It is amazing how Agathiyar brought us to know Udal, Uyir, and Atma progressively. But being the ignorant idiots we are, we were always looking towards bigger and larger things that we have been fed with through talks and books in the past. We did not realize that we had already arrived and had had the experience of the Udal, Uyir, and Atma. But without realizing it we were looking elsewhere and waiting impatiently for something on a majestic scale to take place. It needed Agathiyar to draw the veil and have us realize through his memo that the divine plays in very subtle ways. Though Agathiyar's memo to us was short and brief it took me seven posts to place what he had said of the Udal, Uyir, and Atma into the correct perspective that I could easily understand. There is only one Atma that is immersed in all of creation. That one single Atma that is the source of all creation, the (Param) Atma prevails in all of his creation. Period.
After bringing us to understand the Udal or the physical body made of tattvas, through his worship beginning in 2002, Agathiyar showed us the magnitude and majesty of the body that is capable of executing any venture in its prime. He showed us the importance of caring for this marvelous entity. Then he brought us to experience the Uyir or breath. We take for granted the breath that continuously flows in and out and through us day and night even in sleep and in our dreams. Who then is in charge during these moments? To bring an awareness to our breath he had Tavayogi taught us certain Vaasi or Pranayama practices in 2007. Through the practice of Pranayama the volume of prana intake increased multifold as we created contact with the Prapanjam. Agathiyar has been telling me lately to detach my thoughts from this world and instead connect with the Prapanjam directly. All things are only truly known when we connect with it.
Then Agathiyar halted it in 2011 as the chakras and its energies that were dormant and in hibernation were activated and aroused as a result of these practices, giving the body some time to heal from the shock of the arousal. Though it is not pleasant nor a delightful encounter and experience, counter to what Agathiyar told us that this too was bliss, I understand that he wants us to look at pain and discomfort as such.
After some seventeen years of Tavam or austerities and some nine years of Aram or charity, he had us wind up on all the activities related to it, in 2019. In asking us to go within he brought me to continue only certain Vaasi practices. He had me teach it to Mahindran who was instructed to practice and teach it to those keen to move on to the next phase at AVM. The years 2019 till the present were critical years of transformation. But I was so ignorant of the signs and the happenings. I thought that the said years were wasted forced to stay indoors due to the pandemic and staying indoors trying to sit in meditation, as directed by Agathiyar which did not come easily for me. We have been bombarded with so many literatures and talks of mystical things taking place within and without, of inner and outer journeys that we sit with expectations, but the truth is nothing happens. Man for once is passive and sits still as the stone image of god. We think we gather extraordinary powers as we gain something in carrying out our daily live but on the contrary, it is about losing shedding and letting go. I learned from Mahindran that spirituality is not about achieving greater heights but all about dropping all our longings and belongings - which was what I had unknowingly done the past years sitting in solitude. Agathiyar came to say the same that it was not wasted when I presumed that I had wasted precious time.
He brought us from learning the external traits in doing rituals and conducting puja and participating in the joy of giving and doing charity, to go within. In asking us to go within he had us gain the knowledge of something that was so close to us and internal - the Udal, Uyir, and Atma. This was what he meant to us when he directed us to go within. I mistook it for meditation and became frustrated as it did not happen. In asking us to know about the Udal both Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal came again and again to ask and remind us if we read Tavayogi's books. They asked us to read the chapters on the tattvas to know the Udal and how it is formed and functions. We did read but could not comprehend much. Each and every time and for whatever matters, Agathiyar points me to Tavayogi as a role model. He asks that I emulate and adopt his ways. He asks that I follow his footsteps, except that I should remain in the family.
Agathiyar had me consumed his Agathiyar Kuzhambu to cleanse the filth and trash I had carried in all of my sixty years of existence here. This set the three dosas back into their respective proportions for a hale and healthy body.
By engaging in Aram or charity and good deeds we had an opportunity to mend and offset our karma. Aram and Tavam bring us to the next stage. Having given us the knowledge of the Udal and preparing it to receive the might of the Prapanjam through Uyir or breath, taking Pranayama as a tool, he has now brought us to the threshold of Gnanam. Tavayogi in his book defines Gnanam as the moment of realization of the Atma, first the (Jeeva) Atma and later the (Param) Atma. This is true enlightenment. We become enlightened by the very Atma that was with us throughout our lives albeit for the period when we thought we were in charge of our lives. Once we realize that it is not so and that there is a divine hand that moves us and surrender our will to it, the Atma moves in again and leads us to the state of self-empowerment and enlightenment, without the need for external tools and masters, teachers, Upagurus and Gurus. Mahakavi Bharathi realized this and shares it in his song "Nennai Saran Adainthen Kannama". Hence, we understand why Lord Murugan came and in telling us that he had something to give all of us insisted that we had to surrender first. When the ego, desire and attachment is surrendered, we are freed completely. Tavam brings the grace of the Atma to draw the veils aside. The Atma comes to do its part in ridding it completely later. We become enlightened. When we become enlightened, we attain Gnanam. That is Atma Darisanam.
