Sariyai was the starting point of our journey. We were brought to watch and follow our parents who lit a lamp and brought their hands in prayer to the numerous deities that adorned our altar in our homes. We used to watch them speak aloud to Erai, not doubting a moment of their existence nor doubting whether they would hear them.
Soon they took us to the temples where we witnessed rituals and Kriyai done. We stepped into Kriyai having the Purohit or priest conduct rituals on our behalf, we repeating the mantras after him, passing our gifts to the other world through the Yagna and in return receiving the deities blessings and bringing their grace upon us.
Moving along now on our own we search to know more about Yoga and Tapas, having being intrigued by the many stunts, feats and miracles performed by its practitioners. Agathiyar send us gurus who lived exemplary lives. We took to doing rituals on our own encouraged by our gurus. Soon the divine themselves come down from their heavenly abodes and guided us into sitting still while they imparted their knowledge. Now without the need of books, scriptures, or uttering even a single word the transmission goes on silently between the divine Adhi guru and his disciples in the confines of their home, in their prayer room, at his altar.
We have come one circle, where we began on the path of Sariyai from home; having gone to numerous temples on the path of Kriyai, and later to ashrams learning Yoga and finally settling back to the comforts of our homes to secretly receive the divine transmission from Erai, falling into the state of Gnanam.
As the koan goes "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is", and so it is with this prapanjam.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese Ch’an master Qingyuan Weixin famously wrote:
“Before I had studied Ch’an for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest. For it’s just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers.” (Source: https://tricycle.org/magazine/first-there-mountain-then-there-no-mountain/),
We look outside for the divine seeing him as separate from us in the beginning and after traveling the hills and dales, seeking and searching for him we realized that he was all along with us, in us and we in him, coming to realize finally that "First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is." First we saw the mountain and began to climb it. Once atop its peak where did the mountain go?Treading the path we need to see the essence of things and not the physical form, just as the Siddhas see our souls rather then the physical self. Swami Sivananda saw the river Ganga as the Goddess and performed daily arati and rituals that to another would only remain as just a river that flowed through the terrains. Swami Vishnudevananda on writing about his first encounter with his soon to be master Swami Sivananda, in "My Years with the Master", expresses his logical taught that pits against the vision of the saint.
Before leaving (after having meet him for the very first time), I went down the Ganga where it was the custom of the Ashram to do Aarati (waving of lights) every evening. All the devotees and inmates of the Ashram assembled by the banks of the Ganga to watch Master perform this evening worship. I was skeptical. I was of a scientific temperament and knew that a river is only water, H2O - imagine worshiping H20!!
But as I stood there and watched Master waving the lights, I saw the river become a mass of flowing lights. At that instant the river assumed a divine flow, a manifestation of the Grace of the Lord. Master turned and looked at me and in my mind I heard his message, “God pervades everything; this too is His Special Form.” This entirely changed my outlook on life.
(Source: http://www.sivanandaonline.org)
Supramania Swami had stayed atop the Annamalai hill at Tiruvannamalai for 17 out of his 40 years of severe austerities or Tavam or Tapas. After helping him build a kudil, he sat on his jute bed that faced a window that framed the entire sacred hill. When I visited him again, he had covered the window with a gunny sack. I asked him the reason. He replied that he could not see the fiery hill. He had seen Siddhas, Rishis and Munis all over the hill going about their religious chores and duties earlier. The abode of the Gods was right there he told me. It was too much a scene for him to digest hence he had to cover the heavenly sights. All I saw was a hill of rock! I realized today how trapped we are in our senses in the physical sense. We really need to go beyond the senses to get a glimpse of the heavenly worlds that is right here.
When someone was angered that Yogi Ramsuratkumar did not glance at the beautiful moon that day as he was describing it to the Yogi, the Yogi asked him to turn to the direction he was looking and pointed out to him that he was taking in the sights of 7 similar moons!
As another koan goes, “So long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, you cannot reach the Way”, there is no short cut for everyone needs to go through the process of recognizing the divine first as an entity outside us with a single form, then as prapanjam in all forms and finally settling within, in him.
A Master who lived as a hermit on a mountain was asked by a monk,
“What is the Way?”
“What a fine mountain this is,” the master said in reply.
“I am not asking you about the mountain, but about the Way.”
“So long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, my son, you cannot reach the Way,” replied the master.
For this we need to carry a virtue, that of patience, for we need to journey a step at a time, treading the path carefully, aware of its numerous pitfalls, and having faith on the divine to come lead us ahead.
Will we even touch the shores of the bank or reach the foothill of the divine's abode? Ramalinga Adigal laments about his impatience in reaching the Lord's abode,
அல்லது மற்றென்று வருமோ
அறியேன் எங்கோவே
துன்று மல வெம்மாயை அற்று
வெளிக்குள் வெளி கடந்து
சும்மா இருக்கும் சுகம்
"Indru varumoh? naalaike varumoh?,
allathu matru yendru varumo?
ariyen yen kove,
tundru mala vem maayai attru
vezhikul vezhi kadanthu
summa irukkum sugam."
allathu matru yendru varumo?
ariyen yen kove,
tundru mala vem maayai attru
vezhikul vezhi kadanthu
summa irukkum sugam."
Tavayogi seeked the space where there is only the bliss of non-participation (summa eru). That was the message to Arunagiri too by Lord Murugan, "Summa eru Sol Are." Tayumanavar too was asked to remain such by his guru Mauna Guru, "Be silent. Rest in peace. Keep quiet (Summa Eru). Have faith. You will reach the supreme state of Bliss." Saint Nakkirar too prayed to Lord Vinayagar to create that space where the disciple could merge with the guru,
சிற்பரிப் பூரண சிவத்தைக் காண
நற்சிவ நிட்கள நாட்டமுந் தந்து
குருவுஞ் சீடனுங் கூடிக் கலந்து
இருவரும் ஒரு தனியிடந் தனிற் சேர்ந்து
தானந்தமாகித் தற்பர வெளியில்
ஆனந்த போத அறிவைக் கலந்து
ஈசனிைணயடியிருத்தி
மனத்தே நீயே நானாய்
நானே நீயாய்க்
காயா புரியைக் கனவெனவுணா்ந்து
எல்லாமுன் செயலென்ேற உணர
நல்லா உன்னருள் நாட்டந் தருவாய்
காரண குருவே கற்பகத் களிேற
வாரணமுகத்து வள்ளலே போற்றி
mona gnana muluthum alitthu
sirparipoorana shivattai kaana
narshiva nitkala naattamum thanthu
guruvum seedanum koodi kalanthu
eruvarum oru tani edam thanil sernthu
thaananthamaagi tarpara veliyil
aanandha bhotha arivai kalanthu
esan enaiyadi erutthi manathay
neeye naanaai naane neeyaai
gaayaa puriyai kanavena unarnthu
yellaam un seyalendray unara
nallaa un arul naatham tharuvaai
kaarana guruve karpaga kalire
vaarana mugatthu vallale potri
This has become over prayer too at ATM. We await the divine that opened his eyes in his bronze statue, that opened out hearts, that opened his doors to reveal himself. That is the day when all our yearnings and desires shall die a natural death.