Adhavan (15): The Final Samadhi

Chapter 14: The Final Samadhi

When you decide not to enter your body again.

Translation

Apt scriptures are within you, experience them over and again, sing them,

Didn't reach the supreme self, by severing the entanglements, standing over it,

If you can remove the inner sheathing, the arrogant mind, be keen on it,

Inner lamp will always burn within you, amidst the surrounding worldly life

—Siddhar Sivavakkiyar Song (056)

The death of the mind starts with the cessation of the external quest, when the spirit of the inquiry stops, it leads to a very natural, impromptu death, thus the unchained mind, effortlessly finds its root inside the physical body, suckles on it, like a newborn, infant, biting hard on a mother’s breast, even after that immense satisfaction, unaware, it remains on it, till mother severs the connection, sometimes, it takes a thousand years for the mind to become alive again, sometimes it takes less than a second, it is the dearest sight to hold, that when the mind rests on prana, encompassed by the ultimate, unshakable stillness, along with the sound of the universe, the one which we call as samadhi, the very basis of it is the natural termination of the thought process, however fruitful the pattern is, all impending quests have to stop, irrespective of it being good or bad, including the intriguing discussions, tall talks, exemplary arguments, purified rationalization, irresistible mental addictions, pleasure driven physical cravings, heart throbbing devotions, troubling day-to-day chores, any little, mean thing, that can hold your mind from dying naturally, voluntarily. The higher version of it is letting the mind soar along with the prana, allowing it to mix with the supreme eternal light, the definitive cut off from the body, both, the mind and the soul, the complete resolute death, the most elite, self-inflicted one. Thus samadhis in itself could be classified into various streams, whatever the case might be, if a mind leaves along with the prana in the path of the light, then that wholesome death, can very well be, unquestionably classified as samadhi of the enlightened one.

Sarutha looked at Adhavan deeply, it took some time for her to come out of her deep thoughts, slowly she started talking to him, the girls flocked around her and Adhavan, boys formed a neat semi-circle behind them, all interested in listening to Sarutha’s sing-song voice, which added additional color to the golden hue, emanating from the outer lamp and the dark bluish shade, shed by the moonlit night, their dispersion together warmed up the truth of the matter in her sing song narration.

“It has been in practice that we bury the enlightened ones with three different layers of vibuthi, turmeric powder and sandal powder, along with the fresh, clean, moist neem leaves, if there were any specific personal items they were attached to, during their earthly days, that too was buried with them. Siddhar Macham got an explicit, direct message from her, whence he was in a Samadhi at the cave in Vasimuni Hills, it was around midnight, immediately, he rushed towards Thavamedu, looking for her, at the spot she pointed out in trance, there he found her in padmasana, palms closed, resting loosely over her inner thighs, very close to the lower abdomen, her thumbs straight, tips touching one another, pointing her nostrils, she was a ball of light, it was difficult to see her features clearly, amidst the shining embodiment of the divine light. 9 tigers guarded her, he wasn’t sure if that was the right time to approach her, so he squatted beside one of the tigers, waited patiently. After an hour, she called out, “come near” so he stepped into the zone of immaculate light, that brimmed out like spring water, uninterrupted, freely from her, she spoke very softly, ‘My time has come, I have told everyone that I needed to tell, have received their blessings. My friend, please bury me at the same spot, where I am resting now. At the first rays of the sun, I would leave my final breath, I will never enter this mortal body again, kindly bury me as I have requested.’ She looked at the pack of tigers lying around her and said, ‘Don’t rush up events, let it fall into place as it would, even if you’re late, my friends here will guard my body, my spirit will be guiding them all along, they will leave this place only after seeing you here, so please proceed with things in their normal, natural pace.’ She paused for a moment and then said in a deep resonating voice that stirred Macham’s soul, ‘Inscribe my last words, “Ekam Parabrahmam”, the gist of all 1500 years of my divine life, keep it with you until the time comes, I will tell you, to whom you should hand over the inscription to, my teaching to this world, is all there in those two words.’”

“Macham nodded softly, contemplating the meaning behind it, bowed his head in reverence, she looked at him with solemn grace, her aura touched the crown of his head, he felt warm, strong, vibrations, enter his body through the crown of his head, he stood still for a moment, then took a downhill stride to the laughing hills, briefed the tribal leaders, requested them to help him in the burial ceremony, unexpectedly, the whole tribe was on their feet, no one was specifically invited, but all joined their hands as though it was their own family function. Macham started giving sharp instructions, he selected few ladies, gave them clear orders, he asked them to collect fourteen barrels of fresh water, from a warm spring, he asked them to keep nine barrels aside, using two barrels of water, he asked them to prepare separate barrels of diluted, semi-liquid, sandalwood paste, proportionately well mixed panchamirtam, undiluted ghee, undiluted milk and undiluted honey, he then sent the young maidens to collect as many fragrant flowers, as possible, segregate them into separate baskets, requested all of them to be brought to Thavamedu, sharp two hours after sunrise, he then asked their daughters to prepare food, with the remaining three barrels of fresh spring water, that would be sufficient enough to fill the bellies of laughing hills, requested the same to be brought before sunset, to be feasted upon in her name, well, after the sun-set. Womenfolk, immediately rushed to work, then he called out for some men, sent some young boys to assist women, some to clear pathway to Thavamedu, so that women and children can walk without hindrances, asked the local shamans to bring their artifacts, especially conch shells, brass pipes and tabors, then he personally went along with the a handful of tribal men, leaving back a few, to assist women and carry the load uphill. In the deep forest, he studied the sandalwood trees carefully, hand-picked a few dried ones and large blown out branches, requested the accompanying tribal men to neatly axe them, ordered them to make two cart full of ashes out of it, he strictly told them that it should be pure, should not be adulterated, should be readily available well before sunset, he then chose two men, walked out to Thavamedu, waited there pensively for the first rays of sun to hit them hard.”

“He kept looking at her light emanating body, suffused and soaked by the divine light, it was a grand display of the light in a living form, that one could hardly take their eyes off. Sharp at the first stroke of Sun rays, her head dropped down, her body swayed a bit towards the left, a chill wind whirled around Macham continuously, there was an immense silence, the whole environment cooled down a bit, the smell of the soil was overwhelming, there was a heavy downpour for the next two hours, all those nine tigers packed themselves, closed around her, they along with Macham and the tribal men got drenched by the heavy soul refreshing rain, then it all subsided, but the chillness remained all along till the burial ceremony was over. Macham felt a strong current around him, a sense of chillness, comfort and peace filled his contented heart, she was with him, all over him, he found harmony in everything that was happening there, from the dipping waters, soft breeze caressing his body, warm infiltrating rays of the Sun, the glistening droplets of the water hanging onto the washed leaves, the sound of the forest heard all around, the heart beat of the fellow men, everything mixed as though they were all from single entity, but acting from various different sources. The tigers slowly came around him, sniffed him heavily, circled him thrice, then those majestic beasts, walked away slowly, gracefully, into the deep forest, leaving Macham and the pack of awe-struck tribal men, along with the dead body of Vipuruthi Ammal. Macham went to the spot, touched her body, it was not warm, but it had that strong inherent vibration in it, he felt the ultimate freedom she was experiencing, the unbound joy, the immaculate divinity, the sheer bliss, the feeling of oneness with everything, including the cosmos. Her body was still soft and yielding, so he did not worry about placing her inside the pit, he looked at her again, the body had lost its luminosity, understandably her, divine power has accompanied her soul, leaving the body ready for burial, water kept dripping from her thick dark hair, not even a single strand had grayed, he looked at his hand, it was wet, he laughed to himself, after all the heavy work in the morning, the first abhisekaham was undeniably done by the divinity, on its own, right at that time, ironically, the group of ladies came along with, men and boys, carrying, 1 barrel of sandalwood paste, 1 barrel of panchamirtam, 1 barrel of undiluted ghee, 1 barrel of undiluted milk and 1 barrel of undiluted honey, nine barrels of fresh water, 8 baskets of white lotus, 8 baskets of blue lotus, 8 baskets of red lotus, 21 baskets of jasmine, 23 baskets of roses, 14 screw pine flowers, 2 baskets of marjorams, 15 baskets of ylan ylang vines, 14 baskets of white lilies, 14 baskets of blue lilies, 7 baskets of tuberoses and 7 baskets of shoe flowers. Macham laughed from his heart, along with him Vipuruthi Ammal laughed inside him. He parted her wet hair, exposing well, her delicate, round, moon face, he then prepared a simple pedestal made of sandalwood planks, right before, a few feet from the burial spot, he with the help of two other men, who came with him, erected her over the pedestal in the same padmasana position, he then chose two young women, asked them to hold her body and her head straight, then, he requested the elderly women to give her a bath and dress her up in plain cottons, they then sent the boys to fetch fresh cotton dress materials, they can get their hands on, slowly the team set to work in harmony.”

