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Showing posts with label Varmam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Varmam. Show all posts

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, August 26, 2015

Adhavan (21): The Realization of the Self

Chapter 20: The Realization of the Self

Creations are for men, men are not for creations.

Translation

Hail the divinity, that filled the universe, as well as within
Hail the grace, of the omnipresent divinity
Hail the sun, the moon, the lamp, encircling the divine abode
Hail Agathiyan, the chanter of the pleasing tamil
Hail my guru, praised across, in all directions
Hail the lotus that appear from the flow, in the left, over the crown
Hail the lamp seated within, that appear in the flow of the source
Hail always the feet of the Guru, Siddhar Agathiyar
—Siddhar Thiruvalluvar’s Litany (Prayer)

Learn from mother nature, everything ever learnt was taught by the nature, the first and foremost teacher, irrefutably, has always been the all pervasive nature, in all aspects, in all matters, in fact, the truth is, it doesn’t even try to teach us, it presented us the universal facts, men gathered it, identified a pattern in it, learnt from it, to be more precise, taking a step forward, getting much closer to the truth, it actually didn’t even present us the facts, men looked for it, learnt from it, their learnings were mostly answers for their serious quests, which then, they taught one another, sometimes they didn’t even look for it, while doing a plain observation given with, while admiring the intrinsic beauty scattered across, they accidentally stepped upon greater truths, from as simple as making of a fire to as complex as performing a brain surgery, these knowledge and expertise, thus gained were passed on from one generation to another, unequivocally, so mankind sophisticated themselves from the abundance present in the nature, but the poignant truth is, the abundance can’t remain abundant forever, the focused swindling soon depreciated the vital resources of the nature, either they harnessed it, wasted them, or spent it lavishly on luxury, leaving behind a big void for the future generations, they, in turn, rather than filling the void, balancing the deprivation, exhausted what meager available resources were there, all these, reduced the quotient of the nature, sucked it of its vital life force, unable to contain their expeditions, they stretched it further, hunted incessantly for the new resources, when they found one, they ravaged on it; flourished on it; depleted it, what may, their hunger always remained insatiable, on the contrary, their expeditions always came up with the positive results, still, mother nature has untouched land; hidden troves of untampered resources, somewhere deep, in some remote part of this world, yet to be exploited, so these uncontrolled, selectively ignored, tamperings of the nature goes on and on, endlessly, if this scenario continues, one or the other day, the same mankind that thrived on its opulence, will die starving for it, the situation is not far away, it is fast approaching, wherein mankind will pay blood for food; stab for water; kill for air, these, they will do, not for their sophistication, not for their prosperity, not for their technological advancement, not for their wars, not for their pleasures, in the coming years, it will all zero down to 3 very basic needs of survival; air, water and food.

Adhavan sat very close to Macham, touched his toes, fondled it  softly, stroked his feet, let himself enjoy his closeness, he felt dizzy, his senses numbed, just moments before he came close to Macham, he had a thousand questions ramming his mind, at a speed faster than the light, but no sooner he sat next to Macham, all of them disappeared in a flash, he even tried to fish out, make up some new questions, but in vain, he oddly found a one, that is of any worth, owing to the propinquity with Macham, his mind very naturally calmed down, it stood almost still, all the questions in the world seem to be meaningless before the spirit nourishing, body rejuvenating, mind numbing, spiritual experience, he was going through, he enjoyed the flow that rose to the crown, fell softly along with each of his breath cycle, it gave him an extraordinary, unbearable pleasure, a very sensuous one, he internally quivered with long unending spasms of joy, his whole body was set ablaze with strong rhythmic gentle vibrations, he enjoyed all of it very much, soon, he felt a painful pleasure at the crown of his head, his mind was hooked to that blissful pain, his mind kept looking at it from inside, involuntarily, he immensely enjoyed every terrible moment of it, as time passed by, altogether, suddenly, a golden lamp left his body through an unseen aperture in the crown of his head, it majestically stood above it, on a whitish cloudy base, that very much resembled a lotus in full blossom, simultaneously, as though, a fine protective layer was torn apart in his ears, the whole world echoed; it booed; it sounded that one sound, that all pervasive oneness sound, “ommmmmmmmmm...”, before he had time to realize that it was the sound of the universe that he was listening to, that it is, the traceable, the seeable, the feelable, the genuine, finite god part, that he was looking at, the divine lamp re-entered his body, his heart pounded faster than before, his breath fell back into its long, repetitive cycles, typical of his breathing pattern, soon, everything seemed to look normal, or so called universally agreed normality, but in fact, is a deep confinement; an inescapable prison; a dark dungeon, that we have let ourselves live in, compromising our eternal happiness, for the sake of the transient, perishable mortal living. Gradually, the pleasurable, blissful vibrations that his body was going through subsided, knowing that it is over, his mind and heart ached for more of it, he sheepishly looked at Macham, smilingly, pleadingly, brimming with gratitude, Macham smiled back, when he smiled, his eyes smiled along with his thick, sensuous lips, the smile lingered for moments, more in his eyes, than in his lips. Though Adhavan had never asked for it, Macham had infused in him, the most sought out divine experience, the epitome of self realization, that which, he has been experiencing all these days, in full awareness, that which Adhavan realized much in full awareness too. Adhavan felt an unfathomable joy, an unexplainable freedom, he ached for more of it, like an innocent child, he requested plainly, “I want more.”

