A worm can only become a worm. A chick becomes a hen or a cock. A lizard stays a lizard. A cub becomes a lion or lioness. So goes with the other reptiles, insects, and animals. A butterfly starts its life as the egg, the larva or caterpillar, the pupa or chrysalis, and the adult butterfly. Man starts his journey as a zygote, a blastocyst, an embryo, and a fetus and into a baby. It is said that we have taken numerous births taking on all the forms in creation before reaching the state of man. Among all these creations it is only man who can evolve and make his way up the cycle of evolution to reach a divine state. Hence the reason the saints state that this human birth is rare. And what are we doing with it?
I too was going about life without a purpose, following what others did. We schooled, took on a job, married, and had children. Today at 64, I too am waiting for death to knock on my door. Is this what we all came for? Of course, there are many who changed the course of history by going to war and battling with others, or discovering new lands, and new technologies. With the industrial revolution machines took our places. With the entry of robotics, man had fewer jobs. Man has gone into space too. Today we have come face to face with AI that threatens yet our livelihood. Though man does not need to toil as before he finds work scarce. Man too is highly dependent on processed food that is ready to eat. To compensate for the losses in vitamins he takes supplements. We keep finding ways to compensate for the weaknesses be it in our internal or external systems. Though these new technologies have their downsides robots have assisted emergency units for instance. Where men cannot be deployed or it is inaccessible robots do the job. Wildlife documentaries have been given new life as robots get us pretty close to the wild animals.
So too we have read of many battles fought in the past, the numerous famines that took place, etc. It looks like we are going in circles. History keeps repeating. It is just that it takes a different form and happens in a different place. So one would wonder what are we doing coming back, again and again, to relive these moments as new individuals with new identities and relationships. It is a never-ending story. Should not we put an end to it? Where is the end then? Death doesn't solve it. To bring it all to an end we have to return to the source. In dying we do not go back to the source, not as yet. We enter other worlds. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says "I shall be back' we shall return. Agathiyar told me not to fear death as it was just another journey. Death is another doorway to another journey says Agathiyar. One who faces death boldly is indeed a Siddha he says.
"மரணம் ஒன்றும் அல்ல. மற்றொரு பயணத்தின் கதவு. மரணபயம் வேண்டாம். எவன் ஒருவன் மரணத்தை அன்போடு வரவேற்கின்றானோ அவன் சித்தன் ஆகின்றான்."
What if we could avoid death? Then we need first of all reverse our fate. Then ensure that this physical body does not age. Life has to be sustained in it. Would I be correct in deducing then that since Agathiyar says that the Atma serves to help correct our past karma, ஆன்மாவே உனது கர்ம வினையைச் சரிசெய்வதற்கு உதவி புரியும், we should take its hands, and let it lead us in reversing our fate? The Siddhas have found the means and ways to ensure that this physical body does not age. If we could adopt the Siddha way, சித்தர் வாழ்கை நெறி முறைகள், as Agathiyar had voiced out, we could prevent aging then. Life breath is what sustains us besides food and water. The Yogis are known to go on without the latter two.
With the Atma awakened and the body fortified, life should sustain in us then. But the Siddhas are known to switch bodies too shedding the old for a new. They are known to leave their bodies in made-made samadhis and continue living in the subtle form too.
Just as "in Buddhist philosophy, Buddha-nature is the potential for any sentient being to become a Buddha", everybody has the potential to become a Siddha too. It is whether we are aware of this great potential that lies within us. The guru brings us to this awareness. There are multiple ways we become aware of the possibilities. It might be through just seeing him, listening to him, reading his works or merely being in his company or presence. The guru then tutors us and nurtures us teaching the means and the ways to arrive there or rather connect with our inherent and true nature. He draws the veils aside that blind us from the fact that we are Buddhas and Siddhas. He removes the ignorance that covers our sight as the moss covers the pavement. When the veils are shed one by one what remains is the original Self. We come home.
In having me stop all activities including the Siddha puja and charity and having me go within, and with the coming of the pandemic in a timely manner, I thought that I had wasted precious time as I did not see results. As we are all action orientated, we equate action with success. Inaction seemed to speak of a failure. Mahindren opened up my eyes telling me to see it from another perspective. He told me that I had learned to let go during those 2 1/2 years. This was in reality dying before we actually physically die. The desires in us wilt and die a natural dead. Agathiyar too told me that nothing was wasted. As Agathiyar too like Tavayogi kept his words to the minimum, I could not make out what he meant. But soon I saw changes take place within me. I had a brief encounter with what I believe was the state of death too. The express train that had its depo at the Muladhara had left the depo in 2007 and had traveled some distance only to stall at the Manipura station. It continued its journey during the endemic phase. As it was bound for the seventh station, it began to pick up speed and in trying to catch up for lost time, did not stop at the other stations. There awaited the blossoming of consciousness. Stepping out of the station I walked into the arms of the awaiting Prapanjam. I came home.