Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Principles, Teachings, Notable Happenings, Rules, Comments
"Service to mankind is path of moksha"
The ArutperunJothi Ramalinga Adigalar, popularly known as VALLALAR, the Great Munificient, may be regarded as the foremost of the saints and ages of the nineteenth century, considering the heights, widths, depths and intimacies of his integral realisation of the Divine in all the "inmost, inner, outer, and the outermost parts of his being".
The VALLALAR was the one who affirmed openly and clearly in an unmistakable language the deathlessness of his body which he attained by the power of what he called "Arut Perum Joti", the Vast Grace-Light of the Divine which he identified as the Truth-Light of Knowledge, Satya Jnana Joti. HE who put before the people DEATHLESSNESS of body as an essential part of the realisation of the One blissful Divine. A saint whose very soul-stuff was made of infinite love and compassion, a sage of Truth - consciousness who possessed the divine knowledge and science of deathlessness of body and attained its deathless transformation along with the self creative power of creating all substances of whatever kind including bodily substances.
Of HIS six volumes of "Arutpa" , the poems of divine inspiration, the last volume is unparalleled in spiritual history as it gives expression to his realisation of the vast world of Truth-knowledge and the Beyond, and touches on subjects like transformation and deathlessness of body .
Besides, he was a critic, writer, publisher and commentator and also had knowledge in occultism, alchemy, astrology, and medicine particularly in the nutritional and medical values of herbs and leaves. He was a musician too with a keen musical taste for lyrical songs and he composed lyrics to express, in an easier and popular style, his highest and sublime realisations of the Divine, particularly that of Truth-consciousness (Satya Jnana).
Vallalar Principles
Universal brotherhoodness
Treating all souls are equal.
Creating awareness to individual's self diciplines
The God is one for all and worshipping Him as Vast Grace Light or ArutperunJothi
No killing of animals
No eating of flesh
Jeeva Karunaya ; Showing mercy to hungry and feeding them.
VALLALAR ---- Tamil Holyman.
Vallalar (also known as Ramalinga) was instrumental in propogating the Sudha Sanmarga (Pure Gathering) School in the Tamil region of southern India, during the 19th Century. Vallalar belonged to a line of Tamil saints known as "gnana siddhars" ("gnana" means higher wisdom). The Suddha Sanmarga was spread and passed on by him not only in theory but mainly in practice by his own way of living which was itself inspiration for his followers. According to Suddha Sanmarga, the prime aspects of human life should be love connected with charity and spritual practice leading to achievement of pure knowledge. He recommended a rather spartan approach to obtaining Enlightenment -- complete abstinence from sex and the pleasures of the table. In his book Head Itself A Temple, Malaysian-based Tamil Brahmasri Gailasasaamy wrote: "The inner meaning of Sanmarga is Brahma Gnana. One who practices Brahma Gnana can only "Go up"." Let us assume that most people reading this article want to go up -- they want to move up into a higher dimension. Perhaps Vallalar can offer us some insight, perhaps even "The Way". Even though abstaining from sex and even basic human company might be a little too much for most modern Seekers of the Truth! UNIVERSAL JUSTICE ---- In the Gandhi Tradition.
There have been many books written in Tamil and English about Vallalar. In one of them, The Universal Wisdom of Saint Ramalinga by Dr M.P. Sivagnanam, Vallalar is described thus: "Saint Ramalinga was not only a saint of divine grace but also a reformer who wished for revolutionary changes in society. The socio-religios-economic changes that are taking places in the today's world are the dream of Saint Ramalinga a century ago. Saint Ramalinga was an even greater reformer than his contemporaries, Raja Mohan Roy, Dhayanandha Saraswathy, and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He toiled to find a world of Spiritual Love and Universal Brotherhood, which would be free from the differences of castes and creeds, and such class distinctions as rich and poor, and which will show equal love to all living beings."Sivagnanam went on to write: "I desired inwardly that the reformistic ideas of Saint Ramalinga should be propogated in the country, on the basis of piety and patriotism. I also thought of creating a milieu for the birth of a reformistic movement for freeing society from communal and religious fanaticism, transcending hatred towards castes, religion and God." Hence Sivagnanam's efforts to publish a book, to bring the Hindu world back together, under the shadow of Vallalar!
VALLALARS'S THREE RULES
Abstinence, Abstinence and Severe Absistence.
Vallalar had many teachings which would be considered obscure today, even anti-social: physical hardship seemed to be high on his agenda! For example, Vallalar belived that initiates should refrain from eating as much as possible, and try to remain perpetually hungry. In fact, Vallalar's great recipe for spiritual enlightenment was thus:
1. Remain hungry.
2. Remain alone.
3. Remain awake
On the issue of sleeping, one of Vallalar's many teachings was that sleeping in the dark causes a loss of Prana (life force, called Chi or Qi in China, Ki in Japan, and "The Force" in Star Wars!) Vallalar wrote: "We should not be in the dark during night. It will cause loss of prana. Therefore, at home, we should sleep having a light, thus removing darkness. This will increase life span. Where there is good lighting, darkness is sucked by such light. If there is no brightness, then such darkness befalls on us and causes losses."