Siddhar Macham, smilingly replied, “How can I give something that you already have?”

Adhavan realized that he is being teased, pretended to feel angry, turned around his head, the other way, looked into the empty space, girlishly, half-heartedly, asked him, “What will I do after you leave us?”

Taken back by the question, Macham replied, “Listen to your heart, abide by it, live in tune with it, in complete harmony, one with nature; one with people; one with yourself; one with oneness...”

Adhavan turned around, massaging Macham’s feet, without looking up at his face, said in a coarse voice, “I want to meet siddhars, visit lots of places, spiritual hubs, temples, mountains, rivers, forests...”

Macham interrupted, replied, “Go ahead, You don’t have any commitments to hold yourself back. You are free, please go ahead.”

Adhavan remained quiet, none of Macham’s answers were satisfying, he wondered if he was asking the right questions, he grew serious, continued to massage his feet, out of bloom, the question he wanted to ask him, while he was talking about his final samadhi, appeared in his mind, he asked him straight, “After your final samadhi, should I leave Velir Thopu?”

Macham laughed at it, replied softly, “Whom am I to send you away from this place? If that is what you want, you can always leave, at any moment, even now, but don’t wilfully expect me to chase you away, so that you can put the blame on me.”

The answer shocked Adhavan a bit, he lifted his head, looked at Macham, he was still smiling at him, though it made Adhavan happy, the little stab of pain, the last reply gave him, ached a bit, reluctantly pushing it off, he very deeply pondered over his future, a momentary silence fell over them.

Macham understood his mind very well, in a deep tone, enjoying much the beauty, the nature has to offer that day, recited along with the rhythm of the all pervasive sound,

