MUNAIYADUVAR NAYANAR (Series of Tamil saints)

This saint was a Vellala by caste. He belonged to Tiru Nidur in the Chola kingdom. He was a great Bhakta of Lord Siva and His devotees. He was always the hope of the desperate, the weak, and the vanquished. They would call upon him to turn their defeat into a victory. He would hire himself out as a professional fighter. He fixed a wage for this service and with that money he would feed the Siva Bhaktas and look after them. He earned money in this way and hence he was called Munaiyaduvar. Lord Siva was highly pleased with him and blessed him.

Two vital lessons that this Nayanars life holds should not be ignored. First and foremost, even in the exercise of the God-given talent of fencing, the Nayanar took care to see, that it was used to defend the weak, the oppressed, and the downtrodden. Strength, too, is a manifestation of the Lord, according to Him: but it should be used in His service in a righteous way. The second one is that the fruits of such service were always dedicated to the Lord.

This is the very core of the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, and the teachings of all saints and sages. Righteousness rests on this pedestal of dedication to God and unselfishness. Selfishness is the root cause of all sins and consequent miseries.