STILLNESS

I was not much of a writer. My first writing stint was I guess writing out a police report. I had lost my security pass to enter my office building. As it was a high-security area I was asked to lodge a report with the police. And so I made my way to the nearest police station. The officer on duty asks if I could write and handed me a piece of paper and pen. I began to write the whole days event. He watched me for a while and asks what I was doing. I replied "Writing a report." He replied in an angry tone, "Ringkas sudahlah. Tak payah buat karangan", meaning "Make it short, no need to write an essay" and snatched the paper and pen from me. He wrote the report for me. It had these words on it. "Hilang pass keselamatan - Lost Security Pass." To my small mind, I thought if I gave them the details of my day's travel as in Gulliver's Travels it might aid them in locating it. 

But miraculously I got back the pass when I decided to trace my path and finally landed at the doorsteps of the headquarters of the postal department after stopping over at a couple of banks. It just was minutes before the counters open. As the shutters were half raised to allow staffs to enter I took a peep inside the building. A lady who saw me from her place at the customer service counter flagged me to come in. She went through the drawers at her desk and pulled out my pass asking if it was mine. A miracle indeed.

Continuing my writings on Experience, Pico Iyer a travel writer and journalist in a TED talk mentions that it is not our experience that makes our lives - its what we do with it. Imagine a hurricane he says, that "suddenly sweeps down your town, and reduces every last thing to rubble. One man is traumatized for life. But another almost feels liberated and realizes this is a great chance to start his life anew. It's exactly the same event but radically different responses. There is neither good or bad as  Shakespeare told in Hamlet but thinking makes it so."

And so we are thrown into a situation and they watch us come out of it. They watch how we fare. Now I understand when Agathiyar told me I needed the experience and that it was all his doing when I faulted along the way.

And so Agathiyar put me into an exact situation to see how I fared immediately after I went for a Nadi reading where he had counseled me about anger management earlier.

The power of thought can either calm you down or bring you to the verge of lunacy. While one breaks down in the face of an event another sees a blessing out of it.

Pico goes on to speak about a very valuable component that we are missing in life - sitting still and appreciating the stillness of the moment.

"We all know it is one of our greatest luxuries - the empty space. In many a piece of music its the pause or the rests that gives the piece its beauty."

True. When Gowri Arumugam came over with the draft version of her song that had yet to be mastered, "Paadavanthene Kannurangaayoh Agatheesane", that was to be one of the songs that went into her first devotional album "Agathiyar Geetham" released by her company Raagawave Production, the unexpected moment of pause she decided to include in the track stunned me and brought me to tears as I sat listening to it played in her car. We had sat together earlier penning the words for the lyrics of this and other songs at ATM and she had sung a demo but there was no pause then. At the eleventh hour, she thought of pausing at that point that as Pico says gave beauty to the piece. Bravo Gowri Arumugam for including that thought and the silence in the track.

Osho too gives importance to the pause or silence that is held between the syllables or words in a mantra asking us to concentrate on and enter that space, that moment of brief silence. Osho in "The White Lotus", Jaico Publishing House, 2004, says,

A real meditation is not verbal, a real meditation is utterly silent. A real prayer is not verbal, a real prayer is an absolute silence in the heart. Nothing stirs, but deep gratitude is felt. It is feeling not thinking. Words are inadequate to express the truth. To be silent is the bridge from the ordinary mind to the cosmic mind, from mind to no-mind. 

Lord Muruga upon breaking Arunagiri's fall from the temple tower at Tiruvannamalai, instructs him to sit still. What was the secret to sitting still?

Osho's discourse might shed some light here.

When people come to me and they ask, ‘How to meditate?’ I tell them, ‘There is no need to ask how to meditate, just ask how to remain unoccupied. Meditation happens spontaneously. Just ask how to remain unoccupied, that’s all. That’s the whole trick of meditation – how to remain unoccupied. Then you cannot do anything. The meditation will flower.

When you are not doing anything the energy moves towards the center, it settles down towards the center. When you are doing something the energy moves out. Doing is a way of moving out. Non-doing is a way of moving in. Occupation is an escape. You can read the Bible, you can make it an occupation. There is no difference between religious occupation and secular occupation: all occupations are occupations, and they help you to cling outside your being. They are excuses to remain outside.

Man is ignorant and blind, and he wants to remain ignorant and blind, because to come inwards looks like entering a chaos. And it is so; inside you have created a chaos. You have to encounter it and go through it. Courage is needed – courage to be oneself, and courage to move inwards. I have not come across a greater courage than that – the courage to be meditative.

According to Osho, the technique that’s especially effective when practicing meditation is to become an “observer of the mind.”

Don’t do anything – no repetition of mantra, no repetition of the name of god – just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don’t disturb it, don’t prevent it, don’t repress it; don’t do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation. As you watch, slowly mind becomes empty of thoughts; but you are not falling asleep, you are becoming more alert, more aware.

As the mind becomes completely empty, your whole energy becomes aflame of awakening. This flame is the result of meditation. So you can say meditation is another name of watching, witnessing, observing – without any judgment, without any evaluation. Just by watching, you immediately get out of the mind.

Meditation is just being delighted in your own presence; meditation is a delight in your own being. It is very simple – a totally relaxed state of consciousness where you are not doing anything. The moment doing enters you become tense; anxiety enters immediately. How to do? What to do? How to succeed? How not to fail? You have already moved into the future.

If you are contemplating, what can you contemplate? How can you contemplate the unknown? How can you contemplate the unknowable? You can contemplate only the known. You can chew it again and again, but it is the known. 

Meditation is just to be, not doing anything – no action, no thought, no emotion. You just are. And it is a sheer delight. From where does this delight come when you are not doing anything? It comes from nowhere, or, it comes from everywhere. It is uncaused, because the existence is made of the stuff called joy. It needs no cause, no reason. If you are unhappy you have a reason to be unhappy; if you are happy you are simply happy – there is no reason for it.  

(Source: https://hackspirit.com/osho-reveals-almost-everyone-gets-meditation-wrong-correctly/)

True. Lord Muruga did not give initiation or mantra and have Arunagiri sit in contemplation or chant it or visualize it. He only said, "Sit doing nothing" or "Summa Eru".

Pico enlightens us of the nature of the Japanese city Kyoto that brings stillness to the mind. He describes the beauty of Kyoto in Japan a beautiful city encircled by hills filled with more than 2000 temples and shrines where people have been sitting still for 800 years or more where the day stretches out like a meadow. He says, "We need to take conscious efforts to open up space in our lives, nothing is so urgent as sitting still."

WALKING ON THE RAZOR'S EDGE

When I was frequenting the Nadi readings from the years beginning from 2002 till present, yearly, monthly, and for some time weekly, Agathiyar told me many things of which I only shared what I thought ought to be shared and kept those that were personal and that would be of no benefit to others to myself. There were some secrets shared by the Siddhas too which I kept close to my heart as I was directed to. Along the way, Agathiyar in a reading said that I was good in keeping secrets. I was confused then. Was he complimenting me or was it a sarcastic note? Was he asking me to reveal or was what I did correct?

When the Siddhas give a proposition, advice, or prophecize something, we can either take it at face value or drop it. What they tell us are possibilities that are available. It is still we who make the choice. Even if they talk about business proposals, marriage proposals and career, those are all possibilities in the near future. It is still a prophecy unless they give their word. The results are still in our hands. If we put in the effort, if we are courageous enough, if we dream about it, are passionate about it and put our mind into it, it takes place. Of course, if something prophecize brings a positive result and outcome and helps the community and society on the whole, one should get on it immediately.

So when he said I am good at keeping secrets I could either continue keeping those things said under wraps or I could decide to tell. We need to understand what the Siddha means with their statements and revelations. 

I have never stopped or questioned the Nadi reader in the midst of any reading, but this once I had to stop him and ask what Agathiyar meant. The Nadi reader looked into the leaf and told me that what I did was right and that I should keep secrets. We moved on.

Over the years Agathiyar encourages me to continue writing the posts. Both Ma and Aiya too came to ask me not to discontinue writing saying that the lessons I learned and the experienced gained from it will be knowledge to others. Only then I began to share the past Nadi readings and what was said in it. I began to write about things that I had hidden from the public till then. As Tavayogi told me that we should authenticate what we say with either the scriptures or the words of the saints, and give references to it, each time a thought comes to my mind and a subject crops up, I refer to the internet and my collection of books to link these thoughts and verify its authenticity. I would, after writing each post go to him and tell him that it was he who was writing and that I appreciated it, for I was beginning to learn together with others too. One day he told me that he sits in my thoughts and writes, making me drop my guilt, what if I was writing the wrong things. They have not in any way stopped me from sharing but instead have been encouraging me to write through several quarters, till this day. 

