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Showing posts with label Transcendence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transcendence. Show all posts

Saturday, November 30, 2019

தமிழா (பாகம் 1–4): சித்தர் குறிப்புகள் (384)

தமிழா பாகம் (1-4)ல் இருந்து திரட்டிய 384 சித்தர் குறிப்புகள் மட்டும் இந்த ஏட்டில் இடம் பெற்று இருக்கும். இதனை ஞான தேடலில் உள்ளவர் அனைவரும் படிக்க வேண்டும்—இது விண்ணப்பம், அதுவே சித்தர் மரபிலும், சித்தர் தேடலிலும், இருப்பவர்கள் நிச்சயம் இதனை படிக்க வேண்டும்—இது உத்தரவு!

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Friday, September 25, 2015

Adhavan (25): The Discussion on Dreams

Chapter 24: The Discussion on Dreams

OM-AUM-UM-NAM-LAM-LING-KANG-DANG-RANG-SING-VANG-VA-LE-KAM-KAM-REM-KLIM-SUVAKAA

Translation

My goodness gracious, after it was over, listen
Pooja of the Mother, Goddess
Do it diligently without grudges
Mother Sivakami, is the sacred Goddess
Incomparable, Mother Devi, mantras and enthiras
Will recite, OM-AUM-NAM-LAM, LINGU
Rise with, KANG, DANG, RANG, SING, LANG, LALI
KAM, KAM, REM, KLIM, SUVAKAA.
—Siddhar Korakkar “Chandirarekai” Songs (104)

Beyond communication through the five external senses; touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight, there exists a substratum, which had helped mankind agelong, is still helping them to communicate, understand, and relate, not only with other human beings, but also with nature and other living beings, this substratum commonly known as the soul, or the spirit, relates to the body using mind, which being an interface between the body and the spirit not only helps in thought, action and imagination, but further, it functions, without back and forth impulses, from the aforesaid five external senses, either for itself or for others. Presenting its possibilities positively, and only to name the few; it can transfer psychic energy to the needed; heal the sick using the same energy; bear great, unbearable, emotional and physical pains of the needy; perform miracles for the deserved; woo nature to act in favor of mankind; share experiences, knowledge and wisdom to the honest seekers; guide spirits to attain enlightenment; warn imminent dangers society would face; counsel problems of those in adversity; expose atrocities of the wicked and the cruel; make peace between arch enemies, and further, it can even go to an extent of killing and punishing not only the lawless, unjust, merciless tyrannies, but all of their men altogether, such are the infinite possibilities a human mind can accomplish, the same can be done with an unimaginable precision and extraordinary force, if the substratum, the soul, can travel along with the mind or can be supported by external minds or even by a group of souls, in fact better, if the group of immortals, in traditional words, if siddhars lend a helping hand, the deed can be simply considered to be done, the very moment they have agreed to it, so vast and unfathomable is the ocean of possibilities, a human mind can stretch and achieve, there is no end to human excellence, even sky is not the limit, it just grows, keeps on excelling uninhibited, it still has lots of potential unexplored that which, till date, remains, elusive and untouched.

The silence was impenetrable, the wind was furious, it's hissing sound pierced their eardrums, after a heavy struggle against the turbulent, swirling wind, Muthupandian, Balaraman and Adhavan finally lit the torch, it burnt with its leaping flames and it danced, in tune, in harmony, with the heavy blowing wind, following that, they arranged the campfire and invited Macham to light it. Undoubtedly, Macham was a bit troubled and deeply engulfed in his own thoughts, owing to the brewing internal conflict he witnessed erupting among his sons and his disciples, though he was a siddhar and could have easily shoved off the turmoil the same moment, he allowed his emotions to keep bothering him, till the moment he heard the voice of Muthupandian, by his side, requesting him softly, to light the campfire, heeding to his words, Macham got up from the spell he casted over himself, pushed aside his sentiments and emotions, cleared his thoughts, steadied his breath, walked slowly, silently, to the heap of firewood, arranged beautifully and painstakingly, only to be annihilated by the same fire. The realization of the truth was poignant, the firewood would soon be nothing but ashes, a sign of complete barbarous, obliteration of its own matter, the light and warmth it would generate, will in turn, destroy and mutilate its own form and shape into an unrecognizable palmsful of ash, but still only by its transformation, mankind can enjoy warmth and light, in a way it is death, but in truth, it is one of the purest form of transformation, with that enlightening thought, enchanted by its sublime philosophical beauty, Macham lit the campfire, he sat beside it and started staring at the fire, unperturbed, as others were wandering around, clearing the place for the nights stay, preparing a humble supper with what meager things they could get their hands on. Macham let his mind contemplate on the fire, he started looking at the leaps of flames dancing ceremoniously to each and every whistling and rustling of the wind, the exuberant firework of the sparks triggered by the exploding sap pockets in the firewood, and the smoke that filled the surrounding area, wadded off flies and insects, clouded not only vision, but also seduced minds into a deep trance, it was a rightful moment for a deep contemplation, that had to it various mind soothing attributes of nature in right proportions such as engulfing silence, cool night, the warmth of the campfire, hissing wind, dancing flames of fire, hazy smoke, the sound of the gushing stream, popping firewoods, racing clouds and the twinkling stars, it all synchronized harmoniously, beautifully, in the making of a simple, visually appealing music that sounded one with the heartbeat, thus numbing and pacifying woebegone hearts, luring them into a deep meditative mood.

His mind contemplated, he was talking to himself:

“What makes the fire take the elusive form it takes? How many times will it change its shape? How frequent will it change? How often does it move and respond to every fine change in the surroundings? How fast does it react? What colors it throws, in what frequency? In the open atmosphere, have you ever seen it remain stiff and unmoved? Does it not move in harmony with the wind? Or is it trying to defend itself from the wind that which is furiously trying to extinguish it? Is it not like water, trying to take the shape of the container? In the case of fire, is it not space, within which it dances? Is there a difference in the primordial nature of the 5 basic elements; water, fire, wind, space, and earth? Then, why we human beings, made up of the same 5 basic elements, do not act in tune with the way of the nature? Why? Don’t they teach us the same philosophy? Don’t they teach us the same harmony? Don’t they teach us to act in tune with the nature, respond to it intelligently? For the given moment, can we predict the shape, pattern and color of the flame? And so, can we form equations and predict the exact changes of wind, water and fire? Then going further, can we enumerate logically, the ongoing changes in space and earth into one nutshell? If so, can you summarize, how frequent the changes happen in any given moment? And how long do they happen? Why do they happen at all? Even if we ignore the frequency of changes, how many different forms would it take? Though the core part of it is the same and it has always been the same, why are there so many colors to it? My goodness gracious, look at those bright, glowing, wild colored leaping flames, and what incredible patterns it create, before I could take a one to my heart, it throws me another one, so I continued to see it without thinking, without taking it in, so that I don’t lose its various expressions, but then, it happened so involuntarily, so gently, unannounced, a stillness took over me, a steadfastness took over my breathing cycle, slowly I merged, I merged with the flame, my body grew warmer, my soul leapt and cried along with it, I felt its every moment, every pattern, every dance, every leap, Ah! It was so blissful, so heavenly, such a pure joy, what could I say, I was the flame for moments longer than I could imagine, though my eyes were wide open, my mind was lost to the dancing flames, might be, my face had that glow, because Muthupandian was shocked to see my face, when he shook my shoulder and requested me to bless the food he had placed before me, I was least bothered, but on seeing the food, I felt like tasting them, for they have cooked it for me, but my body was set ablaze, my mind was completely incinerated by the red hot flames, it was empty, it didn’t have anything to contain, it didn’t have anything to hold on to, all of it has been annihilated by the beautiful, blazing fire, my mind was naked, I saw myself, the bright, brilliant white greenish flow of lights in my spine, the flow of energy, I saw it all, I felt rhythmic up and down movements, slowly, very slowly, I came out of it, I saw the food placed before me, I did not ask what it was, but I offered it blindly to my guru, then tasted a few bits of it and asked all of them to eat from the same leaf.”

That was their second night out in the woods, after they had their humble supper, Adhavan asked Muthupandian:

“Can you tell us how to make dreams?”

Muthupandian felt a bit shy, he looked at Adhavan uncomfortably, then requested Macham:

“Master, I know only one way, whereby I request the help of my divine mother Makali to carry forward a message, I do it like a ritual, it is a very long process, I can teach that one, but I don’t know anything else, rather, if you can first enlighten us with your knowledge on dreams, it would help me to understand with clarity, what I have been doing all these days, they will also learn along with me.”

Macham still mesmerized by the campfire, reluctantly looked at Muthupandian, sighed, smiled slightly, cleared his throat and asked Adhavan:

“What is a dream?”

Adhavan replied immediately without hesitation:

“Things that I see in sleep.”

Macham asked him:

“What is sleep?”

Adhavan replied:

“A state of mind, when it is not aware, when it is not conscious of what is happening, in and around.”

Macham continued:

“So one could say, dreams occur when the mind is asleep.”

Adhavan continued:

“Yes. Of course”

Then Macham asked Adhavan:

“Ok then, now you tell me, what is that thing that sees a dream, when the mind is asleep?”

Adhavan was unable to answer it, as he was pondering over the question, Balaraman raised his doubt:

“Is it soul?”

Macham questioned Balaraman:

“So do you mean to say that our spirit is watching the dream when the mind is asleep, then I would ask you a question, can a soul interact without the mind?”

The question was a bit difficult one, each one personally started going over their dreams, trying to understand the state of their mind, during a dream, as well as the one, during a sleep without dreams. Macham gave them ample time, unaffected by their serious attempts in unlocking the mystery of the relationship between dream, mind, soul and sleep, he continued to gaze emptily at the dancing flames.

After a very long time, Adhavan asked Macham:

“So if I can understand mind, then I can understand about dreams better.”

Though Macham was obviously disturbed in his trance, ignoring the intervention, he said:

“Oh, fine! I will tell you what mind is, you tell me what a dream is?

