XI§
Mr. K.K. Nadarasan started the Sivathondan Magazine with the blessing of Swamigal. He was the editor of the magazine from the beginning. Swamigal was very fond of Mr. Nadarajan as an individual and also as son-in-law of Navali Thambaiya teacher. Mr. Nadarasan opened a printing press, Kamalasani end of 1934. He started Sivathondan Magazine to help the printing press. Mr. Nadarasan had explained this in the special issue of Sivathondan:§
“It was due to my penance that Swamigal visited the press within a few days of its inauguration. Swamigal said, “So you have started a printing press, now, run it carefully.” Then after a week Swamigal came back and said, “For a printing press to run successfully a magazine is needed to run it continuesly. Since you have learnt journalism, you may start a magazine.” I asked Swamigal what name should I give for the magazine. Swamigal did not give any answer and left. But He came back on another day and said, “Name the magazine as ‘Sivathondan’ and run it in a small scale.”§
The first issue came out in the year Bava, in the Tamil month of Margali (January, 1935). In that issue, as per the instructions from Swamigal, Mr. Nadarasan wrote an editorial, “Who are we?” From second issue onwards, as instructed by Swamigal, Mr. S. Mylvaganam teacher wrote expositions on Mahavakyas, the great sayings. Swamigal urged all of His followers to subscribe to Sivathondan. It is evident from the above, that Swamigal was directly supervising many matters related to the publication of the magazine, while Mr.Nadarajan was the editor.§
We can glean from Swamigal’s writings in the 1939 December issue of Sivathondan, ‘Greetings to Sivathondan’ the birth and goals of Sivathondan magazine.§
“Carrying the sacred syllable Aum on our head§
Declaring ourselves as servants of Siva§
Chanting the Mantra uttered by Guru “Who Knows” in mind§
With the grace of Lord Siva, The Sivathondan was born §
In Bava year Margali month (December) to the delight of all in Jaffna,§
without diverting from path of Siva.Ӥ
The greatest service of Sivathondan magazine was to publish Swamigal’s Natchinthanai songs. Some Natchinthanai songs were written exclusively in praise of Sivathondan Magazine itself. Others, as said before, were written by Swamigal for His devotees. This includes both poems and prose. The very first Natchinthanai written for Sivathondan publication is as follows:§
“God is life of our life, so we belong to God, slave to God. All our movements are God’s movements. We are unable to forget Him any time. We have nothing to complain.. We are eternal, omnipresence and omniscient. Let’s meditate this way every moment, and free ourselves from the lower consciousness and attain the higher Divine consciousness.§
“Always my action is Your action §
I am not other than You§
This is the compromising nature of Vedanta and §
Siddhanta”.§
Thayumanavar’s holy saying above is perfect evidence for this.§
Just as Sivathondan regularly published essays on Siddhanta, it also published essays on Vedanta philosophy. For example, we can particularly refer to the essays on Advaita Vedanta by Kalaipulavar Navaratnam and a Tamil translation of Viveka Chudamani by Sangarachariyar. Swamigal had preached in many verses in Natchintanai about the compromise between Vedanta and Siddhanta.§
“Let us declare Vedantam and Siddhantam are the same” §
“Clear path shown by Sivathondan§
Like pouring rain teaching poemrevealing Vedantam and Siddhantam are not different§
Thus showing the end of NadantaӤ
“See Vedanta and Siddhanta as one ”§
So, it is useless to ask whether Swamigal is follower of Vedantha or Sithantha. In His own words, He had said that§
“Vedanta and Siddhanta are equal”. Above all, he had propagated on the best values in Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.§
So, it is evident that Yogaswami belonged to the enlightened Siddar tradition, levelling Siddhanta and Vedanta on same platform and going beyond religions and silence.§
It was during the same time when Kamalasani printers were publishing Sivathondan that a translation of ‘Serpent Power’ by Sir John Woodrofe was done in Tamil under the supervision of Yogaswami. Mr. K.K. Nadarasan had written about the people involved in the translation work in the special issue of “Sivathondan”.§
“When I say “we”, it includes the people who had participated in the translation work. It was done in a vacant house across Kamalasani printers under the supevision of Swamigal. They were Mr. M.S. Elayathampi, Mr. R.N. Subbaiyah, Thalaiyaali Chidambaranathan, Alaveddy Mr. R. Sinnathambi and myself. We were regulars and Mr. C. Mylvaganam joined us occasionally.”§
As Max Mueller did a service to popularize the Vedas, so did Woodrofe for the Tantras. Generally, Saktha Agamas are known as Tantras in North India. It is difficult to understand the meaning of the Vedas and Tantras. The Tantras explains the rituals and conduct of its practices. As such it is indeed commendable that a foreigner had understood and had explained. The chapters which explains the six Chakras, Nadis, and Vayus make us wonderstruck. Though, science had advanced so much but the Westerners are still unable to research and find these matters well. Their researches are still in the early stages. As such, it is indeed a great blessing for Tamil people to have a precious book translated under the supervision of Swamigal. It is very difficult to translate the part related to Yoga Path. It is said that even Swami Vivekanada wrote the book ‘Raja Yoga’ only after getting clarity by meditating on some salient points. This rare translation, though was published in Sivathondan, it is greatly regrettable that it has not been published as a book. We expect actions would be taken to publish the book soon.§
Two people who were involved in this translation project deserve special mention: Justice M.S. Elayathamby and Advocate T.N. Subbaiah. We had mentioned about them earlier. They were very close to Swamigal and took active part in religious, political and social life in Jaffna. There was hardly any movement or organization in Jaffna without their involvement in the early part of this century. Both were good orators in English and Tamil. We have mentioned earlier that Swamigal used to conduct Puranam discourses in the house verandah of Muthukumaraswamy Chettiyar, the father-in-law of Mr.Subbaiah. In addition to the discourses, many political leaders and social leaders who are interested in social development, assembled in evening and discussed many issues. Mr. M.S. Elayathamby had high respect for Swamigal though he took Sinnaswami as his Guru, the disciple of Kadaitswami. He had accompanied Swamigal in many of the pilgrimages in Sri Lanka and India.§
During this period, Swamigal used to spend His daytime mostly in Vannarpannai. He used to eat His lunch in His favorite devotees houses or in some shops. Importantly, we have to mention one such house of a devotee: Kasturi Muthukumaru’s house. Swamigal would direct devotees with ailments to Dr. Muthukumaru. Swamigal trusted that the doctor would give medicine and treat the disease without looking at the patient’s status. Swamigal also knew that the doctor would not charge the poor and if necessary he would even give medicine and money to the poor. Swamigal had said many times that Dr. Muthukumaru was not doing his medical practice to make money.§