EXPERIENCE 3

If Ramalinga Adigal brought to us his experience through the song கண்டேன், கனிந்தேன், கலந்தேன், R. Krishnamurthy or popularly known as Kalki brings us his composition, where a maiden describes how her lover, the divine Lord Muruga, with a goldened complexion, and an irresistible smile,  came mysteriously one day as she was in the garden of blooming flowers, and a cuckoo singing away. Riding his peacock, he gave her his darshan only for a second, uttered a sweet word and disappeared like lightning from her sight. With him came the sweet scent of blooming flowers. The colors of the sea reflected in the skies in contests with the sea that reflects the skies. The sweetness that emerged from the sound of the celestial veena that was played. All these observed in that single moment of silence. She believes her Lord shall not forget her, and will come again to shower his grace, and she shall lose herself in him.

பூங்குயில் கூவும் பூஞ்சோலையில் ஒரு நாள்

மாமயில் மீது மாயமாய் வந்தான்

பொன்முகம் அதனில் புன்னகை பொங்க

இன்னமுதென்ன இன் மொழி பகர்ந்தொரு

மின்னலைப்போலே...மறைந்தான்

பனி மலரதனில் புது மணம் கண்டேன்

வானில் கடலில் வண்ணங்கள் கண்டேன்

தேனிசை வீணையில் தீஞ்சுவை கண்டேன்

தனிமையில்...இனிமை கண்டேன்

வீரவேல் முருகன் மீண்டும் வருவான்

வள்ளி மணாளன் என்னை மறவான்

பேரருளாளன் எனக்கருள்வானெனும்

பெருமிதத்தால் மெய் மறந்தேன் (பூங்குயில்)

Kalki's verses depict a similar manner Lord Murugan came to me at Tiruvanaikaval at the speed of lightning, with a golden hue, and a wide broad smile, uttering the words clearly - Did you see?

Here is an interesting perspective of the peacock that Lord Murugan rides. Octavio Salvado describes it at https://www.thepracticebali.com/2016/08/16/ride-peacock-octavio-salvado/

In the Yogic tradition the Peacock symbolizes our own capacity to inwardly alchemize poison into nourishment, like the peacock does with the venom of the Cobra. In this way, the combination of Murugan and his prissy, yet very powerful bird present us with a choice. No, it’s not the choice of fight or don’t fight. As the Bhagavad Gita assures us, life is a battlefield, hiding and shrinking away from living a life of meaning is not an option. Backing out of the confrontation is not the choice. We can’t control life. Believe me, I’ve tried. She’s relentless! And she knows that it’s her duty to prod us, lovingly (sometimes) and gift us the opportunity to sharpen our tools. No, the choice is about how we manage ourselves in moments of confrontation and more interestingly, in times of outward defeat. Can we alchemize the situation so that it becomes nourishment? Do we lay down and die. Or do we transmute adversity into excellence, into wisdom, into humility, growth and compassion?

The struggle ‘is’ the nourishment, it’s built in. Every obstacle presents the opportunity to refine our authenticity, to deepen our Yoga and become more of who we truly are.

All the world's traditions and religions seem to favor the peacock as seen below.

In a general sense peacocks are a Symbol of openness and acceptance. In Christianity the peacock is a Symbol of immortality. In Mesopotamia appeared a symbolic representation of a tree flanked by two peacocks, which is said to symbolise the dualistic Mind and the absolute unity. In Hinduism the patterns of the peacocks feathers, resembling eyes, symbolise the stars.

The peacock is a very important bird, 1st it is an emblem of romantic love and beauty. In Buddhism they symbolise Wisdom. Peacocks are said to have the ability of eating poisonous plants without being affected by them. Because of that, they are synonymous with the great Bodhisattvas. A Bodhisattva is able to take delusions as the path toward Liberation and transform the poisonous Mind of Ignorance, desire and hatred [moha, raga, dvesa] into the Thought of Enlightenment or Bodhicitta, which opens colourfully like the peacocks' tail.

Particularly peacocks symbolise the transmutting of desire into the path of Liberation. Therefore they are the vehicle of Buddha Amitabha, who represents desire and Attachment transmuted into the Wisdom of Discriminating Awareness. The peacock supports the throne of Amitabha, the red Buddha of the west (main qualities include passion (lotus), love, vital fluids, evening twilight, summer and fire).

The peacock is the mortal enemy of snakes, killing cobras with their talons. The main quality of the peacock is transmutation of poison into amrita or nectar. This is tied to Lord Shiva getting a blue throat from taking the poison produced by the churning of the ocean; thus the transmutation of poison or venom by the peacock is said to produce the electric blue of its throat plumage and the wisdom eyes of its tail feathers.

In Vajra yana symbolism a bundle of peacock feathers is used as a sprinkler for the consecrated water or amrita contained in the blessing flask. In specific tantric rituals individual feathers are used as fan, mirror, and parasol adornments, also as the feathers for darts, and as the peacock feather parasol used by the goddess Palden Lhamo, symbolizing her wisdom activities and the transmutation of all evils or poisons.

