The guru lives in us just as our ancestors do. What they fail to achieve, attain, or desire is carried out or lived out by their disciples or lineage, respectively. Similarly, we do tend to borrow some things from our ancestors too, which come by way of the shared DNA and practices and traditions observed by them. I guess we are collective souls, just as we are told that the plants and animals are, too. I guess we are here to fill up the gaps left behind in the master blueprint drawn up over time and space. And so it is that most religions observe the rituals associated with paying homage to their ancestors and forefathers. In the spiritual circle, the followers pay homage to the entire lineage of masters before them. This is partly the reason we carry out Puja and sing the praise of the Siddhas, too. This should answer the question from a devotee who asked why we need to praise the Siddhas. Besides that, in ushering them, be it our visitors or the Siddhas and the heavenly bodies, it brings us to be humble, caring, and loving.
Who are the Siddhas then? Looking up the net, we come up with a definition of them as follows.
Siddhas (or Siddhars) are perfected spiritual masters in Indian traditions, particularly Tamil Hinduism, who have attained enlightenment, physical immortality, and mastery over nature through intense yoga, alchemy, and tantric practices. Often considered immortal, these sages possess supernatural powers (siddhis) and are revered as scientists, doctors, and mystics who developed Siddha medicine. (Google search)
If the above is on paper or rather digital these days, many have rubbed shoulders with Siddhas in the physical form and subtle too. The net carries numerous stories on them. This blog also carries stories on them. But here we share what we have seen, heard, and learned from them and feel, being in their presence or when they are in our presence. Many are the stories that we have shared of others, too, who came across these divine souls.
In my digital book "First Encounters with the Masters", I have shared what I have read about the very first moments disciples, who later came to be great masters themselves, came by their master or vice versa.
I had asked Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal to see Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal in the days following our meeting in 2005.
Sri Ramana Maharshi says, "I have seen God! I have seen him face-to-face! I am seeing God just as clearly as you are seeing me. Those who have seen the truth can also show it to others. There is no room for doubt in these revelations. (Source: ‘SRI RAMANA DARSANAM’ by Sadhu Natanananda.)
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says, "God can be seen and spoken to just as surely as I am seeing you and speaking to you. If anyone really wants to see God and if he calls upon Him, God will reveal Himself. That's for certain." (Source: ‘RAMAKRISHNA - A PROPHET FOR THE NEW AGE’ by Richard Schiffman.)
Tavayogi too said that that was possible and that they would come. Only later, when I was at his Kallar Ashram, did I come to know that Tavayogi is known to speak to Agathiyar and Agathiyar has appeared as Light to him. But he said something else, too, that got me thinking. He asked me if that was what I wanted. It dawned on me that there was more to it, or higher, if you wish. When Agathiyar asked all those gathered, their wish and desire, coming to me, he waited on me. Although I had none, I had to think of something. I soon came up with asking to be born again and again to serve him as I did now, to which, like Tavayogi, he asked is that what you want? Only when I began editing a video days ago did I come across Tavayogi's similar desire in a song asking to serve Agathiyar in the next birth too.
என் உடல் என்னும் பம்பரத்தில்உயிர் என்னும் கயிற்றைக் கட்டி
வினை என்னும் ஆட்டக்காரன் ஆட்டுவிக்கிறான்
இறைவா எம்பிரானே அகத்தீசா
வினை அறுக்க உன்னையே சரணடைந்தேன்
போற்றினால் உனது வினை அகலுமப்பா
போற்றினால் பூரணமும் கூடப்பேசும்
என்று சொன்னவனும் நீ தானே
ஆகவே உன்னையே சரணடைந்தேன்
நான் விடுகின்ற மூச்சும் நீயே
என் உடலும் நீயே உயிரும் நீயே
கூட்டுவிப்பவனும் நீயே குலைவிப்பவனும் நீயே
ஆட்டுவிப்பவனும் நீயே பெருமானே
இனி பிறப்பு வேண்டாம் எங்களுக்கு
ஒரு வேளை பிறப்பு இருக்குமானால்
அப்பிறப்பில் உனக்குத் தொண்டு செய்யும்
பாக்கியத்தைக் கொடுத்தருள்வாயாக அகத்தீசா
Tavayogi, in the above prayer, asked Agathiyar to end this cycle of birth. If it was not possible, then he asked Agathiyar to grant him the wish to take another birth and serve him as he did now.
But when Agathiyar asked me if that was what I desired, I knew that moment that I was not to ask for this. There was something else. Later, speaking to Mahin over the phone regarding this, we agreed that we should ask for Gnanam that Tavayogi always reminds us to move towards, leaving devotion or Bakthi behind. Soon he comes again and tells me that I had asked for Gnanam. Then he explains that Gnanam is not gifted, but we have to earn it by traversing the Chakras and arriving at the Sahasrara, where, not that Gnanam would dawn on us automatically, but where we come to know what Gnanam is. If Gnanam was not gifted, then what more is there that he wants to gift me, I wonder.
Soon, during each encounter with Agathiyar coming through a devotee, he, too, would put forth a question and reply to me with another question, "If that was what I wanted?" I guess there is no end to this search and journey, just like there is no end to our desires and wants. Ramalinga Adigal, in defining the numerous stages in the journey, comes to a point where he says that words could not describe or possibly do justice to the stages beyond it. So too is it that I cannot possibly describe in words the joy and bliss that comes on. I had wished to share this with others by just touching them, back then. But that would only be blissful for that moment only, wouldn't it? Tavayogi asked us to prolong this joy when it comes on. Agathiyar says that he is "this feeling" or Unarvu.
Swami Muktananda in ‘KUNDALINI - THE SECRET OF LIFE’, Siddha Yoga Publication, 1994, writes,
The guru is the grace-bestowing power of God. The entire body of such a guru has become permeated with Shakti. In fact, the guru becomes the embodiment of Shakti to such an extent that the hat he wears, his clothes, and the mat on which he sits become permeated with it, and just by touching them, a disciple can receive Shakti.
So this Shakti and bliss can be passed on to others, too. No wonder each time Ramalinga Adigal comes through a devotee, he hugs us tight and passes on his bliss, asking us to connect with the storehouse of the Prapanjam for a continuous supply of it. All this is only possible through the guru.
Swami Muktananda quotes from the 'GURU GITA’ that sums it all up. We are asked to meditate on the guru's form. We are asked to worship the guru's feet. The guru's word becomes the mantra. Then liberation comes by his grace.