If the world was rumored to be flat in the past; if the acceptable normal blood pressure for a 60-year-old is 135/90 these days as blood pressure rises with age; the Siddhas too are willing to accept us with open arms walking right into our homes these days bringing their messages. Agathiyar told us that the days of seeking asylum in the jungles are over and that they have made it easy to attain their state right in our homes. While we must acknowledge that there is a great division among spiritual paths, where we have seen men drop their hold on all belongings and affection for their body and the world in an instant, the Siddha path instills in us and often reminds us of our responsibilities towards family and society. As my wife says similarly of the Siddha path that is a simple path to follow, and that there is no need to leave the family, indeed it can be pursued with the family, and while living in society.
The Siddhas divided the journey into four major divisions. Traditionally we worship at home and in the temples. Cleaning the altar, cleaning the lamps, topping up oil for the lamp that is lit, replacing the burnt wick, decorating our favourite deities, be it picture frames or statues, with attire and garlands, offering food and fruits, lighting incense sticks and camphor are some of the ways we begin worship at home. We go to the neighborhood temples regularly to charge ourselves. Occasionally the thought arises to provide free food for fellow devotees at the temples. We might make pilgrimages to other places of worship too. By these actions, we compliment ourselves in being devotional and believe that the deities shall shower us with their blessings and take care of us and our family. It stops at that. This is the general state of devotees currently. We see God as living in the pictures and statues at the temples. We were introduced to this first stage on the ladder by our parents, and they by their parents, becoming an ancestral practice and tradition followed without question.
Rarely then does a guru come by to lead the devotee further on his/her journey. With the coming of the guru, things change drastically. He comes to break the norm. He opens our eyes to things we never considered important or realized existed. He brings us to question the purpose of life, why we took birth, and where we as a soul are heading. He brings us to go a step within and brings us to observe our souls. He brings us to terms with our purpose as an individual, our purpose as a soul; and what we are to do with these two wonderful vehicles gifted to us. If we were self-centered before and were only concerned about feeding the body, dressing it up to look good, we are now brought to the realization that we are not merely physical beings but that there is a soul and spirit dwelling within us. The guru takes up the task of enlightening us about the soul. Meanwhile, he brings us to perform further rituals to gain the grace of the deities or divinity and bridge the two kingdoms, man and his God. We have entered the second stage of our spiritual journey now.
Venturing further into the third stage, having adopted Yama or restraints or observing ethics of behavior and Niyama or given observances, the guru then makes this body a perfect vehicle fit to embrace the energy and love of the divine through having us indulge in the practice of Asana or physical postures and Praṇayama or the control of the prana (breath). Thus starts a solo journey. Asana, Pranayama, and later Pratyahara, or withdrawal of the senses fine-tunes this body and its mental state. Dharaṇa or concentration; Dhyana or meditation follows. The end product shall be Samadhi or meditative absorption.
We have arrived at the gates to the fourth stage now. As Richard Shankman defines this state in his book "The Experience of Samadhi", Shambala publications, 2008, as "an abiding in which mind becomes very still but does not merge with the object of attention, and is thus able to observe and gain insight into the changing flow of experience", one gains Gnana. He sees, feels, and understands everything. The spirit of God comes within to stay now. The physical body becomes a temple now replacing the external man-made temples. The divinity lives in the inner reaches of the Self, taking lock, stock, and barrel of all that once we thought was us. Unexplained movements, that are beyond our control, unexplained tears for no reason, and unexplained cries of joy and esctacy are felt and experienced. God now shows himself as manifesting in all of his creations. We in a way become him, represent him, become an image of him. Man attains the state of the divine. This is made available and possible by the grace of the guru and God.
If Godmen are known to make people dependant on them forever, right from procuring advice, dishing out talisman and cures to the extent of enslaving them, keeping them bound and tied at all times, at times promoting the move to have them desert their families, etc the Siddhas try tirelessly to bring us to attain their status, never having us to be tied to all the above forever. Agathiyar says he vets through each soul destined to come to the path, taking them in, polishing them to shine like diamonds, and finally have them strung as garlands of jewels for Lord Shiva, adding that these souls shall shine in the night sky as stars. I am reminded of a lone Swami Dayananda whom Tavayogi and I met in a bungalow away from the public. Prior to visiting him Tavayogi and I meet a couple of Swami, one a head of a religious organization running a temple and another a head of a spiritual organization running an ashram. Next, we dropped in on Swami Dayananda who only had an attendant drop in to serve him his needs once a day after work. As both he and Tavayogi engaged in a talk I picked up my camera to take a shot of him. He stopped me. Later as we were nearing the end of our visit he gestured to me and told me to take his photo telling me that he would be a star on the night sky on my next visit. I noticed that Tavayogi did a rare thing that of touching his feet before we took leave. Later as we drove back to his ashram, Tavayogi brought up this matter. He asked if I had noticed him touch Swami Dayananda's feet? He explained that if the earlier heads were caught up in heading the temple and contesting to lead the ashram respectively, Dayananda was a true Gnani. That was my first lesson in identifying Godmen something we always took for granted.
