INTRODUCTION
Sakkiya Nayanar (7th century AD) was a Nayanar saint, and is considered as one among the 63 Nayanars. He was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, and he would never take his food, without worshipping Lord Shiva.
LIFE
Sakkiya Nayanar was born in the village Sangaramangai at Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu. The village was occupied with full of Buddhist monks and most of the people in that region were the followers of Buddhism. Sakkiya and his family were belonged to Vellalar community and they possessed agricultural lands. For their own safety he and his family pretended themselves as Buddhists. He became a Buddhist monk. Sakkiya was also thorough with the principles of buddhism. Hence he was called as Sakkiya. He remained in the Shaivism sect, but continued acting as a Buddhist monk in order to safeguard himself and his family. Sakkiya is interested only in shaivism, since according to him, only by following the shaivism sect and worshipping Lord Shiva, one can attain SALVATION. He secretly worshipped Lord Shiva in the temples and in his home and performed puja to the shiva lingam.
One day, he worshipped Lord Shiva by fondly throwing a stone at the lingam with great devotion. Then he continued doing that, since he thought that by throwing stone at the god will also be a kind of worship. Sakkiya’s stone worship was accepted by Lord Shiva also. He takes his morning food only after worshipping the god, and by throwing a stone at the shiva lingam. Due to his sincere devotion, Lord Shiva had given a good life to him, and after his death, he reached KAILASH, the holy abode of Lord Shiva.
Appar praises Sakkiya for his stone worship. According to Appar, the stone which he throws into the shiva lingam was converted in the form of flower and decorated the shiva lingam.
Sakkiya Nayanar was specially worshipped in the Tamil month of Margazhi, and he is also worshipped as one among the 63 Nayanars.
IMPORTANCE
Sakkiya Nayanar though was worshipped Lord Shiva in a different manner, he had done the act with pure bhakti in his mind. From his life, we can understood, that by simply offering flowers to the god, and praying to him without bhakti, will not fulfil our needs and desires. Only if we keep utmost faith and bhakti on him, our prayers will get answered by the god.
Let us worship the great nayanar saint and be blessed.
“OM SREE SAKKIYA NAYANARE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
“OM SAKTHI PARASAKTHI”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR
