Today is a day that deems whether we would continue to be in the shadows and protection of the Siddhas, who are only too eager to take us on a journey within, or continue to succumb to the pull, tug, and lure of the external world. It was a decision left to us. Those who sought to stay around and have him mold them will turn up today to practice Asanas and Pranayama before him. As our parents let us roam the neighborhood, only to call us out as dusk approaches, so too Agathiyar came to claim his students last Thursday. This reminds us of the stories of the gurus' ever-watchful eyes watching over their disciples. We are blessed for we are the cow that jumped into the pond to save ourselves from the ferocious tiger. Balachander Aiya shared with me this story in August 2018.
Once upon a time, a cow went out to graze in the jungle. Suddenly, she noticed a tiger racing towards her. She turned and fled, fearing that at any moment the tiger would sink his claws into her. The cow desperately looked for someplace to escape and at last, saw a shallow pond. Barely evading the tiger’s reach, she jumped into the pond, and in the heat of the chase, the tiger blindly leaped after her. To the surprise of them both, the pond was extremely shallow yet filled with deep recesses of mud. After toppling over each other, the cow and the tiger found themselves a short distance apart, stuck in the mud up to their necks. Both had their heads above water but were unable to free themselves no matter how much they writhed. The tiger repeatedly snarled at the cow and roared, “I am going to enjoy the sound of crunching your bones between my teeth!” He thrashed about in a fury but soon became fretful as he found no prospect of escape. The cow thoughtfully laughed as the tiger struggled to free himself and asked him, "Do you have a master?”
The tiger disdainfully replied, “I am the king of the jungle. Why do you ask me if I have a master? I am the master!”
The cow said, "You may be the king of the jungle, but here all your power has failed to save your life.”
“And what about you?”, retorted the tiger. “You are going to die here in this mud too!”
The cow smiled mildly and said, “No, I am not.”
“If even I, the king of the jungle cannot free myself from this mud”, snapped the tiger, “Then how can you, an ordinary cow?”
The cow gently replied, “I cannot free myself from this mud, but my master can. When the sun sets and he finds me absent at home, he will come looking for me. Once he finds me, he will raise me up and escort me home to my sweet home.”
The tiger fell silent and coldly glared at the cow. Soon enough, the sun set, and the cow’s master arrived. He immediately recognized the plight she was in and lifted her to safety. As they walked home, the cow and the master both felt renewed gratitude for one another and pitied the tiger they both would have been happy to save if only the tiger had allowed them.
The Purport of the story: The Cow represents a Surrendered Heart, the Tiger represents an Egoistic Mind, and the Master represents the Guru. The Mud represents the World, and the Chase represents the Struggle for Existence therein.
No matter how many troubles appear to be created by the egoistic minds of the world, who are themselves as stuck as the surrendered heart, ..the surrendered heart has faith that the Guru is always going to come at the right time to save her and take her back “home” - the inner happiness in us is pure and true home. So when totally stuck and helpless, when one has already done all one can and has no more means left, when every other effort fails, the surrendered heart still does not give up hope. She will just wait patiently until sundown.
On Tuesday 30 July 2019, I carried a post, "SAYONARA".
As I have written in my last post Agathiyar has revealed the way and showed us the escape route from the cycle of birth and death. The truth has been revealed. The theory is over. He is asking us to move on to practice what he has preached all these while, now. Or you can take it the other way too, after putting into practice all his tiny bits of advice, he has revealed the theory behind it. For those yet to come on board it is now up to them to place the effort and comply with the 5 facets of life. For the others, I pray that we can all continue with the task. Now he is moving us to another platform from the physical to that of the soul that takes place within. He shall guide further from within each one of us, individually, customized, and just made for each. So it is time to say Sayonara for this group ATM too. Let us meet up sometime in the future and exchange notes on how we are faring in our spiritual journey. Thank you very much for being with us all this while.
It seemed this blog had bonded our souls forever as many readers were taken aback and wrote in then wanting to know the reason. Unknown to all of us the pandemic was to rear its ugly head in several months. Hence the message came on time.
We have read many stories of seekers coming to gurus and their monasteries to learn how to liberate the soul but instead were told to carry out chores and tasks. These seekers after some time would rebel and confront the master only to be told that doing the tasks at hand had elevated them unknowingly. A Zen Koan is often used to explain this experience.
A Master who lived as a hermit on a mountain was asked by a monk, “What is the Way?”
“What a fine mountain this is,” the master said in reply.
“I am not asking you about the mountain, but about the Way.”
“So long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, my son, you cannot reach the Way,” replied the master.
