GNANAM REVISITED

The first mention of Agathiyar, the Siddhas, and the Nadi was by Dr.Krishnan an astrologer friend and Siddha practitioner in 1996. I walked in for a Nadi reading in 2002. When my guru Supramania Swami and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal walked into my life in 2003 and 2005 respectively my life changed for the better. Walking with the former until his demise in 2007 and the latter until his demise in 2018, I walked straight into the hands and care of Agathiyar henceforth. Even Lord Murugan sent me to Agathiyar for guidance and blessings. So how do I repay his kindness? By being his obedient servant. 

When Agathiyar came around asking what the handful of us who sat around him wanted, he turned to me. I had no needs but as he waited on me and my answer I winded up my brain and came up with an answer. I asked that I take many more births and serve him as I am doing now. When he asked me if that was what I wanted I knew something was wrong for whenever I asked of Tavayogi he too would reply by asking if that was what I wanted telling me subtly that it was not what is to be desired. When Tavayogi stepped on our soil for the first time, he observed that we were all a temple-going crowd. He told us that we should leave the Bakthi Marga and reach out to Gnana Marga. Listening to him mention this often, I called Mahin over the phone and told him maybe I should have asked for Gnanam. In a subsequent visit, Agathiyar surprised me by telling me that I had asked for Gnanam. But sadly he said that it was not gifted but I had to work towards it. Agathiyar says of Gnanam, "Gnanam is not gifted but has to be earned and experienced. When one goes within, as the journey brings upon subtle experiences these shall translate into and become Gnanam."

நீ என்னிடம் கேட்டது ஞானம். ஞானம் என்பது நான் தருவதல்ல. நீ கற்பது. ஒருவன் தனக்குள் உள்வாங்கி அவனுள் பயணம் துவங்கும் நேரம் அப்பயணம் தரும் பாதிப்பே ஞானம்.

Lord Murugan came last evening as Mahindren and I tried to figure out the many unprecedented events that took place the past three days after Mataji arrived at AVM. As I always knew that there was always a teaching for me just as there was a lesson for the other each time, I called Mahin over to discuss it. Lord Murugan surprised us by revealing his report of the evaluation and assessment he did. He clarified and made us understand that all was his Leela or play and doing, so that we experience and learn further. It was all beautifully staged. His intent was to make us aware of the meaning, nature, and qualities that one needs to even attempt to reach out to the state of Gnanam. He then asked that I share it with readers which I did in a previous post.

He took us as his companions sharing Agathiyar's sadness at seeing many drop out of the path or not practicing the methods to attain the said state that Agathiyar personally shared with them. I guess we share the same sadness. Having seen the results that it brought into my life daily, I was pretty much angry that many dropped out from this fantastic path. If Tavayogi consoled me by saying that many souls come to live out their dreams, passion, and desires and Prapanjam came to console me further asking me to be at peace with myself and saying she shall take care of matters, Lord Murugan explained that the Siddha path was not for all. He said that in whom the soul awakens, it shall help him recall his past ventures and bring forth his previous birth experiences. He comes in search of the Siddhas. The Siddha shall usher him and care for him.

ஆன்மாவைத் தேடுபவனுக்கு அவன் மேற்கொள்ளும் அனுபவங்கள் எல்லாம் ஆன்மாவோடு பதிந்து  விடும். மீண்டும் மறுபிறவி எடுப்பானாயின் ஒரு பொழுது அவனுக்கு அந்த ஆன்ம அவனுடைய முன் ஜென்ம அனுபவங்களை அவனுக்குத் தூண்டிவிடும். தீண்டல் பெற்றவன் சித்தனை நாடி வந்து விடுவான். 

If Lord Murugan said that the Siddha keeps us under his watchful eyes but will never interfere சித்தனும் உங்களைக் கவனித்து வருவார்கள் and does not expedite the action or accelerate the process, சித்தர்கள் எவரையும் துரிதப்படுத்த மாட்டார்கள், in very rare cases, this journey is sometimes hastened by the divine hand of the guru if there is an urgency and need for it. I saw that in many moments of my life.

Gnanam is the fruit of the guru's experience that the student partakes. What we consider as works of Gnanam or wisdom are in actual fact experiences of our saints. All the Anubhuthis, the Tiruarutpa, the Thevaram, and the Siddha songs are experiences of highly evolved souls that become Gnanam for us who would choose to venture on the path. The Siddha path is a path of learning. When well traveled it becomes Gnana for a new traveler. Hence the reason why the well-traveled Tavayogi rather than preach to me on the Siddhas and their world, took me along on a journey of discovery, exposing me to his travels and the paths he walked upon, taking me to their abodes, Samadhis, and caves, getting me to experience miracles, getting me their Darshan, and creating opportunities to gain Gnanam from the journey, returning wiser and fuller. Summarized in a statement, the fruit of one's efforts toward spiritual attainment is Gnanam.

RAJA YOGAM

When Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar stepped into my home AVM, after the formalities, she passed a message telling me that the next phase was that of knowing Raja Yogam. I used to take notes each time I read a book in the days of the past. Going through Swami Vivekananda's book on Raja Yoga again, I came upon something that I had noted then. "Burn the seeds of action. Be still and know God." Lord Muruga said the same too to Arunagiri. He told us too that our thought and actions were driven by the breath. We have come to understand that by taking hold of the breath we shall know God. 

Swami Vivekananda writes "I could preach you thousands of sermons but they would not make you religious, until you practiced the method. These are the truths of the sages of all countries, of all ages, of men pure and unselfish, who had no motive but to do good to the world." Just as Swami Vivekananda wrote, "Very few people have the power to grasp the higher fewer still the patience to attain to it" Lord Muruga told us that though Agathiyar had taught us simple means to start our journey towards enlightenment and attaining Gnanam sadly many gave up settling for brief moments of bliss. 

Swami Vivekananda writes "The man who has discovered and learned how to manipulate the internal forces will get the whole of nature under his control." Agathiyar told us the same telling us that nature and Prapanjam shall then comply with our needs and wants, which obviously are none in that state. But if the need arises to summon a thing, the Siddha will be able to do it. This is said to be the play of Siddhu or Siddhis.

In Raja Yoga, while Yama and Niyama are moral training, Asana is maintaining certain posture. Nadi Suddhi helps purify the nerves. Then begins Pranayama which is the control of the breath. Just as Lord Murugan told us Swami Vivekananda says that the breath is the flywheel of this machine - the body. "In a big engine, you find the flywheel first moving and that motion is conveyed to finer and finer machinery until the most delicate and finest mechanism in the machine is in motion. The breath is that flywheel supplying and regulating the motive power to everything in this body... In this body of ours, the breath motion is the silken thread by laying hold of and learning to control it we grasp the pack thread of the nerve currents, and from these the stout twine of our thoughts and lastly the rope of Prana controlling which we reach freedom."

Swami Vivekananda writes further on the breath, "To get the subtle perception we have to begin with the grosser perceptions. We have to get hold of that which is setting the whole engine in motion. That is the Prana, the most obvious manifestation of which is the breath. Then along with the breath, we shall slowly enter the body which will enable us to find out about the subtle forces, the nerve currents that are moving all over the body. As soon as we perceive and learn to feel them we shall begin to get control over them and over the body. The mind is also set in motion by these different nerve currents, so at last we shall reach the state of perfect control over the body and the mind making both our servants."

To those keen to know how the Siddhas and deities come within a man or woman to pass on their messages, it is through the breath too.

Mother Dewi told us that the Siddha path was of learning lessons from experiences. Agathiyar told me in the Nadi back then that he had thrown in several events so that I would have those experiences too, besides the baggage I had brought with me due to my past karma. If part of the results of our past actions and desires form the flesh and blood in us, another creates the ideal situations for us to go through pain and suffering, joy and happiness in the present. What is in the control of us is the future. As Lord Murugan told us they have given us all the tools to settle in the breath and all actions subside too we create a new future.

Mataji shared a song by poet Kannadasan that is a song steeped in Gnanam. She sang a few lines that she could remember. I looked up the net for the rest. This song of Kannadasan explains it all.

(Source: https://rajarajanrj.blogspot.com/)

Swami Vivekananda writes "In all the religions, we find that the truths they teach are the results of the experiences of particular persons." It is based on experience. Swami writes, "Thus it is clear that all the religions of the world have been built upon that one universal and adamantine foundation of all our knowledge that is direct experience. The teachers all saw god they all saw their own souls, they saw their future, they saw their eternity, and what they saw they preached." 

THE BREATH & GNANAM

If Lord Murugan had mentioned over the weekend that the next phase was that of riding the breath he came again last evening to elaborate further. He tells us the only way to attain Gnanam is through the breath. The breath was the tool for survival and attaining all the stages on the spiritual path. He first questioned us on our understanding of Gnanam and its attainment and later went on to explain the components and means to attain it.

As the past weekend was very eventful and as I was wondering what was the teaching in it for us behind all the happenings, Lord Murugan explained that it was to gain the experience.

In all the tests that we place before you, there is no question of success or failure but for you to gain (the much-needed) experience. 

நாங்கள் வைக்கும் பரிசை உங்களுக்கு அனுபவம் ஊட்டுவதற்கு. அதில் வெற்றி தோல்வி ஏதும் இல்லை.

When one comes to know what Gnanam was all about he would change his ways (path and journey). The Siddha does not expedite the action or accelerate the process.

ஞானம் யாதென்று தெரியும் போது நீங்களே உங்களின் பயணத்தை மாற்றிக்கொள்வீர்கள். அதற்காகவே சித்தர்கள் எவரையும் துரிதப்படுத்த மாட்டார்கள். 

He went on to give us a simple example of how difficult it was for them to bring all the components needed together and mold us into a perfected man. Music before it reaches our ears takes on various forms. Imagine the number of instruments needed. So many sounds. Sound sounds different in the open air. It sounds different in the jungle and that which is heard in the room is different too. If music itself has so many variations imagine how varied man would be. 

