Natures Marvels
Citter Civa
‘Civa existed during some point in Kredha Yugam. Since Civa was the first Citter who streamlined Yogam and Karpam among ancient Tamils and the head of the Citters, it was during his time that the Citter cult emerged – the time of Civa, the mentor of all Citters.
These four Vedams of the Tamils were said to have been imparted by Civa under a Wisdom Tree known as ‘Kal-Aal’ on the Southern side of the ancient Tamil land. Thus, in the olden days, Civa sat under an old Banyan tree and gave the four Vedasm viz., Aram, PoruL, Inbam and Veedu to uplift mankind. Since Civa belong to the Southern region of the submerged land of ancient Tamils, Civa was often referred by a phrase as “The Civa of the Southern Land,” “One from the South,” “God from the South side,” “Southern Priest,” etc. These facts lead to later mythological reference to Civa as ‘DatchiNaamoorthy.’
Natures Marvels
Muruga
‘Kumaran the second to Civa is said to be the king of the Citters. He discovered a new methodology for rejuvenation and attained an ever-youthful status and was named Kumaran, ‘the Youth.’ Subramaniyar having joined in Nandhi’s monastery and learnt the techniques of yogic cults and observed the ancient wisdom collected by Nandhi and absorbed the wisdom imparted by Civa.
CITTER
An Ancient Mystic
“No experience is possible without the body, Even, our very ‘self’ is realized through the Body!”
Avvaiyaar
A Citter is a highly evolved soul.
Being a Citter cult, is not a thing conferred on one by someone. It is rather a spontaneous happening from within oneself, just like a puppet activated by puppeteer. A careful study of Citter scripts reveal a singular fact that Citters were on the search for good disciples but only those already in the line have acquired their intellectual shade and have been successful in later days. So, the seeding of the Citter cult is a native one in every Citter. The Citter cult is initiated in one by his or her fate, encouraged by his or her nature, kindled by God’s will, endured by his or her aspiration and accomplished by his or her spontaneous knowledge. Hence, they stood alone in their societies by personal option and social notion.
There is a widespread belief that there is nothing called fate; all human beings are the same at the time of their birth, but opportunities and conditions make them grow differently. But Citters believed that even before our birth, our birth status has been decided on the basis of the virtues (and sins) of our past life and other life’s we have come from. The above idea is confirmed by as “the soul after experiencing life in Hell and Heaven, transforms into an astral-body and continues its travel with its fate and as a yogi (who is experienced in entering into other bodies), it enters into the seed of birth-and-death (foetus).” It is with this age-old belief that, the great Tamil Poetess Avvaiyar had said, “God removed the debts of my past birth” in her writings ‘Vinaayagar Agaval’ (meaning, she does not have to get another birth). Thus, all Citters had the support of the virtues of past birth to pursue the Citter cult.
It is the common belief that knowledge grows on the basis of our worldly experience and education; therefore, a child is considered to be innocent. But, according to Citters, the essence of the knowledge we acquire during our previous births continues to stay with us in our present birth. As per this argument a child is not really innocent as popularly believed.
Thus, Citter cult is believed to be instilled into one by fate, quality of one’s human form, divine will, spirit’s quest and knowledge, in its past birth.
Citters became mentors by their continuous study. They spent their long life in intellectual pursuits, viz., for learning, research, teaching and intellectual entertainments. A major part of their life was spent for gaining knowledge and spreading the same. To attain this goal, they followed a number of paths, such as: observing the nature, reading writings written by others, inquiring others, group discussions, browsing the cosmic library, calling on those who returned from their cosmic sojourn, spiritual sabbaticals, etc. Citters were different as they viewed that everything in this world is a careful creation of God. When they observed the world with this view, animals, birds, etc., also seemed to them as intellectuals.
Citters kept their minds open for any reflection from the mystic mirror, Nature that is gifted to mankind. Just as a poet attempts to portrait the beauty of a girl, they started to watch Her ever-renewing beauty, with a deep desire to acquire any precious secret that will be useful to mankind.
Their observation of her body plane, missing nothing, right from the meadows, mountains, forests, trees, branches, leaves, flowers, etc., made them familiar with the many tunes of nature. One such tune is the knowledge of birds and other small animals. Thus, Citters used a part of their life for bettering their understanding, by observing lower living beings also with respect that they are created by an apt master.
But, knowledge is like a seed. A seed should germinate, should grow up and branch out profusely, to become useful to the world. Likewise, how Citters materialised their knowledge, how they spread their knowledge to their fellow men, how they became an ever-revered part of creation are questions filled with interesting facts.
Citters were pioneers of many scientific inventions and discoveries in ancient Tamil Land. The Citter cult was a path of freedom in every respect. As such, each one took some theme of research and passed on his findings to the society through his disciples and literary records. The main focus of their research was body and cosmos.
Defining the historical presence of Tamil Citters is very difficult for the simple reason that their details are not similar to those of ordinary humans whose lifespan and powers are limited by the natural conditions of time. Being endowed with the spiritual, medical and scientific marvels, Citters claimed their presence in different geographical locations, interacted with people born of different time periods, lived on high peaks of mountain ranges, with long life spans, leading mysterious life style mostly devoted to elevation of human development in thought and action. The monumental renaissance caused by Agathiyar and Tirumular in Tamil literature and spiritualism, will be good examples to observe.
Civa the oldest God and renowned Citter, incepted the idea of longevity through Yogam and herbs among the ancient Tamils and, Citter Subramaniyar, known as Kumaran in ancient Tamil literary world, was the one who invented Karpam under the auspices of Civa the supreme mentor of Citters
Citters developed themselves through the practice of Yogam and Karpam where by the practice of Yogam they merged their Spirit with Body and by Karpam they merged the factors of cosmos with Body and attained physical alchemy. Citters Body has no physical needs like food, water and other cravings. Citters’ Body could not be destroyed by any natural force or manmade weapons. Their Body has no barrier of space or time.
