I envy our saints who could be indifferent yet compassionate living in society. While many take to the jungles, mountains, and interiors living away from society equally many choose to stay amongst us living a life of piety. We just can't seem to take a similar stand and show mercy, compassion, and love towards god's other creations when all we are confronted with is enmity, arrogance, stupidity, annoyance, etc. No wonder Jesus, Buddha, Ramalinga Adigal, and others who professed love are seen as divine and Godly. Can we reach their state? I wonder. I guess it needs thousands of births more for us to be polished and molded into their form and reach their state.
It is truly difficult to live with principles in these trying times. How is it that the saints could do it I wonder? I ask the Lord to guide and show me how it is done. Telling him again last night that I had wasted some precious three years in not being able to sit in his company, contemplate and go within as he had very much wanted me, not that I did not attempt but he had chosen to place numerous obstacles that prevented me from doing so. The neighborhood has become a nightmare. The sight, smell, and noise were driving me crazy. As I became depressed figuring out a way out of the many obstacles laid in my path just when Agathiyar wants me to go within, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. The following song highlights this beautifully.
ராம நாமமே பவதாரகமாய் அருளும்
ராமதாசரை நம் யோகி அடைந்திடவே
ப்ரேமையுடன் ராம நாமத்தையே குருவும்
ஞான தீக்க்ஷையாய் அருளிடவே
ஏக உணர்வாய் ராம தியானத்திலே ஆழ்ந்து
மோனப்பொருள் தானென்றுணர்ந்திடவே ...
Its translation to my ability,
'Finally, Yogi Ramsuratkumar sought Ramdas who extolled the greatness and sacredness of Rama Nama or Lord Rama's name. The guru gave the Lord's name as the Dheeksa mantra to Yogi, something that he too had held sacred. With a sole concentration on the Lord's name, the yogi went within. He realized he was himself the sound of silence.'
Lord Muruga recently told me through a devotee that silence was the ultimate state.
Even after several earlier visits to Swami Ramdas, Ramdas did not inspire the Yogi. But when the Yogi was ready to receive Ramdas, the latter wasn't. The Yogi had to battle with Ramdas to gain a place in his heart and ashram. S. Parthasarathy writes on this in his book, BIOGRAPHY OF YOGI RAMSURATKUMAR - THE GODCHILD OF TIRUVANNAMALAI (AMARAKAVIYAM).
‘Systematically Swami Ramdas and Mataji Krishnabai made Ram Surat Kunwar (the Yogi’s original name) behave like a mad man and made the world believe that he had become mad. They drove him out of the ashram forcibly so that he would remember them constantly. They used harsh language whenever he was before them among the crowd of the devotees. By doing so Swami Ramdas and Mataji Krishnabai removed his ego totally. But it took a very long time. In the process, the pain, the sufferings he experienced were acute.’
‘Ram Surat Kunwar again asked Swami Ramdas to allow him and his family to live in the ashram. He said, “Papa, I have come here with the great faith that you would allow me with my family to live here. I am not able to work anywhere since the initiation. If you drive me away, where shall I go and how can I live?” Papa vehemently answered, “Go and beg. You cannot live in the ashram. There are enough people in the ashram to work. Remember, under a big tree, another big tree cannot grow. Only thorny bushes and grass alone will grow.” Ram Surat Kunwar shocked on listening to the words of his Master exclaimed, “Papa, should I beg for my food? Am I a beggar, Papa?” Papa, without answering, went inside. From that day Ram Surat Kunwar called himself a beggar. His Guru, His Master, His God asked him to beg and so he became a “beggar”.’
S. Parthasarathy quotes Yogi Ramsuratkumar in his book,
‘In later years Yogi Ramsuratkumar said “Nobody can love this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas and nobody can torture this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas. My Father killed this beggar because He loved this beggar. This beggar died at the holy lotus feet of my father Swami Ramdas in the year 1952. After that my Father alone exists and not this beggar. This name Yogi Ramsuratkumar is not this beggar’s name; it is the name of my Father. Father would always shower his grace on the people who remember this name.’
"Papa (Ramdas) did not allow this beggar to understand Him. The time was not ripe. This beggar had to wait till Papa Himself revealed His Divinity to this beggar, to make this beggar understand that Papa was his Father." – Yogi
S. Parthasarathy writes further,
‘Without adopting any rituals and not leaning on any traditional conditioned customs of the religion, Ram Surat Kunwar braved his path with the pure faith upon his Guru and reached the other shore safely... Without preaching any conventional religious practices, Yogi asked the people to remember his own Name which would evolve them to the highest Spiritual State.’
Swami Muktananda mentions in his book SECRET OF THE SIDDHAS, Siddha Yoga Publication, 1980, that 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.
Muktananda says,
"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."
Margaret Simpson writes,
'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.'
Swami Muktananda says his joy arises from the one word - Guru Om; from the churning of the love between the guru and the disciple. He adds, "Only the guru can know that delight and taste the elixir that arises in every pore of the body." Ramalinga Adigal too sings of a similar experience and says that only the Lord knows.
As I sat with my wife yesterday to do homam and abhisegam, I read a song written by Bhogar on his guru Agathiyar from a book "Agastya Devamirtham" that was given to me by Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar during her recent visit to AVM.
குறுமுனி துதிமாலை
அளவிலா அருள்நிறை ஆனந்த வடிவே ஐயா
அருள்வேண்டி தான் தொழுது உரைத்திடுவேன் போகன்யான்
குறித்திடவே குருநாதன் குறுமுனிவன் நாமம்தன்னை
தானதுவும் புவியினிலே நிகரில்லா வேதம் அப்பா
Like Yogi Ramsuratkumar, in the very first stanza itself, Bhogar has established the name of his guru as the supreme Veda.
In a Nadi revelation, we are told of Bhogar's faith, stand and hold on the name of his guru Agathiyar. Agathiyar reveals the extent of humbleness in his student Bhogar. When once Agathiyar asked Bhogar if he knew Mother Goddess, Bhogar replied he did not know. When asked if he knew Lord Vishnu, he replied he did not know too. When Agathiyar asked if he knew Lord Muruga, again Bhogar to everyone's surprise answered "no". How could one who was behind the making and installation of Lord Muruga's statue at Palani not know him? When asked if he knew about the herbs, he replied in the negative, when he had sought, collected, and done extensive research on numerous herbs. Bhogar had replied that he did not know to all the questions put forward by Agathiyar. This surprised all those gathered. Finally, when asked what he knew, Bhogar answered that he only knew the Holy Feet of his Guru, Agathiyar.
I got the message. We are so used to techniques and methods, either receiving a mantra, a practice, or a ritual to do that we fail to realize it is all in the name of the guru. How foolish I was to await further guidance, technique, and method even after Agathiyar had brought it all to a halt. Yet we stand before him waiting for more. As Mahindran had made me realize Agathiyar's words in telling me that the past three years were not a waste of precious time as I had learned to let go, the group, the organization, the puja, the yoga practice, the Satsang, the charity etc, I am back in the original place chanting Agathiyar's name that was given to me during my initiation by Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal. The mountain is a mountain again. Chanting his name shall bring us within.