It is only when we have traveled far in this journey that an understanding dawns on us. I guess this then is Gnanam, which Agathiyar spelled out is gained through our initial efforts. Soon the divine comes giving us numerous experiences that lift us off the ground into higher states of understanding. If one does not realize that there is life beneath the soil and under the oceans until it comes up from the soil as in a seed germinating, and as a whale surfaces out of the waters, so too it is with the divine energies within us. I did not know nor realize that the chakras had been opened as early as 2007 after carrying out the Asana and Pranayama practices given by Tavayogi during one of his visits to Malaysia the same year. The seed was planted that day. Watering it through daily practice with Prana, with worship of the Siddhas that fertilized the soil, and conducting Homam that warmth the soil, it created a very conducive environment for the seed to germinate and surface in 2022. Just as a river breaks its banks and the seed breaks through the soil, the dormant energy breaks the bund and makes its way up the Sushumna channel reaching the Sahasrara almost immediately. The whirlpool sensation that was felt a thumb's way from the navel though initially brought on a sense of nausea and the urge to pee and froze my body still like a block of dead wood, eventually settling down into a state of bliss over two days, was felt in the Sahasrara the third day, bringing on a chillness in the entire body over the three days.
"When water flows into a narrow, constrained space or when two opposing currents meet, spiral movements can occur. As water seeks the path of least resistance, the difference in water speeds causes a swirling motion. This motion is the birth of a whirlpool." (Source: lakeaccess.org)
It soon felt, not like water in a whirlpool, but that of minute and tiny flower petals opening. Apparently, the 1008-petaled flower blossomed and is blooming continuously. I feel bliss continuously in me and around me, in the food and drink I take, in the air that I inhale, and that that brushes by me, and in watching and touching the trees and plants, watching the skies and its continuous stream of dresses in a multitude of colors and design, in the sound of water in streams and rivers that flow, and in the vivid colors of the distant plains and mountains. Just watching photos and videos and holding conversations with others on the same wavelength, most recently even telephone conversations bring on immense bliss in both parties.
Reading Swami Saravanananda's English rendering of the original in Tamil of Ramalinga Adigal's "Arutperunjhoti Agaval", published by the Ramalinga Mission, Madras, we get to understand what takes place on this journey that starts externally and eventually goes internal heading for the holy abode within us.
As in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Siddha prescribes Yama and Niyama to draw aside the first few veils so too does Ramalinga Adigal spell out the changes that came with this withdrawal.
As did Agathiyar asked us to know and live by the laws of karma, "Zeal or great energy or enthusiasm in the pursuit of the cause and objective" (that of merging in the divine) "brought on discernment or the ability to judge well" in Ramalinga Adigal. "Freed from religious bigotry, and freed from the clutches of religious scriptures, removing doubt and misconception made him pure". I guess the reason I was asked to drop all forms of worship, belief, practice, and Yoga picked up from books in my bachelor days, which led to 14 years of hibernation, cleared this vessel of all self-learning and prejudice. During the years of hibernation, I married and raised a family. Unknowingly, I was been prepared to go through first-hand experiences that would bring on direct knowledge. In 2001 he sent a messenger to bring me to worship again. The following year I got a call to read my Nadi, something that I was told of its existence way back in 1996 but did not move me enough to seek it. The break in the journey and the delays all happen for a reason. While we are ignorant or choose to look elsewhere, he keeps tabs on us all. So for those who had to put off the journey for the sole reason that they needed to look into their commitments and responsibilities, do not despair for when you are ready Agathiyar shall come for you just like he did with me.
Swami Saravanananda says, "Whenever He comes and initiates us, something happens within that is beyond our senses and control. It seems like he is working on another sheath of our body." This is where the divine effulgence comes within to do its work. Our effort is as much as keeping the house clean and inviting him over. He shall see to the rest. The act of effulgence includes "the repression and control of all impure tendencies. The various kinds of curtains or veils that surround the soul and prevent it from having a clear vision of the great effulgence" are removed. "With the removal of the last (standing) screen, the self stands face to face with the resplendence merging in the effulgence (that is the Atma) to become part and parcel of it (Paramatma) and perform all the functions of the effulgence to make other selves realize the same level (that of Agathiyar)."
The Agaval describes "the removal of the screens one after another as and when the entity rises up from one plane of consciousness to the next higher plane. By thus removing the veils the effulgence enlightens the beings of human and celestial origin and also deities high above the celestial origin. " Indeed just as the mother shows us to the father, and as did Ma show him to Lord Nadarajah, Ramalinga Adigal brings to Arutperunjothi. He goes beyond showing us the true nature of Arutperunjothi in his Agaval.
"The attributes of effulgence (Jothi); the various voids or spaces or spiritual planes which a soul has to pass through before attaining godhead; the attributes of the effulgence that abides in the inmost void, (declaring) the effulgence as the source of all elements"; breaking it down into minute details such as the various aspects of the nature of the earth, water, fire, air, and space; and goes further to describe "how space yields the other elements, the various partial spaces or voids; the various forces that activate the universe and the human body; the tattvas, and the primordial elements; and the dual or polar nature of manifestation. He describes "the modes of the birth of organisms, the male and female characteristics of the human being; the protection and sustenance of organisms".
Ramalinga Adigal goes on to describe in his Arutpa, "how the effulgence pervades through all the functions of the dynamic powers; the uniqueness of the supreme beings; the omnipresent aspect of the effulgence; the cosmic self which manifests everywhere; the manifold manifestations and activities of compassion; the motherly aspect, the paternal aspect, that of companionship, an finally that of kinship." Here we see the four stages of Sariyai, Kriyai, Yogam, and Gnanam where the divine takes several roles to fulfill our desires and wants, initially in the first two and driving us to fulfill his desires and wants in the latter two.
- He (re)moves us from living in his world as one of many of his creations or merely existing or only thinking of ourselves or merely acknowledging his existence and praying to him in Taatamaargam (Sariyai),
- to realize him and worship him through carrying out rituals seeing him in others and giving them a hand in Sarputramaargam (Kriyai),
- to become his companion in Sagamaargam (Yogam) passing on what is learned to others too as a mentor.
- Eventually, he stands at the threshold of Sanmaargam (Gnanam) said to be the true path. I guess this is what Tavayogi meant when he told me "Only now the true journey starts, my son" as we started into the hills and jungles and caves in 2005.
Now the first of the four paths,
- Sariyai is the rare gift of life, giving us a birth and the right to walk upright upon this earth or Salopam.
- The next, Kriyai grants us Sameepam, or the great honor of living close to God.
- The third Yogam brings on Sarupam or the exalted state of taking the form of God.
- Finally, Sayujyam is the ultimate state of merging with God.
I can clearly see the divine play as well as the transformation taking shape.