Today is Pongal or the harvest festival. A day to rejoice. I was surprised to find my beard too has begun to turn black. It is said that if one lives till the age of 120 a new set of teeth would replace those that had fallen. Indeed the body is an amazing instrument that is both useful in this material world and making a leap into the spiritual too. No wonder the saints have said that human birth is rare. Rather than spend this birth exploring the external they took a trip within to explore the inner reaches of the mysterious realms and planes rarely seen by others. These experiences came forth as numerous songs and outpourings of these saints. They brought forth the immense treasures that they gathered on the way in these verses. Though it has come to us through many means and forms, one tends to question if they have been tampered with, adulterated, simplified, modified, or expanded. There are two schools of thought we come to discover. One is that of the Vedhanti who drops the material or gross body considering it as filth and an obstacle to higher spiritual achievements. The other is as in the Siddhas' philosophy where one works meticulously to care for and strengthen the physical and gross to use it to achieve the higher states. In the latter, we can strengthen each sheath or Kosas with certain practices and tapas. We could reverse its nature bringing it to a finer and purer state where the divine descends. For this to take place one has to walk the three phases namely the journey on the purgative way, the journey on the illuminative way, and the journey on the unitive way. G. Valmikanathan summarizes these phases in his book "Makers of Indian Literature - Ramalingam", published by Sahitya Akademi (e-book at http://www.vallalar.org). The purgative way as the name suggests is purging oneself of all desires and attachments, of all imperfections, while the illuminative way which comes after the purgative way, is where one gains illumination, knowledge, and gnosis. The unitive way is where one "gallops towards the beckoning smile and the outstretched arms and is soon locked in an eternal embrace with the beloved, the eternal being, the Godhead, the ground of all beings."
Henry Wei in his book "The Guiding Light of Lao Tzu, Synergy Books International, speaks about this mystic union.
"The mystic union represents the unique experience stemming from "the flight of the alone to the Alone" as the famous mystic Plotinus has so well expressed. Unfortunately, it cannot be easily attained much less isolated and measured and experimented upon in the laboratory. Its actuality is entirely based on the experience and confession of the mystic themselves who were completely convinced of its authenticity."
So it looks like it is impossible to dissect, prob, and understand mystic union. One has to accept it at face value. Henry Wei writes "Some skeptics have maintained that the mystics are victims of hallucination or self-hypnosis."
Henry Wei writes of those experiencing this mystic union: "Their scale of values changes radically; their attitude towards life changes too; their health improves; they have a sharper and deeper understanding and a clear spiritual vision."
Henri Wei brings what is regarded as impossible within our reach: "In all these, man is understood as being capable of attaining union with the mysterious cosmic influence or cosmic spirit or divine being."
The Journey on the unitive way is where we see results. The transformation takes place rapidly without our doing. The Divine gifts us a body that can sustain his majestic presence. He personally sees through the necessary transformation to become him. Ramalinga Adigal affirms that the most impure body will become a body pure and imperishable.
"The material body constituted of impure elements is transformed into a “Body of Pure Light” that emits a golden brightness. Then the Divinity descends and settles in the disciple's Heart, who becomes entirely filled by Him. Captivated by the "Ardent Fire" of the Divine Essence, the disciple stops thinking, feeling, acting, and even existing. He has become pure Love and Compassion, and this is what he spills on all the beings." (Source: http://www.ramalinga.com)
One crosses "the threshold of the Unitive Way where God with name and form will disappear and ultimately the worshiper and the worshiped, the seeker and the sought, the soul and the Godhead, will merge into each other. Our Swaamikal is now ready for the highest of all possible acts of grace, the crowning glory of the long years of thavam. The conferment of the Effulgence of Grace. The Lord, out of His munificent grace, bestowed on our Swaamikal the very power by which He exercised sovereignty over all the worlds. That power is the Great Effulgence of Grace." (Source: G.Vanmikanathan in his "Pathway to God Trod by Saint Ramalingar", Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay.)
"Divine Grace is a manifestation of the cosmic free will in operation. It can alter the course of events in a mysterious manner through its own unknown laws, which are superior to all natural laws and can modify the latter by interaction. It is the most powerful force in the universe. It descends and acts only when it is invoked by total self-surrender. It acts from within because god resides in the Heart of all beings. Its whisper can be heard only in a mind purified by self-surrender and prayer. It is a descent of god into the soul’s zone of awareness. It is a visitation of force unexpected and unpredictable. It is a voice spoken out of cosmic silence - It is ‘Cosmic Will which can perform authentic miracles under its own laws". (Source: Paul Brunton, ‘Divine Grace Through Total Self-Surrender’ by D.C. Desai)
"Discrimination of the Real from the unreal is the keynote of the journey on the Purgative Way; the travel from darkness to Light is the journey on the Illuminative Way; the resurrection from death to a life of deathlessness, to amritvam, is the journey on the Unitive Way." (Source: "Makers of Indian Literature - Ramalingar" by G.Vanmikanathan, published by Sahitya Akademi.)
The Siddhas regard this birth as very auspicious and rare. Many other saints too have reminded us that it was a rare commodity and not to be wasted. The great grand old lady Avvai who was a saint and poet told us of the rarity of gaining birth.
“Rare indeed is to take human birth, rarer than that is to be born with a perfect human form, sight, hearing, and speech. Amongst them, it is rare to see one who does austerities and charity. When one does austerities and charity the gates to Godhead are opened.”
Agathiyar came to the couple who are currently taking care of his bronze statue and that of Lobha Ma this afternoon and said the same and promised them a place too. A new chapter in their lives is to unfold too.