Search This Blog

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Adhavan (4): The Complete Surrender

Chapter 3: The Complete Surrender

Water flow, high to low...



Translation


Didn’t immaculately venerate the sadguru who transformed you
The Guru gives, lunatics, will they swim across with that?
Lunatics helped by the Guru and the disciples who surrender to him
Face the sufferings of the cotton in making, all twelve experienced the same.
—Siddhar Sivavakkiyar Song (314)

A rabbit was nibbling on half the carrot held tightly in Adhavan’s right hand. Tired of the nibbling, it tried to pull out the remnant of it. Macham, deliberately ignored the rabbit allowing it to continue its play, hoping that will somehow wake up Adhavan. That did wake him up. He chased away the rabbit and found to his surprise that it was half past noon. He had gone without food for almost twenty four hours. Finally, he took some time to eat his part of the carrot, handed over by Macham during the morning hours. He was squatting near him with his palms closed before his face and staring emptily into the space. Adhavan was not sure if he could approach him. He was engrossed with something that Adhavan was not able to comprehend, hence waited in patience, for him to pay his attention.

In the mean time, Adhavan went through the arguments he had with Macham and the way his thought patterns were paralyzed by his venomous spits. He found to his dismay that he was stripped of his thoughts and was left naked. The nakedness he meant here is not the state where the mind goes blank, it is something more than that which he was not able to express in words. Especially, the light he saw and the ringing he heard, how could he explain them? What would he call them? Why did it happen to him at the moment Macham blew on his forehead? Why should it not happen when he shocked him with his presence, when he we peeping into the rift? What would be the logical answer to the incident? He turned back and saw Macham watching him. He knew he must have read his thoughts. Quietly he went and sat near Macham.

Macham, was in deep thoughts, he was not sure if  it is the right time to take Adhavan directly, to meet Athri. He looked at Adhavan. He is still a child. He was not aware of his previous births and he has not come into terms with his vocation yet. Moreover, he has not realized his potential, only today he has been drawn into the stillness. He looked at Adhavan and uttered,

“The state you were in is stillness. It is not blankness. The latter is momentary and thoughts rush in vehemently after that momentary blank out, like water rushing into a flush. Whereas stillness pervades and remains as long as you want it to be, it may only elude you if you don’t watch it.”

You saw the light and heard the sound, during the inner stillness. Today, you just had a glimpse of the path of light. What you have experienced today is the starting point. To quantify and make you understand, it is just one of millionth possibilities that a human being is capable of then imagine the limitless potential human excellence could stretch and touch.”

Macham then took a twig, made a square in the center, at each end of the square he drew a circle and named them one, two, three and four respectively. Inside the square he marked the edges with the directions north, east, south and west that aligned with the circles, one to four. Then from each circle he drew two more circles at equal angles, he created eight new circles, named them five, six and on till twelve. Circle five started immediately below four. He repeated it systematically and created a third circle with sixteen circles in it and a fourth circle with thirty two circles in it. Thus he created a set of sixty circles held by four different circles symmetrically.

As Macham was drawing these circles in silence, Adhavan’s mind was racing in all directions. What could these circles be? Are there so many circles that he needs to see like the one he saw today? Is it something in one’s body that needs to be tweaked to attain the human excellence he talked about a few minutes before? Is it important nadis in one’s body that needs to be attuned to master oneself? Macham raised his index finger, smiled sarcastically and said, “Hush!” Adhavan felt insulted and seriously wondered if his thoughts are being read like an open book. Macham might be stupendous in other things, but he thought himself to be better at ‘thinking’. That could supposedly be one of the reasons why he is being looked down by Macham. He felt embarrassed at his own thoughts and the pattern it evolves into. 

In the South East direction, Macham pointed a circle in the second concentric circle and said, “Athri’s reside here”. In the North West direction in the fourth concentric circle he pointed a spot and said, “Mine reside here”. Just below that circle he pointed a place and said, “We are here right now”.

Each circle is a representation of a hillock, the whole range is a distinct cluster of these, tailored by the divine hands into a beautiful paradise. Squaring of the range in the equi-center is the peculiar notable natural formation that magically pulled people with deep down spiritual inclination from all parts of the world.

