We at AVM chose the middle way; and we talk the talk and walk the walk. We do not debate which path is superior or inferior. We do not debate whether the chicken came first or the egg came first. We do not debate justifying eating meat is fine since plants too have life.
For a hungry man it is immaterial what you give him, vegetarian or meat. All he wants is food. In event there is no food he fills his tummy with water. I remember as I grew up my family used to have a whole meal only once a day. When night comes, mother would gather all my siblings around and feed us with what is left over from the midday meal. In event we are still hungry a coconut meat would do fine; we would secretly plunge our young tender teeth into it's meat only to be caught later as we had left tooth marks in the coconut meat. In event this too is not available we would reach for the tap and drink from it to appease our hunger.
Many have maintained a vegetarian diet for medical reasons too. When I became a vegetarian overnight some 19 years back, many questioned me if I had stopped consuming meat because of religious beliefs or for medical reasons. I did not have a reason then. It just stopped. The desire just dropped on its own. I have been moderate. Although I stopped taking meat, fish, and eggs, I do not strain my eyes looking into the fine print on food packets to see if it contained animal products. Along the way the body itself has begun to reject these foods to the extent that I cannot bear the smell of raw meat and fish. I keep away from wet markets for this reason. Neither can I bear the smell of scrambled eggs on the wok, fish being fried and etc. I have become more sensitive to smell as my senses are enhanced.
In present times with mother nature throwing blows on us for not respecting her, in event my town is submerged in flood waters and we are displaced to higher grounds, the local authority would provide meals while waiting for the flood waters to reside and relocate us back to our homes, I would most probably end up eating canned sardines too. If in the event I was dropped off in the north or south pole I would end up consuming fish and seal meat to keep me alive, although I understand in modern times vegetables and other needs are dropped off in these remote places by helicopters regularly.
Diet is immaterial for devotion to fruit; taboos and superstition do not stand between Erai and us. Whether you are vegetarian or not the divine lives in you as a spark of light. Whether you are a believer or not the divine lives in you.
When Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal told me that I have to bring my family too into their (the Siddhas) fold, my family and I started by conducting prayers at home which included singing the praise of the Siddhas. Later when Agathiyar came to our home in the form of a bronze statue my family and I performed the bathing ritual or Abhisegam according to Agathiyar’s wishes. Then Tavayogi instructs us to carry out the homam. I was not a priest and knew nothing about the sastras and had my reservations initially but Tavayogi mooted me to carry it out. Later he conducts the homam in our home where we learnt to fine-tune the procedures. Agathiyar blessed and encouraged us further and spoke highly of the homam and prayers, listing its benefits. My wife used to sit at the homam with both my daughters as I recited the hymns. In event I was out of town, she would continue with the children. The question of whether ladies can sit to light the homam did not arise. Since then my family and I have been conducting these rituals on Pornami, Amavasai and every Thursday. We also conduct them on auspicious days including Shivarathri, Navarathri, Vinayagar Chathurthi and on Agathiyar’s Jayanthi and Guru Pujai. Agathiyar is full of praise for my wife and children who do all the preparation in view of these prayers.
I had carried the following post, THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN HINDU SPIRITUALISM - The Wife as a Tapa Sakhi earlier.
In the book on Kavyakantha Vasistha Ganapati Muni entitled NAYANA, A BIOGRAPHY OF KAVYAKANTHA VASISTHA GANAPATI MUNI [1] (from the original Telugu texts by Gunturu Lakshmikantam), Dr G Krishna says Ganapati Muni had described his wife as a Tapa Sakhi, meaning comrade in Tapas just as Arundhati was the Tapa Sakhi of Vasistha and so were the wives of many of the rishis.
“They never considered their wives as hindrances to Tapas.”
Ganapati Muni advised that women should not be barred from any spiritual or religious chores when it was prevalent at that time that women were not considered fit to worship Agni, study the Vedas and recite Vedic Mantra and were denied the benefits of upayana. Ganapati Muni himself used to initiate women into Mantra japa. Many were the women who were initiated into Gayathri Vidhya, which was considered exclusive to men.
Visalakshi, wife of Ganapati Muni took to the worship of Agni whenever Ganapati Muni was out of station.
“Visalakshi paid equal attention to house-keeping and Mantra upasana. Ganapati did not share the belief that a woman was the source of sin and Maya. The study of scriptures had convinced him that the ancient rishis had practiced austerity and attained self-realization without giving up family life and responsibilities. Women were not treated as objects of pleasure by our ancient rishis. They were as qualified as men to discharge spiritual responsibilities. The ancient rishis by their exemplary behavior became spiritual preceptors to their wives and helped to establish a well ordered society.”
M. Govindan in BABAJI AND THE 18 SIDDHA KRIYAYOGA TRADITION, Kriya Yoga Publications, Quebec, Canada, 1991, (M.Govindan, 1991)says,
“The Siddhas never called for seclusion of oneself. On the contrary, Siddhas have asked us not to neglect our families and responsibilities but to attend to worlds, the material and spiritual.”
As M. Govindan says, “They challenge us not to turn our backs on the world in our quests for spiritual enlightenment.”
[1] Kavyakantha Sri Ganapati Sastri
, a Vedic scholar of repute in his age with a deep knowledge of the Srutis, Sastras, Tantras, Yoga, and Agama systems, came to visit Ramana in 1907. After receiving instructions from him, he proclaimed him as Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Ramana was known by this name from then on. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
To a question whether ladies could pay their last respects to the deceased at the crematorium or grave, which is a taboo all these years, I had a cousin who had no option but to lit the pyre for her late mother as her male siblings did not turn up.