Source:  http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Peacock)

I could not comprehend why I kept getting acute and extreme pain in my lower back that carried the symptoms or likeliness of sciatica. But Agathiyar said otherwise and brushed it aside although it kept recurring first for a couple of years in 2011, then a couple of months in 2016, and again a couple of days early this year. The physiotherapy brought much relief to me. The loving AVM family members showed concern and helped in many ways to bring relief to me. Both the Varma masters Arunan and Uva helped relieve my pain. Tavayogi on his visit to Malaysia helped bring some relief through a magical pill. Balamurugan too brought me relief through exercising his Varma skills. Dr. Jana brought instant relief giving me an injection while Shanga taught me some exercises for back pain used by trainers in the gyms. The all compassionate Siddhas prescribed herbal medicines through the Nadi which was prepared by Siddha practitioner Arivananthan Aiya and passed on to me by Saravanan and Suren. 

To our surprise, Dhanvanthri came to heal the pain too, using his prasadham that was the sacred ash received at his sannadhi at Vaitheeswaran temple by Bala Chandran and passed on to me. Bala Chandran who had returned from India dropped in at ATM to pass me the prasadham just minutes before Dhanvanthri's presence at ATM through a devotee whom Bala Chandran invited along. It all came together that day for the miracle to take place. It makes you think if all these was planned by the divine? If he had moved the chess pieces that day?

Finally, Lord Muruga performed an astounding miracle coming through the Nadi and simultaneously through a devotee, asking for "the" peacock feathers to treat my aching back. What surprised us further was the instant availability of the peacock feathers in my home that came some time back as a gift from another devotee. Were all these planned by the divine? 

We did not understand many things that day. Why the peacock feathers? How was the treatment done simultaneously, in real time, as the Nadi was being read and instructions are given? We were enlightened later by Ruzbeh N Bharucha who shed some light on what transpired that eventful day through his writings at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/going-within.

... disease first gets ingrained into our causal body and then moves into the astral and then resides in our physical body. That is why in early days Fakirs and Sages, would caress the body of the devotee with peacock feathers, as They could see the illness lodged either in the causal, or the astral body. Through Their power and affirmations, They would clear the illness, which was still in the causal or astral body, and not allow it to enter the physical body. Or cleanse the auras so that the body would automatically heal.

That is what Lord Muruga did that day using the peacock feathers. As for the simultaneous manifestation of Lord Muruga in the Nadi and in a person, that was mind-boggling and amazing to watch, I understood that Lord Muruga was showing us anything was possible as far as the divine was concerned. All logical thought slipped away. As he caressed the peacock feather along my back he narrated the process and its significance. He was trying to educate us through this very unusual miracle, explaining to us the process of healing so that we understood its significance. I cherished and appreciated his move to come and treat me that day.

As for how the chanting, by all those gathered and transmission of the Maha Mantra "Arutperunjhoti Arutperunjhoti Taniperungkarunai Arutperunjhoti" into a glass of water after the feather treatment, could work wonders, we are told that "vibrations could be used to create striking imagery."

In the late 18th century, German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni demonstrated how vibrations could be used to create striking imagery. By spreading fine sand across the top of a metal plate and running a violin bow alongside, Chladni showed that the sand would settle into distinct patterns, depending on the frequencies of the sound waves produced by the bow. (Source: https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/seeing-the-patterns-in-sound/)

Many others followed later to demonstrate this phenomenon.

Dr. Hans Jenny, M.D. of Basel Switzerland put together some fascinating experiments where we could literally ‘see’ how sound works. By changing the frequencies on the oscillator, Jenny found that sand, or water or whatever substance he was using to create a visible medium for his sound, would morph into some very interesting shapes. These shapes mimicked the properties of divine geometry, and the higher the frequency, the more complex the shapes would appear to be. 

What Jenny was observing was really a simple way of observing matter come to life. Since we now understand, through the emerging field of quantum physics, that patterns emerge via waves of energy, the plates were showing the scientist a similar phenomenon. In ancient Sumerian society, this was a known fact. This is why practices like mantra were held in high esteem. The seed syllable, OM, for example, causes a certain frequency to imprint upon the ‘matter’ around it, and thus changes the energetic field.

We understand the following too.

As sound therapist, Dr. John Beaulieu, ND, PhD explains: "The fundamental principle of Energy Medicine is that an underlying energy field generates physical, emotional, and mental behaviors or symptom."

(Source: https://upliftconnect.com/why-sound-heals/ )

I am brought back to memories from my childhood where this approach to healing was prominent in our society. As a baby of a few months, I had succumbed to diarrhea and purging. My parents having lost two of my siblings due to the same reasons, rushed me to their neighbor of Chinese origin who was a medium too. I was saved when my parents agreed to hand over me to the Gods in adoption. Soon I used to frequent the home cum temple for all my ailments. I remember how the "medium" uncle would go into a sort of trance and strike his shirtless back with the back of a machete or cleaver. His back would turn red with the continuous strikes he gives himself. He would continue the chant as he wrote Chinese characters in a strip of yellow rice paper and burn it. He would hold it above a glass of water and let its ashes fall into the water. This was given to me to drink. I would be cured. As I grew older and when we moved away and the old man too passed away, I would seek the Muslim healers who would similarly chant certain Quranic verses into a glass or bottle of water and have me drink it. Finally, when we relocated ourselves to another house that was close by a Buddhist Vihara, I would receive a sacred string that was tied to my wrist to heal and ward off evil.

We are living in a world full of miracles taking place moment to moment, if only we take the time to see it.