“Few women bathed her in the fresh water, few of them cleaned the spot around, making it ready for the whole tribe, to spend the evening together at the ceremony. Men started digging her grave, 6 foot deep and 4 feet wide on all sides, then, they cleaned the pit and the surrounding. By that time, she was rubbed and washed clean, wiped with fragrant clothes, dressed in white, woven from pure cotton, she was ready for her final abhisekaham. Macham sent out for the men in the forest, busy making sandalwood ash, there they were burning woods at 18 different locations, they have plans to collect the first lot by mid-noon, bring at the least one cart by sunset, he looked at both these girls, who were holding her with such an intense care and concern, as though they were beholding the most precious item in the world, that might break if they turn their eyes off her, it might be tiring for them to hold her for such a long time, he was not sure, if they realized how gifted they were to hold her body, be so near to it, how much of her intrinsic power would have infused into them by now, anyhow that could not be an answer for such a physically tiring service they were asked to provide, so he sent two more girls for their assistance, waited patiently till mid-noon, exactly at that time, four eagles circled the gathering, he picked a mug, took fresh water from one of the barrels, looked up to the skies and the circling eagles, remained silent for a moment, anointed her with the first mug of water, he looked up at the skies, the circling eagles have now disappeared, elderly women have used almost one barrel of water in bathing her, so he was left with 8 barrels of fresh water, he asked the men to place all the abhisekaham items, before her, he then taught the tribe to chant, ‘Ayya Harakara, Siva, Siva, Sivasankara’ and ‘Sivahyaa Namahaa, Sivahyaa Namahaa, Om Namah Sivahyaa’, they started repeating the mantras again and again, in tune with Macham’s voice, they just plainly repeated whatever he said, with the same vigor and intensity he chanted with. One after another, each of the tribal men, women and children of age, came forward, he gave them each a mug of fresh water, they anointed her body slowly, rhythmically, religiously with the given fresh water, chanting the mantra he taught them, he asked each one of them to repeat the act thrice, each and every mug, poured on her body was unquestionably accepted by Vipuruthi Ammal, almost a barrel was done, whatever was left, was poured all over her by Macham, thus the whole tribe took part in the auspicious burial ceremony. Then one after another, in the similar way, among incessant chanting, other abhisekahams were done in the following order; undiluted milk, undiluted honey, pure ghee, panchamirtam and finally sandalwood paste, between each abhisekaham Macham cleaned her with mugs of fresh water. As all these abhisekahams were being done meticulously, the time had just speared ahead, the sun was setting magnanimously, the cantillations were growing louder and louder, pulling all the present there, by a fine unseen cord, weaving all their voices into a beautiful pattern of pleasant hymns, with the setting sun, the first load of sandalwood ash came in, it was unloaded right before the burial spot. Macham later sent a few men to bring Frankincense, burn them at each corner of the pit, as well as at the outer edges of the gathering, so that the pleasant smoke engulfed the surrounding, making it a heavenly, divine abode, he then resumed to chanting, kept aside, 8 baskets of white lotus, 8 baskets of blue lotus, 8 baskets of red lotus, 14 screw pine flowers, 14 baskets of white lilies and 14 baskets of blue lilies for the purpose of decoration, with the remaining baskets, he continued with flowers abhisekaham, known as pushpanjali, this went much slower than the others, a sense of sacredness grew intense with brass pipes and conch smells blown to their fullest, tabor played delicately, mixed intricately well, with the cantillations, people kept coming and showering flowers all over her, they were all at the verge of spiritual ecstasy, some started swaying back and forth, left to right in harmony with the music. The moon shone brightly on her face, it was a full moon day, he felt a warm hand, over his right shoulder, he turned around to see Siddhar tiger paw, he was in a human form, when Siddhar Macham was about to fall to his feet, he caught hold of him and said, ‘don’t disclose our identity, you please continue with your work,’ he looked behind him, 6 more were there with him, all of them were in their human form, completely hiding their divine nature behind their simple, peasant outlook, they all smiled at him, he was enthralled very much, he became very nervous in leading the ceremony, in the presence of the great four, slowly, they started assisting him and the tribe, in whatever veneration they were doing. The pushpanjali was done to the best, owing to its inherent nature, their hearts were mellowed down to the softness of the morning dews on rose petals in a full blossom, by the time, food has come from the Laughing Hills, was stored in a remote place, around the corner. He was expecting the second lot of ash, in the meantime, he asked the masons to get ready with the mortar, for covering the burial. He again asked the elderly women to clean her and wrap her up with fresh cotton robes, which they did humbly as per his sincere request.”

“The chanting continued, she was ready in her fresh, clean, cotton robes, ready to be buried in the pit, second lot of ash came in, was unloaded before the burial spot, they brought the remaining extinguished sandalwoods, burnt it, in the corners, along with the frankincense, the fragrant smoke permeated the divine space, the whole place smelled like heavens, its aroma filled the hearts of the gathering, it even extended its fragrance across, with the divine touch, to those in the plains, even the ones beyond the plains felt its reverberations, such was the boundless, sacred situation Macham and 7 siddhars were thrown into. When the time came, Macham looked at all 7 siddhars, they nodded understandingly, shortest of them walked in the front, followed by the tallest of the seven, siddhar tiger paw, slim, athletically built fourth, siddhar white elephant, and the other two, one of them was very dark and lean, his hair was wound in cords over his head, creating a flat kumbham, that stretched a foot long, above his head, the last one, the seventh, was heavily built, he looked twice broader than the broadest men Macham had ever seen, they all smiled at him as they crossed and moved towards the pit, in a well organized manner, sat around it, leaving enough space in the center for people to come and shove ash into the pit. Macham looked at the shamans, they started blowing the brass pipes, conch shells, continuously, played tabors ruthlessly, he looked at his people, their chanting grew so loud, it pierced the high skies, showered back with the heavy lightning, he then went into the pit, created a layer of ash, signalled both the men, whom he brought with him that morning, they lifted her carefully along with the sandalwood pedestal, they erected for her, they helped in settling her in the pit, stood by her, on her sides, holding her softly, in the same posture she left her final breath, Macham then asked for a blue lotus, he placed it over her closed palms, then he earnestly looked at the shortest of all, seated to her left, he nodded softly, took a handful of ash, gave it to Macham, he then placed it over her feet, others followed the short one, all of them gave Macham a handful of ash, which was used to cover her feet, then he signalled his people, they fell into two neat rows, one for men and one for women and children, the short one gave a handful of ash to men and the tallest one, seated to her right, gave handful of ash to women and children, chanting loudly, they shoved ash onto the ground, along with, petty ornaments, meager gold and silver coins, rare gems, whatever precious things they had, they gave it all to her, prayfully, prostrated before her, before leaving way to the next one, this continued for another four hours, no one shoved ash on her face they all showered it humbly on the grounds, it was Macham’s job to level the shoving, with each increasing layers of ash, he placed fresh, neem leaves around the pit. Almost the first load of ash had gone into the pit, they have filled ash to her chin, they started with the second lot, since people have already filled in their share, 7 Siddhars and Macham filled the remaining, before covering her round moon face, he signalled the tribe, all of them rushed in to see her for the last time. Amidst high pitched chanting, incessantly blowing conch shells, soul writhing heavy strikes on tabor, full blown brass pipes, Macham covered her face and head with handful of ash, he obtained from the great 7. Finally, when it was all done, all the 7 came forward, hugged Macham one after another, then, they slowly, stealthily, disappeared into the gathering, Macham knew, not to ask them, where they were all heading to. Macham looked out for the mason, asked them to cover the burial with the mortar and create a substantial mound with the remaining of sandalwood ash, he requested few of the young girls there, to decorate thus erected mound with white lotuses and white lilies in the center, blue lotuses and blue lilies strewn around them, the outer third circle with bright red lotuses, finally encircle all these three circles with screwpine flowers and other remaining ones, then he ordered, the food to be served, he went out looking for the seven, but then, they have all disappeared into the thickness of the dark woods, similar to the way they came in, they left uninformed. He knew well, not to look out for them, but it was one of the happiest days in his life, a special gift by Vipuruthi Ammal, on the day of her final Samadhi. He looked up at the skies, he expected, continuous heavy downpour, for next one week, he then fed his people heartily, had some food after a very long gap, walked along with his people to the laughing hills, when the crowd were well sheltered, he looked up at the skies again, said aloud, “Now you can pacify!”, Immediately, thunders roared heavily, it rained continuously for the next seven days, Macham sheltered himself, in a cattle barn, along with the herd, during all that 7 days of heavy incessant, voluminous downpour, afterwards, it took three months for him to get back to his deep samadhis, he was overlaid with so much of joy and happiness, that it took so much of time to get rid of even those uncontrollable, spontaneous flow of, heart fulfilling joy, that was showered on him by Vipuruthi Ammal, the great seven and the divine self, even joy born out of pure innocence, could be a hindrance in attaining the state of samadhi, so one needs to be extremely serious in approaching the divinity abode in each one of us, carefully, meticulously. Happiness is better than being sad, but it is not good enough to reach God, the attention you need to devote for attaining the desired state, is exceptionally an intense one, very keen observation of one's one mind, where even mild happiness can drift you away from the inner quest.”

