Our ancestors have devised four paths to attain godhood. They are: Chariyai (Devotion), Kriyai(Action/Service), Yogam(Yogic exercises) and Gnanam(Wisdom). The great saints of yore have briefly explained: “Chariyai” refers to “cleaning the body (taking bath) and worshipping in the temple”. “Kriyai” includes worshipping divine sculptures, penance, chanting divine names and fire worship. “Yogam” performing different exercises for the mind and body.
“Jnanam” means “realizing one’s soul”. To reach the final stage of self-realization, we must ask the following: who am I? When was I born? How and why should we be born? What is meant by “birth”? The world has been in existence even before I was born. If so, where was I during that period? From where have I been born into this place? What is life? Why and for whom should I live? We must ask ourselves so many questions related to our existence and try to get answers for them.
Knowing about our souls is spiritual wisdom. Our souls reside in our bodies. God is present in our souls and manifests himself through the light of eyes. Our eyes are the entry points for all our experiences. If we focus our attention of our thoughts through eyes, we can see and speak to God through our mind. Being quiet and concentrating on the calmness of mind, one can acquire wisdom. The great spiritual wisdom is the outcome of quietness which provides us the greatest spiritual joy.
Our elders used to advise us: kannum karuththumai iru. This means: Be cautious and concentrate on the eyes. Soon you will enjoy the greatest pleasures.
Avviyar said: monamenbathu jnana varambe. It means: the way to attain wisdom is quiet eyes, and silence is the secret of success while attempting to obtain spiritual wisdom.
Complete knowledge is referred to as spiritual wisdom. Even if we keep on struggling to know the secrets of the universe through science we cannot succeed in these attempts. We may say that our scientific knowledge increases. However, scientists had been struggling to determine whether the earth is flat or round for many centuries. At last, they have decided that it is spherical. Our knowledge about science and other planets have developed during the past two hundred years. On the contrary, our ancestors have understood the nature of universe and position of planets through their penance and wisdom. They have designed their life constructively through their wisdom and spirituality. They have recorded their knowledge and experience about the universe in their writings called Almanac, Vedas, Epics and some other philosophical treatises.
The forms and functions of nature and the universe have been realized by our ancestors with the help of wisdom and the power of “inward eye”. The planets and their satellites have been symbolically identified by the saints. This has paved the way to understand the nature of universe and worship the planets according to their positions and movements.
In ancient days, people worshipped nature – its five elements known as earth, air, water, fire and ether. The nature of the five elements was understood by our ancestors and so they were deified. This is how the Hindu way of life (Sanadhana Dharma) was developed and practised as our tradition and then as our culture.
The saints have understood that the whole universe is made of five elements in different combinations and forms. They have realized the presence of universe in their microcosmic soul. The universe and human being are of the same substance. By sitting in a place and doing austere penance, they have understood the nature of universe and recorded the knowledge for future generations. We cannot read and understand all the treatises published by the saints even if we try to finish reading all of them in our life time.
Such a rare store house of knowledge has been offered to us. No other culture in the world is endowed with such a volume of knowledge about the universe. In fact, they are abundant in Tamil. It is difficult to read all the books, but choose the right kind of books which provide us everything about the spiritual wisdom. This is the succinct way of realizing God. All saints have told us in a special code. The world is made of five elements so also the human body is. In addition, we must understand the universe, in the minute form which is present in human eyes. God is present in the smallest part of eyes in the form of light. This is what the saints call the dance of Nataraja.
Once we realize this truth, and do penance, we will have no suffering in this life. When we lead such an austere life knowing this fundamental truth, we will realize all secrets of the universe. The God dwelling in our soul will guide us to acquire complete knowledge. Such knowledge is spiritual wisdom.
All saints of world have preached about the same spiritual state. The Bible, the Quran, the Vedas and scriptures of religious have showed us the path of wisdom. The aim is to know that God is one.
Nobody can deny this birth. However, people quarrel and differ in their views and beliefs.
Will this world become united and be one? Yes, it will. The ways and means are given in the ancient Hindu way of life. This is what we call “clean universal path” (sanmaargam). This path finds unity in diversity. Just as we have five fingers of different size and shape, people believing in different religions must become united with the feeling that we are children of God.
