There are three things that determine the success of any venture. We need the blessings of those around us. We need to place effort, and finally, we need the grace of the divine. While our effort is the core of the venture the blessings of others would aid and facilitate and speed up the venture while the grace of the divine sees through the venture without any hitches.
We need the grace of the divine to move forward in any venture and see results. Temples and pujas were ways and means to gain his grace. The tools and the methods were discovered and handed on to us by the Siddhas from time immemorial. But they have been forgotten, or sidelined over time. We would never know if what we are doing right now isn't tainted, corrupted, or diluted. Along the way, there is bound to be adulteration and add-ons, alterations, and manipulations. But at the core of it, it all ties down to and lies in love for God.
A revival is in the midst I guess starting with our individual homes. Agathiyar wants us to take things into our own hands rather than be dependent on others for handouts. We can connect with them through Siddha puja. They then come to guide us directly instead of giving us the runaround. The gurus whom we seek shall give us their blessings to begin our spiritual journey. They equip us with the tools and the knowledge.
One needs the grace of the divine to arrive at his shores. Nay one needs the grace of the divine even to lay sight on the land beyond the sea of human existence. Once we lay sight on the holy hill on the other shore, the yearning to reach the other bank shall set out signals to the Siddhas who shall come in multiple ways to him. He needs to pay attention and take heed of the signs though. The Siddhas facilitate his journey then.
To attain his grace we need to yearn for his attention. Worship is a means to gain his attention. He then guides us on removing the past karma that stands in the way of a veil or curtain preventing us from receiving his grace light. Once the curtain is drawn aside, we are showered with his grace that knows no bounds.
When his grace falls us on we begin to experience the divinity within us. The divine comes within us.
Dr.C.Srinivasan in his "The Philosophy of Ramalinga Swami", Ilakkia Nilayam, Tiruchi (1968) writes, about several experiences that one attains: achievement of the Divine Life (Uyiranubavam), the experience of the Grace Supreme (Arulanubavam), and experience and realization of God Supreme (Sivanubavam). He writes, "The soul has become divine through divine pursuit and dwells in the Grace of the Supreme God."
To arrive there we have to begin somewhere. Why not come to the Siddhas? The Siddha shall reveal the reasons for our sufferings bringing us to our past and goes through the catalog of our past records and files to identify the source and cause of it. It is basically going through a treatment where he goes within and identifies the root cause of the disease or illness. The Siddhas do not confront directly but work on its cause. Their methods if adopted will help soften and make the problems pliable and easy to handle rather than go face-on and meet the tough mountain. Surprisingly all the venues, tools, and methods were all laid down and in existence as if the Siddhas knew we shall fault and need them to work out our karma. How beautiful. Imagine if there was no solution and we had to go through life suffering all live long. The Siddhas give us hope by asking us to carry out penance, remedies, prayers, and atonements. The Dharmasastras list many types of penance: public confession, repentance, Pranayama, Tapas or austerity, Homa or fire sacrifice, Japaor prayers, Dhanam or charity, Fasting or Upavasam and Vritham, and pilgrimages or Tirtha Yatra.
Now let us take a self-test and find out where we stand based on Ramalinga Adigal's experience. He lists the various stages of spiritual experiences. Dr. C. Srinivasan gives a bird's eye view.
- The normal state of wakefulness or Jeevasakram,
- Normal dreaming or Jeevasorpanam, and
- Normal ignorance at sleep or Jeevasuzhuthi, where "human beings lead a mundane life, without even a thought of its transient nature. They are alert only for trivial things; they are cautious for the acquisition of wealth, gold or land, of women and wine, and of name and fame by indulgence in all means indiscriminate."
- Perfect wakefulness or Suddhasakram is "the domain of the spiritualist. He is conscious of the real and the unreal and the transitory nature of the world. The worldly things are nothing to him. He is really aware of the momentary nature of life and of the ever-existing supreme deity. When this perfect wakefulness is saturated in him he is able to visualize the existence of the Lord Supreme." The Buddhist monks realized this state create grand mandalas only to destroy them later, a reminder of all things momentary and impermanent.
- Perfect dream or Suddhasorpanam where "the aspirant of this experience will be in his dreamland of God and Godly things. He will be dreaming to see the lotus feet of the Lord and feeling an inseparable union with His feet in his untiring search for him."
- Perfect and conscious ignorance or Suddhasuzhithi where "at this stage, the aspirant is not aware of anything except God."
- Perfect experience or Suddhathuriam where "the soul is bound by the shackles of Purusha where lust and the veil which has been covering the soul hitherto for generations by the influence of the impure Asuddhamaya are shed one after another and the soul is gradually cleansed by the sparks emanating from the Supreme Light of Grace. The aspirant is overwhelmed by the melting mood and the spontaneous impulse of love for God."