Each one’s face was lit by the inner glow, that you see during the deep samadhis, the air was filled with sandalwood fragrance, Vipuruthi Ammal was all along there, listening to Sarutha’s beautiful narration of her sacred burial ceremony, she had given them the exact feel and sanctitude that filled the day of her burial, each one of them was filled with the same immense satisfaction, that the gathering felt on that propitious day. Sarutha looked at their faces, an hour as gone by, they must have all been in a deep sleep by now, it has been a strict practice in the Laughing hills, that people go to bed early, so that they are up on their feet, well before the sunrise, ready for the day’s toil. Her heart ached to see her kids still awake, listening to her narration keenly, she fondled each one of them, sent them to the bed with comforting love. Girls went to the separate partition they had for themselves, boys were not supposed to even enter into their partition, unless they were called for help, apparently, Kathirnindravalavan and Koperunkilli, slept in the hall opposite to the wall, Sarutha was resting her back, she had stretched her legs freely, let it rest one over another at ease, comfortably. Rathinamozhian didn’t seem to have the heart to leave his mother, he lay down next to her, his head rested on her right lap, she fondled him lovingly, caressed his shoulders fondly, patted him gently, that lulled him into a deep, peaceful sleep. Adhavan was surprised to see, such a big married man, sleeping like a child on his mother’s lap, it said something very nice about the family, that was bonded and glued with kinship, love and affection. Adhavan didn’t have the heart to sleep, he was not satisfied with the narration, he wanted more, he asked her politely, “Was she still in this forest from that day on?” Sarutha smiled at him and said, “Yes, she had never left Thavamedu, it his her abode, the circular mount is her resting place, many a times people have seen her walking these places, she has healed the diseased, she has visited some in our dreams, have forewarned us in our imminent dangers, she has guarded this land, as it is her own, she still walks this part of the forest and the Laughing Hills, as an uncrowned queen and the most revered deity, she has looked over our farms and cattle, she has guarded our kids, we have always paid our reverence to her, whenever we go by that side, especially on the full moon days, when we group there and Siddhar Macham attends to many kinds of peoples and their many kinds of complex, woe bidden lives.” Adhavan softly asked, “Have you seen her by yourself?” Sarutha rested her head back, on the wall, uttered very slowly in whispers, “Yes, of all the 51 years of my life here, that day, on your first visit, when you accompanied us to the Vasimuni Hills, she was walking beside you silently, heads down, a few paces behind you, on your left, I got the chance to see her subtle form, because of you.” She involuntarily closed her eyes, tears rolled down her cheeks, she started thinking about Killivalavan, tomorrow night, they have to bring down Macham, from the caves at Vasimuni Hills, for his monthly public appearance at Thavamedu, on the full moon day, where the whole tribe will flock around him, even people far from the plains, pay their homage, express their heart touching love and gratitude they have for him, many prostrate before him, adorn him with gold, silver and rare precious gems, whatever they wanted to have him, Killi mostly makes himself available during those rush hours, managing the crowd, making sure they are all well-fed, properly taken care of, sincerely attended to, he has been the most vigilant, shrewd one, in guarding Macham from the trouble brewers, politicians, religious fanatics, crowd gatherers and evil conspirators, he has to be there, so everything goes on fine and smooth, on seeing him, boisterous people calm down, wicked and cunning fear him, great men respect and honor him, poor and needy gather around him, he has to be there, she ached for him, she started chanting her mantras, repeatedly, soundly in her heart, dedicated all that for his victory and safe return.

Adhavan didn’t feel like going out and sleeping in the Veranda, he sat there alone, without anything to think about, then, like Rathinamozhian, he rested down on Sarutha’s left lap, slept off the same moment he closed his eyes, during that night, all along, he had many dreams, it was pitch dark, Killivalavan was fighting, heavily against a ferocious, roaring, huge Black Lion, it was a very tough, long, arduous fight, among the equals, the Black Lion was gigantic, straight and powerful, it stood majestically unbeaten, Adhavan was watching them both keenly, his soul was sedating both of them, trying to create a softness and warmth between them, then the Black Lion suddenly turned towards Adhavan, gave him one of its best, big smile. His soul, then drifted to some other part of the world, he was in a big cave, that had more than million bats, hanging onto the roof, upside down, he heard the repeated chanting of “Om”, his soul travelled further along, this time he was in the land of the red soil, all the people there were dark skinned, they spoke the same language, but had a different style to it, they were paying homage to a statue of a Siddhar, it resembled Siddhar Agastiyar, yes, they prostrated before that statue, but in their hearts they were actually prostrating before his living form, that was the unshakable faith they had on him, which is more important than the high pitched, highly logical, mind trapping arguments on the need for the form based devotions wherein it is the nature and intensity of the devotion, that is more important than the type of devotion.

Sarutha was in a deep sleep, her hand involuntarily rested on Adhavan's shoulder, it was as cold as ice, she felt a rush in her back, she woke up immediately, attended to Adhavan diligently, his heart had stopped beating, his soul had left his body, was wandering the worlds of the night, something in her told him not to panic about it, as she knew for sure that he will be back in the morning, damn tired, fatigue ridden, looking for rest, so it can be expected, that he will doze off the whole morning, next day, relentlessly.

To be continued...

Written on Dates: 04/20;04/21;04/22;04/23/2015

About Adhavan

Chapter 01 The Realization of the Vocation

Chapter 02 The First Glimpse of the Third Eye

Chapter 03 The Complete Surrender

Chapter 04 The Sacredness of the Divine Incarnation

Chapter 05 The Veneration of a Guru

Chapter 06 The Immortality

Chapter 07 The Art of Dying

Chapter 08 The Good Cause

Chapter 09 The First Dissemination

Chapter 10 The One behind the Spiritual Transformation
Chapter 11 The Smothering of the Class Distinctions

Chapter 12 The Insight of the Divine Lamp
Chapter 13 The Great Four

Adhavan (14): The Great Four

Chapter 13: The Great Four

Circles of the square, balance the power.

Translation

If seeking Gurus, blessed by Nandhi,

Nandhis are four, Sivayoga Mamuni,

Worshipers of the Sabha, Patanjali, Vyakramar,

Two of them, including myself, eight of them.

—Siddhar Thirumoolar in Thirumandiram (067)

Incessant talking woke him up, he looked straight into the sun, the golden rays have been hitting and penetrating him for almost past two hours, he had slept it off, unaware of the sultry heat, he touched his forearm, it was as cold as the frozen water, the sun has not warmed him, he asked himself, was he sleeping? where was he? Abruptly, leaving the questions unanswered, ignoring the pool of people around him, he walked briskly to the maiam, there on the stone benches, he contemplated on the structure of the Velir Thopu, as briefed by Macham, especially the square at the center, or the pack of four symmetric diagonal triangles, that formed the square and its grand four corners, with those outer edges, a perfect outer circle can be drawn, with the center points on the sides, a perfect inner circle can be drawn, so one could say that the square is held neatly between two concentric circles, in other words, the square effuses energy using the outer circle, harnesses energy using the inner circle, strongly emphasizing the extraordinary power balancing phenomena, their formation could also be equivalently stated as, yin and yang; sun and moon; male and female; shiva and sakthi; inner 36 and outer 60, whatever additional definition one may add to the structure, it balances the divine power perfectly, that might be the reason, novices with serious spiritual quests have chosen these ranges for their divine abode and deep samadhis. Much more intriguing is the fact, each of the hills was abode of, each one of them, apparently, the unreachable square at the center, must be the abode of highly revered great four, from whom the divinity and the call for the divinity emanates and encompasses the living, in concentric, reverberating, power circles, through which they touch millions and millions of souls spread across the world, each translating the divine touch according to their own perceptions, follow their own gods and men acclaimed religions, as long as they all lead to the oneness, it is a perfect picture of the perfect balance, seeking apex of the divine harmony.

Adhavan entered the hub of the maiam, surrounded by the stone benches, covered by the expansive age old, dark trees, it was thicker and coarser than the outset, the deeper he went inside, the darker it grew, sitting comfortably in that darkness, leaning onto one of the heavy trunks, devoid of human consciousness, he contemplated on the structure of the Velir Thopu and its profound meaning, while trying to visualize the intrinsic, substantial, self-nurturing form, he got drifted into a deep trance, his body was set ablaze with very fine, sharp vibrations, he was writhing in a pure, eternal bliss, he was unaware of the passing time, when he recollected his senses, he had lost almost an hour, he rushed outside, attended to his daily needs, had a bath in the pond, surrounded by huge Jamun trees, rushed back home, lingering with, on the air guilt feeling, owing to his prolonged absence from the hut, without any prior information.