Similarly, Agathiyar told a devotee that the devotee would tear the mask off religious and spiritual personalities. The devotee did not stop to ask if he should do that or not. Agathiyar stated what he had foreseen. But it is our duty to ask him if it was right of us to take it up and give life to the prediction. If he had asked maybe Agathiyar would have told him that it was not necessary and hence bring an immediate change to the prophecy. Agathiyar always upholds the policy of non-interference for you would then disrupt the very laws place in position for the proper governing and administering of the world and its affairs. He has often told us to let it be preferring not to interfere, change things or point out the wrongs and the mistakes.

And so the devotee started war on the masters, gurus and the Nadi readers, labeling them as fakes and crooks. But he hid behind the social media, never having the guts to take them on face to face. He happily held on to the predictions of Agathiyar thinking that he was instructed to do so by the Siddhas. Thinking that he was making the Siddhas happy by his revelations of these flaws and shortcomings, he did not realize that he has brought much damage to the reputation of these masters and their establishments, the Nadi of the Siddhas, and even the handful of samaritans who went about serving the poor, hungry and unfortunate. 

One must remember that the spiritual path is akin to walking on a sword. It can cut us anytime. One must also remember that life is akin to a boomerang. What we sow we shall reap.

One smart lad outwitted us in this joke that is often told. When his sister apprehended and admonished him for throwing pebbles on a frog and causing hurt to it, the smart jerk told her off that he was returning a favor, saying that the frog had did the same to him in the last birth. God! What can we say?

As for me, Agathiyar has told me to stay clear of confrontations. He has also reminded others in the ATM family sternly that even if the world was to collapse and all hell breaks loose, just watch, and do your stuff. Just do what you came for. This is advice for all of us too. 

When a devotee seeing the sick state of leaders of establishments and the things they do, asked Agathiyar why all this was happening and why he kept quiet, he replied her not to question. That particular leader was a devotee of his in several of his past lives. And so he had earned merits that brought him the post and the good life that he was enjoying in this birth. But he would have to face the consequences of all his wrongdoings in this birth later, be it later in this life when the good merits have exhausted or in the next life. Agathiyar has asked her to zip up, not to judge others and let him handle him, for we know nothing of their play or lila, he said sternly.

When another devotee to whom Ma and Aiya spoke asks about the sorry state of affairs at the establishments of prominent religious and spiritual leaders, he told her that the divine was no more there. Then the devotee asked why is it that crowds of devotees still frequent these places. Ma told her that the devotees do not know that she was not there. Only the head of the establishment knows and that he has gone out of favor with the divine. But he was not going to tell others that he does not have the patronage of the divine forces.

Closer to home, a similar answer was given by Ma to a devotee when a scuffle started at a temple. There were two committees claiming the right to certain rites, when Ma came forcefully into a devotee and hushed them up. Later she told the devotee that she was no more there because of the infighting.

I was told a similar thing too once that although there were many establishments run in the name of saints and gurus, but they were not there for the sole reason that the heads of these establishments had deviated from the path of truth or satyam.

My guru too was pushed into a corner and remained helpless when certain quarters took to sabotage him and all his years of work. They began to send out poison emails and called to poison the minds of his followers. By Agathiyar's grace, we did not fall for their gimmicks.  We at ATM are clear about our search and destination. We only take the message and do not question the source. We only take the message and do not investigate the masters, gurus or whoever delivers the message. It is sad that many have forgotten their motive in seeking these establishments. Sadly they end up watching and listening to all that goes around forgetting the reason they came to the place. It is sad to come across many who have lost favor with the gurus come out of these establishments to wash dirty linen in public. They have forgotten the good that they received while at these establishments, the free shelter and food given and the care shown by the masters and the other seekers. I am always cautious and apprehensive about characters who come out of an establishment and spread ill talk about them for it would not take long for them to talk ill about me too.

It is true that courting the divine is like walking on the razor's edge. Anytime we flaw we lose the favor of the divine. The place will then only be an empty home where devotees congregate. All these exposures are a warning to us too to step carefully and keep track of all our doings for the boomerang shall return to us.

LEARNING YOGA

Swami Vivekananda in his "Raja Yoga - Conquering the Internal Nature", Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1998, too speaks of this birth that is regarded highly by all the saints.

The human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human being the greatest being. Even the Devas (Gods) will have to come down again and again to attain salvation through a human body. This human birth is the greatest we can have. 

He asks us to uphold the following affirmation.

Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of yoga should be at once rejected. In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it.

Swami Vivekananda goes on to explain creation in very clear terms. When there was neither aught nor naught, what existed he asks.

At the begining of creation there is only Akasha. That Akasha existed without motion. The physical motion of the prana was stopped, but it existed all the same. At the end of a cycle the energies now displayed in the universe quiet down and become potential. At the end of the cycle the solids, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasha again, and all the forces that are in the universe resolve back into the prana. At the beginning of the next cycle they start up, strike upon the Akasha, and out of the Akasha evolve these various forms. And the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha.  

This concept was brought to the layman through this scene in the movies.

By what power is the Akasha manufactured into this universe he asks.

By the power of prana. Just as Akasha is the infinite, omnipresent material of this universe, so is this prana the infinite, omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. From thought down to the lowest force, everything is but the manfestation of prana.

We are moved by prana to inhale and exhale he says. How do we retain this prana in us? The means is by Yoga. Swami Vivekananda says of Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, both as having distinctive goals.

Hatha Yoga deals entirely with the physical body, its aim being to make the physical body very strong. The result of this branch of yoga is to make men live long; health is the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha yogi. He does not fall sick. He lives long; a hundred years is nothing to him. But that is all.

"So if a man lives long, he is only a healthy animal", he says, where else "the science of Raja Yoga proposes to give us a means of observing the internal states."

The science of Raja Yoga, in the first place, proposes to give us such a means of observing the internal states. The instrument is the mind itself. the power of attention, when properly guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analyse the mind, and illuminate facts for us. The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine. This is our only means of knowledge."

The form of yoga known as Raja Yoga is based on the aphorisms of Patanjali, the higest authority on Raja Yoga. The science of Raja Yoga proposes to put before humanity a practical and scientifically worked out method of reaching this truth. 

Swami Vivekananda puts forward many theories and practical means based on these aphorisms.

As soon as this body dies we shall have to manufacture another. If we can do that why cannot we do it just here and now, without getting out of the present body? If it is possible that we live after death and make other bodies why is it impossible that we should have the power of making bodies here, without entirely dissolving this body simply changing it continually? They also thought that in mercury and in sulphur was hidden the most wonderful power, and that by certain preparations of these a man could keep the body as long as he like. 

Marco Polo (1254-1324) in his travels through Asia picked up immense amounts of direct and indirect knowledge that was narrated to Rustichello da Pisa while both were held in a cell as prisoners-of-war in Genoa. Rustichello cowrote Marco Polo's story, "The Travels of Marco Polo." From "The Customs of Kingdoms of India", translated by Ronald Latham, Penguin Books, 2007, were come to know of Yogis in India of past times.

Among them (brahmans) are certain men living under a rule who are called Yogis. They live even longer than the others, as much as 150 or 200 years and their bodies remain so active that they can still come and go as they will and perform all the services required by their monastery and their idols and serve them just as well as if they were younger. This comes of their great abstinence and of eating very little food and only what is whiolsome. For it is their practice to eat chiefly rice and milk. Let me tell you also of a special food they eat for I assure you that they take quicksilver and sulphur and mix them together and make a drink of them, which they then drink. They declare that this prolongs life, and so they live all the longer. They drink this twice a month and make it a practise of it from chilhood in order to live longer. 

The Siddhas worked on the resurrection of life, renewing life itself and brought renaissance, renewing society with their radical views that changed the thought of the people, the perspective on life, and their lifestyle. P. Karthigayan in his book "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", says,

In Kaaya Siddhi that was attainable by the Siddhas, the physical immortality or deathless physical state was possible as they were possessed of the blood of Gods in a lustrous body. This state is attained by altering the natural physical fabric through science that prevailed then.

He quotes Paracelsus,

The prima materia (ambrosia) can consume a mans old age and confer a new youth upon him. It purifies the whole body and cleanses it of all its filth by developing freash young energies, it can remove the impurities from man - down to the nail and the skin - and make him grow anew, thus it renovates the old body.

