We can lay rules to admit or not another to the fold of our beliefs and codes to fulfill or uphold in our practices. But the final say is with our body and his grace. One man cannot hold another from attaining the state of Godhood. His body has to attain a state whereby it undergoes changes and transformations to the very cells that transmute into even finer, subtle, and pure elements. Hence bringing a body that fares well even under the onslaught of bad weather thrives to see the light. Our past karma determines the body and soul and the count that comes with the breath or uyir. Hence even if we fail in our attempt in this birth to strike gold the merits of the karma that were earned now shall gift us a body, a soul, and sufficient counts of breath to attempt again in the next birth. This is why the Siddhas at the onset scan through our past lives and look into the book of accounts to study the karma, the merits, and the debts that we have earned in past births.
Now I understand why Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar gets everyone who drops by his Ongkaara kudil to do charity. He has brought together a massive following of devotees who are committed to doing charity by way of feeding hundreds each day. While he emphasizes charity Tavayogi gets us to carry out worship to the Siddhas. Both these can turn the tables on bad karma and give us a new lease in attempting to achieve the body of light.
Now we understand why Ramalinga Adigal too had to mention karma as explained by Swami Saravanananda in his English rendering of the Arutperunjhoti Agaval by Ramalinga Swami published by the Ramalinga Mission, Madras.
"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)."
In the introduction to Lama Kunga Rimpoche and Brian Cutillo’s translation of MIRACULOUS JOURNEY - Further Stories and Songs of Milarepa, Lotsawa,1986, Vivian Sinder and Brian Cutillo write,
"Because the relationship between action and experience rules samsara, liberation is not attained by ignoring cause and effect. Instead, by working with it to create conditions conducive to spiritual growth, one creates a solid ground for the ultimate leap to freedom."
Milarepa like the Siddhas, spoke to simple folk about the need to make use of this precious human existence for spiritual advancement and not to ignore karma. One's previous good karma and the number of austerities or tavam put in in the past lives decides and determines the state of spiritual life and circle into which one would take birth. If one prepares for the next birth by doing good right here and now, a conducive environment is created for him to further advance spiritually in the next. I guess the reason only a handful of saints achieved these states before is that they had put in much of the work in their previous births and were reaping the prize of their efforts now. So too we have to start engaging in charity and puja that shall bring on suitable birth, body, soul, and the said counts required to achieve the state in another life. We can then begin the journey then of our self-discovery.
The planetary movements create an avenue, the space and time for one to reap what he has sowed. It is as if we have taken a loan from a bank and there is a time frame to settle the loan. Some opt for a short repayment period but that brings them to tighten their belt while others may go for a longer period so that they would not feel the pain of repaying the loan. One who wants to settle his karma in a jiffy takes an animal birth where its lifespan is short. An animal birth is taken to exclusively cleanse itself of karma. It does not add further karma. It lives as long as it has karma to be exhausted. Once its karma is exhausted it dies. The animal takes on the torture and pain to expedite its evolvement from an animal back to a higher being. Eventually, after many births, it takes birth as a human where it no longer acts solely according to its survival instinct. As man can think and differentiate matters, that’s the reason human birth is considered superior. As man can reach out to bring a change around him and reach within to bring a change in him human birth is seen to be empowered. As man can reach for both the skies and the deep seas, he is considered a genius. If man pursues in this direction he might one day discover the crown and feet of Lord Siva that even the other Gods were unable to see. As man is the only being that can transform himself into light human birth is considered rare.
One's karma creates incidents and situations which bring forth experiences to the person's concern. These experiences then start to shape his thinking and opinion. Once man realizes that he cannot escape from the clutches of karma, he should then take the initiative to live life with a total awareness of what he is doing from moment to moment. Agathiyar reminded me of this after he helped me clear my baggage. As Karma is like a shadow continuously following us, Agathiyar asks his children to indulge in prayers, go on pilgrimages, increase the acts of doing dharma, and by doing so try to escape from the clutches of the dreaded karma. Agathiyar in my case is known to substitute the consequences of my past actions. For instance, in the event I was to lose my life, he would replace that with having me face financial losses instead, hence saving my life. But some will realize that even after whatever prayers they conduct, the numerous pilgrimages they take on, the enormous charity and good acts they do, and the extensive austerities or tavam they perform, there is no relief in sight. Agathiyar asks that we take on the difficulties and face these hardships willingly, promising not to desert them. There are karma that is forgiven and also those that are not forgiven. The simplest way to overcome one's karma is to face it boldly. We see the saints face it without interfering.
Agathiyar gave me his Moola mantra in my Nadi reading and asked that I share it. I uploaded a video on YouTube. It goes as follows,
Man needs to arrests not only his immediate karma but the karma of his past seven births. Besides these, he has to shoulder the karma of his ancestors too, 21 generations. That is the extent of karma he has to work on.