“Look at those beautiful flowers, look at their full bloom? Did it strain itself? Did it wreck over to attain that bloom? Did it even try? How naturally it happens? How softly, how gradually it opens up? Have you ever seen that blossoming moment? Have you ever seen them shedding all their petals together? Have you ever seen them wither away all their pollens the same moment? Can you tell me which pollen will be carried where? Can you trace each of those grains? Do they ever worry about where they will go, what they will do, how it will happen? If all those flowers have died, will not that plant bloom again? Will it even, care to worry losing all its flowers? Or will it go on, giving new flowers, without burdening itself? Will it not bloom again? How does this all happen? Can you tell me, which flower will decorate which women’s braid? Can you tell me exactly how many leaves fell today, till now? Can you tell me exactly how many more leaves will fall tonight? Can you tell how many new offshoots will sprout tomorrow? Can you tell me how many new buds will welcome the morning sun? Can you tell me how many stars will die tonight? Can you tell me how long each star will stay live? Can you count the number of living beings that are alive and those that are dead? Can you count the number of facets of nature? Do these various facets of nature, worry about what they will do for their future? Still, don’t they store food? Don’t they build shelter? Don’t they reproduce? Don’t they defend themselves? Human beings, a species, far more superior than all other living beings, can’t they live a sophisticated, comfortable, contented life, harmonious with the nature, taking in, whatever it has to offer, without ruining its peace; its balance; its evolution? Can they ever live together, without swindling the richness of their motherlands? Can’t human beings learn from nature? Can’t they live in peace, without killings? Can’t they go to bed without next day’s worries? Will they ever stop hoarding? Where does all their hard earned wealth would go, when their bodies rot in the burial grounds? Will they be able to take it along with them? What will happen to their much cared appearance; the gloss of their skin; the color of their flesh; the purity of their blood, whence they have been buried deep in the pit? How much gold, will they pay, to bring back their spirits? Can they raise the dead? Can they still foolishly argue about foolish things in the death bed? Can they still read their holy scriptures, practice their rituals, pray to their gods, in death? While living, did they accomplish everything that can be accomplished in this world? Can all of them live up to their dreams? Can all their desires be fulfilled? Will everything in life go as per one’s plan? If then, can I plan every moment of my life? Is it not absurd? Is it not impractical? Do you call this hell a living? Just to keep planning and dreaming and planning? Is it life? Are you actually living that moment? Are you actually living? Do you plan to live every moment of your life or do you always keep planning every moment of your life? What is life? Is it not living? Is it not living that moment? Isn’t every moment a precious one? What made you cross the river Nayili, step into the forbidden lands? Did you plan it? That night, did we plan our stay on the boulders? Did we plan to receive the blessings of our divine mother, Annai Anushya Devi? Did we plan any of it? Or did we plan all of it? Where does life fit in with the plans that we make? Is it for living every moment in harmony or is it for making plans over and again, wreck one’s mind, squeeze out every moment of one’s life? Weren’t these sophistications, means, comforts, inventions, advancements, discoveries, luxuries, pleasures, whatnot, are there to help us live in peace; in harmony; in joy? Are they doing it? Where did it all fail? Where did we fail? Why? Who? How? Is it the fault of the creators? Is it the fault of the creations? Is it the fault of the users? Aren’t all man made things, irrespective of it being a thing or a concept, aren’t they, for the well-being of mankind? Do they help them to live their lives fully, to their utmost satisfaction? Do they help them in their much needed self-realization and self-gratification? Do they actually help mankind live happily, with their family, with their neighbors, with their kins? Do they? Do they actually fulfill our purposes, our needs, or is it the other way around, have we been fulfilling their purposes, their needs? What is happening? Where is it all adding up to?”

After a pause, he continued with the same vigor,

“They fought, shed blood, tore apart one another, using whatever they have created, rather than living happily, harmoniously, one with nature. These advancements, new ideas, creations, inventions, can never be a fault, on their own, they are all there to help men, live comfortably, happily, in peace, but on the contrary, they are manipulated not only to steal nature, but rob fellow beings too, of their peace; their love; their happiness; including their lives too. How tragic it has become? What we invented, what we created, what we discovered, comes back at us like a boomerang, swindles us of the same, 1000 times more than what we have actually given forth? It all happened, when men started to give more importance to things, than fellow human beings, their environment, the other living beings, even the non-living, inanimate matters that are part of our mother nature. Things are for men, men are not for things, whatever might the thing be, it could be as small as a needle, as big as a palace, as advanced as the weaving machine, what is the use, if men don’t realize that they are not for things, rather, things are for them, else it is equivalent to saying, 'things shape and drive the lives of human beings'.”

He paused again for a moment, then continued,

“Over a period of time, men in pursuit, to fulfill their needs, have complicated their simple, pleasant, peaceful lives, with many thoughts; many things; many ideas; many beliefs, he, rather than using all what he had created, to live fully, let the creations ruin their lives, irrespective of it being splendid structures, precious carvings, genius inventions, impeccable treatises, exhaustive doctrines, beautiful ornaments, unblemished codes and laws, all such and many more, can be grouped under one roof, ‘The Creations’, those which are supposed to help him live a pleasant life, give him a sense of completeness, make him feel contented, help him attain the ultimate self realization, failed to do, what it was earlier obliged to do, because he literally started to live for his creations, not for himself, for which, he actually created things, during the course of time, he became obsessed with his petty possessions, started losing his heart to mere objective things, lost interest in the subjects,the human beings, for whom, these things were actually made for, and so, the men were forgotten over things; self realization over knowledge; love over pleasure; human excellence over inventions, it is we, who created such bloody materialistic world that seldom has space for human beings; their emotions; their needs; their carvings; their salvations.”

Macham stopped, let out a sigh, looked at Adhavan quizzically,

Adhavan exclaimed, “Great! You have asked all the questions that I wanted to ask you, you even did answer most of them, you are just incredible!”