After a momentary pause, Macham, looked into the space and continued to recite,

One expends energy on every single thought one makes. Not only does the energy is wasted, but the time lost cannot be regained. Thinking incessantly is an uncontrollable weakness and an inexorable addiction it needs to be disciplined and structured so that it can be lashed out effectively under any circumstances. If one has mastered oneself, one will think at their will, else they will always be a puppet of thoughts.”

Then Macham looked at Adhavan and said,

You might have the best of thoughts, but you have a very poor reign over it and they flood you turbulently and terminate the divine connection impulsively—the one you had today morning with the yourself and the light. Don’t you remember the bright cord of light you saw in your forehead today, through which you connected yourself beyond the realms of your petty, frigid, timid mind?

Yes, I can read your mind and can do much more than you can even imagine of, Athri walking on the waters is one such. Your arrogance is blinding you. The pride about thinking is taking you away from the stillness and the light. You need to be honest and sincere to yourself so by, you will turn out to be genuinely humble. Water flows from high to low. And for a very raw natural phenomena such as this, it suits the subject of discussion indeed well. Water flow, high to low...”

Now I am very sure, you are not at all ready to meet Athri. You will stay with us and be trained by my wife, Sarutha”.

It was very difficult for Adhavan to digest all that was talked about. Whenever Macham recites he takes a different tone; words flow out of him, uninhibitedly; echo from a deep well and they keep resonating in his head. They create a mild slumber and instill thoughts. He felt hallucinated. He half heartedly nodded and muttered “yes”.

Macham knew that Adhavan has started feeling uncomfortable with him because of his overpowering nature that he has not come into terms with. Obviously back home, he must have easily won all the endeavors he had faced so far. He has started to compare himself with Macham and found himself nowhere near him. This has hurt him and he has to find some way to prove himself better, at the least in few occasions. This really worried Macham, if it is about learning an art or even a science, it doesn't really matter, whereas mastering oneself is all about letting the inherent fluidity flow enchantingly without inhibitions. The measurable objectives may actually hamper him from achieving the stillness the most essential for any further development. This is neither about winning nor about losing and this is not a game being played with a set of predefined goals. This is about stillness. A mind ravaged with competitive spirit and gusto can’t let thoughts drift away, rather they will be glued to solidarity and will be focussed on winning. Adhavan has to understand this and should be concerned about himself rather than troubling himself with questions such as How good Macham is? Is he better than Macham? Will he ever beat Macham? Etc. Though Macham understood Adhavan’s turmoil perfectly he decided to seek Athri’s help in this regard.

Macham walked a few paces away, leaned on a nearby boulder; his eyes closed; face lifted upwards; his right hand index finger stroking the crown of his head. The stroking stopped and he stood like a statue in all its majesty and elegance. In less than a few minutes, he walked slowly towards Adhavan took him softly by his hands and led him to nearby Bamboo shrubs. He made an eight foot slender staff, an inch wide. He gave that to Adhavan and asked him to show off his skills. He grasped the staff forcefully, it was much smaller than what he had before and started whirling it around with all his might. Each stroke was a hit back and he vented all his emotions through the staff. He played with it for almost half an hour. Drained of energy, he collapsed face down on the ground. This quietened Adhavan but to his dismay, there wasn't even a mild flicker of awe in Macham’s face that he most expected that could have easily surpassed the day’s pang. Annoyed, he passed the staff back in such a way it demanded Macham to present his skills. He threw back the staff to Adhavan, took a twig, the size of his little finger flipped it up to see its suppleness and fall. It floated in the air, it moved wherever Macham pointed his right arm index finger. He guided it with a single hand. The left arm was folded behind his back. The twig steamed outwards; dangled in the mid air; swayed back and forth. Then he whirled the twig without touching it just by rotating his index finger in circular movements, allowing it to gain momentum and torque. Suddenly, in a flash of a moment, he shot it straight into the Bamboo staff with a slight usher of force, in no matter of time and it has ripped open both the sides of the staff. Adhavan smelt charring of fresh wood, to his astonishment the twig has burnt the edges of the staff where it has penetrated it. He then touched the spot and found it red hot. It almost burnt his finger. His thoughts disappeared along with the raw indistinguishable faint smoke—an exemplary expression of Macham's. This all happened so fast. The movements were in complete harmony with the nature. Macham, was one with the twig and he danced intimately with the twig. The fluid embrace with which he carried the twig along with him, the oneness with which he bound himself to the twig was a splendid affair the divinity presented through Macham. Adhavan found a flicker of awe in his face. Macham smiled softly, approached Adhavan and whispered in his ears,

With a few more twigs in a stretch I could have easily smattered you and your staff. Remember, I will not say this again, The Guru you are seeking, Athri, is literally a thousand times better than me. Behold the news in your heart. He is willing to see you, only when you are ready for him.