The Siddhas he says asserted that immortality was two-fold or dual in nature. One needed to attain Atma Siddhi or spiritual immortality and Kaaya siddhi or physical immortality. In Atma Siddhi they preserved their soul with the spirit within and in Kaaya Siddhi, they preserved the body and soul. He gives a clear distinction between the Yogi and a Siddha in their believes, intention and purpose in life. Yogis considered their body as a bag of sin suitable only for worldly life and rejected the same; while the latter considered the body as a means to achieve exalted spiritual heights and immortalized their body by scientific means. The Siddhas reincarnated their spirit with the soul within their own body by eliminating the worldly substances in it. The death without dying, or saagaamal saagum kalai, a status attained by the Siddhas is loss of substances related to earth except for the form of their profile. Substances of perishable nature will get replaced by substances of cosmic nature and complete the transformation known as Kaaya Siddhi - retaining one's body forever. The Siddhas held the view that "if one "ate" the cosmic substance for immortality, the body will slowly acquire similar cosmic qualities and their mere touch can turn on miracles." True if we can eat food each day, why not eat "prana" from the air. 

Swami Vivekananda explains the ways of yoga and pranayama.

Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibration will begin, the whole constitution will be remodelled, as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal colum, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts - the chest, neck, and head - in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have a natural easy posture, with the spine straight. 

After learning to sit straight as explained, he brings us to the practice of Nadi Sutti or purifying of the nerves. Agathiyar on the onset that was his first lesson for me on Yoga, taught me this technique through the Nadi reading. Swami Vivekananda quotes from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad on Nadi Sutti:

First the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practise pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any interval, throw the air out throught the right nostril, closing the left. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the left, according to capacity; practising this three or four times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in 15 days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins pranayama. 

Having being invited to the path of the Siddhas through the Nadi readings, we were blessed to have great masters teach us the way of the Siddhas. Agathiyar who extended the invitation showed us the means and the way, techniques and practices, rituals and mantras and more, through the Nadi initially and through divine manifestations later. He gave us two wonderful personal gurus Supramania Swami and Tavayogi. He showed us to Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar's teachings. He introduced us to Pranayama and Dharana through the Nadi and sent over Tavayogi again to show us Yoga Jnana Kalai. 

When in Malaysia we were blessed to learn more Yoga postures or asanas and breathing techniques or Pranayama from the guru himself.

I was blessed to join a class under the tutorship of Master Yeoh Swee Chong and later his student Margaret at my office who taught us the Fragrant Qi Gong.

Then we had both our masters Arunan and Yuvaraj show us further variations of Yoga asanas.

Then he sent Acharya Gurudasan or popularly known to us as Master Gowri Varadhan to teach us the intricacies of Kriya Yoga.

We had Perarulalan move our butts from the couch and bring us outdoors to be with nature at least for those few hours.

We thank all these masters for adding value to our lives.

After following all the external regimes and rituals given by Agathiyar to the word, he has finally brought us to go within. These days it is easier to settle down and be silent. Even if we wanted to continue a ritual or sing songs of praise, he shuts us up and brings us to sit in silence. It is interesting to note that what started as zero knowledge on the Siddhas, slowly we learnt from masters and gurus on the path of the Siddhas and the Siddhas themselves who dictated through the Nadi the many rituals and practices that consisted of an elaborate and extensive rendition of the long list of names of the Siddhas compiled which accompanied the lighting of the sacred fire or homa; the sixteen items used to bath Agathiyar or the deity we chose to invocate; extending the volume of songs sung in praise of them, all of which took several hours. All that has been reduced to mere minutes these days.

Today our worship has come to only include the recitation of the nature or tanmai of the divine that accompanies the homa; bathing Agathiyar or the deity we chose to invocate with just water and we sit in silence. We will have to go within hereon. We sit together in silence each day before our father. We do not bring our self made problems to him no more. We start with thanking him for all he has given. We let the thoughts from the past and the thoughts for the day come and go. Eventually, the thoughts settle without our knowing. We do not use force. Once the thoughts settle the breath is noticed. We continue observing the breath without controlling it. Bliss and calm is felt. We prolong this wonderful moment. We do it just a few minutes each day. We try not to have a break in the routine for we will then find it difficult to get back into that state fearing then that laziness will set in and we will begin to give all the reasons, not to sit. 

EXPERIENCE 4

Coming with a fund of experience, as Swami Vivekananda says, we are lead to follow a path that would further enhance our soul's development. The soul picks a family into which it comes to live out its aspirations and desires and gain further experiences that become knowledge that is accumulated. Our presence here is not to feed this body and its ravaging appetite for food and pleasures but to go through an internal transmutation or alchemy. 

Swami Vivekananda in his "Raja Yoga - Conquering the Internal nature", Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1998, writes,

The science of Raja Yoga, in the first place, proposes to give us such a means of observing the internal states. The instrument is the mind itself. the power of attention, when properly guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analyse the mind, and illuminate facts for us. The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine. This is our only means of knowledge."

Hence the need to sit in silence for this illumination to take place. There are spiritual masters who encourage us to ask for all our needs, ask the divine they say and it shall provide. Knock and the door shall open. 

"Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." - Matthew 7:7: 

“Knock, And He'll open the door

Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun

Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens

Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything.” - Rumi

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” - Rumi

Swami Vivekananda too says, "The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock." Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar tells us to ask the divine for all our needs. Ramalinga Adigal kept knocking on Siva's door and finally was given permission to enter the Lord's chamber or Thiruambalam. He kept knocking, pleading that the Lord should open the door to his secret chamber from whence oozes the nectar of ambrosia that he calls மதிமண்ட லத்தமுதம், அருளமுதம், சாகா அருளமுதம், அருளோங்கு தண்ணமுதம், ஞானோ தயஅமுதம், நல்லார் அமுதம், தண்ணமுதம், and finally 

pleading for his சோதிமலை மேல்வீட்டில் தூய திருவமுதம் மேதினிமேல் நானுண்ண வேண்டினேன். In his later songs, he sings of his achievement in transcending the various states of illumination, of course with his grace. His song "Mathimandalathu Amudham Vaayaara Unde" from the Thiruarutpa, "Sivayoga Nilai", can serve us well too in asking the Lord to shower his grace onto us too.

சிவயோக நிலை

மதிமண்ட லத்தமுதம் வாயார உண்டே
பதிமண்ட லத்தரசு பண்ண - நிதிய
நவநேய மாக்கும் நடராஜ னேயெஞ்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

இந்தார் அருளமுதம் யானருந்தல் வேண்டுமிங்கே
நந்தா மணிவிளக்கே ஞானசபை - எந்தாயே
கோவே எனது குருவே எனையாண்ட
தேவே கதவைத் திற.

சாகா அருளமுதம் தானருந்தி நான்களிக்க
நாகா திபர்சூழ் நடராஜா - ஏகா
பவனே பரனே பராபரனே எங்கள்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

அருளோங்கு தண்ணமுதம் அன்பால் அருந்தி
மருள்நீங்கி நான்களித்து வாழப் - பொருளாந்
தவநேயர் போற்றும் தயாநிதியே எங்கள்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

வானோர்க் கரிதெனவே மாமறைகள் சாற்றுகின்ற
ஞானோ தயஅமுதம் நானருந்த - ஆனாத்
திறப்பா வலர்போற்றும் சிற்றம் பலவா
சிறப்பா கதவைத் திற.

எல்லாமும் வல்லசித்தென் றெல்லா மறைகளுஞ்சொல்
நல்லார் அமுதமது நானருந்த - நல்லார்க்கு
நல்வாழ் வளிக்கும் நடராயா மன்றோங்கு
செல்வா கதவைத் திற.

ஏழ்நிலைக்கும் மேற்பால் இருக்கின்ற தண்ணமுதம்
வாழ்நிலைக்க நானுண்டு மாண்புறவே - கேழ்நிலைக்க
ஆவாஎன் றென்னைஉவந் தாண்டதிரு அம்பலமா
தேவா கதவைத் திற.

ஈன உலகத் திடர்நீங்கி இன்புறவே
ஞான அமுதமது நானருந்த - ஞான
உருவே உணர்வே ஒளியே வெளியே
திருவே கதவைத் திற.

திரையோ தசத்தே திகழ்கின்ற என்றே
வரையோது தண்ணமுதம் வாய்ப்ப - உரைஓது
வானேஎம் மானேபெம் மானே மணிமன்றில்
தேனே கதவைத் திற.

சோதிமலை மேல்வீட்டில் தூய திருவமுதம்
மேதினிமேல் நானுண்ண வேண்டினேன் - ஓதரிய
ஏகா அனேகா எழிற்பொதுவில் வாழ்ஞான
தேகா கதவைத் திற.

Source: http://www.thiruarutpa.org/thirumurai/v/T270/tm/sivayooka_n-ilai

Having gone through the process that brings transmutation and changes within, initially painful but later blissful, it led to stillness in Ramalinga. Eventually, he dropped all worries, efforts and the asking too.

இனித்துயர் படமாட்டேன் விட்டே னே 

என்குரு மேல்ஆணை இட்டே னே. 