MIND OVER MATTER
Vallalar enters the 5th Dimension.Certainly a strange teaching, but maybe the Illumined Tamil was on to something. According to popular belief, Saint Vallalar finally overcome the restraints of physicality, and entered the 5th Dimension. He did not die as such, but simply vanished from the world. Some believers claim he may be alive today (at least in spiritual form), wandering the expanses of Tamil India. Where is Vallalar claims that the Tamil saint had spent his whole life preparing to convert himself into thin air. "The day was January 30, 1874 and places the courtyard of an old monastery in the quiet village of Village of Mettukuppan near Vadular, Tamil Nadu. A frail looking man with gentle eyes was talking to small gathering of disciples. He was clad in a white place of cloth which covered his head and body together. His face emitted an aura of compassion and humility. Ending the discourse he rose from his from his seat and started walked into the building. The disciples followed him in silence. He walked towards a small room in the back of the building. As he reached the door, he turned and looked at his disciples. Raising his arms in farewell and blessing, he entered the room, closed the door and told them to lock it from the outside. The door was locked with a big padlock. There was no other opening.
"Earlier the saint had told his disciples that he was in the last days of his physical existence and that he would soon pass into the astral world. Now he had secluded himself in final preparation.
"The news that the saint had locked himself up in a room slowly leaked out. There was much excitement because the saint had earlier been talking about the possibility of the living dissolution of his physical body.
"It was already three months when the news reached the government at Madras. Some officials came to investigate. They ordered the door to be opened. To the great wonder and amazement of all that stood around, they found no one inside the room. A thorough inspection of the whole building was made and nothing suspicious could be found. Now it was clear that as proclaimed, the saint had achieved the unachievable. Without discarding his physical body, he had dematerialized."
AGAVAL ---- The Call Divine.
Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar wrote back in 1974: "This Agaval or Call Divine is the longest poem in Tamil containing 1,596 lines. This outpouring was composed by Vallalar in a single night and at one stretch. This stupendous effort was not due to his material learning or scholarship but through the grace of the Lord. There are many great works in Tamil but none can equal this divine poem in its sublimity."Compassion occupies the core place of the Lord. The universe is enlightened by this compassion. Similarly if man aspires for illumination, he must start his quest from within. This practical way called (Anaga neri), is the way of Suddha Sanmarga which leads to Sachidananda. He, who makes his life anew by following this way, finds Arutperunjothi in one and all and paves the way to Universal Brotherhood.
"Any work of divine inspiration needs divine guidance for its interpretation. Mere scholarship and a great knowledge of lexicon are of no use in the interpretation of such esoteric works. One has to reach the ninth plane (the plane of the soul) to find out the true significance of such works.
"The inner guiding Light commanded me on the eve of first of January 1960 to begin this interpretation. A couple of lines were taken every morning for interpretation. The work went on without any break and was finished in 798 days (l596/2) i.e. from 1st January, 1960 to 8th March, 1962. The much feared conjunction of eight planets in Capricorn (makam) took place on February 4th and 5th of 1962, February 4th was a Sunday and also a new moon day.
(Tamil) "Thiraiyelan dhavirthuch chevviyut rangea
(Tamil) Varaiyelam vilanga vayangu sen judarea"
"The above two lines were taken on that day for annotation. It means that all the obstructing veils were removed and the sun rose splendidly on the mountain tops. This has rather a special significance. We can observe the dawn of the divine Effulgence from the position of the middle star poosam in Cancer. We are safe in the hands of the divine light, which guides all the planets, seen in the opposite sign Capricorn, the sea-monster. Westerners were not able to realize this significance because western hemisphere experienced solar eclipse on that day. These are only examples to show how the inner reflects in the outer World.
"The concept of Siva found in the work is refreshingly different from concepts prevalent during the middle ages. It goes back to pre-historical time. Infinite Divine Light was called Siva by the ancient Tamils They also called it as Kandazhi (Tamil). They came to known of it with their mind's eye or third eye. The last level of grace is only revealed now through Saint Ramalinga. Since Tamil language is based on Siva Tatva, it has become a proper medium of expression for divine light. But we must remember that Sivam mentioned here can no religion connotation in it. Arutsivam means Arutperunjothi, Sivam contains three letters. The letter (Si) is the light (va) is the power of grace or compassion and (m) is the life experienced in man. So Sivam means the divine light not only converging into the soul of man but also diverging from there, completely transmuting him into an immortal one in the process.
"In this Agaval, the evolution of the Universe, through the grace of the Lord, is vividly described. Arutperunjothi is evoked in five hundred alternate lines of the couplets. By going through these lines patiently, we will be able to draw inspiration, realize our own identity with the Lord and live in Him..."
Reference:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100gurus/2911724996/
FIVE HERBS RECOMMENDED FOR LONGEVITY AND TO HELP TRANSFORMATION
This herbs can be taken as a complement diet. I recommend one teaspoon in
the morning and evening mixed with honey. The honey will give more power and
life to the herb. As you mixt the two chant Arutperum Jothi mantra and ask
the 'Divine Ambrosia to be manifest in the medicine.
Centrella asiatica, apiaceae, leaf whit a potent power in a shape of the brain.
Lessens tiredness, takes away all sorts of skin problem, reinforces the immunity, cure leprosy, kidneys inflammation, diminishes swelling, blood tumor purifies the body truth sweat.
Vata, khapa
Reinforces the brain, develops the power of memory, reinforces the nerves, augments the body calories, makes the sperms dense.
Calms the mind, depression, reduces sexual desire.
Helps to transform the sexual energies toward spirituality, rejuvenates the cells in light and life, augements the power of kundalini and open the channels, develops clarity of mind and intuition, helps for long meditation.
PURPLE FRUITED PEA EGGPLANT (Thuthuvalai)
Solamum trilobatum solanaceae: The leave which purifies the pores.
Takes away all phlegm and mucus, purifies blood, calms hyper sensibility, takes away pain, regularizes nervous agitation and anxiety, takes away the beginning symptoms of cances, typhoid,fever, trembling fever, asthma, neutralizes vata and kapha.
