Whenever my granddaughter drops by or I am at their home, she would spread her toys on the floor and asks me to sit with her. She would go about playing with her toys and occasionally asks for some help if the need arises. She will teach me and asks that I join her in her games. I try to put aside whatever I am doing then when she comes to me. We then spend some precious moments in each other's company. She was unknowingly giving me lessons in staying in the moment.
Flipping through Yu Dan's book "Confucius from the Heart", Pan Books, I was surprised to read the following that describes what my granddaughter and I do. Yu Dan writes about the story of a king who had three questions.
Flipping through Yu Dan's book "Confucius from the Heart", Pan Books, I was surprised to read the following that describes what my granddaughter and I do. Yu Dan writes about the story of a king who had three questions.
1. Who is the most important person in this world?
2. What is the most important thing?
3. When is the most important time to do things?
No one from his court could give him answers to these three questions. Disheartened he went out into the countryside. He took shelter in the house of an old man as night fell. In the middle of the night, a man covered in blood asks to take refuge in the home of the old man. He took him in without asking any questions. When the king's soldiers came by and inquired if the old man had seen anyone come by, the old man replied "I don't know. There is nobody else here."
Once the soldiers left the man said a few words of gratitude and left too.
The next day, the king inquired of the old man if he was not afraid to harbor a fugitive and why he did not asks who he was and what he had done. The old man replied calmly,
In this world, the most important person is the person in front of you who needs your help,the most important thing is to help them, andthe most important time is right now! you cant delay not even an instant.
The king got the answers to his much-deliberated questions.
The people, the place and the event at any particular time are most important. If you are a tourist or at an event savor the scenery or the moment rather then trying to capture them on camera. You shall miss out on the moment. Pay attention to the people, the matter on hand rather than making ourselves only physically present and have our thoughts engaged elsewhere. Give full and complete priority to the people and tasks on hand, rather than fondling the phone.
My granddaughter would ask me to join her in spinning and going round and round, which I understood later was an act of activating the chakras. She would dance, jump or go into simple yoga positions. She in return will join me in meditation, although just a few minutes. She joins us in preparing for the puja where I get her to involve by asking her often what we were to do next or if we had missed out doing or placing something, doing libation or abhisegam or singing the praise of the Siddhas. Agathiyar tells us the reason he asks us to sing his praises is to bring us into the moment and shut out all thoughts, hence creating one-pointedness and concentration on the tasks on hand, which itself is meditation. The rituals and the preparations towards it too help bring us to a state of contemplation, where all other thoughts are shut out. All these help us live in the present moment.
This is what Agathiyar, Ma and Aiya have been reminding us too. To take life in its stride, learn the lessons from the experiences gained and move on, sharing them with those keen to know and follow. These experiences will become knowledge and wisdom to others. Just like Agathiyar, Ma, Aiya and the abbot at the monastery in the movie Shaolin tell us that we are here to gain lessons from our experiences, mostly sought and desired by us and many others given or brought upon us as a result of others in our lives, Yu Dan too writes,
My granddaughter would ask me to join her in spinning and going round and round, which I understood later was an act of activating the chakras. She would dance, jump or go into simple yoga positions. She in return will join me in meditation, although just a few minutes. She joins us in preparing for the puja where I get her to involve by asking her often what we were to do next or if we had missed out doing or placing something, doing libation or abhisegam or singing the praise of the Siddhas. Agathiyar tells us the reason he asks us to sing his praises is to bring us into the moment and shut out all thoughts, hence creating one-pointedness and concentration on the tasks on hand, which itself is meditation. The rituals and the preparations towards it too help bring us to a state of contemplation, where all other thoughts are shut out. All these help us live in the present moment.
This is what Agathiyar, Ma and Aiya have been reminding us too. To take life in its stride, learn the lessons from the experiences gained and move on, sharing them with those keen to know and follow. These experiences will become knowledge and wisdom to others. Just like Agathiyar, Ma, Aiya and the abbot at the monastery in the movie Shaolin tell us that we are here to gain lessons from our experiences, mostly sought and desired by us and many others given or brought upon us as a result of others in our lives, Yu Dan too writes,
What is most significant about people like Confucious or any of the great thinkers from China and abroad, past and present is that they drew from their own practical experiences of life, truths and principles that everybody can use. These truths are not found in the pages of massive volumes of the classics and ancient records, the kind you need a magnifying glass and an enormous dictionary to read and that will take you a lifetimes laborious study to understand. They have passed down to us their living, breathing experience of human life through all the great sweeping changes the world has gone through so that we can still feel its warmth. From a thousand years ago they are smiling down on us watching us in silence as we continue to reap the benefits of their words.
These words exactly describe the compassion of the Siddhas too who have given us tons of literature and documentation of their experiences, as Siddha Vaidyar Arivan says, expressed explicitly in songs to those who can comprehend them. Agathiyar tells us to understand and comprehend their works. He asks us not to study translations but to read their original texts. Soon the author of the work, in this case, the Siddha concern will enlighten us from within on the nature and meaning of their songs.
