Kanappan literally means, “father of the eye.” This is not Kanappan’s original name. The name his parents gave him was Thinnan. He got the name Kanappan in referance to his saintly act of devotion for which he is recognized as a nayanar.

Kanappan’s story starts with his parents. His parents were Nagan his father and Thaththai his mother. They were forest dwellers, adivasis who made their living collecting meat and plant products from the forest. Their community lived in the forest surrounding the famed Thirupathi Venkatesvara temple. This community was feared by the villagers surrounding the forests. The tribesmen occasionally stole livestock from the villagers, and any villager caught wandering in the forests would be robbed. They were also famed archers. Occasionally kings would send messengers to the tribe to recruit young men as archers for their army. Nagan was the leader of this community and he was their most accomplished archer. Nagan though famous for his archery and courage was hardly known as a pious man. However after years of being childless, he and his wife began to pray fervently to Lord Murugan for an heir. Their prayers was answered and Thathai gave birth to a son whom they named Thinnan.

When Thinnan was born, it was said, his father could not carry him because he was too heavy by virtue of some spiritual force. Thinnan grew up to be a strong young man admired by his community. He had mastered the art of archery even at a young age and became the fastest runner in his village. As Nagan was getting older, he decided that it was time for Thinnan to be the leader of the community. As a leader, one of the duties of Thinnan was to lead the annual hunting party. According to the custom of the adivasis, once a year the hunters of the adivasi communities from different parts of the forest will gather at Nagan’s village and go on a massive hunt to fill their stores with animal products. Before they go for the hunt they will pray together the night before to the nature deities for permission for the hunt and their safety. It was on such an occasion that Nagan announced to all the hunters that Thinnan is their new leader and he would lead the hunt.

The hunt progressed with Thinnan leading the party and many animals were caught. However there was one wild boar that had eluded all the traps that the hunters had set for it. It was an unusually big animal and all the hunters wanted to catch it. One day while the hunters were setting up new traps, they stumbled upon the boar foraging for roots. As soon as the boar saw the hunters it took to its feet, running with such speed through the forest's undergrowth. Thinnan who was with this party of hunters took a dagger in his hand and ran after the boar followed by the rest of his party. The boar ran deep into the forest. Soon most of the hunters gave up chase, except for Thinnan and two of his friends, Naanan and Kaadan. The boar ran into a part of the forest that the hunters rarely ventured into. They were at the base of the Sri Kaalahasti hill. There Thinnan and his friends finally caught up with the boar, wrestled with it and killed it. The three young men sat beside their quarry exhausted but proud of their accomplishment. 

They were tired, thirsty and hungry. Thinnan told Kaadan to cook part of the boar while he and Naanan hiked across the hill to a river for water. As they were hiking to the river, Naanan told Thinnan that he had been to this hill long time ago. It seems that this hill was the abode of God Kudumithevar. Naanan suggested to Thinnan that they visit the shrine of this God before going to the river to offer thanks to Kudumithevar for helping them catch the boar at the base of His hill. Thinnan agreed.

Soon they came to a clearing in the forest close to the summit of the hill. There, for the first time in his life, Thinnan set his eyes upon an image of God Shiva. It was a Shivalingam. Kudumithevar is a name of God Shiva as an ascetic with matted locks. The Shivalingam was beautifully decorated with flowers. On the front side of the Shivalingam was carved a face with eyes, nose and lips. 

As soon as Thinnan saw the Shivalingam he was transfixed. His heart was pounding with excitement as if he was meeting a long lost love. He felt love for the Shivalingam and ran to it and hugged it. Thinnan felt a closeness to the Shivalingam he could not explain. All he felt was that he did not want to leave the Shivalingam. Naanan had never seen Thinnan act like this before. Anyway he offered his prayers to God Shiva and soon wanted to continue their journey to the river. However, Thinnan refused to leave the Shivalingam. Naanan was feeling very hungry and thirsty and pleaded with Thinnan to follow him to the river. Finally Thinnan feeling pity for his friend, decided to continue the hike though he was heavy hearted leaving the Shivalingam. Thinnan could feel a strong shakti emanating from the Shivalingam that made him feel loved and peaceful. He wanted to be free of all of his commitments and  just be with the Shivalingam. Thinnan thought that once he settled the needs of his friends he would be free. Thinnan also realized that he had nothing to offer the Shivalingam. Stirred by devotion to Kudimithevar, he wanted to bring some food to God Shiva. 

