I am extremely happy to write a forward to the work titled "An Introduction to Veerashaiva (Lingayat) Faith" written by Sri.G.K.Nambiar, who has been a person of rare combination of sincerity and faith. After his retirement from M/s Graphite India Ltd., Bangalore, as General Manager in 1999, he spent his time productively by writing books on spiritual subjects. He has developed great interest in the origin and development of Veerashaivism through the ages which he has sincerely summarized in this work.
Upanishads, the essence of Vedas, is the mother of all religions. By passage of time the practicing Hinduism has got corrupted by superstitious beliefs and practices. Veerashaivism, another School of thought of Hinduism, is based on Agamas and Upanishads and rejected all illogical practices like Caste, Varna, Discrimination, Belief in many Gods, Idol worship, Yagas and Yajnas, Animal sacrifice, Untouchability, Inequality of woman and such other superstitious practices.
Sri.Nambiar visited various Maths like Suttur Math, Siddhaganga Math, Taralabalu Math, Murighe Math, Adichunchanagiri Math and others to meet the Mathadhipatis and hand over his book in English titled 'Basic Concept of Hindu Spirituality and Great Temples of India' for the use in libraries of School and Colleges managed by Maths. By interacting with Mathadhipatis and by reading the books given by Swamijis on the subject of Veerashaiva faith Mr.Nambiar has developed great respect towards Veerashaiva faith and wanted to note down his findings in the form of a book.
It was difficult for Sri.Nambiar to get all the information about Panchapeethas and Panchacharyas, since English books on the subject are rarely available. Sri. Mahesh Paramasivaiah introduced him to Mathadhipatis of Kasi Jangamavadi Peetha, Varanasi Kedar Vairagya Peetha of Ukhi Math, Sreeshaila Peetha in A.P. and Vibhuthipura Math, Bangalore. Kasi Mathadhipathi advised him to meet me for getting all the required information. Kasi Madhathipathi knows me very well since I have translated 'Siddhanta Sikhamani' from Sanskrit to English and the same has been published by Kasi Peetha. After a detailed discussion with Sri.Nambiar, I have cleared all his queries and gave him copies of my writings about Panchapeethas in my book "A Preamble to Sidhanta Sikhamani" which has been published as a separate book by Vibhuthi Math, Bangalore. He has also got a book in English from Ramesh Bhosle on 'Kedar Vairagya Peetha' written by Shobha S.Hiremath. He also got a note prepared by Advocate Shri.Gangadhar R.Gurumath to establish that the Lingayat faith is another School of Thought of Hinduism and the word Lingayat is the Kannada equivalent of the Sanskrit word Veerashaiva. Sri.Aravind Jatty, President of Basava Samiti also gave him lot of books in English published by them. All these books and personal interactions and discussions helped him to study the subject well.
Vedas (1211)
Upanishads (506)
Puranas (633)
Ramayana (759)
Mahabharata (371)
Dharmasastras (167)
Goddess (516)
Bhakti (251)
Saints (1547)
Gods (1308)
Shiva (391)
Journal (181)
Fiction (62)
Vedanta (378)
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