MOVING ON TO BIGGER THINGS

Coming to the path of the Siddhas, beginning with the chanting of the names of the Siddhas; coming to know the Siddhas through taking a journey to their abodes, caves, temples, samadhis and ashrams; engaging in rituals to invoke them and finally bringing them into our presence; taking up the 5 tenets of life as revealed by Agathiyar at the Tamil Sangam, that is knowing one's purpose in taking this birth; devotion to Erai; respect to parents, ancestors and deities; serving fellow humans through charity and acts of dharma; and caring for other living beings and plants, Agathiyar brings us to worship Light. He explains through a Nadi reading for Jnana Jhothiamma the concept, giving us a better understanding.

In "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Ramalinga Swami" by Dr C Srinivasan, published by Ilakkia Nilayam, Tiruchi, 1968 we learn that the state of Guru Sakiram or Shiva Sakiram, where perceiving God in the form of light, the soul is saturated with compassion and love.

It experiences divine life or Uyir Anubhavam; attains purity of the body that leads to a golden body or Sudha Degam. The extent of this achievement though is dependent on the grace of Arutperunjhoti. 

Experiencing Uyir Anubavam in a Sudha Degam, where transformation to a pure body takes place, love incarnates. The universality of love in all fellow beings arises. Oneness in life is achieved. He/she sees the divine in all life forms. They see the smallness of oneself and the greatness of God. They experience the spontaneous flow of God in them. They see divinity in all creatures. They see God in the form they are ready to receive. They enjoy supreme grace or Arul Anubhavam.

The "I", is lost, revealing the Atma or soul that becomes the watcher without registering the sights, sound, and thoughts. The fruition of this state is gaining of Atma Anubhavam. (ஆன்ம அனுபவம் தியானம் சித்தியானதன் அடையாளம்).

From Atma Anubhavam we move on to Atma Tarisanam or self-realization or Para Turiyam or Supra-mental perfection, where we taste God; and the glory of Arutperunjhoti. The soul is charged with divine grace. They realize the greatness of God's grace and their smallness. 

Pursuing further only the experience of Brahmam exists. This is Samadhi. 

But saints like Ramalinga Adigal do not settle for Samadhi but aspire to come back and serve. Rather than lose oneself in Samadhi, rather than dissolving in Brahmam, rather than sitting lifeless, they choose to come back to serve others with compassion in what is called the Sahaja Samadhi, something that Tavayogi told me he shall attain. This is karma yoga. 

Similarly further to the worship of the Light, Agathiyar brings us to achieve the state of a Jeevan Mukta. This is his desire and wish for us too. Yogananda is said to have mentioned this too, "We should consider it our duty in this life to become at least a Jeevan Mukta, a soul free while still living in a body."

We have seen in a couple of post before how King Janaka stood out as a Jeevan Mukta even while ruling his kingdom. After coming by the Siddhas and listening to their song, the Siddha Geeta, King Janaka went into deep contemplation thinking about the impermanence of life and how small a soul he was and how minute his lifespan was compared to the vastness of the universe out there and its age. 

Brooding long about life, Janaka realizes, "All my dangers and calamities are the net, woven by the hundreds of threads of my own desires and ambitions." 

Caught in this net, he says he had enough of this weaving, and enough of this bondage. 

"Let me take resolve to rest in my inner chamber. Now I have at last been awakened by this high souled Siddhas. From now on I shall heed my soul, follow the Atma, which is the only sure means to attain freedom and supreme bliss. Let me sit alone and withdrawn. I shall win quietude in my own soul and find all my peace and contentment therein." 

How did he manage to keep afloat and apart from attachment to the lure of the senses, power, and authority?

Just as he resolves to withdraw within, his minister came to announce he had an appointment with some dignitaries. Janaka pondered for a while. At that moment, he realizes that the soul neither can benefit from action nor beget harm by inaction as it is pure and immortal. 

Janaka decides then that life has to go on but without attachment. He has to do what he has to do without attachment. 

He then decides, "Let me rise up. Let the body pursue whatever it has been used to. To restrain it all of a sudden will be wrong and damaging. If the mind remains desireless the results of actions done by the body and its limbs will be taintless." 