Macham laughed at his response, questioned him, “Now you tell me, what are you going to do, after I leave Velir Thopu?”

Adhavan replied, “Live my heart out. Just be myself.”

Macham laughed, questioned again, “What is that you call ‘yourself’?”

Adhavan replied, “The golden lamp that I saw today, that burnt brightly, without wick; without oil; without a stand, over the crown of my head, beautifully, graciously, majestically.”

Macham laughed at his innocent childlike response, he said amicably,

“Only that is self realization, nothing else, not your dreams, not the insights of your previous births, not your visions, not your deeds, not your achievements, not your knowledge, not your education, not your trade, not your name, not your community, not your father, not your mother, not your birth, not your guru, not your gods, nothing, nothing else, nothing other than seeing the divine lamp in full awareness is the mark of true self realization...”

Both of them laughing together, slowly, stretched their backs flat on the veranda, let themselves drift into a deep slumber.

The sun has set, the moon was clearly visible against the dark clouds, Macham and Adhavan were still asleep. Sarutha, Killivalavan, Poncetuceni, Muthupandian and Balaraman, sat all around them, waited earnestly, none of them had a heart to disturb them, rather, they continued to wait in silence, patiently, for them to wake up on their own, Macham, as though, well aware of their presence all around, woke up in a sprung, knowingly sacrificed his sleep, not wanting them to wait for such a poor, old, wretched man, attended to them diligently, without disturbing Adhavan, letting him continue his deep slumber, even their conversations were ushers and whispers, trying to soothe Adhavan into a much deeper sleep, rather than waking him up, in the middle of his peaceful slumber. Sarutha, broke the silence, requested Macham,

“Shall we send off Killivalavan along with Poncetuceni, they would like to leave tonight?”

Macham looked at Killivalavan, waved at him to come forward, he came close, knelt down, placed both his open palms firmly on the ground, bowed to his father, his forehead touched the ground, his palms were neatly placed on either side of his head, at an equal distance, in a straight line, Macham touched his spine, rubbed it hard, back and forth, for few a times, Killivalavan’s body grew firm, a hot flow rushed up through his spine, placing his palms intact, firm, slowly, gracefully, he pulled his body backwards, allowing a little stretch, he remained in that position for a few moments, then, slowly pulled in his palms, placed it over his thighs, knelt down, let his buttocks rest neatly over his heels, the top of his feet bent, squared, pressed hard against the hard floor, cupped the whole of his body weight at ease.

Macham then asked him, “Are you willing to go?”

Killivalavan replied, “Yes Appa.”

Macham then looked at Poncetuceni, replied firmly, “Yes, you can take him along with you, he is ready.”

Then Sarutha intervened, requested Macham, “Can he come home on every full moon day, help us during the celebrations, stay here, at home, for a day or two?”

Macham earnestly looked at Poncetuceni, he understood the situation well, he replied,

“Of course, he can, if time permits, I too would like to join him, willingly.”

He then hesitated for a moment, continued,

“Occasionally, we may come across a few unavoidable situations, which might hold him back, but I can assure you, very rarely they would happen, other than that, everything seems to be fine, of course, he has a lot to learn, I will teach him how to be a leader, I will make him a one, a real great one, indeed, I see in him, the qualities of an exemplary leader, he has that in him, either he is with me or not, he is set to become a leader, I can promise you both that.”

Then he knowingly looked at Sarutha, looked into her eyes, said with a deep conviction,

“If God permits, I will make sure, he gets whatever that has been violently taken away from you, If possible, I will make sure, he takes revenge on all who betrayed you, for the deep misery that has befallen you, let him erase all the stains laid upon you, let him be given the honor that actually belonged to you. I pray that it all happens, sooner the better...”

Those understanding words really moved Sarutha, tears rolled down her eyes, wiping it off, she said,

“Let my past not bring misery to him, I have had a beautiful second life, the most fulfilling one, more than I could have ever asked for, hence I am not much interested in having my vengeance, rather, I would want him to be a good leader, a man of his people, if God permits, let him end the wars, let him bring peace, let him brighten the future of his people, let him bring joy to their faces, let him bring love to all their grief-stricken hearts.”

She paused for a moment, then said, “What else I would ask for?”

Poncetuceni affirmatively replied,

“That is what our people need very much, that is what our land too needs, let the gods bless our real good intentions, let it bring truth to the limelight.”