Agathiyar tries his best to bring us out and rescue us from the clutches of our self-made illusion or Maya that lures man to commit not sins or atrocities in their eyes but mistakes that are meant to happen, to teach the souls lessons that they yearned to experience and learn in this birth. We followed the path as outlined by our gurus and upagurus. Then the divine came to personally guide us further. Whether we achieve what we set out to attain is immaterial for at least we have covered much ground on this journey. We leave it to the divine to shower his grace further on us and bring us to whatever state deemed fit for us in this birth. If life spares us we might achieve more in the near future. Otherwise we shall come back and continue from where we left off. Throughout the journey we did not try to comprehend and understand before embarking on the task given by the gurus and the Siddhas. Instead rather than questioning we took it up, be it a ritual, practice, medicine or treatment. Soon they filled us in on its benefits that we could then relate to, as we had seen and experienced it. For instance Agathiyar advocated the need to carry out rituals on a full moon or the Pournami puja listing its benefits many years later after we took to doing it and it became a part of our lives. We are told that the enlightened Siddhas continue to do this puja even till this day in honor of and looking up to Lord Shiva for his grace and compassion towards humanity and all of his creation. Supramania Swami told me to carry on my tapas for only then could he rise in his stature accordingly. The disciple shall lift the stature of his guru just as the guru comes to lift the disciple spiritually. The Siddha puja contributes to elevate the stature of the Siddhas besides helping gain their grace. The temples are periodically strengthened by the many rituals conducted and by the presence of devotees in large numbers. Besides getting recharged we help sustain the temples by our contributions.
And so Agathiyar asked us to put forth a prayer to Lord Siva recently asking his grace to bring an end to the pandemic that has come to threaten our lives and obstructing us from going about life as we used to. Taking heed of his request that was a prompting from all our prayers to him to help us in our time of needs, I called for a quick prayer and meditation session recently that was well received by devotees of Agathiyar. My message to them was,
An individual could appease his individual karma through remedies and individual prayer. We are currently victims of collective karma. Only collective prayer could possibly address collective karma. Hence, the need has arisen to come together in a single and specific thought. As coming together physically might not be possible during these times of the pandemic, collective thought shall break through the barriers laid on our path and bring success in all our noble endeavors. As every conscious thought is registered in the cosmic consciousness. It gains momentum and strength and power by the grace of the divine beings and comes back to us to heal us and the world, shall we all come together tomorrow Sunday 13.12.2020 at 12 noon Malaysian Standard time to sit silently and place our requests before Lord Siva as per Agathiyar's directive? This is in line with Agathiyar's directive that we come together in asking and to move Lord Shiva who is known to grant boons irrespective of our spiritual status, to shower his grace and kindness in removing entirely this pandemic that has shown its ugly face. Agathiyar said he too shall try his best in convincing Siva. Maybe the divine hand can go back in time and make some adjustments and bring a positive outcome.
Let us keep our fingers crossed that all shall be well. If the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted entirely, with Shiva's grace, we shall gather at AVM on Thursday 28 January 2021 to celebrate Agathiyar's Annual Vizha. Agathiyar has a saying. It goes, "Man would only believe if it happens; the Siddhas on the other hand asks us to believe and it shall happen."
A truth dawns on us as we travel the Siddha path. We are the world. We help shape it. We contribute to making the cosmos expand, feeding it, and feeding of it. Hence we now understand why we are often reminded to not only take from mother earth but to give back too. As Agathiyar says that each of us has come for a purpose, let us play our role well and leave in peace. Let us be focussed on the task given, and contribute our part to making the world a better place for us, our family, society, and all of his creation.
I take this opportunity to thank all the people and their establishments including the forerunners in creating the Internet, manufacturers of the hardware, programmers of software, and Apps including Google and YouTube who made it possible for me to share my thoughts that are Agathiyar's too with readers of this blog.
There was a time when Agathiyar got us all to do charity, where our hearts melted and compassion for others, man, animals, and plants raised in us. Today after wanting us to go within he tells us not to get overworked and uptight and let not issues that prevail around us disturb our peace, serenity, and tranquility that prevails during those silent and quiet moments of meditation. He asks us to bring and carry that composure at all times. Jnana Jothiamma was asked to refrain from using social media for it shall divert her from her purpose in going within and disturb her tapas.
When the grace of the Siddhas fall on us our fate is rewritten and the planets that determine the right moment for us to gain either windfall or have us endure troubles accordingly to our karma balance sheet, with their grace, turn favorable towards us becoming gurus themselves. As the junior Tiru Gnanasambanthar reminds the senior Tirunavukarasar to ward off all fears that the time was not right to begin a journey, assuring us that the moment the grace of Lord Shiva falls on us none of the planets shall harm us, we are told to carry out what we came to do without being distracted of other going on for everything is eventually his play.
As my friend wrote,
I am sure you have seen the picture of Lord Shiva sitting in dhyana. He has put forth the entirety of Creation as a thought/dream, and watches it play out. The moment He withdraws that thought, Creation comes to a standstill. The entirety of Creation is but a figment of His imagination. The Lord sitting in dhyana, is the first vibration of subtle form, Maheswara tattvam, which descended from Sadhakiyam. It was of great wonder as to what He was meditating on. I recently came across an answer to this ( I forget where). When the entirety of Creation meditates on Him, it is said that He continues to meditate, from the very onset of pre-time, before Mahakala and Mahakali, on the nature of Parabrahma, That which is, and, is not. Even Maheswara is absorbed into the Primal Consciousness, at the end of Time. What would then remain? Pure Consciousness, even before Its own vibration as Para. There would be no Nada or Bindu. What a state. It is said when the great saints came out of samadhi, they came out laughing. Probably, they realized no one was ever born, for anyone to die."