Though I was disappointed to watch, read and see explanations, definitions, and theories, parts of which were assumptions made, pertaining to the Udal, Uyir, and Atma, I was glad that many writers shared views that I had too on several other matters. For instance, my daughter shared the following, a pertinent and timely message for us adults to listen to and adhere to. We have written at length about this too in this blog. It is a message to see things anew from the perspective of a child rather than impose our trash and baggage on these tiny minds. We will be surprised that they can teach us a lot provided we are willing to go to them and sit with them empty. For instance, the child is adventurous till we stop him or her. The child too doesn't judge.
There is a tendency to look down on other nations as we progress in technology and the economy. So too it is as we progress up the spiritual ladder we tend to brand others as outcasts and outlaws. So to speak looking down from the higher rungs or steps of the ladder it would literally be so. But every rung or step is there to lift us further up on the path of evolution. What we should do is to give a hand to lift others up too. This is conveyed as one of the 5 tenets extolled by Agathiyar in the Tamil Sangam in the past. But what if people refuse to accept help to bring change into their lives? What if they stick to what brings comfort and security, fame and fortune, dignity and pride, etc, becoming addicted to them and not able to drop them? Would they rather dare to venture out into the beyond? Agathiyar invites those who are courageous enough to drop whatever they are currently doing to escape being caught in its tentacles forever, and venture ahead into new territories and a new horizon. Hence he ask us to go ahead without having any guilt for those left behind.
Our ancestors were geniuses. Just as we have numerous checkpoints in a rally, they placed checkpoints on the journey of life. One could stop and refresh and continue later once he was prepared to do so. There was no dateline. Life went on at a quiet pace. There was no rush then to accomplish and achieve, to out beat another, to excel, etc. Each person helped another to stand on his two feet. They lived in a community and a larger society. Besides the great masterpieces they left behind that remain as monumental symbols or remind us of their existence and achievements, they delved into the unknown and unseen too. Take devotion for instance. They knew how to fathom the unknown and unseen and bring it into their daily lives. Hence they were never even separated for a moment from the workings of the universe and nature. Take the temple or place of worship for instance. One had an option to walk past the temple without entering the premises. When that something in him awakens him, he is suddenly driven to enter the temple. This is the Atma we have come to learn now. Similarly, some had come to AVM only to sit in their car while the rest of their family joined us in the Siddha puja. Some stayed outside and worshiped from afar. Some wanted to get their hands wet and serve Agathiyar. AVM accommodated everyone as the temples did.
Passing by the villages we see that the deities have to share the small space with these villagers. The temple served the devotees who could not afford the luxury of having a separate room in the homes for puja. A devotee could join many in the worship of the deities in the temples. The temple served the devotees who did not have the time to engage in full-length rituals and worship in their homes as they had to work the land from dawn to dusk. Although they only gathered on occasions at the temples to fulfill their spiritual and religious duties, the temples and their deities were an intimate part of their lives. They would give their lives to uphold its sanctity. While some on one extreme are ignorant of the very existence or refuse to believe in a creator, on the other extreme many cannot live without worship and the thought of the creator. Then there are the fence-sitters waiting to be invited and coaxed. We have the frustrated lot too who pulled out of the scheme of God when their wishes are not granted. These are a part of the wide spectrum of people and devotees. The man sleeping on the platform, one who shares his small living space with God, one who can afford a separate room for God all converge at the temple irrespective of their social and economic standing. The temple or place of worship embraces mankind of the same faith and belief, at times pulling in the curious onlookers from other faiths too. This is Sariyai.
Then there are those who take up puja in their own homes. The Siddhas have some step out of Sariyai or temple worship and bring those seekers on their path to carry out home puja and worship of the Siddhas. They then introduce the rituals and charity bringing them to Kriyai. With continued practice and the grace of the divine, the devotees move a step further in bringing the deities into their homes. The home then becomes a temple too.
Soon stepping into Yogam he realizes that though the creator, the divine, God exists in the temples and in the rituals, through subtle experiences that he gains in Yogam, he realizes that the divine is well established in the body or Udal, breath or Uyir, and as the Jeevatma too. Now he begins to seek an alliance with the Paramatma. Soon he comes to know that he never was separate from the source, the Paramatma.
