Ramalinga Adigal lived only as recent as the nineteen century (5 October 1823 to 30 January 1874). He was born into a modest family. Like us, he took to temple worship and worship at home. His favorite spot was the Kandasamy (Kandakottam) Temple in Chennai and his sport and pastime was worshipping Lord Murugan. Later as a young adult, he visited Lord Murugan at Thirutani, Lord Shiva and Vadivudai Ammai in Otriyore, and Lord Nadarajah in Chidambaram. Arriving at Vadalur, he started the following establishments; the Sanmarga Sangam, the Sathya Dharma Salai where he fed the poor, and finally envisioned and built the Sathya Gnana Sabai where he worshipped God in the form of light and called him Arutperunjhoti. He stands out as an exemplary with regard to gratitude. When one reads the songs one would realize the amount of gratitude Adigal had poured forth. He poured forth his spiritual experiences in more than six thousand verses which were compiled into the "Thiruarutpa". The "Thiruarutpa" is full of the experiences of the Saint and he has handed it down to us so that we too could follow in his footsteps. Tavayogi once told me listening to the "Thiruarutpa" itself is sufficient for one to realize Gnanam.
Swami Chidvilasananda in writing on our scriptures in "Inner Treasures", a Siddha Yoga Publication, 1995, could not have described it better.
"What you are reading in the scriptures is the personal record, the experience of seekers who went across the sea of ignorance. They became known as the Siddhas, the knower of the truth, the great ones, and the elevated ones. You are reading the wisdom that came from all their effort, inspiration, and sacrifice. These verses are what they heard when they reached the most profound states of meditation. So, when you study the scriptures, what you are really doing is spending time in the company of these great souls."
Carl Sagan in an excerpt from the 11th episode of his legendary 1980s Cosmos series, titled “The Persistence of Memory” in referring to the book says that "A book is a proof that humans are capable of working magic."
"What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time."
Indeed in reading his "Thiruarutpa" we are inside Ramalinga Adigal's mind. Though he merged with the source in 1874, as Carl Sagan says, he is speaking clearly and silently inside our heads, directly to us. We are glad that he decided to share his songs and writings. Imagine if he had not done so. We would be lost souls.
Swami Chidvilasananda wrote that Tukaram Maharaj chanted incessantly, pouring all the insights of his perfected sadhana into songs too. These are not merely songs but spiritual experiences of the saints. Nay, as Ram Dass wrote in "Paths to God - Living the Bhagavadgita", Harmony Books, 2004, the Gita is Krishna.
"You see, you have to understand: the Gita isn‘t a book about Krishna - the "Gita" is Krishna." Similarly, the "Thiruarutpa" is Ramalinga Adigal. Ramalinga Adigal is the "Thiruarutpa."
He finally settled in Sithivalagam in Mettukupam. Above and beyond these achievements is that he dematerialized. S. Shivajayakumar in an article on the net describes his feat.
"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.... he disintegrated his whole being permanently like the virtual particles which fill the cosmos."
An article on the website http://www.ramalinga.com carries this great moment of merger seen in meditation by Mother Mira Alfassa. This is indeed a rare account of the mystery behind Ramalinga Adigal's dematerialization.
"I had the rare vision of Vallalar's universal luminous golden form. In fact, the immensity of his golden form contained in it the whole universe. This form too disappeared from my view and was replaced by another vision in which I saw the golden light of truth-knowledge and grace entering into all the directions more speedily than lightning. It permeated and pervaded the whole universe and the farther pure worlds of consciousness. It entered into our earth and all its crores of the physical forms of beings and objects and in the apparently insensible matter and even in the very dark realm of the vast in conscience. All the forms that were permeated by the golden light of truth changed into golden forms of beings and objects. The golden light entered my whole adhara including the physical body. My body felt in all the cells vibrations of ease and pleasantness."
On this website, it is mentioned too that,
"Only the grace light is the inexhaustible feed that may return the body to be full of force and vigor, restoring the DNA chains fatally damaged by the madness of the human who runs towards self-destruction. The grace light may transmute the cells of the body in total and definitive manner, for the full achievement of the golden immortal body. Then the divinity descends and settles in the disciple's heart, which becomes entirely filled by him. Captivated by the ardent fire of the divine essence, the disciple stops thinking, feeling, acting, and even existing. He has become pure love and compassion, and this is what he spills on all the beings. This secret, which has been hidden and now is divulged according to the explicit wish of Ramalinga, points to the disciple's heart as the end of the path shown by him. To say "heart" isn't referring to the physical heart or the heart chakra, although its location is near to both of them. The heart is the purest and hidden place, only stepped by God. Ramalinga himself revealed this secret in this verse: The boundless benevolent Jothi abides in the heart of those who have realized the deathless body as clearly as the fruit in their hands." Lord Muruga as Kugan is said to reside in the cave or Kuhai in the heart chamber. Tavayogi in autographing my copy of his book "Andamum Pindamum" wrote "Aandavan Uraigindra Edam Thangal Ullam, Athuve Payanathin Thodakkamum, Mudivum" when translated meant, "God lives in your heart, that is where the journey starts and ends too" and signed off.
Like these scriptures that came down to us, by the grace of the Siddhas we are blessed to read the Nadi that guides us to a better life, both spiritual and material. It amazes me even now to think how my life took a turnaround after I saw the Nadi. Agathiyar showed me, my gurus, through his Nadi. When we came to Tavayogi he had a mantra for us. "Arul Gnana Jothiye Agathin Jothi, Tani Perung Kadavule Agatheesar Aavaar." This mantra describes Agathiyar as the Light, the Light within, and the Most Compassionate God.
Satguru Shivaya Subramuniya Swami equates God and the Guru the same too.
"He taught me humility, infused in me the light of Devotion, granted me the grace of his feet. After holy Interrogation, testing me entirely, he revealed to me the real, the unreal, and the very unreal. Undoubtedly, the Shiva- Guru is Eraivan, the worshipful Lord himself."
I am indebted and grateful to Agathiyar for he had switched the train cabin in my sleep and had me travel a different path, that which he chose for me. He switched my horoscope, he switched Nadi, he cleared my karma, removed me from my circle of family and friends and had me tread behind Supramania Swami and Tavayogi instead. As the director John Milius who made "Conan the Barbarian" told Arnold Schwarzenegger that "if we would not have had Arnold we would have had to build one", my guru Tavayogi on his part broke me into pieces and assembled me back piece by piece. Tavayogi was fond of telling me that we do not need this and that every instance, making me drop my hold on my things. He stuck an arrow into my heart the very day I invited him to grace my home. He told me that I was disillusioned about the kaavi or ochre attire he wore and that I thought that he had something hidden beneath it. I was wrong he said. He was just an Aasamy (Fraud) and not a Samy (Godman).
When the Siddhas come into our life, they hold our train of thoughts and start diverting them to positive things that bring in positive energy. When we submit ourselves to them, they work on us, making us a better person. Eventually, after having helped shaped us into a good person, we become tools in their hands to help set right our lives and those close to us in our own little way. For some, their mission is even bigger when it affects a major portion of the community and the world. These are the Siddha masters ordained to bring change to the people and the world around us.