When Tavayogi told me to speak about the Siddhas at an opening of an affiliate of his in Banting many years back, I shuddered as I was new to the path and only knew Tavayogi that too very minimal. Today though Tavayogi and Agathiyar have educated me yet I stand bare and naked before them. I still get trashed for not being able to answer Agathiyar at times. But seeing the amount of information dispersed on the net at times I feel some take upon themselves as custodians of God, deities, Siddhas, and gurus and promising many things.
I am in no way a custodian of God, deities, Siddhas, and my gurus. They are available for all. They come before us in many forms and names to suit each devotee and his desires for one God, deity, Siddha or guru cannot possibly fit all the myriad of temperaments and souls. Yes God, deity, Siddha, or guru might seem to be customized to our needs too. Beyond all these forms and names, stands one sole entity that is present in all of us and governs us. To know that is the purpose of life. This is what Agathiyar meant when he asked each of us why we came to the Siddha path. He has the answer too, that it was to know the breath. It was to know that the breath is Sivam. In his memo to us, he said that breath was Uyir that sustains us, the body or Udal and the soul or Atma. Then we are told that the breath was Vaalai. Tavayogi once told me that the breath was Sivam. Bhogar had us chant "Adhi Sivam, Jothi Sivam, Moola Sivam". Agathiyar too days before told us the same, that the breath was Sivam. Name it anything but the core matter was to have us focus on our breath now. When many sit and practice meditation by visualizing, Agathiyar tells us to become aware of the breath and follow it. The breath that we thought we inhaled and exhaled shall one day go about without our asking. To sense it and know its place, one has to journey into it. Merge in it. That moment is Dhyanam.
நீயாய் சுவாசித்த பிராணவாயு இனி உன்னை கேட்காமல் உன்னுள் ஊடுருவும். எப்பொழுதெல்லாம் அது ஊடுருவதை நீ உணறுகிறாயோ இருக்கும் இடம் அறிந்து அதனுள் பயணம் செய். கலந்து போ. அதனோடு நீ கலக்கும் தருணமே தியானம்.
Ramalinga Adigal guides us from there. Use the breath to go within. Place the effort. Fan the Jothi within using the breath. Merge in the Jothi. "I shall be with you as long as the Jothi burns. I shall be with those who immerse in the Jothi", he says.
உமது பிரணவத்தை கொண்டு செல்லு. முயற்சி செய். ஜோதி அதனைச் சுடர்விட செய்யுங்கள். ஜோதியோடு கலப்பாய். உன்னுள் ஜோதி எரியும்வரை நான் உன்னோடு வருவேன். ஆழ்ந்து இருப்போருடன் நான் சேர்ந்து இருக்கிறேன்.
It is akin to taking a ride back home hitching on the breath that giveth us life. Tavayogi wrote in his "Andamum Pindamum" that in the beginning, there was a light that enveloped all. That was Jothi. That was Sivan. From the passive Sivan came forth the dynamic Sivam. Sivam breathed life or Uyir into all his creation.
To get to know this Jothi we have to go through a process and transformation both in the external and the internal. One has to be prepared to bear the pain as Ramalinga Adigal reveals only God knows what he went through. Agathiyar says Jnana Jothiamma who was an embodiment of Gnana, was being prepared to receive the Darshan of the Jothi. But as she could not take the cleansing that Agathiyar had her go through she asked to be taken.
ஞானத்திற்கு ஜோதியாய் இருந்தவளை ஜோதியின் தரிசனம் காண்பித்தற்கு ஆயத்தம் செய்த நிலையில் நான் செய்த சுத்திகரிப்பு அவளின் உள்ளம் ஏற்கவில்லை எம்மோடு இணைந்து கொள்ள அவள் விருப்பம் கொண்டால்
We understand now why Agathiyar told my daughter that it was not easy.