ஒரு இசை உங்களின் செவியை நாடுவதற்கு முன் எத்தனை விதமான பரிணாமங்கள் மேற்கொண்டு வருகிறது தெரியுமா? எத்தனை விதமான கருவிகள். எத்தனை விதமான ஒலிகள். திறந்த இடத்தில் இசைக்கும் ஒலியின் பரிணாமம் வேறு. காட்டினுள் பரிணமிக்கும் இசையின் அனுபவங்கள் வேறு. நான்கு செவருக்குள் பரிணமிக்கும் இசையும் வேறு. இப்படி இசைக்கே எவ்வளவு மாற்றங்கள் இருக்கும் போது மனிதனாகிய நீங்கள் எவ்வளவு வேறுபட்டு இருப்பீர்கள். 

Imagine the variations in your atoms and cells. Imagine the various thoughts amongst us. The Siddha needs time to gather all these components and bring them together just as the strings are laid out precisely in a Veena and played. 

உங்களுக்குள் இருக்கும் அணுக்கள் எவ்வளவு வேறுபட்டு இருக்கும். உங்களின் எண்ணங்கள் எவ்வளவு வேறு பட்டு இருக்கும். இவைகளை ஒவ்வொன்றும் பிடித்து  வளைத்து வீணைபோல் நரம்பினை மீட்டி இசையாய் வெளியிடுவதற்குச் சித்தனுக்குக் காலம் வேண்டுமே. 

When I told him that we would need a long life to accommodate all these changes, he replied that that is the reason we are reborn again and again. 

அதற்கு நீண்ட ஆயுளும் வேண்டுமே. 

அதற்காகத்தான் மனிதர்களுக்கு அத்தனை பிறவிகள். 

When I questioned why we do not remember this learning in subsequent births and need to start from scratch, and why there was no continuity, he corrected me. It is only the physical body that has a start and end to it. The Atma or Soul is in existence then, now and ever. If man engages bodily he shall not retain the experiences. The one in search of his soul shall have all the experiences embedded in it.  

உடலுக்குத் தான் முதலும் ஆரம்பமும் முடிவும். உனது ஆன்மாவிற்கு அல்ல. வாழும் மனிதன் உடலால் மட்டும் வாழ்ந்துவிட்டால் அனுபவங்கள் ஆன்மாவோடு பதியாது. ஆன்மாவைத் தேடுபவனுக்கு அவன் மேற்கொள்ளும் அனுபவங்கள் எல்லாம் ஆன்மாவோடு பதிந்து  விடும். 

In the event he takes another birth, the soul shall help him recall his past ventures and bring forth these experiences. The one whose soul awakens in him comes in search of the Siddhas. The Siddha shall usher him and care for him.

மீண்டும் மறுபிறவி எடுப்பானாயின் ஒரு பொழுது அவனுக்கு அந்த ஆன்ம அவனுடைய முன் ஜென்ம அனுபவங்களை அவனுக்குத் தூண்டிவிடும். தீண்டல் பெற்றவன் சித்தனை நாடி வந்து விடுவான். சித்தனும் உங்களைக் கவனித்து வருவார்கள். 

On the other hand, one who is agitated and disgusted, not knowing whom to turn to, when he comes before God or a Siddha, how are we to lift him up, he asks.

வேட்கை அடைந்த வெறுப்பு மூட்டும் மக்களுக்கு எங்குப் பொய் சேருவது என்று தெரியாது, இறைவனையோ சித்தனையோ நாடிவந்தால் ஞானத்தை எப்படித் தூக்கி வழங்குவது. 

Lord Muruga goes on to define the signs of one who would eventually attain Gnana.

ஞானத்தைப் பெறக் கூடியவன் எப்படி இருக்க வேண்டும் தெரியுமா?

He brings parallelism to the waves that remain afloat as they touch the beach, the water that remains apart from the air, and the place that is beyond the reaches of the sky. He stands as the void in the space or Vetta Vezhi. Only he attains Gnanam. 

கரையில் ஒட்டாத நீராய், காற்றில் ஒட்டாத நீராய், வானம் தொடாத எல்லையாய்,   வெட்டவெளியில் வெட்டவெளியாய் இருப்பான். அவனுக்கே ஞானம் வழங்கப் படும். 

He says that the only practice that brings us to the state of Gnana is observing the breath. He adds that it does not come easy.

ஞானத்திற்கான பயிற்சி சுவாசத்தைக் கவனிப்பது மட்டுமே. சுவாசத்தைக் கவனிப்பது அவ்வளவு எளிதல்ல மகனே.

When one who carries worry and troubles cries out for mercy and seeks Gnanam as an escape route, whatever is said, given, or revealed would only be a momentary bliss or relief. 

கவலைகளையும் இன்னல்களையும் மாறி மாறி ஏற்பவன் அழுது புரண்டு ஞானம் வேண்டும் என்று கேட்டாலும் அவன் அமரும்போது பரிபாசையில் நாங்கள் உள்ளிருந்து பேசினாலோ வெளியிலிருந்து பேசினாலோ அது தற்காலிக மகிழ்ச்சியே. 

Lord Muruga says that Gnana is for the one who can remain detached even from him. To show us this they executed a play that revealed our hold and attachment to things even that of his statue.

எவன் ஒருவான் என்னை  பற்றுஅருகிறானோ அவனுக்கு தானே ஞானம். கிட்டியபிறகு என்னைப் பற்று அறுக்க முடியும். 

If Tavayogi showed Agathiyar as a mantra and as God, showed Agathiyar as Lord Siva, and later revealed that the breath was God, Lord Muruga reveals that our breath was Gnana itself. Our experiences are embedded in our breath. It is this very breath that brings forth the thoughts. Both the beginning and end is this breath. Indeed life is breath within bringing a solid mass to life. It ends its life with the exit of the breath. It is all breath. So how am I to gift Gnanam to one who does not carry out the practices given, and who cannot withstand the misery that befalls him, and comes running to me seeking escape, he asks. 

ஞானம் என்பது உமது சுவாசம். உனது அனுபவங்கள் பதிவதும் உனது சுவாசம். எண்ணங்களைத் தூண்டுவதும் உனது சுவாசம். ஆதியில் சுவாசம் இறுதியும் சுவாசம். இப்படி சுவாசமாய் இருக்கும் அனைத்தையும் எவ்வித பயிற்சியும் இன்றி நான் கொடுத்த இன்னல்களால் வலி தங்க முடியாது என்னை அழைத்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள் என்று கேட்கும் மக்களுக்கு ஞானத்தை வழங்க முடியாது.

The impure body or Asudha Deham has to transform to the pure Suddha Deham first. The Suddha Deham has then to be converted to the Pranava Deham and the Oli Deham subsequently. This is only possible by way of the breath. 

அசுத்த தேகம் சுத்த தேகமாக மாறுவதும், சுத்த தேகம் பிரணவ தேகமாக மாறுவதும், பிரணவ தேகம் ஒளி தேகமாக மாறுவதும், சுவாசத்தினால் மட்டுமே. 

One who fails to purify his breath and remove any residues of his experiences shall not attain Gnanam he adds. For this purpose, Agathiyar has given all of you some initial practices that were simple in nature, he reminded us.

சுவாசத்தைத் தூய்மைப் படுத்துபவன் சுவாசத்தில் எதையும் பதிவு செய்யாத ஒருவன் ஞானத்தை அடைந்து விடுவான்.  அதற்கு ஆரம்ப பயிற்சிக்கு உங்களுக்கு அகத்தியன் சுவாச பயிற்சியைக் கொடுத்தான். பயிற்சிகள் ரொம்பு சுலபமானது. 

Just as Agathiyar had told us that Gnanam was not to be gifted by him but that it has to be earned and come by with one's effort, experience, and learning from these lessons, Lord Muruga too reiterates that it has to come with practice, cleansing of body, mind, thoughts, the chakras and the Tatwas. He adds that all these are in our possession. The desired change is in our hands and not via him. They stand aloft as the experience.

ஞானம் நான் தருவது அல்ல. நீங்கள் செய்யக் கூடிய பயிற்சி, சுத்திகரிப்பு, எண்ணத் தூய்மை, உடல் தூய்மை, ஆறு ஆதார சக்கரங்கள், 96 கூறுகள், இப்படி எல்லாம் உங்கள் கைவசமே இருக்கிறது. எளிய முறையில் உங்களிடம் கொடுத்து விட்டோம். அனுபவம் மட்டுமே நாங்கள்.

Giving us this lengthy discourse of some 33 minutes Lord Muruga asked me again if I understood what Gnanam was. He asked that I share it on this blog.

ஞானம் என்றால் என்ன என்று புரிந்ததா? இனி உன் பதிவில் ஓது.

Agathiyar and Lord Muruga have broken the boundaries set by those previously in the Siddha path that made it exclusive and proprietary to some. They have personally brought the path to even the commoner and simplest of folks like us. They have come up close and personal rather than keep their distance as in a classroom atmosphere, Gurukulam, Ashram, or Peedham. If Agathiyar came to my aid by sending out his emissaries while I was in pain after having gone through it and experienced it first between 2010 and 2012, this time around he did not touch me though he had a Varma exponent who was a devotee and friend work on others' ailments, pains, and discomfort. He continued telling me these were changes going on within and that as they were working on me, to bear with it. 

Bhakti Marga or Sariyai is seeing the manifestation of energies outside. Kriyai is harnessing these energies to cleanse the environment and surroundings. Yogam is to see them work within. Yoga is to harness these energies and cleanse the internal. Gnanam is seeing the results of our earlier efforts bear fruit and become one with these energies.

WHAT A WONDERFUL JOURNEY

It is intriguing and interesting to look back at the phases that we walked through that seemed to be a journey journeying along with the elements and riding the Tatwas. In having me visit the 5 Pancha Stalam or 5 elemental temples of Lord Siva it was to make us realize that it was an external exposition of the internal journey that was to come later. If we were grounded to the elements that maketh this body in Sariyai, moving us through the phases, he helped us rise above these Tatwas. 