இனிப்பாடு படமாட்டேன் விட்டே னே 

என்னப்பன் மேல்ஆணை இட்டே னே.

Ruzbeh Bharucha writes at https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/the-ether-element-divine-silence.

Once you are in tune with Divine Silence, all knowledge, power, radiance, goodness, the very essence of Oneness begins to fill the individual and it is through Divine Silence that the Masters know the past, present and the future. "This happens once and only comes through The One. The divinity of the Ultimate Father and Mother comes through the way S(H)e imparts Knowledge. S(H)e gives us the Knowledge of the New World. We have come from Amar Lok or from immortality to Mrutyu Lok, which is the land of death. How was the world created? Where are the Deities? How was our soul created? All these answers one can get via dhyān or meditation." Informed Bapuji. I believe that the one who goes deep within, meditates, becomes one with his or her breath, merges with his or her breath, thus becoming one with the Source and through the Source, the individual taps into the universal grid of Knowledge.

The outcome of this silence for Ramalinga Adigal was the marvelous rendition in 1596 lines of the Agaval.

Whatever is thought or idealized in the subtle or astral plane takes form or shape in the gross or physical plane. Ruzbeh Bharucha speaks of the elements that we feed with food, prana, and energy that eventually moves us into action.

Sankalpas or Intentions and Desires says Ruzbeh lead to the creation of the elements. The body that is made of these elements provides a home for the soul to nestle in helping the soul continue its journey, taking birth in numerous bodies over time and space. First, it starts with the Divine Elements which manifest Themselves as Subtle Elements which then manifest as Gross Elements. For instance, first comes the thought, which gives rise to intent or feelings or desires, which gets converted into effort, which turns into one's attitude, which comes out into action, which then leads to a pattern of habit and eventually that becomes one's personality. So then gradually as all elements came into being.

Swami Vivekananda in his "Raja Yoga - Conquering the Internal Nature", Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1998, says "there are in nature, gross manifestations and subtle manifestations. The subtle are the causes, the gross the effects." 

Ruzbeh describes the process the soul goes through after departing from the source.

Initially, how were the Elements created? They were created because of Sañkalps (intentions and desires) which had begun to germinate. As Sañkalps started, first came Paṛam Ākash or Divine Ether from which came Paṛam Vāyu or Divine Wind or Air from which came Paṛam Agni or Divine Fire. (For the record, now we have just Ether, Air, Fire, being a part of the five-elemental world, ‘Divine’ or Paṛam, is no longer present in the Elements). Water and Fire are both in the Air Element which in turn is present in the Element of Ether or Space. Mother Earth is the combination of All Elements.

One must understand that when an individual soul moves forth from The Divine Source, the individual soul is first filled or made up of only one element which is the element of Divinity or Prime Ether. .. thus the invisible element of Space or Ether, is the first Element that was created by The Boss Man and thus is the closest to represent His or Her Form and Individuality and thus Divine Ether is considered to be the closest to Godhood, which an individual, in the body or soul, can ever get to.

So when we begin to reverse the process, the most difficult and painful transformation is from the element of earth to water followed by fire to air and finally ether. The physical body is renewed to that of the golden hue that Lord Muruga carries. Ramalinga Adigal is said to have achieved this body.  

"The process of purification by eliminating the earth related properties of the flesh is a painful experience," says P. Karthigayan in his "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu." It was seen in the transformation that Jnana Jhotiamma went through too. She used to share her painful experiences as she went through this phase, with me. Agathiyar told her that it would have been easier on her if she had been a vegetarian. But the most compassionate father monitored her during this period of the expulsion of all the elements that fed on meat and fish that she had consumed in her earlier years. 

Lord Siva himself is said to have written the sciences pertaining to the spirit, body, and nature that then served as the blueprint for man and Siddhas to follow, hence regarding him as Paramaguru. He stood as a mentor and guru for later followers of the Siddha path, bringing the experience of renewed life by observing certain yogic practices. "Rejuvenation was originally achieved by Lord Siva," continues Karthigayan, besides yogic methods, consuming herbs and ambrosia that oozes from within helped achieve the state. The Siddhas held the view that "if one "ate" the cosmic substance for immortality, the body will slowly acquire similar cosmic qualities and their mere touch can turn on miracles." The Siddhas worked on the resurrection of life, renewing life itself and brought renaissance, renewing society with their radical views that changed the thought of the people, the perspective on life, and their lifestyle.

EXPERIENCE 3

If Ramalinga Adigal brought to us his experience through the song கண்டேன், கனிந்தேன், கலந்தேன், R. Krishnamurthy or popularly known as Kalki brings us his composition, where a maiden describes how her lover, the divine Lord Muruga, with a goldened complexion, and an irresistible smile,  came mysteriously one day as she was in the garden of blooming flowers, and a cuckoo singing away. Riding his peacock, he gave her his darshan only for a second, uttered a sweet word and disappeared like lightning from her sight. With him came the sweet scent of blooming flowers. The colors of the sea reflected in the skies in contests with the sea that reflects the skies. The sweetness that emerged from the sound of the celestial veena that was played. All these observed in that single moment of silence. She believes her Lord shall not forget her, and will come again to shower his grace, and she shall lose herself in him.

பூங்குயில் கூவும் பூஞ்சோலையில் ஒரு நாள்

மாமயில் மீது மாயமாய் வந்தான்

பொன்முகம் அதனில் புன்னகை பொங்க

இன்னமுதென்ன இன் மொழி பகர்ந்தொரு

மின்னலைப்போலே...மறைந்தான்

பனி மலரதனில் புது மணம் கண்டேன்

வானில் கடலில் வண்ணங்கள் கண்டேன்

தேனிசை வீணையில் தீஞ்சுவை கண்டேன்

தனிமையில்...இனிமை கண்டேன்

வீரவேல் முருகன் மீண்டும் வருவான்

வள்ளி மணாளன் என்னை மறவான்

பேரருளாளன் எனக்கருள்வானெனும்

பெருமிதத்தால் மெய் மறந்தேன் (பூங்குயில்)

Kalki's verses depict a similar manner Lord Murugan came to me at Tiruvanaikaval at the speed of lightning, with a golden hue, and a wide broad smile, uttering the words clearly - Did you see?

Here is an interesting perspective of the peacock that Lord Murugan rides. Octavio Salvado describes it at https://www.thepracticebali.com/2016/08/16/ride-peacock-octavio-salvado/

In the Yogic tradition the Peacock symbolizes our own capacity to inwardly alchemize poison into nourishment, like the peacock does with the venom of the Cobra. In this way, the combination of Murugan and his prissy, yet very powerful bird present us with a choice. No, it’s not the choice of fight or don’t fight. As the Bhagavad Gita assures us, life is a battlefield, hiding and shrinking away from living a life of meaning is not an option. Backing out of the confrontation is not the choice. We can’t control life. Believe me, I’ve tried. She’s relentless! And she knows that it’s her duty to prod us, lovingly (sometimes) and gift us the opportunity to sharpen our tools. No, the choice is about how we manage ourselves in moments of confrontation and more interestingly, in times of outward defeat. Can we alchemize the situation so that it becomes nourishment? Do we lay down and die. Or do we transmute adversity into excellence, into wisdom, into humility, growth and compassion?

The struggle ‘is’ the nourishment, it’s built in. Every obstacle presents the opportunity to refine our authenticity, to deepen our Yoga and become more of who we truly are.

All the world's traditions and religions seem to favor the peacock as seen below.

In a general sense peacocks are a Symbol of openness and acceptance. In Christianity the peacock is a Symbol of immortality. In Mesopotamia appeared a symbolic representation of a tree flanked by two peacocks, which is said to symbolise the dualistic Mind and the absolute unity. In Hinduism the patterns of the peacocks feathers, resembling eyes, symbolise the stars.

The peacock is a very important bird, 1st it is an emblem of romantic love and beauty. In Buddhism they symbolise Wisdom. Peacocks are said to have the ability of eating poisonous plants without being affected by them. Because of that, they are synonymous with the great Bodhisattvas. A Bodhisattva is able to take delusions as the path toward Liberation and transform the poisonous Mind of Ignorance, desire and hatred [moha, raga, dvesa] into the Thought of Enlightenment or Bodhicitta, which opens colourfully like the peacocks' tail.

Particularly peacocks symbolise the transmutting of desire into the path of Liberation. Therefore they are the vehicle of Buddha Amitabha, who represents desire and Attachment transmuted into the Wisdom of Discriminating Awareness. The peacock supports the throne of Amitabha, the red Buddha of the west (main qualities include passion (lotus), love, vital fluids, evening twilight, summer and fire).

