The below is the English translation of the 8th chapter of the book VallaYaar written in Tamil by our SarGuru Thiru.Shiva Selvaraj. Previous 7 chapters were already posted in the website.
Catch Hold the Eight
(Chapter-8)
In this world everyone hates the number 8. But this eight is the one that is ruling us.
People use to say that during the day of Astami (8th day after Full Moon and New Moon) we should not
do any auspicious things. But during this day of Astami only lord Krishna took birth as human. We use to
celebrate the birth of lord Krishna in a very grand manner.
In Gnanam our eyes which were denoted by 8 is the residing place of Kannan (Krishnan).
Our saints have used lot of code words and symbols to sing about this eight. If you put together two
zeros (0) then it becomes eight. 00 put together vertically becomes 8. So 8 – 00 is it not like our two
eyes?
Tamil Poet Kannadasan sings about this as “He is the one who is ruling from inside the 0 and who is
bewildering us, if we get to know him then he is the supreme lord”
See how great wisdom is getting conveyed here! The great saints were give the titles before their name
as “Poojya Sri” , Poojya denotes 0. It indicates that one who have understood the importance of 0.
In our body the pupil of our eye is like a zero. In the center of the pupil there is a gate which is of the size
of tip of the needle and inside this gate there is a big kingdom!
We have to know about that only. The king of the kingdom is our lord Kannan (Krishnan- Kannan in
Tamil denotes lord Krishna. Kannan (Kan + Avan) stands for one who is inside our eyes). He is the divine
light of our eyes. The Holy Scripture Bagavat Purana tells that lord krishan opened his mouth and the
entire creation is visible. As we have seen in the previous chapters that the center of the pupil of our
eyes were closed. The opening of that gate which is closing the needle tip size hole is what told as that
when lord Krishna opened his mouth the complete kingdom in it were visible.
This eight which is as our two eyes (00 – 8 when put upside down), were represented by the first Tamil Letter Aa denoting Right eye and in tamil numerals this Aa denotes eight.
The Tamil letter Vu denotes 2 and it represents our left eye. These were the code words.
The great saint poet Avvayar tells “Number and Letter were our eyes”. This is accepted by the great
saint poet Thiruvalluvar in his poem as
“As Number and As letter and these two were the eyes for the living beings”
As number and as letter it is our eyes.
As number 8 and as the first letter in Tamil is the Tamil Alphabet Aa. He tells these were the two eyes
and also tells this is for the living beings. The meaning of this song is for a living being to live without
dying we have to know and realize our two eyes which were denoted by Tamil Alphabets Aa and Vu.
Guru is one who teaches this!
SadGuru is one who teaches and makes one realize this!
Saint Thirumoolar also tells as “Nandi made me realize about 8 and 2”.
Even today if you go to the villages in Tamil Nadu elderly person use to say “What is the necessity of
talk with person who do not know about Aa and Vu.” Our ancestors have told that the one without the
knowledge of “8 denoted by Aa and becoming 2 and represented by Vu” were ignorant ones. So talking
with them is of no use. See how much great wisdom is conveyed in a very simple way!
The great saint Manicavasagar sings as “Oho lord you have made this humble being who do not have
the knowledge of 8 and 2 to preside over great assemblies”.
This 8 represented by Aa which again denotes our right eye and also represents as divine art of sun
(Surya kaalai) and 2 represented by Vu which again denotes our left eye and also represents the
divine art of moon (Chandira kaalai) and Right Eye denotes shiva and left eye denotes Sakthi.
They conveyed all these in code words so that this we will think and the information will go to our
intelligence.
Inorder for us to realize this it was suggested that one should get Guru Upadesha and Deekshai.
The saints have told us that the supreme lord is not somewhere very far off but he is in a very near
and reachable place as 8 and as 2 in our eyes! They have told to catch hold of this eight with our
consciousness or with our feelings.
Since the Philanthropist of Grace wanted the people to know about the greatness and importance of 8
they have conveyed this information as code words and as symbols in various states and of our life.
Our Gnanis have divided our life in to 8 states. Each state has 8 years in it. The food that we take in the
first 8 years will become base for the strength and health of the body. In the second 8 years (age of
16) education that is learnt will become the base. In the third 8 years (24 years) it is important to get
married. In the fourth 8 years (32 age) it is important to get children. During this age time only the body
of man and women will be ideal for marriage and child birth. In the 5th 8 years (till age of 40) one has to earn and save the earnings. In the sixth 8 years (48 age) one has to complete his duty towards his family
members. In the seventh 8 years (56 age) one has to visit all the holy places. In the holy place of india it
is very important to get blessings from numerous saints and temples. In the eighth 8 (64 age) one has to
get to know the importance of 8 and get Guru Upadesa and Deekshai and do penance. Doing penance
should be the only activity in this age and one should become sanyaasi. This is the noble life.