Then he asked them to form a circle, chanted each word of a long mantra, they earnestly repeated it after him, as they were chanting, he waited patiently and then continued with the remaining words, that way, he taught them that night, that 18 word mantra, in one stretch, after supper, before sleep. Though generally, it wasn’t the way, he did it specifically, knowingly, to fit the purpose, as by doing it this way, the desired state, still could be very well achieved, ethically, morally and legally. As they continued to chant, the whole surrounding reverberated with that 18 word mantra:

1. OM
2. AUM
3. UM
4. NAM
5. LAM
6. LING
7. KANG
8. DANG
9. RANG
10. SING
11. VANG
12. VA
13. LE
14. KAM
15. KAM
16. REM
17. KLIM
18. SUVAKAA

They almost completed chanting the mantra 5 times, Macham paused and started to explain about where to look inside their body, when they were chanting the mantra:

“1–3 (OM, AUM, UM) you should focus on the tip of the spine; 4-5 (NAM, LAM) on the navel point; 6–10 (LING, KANG, DANG, RANG, SING) on the center point in the chest; 11–13, (VANG, VA, LE) on the center point in the throat; 14–16, (KAM, KAM, REM) on the center point in the forehead between eyebrows; 17, (KLIM) on the crown of the head; 18, (SUVAKAA) you should spit the word out, indeed, strictly speaking, as one chants the mantra, they can trace the movement of internal energy across all these points, of course, there will be a slight overlapping between the points, rather than worrying about it, one should try to strike the chord, chant the mantras repeatedly, be with the flow of the internal energy and learn to derive immense pleasure out of it, in fact, one should chant it so loud that it makes their whole body go numb, hence for such prayers, it is better to choose a private place, without much of external disturbances, and let the sound resonate throughout one’s body without inhibition, soon as you keep repeating the mantras intently, you can sense your internal energy to crawl up and fall down from the bottom to the crest, respectively, in cyclic fashion, it creates an invisible garland around your soul, mind and body, thus protecting you from physical sickness, emotional agonies, evil spells, external influences, and to add further, on the positive side, it improves your psychic capabilities, charm, attraction, aura and general well being, basically, this is a mantra that can be used externally, for invoking and pleasing any female deity, as well as for practicing inner devotion and general well being.”

Then Macham started chanting the mantra again, this time they repeated along with him, focused, looking inward, intently, at the mentioned varmam points. Then after chanting it the third time, he stopped and started to explain:

“In such cases of loud chantings, one cannot contain one’s breath, hence to perform an internal yoga, you need to chant along with a systematic controlled breathing, whereby you will raise not only your internal energy, but guide your vasi consciously to the crown of your head, this should be strictly done under the supervision of an expert, who should be able to take his own vasi consciously, even beyond the crown, at ease, without much of fuss and drama, just like that, in a flick of a moment, since all of you have the capability to soar up and go beyond the crown, you can practice this on your own, without my supervision. Though, the ardent practice of vasi yoga may give you extraordinary spiritual powers, self-mastery and great urge to soar further and merge with the parabrahmam, it is very risky, in the sense, by prolonged, sincere, strenuous practice of vasi yoga, one will start losing interest in the family life, material world, food and sex, even your basic instincts can’t anchor you anymore to this worldly life, hence this should be practiced only after getting a direct approval from one's Guru, not the otherwise, and you are not supposed to teach this to anyone, of course, vasi yoga will not work with aspirants, who are not initiated into internal yoga, using which, they can live in accordance with the way and life of the siddhars, whereby, they can start living on vasi alone, without food and sex, even those who have such rare abilities, perform it, only if needed, and initiate others, who don’t have to lead a worldly life anymore. Remember, vasi yoga always comes with the word caution.”

Macham paused for a moment and continued:

“Now, note down, how to chant with controlled breathing, before chanting, one should slowly inhale through the left nostril, hold the breath without paying much attention to it, then chant the full mantra, after you have completed it, if you are performing an inner devotion, exhale the breath using the right nostril, else if you are performing an external devotion, spit it out through your mouth, in that case, every time you finish one cycle, you can throw a flower on the deity, you are paying your devotion to, it could be a meru, a lamp, an idol or even a living person, when this is done to a living person, they will be showered by the chanters energy, and if they receive it without inhibition, they will be thrown into a spiritual bliss, but chanting with a controlled breathing can’t be done while chanting aloud, it has to be said within silently, in that case, you need both a calm place and a calm mind.”

Saying that Macham and his disciples continued to chant the mantra 10 times in complete silence, each cycle took 18 seconds, so they completed 10 cycles in 3 minutes, so it was obvious that one can easily chant 1008 cycles in 5 hours time.

Then he asked Adhavan:

“How was the experience?”

Adhavan replied:

“My head is heavy, I am feeling dizzy.”

Macham said:

“Let it go free, let it numb, sometimes, even it may throw you into a deep samadhi, don’t resist it, let the energy flow in its natural cycle, let the vasi converge at the crown naturally, don’t hamper it, don’t try hard, do it out softly as like a feather’s touch, else it may cause you a severe headache, nausea, anxiety, vomiting, restlessness and you will go sleepless for nights together, that is the reason why it is done under a Guru’s supervision. Don’t worry, no problem, you will learn it soon, on your own. Cheer up! You are eligible to perform vasi yoga.”

Then Macham signalled Adhavan to come near him, touched is head, caressed his back repeatedly, from top to bottom 3 times, miraculously that heavy dizzy feeling left him the same moment, then he asked Muthupandian:

“What did you feel?”

He said:

“I felt a pressure on each and every point I saw, from the tip of the spine, to the crown of the head. I felt the energy move up every time I chanted, but almost every cycle, I was not able to hold onto my breath, so I inhaled once and kept exhaling it even while I was chanting the mantra in silence.”

Macham smiled at him and said:

“That’s ok, as long it is harmonious, in that case, you would have not felt the dizziness, it would have normally eased with your exhalation, so is the reason why long stretches of chantings are done in empty stomach during sunrise and sunset, but still you would have felt the flow. Well, going back to the original discussion on dreams, what is that thing inside you that sensed the flow of energy?”

Muthupandian replied:

“My mind.”

Macham looked at Balaraman and asked:

“So as per his statement, if the mind his able to feel the flow of energy, can you tell me where the mind was when it was sensing?”

Balaraman thought for a moment and replied:

“Mind was wherever the energy was.”

Macham smiled at his reply and continued:

“So can we say, mind and energy are inseparable.”

Muthupandian replied affirmatively:

“Yes master”

Macham asked Muthupandian:

“Then now, can you focus your mind to the tip of your index finger?”

Muthupandian closed his eyes, focused his mind over the tip of his index finger, after a few moments, startled, he exclaimed:

“Yes Master. I can feel the energy flowing outside throw my index finger.”

Macham replied:

“But you are resisting it, you should let if flow like water, you should not resist it.”

Muthupandian bowed and said:

“Will learn to let it free Master.”

Macham smiled at Muthupandian, then looked at Adhavan and asked him:

“What is that actually happens to you, when you focus your mind freely on the vital points of the energy channel, without controlling it forcefully?”

Adhavan replied without hesitation:

“It remains within, it never goes out, in other words internal energy is never lost, even I can go to an extent of saying that your ageing process is completely slowed down and you will transform into more than a normal human being, you become supernatural, extraordinary.”

Macham said:

“Yes, anchoring ones mind within is called siddham, those who have achieved it by will, consciously, in full awareness, and in addition, if they have found the ultimate truth; the divine lamp within, and has seen it consciously getting seated over the white lotus, can be very well called as siddhars, without doubt, even though, most of such siddhars are not bestowed with any of the ashtama siddhis and can’t be compared to the incomparable ones, who possess all ashtama siddhis, still traditionally they can be rightfully revered as siddhars. Now we know the importance of keeping the mind within and through that we know what the mind is, also we are aware that the energy flows wherever the mind goes. Now coming back to the original discussion, during sleep what happens to one’s mind? What is its state?”

Adhavan though for a moment, staring blankly into a red hot firewood, continued talking:

“If mind is focused you will not sleep, either it will converge on the crown and you will attain a samadhi, else you will start enjoying the flow of energy and be on it, that implies a solid deep sleep is when mind sleeps, or in other words when the mind is unfocused or let loose, there is no conscious guidance or the free will to forge it or govern it, in such situations, it may either, fish old memories, fears, anxieties that surfaces in the same mind and throw upon as images and emotions, which, in fact fits exactly the description dream.”

Macham interrupted and asked:

“What is conscious guidance and free will? Is it different than that of mind?”

Adhavan replied:

“Yes, it is a lot different, it’s the one that rules and orders mind and body, principally it is the gist of one’s sense of intelligence, you can very shortly call it as the intelligence, you can even call it as a lever that governs and rules mind, that which relates to the soul, that which makes conscious decisions, that which lets the mind fold and unfold, that which wakes up and puts the mind to sleep. Yes this conscious guidance, this free will, are sheer expressions of the intelligence, the fine conscious part where thoughts arise, where the will arises, its this intelligence that runs the whole system and it is the gateway to the soul, indeed the heart of soul.”

Macham surprised at his level of understanding, probed him further:

“Then if it is intelligence that guides the mind to see the lamp within, can you see it now?”

Adhavan smiled at him and replied:

“My intelligence is not trained enough to command its happening the very moment requested, so it simply means, my free will, my consciousness, my intelligence has not reached its supreme state of complete mastery over the mind, to let my mind dwell on the divine lamp at any time, at any place, at any moment.”

Macham smiled at him and simplified it by saying:

“To put it straight, you are not able to let your mind dwell on the inner lamp, as and when you desire it.”

Adhavan confirmed him even before Macham ended the sentence:

“The ‘you’ is what I call as intelligence.”

Macham must have started to enjoying the conversation, smilingly, he questioned him further:

“Then what is the difference between the ego and the intelligence.”

Adhavan replied without hesitation:

“Ego is a collection of notions and ideas about self, others, things and places—the formed, rigid mind, whereas intelligence is consciousness, pure consciousness, the will to act, the will to choose, the will to order, the will unbound.”

Macham questioned him further:

“How different is it from ego?”

Adhavan replied affirmatively:

“Ego is something like this, ‘I want him to teach me, but I won’t ask him and if I ask him, he won’t teach me.’ All the ‘I’’s here are collection of ideas, decisions, assumptions about oneself and others, so it is ego, whereas the consciousness is the awareness of the ego like, when you want to calm down now, right now, for a moment, what will you do? You will it, you just will it, that part, that willing part, is the consciousness, the pure awareness, it has nothing to do with ego.”

