When both Tavayogi and Mataji addressed the devotees gathered at the temples to listen to their speeches, initially they told them to come out of bhakti. When we told them later that most of us were steeped in temple worship, they stopped calling devotees over to the path of Gnanam in these public places and forums. I figured the call to come to Gnanam was a long stride or jump for us who have been in bakthi for ages following the practice of our ancestors. The calling would be more appropriate to those who are already in the Siddha path, worshipping the Siddha and following their dictates. Instead calling them over to the worship and the path of the Siddhas was fair enough in these venues.
The Siddhas are an amusing lot. They come in all manners. For instance, taking a stone for the matter. They come as granite to be worship and adored. They come as a stepping stone to lift us to higher stages of evolution. They come as the Sumaithangi Kal or load relieving stones, that is used to unload and carry the heavy load or luggage that villagers carried on their heads hence relieving their burden momentarily while they rested. It is convenient for them to pick up their load again without looking around for some assistance as the granite structure is of an average height of a person. It is used as a cradle too to place their child while waiting. These are set up by villagers in strategic places along a route, as a means of seva or to serve ours.
The Siddhas actions can never be comprehended. Agathiyar chose to burn the house down for he did not want those caught in Maya who remained behind to corrupt the institution or dilute his teachings. These devotees have to rely on whatever they have retained in them all those years. They have to move on now creating a new life and path for themselves rather than follow the beaten track. Eventually, they too shall arrive there. Those who stayed on living out his teachings were asked to leave behind the rituals, charity, and move within, the next step on the beaten track. This is where they teach us to let go of our attachments. The Siddhas brought us into the folds of sariyai, kriyai , and yogam, making us walk the talk and participate actively. Only after having these experiences did they bring us to attempt at gaining or attaining Gnanam.
Where we saw contradictions in the teachings as we came to study them, by walking the path and living it, we come to realize that they were differences in views or opinion arising from the various perception of people seeing from different perspectives, different angles, different altitude, and seeing based on different upbringings and individual experiences, based on the intensity of their practices, and the expanse of their knowledge. Eventually, it is all relative and related to the dimensions of time-space. A toddler's perspective is different from an infant's; a teenager's perspective is different from a child's; an adult's perspective is different from a teen; one who is aged and ripe with experiences would differ in his perspective of a young adult. Similarly, one who is an atheist will have a different perspective from a believer. A saint would have a different perspective from a devotee.
The Siddhas are an amusing lot. They come in all manners. For instance, taking a stone for the matter. They come as granite to be worship and adored. They come as a stepping stone to lift us to higher stages of evolution. They come as the Sumaithangi Kal or load relieving stones, that is used to unload and carry the heavy load or luggage that villagers carried on their heads hence relieving their burden momentarily while they rested. It is convenient for them to pick up their load again without looking around for some assistance as the granite structure is of an average height of a person. It is used as a cradle too to place their child while waiting. These are set up by villagers in strategic places along a route, as a means of seva or to serve ours.
The Siddhas actions can never be comprehended. Agathiyar chose to burn the house down for he did not want those caught in Maya who remained behind to corrupt the institution or dilute his teachings. These devotees have to rely on whatever they have retained in them all those years. They have to move on now creating a new life and path for themselves rather than follow the beaten track. Eventually, they too shall arrive there. Those who stayed on living out his teachings were asked to leave behind the rituals, charity, and move within, the next step on the beaten track. This is where they teach us to let go of our attachments. The Siddhas brought us into the folds of sariyai, kriyai , and yogam, making us walk the talk and participate actively. Only after having these experiences did they bring us to attempt at gaining or attaining Gnanam.
Where we saw contradictions in the teachings as we came to study them, by walking the path and living it, we come to realize that they were differences in views or opinion arising from the various perception of people seeing from different perspectives, different angles, different altitude, and seeing based on different upbringings and individual experiences, based on the intensity of their practices, and the expanse of their knowledge. Eventually, it is all relative and related to the dimensions of time-space. A toddler's perspective is different from an infant's; a teenager's perspective is different from a child's; an adult's perspective is different from a teen; one who is aged and ripe with experiences would differ in his perspective of a young adult. Similarly, one who is an atheist will have a different perspective from a believer. A saint would have a different perspective from a devotee.
And so there were Siddhas who seemed to go against their comrades in their opinions. It might seem that Sivavakiyar for instance was opposed to idolatry as seen from numerous verses in his songs. Similarly, it might seem that Ramalinga Adigal was opposed to certain practices and condemned them. But one has to understand that they were only able to say that when they had gone through the initial process and only after arriving at the truth. The process is important and vital for the final product to emerge. Similarly, the process is important for us to arrive at an enlightened state. The current has to travel from the switch to the bulb in order to light it up. The broadcast has to be transmitted in order to be picked up by the receiver. Only then can we say whether the transmission was clear or otherwise; whether the way was treacherous or smooth etc. Both Sivavakiyar and Ramalinga Adigal must have addressed their followers regarding the need to drop the methods but never the process. They must have replaced the method with another.