The peacock is the mortal enemy of snakes, killing cobras with their talons. The main quality of the peacock is transmutation of poison into amrita or nectar. This is tied to Lord Shiva getting a blue throat from taking the poison produced by the churning of the ocean; thus the transmutation of poison or venom by the peacock is said to produce the electric blue of its throat plumage and the wisdom eyes of its tail feathers.

In Vajra yana symbolism a bundle of peacock feathers is used as a sprinkler for the consecrated water or amrita contained in the blessing flask. In specific tantric rituals individual feathers are used as fan, mirror, and parasol adornments, also as the feathers for darts, and as the peacock feather parasol used by the goddess Palden Lhamo, symbolizing her wisdom activities and the transmutation of all evils or poisons.

Source:  http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Peacock)

I could not comprehend why I kept getting acute and extreme pain in my lower back that carried the symptoms or likeliness of sciatica. But Agathiyar said otherwise and brushed it aside although it kept recurring first for a couple of years in 2011, then a couple of months in 2016, and again a couple of days early this year. The physiotherapy brought much relief to me. The loving AVM family members showed concern and helped in many ways to bring relief to me. Both the Varma masters Arunan and Uva helped relieve my pain. Tavayogi on his visit to Malaysia helped bring some relief through a magical pill. Balamurugan too brought me relief through exercising his Varma skills. Dr. Jana brought instant relief giving me an injection while Shanga taught me some exercises for back pain used by trainers in the gyms. The all compassionate Siddhas prescribed herbal medicines through the Nadi which was prepared by Siddha practitioner Arivananthan Aiya and passed on to me by Saravanan and Suren. 

To our surprise, Dhanvanthri came to heal the pain too, using his prasadham that was the sacred ash received at his sannadhi at Vaitheeswaran temple by Bala Chandran and passed on to me. Bala Chandran who had returned from India dropped in at ATM to pass me the prasadham just minutes before Dhanvanthri's presence at ATM through a devotee whom Bala Chandran invited along. It all came together that day for the miracle to take place. It makes you think if all these was planned by the divine? If he had moved the chess pieces that day?

Finally, Lord Muruga performed an astounding miracle coming through the Nadi and simultaneously through a devotee, asking for "the" peacock feathers to treat my aching back. What surprised us further was the instant availability of the peacock feathers in my home that came some time back as a gift from another devotee. Were all these planned by the divine? 

We did not understand many things that day. Why the peacock feathers? How was the treatment done simultaneously, in real time, as the Nadi was being read and instructions are given? We were enlightened later by Ruzbeh N Bharucha who shed some light on what transpired that eventful day through his writings at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/going-within.

... disease first gets ingrained into our causal body and then moves into the astral and then resides in our physical body. That is why in early days Fakirs and Sages, would caress the body of the devotee with peacock feathers, as They could see the illness lodged either in the causal, or the astral body. Through Their power and affirmations, They would clear the illness, which was still in the causal or astral body, and not allow it to enter the physical body. Or cleanse the auras so that the body would automatically heal.

That is what Lord Muruga did that day using the peacock feathers. As for the simultaneous manifestation of Lord Muruga in the Nadi and in a person, that was mind-boggling and amazing to watch, I understood that Lord Muruga was showing us anything was possible as far as the divine was concerned. All logical thought slipped away. As he caressed the peacock feather along my back he narrated the process and its significance. He was trying to educate us through this very unusual miracle, explaining to us the process of healing so that we understood its significance. I cherished and appreciated his move to come and treat me that day.

As for how the chanting, by all those gathered and transmission of the Maha Mantra "Arutperunjhoti Arutperunjhoti Taniperungkarunai Arutperunjhoti" into a glass of water after the feather treatment, could work wonders, we are told that "vibrations could be used to create striking imagery."

In the late 18th century, German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni demonstrated how vibrations could be used to create striking imagery. By spreading fine sand across the top of a metal plate and running a violin bow alongside, Chladni showed that the sand would settle into distinct patterns, depending on the frequencies of the sound waves produced by the bow. (Source: https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/seeing-the-patterns-in-sound/)

Many others followed later to demonstrate this phenomenon.

Dr. Hans Jenny, M.D. of Basel Switzerland put together some fascinating experiments where we could literally ‘see’ how sound works. By changing the frequencies on the oscillator, Jenny found that sand, or water or whatever substance he was using to create a visible medium for his sound, would morph into some very interesting shapes. These shapes mimicked the properties of divine geometry, and the higher the frequency, the more complex the shapes would appear to be. 

What Jenny was observing was really a simple way of observing matter come to life. Since we now understand, through the emerging field of quantum physics, that patterns emerge via waves of energy, the plates were showing the scientist a similar phenomenon. In ancient Sumerian society, this was a known fact. This is why practices like mantra were held in high esteem. The seed syllable, OM, for example, causes a certain frequency to imprint upon the ‘matter’ around it, and thus changes the energetic field.

We understand the following too.

As sound therapist, Dr. John Beaulieu, ND, PhD explains: "The fundamental principle of Energy Medicine is that an underlying energy field generates physical, emotional, and mental behaviors or symptom."

(Source: https://upliftconnect.com/why-sound-heals/ )

I am brought back to memories from my childhood where this approach to healing was prominent in our society. As a baby of a few months, I had succumbed to diarrhea and purging. My parents having lost two of my siblings due to the same reasons, rushed me to their neighbor of Chinese origin who was a medium too. I was saved when my parents agreed to hand over me to the Gods in adoption. Soon I used to frequent the home cum temple for all my ailments. I remember how the "medium" uncle would go into a sort of trance and strike his shirtless back with the back of a machete or cleaver. His back would turn red with the continuous strikes he gives himself. He would continue the chant as he wrote Chinese characters in a strip of yellow rice paper and burn it. He would hold it above a glass of water and let its ashes fall into the water. This was given to me to drink. I would be cured. As I grew older and when we moved away and the old man too passed away, I would seek the Muslim healers who would similarly chant certain Quranic verses into a glass or bottle of water and have me drink it. Finally, when we relocated ourselves to another house that was close by a Buddhist Vihara, I would receive a sacred string that was tied to my wrist to heal and ward off evil.

We are living in a world full of miracles taking place moment to moment, if only we take the time to see it.

EXPERIENCE 2

"All our knowledge is based on experience," says Swami Vivekananda.

All the religions of the world have been built upon that one universal and adamantine foundation of all our knowledge - direct experience. Man wants truth, wants to experience truth for himself; when he has grasped it, realized it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the Vedas, would all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered, and all crookedness be made straight.

And so Agathiyar brought me to see the Nadi numerous times. I gained the experience of making contact with the Siddhas through this amazing tool or instrument of communication. If the Kaanda Nadi were one way or a monologue the Jeeva Nadi replied to our thoughts, doubts and questionnaires.

He asked that I worship him in the form of a bronze statue and perform the relevant rituals. He gave me and others at ATM that experience of seeing him in all things including a piece of alloy that consisted primarily of copper, and tin and the addition of other metals such as aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc and non-metals or metalloids such as arsenic, phosphorus or silicon. The logical mind went into hiding.

He showed me numerous miracles so that I would have these experiences too.  In the face of witnessing these miracles, I buried my logical mind deep within the ground now. Prior to him coming over to our shores, he opened his eyes at his sannadhi at Agasthiyampalli, announcing it ahead in his Nadi, and having me wait long in anticipation for him to look at me. Then moving on to Papanasam, he does a similar miracle, opening his eyes in the granite statue of his at Kutraleswar temple. 

He pulled another surprise again when Lord Muruga manifested in a young priest for a split second, in which time my eyes and mind registered the physical human form of Lord Dhandapani of Palani in all his grace and beauty. Surprisingly he chose to give his darshan not at his hill abode in Palani but instead at the sannadhi of Lord Dhakshanamurthy at Tiruvanaikaval in Trichy.

He pulled a surprised when he opened his eyes in his statue at ATM and totally banished the last remaining portion of my logical mind into the deepest dungeons in the far corners of the universe, never to arise again.

I am prepared to see and believe in all things. I do not argue if someone says he had seen and heard something. It is his experience. I have had my own experiences too. I believe in what I saw. Similarly, he too believes in what he saw or heard. How can we doubt another's experience and why should we argue about it. Just because we have not seen or heard it, it does not mean that it does not exist. 

Today science tells us that our sight and hearing are limited. As it is even with perfect vision, we can only see things if there is light. We cannot see in the dark although we have perfect eyesight. 

"How far the human eye can see depends on how many particles of light, or photons, a distant object emits." (Source: https://www.livescience.com/33895-human-eye.html)

We can no more see radio waves emanating from our electronic devices than we can spot the wee bacteria right under our noses. 