(Source: https://mindmastery.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/zen-koan-the-way-and-the-mountain/)
Similarly, rather than show us the overpowering mountain that was to be tackled, which at the onset would put us off believing that it was beyond our reach, he led us by the hand bringing us along on his walk, talking to us as we traveled, allowing us to stop to view the surrounding, permitting us to stop to take a rest, continue the walk and keeping us engrossed in the present. Eventually, without us realizing he had brought us to our destination where we stood atop the very mountain enjoying the magnificent view. We did not realize that we had come a long distance and had arrived atop the mountain peak! It is individual moments that come together to make time. We were brought to observe the 5 facets of wholesome living as desired by the divine for every man taking birth. These were not merely tools but a purpose in itself. Just as we were taken aback to realize that we had already reached the summit, the purpose of taking human birth was only made known to us after completing the journey.
I and many others at AVM had a calling many years back. Agathiyar asked us to come to his path and follow his way. We took up the invitation. He gave us many tasks and chores to do as we traveled with him, never elaborating further or describing the benefits or results that one gains from doing it, until later, after we had put in hours of work and effort. He was not one to hang a carrot in front of the carriage to lure us on. He would direct and leave the option to us, whether we wanted to carry out his dictates. We did as he asked without questioning him. After years of apprenticeship with him finally, he reveals to us that all the tasks he gave us, were indeed the way and was indeed the journey.
If coming to Agathiyar the seeking stopped, coming to Tavayogi the true journey began. When one comes to the end of his seeking for a path, among the many available out there, only then is his true path revealed. His true journey begins from where he has arrived and stands. Tutorship under a guru, learning compassion, doing charity, conducting puja, reciting the Siddha's names, performing the fire ritual or Homam and Yagam, and performing the bathing ritual or Abhisegam on the idols, all these were components of the first phase of our journey that we were asked to carry out. A massive task was made easy when he broke it up into tiny fragments and assignments. The first phase ended in September of 2019 when he brought the shutters down on AVM and had us go within to explore the soul. Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) saw a transition into Agathiyar Tapovanam Malaysia (ATM), a name given much earlier by Lord Muruga in 2018 in preparing us to embark on phase 2. The sayonara was to bid farewell to the first phase. We moved into the second phase.
In the second phase of our journey, we began working on the soul and its journey back home. Lord Muruga came to do us justice in opening the heart chakra in us, bidding us to only surrender. Lord Muruga and Agathiyar saw through our souls' yearning to be released and become realized, though the "I" in us saw it not. Lord Muruga repeatedly asked us if we were ready to receive his initiation and if we had surrendered totally. To those who came with a confused state of mind and unsettled problems, he deferred the initiation to another time, saying it would do no good if given now.
Richard Schiffman in his "Sri Ramakrishna – A Prophet for the New Age", Paragon House, 1989, writes about how Ramakrishna handled his disciples. He loved them and was patient with them as they were all young, and forgiving. He saw in them youthful dedication and energy, earnestness, and sincerity, the very qualities that had fueled his own journey to God.
"He wished to nurture and bring to fruition these divine qualities within them. Ramakrishna through the purity of his vision saw through the thin veneer of personality and perceived directly the divine spark yearning for expression deep within these spiritual aspirants. Once he had seen that spark nothing that happened could convince him that it wasn't there. Once he had welcomed someone, he could never let them go, whatever came to pass. The contradictions, the shortcomings, the stumblings along the way, the thousand weaknesses that flesh is heir to, didn't matter. Only God mattered - God struggling fitfully within, yearning to be free of the bonds of the flesh."
"Each soul was an open book for him, and he knew all of its dark secrets and all of its bright possibilities. Ramakrishna did not measure a man by the same yardstick that the world uses. He saw how the best of men are rifled through with hidden failings, and how even the worst have the bright seed of redemption within them. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Ramakrishna had peered behind the curtain of the puppet theatre and observed the mother at work pulling all the strings that man in his ignorance imagines he holds himself. It was a vision that burnt to ashes any temptation to lay blame to judge or to condemn. The very act of seeing all was the act of forgiving all. Even to speak of forgiveness is too harsh; for in a world where God alone acts, what is there to forgive, and who is there to be forgiven?"
S. Parthasarathy wrote in his book, BIOGRAPHY OF YOGI RAMSURATKUMAR - THE GODCHILD OF TIRUVANNAMALAI (AMARAKAVIYAM),
‘In later years Yogi Ramsuratkumar said “Nobody can love this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas and nobody can torture this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas. My Father killed this beggar because He loved this beggar. This beggar died at the holy lotus feet of my father Swami Ramdas in the year 1952. After that my Father alone exists and not this beggar. This name Yogi Ramsuratkumar is not this beggar’s name; it is the name of my Father. Father would always shower his grace on the people who remember this name.’
“The King Bee would bring any potential worm to its nest and would sting all the time till it becomes another King Bee. Likewise, a Guru also works on his disciples till the disciples get the state of the Guru. The process is painful but there is no escape.”
So did he come to remind us not to topple over after we have reached the summit for it would be a wasted effort making the climb. Seeing that his students were still honeymooning, Agathiyar came as the headmaster with a cane to have us buck up and see through the schooling successfully, for the very institution's name and pride lay at stake with those who professed and took up the path of the Siddhas. Deep within it was love that moved him to move us and bring us from the mud and save us from the tiger.