From the movie Lucy we gain valuable insight as to the importance of gaining knowledge, experience and the lessons that come with it. When Lucy calls Professor Norman to tell him that his theory on the use of the brain capacity although rudimentary, but he was on the right track, as she was prove of it, the Professor fills her in.
From the movie Lucy we gain valuable insight as to the importance of gaining knowledge, experience and the lessons that come with it. When Lucy calls Professor Norman to tell him that his theory on the use of the brain capacity although rudimentary, but he was on the right track, as she was prove of it, the Professor fills her in.
"If you think about the very nature of life, I mean, from the very beginning, the development of the first cell that divided into two cells. The sole purpose of life has been to pass on what was learned. There was no higher purpose. So if you're asking me what to do with all this knowledge you're accumulating, I'd say pass it on. Just like any simple cell going through time." (Source: https://www.scripts.com/script/lucy_1276)
For those keen to decipher the secrets of life, we are asked to move within. Before contemplating meditating though, we are required to cleanse the inside, both mental and physical. Agathiyar has had us cleanse the body and its inside first before venturing further. It would be a faster and far less intimidating process if we have been adopting a vegetarian diet for some years. The journey within is true wisdom or Jnana says Agathiyar. Attaining Jnana is akin to becoming a bright star in the massive night sky. I remember the lone sadhu Sri Dayananda whom Tavayogi brought me to see on our rounds of visiting living gurus. Initially refusing to be photographed, later he allowed me a single shot. He told me the next time I come around he shall be a star amongst the others in the sky. We have come to realize the same as we watch Ramalinga Adigal who had overcome the laws of nature, the pull of gravity and all its related forces, etc find it hard to have his feet on the ground, and we have to hold on tight to him lest he is spirited away. Elsewhere we come to learn from the Isha Foundation that the anklet serves as a shackle to anchor saints to their bodies, who otherwise shall leave the face of the earth.
As Agathiyar prepares us to go within, traversing the internal journey on the Siddha path, he gives us a hint of what to expect. Tavayogi wrote about this in his first book, Andamum Pindamum.
As Agathiyar prepares us to go within, traversing the internal journey on the Siddha path, he gives us a hint of what to expect. Tavayogi wrote about this in his first book, Andamum Pindamum.
பூமியின் ஈர்ப்புச் சக்தியான மையப்பகுதியை கடந்து எந்த ஒரு பொருளோ புவி ஈர்ப்புத் தன்மைக்கு அப்பால் சென்றால் அது வெட்டவெளியில் சுதந்திரமாக மிதக்கிறது என்று விஞ்ஞானம் கூறுகிறது. அதேபோல் மனிதனும் தன்னை கீழ்நோக்கி இருக்கும் மூலாதார சக்தியை மேல் நோக்கிச் செலுத்தினால் பிண்டத்தின் ஈர்ப்புச் சக்தியை கடந்தால் மனிதனும் வெட்டவெளியில் சுதந்திரமாக இருக்கலாம். ஆனால் மனிதன் உடலில் இருக்கும் வரை மேல்நோக்கிப் பயணம் செய்ய முடியாது. ஆகவே பஞ்சபூத உடலை வேதியியல் மாற்றத்தால் மாற்றி மூல அணுவாக மாற்றி புவியீர்ப்புக் கோட்டை கடந்து வெட்டவெளியில் சேர்ந்து சுதந்திரமாக உலாவுவதே ஞானம் ஆகும். அதுவே சொரூப சித்தி எனப்படும். அதை போதிப்பதுதான் சித்தர் நெறி. பிரபஞ்சத்தின் சிறிய அணுவான மனிதன் மூல சக்தி என்கிற கயற்றின் நுனியைப் பிடித்து கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக பிரபஞ்ச பேராற்றலின் பரமாணுவை அடைந்து அதோடு ஐக்கியமாக முடியும் என்று கண்டுபிடித்தான். கண்டுபிடித்து அடைந்தவன் சித்தன். வெட்டவெளியில் ஜோதியாக இருப்பவனும் சித்தனே. வெட்டவெளி ஜோதியாவதே ஞானம். அதுவே பிரம்மரகசியம்.
Its translation:
Breaking its hold on gravity one is lost in weightlessness. Similarly, man too, traveling the chakras, and once he breaks the body's hold on him is freed. But unfortunately, the common man cannot travel the journey as long as he is a captive of the physical and material body. A transformation and transmutation within the depths of the body is required prior to venturing further on. The experiencing of this internal process that comes with the internal journey is Jnanam and Soruba Siddhi. The Siddha path leads to this experience. Man who himself is a lesser part of the bigger source through enhancing the spirit and the hidden power in him grabs the rope and makes his way little by little, to eventually merge with his source.
Breaking its hold on gravity one is lost in weightlessness. Similarly, man too, traveling the chakras, and once he breaks the body's hold on him is freed. But unfortunately, the common man cannot travel the journey as long as he is a captive of the physical and material body. A transformation and transmutation within the depths of the body is required prior to venturing further on. The experiencing of this internal process that comes with the internal journey is Jnanam and Soruba Siddhi. The Siddha path leads to this experience. Man who himself is a lesser part of the bigger source through enhancing the spirit and the hidden power in him grabs the rope and makes his way little by little, to eventually merge with his source.