Just as Siddha physician Dr. Bhani spoke about how a particular song of saint Avvai carried several meanings according to the state of our evolvement and advancement, we tend to view God differently as we travel this path of discovery. The Dr. as a child and student in the school was told that the song was one of praise to Lord Ganapathy. When he took up Siddha medicine as his profession, his guru told him that the song referred to herbs and treatment of illness. Finally, when he became a disciple of Yogi Ramaiah he was told that the song referred to the attainment of Gnanam.
When I attended a brief engagement ceremony at a temple I was automatically brought to and pulled into the rituals that were conducted by the temple priest. He invoked Lord Ganapathy in the water vessel or kumbam or kudam and sang his praise prior to announcing the engagement of these youngsters. Except for the couple and their parents who sat with the priest to conduct the ritual of invocation, and were guided accordingly sadly the others had no idea what was going on. Neither did they care. They were engaged in talk. They failed to realize the auspiciousness of the moment. Come on man! We have invited God into our presence. Should not we show some respect to the Almighty? When we rise from our seats or raise our eyebrows the moment royalty or dignitaries or movie personalities drop in on an event, here we have invoked God and no one gives a damn!
When we placed the statue of the Urchava murthy's including Agathiyar from AVM on a small chariot and circumambulated the Mayuranathar temple in Dengkil, a devotee who attended the puja, kept talking all the way with another while following the chariot. What is the point in joining the walk and accompanying the divine if you are engrossed in continuous talk? Of course, they were not from the AVM family. The temple priest has a duty to remind devotees, highlighting the moments when we are to observe silence, explaining the significance of these rituals, and asking devotees or attendees that they show some respect in the house of God. But this does not happen. As poet Kannadhasan explained in his series "Arthamulla Indhu Mattham" that we play the nadaswaram to counter the negative talks if there was any that go on during these auspicious moments and other ceremonies, loud music is blasted at the temples to drown out these talks. Once at a temple puja the priest gave way for the members of the temple committee to sing the praise of God in Tamil as is customary and usually carried by Othuvars in most temples. Four elderly men sang a string of songs. When the priest continued in Sanskrit these men went back to their talk. I was surprised that the priest who was obviously irritated stopped singing suddenly. What was heard in the silence that prevailed then was the voices of these four men talking aloud. As they were of old age and hard of hearing and as the music was blaring load at the venue they spoke loud to be heard. It was indeed an embarrassing moment provided they were not thick skin.
The AVM family is a disciplined lot. In all the pujas we held no one picks up the phone to answer or distracts others with their talk. They observe the puja and come up when called for to participate as they understood that incessant talk hinders the thoughts of the other devotees and disrupts the vibrations and energy that prevail. But when we are conducting puja in a public place we cannot dictate nor control others. But yet members of AVM did let loose of their guard. When we made our journey to India to participate in the opening of the new Kallar ashram premises, we dropped in on numerous temples along the way. Being youngsters they carried their stories and jokes into the compounds of the temple right until they stood before the deity at the inner sanctum where only then they quieted down. After visiting Swamimalai I told the commander-in-chief of the delegation it had to stop. We should learn to pay respect to the deity residing in these temples. The message was delivered and they all abide till the end of our pilgrimage. On another occasion where we went on a spiritual tour of local temples in Malaysia, we reminded the entourage that the cave temple in Sungai Siput was sacred as the Siddhas were still meditating in it. Everyone abided by the rule to observe silence. As we left the cave temple to board our bus, another busload of travelers and devotees rushed into the cave temple conversing loudly which saddened me. I was sad that people do not know when to switch off their talk. I guess the day God pulls the plug and their breath leaves their body, that is the day they stop talking.
As I used to frequent bookshops seeking books on Siddhas I had to point out to the manager not to place the granite statues of our Gods and Goddesses on the floor as we tend to kick them as we reach for the books displayed in the racks. During the next visit, I was surprised to see these statues placed in a separate room where we had to remove our shoes too. The manager had taken heed of my observation.
