A true Gnani will groom another man to a state similar or at par with him. A Gnani shall seek out potential candidates among the masses hoping to spot one man whom they could groom and mold into an equally creditable Gnani. Only a Gnani can identify another potential Gnani. Seeing his student's potential to become a Gnani, the master works on him and brings the yogi out of him. Saints, Mahans, Yogis and Siddhas have been working untiringly hoping that at least one individual among the masses might turn out to be a right candidate. He would groom his disciple into another Gnani and let him off to accomplish his mission. He would not have his disciples stand in front of him with hands folded, and waiting to serve on him, and be of service to him, forever.
Guhai Namasivayar of Thiruvannamalai was one such Gnani who groomed his disciple Guru Namashivayar and ‘chased’ him away to Chidambaram. Supramania Swami told me a story among the many other wonderful stories during my very first meeting with him at his village home at Nacha Ananthal in Thiruvannamalai. Once the senior Namashivayar had vomited. He called for his disciple Guru Namshivayar and instructed him to dispose the vomit. The master laid a condition. His disciple was to throw it away in a place out of bounds of people and where they might not accidentally trample on the vomit. Guru Namashivayar left to dispose the vomit. Later the master asked him what he did with the vomit. The young disciple replied that he had consumed the vomit!
Once as the junior Namashivayar was fanning his master in the late afternoon, suddenly he started to brush his side and flap his hands. His master inquired as to what he was doing. Guru Namashivayar replied that he saw the curtain at the inner chamber of Chidambaram burn and was putting the fire out!
Realizing the potential of his student, the master decided to sent him away to Chidambaram. Guru Namashivayar, wanting to stay forever with his master, protested aloud. But Guhai Namashivayar insisted that he go. Failing to convince his master, the junior Namashivayar finally gave in but not without stipulating a condition. He told his master that on his arrival at Chidambaram, if he did not see his master there, he would return to Thiruvannamalai. And so the student took leave of his master rather reluctantly. On arrival at the abode of Lord Shiva at Chidambaram and heading straight for the inner sanctum, Guru Namashivayar had the darshan of his master and guru Guhai Namashivayar! The disciple never returned to Thiruvannamalai henceforth.
Agathiyar too has a beautiful tale to tell.
When his nation was facing severe drought and food shortage, a king left the comfort of his palace to seek the advice of any wise man who could advise him on ways to overcome his nations’ problems. The king set out alone in search of such a man. Unfortunately he lost his way while trespassing in the woods. Fearing for the wild animals that prowled the forest, he climbed a tree and perched on the tree waiting for dawn to break. Suddenly he was awakened by voices and on peering down from the tree he saw a Yogi and a young aid sitting below the tree and exchanging a conversation. Hoping that these strangers might be of some help to him the king comes down from the tree to meet them. The king stretches himself in front of the Yogi in an act of respect. But the king while doing so could not help hold back his tears and burst out crying. The Yogi came to know everything about the king the moment he laid eyes on the king. He addresses the king, “The past actions of ours, follows us just as the shadow does. Your ancestors’ past action, your past action and those of your subjects have given rise to the present situation and sufferings. If you want your kingdom and and your subjects to regain its lost happiness, look for one who is unselfish, who remains aloft, and does not succumb to greed and other evils. Have his feet washed and conduct rituals as he ordains. Some good might then happen."
The king immediately turns to the Yogi and pleads that he be the one to safe him and his kingdom. But the Yogi mentions that he was there only to show the king the way and adds that he was not qualified to take the place of the said candidate and moves on. He turns back to the king and tells him to pray that the Lord shall show him the right candidate.
After on the move for some time, the king decides to break his journey. He finds the young man who had accompanied the Yogi earlier sitting under a tree. The king now pleads with the youngster to accept the responsibility to safe his kingdom since he (the youngster) had been with the Yogi all this while. The lad questions the king that since his master himself had admitted that he (the Yogi) was not qualified, how could he being his student undertake this massive responsibility? The lad too walks away.
Night sets in and as usual the king climbs up a tree to spend the night. He is awakened by voices in the middle of the night. He observes that a group of decoits having robbed his people, were sharing the loot among themselves. The king confronts the decoits. The decoits seeing him clad in the best clothes mistake him for a merchant. The king tries to talk them out of their thieving activities but they justify that they have to feed their families too. The decoits brief him on the sad state of his kingdom not realizing that they were addressing their king. They inform him that evil has taken an upper hand in the absence of the king and in the face of the calamities, hunger and famine. Finally they too had resorted and succumbed to thieving means robbing others to keep themselves alive. They end up relieving the king of all his belongings and clothing leaving him with just his undergarment.
