The first moment I came to know about Ramalinga Adigal was when a chief clerk at my place of work passed me several audio cassettes of the songs of Adigal. I was so drawn by the songs that I looked for the complete collection of his songs on cassette. I managed to find them at a local music outlet. I purchased all that they carried on their shelves. I was so impressed by these songs that I looked for the printed version of his "Arutpa". I managed to find the two-volume edition compiled by Ooran Adigal for the Samarasa Sanmarga Aaraichi Nilaiyam in Vadalur. I treasured them often going through the songs while playing the audio. It was sheer bliss listening to Adigal's songs set to music. I searched the net, bookstores, and frequented ashrams and peedhams wanting to know more about the saint. I was 'hungry' for information on Ramalinga Adigal. In 2003, I bought a scanned copy of his "Agaval" handwritten by him on the grounds of his Satya Gnana Sabai at Vadalur. This was another work of his to be treasured. I picked up several gems among the many, compiled and made them available at https://www.scribd.com/doc/234939257/Anandha-Kalipu
Ramalinga Adigal's songs were pleasant to the ear and I used to listen to them for hours but they did not make much sense then. This was in the early nineties. Although I had listened and read his Thiruarutpa several times before, as we walk his path and gain numerous experiences, we saw a resemblance and similarity in the experiences. He brings us on the same journey. For instance, in his plea to the Lord to open "The Door" and draw aside the curtains or veil and show himself, and take him into his arms and grant the merger, he came to beg of the divine to open the door for us. He comes to ask us to bring the effulgence within us, singing the Maha Mantra Arutperunjothi aloud.
Ramalinga Adigal's final achievement was a milestone in the history of man's achievement in evolution back to the source and origin. And to think that he was neither an avatar nor fell from the sky or heavens. He was just like us born to parents and raised by them with another four siblings.
Jnana Jyothiamma was blessed to set foot into Ramalinga Adigal's family home in Chennai on 2.8.2014. She had shared her experience at https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2014/08/jnana-jyothi-amma-at-ramalinga-adigals.html
Dear Shan,
It was a beautiful experience at Vallalar's place. It is very old house. The street is so narrow and dingy, with just enough space to walk. Harimanigandan told me that this was Old Madras. The current/present owner of that place is Mr Sripathy ..... I spent around five hours with this gentleman and it was unbelievable ..... I couldn't believe that I was sitting in the same room .... rather the same space/spot .... where Ramalinga Adigal had meditated for months on end, wherein Murugan finally Graced and Blessed him with HIS Dharshan.
How did he do it? Why are those who came later to follow his way and teachings not able or were never close to achieving his state? I guess he had done much of the work and placed the effort in his many previous births and finally achieved it some 147 years back.
On my very first meeting with Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal in 2005, I fell at his feet as I was about to leave. He stepped back and told me I should only fall at the feet of Agathiyar and no one else. I asked him to pardon me for my ignorance (Ariyaamai) to which he replied, “Ignorance has left you. Arul deham has replaced your Marul deham”. Tavayogi did not add anything further. Neither did I ask for an explanation. These were new words to be added to my vocabulary. I came to realized later that Tavayogi is a man of few words unless he takes the stage to address the public, where he can go on for hours. When Tavayogi mentioned those bodies, I went back to my collections of books for more information as to what he meant. I knew Ramalinga Adigal had sung on the various bodies and the changes that take place in them but his Arutpa songs were incomprehensible. I looked towards translations of them. I learned that Arul deham meant the Body of Grace and Marul deham meant the Delusive body.
Marshall Govindan in his book "Babaji and the 18 Siddhars Kriya Yoga Tradition", 1991, Kriya Yoga Publications, Quebec, Canada, (reproduced with permission via e-mail), describes the transformation from the obvious to the subtle.