Since I had so many questions and doubts arise as a result of all the reading and discussion that did not tally with what I saw happen to loved ones around me, it prompted Lord Siva to come in a dream and stop all this turmoil, having me keep my question for a later date and having me settle in marriage and raising a family instead for the next 14 years. In breaking the ice, Agathiyar in a mysterious way and through a transmission of the Vasudeva mantra helped pierce the Granthis or physical knots that binded us. 

In calling me to read the Nadi and having me go on pilgrimages a year later Agathiyar had me walk the ground. In having me recite the names of the Siddhas and mantras he had us reverberate within and around as the vibration that accompanied these chanting. In having Tavayogi bring me to the abodes of the Siddhas and the caves, we entered sacred spaces. If Tavayogi helped us connect with the elements Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal helped us connect with the Prapanjam. Stepping out of Sariyai which revolved around temple worship introduced by our parents, and stepping into Kriyai we began to chant his name, worship him in the form of a bronze statue and carry out the libation of his statue, and conduct the fire ritual. Stepping into Yoga we were taught to worship the breath that traversed through us. 

After Agathiyar called us to the path and walked us through the above-said phases, Lord Muruga announced last evening that the next phase of the journey was riding the breath Vaalai. Taking a hitch and ride on the breath we shall traverse the subtle worlds leaving the physical. He had given a hint of the journey way back in 2018 itself. Stepping into Gnanam we shall settle in the silence within. 

Ramalinga Adigal in traveling the many phases of his spiritual endeavor documented his experiences by giving us the Thiru Arutpa and its condensation in the form of the Agaval. G.Valmikanathan in his book ‘Makers of Indian Literature - Ramalingam’, published by Sahitya Akademi (e-book at http://www.vallalar.org) traces Ramalinga Adigal’s brilliant journey on the pathway to God dividing it into three major portions beginning with the purgative way, the illuminative way, and finally the unitive way. 

He describes the first part of the saint's life as that of the Journey on the purgative way, where he embarks on the Journey, worshiping Lord Murugan in Chennai and Thirutani, Lord Siva, and Vadivudai Ambigai in Otriyore, and Lord Nadarajah in Chidambaram, purging himself of all desires and attachments, of all imperfections. This is where householders will find it a difficult task having to balance the family, career, social responsibilities, and the craving for the divine. We are often told to live like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. Progress on this part of the path is solely dependent on our efforts. Here is where we tend to slack, lag behind, or totally give up for lack of discipline and true yearning. Here lie all the veils that are often spoken of. This is the first two stages, the Muladhara and Svathisthana, spoken of by Tavayogi where our effort is required to progress further.

This is followed by the Journey in an illuminative way, in which one gains illumination, knowledge, and gnosis or the knowledge or Arivu to differentiate right from wrong, to see the world and its happenings from a different perspective, and the dawn of Gnana that follows where nothing is learned but all is perceived. Arriving at this part of the path, our efforts seize and we are totally dependent on the divine's grace to move further. Tavayogi tells us that from here on the Siddhas will pick us up and lead us on. This can come through a guru or direct from Erai.

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. The divine personally sees through the necessary transformation to become him. The journey on the unitive way is composed of several experiences of recollection, quietness and contemplation, ecstasy, and rapture among others. Here "the pilgrim marches on with buoyant and joyous steps, filled with hope and freed from doubt or misconception. The journey is characterized by a sense of urgency. The pilgrim, in this part of his journey, begins to walk fast, then breaks into a loping trot, finally, gallops on with increasing tempo towards the beckoning smile and the outstretched arms, and is soon locked in an eternal embrace with the beloved, the eternal being, the Godhead, the ground of all being." 

VAALAI

Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar of Kallar ashram who is in town visited AVM yesterday and is with us over this weekend. Moments after she arrived at my home she told me that the next phase had started for me to take a step into Raja Yoga. Coming out of her meditation later she told me that she had a message for me. I was to worship Vaalai henceforth. Later when Ramalinga Adigal came through a devotee he surprised me by saying the same. He told me that henceforth it was the rule of Vaalai at AVM. When I replied that I needed him to guide me too, he downplayed his role by replying that all the Siddhas including him had looked up to her to attain the state of Siddhahood. Later Agathiyar surprised me with a Nadi reading telling me the same. 

In a Nadi reading for Surendaran Selvaratnam in Chennai, in 2017, Agathiyar instructed us to include hymns for Vaalai too during our prayers. Who is this Vaalai? Vaalai is depicted as a young maiden. But as Agathiyar had put a stop to all rituals and worship, and showed me to Prapanjam and I have come to accept that God is formless but can assume a form for us, how can I go back to placing a painting of Vaalai and worshipping her through carrying out rituals again? Just as this question crops up in my mind, Mataji revealed that Vaalai was the breath that flowed in us. 

When the AVM family set out to India to witness the inauguration of the newly built Kallar ashram in 2016, the deity Karupanasamy blessed us and told us to be on the lookout for Agathiyar in all the places we went. And so we did as told looking out for Agathiyar to appear before us. He did appear as a lady clad in a green/blue saree in all the temples we went to. Returning home Karupanasamy confirmed our opinion and surprised us by telling us that contrary to common belief Agathiyar was a female. 

If Tavayogi showed me to Agathiyar, Agathiyar stepped back after grooming us and asked us to hold the hands of Prapanjam. It was him too he said. Being the Prapanjam he took any form that we desired to see him in. He broke our hold on forms and names. 

The Siddha path is full of surprises thrown in making the journey even more interesting. It seems like we shall never get to the bottom of the truth since everything is a perception, an opinion, a view, seen from various points of view and different perspectives. Just as the speaker delivering a talk on NeuroLinguistic programming held up a credit card and asked us all to define what we saw, one saw the edge of the card while another saw the front and yet another saw the back, God is subjective too. Bharathi spells out this truth in the song Nirpathuve Nadapathuve.

To a beginner, he is told that a piece of rock or metal is God. Growing up he comes to be introduced to numerous other versions of God and Goddesses who have evolved in the hands and minds of man. Coming to a guru he is told that God was within us and in us. He is told that God was the very breath flowing through us. In becoming aware of the breath we begin to sense the energy, Prana, and its vibration traverse within. We are told that this is him. Now extending our hold of it and reaching out to our surroundings we see and sense him in all of creation. We then realize that we are Buddhas. 

A STAR IS BORN

He was all the while with me but he had me look for him. Looking first towards the temples, then trying to find him in the books, and later standing in line hoping some visiting holy man would show him brought me nowhere close to him. Neither did all the time spent in discussions with friends and elders bring him to me. It was all his play having me search for him in all these places. He had me on the verge of going cuckoo seeking answers. But the most compassionate came in the nick of time and brought a halt to all the studies, discussions, readings, and home and temple puja giving me a long break that extended to some 14 years. When the time was right and ripe he came as the word in the Nadi. He shed light on my previous question and doubt about his existence as he was seen punishing loved ones. He spoke about karma and had me deal with mine too. He then sent a guru in the physical form to fill me up after he had me empty myself of all that I had consumed for some 28 years. Tavayogi did not hold classes but instead took me on a walk to discover the Siddhas in nature which I only came to realize now. He connected me with their realm and world and Prapanjam. Having me and my family engage in Siddha worship and rituals he brought the bridge down that laid the path for the Siddhas to enter our homes first and later take abode in our hearts too. Having us engage in doing charity he had us open up to compassion and love. Having us learn Pranayama he had us observe the breath. Having us pull the brakes on all our activities, he had us look within. We knew who we were. But in getting to him we had to tear down numerous veils that stood in our way. We had to counter numerous rapids by way of energy blocks, obstructions, and obstacles and pierce these Granthis. Mantras given by the Siddhas aided us here. We had to burn the past karma that stood in the way of attaining benefits from our efforts. Doing remedies or Parikaram aided us here. The guru in physical form came to set a balance to the scale and relieve us of further karma by getting us to add on merits. Puja and charity aided us here. Now with karma out of the way, we could fully consume the teachings and practices. Prana which came within with Pranayama activated the energy centers or Chakras within causing these energies to course through the body. The Siddhas who kept tabs on its movements aided it to flow further. They rejoice in seeing the transformation that is taking place within as to them another star is born. 

They made me realize that they never left me even for a second. Even in my worst sins, they stood watch. They never saw it as a sin but as a much-needed experience. They saved me numerous times from the dangers that I had brought on myself because of carelessness, rage, anger, and stupidity. They healed me many times heeding my calls. They worked on me hoping that one day I would shine like them. They were tough at times as they did not want their efforts to go to waste due to my indulgence in things. 

I realize that I have become a misfit in society. I cannot find a place in the community and society as my priorities do not line with others. There is no common subject that we could hold a conversation on. I choose to remain quiet. I chose to keep away. I have befriended loneliness. I find peace in keeping to myself. I guess that is the reason I was asked to abstain from talking once a week for starters. 

If he showed his many forms that man has given him to us at the start of our journey today he stands without any specific form, assuming all the forms in creation.

THE ATMA

Though the reason we are here is to live out our unfulfilled desires and past karma, it all boils down to our souls' upliftment. The divine too has a reason to place us here. As we are Jeevatma that resides in the pindam or physical, material, and gross plane, our essence is one with the Param or Andam that is in and is all of creation. But we are not aware of our Godliness or Holyness until the guru who has been there comes along to remind us of our true nature. We are unaware of the Soul that resides in us. Even if we are aware we tend to shelf the Soul, push it aside, and ignore its very existence, looking for and getting hooked to other attractions in life. The Tatwas and their nature are so overpowering that they take the limelight and credit and we believe them to be true. The guru only sees the soul and comes to our aid. The Siddhas for instance help us deal with the Tatwas by first looking into our past deeds and clearing the Vasanas that brought forth this birth and that induce us to carry out actions that are detrimental to the evolvement of the Soul. Next, a cleansing of the body and mind takes place which leads to the purification of the Tatwas. Eventually, the gross is shed or converted into the subtle. And all these have to take place before we reach the age of 58 and 60 as Agathiyar and Tavayogi told us respectively. 

