The magic is in us. The Guru helps us to realize it. He helps bring it out. Sometimes we take so much time in preparing for the journey that we never actually get started, be it being going on a journey or starting a practice. We are so concerned about the method that we deliberate it for days, postpone it till we are clear about all things related to it, or fear to execute it for lack of knowledge. For one who plans ages to make a move, Agathiyar got me up in a jiffy and running behind Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of the Sri Agathiyar Gnana Peedham Thirukovil in Kallar, Coimbatore, hot on his heals a month after he left for India, concluding his visit to officiate a Peedham in Malaysia in 2005.
Bill Gates once mentioned that if he was to wait for the perfect version of his Windows, only releasing it once it's flawless or perfect, it will take ages. He chooses to release it, testing it and waits for the feedback to come in. He then comes out with patches, or minor upgrades or revamps the version entirely. When starting us to do charity, Agathiyar told us to go to the ground and begin doing it rather than sit around a table to discuss the method. He tells us to execute the method. If it fails to bring results we can then drop it. He would not mind for we had engaged in doing it. A lady from New Delhi frequents Nadi Nool Aasan Ramesh traveling all the way to Malaysia just to have her Nadi read when she has many options back home. Once she climbed all the way up the 272 steps and further into the cave where Lord Muruga resides in Batu Caves, bringing along fruits and grains to feed the birds, fishes, and monkeys. She managed to feed the first two but surprisingly the monkeys which usually cause fear and chaos, snatching away bags that devotees carried with them, were not to be seen anywhere. She left the fruits at a spot and returned disappointed. On her next visit for a Nadi reading, she carried the guilt that she had not completed her remedy or parikaram in its entirety, was surprised to hear Agathiyar accept her remedies wholeheartedly. The important thing here is to execute the directive rather than ponder for days hence delaying it.
Similarly, Tavayogi once told me to get started on performing the Homam at home. I hesitated since this was under the purview of the religiously trained priests. To start with I had no idea how to go about it. I feared I might do it wrongly and gain the wreath of the Gods. Tavayogi gave me the courage telling me that it's rather simple and laid out the means and the way and the method. I began doing it. He came along some years later and conducted it for us to see and fine-tune the method.
I had received an e-mail where a newfound friend wanted to know why the Agathiyar mantra I had received from Tavayogi, which I had mentioned in one of my books, deferred from the one he had received from a Siddha also in Coimbatore. Agathiyar had revealed another mantra of his to me in a Nadi reading that was to be chanted and shared with others too in one of my numerous Aasi Kaandam readings. I receive a call enquiring why there was a variation in the mantra and which was he to follow since his friend’s brother too had received a similar mantra from Agathiyar through the Nadi but with a slight variation. I recalled then a story I had read some time back. The story goes as follows:
A young monk after years of tutelage under his master finally was told by his master that he (the young monk) needed to take leave of the master to pursue his mission now, that of seeing the rest of the world and seeing that the teachings he had acquired as a monk at the monastery reach others beyond the walls of the monastery. The young lad gladly left to carry out his mission. Upon coming down the mountain where the monastery was perched on, reaching the foot of the mountain and the banks of the river that separated him from the village nearby, the young monk came across an old man chanting on its riverbank. Coincidently the old man was chanting the mantra he (the monk) had mastered at the monastery but with a variation. The young lad quickly apprehended the old man telling him that he was going about the wrong way of reciting the mantra and taught the old man the version that he had learned at the monastery. The old man listened attentively and repeated what the lad had recited. The young monk was proud that he had found his first candidate to whom he had passed on what he was taught.
Now the young lad had to hire a boatman to take him to the village across the river where he could continue his mission. About halfway through the boat ride across the river, the young monk noticed that the boatman had gone all pale and with his mouth wide open, was looking beyond him and towards the river bank where he had boarded the boat. The young monk turned around to find out what had caused the boatman to react thus. What he saw shocked him too. The old man whom he had met at the shores was now standing beside them and their boat. He was standing on the water's surface. The old man approached the lad and whispered to him that he had forgotten the mantra he was taught and requested that the lad repeat it. The young lad held the old man’s hand and asked for forgiveness for being egoistic and begged to follow the old man back and be taken in as his disciple.
