Harry Owen, a former teacher, author, and poet, writes that when his wife was away for a week, before she left, she reminded him not to be angry. Thinking it had something to do with them, he soon realized that she meant his anger towards the world. His anger, he says suposedly came from
"I was angry because I felt trapped. I had something to say, and I didn’t know how to say it, feeling that there’s not much you can do about it. You want to do something, you want to speak out. You want to be a voice for good. You want to make the world a better place. "
I understand his anger, for when we choose to walk the path of truth, we are at loggerheads with those who travel in the opposite direction. In bringing certain changes in us, we expect others to follow suit. We try to help out in ways we can, at times seen as meddling in others' affairs, and at times seen as giving wrong advice that upsets others, or ends disastrously to the party concerned.
In our initial years of worship to the Siddhas, when many came by wanting to see Agathiyar's bronze statue and pray, they shared their problems and troubles with us. Being the concerned couple, my wife and I would try to calm their feelings and end up dishing out advice that to some became detrimental. They turned against us. Turning to Tavayogi, he asked me why I interfered. We then asked Agathiyar to put a stop to the trail of visitors he said he would send. He did just that, complying with our wishes. Then one day, he asked me what I would do and where I would go if he shut his ears, refusing to listen to my pleas. I understood that he wanted me to listen to others express their grievances. My daughter told us that Agathiyar was listening through us and settling their problems in miraculous and unimaginable ways. Since then, he has people knocking on our door again. We learned only to listen. I have given up convincing others, too. Agathiyar deals with their problems subtly. We end up seeing the results and end up being grateful to him.
After having us walk through the phases of Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam, and having us drop them all, he has finally brought us to Gnanam, where we learn to accept everything as a divine play. Agathiyar brought us to the teachings of Bhagawan Ramana and Adi Sankara. We make peace with ourselves and others. We come to terms with all that happens and arrive at the state of acceptance.
A reader messages me as I pen this post, saying that she does not receive support from her husband traveling this journey. I replied to her to let him be and asked her to do what her heart and soul dictate. Eventually, it is a solo, sole, and soul journey. We all shall walk alone. We shall return home as individual souls just as we came.
After reading this posts she writes to me again.
"You nail it, Aiyaa !!! "Eventually, it is a solo, sole, and soul journey. We all shall walk alone. We shall return home as individual souls just as we came. " I feel very much at peace now. Yes, state of acceptance. Agathiar appa has answered me via your writing."
As Harry Owen says, "But say what you have to say and hope that maybe, just maybe, what you have to say will encourage somebody else suddenly to find that they have a voice as well", let each find his or her way.
And as he says of nature, "This tree aloe, this welcoming, whispering intelligence of bats and owls in the darkness. No adornment here, no mere standing upright side-by-side, but rather a simple unity: we are one", that which we failed to understand here, we shall realize when eventually we return to the "place" where we were once all one.
In his poem for his grandson, he speaks for all of us, too.
"‘What I wish for you.’ I wrote it for Charlie, but of course, it is a wish for all humanity. It’s a wish for all my grandchildren. And by extension, their children, their grandchildren. Everybody, everybody - it’s a wish for the world."
"What I wish for you. For you, I choose the humblest things, immortal things, essential things. I wish you home, family, and friends. And friends and friends, your friends. True friends. And then? The best, the very best: it’s always yet to come. I wish for you the safest of clean worlds with flora, fauna, peace, and freedom as brethren, where passion, gratitude, and kindness sprout and grow like thistles, where head and heart combine to spell ‘success’, where money’s fine but never, never all. And most: your fullest, vivid self, little one, whatever may befall, in all that you can do or be. For this is love, your birthright, and all the truth you’ll ever need. So live long. Live full. Love deep. Go well."
And a very BIG THANK YOU to readers for following this blog. The past week's readership has seen the highest. Seeing these numbers, it makes me ask myself if I was indeed walking alone or maybe I am not walking alone after all!
