Carl Sagan marvels at books,
"What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic." (Source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/08/carl-sagan-on-books/)
If Carl Sagan says that a book breaks the shackles of time, Franz Kafka wrote to his childhood friend, the art historian Oskar Pollak telling him that a book should break us too like an axe splits.
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief." (Source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/06/kafka-on-books-and-reading/)
One such book, I picked up at my college library back in the late seventies. It was titled "Learn to Say NO." That book changed me. I began to say NO. That has saved me from lending into trouble many a time. This principle that I held taught me to turn down the many gifts too that came my way while traveling this path. Sadly I cannot seem to recall the author who helped me to say NO.
Then Thumper in Disney's "Bambi" teaches us a few things too. One is to zip up if we do not have something nice to say. “If you don’t have somethin’ nice to say, don’t say nothing at all.”
Agathiyar too told us to refrain from engaging in debates and arguments. "Let it be" he often told us. He wants us to focus on our purpose in coming here. Right now he has replaced my laptop that just went blank and "replaced" my eyesight so that I shall continue to write. And I shall.
Just as Tavayogi in his welcome speech to all the devotees of Agathiyar who came to witness and participate in the annual puja for Agathiyar at Kallar Ashram, acknowledges that be it whatever spiritual, religious, or political movements, it needs the patronage of seekers, devotees, and followers to exist and survive, this blog too is kept alive by the live feeds from Agathiyar, fellow seekers, and readers alike.
As the Portuguese writer and journalist, Rui Cardoso Martins in speaking to DW Channel's Arts.21 for the episode on "The World of Books", mentions, "I appreciate everything that comes from the externals......meet, talk with someone, or hear and that something is most important for my work because people say things extraordinary all the time...... all the material from life can go to my work in one way or another", this blog is exactly the coming together of experiences of many who traveled the path of the Siddhas.
Speaking to Suren over the phone yesterday he appreciated what I was doing through the blog. In these pages, you shall not find the doctrines and philosophy, and other jargon often associated with the Siddhas. Here you shall find practical tips for a family man to pursue both his ideals and at the same time pursue the path. This has often been said by Tavayogi too, in making the call to come to the path.
The Siddhas too did not dump all this jargon on us but rather took us by the hand and walked us through the path giving us wonderful insights and practical tips. Just as there is a whole wide series of books published by Dummies, covering every aspect of life for dummies, we took heed and guidance from them. When there were beautiful sights and sounds that came from the bank as we sailed down the river of salvation, we chose not to berth alongside the banks and investigate. Watching from afar we continued on the journey. That is how we escaped the grips of the many temptations that were illusions that manifested to lure us away from His goal. The lineage saw to it that we did not fall for them. After having placed all the efforts in carrying out all their dictates all these years without fail, it is now the period where we are rewarded instantaneously.
In wanting to show our gratitude towards their compassion and grace, as we turned the pages of life looking for the ideal gift to give to God, we realized that nothing we gave them was going to match what they have given us. We had the sense to realize that whatever we decide to give in return shall be what they have given in the very first place. All we could do was repackage their gifts and treasures. If I had taken up reading the horoscope; learning Siddha medicine; both that would have come easily; reading the Nadi that was to be gifted; if I had taken up the gift of healing; if I had taken up the task of building the temple; or asked to be born again and again to serve him in all my births; I would never have sought the much-acclaimed Gnanam. Tavayogi who often drives the need for us to attain the state of Gnanam would today look down from the skies with pride for we had taken up only this bait among the many. Then again Agathiyar came to reveal that Gnanam was not something given by him but that we needed to earn through our efforts. Finally, he reveals the ultimate desire that one should carry. It was the desire not only to join their entourage but to become one of them. In short to become a Siddha. That would be the greatest gift of all time.
So when Lord Murugan asked me to build a temple for him, I remained silent but I guess he must have read my thought bubble where my mind questioned the need for yet another temple when there were numerous existing temples for him. He replied that I shall do it differently. I was asking myself what did he mean and in what sense shall it be different from others. How could one build a temple differently when there are Shilpa Shastras and Vastu Sastras to abide with? The self-proclaimed custodians of these ancient practices shall tear us down and the temple too. Looking back now I tend to see what he meant. When many heads of peedhams and ashrams followed to the word and carried on the many rituals that were handed down through their lineages out or respect and fear less they earn the wrath of their gurus if they were to deviate, modify or stop entirely such practices, I was given leeway in many of the rituals we carried out at AVM. I thought that maybe I was spared the whip because ours was a home puja and not a temple, peedham, or ashram in that sense. When I refused to budge, Lord Murugan sent Agathiyar to talk me into carrying it out. I refused to move either. Finally, Agathiyar told me he would do it. When the timeframe of 18 months given by him neared and there was nothing happening, Agathiyar came to reveal that he had tested me if I would fall for the trap. Thank God I was saved!
Ramalinga Adigal says it beautifully "போதும் என்ற மனமே பொன் செய்யும் மருந்து" and goes on to explain its meaning. "நீ போதும் என்று சொல்லும் நிலை உன்னை அறியாமல் நீ பெற்றுக்கொண்டுதான் இருக்கிறாய்."