INTRODUCTION
Adipatha Nayanar was a fisher man and lived his life by catching fish in the sea. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and lived in Nagapattinam. He is considered as one among the 63 nayanar saints.
LIFE
He was a very good and honest person and he got his source of income by way of catching fish from the sea. As a regular practice, and through his love and devotion towards Lord Shiva, Adipatthar would dedicate the first fish he caught by throwing back into the sea. He had done this act, even if he got just one fish on a day, and he left hungry for the entire day.
Due to the divine test, Adipathar was able to catch only one fish for several consecutive days. Even then, he would throw the fish back into the sea as a sincere dedication to the god. In course of time, due to this act, he has become very poor and starved without food for several days. One day due to Lord Shiva’s grace, he caught a big golden fish, and since it was the first fish he caught, he dedicated the fish to Lord Shiva by throwing the fish back into the sea with much devotion in his mind.
The Lord immediately appeared in front of him along with Mata Parvati and blessed him for a prosperous life and granted all the riches in his life. And after his death, he reached Kailasa, and attained MUKTHI.
IMPORTANCE
Adipatha was a great nayanar who never thinks about himself and his family, but only thought about Lord Shiva and praised his glories. Though he got a rich fish, he doesn’t want to keep it for himself, and he dedicated it to Lord Shiva. He has got such a pure bhakti in his mind. Let us develop the same kind of bhakti similar to him and attain all the prosperity in our life, and finally we can attain MOKSHA.
Let us worship the great nayanar saint and be blessed.
