Life and the various species originated by of planetary globes and the five manifestations of nature namely earth, water, fire, air, and space. Rabindranath Tagore in his book Pancha bhoota, has explained that the emotional ability of the human mind is keenly sensitive to all objects of light, colour, sound, effect of speed, sun, moon and stars.
The Human Body and the Earth have the – ¾ water and ¼ rest. To be precise, the human body of 72%!w(MISSING)ater, 12%!e(MISSING)arth, 6%!a(MISSING)ir, 4%!f(MISSING)ire and 6%!e(MISSING)ther/space. Every Yogic practice is about cleansing the 5 (Pancha) Bhootas – eventually leading to a pure body, mind and soul.
- Fire: Tiruvannamalai Arunachala temple, Tamil Nadu: Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a massive column of fire here. The remains of the fire finally took the form of the Tiruvannamalai hill which is worshipped by devotees of Lord Shiva himself. Devotees also take a pilgrimage barefoot walk around the holy hill of 14km circumference (girivalam) to worship the Lord. The 14km has Asta (8) Shiva lingas spaced out, including the Agni (Jyothi) lingam.
Legend - One day, Vishnu and Brahma had an argument over their superiority. Shiva appeared in front of them in the form of a raging fire and asked them to each find the tip of the fire. Whoever reaches the tip would be superior between the two. Brahma went upwards and Vishnu downwards in search of the tip, however Shiva increased the length of the flaming fire continuously. After thousands of miles, Vishnu conceded defeat and returned. Brahma was getting exhausted and, on the way, saw the Ketaki flower. He made Ketaki agree to lie that Brahma had indeed reached the top where the flower had resided and got the flower from there. When Brahma confronted Vishnu with Ketaki, Shiva appeared in his true form in front of them. Shiva was angered by Brahmas lie and cursed him that he would never be worshipped and also banned the Ketaki flower from being offered for worship. The Fire form which Shiva took is the Arunachala hill in Thiruvannamalai – Aruna means Red (fire) and Achala means steady immovable; mountain.
- Water: Tiruvanaikaval temple, Tamil Nadu: Lord Shiva represents the water element here, where the Appu lingam is submerged in water and a perennial spring gushes around the lingam.
Legend - Parvathi in the form of Akilandeswari performed penance here. She made a lingam out of water of river Cauvery (also called as river Ponni) under the Venn Naaval tree (the Venn Naaval tree on top of the saint Jambu) her worship. The lingam is known as Appu Lingam (Water Lingam). Shiva blessed Akilandeswari and taught her the Shiva Gnana. There were two Shiva Ganas (disciples who live in Kailash): Malyavan and Pushpadanta. Though they were Siva Ganas, they used to always quarrel with each. In one fight, Malyavan cursed Pushpadanta to an elephant on earth and the latter cursed the former to a spider on earth. The elephant and the spider came to Jambukeswaram and continued their Shiva worship. The elephant collected water from river Cauvery and conducted ablution to the lingam under the Jambu tree daily. The spider constructed his web over the lingam to prevent dry leaves from dropping on it and prevent sunlight directly falling on it. When the elephant saw the web and thought it was dust on lingam. The elephant tore them and cleaned the lingam by pouring water and the practice continued daily. The spider was angered and crawled into the trunk of the elephant and bit the elephant to death, killing itself. Shiva, in the form of Jambukeswara, moved by the deep devotion of the two, relieved them from the curse. As an elephant worshipped Shiva here, this place came to be known as Thiru Aanai Kaa (thiru means holy, aanai is elephant, kaa (kaadu) means forest). Later the name Thiruaanaikaa Thiruvanaikaval and Thiruvanaikoil.
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