Sariyai, Kriyai, Yogam and Gnanam are paths to achieve oneness with Erai. Anubhuthi means becoming IT through divine experiences. Seeing Erai as an external force that created us and the world of beings, and worshiping towards it is Sariyai. This is a venture to find and define Erai externally. To think of Erai as external from one is Sariyai. Erai is visited at his abode the temple. This is the first step. It is required, for how else would you show Erai, a complex concept, to a child if not through the means of defining it externally, bringing the concept of the divine to the understanding of a child who is captivated by her toys, and mesmerized in her world of imagination and child play for hours on hand?
Asking Erai to guide us is the next stage, that of Kriya. Here a bond is created as a result of having worshiped him for years through Sariyai. Erai then leaves his abode and begins to walk along with us.
Trying to unite with Erai is the path of Yoga.
If the first three stages involve our commitment and effort, the fourth stage of Gnana sets in by the grace of Erai.
Man needs to become divine in nature for a start. This is where all the scriptures come in handy showing him the right and the wrong. He begins to sympathize for the misfortunes of others. Compassion for others arise. With compassion love builds. He attains the nature of the divine living as a tool of the divine executing the dictates of Erai. When eventually the divine considers taking him into his arms, he leaves the mortal frame happily and willingly for the abode of the divine.
The saints have devise a simple way for the common folk to start on this journey. The path of devotion or bakthi takes one a long way. Erai joins us along the way, leading us forward.
Bhakti easily brings one to the state of experiencing Erai. The fruiting of Bakthi is Gnana. The Bhakti that flowers in one's heart blooms and expands in multifold and engulfs the individual completely opening a portal for the divine to come within to stay. When Bhakti blooms, becoming a fruit and ripening into Gnana, divine experiences are tasted, which brings forth the state of Mukthi.
Ramalinga Adigal's Arutpa defines the experience of the saint walking the path from external worship of Erai with form to internal worship and worship of the light or Jhothi. He reveals his wonderful experiences and divine knowledge in the 1596 lines of which the last few lines from 1401 to 1596 are given below.
Erai who came to us as Agathiyar has brought us to the threshold of the worship of Light or Jhothi. He equates himself with the Jhothi. We at AVM have been uplifted to yet another stage in this path. We are blessed indeed.