We are one confused lot. It arises because we believe in everything and follow everything. It is all right to believe in everything but we need to just stick to one practice. We tend to chose and pick things including doctrines to suit our needs each time hence forever switching paths. Hence what we have is a mess in our hands, entangled in all sorts of beliefs and understanding. Only when this knot is removed, nay, it's a ball of string now rather than a knot, that the string can stretch out further.
For instance, if we believe in fate and are willing to accept it then it is best that we leave our problems as it is, without interfering. For instance, the saints in wanting to end their cycle of birth do not lift their hands to change their fate. If they come down with an illness they submit to it. They null their senses and live with the disease. They know that their karma has to be lived out. Otherwise, they shall need to come back to payback. Hence in their determination to achieve their goals, they stomach all illnesses, humiliation, condemnation, etc. Except for their name, they do not leave a mark behind which could become a reason to come back or for their rebirth. They settle the score here itself. There is no heaven nor hell waiting for them elsewhere to gain rewards or be punished. They take on the punishment squarely here and right now. They take on the rewards too ending all the good merits that they have gathered in this life and the many previous lives. Supramania Swami left all his merits earned through his 40 years of tapas here.
On the other hand, if we believe in our ability to steer our lives away and out of these problems, then go forward without hesitation. Find solutions and overcome them.
If we believe in fate, destiny, and karma and its hold on us and want to change that forever then we need to look into the sacred texts, talks, and songs of the saints who beat them to their game and arose out of their clutches.
But whatever we do, we need to take the bull by the horn and decide once and for all what we want in life and where we want to head. With us householders, we have to treat our illness so that we are alive to bring bread and butter to the dining table. We have to be hale and healthy. We have to be alert in mind. We have to think how wisely we can handle all the things that come our way as we try to raise a family. The Siddha path provides for both worlds. We are taught to take care of our bodies and mind and live with society. We are told to carry out our responsibilities and allocate some time to worship too.
The Siddhas accept all forms of worship never deriding another. For instance when many are known to stay away from the worship of deities whom man classifies as lesser deities or Siru Deivam, Agathiyar brought us to know them too. They have a role and purpose too lending support to the system in place. He wanted us to learn that everything under his creation and all the forms he takes are crucial to our development, both material and spiritual. The worship of these deities is very prevalent in Malaysia having followed our ancestors who migrated over from the villages in the Indian subcontinent in the past. They are often found in shrines and small temples in rubber estates and tea plantations where the first Indians settled together. When the workers had to move out as the estates switched hands and made way for housing and administrative offices or highways etc, the deities were continued to be worshipped in their new homes. They are considered ancestors and forefathers; caretakers and guardians to these families. They had enormous powers to fulfill man's wishes too. So we take the hands of these deities, the Siddhas, the Gods, and the Goddesses to lead us to an understanding of life and bring us clarity and eventually gain salvation and emancipation or Mukthi and Siddhi.
As I studied in a missionary school the Saint Georges Institution I always dropped by at the school chapel and sat to listen to the school chapel choir sing the praise of the Lord. I have always enjoyed church worship too. I have enjoyed sitting in with devotees of Lord Krishna singing soulful bhajans too. All these involve devotees' participation. But in the temple, there is hardly any active participation from the devotees. Sadly it is passive in nature where the Othuvar sings and the rest of us listen, provided we do listen. Sariyai does start from here. But the temples do not provide the avenue for us to give ourselves in service. This major component that is a starting point in our journey is missing in our lives. There is a great divide here.
To fill that gap Agathiyar brought us to start the worship of the Siddhas in our homes. We recited the names of the Siddhas. Bringing us to rituals or Kriyai, Agathiyar got us to carry out Abhisegam to his statue and lighting the Homam. In the beginning, it was similar to the rituals in temple worship just that it was now conducted by us and in the confines of our homes and done to our leisure. No strict rules were laid though. Just as Agathiyar had us do charity to one and all without evaluating their needs for a start, to bring us to sink and sync into the idea and thought of giving, he brought us into his worship bringing the seeker, aspirant, devotee, or the curious onlooker too. When we had made it a habit to give, looking out for instances to give and share, he slowly told us to give only to the needy and hungry. So too he closed his door on all bringing those who watched, learned, and participate actively at AVM puja to carry on in their respective homes. They were now "licensed to worship." Agathiyar's wish was to see each home become his garden or Agathiyar Vanam (AVM).