He furtively went inside the hut, found himself among three daughters and their sacred mother, yesterday’s war of words have been waged ruthlessly, though bad emotions have subsided and peace circumvolved the foursome, still, its after effects were traceable on all the four, especially on Punguzali, who had dressed up fabulously with additional colors on her face, adding an impeccable style to her dressing, with her rich, grandiose costumes, that painstakingly sheathed the bitter, painful moments and a deeply shattered ego. Certain women have this habit of dressing up grandly, when they are completely down and are on the verge of hysterical breakdown, this they do to mask their emotions, by meticulously sculpturing and painting their external appearance, that which might give a momentary boosting to their confidence, but not a permanent solution, rather, mending of their broken hearts can heal them permanently, they must understand that their panacea is not in dressing glamorously, getting that stare of admiration from men and women alike, but in healing their inner wounds, attending to it with care, uplifting it with loads and loads of love, it all starts with an open hearted acceptance of the truth boldly, a ground to the earth acknowledgment of the wretched state they are in, if then, the elation of the spirit can be made possible, through pure devotion of the choice they make, it could be their passion, their children, their deity, their work, their social doings, whatever the meanest thing they would like to do, it doesn’t really matter, the poignant truth is, it still brings happiness, if the action born of purity has struck the inner balance, if it is done from heart happily, abided by the mind without resistance, then it is a wholesome harmony, devoid of the slightest of internal conflict, the source of all great happiness, that which makes you internally beautiful and externally appealing.

Adhavan went to Killi’s rack, placed both white and black feather under Roma Rishi’s 'Theshai.' It became his small safe place, to keep his personal things, a safe place to hide his meager things. He slowly came out, sat near Sarutha, quietly started observing the happenings around, Punguzali smiled at him and asked, “What were you doing at Maiam?” the girls giggled, they were smearing lamp-black on the finalized palmscripts, her tone reflected, ‘I know everything’ attitude, which Adhavan despised a lot, he didn’t want to hurt her, but he wanted to end the conversation, so he said sternly, “It is personal.” Punguzali was taken back by his words, before she tried to hurt him back, reflexively, Sarutha intervened and asked him, “Will you have food? I don’t think you had had anything from the morning? We all waited for you to have breakfast together, boiled sorghum, potato sausage, fried carrots with beans along with salted lemon pickle. Aren't you hungry?” Adhavan replied, “No, can I have some hot streaming milk, I will have food in the noon, please, If you don’t mind?” Sarutha said, “That is understandable.” She looked at Mathivathani, she brought him, a cup of hot milk, he took that from her and started sipping it immediately, he looked around, everyone was watching him, intently, he felt embarrassed, he emptied his mug and asked Sarutha, “Can I go to the backyard?” Sarutha smiled at him and said, “You don’t need to ask my permission for these things dear, but have a kind heart to tell me, where you are going, so that I don’t need to worry about you?" Adhavan replied, “Thanks. I will.” Saying that he went to the backyard, found himself a nice cool place to sit, started mixing with the spread of the nature around.

Inside the hut, the trouble brewed a bit, Punguzali blamed the girls, “It is because of you, he went to the backyard, he is not happy here, you must dress like me, to make men happy, it is fun to see them wagging their tails, coming behind you, trying to woo and cajole you.” Sarutha interrupted and said, “Only women who doesn’t have a good heart, need to sell their bodies to get a good man get to bed with her, the same is also true for men, who do not have a good heart, will not mind mating with the ripe flesh and beautiful bodies, irrespective of the disgusting pungent smell, of their wretched, arrogant souls.” The words were specifically woven for Punguzali, it must have hurt her badly, she hastily replied, “Enough, agreed, you are the good heart here, I am the bad heart, but I also knew, how spoilt, arrogant and pampered you were in your early past.” Sarutha smilingly said, “Yes, that is true, but the real difference is, I have accepted my mistakes, I have come to terms with my sins, I have accepted it as my own willful doings, I didn’t blame it on someone else, I have repented them, I have cried enough for it, I have paid a heavy price for my sins, now, I have come out of it, I have taken up the choice of my life, I have toiled this land, like any other mortal women in these hills, so finally, after all that, I am here where I am now, I am ready to give away my life, right now, without a flash of thought, without any desires...” Punguzali was not able to bear the high talks, she interrupted and said, “I don’t care about all those ridiculous stuffs, I will live a life that I want to, I am going directly to deliver the palmscripts myself, visit Mathurarayar’s palace, study his library, list down the missing ones, make a good self-sufficient library for him. He has agreed to pay double the time, if I can add a personal touch to it...” For which, Sarutha interrupted, “Our men can go and deliver the palmscripts, about visiting their palaces and making their Library, I will have second thoughts, I need to think about the necessity of sending you.” Punguzali wryly said, “Why second thoughts, tell that you wanted to visit the Palace by yourself?” Sarutha replied, “As long as I am here, I am running this family business, I will finalize who needs to do what, you don't interfere in my work, is that clear?" ashamed of being turned down by her own mother, tears started rolling down Punguzali's cheeks.

The girls have completed the finalization part of the palmscripts, generally it is their habit to give away the final scripts to Punguzali, that is what Senthamarai used to do, but in this case, they didn’t know whom to handover the trouble brewing palmscripts to, every minute they were there, they brew some or other problems, hence they had this innate urge to get rid of those palmscripts, immediately. Breaking the tangible silence, reading their mind like an open book, Sarutha said, “You can give that to me.” Punguzali was shocked, Sarutha took the scripts, stood up gracefully, walked in her usual, small tiny steps and dancing moves, towards Punguzali, handed over the scripts and requested her to send, one of her brothers at the cattle farm, to Mathurarayar’s palace, then she slowly glided across to the backyard, Kayalvizi and Mathivathani, followed her. Punguzali went to the front door, few old men were squatting beside the veranda, on the floor, chewing betel leaves, she sent out one of them to fetch any of her brothers looking over the cattle and poultry farm. She then came in and joined the girls in the backyard, who were washing their hands and feet from the well water. Sarutha went and sat beside Adhavan, the girls joined them, they were sitting on a small pedestal, a foot above from the ground, they girls sat on the floor around them, Sarutha started telling them about the Great four.

“From time immemorial, the great four were much revered and looked up to, they are, Siddhar Agastiyar, Siddhar Patanjali, Siddhar Vyakarapadar, and Siddhar Thirumoolar. They initiated the tradition of Siddhars and the Guru Parmbra, they all learnt from the great grand Guru, Siddhar Nandhi Devar. The great four had been seen many a times together, on many day to day occasions, especially at Thillaipathi, where Siddhar Patanjali and Siddhar Vyakarapadar lived with their 999 disciples, few had their families come over and live with them, which highlighted the pragmatic spirituality envisioned and lived by the great pair in unison. Siddhar Agastiyar and Siddhar Thirumoolar had their own set of disciples, to whom they imparted their great learning and higher wisdom, they selected handful of their wise and enlightened disciples, bestowed them with ashtama siddhis, thus they steered the spiritual evolution of the mankind, from north to south; east to west; gods to gods; clan to clan; nation to nation, they told them in the language they will understand, they created god manifestations and god-concepts for them, they taught them how to pray to their gods, they even identified divine incarnations for the mankind, they set principles for the social living, they set norms for trade and general well being, they taught mankind how to pray, they have even raised kingdoms, they have crowned kings, they have won wars for their patron nations, they have built temples of high grandeur and inbound divinity, they were spread all over the world, it is very difficult to give an age to them, they have been revered in many epics, they have lived across many yugas, so it goes on and on, they seem to be limitless, rather than arguing about their timeline, it is the spiritual transformation they have talked about, that we must contemplate on, their sayings are the manifestations of the truth, which is of greater importance than their unknown ages. To be honest, the word Guru, takes its reference from the classical, invincible way Siddhars lived by, the spiritual transformation they attained, the remarkable spiritual evolution, they have given forth to the mankind, most importantly, their devotion, faith, respect and gratitude they had towards their guru. Every one of us, who has roots in our land are endlessly grateful to them, their whole lineage is indebted to them, it is not they are just some spiritual masters, they are the great siddhars, grandest of all, because of whom our race still exists, which otherwise, we would have fought against one another, letting invasion exterminate our race. That is one other reason they are revered so much and held close to each one of our bosoms, turning against them is like turning against our own mothers, every family hear holds them dear to their hearts, not because they are siddhars with great powers; not because they are great grand Gurus of many; not because they are miraculous vaithiyars; not because they have acclaimed the most precise prediction mechanisms; it is plainly because, they are the ones who have saved us from all perils, to this day, if we are living, it is because of them, you know not, how our race has been tortured, mutilated and murdered. Siddhars were one among us, some of them lived with us, like Siddhar Macham, they taught us to defend ourselves, heal and cure ourselves, even farming and sheep rearing were taught by them, what not? Then see for yourselves how grateful each one of us should be to them.”

Sarutha got moved by her own homily, tears rolled out of her eyes, she looked into the space, let her mind drift away, the air was filled with the fragrances of sandalwood, vibuthi, ylang ylang vine, screw pine flower and fresh betel leaves, at mid noon contrary to the torrid heat, the place was cool, filled with aroma and aura of many siddhars, who have come to hear Sarutha, talking about the great four, their physical form was invisible to their eyes, but they can be felt with your hearts. Adhavan interrupted her trance and asked, “Were there others, who were older and greater than the great four?”

