Ramalinga Adigal wrote and sang volumes of inspiring hymns on the many forms of the Divine, his spiritual journey, the upheavals he went through and the showering of blessings along the way, the efforts put in and the results of his worship. Short of being an autobiography and a personal documentation of his life's spiritual journey these songs that were compiled in later years and published as the Tiruarutpa were full of messages on the abstract, mystyfing and mysterious divinity, its creation, and our relationship with it. His Tiruarutpa carries pages and pages of revelation of what was out there and what was possible to be achieved by us. He was living proof of it, having achieved the highest state one could possibly imagine. I purchased the last remaining set of the Tiruarutpa at Manonmany Book Centre and had it autographed by its publisher Ooran Adigal when I ushered him and showed him to his room during his stay for the First Conference of Siddha Philosophy held in Kuala Lumpur in 2007.
I cherished equally Swami Saravanananda's "Arutperunjhoti Agaval", Ramalinga Mission, Madras that was handed over to me at the bookstall at Satya Gnana Sabai, Vadalur. It was a translation of Ramalinga Adigal's "Agaval". It was a priceless book that I gifted to Jnana Jhotiamma while she was here at AVM.
I was gifted "The Autobiography of A Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda, that opened up a whole new world. Sekaran who presented a copy to me is now a monk at Ranchi.
The latest book that really captured my heart was P.Karthigayan's well researched book "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", Notion Press, 2016.
I realized that in the absence of a master, the book can bring instant change in a person. As Carl Sagan wrote:
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."
[Cosmos, Part 11: The Persistence of Memory (1980)]”― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Many have been gifted with the sacred oracle or Nadi to worship initially and have come to read it to the public after many years through the mercy of the Siddhas.
P.Karthikayan writes about Nicholas Flamel, to whom an Angel gifted a book, saying, "Look well at this book, Nicholas. At first you will understand nothing in it. Neither you nor any other man. But one day you will see in it that which no other man will be able to see." Karthikayan says that day came and Nicholas did wonders with the knowledge and one day vanished mysteriously and was not heard of again.
The Siddhas works too are plenty but incomprehensible for they are supposedly to have a common meaning and inner meaning according to P.Karthigayan. We have seen this in the previous post on the various explanations, both the inner and common meaning, regarding just a single song of praise to Lord Ganesa.
Among the many works of the Siddhas, one stands out prominently. It is Patanjali's "Ashtaanga Yogam". P.Karthigayan explains vividly in his book how the Siddhas prepare us to move up the ladder through laying out eight components along the path.
Iyamam and Niyamam prepare us for a new way of life, lifting us from the current thoughts and run of the mill life. Adopting an approach of nonviolence; being truthful; belief in the concept of god and a creator; preserving the body against damage; not being judgmental; taking the scriptures as a guide; metaphorically living in a state of a drop of water on a lotus leaf by carrying out ones responsibility without being attached at the same time; moving towards purification of body, soul and spirit; subduing negative emotions; and feeding and sharing with thy neighbors are all little doings that leads to purity of the soul. A man who adopts and achieves these will stand out and be unique among his fellow men. He will be a truthful person or utaman.
Iyamam is instilled by parents and teachers and can happen upon self reflection too. After perfecting his qualities, he moves to Niyamam, adopting higher virtues and qualities of godliness, learning from a mentor or guru. Inquiry into the self and the purpose of birth; being contended; learning yoga and contemplation of the divine; loving one and all; adopting the words of the scriptures and staying on the path, he fulfills this part of his spiritual development. He becomes divine by nature.
Having tuned his thoughts he now works on his body. Aasanam and Pranayamam physically prepare him to adopt a new style of living taking on a virtuous character. Perfecting his body through performing Aasanam, he then moves to perfect his inside through Pranayama. The Siddhas begin to move his breath. He now becomes a yogi, one who has perfected his breath.
Next Prathyagaram and Tharanai shall mentally prepare him to move into a new realm of perception. When I succumbed to sciatica, Agathiyar asks me to ignore the pain teaching me practically Prathyagaram, withdrawal of senses.
Tharanai would be replacing thousand thoughts with one. Tharanai brings one finally to settle in Agnai, the spot where silence or mounam dwells. For instance Nakkirar's song Vinayagar Thiruagaval brings us to this state. From here, one travels on to the Kesari Margam, to the cosmos and back as mentioned by P.Karthigayan. The mystical flight and inner journey to countless universes starts here.