We at AVM respect all forms of worship. When aspirants came to Ramana seeking ways to liberation, Ramana would ask what they were doing currently and asked them to continue doing it. But sadly many masters in this current era have already decided that their path is THE only path and belittle and ridicule those on other paths. Nay some in the same path too ridicule the beginners on the path. I too was ridiculed by a Master in the Siddha path for worshiping Agathiyar in the form of an idol.
We do not hold lectures, talks and satsangs in posh hotels but instead cramp up in this tiny space at AVM. The money spent in rentals of a larger space is translated to cash and kind donations towards the upkeep of children's homes, old folks homes and orphanages. Our prayers are confined to this small home that we call AVM, but the physical space is not a criteria for Erai to reside; he seeks the teeny weeny space in all our hearts to reside. Bring him into your homes first. Then bring him into your hearts. Worship Erai in your home first. Worship him at the temples. Then learn to worship him in your hearts. All rituals are necessary to bring us together in prayers. All customs and traditions are necessary to bring the community together.
We do not scare and drive away aspirants on the Siddha path with codes of practise, principles and rigid regimes. Bring them into the fold first and let them evolve naturally. The divine in each of us will eventually guide us. Transformation will take place on its own accord and at its own pace and never by force. The aspirants will drop certain habits for want of better and higher aspirations.
The debate about diet and rituals has been going on for ages without a compromise or a common solution. I chose to remain moderate for if you indulge in questioning the diet than you would end up asking, "What about the air and water we drink?" too. The air is common to all, humans, animals and plants although humans and animals take in oxygen and the plant takes in carbon dioxide. Similarly there is a vast range of marine life living in the sea and rivers. The rivers provide us with our source of drinking water too. If we are to be so concerned about these things, then we should not accept the currency that is handled by the meat seller. If we are what we eat, then the blood too is impure. Therefore there are certain things best left alone and not questioned.
For a man making a living the hard way, trying hard to place bread and butter on the dining table, he might not have much choice in many matters. But if there is an option by all means choose vegetarian.
It is required to be a vegetarian for certain suksma reasons for those on the path of transformation into light. It helps develop compassion. For one who wants to merge with Erai, Erai brings a total transformation in all the various bodies that we are made of. One has to be prepared mentally and physically for this transformation to take place. A saint in the making shared the following: It all starts with a sacred initiation by a Siddha. Once the process is started there is no way out but to see it through. The Siddhas will have to remove 7 jenmas of karma or karma accumulated over the last 7 births; make us shed all 7 layers of skin; lose weight till we are 1/4 of our original weight; purge the body of all the meat that we had eaten over the years sometimes vomiting as many as 32 times a day. All these you have to endure not a day or two but 2 1/2 years and you have only shed 2 layers of skin and are only at the 2nd stage. I am told that there are 4 stages before you become a Siddha.
Ramalinga Adigal reveals the transformation that took place in him in his Agaval,
தோலெலாங் குழைந்திடச் சூழ்நரம் பனைத்தும்
மேலெலாங் கட்டவை விட்டுவிட் டியங்கிட (1450)
என்பெலா நெக்குநெக் கியலிடை நெகிழ்ந்திட
மென்புடைத் தசையெலா மெய்யுறத் தளர்ந்திட
இரத்த மனைத்துமுள் ளிறுகிடச் சுக்கிலம்
உரத்திடை பந்தித் தொருதிர ளாயிட
மடலெலா மூளை மலர்ந்திட வமுதம்
உடலெலா மூற்றெடுத் தோடி நிரம்பிட
ஒண்ணுதல் வியர்த்திட வொளிமுக மலர்ந்திட
தண்ணிய வுயிர்ப்பினிற் சாந்தந் ததும்பிட
உண்ணகை தோற்றிட வுரோமம் பொடித்திடக்
கண்ணினீர் பெருகிக் கால்வழிந் தோடிட (1460)
வாய்துடித் தலறிட வளர்செவித் துணைகளிற்
கூயிசைப் பொறியெலாங் கும்மெனக் கொட்டிட
மெய்யெலாங் குளிர்ந்திட மென்மார் பசைந்திடக்
கையெலாங் குவிந்திடக் காலெலாஞ் சுலவிட
மனங்கனிந் துருகிட மதிநிறைந் தொளிர்ந்திட
இனம்பெறு சித்த மியைந்து களித்திட
அகங்கார மாங்காங் கதிகரிப் பமைந்திடச்
சகங்காண வுள்ளந் தழைத்து மலர்ந்திட
அறிவுரு வனைத்து மானந்த மாயிடப்
பொறியுறு மான்மதற் போதமும் போயிடத் (1470)
தத்துவ மனைத்துந் தாமொருங் கொழிந்திடச்
சத்துவ மொன்றே தனித்துநின் றோங்கிட
உலகெலாம் விடய முளவெலா மறைந்திட
அலகிலா வருளி னாசைமேற் பொங்கிட
என்னுளத் தெழுந்துயி ரெல்லா மலர்ந்திட
என்னுளத் தோங்கிய என்றனி யன்பே
Agathiyar lives in our homes and in our hearts. He has brought many good souls and children of his to AVM. He has brought many masters, teachers, gurus and saints to AVM. We were blessed to have received Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal and Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar over a span of years beginning in 2005. Their last visit to AVM was recently in June of last year. Then came Jnana Jhotiamma in 2013 and again the following year. We were introduced to Acharya Gurudasan of Bangalore. Brahmarishi Narayan Swami from Jammu and Kashmir, Thavathiru Kumarsamy from Anuvavimalai Agathiyar Ashram, and most recently Thavathiru Muthukumar Swamy of Kutralam have blessed this home with their presence, all by the grace of Agathiyar who resides here, in our home and in our hearts.
