5.2 - Results of Worship

Most of you would have admired the simple hunter Kannapa’s worship of a stone Linga in Periya Purana. He just saw the linga on a hill covered by leaves and flowers, and water used by some adorer who had made formal worship of the stone. At once by some traces of memory from past births (Purva Vasana), Bhakthi entered into his soul and he had a powerful urge to go to the lingam and worship it. He had no prayers (sankalpa or initial portion of every puja) but simply felt the irresistible impulse to go to the Lingam and to feel its beneficent presence. What was the worship he offered? So besides leaves and flowers and abisheka water brought in his mouth, as he had no vessel, he offered roasted/raw flesh to God, as that was the food he liked and lived on.

Hunter Kannappa was under the impression that whatever is man’s food is the food of his God. This flesh was repulsive to the orthodox Saiva Acharya who was worshipping the image there. Lord Siva appreciated Kannapa’s unmotivated but powerful love, and wanted to prove the superiority of worship with such love to people with cold formal worship with Vedamantras. Lord Siva began to bleed in his eyes. Kannapa, who saw it, at once plucked out one of his eyes and placed it on the eye of Linga’s bleeding eye. Then Siva made his second eye of the Linga bleed. Undaunted, Kannapa started to pluck out his second eye for replacing the second eye of the Linga. Then he started to think, without both the eyes, how to place the plucked eye correctly on the Linga. Kannapa placed his foot with its chappal near the second eye. Then Siva appeared and stopped this sacrifice of the second eye.