Sarutha smiled and replied, “There were many of them, Siddhar Nandi Devar, Siddhar Athri Maharishi, Siddhar Sitheswarar, Siddhar Elukannar, Siddhar Roma Rishi, Siddhar Brigu Muni, Siddhar Kakabujander, Siddhar Durvasa Maharishi, Siddhar Yakobu Munivar, Siddhar Kayilaya Kambili Sattai Muni and many more, since their timelines, many a times overlap one another, it is not explicitly clear and it is difficult to say who is the oldest of all, plainly, we should not worry much about it, through the great four, we can easily reach that state, they were earlier bestowed with, live happily, peacefully, in harmony, one with the god, in case, if you really want to meet your guru, you just need to pray, to any one of the great four, whom you are soul is attracted to, at the right moment they will show you, your guru, when you see them, you will recognize them by your heart. The right moment is the ample time you take to wash your karma, get rid of the muddied karmic entanglements, forge your mind, body and soul, be open and ready for the first spiritual transformation.”

Adhavan said, “They must have had many disciples.”

Sarutha replied, “Yes, of course, they had many, I have heard about few of them, Siddhar Bogar, Siddhar Kalanginathar, Siddhar Kanjamalaiaan, Siddhar Korakkar, Siddhar Brahma Muni, Siddhar Sundranandar, Siddhar Kamala Muni, Siddhar Therayar, Siddhar Punnaikannar, Siddhar Punnakessar, Siddhar Thanvanthiriyar, Siddhar Konkanavar, Siddhar Pulipani, Siddhar Agapeiyar, Siddhar Kuthamabiyar, Siddhar Kaduveli and many more, they all professed the truth, henceforth their Guru Parambra flourished, spread its roots across all ends of this vast land. Same beings have incarnated under different names as per the divine will, there are also references, where, using Lagima, they have travelled along with their body, to some other part of the world, have lived under a different name, helped in spiritual evolution, this is very different from the Siddhi, Kudu Vitu Kudu Paithal, which is very rarely used by the Siddhars, to help mankind at their most dire needs, in fact, they don’t need to get into a body at all, they can be ten thousand miles away, still they can relate to their ardent disciples, true followers, their own souls, living in different parts of the world, talk and act through them, that is what they mostly prefer, than getting fully into a mere physical body.”

Adhavan asked again, “How old is Guru Athri and Annai Anushya Devi?”

Sarutha seemed to be in a trance, she replied, “Siddhar Athri Maharishi and Siddhar Agastiyar knew each other well, they were very good friends. Siddhar Athri Maharishi was known for performing deep tapas, once, his spell on mantras prolonged longer than the acceptable levels, he hanged upside down like a bat on a wide branch of a huge banyan tree, that too in padmasana, while performing his tapas, its intensity started disturbing the power balance, henceforth the divine harmony, so inevitably, Siddhar Agastiyar, his kind friend, made him get married to Annai Anushya Devi, to ensure that he has a female counterpart too, in addition to bringing him back to the ground levels, whenever he goes beyond the supernatural limits. Their presence seems to be there, from the very start of the human life, in fact, they established living with their female counterpart, even during strict tapas and deep samadhis. During Siddhar Athri Maharishi’s severe penance, the pair lived on concoctions made of Banyan tree leaves, twigs, barks, fruits and its flowers, that are actually poisonous in nature. Annai Anushya Devi was chosen by Siddhar Agastiyar to be the wife of Siddhar Athri Maharishi, she being an ardent disciple of Siddhar Agastiyar, obliged to his request, much humbly.”

This time Punguzali asked, “So who is better, Annai Anushya Devi or Siddhar Athri?”

Sarutha came out of the trance, laughed at her, spoke loudly, “They are not here for you to employ them, so why should you know, who is better, what makes you think you can evaluate them, they are beyond contemplations of our tiny, fragile, weak minds, they are sacred beings, living in tune with God, in fact, they are the walking gods, dwelling there in the deep woods, in complete harmony and oneness with the environment, the wind moves when they want it to move, the cloud stops when they want it to stop, the river dries when they want it to dry, there isn't anything they can’t accomplish, they are given with greater siddhic powers, that you can’t even imagine of.”

Punguzali loudly said, “I don’t believe in all those craps. God created men and women to enjoy life, not to live in some remote, dark forest.”

Adhavan mocked at her, “No one asked you to believe in them. No one asked you to go to forest.”

The girls turned and looked at her face, it was red hot, they can’t help laughing at her, Sarutha laughed at her too, infected by the laughter, Punguzali also unknowingly joined the laughter, she can’t help hiding her smiles, unable to give a reply, she continuously stared at Adhavan, his straight talk has outwitted her, smilingly, she kept staring at him, openly.

Adhavan asked, “Who is Macham’s Guru?”

Sarutha replied, “The one who resembles you much in likeness.”

Kayalvizi was much intrigued about ‘who’ than ‘what,’ she earnestly asked, “Who Amma?”

Sarutha replied, “The Siddhar with the Tiger Paws.”

Adhavan asked, “Mm. Does he know me?”

Sarutha laughed heartily and said, “Macham can’t take even an additional breathe in, without his Guru knowing it, good or bad they know everything that is happening to their disciples.”

Adhavan laughed heartily and asked her, “Have you seen him?”

Sarutha replied, “Yes, once, during our humble marriage, he presented himself in his divine form, with his traditional long white beard, frontal-bald head, piercing, glowing eyes made from the sun itself.”

Adhavan asked, “When did you both get married?”

Sarutha replied, “After, burying Vipuruthi Ammal, he bid farewell to his family, went into a deep samadhi at the cave in the Vasimuni Hills, every tenth year he will wake up to present himself to the world, since he was requested not to shed his mortal body, he started taking in a high dosage of Kayakalpam poison, wandered around the woods for a few months, geared up for samadhi, till his body was pretty ready, again for another round of samadhi, that way, he continued to be in Samadhis for almost 238 years, when he started it, he was 136 years old, his Samadhi spree was daringly interrupted by Annai Anushya Devi, she requested him to help the Vendhars in their great war, were they were at the losing stage, but Siddhar Macham replied that he can’t do that without his Guru’s concern, for which Annai Anushya Devi laughed aloud and replied, ‘Will Siddhar Tiger Paw, ever allow me to reach his disciple without his concern?’ Thus she made Macham accept to fight in the great war, which by heart, he despised, even now, he is deeply against shedding blood, after seeing the atrocities of the great invasion, he fought against it, with all his body, mind and soul, only later, he understood why wars were fought, the reason behind the self-defense; guarding of their motherland, their women, their children, their virtue, their tradition, their knowledge, their plantations, their cattle and their wealth, from then on, he never questioned Annai Anushya Devi. After such prolonged samadhis, he had lost lots of his body weight, hence he came back to the laughing hills, the tribe fed him with meat, fish, egg and milk, for a few weeks together, he lived on them, he ate whatever they gave him, during that stay, he practiced Adimurai and Silambam, for four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening daily, then slowly, he set out to the land of the vendhars, to partake in the great war, where he had spent 8 years of his life in the battlefield and in the training grounds.”

“There we met one another, we got easily acquainted, we were always seen together, though we didn’t talk much, I always liked to be by his side, in fact, I very much wanted to be his disciple, but things turned out worse than we all expected, if not for Siddhar Macham, you would have not seen me here, then again, he took me to Venmudiyar Hills, seeking advice of Annai Anushya Devi on my matters, rather, she happily got us married in the presence of Siddhar Athri Maharishi and Siddhar Tiger Paws, thus I became his fifth wife, she commanded us to proliferate our lineage and fill this land with our descendants. I was head over heels, earlier, I was secretly in love with him, I never once thought, I would ever get to marry him, he had always treated me like his daughter, so he never gave me a chance to cast a love spell on him, but finally, I was so happy that it all turned out the way I wanted it, or I would say the way Siddhar Tiger Paws, Annai Anushya Devi and Siddhar Athri Maharishi wanted it to happen. We have happily completed 56 years of married life, he is now 436 years old, not even once he had scolded me, not even once he had abused me, either physically or emotionally, not even once he had gotten drunk and beaten me like other men do, not even once he had taken another woman, not even once he had thrown painful insulting words on me, not even once he had wished to have another wife, not even once he had dishonored my feelings, he lived the way siddhars lived with their wives, they treated them as their counterparts, not even as their wives, that is the way siddhars lived along with their spouses. Even after marriage, he lived the spiritual life that he was living before, the only difference was, he spent additional time with me and our kids, now you have all grown up, he has started spending additional time in deep samadhis, we literally built all this from nothing, with our each child, our wealth grew multiple times, we were blessed abundantly, we together toiled this land and have always harvested in surplus, unexpectedly, we also turned out to be the traders the tribe looked up to, we are grateful to every one of the tribal men, women and children who live here, they are an integral part of us, I was very happy when three of your brothers got married into them, they helped us to survive when we had nothing, they fed us when we didn’t have food, they gave us shelter when ours was not built, many of them mothered my kids...”

