Receiving the call to come to his path, Agathiyar sent out himself in the form of Tavayogi to take my hands and show me all his abodes, temples and caves, introducing me to their life at an ashram too. But never compelled me to adorn a kavi and to follow suit. I was asked to stay at home and be in the society and continue my work. Agathiyar began with teaching me through the Nadi or Olai Suvadi, simple pranayama techniques, Nadi Sutti and Dhega Sutti, to cleanse the airway. Patanjali came to guide me again through the Nadi on the preferred choice of sattvic food intake. Tavayogi showed me and others, asanas and further pranayama techniques. The Siddha approach was very systematic with the right people and guidance thrown in at the right time. They watched and monitored our progress. There was no seeking or searching, no expectations or ideals, hence there was no frustrations or disappointments.
Annie Besant reveals the "other side", one that is talked about in spiritual circles and many yearn for in "The Laws of the Higher Life", The Theosophical Publishing House, 1903,
Having controlled and purified the body, we can make it sensitive to the higher vibrations, responsive to the sounding of the sublimer notes. But to do this we must lose our interest in the lower.. while you love the lower things of the world, the higher consciuosness cannot use this upadhi as its vehicle.
The various upadhis are themselves vehicles for the divine to manifests and work. For instance, as Ruzbeh Bharucha says, the consciousness enters the causal body that then heals the physical body. Getting connected, through our brain, with the larger consciousness these vehicles are prepared for the transformation to take place, for "the divine unfolding and blossoming of the bud of consciousness", making the body the ideal temple or abode of the divine energies that shall come within and reside since the only value of the body is to be a channel of the higher. However much I distance myself from becoming a channel or in common terms a medium, now I understand that it is not for me to decide, but part of the process that has to take place.
Starting us on doing charity Agathiyar began to inculcate the habit of giving to others, sharing our blessings with them. Nature has sacrificed much for us. It does not ask anything in return. It keeps on giving and giving. We only know how to take, not to give. While the physical form lives by taking, the life within grows by giving, says Annie. We have been known to take everything for our physical growth, survival, and existence. But the soul only grows when we give. To gain Atma Balam one has to start giving. Even all the merits accumulated by our kindness to others, by our religious and spiritual practices, by the charity and dharmam done to others, has to be sacrificed. Hence we understand the reason for Supramania Swami to give away the greatest sacrifice one could ever dream - his 40 year tavam.
Starting us on doing charity Agathiyar began to inculcate the habit of giving to others, sharing our blessings with them. Nature has sacrificed much for us. It does not ask anything in return. It keeps on giving and giving. We only know how to take, not to give. While the physical form lives by taking, the life within grows by giving, says Annie. We have been known to take everything for our physical growth, survival, and existence. But the soul only grows when we give. To gain Atma Balam one has to start giving. Even all the merits accumulated by our kindness to others, by our religious and spiritual practices, by the charity and dharmam done to others, has to be sacrificed. Hence we understand the reason for Supramania Swami to give away the greatest sacrifice one could ever dream - his 40 year tavam.
If prior to coming to worship the Siddhas, I was contented with my life, family and career, when Tavayogi and I started on our journey to the places mentioned in my Gnana Kaandam, he turned to me and said, "Only now our real journey begins, my son!" I understood that I had taken a major step or big leap in my life, trailing my guru on a pilgrimage of Siddha sites. I returned home, enriched by the experience. I came to know that there was another world out there, or to be precise running parallel to ours. Just by taking a small step, we enter their world.
Annie recounts the journey of the saints giving us a vivid account of the transition that takes place in them as they come to the bridge that crosses the gulf to the law of living as she terms it.
The critical point comes now in the history of the evolving jiva. In a world of action, having tried earnestly, having made attempts at and placed efforts, all motive for action disappears. He marches towards sacrificing all the fruits of his actions, without taking credit for it. With this initial effort of his in place, all things that are of the divine falls into place and all things of his doings, crumble and fall apart. "The attachment to the fruits of his actions falls away; he becomes dead to attachments; vairagya seizes him; dispassion overcomes him; he finds himself hanging; as it were, in the void. At this moment of pause between the space of having become weary of the law of duty and having not seen the heart of the law of sacrifice known as the law of life, the seeming void that is veritably full appears as the final frontier. At this moment of suspension in the void, he would seem to have lost contact with the world of forms and objects. This is the moment of crossing over to the other side that is much awaited; a journey of no return. He cannot return and he has yet to reach out to the brink beyond. He would seem to be hanging in the void, in mid-air having lost touch with all that seemed real but now appeared transitory. The moment of isolation dawns, something that Lord Muruga spoke about too.
