When Agathiyar asked us why we came to the Siddha path some time back, many could not answer and chose to remain silent. Those who answered dished out wonderful replies such as wanting to be with him, to serve him, and wanting the generally acclaimed states of Mukti, Gnanam, etc. Just as we are blind walking the streets in the material world we seem to walk the alleys of the spiritual world blindfolded too. We literally do not have a vision in the former and a vision of the latter. The irony is many begin to lead others just as the blind lead another. I pray that I am not one of those blind leading another.
Just as Ramalinga Adigal in mentioning his journey in his songs, after seeing newer frontiers in his life later, discarded certain methods and ways of approach that he had traveled earlier in life, much of what is written in these blog in the earlier days might not hold water or have a weightage now as we have come to progress on the pilgrim's journey, having gained new insights and experiences. So should I stamp these as false and remove these posts? Unlike certain quarters opting to hide Ramalinga Adigal's earlier works from public sight, good sense told me to let this blog postings be for each soul has to walk the path passing through each milestone and coming to a realization. Sadly I am told that many who profess the way of Ramalinga Adigal step into his final method and ways rather than wanting to travel the tried and proven path from the start and gain those experiences for themselves too. It was only after I traveled the phases of Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam that I arrived at Gnanam which helped me know and distinguish Maya that had clothed all of creation and every single sight and speech, thought and action and all the phases mentioned too. The false is required to know the truth just as darkness is required to see the light. If I am all light how do I see and experience it? Hence we read that the Little Soul who was with God asked to come down for the experience in Neale Donald Walsch's "Conversation with God".
If the idea of moving into spiritualism was to seek the Self and settle in it, thinking we have escaped the clutches of the material world we get caught in the traps and snares of the spiritual world. We seem to jump from the frying pan into the fire. There are those who in wanting to gather and bring others to the way, envision and build centers, ashrams, peedhams to have them congregate. We come to face an exact scenario just as we do with a home, but a much larger one with having to build and maintain these structures. Just as in the home, here too there are utility bills that need to be settled monthly but on a bigger scale. Just as we entertain visitors to our homes to a meal, funds are needed to continue feeding visitors to these centers. We begin to source for money losing our sights on our goal. Worst still is that we cannot bring ourselves to pass on our responsibilities to another, wanting to hold on til death do us part, or we take ill. Just as a person cried out that someone was pickpocketing his cash as he lay dying, now laying ill we fear that those entrusted to take over the establishment would pocket the public funds that we have painfully collected over the years for their own use. Then there are some who eye these posts and get disappointed and leave when they are sidelined.
Then we have those who are so focused, adamant, rigid, and fanatic for all the wrong reasons. Their sight is set on the meals rather than the practice. What is vegetarian? The greens that grow in the soil feed on nutrients derived from things falling to the ground and rotting including decaying carcasses. In BBC Earth's "Planet Earth lll - Forests", Richard Attenborough tells us that the forest in Canada flourishes because the bears catch and bring the salmon ashore and after eating them leave their remains behind.
"This annual feast helps her to fatten ready for the winter ahead. But it also helps the patch of forest where she lives. This female has an unusual relationship with the forest. Every fish carcass she leaves behind decays releasing nutrients that soak into the soil. And there they are collected by a network of fungi. The treads attach themselves to the tree's roots. And nutrients from the fish collected by the fungi are then passed on to the trees. As a consequence, the forest around the river grows three times faster than elsewhere. And some trees here become as tall as any in the world. And provides the bears with a healthy home. We now know that such relationships exist in the forest all over the world."
The water that we drink is from the rivers where all forms of organisms flourish. The air that we breathe in carries with it minute living organisms too. The skin carrying minute organisms come into contact with other humans and meat forms. Yes, man himself is a pack of meat made of muscles and bones and ends as food for certain larger animals when they cross paths or ends as food for smaller organisms when he drops his carcass to the ground contributing to the food chain. Who then is a true vegetarian as the term has been made out to be? It just doesn't make sense and the tussle doesn't seem to end. Maya indeed is in all worlds. It is not the meal but the intent to kill that is in question here as in the Buddhist practice. What matters is to drop the thought that moves us into action. Doctors are known to ask vegetarian patients recovering from operations and illnesses to take fish as their bodies need a lot of protein during these stages of recovery to rebuild cells and tissues. Agathiyar and Bhogar have asked certain devotees to take fish too telling them that their bodies need them. There is an allocation in Siddha medicine to prescribe fish as medicine to patients. A Siddha physician we know has asks his vegetarian patients to consume fish for their bodily needs and to recover. As someone said the heavens are not made of vegetarians alone, let us not become fanatics. Who then needs to be a vegetarian? Those who desire to transform this body back into Light.
If sex is considered taboo in the spiritual world, Agathiyar asked us to have a healthy relationship with our spouse telling us to practice healthy sex too. Ramalinga Adigal like Agathiyar has advocated it. Tirumular gives guidelines to determine the sex of the child yet to be born from this unison. Bhogar has spoken about the sex trade. Agathiyar went into intimate details of intimacy to a couple he met asking me to remain by his side and telling me that I too needed to know. He says these are required by the body. He jolts us from our dream world asking us why, when he stood before Lord Shiva as a full-fledged Siddha, Rishi, and Muni, a renunciate and a yogi, Lord Shiva told him that he had not attained completeness or Paripuranam. The Lord told him that he had yet to get married. Lord Shiva fixed his marriage to Lobama.
Let us not cut our ties with others just because they chose to take a different meal. Let us not cut our ties with others just because they are born into another race or religion. Let us not cut our ties with others just because they hold on to another faith and beliefs. Essentially we are all humans. As such we should be humane towards all. As man is often considered superior to others let us take care of the lesser beings just as it is our duty to take care of the young.
I am glad that Tavayogi at the onset broke my hold on things and attachment even to him showing me to Agathiyar instead. I am glad that as I near the end of my life and my journey Agathiyar has broken my attachment even towards him, tearing the masks of Maya into shreds. I am glad I never fell for all these or as Agathiyar says for want of its experiences, with their grace, managed to escape to safe ground after placing my foot into these dark pits.