If one knows about the importance of this 8 in his 16th age and learns this education from a sadguru and
does penance and also does his duty truthfully then he will become a noble human. He will become a
Mahatma. He will become a Gnani.
In the villages it was commonly used term for sending someone to the shop “oho my son please go two
eight and come”. Also commonly used “I went two eight and came back”.
Did you see that 8 and 2 were used in this as well.
In order to make us to think about the number 8, our saints have told about this number 8 in different
ways and in different code words. In our body which is of the size of 8 Jhaan (Jhaan is the unit of
measurement with one palms from index finger to thumb stretching outwards. If you measure your
body with this unit of Jhaan it equals 8 for everyone) and if one realizes the eyes which were there as 8
and as 2, and one who realizes the shivam ie divine light in the eyes will get divine wisdom or Gnanam.
Saints were the ones who have got the vision of Lord Muruga in the place called EtuKudi (This place is in
TamilNadu). The real meaning of this is the lord muruga who is residing in Etu (8 in tamil) is the one who
was burn with six heads and from the fire from six eyes of lord shiva. So before getting the darshan of
siva we will get the darshan of his son Muruga who is also called as Lord with six faces. During penance
first we will see our two eyes before us. Only after this we get the vision of divine lights. Our puranas
were given to us by our saints in the form of devotion to convey the Gnanam or divine wisdom.
Our Saint Vallalar has built the Sathya Gnana Sabai in vadalur resembling our head. It is of 8 sides or
Octagonal. In order to demonstrate the vision of divine light of soul in the center of the head our vallalar
made this Sathya Gnana sabai and showed the Jyothi darshan.
“I Saw the Satya Gnana Sabai within me and I was got the law of Sanmarga” – Vallalar.
In horoscope prediction the eighth place denotes Mangalya Sthanam. Mangalyam denotes the holy
thread that husband ties around the neck of wife and it remains with the wife till the husband lives. So
it is auspicious one. This position indicates the strength of a girl’s auspiciousness with his husband. In
Gnanam eight denotes our eyes which is as 8 and also tells about our lord in 8 who is the true husband
for all the Jeevatmas. The lord is our Paramatma.
So if our eight is strong ie our eyes were stronger then we can increase the divine light in it and unite
with our husband in 8 and live a long and blissful life. Living a long blissful life indicates that the gift of
Mangalya will remain forever.
Likewise in india everything is Gnanam or divine wisdom.
Everywhere we find Gnanam. In everything we find Gnanam. In words and in sentences and in scriptures
and in arts and in sports and in ceremonies and in procedures everything denotes Gnanam only. There
is no limit to the compassion of the Gnanis. In order for people to some how get the Gnanam they have
conveyed this Gnanam or divine wisdom in whatever possible means and in all possible ways. Gnanis
were the Philantrophist of Grace. Love, Compassion and Mercy were their characters.
For this humble being in the age of 3rd 8 Our vallalar made me realize the importance of this eight. He
overwhelmed me with his grace without me seeking him. For this humble being in the age of 6th eight
he made me as Guru and made me to sit in the GuruPeeda. His grace is responsible for me to live in
Kanyakumari and do this divine donation to all the people who come here. What a compassion our
vallalar has! It is a drop of vallalar grace which is present within me and it is responsible for me giving
upadesa and Deekshai.
In astral state and with the light body and even today our saint vallalar comes everywhere and does the
work of making people attain the blissful deathless life. It is our duty to surrender at his feet.
The education or philosophy of Sutha Sanmarga is the education of deathlessness.
Our vallalar in many places in his works sings like “I does not even know 8 and 2 but you(the supreme
lord) gave it to me”.
Supreme lord says to vallalar as “You(the supreme lord) told that I am your son and not to fear for
anything and touched my head and told me(gave Upadesha) about eight and two”.
In this way our vallalar at many places have told about the importance of knowing about 8 and 2.
Our saint vallalar also tells that the supreme lord himself thought him about this 8 and 2.
The extract of his work of Thiruvartupa is the ArutperumJyothiAgaval. In this ArutperumJyothiAgaval
also our vallalar has told that “Knowing and realizing the 8 and 2 were the first step”.
So for us to reach the supreme lord and for doing penance knowing about 8 and 2 were the first step.
So we now know that 8 and 2 were our two eyes isn’t?
We can keep on talking about the greatness of importance of this 8. The 8 which is our eyes, how is it?
Using our eyes we see the whole world. But can we see our eyes?
Saint ThiruNavukarasar in his song clearly says as “The killer of time is in my eyes, see it”.