Macham admired at him and said:

“Yes, that will is what you call as intelligence and it is the gateway to the soul, only it can unburden the formed mind, the ego, clear it, of its debris, free it and let it dwell on the divine lamp, until then your mind will not flow, wherever your intelligence wants it to flow, in simple words, you have not mastered yourself. First clean your mind of all the shit you have piled up, from the day you have born, keep it fresh, let it start listening to the intelligence, the consciousness, the sense of awareness, later, it can be taught to rest on the whorl first, then much deeper on the divine lamp.”

Macham was all smiles, he looked at Adhavan piercingly and asked:

“Now you tell me, what happens to that consciousness, the intelligence, the sense of awareness during sleep and during dreams?”

Adhavan looked at him quizzically and replied:

“Lost, dead. As like mind, it sleeps, else one can’t sleep at all, even the mind can be let loose and half asleep, which answers for our dreams, but the consciousness has to be completely dead, switched off, else one can’t sleep, impossible.”

Macham confirmed it:

“So you say, this will doesn’t work during sleep, in other words, it doesn’t function, so during sleep, the unbridled mind surfaces its fears, anxieties and repressed emotions, that you don’t have a hold on, because your consciousness has also slept, else you will not be sleeping, rather you will be wide awake, and so, you can’t will your dreams to stop, if in case, if you are conscious, then it is not a dream at all, since you have not slept, as alike, when you were chanting the mantras, you were fully conscious, though your mind was subdued, and you were not asleep. Only when you are not conscious, you dream. In other words, it is your mind that dreams, not your consciousness, not your soul.”

Adhavan nodded thoughtfully that can be considered only as an approval. Macham looked at Muthupandian and asked him:

“Is that dream you are taking about is different from the one he mentioned?”

Muthupandian replied:

“Yes, master.”

Macham questioned him again:

“Can you tell me how different it is?”

Muthupandian said:

“It is very different, what I create is something similar to a spell, indeed it is a black art, in this case, there are three different persons involved in it, the first one being the one who wishes, or the one who desires, or you can well say the one who orders, who wants a message to be transferred onto another subject’s mind, second is the medium or the spirit or the mind that actually injects the message onto the subject’s mind, third is the subject to whom the message is transferred. Generally, we call this as a dream, since it is done while the subject is asleep, but in truth, it is a very small spell we cast, rather than the ones we do, say for a week or a month or even for years together. ”

Macham questioned him:

“So to be precise, since the spell you cast, happens in sleep, we tend to call it as a dream, fine then, what is this message you transfer, is it only words, or pictures you see, or you can even transfer feeling, senses, pains and pleasures, or you can pack all this together and give it as one package?”

Muthupandian replied:

“Being practical, we don’t split this so fine, suppose I want to transfer just the physical appearance of this place and add a message to it, saying, ‘come here, on or before, full moon day, its at short distance from the Laughing hills at Velir Thopu’, so in the subject’s mind, during his sleep, he will see this place and will have the words said in my voice, or in voice of people, whom the subject can trust, thus we can convey a message successfully.”

Macham questioned:

“Why do you do it in a dream and how will you know that the message has been communicated successfully?”

Muthupandian replied:

“Because when the subject is awake, it is very difficult to enter his mind, as his consciousness may reject the spell, so it is always done during sleep, still if the medium we use is strong and determined, it can even cast the spell during limelight, generally we call them as spells, but in the case, where the subject is very spiritual, he may not only ward off the spell, but may transfer it back onto the medium, as well as on the one who orders it. In case of messages alone that are not a bad spell, a subject who is aware of black arts, might open up and take a message in the limelight, if he wills to and if he could.”

Muthupandian paused for a moment and continued:

“To ascertain successful communication, we may request the medium to revert to us with a message or give us the same message that was given to the subject, thus we will know that the message has been communicated effectively.”

Macham questioned him:

“Is it not a breach of conduct, to enter a subject’s mind without getting a prior permission, that too, when they are asleep peacefully? Will it not disturb their sleep? Is it not arrogance? Is it not unethical? How can you disturb a man’s sleep?”

Muthupandian answered:

“Yes, master, it is a black art, it is not all evil, but is being used much only for evil purposes, to be honest, we are not suppose to use it, but it is the most effective way to communicate, in this case, I am giving life to 17 families, so I don’t mind disturbing their sleep once, only once.”

Macham laughed at his reply and said:

“You are such an immaculate person, you will not err, so you can practice black arts, you have my approval, you can also teach them, you can experiment among yourselves, but strictly not on the laymen, and don’t teach this art to anyone, it is like giving a beautiful garland, the internal energy, the divine goddess, to a mind that is not only restless like a monkey, but all evil, it will start experimenting with it stupidly, not only will it hurt itself, but will also cause trouble to everyone around, even its own near and dear ones, it will land us all in complete chaos.”

Muthupandian said:

“I will not teach this black art to anyone other than Adhavan and Balaraman, Master.”

Macham replied:

“In fact, you have already taught them theoretically, they just need to take a ride, and of course, they don’t need to use a medium, rather, they can send their own minds, in whatever form they want to, Adhavan can take the form of a Lion, Balaraman can take the form of a deer, and then communicate the message with their subjects effectively, share their experiences, even initiate disciples, further they can send their own soul along with their mind, so that it’s much more powerful, in both the cases, the one who has ordered has become the medium, so they are now, one and the same.”

Macham questioned:

“Please also tell them, how much evil this art could unleash?”

Muthupandian replied:

“Suppose, a senathipathi has planned to raid our military base tomorrow, and we want to stop him, or make him perform very poorly, we will first target the integrity of his mind, we will identify his weakness, suppose he loves his wife a lot, we will use our spirits to create a spell, whereby that night, in his dream, he would see his wife having sex with some other man, mostly his arch enemy, and for his wife, we will use the same spirits and giver her the same pleasure of having sex with her husband’s arch enemy, we can go further, and make the husband feel the intercourse very much, as though he was having sex with her, noting down the fact, they will be away from one another, it will create an unbearable anguish for both the partners, followed by suspicion, but in truth, it isn’t so, this will not only break their relationship forever, but will put him in a great agony, weaken his position and composure, he will inevitably lose his hold on the matters of importance, he will not able to give his best in the raid, even he may postpone or walk off from his decision. We can do things that are much more evil, as the master well said, the art should not be taught to anyone.”

Muthupandian asked Macham:

“If the one who ordered himself has become the medium, it is still evil, isn’t it, Master?”

Macham laughed at his reply and answered him politely:

“If a mother wakes up a son to have lunch, which he would very much want, if he was awake, can it be considered as wrong? It is all about ethics and the need of the situation, anyhow, that should not leave ethics to our choice, so that we conveniently justify our acts, saying that all of it was important at that point of time, the truth is, whatever odd justification you come up with, your heart will know right away that you were unethical, if you were so, whereas in cases, where the subject has agreed to it, in full consciousness, then it is mutual, you can go on and experiment with your minds and your souls, in such case, its purely ethical, whereas if it’s done without the concern of the subject or forced upon a laymen’s mind, that too when he is asleep, it is completely unethical, in fact, a betrayal of the spirit of the black arts, which, as like all other arts was founded by our ancestors to do goodness for the mankind, but over a period of time, people started misusing it, as it has become a buyable art, they started buying the ones who order it and their mediums, and the ever prevailing evilness flourished under its reign.”

Muthupandian questioned:

“If in case, the medium is myself, my own spirit, my own mind, can I have an intercourse with my female counterpart, under mutual concern, will it still be ethical.”

Macham replied:

“That doesn’t matter, either you talk to your female counterpart, or have an intercourse with her, as long as it is mutual and ethical, in fact, I don’t give much importance to sex, it is just like eating, nothing more, nothing less. You can experiment among yourselves, of course, not on the laymen, not on the people who are not willing to subject themselves to such pleasures. Even if you are using spirits to give you the intercourse feeling of someone else’s intercourse, it is still ethical, provided the partners who had intercourse in live, agreed to it, as in the case of the Senathipathi, it was forced, it was an act of cowardice, it is an act of betrayal, there is no honor to it, hence it is unethical. Even a gift, if offered is unethical, it is still unethical, and if a gift you offer is not taken, so you force it upon, it again would be unethical, will you force your wife to bed with another man, then how can you force a man to bed with any women you want to, is it not unethical? Will you do that to your mother? Will you do that to your daughter? Will you do that to your son? Whether you are experiencing it with your body, or with your soul and mind, ethics remain the same, it doesn’t fluctuate, as there can’t be any variation of ethics and morality even in out of body experiences, may be, we will have a different set of court, led by a group of immortals, to handle breech of justice, in case of out of body experiences.”

Balaraman intervened and asked:

“If this art can form a base for so much of evil, why should we use it all?”

Macham replied:

“The art as such is not an evil one, it’s only people who apply it to fulfill their evil minds make it evil, that is the reason why ashtama siddhis are not taught. Even among the disciples, only a selected few were given with those gifts, and even in that not all of them were given all of those siddhis, some got 1/8, some 2/8 and very few got 3/8, so we have a very few handpicked ones, who had mastered all the 8 siddhis, who have spent all their life mastering it, some even take birth over and again just to learn it, but seldom few have achieved that feat, it is not like it will be given to you if you ask for it, and it will not be given to you if you don’t ask for it, if they have spotted the right one, at the right time, they will shower upon him the rights gifts, irrespective of whether he wanted it or not, but if he had rightfully deserved it. When siddhars they themselves use their gifts, why can’t you use what have in your control, to spread goodness, peace and love, even you can use it for your own self, your own needs, it is completely ethical, suppose you want to send a message, give a sweet memorable feeling to your brother’s son, then you can do it by using your own spirit.

Balaraman questioned:

“How to use our own spirits as mediums? Secondly, how will I know that he will be interested in my gift? Will he accept it? Will he like it?”

