by: Sri Swami Sivananda
In Chidambaram, there
once lived an ardent devotee of Lord Siva. He was a potter by caste and
profession. He had the highest regard for the devotees of Lord Siva, too. He
was ever eager to serve them. He was leading an ideal household life. He made
beautiful begging bowls of clay and offered them free to the devotees of Lord
Siva, with great joy.
Siva, in His aspect of
Neelakanta was his sole refuge and prop. Hence, he was called Tiru Neelakanta
Nayanar. He would always tell others how, for the protection of the world the
Lord drank the virulent poison, and he would assure his friends that they who
took refuge under His feet would be purged of all sins and would finally be
taken to His Abode.
In spite of his virtuous
qualities, once he fell a victim to lust. One day, he visited the house of a
prostitute. When he returned home, his dutiful and pious wife understood this.
This irritated her, though she did not show this and continued to serve him, as
before. But, she had decided not to have any sexual relation with him. Nayanar
could not understand the reason. One day, as he approached her with passion,
she took an oath and said: In the name of Neelakanta, I ask you: do not touch
us. Though she only meant herself, she had used the word us. Since she
took the Name of the Lord and since she had used the word us, Neelakanta
Nayanar decided that from that day he would not touch any woman in the world.
Such was his sincere devotion to the Lord. They continued to live together.
They did not want to make a fuss over their own resolve. No one knew about it.
Years rolled by and they had grown old.
Lord Siva wanted to
reveal the greatness of His devotee and thus to immortalise his name. So, in
the guise of a Siva Yogi (a Saivite mendicant) the Lord came to Tiru
Neelakantars house. Neelakantar welcomed him and worshipped him. The Yogi gave
him a begging bowl and said: Oh noble soul, kindly keep this in your safe
custody, till I come back for it. To me it is extremely precious. It has the
wonderful property of purifying anything that comes into contact with it. So,
please protect it with the greatest care. Then the Siva Yogi left the place
and Neelakantar kept the bowl in a very safe place in the house.
After a long time, Lord
Siva came to the house of Neelakantar, as the same Siva Yogi and asked for the
bowl. The Lord Himself, by the power of His Maya, caused it to disappear from
the house! Neelakantar searched for it, but could not find it. It was a mystery
to him. He was ashamed of himself. Trembling with fear, he fell at the Yogis
feet and said that he could not find it. At this, the Yogi got very angry and
accused Neelakantar, calling him a thief and cheat. Neelakantar offered to
replace the bowl with a costlier one; but the Yogi would not accept.
Again and again
Neelakantar pleaded that he had not stolen the bowl and that by a divine
mystery it was missing from the house. The Yogi demanded that if that was the
truth, Neelakantar should say so on oath, holding his wifes hand. When Nayanar,
who had resolved, in the name of the Lord, not to touch anyone, declined this,
the Yogi attributed this unwillingness to the fact that Neelakantar had in fact
been guilty of theft. They went to the court. The Brahmins heard the case. They
asked Neelakantar to promise, as desired by the Yogi. Neelakantar got into the
tank, along with his wife; they had a stick in their hand, and each of them was
holding one end of it. The Yogi objected to this and wanted that Neelakantar
should actually hold his wifes hand with his own. Neelakantar could not hide
the secret relationship that existed between him and his wife any more, and so,
related the whole story to the court.
After this narration, Neelakantar and his
wife caught hold of the two ends of the stick and took a dip in the tank. A
miracle happened. As they emerged from the water, they shone with youth and
beauty. The Siva Yogi disappeared from their midst and Lord Siva and Mother
Parvathy appeared in the sky, blessing all of them. The Lord said: Due to the
merit of having lived a life of self-control and devotion, you will live in My
Eternal Abode, forever youthful. The Lord thus revealed the glory of supreme
devotion to Him (which alone made it possible for Neelakantar to refrain from
lustful thoughts or actions, after his wife had sworn in the Name of the Lord)
and a life of celibacy which bestows eternal youthfulness on you, and the
unostentatiousness of a saints virtue.
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