Develop the tissues, straightens body and mind, gives sexual power, purifies through the elimination of excrement, straightnes the heart, give a nice face.
Gives contentment and joy, develops listening capacities, develops the intelligence, controls anger.
Gives a shining and attractive face, increase the perception of the five senses and spiritual discernment, opens the chakras, brings good meditation, helps to rise the seven veils, increases spiritual studies, increases the knowledge of the higher self.
Pitta Bile, removes all deficiencies, reduces all heat and type of poision toxin, reduces weight, removes allergy from food and gives good taste and appetite, jaundice, increases blood, removes anemia, giardia a, blood in the excrement, overbleeding menstruation, reduces hight blood pressure, reducesmind confusion, cools the body and calms the mind, heart attack good breath.
Strengthens the body, neutralizes the heat coming from muladara chakra, develops the sense, bring rejuvenation and reduces gray hair.
Gives power of speech, strengthness the mind.
Strengthens the subtle bodies, helps the secretion of all types of ambrosia.
All kind of disease, purifies blood, controls cholesterol, removes bile and phlegm, removes weakness of the body and debility of the mind, diabetes neutralizes vata, pita, khapa, liver disease, jaundice with the body who swell.
Transformation toward golden body.
Increase mental light power, peacefulness, builds up spiritual heat to help control excessive anger and sexual energies.
Increase soul light power
*Ponnam kanni*
Alternanthera sessilisl; see the body as gold.
All kinds of eye disease, body and stomach pain, all impure heat coming from hatha yoga, purgative, digestion, inflation and itching of the skin, fire burns, blood going through urine, menstrual pain, removes toxins from deep tissues and nerve
Gives golder color body, brings worldly mundane prosperity
Motherly kindness, gentleness
Body transformation.
Plantain root, the perfect kaya kalpa, hight growing, the divine tree of suddha sanmarga.
All deficiencies, Peayan as no limit in his affect, cures the most affected pshychic trouble, the jus of the root clear passage of the esophagi, dissolves kidneys stone, the flower regulates semen and white discharge good for making red oxide, removes all kind of poison (venin, radiation..,) small pot.
Develops physical attraction, augments digestion and purgation, and regulates the prana, constructive power.
Softens the mind and excess stimulation, motherly aspect, loveliness, liveliness
Contain ozone power, ambrosial effect, open chakras, good intelligence and creative power, some grace light in itself, connected to rudra heart, center, control ,causal heat. Protects from all evils, Symbol of eternity.
Sanmargam is composed from the four arts or discipline
1. SIRIYA : The art of divine service in daily life.
2. KIRIYAI: The art to perform Divine devotion or prayer, feeding the poor who have nothing
is another form of action.
3. YOGAM: The are of the truth path of communication or yoga is to live in a good and
excellent way.
4. GNAANAM: The art of the truth path of wisdom is to live absolute felicity while anchoring
into the inner light with the Divine grace presence, this is true knowledge.
*In the presence of Divine Grace.*
Then it is important that to arrive at the level of Suddha Sanmargam it is necessary to pass 12 levels of experiences which include the first three levels of experience described below. These three levels are each time associated to the four art described above, 3 times 4 equal 12. They result is to attain the 4th level Saayuchiyam, the integrate union with god..
1. SAALOKAM - Live in god world.
2. SAAMIPAM - Live near god.
3. SAARUPAM - Live in the self consciousness that we are the same as god.
4. SAAYUCHIYAM - Reach the united union and the unity with god.
The united union refers to the inner divinity realization: saarupam.
This is union must be associated with the outer god. Saayuchiyam the believe in the Divine Godhead or a higher force which induces the decent of grace. Anchor in the physical body.
We have the four levels of experience that are combining with the four Margams.
The four Margams are:
1. Dhaasamargam
2. Satputhramaragam
3. Sahamargam
4. Sanmargam
We can compare the meaning of the four Margams in the Indian tradition:
1. Become the servant of God.
2. Become the son of God
3. Become the friend of God
4. Become god himself
Vallalar gives this meaning to the four Margams
1. Become the servant of all living creatures
2. Becomes the son of all living creatures
3. Consider all living creatures as your friends and same for the opposite
4. Consider the life of all creatures as your life
In each Margam we have the four arts, 4 times 4 eaual 16 types of experience or levels of evolution.
For example in Sanmargam we have the art of Sariya, Kiriya, Yogam and Gnaam, It is the same for the other three Margams.
Reference:
http://groups.google.com/group/vivekananda/browse_thread/thread/f29c69cdd84e17c9
http://www.colby-sawyer.edu/images/image_1300.jpg
the morning and evening mixed with honey. The honey will give more power and
life to the herb. As you mixt the two chant Arutperum Jothi mantra and ask
the 'Divine Ambrosia to be manifest in the medicine.
1. VALLALARAI
Centrella asiatica, apiaceae, leaf whit a potent power in a shape of the brain.
Lessens tiredness, takes away all sorts of skin problem, reinforces the immunity, cure leprosy, kidneys inflammation, diminishes swelling, blood tumor purifies the body truth sweat.
Vata, khapa
Reinforces the brain, develops the power of memory, reinforces the nerves, augments the body calories, makes the sperms dense.
Calms the mind, depression, reduces sexual desire.
Helps to transform the sexual energies toward spirituality, rejuvenates the cells in light and life, augements the power of kundalini and open the channels, develops clarity of mind and intuition, helps for long meditation.