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj in his comprehension of Arulnandi Shivachariyar’s "Shivagnana Siddhiyar", writes that,
"Vijnanakalar - the highest class of souls among the three mentioned in "Shivagnana Siddhiyar" with only one impurity known as Anava Malam, do not need an external Guru to instruct them. Lord Shiva by remaining inside them as the inner guide rids them of the Anava Malam, bringing the merits and demerits to a resolution and conferring spiritual knowledge or divine grace known as Saktinipata, the descent of Sakti into the soul. Vijnanakalar receives Gnana from Lord Shiva himself as the incorporeal inner guide."
Gordon Matthews explains this concept in his translation of Meykanda Devar’s "Shivagnana Botham".
"By reason of the soul’s virtue in previous births, God, who has been immanent in the soul, making it known, now vouchsafing to take the form of a Guru, initiates the soul in the Saiva mysteries. The primal one himself teaches these souls as a Guru: for in the form of consciousness, he is in union (with him). When because of the soul’s meritorious practices, the primal one enlightens the soul as a Guru… When God comes as a Guru and teaches the soul, the soul is made to see that the world of experience, evolved from Maya, is non-real. It ceases then to identify itself with the non-real and to depend upon it; and in so doing it discovers its oneness with God."
The (Jeeva)Atma that went into self-exile when the ego took over at a certain period in our lives, has awakened from its sleep. The (Jeeva)Atma has gained the strength to make a comeback and tear down the veils of ignorance. It has gained Atma Balam. The Atma in us that is a part of the (Param)Atma then regaining its throne and takes its place once again as the inner guru.
The Atma that is supposed to take hold of the Udal and Uyir controlling it sadly is driven to the shadows as we exhibit ego and the "I" in us takes an upper hand. It is only when we surrender the "I" that the Atma returns to reign. Its reign off course would be in line with the divine as opposed to that of the "I" that exercises its superiority. When the Atma comes back to regain control of the Udal and Uyir it brings on massive transformation within the body often without our input and brings on the whole of Prapanjam within too. We understand the state of Agathiyar now when he says that the Prapanjam is in him and he is in the Prapanjam. Agathiyar tells us that the power of the Prapanjam is limitless. இந்தப் பிரபஞ்ச சக்தி எண்ணில் அடங்காதவை.
The most compassionate Siddhas came to assist in providing ways and techniques to reach out to the Prapanjam. Ramalinga Adigal came to link us to the Prapanjam through the breath. We began to experience the Prapanjam. Henceforth the whole body began to absorb the prana contrary to the past where it was available in some quantities coming within hitching on the breath; coming within as food and water and assimilated and absorbed; absorbed from the water as we took a dip in the river and sea or had a bath at home; and through the sun's rays and just being outdoors. These days these sense organs and the senses are at their very peak. I have been asked to read and comprehend Ramalinga Adigal's experience that has come to us as a treasure by way of his ThiruArutpa, by Agathiyar last night. I guess it would shed much light.
Reading again all of Tavayogi's books after Agathiyar's memo to us, we are beginning to see that Tavayogi had already explained these in his writings. But ignorance stood in our way of comprehending his words and works. Tavayogi in his "Atma Thattuvam" writes, உயிர் உடல் இரண்டையும் இணைத்து வைக்கின்ற ஒப்பற்ற கருவியே ஆத்மா எனப்படும். Like Agathiyar says, Tavayogi too states that the Atma is a tool that binds both the Uyir and Udal. It takes charge and control of the Udal and Uyir. But the reason we cannot identify it is that it is subtle in nature as opposed to the gross nature of the Udal that is known through the senses and the Uyir that is known when awareness is brought to the breath. As the Uyir is known through the Udal and vice versa, we realize the importance of the Udal then and begin to treasure it. When we are caught in the grips of Maya or illusion in this world, we never realize the existence of the Atma.
Pon. Govindasamy in his "Vallalaarum Brahma Gnana Sangamum", Bharath Book Bureau, Chennai, draws a chain of evolution here. The souls that were once atoms took on the form of Bhuta Ganangal. Later changing into minerals, took on the plant form. Entering the forms of animals, they were reborn as humans. Finally, they end the journey here as Jeevan Muktas. Thus, the journey is already charted for every one of us. It is just a matter of space-time before it is attained or should I say reduced to its original form.
அணுக்களாகயிருந்த ஆன்மாக்கள், பூதவர்க்கங்களாக உருவெடுத்துப் பின் தாது வர்க்கங்களாக மாறி, பின் தாவர வர்கத்தையடைந்து, பின் விலங்கு வர்க்கத்தில் புகுந்து, பின் மானிட வர்க்கத்தில் ஜனனம் எடுத்து, இறுதியில் ஜீவன் முக்தர் வர்க்கத்தில் பரிபூரண தசையையடைகின்றன.
It all starts with worship at home and in the temples. We have read about how several saints, were shown the dance of Siva, the Atma as a child in their homes and certain temples. Later as one pursues the path that the Atma identifies for us after the karma is cleared and we surrender, the Atma begins to express its thought and actions through us. We become an expression of the Atma. The individual then is an expression of the divine and divinity.