exist in a number of other countries; the United States island of Kauai, a part of Hawaii, is home to the Saiva Siddhanta Peetam, an organization that promotes the union of worldwide Hindus, through a publication called Hinduism Today. This was founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, under the auspices of Subramuniyaswami's designated successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami; this lineage, which traces itself back to the Shaiva Siddhars of Northern Sri Lanka, adheres to the philosophical position that the original Shaiva Siddhanta as expounded by Tirumular, was and is monistic, propagates this teaching as Advaita Saiva Siddhanta. The famous songs of the Sri Lankan Shaiva Sage, Shiva Yogaswami, attest to this view of the nature of God and World as being one; the texts revered by the southern Saiva Siddhanta are the
Siddharudha Swami
Shri Siddharudha Swami was an Indian spiritual leader, mystic of the Advaita Vedanta stream. Sadguru Siddharudha Maharaj lived in the style of an ascetic throughout his life, he condemned practice of casteism and conceived divinity in everything that exists, as well as disagreeing with the common notion that Brahmins were the only ones entitled to liberation believing that everyone is entitled. Considered to be an incarnation of Shiva, one of the Trinity deities of Hinduism, Siddharudha renounced his home and his family ties at the young age of 6 years, set himself the goal of finding his Satguru or spiritual master. Siddharudha surrendered himself, as a student, to the realized soul Shri Gajadandaswami, served at his ashram. According to the book Siddharoodh Charitra by Shivadas, Siddharudha was blessed by his guru and was asked to undertake a pilgrimage with the purpose of helping those in need, dispelling ignorance, revealing the right path to spiritual enlightenment to those who were seeking.
Thenceforth, Siddharudha traveled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, delivering the right wisdom for spiritual awakening and methodical liberation to all those who were cognizant of his exemplary standards of spiritual practice before setting down at Hubli, where he was recognized for his spiritual knowledge & immaculate sainthood. People sought him out from neighbouring states for solace, satisfaction of desires and spiritual enlightenment, he was entombed at his ashram. He was believed to be working miracles for his devotees. A proverb runs by in a native Indian Language kannada: Siddharudhara Jolige Jagakkella holige which signifies the food, served at his ashram and the miracles that occur of it, he served the people without any discrimination, having a Muslim disciple named Kabirdas, known for his dedication to him. Parampoojya Shri Kalavati Devi, was his supreme disciple. Known as Rukmabai Mallapur, she herself is well known as a supreme saint, whose samadhi is found at Shri Harimandir at Angol near Belgaum.
He had Gurunatharudha. His samadhi is just beside the samadhi of Sri Siddharudha Swami in Hubli Matha, he gave sannyasa to Swami Muktananda, who studied at his ashram in Hubli until Siddharudha's death in 1929, he left to study with a disciple of Siddharudha called Muppinarya Swami at his Sri Airani Holematt in Ranebennur Haveri District shri guru had a disciple,shri shivaputra appaji who's samadhi is situated at 20 metres distance from siddharoodh math. At present shri abhinav shivaputra swamigi is head of that math. Sri Iychanda Bolliappa from Devanageri village was his supreme devotee. Swami Bolliappa was a regular visitor to Siddharudha mata in cherambane village, kodagu district, Karnataka. Siddharudha Maharaj is an acknowledged Hindu master of the Advaita Vedanta stream of Vedic thought and has many followers throughout India in the villages of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Official Website Siddharoodha's stories and biography
Smarta tradition
Smarta tradition is a movement in Hinduism that developed during its classical period around the beginning of the Common Era. It reflects a Hindu synthesis of four philosophical strands: Mimamsa, Advaita and theism; the Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, it is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Vishnu, Brahma and Devi. The Smarta tradition contrasted with the older Shrauta tradition, based on elaborate rituals and rites. There has been considerable overlap in the ideas and practices of the Smarta tradition with other significant historic movements within Hinduism, namely Shaivism, Brahmanism and Shaktism; the Smarta tradition is aligned with Advaita Vedanta, regards Adi Shankara as its founder or reformer. Shankara championed the ultimate reality is impersonal and Nirguna and any symbolic god serves the same equivalent purpose. Inspired by this belief, the Smarta tradition followers, along with the five Hindu gods include a sixth impersonal god in their practice.