I had no inkling that my life would change so much in some 14 years after Agathiyar made my home his Vanam. It surprises me now that somehow I can split my life into several phases of 7 years. Upon attaining the age of 28 I was told to hold all my questions and doubts to some other time by Lord Shiva coming in a dream. I was so confused, bitter, and angry at God for causing mischief in the lives of my relatives and friends. At least that is what I thought back then. I just could not stomach the sufferings that these people who believed in God and prayed to them had to go through. After 14 years of abstinence from all forms of worship, readings, and discussions, Agathiyar passes the Vasudeva Mantra to clear the blocks or rather begin to remove the first of several veils. Gopal Pillai who had attained samadhi came through a devotee and passed on the mantra and message to my nephew who was a disciple of Annamalai Swami in the lineage of Gopal Pillai. My nephew "passed" the mantra to me asking me not to question its origin. It was years later that he revealed that the mantra was from Agathiyar. The following year I saw the Nadi and followed the path of the Siddhas. It has been some 21 years now that I stood on this path faithfully without any expectations. Surprisingly I came to know of the personal shifts that occur and are spoken or written about by authors. Sonya Danaher in reviewing psychologist Andrew Fuller's book, "Your Best Life at Any Age", writes at https://medium.com/, "A seven-year cycle has also been attributed to many of the so-called ‘random’ things that happen in life." Fuller speaks about ‘identifiable, common patterns’. "These patterns reflect an ancient idea that has influenced and permeated every civilization and almost every religion: behold the seven-year cycle!"

The Divine has chosen to shower me with gifts. All it needed was to heed their advice, practice what was shown or given, and adhere to the discipline that is needed to achieve results. They saw to it that we achieved it. Having said all this there are bound to be moments when we tend to doubt or question many a thing. There are many moments when we feel enlightened and seem to understand everything. Then there are the dark days when we become confused and frustrated that things are not moving as we understand them to be. I guess there are many layers or curtains or veils that we have to ditch to come to a clear understanding. I guess this is the reason only a handful have made it. When I wondered how many more births it would take to arrive there, I realized that we were already there or rather we never left or went anywhere in the very first place. We never arrived nor left the place. We never added on nor relinquished a thing. It was all veiled from us. The moment the veil was dropped we saw him and saw through his divine play. Remove the ignorance and we become enlightened. Once the mist and fog cleared we could see through clearly. Today we stand naked before them, removed of all the Malas or impurities that covered us and the disillusion that veiled us. All else was a dressing and were accessories that never impacted the soul that was ever pure, that was a part of the Brahman, that was the Param. The Jeevatma had stood with the Paramatma all this while though Maya created the illusion of diversity and individuality. Once the veils were shed and Maya was dispersed what remains is the original Self or Atma. We realize that we are pure to the soul. We realize that we are all Buddhas. We are already Buddha.

THE LORD'S GRACE

A reader from Chennai responded to a recent post.

"Hello, ayya I read ur recent post on Vairagya Ayya... I have a doubt... Can't we attain it through the experience of our karma or love from appa ayya? All these days I was thinking it is attainable."

I replied "Yes v can ma. love for him can move even the mountains. he shall rewrite our fate. v shall have a new destiny written n in which he gifts us vairagya to place the efforts initially and gifts the rewards of vairagya later."

In Paramahansa Yogananda's book "The Bhagavad Gita, God Talks with Arjuna" we are told that "The astrological stars of a person are nothing but an environment he himself has chosen by the karmic pattern he has fashioned by his past-life actions. According to his karmic pattern he is attracted to be reborn on earth at a given time that is favorable to the fulfillment of that pattern." "One is actually 'born' at the moment of conception when the soul enters the first cell of its new body. One's karmic pattern has already begun to unfold in that instant." Astrology is a way of finding out what one's past karma is, says the saint. From "Autobiography of a Yogi' we learn that "There are certain mechanical features in the law of karma which can be skillfully adjusted by the fingers of wisdom." Yogananda says, "Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the divine fires of wisdom"... This is what the Siddhas do. They have us conduct the Yagna or Homam externally giving a tweak to the sluggish system and having it run at a faster rate and without hitches, hence optimizing us. "The Hindu masters of ancient times knew the art of worshiping with special fire ceremonies and vibratory chants by which they could invoke the manifestations of the angels of God" 

One should not merely rely on these magic fingers nor the items adorned though but equal effort has to be placed as Yogananda writes further, "He should say: 'Lord, I trust in Thee and know Thou canst help me, but I too will do my best to undo any wrong I have done.'.... Of course, applying the advice of saints, correctly practiced yoga meditation, affirmations, sincere prayer, correctly guided willpower, Japa, pujas, suitable diet, and judicious fasting are also especially beneficial practices to destroy karma, but these procedures require effort.......By a number of means - by prayer, by willpower, by yoga meditation, by consultation with saints, by use of astrological bangles - the adverse effects of past wrongs can be minimized or nullified."

Yogananda says, "What is to be does not necessarily have to be." "For guidance and support, it is far better to appeal to God and His angelic agents.....The highest way to create the right influences in one's life, the yogi's way is to commune with God. All stars bow down before the presence of God." 

In "Talks by Swami Paramatmananda", Mata Amirtanandamayi is said to have said, "A horoscope can be altered by God's resolve." Indeed the divine is at will to do just that if it chooses. Lord Muruga told me through the Nadi reading in 2018 that he had changed my fate. Even before that the predictions in my horoscope never happened. But that was a case of bad karma and curses that stood in the way depriving me of attaining them as I was to find out later.

We had read and heard numerous stories of how the divine made miracles and changed people's lives. They then gave back to others and society rather than do the same old things. They came back alive to carry out the divine's mission and work.

What is the point in extending someone's life if he was to go about doing the same routine, caring for his selfish self and family? Agathiyar told Tavayogi's daughter that her father had a greater mission in life than that of merely being a father to her. I guess I can show my gratefulness to all that the divine providence provided by hosting and penning this blog. Just as I am grateful a reader wrote in as I penned this blog mentioning her gratefulness to Agathiyar.

"I started as appas devotee. Simultaneously I was reading, enquiring too.  In my nadi appa told that love or compassion for others will make changes in you. the change happened in such a situation. But the fire was maybe my love for appa. above all, the ground on which all these happened was my state of RELIEF. Relief from my major materialistic concern in life. All these three were happening simultaneously and the change happened. Well, my doubt is this aiyya _ there was no EFFORT from my side. I can't even boast about my previous birth. I was so egoistic in that birth and made a sadhu run away from his place. Still appa shower some blessings in this birth. So is previous births punya or tava  an essential?  Maybe it's the truth. But isn't that idea/concept itself a hindrance on our way? You know what the real  EFFORT is . Pls share it with us too. What effort does make appa shower his grace?"

I answered her, "making the effort when told to do so and dropping it the very moment when directed. this will earn his grace."

Love for god changes many things. One has to walk the path to realize these changes take place. I was blessed to have Lord Shiva come in a dream in 1988 and stopped me from further questioning the happenings that took place to people I knew until the time the subject of karma was revealed much later, after some 14 years. I am blessed that Sethu at the office came along and introduced me to Ramalinga Adigal passing me a couple of cassettes of his songs the Tiruarutpa that mesmerized me the moment I heard it and had me wanting to listen to more of it. I scouted for the entire collection of his songs in ink, analog, and digital later. I am blessed to have Sethu show me the late Dr Krishnan a medical astrologer and Siddha physician who spoke about curses, karma, the Siddhas, and their Nadi for the very first time. I am grateful to the Dr. for etching Agathiyar's yantra to be worshipped and passing me his mantra to be chanted. I am grateful to Agathiyar and his message that came through Gopal Pillai who reached me through his disciple and my nephew Thayalan a year earlier which set the stage for me to receive my gurus, clearing the blocks within me in a very subtle manner. I am grateful to Muralitharan from my office who made the appointment for me to read the Nadi the very first time some 6 years after the Dr spoke about it. I am grateful to Agathiyar for helping me clear the blocks and obstacles that stood in my way of receiving the best in life, getting me to do Parikaram or remedies and Nadikku Dhanam, or pay homage to the Nadi. With the blocks cleared both external means and internally it was a smooth drive or rather walk down the lane with my gurus who took me places I never imagined I would track. I am grateful to Agathiyar for showing me to Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram and continuing to guide me first through the Nadi and after 2019 coming through devotees. I am witness to the product of all this assistance in a timely manner that helped transform me. Will I make the mark? That is all in God's hands. As Tavayogi says we shall come back if we fail in the venture to know the light this time around and as Supramania Swami says we shall keep polishing till the light shines on us and no effort goes to waste, I can lay back and tell myself that at least I tried. 

Thanks to https://www.astrogems.com/yoga_masters.php for an informative article.

DETERMINATION & DISCIPLINE

My friend and reader from Kerala posed another question days ago.

"Aiyya one more thing. In the previous day's post, you wrote about the most important thing _ in what state of mind we should be always. We can enjoy anything .smell taste or any such sentient thing. But when the need arises we should be able to shed and leave all of it. This means we shouldn't be attached to those we SEEM to enjoy. But you didn't write about _ HOW can we be there. In such a state. People normally are involved. Then only they can do things. Even in a single breath their will, energy, and prana are involved. You wrote about breath. But if you like to, pls write about HOW to attain vairagya.  it will be so helpful to others. Even if you wrote it umpteen times, we learn from repetition the most. Bhakti, the mind science, reasoning ... everything and anything can help I think."

I replied to her that "to put it simply vairagya must be in the charts. I have a book on astrology where the author studies the charts of famous people. all the saints had vairagya in their charts." Paramahansa Yogananda had a good placement of Vairagya in his charts. Browsing through the net I came across a piece by Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh at https://www.dlshq.org/discourse/essence-of-vairagya/ that I shared with her. Swami Sivananda says "Viveka comes through selfless service done in several births and through Puja and Aradhana (worship and adoration of God), and through the Grace of the Lord. From Viveka is born Vairagya."

He gives the case history of a king and queen to clarify the means to upholding and being in the state of Vairagya amidst the turmoil of life and living. 