PURPLE FRUITED PEA EGGPLANT (Thuthuvalai)Solamum trilobatum solanaceae: The leave which purifies the pores.
Takes away all phlegm and mucus, purifies blood, calms hyper sensibility, takes away pain, regularizes nervous agitation and anxiety, takes away the beginning symptoms of cances, typhoid,fever, trembling fever, asthma, neutralizes vata and kapha.
Develop the tissues, straightens body and mind, gives sexual power, purifies through the elimination of excrement, straightnes the heart, give a nice face.
Gives contentment and joy, develops listening capacities, develops the intelligence, controls anger.
Gives a shining and attractive face, increase the perception of the five senses and spiritual discernment, opens the chakras, brings good meditation, helps to rise the seven veils, increases spiritual studies, increases the knowledge of the higher self.
3. PULIYARAI
Oxatiscroniculate, oxalidaceae; leves with an acid taste.
Pitta Bile, removes all deficiencies, reduces all heat and type of poision toxin, reduces weight, removes allergy from food and gives good taste and appetite, jaundice, increases blood, removes anemia, giardia a, blood in the excrement, overbleeding menstruation, reduces hight blood pressure, reducesmind confusion, cools the body and calms the mind, heart attack good breath.
Strengthens the body, neutralizes the heat coming from muladara chakra, develops the sense, bring rejuvenation and reduces gray hair.
Gives power of speech, strengthness the mind.
Strengthens the subtle bodies, helps the secretion of all types of ambrosia.
4. POTRALAI
KARISALAI (ECLIPTA ALBA) Eclipta alba, eclipta procena, golder flower.
KARISALAI (ECLIPTA ALBA) Eclipta alba, eclipta procena, golder flower.All kind of disease, purifies blood, controls cholesterol, removes bile and phlegm, removes weakness of the body and debility of the mind, diabetes neutralizes vata, pita, khapa, liver disease, jaundice with the body who swell.
Transformation toward golden body.
Increase mental light power, peacefulness, builds up spiritual heat to help control excessive anger and sexual energies.
Increase soul light power
*Ponnam kanni*
Alternanthera sessilisl; see the body as gold.
All kinds of eye disease, body and stomach pain, all impure heat coming from hatha yoga, purgative, digestion, inflation and itching of the skin, fire burns, blood going through urine, menstrual pain, removes toxins from deep tissues and nerve
Gives golder color body, brings worldly mundane prosperity
Motherly kindness, gentleness
Body transformation.
5. PEAYAN
Plantain root, the perfect kaya kalpa, hight growing, the divine tree of suddha sanmarga.All deficiencies, Peayan as no limit in his affect, cures the most affected pshychic trouble, the jus of the root clear passage of the esophagi, dissolves kidneys stone, the flower regulates semen and white discharge good for making red oxide, removes all kind of poison (venin, radiation..,) small pot.
Develops physical attraction, augments digestion and purgation, and regulates the prana, constructive power.
Softens the mind and excess stimulation, motherly aspect, loveliness, liveliness
Contain ozone power, ambrosial effect, open chakras, good intelligence and creative power, some grace light in itself, connected to rudra heart, center, control ,causal heat. Protects from all evils, Symbol of eternity.
What are the four margams
Sanmargam is composed from the four arts or discipline
1. SIRIYA : The art of divine service in daily life.
2. KIRIYAI: The art to perform Divine devotion or prayer, feeding the poor who have nothing
is another form of action.
3. YOGAM: The are of the truth path of communication or yoga is to live in a good and
excellent way.
4. GNAANAM: The art of the truth path of wisdom is to live absolute felicity while anchoring
into the inner light with the Divine grace presence, this is true knowledge.
*In the presence of Divine Grace.*
Then it is important that to arrive at the level of Suddha Sanmargam it is necessary to pass 12 levels of experiences which include the first three levels of experience described below. These three levels are each time associated to the four art described above, 3 times 4 equal 12. They result is to attain the 4th level Saayuchiyam, the integrate union with god..
The four levels of experience
1. SAALOKAM - Live in god world.
2. SAAMIPAM - Live near god.
3. SAARUPAM - Live in the self consciousness that we are the same as god.
4. SAAYUCHIYAM - Reach the united union and the unity with god.
The united union refers to the inner divinity realization: saarupam.
This is union must be associated with the outer god. Saayuchiyam the believe in the Divine Godhead or a higher force which induces the decent of grace. Anchor in the physical body.
We have the four levels of experience that are combining with the four Margams.
The four Margams are:
1. Dhaasamargam
2. Satputhramaragam
3. Sahamargam
4. Sanmargam
We can compare the meaning of the four Margams in the Indian tradition:
1. Become the servant of God.
2. Become the son of God
3. Become the friend of God
4. Become god himself
Vallalar gives this meaning to the four Margams
1. Become the servant of all living creatures
2. Becomes the son of all living creatures
3. Consider all living creatures as your friends and same for the opposite
4. Consider the life of all creatures as your life
In each Margam we have the four arts, 4 times 4 eaual 16 types of experience or levels of evolution.
For example in Sanmargam we have the art of Sariya, Kiriya, Yogam and Gnaam, It is the same for the other three Margams.
Reference:
http://groups.google.com/group/vivekananda/browse_thread/thread/f29c69cdd84e17c9
http://www.colby-sawyer.edu/images/image_1300.jpg
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A brief biography
In the seventh century some Jain and Buddhist missionaries had settled in the Tamil country to spread their religions. In sacred Sirkali lived a pious Brahmin by name Sivapada Hridayar with his virtuous wife Bhagavathiar. Both of them were ardent devotees of Lord Siva. Sivapada Hridayar prayed to the Lord for the boon of a worthy son. The Lord granted this boon and soon was brought into this world a radiant male child. They brought up this child with great love and devotion, knowing fully well that it was a purposeful gift from the Lord. The child, too, would weep for his separation from his divine parents Lord Siva and Parvathy, though ordinary people mistook it for a baby’s crying habit.