They reached the river and quenched their thirst and collected water. Both of them took a bath before they left to join Kaadan. All during the hike back to the base of Sri Kaalahasti, Naanan observed that Thinnan was not himself. He was unusually quiet.

Kaadan had cooked the best parts of the wild boar and was waiting for his friends. They fianlly arrived and he was happy. Both Naanan and Kaadan were famished and could not wait to eat the meat but they could not eat until Thinnan, being their leader, started to eat. Thinnan got a banana leaf, cleaned it with water and looked over the meat preparation. He very carefully choose the choiciest pieces of meat and put them on the banana leaf. Naanan and Kaadan were expecting Thinnan to start eating after that, but they were surprised when Thinnan stood up and wrapped the meat neatly with the banana leaf.

Then he told his two friends, “Naanan, Kaadan eat the rest of the meat. I am going up the hill to offer this meat to Kudumithevar. Only after that will I eat. I want you both to rest the night here and leave tomorrow morning. I will not follow you home. I will be staying with my Lord, Kudumithevar.”

Thinnan then ran up the hill as fast as he could leaving his two friends behind. As soon as he reached the Shivalingam of Kudumithevar, he prostrated in supplication to the Lord and then took the meat that he had brought and arranged it neatly at the base of the Shivalingam as an offering and kept a piece for himself. Thinnan was happy that he was united with his Lord. He resolved to stay and take care of the shrine from then on.

Soon it was sunset and the twilight ushered the night. Thinnan was wary that many nocturnal predators came out at night but he was not worried for himself. Thinnan spoke to the Shivalingam, “Dear Lord, you have been here all alone all this time, but dont worry I am here now. I will keep away any beast that comes close or tries to attack you.” Having said thus, Thinnan stood up with bow and arrow in hand. He kept watch the whole night and did not allow himself even a moment to sleep. When dawn finally broke and the birds began chirping, Thinnan gave himself a break and slept awhile. 

At the base of the hill Naanan and Kaadan were preparing for their journey back to their village, but before they set off they knew that they had to persuade Thinnan to join them. By the time they had reached up the hill they found Thinnan cleaning off all the old flowers from the Shivalingam. When Thinnan saw them he was surprised, he asked them, “What are you doing here? You should be on your way to the village?” Kaadan replied, “How are we to go home without you? Your father will surely be angry with us. Please follow us back.” Thinnan replied, “Tell father that I have found my Lord and I will be staying here to take care of him. He must choose from one of you to be the leader of the village.” Hearing this Kaadan and Naanan continued to try to persuade Thinnan to come with them, but Thinnan’s resolve was too strong. After sometime, Kaadan and Naanan, tired of trying to persuade Thinnan to change his mind, made way to their village. 

After that Thinnan was alone again with the Shivalingam. The spiritual vibrations that emanated from the Shivalingam stirred Thinnan’s heart so deeply. The peace and contentment that he felt left no room for boredome nor loneliness. When he closed his eyes, he could vividly see clairvoyantly the full form of God Shiva as Kudumithevar or Lord Shankara. This entertained him. 

Thinnan also wanted to worship the Shivalingam. However he had never done worship before as a priest would do. Thinnan had been to temples in the villages surrounding the forest and had seen the priests conducting puja for Lord Murugan. He knew that the first thing the priest did was an abhishegam – ritual bathing, for Murugan. Then the priest offered food and flowers to Murugan before showing camphor lights – aarati to the Shivalingam. Though Thinnan did not know any mantras he decided that he could at least bathe and offer food and flowers to the Shivalingam. So Thinnan, with bow and arrow in hand set out to collect all the articles for his worship. 