Macham replied:

“Am happy that you think so much even for giving a gift, you really do care a lot about people. You are a good man. Talking to someone in a far off place is just like what we are doing now, it’s like talking, the thin filament, this body that which holds us, can’t contain us, if really don’t want to. Get into the whorl, mix with the space, communicate, share, love, do whatever you want to do, suppose you want to give him the experience, of say, one of your spiritual ecstasies, you need to first elevate yourself to that state of mind, for example, if you are sending an external medium, a deity, or a spirit, you will first pay your devotion; offer food, wine and drug it likes, throw it into an ecstasy and request it to send across messages, emotions, love, whatever. The same way, when it comes to sending your own spirit, you need to elate it with things that will make it feel good, that will help it to reach a tranquil mind, from there, it just mixes with the mind of the subject and slowly imbibes in them the spiritual experience you wanted him to experience, but remember, he is not actually experiencing it consciously, rather, he is just experiencing what you have experienced, that too in a sleep, unaware, not consciously, so there are lot of difference in it, in fact, they are not one and the same, and even can’t be compared. We can even use this method to teach disciples in remote places, you can even share experiences and knowledge, for to transfer the knowledge, you can well get into the whorl of the disciple, mix with him and transfer all the knowledge you have gained, it is like transferring water from one container to another, it is that simple, but care should be taken, not to confuse with the actual conscious experiences against the ones shared in sleep, the former is true, later is fake. There are so much to it, but most of them, till date they are confused as a dream, which in fact, is not true, as dreams are our own thoughts, the mind sees during a sleep, not the thoughts of others, not the spells, not the siddhi kudu vitu kudu paithal, not the out of body experiences, not the transcendences of mind, even if these, other than a dream, can truly can happen during a sleep, they can only be considered as true to earth experiences, if and only, they are experienced consciously. So Balarama, can you summarize all of what we have discussed so far.

Balaraman cleared his tone and spoke authoritatively:

Various aspects of mind and soul communications either during a sleep, or while awake can be categorized as follows:

1. Seeing one’s own fears, emotions and thoughts in a sleep, when the subject is not aware of it consciously, alone can be called as a dream.
2. Sending a spirit to convey a message during sleep can be only termed as a short spell, a black art, and the message can be of any form, even it could be an experience of a sexual intercourse between two other partners. Ethics here are subjected to the desires of the one who ordered it and the spirit can take any form and voice it wishes to, even it can take the same form, as that of the subject’s mind.
3. Sending ones own spirit rather than the external ones, to convey a similar message as in the aforesaid point, during sleep, can only be termed as a short spell. Ethics here, again, are subjected to desires of the one who ordered it and the spirit can take any form and voice it desires. In this case, the one who ordered it and the medium are one and the same, and if the the one who ordered it, does it consciously, it can be taken as a sub clause.
4. Sending one’s mind alone will not be that effective so the spirit is generally accompanied in both the cases. That means we can also send mind alone without a spirit, so both points 2 and 3 will have additional sub clauses.
5. Communicating, or sharing experiences and knowledge with a subject, when both the parties are conscious of the happenings, then it can be termed as a spirit to spirit, or a mind to mind, or a spirit to mind, conscious communication, here ethics cannot be questioned, as it is an act between two people in mutual agreement.
6. Kudu vitu kudu paithal is a siddhi, whereby, a soul leaves, it’s own body while alive and enters another human body consciously, talks to the gathering or the self, again consciously, in full awareness, using the body taken. This generally happens between a Guru and a disciple, either to lead disciples, or to lead the fellow disciples, or to guard them from evil and confusion. This is purely ethical. In case, if the siddhi happens during a sleep with an external assistance, then it will become a sub clause.
7. If the Guru had shed his mortal body, to ascertain the fact, they are very much alive and they are listening to their disciples woes and miseries, they can enter a disciple’s body to ascertain the same fact, if done otherwise, without conscious mutual agreement, or if they stay in a body more than the needed time, it would be considered unethical. It seldom happens between a Guru and a disciple, as the event is conscious, time-bound, happening, in full awareness. In case, if this happens during a sleep with an external assistance, then it will become a sub clause.
8. A mind can also be sent to attack, talk, discuss, disturb, communicate, empower with the subject, as and while, with or without permission, can be termed as transcendence of mind, ethics here, is subjected to the individual’s desire and will. The mind can take any form and voice as it desires. This is different from short spells, as here, we are not sending messages by elating one’s mind or the spirit’s mind, rather, it happens between both the parties consciously where one of the party is not interested in communicating with another.
9. Seeing previous birth memories imprinted on one's soul either consciously, or in a sleep, the same can be seen in an another subject’s soul either consciously, or again in a sleep, in both the cases, if done with mutual concern, it is ethical, else ethics are subjective to individual’s wish.

Out of all these 9 points with sub clauses, only one can be called as a dream, as all others are expressions of spirit and mind, in most of the cases, one of the party would be conscious and in very few cases both the parties would be conscious.

Adhavan asked:

“So much of information for various things that can happen during sleep. How can one understand the difference between each one of this method? What is what?”

Macham smiled at him, rather than answering the question, he started talking to him:

“With my Guru’s blessing, you will come out unblemished, in the test of character that you will be subjected to. In the next one year, the integrity of your mind and spirit, will be drilled on all sides, tested and scrutinized pitilessly, by all these means and ways, by people who consider you as enemies, but in truth, neither they deserve to be your friends nor your enemies, as they don’t have anything to do with your life and the vocation you have chosen, but you need to go through it, in fact, it will be us, siddhars, who will be doing this to you, it will be a great lesson that we will be teaching them through you. Till the last moment of the psychic war, we will make them feel that they are doing it, even you will not know the difference, your mind will be so clouded, when the right time comes, we will take it away from them, they will feel helpless, they will feel the powers they had, that they actually didn’t have, had left them all. Throughout each endeavor, it will be us, who will be carrying out their wishes, without they being aware of it consciously, it will be proved right on their face, how humble siddhars lived with such great powers they have amassed, with which they could have ruled all the worlds swimmingly. They will learn the truth, we will make your vocation easy, but you need to bear the pain, the greater pain, the stifling anguish, you will be blamed, tested, scrutinized and condemned, especially for things that you have not done. Please don’t let go of patience. Have faith and patience in siddhars.”

Tears rolled down Adhavan’s cheeks, Balaraman intervened and requested:

“Master he is too young, he is a child, it is the right age for him to marry and have children, you can’t ask him to bear such a grief, please, if possible, let me take it on my shoulders.”

Macham looked at him pleadingly and said:

“Even I can’t take it, if I wanted to, it is his call, he has to go through it, to spread the word to all corners of the world. In his life, marriage is secondary, let us not talk about it, and this is not the right time, then, by the by, in terms of spiritual evolution, he is much, much older than all of us, in fact, whatever spiritual experience, he has attained so far, are what he has already experienced in his previous births, fear not, he is the right person, he has the will, he will have his way through, to be honest, at this point of time, marriage would be really burdensome, let us not add to the anguish.”

Then he looked at Adhavan lovingly and asked:

“Do you have anything to say?”

Adhavan replied:

“No.”

Then he said unto Adhavan:

“Be with them, help them to build this place, learn and practice adimurai in the evenings. Mornings, you can spend with Sarutha, learn trading and master yourself in the production of manuscripts.”

Then Macham looked up at the skies, it was late, it was around midnight, he told his disciples:

“Let me go.”

Then he closed his eyes, slowly, he transformed, he shone like a brilliant sun amidst the engulfing darkness, he was all light and glowing, he got up, his body literally rose from the ground, it started to float, and then in a split second, it disappeared into thin air, everyone’s jaws dropped, mesmerized, they kept looking into the space he disappeared through, they were all moved to tears.
 (To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 09/20-09/25
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
Chapter 14 The Final Samadhi
Chapter 15 The Blossoming Love
Chapter 16 The Divine Intervention
Chapter 17 The Second Dissemination
Chapter 18 The Fusion and Beyond
Chapter 19 The Rise of an Internal Conflict
Chapter 20 The Realization of the Self
Chapter 21 The Way of the Siddhars
Chapter 22 The Jealous Bigots
Chapter 23 The Formation of an Objective

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Adhavan (22): The Way of the Siddhars

Chapter 21: The Way of the Siddhars

Living harmoniously with the nature.

Translation

Let siddhars appear on seeing you
If you come seeking and ask for a reason
Anchor sincerely, using your mind
If you ask for the boon you want, they will grant it
Like honey they will get you married, and
To become strong, will also show you where the fusion of suryakalai and chandrakalai dwell, and
Will also make you become great, for me
Totally, five women, are my wives

Each of those women had
Exceptional brave men as their sons, see
For that Bogar, wives and sons,
Were many, in this world, for Agastiyar too,
Living like this, along with grandsons and granddaughters
Is the nature of all the 18 siddhars
—Siddhar Korakkar “Namanasa Thiravukol” Songs (21–22)

Death and birth are inherent part of any life cycle, the rise of one over another will shift the ecological balance; aggravate the causes pertaining to emotional, mental and physical agonies; upset the smooth natural flow of the events; disrupt the very naturally existing harmony, if the situation continues to persist, earth will be mercilessly mutilated; further distorted by the sheer imbalance, enforced by man-made concepts, beliefs, deeds and justifications, even the laws formed to prevent disharmony in all forms and nature, will in turn, come up with, unexpected chaos at every unexpected turn, they will be breached, scrutinized and barred, knowingly and intentionally, for the rich causes created by the same men; great ideologies formed by them; hard and fast rules enforced by their iron fists; solely attributed to spiritual, scientific, and social developments, are in truth, mere expressions of their physical urges, psychological dominance, and emotional imbalance, they are fooled to believe, that they have made, and they are making big sacrifices that are much bigger than their personal selves, which infact is a big, fat lie; a walking curse, on the naturally prevailing ecological balance, similar to digging graves for others in which they themselves will be buried, sooner or later. Death over birth, or birth over death doesn’t signify the elimination of one over another, whereas if the scenario is death and not birth or birth and not death, it will not only lead to total chaos, but a full-fledged extinction, either it would eliminate a species or eliminate all other species. Any human intervention, hampering the natural cycles, would unquestionably lead to a total devastation, even mild adjustment could prove to be painfully disastrous, if not handled with utmost care and most importantly, much needed, parameter of all, ‘The Common Sense’, else, the earth is doomed to exterminate its most valuable species, ‘The Homo Sapiens’.