We then come one cycle. We began on the path of Sariyai introduced by our parents and forefathers at home, and having gone on pilgrimages to numerous temples we took up the path of Kriyai or home or individual worship that includes Tavam (Austerities) and Aram (Charity) and later picked up Yogam from a guru or at an Ashram and finally settled back to the confines and comforts of our homes to secretly receive the divine transmission from God, falling into the state of Gnanam. The cycle closes with an understanding, confirming the understanding of our ancestors, that we are all a part of the bigger picture and each component is vital to the existence of all the rest. This realization is Gnanam. As the Chinese Ch’an master, Qingyuan Weixin famously wrote during the Tang Dynasty, "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is", and so it is with this Prapanjam.
“Before I had studied Ch’an for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest. For it’s just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers.” (Source: https://tricycle.org/magazine/first-there-mountain-then-there-no-mountain/),
How true, "But now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest." We begin to understand the reason our ancestors respected each and every living thing and all of creation and took the trouble to preserve creation. They worshipped nature and the five elements. They worshipped the trees, plants, and animals. They lived in harmony with the rest of creation. Our ancestors, each of them were, in fact, Gnanis in their own right. They were our gurus. The world is still in existence because of its vast contributions. We are here because of them too. We begin to respect our ancestors and the gurus too. In bringing us enlightenment on the nature of the Udal, Uyir, and Atma, Agathiyar has made us understand and accept everything as a piece of his nature, the Paramatma. We are linked and connected beyond flesh and blood as the Uyir and the Atma.
Swami Ramdas after a period of intense meditation on the slopes of Tiruvannamalai hill came out of his state and saw God in everything. He hurried to hug a passing beggar. But the terrified man fled from his holds. Ramdas then hugged a tree and cried out "Rama, Rama, Rama!" Swami Vishnudevananda after having his ego trashed by Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh saw the river Ganga not as a flowing river of water but Goddess Ma herself with her long flowing silvery tresses.
I at one juncture looked down on those peddling the science of prediction on the five-foot way, looking into our stars with the aid of horoscopes and almanacs, or through reading our palms, or the placement of conch shells or the use of budgerigar or common parakeet to retrieve cards. I asked myself why do they not use them to mend their fate? But when I took up learning to chart and analyze the horoscope and read the palm I realized that it was a huge science on its own. I had to crack my head to compute the horoscope and the lines on the palms and relate them to the planets that are forever in motion. In computer technology, for instance, a major change happens once in a while with patches and updates made available regularly, and an upgrade appearing before a completely new version eventually makes it into the market. In engineering, a new method or discovery comes along after many years bringing many to adopt the change then. But the simpleton looking into our horoscope charts and the palm has to update himself every second, keeping abreast with the movements of the planets to provide an effective and authentic Gochara palan or reading. I changed my prior opinion of them and regard them highly these days.
In taking up simple rituals and recitation of names, mantras, etc, during our home pujas, I began to appreciate the temple priests who make it a livelihood to serve God 24/7. Trained in various chants and mantras, and the rituals that accompany the Agamas required to be carried out in the temples, upon moving into a new house, during marriages, and prayers for the dead, are they not to be considered professionals in their own right then having started as early as 8 years old when we only dawn the robe of a professional after we complete post-secondary or tertiary education and begin practice in a professional career in the respective fields that we majored in?
I began to appreciate the Nadi readers too after I had the grace of the Siddhas and the fifty-plus Nadi readings. It was time-consuming for both the seeker of the Nadi and the reader to go through piles of leaves just to come to the correct one that carried details of the seeker. Then one has to have the gift or has to be trained in reading the writings on these leaves. In bringing an explanation and clarity to these revelations, he then has to have a vast knowledge of the sciences including astrology and medicine, or a database of the temples and places including its ancient names that have disappeared from the map and the knowledge of people, to correctly point them to these places too. He has to be well versed with the Siddhas' lives too and their worship to guide the seeker if the need arises. Indeed the Nadi readers too are gurus in their own right.
I have come to respect everyone right from the night soil bearer whom I saw do service in ridding the bucket of excreta we left behind daily to the trash and garbage collectors and people from all walks of life. If I were to find fault with them then it would mean that there is a fault in the stars. It means that I have found fault in God and his mechanism. I shudder to think so.