In the movie Dr Strange, the Ancient One tells the medical doctor, to his disbelief, that when the mind is elevated, the spirit deepens, the body heals. The Siddhas have told us to bring about noble thoughts in us and together with good practices enhance the physical body that leads to Atma Balam, where the spirit gains strength. The healing then takes place, the body goes through a dramatic change bringing it closer and closer to a divine state and eventually becomes divine in nature.
The Ancient One adds, "You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own." When the Dr ask how can by surrendering, one take control of it?, "I control it by surrendering control? That doesn't make any sense", she replies, "Not everything does. Not everything has to. Your intellect has taken you far in life. But it will take you no further. Surrender, Stephen. Silence your ego and your power will rise."
The Ancient One adds, "You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own." When the Dr ask how can by surrendering, one take control of it?, "I control it by surrendering control? That doesn't make any sense", she replies, "Not everything does. Not everything has to. Your intellect has taken you far in life. But it will take you no further. Surrender, Stephen. Silence your ego and your power will rise."
Everyone can attain a divine nature. That is what we have come for. It is not the sole proprietorship of a selected few. All our ancient texts have been asserting and driving the need to be noble in thought and deed. From this point we proceed to several other stages and eventually attain divinity in this very physical body of ours.
Ramalinga Adigal has spoken of the various stages of spiritual experiences.
The 16 stages and above of spiritual experiences are:
1. Jeeva Sakiram or Normal wakefulness.
2. Jeeva Sorpanam or Normal dreaming and
3. Jeeva Suluthi or Normal ignorance, three stages where human beings lead a mundane life without even a thought of its transient nature.
The next stage is 4. Sutha Sakiram or Perfect wakefulness, the 1st state of the soul where the spiritualist are aware of the momentary nature of life; are conscious of the world and external objects; and enjoy gross things.
The fifth stage is 5. Sutha Sorpanam or Perfect dream, the 2nd state of the soul where the spiritualist seeks to see the Lord and feels himself inseparable; untiring searches for God; and enjoys subtle things.
6. Sudha Suluthi or Perfect ignorance or sound sleep or dreamless state, is the 3rd state of the soul where the spiritualist only desires God; has neither dreams nor desires; and his soul is temporarily one with Brahman enjoying its bliss.
7. Sudha Turiyam or Perfect experience or Supra-mental awareness, the 4th stage of the soul, where lust and the veils covering the soul for generations are shed one after the other; the soul is cleanse by Arutperunjhoti; and spontaneous impulses of love for God arise; and absolute union with Brahman comes about.
8. Para Sakiram or Higher wakefulness.
9. Para Sorpanam or Higher dream or Supra mental dream where the spiritualist enjoys the grace of the Lord and is in ecstasy.
10. Para Suluthi or Higher ignorance or Supra mental unknowing, where the shackles are removed by Arutperunjhoti; and the spiritualist has heavenly experiences. Above this stage, God is un-manifested.
11. Para Turiyam or Atma Tarisanam or Supra-mental perfection, where tasting God; and the glory of Arutperunjhoti; the soul is charged with divine grace; the spiritualist realizes the greatness of God's grace and his smallness; self-realization or Atma Tarisanam on the soul as an atom as brilliant as the sun takes place.
12. Guru Sakiram or Shiva Sakiram, where perceiving God in the form of light, the soul is saturated with compassion and love; it experiences divine life (Uyir Anubhavam); attains purity of the body or golden body (Sutha Degam), (the extent of achievement is dependent on the grace of Arutperunjhoti). Uyir Anubavam in Sudha Degam, where transformation to pure body; love incarnates; universality of love in all fellow beings arises; oneness in life is achieved; he/she sees the divine in all life forms; sees the smallness of oneself and greatness of God; and experiences the spontaneous flow of God in him/her. The spiritualist sees divinity in all creatures; he/she sees God in the form he/she is ready to receive; he/she enjoys supreme grace (Arul Anubhavam).
The higher stages are heavenly stages and beyond human perception where the mind fails to conceive and all senses cease to function.
13. Guru Sorpanam or Shiva Sorpanam or Supreme dream where the descent of divinity in the individual takes place.
14. Guru Suluthi or Shiva Suzhuthi or Supreme tranquility where supreme grace flows and prepares the spiritualist for the next stage.
15. Guru Turiyam or ShivaTuriyam, where the body transforms into Pranava Deham or body of grace; and merges with Arutperunjhoti; resulting in deathlessness or the conquest of death. Ramalinga Adigal mentions one Muthuthandavar and Tathuvarayar as having attained this state.
16. Sudha Shiva Sakiram or Absolute supreme consciousness.
There are still higher stages that Ramalinga Adigal hesitates to express, Sudha Shiva Sorpanam, Sudha Shiva Suluthi, Sudha Shiva Turiyam and Sudha Shiva Turiyateetam.
(Source: "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Ramalinga Swami" by Dr C Srinivasan, published by Ilakkia Nilayam, Tiruchi, 1968 (Srinivasan).