Ramalinga described several successive transformations: The transformation of the mortal human body into the perfect body (Suddha deham), achieved by universal spiritual communion and devotion to god;
In many verse [in the Thiru Arutpa] Ramalinga sings of how his ‘impure body’ of ‘impure elements’ was transformed into a pure body of pure elements, called a golden body of immeasurable carats (Swarna deham). He sings that one has to think incessantly, until he feels and melts with love for God. In such a melting mood one bursts into tears and sings praise of god and soothing warmth is produced in the aspirant. When this universal love and sacred warmth develops, the body as well as the soul became prepared for the descent of the grace, in the form of light.
Rao Saheb K. Kothandapani Pillai BA in the foreword to Dr. C Srinivasan's " An Introduction to the Philosophy of Saint Ramalingam", writes,
These transformations occur in the body of the aspirant according to the intensity of spiritual warmth produced in him. The body is deprived of all its dross or impurities and made pure, fit for divine absorption (Suddha deham).
The above is the transition from the path of Sariyai moving into Kriyai. Next is,
The transformation of perfect body (Suddha deham) into the body of grace and light (Pranava deham);
The above is the transition to attain the Pranava deham through Yoga.
Rao Saheb K. Kothandapani Pillai wrote,
Conquest of death by imbibing supreme grace is the quintessence of his philosophy. The more he ascended in his holy pursuit the more was the descent of divinity in him.
If in all the above stages of progressive spiritual evolution we worked our way by adopting numerous methods and were required to place a concerted effort, that was driven by a burning desire to achieve the goal, which needed to be kept alive by strict adherence to the regimes and kept in check by self-discipline, the following stage is possible and attainable only by divine grace coming within this vessel and working its way in us.
In addition, the transformation into the body of wisdom (Gnana deham) and into the body of God supreme...The ultimate and greatest transformation in human evolution: a transmutation into the Godhead, which he referred to as merging with the body of supreme wisdom - the body of God supreme (Gnana deham).
We do not know how the Siddhas reached the above states as their documentation of similar experiences in the form of songs in the Tamil language of their era is difficult to comprehend and is heavily coded in Paribasai, we are told. A single word and a song could have several meanings according to the subject studying it. It could be interpreted in many ways. It would not be possible to decode or decipher them correctly unless the Siddhas themselves come to reveal what they wrote. But Ramalinga Adigal chose to document his religious and spiritual experiences in his Arutpa in a language that is comprehensible to the commoner too. He wanted everyone to come to have the divine experiences as he did. He did not hide it behind words that were incomprehensible, for of what use would that be to the layman who would then be deprived of an equal opportunity to reach the state of God.
Ramalinga Adigal in my eyes evolved to the state of God. He walked in our midst encouraging us to reach his state too. He proved that it was possible for anyone to achieve it. But why were his followers not able to follow in his footsteps and achieve the said state? By all means, they should have reached Godhead in droves? Were they not committed enough to the saint's cause? In the past two centuries after he dispersed his mortal frame back to its elements we have yet to see another perform a similar feat. Let us forget about the others, can you and I do it? As Pon. Govindasamy reveals the Divine's plan, in his book "Vallalaarum Brahma Gnana Sangamum", Bharath Book Bureau, Chennai, that the mission of the Divine is to save the souls that are riddled, locked, and chained by Aanavam, Kanmam, and Maayai and bring them back to his state of purity, the only obstacle then is the Self that is chained to these three impurities or Malam. The Siddhas have come as a savior to release us from this bond. We are here to transform this body to its basic elemental state that is beyond the meat and flesh of the physical body and its internal organs that have tagged along with our baggage of karma in all our years of living. The greatest challenge yet for us is to transform this body into light particles.
As he spoke his last words, on January 30th, 1874 at the age of 50, "I am in the body now and after a while; I shall enter into all the bodies of his creation. Close the door and lock it from outside. The room, if ordered to be opened, will only be void", that was true Samadhi indeed, merging with the source.
S. Shivajayakumar in an article on the net describes this dematerialization of Ramalinga Adigal within the four walls of Sidhi Valakam.
Therefore, Vallalar on his own has considered it necessary to disintegrate the divine constitution and disperse the sparks in every soul as seeds are sown in the fields.... His dematerialization of the physical body is not for re-materialization but to disintegrate his whole being permanently like the virtual particles which fill the cosmos.”