They both smiled together, a sign of mutual understanding.

Macham intervened, he talked, it was almost a recital,

“Let things take its natural course, don’t force it on him, if it’s the divine will, who might dare stop him, but on the first hand, if he is going to be a leader, he must be pure in his heart, he must not have any premeditated reasons, he must not be tainted with kinship, he must not be standing by any specific sectarian belief, he must not have any vengeance in his heart, he must not be sympathizing over his personal tragedies, he must not be grudging over his fellow competitors, if so, these factors would allure him to make biased decisions; that would let himself deviate from the needs of the situations; that would make him put himself first, than his own people, whereby, he will use his authority to achieve his personal needs, prioritize his personal goals over the social needs, hence a leader should not have any personalized goals, his only aim, should be the welfare of his people, that is the sacrifice a leader has to make in becoming a leader, to be honest, the moment his goal becomes, ‘becoming a leader’, that immediate moment, he simply ceases to be a good leader, because he is under the pressure of becoming something he is naively not, it becomes a deadly fight, every moment, every day, his mind is on it, whatever he comes across, whatever is thrown at him, he sees at them with a hidden perception, so his mind is always chained to the thought fragment, ‘becoming a leader’, his mind isn’t free anymore, he becomes blind to the broader, open vision, wherein, a good leader, would really capitalize on it, see ways to use it for the betterment of his own people, whereas, the ones under the pressure of becoming a leader, would use the opportunity to either push themselves up the ladder or use it as a weapon against their fellow competitors; politicize the situations; manipulate it to their selfish needs, now, if I throw him into the situation, where he has to lead, he won’t know how to lead, rather, he would find someone with whom he can compete with, with whom he can fight and win, even if someone is not out there to compete with him, he would grab someone by his neck force him to fight with himself till his last breath, he has to kill, he has to keep killing, that precisely is a typical, mindset of a warrior, it is the warrior’s unwritten code of law, they need to keep winning, to keep scoring, rather, leaders lead, they don’t try to lead, they don’t try to win, they don’t try to outwit, they don’t try to compete with one another, they simply lead, so as you said before, teach him to lead, for which, he first needs to shed his warrior skin, the most difficult part, the most tiring one, in fact, the most elusive one, wherein, he needs to put in a lot of effort, deliberately, knowingly, to erase the identity that he has created for himself, that he his recognized by, that is where all his hard work should go into, the ultimate annihilation of his ego; the headstrong, the repulsive, the disgusting, the self-inflicted pride, then, let him see the world in its truest form, see it absolutely naked, behind its various colors, behind its various hidden metaphors, let him see it fully, through his own absolute nakedness, if he is able to see things as they are, in such total nakedness, then his mind is totally pure, this inherent purity is the most vital part, it gives birth to the free mind, when the mind is free, the inherent goodness just starts flowing through him, it’s what we call, the divinity in action, thus, the actions, that flows out of the inherent purity; the inherent free mind; the inherent genuine goodness; the inherent divinity, is the most essential, the most needed facet of a good, noble leader.”

Poncetuceni humbly said, “Yes, Master. I do agree with you.”

Bemused Killivalavan kept staring at his father, he admired him, he continued to stare at him for a much longer time, astonished at the level of his in depth wisdom, that very naturally flows out of him, remarkably, on any subject, on any matters, on any principles.

Macham looked at Killivalavan, lovingly said,

“Go! Pack your things. Leave. It’s a long way, a very long one, with a lot of unexpected turns and twists. Keep going. You have the blessings of my Guru.”

He went in, Sarutha went inside along with him, the daughters joined him, though they knew it would be good for him, they were still sad, knowing that he will be leaving them soon, with a bit of melancholy hanging in the air, they slowly helped him pack up his things, soon he came out, with triplets shining all over his body, his shining dark brown stallion was standing majestically in front of the hut, nearby Poncetuceni’s horse, lit well by the moon, ready for a different world, different kinds of people, different expectations. After he neatly balanced the load on either side of the horse, he looked at Adhavan, he was still asleep, Macham understood Killivalavan’s hesitation to wake him up, he turned around, gazed at Adhavan, the very next moment, he woke up, looked at everyone around, on seeing Killi’s horse loaded with things, he understood, that he was ready to leave, he smiled at him from his heart, there wasn’t any talking, there wasn’t any need for it.