An article in the website http://www.ramalinga.com (now defunct) "A Vision of Dematerialization of Ramalinga's Living Body" by Gangadharan, a disciple of Mother Mira Alfassa, it was stated that Mother Mira Alfassa (aid of Sri Aurobindo of Pondicherry) had seen, during her meditation, the happenings that took place on that Friday night when Ramalinga Adigal attained the Jothi in Sidhivalagam.
He was verily a supreme form of the divine. Flood of light was radiating from his pure and luminous body into all the directions. The intensity of the flood of light that radiated from his whole body was very powerful and one shall have the strength and capacity to bear and receive it. My (Mother Mira Alfassa) whole body vibrated with a joy and pleasantness because of the vision of light of his body.
Supreme grace, supreme compassion, and the light of grace are expressive of the secret truth that they hold the key for transformation of physical body into the deathless physical body of grace in its eternal youthfulness. One has to live in the depth of the ocean of blissful grace-light for being transformed into the divine nature and as the divine body.
After sometime of concentration, he rose up and saw the physical sky. Full moon was shedding its blissful cool rays over the earth. A little distance away from the moon was seen a very bright dazzling star of light. Vallalar poured his concentrated gaze at it for some time. He became enraptured with blissful joy in the heart, which radiated on his face. A little time thereafter, he again sat on the white seat of the plank and entered into deep concentration.
Though Vallalar was inside the closed and bolted room, he could see clearly the whole universe with its tiers of many worlds of mind, life and the physical including the physical earth and sky with its moon, stars and clouds.
When he was thus absorbed in deep concentration, an effulgent truth-light of grace broke out from his heart and with its unique heat began to burn his radiant physical body very slowly, as at a snail's speed, and that in an upward direction, from the heart towards the head. The burning of the body may be somewhat likened to that of an incense-stick which however burns downwards by its inner heat of fire, forming ash covering but without the falling down of the ash-form. When the upper part of his radiant body was burnt completely from heart to head, there was left in its place a form of pure white substance, which also radiated its light of consciousness. The burnt part, however, showed all its features intact and clearly and even the burnt hair of his head was seen distinctly as luminous white hair. Then the heat of the pure light of grace descended to burn the lower part.
After the whole body was thus burnt, Vallalar was seen as a bodily form of pure white substance from head to foot, radiating its light. The white form kept intact all the different kinds of cells of his body and all the distinctive features and formations of his interior and exterior body. His bodily form did not shrink in size after the burning. I saw no visible flame nor sensed its heat during the burning of his living body, nor smoke, nor any bad smell as of burnt tissues, nor heard any cracking noise as of burnt bones. Instead, there was a sweet fragrance since the time his body began to burn and it spread everywhere. I sensed in my heart an ineffable calmness and silence, which gave me in turn a state of bliss.
Now a second stage of burning began. The unique heat of grace-light began to burn slowly Valalalar's luminous form of white substance from head to foot downwards. When his white substance-form full of its radiating light, was thus burnt completely, the white substance became very fine sub-atomic conscious particles, which permeated and pervaded the entire universe and the farther pure worlds of consciousness beyond. The fine, white and conscious particles with its radiating light also entered into and got distributed everywhere in the earth and even in matter. After the universal pervasive distribution of the particles, they could be seen no more and disappeared from my sight. Now there pervaded everywhere the sweet, soft and fine fragrance of camphor which gave my body a blissful sensation and enraptured my heart as well.
Then I had the rare vision of Vallalar's universal luminous golden form. In fact, the immensity of his golden form contained in it the whole universe. This form too disappeared from my view and was replaced by another vision in which I saw the golden light of truth-knowledge and grace entering into all the directions more speedily than the lightning. It permeated and pervaded the whole universe and the farther pure worlds of consciousness. It entered into our earth and all its crores of the physical forms of beings and objects and in the apparently insensible matter and even in the very dark realm of the vast in conscience. All the forms that were permeated by the golden light of truth changed into golden forms of beings and objects. The golden light entered into my whole Adhara including the physical body. My body felt in all the cells vibrations of ease and pleasantness.
Then I heard some words of grace. However, they were indistinctly heard and could not be deciphered, as I was absorbed in a rapture of bliss due to the sublime vision and experiences. Thus, the vision lasted an hour of time and ended.
https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2013/07/ramalinga-adigal-arutprakasa-vallalar.htmlThe visible physical light is the concrete symbol of the vast truth-light of grace, which is the source of all lights. Camphor is verily a solid form or symbol of that light. Vallalar's soul is inseparable from the conscious white particles of substance, which he has become, and pervading distributed everywhere. When the supreme truth-consciousness manifests in the physical world, it becomes the golden light of grace. The golden light of grace will purify and transform man and the physical body too will become deathless physical truth-body, and the Sanmaarga of truth, purity, and goodness shall prevail on the earth. As Atma realizes the pure spirits, the body too shall realize its truth as the true body of the spirit.