He leaves to meet them.

Having reflected thus at length Janaka attended to all his duties and work relating to his kingdom. He was neither over concerned nor worried. He was dwelling cheerfully in the present accepting whatever that came to him as an event or duty. From then on Janaka became a Jeevan Mukta.

To a Jeevan Mukta what was of interest earlier would not interest him no more. It dies a slow death without having to struggle to shut it out. Hence no effort is required to fight off these thoughts that try their best to capture one's attention. Just sitting quietly the mind moves into the state of Dhyana and loses its hold on all things concrete. Bringing this mind that complains of all things to a divine silence is the objective. Within this silence, the divine guides further, just as it guides us through his many messengers and tools externally. When the center of ego is lost he shall come back from this state to walk on the face of the earth as a Jeevan Mukta.

Knowing that it’s very difficult to get rid of the thought that “I’m me”, Swami Kriyananda at https://www.ananda.org/blog/kriyananda-jivan-yogananda/ gives us a tip to shed our ego.

As you attempt to do so, you will find that the ego keeps trying to insert itself into the picture saying, “Well what about me? I had some role to play in this.”

The more you think that way, the more it binds you.

Years ago at Ananda Village, I was walking in a part of the property called Ayodhya where a number of people lived. I saw trailers with lights shining and the thought arose in my mind,

“Once this was all darkness, and now there are lights. I’m the one who did this.”

Then I asked myself, “Do I like this thought?” No, I didn’t like it because it was limiting. Why bring “me” into it at all? Why think, “I did this”? I found that I was much freer if I thought, “It was done.”

Swami Saravanananda has given a beautiful English translation of the "Arutperunjhoti Agaval", the Ramalinga Mission, Madras, a masterpiece of praise and revelation on the Almighty in 1596 lines, penned by Ramalinga Adigal. Swami Saravanananda starts his preface with a strong statement, ‘Infinite god in finite man’. He says while "man considered himself as a separate entity from God and as possessing a mortal body subject to decay and wealth" all this while, Ramalinga Adigal proved otherwise that "this view of meeting with death is a mistaken one and that God himself has manifested as each one of us and that we are eternal … he manifests as human beings."

We are all God, although limited in many aspects and limited by the concept of having a body. Break that concept, we merge with the universal aspects of God.

Realizing that he (Ramalingam) is not separate from other beings and the divine effulgence, he led an inner life with the result that his thoughts, speech and actions were all filled with divine compassion. When such a life and activity of divine compassion luxuriate, there begin to grow the inner lower siddhis ... If we pray with singleness of purpose, the veils of ignorance will be rent asunder and the inner ever growing radiance will be perceived by us.

He (Ramalingam) has asserted in those poems (the Thiru Arutpa), that the lord manifests himself in our foreheads as his own reflection in order to make us lead divine immortal lives. Our ancients gained all siddhis by concentrating their mind on the space between the eyebrows (the shrine of the lord of the boundless benevolent jothi).

Ramalinga Adigal just like the other Siddhas before him has given much importance to this human body. 

Whatever polar forces are found in the cosmos, can also be found in the human body. This shows that the human body is the temple and abode of the boundless benevolent jothi and also that of the dynamic polar forces. Therefore this body has to be first purified of all its dross and veils and made a fit receptacle to receive the divine radiance.

With the aid of this radiance, the illusory human body can be transformed into a pure body (sudha degam) followed by the body of sound (pranava degam) and finally into a Gnostic body (gnana degam). This body alone is considered as the proper vehicle for the attainment of mukti.

Jivatma or the individual soul has five places of residence in the human body. The Paramatma or universal soul that abides in the head above the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra), never meets with dead. The Jivatma, at the throat, alone is liable to death (and rebirth). The Paramatma always stays alone. The Jivatma resides in the midst of the subtle faculties such as the mind. Man by losing his physical frame, has forfeited the experience of Sachidananda.

Swami Saravanananda adds that one is not assured that he might obtain another human birth. He says further that leading a life based on the exterior ephemeral state is no life at all; it is mere existence. 

