A dear friend and reader of this blog made me cry today the first day in 2020 through her New Year message to me that carried and showed her gratitude to Agathiyar. I shall append the conversation below.
Dearest Shan aiya. We welcomed the New Year in prayers to our dear father Agasthiyar and one of the many things I thanked him for was showing me the way to you. There are no words to express my gratitude. I began the last decade in blissful ignorance but I begin this new decade little wiser from having met your teachings. Your writings and guidance aiya has brought us to see, hear, touch, taste, smell and appreciate. Thank you does not suffice. We must return the goodwill to the universe through the practice of your teachings. As much as we crave and yearn your posts I also pray that this new year answers the call of all your spiritual aspirations. Happy New Year aiya and to aunty Mages.
Ma u made me cry. It's all his ma. The teachings, the guidance, the words everything. He made me realize many things that he wanted me to share with others too.
You are right aiya. It is all his work. But you did your work with such love, kindness, compassion, patience and devotion to your learners. We were/ are so fortunate for that alone. You did not beat us up ever. I had two such amazing masters aiya...you and swami. You both have changed the tempo of the beating of my heart completely and forever. We are so blessed and grateful aiya.
I m glad u came by. I m glad u n others n me have taken the flight. Agathiyan Airlines.
Of course aiya...there is no other. Once you on the flight...you are in safe hands. There was no other airline for me aiya. It was your school of aviation and fathers Airline.
What a boost for the soul akin to chicken soup for the soul. So does Agathiyar throw in words of motivation often to keep our spirits up. We can truly turn to him in our times of needs as attested by many on the path. Man at times needs a miracle to happen; to save his day, or save a life. Agathiyar is always there for his children. Here is where their Siddhis come into play.
Ram Dass in his "Paths to God - Living the Bhagavad Gita", speaks about reasons the gurus engage in an outward show of their Siddhis. "Most of the time gurus use Siddhis to break a person loose at the point where he or she is ripe for a certain change to happen" adds Ram Dass. When a devotee is ripe the guru uses his Siddhis to impress him and bring him into the path, as what Supramania Swami and Agathiyar did. When we are ready all that is needed is a tap. Siddhis are generally used to shake up people and to bring them out of their dream state into reality. But at times the gurus turn us down or fail us in the moment of our need only because they see through the past, present and future and chose not to involve and change the cause of happenings for our own good.
"The love for a guru is a process of surrendering," says Ram Dass of his love towards Maharajji. "I learned to let go into whatever he thinks best for me. I surrender to his version of my storyline in place of my own." Instead of writing our own script for life let him write out the script of our life. It would definitely be a good story.
Just as Tavayogi said we become what we desire to be, Ram Dass guides us into Guru Kripa: coming to the guru, invite him into our hearts, install him in the altar within the heart, offer yourself to him, sing, chant, pray, love him as you love yourself, open up to him, watch and slowly become - Him.
Ram Dass in his "Paths to God - Living the Bhagavad Gita", describes this path, one that he adopts and follows too.
Guru Kripa or the method of the guru is one form of bakti practice. It is the specific form of bhakti that focuses on the guru, and on the guru's grace or the guru's blessings. The relationship with the guru is totally an internal matter with its essence being love. The guru is a being who awakens incredible love in us and then uses our love to awaken us out of the illusion of duality.
Quoting Ramana,
The glance of grace from the master is enough to awaken the devotee from the sleep of ignorance to the knowledge of the real. The guru as a separate entity exists only within the illusion of separateness ... the minute the method of the guru has worked it's awakened you, and it ceases to be anything at all. It has an automatic built-in self destruct mechanism you use it until it opens you in a certain way and then you see through it and let go of it. The guru becomes irrelevant. It became less and less rooted in dualism as time went on.
"He is the one who is the doorway," says Ram Dass. The guru does not see himself separate from his disciple. Once the awakening begins you can't help but feel a profound love for all the beings who have helped you along the way. This is what the Satguru does.
Along the way we meet upagurus, he says, who are like marker stones along the road that say go this way, go that way. "They are teachings rather then teaches," he says. "We can take a teaching here and a teaching there and then go our way, instead of getting hung up on them" he adds.
Besides these gurus on the physical plane, "then there are the astral guides too, beings on all those other planes as well... helping us along in various ways... all wanting to help us get free."
Ram Dass says "The very essence of the relationship between a guru and a devotee is a sense of complete utter trust" something Lord Muruga is insisting now from us. "We trust that whatever the guru does will be for our own good. Then our life becomes completely transparent, they read your mind, they see you, you can't hide, it is all in the open now", he adds. As Ram Dass says "Maharajji knows about all my dirty laundry and he still loves me", the same goes with Agathiyar, Lord Muruga, Ma, and Aiya.
My reader continued,
Where would we be without his compassion and kindness. I would be a floundering ignorant soul. Sometimes I still feel like that but I also feel him nearby going beyond to help and help and help. We are sincere honest devotees of Agathiyar. He must help us. We must find a way to get maya to surrender to Appa Agasthiyar and Lord Shiva and leave us alone. Mmmnn I wonder. Maya continues to play with us.
Very, very true. He is closeby, watching over us and watching us. Rest assured, Maya that throws in the illusions and veils shall eventually surrender to us.
We in this era can never go hungry since we have the refrigerator to stock up food grains, vegetable and meat. In the days of bygone man hunted only when there was a need, when he was hungry, just like the wildlife that lived alongside their prey without harming them unless they went hungry. But with the coming of refrigeration, we have begun to farm the domestic animals and slaughter them in huge numbers and store their meat to be eaten at leisure. This is only true of the developed nations while the third world is in dire need of help and food.
So is it with spiritualism that came to those who sought and performed severe austerities under the tutorship and watchful eyes of spiritual masters. These days spiritualism and rituals are readily accessible online, via correspondence, etc for a payment. When schools of yoga these days teach retention of the breath or kumbaka at the elementary level, we were told by the Siddhas not to hold the breath in kumbaka but to only inhale and exhale while doing pranayama. Today after 17 years of tutorship to him, Agathiyar tells us to hold the breath in kumbaka for the duration of his Diksha mantra. This shall bring one to the state of a light body, he adds. Meanwhile, he tells us that the rituals that we conducted for years are only necessary now when the need arises. We have been told to go within and observe the breath instead. It has been a very exciting journey with never a boring moment. A new year has begun and our journey has taken a new turn too. We are anxiously looking forward to whatever Agathiyar has in store for this year.