Tears of happiness, taste very different than the ones that well out of bitterness, Sarutha was all happy, she had lived a complete life, a heart fulfilling contented one, her soul is now ready for a sweet departure that she started to yearn for, but for the life of her daughters. As in case of Macham, she secretly wished that Adhavan get married to one of their daughters, but for to intervene in a divine vocation, the repugnance may hit back very hard, so she was reluctant on asking Punguzali for him, she left his divine vocation to decide his divine marriage, refrained herself from thinking about it. She looked at Adhavan, he looked at her, the girls looked at her, tears of happiness rolled down all their cheeks.

The sun was warming up in the high skies, gearing up for the downhill ride, a group of male voice was heard, they were coming to the backyard, three women turned around to see who was coming, except Mathivathani, who was looking down, staring into space before, she was not thinking, she was just staring emptily, her mind ceased thinking, Adhavan felt a spontaneous, immediate liking to her, he felt like taking her in his arms and planting a soft kiss on her forehead, but he abstained himself from acting freely, since it might be taken up in a wrong sense, even if not, her own sisters will portray it as a sexual attraction on his part, he turned his attention towards three men, coming to meet them, those were the men whom he saw during his first supper at Macham’s, though he had met them a couple of times, he was not introduced to them, the eldest came near, tossed his hair, spoke out in loud, clear, voice, “How come you spend so much of time with girls, aren’t you bored?” Adhavan smiled and replied, “They don’t look like girls to me.” The girls stared at him, the boys laughed at his comment. Sarutha introduced each one of them, Rathinamozhian, 23 years old, Koperunkilli 26 years old and Kathirnindravalavan 29 years old, they were elder brothers of Killi, they looked after the family cattle and poultry, though they were all married and have separate houses, during the hectic days of internal trade, they come here to help the girls out, even if they were not called for her help, so that they can ravage mom’s array of delicious food items, that they don’t see in their wife’s, then they spend the nights leisurely, fighting with their sisters, talking about their childhood days, fresh in the morning they take up with their cattle trade, herd the day’s gain back to their farm, they are responsible for trading their cattle and poultry at Pari Santhai. Though, Punguzali, required only one man to deliver the good, but all three have come today, might be, they wanted to taste their mom’s food, they all played around, fighting over petty, petty things, with high shrieks of laughter, the adorable group entered the hut. Sarutha ordered the girls to make egg curry and boiled tapioca roots before serving the food, though, she is a pure vegetarian, to please her boys, she allowed egg items inside the house, she had never forced them to be vegetarian. The lunch was getting ready to be served.

Though Adhavan didn’t feel like eating, he joined the three brothers, for lunch, they just loved food, they had 5 times more than what Adhavan would have on a single day, he was not able to cope with them, they teased him for eating less, they even started teaching him how to eat, even Sarutha teased him, Punguzali, finally had a thing that she can poke Adhavan with, she joined her brothers, she teased him as much as she could, Adhavan can’t help laughing at them, he sat in Siddhasana, he focused inside, dedicated the food to the great four, then he took a deep breath in, through his left nostrils, with the same intensity, breathed out, through his right nostrils, he repeated it 7 times, his body grew hotter by 3 times, his appetite increased drastically, his mind was only on the food he was eating, he ate non-stop for the next one hour, he emptied all the pots and bowls kept before him, he had food 5 times more than what all 3 would have eaten the whole day, they were all surprised, they didn’t have any more food to offer, Sarutha became very nervous, never once in her life she had faced such an embarrassing situation, alarmed, she turned to Mathivathani, worryingly, she complained to her at the strange behavior of Adhavan, involuntarily, Mathivathani prayed, she even didn’t know that she was praying to Annai Anushya Devi, right at that moment, Adhavan had a glimpse of Annai Anushya Devi’s form, while he was chewing his food, his heart stopped on seeing her, he dedicated the food in his mouth to her, he lost his focus, he suddenly felt satisfied, one full mouth of food in the name of Annai Anushya Devi has satisfied the hunger of the great four, once the great four were satisfied, Adhavan was satisfied too, it was more than enough to explain the relationship between Adhavan, the great four and Annai Anushya Devi, he finally said, “Enough, Enough, I think I have had Enough.” He laughed, it was a roar that touched the heavens, typical of the Siddhars, the way Macham used to laugh sometimes. It all happened very naturally. From that day, none of the family members forced him to have food, they will give him the due share, it was up to him to eat it away or give it to someone else, mostly he used to feed the street dogs with his additional food, they started to understand the queer behaviors of Adhavan, each of it had a great in depth meaning to it.

The filled belly lured Adhavan to a deep sleep, he slept continuously for next 8 hours, he woke up to see the dark, moonlit sky, filled with the twinkling stars, he was trying to recollect as how he came to the veranda, it all seemed to be a dream, he slowly went to the pond in front of the house, had a cool bath, returned back to the hut, found a warm place near Sarutha, Mathivathani brought him a mug of boiled hot water, which he took heartily, everyone, including the boys looked at him with an awe, they started maintaining a distance with him, both physically and emotionally. His mind was empty, there wasn't anything to talk about, he didn't feel the need to talk to, he slowly went through the day’s events, he then humbly asked Sarutha as though nothing has happened in the noon, “How did Macham bury Vipuruthi Ammal?”

To be continued...

Written on Dates: 04/14;04/15;04/16/2015

About Adhavan

Chapter 01 The Realization of the Vocation

Chapter 02 The First Glimpse of the Third Eye

Chapter 03 The Complete Surrender

Chapter 04 The Sacredness of the Divine Incarnation

Chapter 05 The Veneration of a Guru

Chapter 06 The Immortality

Chapter 07 The Art of Dying

Chapter 08 The Good Cause

Chapter 09 The First Dissemination

Chapter 10 The One behind the Spiritual Transformation
Chapter 11 The Smothering of the Class Distinctions

Chapter 12 The Insight of the Divine Lamp

Adhavan (13): The Divine Lamp

Chapter 12: The Insight of the Divine Lamp

The fall of the mind for the inner lamp.

Translation

The bluish light acting on the forehead

Probe and see through it, the lamp within

He sought it religiously, became the divine supremacy

Of those who were there, he is my guru

—Siddhar Sivavakkiyar Song (163)

Things that befall naturally, as you go, in its own flow, has a sweetness that lasts forever, these ones sprout, when there exists, a harmonious fusion between the giver and the receiver, on the contrary, if there is even a slight, tender, deviant conflict between the giver and the receiver, the fusion goes erroneous, all its attempts go futile, soon, these conflicts tend to grow exponentially larger, multiplying fractions into it, creating out of proportion large-scale sectarian groups, revealing deep, external partitions, exposing well, their inner self, highly conflicted souls, lamented with numerous mental rifts, unbearable to bear any more of this heavy burden, born of deep internal clashes within, the crevices that later grew largely uncontrolled into the larger population set. That many rifts you create in your mind, that many rifts you see in the world, that many rifts you see in the world, that many perceptions haunt your soul—all together drastically, pulling you farther away from the greater oneness, with each increasing perception you are actually sprinting away from the truth; the elusive, the most sought, the most pursued oneness, a state of mind without mental rifts and perceptions, until then, all your ascetic, painful efforts are merely additional burdens you levy on yourself, leading to a, strenuous, sweat-draining, fatigue-ridden, uphill walk, almost every one of them has failed many a times, in this arduous journey, in a short impulse, they all climbed half-way around, returned back to the basement, with empty hands and empty hearts, claiming that there is nothing worth fulfilling out there, for taking up such a painful journey—a fallible remark, one another blind perception of a blind soul.

Sarutha, gasped for breath as she rushed inside the hut, she was obviously shocked to see all her girls sitting there, working longer than the stipulated hours, while their kids and husbands were waiting for them at home, sadness trickled down their long faces, grief stricken workers have given only third rated outputs, on the other hand, Punguzali, was laughing her life out with, Mathurarayar and Athiperunar, there was something else odd in her disposition, she has pulled down her tops a bit, exposing well, the starting line of the cleavage of her breasts. On seeing Sarutha and Adhavan, the laughter of the three subsided, in an unnoticeable moment, Punguzali, corrected her tops delicately, by moving her left arm to her back, pinching her tops using her thumb and index finger, pulling it slightly down, this she did so involuntarily, well trying to safeguard her position before Sarutha, Adhavan can’t help appreciating it for the delicacy she had to it, she then continued to talk to them about the palmscripts, as though they have been talking about the same for all these hours, nothing else, whereas, the light in the eyes of the tribal women shone with hope, they got excited, they knew, they will all be chased out of the house soon, the other two daughters were happy too, they can allow their backs, a bit of rest.

Sarutha had such an impeccable composure, she neither shouted nor did she grudge, ignoring the trio, she went to the working women, smiled at them and said, “You all please get off my house now, immediately.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “I don’t want to see any of your sad faces tomorrow, please do take an off.”

Punguzali yelled, “Amma, I have promised them, to deliver all of it today itself, that is the reason I requested them to work so long.”