The aim of human life is to realize and gain the divine felicity in this world itself while there is yet time. Those who have attained the acme of creation, the human birth, must hasten to understand and achieve while there is yet time, the delightful bliss of the soul. 

Swami Saravanananda says just as physical space is beginningless and is filled completely with physical atoms - seven types of ordinary and extraordinary atoms which can again be classified into three groups (effectual, effectual‐causal, causal), in a similar manner the cosmic space is beginningless and is full of atoms of souls called Atmas of three types (immature, transitional, mature). Agathiyar in a revelation says he was born of an atom. While the reason for the threefold differentiation of atoms in physical space is due to the presence of air in it, similarly the reason for the threefold differentiation in Atmas in the cosmic space is due to the presence of dynamic compassion. 

Due to the differences in the levels of will, wisdom and action (karma) that are found in the cosmic space, Atmas have come to possess threefold bodies (karmic, pranava, gnana). 

Both Agathiyar and Supramania Swami brought me to devotion for a start. Swami Saravanananda describes "devotion as the thawing and melting of the mind (intellect). Love means the thawing and melting of the soul (heart). He (God) is realized progressively by the seeker according to his capability."

Compassion sets in. Ramalingam was compassionate. Saravanananda refers to this attribute of Ramalingam.

Divine compassion is the natural expression of the lord; compassion to all beings (Jeeva karunya ‐ the spiritual thawing and melting of beings towards the less fortunate ones which lead to Jeeva karunya) is the natural expression of human beings. Those perfected beings who have realized completely and enjoyed such an expression and pleasure are called as Jeevan Muktas. Alleviating hunger and preventing murder are the most important aspects of Jeeva karunya. The aspirant pours out his soul to the Lord and prays fervently to mitigate their sufferings (other beings). Slowly, his body through the intensity of concentration of the mind begins to generate the flame of tapas, known as psychic heat. 

Swami Saravanananda quotes Ramalingam on the process towards the illumination of the soul. 

We have to remove the blackish green veil that covers our soul. This veil can be removed only through the extreme heat of devotion and meditation. The extreme heat generated in the body produces smoke at first; this smoke gathers up in volume and escapes through Brahma Randhra at the junction of the parietal bones of the skull.

Slowly the quantity of psychic heat is increased due to intense meditation and concentration on the universal effulgence. Psychic smoke clears off and enhanced illumination results. The more refined the body and mind, the more divine illumination (tejas, aura or nimbus) manifests in it.

Advanced works on Tantra yoga and the verses of Siddhas insist that the human brain contains amrita in a solid state. They say that by properly conducting the subtle fire principle or kundalini found in the sushumna nadi into the brain, the solid Amrita is made to melt; the melted Amrita descends down to pervade all the cells of the body and as a result the body attains immortality.

He writes further, 

As he advances in endeavor, the sanmargi is guided step by step in overcoming the principles of impure maya. His body begins to cast off veil after veil of ignorance and emit radiation.

He quotes Agaval (verses 1449‐ 1473) on this transformation that took place in Ramalingam, 

"The skin has become supple; nerves function intermittently; bones have become soft and the tendons have lost their grip over the muscles; blood has congealed and semen has condensed into a solid ball; petals of the brain blossom and elixir fills up the body system; face glows and breath becomes peaceful; hairs rise on end and tears well up; mouth utters the name of the lord and the sound of OM pours into the ears; body becomes cooled and hands rise up in salutations; mind ripens and melts and wisdom fills up the mental frame; the ever pervading feeling has come to stay; egoism vanishes and the soul attains bliss; impurities get destroyed and purity alone remains; illusory tendency vanishes and a longing for god’s grace swells up…’’

‘Thus the process of transmutation being completed and perfected, the aspirant becomes the possessor of a golden body. This body with shrunken skin has become ever youthful’, an affirmation made by Ramalingam himself. ‘It has shaken off sleep, hunger, thirst, diseases from the system. It has been filled with divine light; it has developed immunity from all kinds of destructive forces.’ 

