As I complete a cycle of 60 years and step into my 61st year, I can only give thanks to Erai for still moving in me as the breath. I can only give thanks to him for giving me good health until this moment. I can only give thanks to him for keeping me alert in mind rather than going senile. I can only give thanks to him for coming into my life in the form of family, friends, and strangers in times of need. I can only give thanks to him for giving me an extended family in the form of his children and devotees who have come under his umbrella Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia. I can only give thanks to him for coming into my life, showing his presence in miraculous ways. I can only give thanks to him for inviting me into his path or marga. I can only give thanks to him for showing me to two wonderful gurus. I can only give thanks to him for continuously guiding me through the numerous other mediums including his Nadi and upagurus.
We have come this far thanks to his continuous surveillance and monitoring of us and our activities out of love for us. He has taught us useful lessons in life and the means to break the cycle of birth and death. These are simple means and ways to achieving the final state of Jeevan Mukti as he desires for us. The ball is in our court. It is for us to make the move. As Prithviraj shares a story with us below, we have to be careful not to slide down the path.
The 13th century poet saint Gyandev created a children's game called Moksha Patam. The British later named it Snakes and Ladders instead of the original Moksha Patam. In the original one hundred square game board, the 12th square was faith, the 51st square was reliability, the 57th square was generosity, the 76th square was knowledge, and the 78th square was asceticism. These were the squares where the ladders were found and one could move ahead faster. The 41st square was for disobedience, the 44th square for arrogance, the 49th square for vulgarity, the 52nd square for theft, the 58th square for lying, the 62nd square for drunkenness, the 69th square for debt, the 84th square for anger, the 92nd square for greed, the 95th square for pride, the 73rd square for murder and the 99th square for lust. These were the squares where the snake waited with its mouth open. The 100th square represented Nirvana or Moksha.The tops of each ladder depict a God, or one of the various heavens (kailasa, vaikuntha, brahmaloka) and so on. As the game progressed various actions were supposed to take you up and down the board as in life...
Agathiyar started us with external worship, a much-needed stepping stone for this age, to remain dedicated to the cause and focused, to discipline and strengthen the faith, and has slowly brought us to the fringe of meditation.
Among the many rituals, Agathiyar brought us to specifically conduct the homa, a smaller version of the yagna, telling us that the remaining unexhausted desires will eventually be burnt by the regular act of performing the lighting of the sacrificial fires. Paramahansa Yogananda in his "God Talks With Arjuna - The Bhagavad Gita", published by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, 2002, while relating external worship and rituals to inner development and growth of the soul, says the act of performing the yagna is equivalent to merging with the fire (light).
"This act of withdrawing life from the body and uniting that energy with the light of God (as performed by the Nayanmars and saints of the past) is symbolically shown in the burning of clarified butter or ghee in the sacrificial fire, that of uniting life energy with cosmic energy."
"This is the highest yagna" he says, "the real fire rite," he writes, "casting the little flame of life into the great divine fire, burning all human desire in the divine desire for God."
Yogananda equates the yagna to casting the little flame (and all desires and the Self) into the greater flame, in preparation for the final merger into the flame of Jnana and Jhothi.
As for the act of giving towards Erai's cause, Yogananda says it brings down the wall between him and Erai. Beginning with things of the world that in fact are his creation too, taking what he has given us and giving it back to him as a gift or dana, slowly the aspirant and devotee is led to surrender his soul to Erai through love and devotion for him. This act of selfless giving, without asking for any favors or expectations in return, work slowly towards gifting himself for Erai's cause.
Agathiyar tells us that dana of the highest order, besides serving others and feeding the hungry, is to spread the word of the guru and Erai. We were told that showing the way of the guru and standing by it supersedes all other dharma. We then began to actively spread the teachings of the guru and the Siddhas.
Supramania Swami mentioned that no effort of ours will go to waste. We have begun to realize that now. All external rituals help us to understand and prepare us for similar feats that we shall take on internally later. All the help extended to others in our lives brings us to open the heart, bringing compassion for others within.
Hence all practices are a way to liberate ourselves from our hold on the world and its pleasures. You could convert mud into gold for both mud and gold are products of a combination of the same five elements, only in different proportions, we are told. Agathiyar is working on this piece of clay that is us bringing it to a beautiful state, to the state of a Jeevan Mukti. What else can we say but a big thank you.