"Queen Chudalai ruled a kingdom, and yet she had absolute (Para) Vairagya. Even amidst the temptations of the world, she had mental Vairagya, through Vichara and wisdom. So she was not affected in the least by the attractive objects of the world, whereas her husband, Sikhidhwaja, went to the forest, renouncing his kingdom, and yet he was not established in Vairagya. He was attached to the body; he was attached to his Kamandalu (water-bowl). A man may get attached to any object."

He writes on the state of Sri Ramanuja.

"Sri Ramanuja does not belong to this extreme type of Vairagya–wearing only a rope loin cloth. He lived amidst luxurious things, but his mind was not polluted. He had that mental state of Vairagya, detachment, indifference, born of Viveka."

Swami Sivananda mentions Lord Krishna's sayings and Buddha's Middle Path.

"Lord Krishna says that He is not in favor of extreme asceticism. "They torture all the elements in the body and Me also who dwells in the body”. Lord Buddha also tortured his body in the beginning but later on, he found out that there was not much spiritual progress, and then he came to the golden medium, the middle path. So we should go by the middle path always. The body is an instrument for attaining Self-realisation. So you should not torture the body. Whatever is needed for the body, you should have."

The Swami quoting Patanjali, reminds us about getting engaged and attached even to spiritual rewards. 

"Patanjali says, “Everything is only pain for the wise.” Even Rasaswad (a blissful experience in Sadhana) is a hindrance. One gets false satisfaction and stops his Sadhana, thinking that he has attained Self-realisation. Only in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, there is the greatest happiness."

TRAVELING THE SIDDHA PATH

When I was in college back in the late seventies, I once stepped into a shop selling precious stones. Looking around I was shooed away by the old proprietor. He told me "You cannot afford them. Go away." That made me determined to wear a gem-studded gold ring later. Just as Sri Yukteswar Giri told Yogananda to wear an amulet, to protect himself from the malefic effect of the stars, when I stepped before my first guru Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai in 2003, he surprised me by asking that I wear one as it shall do good to me. He should know for he was an astrologer. But he surprised me further by neither asking for my birth details to chart my horoscope nor looking into my destiny by looking at my palms. He just sat there for close to 5 hours tapping into what I have come to know now as the Akashic records and the Prapanjam. I returned home to Malaysia and made myself one. But the famed jewelsmith who even spoke about the gems on a weekly slot on the radio had mistakenly placed a blue sapphire in the middle instead of the ruby. Luckily I had some knowledge of the placement of the stones in the Navaratna ring as I read a lot then. I went back and enquired. He did not apologize for the mistake but chose to remain silent. One of his staff though leaked out the secret. They were giving orders to Chinese goldsmiths hence a possibility that the latter was not aware of the order of placement of these precious stones in a ring. They rectified it. But I was to lose one of the stones, the yellow sapphire later in 2005 when I sat before Swami again at his village home again. Prior to that, I had visited Tavayogi at his Kallar ashram. He had enquired about the Navaratna ring on my finger and told me "We do not need it, my son." As though reflecting his "order", I lost it momentarily when I left it in his locker for safekeeping before going for a dip in the stream that ran by the ashram. Upon returning from the bath in the stream, and searching for it, we found it lodged in the angle iron frame of his steel cabinet. I removed the ring and never wore it again.

When I was transferred back to my HQ in 1988, I befriended a chief clerk who used to frequent my cubicle later at my office. He was into classical music and astrology and a student of Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings having enrolled in the lessons of the movement through the mail. Once I sang the verses from Thiru Gnana Sambandar's "Kol Aaru Thirupathigam" trying to pacify him after listening to his dilemma. He shut me up saying that I was not Thiru Gnana Sambandar. Indeed I was not him. The saint could summon the Lord. I could not. I knew where I stood. But I have come to realize that the divine had already planted a seed in me that waited to be nourished with the coming of my gurus.  If we are told in the past of stories where the divine comes within the womb of the mother and blesses her with a divine child, Agathiyar says the same that I have had the blessings of Ramalinga Adigal and Lord Murugan in my mother's womb. 

மண்ணுலகில் வள்ளல் ஆசி குமரன் ஆசி ஆசியும் ஆண்டு பல முன்பே கிட்டி அவர்கள் அருள் கருணையும் நிறைந்து இருக்க ஆசியோடு அருள் கருணை சக்தியும் தான் அன்னையின் கருவில் பெற்றதனால் ......

I guess that is the reason I have been given an opportunity to merge in the light in this birth. When I met Tavayogi in 2005 when he came to officiate a local affiliate of his Kallar Agathiyar Gnana Peedham in Batu Caves, and he came subsequently in 2007 to officiate the Conference of Siddha Philosophy, I told him that I wanted to see him turn to light just like Ramalinga Adigal and Jeganatha Swamigal. But he told me that he had missed the boat as he was way past 60. He was reportedly said to be 69 then. When Jnana Jothiamma came along and was groomed by Agathiyar through the Nadi after she was initiated into the path by Agathiyar through Tavayogi at Kallar ashram in 2011, I thought there was a soul who would attain the state right before our eyes. But she too lost the fight as she was in her late sixties. Agathiyar tells us that it has to happen before 58. When Supramaniar wanted to repay a soul who would come to be known in history as Agathiyar in a later birth after the latter had provided shelter and food so that Supramaniar could continue his tavam or austerities, Agathiyar was way past his 60 years. Promising him that they shall meet in another birth, Supramaniar gifted him the state of Jothi in the next birth. 

I am 64 this year and am battling the odds as Agathiyar forewarned us. My whole body is currently in pain as if one were to wring a wet cloth. My body is numb at all times. All the joints hurt and are affecting movement and mobility. But all these were foretold by Lord Murugan earlier in 2018 when he came to heal my back pain and Agathiyar when he came to pacify me and remove my fear of death by giving me a brief moment and sample of lying as a corpse in 2022. At 4 a.m., on Sunday, the wind in my stomach forced me out of bed and brought on purging. My body became numb right to the toes. I lay on the toilet floor for moments till my wife came looking up on me. But as usual, it was blissful. It subsided shortly. I had to cancel attending an event of an AVM member the evening before too as maneuvering a manual car in the traffic jam on a late Saturday afternoon would aggravate my situation.

THE HUMAN BIRTH AND ITS POSSIBILITIES

Karma is the blueprint for birth. Burn away karma and there is no birth. The Siddha comes to help us cleanse it while our own efforts initially in pursuing yoga burn away the past karma and finally by divine grace the mystic energies wipe the slate clean and bring on an immense transformation within and without. Hence Karma is not to be brushed aside easily. Its effects are far-reaching and deep, as I came to know later. If Lord Shiva had to come in my dream in 1988 to have me stop all my readings and discussions as I had so many observations that needed to be explained and that were not available to me then neither by reading nor discussions, it was only to make me aware of the underlying factor or denominator known as karma that would shape others lives. I learned about it some 14 years later when I went for a Nadi reading. I understood why I saw family and friends kneel before its impact. 

Agathiyar had explained and bridged the nature of the Udal or physical body, Uyir or the breath, and the Atma or Soul earlier, with the common denominator or factor - karma - that runs across all three and that ascertains the outcome of each. Sanchita karma determines our fate, starting its journey with the planting of the seed the Kutastha, the seed that determines the gender, where, and to whom we are to be born, and the manifestation of all that cannot be changed or altered. These are decided by the individual Atma sitting in discussion with the Paramatma and the council of elders, much in advance even before taking birth charting the course either for the enhancement and betterment of an individual to evolve speedily or to enrich it with the relevant experiences and learning gained from the desires and pleasures that are in waiting. A portion of the Sanchita karma known as Prarabdha karma determines the course of action throughout one's life. This is free will.

The 5 elements that form the Pindam or solid matter in the womb upon conception are sourced from both parents in a unique proportion. If karma or the divine hand intervenes at this juncture it could either upset or enhance this division of growth particles respectively and influence the physical state of the growing embryo. The Atma, before coming into this body or Udal which is a composite of karma taking the desired form, accepts to work with the individual "I". The individual "I" comes with the baggage of karma, the size determined by his or her willingness to shoulder in this birth. The Atma stays with the individual until the "I" in him or her surfaces. Then the Atma steps aside and backs off behind the veil, watching the individual live out his or her desires and urges. He lives out his karma. The Atma though keeps watching over him without interfering. The Atma either reveals itself again when he has exhausted all his vasanas, desires, urges, and wants or "awakens" when the time-space is right or once he surrenders his "I". 

If we had thought that the Atma carries the baggage with it, Agathiyar corrected us telling us that the Atma does not carry our past karma but helps bring us out of it. For some, the Atma brings them to the Siddha path. The Siddhas might want to convince some to take the leap. But even the Atma and the Siddhas do not intervene and let fate deal with the individual if he or she does not give heed to their advice and warnings after several attempts, says Tavayogi of some individuals.

சில மனிதர்களின் பிறப்பு அவர் இச்சைகாக, ஆசைக்காக. அவன் ஆசைகாகப் பிறந்தான். ஆசையில் திளைத்து விட்டு மூடித்து விடுவான். அவன் போக்கில் விட்டு விடு. இல்லாவிட்டால் வினை தொடர்ந்து கொண்டே வரும். 

