In the episode "Route Awakenings", from the series "China Revealed" on National Geographic Channel, the explorer, and presenter Harry Yuan, states it beautifully that "Nature is both the problem and a solution here." He continues to explain, "You have a problem - flooding, and then you have materials like rocks and bamboo that are found in abundance here. So nature is basically the problem and a solution here." Rocks from the river are placed into huge bamboo baskets that are woven to contain them. These are then placed in the river to create a wall to contain rising floodwaters or to divert the river's flow or split the river into two. "What a great idea", he adds. Similarly, we are told that antidotes are always available, around the vicinity of poisonous plants.
Indeed, Nature is both friend and foe. The Siddhas had a way of gaining its respect and in turn, were given access to its wide knowledge. They then used this knowledge for the good of all of the creation. It is said that plants would bend down to salute Agathiyar as he passes by and pass on the knowledge of their properties which later came in handy in preparing medicinal potions. My friend a consultant in Cardiology in a timely manner as usual put forth an observation, "I came across an interesting piece of information. Medical treatment should be started on தேய்பிறை பஞ்சமி அல்லது தேய்பிறை செவ்வாய். Only then the treatment is effective for chronic illnesses. Your views?" Though surprisingly as it may seem, we are told that the illness or disease will be aggressive during valarpirai or when the moon is waxing. So we chose to start to treat when the moon is waning.
If modern medicine treats the symptoms, Siddha medicine treats both the symptoms and their cause. We had the first-hand experience in watching Agathiyar come through a devotee and prepare a paste from several plants in the garden and kitchen herbs and used it to treat a knee injury of another devotee. When I watched closely without moving an eyelid trying to register all the ingredients he had asks for while he was pounding away and preparing a herbal paste, the traditional way, using a pestle and mortar, he turns to me and says, "Only I shall prepare this. You do not do it." Here Agathiyar treated the symptom.
When I was suffering and enduring my lower back pain that went right down to my legs that affected my mobility, for close to three years, Agathiyar attributed its cause to an imbalance in the three dosas in my body as a result of my Yogic practices and the arousal of energies within. He prescribed several herbs to be taken and ointments to be applied externally. If prior physiotherapy and heat therapy along with varma therapy and a jab all brought momentary relief Agathiyar saw the root cause of my ailment and his prescription saw an end to my suffering.
Ayurveda too regards "The system’s core strength is its holistic approach to health and disease using natural remedies derived from medicinal plants and minerals. Laying emphasis on self-discipline and modest living with high human values, the system strongly advocates a unique set of principles and guidelines on diet and exercise in daily healthy living." (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
An Ayurvedic physician "goes on to examine the overall body composition of the patient, His spiritual orientation, mental conditions, etc, to provide a comprehensive cure and restore balance in the human system." (Source: https://ayurcentralonline.com/)
For instance in healing, Stephen Grissom writes on his blog at https://www.siddhavasihealing.com/blog/siddha-vasi-healing-ancient-wisdom-in-the-modern-world
Tamil Siddha healing accesses not only all levels of the person, but the entire Cosmos. All of creation and all of the energies that exist are included, accessed and harmonized. This grandness of inclusivity is only possible by having traveled the path that leads to spiritual perfection. For without this component, the most essential ingredients of creation and so each individual, would be excluded. Indeed, it is the Tamil Siddha masters deep understanding, born from Their own quest and enlightened state, that declares the entire creation to exist in each of us. This reflection of the macrocosm in the microcosm illuminates the vast potential that lies within Siddha Healing.
Stephen writing on man's inherent nature to find solutions to problems challenges us to change our mindset.
We don’t like to sustain in our situations and problems in life. Instead we compulsively try to come out of them. Reflexively we will try to catch or substitute some type of solution. Just so we can move on to something else. This is why I call it neurotic. However, should we resist these urges and instead feel ourselves in any given situation the most natural and beautiful thing happens: the solution effortlessly appears. How does it come to us and from where does it come?