Vivek Ravindranath, at https://www.quora.com/Why-do-Vedas-say-Dhyana-Moolam-Guru-Roopam-asking-one-to-meditate-on-Guru, explains the meaning and relevance of a verse on Guru Strotram, from a text known as Guru Gita, from the Skanda Purana, that was in the form of a dialogue between Shiva and Uma (Shakti), that mentions the grace of a Guru.
"Dhyana Moolam Guru Murti.
Puja Moolam Guru Padam,
Mantra Moolam Guru Vakyam,
Moksha Moolam Guru Kripa"
He says in the Bhakti Marga, Kripa is key to salvation and names the kinds of Kripa.
Ishwara Kripa - Grace of God,
Shastra Kripa - Grace of the Scriptures,
Guru Kripa - Grace of the Guru,
Atma Kripa - Grace of the Self.
One Kripa will beget all others…. Advaita focuses on Atma kripa, Samkhya and Yoga focus on Guru Kripa, Purva Mimamsa on Shastra Kripa, and Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita focusses on Ishwara Kripa. But irrespective of the paths and darshanas, the role of the guru is pivotal in achiving self knowledge. So there can be many ways to achieve the ultimate Goal of Hinduism… the answer to “Who am I?”
Vivek goes on to narrate a wonderful story to illustrates the pivotal role of the Guru.
The Stone Soup
A kindly, old stranger was walking through the land when he came upon a village. As he entered, the villagers moved towards their homes locking doors and windows. The stranger smiled and asked, why are you all so frightened. I am a simple traveler, looking for a soft place to stay for the night and a warm place for a meal.
"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "We are weak and our children are starving. Better keep moving on."
"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his cloak, filled it with water, and began to build a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a silken bag and dropped it into the water.
By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come out of their homes or watched from their windows.
As the stranger sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their fear.
"Ahh," the stranger said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."
Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a small cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. "Wonderful!!" cried the stranger. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king."
The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . And so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for everyone in the village to share.
The villager elder offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell it and traveled on the next day.
As he left, the stranger came upon a group of village children standing near the road. He gave the silken bag containing the stone to the youngest child, whispering to a group, It was not the stone, but the villagers that had performed the magic."
"So just like that, we all have the recipe for the soup of the soul…within us… The guru just Gives us the stone of meditation… But the magic is not in meditation, it is in realizing the Magic of the self that was always right in us", ends Vivek Ravindranath.
Ram Dass says "The very essence of the relationship between a guru and a devotee is a sense of complete utter trust" something Agathiyar and Lord Muruga are insisting now from us. Watching the series "The Messiah" we learn to simply trust in God.
The Messiah tells the minister who brought him over to his church: "There was a frost on the ground this morning. I watched a bird drinking the melting frost. (If it was a person) A person might have wondered where the frost came from in the middle of summer. But the bird drank what it could and left."
Minister: "The people, your followers, I don't know if you have seen, but there are so many now. They keep asking to see you, to know what's next."
I too posed the same question to Tavayogi in 2016 and recently to Mataji.
The Messiah has an answer for me too.
Messiah: "Who can know what's next?"
Minister: "I thought you might?"
Messiah: "No, I don't. You brought me here Felix. What told you to do that?"
Minister: "I don't know, I just did it."
Messiah: "Just like the bird. Be like the bird Felix."
Being a bird we do not worry, think about tomorrow, do not stash away food, will live life moment to moment. Similarly, we have been told time again not to investigate the beginning and the end. Agathiyar has shut us all up asking us not to ask any further questions telling us that our experience shall teach us and we shall become wiser from going through it and living it.