While Sivavakiyar opposed idolatry, Agathiyar asks me to commission his statue and worship him. How do we explain this? These days we even have idols of Sivavakiyar in temples and ashrams and worship him. How do we explain this? Then someone asks me why does the divine ask to be worshipped? How do we explain this? Followers and devotees have lost their direction or coordinates along the way. Instead of holding on to the teachings, they held on to the messenger. Instead of following the teachings and becoming a master too, they began to worship him, forever remaining a follower. Agathiyar brought us to worship him so that the thought of him would be ingrained in us and we too shall strive to become a Siddha someday. With worship to the Siddhas, the numerous processes we go through shall bring relevant and pertinent experiences and food for thought. Invisible energies tend to reside within.
It is all about energy. We are a product of the one form of energy that traverses within us too. As Agathiyar said that he is the prapanjam and the prapanjam is in him too and as Ramalinga Adigal ask us, "Are you in the prana or is the prana in you?" when we cover the processes and arrive at the state of this saints everything is subdued and comes under our command and control. Nature bows to the Siddhas and carries out their dictates. It is said that plants and trees bowed to Agathiyar and offered to enlighten him on its medicinal values and properties willingly without his asking. Both Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal commanded their respect. They are masters of the universes and worlds. Once they understood the tattwas and gunas and overcame them, once they knew how to harness the energies, they could perform all the Siddhis and even take other forms. Ramalinga Adigal took on the five nature of Erai: creation, sustenance, dissolution, veiling, and that of showering grace. In this highest state of attainment, need they worship stone, do rituals and charity? Need they fear the planets, the deities, and the elements? As Tavayogi and I drove by a temple in Avinasi which was known back then as Thirupukoliyur, he pointed out to me that was the temple where the saint Sundarar had sung a padigam and brought forth a child who was eaten alive in the past by a crocodile which appeared in the swollen waters of the river. Saint Sundarar delivered the child, now a teen, to the wailing mother. How was that possible? Wasn't he killed the moment the crocodile swallowed and ate him? Wasn't he digested in the crocodile's stomach? Where was he all these years? How did he emerge from the crocodile's stomach alive all grown up, compensating for the lost years? It is as if Sundarar went back to that particular moment in time, recreated the moments before the tragic event, saved the boy from the impending danger, and brought him back to current times, in the form and age he would be. Simply amazing! Sundarar rewrote his (hi)story.
Ramalinga Adigal upon realizing that the light from the oil lamp was fading and dying off reached for the oil vessel and began topping up the oil in the lamp. He continued to write his compositions at the home of a merchant Vengada Reddiar in Karungkuli. He did not realize that the vessel contained water instead of oil until it was pointed out to him later by the Reddiar's wife. She admitted that she had mistakenly filled it up with water and not oil before leaving home for a temple fest. But the lamp burnt all night long!
A rather similar miracle took place even earlier in 600 AD. The story goes that Naminandhi Adigal on realizing that the lamps at the temple had extinguished, he sought oil from a home nearby only to be insulted, shamed, and sent away, refused the oil, saying "Since your Shiva holds fire in his hand, why do you need to light a lamp?" Lord Shiva instructs Naminandhi Adigal to light the lamps with water from the temple tank. Naminandhi Adigal lighted up all the temple lamps using water!
Poompaavai, the 12-year-old daughter of Sivanesan, a wealthy merchant, was bitten by a snake. Sivanesan kept the ash from her cremation in a vessel at his home. Three days had gone by when Sivanesan who revered Sambandar heard that the saint was near his hometown in Mylapore. He rushed to meet him at the Kapaleeswarar temple with the urn of ash. Hearing what had taken place Sambandar sang a padigam,
மட்டிட்ட புன்னையங் கானல் மடமயிலைக்
கட்டிட்டங் கொண்டான் கபாலீச்சரம் அமர்ந்தான்
ஒட்டிட்ட பண்பின் உருத்திர பல்கணத்தார்க்
கட்டிட்டல் காணாதே போதியோ பூம்பாவாய்.
The bones among the ash in the vessel began to take form. At the end of the padigam the form came to life. The vessel broke as the form of Sivanesan's daughter appeared before all of them.
Ramalinga Adigal upon realizing that the light from the oil lamp was fading and dying off reached for the oil vessel and began topping up the oil in the lamp. He continued to write his compositions at the home of a merchant Vengada Reddiar in Karungkuli. He did not realize that the vessel contained water instead of oil until it was pointed out to him later by the Reddiar's wife. She admitted that she had mistakenly filled it up with water and not oil before leaving home for a temple fest. But the lamp burnt all night long!