Once the duo had left the scene, Macham’s attention fell on Balaraman and Muthupandian, he inquired them,

“How did it go? Have you found the right spot, for erecting a temple?”

Muthupandian replied,

“We have identified three good spots, but we would like you to make the final decision, point us the best one.”

Macham smiled at them and said,

“What will this old man do out there, you people know better, in case, if I choose something other than what you have selected, will you not be angry with me?”

Muthupandian hesitated a bit, said,

“No Master, we would rather be happy.”

Macham nodded, let out a short sigh, looked up at the stars, lost himself in deep thoughts, for a few moments he remained silent, then he looked at Balaraman and spoke earnestly,

“There is something you need to know further, a solemn act would remove the final discrimination that is still blinding your wisdom, pushing you to make biased views.”

Then he turned towards Sarutha and said,

“Let us spend a few nights outdoors, in the wilderness, day and night, one with nature, don’t make us any food, don’t come for any assistance, and most, don’t expect us to come at least for a day or two. Once I am back, I will leave for Vasimuni hills.”

Then he looked at the gleeful face of Adhavan, for he was almost up on his feet, ready for the exploration, desperate for spending time in the raw untamed wilderness, Macham patted his shoulders and said aloud,

“Let us make it more interesting and educative, let us go in there, just like that, without any preparation, face boldly, the real time situations that we come across, as a measure of precaution, Muthupandian alone can carry a spear and a burning torch, nothing more.”

Balaraman was obviously surprised at the audacity they both had, especially that of Macham’s, irrespective of his age and the wisdom he possessed; the unsurpassable spiritual powers he was bestowed with; the high position he held in the society that even kings bow to, his willingness to opt for such an adventure, apt only for kids, was really intriguing and incomprehensive, he knew well, not to interfere in the ways of the siddhars, continuing to admire the inherent quality in him, he eagerly joined the party.

Mathivathani came out with a burning torch, handed it over to Muthupandian, Kayalvizi gave Balaraman a flask filled with the oil, the party was up on their feet, ready to leave, Sarutha interrupted and asked Macham,

“Won’t you have supper tonight?”

Macham replied,

“Mother nature will send us food when we are hungry, she will feed us from now on, we will eat whatever she sends us across.”

Then he looked at Muthupandian and said,

“Please take us to the first spot.”

Ever gentle disposition of Balaraman tightened a bit, it lost its serenity, a mild trouble lingered in his mind, it was clearly visible in his pale, withdrawn face, still, he accompanied them, they walked together, close to one another. Muthupandian led the front, with the burning torch in his left hand and a long spear in his right, he walked sure-footed, straight into the wilderness, Macham followed him, along with Adhavan by his right and Balaraman to his left, they walked together in silence, leaving the womenfolk rest at home, undisturbed by the unending expectations of the men, without whom, the whole place will look empty and uninhabited, slowly, the foursome merged with the darkness, even the faint light of the torch was swallowed by the silent night.

After an hour’s walk, they reached the first spot, it had a beautiful moonlit pond, encircled by boulders all around, the natural formation was almost a simple replica of a royal fort, as though, erected for guarding the purity of the pristine clear pond. Adhavan looked into the pond, saw his own reflection and that of the waning moon. Balaraman stood beside him in silence, with an inner turmoil brewing deep inside him, contemplating over the words said by Siddhar Macham. Leaving them unattended, Macham swiftly climbed up the boulders, Muthupandian followed him, they studied the vast expanse thoroughly, when they jointly climbed down the boulders, Macham said to Muthupandian,

“Let us spend the night here, alone and aloof, under the immense presence of mother nature.”

Then they wandered around with Adhavan and Balaraman, collected a handful of firewood; found an open spot nearby the pond; heaped all the firewood at the center; sat around it; stretched their legs and arms; eased their mind, body and soul, allowing the softness of the night, infuse their blessed souls, slowly, as the cold wind caressed their warm bodies, Muthupandian gave the torch to Macham, requested him to light the firewood, he did as requested, the camp was lit, the golden light encompassed all the four. The silence mixed well with the campfire, silent cool night, and the wild environment, it was hard for anyone to bring up a topic for the night’s discussion as their minds were busy pondering over their personal miseries, Adhavan broke the engulfing silence, asked Macham straight,

“Can I bathe in this pond?”

Macham said,

“Yes, please go ahead.”

Muthupandian said,

“Let me also join him.”

They both walked towards the pond, as they came close to the edge, Adhavan unable to contain his joy anymore, rushed in like a child, splattering water all around, that even splashed upon Muthupandian, rather than being rebuked by that incident, he smiled at Adhavan’s light, agile form, emanating innocence, bliss and joy, born out of a pure heart that could only be seen in a child, but paradoxically, Adhavan looked much bigger than him, though he looked years younger, he continued to watch him lovingly as he played in the pond, standing a few paces behind him and a few paces away from the shore, Muthupandian took a handful of water, offered it to his ancestors and his divine mother Makali, when he repeated the act, the third time, a cold breeze encircled him, it whirled around him softly, guarding him from all the unseen dangers, then he dipped himself thrice in full awareness, slowly, very slowly, he started rubbing his body gently with the smooth, cold water, it was a very sensuous act, a gentle one, it had its own rhythm to it, an ecstatic dance born out of very natural ways and means, he was completely aware of his each and every movement, he enjoyed all of it immensely, the soft touch of water over his hard flesh; the gentle rubbing of his palms all over his body, with a thin film of water in between; the caressing wind; the resonating sound of the nature; the lapping of the waters against his abdomen; the whistling sound of the trees; his pumping heart; the warmth it generated; his rhythmic steady breath, all of it threw him into an unexpected trance, he stood still, beyond that stillness, he melted, he sensed the joyful heart of Adhavan, he felt the same joy, he overheard the conversation going on between Balaraman and Macham, he became part of it, as he was enjoying the blissful time, he felt a soft bite on his toes that woke him up from the trance, it must have been a relatively big fish, trying to clean the dirt off his feet, though it didn’t hurt him, he kicked it off involuntarily, dipped himself multiple times, took a few more steps inside the pond, till his flat abdomen with muscular rifts was fully immersed in the water, then, he removed his dhoti, rinsed it well, squeezed it hard, tied it around him, dipped again few more times, this time he did it slowly, taking in all the goodness, the water has to offer, then, he looked at Adhavan who was still enjoying the precious moments, alone with the nature, without disturbing him, whistling softly, he approached the campfire, ignoring the dampness, he sat beside Balaraman, became a silent listener to their serious conversation. Macham was asking Balaraman,

“What is killing?”

Balaraman replied,

“Taking a life.”

Macham questioned,

“What do you mean by life?”

Balaraman replied,

“The vital force, the reason behind living.”

Macham replied,

“How do you see it?”

Balaraman replied,

“One can’t see it, but can be felt, it’s in the beat of one’s heart.”

Macham laughed at it, he was in siddhasana, he looked very calm and relaxed, Adhavan was still enjoying his time out in the pond. After a momentary pause Macham continued,

“Balarama, now if I make my heart cease to beat, will you consider me dead? Am I not alive? And If someone kills me in a samadhi, when my heart is not beating, is it not killing?”

Balaraman knew where Macham was getting to, eluding the questions pointed at him, he spoke about a related thing earnestly,

“There is life in everything, all that grows has life, eventually, all that has life dies, one or other day, only the level of senses vary from one genre to another.”

Macham questioned again,

“So you obviously ignored my previous question, fine then, can you teach me about the level of senses you just now mentioned?”

Balaraman replied pleadingly,

“Master, why are you putting me under such a hard test?”

Macham asked,

“It is not over yet, please answer me, please teach me Balarama.”

Balaraman hesitated, he replied slowly,

“It is not killing, it is inflicting pain.”

Macham replied,

“Oh! Which pain do you mean, physical, emotional or psychic? Which is worse?”

Balaraman replied,

“It depends, sometimes, an emotional pain could be far worse than a physical one?”

Macham laughed at Balaraman,

“So you say, killing a man emotionally could be more painful than taking his life?”

Balaraman replied,

“Ah... could be, most probably.”

Unaware of the seriousness of the discussion Adhavan joined them, he was wet, water kept dripping all over him, still without trying to dry himself, he sat close to Macham, enjoyed the proximity of the campfire as well as the inextinguishable inner fire burning brightly within him. Macham studied him carefully for a moment, then he turned his attention back to Balaraman.

He asked Balaraman,

“Where were we? Um... We were talking about killing a living being that can sense. Aren’t we? Yes, you are right, sometime times the emotional pains can be far worse than the physical ones. I do agree with that. Can you now tell me, if I kill without inflicting pain, will it be ok for you?”

Balaraman replied,

“Master please, I really don’t have an honest answer for this?”

Macham replied with a bit of distress,

“Then please, let us not go by mere words, let us feel it, experience it and then decide, since you are the man who is much troubled by it, you will experience it, then, share your experiences with all of us, which will reflect truth, only truth, even if it is against whatever you have been standing by, you should put it out straight without shrouding them with sham. Truth is much superior to god, nothing could ever compromise its righteous stand, even love, kinship and filial duties can be pushed off, ignored, shoved away, if in case, the truth is getting killed by it. As you all know, truth and its kins, are the things that are far better and superior than the almighty god, let us stand by it, let us stand for it, even the unconditional love comes next in line.”

Balaraman came forward, Macham asked him to sit in padmasana, he spoke to him softly,

“Close your eyes, let your breathing stop, let your mind see whatever I am seeing.”

