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Saiva Siddhanta is the theology of the Saivite saints, systematized by Maykandar Karulturai and his pupil Arulananti (Arunandi) Sivacarya in the 13th century  CE from the Agamas the sacred books of the movement. The movement is permeated so much by devotion to the God of love, that it comes very close to Christianity, and reinforces the Tamil belief that St Thomas brought Christianity to India. It certainly represents the highest form of theism in Hinduism. God (Shiva) is wholly other and transcendent, yet throughout the ages he loves each human soul and desires its good. Through grace the soul responds by entrusting itself to God. The soul is never God, nor God the soul, as in advaita. God acts in the world to release the soul and transform it, but even when in union with God, each soul retains its identity. God is never impersonal and immovable. Although always at peace, he is active through Sakti, his creative power and eternal consort, with whom he is co-substantial and co-eternal but always distinct.
Saiva Siddhanta claims that by responding to God\'s grace with worship, personal discipline and yoga, the soul can go beyond the liberation offered by other schools to union with God, transformed but not annihilated through enlightenment. EMJ
Further reading Dhavamony, Mariasusai, Love to God according to Saiva Siddhanta; a study of the mysticism and theology of Saivism. |
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