Of all the possible photon wavelengths out there, our cone cells detect but a small sliver, typically in the range of about 380 to 720 nanometres – what we call the visible spectrum. Below our narrow perceptual band is the infrared and radio spectrum, with the latter's longer, less energetic wavelengths ranging from a millimetre to kilometres in length. 

Above our visible spectrum into higher energies and shorter wavelength we find the ultraviolet band, then X-rays, topping off with the gamma ray spectrum, whose wavelengths are in the mere trillionths-of-a-metre range.

(Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150727-what-are-the-limits-of-human-vision)

So it is that we only see a small sliver of the visible spectrum. So is it with our hearing. We don't hear all the sounds. 

People can hear sounds at frequencies from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, though we hear sounds best from 1,000 Hz to 5,000 Hz, where human speech is centred. (Source: https://dosits.org/science/measurement/what-sounds-can-we-hear/)

With such limitations, we cannot possibly doubt or argue about the existence of things beyond our vision and hearing.

The experience gained by the Siddhas has come down to us as their songs. So have many saints given us wonderful songs of revelation of the divine, exactly how the divine came to them. Ramalinga Adigal brings to us that moment of his experience with the divine where he first recognized, then attained bliss and finally merged with it (கண்டேன், கனிந்தேன், கலந்தேன்)

1. அருளரசை அருட்குருவை அருட்பெருஞ் சோதியைஎன்
அம்மையைஎன் அப்பனைஎன் ஆண்டவனை அமுதைத்
தெருளுறும்என் உயிரைஎன்றன் உயிர்க்குயிரை எல்லாம்
செய்யவல்ல தனித்தலைமைச் சித்தசிகா மணியை
மருவுபெரு வாழ்வைஎல்லா வாழ்வும்எனக் களித்த
வாழ்முதலை மருந்தினைமா மணியைஎன்கண் மணியைக்
கருணைநடம் புரிகின்ற கனகசபா பதியைக்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே.

 
2. திருத்தகுவே தாந்தமொடு சித்தாந்த முதலாத்
திகழ்கின்ற அந்தமெலாம் தேடியுங்கண் டறியா
ஒருத்தனைஉள் ளொளியைஒளிர் உள்ளொளிக்குள் ஒளியை
உள்ளபடி உள்ளவனை உடையபெருந் தகையை
நிருத்தனைமெய்ப் பொருளான நின்மலனைச் சிவனை
நித்தியனைச் சத்தியனை நிற்குணனை எனது
கருத்தனைச்சிற் சபையோங்கு கடவுளைஎன் கண்ணால்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
3. பாட்டுவந்து பரிசளித்த பதியைஅருட் பதியைப்
பசுபதியைக் கனகசபா பதியைஉமா பதியைத்
தேட்டமிகும் பெரும்பதியைச் சிவபதியை எல்லாம்
செய்யவல்ல தனிப்பதியைத் திகழ்தெய்வப் பதியை
ஆட்டியல்செய் தருள்பரம பதியைநவ பதியை
ஆனந்த நாட்டினுக்கோர் அதிபதியை ஆசை
காட்டிஎனை மணம்புரிந்தென் கைபிடித்த பதியைக்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
4. மதித்திடுதல் அரியஒரு மாணிக்க மணியை
வயங்கியபே ரொளியுடைய வச்சிரமா மணியைத்
துதித்திடுவே தாகமத்தின் முடிமுடித்த மணியைச்
சுயஞ்சோதித் திருமணியைச் சுத்தசிவ மணியை
விதித்தல்முதல் தொழில்இயற்று வித்தகுரு மணியை
விண்மணியை அம்மணிக்குள் விளங்கியமெய்ம் மணியைக்
கதித்தசுக மயமணியைச் சித்தசிகா மணியைக்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
5. மாற்றைஅளந் தறிந்திலம்என் றருமறைஆ கமங்கள்
வழுத்தமணி மன்றோங்கி வயங்கும்அருட் பொன்னை
ஆற்றல்மிகு பெரும்பொன்னை ஐந்தொழிலும் புரியும்
அரும்பொன்னை என்தன்னை ஆண்டசெழும் பொன்னைத்
தேற்றமிகு பசும்பொன்னைச் செம்பொன்னை ஞான
சிதம்பரத்தே விளங்கிவளர் சிவமயமாம் பொன்னைக்
காற்றனல்ஆ காயம்எலாம் கலந்தவண்ணப் பொன்னைக்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
6. ஆய்தருவே தாகமத்தின் அடிமுடிநின் றிலங்கும்
அரியபெரும் பொருளைஅவைக் கனுபவமாம் பொருளை
வேய்தருதத் துவப்பொருளைத் தத்துவங்கள் விளங்க
விளங்குகின்ற பரம்பொருளைத் தத்துவங்கள் அனைத்தும்
தோய்தரல்இல் லாததனிச் சுயஞ்சோதிப் பொருளைச்
சுத்தசிவ மயமான சுகாதீதப் பொருளைக்
காய்தரல்இல் லாதென்னைக் காத்தஅருட் பொருளைக்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
7. திருத்தமிகு முனிவர்களும் தேவர்களும் அழியாச்
சித்தர்களும் சிருட்டிசெயும் திறத்தர்களும் காக்கும்
அருத்தமிகு தலைவர்களும் அடக்கிடல்வல் லவரும்
அலைபுரிகின் றவர்களும்உள் அனுக்கிரகிப் பவரும்
பொருத்துமற்றைச் சத்திகளும் சத்தர்களும் எல்லாம்
பொருள்எதுவோ எனத்தேடிப் போகஅவர் அவர்தம்
கருத்தில்ஒளித் திருக்கின்ற கள்வனைஎன் கண்ணால்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
8. கோணாத நிலையினராய்க் குறிகுணங்கண் டிடவும்
கூடாத வண்ணம்மலைக் குகைமுதலாம் இடத்தில்
ஊணாதி விடுத்துயிர்ப்பை அடக்கிமனம் அடக்கி
உறுபொறிகள் அடக்கிவரும் உகங்கள்பல கோடித்
தூணாக அசைதல்இன்றித் தூங்காது விழித்த
தூயசதா நிட்டர்களும் துரியநிலை இடத்தும்
காணாத வகைஒளித்த கள்வனைஎன் கண்ணால்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
9. நீட்டாய சித்தாந்த நிலையினிடத் தமர்ந்தும்
நிகழ்கின்ற வேதாந்த நெறியினிடத் திருந்தும்
ஆட்டாய போதாந்தம் அலைவறுநா தாந்தம்
ஆதிமற்றை அந்தங்கள் அனைத்தினும்உற் றறிந்தும்
வேட்டாசைப் பற்றனைத்தும் விட்டுலகம் போற்ற
வித்தகராய் விளங்குகின்ற முத்தர்கட்கும் தன்னைக்
காட்டாமல் ஒளித்திருக்குங் கள்வனைஎன் கண்ணால்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே. 

 
10. மருள்நெறிசேர் மலஉடம்பை அழியாத விமல
வடிவாக்கி எல்லாஞ்செய் வல்லசித்தாம் பொருளைத்
தருணமது தெரிந்தெனக்குத் தானேவந் தளித்த
தயாநிதியை எனைஈன்ற தந்தையைஎன் தாயைப்
பொருள்நிறைசிற் றம்பலத்தே விளங்குகின்ற பதியைப்
புகல்அரிதாம் சுத்தசிவ பூரணமெய்ச் சுகத்தைக்
கருணைஅருட் பெருஞ்சோதிக் கடவுளைஎன் கண்ணால்
கண்டுகொண்டேன் கனிந்துகொண்டேன் கலந்துகொண்டேன் களித்தே.

(Source: http://www.thiruarutpa.org)

FEED, FEED, FEED

For a man who hardly ate Ramalinga Adigal started the Satya Dharma Salai at Vadalur to feed the hungry. Sri Jeganatha Swamigal is said to have fed the hungry at his cottage in Tapah. In present times Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar who has seen intense fasting and hunger feeds the poor and the hungry in the vicinity of his mission Ongarakudil in Turaiyur. Tavayogi and Mataji carried out regular feeding at their Ashram. Agathiyar too is said to love to cook but hardly ate too. He would serve the hungry instead. He explains that he was feeding the elements. 

Ruzbeh Bharucha speaks of these elements as explained by Baba.

Sankalpas or Intentions and Desires says Ruzbeh lead to the creation of the elements. The body that is made of these elements provides a home for the soul to nestle in helping the soul continue its journey, taking birth in numerous bodies over time and space.

First, it starts with the Divine Elements which manifest Themselves as Subtle Elements which then manifest as Gross Elements. For instance, first comes the thought, which gives rise to intent or feelings or desires, which gets converted into effort, which turns into one's attitude, which comes out into action, which then leads to a pattern of habit and eventually that becomes one's personality. So then gradually as all elements came into being, the Ātmās began to multiply. 