The Messiah wakes the minister, asking to move.
Messiah: "Felix its time to go."
Minister: "Go? Wait. Go where?"
Messiah: "What is your purpose? Why did God give you this life to live now? God is speaking to all of us, Felix. Let him speak to you. You decide where we go."
We are told that even if we do not understand everything and why it was happening, it is quite alright. But we need to have trust in God.
When the minister and his family fail to understand many things, they confront the Messiah individually.
Minister: "What is my part in all this?"
Messiah: "Only you know that."
Minister: "And how do I know that?"
Messiah: "Pray."
Minister: "Pray! To whom? Aren't you supposed to be God?"
Messiah: "Do you believe that? Then kneel down Felix"
As the minister turns away in hesitation, the Messiah walks away.
The minister comes back later. "I have been praying for answers. And there is a lot that I still don't understand. I realized one thing. I always assumed that since I come from humble beginnings so I must be a humble man. But I learned that my lesson is in humility. I'm God's servant. And therefore I am your servant. And I want to serve you the best way I can."
Messiah: "And how is that?" The minister arranges for a live show to be broadcast all over after getting the Messiah's consent.
Ram Dass in his "Paths to God - Living the Bhagavad Gita" writes, "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's all in the open now." Ram Dass adds "Maharajji knows about all my dirty laundry and he still loves me." The same goes with Agathiyar, Lord Muruga, Ma, and Aiya.
Ram Dass touches on a profound truth that the world is his stage and we the players: "I used to sit in front of Maharajji... I felt like he had created me out of his mind in order to play with me." After I finished carrying out the many remedies given out by Agathiyar in my first Nadi reading, that served to appease the Gods and settle the score to those souls to whom I had caused hurt and harm in my earlier births, he surprised me further by saying that it was all his doings and that I needed these experiences. Recently he tells me that all the promise of gifts directed at me was to test if I fell for them and the rewards that came with it: attention, respect, fame, authority, power, richness etc. I guess I passed his test by turning them down. To another devotee, he tells her that he had placed obstacles and delayed her ventures, for love towards her. This brings me back to the days of my pursuit of knowing God and how I was angered seeing devotees of his suffer because of others' doings and at times the "cruel" hand of the divine too. When the Gods told us that it was their doings, I could not accept the fact that the divine that is supposed to be loving, caring and compassionate could have a hand in harming his children. Subsequently to save me from turning into an atheist Lord Shiva came in a dream and asked me to take a break and cool down, by telling me to keep my questions and doubts to a later date.
Today Ram Dass answers these questions: "A guru will say or do something that causes a certain flip to happen which leads that person to the next stage. The guru is just there doing whatever the dharma of the moment demands. There is no ploy or deceit. Neither a plan. Just plain living in the moment." Today I understand all delays are his for our own good. All failures are his; so are all gifts a way of putting us to test to see if we fall for the lure of power and wealth, both of which corrupt the mind and soul. Today I have come to realize that at times they 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. This only happens when we surrender to them and let them take charge. As long as we hold on to the steering, they take a ride with us, choosing to remain silent or invisible. "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. For that to take place we need to allow ourselves to be touched and allow access to the divine to begin tuning us as a suitable receptacle of theirs to carry out their work.
"To be touched by a Master’s hand only requires inner attunement, not a physical touch. We want to become attuned so we can be receptive to the Guru’s touch." Read more: http://yogananda.com.au/c/Preeti_love.html
Ram Dass describes the path that he adopts and follows too. "Guru Kripa or the method of the guru is one form of bhakti 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, Ram Dass explains further.
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.
When the disciple is ready the master is ready also, we are often told. "When the disciple is ready to receive only then does the master point the way. The master knows that if he had pointed the way earlier, the disciple would not have seen it, would not have taken note of it," says Rohit Mehta in "The Creative Silence" The Theosophical Publishing House, 1957.
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.