His words had such a tremendous power over Balaraman, immediately a stillness crept upon him, his mind stretched, it travelled and found a healthy male rabbit, hiding deep in a dark burrow, his mind literally took over the rabbit, started ruling it, he started feeling everything the rabbit felt; its pulse; its breathing; its needs; its urges; even its fears, gradually, he got transformed into a rabbit, he became the rabbit, the rabbit became him, in fact, they became one entity, suddenly, it sprinted forward, ran fast, came close to Macham, stood close by his lap, ready to be patted and fondled by him. Macham placed his left palm below its neck and the right above its head, without actually physically touching the rabbit he fondled its spirit, he caressed the vital life force within it, slowly, he guided it up to the crown of its head, the rabbit was thrown into a spiritual ecstasy, it was immensely enjoying the bliss it was obviously endowed with, its eyes were closed and withdrawn, head was a bit cocked up and straight, allowing itself to completely enjoy the sensuous, spiritual pleasure, given unto it by Siddhar Macham, the same was being experienced by Balaraman, he was unaware that he was experiencing whatever the rabbit was experiencing, he was thrown into the same spiritual ecstasy, he was on the verge of leaving his body, just then, in a split second, Macham pulled the vital life force out of the rabbit’s body, the same instant, it dropped dead, at the same spot, its heart had stopped pulsating, Macham had killed the rabbit, in the most appropriate way, in the most blissful way, guiding its life force back to the source it came from, the parabrahmam. Here at the same time, Balaraman was going through everything the rabbit was experiencing, when the spiritual ecstasy reached the climax, the divine lamp within the body, left through the invisible aperture at the crown of his head, and it was racing up toward the source, the parabrahmam, simultaneously his soul left his body, it floated beside its own corpse, whereas the divine lamp, his vital life force, was surging ahead for the final merging, unexpectedly, he saw an open palm, forcing back the lamp into his corpse, at the same time, outside the realm of his consciousness, the moment the vital life force left his body and his soul drifted away, his body collapsed, Muthupandian rushed forward, took the corpse on his lap, not knowing what to do, with the dead body resting on his lap, he looked at Macham in complete bewilderment. Adhavan too was dumbfounded, whereas, Macham was in padmasana, stiff and erect, eyes closed, he remained breathless for a few moments, his heart too had stopped pulsating. Suddenly, in imperceptible moments, Balaraman’s heart started ticking again, at the same moment, Macham opened his eyes, called out loudly,

“Balarama! Get up.”

The voice rang in Balaraman’s mind, slowly he opened his eyes, looked at everyone around, realizing that he was on the lap of Muthupandian, sprung up the same moment, it was like he was born again, everything looked new and fresh, slowly, he recognized the state he was in, came into terms with himself, asked Macham honestly,

“Was it death?”

Macham replied,

“Not everyone will have that type of death. It is very special and unique, reserved for a very few handpicked ones, that is what we call Mukthi, the final supreme merging. Why to complicate? In simple terms, I killed you and sent you back to your god, you call him Lord Vishnu, isn’t it? And I call him, the parabrahmam, the one, the god, the almighty.”

Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks, wiping it off, he said,

“I have understood my mistake, I understood how foolish I have been all throughout my life. I have sinned, I have not stood by the truth that is my ignorance, please forgive me. Right now, for me, you are the parabrahmam, please accept my apologies, please forgive me.”

Macham laughed at his hysterical cries, he asked him,

“Did the killing pain you? Can I kill you again?”

Balaraman was still excited, his arms were shivering, he replied anxiously,

“Yes Master, at your will, but please don’t bring me back, I don’t want to live anymore. I just want to merge.”

Macham smiled at him and replied,

“You are not a rabbit, whose life can be taken at any moment, you are a living human being. Aren’t you? You have much to do, much to accomplish, then how could I allow you to leave, when I myself have been waiting for long years, patiently, for the ultimate, final call.”

All the four laughed at Macham’s reply, soon a silence fell over them, Macham looked at Balaraman piercingly, asked him,

“Now the rabbit is dead, I have killed it without inflicting pain, can we then, cook and feast on it, on this memorable day.”

The soft, serene face of Balaraman grew hard, he remained silent, his mind pondered over all reasonable excuses he could come up with, but to his dismay, he found none, he felt a sudden grief crush him, he looked at Macham, fell to his feet, cried openly,

“If possible, please take away this disgusting, irrational, ungrounded feeling that I get, when I think of eating this corpse... please... please take away this disgusting feeling, crawling all over me, please.”

Balaraman’s honest answer must have moved Macham, he thought very deeply for a few moments, said aloud,

“It is neither the pain nor the killing, so it is not the question of ethics, it is more of a disgusting feeling that you have towards meat and meat eating people. Now we are a step closer to the truth, it is a lot easier for me to remove the source of this nauseous feeling. How wicked it is, when meat eating people are portrayed as unethical, brutal, barbaric, immoral, uncivilized cannibals, who slaughter lives for their carnal pleasures, when the core of it doesn’t have anything to do with the universal ethics, in fact, they are much closer to the naturally existing, peacefully prevailing, ecological balance, so the universal harmony, since they live in tune with their habitat harmoniously, living peacefully, happily, on whatever they get in abundance. How cunningly meat eating people were compared with the cannibals, who kill and eat the flesh of their own species? There should be an end to all this false, unnecessary, unwanted propaganda on the eating habits of people, both on meat eating ones as well as the ones who don’t eat meat. It all sounds ridiculous and untrue.”

He paused for a moment and continued,

“Now Balarama, please come, let us go for one more round. You would need another good experience to change your perceptions forever, discriminating people based on their eating habits are equivalent to discriminating them based on their race, their community, their tradition, their culture and their ancestors. Prejudice is prejudice, wherever you apply it, in whichever way you apply it, in whatever form you apply it.”

Balaraman wiped his tears, steadied himself, tried to focus on his self. Macham came close to him, took his hands, Balaraman felt a strong current pass through him, Macham closed his eyes, allowed his mind to travel and search for an edible root, he found a one, a short distance away from the boulders, then he opened his eyes, sent Adhavan for it. While Adhavan was sprinting towards it, Macham closed his eyes again, infused Balaraman’s mind, took him along with him. Now this time, Balaraman became Adhavan, he was running fast, deep into the wilderness, he felt himself youthful and energetic, his senses were so acute, he even heard the faint sound of the splintering firewood, back at the campfire. He was Adhavan and Adhavan was him. There he found a shrub, he ran towards it, at that moment, Balaraman’s mind left Adhavan, it infused the shrub and it became the shrub, now the shrub was Balaraman and Balaraman was the shrub, Adhavan was trying to forcefully pull out the shrub, he tried it many ways, every time he tried to uproot it, an unbearable pain shot through Balaraman's soul, here at the camp, his face writhed with death agony. Every time Adhavan forced it out, Balaraman’s soul experienced a great pain, it tormented his poor old wretched soul, when he finally uprooted it, Balaraman was literally killed multiple times, but he realized that he didn’t die, as in the previous experience, his soul didn’t leave his body, the divine lamp didn’t soar up to greater heights, rather, he felt a piercing pain, a stifling anguish, everything but the much awaited grateful death that which could have easily ended all his agonies. Balaraman opened his eyes, Adhavan came back running with his bounty, he placed the whole shrub with its big bulbs before Macham. Now Macham asked Balaraman,

“It is not dead yet, isn’t it? It still has life, can we kill it and eat, can you merge with it again and see what happens to you when I torment it once more?”

Balaraman was tormented by the question, he knew the pain he was going through, it was much more disgusting than the previous experience, he cried and he cried like a child.

Macham looked at him piercingly and said,

“What Balarama, you neither want us to eat the corpse that died in a spiritual bliss nor the living shrub that was uprooted painfully? What do you want us to eat then?”

Balaraman wasn’t able to answer Macham, he kept on sobbing continuously, as though Macham was unsatisfied by his tears, he poked him further,

“And now Balarama, can you tell who is impure now? Should Muthupandian go and a take a bath because he took your falling corpse on his lap? Or me who killed the rabbit? Or is it Adhavan who uprooted the plant alive, brought it to us, to feed us?”

Balaraman, cried aloud, shouted,

“Please Master, Please stop. Don’t do this to me? I will eat whatever that is given to me, Henceforth, I will not discriminate people based on their eating habits, because I don’t take meat, I will not consider myself as better than others who take meat. I will not make that mistake again. I will never again estimate a person based on their eating habits. I will not delude myself foolishly into believing that I am purer and greater than the meat eaters, just because they eat meat, neither will I talk about the physical purity again. I will not raise that question again. I will not discriminate people anymore on any basis. I have understood my mistake. I really apologize for my stupid standpoint.”

Then, sobbing he fell to his feet, Macham said,

“Get up Balarama, I did this to you, so that, during later stages, when I am not there, you don’t taint the solemn truth with your eating habits and physical purity concepts. Eating is very personal, so many factors go with it, from one’s habitat to one’s birth, it is very personal, we don’t have any rights to comment upon what one eats, neither could we discriminate humanity based on that, nor we could preach mankind, what they should eat, it is like telling a man that he should copulate with his woman only in this position, you see, it is all very personal stuff that one should not indulge upon. I have seen many disciples doing that, even though their Gurus weren’t so, they derive a sense of psychological supremacy over others by adhering to such norms, abiding by such misleading, delusive, concepts. You people should not fall trap to it. Again, I tell you, eating meat is a personal habit, self-realization has nothing to do with it, don’t let yourself indulge into taking sides, which either way, will not lead to self realization, they are just eating habits, nothing else.”

After a pause, Macham continued,

“The inherent nature of the ecology is to thrive on various species other than itself, flourish on it, reproduce as much as it could, uninhibited, paving way for its own species, its own line, to flourish on this vast expansive earth, fill the land with their offsprings that indeed holds good for even human beings, of course even for siddhars, who are in fact human beings. All species feed on its natural habitat, especially on those they get in abundance, and if you see it with clarity, a lioness would hunt just a deer for its family, even if it has potential to kill all the thousand deers that is wandering out there, well within its reach, but it is satisfied with a meager few, similarly, a goat doesn’t eat away all the pasture on the same day, an elephant doesn’t empty the whole pond, it takes in only what it wants, it lives on its rich habitat without dwindling it, that is ecological balance, a natural adaptation, living on what you get in abundance, it is purely based on the eating habits of the species, this has nothing do with leading a spiritual life or attaining salvation. To be more precise, lions live on deers, deers live on pastures, pastures live on manure, and so on, it is so simple, its ecological balance, it need not be complicated by the supremacy deriving, closer to god principles, as you have seen, that in truth, it has nothing to do with it. The ecological balance, neither preaches extinction of one species over another, nor independent living of all species together, it is the very nature of all species to survive, feed itself, reproduce, cling on to its clan, improve its defense, sustain its well being and thrive on the abundance. The whole line of feed is very sensitive, totally dependent on what is existing, right out there, if carnivorous beings are mutated to become herbivorous... in the worst scenario, what if homo sapiens, an omnivorous species, are cunningly transformed into herbivorous ones, by invoking the guilt filament, letting it burn in their minds, conceptually driving them to become unnatural, as though living on a feed-stock is equivalent to killing a live human being, letting the guilt linger on their minds, paving way to dominance within the same species, letting discrimination soar up, aiming to end the omnivorous nature of the species, what for? Will it all save the planet or will it kill the planet? What good will it do to the mankind? What good will it do the humanity? What good will it bestow upon mother nature? What good will it do to the ecology? It will not only create a ecological imbalance, it will also kill the amicable, harmonious peace, that exist now, among all living beings, together.”