He cannot see ahead. The air seems empty. There is nothing to grasp. His faith is put to test. He then reaches our for the Father trusting that he would be there to hold his hands. The father lifts him to his side. The law of higher life receives him in its clutches. Trust plays a pivotal role here. Trust that the law cannot fail.
Terrifying right? Annie Besant writes further, "None but those who have felt it may know the horror of that great emptiness where the world of form (that we have been accustomed to since our birth), has vanished, but the life of the spirit is not yet felt. It seems like a gulf must be crossed. During these moments of uttermost isolation, the man is thrown back into himself. There is nothing around him but the silent void. From that nothingness of being, the eternal being arises."
Venturing into this state ask for the greatest sacrifice of all - giving oneself up. There is no other way. Proportionate to how much we empty ourselves of all that we have, the room is cleared for the divine fulness to flow in, and fill us more than we were ever filled before, she fills us in.
But it does not come easy. Sacrificing causes pain in many having to lose whatever they had held on, be it ideas, opinions, thoughts, riches, property, or the self. This is a result of identification with and attachment to all forms. But for one who has begun to live the life of the spirit, the sacrifice that brought sorrow becomes pleasurable, joyous, and blissful. The free spirit that comes to the forefront rejoices in union with the self, all forms are then seen as vessels and channels of the oneself that we become. He knows that he is the life in the stone, the plant, the brute, the savage, in the saint, and the sage too. Fear then drops for he knows there is nothing but the oneself and nothing outside it either to fear or to challenge, exactly what Agathiyar meant when he said that he was the prapanjam and that the prapanjam was in him. True peace then prevails. That is the true peace and that that alone is wisdom.
Annie recounts the journey of the saints giving us a vivid account of the transition that takes place in them as they come to the bridge that crosses the gulf to the law of living as she terms it.
The critical point comes now in the history of the evolving jiva. In a world of action, having tried earnestly, having made attempts at and placed efforts, all motive for action disappears. He marches towards sacrificing all the fruits of his actions, without taking credit for it. With this initial effort of his in place, all things that are of the divine falls into place and all things of his doings, crumble and fall apart. "The attachment to the fruits of his actions falls away; he becomes dead to attachments; vairagya seizes him; dispassion overcomes him; he finds himself hanging; as it were, in the void. At this moment of pause between the space of having become weary of the law of duty and having not seen the heart of the law of sacrifice known as the law of life, the seeming void that is veritably full appears as the final frontier. At this moment of suspension in the void, he would seem to have lost contact with the world of forms and objects. This is the moment of crossing over to the other side that is much awaited; a journey of no return. He cannot return and he has yet to reach out to the brink beyond. He would seem to be hanging in the void, in mid-air having lost touch with all that seemed real but now appeared transitory. The moment of isolation dawns, something that Lord Muruga spoke about too.
He cannot see ahead. The air seems empty. There is nothing to grasp. His faith is put to test. He then reaches our for the Father trusting that he would be there to hold his hands. The father lifts him to his side. The law of higher life receives him in its clutches. Trust plays a pivotal role here. Trust that the law cannot fail.
Terrifying right? Annie Besant writes further, "None but those who have felt it may know the horror of that great emptiness where the world of form (that we have been accustomed to since our birth), has vanished, but the life of the spirit is not yet felt. It seems like a gulf must be crossed. During these moments of uttermost isolation, the man is thrown back into himself. There is nothing around him but the silent void. From that nothingness of being, the eternal being arises."
Venturing into this state ask for the greatest sacrifice of all - giving oneself up. There is no other way. Proportionate to how much we empty ourselves of all that we have, the room is cleared for the divine fulness to flow in, and fill us more than we were ever filled before, she fills us in.
But it does not come easy. Sacrificing causes pain in many having to lose whatever they had held on, be it ideas, opinions, thoughts, riches, property, or the self. This is a result of identification with and attachment to all forms. But for one who has begun to live the life of the spirit, the sacrifice that brought sorrow becomes pleasurable, joyous, and blissful. The free spirit that comes to the forefront rejoices in union with the self, all forms are then seen as vessels and channels of the oneself that we become. He knows that he is the life in the stone, the plant, the brute, the savage, in the saint, and the sage too. Fear then drops for he knows there is nothing but the oneself and nothing outside it either to fear or to challenge, exactly what Agathiyar meant when he said that he was the prapanjam and that the prapanjam was in him. True peace then prevails. That is the true peace and that that alone is wisdom.