I too was one who never knew the significance of the rituals done during the auspicious moments back then. I only understood its significance after I came to conduct rituals myself. I invoked the Siddhas and deities. The Siddhas came immediately and brought the deities along. So these days I can connect and understand the meanings of these rituals that are merely seen as symbolic in our culture, tradition, and religion. Now I understand how and why my guru Supramania Swami could sit for one solid hour without moving a limb or moving his eyelid staring at the abhisegam done to the Sivalingam installed above his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar's samadhi. These days when I opt to bathe Agathiyar's bronze statue I feel a coolness drench my body too which reminds me of Agathiyar telling me that he was pleased that I had cooled him down, என்னை நீ குளிர வைத்தாய். The rituals are not some fancy stuff but indeed connect us to the divine.
This brings me to the concept of the temple that has been lost in time. When one studies the structure of the age-old temples and their surroundings we realize the significance of every stone and structure laid in place. Our ancestors never lighted these ancient temples brightly. Devotees who walk in from the bright outdoors and the sunlight come within the inner walls and into the partially covered verandahs of the temples where the light dims. The eyes are given sufficient time to accommodate the dim natural light that comes through and within from carefully aligned openings. If he was accustomed to the noises outside in slowly making his way walking past the high walls of the temple and into the partially covered area and finally into the fully covered spaces of the temple, the devotee hears little of the din, bustle, and noise of the world outside. His thought and mind are brought into focus and he begins to concentrate on seeing the deity and getting his or her darshan. Standing before the deity he is shown the face of God only during the moments of Arathi or showing of the camphor flame. So the devotee is on the lookout lest he misses that split moment of darshan. These days with the advent of electricity temples are brightly lit and man's sight and vision are dispersed in all directions. Another culprit that distracts our attention these days is smartphones. We have become so engrossed in recording these moments that we fail to live in them. We have become so dependant on the camera lens to capture these magical moments and the memory card to store and keep a record of these memories rather than engage our senses in capturing these rare moments and store these sights and sounds in our memories.
Another sad thing that takes place is when man and his establishments begin to take control of sacred spots in the wild and in nature and turn it into a temple or a place of worship too. First, he brings in a painting, then a statue and rituals follow. Word spreads and devotees come in throngs. The aftermath is that they litter the place. The very sanctity of the place changes or is lost. When Tavayogi took me to the Uthiyur caves in 2005 where he had meditated during his days of roaming throughout India, it was a bare and empty cave. When I went again with the AVM family in 2016 there were paintings of Siddhas and used clay oil lamps scattered all over. We cleaned and tidied up the place. When Tavayogi took me to a cave in Kutrallam he was surprised to see Agathiyar's cave renamed Avvai Kugai. When I visited the cave temple in Sungai Siput with my family the first time there were already buntings of paintings of the Siddhas all over and stone statues too aligned in the cave. This is how things are tainted or changed over time with the advent of man into regions that were once inaccessible except to the few who shun society and walked away from all luxuries in search of the divine. Can we not return from these places without disturbing them? The nomads in the plains of Siberia surprised me in a documentary when after they dismantled the tents that they had pitch earlier to graze their animals, they made good the area they occupied never leaving a trace of them being there. We on the other hand spoil everything. Great saints too would never leave a trace or footprint of their existence. Agathiyar asked us if there were any ashrams built and left by them? What we see existing now is a product of men who came after them.
