If Agathiyar had explained the target and the goal and revealed the results of my worship and practice, which I had shared in the last post, we would now need to look into the practice, method, and means that would bring us to attain the goal.
The best and safest approach would be Bhakti, where, besides going about our lives, we find time to pay homage, offer gratitude, and express thanks to the divine. A spirited Bhakta, or devotee beliefs strongly in God and has faith that God cares for their well-being. When faced with difficulties, they seek out astrologers, numerologists, priests, and Swamijis for solutions.
For others who begin to continuously face obstacles and obstructions and mountains that pose challenges that break them, they tend to question the very existence of God. This leads them to look into the pages of books to get insights or seek out ashrams and gurus for solace and to gain clarity.
Many such devotees have turned up at my door too, sent by Agathiyar. He has me and my wife listen to them. He occasionally addresses their grievances and sends them off. If some return, while others keep in touch, many go into oblivion. For those who choose to remain, the guru who departed his wisdom all those years would then pass on the techniques and practices for them to work on. And so did Agathiyar have me impart the techniques to Mahindren and have Mahindren teach the Yoga Asanas to others. Now the ball is in their court. The results are dependent on whether they take it up, do it diligently, and correctly. Many are known to give up. Many tend to forget and fall out. When another Swamiji comes along, they stand in line for another initiation (again), practice for some time (again), and let go of it too, only to wait in line another day before another Swamiji. Some hurriedly gather the practice, method, and learn the tricks of the trade and turn to become gurus themselves, and begin to preach to others immediately.
Coming to the Siddhas, they help us work on our past Karma so that we are free from the results of our past actions and can start afresh on a new chapter of a spiritual journey as planned and ordained by the Siddhas. I was blessed to have two Gurus in the physical form. Though Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai left his mortal frame just four years after I was brought to him, Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram stayed to mould me into who I am today. Agathiyar, who brought me to meet Tavayogi on our shores, had me follow him back to his ashram a couple of months after his departure. He wanted me to spend several days with him at his ashram and in traveling to holy sites. As we left the hotel in Trichy towards the hills of Kuttrallam, Tavayogi turned to me, telling me that "Only now our true journey begins, my son." Though I could not comprehend his words back then in 2005, after some twenty-one years, I see the truth in all the short and brief statements he made in passing. The true teaching does not come through listening to discourses nor through holding satsangs, but one has to live with the guru, eat what he eats, drink what he drinks, take in the air that he takes in and expels, and be by his side to truly receive the teaching. All the teachings, gifts, and treasures were imparted during these moments with him without my knowledge. I came back carrying the seed, as Swami Muktananda says: "The difference between you and the Guru is that you are the seed and the Guru is the full-grown tree; you are the beginning, and he is the end." (KUNDALINI - THE SECRET OF LIFE, Siddha Yoga Publication, 1994)
It is not only important that one finds or comes to the guru. He has to stay put. Time shall then reveal the secrets. Ramana Maharishi strongly believed that the spiritual energy of a master could transform man’s consciousness, writes Truman Caylor Wadlington in his book YOGI RAMSURATKUMAR - THE GODCHILD OF TIRUVANNAMALAI.
On his next visit in 2007, Tavayogi fine-tuned the ritual of lighting the Homam that he had me start. He passed on the treasure that Agathiyar had promised me, teaching me several Asanas and Pranayama techniques. Post-pandemic, Agathiyar had me teach it to Mahindren and had him teach it to a handful of devotees gathered at AVM. When Mahindren dived into this practice ferociously, Agathiyar had him halt it, considering that he had a family to raise, nurture, and care for. It was put on hold for a future date.
My search stopped after meeting these two gurus. As distance kept us apart, Agathiyar and the Siddhas regularly came through Nadi readings and filled in the voids, enriching me with practices and wisdom. After their demise, the Siddhas never abandoned me either. In the absence of Nadi readers, they came through other devotees. At other times, they had us take notes while they dictated to us.
"Those who have seen the truth can also show it to others", says Bhagawan Ramana in Sadhu Natanananda's SRI RAMANA DARSANAM.
"The Guru has found everything you are seeking; that which you want has become the Guru’s wealth," writes Swami Muktananda in KUNDALINI - THE SECRET OF LIFE, Siddha Yoga Publication, 1994.
Paul Zweig writes in the introduction to Swami Muktananda’s THE PERFECT RELATIONSHIP, published by Syda Foundation, 1985,
Swami Muktananda himself travelled all over India seeking a Guru. He became a monk at the ashram of Siddharuda Swami. After almost twenty-five years, he met Bhagawan Nithyananda, who became his Guru. In a flash of self-understanding, he knew that he had found his other half; that now he was whole again.
Swami Muktananda proclaims that the Masters themselves were the secret, writes Paul Zweig, in the introduction to Swami Muktananda’s THE PERFECT RELATIONSHIP, Syda Foundation, 1985
Swami Muktananda realized that the ‘secret’ was with the Guru and so the need for one to learn at the feet of such a Guru. He felt that God's ‘secret’ was not contained in any Sanskrit formula, ancient ritual, or technique of meditation; that severe austerities and physical deprivation would not reveal it. He felt that the ‘secret’ resided with great beings, with saints; they were themselves the ‘secret,’ and he could learn what they were by loving them and sitting at their feet.
Tavayogi says that the guru shall test his student for some twelve years before passing on these techniques that are akin to a double-edged sword - it could either make one or break one. After sitting at the Holy Feet of one's guru for some twelve years, where his ego is diced, having learned and put into practice the techniques given by the guru for a further number of years, where it is further burnt in the heat of the Tapas and austerities, our ego is shredded further when we are told that
All scriptures and Sadhana are simply means of washing away the filth of ignorance. They have no ability of their own to reveal the wisdom of the self because that principle is self-existent, perfect, and always manifest. (SECRET OF THE SIDDHAS, a Siddha Yoga Publication, 1980; Muktananda, Secret of the Siddhas, 1980).
We then arrive home. If we had originally thought and told of a journey that we needed to make to discover God and divine beings, we come to the self-realization that God dwells in us and the very Self is God. We then return to being our true nature, that which is Divine. The guru has done his work, imparting the truth that each is a guru to himself and that we are all divine, or, in the words of Gautama Buddha, "We are all Buddhas". One only needs to work on this inherent Buddha nature. For that, a guru needs to come by. Later on, knowing one's soul, the soul becomes the guru. He or she shall then rest in peace.
Read more about these profound masters and their equally profound disciples in an e-book I compiled and uploaded at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zrx_4OZnF7ss8754vh6W6r5afD6P_Sew/view?usp=sharing