What is very obvious to us is our physical body made of matter, that is made of five elements. Next, we are told of the subtle or astral body, made of three elements. Finally, the causal body, made of three elements, that covers both these bodies. 

BV Narasimha Swami writes in his "Self Realization - The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi", Sri Ramanasramam, 1985, "People who visit the ashram watch him (Ramana) stitching leaf-plates, cutting vegetables, too." 

Ram Dass of "Love Serve Remember Foundation" shared a beautiful statement from his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba, that summarizes the benefits gained in feeding people - "When I asked my guru to raise my kundalini, he said, "feed people."

Feeding, we have come to understand is of three kinds. First is where the breadwinner brings the food to the dining table, feeding the family. Next is serving food to visitors to our homes or during events and occasions we hold or host. This is called Virunthu Upasarippu. The third is leaving the home to search, look and seek for the hungry and poor bringing food to them. Although all three are elements of Dharma which we need to inculcate in us and carry out, the first is a responsibility. The second is ethical action or behavior that is expected of us. The third is truly engaging in the act of charity.

A piece of reporting from the Times of India, at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com traces the act of feeding to the Sangam period.

In Tamil we say undi koduthor uyir koduthor, meaning one who gives food is a giver of life. M Muthuvelu, professor of Tamil at Presidency College believes the concept of annadanam is deeply entrenched in Tamil culture and finds mention in the 2000-year-old Sangam literature. “The act is referred to as Thiru amudu alithal (sacred food serving) in ‘Periya Puranam’ and is considered the highest form of aaram (virtue). In Sangam literature, one who gives Thiru amudu alithal is called the ‘doctor of starvation’,” he says. “In Chithalai Chathanar’s epic “Manimekalai”, a Buddhist goddess gifts the akshaya patra, the inexhaustible vessel of food, to the protagonist, Manimekalai, and asks her to use it to feed the poor. The act of kindness was taken forward by kings. “During famines, kings set up stalls called kanji thotti on street corners,” Muthuvelu says. 

In a revelation, during his meditation, Dr VN Jayapalan discloses the history of Agathiyar's temple at Agasthiyampalli. It was built by Kuberan in recognition of Agathiyar coming to save him and his subjects when his kingdom was hit by famine. Agathiyar revealed the origin of his very first temple built by Kuberan in the past, at the start of the present yuga. This temple still stands at Agasthiyampalli, Vedharanyam. Agathiyar at AVM is a bronze replica of the granite statue of Agathiyar at this temple. The temple came to be built as an act of appreciation by Kuberan who was ruling his kingdom fine till famine hit his land. All his subjects were served morsels of food dished out by a stranger on the outskirts of his kingdom. When Kuberan too had exhausted his stock of food grains and was having tremendous hunger pangs that no amount of food could satisfy, he turned towards the stranger, something that the stranger had predicted would happen when he knocked the door to the King's palace much earlier. The stranger turned out to be worshiping Agathiyar.

AVM or ATM at present and its arm Amudha Surabhi with Thondu Seivom merged to register with the Registrar of Societies Malaysia under the name Persatuan Teman Setia has been actively engaged in bringing food, a smile and words of hope to numerous unfortunate souls through several programs.

PERSATUAN TEMAN SETIA JULY 2019 EVENTS

• Sai Baba Centre - 1st week of the month - 4 Mee Hoon Packets (3Kg/Bag)
• Siddhar Jayanthi Feeding - Sri Machamuni Siddhar Jayanthi - Buns & Drinks (50pax) - 27/07/2019 (Saturday) - Distribution at Hospital Kajang.
• Kampung Sireh Home - Providing Groceries - 12/07/2019 @ 9pm (Friday)
• PPR Kampung Muhibbah, KL - Potluck Annathanam - Providing Groceries - 14/07/2019 @ 6pm (Sunday)
• Provision to Tamilselvam's family - Providing Groceries - 13/07/2019 @ 2pm (Saturday)
• MIAR - Malaysian Independent Animal Rescue - 3rd week of the month - 3 Rice Packets
• Rohingya Education Garden-REG-School - 3rd week of the month - 3 Rice Packets

Theydal Ulla Thenikalai (TUT) have been doing their part in Chennai too. https://tut-temples.blogspot.com/2019/05/blog-post_82.html. Similarly, our partners in this path in New Delhi are doing their part too.

Our comrades in Johannesburg, South Africa too are extending food and aid to the homeless in their streets.

The satisfaction is in seeing them welcome us with a smile and a glow on their faces that speaks a thousand words. We return happy that we could light up their day.

EXPERIENCE 1

Taking directives from Agathiyar and the Siddhas all this while we were surprised when Ma came one day and told us that the Siddha path was one of learning or படிப்பினை (and henceforth gaining experience). This learning (and the relative experience gained from it) will become jnana or knowledge to others she said. Making mistakes is a learning process she added, telling us it was fine to make mistakes and that it was part of the process. She asks us to share the experience.

Agathiyar in my very first Nadi reading told me about my faults and the experiences I have had but assured me that it was fine and that it was all his doing too, and that I needed the experience. That was reassuring. But he sent me off to do my parikara or remedies. There was no escape from that.

Recently Aiya came and specifically spoke on this blog and my writings. He asked to continue to write and not be confused. He cleared the air that he was in my thoughts and was penning the posts and its contents. What a relief it was. After penning the thoughts I always thank him for a very well written post, going back to read it again and again, admiring his mastery of the language and taking in the gist and essence of what was written, for I am learning together with the readers of this blog many new things said and revealed in these pages.

Prior to this Agathiyar had through numerous Nadi readings encouraged me to continue writing. When I decide to call it a day and sign off, I receive a mail or message from readers thanking me for the post and asking me to write further and to share these experiences.

Prof Alan Hugenot says that "Experience is an in-forming of consciousness. We are having a conscious experience that is real." He now believes that consciousness makes the brain and not the other way around as understood earlier. Now we can understand pretty well how and why the Deities, Siddhas and Angels chose to come through mediums to relay messages, heal or work their miracles. To my surprise the divine energy traversed through me too and spoke, bringing messages to those who sought answers or words of comfort. I used to be doubting the occurrences if it was I who was cooking up things or it was genuinely another entity. It was exactly as how Prof Alan equates this phenomenon to that of having two personalities, which he did question himself too.

"..its almost as if like a different person. If I shut the "professor" down, I become the medium."

Then they tell me that it was them. I was relieved. Even then I sit with them and voice out my worry that it should never be me "cold reading" as Prof Alan terms it and misleading these wonderful souls into believing that the divine was addressing them.

The very first instance a Siddha came to heal someone was when the person's energy centers were surprisingly blocked by his guru for reasons only known to him. When I heard this from the ailing man's wife, I was stunned. How could a guru do such a horrible thing to his student I asked myself? All these while I had very high regards of gurus and thought that they would only do good and not harm. Well, Agathiyar showed me the other side or the dark side of spiritualism that day. The Siddhas cured him bringing much relief to an otherwise troubled family.

But deep within, I and my wife did not want this to pursue further. We did not want the home to be listed on the directory for shamans and medicine man. We did not want a line of people waiting hopefully to be cured, their obstacles removed or their wishes granted. I had a family and work to attend too. I was terrified thinking about the scenario that would materialize if we were to remain passive. Agathiyar too understood that I was not ready for this. He listened to our prayers, asking all these manifestations of his powers be stopped, and backed off - at least for some time. He was smart. He bought time. He waited for me to mature spiritually while holding the thin line.  After some time, when things went back to normal, he began to bring the subject up. When I initially revolted, for numerous reasons, not approving of this energy using me for its purpose, Agathiyar, sitting in my thoughts, told me that there was no reason for me to be fearful of what was taking place, assuring me and putting to rest my worries about letting strangers into my home, where I had a family to take "care" of. He assured me that no harm will come to them. He told me that he was there to help selected destined souls whom he brought over to be cured and relieved of their baggage and burden. He asks me to step aside and watch. He told me he was only using my home as a venue and the body as a tool and us as a medium to do what needs to be done. This is what Lord Muruga asked of me to do too, through the Nadi. Give way to this energy and watch it do its stuff, he told me. He reminded my wife too to just watch in many instances. 

Soon we came to witness many miracles take place in others lives. Many came back to tell us that life had changed for the better and obstacles and danger were cleared. Some had to wait a long while for a miracle to happen while there are many still holding on to hope till this day. 

True to what Ma and Aiya said of the Siddha path that it was a path of learning lessons and gaining experience and that that experience will, in turn, become jnana, Swami Vivekananda in his "Jnana Yoga - the Yoga of Knowledge", Advaita Ashrama, Kolkatta, 2004, writes of experience as the start of knowledge.