- Higher wakefulness or Parasakram "paves the way for the sphere of heavenly experiences in the ladder of ascent in the pursuit of the Divine. The mind and its four different aspects at this stage of supra-mental awareness are alert and conscious of only the Supreme God and His Grace. At this moment the aspirant is not conscious of anything other than his Divine pursuit." I believe Supramania Swami in attaining this state "lost his mind" and began to be unaware of his present state and behaving oddly dishing out and turning sand into sacred ash and performing other gifts of Siddhis.
- Supra-mental dream or Parasorpanam, where "the aspirant feels ecstasy and enjoys the Grace of the Lord."
- Supramental unknowing or Parasuzhuti, where "the majority of the shackles are removed by the Grace of the Lord leading him to the next higher stage of ..
- Supra-mental perfection or Parathuriyam, where he visualizes the sparks of the Divine Grace and experiences the tasting of God. The soul is charged with Divine Grace and it is conscious of nothing but the glory of the Supreme Grace. God is so merciful as to remove the shackles of the aspirant in order to exhibit the real nature of His Sublime Grace. When the aspirant is able to visualize the inestimable magnitude of His Grace, he is naturally able to realize his smallness. The Swami explains that whenever he is able to perceive of, he is conscious of the Divine and whenever he is unable to perceive of, he becomes one with the Divine extricating the egoistic self. Since the veil of the diabolic power which has so far concealed the virtual greatness of the soul, has begun to disintegrate, the soul is able to see for itself its own true color and luster. Now the soul besides being immersed in an unprecedented ecstatic delight realizes its own true nature. This is spoken of as self-realization."
- At the next stage of the Supreme dream or Sivasorpanam or Gurusorpanam, the aspirant dreams of the divine embrace if at all he poses to sleep. Sivasakram or Gurusakram and subsequent stages are "governed by the Grace of the Lord Supreme. The possibility of enjoying these divine stages depends upon the extent of the descent of Grace in the soul."
- Supreme tranquillity or Sivasuluthi is where the soul is neither conscious of its own self nor ignorant of it. Here the Supreme Grace flows into the body of the aspirant more and more and the enlightened body prepares itself for the next higher sublime stage of ..
- Sivathuriam or Guruthuriam. The plane of experiences becomes transcendent. The Swami discloses that his body has by then been transformed into Pranavadeham or the body of Grace. The stages of experiences are divine. At this stage, he could visualize the God Supreme fully and merge with the Supreme Grace Light. The enjoyment of the Supreme Light is the experience of this stage. This effulgent stage is again very high. It is beyond the reach of most of the so-called great saints and seers. The Swami himself points out that this stage was attained by a few great souls like Muthuthandavar, Thathuvarayar, and the like. The irresistible bliss of this stage had engulfed the seers and they were perhaps, satisfied with the excessive happiness of this stage and even felt it to be the consummation of their goal. He feels diffident to express his feelings of ecstatic delight in this and still higher stages. But their consecration was exceedingly high and they were permitted to enjoy the ultimate and eternal happiness of all the six divine paths such as Suddha Siddhanatham, Suddha Vedantham, Suddha Nadantham, Suddha Kalantham, and Suddha Bhodantham. It is only at this level the divine aspirant gets Samarasa Suddha Sanmargam, the divine objective of the Swami. The realization of this gnostic stage permits the aspirant into the threshold of Sanmargam where alone the conquest of death is possible. The Swami has set forth the truth of experiencing the exuberant bliss at this stage of Sivathuriam as Sanmargam. He has been benevolent enough to explain the splendor and glory of the extremely effulgent stages as the happy realization of this resplendent stage of Sivathuriam in which the aspirant has been transformed into a Godly being with concentrated Divine Grace, his body is known as Pranavadeham, the body of Grace - a stage in which the God Supreme has found a perfect place to dance or rather a body wherein the Supreme Grace has flowed. At this stage, a complete union of the aspirant with the Supreme God in and out is fructified. The Swami feels diffident to express the tremendous feeling of the ecstatic delight of this state. But he has given expression to this stage that it is the Supreme bliss throughout and the Supreme Lord harmoniously integrates with the aspirant. Only the chosen gifted souls enter into this realm of this really eternal bliss. Many could not reach this stage and hence have become stagnant then and there at different levels of attainments. Many are lost in the Bliss. However, a few being overpowered by the Bliss imbibing the Grace remain here itself. Fewer still enjoying the Bliss more and more and being charged with saturated Supreme Grace evolve further and further."
- Absolute Supreme Consciousness or Suddhasivasakram and the most celestial subsequent stages are Suddha Siva Sorpanam, Suddha Siva Suzhuthi, Suddha Siva Thuriam and Suddha Siva Thuriadeetham are extra-ordinarily supreme stages have been explained for the first time only by the Swami. He has emphatically narrated the Supreme Bliss of his being in the kingdom of God Supreme.