Macham paused again, a deep silence fell over the gathering, he threw the dead rabbit and the shrub across to Muthupandian, said aloud,

“Cook for all of us.”

Saying that he walked towards the pond, had a refreshing bath, fished with his dhoti, came back naked with four dead fishes wrapped tight in his wet dhoti, after giving away the fishes to Muthupandian, he took his dhoti, squeezed it well, without washing it, wrapped it again around his narrow hips, then he sent away Adhavan to fetch a few large leaves to lay down the supper, later, relaxed, he studied the grill made by Muthupandian, the food was getting ready, it had a rabbit and four large roots, soon it will be loaded with the fishes he brought, smelling the food heartily, he laid back, let his mind drift away for a few moments, when he woke up, the hot, steaming, grilled, food items were placed right before him, neatly, on a few large leaves laced up together, it had, four fishes, four bulbs and one rabbit.

Macham sat in siddhasana, asked them to come close together, then he asked Muthupandian to offer the food to his divine mother Makali, that same moment, his body shuddered, it convulsed for 8 seconds, once it subsided, Macham raised his arms above his head, thanked his Guru, bowed to everyone, and said

“Eat.”

That day, when the moon was high in the skies, the foursome had fish, meat and roots. They feasted on it heartily, they savored every bit of it, Goddess Makali ate along with them through Muthupandian, so we could say five of them had supper that night, four males and one female, together, from the same leaf. It was the first time, Adhavan and Balaraman had meat and fish. After supper, they cleaned the spot together, washed their arms and legs, extinguished the burning torch, flocked around the camp fire, enjoyed much the warmth it gave off. Adhavan was the first one to doze off, soon, one after another they fell for it, slept along side one another, peacefully, covering well their bodies from head to toe, with their damp dhotis.

Macham and Balaraman were up, well before the sunrise, after attending to their morning needs, they bathed leisurely in the beautiful pond, while they were bathing, Macham asked Balaraman,

“Have you ever chanted in the waters, that too, in chandrakalai?”

Balaraman said,

“No.”

Macham replied,

“Then, you should try it today, stand firmly on your right leg, fold your left one, place the left heel on the inner sides of your right knee, chant your mantras, looking at the sun, of course, you can close your eyes, but remain in the same position until you are done with all your chantings.”

Balaraman bowed to him and said,

“Yes Master, let me try.”

Afterwards, Macham walked towards the shore, found a neat, cool place, sat there in padmasana facing the rising sun, focused on his breath intently, the next moment, he attained a samadhi and remained breathless, there, in the pond, Balaraman did as asked by Macham, soon, his mind reached the state of tranquility that he had never known before, he even saw the whorl, remained within it, for almost an hour, unaware of the pain in his legs. The sun was spreading its rays, though Adhavan was awake, he didn’t feel like even moving his arms a bit, whereas Muthupandian was busy like a bee, attending to his morning needs, when he came back after a bath, to his dismay, he still found Adhavan asleep, to Muthupandian, it is a humanly impossible task to sleep with the sun’s rays striking hard on ones face, he looked at Adhavan in astonishment, without disturbing him, he sat beside him, he relaxed, he didn’t force himself to be still, but slowly, a stillness crept upon him, his eyes took up that peculiar bulging, he continued to watch without thoughts, he just watched, he didn’t think, there wasn't any need to think, everything was in place. Adhavan was in a deep trance, as like Balaraman, he too was inside the whorl, but he never attended to his needs, neither did he pray, nor did he strain his muscles, but still, he was experiencing the same state Balaraman was experiencing. It just happens to him very naturally, it blossoms in him just like that, at any place, at any moment, at any time.

Balaraman was the first one to come out of the trance, slowly he came to the shore, eased his calf muscles and thighs, prostrated right before Macham, who still was in a samadhi, then, he came close and sat near, by the sleeping Adhavan, who too was resting within the whorl—the mother’s womb. Time just flew by, after two hours of morning samadhi, Macham slowly opened his eyes, tried to move his legs, finding it bit difficult, looked around for help, Muthupandian and Balaraman understanding his situation well, immediately rushed to his assistance, massaged his calf muscles and thighs, patiently, helped him to get up on his feet. Adhavan was still asleep, even after Macham was up. Macham looked at him intently, entered the whorl Adhavan was in, whispered,

“Come out.”

The next moment, to both Muthupandian and Balaraman’s surprise, Adhavan got up from his trance, tied his dhoti well around his narrow hips and was ready for the day, only then, Muthupandian and Balaraman understood his true state, even though Adhavan was lying around in the hot sun, pretending to be asleep, he still was deep within himself, deep inside the whorl, experiencing a state closer to samadhi.

As Adhavan approached them, Macham asked Muthupandian,

“Now can you take us to the second spot?”

With Muthupandian leading the front, the group walked in silence for another 2 hours, they were standing before a smoothly flowing stream. The vast expanse of the land was filled with the neem trees, wherever Macham turned around, he saw only neems, as he was keenly studying the landscape, Adhavan slowly left the group to attend to his morning needs. Macham wandered around the place for almost an hour, he tasted various soil, water, and air, studied the bed of the stream, even counted the number of hill peaks he could see, then he selected a spot, dug up a few feet to check the nature of the underground soil, fortunately, a spring gushed up, they drank from it, washed their arms and legs, then, they continued to wander about, exploring the wilderness. On seeing them busy, Adhavan stepped into the waters, leisurely enjoyed a relaxing bath in the gushing stream. Done with a thorough study, Macham looked out for Adhavan, he was still in the stream, with his hands raised well above his head, palms clasped in prayer, in adoration to the almighty, his body shone brightly in the hot sun, it glittered like gold. Right across where he was standing, a few feet from the spring they dug out, there was a big, a very big, gigantic neem tree, it looked odd for a neem tree to grow so huge, especially when the surrounding ones looked comparatively small. Macham thanked his guru, he selected the big one, turned around and looked out for Adhavan, he was still in the stream, enjoying the soft flow of the water immensely, Macham didn’t have a heart to disturb him, so he decided to wait for him under the shades of the chosen neem, a short distance from the stream, a few paces from the spring. Slowly, after having enough of time in the water, satisfied, Adhavan came out relaxed. Studying the landscape, he approached Macham, on the way, he drank few full palms of water from the freshly dug out spring, after that, he continued to walk towards Macham. There, under the shades of the neem tree, Macham was discussing with Muthupandian and Balaraman about the importance of a good landscape, Adhavan without interrupting their conversation, joined them in silence, Macham continued to talk,

“In another 3 hours of steady walk, beyond this neem forest, you would reach Pari Santhai, the third spot you are mentioning is somewhere there, at its border, but unfortunately, the water there, dries out in summers and the place will be heavily crowded during the market days, then, in search of water, you may need to walk all the distance back to the pond we bathed this morning, even the stream you see right out there dries up occasionally, especially during the hot days in the summer, but if you could dig a well, exactly at the spot where we found the spring today, this place will never run out of water. Socially, this place will become very important, as you know, it is very close to Pari Santhai, and when you people start inhabiting this place, others too will come down to make settlements. And if you cross the stream, walk straight for a day and a night, you will reach River Nayili, else you just could follow the stream, it will take you there, but it is a very dense forest, very rarely people trespass it, even the villagers beyond Nayili, neither tried to inhabit it nor made through it, in fact, if they want to come to Pari Santhai, they would need to take a roundabout route, for 5 days and 5 nights, but the straight way out is just 1 day and 1 night. Very few early aspirants, have explored those dense woods, and very few have come out alive, like Adhavan.”

Macham looked at Adhavan slantingly, held his gaze for a moment, then resumed,

“Before that, 2 centuries ago, a very old man, somehow crossed those dense forest alive, spent the rest of his life wandering around this neem forest carefree, he never looked further, since his vocation didn’t fall in line with ours, we Siddhars didn’t take him in, but we made sure, he lived till his last breath happily, without physical and mental infirmity, he lived most of his life in deep penance looking for God, but he never found it and he died looking for him, we buried him somewhere here and planted a banyan tree over his mortal remains.”

Macham closed his eyes, caressed his forehead, probed his mind deep and said,

“Oh, it is there, beyond the stream, in an hour’s walk, at the borders of the dense forest, his spirit guarded the borders, it acted like a fort, preventing people from trespassing this region, in those days, when siddhars walked these places, it played an important role in guarding the sanctity of the caves in the Vasimuni hills and the remote ones in the Venmudiyar hills.”

Adhavan realized that it is, his great-great-grandfather, whom Macham was talking about, soon Adhavan felt an innocent joy in his heart, he felt less burdened. Macham smiled at him and continued,

“So you know the importance of this place, the likeliness of it getting established into a much sought divine abode.”

Muthupandian hesitated for a moment, asked,

“Master, by building a temple here, will we not spoil the sanctity of this region.”

Macham laughed and replied,

“After Velir’s formed a close power circle among themselves, Vasimuni hills and Venmudiyar hills came under their strict control, they guarded it religiously, from then on, none of them dare crossed Pari Santhai, had guts to venture the deep forest out there without their permission, so are the laughing hills.”

He paused for a moment and continued,

“The great Siddhar Agastiyar is one of the most revered forefather of the Velirs, so from the olden days, Velirs respected siddhars, paid tribute to them, adored them, guarded them like precious jewels, more than their lives.”

Muthupandian asked,

“Then shouldn't we get the permission of the Velirs, if we are to stay here.”