Sarutha was struck by the part of the sentence, ‘that is the reason I requested them to work so long’, it straight away implied that it is not the reason they have been waiting for. On the first hand, she never asked Punguzali, why they were staying, it must have been obvious to anyone, for they have been waiting for their goods, being processed for long hours. Actually, it would have raised a bit of doubt on the part of men, of such high incredible social status, to wait all by themselves, of course not on her own girl, till that moment, she didn’t have the heart to suspect her own little girl, but the unwanted, meaningful stress on the reason, attributed by her, for their over scheduled, prolonged staying, inconceivably has a hidden meaning to it, her sweet little girl has megrims, she thinks that her mother can’t fathom about, it’s high time, she must know, that her mother has come across much worse, real time, hard core, dupes, frauds and crooked minds who were professionals and whose trade was sheer forgery.

With all that in mind, Sarutha walked towards the kitchen, intentionally, delayed the reply for a few more moments, waited over it, spat it out very slowly, showing off, very little interest in the discussion, “Please do keep to your words, you and your sisters can work it all by yourselves, the whole night is still waiting out there, for you to attend to your committed work, every hour counts, whereas, these gentlemen can comfortably wait in the Veranda, ease themselves, allured by the charm of the sensuous nights, the nature has provided us with.”

Mathurarayar stung by the insult, hastily told Punguzali, “We are not vagabonds or homeless men to stay in the verandas, we will send our men to grab those wretched dried leaves, tomorrow morning, the earliest.”

Saying that, the pair angrily left the hut, leaving behind potential seeds, capable of a big time tragedy, about to put forth its first leaves, which may, even spread into a dense wilderness, if not uprooted instantly.

Punguzali, stormed the room quickly, went back and forth, trying to pick up a strong argument to start a good fight, she was badly insulted before the men of great status and wealth, the tribal girls were also there, they will not respect her anymore, her, ‘nothing doing’, ‘must do’, ‘by all means’ those rich, fine, fabricated stories, henceforth, will not have the desired effect on them, Adhavan was also there, she had felt his probing eyes, that somehow sees the truth, amidst the mess of countless lies, all these random thoughts, made her tears well up, knowing, she didn’t have anything to back her up, crying, she rushed out swiftly to the backyard, deeply crushed by the humiliation, no one went behind her, none tried to stop her, that at least could have consoled her a bit, rather, Sarutha was in the kitchen, preparing supper along with her sweet cantillation, its reverberations filled the whole hut, transforming the stressful war like atmosphere into a haven of safe grounds. The younger ones were struck between their mother and their elder sister, especially Kayalvizi, she often turned around to see her mother, so by chance she will come and free them, from heavy tiresome work she was made to do, her back was paining terribly, Mathivathani didn’t utter even a single word, though the pain of long hours of continuous work was still visible on her sweet face, she didn’t show it up, rather she took the pain in, continued to work in the same rhythm, undisturbed. Adhavan approached Kayalvizi and asked her, “Can I help you?”, she became nervous, squeezing her palms together, biting her lower lips, she turned around to her mother, looked up to her for her much needed intervention, Mathivathani can’t help hiding her smile, slowly it crossed her lips, her dark skin glowed under the golden hue emanated by the oil lamps, even now she looked fresh like water lilies, her eyes were still glued to the work she was doing. Sarutha, intervened, looked straight into Adhavan’s eyes and said, “No. You are tired, go have a bath, take a new pair of Killi’s dhotis, ease yourself, come back for a hot, steamy supper.” Adhavan realized that it was more an order, than a request, so he knew, not to persuade any further, it was a better way of saying, “Get out now, it’s none of your business.” Sarutha was of the diplomatic type, she knows the art of putting bad things together, with a few socially acceptable words of right kind, thinking about the happening made him only laugh internally, as bid by her, he went inside, picked up fresh dhotis that smelled of fresh wild lemons, walked smoothly out to the pond to ease himself of the day’s fatigue.

He heard Sarutha’s voice saying, “Now you both can have an hour break, before you get back to your work and help your sister to keep to her words.”

Kayalvizi protested, “Why should we suffer, just because she got committed to it, the whole day from noon you left, she didn’t even come around to help us, if she was helpful, the whole thing would have been completed by now, she was just doing nothing but showing off, to those ogling men.”

Adhavan heard the trouble brewing in, the war of words were being raged upon, list of accusations were traded across, the heavy downpour may take some time to subside, he expected at the least an hour for things to settle down on their own pace, until then he can spend his time leisurely in the deep, cool, moonlit, pond.

Sarutha came from the kitchen, slapped hard on Kayalvizi’s left cheek, pulled her silky slippery hair, said in soft whispers, “You will not talk again on your sister, whatever a bitch she might be. Is that clear?” She then swiftly turned around, walked towards the kitchen, this time, she didn’t chant, rather she was looking over the pot intently, continued stirring the ragi porridge, letting her worries mix with the porridge, then she suddenly realized, that the food made with a sad heart will taste bitter to the diners heart, so she pushed of her sadness, continued her chanting that helped to keep her mind away from melancholy.

Kayalvizi was all in tears, she sobbed heavily, it was loud enough to bring Punguzali back to the hut, she looked at Kayalvizi with a malicious grin, she kept looking at her, enjoyed till her heavy sobs subsided into slight whimpers, slowly, her eyes turned towards Mathivathani, she must have read her mind, she hurriedly packed her things, kept them aside, walked fast into the kitchen, to assist her mother. For time being, it’s the best safety measure, she can get to, in safeguarding herself from Punguzali’s wrath, she somehow will get her trapped into it, though she was not a bit involved in all this melodrama, it is the habit of Punguzali, if she was hurt, she will make sure all others around are hurt, it has instilled fear in them, so they neither assist her nor overpower her with advises, she is so sadistic sometimes, she has inflicted terrible pain on the prey she gets a hold on, levitates the cross on them, will then smilingly watch them crushing under its own weight. It’s always better to avoid Punguzali, in vengeance, she will inflict terrible pain on whoever comes across, rather than, the one who caused the pain, else to elude the situation, one should accept and surrender to her defacto standpoint, accept her as all knowing, all gone through, greater and better than all, whosoever it might be. Now in today’s standpoint, Punguzali was not at all satisfied with the tears shed by Kayalvizi, she wanted Mathivathani to compensate for that, she went into the kitchen, tried to talk her into making some bad comment on her, she didn’t yield, she eluded all her cunning questions, unable to bait her into the discussions, she turned to Sarutha and asked her, “How long have you been planning to insult me?” Sarutha never lost her composure, she said, “From the day you were in my womb.” Punguzali gave her a wry smile, behind the smile, her state was explicitly clear, she was deeply hurt, she knew, she had never been able to outwit Sarutha, she had hurt her many times, she looked into her face, with that malicious grin, laughing into it she said smilingly, “Now I understand, why my uncles have chased you out of the palace?” Mathivathani dropped the small box she had in her hands, her jaws dropped, she felt the pain, she had finally hurt Mathivathani, though she aimed her sharp words at Sarutha, but Sarutha’s expression didn’t even change a bit, she was devoid of any expression that Punguzali was eagerly looking out for, tired of the wicked games she was playing, she went to Kayalvizi and smiled at her, it was an unspoken message between them, “See I have been hurt, still I am smiling, I am strong, look at you, how weak you are, crying like a baby.” Kayalvizi was not able to stand her hard glance, it poked her heart, she ran into the kitchen, stood beside Sarutha, earnestly waiting for her, to talk to her. Losing patience, she started literally begging, “Amma, please Amma, please talk to me, I won’t talk again like that, look at me Amma, please...”

Sarutha neither talked to Kayalvizi nor Punguzali, rather she told Mathivathani, to prepare for Supper, taking that as a relief note, as though it was said to her, Kayalvizi joined Mathivathani immediately, started helping her, happy to do whatever her mother wanted to do. The chanting infected the girls, they continued chanting along with her mother, “Sivayyaaha Namaha, Sivayyaaha Namaha, Om Namah Sivayyaaha.” Chanting is the best way to maintain one’s integrity, it helps to wade of unwanted thoughts, connect with the element we are chanting about, mix with the divinity, empower oneself to maintain clarity of mind amidst greater chaos, in fact, it helps oneself attune with the divine voice, through which the element being chanted upon will talk in clear decipherable notes, whatever the chanting might be, you need to do it religiously to reap its full benefits; it could be ‘Narayana, Narayana, Narayana,’, ‘Hare Mahadeva, Sambo Mahadeva’, ‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’, ‘Sivayavasi, Sivayavasi, Sivayavasi’, ‘So-ahm, So-ahm, So-ahm’ etc. If you have raised your position to do the chanting from your heart you have taken a step further in mastering your mind, it’s better to chant openly, rather by heart as it may trick you into losing the rhythm of chanting and break its continuity. Only people who have really mastered their mind, can chant by heart uninhibitedly, amidst greater chaos, critical situations and day-to-day jolts, the mantras you choose is very important, it has to mix with your soul, should keep ringing in your mind, so it is better to seek your guru first, before choosing your mantras, get your mula mantra from your guru, he may even choose to teach you, on the way you need to breathe in, the way you need to breath out, while you chant the mantra. If he doesn’t want you to chant, it is better that you stop chanting, you can even chant on your guru, in fact, it helps you to get closely associated with him always, you can feel him inside you, when you chant on him, going furthermore is the dream elated situation where even chanting is not a necessity anymore, that is when your mind will stop when you want it to stop, run when you want it to run, your mind is one with the prana, everything is under control, you have mastered yourself, you have attained the epitome of human excellence, next are the ashtama siddhis, they are the additional gifts, that will be bestowed upon you, for the divine purpose you have taken up, it will be given unto you when you are ready for receiving those divine gifts. Fools are those who say, chanting is absolute waste, they are not even in the first stage of the spiritual transformation, but they consider to have reached the higher states, where chanting is not a anymore necessity, the ideal state, where you and what you have been chanting upon has become one and the same or the state where you have struck the divine cord and your mind is glued to it, as told by Siddhar Korakar in “Korakar Chandra Rekai”, that is when your mind can drop chanting, finally, it has caught hold of what is being chanted upon, there are also other fools or would say much worse, who consider that their mantra is better than all others, they are, those arrogant, ignorant, personae, whom you don’t need to give a crap about, choose what goes well with your heart,dwell on it.