Our eyes which also has all the five basic elements (Panch Pudha) united can be seen when we do
penance.
In the center of the pupil of our eyes there is small hole with the size of tip of needle and closing this is a
small layer of screen and this layer is the seven screens hiding our divinity. This layer will be hard or soft
depending on one’s karma.
There is a saying in Tamil as “Moodevi (goddess of poverty or inauspiciousness) came first”.
When we see with our eyes our mind will start functioning first. Our mind will function depending
on our karma(s). So the first thing that acts is mind which is the servant of our karma. So based on
the functioning of our mind our karma accumulates. If this keep continuing we keep on accumulating
karma(s) daily. In the place where we see – our eyes is where the lord resides and hence called as
Kannan (Kan + Avan – meaning the lord in the eyes). Lord Krishna is called as Kannan in Tamil to denote
that he is present as divine light in our eyes. If we surrender all our actions to lord Kannan or Krishna
present as divine light in our eyes then we do not get any karma. This is what told by lord Krishna
in Bhagavat Gita as “Do your duty and surrender the fruits of the action to me”. In this way if we
surrender everything to lord Krishna then we do not have any karma(s).
As we have seen because of the presence of karma which is there already we get new karma(s). But
how did our past karma came to the place where we see (eyes)?
This is the secret of creation! How does a human born. He takes birth along with his past karmas.
This karma how and when and where does it come? A siddhar song tells as “Other than the two types
of karma (good and bad) there is nothing which holds and follows us everywhere”.
During birth and also during his death it is his karma (fruits of his action) that follows him by clinging to
him.
As we have wrote already birth and death is nothing but coming and leaving of soul from a body. So if
the karma(s) were clinging and following us mean during birth the karma(s) that we have committed
so for comes with the soul and during death the new karma(s) that were got during the life time goes
with the soul.
So it means our karmas were with our soul only, isn’t? It is like dust covering the gold. This karma which
is clinging to our soul is what covers the needle tip size hole present in the center of the pupil and is
the seven layers or screen hiding our divinity.
Only if we surrender to the supreme lord we can escape from this!? How is that possible? “By his
grace only I worshipped his lotus feet” – Saint Manichavasagar in ThiruVasagam. The supreme lord’s
lotus feet is accessible/displaying in our eyes isn’t? How to surrender to this divine light!? It is possible
when one gets Guru Upadesam also called Thiruvadi Upadesam and Deekshai and then do penance
by constantly thinking of the divine light in our eyes , by constantly keeping our mind on the divine
consciousness (got during deekshai) in our eyes, with the sensation in our eyes the divine inner light of
our eyes will increase.
When this divine light increases then the divine heat will also increase. When the divine heat increases
in our eyes then the layer or screen that is covering the needle tip size hole in the center of the pupil will
start to melt and will disappear. As soon as this layer or screen starts melting then we will slowly we will
get the darshan of the divine light of our soul (Anma Jyothi Darshan).
When we do our actions by keeping our mind on lord Krishna or Kannan (divine light of our eyes) then
there will be no karma rising out because of actions. This is the first stage.
By surrendering to that divine light of lord Krishna or Kannan and by increasing the divine light by doing
penance the layer of screen which is our past accumulated karma will start to melt. This is the second
stage.
The karma(s) that we have already accumulated and the karma(s) that we are committing in this birth
will be ridden off if we cling on or embrace the supreme lord.
In this the past karma(s) were in two states. One is the karma that comes new. And the other is the
karma that is already present and is coming now.
To explain more the karma(s) were in three parts. When we get this birth the karma(s) that comes with
us is called Praptham. After birth the karma that we accumulate is Aagamiyam. The karma(s) that we
have committed in so many of our previous births is called Sanchitham.
If we stand at the lotus feet of lord (our mind always on the divine light of our eyes) then Aagamiyam
will not come. By constant penance on the lotus feet of lord the Praptham that we took with us in this
birth will melt away. With our further penance on the lotus feet of lord the accumulated Sanchitha
karma also comes through our soul and will be burn down.
When we do penance the divine light of our soul will increase and only in this increased divine light of
our soul only does the sanchitha karma comes. In this bigger divine heat (Gnana Kanal) the sanchitha
karma will fall one by one and will be burned down. So totally all our karmas will go off or will be burned
down.
The saying “We will win over our fate with our Mathi (meaning moon or Wisdom)” indicates this only.
By doing penance the divine light or divine fire present in moon (our left eye) will become bigger and in
this bigger divine fire all our karmas will be burned down. This is what all the Gnanis or saints have done.
Saint Thirumoolar tells about this in his great work ThiruMantiram as “The saints or Gnanais who have
realized themselves will open the knot of our previous karma, then they will squeeze out the karma
by the grace of lord shiva who is seated on our head”.
