When is the right time to begin our spiritual journey? If I had a calling to see the Nadi that changed my life, having me step into the path of the Siddhas late in life only when I was 43 years of age, Ramalinga Adigal had consumed a soul as early as 29 years of age. But Agathiyar had to remind him that she had to settle her karma and responsibilities first before she could set out to do what Adigal intended. Agathiyar had the reader of ths blog start with Lord Ganapathy's mantra just as I was asked to in my first Nadi reading. Another young couple who were drawn to AVM too after reading this blog were asked to carry out Siddha Puja and given a Vaasi practice to follow for start by Agathiyar. Then there were the thirty-odd youngsters in their late twenties and early thirties whom Agathiyar send over to my home that became Agathiyar Vanam with their arrival to learn Siddha Puja in 2013. After the pandemic ended and when we moved into the Endemic phase, the handful who remained were taught Yoga.
When I placed before Tavayogi my desire in wanting to see him become Jothi or Light, he told me that he had missed the boat. He was 69 back then in 2005. But Dhanvanthri and later Agathiyar told me that Tavayogi was in the form of Light and was with them doing their work in their realm respectively. In pointing out the need to start early Agathiyar said that since I was past my sixties, the body would have to endure pain and struggle in undergoing the spontaneous but necessary transformation that arises in us. Agathiyar pointed out that Jnana Jothiamma's body could not withstand the drastic change that was taking place as she too was in her sixties. She soon passed away. To another devotee in her fifties, Agathiyar told her that whatever changes desired had to take place before reaching fifty. To a teen, he told her that that was the right time for her to embark on the Yoga practice given, pointing out the fact that he had a tough time bending another youth in his thirties. Agathiyar pulled the brakes and told him he could continue when he is fifty.
So what is the right time to begin?
As Bakthi or devotion is harmless compared to the practice of Yoga, the Siddhas knowingly place devotion in the forefront and offered it to the masses. The later Padas of Yoga were only for selected souls that they deemed ready to take the journey within.
BKS Iyengar in revealing Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras", says that sage Patanjali listed ways to attain Yoga or union, beginning with the control and mastery of external issues and finally bringing one within. The eight aspects or limbs of Yoga of which the first five namely, Yama or restraints and ethics of behavior; Niyama or observances; Asana or physical postures; Praṇayama or control of the prana (breath); and Pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses, are known as a forward journey, says Iyengar. Then Patanjali takes us on a reverse path, or a return journey now moving inwards, from the body towards the soul, that is termed as the true renunciation, contrary to the common belief and understanding of renouncing the world, says Iyengar. Knowing the seed of consciousness and having realized it Patanjali shows the way to Dharaṇa or concentration; Dhyana or meditation; and Samadhi or absorption.
BKS Iyengar in his "Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", HarperCollins Publishers India, 1993, says Patanjali lists four padas namely:
Samadi pada, that "deals with the science of disciplining the fluctuations of consciousness. For this reason, it begins with the code of conduct",
Sadhana pada "gives detailed information regarding the practices",
Vibhuti pada "explains the hidden wealth which comes through these practices", and
Kaivalya pada "speaks about cultivating actions that cannot produce reactions so that consciousness may dissolve in the light of the soul for the very being."
The common man is asked to visit the temple and pray before the deity first. This brings him to focus on the statue momentarily. He is momentarily engaged with the prayers conducted forgetting his surroundings for those brief moments. If our parents started us off with Samadhi pada which was devotion to the deities, the guru comes to bring us to carry out sadhanas in the Sadhana pada. By having us carry out rituals and practice yoga we build focus and concentration even before we sit in Puja. Having gathered all that we need to conduct the rituals for instance the homam, in repeating the names of the Siddhas we are focussed further on the chore or task on hand. We then step into the Vibhuti pada moving towards the inner quest (Antaranga sadhana). By having us go within on an internal journey, it gives insight into the very purpose we came for. Finally, "In Kaivalya pada we lose our identities and merge in the soul (emancipation)" says Iyengar.