Generally, ‘achievement’ means any remarkable performance or talent which leads one to success in a particular field. For example, sports and games. These are recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. In our life, what we mean by achievement is doing successful penance and perform miraculous acts. So many saints have performed miracles which scientists cannot achieve. For example, some saints have brought life to a person who is already dead. Achievers in various walks of life cannot be compared with the saints who have performed such miracles.
Focusing one’s attention and doing staunch penance will make him “super achiever”. Astrology developed by saints are based on astronomical facts. This art of studying about the position of planets was developed thousands of years ago. Those scientific facts discovered by modern astronomers are already in the Hindu Almanac. Foreigners are carrying coal to India, the “New Castle’. But we, Indians, are ignorant about the remarkable heritage of India.
There are five classical languages in the world – Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit and Tamil. Except Sanskrit and Tamil, other languages have gone out of use and only modern versions of these tongues have been spoken today.
Sanskrit and Tamil are endowed with divine qualities and refined cultural practices. Being the ancient cradle of human civilization, India has taught civilization to all other newly developed continents of the world. Archaeologists have excavated many “Siva Linga” sculptures from time to time, which is the symbol of Hindu worship in various countries. This is what Thirumoolar said: Tamil language was spoken in all five continents. This statement has been proved with so many archaeological findings. The ancient Saivite saying, which proclaims, “Oh Lord Shiva, the God of South India who is also the God of all people in other continents. We adore you!”, is a universal truth. The whole world was practising the “Sanadhana Dharma” (strict adherence to duties, as prescribed by scriptures, according to one’s position and station in life). The most ancient form of worship is the worship of Sivalingam. Our tradition is full of noble ideas, but we are not aware of them.
Atheists in India criticise us because of their ignorance which forbids them from perceiving truth in the practices of Hindu religion; it does not mean that there is no God. Narendran asked the saint, Ramakrishna, to show him God. So he made Narendran realize God. Narendran transformed himself and became a great warrior saint Vivekananda and Ramakrishna became Paramahamsar.
Raise questions but to the appropriate deserving person. If you do not understand, ask yourself. Socrates said: Ask yourself !. Finally, you will get the answer.
Vallalar sings: Oh Moon! show me a magical trick to reach the happy state through self-realization. He has asked this favour from the Moon and not from the Sun. This is because the Moon is endowed with many magical, mystical powers.
Questions raised by Narendran were answered by a good spiritual teacher. So many people advocate atheism because they do not find many spiritual teachers around them. Those who can convince them keep quiet thinking that answers to the spiritual questions are divine secrets. Bogus teachers of spiritualism are found everywhere. Most of the leaders of monasteries are interested in luxurious life, spending money lavishly to satisfy their selfish lower self. They appear to be spiritual teachers but have not realized the meaning of spiritualism.
In fact, my books “Kanmani Maalai and Arulmani Maalai” are mainly meant for those bogus teachers and they must read them to understand the right path of salvation.
Vallalar aptly sings:
The Enormous light of divine grace showed me the ways and means to practise universal love.
Vallalar pointed out that the path of salvation is only through “eyes”. Of course, many saints and spiritual guides (siddhars) also have pointed out the same path for self-realization. In fact, it was Vallalar who stayed in me and made me write these two books. This is a true statement and not an exaggeration. The purpose of these books is to make all people realize the true path to attain salvation.
Agathiar says: God dances in the form of light, being emitted from the Sun and the Moon – the two eyes. He has explained the mystic path in a straight forward manner. One who thinks deeply will realize the truth.
Spiritual teachers must learn and interpret such multitudinous meaningful songs. Like Thirugnana Sambandar, who led a large group of people to see God, the spiritual teachers must train the devotees by describing the nature of God and showing the way to reach Him. It is a pity that they themselves have not realized the path, how can they tell others?
There are some others who give wrong interpretation to such mystical songs and make themselves fools. In turn, they make all their followers fools.
Agathiar said:Parappile villaathe, thalai erandaahum. (Don’t make it public: two eyes are important parts of the body in the head.) The eyes are the most important organs of the body for self-realization. This is what Saint Agasthiar said.
The so-called spiritual teachers interpret that you must not tell others and if you do, your head will burst. Do you think a true saint will instruct his disciples like this? Bogus teachers threaten their followers and keep them under their control as their disciples.
The spiritual teacher of Ramanujar warned him that if he revealed the “mantra” (holy words) he would go to hell. Ramanujar climbed up the short tower in Srirangam Temple and proclaimed: I don’t mind going to the hell; let others who listen to this mantra (holy words) go to heaven. Then he recited the mantra so loudly that everyone would hear it and benefit from it. Then only his spiritual teacher realized his grave mistake. Ramanujar is a remarkable reform-oriented saint.
“Parappile villaathe, thalai irandaagum”. The surface level meaning is: Don’t make it public; there are two heads. The correct interpretation is: Don’t reveal it publicly; the most important parts of the body are in the head, and they are two eyes; A Tamil saying tells us: Head is the most important part of the human body whose length is eight measures. The head has got all five sensory organs. Among them, eyes are the most important. This kind of sayings are known as secret spiritual codes. The teachers must give right interpretation to these cryptic sayings politely with love for his disciples.