Switching me to continue yoga from where I left and introducing it to the few who stayed back, through Mahindren, they drove us aggressively to practice it as if there was very little time left. We used to ask ourselves why the urgency in pushing us to go within. They brought us to adopt techniques to go within. It was like Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, a prominent Russian and Soviet agronomist, botanist, and geneticist engaged in the study of food grains and genetics to heighten food production in times of famine and drought, thrived on doing his work telling others "Too little time, too much to do." It was like Eliza, wife of Alexander Hamilton trying to make sense of her husband's urgency to do so much in a little time, "I try to make sense of your thousands of pages of writings, You really do write like you're running out of time." The Siddhas too each time they came pushed us all to sing with passion, rushed through the Abhisegam, asked if we did read the texts that they had referred us to, and instructed us to perform Yoga before them. There was both an urgency and a seriousness that we saw during the past year and a half. One wonders why?
On a different note, Balakumaran Aiya in revealing the video of what had taken place when Yogi Ramsuratkumar touched his head and back after he asked if there was God and if the Yogi could show him, gives us an idea of the often spoken about energies hidden deep within us waiting to be arisen by the touch of a guru. We are glad that he decided to release the video after 22 years.
Can the touch of a guru be so powerful? Srinath Raghavan wrote about the touch of a guru on Fb.We all live in a personal bubble of our own,
A bubble that is highly colorful but opaque,
So nothing outside its purview is ever seen by us,
We live and die our life, inside this fantastic bubble,
Thinking and believing whatever in it is the only truth,
Nothing outside can ever exist and it should not too,
We can very well break its brittle wall from inside,
But we choose not to, for the fear of being exposed to uncertainty,
When with the touch of the Master from outside, the bubble breaks,
That's when we will finally realize, how foolish and limited we were,
To have accepted the truth that's known to us, as the Final Truth...
~ Freedom is breaking the bubble and seeing and feeling the reality beyond your own.
His master gave him one word that completely transformed him. And he also mentions he had to spend such a long time with Bhagawan Nithyananda to receive it. Bhagawan Nithyananda, who always traveled barefoot, to everyone’s surprise once wore sandals. “Take these sandals, put them on,” he instructed Muktananda. Muktananda questioned his guru, “Gurudev you have worn these Padukas. How can I wear them?’’ But nevertheless, he did accept them. Then at that very moment, he saw a ray of light coming from Bhagawan Nithyananda’s eyes and it went straight into him. He could feel it too.
"That word (Guru Om), which I receive after so many years, spread through my body from head to toe like wildfire carried by the wind. It produced in me both inner heat and the coolness of joy. Before meeting my guru I had practiced many different kinds of yoga, but it was I who had practiced them. However, that word activated a spontaneous yoga within me. I was filled with amazement."
After the awakening of the Shakti, this process of yogic movements began to take place within my entire body. The pulsation of his ecstasy pervades my entire body like the movement of the wind. The Kriyas were his, the yoga was his, and meditation took place because of him. The final message that I received was from him. The power of his word permeates each of my blood cells; the fluids of my entire body are his. That is why I am joyful. Gurudev entered me and replaced all my bodily fluids with his. He evicted me and took up residence in me. He annihilated my ego. By making my individuality his, he became me. This is the guru’s compassion. Only when I lost myself in the ecstasy of Bhagawan Nithyananda did I realize who he was.
Margaret Simpson wrote on the moment of ecstasy experienced by Swami Muktananda,
It was searing red hot and so bright that it dazzled his eyes. Every hair on Baba’s (Muktananda) body rose in awe. He kept repeating, “Guru Om, Guru Om, ” He lost all sense of himself. He only came out of it when Nithyananda made a sound. As he set off for home that day carrying Bhagawan’s sandals on his head Muktananda was filled with wonder and gratitude.