Why do we get this human birth? How did we get it? What is its purpose? These are questions that one needs to ask repeatedly and seek to find the answers. Scriptures state that it is because of God’s grace that we are born in this world as human beings.
It is said that there are 84 lakh species in this creation and to attain human birth is a great boon. The purpose of human birth is to strive and attain God-realisation. This is the spiritual quest of every individual jivatma and Saint Manikkavachagar makes it clear that it is not one’s learning, scholarship or attainments, or one’s wealth that can confer this experience of God-realisation, pointed out Swami Apavargananda in a lecture. In a hymn the saint speaks of the expedition undertaken by Brahma and Vishnu to seek the crown and feet of Siva who manifests as a column of fire in Tiruvannamalai to symbolically indicate that the infinite greatness of the Supreme Brahman is not easily accessible if one does not seek Him with humility. Saiva Siddhanta speaks of the three malams or taints that affect the purity of the soul. Anava Malam or the sense of I and Mine, Maya malam or ignorance and Karma malam, the fruit of good and bad deeds which accompanies a soul through the cycle of birth are the three hurdles that stand in the way of spiritual quest. The devotional experience takes root from the firm understanding of the divine grace that sets the Jivatma’s relationship with the Lord and its dependency on the Paramatma in proper perspective. The result is an overwhelming feeling of humility with which the Jivatma yearns to be united with the Lord and turns away from worldly attractions.