I used to ask Agathiyar why Kallar ashram was not a crowd puller as we see many other ashrams pull in the crowd. When people come donations pour in. These ashrams need to be maintained and sustained. They need to foot the bill for food that is served free and to pay the utility bills. Agathiyar replied bluntly that no crowd would gather there. Only those seeking Gnanam shall drop by. This is a rare find and rare to come by and spaced far apart. Speaking to a devotee who had visited Kallar Ashram several days before and who shared her photos in my last post she felt that it was a blessing that very few visits this ashram as Kallar Ashram could still maintain its cleanliness, beauty, and vibrancy. Indeed it is true. Watching a documentary on China we are shown droves of devotees making their way up steep tracks and steps to a temple perched atop a mountain immediately after the lockdown was lifted. Sadly while these people made their way up, a group of workers had to let themselves down into the ravine and deep gorges using ropes to hold on to and hanging precariously off the face of these slopes and rocks, picked up all the rubbish and plastics visitors threw into the ravine. On the other hand, I was surprised to see a documentary where Chinese school children come to school and cleaned it up before starting classes. I dread to think what would happen if our schoolchildren were given these tasks in school. Parents would break into the school office and make a scene. It is understandable when many homes have maids these days and the child doesn't even wash up his or her plates after having his food, and the man of the house has the maid pick up the glass from which he drank, how would they allow their child to clean a public toilet in school? Gandhi stands aloof and gains my respect when he had his wife Mirabai clean the toilet with him and others at his hermitage. When I held the post of the President of the Parents-Teachers Association in the school where my daughter studied a parent told the teachers to discipline his kid. I told him that it was not their job. As it is the teachers were overworked. I held my stand that it was the parents who should discipline their kids. How can a child ride his parent's motor without their knowledge I asked him?
In India I understood that the authorities had banned people from climbing Arunachala hill some years back for in their eagerness to visit sadhus and saints in the caves, the public left behind rubbish and littered the place. Cigarette butts thrown around had ignited bush fires too. Even the sadhus residing on the hill were asked to come down I understood to prevent public venturing up the hill. Man spoils nature by his habits. But there are some cultures that make us proud. I was amazed to see a Japanese man in my school days walk the length of the railway station at Taiping looking for a trash can or rubbish bin to place his cigarette butt in. Finding none what could he do but to throw it aside. Some years back as I was peeing in the washroom at a mall that has its origin in Japan, the supervisor walked in with the cleaner to inspect it. I was surprised to see him go beyond visual surveillance or checks and dipped his hand into the strainer in the urinal and lifted it to inspect further. The Japanese are known to be very particular about cleanliness and their surroundings having being trained in the family and in school further. When our children are taught to read and write the first day in school, Japanese students were taught good virtues, manners, cleanliness, and all the communication skills one needs to live in society. Only after that are they taught the academic subjects. Good habits have to instill young. The habit becomes our character later. Our character announces us even before we make an entrance. I am glad that my career working with the armed forces taught me to observe cleanliness and discipline. It taught me to be punctual and strict too. It has become my character.
When people are making their way to Siddha samadhis in the wake of many travelogs and personal vloggers and television stations covering these places, Agathiyar told us how to attend to ourselves when we visit samadhis. He asked us bluntly who are we to give life and power or shakti to these places, implying the many rituals conducted by the managements or caretakers or those that we carry out are not required. He says that the one who lies within the samadhi had attained a powerful state and had no need for rituals further. What we are to do is to sit quietly and imbibe and take in the vibration and the powers or shakti that prevails in these places.
I understand Bharathi better these days. He was a Siddha who worked to bring a change in the mindset of his people. Ramalinga Adigal too tried hard to bring changes to the society of his time. It might seem like I am washing dirty linen in public but some things have to be said. All these are reminders for me to never do the same. I guess the reason I am shown all these weaknesses in our society is that Agathiyar wants me to learn lessons from others' doings. If I was to build a temple I would avoid all these flaws. I guess that is the reason Lord Muruga said I shall do it differently. It is only when we have learned to do something that we can unlearn it or drop it. Having us go through Sariyai that was pointed to us and nurtured in us by our parents, with coming into the path of the Siddhas the guru taught us rituals. We understood what was being done. These rituals laid the bridge connecting both our worlds or realms. This facilitated their move into our world. Some day we shall be led across this bridge to their world never to return unless with another specific purpose.