By Swami Sivananda
Sirappuli Nayanar was a pious Brahmin. He lived in Thiruvakur in the Chola kingdom. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Siva and Siva's bhaktas. He used to worship them and serve them sincerely. He would repeat the Panchakshara Mantra with bhava and sincerity — throughout the day and night. He also performed the Vedic sacrifices in honour of Lord Siva. All these earned for him the supreme grace of Siva.
A special spiritual practice of this Nayanar seems to have been the ceaseless repetition of the Panchakshara Mantra (Om Namah Sivaya). This extremely simple practice is capable of bestowing incalculable benefit on man: and yet, ignorant man, full of delusion, refuses to resort to it. The continuous repetition of the Mantra will change the very mind-substance. It contains a divine vibration. Modern science has reached a stage when it no longer believes in mass and quantity. Even the gross and impure intellect of a scientist has come to recognise the superior power in the subtle atom or cell. Great indeed is the foolishness of man if he still refuses to believe that the sound-vibrations (even the subtler thought-vibrations) can bring about a radical change within himself and heal him physically, vitally, mentally, psychically and spiritually.
This is the highest Yoga: to remember God always and constantly to repeat His Name.
References:
Sekkilaar, and G. Vanmikanathan. Periya Puranam — A Tamil Classic On The Great Saiva Saints of South India. Ed. Dr. N. Mahalingam. Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000.
Sivananda, Swami. Sixty-Three Nayanar Saints. World Wide Web edition. India: Divine Life Society, 1999.
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