Souls arrive at an assembly of Rishis, after passing through a phase called death. They wait to be summoned by the Rishis. Upon discussion with the Rishis, they move on to take their next birth. The outcome of this meeting with the Rishis determines all the factors that come into play in taking a human birth. In his 5 tenets to mankind presented to this parliament of Rishis who guide the souls on the next course of action at the Tamil Sangam, Agathiyar mentions that with his purpose known, man is dutybound to thank the divine creator or energy that brought forth his birth through consultation with the lunar forefathers and their angelic hierarchies that co-exist with us here. Most of us are ignorant of these forces that assist us to evolve further. Betty J Eadie who came back from a near-death experience reveals the secrets of heaven in her book "The Awakening Heart - My Continuing Journey to Love", a Pocket Star Book, 1996. She says just as we have choices here, we are also given choices in our father's abode. While some souls respond to God's call, volunteering and choosing to listen and accept his will before coming to earth, others receive a calling after they arrive, when their hearts open to god, through intense sufferings or through miracles, and eventually they become vessels of god themselves. The divine tells us repeatedly that they have taken birth as our children and grandchildren and keeps reminding us to take special care of them. I guess a seed is planted in them while in the womb of their mother that germinates with the coming of the guru later in life who brings an awareness of life, reveals their purpose, or revives the past memories in them at the right moment.  If these souls come desired by the divine for a mission, many others come desired by the parents as in the many stories we have heard. The parents are granted the boon of a divine child after undertaking and carrying out rituals and austerities and having pleased the divine. The divine could intervene later in an individual's journey too. Before the coming of the guru, the field is thoroughly rid of weeds as in bad habits, negative practices, false beliefs, etc tilling the soil and plowing it, ready to receive a new seed. The guru plants the seed within them that carries the unmanifested energy of the divine. When the surrounding is conducive and compatible the seed sprouts, under the watchful eyes of the guru, reaching out for the skies. The earlier seed that germinated into our "I" dies a natural death.  This is "Dying while Alive". Breaking the ground and sprouting out of the soil, life and the next course of action in this new journey are detailed and undertaken under the watchful eyes of the divine and the guru. Die-hard habits are knocked off.  A new blueprint is drawn up for him. A new life form emerges and we take on a new birth. A new star is born. He then grows up to make a name for himself bringing salvation for himself and enlightenment for others.

Then there are those accidental tourists who come too and leave abruptly fulfilling a brief need. Karma determines if the breath shall remain or leave that instant. It is said that we come with a certain number of breaths that once exhausted or used up, will result in our death. The Siddhas are known to increase this store of prana within to extend their lifespan or dwell in the state of samadhi forever. For most, phlegm or kapam becomes the death factor. For instance, even if he is hale and healthy the phlegm or kapam appears during the last moments of his worldly life and blocks his nasal passages shutting him down permanently. 

Karma if seen in its totality causes fear in us and dashes all our hopes of coming out of it. So is there no way out? Yes, there is. We can work on the Agamaya Karma that is taking place right now in this life with our approval. The decisions we make and our actions will alter the future, hence determining it in such a way as to attain the desired birth later. We take one to repay bad debts or take another to enjoy the pleasures that come along as a result of the good done in this birth. 

The divine gives sufficient space and shows ways to make good, redo, correct, and come out of the rut we are in because of our past doings. One who despises the life he has to live now can either work against his karma to bring a change, which is often an uphill fight and a battle lost unless he gains the favor and grace of the divine, or accept it and live through this predetermined life with the hope that things shall change for the better in a later birth. Or he could exhaust it in its entirety without interfering. In the former, we are given a tool called free will to make a better future for us. In the latter, one takes karma in his or her stride as agreed and submits to it. Saints either bring on the change and free themselves from the hold of karma and its cycle of birth and death or choose not to alter the divine law and see through its working. 

Then there are the Avatars. Annie Besant in "Avataras", The Theosophical Publishing House, 2002, describes the meaning of an Avatar as follows: tr meaning passing over; ava meaning descent. What brings forth an Avatar? The un-manifest takes the manifested form when righteousness is at its lowest ebb and evil reigns in the world. The needs of the world or cosmic necessities and the needs of its inhabitants propels the divine to descend. If the Avatars come for a common purpose usually for the upliftment of souls collectively or to release these souls from the shackles of tyranny and cruelty, heavenly beings or angels accompany individual souls in their journey, caring, educating, and bringing greater awareness to them. Heavenly beings or angels accompany these souls to help awaken them, rejoicing on seeing progress in the soul, encouraging, motivating, and reminding them that they are not alone. These spiritual beings are prepared to do their part too in God's plan. They help reconnect us to our spiritual selves whose memories we have lost. They are akin to the Siddhas. Just as Agathiyar said he had orchestrated all my experiences, Betty says our guardian angels do the same. They come along with us creating opportunities for us to learn and progress spiritually.

As Agathiyar asked we know our purpose here which was discussed in the midst of the Rishis at the level of the soul back then but was veiled upon birth to be rediscovered later in life, there is a reason why we are here now this instant. We are here now for our individual spiritual development and also collectively contribute to the well-being and awakening of others. God's will shapes our purpose says Betty. It is not necessary for us to know our purpose in its entirety. Just working on the task given to us from moment to moment is sufficient in justifying and fulfilling God's wishes. Betty says that she could connect with the divine and naturally be in touch with her spirit through prayer and moments of stillness. The people we need are sent to us at the right time for the right purpose. The like-minded fellowship comes about, again strengthening the spirit.  The power of prayers is felt by all in the congregation or assembly. As God gives us only that much that we can handle, as the spirit becomes stronger he gives us greater challenges. The spirit becomes stronger as a result of these challenges gaining Atma Balam. Gratitude helps us appreciate the abundance that god has given and brings about love. Soon we move on from self-centeredness to enveloping all. 

Complimenting the Avatars and the guardian angels, the Avesa are perfected men through whom god permeates and manifests bringing greater good to society and the world. The difference between them is that while the ego is nil in the former two, a portion of the ego remains in an Avesa. Now I have begun to understand why some religious and spiritual personalities can be arrogant. 

I was a bystander till Agathiyar pushed me to the forefront to do his job. We have a choice either to be passive participants, just looking out for ourselves and leading a mundane self-contained life, or an active one, helping others in any way and form. Agathiyar brought many realizations to the fore, pushing aside the veil of ignorance. I have come to tell myself that this was a purposeful birth. AVM has received the continued patronage of Kallar Ashram where my journey began under the tutorship of the late Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal. With Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar heading the establishment now, we look forward to seeing her visit us on Saturday 4th October. Maybe Agathiyar has more good news for us.

THE SHOWERING Of GIFTS

Watching the movie "Bharathi" I tend to share the great poet's anger in many ways. But Agathiyar has asked that I refrain from anger as it would amount to the energies that had arisen in me returning to the lower chakras. It would be a wasted effort on his part to help me gain ground he added. He was stern about maintaining the energies in their rightful places. Mother Prapanjam too hushed me saying Shanti, Shanti, Shanti asking me to be at peace with myself and that she shall grant them in good time when I voiced my concern that all others reach the state of bliss that came to me by their grace. When I voiced my concern to Tavayogi who came through a devotee after his demise, that I found it difficult to bring others to this wonderful path of the Siddhas, he told me to let it be. He explained that not all were meant to track the path as many have come to live out and fulfill their desires carried from their past births and take up new desires in this birth. If otherwise I was angry at them for not recognizing a rare opportunity to gain freedom from the cycle of birth, I have since then backed off. Similarly, Agathiyar in bringing down the shutters on AVM, brought a halt to all forms of worship and charity and told me to move on and not wait for others to catch up for that would delay my journey. He added that henceforth the path was pretty narrow allowing only one to track at any one time. It made me wonder if that was true for no known saint is known to bring many with them on the final day of their emancipation. It was every man for himself. He had me go within. 

Just as it is only when you stand on high ground that you can see a larger picture, one has to arrive there to describe his joy in traveling the path. There is so much joy in me that words cannot describe and that I cannot put into writing. It has to be sensed and felt. I had told my wife at the very beginning of my solo worship to the Siddhas in 2002, that if only I could touch and pass on the joy I felt then, it has become a reality. These days the Siddhas come through devotees and hold our hands and pass on this joy. They ask us to immerse in the moment and connect with the Prapanjam that comes within breaking all boundaries. 

All these were possible with a simple chanting and recitation of their mantras and names. We have indeed traveled far on this path. Today they chose to be with us, guiding and looking after our affairs. Would you believe if I told you he sent people around to upgrade and beautify my home that became his garden or Agathiyar Vanam, and later took on the name Agathiyar Tapovanam and Gnana Kottam. Today he tells us that it is his temple, a Siddha temple. As I am penning this I hear someone call at the gate. It is a worker who wants to lay some premix and make good the entrance to my home. Amazing right? Ramalinga Adigal's words turned out to become true when he told us some time back that the more we shun all the gifts and handouts that they want to give us, the more the Prapanjam shall shower its grace and gifts on us. 

FINDING THY PURPOSE

In the opening scene of the documentary "Life on Our Planet," hosted by Morgan Freeman, he makes an observation "Two million years ago, and our planet is a very different place." In the opening scene of "Lucy", she questions, "Life was given to us a billion years ago, what have we done with it?" 

Looking back at history, events just keep repeating. The wars go on. Many battles and wars have been fought then and now for the same and other reasons. Poverty is here to stay. Misery and suffering are seen running parallel to pleasure and entertainment. 

Where many aimlessly live their lives out there are equally many who either come with a purpose or discover their purpose journeying in life and others are determined and come with a resolve to make the world a better place. Where many turn a deaf ear or turn to look the other way, there are equally many who seem to get to the ground and have brought on some change in the mindset of their fellow humans. In "Live to Lead", Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying, "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived, it is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the live we lead." Greta Thumberg is one who believes that "The mindset of many people is changing. Even if that is not enough, and even if it is not fast enough, it is at least something." She became depressed seeing that everything was so wrong. Starting on the way to becoming a climate and environmental activist she told herself that "I can do so much. One person can do so much." 

Agathiyar too in his five tenets to mankind states knowing one's purpose as the first priority. He says that man has to first and foremost understand his purpose in taking birth. The Nadi comes to a layman, seeker, or aspirant to reveal his purpose. The Guru comes to the disciple to reveal his purpose. The sadhaka in going within learns his true purpose in taking birth in the silent hours of meditation. These are the means by which man comes to realize the cause of his birth and his mission. To a layman, he is told he took birth because of past karma. To a disciple, he is told that he has come on a mission to undertake for the good of society and mankind. To a Gnani, he realizes that he has come to merge with the divine. 

