When the ‘I’ has died by Sivaya Namah [complete obeisance to Lord Siva] and is burning in the fire of unobstructed and blazing devotion [bhakti], then in the flame of Self-experience will shine the true clarity of the unfailing Sivoham [the experience ‘I am Siva’].
Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) by Sri Muruganar - V. 961 ( Non-Dual Knowledge ) (pdf)
Sadhu Om:
‘Sivoham’ is the final state of experience which results from the death of the ego. But the ego will never die by merely doing japa* of or meditating ‘Sivoham, Sivoham’ [I am Siva, I am Siva].
In order to make the ego die, the practice of ‘Sivaya Namah’ [complete obeisance to Lord Siva, the Supreme Reality] is necessary.
In order to make the ego do obeisance [i.e. surrender itself] to Lord Siva, one must attend to its source and thereby prevent it from rising [see Ulladu Narpadu verse 27, “The state in which ‘I’ does not rise, is the state ‘We are That’. Unless one scrutinizes the source whence ‘I’ rises, how to attain the state of egolessness, in which ‘I’ does not rise?...”].
Therefore Self-enquiry, the true practice of ‘Sivaya Namah’, alone is the sadhana* which will destroy the ego and thereby bring about the true experience of ‘Sivoham’.
Japa: Meditative repetition of a mantra or a divine name. Sadhana: Spiritual practice