First Thinnan looked for food. To Thinnan the best food was meat, so he looked for his quarry. He was able to hunt down a small deer. Then he looked for flowers. He could not find many flowers he so picked some fresh leaves to add to his offering of flowers for the Shivalingam. Next he went to the river to get the water for the abhishegam. When he reached the river Thinnan realized he had a problem.  Both his hands were filled with offerings for the Shivalingam. One hand was holding the deer while the other was for the leaves and flowers, and he did not have any vessel for holding water. Thinnan, however, was not dettered. No obstacle was going to stop him from performing puja for his beloved Lord Kudumithevar. Thinnan came up with a solution. He would hold the water for the abhishegam in his mouth! So he first drank water to quench his thirst and then filled his mouth with water. With all the items for his puja in his hands and mouth he made his way back to his Lord with much excitement.

Meanwhile soon after Thinnan had left the Shivalingam to collect the items for his puja, another devotee came to worship the Shivalingam. This devotee was a sage by the name Shivakochariyar, who was a hermit in the forest. He worshipped the Shivalingam every morning. He performed his worship according to the Scriptures. When he saw the Shivalingam that morning he was shocked. He shouted in disbelief, “O! My Lord. Who has done this desecration?!”

The meat that Thinnan had offered the Shivalingam the day before was still there festered with flies and emitting foul smell. Shivakochariya was upset. He thought to himself, “one of those hunters must have done this. What a fool. He must not know better.” Shivakochariya had occasionally seen the tribal hunters at the Sri Kaalahasti hill, but apart from them coming to offer their prayers no one had offered any meat to the Shivalingam before. Shivakochariya thought that this must just be an one off incident and proceeded to clean the shrine. Using big leaves as gloves for his hands he picked up the putrid meat and got rid of it in the forest. He lit more incense than usual around the Shivalingam that day to purify the air. After the worship Shivakochariar meditated until the heat from the sun became too hot for him to bear under the unshaded Shivalingam. Then he retired back to his hut to have some food and continue with his spiritual practices.

Shivakochariya was well schooled in temple liturgy and protocols as he used to be a priest in a temple. In his old age, with his family all grown up and well settled he retired into the forest to be a hermit and dedicated his life to the pursuit God Realization. His family and friends rarely came to visit him, as the villagers were afraid of the beasts and the tribals in the forest. However since Shivakochariya was recognized as an enlightened guru occasionally the villagers will brave the forest to visit him for his blessings, though for the most part Shivakochariya was alone. He spent his time with worship of the Shivalingam, reading Scriptures and meditating. Once a day he would look for fruits in the forests for food and go to the river for a bath and to collect water. The hunters in the forest never bothered him as he was a holy man and anyway, he had nothing valuable that might interest them.

Back to the hallowed Shivalingam, awhile after Shivakochariayar left the Shivalingam, Thinnan arrives with his offerings. The sight of the Shivalingam decorated with fresh flowers and the smell of the incense smoke heightened his devotion. He couldn’t wait to give his offerings to the Shivalingam. First he must do the abhishegam. He had been conscientiously holding the water for the abhishegam in his mouth all the way from the river. He was so careful not to drink even a sip. However after holding the water for so long in his mouth it is now mixed with his saliva. To do the abhishegam Thinnan just spat the water from his mouth on to the Shivalingam. The slimy water flowed over the face of the Shivalingam and settled at its base. Then Thinnan offered the leaves and the few flowers he had collected. He held his hand above the Shivalingam and showered the leaves and flowers. Some of the leaves stuck to the face of the Shivalingam because of the sticky saliva filled water that covered it. After that Thinnan proceeded to prepare the deer meat he brought for the Shivalingam. He cooked the best parts of the deer and offered it to his Lord neatly arranged on a banana leaf. He was happier today then he was yesterday because he was able to do a puja today. He spent the rest of the day with the Shivalingam. Thinnan could feel the shakti emanating from the Shivalingam very tangibly. Whatever thoughts or ambitions he had for his future before he had seen the Shivalingam vanished. His resolve to live and serve the Shivalingam grew stronger with every passing moment. As far as Thinnan was concerned the stone Shivalingam was not just a representation of God, it was God himself. To him he was sitting right next to the Creator of the universe. Thinnan grew up as a simple minded hunter, he had never studied any of the Scriptures, infact he was totally ignorant of their existence. Whatever Thinnan did for the Shivalingam was guided by nothing other than the pure motivations of devotion from his heart.