With his purpose known then, he should come to thank the divine creator or energy that brought forth his birth (through consultation with the lunar forefathers and their angelic hierarchies that co-exist with us down here). The third is that we then thank all the caretakers both seen and unseen, in the present and the past followed by our part to "dutifully aid and help, the ongoing evolution of all co-existing human beings." The final task is to extend this aid and help, towards "the ongoing evolution of all co-existing beings and entities, existing upon the lower levels of the evolutionary ladder, dutifully supporting the manifested matrix or prapanjam." (Summarized from Vashisht Vaid's post on his blog https://holysageagathiyar.com/ )

He asked that we show appreciation to the divine that gave us an opportunity to take this birth again, come to terms with it, and sort out our lives. Living a purposeful, meaningful, and fruitful life, coupled with a sense of gratefulness will then bring forth the showering of his blessings. These blessings and the efforts in carrying out his dictates result in the soul gaining strength or Soul Power or Atma Balam. 

I guess my purpose is to have taken up the calling to come to the path of the Siddhas, putting into practice all things shown and told, seeing its results, learning lessons from the experiences gained, learning to eventually let go of my hold on things impermanent and yearn for that everlasting state of bliss and divine knowledge that dawns bringing on the divine light from beyond within the being that lights the Self or Atma to reach its state. I guess the 18 years I put in, in the worship of the Siddhas, opening up my home to fellow devotees and carrying out rituals, carrying out charity with them, before Agathiyar pulled the brake on all these, can be deemed as a sort of paying homage and gratitude to the divine forces and energies. We have assisted fellow men to evolve further showing them the path. I guess having fulfilled the 5 tenets of his he wants me to write about them and bring others to the fold too. In giving me transformative experiences he wants me to share them with my readers too. I guess this is my purpose here. 

THE MISSION

A reader from Kerala asked the following question that prompted me to write about it. 

"Aiyya it's always my doubt _ why should they say to include meditation _ the process of shutting down the external world maybe_ in our worship? Actually, does it do any good? What does Siddha path say about it?..... if you too wish to, please write about it sometime."

I replied to her "It has to happen on its own ma. Comes spontaneously. True meditation happens when everything shuts down on its own and not in trying to keep them out." It is futile trying to tame the mind. It is a struggle to beat the temptations in life. We are part and parcel of this world and all its happenings. We are connected to each other. There is no escape but to live in this illusion or Maya. But the secret is to try and stay aloft. Take in the pleasures of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell but be prepared to let go any time the need arises. Take in the pleasures that money and wealth can buy but be prepared to let go too. Enjoy the privileges that come with position and authority but be prepared to let go. Live life with a purpose and to the fullest but be prepared to let go when the time comes. Though I have failed miserably in getting myself to sit in meditation, there was an instance where I witnessed libation or abhisegam to the Sivalingam that went on for some moments some time back. When I came to my senses I began to ask myself if I had dozed off while trying to meditate and dreamt it. Or maybe I had slipped into that state, rather spontaneously without effort or realizing it. I was the watcher or observer then or rather there was that picture before me that did not necessitate any action from me. I guess this is what Agathiyar meant when he asked that I do nothing after the energies were awakened in me. He said that it shall do its work. All further and continued efforts in yoga were put to a halt once the result was seen. Similarly, he asked us to stop all our social and religious activities that included charity and rituals, as I presume we had brought a balance to our karma and he did not want to jeopardize it by increasing the merits that would require us to come back in another birth to reap the results of our good actions. He had us instead go within and abstain from all activities and worship, observe the breath to arrive at the moment of merely watching our thoughts subside on their own, and enter a realm of silence in all manner.

Rajiv Agarwal recounts his venture and journey in moving deeper into his goal of attaining enlightenment, where he began to have spiritual experiences. (https://innerspiritualawakening.com/rajiv-agarwal/my-journey/.)

"It was during this time I started having fantastic spiritual experiences. Sometimes I felt so ecstatic that every cell in my body would explode with bliss. I felt that I was floating in an infinite ocean of ecstasy. I was absorbed in these expanded rapturous states of being for hours. A sense of immense sacredness and divinity infused my entire consciousness. During these states, my body sometimes used to go into spontaneous states of yoga. Sometimes my body would become so flexible that I could bend spontaneously into difficult yoga postures. Many of these postures were completely unknown to me but the body automatically aligned itself to certain ancient forms."

Rajiv continues further,

"Another curious thing happened with my breathing; I experienced spontaneous Pranayama and kumbhaka (Ancient yogic breathing patterns and techniques). It is a cessation of breath, which leads to higher states of consciousness. I experienced both the outer and the inner cessation of breath. After I took a deep breath in, my breath used to stop for around a minute to a minute and a half. During this time the mind felt utterly still and pure. After the inner cession, I would exhale, wherein my breath used to again stop for approximately a minute."

He ends his piece with "Spontaneous states of bliss and ecstasy arise, carrying me to the infinite shore of immense joy."

I had a similar experience where my body began to twist and turn after I dropped to the floor as I came out of the toilet many years back. Though writhing in pain and agony it was true bliss. Agathiyar came to confirm that that was the sign of the sleeping energy in each one of us awakening up. He too added that that was truly blissful. I followed rigidly the many practices given by Agathiyar in the Nadi from 2002 onwards and Tavayogi showed us the techniques from 2007. These practices and efforts are till the second chakra the Svadhistana, says Tavayogi. After that, the Siddha has to come to lead us by the hand. Indeed all our efforts came to an abrupt stop in late 2019. The next two and a half years that coincided with the pandemic saw the dormant energy that was awakened in 2007 stagnate at the chakra associated with the water element that is the Svadhistana. In 2022, the most compassionate guru broke the banks of the pond and released the flood waters to move upstream. This was a turn in moving within as opposed to our external travels previously. When the lake's bank burst, was released spontaneously in a rather dramatic manner. It led to several fainting spells and the body becoming numb and stiffening like a log. But fear not he says it is all a part of the process and has to be experienced and endured when the chakras are activated late in life.

In Ramalinga Adigal's verses from his Arutpa are his experiences in the form of outpourings of songs, he mentions some 12 years of suffering, a result of spontaneous transformation within, where he says only the divine would know the nature and extent of the misery. He finally lets go of all his efforts letting the divine work its way through him. "We will not worry no more, neither will we attempt to slog or work towards it no further. He sings, "We shall withdraw within and wait for the guru's grace to work its beauty in us" 

இனித்துயர் படமாட்டேன் விட்டே னே

என்குரு மேல்ஆணை இட்டே னே.

இனிப்பாடு படமாட்டேன் விட்டே னே

என்னப்பன் மேல்ஆணை இட்டே னே.

These days as the Prapanjam is called upon, it does self-healing taking control of the body. Currently, I am going through a spate of body aches and pains that are at times blissful too. I just watch leaving it to do what it desires. Breathing comes spontaneously whenever a surge of energy comes within us. Every cell begins to vibrate. It is this surge of energy that speaks, heals, and blesses those around. As Tavayogi said once, call it whatever you want but as far as he was concerned it was Agathiyar, I too have come to accept it following the way of my guru. 

The Vishnu Granthi was addressed back then on 6 October 2001 by means of my nephew passing me the Vasudeva mantra that is said to pierce and balance the Vishnu Granthi in a mysterious way and manner. R Venu Gopalan in his book, "The Hidden Mysteries of Kundalini", writes that the Vishnu Granthi adds obstructions for the sadhaka keeping one under the wraps of attachment and bondage. It helps dissolve all the past karmic deeds for a better future. From Awakening State at http://www.awakeningstate.com/spiritual-awakening/om-namo-bhagavate-vasudevaya/, we learn that "This Sanskrit mantra can be practiced to attain freedom (moksha) from Samsara – the “Karmic Wheel” that keeps us bound to cycle after cycle of incarnations. This liberation mantra is a karmic eraser." Agathiyar told me that my past karma stood in the way of deriving the benefits of all my spiritual practices becoming a stumbling block. He gave me the right tool to help me clear my karma. Indeed when I carried out the breathing exercises as shown by Tavayogi in 2007, the prana began to build up within my body to the extent that I feared it would explode. This was the Arambha Avastha. I learned later that there are another two knots Brahma granti and Rudra granthi. I learned further that further practice of pranayama would pierce these too and the six chakras. It was only after 18 years of practice that Agathiyar permitted me to withhold my breath in retention or Kumbhaka bringing me into the second stage of pranayama called Ghata Avastha. Next, we arrive at Parichaya Avastha where the piercing of the Rudra Granthi happens. 

Nishpati avastha would follow subsequently where Kevala kumbhaka or sahaja kumbhaka which is "the holding of the breath with no particular state of respiration in consideration" happens. From asking us to forcefully take control of our breath and later just noticing it, Agathiyar asked us not to place any effort in breathing and told us that it shall go one on its own. We shall arrive at the fourth and final stage called Nishpati avastha, after which there is no longer a need for any yogic practice. This is said to be the state of Samadhi while still alive. 

But to arrive at the state of Samadhi which is a return to the state of contentment one has to cleanse the physical body of the impurities that we have gathered over time. So is it with the many thoughts that we have come to attract? Then when the energy inherent in us is released it does its own clearing. Eventually, the physical home too is cleansed of the rubbish that we have gathered over the years thinking it would do some good in the future. This is what I have seen happening in the short time after Agathiyar had us go within in late 2019 till now. The home now reflects his home he tells us, having brought the Prapanjam down. The Prapanjam does its work just as Agathiyar told me that the energy that was awakened would do its work in us. If Agathiyar came by several years ago and spruced up my home then Bhoganathar came to brighten it further giving it a fresh coat of paint. He had me give away or throw away all that I thought would be useful one day. I guess this is the reason our elders had us clean our homes at least once a year on the pretext of ushering in the Pongal festival. 

First, we are made aware of our past karma by the Siddhas. We are shown ways to cleanse it including performing rituals and charity. They have us drop all previous learnings, cleansing and ridding the wealth of knowledge that we have accumulated over the years from our encounters with others, devotees and holy men, books and all the readings and Satsang and all the listening and following. Standing naked and empty, they begin to fill us up. Bringing us to the next phase, they work on cleaning our body, mind, and thoughts having us observe the eight limbs of yoga. With the energies activated and clearing the path and cleansing the Nadis and Chakras, they open up wonders within the body, without our effort. The body becomes the abode of the divine energies. As it is said that a following evolves around a saint and that a saint's abode becomes a temple now they cleanse the home too turning it into a fitting temple. 