This incident drives the king to think further about all that was happening around him. The king starts to ponder for a long time. When dawn breaks he spots a lake and takes a dip in it, drinking the water to fulfill his thirst and hunger. He comes across a deserted Shiva temple. He cries his heart out to the Lord asking for guidance, to show him the savior of his kingdom that was promised by the Yogi and to help his citizens who have slowly turned to become decoits, now looting their our kind. The king who is now entirely exhausted and drained of energy, and who cannot figure a way out of his sufferings and problems, then surrenders himself to Shiva. He goes into a deep meditative state almost immediately.
A few days go by. When he comes around he decides that he would not want to return to his kingdom. He starts to clean up the run down temple making it his new abode now. He takes the sole brass lamp to the lake and gives it a good brushing too. He spots a “sikkimukki kal”, a stone used to ignite a fire in those days and locates a worn cotton wick. Sadly there was no oil to feed the flame either. Desperate to keep the flame going he uses the water from the lake but to no avail. He then gathers the leaves and plants, extracts their juices to feed the flame but is again unproductive. Thinking that he could use the fat and oil extracted from meat of dead animals he looks around but is disappointed again. Four days pass by while the king attempts all possible means to keep the flame burning. Several more days roll by. He gets another idea. He heads for the nearest rock formation and rubs his hands on the rough surface until his palms start to bleed profusely. He collects his blood and feeds the flame. The flame keeps burning!
“God is neither stone nor a figment of my imagination. God has shown his presence”, he claims and laughs out in joy on seeing the flame burn for hours. He dances in joy. He then takes a vow not to leave the temple and to keep the flame burning forever with his blood. When the flame died down he collected more blood even if the action hurt him and he fainted on several occasions due to extreme pain and torture. As days went by his worship and prayer which initially was centered on the welfare of his state and his people expanded to include all of God’s creation too.
One fine day, upon waking up the king is surprised to see many people gathered around him. They tell him, not realizing that he was their sovereign, that they are from the neighboring kingdom (his kingdom) and recap what had taken place in his long absence. He came to know from his subjects that his kingdom was in a very sorry state of affairs and was in need of dire and immediate assistance.
His people continue. They tell the king that they were directed to seek him out at this temple by a Yogi. The Yogi had ask that they convince and bring him (the king) to their homeland and engage in some rituals that will reverse all the atrocities committed in their homeland, promising that rain will fall and their land will become fertile again. They tell him further that the Yogi had refered him (the king) as a Maha Yogi.
His citizens plead that he follow them, bless their homeland and bring the much needed change to their homeland and also to inform them of the whereabouts of their long lost ruler (the king).
The king could not comprehend the Yogi’s words and directive to his people. He replies to his people that there was no Yogi or Mahan at the temple. He tells them that he was the only soul around for miles. But his people insist that he was the one indicated by the Yogi based on what the Yogi had told them. “The Yogi said that you would not have any attire on you except for your undergarment, you would be lean and undernourished, and you would have wounds on your palms. We had been searching in the direction indicated by the Yogi and we found you and this temple,” reaffirmed his subjects. Not willing to listen to him any further, they pick him up and head for their homeland. The moment they arrive at the outskirts of their homeland it begins to pour cats and dogs. The people come out of their homes and dance in joy. They head straight for his palace and sit him on the king’s throne (his throne).
At that moment the Yogi who showed the people to the king arrives at the assembly. The people fall at his feet. So does the king. The king recognizes the Yogi as the sadhu who met him and blessed him to seek a Yogi who would bring change to his kingdom. The Yogi introduces the king to his people and reiterates again that the king was now a Maha Yogi. The king is all the more disturbed when his subjects start to fall at his feet on hearing the proclamation by the Yogi.
The Yogi explains that a sole flame that is lighted is not an extraordinary feat, burning by itself, but to light up the next lamp beside it, is something to be looked upon with high regard. Similarly a true Gnani will want to ignite the spark of devotion and gnanam in his disciple so that he too could glow with all the luminosity. Just as a miner shifts through the earth in the hope of seeing a tiny sparkle in the soil that would be of value, the Gnanis seek the face of the earth vetting through the millions of people looking for a potential candidate who will listen to them and uphold their teachings, eventually becoming one of them. The Siddhas mention this lineage as "Valaiyadi Valaiyaaga Vantha Thiru Kuttam"
The Yogi goes on to explain why he considers the king as a Maha Yogi. When he felt compassion towards his subjects and went in search of a remedy and a solution; when he pleaded to the Lord to guide and show him the right man to bring cheer into his life and his subjects; and when he tried to convince his citizens who had turned into decoits due to prevailing circumstances, not to sacrifice their good tendencies in the face of calamities, the king had won the battle and was half way becoming a Yogi. Next when he admitted that he was not fit to lead his people not knowing of a way to bring them out of their miseries he had moved another step up the ladder in becoming a full fledged Yogi. Later by bringing life into the abandoned temple and feeding the flame with his blood, he have proof beyond doubt that he have attained the state of a Maha Yogi. Finally the Yogi says that one who is satisfied in his life is a Yogi and a Gnani. This is the identity of a true Gnani.