Day gave way to night, and just like the night before Thinnan kept a vigilant guard the whole night to keep away any of the forest’s night crawlers that might wonder and disturb the Shivalingam. When dawn broke, he rested for a while before going into the forest to collect the articles for his puja as he had done the day before.

Like the day before, sometime after Thinnan left the Shivalingam, Shivakochariyar the sage arrives. When he saw the Shivalingam he cried, unable to contain his dismay, "My Lord who is the fool who treats you so?!" He was clearly more distressed than the day before. The day before all he had to deal with was the meat at the base of the Shivalingam. Today the face of the Shivalingam was covered with leaves and slimy spit. Shivakochariyar brushed off his dismay and disgust and got down to cleaning his beloved Lord’s image. He even went back to his hermitage to bring back more water to clean off the face of the Shivalingam from the leaves and dried spit. Then he dutifuly did his puja and sat to meditate. However Shivakochariyar could not meditate. His mind was too disturbed by the desecration of the Shivalingam that he has had to put up with the last couple of days. Yesterday, when he saw the meat next to the Shivalingam he thought that it would not happen again. He surely did not expect to go through a worse situation today. He kept thinking, “Who is doing this violation? How long is this going to last? How am I to stop it?” Finally he prayed to God Shiva to help him find a solution and left for his hermitage feeling restless.

After the sage left, Thinnan arrived and like the day before performed his puja. Thinnan felt very happy that he was able to serve his Lord. Today the shakti felt stronger to Thinnan. He sat for many hours next to the Shivalingam enjoying it. Thinnan did not receive much religious or spiritual instruction as he was growing up. He learnt from his parents and through their culture that there is an All-Powerful God that created and ruled over the world whom he should pray to for his welfare. He knew nothing of meditation nor profound philosophies. Yet sitting next to the Shivalingam he had the grace to feel the peaceful presence of God so easily. This spiritual closeness that Thinnan felt for the Shivalingam was the result of his spiritual efforts from previous lives. Though in this life Thinnan is a hunter, the training and spiritual merit that Thinnan had acquired from his previous lives were still with him. When Thinnan first laid eyes on the Shivalingam, it stimulated his spiritual acumen from the past and reignited his spiritual desire to seek spiritual union with God. Through this divine play that is yet to unfold further, God is drawing Thinnan back to His spiritual fold and soon He is going to introduce a guru to Thinnan to guide him in his spiritual life.

Shivakochariya was disturbed the rest of the day and had difficulty sleeping. He wondered if he had to face the same desecration of the Shivalingam the next day. He pondered about some solutions, but finally he lay all his concerns at God Shiva’s feet and fell asleep. As he slept he dreamt of God Shiva. God Shiva appeared to Shivakochariya in the form of Lord Shankara, the ascetic. Shivakochariya was ecstatic at the divine sight. He bowed reverently to Lord Shankara and asked the Lord how he could serve him. Lord Shankara replied, “Shivakochariya! Best among devotees, tomorrow you will witness the sacrifice of another great devotee of mine. After your worship tomorrow, conceal yourself in the forest and be witness to a great act. Do not come out from your hiding. Just be a witness.” Shivakochariya woke up immediately after getting the instruction from Lord Shankara. He was happy that God had answered his prayer and was excited in anticipation of what he might witness. 

The following day Shivakochariaya prepared for his worship. This time anticipating that he might have to deal with foul meat and spit filled slime on the Shivalingam like the day before, he carried more water for the abhishegam so he could clean the Shivalingam well. When he arrived at the open air nature shrine of Kudumithevar, the meat and the leaves stuck to the face of the Shivalingam with slime were there as usual but Shivakochariya was not perturbed by it today. With great devotion he carefully cleaned the Shivalingam and performed his puja. God Shiva’s instruction was still fresh in his mind and he pondered for a while on what he might witness today. After he finished his worship and meditation, Shivakochariya found a perfect hiding spot in the forest behind a bush that afforded him concealment and a good view of the Shivalingam. He sat there in a meditative pose, trying to contain his excitement of what he might see.