In the movie "Pearl Harbor", the captain tells Cook Miller "The ship is proud of you, son" moments before they are surprised by a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Later when the captain lies dying and dispenses orders to Miller to convey to the crew, Miller tells him "Everyone is where they need to be, Captain. You trained us well." Similarly, if a guru has trained us well we can take charge in any circumstances. The student shall continue his legacy. He does not go seeking another guru. He is complete, filled with his guru's teachings to the brim that he upholds and follows.

Devotion too has to come spontaneously. Bhagawan Ramana speaks about his visits to temples in BV Narasimha Swami's book "Self Realization, The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi", Sri Ramanasramam, 1985. He describes his earlier experiences and that upon his awakening. 

"After the awakening into the new life, I would go almost every evening to the temple. I would go alone and stand before Siva or Meenakshi or Nataraja or the sixty-three saints for long periods. I would feel waves of emotion overcoming me. The former hold on the body had been given up by my spirit since it ceased to cherish the idea 'I am the body'. The spirit therefore longed to have a fresh hold and hence the frequent visits to the temple and the overflow of the soul in profuse tears. This was God's play with the individual spirit. I would stand before Isvara, the controller of the universe and the destinies of all, the omniscient and omnipresent, and occasionally pray for the descent of his grace upon me so that my devotion might increase and become perpetual like that of the sixty-three saints. Mostly I would not pray at all, but let the deep within flow on and into the deep without. Tears would mark this overflow of the soul and not betoken any particular feeling of pleasure or pain."

I began to understand the reasons for the spontaneous flow of tears before the Gods at the temples I visited. The keyword here is spontaneity. 

P. Karthigayan in his "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu, Notion Press, 2016 beautifully summarizes the Siddha path. He writes, "The Siddha cult is initiated on one by fate, encouraged by his nature, kindled by god's will, endured by his aspiration and accomplished by his spontaneous knowledge." One could never come closer than this in describing the core elements that are needed if one were to come to the Siddha path. Even the handful of us who are relatively new to this path can advocate the truth in this. For instance, I was initiated into the path by fate too; encouraged by my nature to thoroughly learn everything that I laid my hands on; every act of mine was kindled by God's will, sustained by his grace, and halted at times out of his compassion and love; indeed I endured it all seeing his aspiration for me to see through his will, and finally I shall accomplish that by the gift of his spontaneous knowledge. 

ATTAINING YOGA

When astrologers instill fear regarding the entry of the planet Saturn into one's horoscope chart, the late Siddha physician and astrologer Dr.Krishnan was the only one who asked that we invite him into our lives. Let us get it done and over with says the doctor. Divine law has placed it such that one's karma shall be paid in full during these periods and we can then move on to better things. Such is the compassion of the divine that it wishes to see us break the shackles of karma. He sends the Siddhas to help us with it. Tavayogi often listens to the problems of people who come up to him. He will tell them the reason stating that it was because of karma after they pour their heart out to him. He will then show them to the Siddhas asking them to worship and recite their names. With sincerity and devotion, they shall see obstacles and hurdles cleared. Above and beyond that one shall gain the strength to face his problems. The Siddhas shall stand by him. Swami Vishnu-Devananda in his "Meditation and Mantras", Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, Om Lotus Publications, 1978, wrote, "Those who experience what seems to be undeserved suffering are only working out previously incurred karma. The law of karma is absolute, and the effect of a desire or tendency must definitely be reaped, although it may be in a different lifetime and under different circumstances. This gives an idea of how long man has been going through birth and rebirth. He has been reincarnating as long as there has been desire. It is the desire that binds him to the physical plane."

The Siddhas are Godsend souls who work hard to bring man out of the dark pit Maya or illusion that lures man into its belly. They become beacons lighting the path so that we see clearly where we step and tread avoiding the pitfalls. Bringing man to rise above his sufferings they prepare him to become pure in all ways. As purity is equated to light, man becomes divine. He then sheds his light on others who come by. When the Siddhas come by know that the dawn of Satya Yuga has begun for him for he has to change his old ways and speak only the truth upholding Satyam or honesty. This is the lifeline that is thrown to him. The moment he speaks a lie one of the many strands of this line snaps and he lowers himself and moves closer into the dark pit. Upholding truth and justice and many other noble thoughts and ways were always expounded by the Siddhas as a means to purify man, cleansing and dropping the veil, and the sheet of ignorance. All the sacred texts speak about good values. All masters speak about them too. Man who upholds these values moves to become divine in the eyes of other men. Worship of the Siddhas brings them further up in the chain of evolution where they step into working to become a Siddha too.

A pure heart is the abode of the divine. A contented soul is a rare commodity these days in this age. Swami Vishnu-Devananda in his "Meditation and Mantras", Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, Om Lotus Publications, 1978, translates a sutra of Patanjali that says, "Liberation (or mukti) takes place when the mind has the same purity as Purusha itself." Patanjali shows the way to Samadhi or absorption, that of knowing and realizing the seed of consciousness. "God resides within you in your heart. This is both the starting and ending point of the journey", wrote Tavayogi in autographing my copy of his book "Andamum Pindamum" 

ஆண்டவன் உரைகின்ற இடம் தங்கள் உள்ளம். அதுவே பயணத்தின் தொடக்கமும் முடிவும்.

Patanjali has laid the means and methods of climbing the stairs or ladder and eventually reaching the kingdom of God that lies within our hearts. BKS Iyengar in revealing Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras", says that sage Patanjali listed ways to attain Yoga or union, beginning with the control and mastery of external issues and finally bringing one within.  The eight aspects or limbs of Yoga of which the first five namely, 

• Yama or restraints and ethics of behavior; 
• Niyama or observances; 
• Asana or physical postures; 
• Praṇayama or control of the prana (breath); and 
• Pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses, 

are known as a forward journey, says Iyengar. Then Patanjali takes us on a reverse path, or a return journey now moving inwards, from the body towards the soul, that is termed as the true renunciation. Contrary to the common belief and understanding of renouncing the world as in leaving the home and all material comforts, BKS Iyengar terms true renunciation as where thoughts, perspectives, and understanding undergo a total transformation as we journey within. We still live in this world but see things differently. We are not perturbed by all that takes place knowing the world to be a stage and we as actors playing a role in it. We sit back and watch the movie that goes by on the widescreen of life. 

Knowing the seed of consciousness and having realized it Patanjali shows the way to Dharaṇa or concentration; Dhyana or meditation; and Samadhi or absorption.

BKS Iyengar in his "Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", HarperCollins Publishers India, 1993, says Patanjali lists four padas namely:

• Samadi pada, that "deals with the science of disciplining the fluctuations of consciousness. For this reason, it begins with the code of conduct",
• Sadhana pada "gives detailed information regarding the practices",
• Vibhuti pada "explains the hidden wealth which comes through these practices", and
• Kaivalya pada "speaks about cultivating actions that cannot produce reactions so that consciousness may dissolve in the light of the soul for the very being." 

If our parents started us off with Samadhi pada which was devotion to the deities, the guru comes to bring us to carry out sadhanas in the Sadhana pada. We then step into the Vibhuti pada moving towards the inner quest (Antaranga sadhana). By having us go within on an internal journey, it gives insight into the very purpose we came for. Finally, "In Kaivalya pada we lose our identities and merge in the soul (emancipation)" says Iyengar. Patanjali shows the way to how one can reach the abode of the soul forever so that all the actions he performs in the world, will not reflect any reaction, hence severing the fine thread of birth and rebirth.

Patanjali authored the "Yoga Sutras", a comprehensive study of the human psyche, some 2,000 years ago. If Patanjali is the father of Yoga, BKS Iyengar is considered the world's greatest teacher of yoga. BKS Iyengar had reversed his fate with sheer determination and effort. Today he stands as a godly and fatherly figure to all who pursue Yoga. I guess Patanjali "incarnated" in him carrying his words and desires to see man become divine. The Siddhas mold us into another Siddha, taking their image, form, and soul. But for all this to happen man has to take the first step. He has to tread the path with dedication and discipline. He has to stay on the path and not go astray. 

Swami Vishnu-Devananda enlightens us, "What is perceived or cognized by an individual is entirely dependant upon the orientation and tendencies of that mind and not on the object itself, for the object is one." Indeed, when I attended a course on Neuro-Linguistic Programming at the office back then during my working days, the tutor held up an ATM card and asked us to describe it. We all answered that it was an ATM card. After hearing us out, he brought us thinking out of the box. To the one seated directly before him, he only saw a line. The one to the side saw the front of the card and the other saw the back of the card. But the card was one. This is how we see life too. 

Swami Vishnu-Devananda enlightens us further. "The object remains the same, but when it is perceived by more than one mind there immediately arise varying views of that object. It is the individual attitudes or karmic situations that determine how a person sees something." He adds that an object is either known or unknown to the mind because of the coloring of the mind. Could this be the various veils of varying colors that Ramalinga Adigal reveals as hiding the truth from our eyes, that deceive us, and create an illusion? For a yogi, there is no positive or negative about karma. For a yogi, karma is neither white nor black, for others it is threefold - black, white, and gray meaning there are subjective reactions to the work that must be carried out, and this, in turn, creates new karma.

Patanjali says that we are not of the body; neither are we the mind. We are the witness, Purusha, the self. Sitting alone in silence, only the Purusha remains. The Purusha witnesses the thought go by and over time loses its attention on it too. What dawns on us during these moments is self-knowledge.

Patanjali concludes, "For a person who has transcended Prakriti, the qualities of nature come to an end for they, the three Gunas, have fulfilled their purpose - which is to push him through growth and to create the field for transformations on the path to self-realization." How wonderful. Reaching the finale. Kaivalya is that state in which the Gunas attain equilibrium and merge in their cause, having no longer a purpose in relation to Purusha. The soul is established in its true nature, which is pure consciousness. End.