Punguzali, was not able to withstand the cantillation of the trio, she yelled, “Can’t you say that in your mind, I can’t get to work. Don’t you see that? God is everywhere, he is within you too, why then you are all chanting the hell out of me. God is all love and silence, he doesn’t hurt, don’t disturb him like you are disturbing me now.” Kayalvizi and Mathivathani stopped chanting, reflexively, but Sarutha didn’t heed, she continued to chant, following her, the girls continued chanting again, this time bit slowly, they just murmured, the lowliest way of chanting. Still, Punguzali was not able to withstand the force of chanting, it was like all those words, each one of them attacked her troubled mind, she broke into wobbles of cries, she cried aloud, no one dare attempt to get anywhere near her, Sarutha increased the intensity of her chanting, approached her, placed her hands over her head, fondled her slowly, caressed her smoothly, Punguzali succumbed to her touch of love, she yielded, Sarutha took her by her arms, led her to the supper. The girls had their supper fast and started working on the palmscripts, while, Sarutha continued her chanting, the girls continued their work, this time Punguzali didn’t resist her, she allowed the cantillation to get into her, it eased the insult levied on her today, it was difficult on her part, to work along with her sisters, after being at the helm for a long time. It is also a great lesson for her not to change the norms set by Sarutha again, still her heart was not all smooth and quiet, it had hurt her deeply, she will pay back this insult and many more, when her time comes, she will take her vengeance, she is not of the type to let go and forgive, which she always expects from others, but not from her.

Adhavan entered into the hut, all them turned to look at him, he has not wiped his body, droplets of water clung to his shiny body like hanging pearls, ignoring the foursome, he went straight into the pooja room, recollected the way Killi applied ashes stylishly, all over his body, literally, he became Killi, he applied it all over his body in a similar way. The smeared ash on the water rolls got stuck to his bare skin, as the skin dried, the triplets started shining on him, he looked at himself, the triplets made him childishly happy. Sarutha was ready with a mug of ragi porridge mixed with buttermilk in right proportions and a plate full of deeply boiled smash of vegetable curry, which he took from her, heartily. He sat close to her, started savoring the food slowly, Punguzali, can’t help staring at him, she stared at him continuously, his sheer presence brought smiles to her, she liked the triplets on his high forehead, she told herself, ‘he is my sunshine, he is all gleaming’, from that day onwards she started calling him ‘My Sunshine’. Kayalvizi, often looked at him, every time she looked at him, she wanted to look at him again and again, he was so irresistible to her, his handsome looks pulled her magnetically towards him. Mathivathani the youngest of all, just stole a glance of him, it made her smile from her heart, she kept smiling the whole night. Adhavan knew well, what he was doing to all these three girls, but pretended like, he was not aware of it, continued to have his food slowly, after the ravaging storm, he brought back the joy that was missing therefore. Sarutha kept looking at him, her eyes probed the inner depths of his soul, her eyes watered, involuntarily, Adhavan was able to feel her gaze, it touched his soul, whereas Punguzali’s gaze touched every part of his body that was the difference between their gazes.

Once he had his supper, Sarutha went along with him, made his bed, placed a mug of hot water, wished him a good night, left his mind alone to wander with the intriguing web of stars. Adhavan pondered over the day’s happenings, it was the sixth night, he was staying away from home, he could well say, the previous place he was residing, post realization, it has become difficult for him to call any specific place as his home, so many things have changed by now, he has undergone so much of spiritual transformation, that he oddly recognizes himself now, his old identity has literally ceased to exist, he felt anew, even the intense, mind-wobbling tractates, the smiles of the beautiful, charming girls, the immaculate, adorable, scenic nature, all seem to be a passing cloud, nothing penetrated him, nor did it really get to his heart, they all seem to be prosaic third rated events, before the grand vortex through which his prana soared up to the heavens. Immersed in such deep thoughts, unaware, he slowly dozed off. It was around midnight, when Adhavan felt a hand over him, it touched him softly at the center of his bosom, he was not able to open his eyes, but he saw where it touched, he saw the shining lamp inside his body, exactly at the location where he was touched, the flow of the body reversed, everything fluid inside his body seem to flow towards the lamp inside, increasing the vibrations in his body to greater multitudes, the bright, whitish male form sitting to his right, lifted up his palm, his flow became normal, the vibrations subsided, he looked intently at the being, it was the same one, which stood at the end of Peruvazhi, during his first visit to the Vasimuni hills, this time along with him a dark female form has come, it was sitting to his left, she talked to the whitish male form in soft whispers, ‘You must ask him to pay a visit to us’, Adhavan recognized the voice so much, it belonged to the one who talked through him to Macham, the night when he and Macham were talking about the divine incarnations, the night when Macham prostrated before him. The white form replied in a deep resonating voice, “As per his karma, he has to initiate five of his disciples, before he pays his first visit.” He realized this voice too, the masculine roaring one, it belonged to the one, who have been talking to him in his trances, lately. Now, the dark female form touched him exactly at the same location, where the whitish form touched him, again the flow revered, he saw the lamp inside his body, she took off her hands, the flow became normal, then she slowly leaned over him, looked hard at the ash he had smeared on his forehead, very sensuously, slowly, she rubbed off the ash on his forehead, that very much reminded him of Mathivathani, smoothing the dried palm leaves with the conch shell, the dark form now winked at him, it slowly turned out into a beautiful, charismatic smile, that was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his life, it also told him, that she knew everything about him, nothing could be hidden from her, she touched the center of the bosom again, the flow reversed, the vibrations were so high, his body started quivering with an uncontrollable, extraordinary ecstasy, she took her hands off, the flow became normal, she talked to him, “Did you see the lamp because the ashes were on your forehead?” Adhavan replied, “No” the dark form, then asked him again, in a sing song voice, the sweetest he had ever heard, “Did you see the lamp because the ashes weren't there on your forehead?” Adhavan thought for a moment and replied, “No”, she started reciting, “Listen carefully, you are an enlightened man, you have witnessed the grand truth, you need to stand by it, the world out there is very tricky, they have a diabolic tongue, they will manipulate your doings, your innocence and your sweetness, they will fabricate it to their own stories that which may alienate from the truth, hence withhold from religious expressions, profess only truth, adhere to it and live by it.” He wanted to reply, but he was not able to open his mouth, he tried to get up, but he felt chained to the grounds, he wanted to follow them, he tried desperately, tried again with all his might, but he failed miserably, both of them left him, slowly the hold eased on him, he opened his eyes, they have just vanished the face of the earth. Right on the spot they were sitting, he had a foot long white feather to his right and a foot long black feather to his left, both belonged to the birds that he had never seen before, he checked on the ash on his forehead it had been rubbed off, he was totally immobilized and stuck, it took some time to recollect his senses back, he started thinking, for all these days he was led by them, it’s all their doings, he could not hide anything from them, they knew why he was here, what he was doing, why he was doing it, they knew his purpose, they have been guarding it very secretly, they have put him with Macham and his family, the white male form belongs to Guru Athri, the dark female form belongs to his female counterpart, Annai Anushya Devi. He became so anxious, he wanted to share this information to everyone, he wanted to shout it aloud, wake up every one of them and yell at their ears of things he has seen. Since it was too early to wake up anyone, he controlled his emotions, eased himself, slowly dozed off into a peaceful sleep, in his dreams he saw the most beautiful places rich and abundant, never before seen animal and birds, great waterfalls, deep canyons, clear blue ponds, a brand new forest that is ten-folds denser, richer and sexier than the ones he has seen in his lifetime.

(To be continued...)

Written on Dates: 04/10;04/11;04/12;04/13/2015

About Adhavan

Chapter 01 The Realization of the Vocation

Chapter 02 The First Glimpse of the Third Eye

Chapter 03 The Complete Surrender

Chapter 04 The Sacredness of the Divine Incarnation

Chapter 05 The Veneration of a Guru

Chapter 06 The Immortality

Chapter 07 The Art of Dying

Chapter 08 The Good Cause

Chapter 09 The First Dissemination

Chapter 10 The One behind the Spiritual Transformation
Chapter 11 The Smothering of the Class Distinctions