Not long after, Shivakochariya heard footsteps coming from the forest. Then Thinnan appeared from the forest, running toward the Shivalingam. Shivakohcariya sees Thinnan for the first time. Thinnan was holding a dead animal in one hand and he had a handful of leaves and flowers in the other hand. His bow and arrows were slung across his back. Shivakochariya thought to himself, “so this is the culprit who has been desecrating the Lord.”  Shivakochariya also wondered if this was the ‘great devotee,’ that God Shiva had refered to in his dream.  When Shivakochariya saw Thinnan spit the water out of his mouth as abhishegam for the Shivalingam, he almost couldn’t bear it. He wanted to come out of hiding and chastise Thinnan, but Shivakochariya remembered God’s instruction to remain in hiding under any circumstances and obediently followed it. Thinnan continued with the rest of his ritual, offering the flowers and meat. After that Thinnan sat down next to the Shivalingam and started to talk to it. Telling the Lord what happened when he went hunting for the meat and to collect the water and leaves.

While Thinnan was talking, he heard an unusual commotion coming up toward the shrine. A group of people were coming to the shrine. Then appearing from the forest, was Thinnan’s father and mother, Naanan and Kaadan, Thinnan’s friends, and few other elders from Thinnan’s village. They had not come to pray to the Shivalingam, but instead they wanted to bring Thinnan back to the village. Thinnan’s parents tried persuading him to return with them. Thinnan’s father told him that he had found a beautiful bride for him and that as soon as he returned he would be married and made the official head of the community. Thinnan however refused all the enticements and told the entourage to return, saying he would never leave his Lord. His friends and other members of the village too pleaded with Thinnan to return with them, but Thinnan’s answer was always no. Shivakochariya who was still in hiding and witnessing the events taking place was impressed by Thinnan’s resolve and devotion to the Shivalingam. Thinnan’s parents tried to convince him to return for many hours but to no avail. As the day was getting darker, Thinnan’s parents and their entourage had no choice but to leave Thinnan and go back to the base of the hill to set up camp for the night. 

Soon Shivakochariya was also considering returning to his hermitage for the night. Just then something strange happened. Thinnan became agitated. He seemed upset and started to wail and cry. Shivakochariya strained in the soft light of late evening to look for the cause of Thinnan’s despair. Shivakochariya was shocked when he saw it.

The right eye of the Shivalingam was bleeding profusely! Blood was pouring out of the hole and Thinnan cried, “My Lord, you are hurt! I must stop this bleeding. Don’t worry my Lord I know what to do. I will heal you!” Then off Thinnan dashed into the forest. Shivakochariya wondered what would happen next. What was Thinan going to do? Shivakochariya remained in hiding faithfully following God’s instruction to him. In a few minutes Thinnan returned from the forest. In his hand he had some shrubs and leaves. He was going to give Kudumithevar an herbal remedy to stop the bleeding and cure his eye. 

Thinnan cared for himself in the same way when he had wounds. He knew the shrubs and creepers in the forest that had healing properties. To prepare the medicine Thinnan mixed the different herbs according to a proportion and chewed them together. This formed a sticky paste that he could apply to the Shivalingam’s eye. When he was done Thinnan took the paste out of his mouth and formed it to the shape and size of the Lingam’s eye. He then enthusiatically applied it to the eye. After he applied the paste the bleeding stopped. Thinnan was overjoyed. He started to jump and dance around the Shivalingam while shouting, “My Lord you are cured! My Lord you are cured!” However, Thinnan’s joy was short lived. The blood was pooling behind the paste and eventually like a bursting dam, the paste gave way and the blood was gushing out of the eye with greater force than before. Thinnan was stunned when he saw that and he started to wail in despair for his Lord again. 

What was he to do? What could he do? His only solution had failed. He was feeling desparate. He could not bear to see his Lord wounded. He must find a way to stop the bleeding. Suddenly, Thinnan stopped crying. He had found a solution and from the depths of his heart he felt absolutely confident that it would work. Without the slightest hesitation he prepared to apply it. Thinnan reached for an arrow.Thinnan reasoned, “My Lord you need a new eye. I will gladly give you mine.” Thinnan was going to gauge out his eye!

