In having me come to the worship of the Siddhas, in stopping me from worshiping Tavayogi, but instead Agathiyar, in coming as an idol, in having me carry out rituals such as Homam and Abhisegam, in having me carry out charity, in having me do Yoga, and finally winding all these up, Agathiyar in showing me to reduce and reduce after having accumulated much, paved the way for me to take the next step, and enter the next phase.
Henry Wei, in his book "The Guiding Light of Lao Tzu, Synergy Books International, writes on a story by Chuang Tzu regarding Yen Hui and his master Confucius.
When Confucius enquired of his student as to how he was doing,
Yen Hui replied, "I am getting on."
"How so?" asked the master.
His student replied, "I have got rid of charity and duty."
"Very good," acknowledged the master, but quickly added, "But not quite perfect."
Meeting again after some time, the student answers a similar question from Confucius,
saying, "I got rid of ceremoniousness and music."
to which Confucius says, "Very good, but still not quite perfect."
On another day,
the student replies that "I can forget myself while sitting."
This time, Confucius asked, "What do you mean?"
Yen Hui replied, "I have freed myself from my body. I have discarded my reasoning powers. By thus getting rid of my body and my mind, I have become one with the Infinite."
Confucius immediately tells his student that he wishes to be allowed to follow in his steps.
Yen Hui emptied himself of himself, which is the height of purgation necessary for the mystic attainment of Tao or ultimate reality, writes Henry Wei. This is the Purgative Way spoken about by Lao Tzu, Agathiyar, and Ramalinga Adigal, too. In showing us to "Reduce and reduce", Yen Hui emptied himself of himself, which is the height of purgation necessary for the mystic attainment of Tao or ultimate reality.
Discrimination of the Real from the unreal is the keynote of the journey on the Purgative Way; the travel from darkness to Light is the journey on the Illuminative Way; the resurrection from death to a life of deathlessness, to Amritvam, is the journey on the Unitive Way." (Source: "Makers of Indian Literature - Ramalingar" by G.Vanmikanathan, published by Sahitya Akademi.)
One has to come out of Dvaita into Advaita. This is the final phase where one emerges into the other, the JeevAtma merging into the ParamAtma, or rather the former returning to the latter, or rather the Ego in us realizing that it was One or the Yegan from day one. Only then can we consider ourselves to have beaten Maya at its own game. Even then, the Ego tricks us into believing that we are God and superior, as in the many stories told, for instance, of King Ravana. What Agathiyar told me about the wolf in the sheep's covering and about sieving through the gold from the mud was told on the onset by Tavayogi in 2005. But I could not comprehend back then. Tavayogi stopped me in my steps even before I began to worship him, telling me that he was a nobody and to hold Agathiyar's feet. If Tavayogi pointed me to Agathiyar, Agathiyar came in 2024 and told me to even stop holding on to him, asking how else we could become one. He spoke about Maya and the Divine Play, and to not fall for its lure. It is like walking on glass, walking on a sword. He warns that the next phase is that of many tests, trials, and tribulations.
G.Vanmikanathan in tracing Ramalinga Adigal's life, brings us to the juncture where Ramalinga attains the state of Jeevan Mukti, in his book, "Pathway to God Trod by Saint Ramalingar", Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay.
The point of utmost importance in Advaita is that every seeker after deliverance may hopefully aim at the goal of Jeevanmukthi …This state of continued life in the body on the part of a knower of Brahman. A Jeevanmuktha does not act on his own volition. God acts through him, and speaks through him.
In "Metaphysics of Saiva Siddhantam - Sivagnana Boodham by Thiruvilankar Canagarayar, l96l, we read that,
The soul which has realized God through divine knowledge Pati Jnanam, after it had renounced the worlds as changing or Asat, is called Jivan Mukta. The Jivan Mukta should now become one with Siva, just as Siva was one with him in his fettered state. When Jivan Mukta is one with Siva, what he does, would not be his acts, but would be the acts of Siva. For the Ichcha, Jnana, and Kriya states of Jivan Mukta are identical with those of Siva. Whatever Jivan Mukta does is done according to the will of Siva, for Jivan Mukta is in Advaita relation with God, Siva. Jivan Mukta is one living in a body ever after his purification, till he exhausts his residual Karma.
But having arrived there, Ramalinga Adigal yearned for more. He yearns for Videha Mukthi, release from the body, longs for death, evanescent bliss, and everlasting and eternal union.
So the Jeevan-muktha now longs for death, for release from the human body, for eternal bliss and union everlasting. He has obtained, it is true, supreme bliss, but still not evanescent bliss; he has obtained union with God, but still not eternal union. On having these beatific visions, wisdom and peace descend on the mutinously impatient Jeevan-muktha, impatient for death, impatient to shed the human body, impatient to gain videha mukthi - disembodied release from the cycle of death and birth.("Metaphysics of Saiva Siddhantam - Sivagnana Boodham by Thiruvilankar Canagarayar, l96l)
The Journey on the Unitive Way is where we see results. The transformation takes place rapidly without our doing. The Divine gifts us a body that can sustain his majestic presence. He personally sees through the necessary transformation to become him. Ramalinga Adigal affirms that the most impure body will become a pure and imperishable body.
The material body constituted of impure elements is transformed into a “Body of Pure Light” that emits a golden brightness. Then the Divinity descends and settles in the disciple's Heart, who becomes entirely filled by Him. Captivated by the "Ardent Fire" of the Divine Essence, the disciple stops thinking, feeling, acting, and even existing. He has become pure Love and Compassion, and this is what he spills on all the beings." (Source: http://www.ramalinga.com)
One crosses,
The threshold of the Unitive Way where God with name and form will disappear and ultimately the worshiper and the worshiped, the seeker and the sought, the soul and the Godhead, will merge into each other. (Source: G.Vanmikanathan in his "Pathway to God Trod by Saint Ramalingar", Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay.)