Each day is a learning. If I thought that I was shown men in their myriad colors and nature when I packed food for two gentlemen whom I used to meet when I go for my walk, as posted in an earlier post, today I came to know how wrong I was to assume things. If the assistant to the lorry driver told me that he had taken food and asked that I give it to someone else, the sweeper who took the food I gave although he already had some packed food with him made me think how selfish could he be to want more. Today when I spoke to the assistant to the driver, he told me that they both knew each other and the sweeper would share his access food with him. I learned a lesson today not to assume nor judge another's actions. I guess like the story of the old lady who earned the wrath of Lord Siva for assuming that the king killed the villagers by feeding them poisoned food, not knowing the truth that a snake had spit its venom as it was in the claws of an eagle flying over the festival grounds, Lord Siva has written the account in my favor.
Man turns ugly or shows his ugly side once the other party is on the other side of the fence as in carrying a faith, or belief, following certain practices, adopting an alien culture, or tradition, following a particular guru and Gods, or as in the choice of food, dressing, and many more. If one follows him in all aspects he is overjoyed and takes him as his buddy, otherwise he or she is alienated. We get the stare if we are different. I guess I too had got mad that many did not follow the dictates of Agathiyar as I did and seen its benefits, for Lord Murugan came to tell me to cool off and that he would take care of them, reminding me not to get angry for I shall fall from the current state of being, he added.
I feel pity for those who get alienated just because their preference for food varies from us. I would like to ask those fanatics who uphold vegetarianism and publicly decry meat eating "Is there something like vegetarian blood?" If in the event they need a blood transfusion, can they request vegetarian blood from the blood bank or are they going to wait for a vegetarian to come up and volunteer to give them blood? The milk that we drink and that is used to do Abhiseka for the deities is produced in the body and from the blood of the cow. When we suckled our mother's breast was she a vegetarian? Or was the milk vegetarian? The water that we drink and pour over the deities has fish and other organisms living in it. The air that we breathe in carries the expelled air from non-vegetarians and animals too. The plants, trees, and tubers derive the minerals from the soil that has decayed corpses of animals and insects. It is these plants and trees that give us the vegetables and fruits. It is these tubers that we eat. The body itself is a large mass of meat. All the five elements that contribute to nature and everything resulting in nature are adulterated. So tell me what is truly vegetarian? Just as Agathiyar showed us to respect every deity, be it the greater deities or the lesser deities so too should we respect all and not divide people according to the menu they eat. Let them live their lives in peace. They will come around to understand the true need, reason, and purpose of asking to drop meat.
For one who wants to transform his gross body into that of light, he has to stop taking meat for a start. Then he has to work on his body to cleanse its internals and expel the "impurities" as a result of years of meat consumption. Soon he has to work on his entire body which is a huge chunk of meat, transforming it into "a pure light body". This is as much as I understand. I cannot explain further for I haven't stepped into these phases as yet. But we can always look up to Ramalinga Adigal's experience for he had been there and back.
We come to the Siddhas with the false notion that all our worries, hardships, sufferings, misfortunes, etc will disappear overnight. The Siddha only can tell us why it's happening and possibly suggest remedies. They cannot give life nor take it away, says Agathiyar. That is the jurisdiction of Lord Siva. But the Siddhas can appeal to Lord Siva and Brahma on our behalf.
I believe Agathiyar extends an invitation to those who have traveled far with him in previous births. That is the reason he begins to push us to do things for our soul empowerment. An empowered soul knows what it has to do rather than aimlessly live life. The Siddha upon seeing one as having the potential to be molded into one of their kind, enters his life, then helps transform him and brings him before God. Bringing us from Sariyai that was taught by our parents, to perform Kriyai which is given by the gurus in physical form, who follow up with dispensing Yoga to us, the Siddhas then come down to us to bring about an internal transformation. It is now a play of energies and they direct it. With their grace, the final phase of the journey starts. This is the stage of the merger into Oli Degam or Light. This is the "mystic union which is the goal of bridal mysticism" says G.Vanmikanathan in describing Ramalinga Adigal's final moment of union with the Lord in his book "Pathway to God Trod by Saint Ramalingar", Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay.
"In a span of about fifteen years, what was unrelieved misery had become metamorphosed into joy. This is not the effect of the passage of time which dulls the edge of misery, but a genuine change in the outlook on what seemed like misery. This is the result of the affinity - 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."
Agathiyar too each time he came to explain after I had gone through pain and misery, told me that this was a joy. He too asked that I change my "outlook on what seems like misery". Jnana Jothiamma too used to share the moments of misery and pain she had to withstand and go through for the internal transformation to take place. But Agathiyar tells me that her body could no longer take this intense pressure and she was relieved of the suffering. I too was told to expect death and be prepared for it. Agathiyar spoke of death in the event it happens. Death is another doorway to another journey says Agathiyar.
"Do not be afraid of death. It is but another door to another journey. One who invites death is a Siddha. There is much I need to carry out through you. Enough of my praise. Write about your bodily experiences. Let your writings be about the changes taking place in your body. Let your readers know the changes that take place in the body if they come to worship the light and seek to merge with it. My wisdom shall be your experience. Experience first and I shall clarify the experiences later. Experience is knowledge to you. Nothing is beyond experience."
After years of intense suffering, the grace of the divine is showered on us. "God with name and form will disappear and where ultimately the worshiper and the worshiped, the seeker and the sought, the soul and the Godhead, will merge into each other", writes G.Vanmikanathan. The divine grace comes as "the crowning glory of the long years of Tavam" or austerities he writes. "The Son of Man has become the Son of God."
One might have to stay longer to "discharge his preordained mission on earth" as did Ramalinga Adigal "commence his ministry on earth, establish the Pure Universal True Path to God, a path, a religion, based on compassion towards all creatures on earth, a religion based on intense and one-pointed love of God, a religion freed from the stifling influences of caste, country, race, language, conflicting creeds, petty cruel gods and inhuman sacrifices, freed from the dialectics of learned scriptures."