Civa existed during some point in Kredha Yugam. Since Civa was the first Citter who streamlined Yogam and Karpam among ancient Tamils and the head of the Citters, it was during his time that the Citter cult emerged – the time of Civa, the mentor of all Citters.
Often the term ‘Citters’ is invariably used to refer to the Eighteen Citters, as if there were only 18 Citters who existed. This is not the complete and exhaustive enumeration of all the Citters who originated from the Tamil lands. Citters as the Citter cult was a movement during a historical time period, filled with enlightened people supporting knowledge seeking behaviour, in general. Hence, according to Citter Bogar, though there was a vast body of spiritual seekers, only about 48 have recorded their wisdom with scripts. Among these, were prominent leaders, since they took pains to further and propagate their wisdom through monasteries established by some prominent elders among them.
A deep study of the literary works of the Tamil Citters, gives rise to one unambiguous fact that Civa was the originator of an elite society in the ancient Tamil culture that spread their wisdom to the earnest seekers in a strategic manner. Being influenced by the thought of oneness of God, which Civa spread through his disciples, their sacred knowledge was generously allowed to spread to all life on earth without any barrier.
Civa, as pioneer of the Citter cult, himself was identified as the Supreme Nandhi. Here, the word Nandhi could be an earliest title for wisdom seekers who achieved spiritual excellence (since words with root nandhu/nandha refers to liking, increasing, sustaining, developing, growing, etc.). Also, in ancient days mentors in monasteries and temples were called Nandhis (the one who initiates).
Civa, in ancient literatures of Tamil culture was also revered as Civa the supreme authority on various matters, especially in matters related to justice. Civa gave four vedams in Tamil with four essential goals of human creation viz., Aram, Porul, Inbam and Veedu (The codes of Justice, Wealth, Enjoyment and Salvation), when there was no society or religion on earth. These four Vedams of the Tamils were said to have been imparted by Civa under a Wisdom Tree known as ‘Kal-Aal’ on the Southern side of the ancient Tamil land. Thus, in the olden days, Civa sat under an old Banyan tree and gave the four Vedasm viz., Aram, PoruL, Inbam and Veedu to uplift mankind. Since Civa belong to the Southern region of the submerged land of ancient Tamils, Civa was often referred by a phrase as “The Civa of the Southern Land,” “One from the South,” “God from the South side,” “Southern Priest,” etc. These facts lead to later mythological reference to Civa as ‘DatchiNaamoorthy.’
A careful study of Citter verses reveal a singular fact that Civa was always revered as the inventor of the very basis of the Citter cult; and, therefore, when Citters had the contextual force to reveal esoteric facts, they always conclude the narration in an abrupt fashion and justified this attitude by implying Civa’s proscription over such matters as if Civa was the patent holder of those ancient secrets. It is often said that Citters have written their literature using esoteric terminology and it is believed that they did that for hiding the wisdom contained. But this was an arrangement enforced by Civa himself; for, Civa himself had devised the first priestly coded language for preserving and communicating mystic messages safely. The following verse from Tirumantiram explains this:
“One can understand the meaning of preaching, when
One learns esoteric’ of the eighteen Pandithars, but,
One does not know the origin of those terms, for, the
Ones are devised by Civa, the pioneer of Citters on Earth.”
(Tirumular, Thirumandhiram-3000:59)
In the Citter cult right from Civa, disciples were considered as children of Citters. This tradition of passing the wisdom to successive generations of disciples is attested in the writings of all Citters. A study of their scripts reveals one vital fact, that, their cult began as a redefined ideology of an ancient yogic cult often referred to as a Tantric cult. Yoga, a meditative practice, seems to be the first form of self-analysis and spiritual elevation.
The term Tirumantiram refers to important definitions of Citter cult.
The Citter cult began with Civa. Civa the supreme mentor along with his followers seemed to have felt the need of time to formulate the forerunners of human societies and as such a strategy devised for the renaissance of mankind at large and thus the Citters.
Ancient Tamil Citters believed that the body and its components are closely related to the cosmos. They believed that the body’s health conditions directly depend on the ratio of cosmic elements in our body. They believed that diseases are indicative of imbalance of these elements and can be cured by correcting the imbalance judiciously. They believed the Spirit is indirectly affected by the imbalance of cosmic elements in our body and hence devised the ways and means for overcoming the cosmic imbalance. They devised a pattern of food, energy conservation, medicine, etc., for remedial measures.
The Citters, observed everything on the earth, under the heaven and above the deep bosom of the sea, truly, with an enquiring eye, with questions that were not understood in their time, and moved from place to place in search of answers. The troubles and turmoil that they encountered during this quest, taught them the laws of nature.
They initiated a school of thought that creation is the effect of cosmos and its five natural components, viz., the Sky, Air, Fire, Water, Earth and referred to these five as the five ruling powers and declared that that everything in creation can be explained and understood by the study of the five ruling powers theory.
Accordingly, the human body is also a product of five ruling powers, viz., the earth, water, fire, air and sky. Thus, Citters equate the Body to the Earth; the Spirit to the Sky, and, the Soul to the atmosphere surrounding the Earth comprising of water, fire and air.
Citters had not stopped with just defining, but they also went in deep and explained their ideology elaborately to form a new school of thought which later was termed by the Tamils as ‘Gnaana Saasthiram,’ – the Science of Creation and Cosmos, of which Citter System of Health & Wellness as nature based treatments and therapy and also specific medicine practices are also a branch.