When was the last time you had a good stretch? Yoga Asanas does well to stretch all those aching parts. Though people seem to be well educated on the goodness of Yoga, a balanced diet, exercises, and values in life, they are rather complacent with their current lifestyles. What stops them from stepping into it? Why do we put off doing good things?
Just as a home is nothing without an inhabitant, a body is lifeless without the soul residing in it. The soul is the thing to look up to now as Agathiyar tells me and my wife as we bring closure to the first 60 years of our lives. We have apparently lost touch with our soul and all the rest too in our excitement and delirious chase to appease all else.
It needs the guru who has seen his soul to come along and remind us of this. This is why and what the Siddhas are trying hard to do too. But our sight is on all things except looking within. We give all sorts of reasons to wait another time, to postpone the search within, preferring to look outside, for the external world is brimming full of life, color, and excitement. But just like us who are addicted to all things external, the saints and sages who have tasted the nectar and ambrosia within can never come out of their addiction too. But just as Agathiyar told me that my desire for him too has to be severed, these holy men too eventually give it all up and release their souls willingly.
Death for the body is inevitable be it for a commoner or a Siddha. But the soul continues its journey into another body and yet another, experiencing more and more pain and pleasures that come with life, and eventually finds its way back to the Param from where it arose. Learning about, knowing, and experiencing the soul's journey is Gnanam.
Sadhu Om who was with Bhagawan Ramana brings us Gnanam or Divine Knowledge about life, its purpose, and meanings through his songs. His songs have been set to music and sung by Sriram Parthasarathy and his wife.