Shivakochariya could hardly believe what he was seeing. His hands clench hard into fists. It was as if Shivakochariya was feeling the pain himself just by imagining what Thinnan might be feeling. As Thinnan dug his eye out, Shivakochariya could not bear to watch. He closed his eye and turned his face away. Shivakochariya thought to himself, “what a fool this hunter is.” Then suddenly Shivakochariya heard cries of jubilation coming from Thinnan. He was back to dancing around the Shivalingam and feeling happy and shouting, “It worked! It worked! My Lord you are cured.” Thinnan’s eye fit perfectly where the Shivalingam’s bleeding eye was and it stopped the bleeding. Thinnan couldn’t care less about his own condition. Blood poured from where his right eye used to be. It must have been painful, but Thinnan’s joy for his Lord overwhelmed all other feelings his body was going through.

Shivakochariya was shocked. Then he prayed to God Shiva, “My Lord what is this game that you are playing with this hunter? Why did you want me to see this?” Then Shivakochariya realized that God is introducing an innocent, sincere but ignorant devotee to Shivakochariya. Shivakochariya also realized that despite the fact that Thinnan’s worship of the Shivalingam was a desecration by his standards, Thinnan’s devotion to God was sincere and deep. Respect and admiration for Thinnan arose from Shivakochariya’s heart. “He is indeed a great devotee as God had told me,” Shivakochariya thought, refering to his dream.

Back to Kudumithevar, Thinnan’s celebration came to an abrupt halt yet again. The Shivalingam was now bleeding from it’s left eye. However, this time Thinnan did not become sad. He did not wail in desparation. Instead he said confidently, “My Lord, now I know the cure to your disease. I will heal you.” Thinnan was going for his arrow to gauge out his other eye when he realized he would not be able to see after that. How is he going to place his eye for the Shivalingam? Quickly he came up with a solution. With arrow in hand, Thinnan walked up to the Shivalingam, carried up his right leg and stuck his big toe into the Shivalingam’s bleeding eye, so he would be able to feel his way to the bleeding eye when he became blind. Now he he was ready replace God's eye. Thinnan was about to gauge out his left eye when suddenly Shivakochariya ran out of his hiding shouting, “Kannappa! No! Stop! Stop!” Before Thinnan could gauge out his eye Shivakochariya restrained him. Not knowing Thinnan’s name Shivakochariya called him Kannappa. Shivakochariya could not bear to even think of Thinnan gauging out his other eye, so much so that it made him ignore God's instruction and give up his hiding spot and try to stop Thinnan. Thinnan struggled to free himself. As Shivakochariya and Thinnan tussled with each other, the Shivalingam’s left eye stopped bleeding. Shivakochariya shouted to Thinnan, “Look! The eye is not bleeing anymore! You do not have to dig out your eye.” Thinnan saw this and dropped his arrow. Another surprise was in store for these two devotees of God Shiva.

Lord Shankara, in all His majesty appeared over the Shivalingam infront of His two devotees. No sooner than the appearance of God, Thinnan’s right eye was miraculously replaced on his face by God’s Grace and the bleeding on the face of the Shivalingam also stopped. All was back to normal. Then God addressed both His devotees, instructing Thinnan, “From now you shall be called Kannappa and this sage before you, Shivakochariya will be your guru.” Both the devotees enjoyed the darshan of God in awe and with their hands in namaskaram bowed their head down in reverance to God. Then the Lord vanished.

After that incident Thinnan was always known as Kannappa and later he was recognized as a nayanar. His parents and community accepted his decision to renounce his position of leader in the community and live a life of service to God and guru. Kannappa learned the art of worship and yoga from his guru, and when he passed on he achieved moksha. 

Today the Sri Kaalashasti hill is an important pilgrimage center for Saivites. The main temple of Sri Kaalahasti is situated at the base of the hill. The lingam here is dedicated to the element air and is part of the five elemental Shiva temples of South India.  From the temple devotees can walk to the summit of the hill where the incident of this story took place. There is only a small shrine on the summit of Sri Kalahasti and a small Shivalingam to mark the spot of the original Shivalingam that Kanappan had worshipped. According to some scholars this story happened about 2,000 years ago. The original lingam may have been disintegrated by the elements over time. However there in another shrine opposite the Sri Kalahasti Temple where there is a Shivalingam similar to one that Kanappan would have worshipped. 

