Another aspect of Dhyana is what was seen earlier would take on a new configuration. What was of interest earlier would not interest him no more. It dies a slow dead without having to struggle to shut it out. Hence no effort is required to fight off these thoughts that try their best to capture our attention. Just sitting quietly the mind moves into the state of Dhyana and loses its hold on all things concrete. Bringing this mind that complains of all things to a divine silence is the objective. Within this silence, the divine guides further, just as it had guided us through his many messengers and tools externally. When the center of ego is lost he shall come back from this state to walk on the face of the earth as a Jeevan Mukta.
The enlightened did not continue to stay in solitude or keep themselves shut away from others. The saints after enlightenment came back into the society but stayed aloof and did not allow matters of the world to disturb their peace. The Siddhas too live in our midst attending to their chores and occasionally aid us when we call for them. Buddha after attaining Nirvana was in another realm and shown a thousand heads and told that he had to come back too.
During these silence moments many truths dawn on us. Swami Krishnananda of the Divine Life Society at https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_216.html says, "An unjustifiable dissection of the types of existence attributed to yourself and to others has been created by you." Hence we have to sit and untangle these perceptions that we have of ourselves, others, other things, and the world.
"Why do you call somebody as ‘yourself’ or call something as ‘itself’ when that ‘itself’ is also a ‘myself’ from its own point of view?", questions Swami Krishnananda.
While I may regard you as ‘yourself’ from the point of view of my feeling of myself as a subjective existence, you are also in a position to consider yourself as a ‘myself’ and consider me as a ‘yourself’.
Who is this ‘myself’? Every person in the world is a ‘myself’ because every person refers to oneself as ‘me’.
Now, who is ‘yourself’ or ‘itself’? Anything that is not ‘myself’ is ‘yourself’, or ‘itself’.
The ego in us identifies us as separate from another. Break this ego and we are one, just as the saints cried out after they came to this realization. Yoga is the means to unite this perspective.
"In this sense, in the practice of yoga, in the attempt to achieve a union known as yoga, you are dealing with vast existence itself which stands before you as an object, from which you distinguish yourself as an observer. The world stands before you as something that is observed, and you are standing apart from it as an observing subject. But don't you know that you are also a similar type of object that can be observed by other substantives, who have also the prerogative of judging you? Have you heard the famous saying, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”? In the way you are judging another, you will be judged correspondingly. You will receive what you are meting out to another...,"
Agathiyar warns us of this play of Kali Purusha who comes to blind us. Nadi Nool Aasan Thamaraiselvan Ramaiya Aiya reads and explains the 5th Kaandam of Agathiyar's 12000, one of Agathiyar’s many works, where Agathiyar advises his student Pulastya on the shortcomings of the Age of Kali and shows a way out for humanity.
Receiving these secrets from the Aswini Devas, Agathiyar narrates what will take place in the Kali Yuga, which is exactly what we are seeing happening around us today. Agathiyar explains that it is the nature of Kali Purushan to keep us engaged in Maya or illusion. The qualities of Kali Purusha enters into a man and takes control of him, causing him to act as he dictates. Hence man caught unaware, falls for it. All these are not the making of a man but that of Kali Purusha taking the upper hand, entering into his heart and making him do it. Hence all the more reason for us to bring the divine into our hearts to stay. Once the light comes in darkness disappears. Clarity and a new understanding dawns.
His constant reminder for those on his path has been to never give in to Kali Purusha; not to be tricked by him, and not to fall for his lure and antics. Agathiyar shows his students a way out. He advises his students not to fall prey, not to be trapped, and not to fall for the play of Kali Purusha but to safeguard oneself by taking hold the holy feet of Sadasiva, keeping him in our thoughts daily. He asks us to worship Sadasiva daily, keeping his holy feet close to our chest and in our thoughts. That is the only way to escape the grasp of Kali Purusha.
Although God is in Chinmaya which is in turn within us, Agathiyar advises us to worship in our own way; not having the need to follow another or be envious of others talents or their ways and most importantly not to follow like a sheep.
Agathiyar says take Gnana Paal and Shiva Kathi; take the Holy Feet of Shiva, on the path of Pathi Marga and Guru Marga; worship light or jhothi, what was to become Ramalinga Adigal's stand too many years later; to reach the state of Saloga, residing with Shiva.
The Shiva Kathi mentioned by Agathiyar is mentioned by Ramalinga Adigal as explained in R.Kuppusamy's "Kadavul Vignanam." We are of wind or katru. Kathi is the breath of Erai. This Amudha katru or divine wind is prevalent in the early morning hours, to be specific 2 hours before dawn breaks and before sun rises. After daybreak its Vesha katru that is inhaled. We can understand that once man wakes up and starts his day, the air becomes polluted by the many gases emitted into the air, working himself and his machinery; and the odor and stench that is released as man goes through his day.