Here we are taught not to resist the problem nor try to escape. Stephen continues,
This lack of effort is beautiful because we are no longer striving to achieve anything. Instead are meeting life in a fully open, trusting and stressless manner. Like when we were little children and filled with wonder and vigor.
Just as we saw how Nature was both the problem and the solution, Stephen quotes his guru's saying, “Immerse yourself in the problem. There is hidden the medicine.” or in Stephen's words, "The actual medicine that resolved the man’s illness lay hidden within the suffering of his sickness." He quotes his guru Pal Pandian again,
“The beauty,” Pal said, “is that the solution to every situation, lies within the very problem itself.”
Stephen in his writings on healing adds another jewel to it, "The suffering he experienced was begging him to look at his mode of living."
Without exception this message speaks to our fixed perceptions of life, as well as our habitual patterns of living. It seems that as we age, we somehow, in some way, forget to grow. Sickness knocks on the door of our life to tell us that the time has come to outgrow these perceptions and patterns. The time has come to evolve. It is only when we come to understand the message behind the chronic illness that we outgrow the sickness. Only then do we inherit the rewards of this growth beyond the limitations. We have the opportunity to realize for ourselves that we are not merely a body. This is the doorway for authentic and lasting Health and is the divine gift to the world from the Tamil Siddhas, known as Siddha Vasi Healing.
Stephen writes so beautifully that I cannot help but pick more excerpts.
Our ancestors lived the majority of their lives outside. By day their feet and hands touched the earth, by night their eyes gazed at dancing fires and the star strewn heavens. This natural and raw way of living created a felt need for celebration in the most organic sense.The return to the source of this sacred energy is the path of ecstatic bonding, whose brilliance pulsates within Nature. Its echo resonates the same touchstone within each of us. This is the illumination of the masculine and feminine energies, concealed in each of us. The euphoric bonding is firmly rooted in the beauty of the earth, just as lightning needs earth as its focal point. It is felt as a “breathing”. One that is simultaneously subtle yet all encompassing, for all of creation, including our bodies, lays curled in the womb of silent ecstasy. This awareness will come from the sky as we watch birds fly, framed by clouds. Its feeling and smell emerges from caressing winds and as thunder echoes in the heavens with its own song – enveloping rain. This is the memory of our ancient civilization where celebration was the very fabric of ordinary life.
This echoes Agathiyar's worry that man has lost touch with the way of the Siddhas or சித்தர் வாழ்கை நெறி முறைகள். So are we missing out on all these? All is not lost. There are a handful who live this life. For one I have seen Siddhar physician Arivananthan Aiya leading his life accordingly to the dictates of the Siddhas. He fits the description that Stephen gives of these few whom he calls the new “avatars” of the creative force, which lives and breathes in the heart of the universe.
There are those today who personify this “return to the source”, who are not bothered with masks and disguises. Their earthiness and simplicity results from the enraptured bonding of the primordial masculine and feminine energies. They may not be the teachers of spirituality that society expects to see, and often not of the tradition of religion, spirituality and book learning. Rather, they will emerge as ancient wizards: dancers, poets, therapists, writers, healers and musicians. Having heard this clarion call, they are not motivated by personal expression but by a far vaster and more mythological need. One rooted in the earth itself. Look! Even those that work more simply with wood, metal, and machines will personify this artistic expression. The gardener, plumber, and auto mechanic will begin to view “work” as a kind of play and artistic expression. Their lives shall personify a deeper connection with spirit and earth.
Stephen sums it all up beautifully,
One’s intellect and very sense of individual parameters are themselves the barriers that must be extinguished. These are static things and so impede the Great Flow. The deepest understanding of how Life incessantly flows, moves, creates, sustains and destroys, inevitably results in a like manner of living, moving, and flowing. This supreme flexibility is humility, and its offspring gratitude. Awe inspired interaction with Nature, entwined with inner silence. This is the very ground from which true healing grows.
Shall we bring a change then?