Now, Adhavan knew he had a long, long way to go. Finally, he accepted with all his heart that he needs extensive physical drill and red wrought forging of mind. Right there Adhavan fell to his feet, prostrated himself before Macham and kissed his feet. He felt light and happy. He knew he had done the right thing. Macham took him by his shoulders and started talking almost in whispers,

One prostrates before his god in devotion; before his forefathers in gratitude and respect. Why me? Who am I to you? Why should you prostrate before me? Is it because I posses some extraordinary skill? Is it a skill? If it is a skill, I could teach you the basics in a day’s time. What about mastering oneself and the universe? Which is neither a subject nor a skill? How could it be taught?”

“In Siddhar’s tradition, Guru penetrates into the disciples psyche spiritually; takes him along with him; governs him and entitles him with whatever he has been forborne with and whatever he has mastered and whatever his Guru has given him with. In such a state they are one they are not two different entities anymore. They make love spiritually they are soldered smoothly even the fine thread of guru disciple distinction starts vanishing. Guru takes the lead, breaks all barriers and sees beyond the realms of the human mind, thus the disciple entangled, gets a glimpse of the divinity within himself.”

“There are other schools of disciplines here too, that teaches rasavatham, kuligai, adimurai, yogamurai, vaithiyam, katidakalai, nadi jothidam, varmam, vanasasthiram, isai, natiyam, kanitham, porkalai, ilakkanam, illakkiyam, vasiyam etc. where we have well learnt, highly knowledgeable professional teachers, who till date teach and share their indisputable knowledge, but they are not Gurus. This I am telling you so that you can clearly differentiate between a Guru and a teacher. A Guru can be a teacher in any of the native discipline he is basically from but for a teacher to be a Guru he should have taken up the vocation and must have forged himself to be a good well acclaimed disciple. All disciples need not be Gurus.”

“Prostrating before a Guru is the sign of complete surrender, physically, it is not a mandatory practice, but the state is a must essential for the disciple. Only when you completely surrender yourself, you will be able to partake in their spiritual journey and master the most revered human excellence—ashtama siddhis.”

“Remember me and the twig, that is how Guru and disciple act together in harmony and accomplish together what they have set forth. The gates open, only when, one completely surrenders oneself. That doesn't mean one surrenders oneself completely, if one prostrates before the Guru—it is just a physical representation of the self. Rather, it is in ‘you’. The ‘you’ should surrender so that there aren't any more ‘you’. That is the ideal relationship between the Guru and the disciple. Surrendering happens naturally with prostrating oneself  that is the reason why the disciples prostrate before their Gurus. This should neither be confused with prostration before their gods in devotion nor the prostration before their parents and elders as an expression of reverence and gratitude.

This level of clarity is required for you so that you don’t need to think about it anymore, to be honest, I am not your Guru rather I am your friend which you will understand as the days roll by. The one you came looking for, is your Guru and he has requested me to take care of you; feed your spiritual quest; and get yourself ready for the final journey.”

After a momentary pause, Macham explained the route they are going to take to reach his place—The Laughing Hills. It would take a day’s journey. But for the nights rest, they may take one more day. Macham softly murmured, “Your training with Sarutha will start the day after tomorrow.”

They went back to the rift in the Peepul tree. Macham took his hunting knife from the safe hood and tied it around his dhoti. He found his staff, picked it up from the soft grasses and geared up for the journey. Adhavan picked up the twig-drilled Bamboo staff; wrapped the additional dhoti around the head and was ready for the journey with the beautiful self-made turban resting on his head. They looked at each other, then simultaneously looked up to the heavens. Macham stared into the direction they need to go and commanded, “Let’s go.”
(To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 02/13/2015; 02/14/2015; 02/16/2015; 02/17/2015.
About Adhavan,Chapter 1,Chapter 2

No comments:

Post a Comment