Just as the fish and other aquatics swim in the water we swim in the air. Hence the reason we die once we are deprived of air to breathe. Yoga tends to bring "Erai's breath" within so that we do not drop dead. This change has to take place while still alive and not to be considered as achievable after one dies as commonly referred to the deceased having attained Shiva Kathi.
Finally, Agathiyar tells us that the "Nathakkal" had veiled many things due to Kali Purusha's doing. But the most compassionate father Agathiyar exposes Kali Purusha to us.
Swami Krishnananda continues,
You can experience the consciousness in you, but you cannot experience the consciousness in another person. You only concede the fact of there being consciousness in another person by the behaviour of that person, which indicates the presence of consciousness in that person also. Thus, the conceding of the fact of there being consciousness in another person is a conclusion drawn by inference; but in the case of yourself, it is a direct experience.
The nature of consciousness is nothing but the capacity to know. That which knows cannot become what is known. That is to say, consciousness cannot become an object of itself. This is the reason why you are only inferring consciousness in other people by a deductive process of reasoning, but in your case it is a direct experience.
An object which is far away from you, like a mountain, becomes an object of your knowledge. You are, of course, aware that the mountain cannot enter into your eyes. It is distant from your visual organ; yet, you come to know that the object called a mountain exists. The knowing process is actually the function of consciousness. Your consciousness establishes the existence of something in front which is called a mountain. It brings about a conscious relationship between the mountain and itself in the perception of this object called a mountain.
What does yoga do, then? It is a very subtle and adroit method adopted in the disciplining of the individual mind, by which it can directly come in contact with the Universal Mind intervening between itself and the so-called object outside. That is to say, you will directly come in contact with that object. The objectiveness, the ‘yourself-ness’, of the object ceases. It becomes a ‘myself’ in a different sense, and this ‘myself’ which is the observing factor unites with the ‘myself’ of that object. There is a larger ‘me’, a large ‘I’, which transcends the individual ‘I’, an experience which will include whatever you know about yourself and whatever you seem to be knowing about another.
Hence we understand why Swami Ramdass of Kerala ran to hug the first man and tree he came across after coming out of his long meditative state atop the sacred hill at Tiruvannamalai.
There is, therefore, an enhancement of perceptive capacity in this process, and when the attainment of this kind of union is becoming an actual experience, you will find yourself in a flood of experience which inundates your total personality, and you will feel that which is outside you is not really outside you.
So, what is the union you are talking about in yoga? It is the union of the subject with the object. You will find the Yoga System of Patanjali practically mentioning that the problem of life arises in the contradiction between the subjectivity and the objectivity of a thing, and the separation of the subjective and objective characters in an object. In its technical language, this is the Prakriti aspect being separated from the Purusha aspect in the perceiving consciousness. In that sense there is a separation, but in a deeper sense there is a union, ..
We now understand what Patanjali says, in a sutra as translated by Swami Vishnu-Devananda in his "Meditation and Mantras", Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, Om Lotus Publications, 1978, that "Liberation (or mukti) takes place when the mind has the same purity as Purusha itself."
Patanjali mentions in a concluding stanza, "For a person who has transcended Prakriti, the qualities of nature come to an end for they, the three Gunas, have fulfilled their purpose - which is to push him through growth and to create the field for transformations on the path to self-realization. Kaivalya is that state in which the Gunas attain equilibrium and merge in their cause, having no longer a purpose in relation to Purusha. The soul is established in its true nature, which is pure consciousness. End."
Fulfill the purpose and it all ends. Stop the identification and you are that. Aum. To come to this total understanding one will be toasted and roasted as in the preparation of food that brings out an enhanced flavor. The Tava Kanal or internal heat shall enhance the soul, through the fire that results as we sit in meditation.
Dr. Pasang Yonten Arya in discussing the winds states that,
The psychic heat Drod is produced by the space particles and the heat manifested from the friction of the wind element. This is another fundamental element as it supports and gives power to the consciousness, like the power of the fire that can launch rockets to space. The power is called medrod or 'digestion fire' in medicine and Tummo in yoga tantra. The heat (fire) sustains life and protects the body/mind. The psychic fire increases the wisdom, burns the ignorant mind of the brain and gives realization and liberation from the darkness of unawareness. That is why yoga describes Tummo as the aggressive fire which ignites from below navel, pierces the chakras one by one and reaches the sky of the crown chakra. The tummo burning arrow married with the celestial bride leads to enjoy the life of transformation of samsara. They give birth to the son of awareness from the blissful garden of Vajrayogini. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo)
Agathiyar and Dhanvantri have mentioned that I was having discomfort and pain in my body as a result of wind having gone amok and doing havoc in me. But it comes with the practice that we put in. They came up with the necessary herbs I needed to consume to tame the horse. They asked to stop all practices too. Take the Siddhas to guide you when you dwell into the breath. As Rengaraja Desigar says, worship first the Siddhas and sit in silence. They shall move our breath. They shall stand guard over us. They shall send us or direct us to the necessary remedies in the event things go beyond our understanding and means. Let the Siddhas in to work on us.