This is how a teacher must interpret the songs of mystics. One need not be a great scholar to understand the deeper meaning of these short expressions. Devotion to God and the desire to reach God are enough to understand these mystic songs. Think and feel the presence of God in your soul. Manickavasagar says: As Lord Shiva is in my mind, I was able to get His blessings by worshipping His feet (eyes).
It is Lord Shiva who is present in the mind who makes us think. The same God stays steadfast in our eyes in the form of life-giving light. This experience about divinity can be realized only through the spiritual teacher.
Let us understand this first. God is Omnipresent in the universe as well as the human body in microcosmic form. The eyes in the head are endowed with all five elements of the universe – earth, air, water, fire and ether. God is in the form of light in these eyes. One must understand this message, beyond any doubt. It is revealed as preachings (sruti ) , which clear all our doubts.
Secondly we must realize that God is present in our eyes in the form of light. The spiritual teacher is one who makes us understand and realize this truth. There is a Tamil proverb: No art can be learnt without any demonstration. So one must learn from the deserving teacher. What is heard must be understood through institution.
Thirdly, we are endowed with the power of light in the eyes. As Vallalar said we must think and feel the power of love and as a result, the eyes will be filled with tears which flow continuously and drench our body. This is the spiritual experience which provides us the unbounded bliss. This will be experienced after continuous practice. Our enthusiasm and committed will power will take us to the higher level of spiritualism.
When we meditate upon the “true” soul we can realize Shiva in the form of light, present in our soul. Only this experience leads us to self-realization. Finally, we enjoy the blissful state – the greatest divine bliss. We achieve this blissful state through realizing the “truth” and wisdom. These three levels are called sat, chit and anandham. That is, sachidanandam.
We must learn about these wisdom-based perceptions and lead a long life following what we have realized already. This is what all saints preached after reaching the highest state of bliss. Teaching about this spiritual experience is the primary duty of a spiritual teacher. This is service to God and humanity. Only this service I have been rendering for many years.
Tamil saints have blessed us with many methods of meditation in various levels. Basically, there are four levels; each of them further divided into four sub levels. In all, we can understand that there are ( 4 x 4) 16 levels to go through in the process of meditation. Let us analyze this combination.
Sariyai – Kiriyai – Yogam – Gnanam
Kiriyai – Sariyai – Sariyai – Sariyai
Yogam – Yogam – Kiriyai – Kiriyai
Gnanam – Gnanam – Gnanam – Yogam
Vallalar and many other saints have shown the path of wisdom. They have offered methods to the people, who have been suffering for many births, without knowing the right path of wisdom to realize God.
Thiruarutprakasa Vallalar offers a method to do meditation. He gives a three-fold path — pasiththiru, thaniththiru, vizhiththiru. The expression means: feel the spiritual hunger, develop the desire to realize God by remaining uniquely alone and be constantly vigilant in order to attain self-realized state. The soul must have such abundant hunger to reach the goal.
Thaniththiru: Be alone. This does not mean that one should go to forest and do penance alone. It means you must think about your own soul and be united with it. Feel the individuality of your own soul. Awareness – Be vigilant always and meditate keeping your eyes open. It is one of the most important aspects of meditation.
In short, search for answers for the questions – who am I ? who is God ? with spiritual hunger, without any distractions caused by worldly affairs. You must have the unique feeling of individuality about your soul and meditate with eyes open. It is important to keep one’s eyes open in order to achieve wise state.
Pasiththiru: You must have thirst for knowledge to find “who you are” and “who the God is”. Practise single – minded devotion without giving room for any other worldly thoughts; feel that you are a unique entity – the soul; meditate with your eyes open.
To start with, meditate upon the object – “the jyothi”. Light up a lamp and sit in front of the light. Look at the light coming out of the lamp and sit for a while with your eyes open. Never keep any picture of God or Goddess in front of you. We are trying to transcend the practice of meditating with an object or picture in front of us.
Practise meditation this way for quite some days. Slowly, you will see some changes in the light of the lamp. At one point of time, you may not see anything. You will start shedding tears continuously. You must not move, or think of anything else.
As you continue to practise meditation, you will witness many unique things and experience hither-to-unknown state of bliss. At this stage the supreme spiritual teacher will guide you to take further steps of self – realization. This state is called “Sariyai in Gnana”, the thirteenth step in meditation. Once you continue to practise until you reach this stage of meditation, you need not light a lamp in front. You can meditate anytime, anywhere with your eyes open. This is the way to salavation (Mukthi).
Would you like to know how Ramalinga Swamigal started his meditation in his early life? He kept a lighted lamp in front of a large-sized mirror in a room upstairs. He sat in front of the lamp. He saw his own image in the mirror and looked at the light of the lamp reflected in his eyes and practised meditation.
Within a few days, Ramalingar saw the divine vision of “six lights” (Arul Jyothi) which mirrored in his eyes. Ramalingar says: seer konda deiva vadivangal arum … en kannutrathe (My eyes witnessed the unique six divine visions). This is the divine experience of enlightenment and wisdom. You reach God only when you meditate with unflinching determination.
You can see and experience it with your eyes through your eyes. This is the highest state of spiritual wisdom. One who realizes this truth is fortunate; one who follows it becomes a noble person; one who experiences this is the enlightened soul.
Those who practise “equality of spiritually united souls” (aanmaneya orumaippadudaiya meyyanbargale!) listen. Is there any better ways and means to realize the God? Start your journey of self-realization at this moment.