Macham penetrated his soul, closed his eyes, after a short pause, replied, this time his voice reverberated across,

“Fear not, when I am here, this is the land given to me by the Velirs and I am giving it to you, as I have said before, you can bring your kins here. I can count 17 families that look up to you, those that really need you, those that will always be loyal to you, bring them here, let them toil this land under the graceful presence of the divine Goddess Makali. Though you have crossed 50, we will get you married soon, you will have kids, they will have many offsprings, your lineage will be strengthened to an extent it can’t be uprooted. Your people will flourish in this land. What else a man would need to make his life meaningful?”

Muthupandian was moved to tears, he said softly,

“Yes Master. Will meet them in their dreams, tonight. Will ask them to come over.”

Macham told him, pointing at Adhavan and Balaraman,

“Teach them both, how to do it... at leisure.”

Muthupandian replied, “Yes, Master. Will do.”

Then Macham said,

“Go find yourself food, eat and rest, in the evening, during sunset, I will request Goddess Makali to take this neem tree, from then onwards, it will become her divine abode. You don’t need to bring me food, help yourself with what Mother nature is ready to offer you. You can go now.”

Saying that, he sat in padmasana, focused on his breath, caught hold of it, attained samadhi. Adhavan, Balaraman and Muthupandian walked deep into the neem forest, they found nothing, but for few birds flying around, here and there, Adhavan sensing that they should not be looking out for food here, pulled Muthupandian by arms, said,

“Lets us fish, there are so many fishes in the stream, we will have enough for our lunch as well as for supper, so, can we take that time and wander a bit into the woods, find that Banyan tree, Siddhar Macham was talking about.”

Muthupandian realized that it was the first time Adhavan had talked to him, he smiled at him and said,

“Yes. Let us go and see it for ourselves”

Then they looked at Balaraman, he nodded in approval, all three turned around, moved towards the stream, crossed it without much effort. Muthupandian asked Adhavan and Balaraman to wait for a few minutes, squatted near a flat stone, placed the spear head over it, held it firmly with his left hand, using his right hand picked a small smooth pebble, rubbed it back and forth, smoothly, rhythmically, over the edges of the spearhead, every time he rubbed it over, sparks of fire shot out from it, finally, he ran his finger over the sharpness, satisfied, he stood up, stretched his back, nodded approvingly, then, together, they approached the dark woods. Adhavan led the pack, moved forward, without hesitation, in the direction pointed out by Macham. After an hour’s walk, centuries old banyan tree appeared in their sight, it was so incredibly big, massive and enormous, it in itself looked like a forest, widespread and expansive which could easily accommodate 1000 men, Adhavan on seeing the large bats, hanging upside down, ushered his comrades to remain quiet, thinking about his great-great-grandfather, he fondled gently one of its branches, a chillness surrounded him, he felt the presence of his spirit, it was a very emotional situation, his eyes watered, he felt very grateful, thanking him, he turned around to see Muthupandian and Balaraman, they were looking at him curiously, Adhavan was not interested in exposing his personal matters, so as to bring a shift in the mood, he asked them,

“Do you know how to make a brew out of these barks and fruits?”

Balaraman said,

“Yes, but we would need containers and filters, we could also concentrate it, into lethal dosages that would help us to go without food for days together, make our bodies strong and venomous.”

Muthupandian said,

“It simply means we can’t use it for the day’s needs, you know, I am really starving.”

Adhavan smiled at him,

“Let us wander around this place, see if we can find some edible fruits.”

They walked around the spot, finally found a grove of wild banana trees, whose berries were very short, in fact, shorter than one’s index finger, they weren’t fleshy too, but they smelled heavenly, the ripened yellow ones were being pestered by swarms of flies, chasing them away, Muthupandian, pulled a ripened one, peeled away the skin, ate the berry, his eyes shone, it must have tasted really good, he handpicked few more ripened ones, gave it to Balaraman and Adhavan, as they were relishing on it, Muthupandian started collecting a few more hands of good, ripened bananas. Once they have gathered enough, they decided to return, while they were returning with loads of bananas, Adhavan stopped for a moment, near the banyan tree, offered 6 ripened bananas for his ancestors, placed them below the center trunk, thanked them again from the bottom of his heart, then he joined his companions, walked along with them to the stream, it was around mid-noon, the journey was proving hectic and tiresome.

By the time the trio reached the stream, they have emptied half of what they have gathered, none of them were hungry anymore, they didn’t feel the need to fish, so they crossed the stream silently, walked towards the big neem tree, there, under its cool shades, Macham was still in samadhi, they moved to the other side of the banyan tree, so as not to disturb Macham, there, they cleaned a spot, placed the remaining hands of banana in heaps, sat around them and relaxed, slowly, unaware, their minds drifted into a deep sleep, born out of sheer tiredness. They must have overslept, around late evening, Macham woke up all the three, sent them away for a bath, took a few bananas for himself, savored it, while guarding the remaining. The trio returned soon, leaving them to their bananas, he went to the stream for a refreshing bath, he came back soon well before sunset, dried his body, stood staring at the big tree, exactly at the time of the sunset, he called out for all the three, resting on the other side of the tree, they grouped before him, he took the spear from Muthupandian, pulled him closer, took him by his hand, walked towards the trunk of the tree, Adhavan and Balaraman followed them, with his bare hands, he rubbed a spot in the middle part of the trunk, exactly at its center, then, chanting “ommmmm’, he gently caressed the spot, they were able to feel the presence of the Goddess Makali, the whole surrounding was charged, a turbulent wind raced across furiously, threatening to uproot all the neem trees in the forest, right at that moment, Macham slid his left thumb over the sharp edge of the spearhead, red, hot blood oozed out of the cut, he smeared the blood over the center spot of the trunk, formed a dark red circle, continuing to chant “ommmmm’ pressed his oozing thumb hard against the center, the next moment an extraordinary, supernatural force, entered the neem tree in the form of a pure, dazzling, brilliant, white, glowing light, everyone saw it with their wide open eyes, it was so bright, it blinded them all with its brilliance, they saw a miracle happening right before them, they saw the divine goddess enter the neem tree in the limelight, it was just incredible, the whole tree shook vigorously, and it took much longer for the spasms in Muthupandian’s body to subside, tears of joy rolled down heaven’s eyes, a soft drizzling drenched their souls, it all lasted for a few countable moments, then, a deep, impenetrable silence engulfed them, drained out of energy, Macham leaned over the neem tree, licking the blood in his wound, he spoke softly,

“This neem tree is now her abode, as a part of the transformation, from this moment onwards, it will keep shedding its leaves, in next 3 days, it will wither away all her leaves and will remain naked till the coming new moon day, that is when you will light the first lamp here, at its base, offer her water, fruits, flowers, milk and honey. Balaraman can chant mantras to elevate her mood. She will be much pleased, that night she will bless this land with a heavy downpour and it will continue to rain for a week, on the 7th day morning, you can see the first leaves sprout out of this barren tree, that is the sign from her, that she has accepted this land, your kins and the humble abode you have given to her. From then on, she will be ready to accept your daily offerings, attend to her devotees, bless them intimately, unbound. Then you can build walls around this place, build a hut around this tree, dig a well out there, raise a whole village right from here, no evil spirit can dare enter this land, no wicked soul can step pass her borders, she will guard this land and her people like her own children, she will be your guardian angel, serve her well, your people never starve a day.”

Unable to hold onto the ecstatic moments any further, Macham let out a moan, sat on the grounds, remained speechless for few moments, the trio flocked around him, waited patiently for him to come out of his spiritual ecstasy, then slowly gasping for breath, he gathered himself up, continued to talk in whispers, they listened carefully to everything he was saying,

“Build yourselves, each a hut, attend to her in complete reverence, she will bestow upon you more than what you would ever need in this life, of course, Adhavan couldn’t be part of it, he has other calls to attend, you both need to partake in building this temple, it should be built around this tree, it will remain the center of any erections you raise, but then, you should never fell this tree, and it will never again shed its leaves, you have seen her enter it, similarly, she will stretch and inhabit every single living creature in this place, it will all become her possession, her subjects, they will fulfill her commands, they will listen to her, they will be her face, she will act through them, she will guide the spirits that dwell here, she will rule like a queen a majestically till the next pralayam. You both will live a happy, spiritual, blissful life here.”

Macham remained silent for a moment, then continued,

“Again, I tell you, don’t fuss yourself with the offerings, you offer what you eat, in later stages, she will pull many people from many different places, then, it will very naturally evolve into a place where you may not be able to offer her meat, fish and eggs, as non meat eaters will also come to her, in thousands, with wide open arms, seeking her grace. They will look up to her, for her divine interventions, then when it happens, you need to make those offerings privately at your home, as I have told you before, you should not disrespect any man’s eating habits, if non meat eaters have started to flock here, then that is a sign for you to stop offering her meat in this place, which you can very well do at your home, give away the food to the likes who eat meat, there isn’t anything wrong about it. It will not only make her happy, in addition, she will be proud of you. But here within the temple, when both these types come and go, either you need to have separate altars or choose the way that will comfortably accommodate both. It will be a stain on her, if her place has two altars, she won’t wish that, so act in ways that will make her happy, not in ways that will make a particular sectarian happy, tolerance is a much needed virtue, when different kinds of people come together from different walks of life. You both, must have that tolerance, till your last breath, at all circumstances, without fail.”

After a long pause, Macham talked openly to the Goddess Makali,

“Bring peace, prosperity and joy to all those who come to you. Bless them all.”

The moment he said it, a tremor went through Muthupandian’s body, that again is a sign from her, that she has warmly accepted siddhar Macham’s request. The drizzling stopped. He then, asked Muthupandian to light a campfire, prepare for nights stay and supper. As the trio got busy with it, Macham leaned onto the trunk, closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, calmed down his breath, ordered his soul, to a far off place, where Nedunenkilli was struggling to make a decision, purely to help him out from the unavoidable fall, he would eventually land upon, but alas, he was a bit late, what had happened there gave him cold shudders.
 (To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 09/03-09/08
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
Chapter 14 The Final Samadhi
Chapter 15 The Blossoming Love
Chapter 16 The Divine Intervention
Chapter 17 The Second Dissemination
Chapter 18 The Fusion and Beyond
Chapter 19 The Rise of an Internal Conflict
Chapter 20 The Realization of the Self