The tradition has been called by William Jackson as "advaitin, monistic in its outlook". The term Smarta refers to Brahmins who specialize in the Smriti corpus of texts named the Grihya Sutras, in contrast to Shrauta Sutras. Smarta Brahmins with their focus on the Smriti corpus, contrast from Srauta Brahmins who specialize in the Sruti corpus, rituals and ceremonies that follow the Vedas. Smarta स्मार्त is an adjective derived from Smriti; the smriti are a specific body of Hindu texts attributed to an author, traditionally written down but revised, in contrast to Śrutis considered authorless, that were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed. Smarta has several meanings: Relating to memory Recorded in or based on the Smriti Based on tradition, prescribed or sanctioned by traditional law Orthodox Brahmin versed in or guided by traditional law and Vedanta doctrineIn Smarta tradition context, the term Smarta means "follower of Smriti". Smarta is specially associated with a "sect founded by Shankaracharya", states Monier Williams.
See Late Middle Kingdoms - The Late-Classical Age and Classical Hinduism The Vedanga texts, states Alf Hiltebeitel, are Smriti texts that were composed in the second half of the Vedic period that ended around 500 BCE. The Vedanga texts include the Kalpa texts consisting of the Srautasutras and Dharmasutras, many of which were revised well past the Vedic period; the Grihyasutras and Dharmasutras, states Hiltebeitel, were composed between 600 BCE and 400 CE, these are sometimes called the Smartasutras, the roots of the Smriti tradition. The Smriti texts accept the knowledge in the Sruti, but they interpret it in a number of ways, which gave rise to six darsanas of Hindu philosophy. Of these, states Hiltebeitel, the Mimamsa and Vedanta have sometimes been called the Smarta schools which emphasize the Vedas with reason and other pramanas, in contrast to Haituka schools which emphasize hetu independent of the Vedas while accepting the authority of the Vedas. Of the two Smarta traditions, Mimamsa focussed on Vedic ritual traditions, while Vedanta focussed on Upanishadic knowledge tradition.
Around the start of the common era, thereafter, a syncretism of Haituka schools, the Smarta schools with ancient theistic ideas gave rise to a growth in traditions such as Shaivism and Shaktism. Hiltebeitel and Flood locate the origins of a revived orthodox Smarta Tradition in the Classical Period of Hinduism with nondualist interpretation of Vedanta, around the time when different Hindu traditions emerged from the interaction between Brahmanism and local traditions; the revived Smarta Tradition attempted to integrate varied and conflicting devotional practices, with its ideas of nondual experience of Atman as Brahman. The rapprochement included the practice of pancayatana-puja, wherein a Hindu could focus on any saguna deity of choice such as Vishnu, Durga, Surya or Ganesha, as an interim step towards realizing the nirguna Brahman; the growth of this Smarta Tradition began in the Gupta period, was dominated by Dvija classes, in particular the Brahmins, of the early medieval Indian society.
This Smarta Tradition competed with other major traditions of Hinduism such as Shaivism and Shaktism. The ideas of Smarta Tradition were influential, creative with concepts such as of Harihara and Ardhanarishvara, many of the major scholars of Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Bhakti movement came out of the Smarta Tradition. Medieval era scholars such as Vedanta Desika and Vallabhacharya recognized Smarta Tradition as competing with Vaishnavism and other traditions. According to Jeffrey Timm, for example, in verse 10 of the Tattvarthadipanibandha, Vallabhacharya states that, "Mutually contradictory conclusions are non-contradictory when they are considered from their respective contexts, like Vaishnava, etc."According to Murray Milner Jr. a professor of Sociology, the Smarta tradition refers to "Hindus who tend toward Brahmanical orthodoxy in both thought and behavior". Smartas are committed to a "relatively unified Hinduism" and they reject extreme forms of sectarian isolationism, reminiscent of the European discourse about church and Christian sects.
The tradition, states Milner, has roots that emerged sometime between 3rd century BCE and 3rd century CE, likel
