The spiritual evolution of Ramalinga Adigal is pretty obvious when one follows his initial laments, wailing, utterances, pleading, petitions, experiences, and final revelations that came as devotional out-pourings and have come to us as the Thiruarutpa.
G.Vanmikanathan in his "Pathway to God Trod by Saint Ramalingar", published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, writes, "He (Ramalingam) is initiated by Murukan Himself into the methods of His worship."
Here we have to acknowledge that all saints have had a beginning in Bakthi or devotion too. What does devotion bring upon us then? Vanmikanathan translates a song of the saint regarding this.
"Oh Guru Who came into my mind and bestowed the perception that through ritualistic worship of Pathi (God) and similar good rites, the creaturely instrument of understanding called the mind will be rid of impure concepts and stand established in pure contemplation and, thereby, the state of true union with Pathi with the result; that, thereupon, buddhi, the power of ratiocination, freed from (the triad of) bonds will merge in the mind, and that, forthwith, the state of absence of incoming and outgoing will be gained in the shape of unwavering real gnosis."
Ramalingam as a kid had already defined Gnanam. We understand that man has to arrive at knowing the Pathi through rituals and devotion. Impurity in the body, confusion, and delusion in the mind then give way for the Buddhi to arise which in turn makes way for true knowledge or Gnanam to dawn on us.
Temple worship is necessary to kickstart us on this fascinating journey of Self-discovery. G.Vanmikanathan writes, "The five courtyards in the temple represent the five sheaths of a human body."
Swami Saravanananda in his English rendering of the original in Tamil of Ramalinga Adigal's "Arutperunjhoti Agaval", published by the Ramalinga Mission, Madras, writes, "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."
G.Vanmikanathan continues, "The devotee crosses these entrances to the innermost court. At the sacrificial altar, he sacrifices his Aanava Malam."
We learned that Aanava Malam was the distinction between the JeevAtma and ParamAtma in an earlier post.
G.Vanmikanathan continues "At the flagpost (or kodimaram), he reinforces his faith, and resoluteness of his purpose here."
"Freed from religious bigotry, and freed from the clutches of religious scriptures, removing doubt and misconception that made him pure, 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.
G.Vanmikanathan continues "He proceeds now to worship God in the sanctum sanctorum where the eternal effulgence shines."
Swami Saravanananda says "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 (that is the JeevAtma) stands face to face with the resplendence merging in the effulgence 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)."
G.Vanmikanathan continues "It is the soul's experience that it should see itself elated to a state of joy first; from joy to ecstasy; and from ecstasy to an all-encompassing and surpassing bliss, as the soul is seen uniting with Civan to the point of extinction of duality, to the point of the absence of any difference between the soul and Civan."
"The man who says I am the slave or servant of God affirms two existences - his own and his God. But when he says "I am God" he has made himself non-existent and has given himself up. "I am naught; he is all there is; nothing but God's. I am God" is an expression of great humility," says Jalaluddin Rumi.
Now I understand why Agathiyar knowing pretty well I had no desire and wants, asked me if that was what I wanted and waited on me to reply when I cooked up a wish that I be born again and again to serve him as I did now. He wanted me to rid of the ignorance in me that we were different and apart.
Earlier Tavayogi too had asked me the same if that was what I wanted when I asked to see Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal. He said that they would materialize but asked me to reconsider if that was what I wanted. After the short journey following him into the jungles and caves and back to his ashram, as we sat at a tea shop to take a drink and a break, I told him that this journey should not be like any pilgrimage that a devotee or travel that a tourist undertakes. I asked him to give me something that I could take back and practice on. Upon reaching his ashram he called me up and gave me a Dheeksha that would connect me to my breath or Vaasi.
After 19 years Agathiyar came to acknowledge that the breath or Uyir or Vaasi was indeed Vaalai. Ramalinga Adigal came and told me that all the Siddhas including him came to Vaalai eventually. One has to finally take hold of the breath to move up the ladder, leaving the earlier phases of Sariyai and Kriyai. This breath that came as the fire in all of our rituals, and that helped fan the Fire of Devotion soon came as the Prana as we did Pranayama, to fan the Tava Kanal or the fire and heat of austerity. This breath then awakened the Fire of Kundalini in the Muladhara chakra and fanned it to move through the various other chakras till it settled at Sahasrara, the crown chakra. The heat of this fire melted the solidified ambrosia so that we could partake in the bliss and forever remain in the state of Sat Chit Ananda.
G.Vanmikanathan now brings us to the juncture where Ramalinga attains Jeevan Mukthi.
"Here ends our Swaamikal’s journey on the Pathway to God. He has arrived. He has become a Jeevan Muktha, a seeker who has gained what he sought, and who has reached the end of his quest. Swaamikal had indeed arrived at his goal, at his journey’s end, and he has nothing more to do on earth than to spend the remaining years prescribed for him by praarabdha-karma in adoring contemplation of the Godhead and in loving service to all creatures. The point of utmost importance in Advaita is that every seeker after deliverance may hopefully aim at the goal of Jeevan Mukthi …"
But having attained the state of Jeevan Mukthi, Ramalinga yearns for "everlasting evanescent bliss and eternal union. He yearns for Videha Mukthi - disembodied release from the cycle of death and birth."
"Liable as it is to disease and decay, to pain and putrefaction, the Jeevan Muktha now longs for release from the body, longs for death. The body which was an asset for so long has become a liability as soon as the Jeevan Muktha state has been attained, as soon as the mystic union with God has been achieved. The mystic lives with dread for his companion, the dread of losing the bliss, the ecstatic union with God. So the Jeevan Muktha now longs for death, for release from the human body, for eternal bliss and union everlasting. He has obtained, it is true, supreme bliss, but still not evanescent bliss; he has obtained union with God, but still not eternal union. On having these beatific visions, wisdom and peace descend on the mutinously impatient Jeevan Muktha, impatient for death, impatient to shed the human body, impatient to gain Videha Mukthi."
I guess that is the reason Agathiyar too told me to hold that thought to another time for he said that I had a purpose to accomplish first. In having these beautiful conversations with the Siddhas, if Agathiyar told me "Let wisdom descend on you", his other half Lobama told me "Let peace descend on you."
With their grace, the final phase of the journey will come along in its own time. "This is the stage of the merger into Oli Degam or Light. A spiritual rapport between Raamalinga Swaamikal and the Godhead, which has grown stronger and stronger with the years, a rapport that has grown into the relationship of bride and bridegroom" says G.Vanmikanathan in describing Ramalinga Adigal's final moment of union with the Lord.