One day Sivapada Hridayar and his wife took the child with them to the temple tank in which they wanted to bathe. The child had insisted on being taken with them. They left the child on the bank and went in to bathe. The child looked at the tower of the temple and began to cry for his parents. This outwardly appears to be a mere childish action but the Lord, who knew its inner meaning, wanted to bless the child. So, He appeared with Mother Parvathy and asked Her to feed the child with the Milk of divine Wisdom. To obtain His grace and divine knowledge, the grace of the Mother is necessary and Parvathy fondled with the child and suckled him with the Milk of Wisdom. From that moment he was known as Aludaiya Pillayar or one who enjoys the protection of the Lord: and also as Tiru Jnana Sambandar as he attained divine wisdom through the grace of Lord Siva and Parvathy. From the moment he drank the Milk of Wisdom, he began to sing soul-stirring songs in praise of Lord Siva. The collection of these songs is called Thevaram.
The next day Pillayar went to Tirukkolakka and sang a song, clapping his hands to keep time. Lord Siva, pleased with this, presented him with a pair of golden cymbals. Sambandar began to sing, with the help of the golden cymbals. Sambandar then went on pilgrimages. During the course of them, many miraculous events took place. Sambandar demonstrated to possess the nature of those truly great saints who adore even devotees of the Lord as the Lord Himself and sing their glories, not regarding that as worship or adoration of a human being, but of manifest divinity. Sambandar and Appar was together in diverse places, realizing sincere service to the Lord for the benefit of devouts.
The news on the existence of one young Brahmin alleged to have been blessed with Divine Knowledge by Lord Siva directly provoqued anxiety among Jains, whose king gave them permission to burn Sambandar’s camp. The Jains failed to set fire to Sambandar’s camp. So, they set fire to the camp in which the devotees were lodged. They got up, ran to Sambandar and told him what had happened. He sang a Padigam expressing the wish that the fire for which the king was responsible should proceed towards him. As soon as Sambandar sang the Padigam, the fire in the camp died out and proceeded towards the king, in the form of a dreadful disease. The king experienced burning sensation all over the body. All the endeavours of the doctors and the Jain priests to alleviate the king’s suffering proved futile. The queen and the ministers understood the real cause of the king’s ailment and requested him to call Sambandar immediately so that his grace might relieve him of the distress. Sambandar sang a Padigam in praise of the sacred Ash (Bhasma) and with his own hand smeared the Ash on the right side of the king’s body. At once the burning sensation stopped and the king experienced a cooling sensation. Sambandar applied the holy Ash on the left side also and the disease vanished completely. The queen and the minister fell at Sambandar’s feet. The king followed suit and praised him. Equally the Buddhist had oportunity to appreciate the spiritual greatness of Sambandar.
In Mylapore there lived a merchant by name Sivanesar. He was a staunch Siva Bhakta. He had all wealth but had no children. In answer to his sincere prayer, Lord Siva blessed him with a female child. They named her Poompavai. She was very beautiful. Sivanesar heard of Sambandar’s greatness and felt that he was the only suitable match for his daughter. Mentally, he had offered her to Sambandar. One day when Poompavai was gathering flowers in the garden, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and she died. Sivanesar at once cremated the body of the girl, collected the ashes and preserved them in a pot. Daily he would decorate the pot with flowers, etc., and sit near it meditating on Sambandar. The news that Sambandar was staying at Tiruvotriyur reached the merchant; at once he decided going to the encounter of Sambandar. He had heard about Sivanesar and his worship of the pot which contained the ashes of his daughter, and he wanted to please Sivanesar by bringing the girl back to life. Having worshipped the Lord and sang hymns, Sambandar asked Sivanesar to bring the pot of ashes. Sambandar addressed the pot and sang a Padigam. While he was doing it, Poompavai got her form and got her life becoming a twelve year old girl. When Sambandar finished the tenth stanza, she came out of the pot, even as Lakshmi came out of the Lotus. All were amazed at this miracle. According to the wishes of Sambandar, Sivanesar built an Ashram for his daughter where she spent her days in worship of the Lord and attained Him.
After visting a number of shrines, Sambandar returned to Sirkali. He had reached his sixteenth year. Moved by the wish for getting him married, his father selected the adecuated woman and welcomed the alliance. The wedding was to take place at Nallur Perumanam. Sambandar went to the temple, worshipped the Lord and got His blessings. In a pearl palanquin he came to the place where the wedding was to take place. Sambandar held his wife’s hand and, accompanied by many devotees, the couple went into the temple and worshipped the Lord, with total self-surrender. Sambandar sang a Padigam praying for Liberation. The Lord granted his wish and said: ‘Oh Sambandar, you, your wife, and all those who witnessed your marriage will merge in the Siva Jyoti and come to Me.’ At once, an effulgent Light emerged from the Lord. Before merging in that Light, Sambandar sang a Padigam known as the Panchakshara Padigam. Then all those who were there merged in the Light of Siva.
Sri Ramalinga Swami's Experience!