Dyanam and Samadhi brings one to be receptive of the spirituality of oneself, the Siddhas and their wisdom. Going within and with internal worship, Dyanam on the six vital points helps one arrive at Samadhi. I was blessed to receive this initiation from Tavayogi, of looking within, visioning the chakras and invoking the deities related to the chakras and chanting the mantras of theirs. All this practices sharpen the mind and bring focus and concentration to the task on hand.
There is a bija sound for each chakra that brings to life the particular chakra, thus amplifying it. P.Karthigayan simplifies our understanding by relating these chakras to the holes in the flute that brings different pitches and notes or sounds by the arrangement and distance apart of these holes and by way of opening and closing the holes with the fingers.
Tavayogi's "Athaara Peedam", a stone structure at his Kallar Ashram symbolizes and depicts the internal journey - externally. It is representative of the six vital spots or chakras along the spine, bringing to worship finally the lamplight at the peak, that Ramalinga Adigal symbolically left behind for us to worship.
The forerunner of Dyanam is bringing the thought to be focused on each individual part of the body, bringing the divine to that centre of focus. The numerous Kavasam like Shanmuga Kavasam and Kadar Sasti Kavasam, Vinayagar Kavasam and Bhuvaneshwari Kavasam, and many more gifted by our saints and that is generally recited, does exactly this. By bringing the divine to care for each limb and part of the body, asking that it protects, besides literally keeping illness and accidents away, brings concentration and focus to the places mentioned. The kavasam or any devotional song should not be sung hurriedly but read slowly, its meaning imbibed and taken within, as if chewing a piece of raisin, taking in the flavour, observing the texture, shape and colour. Thus is it with recitation of these songs, slowly imagining bringing Erai within. Any disparities in the elements within the body is hence rectified. The life force is strengthen and the body is revitalized.
For a commoner, he anoints his bodily parts with the sacred ash as a religious symbol. It should not be an automatic routine but one revered as sacred, bringing mind and action together to the points. The breath then will follow the mind. Place the mind on a place, the breath follows. When the breath is brought to that place where mind concentrates, healing takes place. The life force is thus strengthened there.
Ganesa and Vallabai remove the prevalent existing blocks so that one could progress without hindrances and delays. Bringing me to the Siddhas, Agathiyar first and foremost called upon me to pray to Lord Ganesa. Although I have been praying to all the deities in the Hindu pantheon all those years, but it needed a guru to flag off my journey officially. Agathiyar had to give the directive for my passage to Siddhahood to start. It is sort of christening a new ship before its maiden journey or flagging the race to begin it.
From Muladhara, coming to Swathisthana, creativity arises in leaps and bounds, as a result of blessings from Brahma and Saraswathi. With their blessings my desire to fill the wide gap prevalent then in the nonavailability of literature on the Siddhas was fulfilled when I compiled the songs of their praises, and began to write on my journey, and began to draw out a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for our simple home rituals. This was the advent of a new way of life. Many aspirants came into our lives to assist us.
At Manipuragam we were able to sustain our endeavors by the grace of Thirumaal and Laxmi.
At Anagatham, we are gifted with endurance, a much needed element to travel farther on this path, by Rudra and Rudri. Rudra defeated the fear of death and other fears, and burned the past karma. A deeper understanding dawned.
At Visukthi, Maheswaran and Maheswari picked us up from the gloom and frustration that fell upon us while traveling the path. Even Yogi Ramsuratkumar professed that there were good days and bad days, days when he would be spiritually high and days when it would be gloomy without a ray of light.
At Aagnai, both Sadasivan and Manonmani granted us the fruits of yoga.
Finally we are brought to worship Erai in light form as directed, to light and worship the Aganda Deepam. He appears as light to all before proceeding and going beyond the body and the chakras to worship the state of nothingness. Supramania Swami told me he had seen the light just days before his samadhi. Tavayogi told me Agathiyar came in the form of light. The worship of higher planes takes place as Ramalinga Adigal states but mentions that words cannot describe. It is the state of "He is". "He is that".
Mounam the state of silence sets in without effort. Engrossed in a state of continuous bliss, the body goes into a state of Samadhi while the spirit attains Mukti. One attains the powers of the creator. All of cosmos becomes a teacher. He will come to know that he is one with prapanjam. He who has reached this state is a gnani.
Would it be possible to reach this state? Only a gnani who has seen and returned, can take us to that level, take us through the path that he traveled.