If you go to the Sri Kaalahasti Temple, look for two oil lamps at either side of the Shivalingam in the main sanctum. These oil lamps continously flicker as if the lights are being blown by the wind. However the other oil lamps around it remain steady. The temple is in the state of Andhra Pradesh. You can go to the Sri Kaalahasti temple enroute to the famous Venkateshwara shrine at Thirupathi. Not far from the Sri Kaalahasti temple is Kannappan nayanar’s mahasamadhi shrine. This smaller shrine is a memorial to Kannappan nayanar.

The most obvious lesson we can learn from Kanappan’s story is that God responds to sincere devotion. The outer show of worship is secondary to the inner expression of love for God. In this case both Kanappan and Shivakochariya worshipped with pure devotion. Both Kanappan and Shivakochariya are highly evolved souls, they worshipped God for no other reason but to express their love and gratitude to God. This is what sincere devotion is. The articles they used, Shivakochariya used pure substances such as flowers, incense and clean water, whereas Kanappan used what we consider impure substances that is the meat and spit filled water. However the desecration of the Shivalingam that Shivakochariya was upset about did not touch God. Instead what touched God was Kanappan’s devotion. His devotion turned his offerings from impure to pure.

How can we apply this lesson to our life? Firstly we must learn to worship for the sake of expressing our love and gratitude to God. This we do by praying or worshipping regularly as a consistent practice. A consistent worship routine will keep God in the forefront of our lives even during the good times. These are periods in our life when we are naturally content. It is during these periods in life that we will find it easiest to worship God for no other reason but to express our love and gratitude. Thus a consistent and regular routine of worship will help us cultivate sincere devotion for God by not forgetting God during the good times in our life. (It is usually easier to remember God during the tough times, isn't it?)

Another lesson we can derive is about the articles we use for worship. Occasionally we hear people advising us that we should not offer a certain kind of flower or item to a certain form of God. It seems God will get upset with us if we used those articles for worship. It sometimes also goes beyond offerings to the colour of clothes that we wear or even the day we choose for worship. I can assure you that all these petty taboos do not hold any truth. Discard such beliefs as nonsense and worship God with devotion. You can do no wrong in God’s eye if your intention is to express devotion, just as Kanappan has showed us.

Having said that, I must mention that (this is a disclaimer!), there are certain obvious items that we should not use as offerings to God. These items include meat, alcohol, cigarettes or weapons. The reason for this is not that God will be upset with us. Instead these items especially blood filled items attract the wrong kind of spirit beings to our worship. In Kanappan’s case he was ignorant of proper religious protocol for worship. Thus while we use Kanappan’s story to showcase sincere devotion, we do not follow his examples literally nor use it as a justification for offering God meat or other offensive items that do not appeal to our common sense. 

Insight: Find out more about why meat is generally shunned as offfering for worship.

An indirect lesson in this story is about the process of reincarnation. You can introduce the belief of reincarnation to children with this story. Children will especially be curious about this when you bring it up. You can ask them how is it that Kanappan or Thinnan was so attracted to the Shivalingam while his other two friends, Kaadan and Naanan, were not. The reason for this is because he cultivated a deep devotion for God in previous lives. When he saw the Shivalingam for the first time in this life, it unlocked his deep love for God and the spiritual merit he had gained from previous lives. Thus there is continuity of spiritual progress in Kanappa’s life. This is true for the rest of us too. We pick up in our spiritual growth in this life from where we left it in the past. This is why some people tend to be more naturally spiritually inclined than others.

In this story God also introduces Kanappan to his guru to guide him in his spiritual life. Whether a devotee goes seeking for a guru, or a guru comes seeking a devotee, a guru comes into our life as a grace of God. The initial meeting may be miraculous as in the case of Kanappan, or it could happen that we first see our guru in a dream or it may be through a casual meeting in some place. Either way it is a grace and a duty of God to provide for us a spiritual guide in our life, especially when we are in need and ready one.