Initially, as I dwelt deeper into the path, I was sad that some who came to watch the worship of the Siddhas at my home AVM, and the charity programs that we carried out under our charity wing Amutha Surabi, could not see the magnitude of the Siddhas and their capabilities. Some left. Many stayed behind. There were a handful who were committed to learning and teaching others too besides carrying out the rituals and charity themselves. But most of them still turned towards AVM to fulfill the quota of carrying out Kriya rather than start and turn their home into AVM too.
When I put forth my sadness to Tavayogi who came through a devotee after he went into samadhi, he simply said "Let it be. They were born to fulfill their desires and wants." He reasoned that they have to live out their desires. Otherwise, it shall follow them. "Some take a birth merely to see through their worldly desires and yearnings. They need to fulfill these. Let them be. Otherwise, the karma shall follow till it is exhausted", he reiterated.
சில மனிதர்களின் பிறப்பு அவர் இச்சைகாக, ஆசைக்காக. அவன் ஆசைகாகப் பிறந்தான். ஆசையில் திளைத்து விட்டு முடித்து விடுவான். அவன் போக்கில் விட்டு விடு. இல்லாவிட்டால் வினை தொடர்ந்து கொண்டே வரும்.
Agathiyar too mentioned the same when a devotee approached him telling him that she could not bring her father to become a vegetarian. He told her to let him be. In fact, he asked her to cook and give him fish meat and fulfill his last wishes. When my daughter brought to his attention that she could not stop others from feeding her children meat, Agathiyar asked to let it be. He replied that he would change whatever goes into their stomach. It reminds us of how saint Raghavendra changed the meat served to him by a ruing Nawab into flower petals.
I backed off and accepted the fact that not all souls were here to make an effort to reach the states that the Siddhas tell us are possible.
When Tavayogi spoke about the receptiveness of people to certain teachings, he classified them as having the nature of petrol, charcoal, and peat. Petrol catches fire easily. Charcoal if fanned will catch on and burn well. Peat fires may burn for great lengths of time, or smolder underground and reignite later when the wind blows. If Tavayogi spoke about the three kinds of people namely those who ignite immediately; those who catch fire when fanned and those who turn away, I was surprised to learn that Bhagawan Ramana too has distinguished them similarly. He associates them with gunpowder, charcoal, and wet coal. Recently I came across this distinction used again in the documentary movie "Samadhi - The Pathless Path",
"Some like dry wood need just a spark to light up. Others require more preparation as in wet wood that needs some time to dry out before they ignite. They need teachings, and practices to loosen the bonds of the self-structure to become free of samskaras."
As Swami Saravanananda wrote in his English rendering of the Arutperunjhoti Agaval by Ramalinga Swami published by the Ramalinga Mission, Madras, "The cosmic space is beginningless and is full of atoms of souls called Atmas. The atoms in cosmic space are of 3 types (immature, transitional, and mature). Due to the differences in the levels of will, wisdom, and action (karma) that are found in the cosmic space, Atmas have come to possess threefold bodies (Karmic, Pranava, Gnana)"
Annie Besant in her talks on "The Laws of the Higher Life", the Theosophical Publishing House, 1903, draws two distinct divisions to people and their brains. The coarser vibrations of the lower world and those adapted to it are one. The others are those who are in the front of evolution and of a subtler nature.
I understood and accepted that they too shall come around in good time maybe in another birth if not this.
Just as there are differences in the expectations and wants and approach of these devotees, even the self-made gurus tend to harbor desires and wishes. They get caught in his web and are not able to evolve further. Tavayogi took me to see several Gurus so that I could learn to see that not all are the same, see the differences between them and understand certain truths.
Ruzbeh Bharucha in his post at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/we-deserve-the-guru-we-get too speaks about these differences. "So even if a Master comes through an individual, even if an individual can predict the future, even if the chap can materialize rolex waterproof watches made in Taiwan, that still does not make that individual a Guru. Unfortunately, we have made these individuals, whether they wanted it or not, who are more like life instructors into Gurus.... they too are on the path, in the same boat as we are, and maybe they are in the first class cabin, while we grapple shoveling coal in the furnace of the damn steamer, but still, they too are traveling in the same boat. "
"So, whose fault is it when one's faith is shattered by these normal people with some extraordinary ability? It is our fault. So first of all we need to get this into our heads that a medium or a channel or a wise person or somebody who is well versed with Scriptures, though maybe a decent human being, maybe a good person, maybe a genuinely helpful chap, is just that, a person who is decent at heart and wants to help out. Why have we started to place these individuals on a pedestal and then when the poor bastard does something wrong we want to hang the person from every social media lamp post and do a detailed anatomical dissection of his mangled life?"
It is we who place a person on a high rank, a top spot, be it in the political arena or the spiritual field. All the adoration leads to making them inaccessible to us eventually. While many turn up at ashrams and centers to enroll and learn the "trade" of negotiating with God, many others stand by as bystanders but assist in so many ways in running the mission. They might not have high aspirations but yet come around to serve in any capacity. Many gurus hide the fact that they need us too, ordinary people to help them fulfill their dreams. Just as the seekers, followers, aspirants, and disciples need the guru to show them the how, and why of things religious and spiritual, the guru needs the disciples to strengthen his hold and position and evolve further too. We are connected through this matrix of life just as the strands in the spider web or clothing are connected.
If there are those who don't turn an eye on the path to salvation, who do not have an ounce of knowledge on what they can reap from this journey, who do not have any inkling of the wonders beyond the wall that they have come to erect around them, and hence stay away from the path, there are many struggling to find time to stay on the path. They are battling the storm and bad weather while trying to stay on the path. But just as we seek shelter from the bad weather we cannot blame them for stepping off the path and taking refuge momentarily. When I voiced out my intention to end writing this blog, several friends and followers of this blog messaged me asking to continue to write citing how the messages from Agathiyar have helped them stay on the path though their journey was akin to the train that stops at every stop rather than the express. After taking many moments of break they do eventually hop onto the train and continue the journey. I pity them for we all are at the mercy of circumstances. We all have to bring food to the table. We all have responsibilities towards our loved ones. I understand their predicament. Agathiyar understands too. So do not be guilty that you cannot spend more time having a conversation with him.
As Neale Donald Walsch shared God's answer to the very first question itself "How do I know God is communicating with me?" in his "The Wisdom of the Universe", "I talk to everyone. All the time. The question is not to whom do I talk, but who listens?", we are all receiving God's message directly whether we are believers or nonbelievers, followers or otherwise. It is just that some choose to listen while many have thoughts rattling in their mind and ears shutting God's voice from reaching them.
Eventually, we come to accept everybody and everything. Each of us either has come for a particular purpose that goes beyond the Self here or has come to live out our dreams. Let it be. All is well by God's grace.