Sri Ramalinga, in his young age, took this great saint into his heart as the Guru. Jnana Sambandar was guiding him from within, until Ramalinga got the divine Grace Light as the Inner Guide and Supreme Unique Guru. The following poem is an early one, written when Ramalinga had not much advanced in his spiritual path, though he had already achieved the Realization by the grace of his chosen Guru Jnana Sambandar:
“O Jnana Sambandar, my noble Sat Guru! You has told me (by inspiration) what, if one gets the experience of the self (uyir anubhavam), will form the basis in which the higher experience of Grace (Arul anubhavam) will come and in that defectless and noble experience will arise in turn the experience fo Suddha Siva anubhavam. O Jnana Sambandar, who as a child of tender age of three years took in happily the milk of Knowledge given by the supreme Shakti, and fostered and developed the path of Truth”.
“O my Sat Guru! O Siddha Purusha! O Treasure! O Jnana Sambandar of the famous place Sirkali. You had instructed me thus: 'Transcend each of the states of tatvas (principles of lower manifestation) and reach the unique Paranada state where you will realize the Self (which is the same in all) without your being (the individuality)' . This is called Uyir anubhavam. O Guru! You has made me realized the Self in myself, in the said plane of consciousness”.
“O my Sat Guru! O Jnana Sambandar! You has revealed to me by words thus: 'In the realm beyond the unique Paranada (the highest level), it is the experience of Grace (Arul anubhavam) which makes your being (true individual self) become the fearless eternal and infinite Self-existence and also one with Parampara, the global universe within and without, and gives a blissful state beyond description of words' ”.
http://www.nandhi.com/thirugnanasambanthar.htm
One day Sivapada Hridayar and his wife took the child with them to the temple tank in which they wanted to bathe. The child had insisted on being taken with them. They left the child on the bank and went in to bathe. The child looked at the tower of the temple and began to cry for his parents. This outwardly appears to be a mere childish action but the Lord, who knew its inner meaning, wanted to bless the child. So, He appeared with Mother Parvathy and asked Her to feed the child with the Milk of divine Wisdom. To obtain His grace and divine knowledge, the grace of the Mother is necessary and Parvathy fondled with the child and suckled him with the Milk of Wisdom. From that moment he was known as Aludaiya Pillayar or one who enjoys the protection of the Lord: and also as Tiru Jnana Sambandar as he attained divine wisdom through the grace of Lord Siva and Parvathy. From the moment he drank the Milk of Wisdom, he began to sing soul-stirring songs in praise of Lord Siva. The collection of these songs is called Thevaram.
The next day Pillayar went to Tirukkolakka and sang a song, clapping his hands to keep time. Lord Siva, pleased with this, presented him with a pair of golden cymbals. Sambandar began to sing, with the help of the golden cymbals. Sambandar then went on pilgrimages. During the course of them, many miraculous events took place. Sambandar demonstrated to possess the nature of those truly great saints who adore even devotees of the Lord as the Lord Himself and sing their glories, not regarding that as worship or adoration of a human being, but of manifest divinity. Sambandar and Appar was together in diverse places, realizing sincere service to the Lord for the benefit of devouts.
The news on the existence of one young Brahmin alleged to have been blessed with Divine Knowledge by Lord Siva directly provoqued anxiety among Jains, whose king gave them permission to burn Sambandar’s camp. The Jains failed to set fire to Sambandar’s camp. So, they set fire to the camp in which the devotees were lodged. They got up, ran to Sambandar and told him what had happened. He sang a Padigam expressing the wish that the fire for which the king was responsible should proceed towards him. As soon as Sambandar sang the Padigam, the fire in the camp died out and proceeded towards the king, in the form of a dreadful disease. The king experienced burning sensation all over the body. All the endeavours of the doctors and the Jain priests to alleviate the king’s suffering proved futile. The queen and the ministers understood the real cause of the king’s ailment and requested him to call Sambandar immediately so that his grace might relieve him of the distress. Sambandar sang a Padigam in praise of the sacred Ash (Bhasma) and with his own hand smeared the Ash on the right side of the king’s body. At once the burning sensation stopped and the king experienced a cooling sensation. Sambandar applied the holy Ash on the left side also and the disease vanished completely. The queen and the minister fell at Sambandar’s feet. The king followed suit and praised him. Equally the Buddhist had oportunity to appreciate the spiritual greatness of Sambandar.
In Mylapore there lived a merchant by name Sivanesar. He was a staunch Siva Bhakta. He had all wealth but had no children. In answer to his sincere prayer, Lord Siva blessed him with a female child. They named her Poompavai. She was very beautiful. Sivanesar heard of Sambandar’s greatness and felt that he was the only suitable match for his daughter. Mentally, he had offered her to Sambandar. One day when Poompavai was gathering flowers in the garden, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and she died. Sivanesar at once cremated the body of the girl, collected the ashes and preserved them in a pot. Daily he would decorate the pot with flowers, etc., and sit near it meditating on Sambandar. The news that Sambandar was staying at Tiruvotriyur reached the merchant; at once he decided going to the encounter of Sambandar. He had heard about Sivanesar and his worship of the pot which contained the ashes of his daughter, and he wanted to please Sivanesar by bringing the girl back to life. Having worshipped the Lord and sang hymns, Sambandar asked Sivanesar to bring the pot of ashes. Sambandar addressed the pot and sang a Padigam. While he was doing it, Poompavai got her form and got her life becoming a twelve year old girl. When Sambandar finished the tenth stanza, she came out of the pot, even as Lakshmi came out of the Lotus. All were amazed at this miracle. According to the wishes of Sambandar, Sivanesar built an Ashram for his daughter where she spent her days in worship of the Lord and attained Him.
