A new day and a New Year has dawned today. And for me, it is the second cycle of 60 years. I am grateful to be around to complete one cycle and grateful to be granted to take a step into my next. I look forward to this second phase of my life that comes as a bonus. I don't really know what Agathiyar has in store for me and the rests of us at ATM. But whatever it is we accept for we know that whatever he does is for our own good. We know that the obstacles and delays are for our good. We know that the sufferings and miseries we face and undergo have been cushioned by him. He does not let us take on the full impact of the misfortunes but reliefs, shouldering a grand portion of it himself. It is lovely to know that you have him by your side.
Although there is no physical guru at ATM it is very obvious that the boat is steered by Agathiyar. The boat is the guru as Ruzbeh Bharucha says. We are all journeying in it. Agathiyar brought us to dock at various jetties on the river bank to introduce various people either to learn from them, take on their ideas or reject them. The past years have taught us much. We learnt to improve ourselves from experience. We accepted every happening or event as a lesson that taught us further.
We have learnt to balance out private and personal lives with enough time allocated and given to service and worship. We have improvised many procedures here at ATM taking into consideration the society and lifestyle of Malaysians. And so we have worked on the rituals and prayers to suit the moment, the surrounding environments and the audience in attendance. We cater to the devotee rather than follow or stay fixed to rigid and orthodox ways. Hence our worship and rituals are short and sweet. Often the divine comes to lead, change and conduct these affairs according to their liking.
We at ATM would prefer to do things slightly different. Rather than call for a gathering to talk, discuss and debate on length about the feasibility of our proposed programs, we accept any idea forwarded and work on it immediately. If it fails we abandon it. We move on to new ideas. We are not interested in gathering numbers but quality. I believe both Agathiyar and the ATM family are comfortable with this arrangement.
Although there is no physical guru at ATM it is very obvious that the boat is steered by Agathiyar. The boat is the guru as Ruzbeh Bharucha says. We are all journeying in it. Agathiyar brought us to dock at various jetties on the river bank to introduce various people either to learn from them, take on their ideas or reject them. The past years have taught us much. We learnt to improve ourselves from experience. We accepted every happening or event as a lesson that taught us further.
We have learnt to balance out private and personal lives with enough time allocated and given to service and worship. We have improvised many procedures here at ATM taking into consideration the society and lifestyle of Malaysians. And so we have worked on the rituals and prayers to suit the moment, the surrounding environments and the audience in attendance. We cater to the devotee rather than follow or stay fixed to rigid and orthodox ways. Hence our worship and rituals are short and sweet. Often the divine comes to lead, change and conduct these affairs according to their liking.
We at ATM would prefer to do things slightly different. Rather than call for a gathering to talk, discuss and debate on length about the feasibility of our proposed programs, we accept any idea forwarded and work on it immediately. If it fails we abandon it. We move on to new ideas. We are not interested in gathering numbers but quality. I believe both Agathiyar and the ATM family are comfortable with this arrangement.
Ruzbeh Bharucha sets us thinking through his writings. His post at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/we-deserve-the-guru-we-get is an eye-opener, where he speaks about the gurus. We can all relate to what he has to say. He poses several questions.
So even if a Master comes through an individual, even if an individual can predict the future, even if the chap can materialise rolex water proof watches made in Taiwan, that still does not make that individual a Guru.
Just as Tavayogi took me to see several Gurus so that I could learn to see that not all are the same, see the differences between them and understand certain truths, Ruzbeh too speaks about these differences.
There are Spiritual Giants and there are noble people in the field of spirituality. The difference is like twenty four carat gold and ten carat gold and very often gold plated stuff.
It is we who place a person on a high rank, a top spot, be it in the political arena or the spiritual field. All the adoration lead to making him inaccessible to us eventually.
Ruzbeh says,
"Unfortunately we have made these individuals, whether they wanted it or not, they who are more like life instructors into Gurus.... they too are on the path, in the same boat as we are and may be they are in the first class cabin, while we grapple shoveling coal in the furnace of the damn steamer, but still they too are travelling in the same boat. "
He points out that the "Spiritual Giants, Perfect Masters are not travelling in the boat....They are the Boat.....Thus we have slotted these good people, in a role which has been traditionally reserved for Perfect Masters and truly Evolved Beings."
Whose fault is it now?
"So, whose fault is it when one's faith is shattered by these normal people with some extraordinary ability? It is our fault."He has this piece of advice for us.
So first of all we need to get this into our heads that a medium or a channel or a wise person or somebody who is well versed with Scriptures, though maybe a decent human being, maybe a good person, maybe a genuinely helpful chap, is just that, a person who is decent at heart and wants to help out. Why have we started to place these individuals on a pedestal and then when the poor bastard does something wrong we want to hang the person from every social media lamp post and do detailed anatomical dissection of his mangled life?
We at ATM hold on to Agathiyar. We have received much from him but have not given enough in return. What can we possibly give him when every single thing is he and his? As Ruzbeh says,
.. the Masters want of us is to become the Miracle by living each moment of our lives, giving our very best, with no thought of rewards and no fears of perceptions and to accept our lot with grace and with the firm conviction that our Master truly knows Best.
Live each moment as though you are answerable to Him or Her. Live each moment as one's offering to Him or Her. Live each moment giving our hundred percent and then accepting whatever is in store for us, calmly, gracefully and with joyful surrender. I think that is what They want. What else can we give Them? We miserable bacteria have only this to offer Them, our true selfless love and spread Their Fragrance through each moment of ours,this is all we can give.