Swami Saravanananda explains further, 

At whatever age the aspirant gains illumination or the effulgence enters in him or emanates from within, some remarkable changes take place in the body frame. The divine light seems to change the very structure of the DNA’s and RNA’s in each and every cell of the body, with the result, that they seem to function in the opposite direction.

He says the whole body of Ramalingam was soaked with divine bliss and every cell of his body began to enjoy the felicity. It is said that each cell of the body possesses partial consciousness and rudiments of intelligence. The divine light that passes into the cell makes them fully awakened into perfect or near-perfect intelligence. The result is the perfect immortal physical body. Ramalingam compares the process of illumination of the cells with marriage with the compassionate celestial lady. 

Swami Saravanananda hails Ramalingam and the Thiru Arutpa, ‘By his own self will, the Lord has expressed in the human body and come to exist as such. This is the theme and inner light of Thiru Arutpa. Arutperunjothi Agaval is the essence of Arutpa.’

A perfect culmination of the merger of both matter and spirit, body and Light, man and divine, in this birth and in this plane itself has taken place. But yet he remains behind to carry on his tasks, preferring to remain inconspicuous. He is a Jeevan Mukta.

https://www.ananda.org describes a Jeevan Mukta as,

• One who is inwardly free while living in this world.
• The Jeeva Mukta has dissolved his limited ego in infinite consciousness and no longer accrues new karma. 
• The reality of the Jeevan Mukta is only God.
• A “fully victorious saint,” the soul has attained nirbikalpa samadhi, or final victory over self-identity and separation from the infinite soul.
• Having been released from worldy desires, he may live in the physical body while being free in spirit.
• He is no longer drawn by delusion. 
• The Jeevan Mukta becomes a Siddha (“perfected being”) or Param Mukta (supremely free soul) after working out all past karma. Basically, the only difference between a Jeevan Mukta and a Param Mukta, one who is completely freed of all karma, past, and present (fully liberated), is that God can exert much more power through a Param Mukta.
• He may reincarnate as an Avatar (descended being) purely for the welfare of humanity. An avatar is someone who has achieved full liberation and returns to the world for the sake of suffering humanity.
• He has achieved the rare state of kaivalya moksha, or full liberation from the material plane of existence. 
• Ultimately, however, he merges with Satchidanandam (ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss) as the infinite soul.

It is interesting to note that each Jeevan Mukta, according to the divine will, must free at least six disciples for final liberation.

From https://en.wikipedia.org, we learn,

A Jeevan Mukta is also called atma-jnani (self-realized) because they are the knowers of their true self (Atman) and the universal self hence also called as Brahma-Jnani. They have negated the karma to zero, to reach the state of Jivan-Mukta. After gaining enlightenment, they retained their body, to disseminate the Jnana to masses. At the end of their lives, Jeevan Muktas destroy remaining karmas and attains Param Mukti (final liberation) and becomes Param Mukta. After leaving the body, they attained the Param Mukti. 

When a Jivanmukti gives his insight to others and teach them about his realisation of the true nature of the ultimate reality (Brahman) and self (Atman) and takes the role of a guru to show the path of Moksha to others, then that jivanmukta is called as Avadhuta and some Avadhutas also achieves the title of Paramhamsa. 

Swami Kriyananda at https://www.ananda.org/blog/kriyananda-jivan-yogananda/ has another tip for us towards becoming a Jeevan Mukta.

You will become a jivan mukta when you have given up desires and attachments. It’s that simple. When you can say, “Divine Mother I only want you. I have no desires,” you will break through the ice of delusion.

We gather further tips from Adi Shankara at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jivanmukta

Adi Shankara explains that nothing can induce one to act who has no desire of his own to satisfy. The supreme limit of vairagya (detachment), is the non-springing of vasanas.

We perform acts only because there are inherent dormant desires in us. Others around us and the circumstances are only catalyst for an event to take place.

Patanjali says, in a sutra as translated by Swami Vishnu-Devananda in his "Meditation and Mantras", Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, Om Lotus Publications, 1978, that "Liberation (or mukti) takes place when the mind has the same purity as Purusha itself."

This post is dedicated to Malarvathy who asked for post last evening, in the absence of any the past several days.