After visting a number of shrines, Sambandar returned to Sirkali. He had reached his sixteenth year. Moved by the wish for getting him married, his father selected the adecuated woman and welcomed the alliance. The wedding was to take place at Nallur Perumanam. Sambandar went to the temple, worshipped the Lord and got His blessings. In a pearl palanquin he came to the place where the wedding was to take place. Sambandar held his wife’s hand and, accompanied by many devotees, the couple went into the temple and worshipped the Lord, with total self-surrender. Sambandar sang a Padigam praying for Liberation. The Lord granted his wish and said: ‘Oh Sambandar, you, your wife, and all those who witnessed your marriage will merge in the Siva Jyoti and come to Me.’ At once, an effulgent Light emerged from the Lord. Before merging in that Light, Sambandar sang a Padigam known as the Panchakshara Padigam. Then all those who were there merged in the Light of Siva.
Sri Ramalinga Swami's Experience!
Sri Ramalinga, in his young age, took this great saint into his heart as the Guru. Jnana Sambandar was guiding him from within, until Ramalinga got the divine Grace Light as the Inner Guide and Supreme Unique Guru. The following poem is an early one, written when Ramalinga had not much advanced in his spiritual path, though he had already achieved the Realization by the grace of his chosen Guru Jnana Sambandar:
“O Jnana Sambandar, my noble Sat Guru! You has told me (by inspiration) what, if one gets the experience of the self (uyir anubhavam), will form the basis in which the higher experience of Grace (Arul anubhavam) will come and in that defectless and noble experience will arise in turn the experience fo Suddha Siva anubhavam. O Jnana Sambandar, who as a child of tender age of three years took in happily the milk of Knowledge given by the supreme Shakti, and fostered and developed the path of Truth”.
“O my Sat Guru! O Siddha Purusha! O Treasure! O Jnana Sambandar of the famous place Sirkali. You had instructed me thus: 'Transcend each of the states of tatvas (principles of lower manifestation) and reach the unique Paranada state where you will realize the Self (which is the same in all) without your being (the individuality)' . This is called Uyir anubhavam. O Guru! You has made me realized the Self in myself, in the said plane of consciousness”.
“O my Sat Guru! O Jnana Sambandar! You has revealed to me by words thus: 'In the realm beyond the unique Paranada (the highest level), it is the experience of Grace (Arul anubhavam) which makes your being (true individual self) become the fearless eternal and infinite Self-existence and also one with Parampara, the global universe within and without, and gives a blissful state beyond description of words' ”.
http://www.nandhi.com/thirugnanasambanthar.htm
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Eternal Divinity - ArutperunJothi
http://www.vallalar.org
In the previous chapters, we have learnt something about the life and teachings of the saint and the supernal powers he attained as a result of his realisation of God’s Grace.
The elucidations now brought out in this chapter will be more objective in nature.
So far it was held that we are but eternal souls temporarily encased in this physical body.
The followers of Advaitha thought that the grace of the Lord would deliver us from this physical imprisonment.
Advaitha philosophy preaches that soul and God ramain as one without duality.
The aim is to merge this soul into Godhead as to become inseparable.
How can one hold his consciousness without a frame to hold it? It can be explained thus.
The physical body is like the outer glass of an electric bulb.
As long as the bulb is intact, light will emanate from the bulb.
The moment the glass cracks, the glow stops.
Similar is the case with the physical body.
When the body is dropped the feeling of consciousness is merged with the Almighty, and it ceases to function.
But the philosophers of Advaitha insist that this illusory body is essentially needed till the feeling of consciousness merges with the Brahman-the God.
Their resumption is that after merger, we can drop the mortal frame and remain in oneness with god for ever.
Here they totally forget that though the soul is eternal in existence, such existence alone cannot be called as illumination.
The truth is that to get illumination and divine experience some sort of frame as the body is needed till it realises the eternity.
Almost all realigions and philosophical systems insist on a body-less liberation.
They insist that after illumination one has necessarily to shed his mortal frame.
But even common sense will speak that one should have the semblance of a body, whether physical, or ethereal to hold on one’s consciousness.
Those sages of yore never thought that it is possible to lead illumined lives by retaining this body simultaneously.
They thought that the humanity at large aspire for the dizzy height of godhead discarding the physical body.
Such out moded and stale religions and physical systems have brought out more and more fetters on man, instead of liberating him from the bondage.
The human beings were groaning under its weight during the past centuries.
Fortunately the Almighty Himself knowing the plight of man has come to the rescue of the mankind.
All the said miracles, siddhies and liberation are only a fraction of His compassionate power.
The major portion has now been revealed to the mankind though his chosen disciple, the saint Ramalingam, now called as Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar.
We have already given about his achievements in this regard in the previous chapters.
It is He who has assured that the so called God is within Him and wiht His guidance, he can become He Himself.
In other words, God has emanated as a human being in order to make man realise himself as one with Effulgence.
The Divine Light has descended from lofty heights into the human form in order to make him immortal.
From the soul of man, it spreads throughout, transmuting the mortal body into an immortal golden one during the process.
For this, one has to eschew the ephemeral pleasures and get into deep meditation to realise the real truth, and be compassionate towards all living beings.
Commpassion occupies the core place of the God.
The universe is enlightened by this compassion.
Similarly if one aspires to get enlightened, he must start his quest only from within.
This practical way ia called ANAGANERI, which is the path laid down in suddha sanmarga and this makes one to live in eternal Bliss ultimately.
This path of Anaganeri is a new path devised by saint to enter the kingdom of God and live in oneness.
So far, the materialists and other worldly people who led a material life, discovered many new things but breathed their last, at the end.
