Watching the movie "Dhanusu Raasi Neyargale" I saw much resemblance with the lead character. I was so into astrology back then that I learned to chart my horoscope. I went into numerology and went looking for gemstones to wear. I was damn superstitious too. Imagine I had left my bachelor home to attend a wedding of a very close friend when a cat crossed my path. I drove back home immediately. That was how ignorant I was back then. When some sense dawned on me in later years I asked myself if I would have turned back if the cat had crossed while I was on my way to my own wedding. How stupid could I be.
Those were the days where I read much about religion, tradition and custom and was steeped in its believes. But that is how people have held a hold on us all this while. Even as recent as a few years back, I was told by a temple priest that Gods dwell in the temples only certain hours. Hence, we were asked to carry out our charity aid during those hours when the temple is open so that they shall know what we are doing. How ridiculous I thought to myself. God who is beyond space and time has been trapped in a time warp by man. The all-prevailing energy that is God has been confined and locked up in shrines and temples by tradition. God who is in both you and me has now been locked up within these four walls. God who exists in all things has been confined to man-made objects and structures. If the heart and the breath that is Uyir that beats 24/7 and the spinning or rather blossoming effect that is felt in the crown of my head is felt even as I ease myself, I wonder how God has been brought to the state of a white-collar worker.
Have we ever wondered why we tend to automatically close our eyes when in a state of pleasure or profound bliss, be it in partaking good food, listening to soul stirring music, standing in prayer before our favorite deities or even in engaging in sex with our partner? We are automatically brought to the abode of the divine who dwells within in these moments. A friend who visited the Lord at Thirupathy up close, closed his eyes standing before him. This was made possible by an Indian friend in the security forces in India who used his contacts to help him get a clear view of the Lord. But my friend was jolted out of his brief moment of ecstasy and communion with the Lord by a blow on his back from his friend. He had given the blow as he was disappointed that my friend had shut his eyes the moment, he lay his eyes on the Lord as he had taken the trouble to bring him just meters away from the Lord to watch the Lord's beauty.
God has very much become part and parcel of me these days. Nay he was there all along. It is just that I have come to realize it after ignorance left me. The Siddhas came to break this ignorance. The Siddhas broke my hold on these beliefs. These Siddhas were radicals who advocated social changes. I understand now why Bharathi threw caste and religion out. I understand now why Ramalinga Adigal who came before him too threw them aside. Only then did he see the Jothi he says.
Just as the Siddhas removed our ignorance, we are glad that we released the Siddhas from the time warp and from the pages of the books and poems. The Siddhas who were trapped in the leaves of these pages and occasionally became the subject of curiosity and study of many have been given a new leaf. They now live among us.