A rather similar miracle took place even earlier in 600 AD. The story goes that Naminandhi Adigal on realizing that the lamps at the temple had extinguished, he sought oil from a home nearby only to be insulted, shamed, and sent away, refused the oil, saying "Since your Shiva holds fire in his hand, why do you need to light a lamp?" Lord Shiva instructs Naminandhi Adigal to light the lamps with water from the temple tank. Naminandhi Adigal lighted up all the temple lamps using water!
Poompaavai, the 12-year-old daughter of Sivanesan, a wealthy merchant, was bitten by a snake. Sivanesan kept the ash from her cremation in a vessel at his home. Three days had gone by when Sivanesan who revered Sambandar heard that the saint was near his hometown in Mylapore. He rushed to meet him at the Kapaleeswarar temple with the urn of ash. Hearing what had taken place Sambandar sang a padigam,
மட்டிட்ட புன்னையங் கானல் மடமயிலைக்
கட்டிட்டங் கொண்டான் கபாலீச்சரம் அமர்ந்தான்
ஒட்டிட்ட பண்பின் உருத்திர பல்கணத்தார்க்
கட்டிட்டல் காணாதே போதியோ பூம்பாவாய்.
The bones among the ash in the vessel began to take form. At the end of the padigam the form came to life. The vessel broke as the form of Sivanesan's daughter appeared before all of them.
Having full control over matter and energy, only then did the saints drop the tools, the method, and the way. Are we in their state and ready to drop all the tools given, the method, and the way? Until and unless we have mastered mind, matter, and energy, we cannot possibly let go of all the attachments to custom and tradition, belief and faith, the method and processes for we need them. Agathiyar came to attest to this. There is no escape from the grips of these and society he says. But yet he wants us to place the effort. He wants us to attempt to detach ourselves from it although he has definitely said that it is not possible. Here is where we come to understand our duty. We have to place the effort even as he says that it will not produce the desired results. But there will come a time when with his grace the veil shall be drawn aside and the truth is known, as Ramalinga Adigal says. We shall then be detached instantaneously.
To one who has mastered mind, matter and energy, and gone beyond time-space, he simply watches, not even putting a stop to other's faith, practice, and beliefs for he knows eventually everyone shall reach there just as he did. Once you a master you can watch from afar as Confucius did. Yu Dan writes about the great sage, in her book "Confucius from the Heart", Pan Books, of Confucious,
To one who has mastered mind, matter and energy, and gone beyond time-space, he simply watches, not even putting a stop to other's faith, practice, and beliefs for he knows eventually everyone shall reach there just as he did. Once you a master you can watch from afar as Confucius did. Yu Dan writes about the great sage, in her book "Confucius from the Heart", Pan Books, of Confucious,
"Confucious set a great deal of stores for the very smallest of ceremonies in daily life.. as a kind of self-cultivation. When the villagers were exorcising evil spirits he stood in his court robes on the eastern steps. When the country folk held a rite to drive out ghosts Confucius always stood respectfully on the eastern steps dressed in his court robes."Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras as elaborated by Swami Prabhavananda, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 2005, explains the thirtieth stanza.
"To man in his ordinary sense consciousness, the universe seems full of secrets. But to the illumined yogi, the universe does not seem at all mysterious. If you know the clay, you know the nature of everything made of clay."Knowing the tattwas and the energy that drives it, you know all.
"Knowing that the sequence of mutations of the gunas comes to an end for they have fulfilled their purpose."Swami Prabhavananda explains further,
"The gunas form this universe in order that the experiencer may experience it and thus become liberated. When liberation is achieved the gunas have fulfilled their purpose."Now we understand why Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal kept asking us to learn about the tattwas.
"Time is a sequence of moments and hence a sequence of the mutations of the gunas which take place at every moment. We only become aware of these moment changes at intervals when a whole series of them has resulted in our senses."Swami Prabhavananda gives a beautiful example.
"We are not aware from moment to moment that a bud is opening but at the end of a series which may take several hours we recognize the mutation, the blossoming flower."
There is life all around us each moment, but as Swami Prabhavananda, says we only seem to see the larger events after it has taken place fully or completely. We see life as existing in another human being or animal, but fail to see the same in the plants, the minute insects, the microscopic organisms, and the cells, mutating each moment. The saints saw and sensed all of life in totality, as they had come to an awareness that they are a part of all.
Swami Prabhavananda quotes Swami Vivekananda to elaborate Patanjali's thirty-third sutra, which states that, "Since the gunas no longer have any purpose to serve the Atman, they resolve themselves into Prakriti (Nature). This is liberation."
"Nature's task is done this unselfish task which our sweet nurse nature had imposed upon herslf. She gently took the self forgetting soul by the hand as it were and showed him all the experiences in the universe all manifestations bringing him higher and higher through various bodies till his lost glory came back and he remembered his own nature. Then the kind mother went back the same way she came for others who have also lost their way in the trackless desert of life."Thank you, Ma. Thank you Mother Nature.