What True Penance (Thavam) Is Not
How should one perform penance (Thavam)? Penance is not the chanting of mantras! Penance is not performing rituals or lighting sacrificial fires (Yagyam)! Penance is not Pranayama, Vasi Yoga, or any other form of yoga! Penance is not any physical act of mortifying or straining the body!
The True Definition of Penance
Penance is simply the practice—the effort—of being still (summa irundhu – surrender to lotus feet), after receiving the gift/deeksha of divine wisdom (Jnana Dhanam) from a True Spiritual Master (Meignana Satguru), to contemplate, experience, and realize the answer to “Who am I?”
The Divine Light Within and the Seven Veils
God shines within our body, at the center of the pupil of the eye, as a light the size of a needlepoint inside an aperture no larger than a needlepoint! A thin membrane covers this needlepoint-sized aperture. This is what Vallalar referred to as the “veil” (Thirai– veils in temple). It is formed by our three impurities (Mummalam) and subtly exists across seven levels as seven veils. The Divine Light (Jothi) resides within! The Jothi Darshan at the Sathya Gnana Sabhai in Vadalur was built and is demonstrated based on this very metaphysical structure. Note what Vallal Peruman declared: “I beheld the Sathya Gnana Sabhai within myself, and attained the realization of Sanmarga!”
The Practice of Penance and Its Ultimate Fruits
Upon receiving initiation (Guru Deeksha) from the Master, feeling the divine sensation in our eyes, and continuously dwelling upon and feeling that awareness, tears will flow profusely like a cascading waterfall! If one continues penance in this manner, many spiritual experiences can be attained. As Vallal Peruman described in Gnana Sariyai, if we perform penance this way, we can obtain the ultimate boon—the grand deathless life (Maranamilla Peruvazhvu) and freedom from the cycle of rebirth! Arutperunjothi (Grace Supreme Light)!
– Gnana sarguru Siva Selvaraj Ayya