Svāmī Chityānanda Sarasvatī writes in her blog, https://www.quietkarma.org/, "Studying the lives of saints inspires us along our spiritual journey. We learn about the possibilities of our own achievements through their examples. Studying the lives of saints helps us develop that faith. If a saint’s story is not resonating or inspiring to you, then find another that does." She says, "As you read the stories of saints you are keeping company with them. Through their company, your mind becomes purified and holy, like them. Gradually you become like them." and "When we read the stories of saints, our awareness of their qualities increases. Those same qualities begin to take root in our minds, and we become more like a saint."
I was always interested in the lives and achievements of saints and read much about them, going back to their lives for references on many experiences that I too began to have walking the path of the Siddhas. I had compiled the lives of some of these saints and published them online made available here and in the sidebar.
I was always interested in the lives and achievements of saints and read much about them, going back to their lives for references on many experiences that I too began to have walking the path of the Siddhas. I had compiled the lives of some of these saints and published them online made available here and in the sidebar.
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."[Cosmos, Part 11: The Persistence of Memory (1980)]”― Carl Sagan, Cosmos.Today technology has taken the lead and we have access to some fine books and experiences of saints posted online. If reading a book takes us to the very era and time the story takes place; if it takes us inside the mind of another person as Carl Sagan says, knowing, staying with, and following a living guru would have a tremendous impact on one who desires to follow suit on the path of the guru.
Peter Steven Malakoff narrates in a video on the saint and poet Kabir Das "What Kabir talks about is only what he has lived through; if you have not lived through something, it is not true." We are told to seek the experience to know it fully and only speak if we have these experiences. For a start, we may take the experiences of others to begin the journey. That is all. The journey then has to become ours, solely ours. Just as Tavayogi took my hands and led me on a journey for a start but later stepped back for me to chart my own journey rather than live under his shadow forever, so do the sages and Siddhas come to instruct and guide us on matters on the Siddha path but let us explore on our own. They come again only to confirm and approve if all was well in our progress or otherwise and might give us another pointer before leaving. Agathiyar after giving us insights and methods to a technique and practice would add that they had been doing it and only shared what they did with us. They only share a technique that was tested and proven.
When I asked Tavayogi the meaning of Ramalinga Adigal's song "Aani Pon Ambalathil", he excitedly told me that although it seemed like any other external journey with tracks to tread, hills to climb, platforms and buildings to come across, it was in actual fact Ramalinga Adigal's internal journey traversing each chakra and experiencing its sights and sounds. When I ask Tavayogi the meaning of the often claimed miracle of Ramalinga Adigal that the dead shall arise, Tavayogi told me humbly that he did not know. He did not even try or attempt to explain or make an assumption.
John Alvarez adds a comment in https://www.quietkarma.org/spiritual-masters/the-benefits-of-studying-the-lives-of-saints-part-2 on Svāmi Chityānanda Sarasvati posts.
This essay caused me to reflect upon my own experiences in finding my teacher, Swami Gurupremananda. I have been most fortunate to not have gone from saint to saint looking for a teacher. I found him and did not have to equivocate about his teachings. I truly feel that when doubt and negativity set in, the mind doesn’t just look for a good way out, and this can be dangerous. Much of what I have studied in the scriptures hasn’t taken on meaning until I pause and reflect on some of my own past experiences.Svāmi Chityānanda Sarasvati writes,
When we aspire to experience the extraordinary, it’s essential to have examples. We need to know people who have achieved or experienced what we want. They inspire and teach us by the stories of their lives and by the wisdom they share with us.
