Prayer to Absolute is not something that comes by
preaching, or teaching, or when just some slokas or mantras uttered. It is the
immense connection that one realises when he gets aligned to Him. When this
alignment takes place every word that comes out of the mouth becomes a prayer.
We have heard the story of Moses and the shepherd where according to Moses
there are a set of procedures while praying to Absolute which are called
rituals, while for the shepherd the natural way he talks to Absolute is itself
prayer. Natural prayer springs out of an attentive mind.
It so happened in a forest a hunter by name Thimma
could not catch anything for few days. His wife and kids were starving as they
depended on what he hunted. The third as evening was approaching and he had not
been successful, out of frustration he spoke to the Shiva Linga in an old
temple and made a promise that he would offer half of what he catches the next
day and went home.
Miraculously the next day at noon he spotted a
rabbit and he shot an arrow at it. Since he had made a promise before the Shiva
Linga he had to offer half. Innocently he left half of the rabbit meat on a
leaf in front of the Shiva Linga and went home. The next day morning the priest
of the temple arrived and saw the meat, got frustrated and he quickly cleared
it away and washed the place up.
Next day at noon time the hunter returned and found
the meat had disappeared and he assumed that Shiva had consumed it. He
continued to offer the half of his hunted share daily. The priest was horrified
to find meat daily, one day he stayed back and hid himself behind a pillar to
see who was breaking the tradition in the temple. As usual the hunter came with
the offer. The priest who was hiding got angry on this hunter and was just
about to pounce on him when he observed that blood was oozing out from the place
where the left eye of Shiva would have been on the Linga. Priest was taken
aback and was sure that Shiva was angry and would punish the hunter for
breaking the tradition. He was frightened and hid behind the pillar.
On seeing the bleeding Linga the hunter thought that
the Lord had hurt himself and gathered herbs and leaves to apply on the wound.
This treatment did not stop the blood flow, and then he decided to replace
Shiva's eyes with his. He took out the eye from the eye socket and stuck it on
the Linga where it was bleeding. Amazingly the bleeding stopped.
A few minutes later, the right eye of Shiva Linga
started bleeding. The hunter now thought of replacing his right eye also, but
there was a problem once he had taken his right eye out, he would be totally
blind and how would he find where to place the eye? He pondered for a minute,
and came up with a solution. Lifting his leg, he placed it on the place where
the Lord had his right eye, and with his knife, proceeded to take out his right
eye from its socket! Just then priest emerged out criticising the hunter for
placing his foot on the Linga. He pushed the hunter calling him a fool for
placing the foot on the Linga.
Even Lord Shiva could not bear to see this great
sacrifice by his devotee and the utter foolishness of the priest; He appeared
in front of them! At once, Thimma regained his sight, and prostrated before the
Lord. Lord praised the hunter for his devotion and declared him to be a saint.
To the priest, He said though he knew all the rituals of worship he failed to
have the intense Bhakti which is most important to get aligned to Him. Since he
had donated his eyes (kannu is eye) for the Lord, Timma was henceforth known as
Kannappa.
Kannappa is the first ever eye donor recorded.
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