All human knowledge proceeds out of experience: we cannot know anything except by experience. The fear of death, the duckling taking to the water and all involuntary actions in the human being which have become instinctive, are the result of past experiences. 

He adds that,

Each man and each animal is born with a fund of experience, and that all these actions in the mind are the result of past experience.

He speaks about the thoughts held and experienced and its influence in determining the soul's evolution very clearly. "What directs the soul when the body dies?" he asks. The answer he says is "the resultant - the total sum of all the works it has done, of the thoughts it has thought."

If the resultant is such that it has to manufacture a new body for further experience, it will go to those parents who are ready to supply it with suitable material for that body. Thus, from body to body it will go, sometimes to a heaven, and back again to earth, becoming man, or some lower animal. This way it will go on until it has finished its experience, and completed the circle. It then knows its own nature, knows what it is, and ignorance vanishes, its powers become manifest, it becomes perfect, no more is there any necessity for the soul to work through physical bodies, nor is there any necesity for it to work through finer, or mental bodies. It shines in its own light, and is free, no more to be born, no more to die.

This sums up to the state of attaining jnana. Now we understand pretty well when Dhanvanthri said this of Tavayogi that he shines in his own light and shall guide all those who know him. 

From the above revelation of Swami Vivekananda, it looks like we are here to exhaust our fund of experiences gained over time, by giving it away in some form or other to others. I now realized why Supramania Swami passed on his 40 years of tapas or tavam in toto to me before leaving his mortal frame. He told me we should not take anything with us not even that divine experience gained from doing austerities. We understand the reason for saints to share their experiences through their songs, leaving it behind for the future generation. It makes sense now when we are told to consult the wise for decisions or a direction. They can advise us better with their fund of experience they carry. I now understand why Agathiyar told me I needed the experience however bitter and hurting it was. 

The Akashic records out there then is nothing but the accumulation of the vast past experiences of souls, that if tapped could provide extensive knowledge to us. Now we understand even better the need for us to go within and remain silent, for in that silence this knowledge will be made available. If we needed the aid of the Nadi and its reader to have the Siddhas reveal to us our past birth, Tavayogi tapped into this knowledge and knew his former birth. Supramania Swami tapped into these records and made me sit spellbound for five hours in a row, revealing about me. This past knowledge that is retrieved from the Akasha would prove valuable in helping others, to allay their fears, to provide remedies, to provide intuition etc. In days gone by people used to seek wise men for advice.  These men although have left their mortal frames exist in the unseen world. Knock on their doors and you shall receive their knowledge. Ask and it shall be given. Agathiyar reveals a secret to decipher the teachings of saints that were encoded in songs that are neither comprehensible or make any sense to us. For instance, he tells us to ask of Tirumular to tell us or reveal the essence of his songs, rather than depend on translations. Only the saint knows what he was talking about. The saint will come within to reveal. Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar always advocates us to recite the names of the Siddhas, hardly showing one to control the breath or do pranayama. He says the Siddhas will enter and facilitate the breath when we are ready. Here we shall see no risk nor danger involved, compared to an attempt to navigate the breath learning from books, correspondence courses, tutorials or Youtube. 

Now we understand the Siddha Neri or path is one of living day to day, incorporating its teachings into everyday life, and not one confined within the walls of an ashram. Once conferred by the guru and the spark is lit it is kept burning by the Siddhas as one sincerely travels the path with devotion and discipline. The goal is neither something waiting to be achieved and attained within a certain time or neither is the spark that ignites it deployed at a certain time, at an ashram or through the guru, but can take place anywhere irrespective of time and space. We can never know the beginning and the end of the path. 

LEARNING FROM THE CHILD

Have you watched a toddler while away his/her time? I am watching my granddaughter grow up daily. There are many moments when she is so engrossed in thought. I used to wonder what she was thinking. I would keep on asking her. I would ask if she was in communion with Brahma our creator. I would ask her to share what he told her. 

Then when she is in play she would be so absorbed in her make-believe world that she becomes totally oblivious of her surroundings.

There were moments when she would spin round and round. She spins and spins her body until she is dizzy. But she enjoys doing it and goes for it over and over again. This I came to know was one of the ways the chakra is activated by an ancient Tibetan practice. It is the first and one among the sequence called 5 Tibetans.

First Tibetan
Stand erect with arms strong, outstretched and horizontal with the shoulders. Now spin around in a clockwise direction until you become slightly dizzy. You can employ a ballet-like technique of keeping your eyes on one spot and then returning to that spot when you turn your head in a full revolution.There is only one caution: you must turn from left to right. Breathing: Inhale and exhale deeply as you do the spins.

(Source: https://upliftconnect.com/the-five-tibetans/)

Children are the ones who are living in the present moment. Give them ice cream and watch them savor the desert. They look at it, feel it with their fingers, take it to their lips, taste it with the tip of their tongue and only then begin to eat it. Watch an adult on the other hand. He would immediately take large bites of it, want to comment or talk about other things while eating, not savoring the uniqueness or the distinct taste and texture of the food taken in. We are distracted by other thoughts too while eating. Now we seem to have become a nation of couch potatoes, munching while watching television without even knowing what goes into our mouth. 

Lama Surya Das in his "Awakening the Buddha Within - Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, Bantam Books, 1997, teaches us the chewing meditation. "Eating meditation is a marvelous way of putting ourselves in touch with now-ness. It can really slow us down and make us more aware of compulsive behavior", he writes. This meditation does try one's patience to the limit he says. For instance, he says we are accustomed to eating raisins by the handful. Here we take in one at a time. But before we put it into our mouth we feel it, we look at it as if we have never seen it before. We are taught to direct our total attention to the raisin, which otherwise we hardly do. We are asked to examine it thoroughly. Smell it. Only then do we begin to chew it slowly, actually tasting it for the very first time. Chew till it becomes juice. 

Our stomach would very much appreciate the juice rather than chunks of food swallowed hurriedly. In old age, there is a reason for the teeth to fall, for it would force us to substitute solid foods to liquids as our internal digestive system and its co-partners have sort of resigned to a quiet life then. Taking this into consideration, nature decided for us that we should not shove in more than they can handle. This is substantiated by medical findings at https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/digestive-health-aging#1

One of the most common things we see, certainly as people are getting into their 60s and 70s, may be a change in bowel habits, predominantly more constipation," says Ira Hanan, MD. Your digestive system moves food through your body by a series of muscle contractions. Just like squeezing a toothpaste tube, these contractions push food along your digestive tract, Hanan says. As we age, this process sometimes slows down, and this can cause food to move more slowly through the colon. When things slow down, more water gets absorbed from food waste, which can cause constipation. 

And as we age, we start to have more health problems that require medications. Several common medications can cause constipation. 

People often become less active as they age, says Ellen Stein, MD, and being inactive can make you constipated. Some people may avoid drinking too many fluids so they don't have to run to the bathroom all day long. Between urinating more and drinking less, you can become dehydrated.

Then you have the aging colon and all the problems related to it says Hanan.

While aging alone doesn't make your stomach more prone to ulcers, the chronic use of NSAIDs does raise your risk. More often than not older patients don't have pain from ulcers, says Hanan, but they can have painless gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.

Like the colon, the esophagus can also slow down with age, moving food through more slowly. This can cause problems swallowing food or fluids. 

After age 50, the risk increases for developing polyps, or small growths, in the colon. Polyps may be noncancerous, they may become cancer, or they may be cancer.

So should not we rethink and retrain ourselves to eat right, right now to safeguard us from future ailments? 

Eating meditation is exactly what my granddaughter does. She has a hundred and one questions asked before she puts any food into her mouth. It is the same question over and over again, asking as if that was the very first time she saw the food. She would want to look at it first as if seeing it for the very first time. She holds it, takes a teeny weeny bite first, taste it, if it agrees to her palate only then does she swallow, otherwise, it comes to our face. But the sad thing is we hurry them up because we have other chores to attend too. 

Ervin Laszlo gives us an insight into the mind of the child, besides talking about the Akashic records. 

"Young children up to the age of 4 or 5 are reincarnation personalities we are told. They don't distinguish between their own identity and the identity they pick up. They are permanently in the open region of activity, alpha region or theta region. Children are in that region until they are 8 or 9 years old. Therefore they are open to this information. So they pick it up, it feels to them that that's who they are."

Could this be the reason newborns are known to smile and cry as if in conversation with another being? As they are picking up messages from around them and elsewhere, they do not have an identity of their own till later. They tend to mimic the parents way and others.  We are told too that "Kuzhanthaiyum Deivamum ondru", that the child and God are one. Are they picking up the personalities of divine souls? If that is true, I guess we have to learn from the child rather than have the child follow our dictates.