Similarly, the experiments of the scientists have taught the world much, enlightening us too in many aspects. The mother has a fair share of experiences to share. The father too. Then we have the grandparents and their experiences from a different era. Then there are the movies. Let it be a movie based on a true story or on historical facts or about a person. Let it be the adventure of a hiker, the mouth-watering delicacies prepared by a chef, or a social worker. The camera follows him as he tracks, climbs, and finally sitting perched precariously on a rock, sharing the magnificent view, his view, and his experience with us who sit excitedly perched on the edge of the sofa in the comfort of our homes. Then we watch and learn from the chef his secrets to making a tasty mouth-watering dish, working up a good appetite. And we start to weep in compassion, seeing the world of those living in poverty, in distress, etc through the lens of the social worker.
This is how the Siddhas taught us too. The Siddhas too set a living example rather than have us indulge in doctrines and theologies and philosophical teachings. They tell us that we are here for an experience and that we should learn from the experience. We determine the right and the wrong, based on the results of the experience. These lessons shall then in turn serve to guide others' lives. The Siddhas way is one of learning and with it comes the experience that brings lessons to us. Our learning is another's knowledge, wisdom, or Gnana. That is how the divine experiences of the saints stood the tests of time and became a beacon for us to follow. The many autobiographies of both the famous and the not so famous have taught us lessons in life, lessons in decision making, lessons in making investments, etc. The world is a potpourri of experiences waiting to be tapped, read, listened to, and used by others. But the Siddhas tell us that we need to bring the ends together and end the cycle, just as the "Real People" do. Cyndi Dale in her book "New Chakras Healing - The Revolutionary 32 Center Energy System", Llewellyn Publications, 2003 quotes Marlo Morgan from his "Mutant Message Down Under", on the wisdom of aboriginal teachers called "Real People".
This is how the Siddhas taught us too. The Siddhas too set a living example rather than have us indulge in doctrines and theologies and philosophical teachings. They tell us that we are here for an experience and that we should learn from the experience. We determine the right and the wrong, based on the results of the experience. These lessons shall then in turn serve to guide others' lives. The Siddhas way is one of learning and with it comes the experience that brings lessons to us. Our learning is another's knowledge, wisdom, or Gnana. That is how the divine experiences of the saints stood the tests of time and became a beacon for us to follow. The many autobiographies of both the famous and the not so famous have taught us lessons in life, lessons in decision making, lessons in making investments, etc. The world is a potpourri of experiences waiting to be tapped, read, listened to, and used by others. But the Siddhas tell us that we need to bring the ends together and end the cycle, just as the "Real People" do. Cyndi Dale in her book "New Chakras Healing - The Revolutionary 32 Center Energy System", Llewellyn Publications, 2003 quotes Marlo Morgan from his "Mutant Message Down Under", on the wisdom of aboriginal teachers called "Real People".
All human beings are spirits only visiting this world. All encounters with other people are experiences, and all experiences are forever connections. "Real People" close the circle of each experience. We do not leave ends frayed..if you walk away with bad feelings in your heart for another person, and that circle is not closed, it will be repeated later in life. You will not suffer once, but over and over until you learn. It is good to observe, to learn, and become wiser from what has happened.
Being in the presence of a guru, listening to his talks, reading his books is not sufficient. One has to walk the path. Live the life. Bring those written and spoken words to life. The master cannot do much unless we take the lead in following him. He can only bring us to the stream but cannot make us drink. Whether we shall take a drink or otherwise is solely in our hands.
Svāmī Chityānanda Sarasvatī quotes her guru Svāmī Gurupremānanda Sarasvatī: “What is the point of being a disciple if you can’t become like your Guru?” This should be the ideal desire of each aspirant, seeker, student, and disciple of a guru - to become him; not a clone or replica of him and dressing up like him, but to carry the "inner holiness - perfect peace, joy, and love."
Svāmī Chityānanda Sarasvatī quotes her guru Svāmī Gurupremānanda Sarasvatī: “What is the point of being a disciple if you can’t become like your Guru?” This should be the ideal desire of each aspirant, seeker, student, and disciple of a guru - to become him; not a clone or replica of him and dressing up like him, but to carry the "inner holiness - perfect peace, joy, and love."