Tavayogi in referring to Agathiyar's "Sowmiya Saagaram" states our purpose here is to understand the origin and end of Param or Para Sorupam or Siva or Siva Rupaa Rupam or Vettavezhi, the void that shines as Jothi. One who has realized the secrets of the Vettavezhi Prapancham, the Prapanjam within the void, will transform their physical and gross form into a subtle form, and settle in the Jothi or Sivan that is the source and cause of the subtle.
வெட்டவெளி பிரபஞ்ச ரகசியம் உணர்ந்தவர்கள் தன்னுடைய தூல உடலைச் சூட்சுமமாகி அந்தச் சூட்சும உடலுக்கு ஆதாரமாக மற்றும் காரணமாக இருக்கின்ற முதலும் முடிவுமாக இருக்கின்ற ஜோதியில் ஜோதியாக இருப்பார்கள்.
Though names and tags we give might confuse us, the reality is that there is only the breath that is real. Lose it and everything else collapses. Our whole world collapses. Our outlook and perspective of the world collapses. Relationships collapse. Nothing remains. It is sheer void. Only existence. Everything hangs on a tiny tread that is the breath. No wonder Agathiyar has asked us to take notice of it and follow it. It shall take us home.
Konganar who had seen 18 wars waged on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, reveals the count and number of wives the Siddhas took. Tavayogi told me to bring my wife and family into the path when I told him the day I met him that Agathiyar had wanted me to come to the path of the Siddhas in my Nadi reading. Agathiyar in coming to us during his Vizha on Thursday and again yesterday, spoke about the importance of husband and wife relationships and wanted everyone to compromise and live a good life. Agathiyar told a devotee who was ready to settle down in a married life to get to know whoever comes along, irrespective if he worships the Siddhas or not and irrespective if he is a vegetarian, after matching their horoscopes. He told her that it is of utmost importance that both should like each other initially and eventually come to love each other. This is the importance that the Siddhas give to family life.
In gathering us and having us practice the Asanas and Pranayama that Tavayogi taught us before him, he did not exclude women and children. He had the womenfolk and a 10-year-old show him what they had learned thus far.
In the book on Kavyakantha Vasistha Ganapati Muni entitled NAYANA, A BIOGRAPHY OF KAVYAKANTHA VASISTHA GANAPATI MUNI (from the original Telugu texts by Gunturu Lakshmikantam), Dr G Krishna says "Ganapati Muni had described his wife as a Tapa Sakhi, meaning comrade in Tapas just as Arundhati was the Tapa Sakhi of Vasistha. Visalakshi, wife of Ganapati Muni took to the worship of Agni whenever Ganapati Muni was out of station. Ganapati Muni advised that women should not be barred from any spiritual or religious chores when it was prevalent at that time that women were not considered fit to worship Agni, study the Vedas, and recite Vedic Mantra and were denied the benefits of Upayana. Ganapati Muni himself used to initiate women into Mantra Japa. Many were the women who were initiated into Gayathri Vidhya, which was considered exclusive to men."
"The study of scriptures had convinced Ganapati that the ancient rishis had practiced austerity and attained self-realization without giving up family life and responsibilities. Women were not treated as objects of pleasure by our ancient Rishis. They were as qualified as men to discharge spiritual responsibilities. The ancient Rishis by their exemplary behavior became spiritual preceptors to their wives and helped to establish a well-ordered society. They never considered their wives as hindrances to Tapas.” True enough when my wife questioned Agathiyar back then if she was in my way a hindrance to me seeking the liberation of the soul, Agathiyar replied that no one was a hindrance to the other.
M. Govindan in BABAJI AND THE 18 SIDDHA KRIYAYOGA TRADITION, Kriya Yoga Publications, Quebec, Canada, 1991, (M.Govindan, 1991)says,
“The Siddhas never called for seclusion of oneself. On the contrary, Siddhas have asked us not to neglect our families and responsibilities but to attend to both worlds, the material and spiritual. They challenge us not to turn our backs on the world in our quests for spiritual enlightenment.”