Sensing the time has come to bid adieu, Poncetuceni prostrated before Macham, got his blessing, wished everyone there, moved to his horse, Killivalavan followed him, in a split second, they both were on top of it, only at that point Killivalavan realized that his men weren’t there, startled, he enquired Poncetuceni, “Where are your men?”

Looking at a far, distant place, smilingly, he replied, “They are with Poncetuceni.”

Killivalavan was obviously shocked, their horses walked slowly, Poncetuceni continued to smile, still looking at some far away distant place. There, back at the veranda, tears rolled down Sarutha’s eyes, her daughters clung to her tight, their minds literally pulled him back, abruptly, Killivalavan turned around, smilingly, waved at all of them, their hearts melted, they stood still, watched him leave, both their horses slowly disappeared into the darkness, yet their voices reached the hut in low whispers, it soothed their sad hearts.

After a reluctant pause, Poncetuceni continued,

“And that is how we spread messages, so as to keep my whereabouts always a secret, else by the time we reach our senai, without soldiers around, we both would be nothing but corpses.”

Killivalavan asked him, “Why all of them?”

Poncetuceni replied,

“No, I split them into two groups, one I have sent to spy on Nedunenkilli, another back to our senai, spreading around words, that I am going along with them, that for sure will provide us a safe passage.”

Intrigued, Killivalavan further questioned, “Why should we spy on my brother?”

Poncetuceni replied patiently,

“Firstly, there are no brothers when it comes to hierarchy, secondly, today is a very bad day for him, he has been humiliated, very badly, that too, in front of his family, by his own father, in addition, my sheer presence, would have been a great blow to him, me being the root cause of all these problems, sitting there calmly, being closer to his father, listening to his words, when he is out there, straining every rack in his brain, doing whatever I have bid him to do... won’t it make any sane man go mad, won’t it, won’t you? So what do you expect a deeply troubled man to do, that too with lot of power, with a bit of extra brain, Uhhh? Land himself into greater troubles, create a bigger misery, not only for him, but for all of us, including you, won’t he? So as to stop him, from making any such silly, unscrupulous mistakes, that he himself will feel guilty on later stages, I have sent a group of our men, to spy on him, save him from committing any such foolish mistakes, that he himself would later repent on; that would land all of us in deep troubles, that would be of assistance if the situation calls for, so that all of us are safe and secure.”

Killivalavan as though agreeing to it said, “So spying is not only for enemies, it’s for our own people too?”

Poncetuceni smiled at his reply, corrected him,

“Spying is basically for our people, on our people, by our people, matters leak out only through intimate circles, so what is the use of spying on our enemies, when the source of the information is our own people, I agree, we do spy on our enemies, occasionally, that too, only when we need to collect information on them and we do that in a very professional manner, without brushing the wrong side, else, that in itself can trigger a war, in my perspective, all the wars are unwanted ones, utter nonsense, whatever logic we may add to it, I see them as an unavoidable nonsense and I despise them a lot, so we mostly avoid spying on our enemies, that too in their land. Next, in the case of our enemies who have lost the wars, we draft regulations and put them into practice, so spying there, is almost a routine checking of compliances against the drafted regulations, and you know, these things keep evolving as time goes by, as per the needs of the situations, what may, the core of spying, in good sense, is to avoid wars, killings, what else it is for?.”

After a momentary pause, Poncetuceni continued,

“One more thing, we are not going straight to the senai, am taking you to a new place, where we might spend half-a-day with a nice, gentle family, then we will be on our way back to our senai.”

Killivalavan was obviously surprised at number of twists in the plans that are not actually twists, rather, part and parcel of very natural flow of events, he humbly replied, “Yes sir, am with you.”

After that, a deep silence fell over both of them, even their horses stopped for a moment, Poncetuceni raised his head, looked up at the bright moon, racing through the dark clouds, suddenly as though possessed by a god, like a thunder, he said aloud, “Let’s go.”

They rode together, faster than the lightnings, their horses literally speared through the thick veil of the unending darkness, Poncetuceni seemed to know the route by his heart, he rushed through the chill wind, apparently, he loved riding during the nights, under the cool shades of the moon. There in the east, near the outskirts of the eastern vendhars kingdom, Nedunenkilli was approached by two men, with long spears, thick beards, stern eyes, apparently, must be guards of a local chieftain.

 (To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 08/22-08/26

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