We must respect the beliefs and faiths of other people; we must never degrade them. Let us help each other make all people live happily. Everyone must be allowed to worship and follow the religion according to their choice. One must not be an impediment to others. Harm nobody through wicked or evil deeds; nor wound the feelings of others. God is one and the human race too.
If everyone realize this truth and practise these principles, the whole world will turn into Heaven. Be broadminded; treat other living beings just as you treat your own body and soul. Whether we are good to others or not, let us not harm others.
Our spiritual leaders in Tamilnadu have taught us the wisdom at all stages of life. Even the children in their play, “Blind man’s buff” have been taught about realizing God through sound waves and light. It is a game in which a player whose eyes are covered with a piece of cloth tries to catch and identify the other players by recognizing their voice.
This is the path of wisdom. We realize the power of eyes, concentrate and do penance, and eventually we hear the divine voice. Slowly it becomes ten different voices. If we carefully search for the origin of this voice, our mind will realize the divine light (Jyothi) and experience the vision of Jyothi (Jyothi Dharishanam )
Our eyes must be open for meditation. We must look inside and not what is presented to us in front of us. This is meditation, penance and wisdom. In India the spirituality and wisdom have been taught through games.
This is a sacred land. Saints ask others to make sure whether people know the answer.True entity is the holy feet which further means “eyes”. In short, all our attention will be towards eyes.
In Tamil, Spirituality is taught through arithmetic. What is ‘8’ plus ‘2’? Everyone will say “10”. This is a symbolic expression. Some saints have sung about this: They sang: I do not know the meaning of “eight” and “two”. In Tamil number “Eight” is represented as “a”, the first short vowel in the Tamil alphabet and “Two” is represented as “u”, the fifth vowel sound. These two numbers symbolically stand for the “Sun” and the “Moon” – ie., the right eye and the left eye. In short, they refer to “two eyes” Great saints used to sing that they had struggled without knowing the meaning of these two Tamil letters. Eight (a) and Two( u) becomes ten (ya). So, they stand for the sun, the moon and the fire (Agni). These three sparks are united through penance. This is what is to be achieved through meditaion.
Vallalar blesses thus: these three sparks finally end in the illuminated feet of light (Jyothi padham).
Once a saint was giving a lecture in a religious festival. He asked the audience how many of them knew arithmetic – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Some people put up their hands. Others did not understand the question and kept quiet. The saint further said: you know the process but have not understood the meaning.
The saint explained: first of all sweep the rubbish with a broom and collect all the unwanted things and then dispose them off. Don’t you know? All people laughed.
The speaker again asked: How many of you are doing these arithmetic operations? All of them indicated that they were doing them. Again the saint said that nobody in the congregation knew about it. Now the people were surprised.
The meaning is symbolic. He said: it is not sweeping the room, but sweeping the mind which is full of lust, enmity, jealousy and similar rubbish. All these bad qualities must not be allowed to grow, instead, they must be wiped off the mind. Then only the mind will experience the light. How many of you know the symbolic meaning of these operations? Everyone kept quiet to accept that they did not know the meaning.
One who knows the meaning of these operations will receive the spiritual wisdom after doing penance abiding by all the regulations connected with them.
Philosophically each word has a significant meaning. In Tamil we say: “Samiyaar”. It can be split into saami + yar (who is God?). One who meditates upon this question and does penance is called a “saamiyar”
Who is a saint? One who has realized that “I am in you” “Siddhar” is one who has complete control over his senses and becomes disciplined. “Kadavul” means that we will realize Him only when we come out of our mind.
The meaning of our life is to attain spiritual wisdom. Complete knowledge leads to spiritual wisdom which is achieved through disciplined approach by soul. This is what is explained throughout this book. Thirumoolar in Thirumanthiram says: The body is the temple; thinking about the right and left eyes will lead to unity with God. The saint points out that this is the process of penance. During the process the eyes meet the “heat” coming from the centre of the forehead and hears the sound and then experiences the sight of Shiva in the form of light. Thirumoolar explains to us about the method of doing penance and the divine experience we derive from it. Divine knowledge can be obtained by worshipping the feet of God.