"There are three forms of Supreme Light that will beneficially act upon the human body of the purified soul for the infusion of Grace. The tremendous power of the Sun is offered to fill in through the eyes of the enabling aspirant to do all wonders at will. The Supreme Light of Grace dawns in the sanctified intellect of the aspirant empowering him to disseminate the soothing principles of Grace. The illumination of a higher power called Parai is disbursed in the mind of the aspirant enriching him to gain supremacy in the domain of the Supreme Grace. These three different kinds of rays supply the necessary energy for divine photosynthesis in alchemizing the fundamental elements of the human frame in which the perfected soul is enshrined."
"The soul is saturated with compassion and the body appears to be an incarnation of immeasurable love for the living - not to speak of human beings.
- This transcendent body of the aspirant is supposed to experience real divine life Uiranubavam and it is called Suddhadeham purified body or golden body or body of love. It may be clearly understood that the experience of divine life in the purified body is known as Uiranubavam. This experience is realized in the highly elevated sphere of the soul at this esteemed stage, in the supernatural purified body. The achievements of the soul at this stage are many. The foremost is the transformation of the impure body, into a pure body. The experience of the soul in this body makes the aspirant love incarnate. In other words, the aspirant visualizes the universality of love in all fellow beings. He realizes the oneness of life in all living organisms; he is able to see a fraction of Divinity in all live creatures in the form of a spark of light, that is life in them. A little harm done to any living organism of the universe wounds him very much. He is pained to see even the withering of a plant for want of water. As by now, all his senses are capable of perceiving everything regardless of space and time he is worried all the more. Since he is realizing his own self, he becomes eligible to visualize his smallness and the greatness of the Lord Supreme. Unless one sees within himself his true nature, he cannot - nay - will not understand the reality and greatness of the omnipotent and omnipresent God. As he has by now conquered all the elements and their influences, his own mind, space, time, and the like, he is above all the tattvas and sees the reality of his soul. The more he realizes his smallness the more he sees the greatness of God in him as a result of which he is delighted. The aspirant is able to feel the inestimable love of God, the spontaneous flow of Grace for him, if only he prepares the ground for Him to descend. The love of the individual for God and the manifestation of God in all living things is automatically reciprocated and sublimated as the Supreme Grace of Mercy, as God Himself is absolute love. In fact, the Swami goes a step further to point out that it is only the love of God that has alchemized his body and brought him all bliss and eternal happiness. Love of God is not only the means for the realization of God but is an end in itself as God is love. Above all, at this stage, the aspirant is able to see with his own eyes the Lord Supreme in such a form that he has become eligible to receive and bear. The brilliance of the Lord is so inexplicably intense and powerful that the aspirant should have made his body and senses so perfect as to receive Him. Unless there is such a divine perfection of the individual there cannot be the seeing or descent of God in him. The argument is very simple for those who wish to see God. Unless one has seen one’s self one can never see God and unless one has become perfect in everything one is ineligible even to bear the presence of God. What will happen to the sensual body and the vicious eye even before an incandescent arc lamp of several million watts of power? To move at such a tremendous speed in a sputnik, man has to put on protective armor lest he should be blown to pieces. In the words of Swami, the brightness of God Supreme is measured in terms of several million times and more than the brilliance of the sun, the moon, and the universal fire put together. We are concerned with the experiences of the Swami at this level and he says that he was tempted to embrace the Supreme God. The external embrace is possible only at this stage."
"In subsequent higher stages, we transcend and enter into ecstatic delight. These stages are beyond human perception as we are attempting to conceive the inconceivable, realize the unrealizable, and apprehend the inapprehensible. The aspirant is already endowed with such a purified mind and body that the Grace of the Lord Supreme is incessantly filling in his mortal frame. He, therefore, with infusing power and cosmic strength is able not only to visualize but pierce through his onward march to and into the Supreme God and Godhood."
"Still higher stages are heavenly. Here the mind fails to conceive and all the senses cease to function. Austerity and penance of the highest order are needed for the ascent of the soul not only to get at the descent of the Divine Grace but for its accumulation further and further in the gnostic pursuit", writes Sreenivasan of the journey ahead and beyond.
Ramalinga Adigal "says that he has tasted the bliss of all the sixteen stages contemplated by the Vedas by the permutation and combination of the four paths such as Devotion, Action, Meditation, and Wisdom one after another, and attained higher and truer perfection with the aid of the Supreme Grace, besides the ultimate goal of all the six heavenly avenues such as Vedantham, Siddhantham and so on, (Suddha Siddhanatham, Suddha Vedantham, Suddha Nadantham, Suddha Kalantham, and Suddha Bhodantham) leading to Divinity. He has further given an exposition of his admittance into Sanmargam by the bounteous and boundless descent of the auspicious Supreme Being in him which has resulted in his immortality. He has specifically defined and repeatedly sworn that his path is Sanmargam in which the aspirant becomes immortal."
Where do I stand, I ask myself? Way down below like a tiny speck of dust. It seems like a very long journey and much of it does not make sense since we have not arrived at these stages. Only experience can tell.