“In order to get rid of karma, spread the divine fire within you” – Our saint vallalar.
So if our divine fire is increased by our penance then all our karmas will be ridden off.
In this way if we do penance and increase our divine light in our eyes and get rid of karmas then where is
rebirth again? We get birth only if we have karmas.
We humans who are born because of our karmas, if we get the grace and blessings of a Gnanai or saint
and do penance and remove our karmas then we do not have to take birth again and there is no death
for us.
This information, these divine secrets for the sake of welfare of all and for all the humans to get this
knowledge only our saint vallalar has made me to write and publish this book.
Our saint vallalar has such a compassion on all the people that he wanted all the humans to get the
blissful deathless life.
In order to reach the supreme lord the ways that were told by earlier saints in code words and symbols
were revealed to this humble being by the grace of vallalar and he made me to write all these and
publish as books. Saint Vallalar is indeed a great philanthropist of grace.
So if you ask the question “Who is Philanthropist” then it is our saint Vallalar Ramalinga Swamigal.
So come all the people of the world!
All can get the great blissful life of deathlessness!
Once during the Tamil month of Aani there was a festival in Chidambaram temple called
ThiruManchanam. Some of the beloved persons wanted to go there and see that festival. They thought
of taking our saint vallalar also with them. With this intention they came to Vadalur DharmaSaalai and
waited for our Vallalar. Even after long wait there is no sign of vallalar getting ready. When the beloved
people complained to him, our Vallalar showed them the wall in the Dharma Saalai and asked them
to see in the wall. What a miracle in the wall all the people can see the happenings that is taking place
in Chidambaram temple, which is doing Abhiseka and Aaradhanai to the Lord Nataraj in deity form
in the temple. All of them saw this in the wall itself and felt very happy. It is one of the divine powers
possessed by our vallalar.
Today using our Television set we are seeing live the happenings of the distance places from our
house itself. But before 150 years itself in the wall our vallalar showed the puja that is happening as
ThiruManjana festival in the distant Nataraja temple in the place where he showed his hand.
“Our vallalar has mastered all the divine powers numbering 647 crore”.
Like this in our Vallalar life there were innumerable miracles that have occurred. But our Vallalar has
clearly told and insisted us not to keep mind on these divine powers and our only aim is to attain the
grace of the supreme lord and nothing else.
The three institution founded by our vallalar namely Dharma Saalai, Sathya Gnana Sabai and Siddhi
Vallagam were formed in the lands given as donation by the beloved people. He created all these for the
sake of people from the help got from people itself.
In this rare birth of human our only aim is to get the “blissful deathless life”. So he advised us not to
concentrate and keep mind on small earthly matters and instead always worship and pray the supreme
lord.
In order to tell the name of vallalar my tongue has done crores of Punniya or good things. In order to
read and see the divine work of Vallalar which is Thiruvarutpa my eyes have done crores of punniya. In
order to hear the songs of Thiruvarutpa and MahaMantra given by our saint Vallalar my ears have done
crores of Punniya. Going to vadalur and seeing the ThaiPoosa Jyothi my eyes and the body which went
there has done crores of punniya.
For the past 28 years I was very happy in doing the service of Sanmarga.
By the grace of ThiruVarutPrakasa Vallalar I have got Thiruvadi Deekshai and from the year 1980
onwards I am running the Sanmarga Sangam. So for starting from the book Kanmani maalai Vallalar has
made me to write more than 28 books and publish them by his grace.
For the past 8 years Vallalar has made me as Guru by seating me in GuruPeeda and from inside me has
given Thiruvadi Deekshai to more than 1000 beloved members.
In the year 2008 this humble being disciples, during Thai Poosam in Kanyakumari they have built a house
and Sabai called “Thanga Jyothi” and gave as offering to me.
The birth taken by this humble being has become noble! I became the noble vessel having the
compassion and mercy of our saint vallalar.
In order for all the human beings to get the blissful deathless life as told by our saint vallalar my only job
is to give Thiruvadi Deekshai and guide the people.
It is our saint vallalar who is speaking from me.
ArutPerum Jyothi ArutPerum Jyothi
ThaniPerum Karunai ArutPerum Jyothi.
In order for the noble thought of oneness of soul spread throughout the word !
In order for the Sanadhana Dharmam – Sanmargam to be present and grow in this world!
The Supreme lord accepted by all the people of the world!
The Single Supreme lord honored by all the religion of the world!
The divine grace light which is present everywhere and capable of everything!
Realize the lord of the Supreme divine Grace Light!
Let everyone get the blissful deathless life!
Let everyone come!
Let us be of love!
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Previous Chapter – Chapter 7