The yogis and other saints finding the world to be a fetter renounced the world, got into deep meditation and merged with him and thus left the world.
In both the above cases, whether he is a materialist or a spiritualist, the life is lost.
This is against the principles of the saint, since he used to live from the soul-abode and at the same time to live in the outer world, with the assumption that the latter life is not a fetter to him, except it is intended to equip him with all experiences, which will make him to realise the Truth at the end.
This is called Anaganeri, which has brought new dimensions to the mankind through our saint.
It will be interesting to note that the first two letters of the two words-GOD, ALMIGHTY when combined together will form the word ‘GOAI’.
This observation confirms the truth that it is only the Omnigracious Light of God Almighty which heads to take possession of the human being gradually to metamorphosise the same into the Eternal Divine Being - The Goal.
Profound compassion and the highest realisation of the Almighty are well reflected in the saint’s most famous, oft-repeated unique Mantra (sared utterance), which is given below:
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
THANIPPERUNGKARUNAI
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
As favoured by the disciples, the literal meaning of this is given as the great effulgence of the Lord with his profound compassion coming to rule the earth.
But the true meaning of this stanza is quite a different one and unless one views this from the inner light with a broad based mind, he cannot have the true meaning. From the experience gained in this line of thought we could see what it is.
The first line can be explained as below:
Before the formation of this universe, darkness prevailed everywhere, and this made one to believe that even the Almighty was inactive during this period. But this is not true, in as much as the God has neither a begining nor an end. The supreme Grace Light has its existence but could not be perceived by anybody as he was in an invisible stage. Only to prove this, the saint has noted in the first line that the Lord Arutperunjothi existed even before the creation of this universe.
How his presence has been perceived, is defined in the middle line. The supreme effulgence with all his benevolence is now acting in the universe both with his inner and outer forms to uplift one and all and thereby make them live a blessed life for ever. This represents the uruva form and formless (aruva)stage.
In the last line the so called Arutperunjothi alone is noted which denotes the fact that the effulgence will remain for ever even after the destruction of this universe. The truth that the Almighty is ever existing is thus proved beyond doubt by this.
‘DAEIOU’
and its internal meaning
During the month of November, 1873, the saint gave a long sermon after hoisting the flag in front of Siddhivalagam by clearly instructing the audience as to the type of work that should be undertaken by them in future. Some of the excerpts are reproduced below:
“Behold, Please don’t aim at any religion as the deity revealed therein is only a model and the real truth has not been disclosed there transparenly.
If we begin to study them after taking much pains, in the short span of time allowed before us, we will be benefitted to a very small extent and thereby miss the opportunity of living eternally with a Blissful life.
The time is very short. For all the above things,I now stand as the sole witness. You very well know the deepest faith I once had in Saivism. That aim has now vanished. The reason as to why I had such deep faith in saivism at that time will only reveal the meagre knowledge possessed by me then.
The God has elevated me to the highest plane now. This is Solely due to my complete surrender. If you adopt the same path, you will also get the best benefit. It is not the religious fervour that has helped me to achieve this distinction is only H is Grace. The merciful deed of the Gracee (îò¾ ) alone has installed me in this super plane”.
(Mahopadesam)
The saint has affirmed by stating that Dayavu(Grace) alone has taken him to this unascendable height.
It is now our part to know the real meaning of Dayavu more vividly., and this is explained below.
The Tamil world Dayavu is mostly known as love, mercy, grace, etc,.But it has got a wider meaning.
When we commence our new life from the Wisdom temple, the light ever glowing from the cerebro spinal cavity, will give new thoughts and ideas.
Once the expression of Dayavu is implemented through one’s thoughts, words and deeds, it is sure that he will get more elucidation.
On the basis of the experience gained, we shall get at the real truth now.
The letter Da- î in Tamil is the 7th consonant and is considered to be the abode of the Lord in the seventh stage of the human body(Niradharam) fro m where one has to realise his existence and abide with God with ever lasting happiness.
Ya- ò Signifies the existence of the God in the soul form of the human body expressing the soul and sense knowledge.
Thus the combination of these two letters îò represents the God in the human form tolead a divine lefe in the world.
As regards the letter vu- ¾ it represents the world with all its animae and inanimate objects which have been created for the sole purpose of gaining experience and in the long run to achieve the goal of immortality.
Further the letter ‘vu’à is placed as fifth vowel, depicting the penta powers of the God. As a significance of this, the human being has got five fingers in each of his hands and legs.
From the above, it can well be inferred that Dayavu is the real form
of God and its experience will make one to live with Godhead.
For non-Tamils it is not easy to make them to understand the real meaning of Dayavu, and for this purpose, a new word has been coined in English as ‘DAEIOU’ and it is hoped that it will werve the purpose.
This word contains one consonant and five vowels.
Everyone knows that vowel is the life form of the alphabbet and consonant denotes the body form.
The letter ‘D’ in the upturned form represents the head of the human being, where the Inner Light is ever kept glowing.
From this light, the penta powers of Porul, Kiriya, Gnana, Yoga and Arul (representing the five vowels) are spreading around to produce in the universe all atoms, energies, Intelligence, Omni-Soul power and Universal Blissful life of God-man.
Thus by this Daeiou representation , one can realise the Eternal Blessed life of Bliss and live in this world for ever in an immortal stage.
This bliss-giving life is a must to the whole mankind.
This is neither a religious nor an irreligious life in nature.
Also it is not a material or spiritual life of the famous saints and rishis of yore.
So, no one should take this as a challenge to their present life.
Without any prejudice and religious chauvinism and casteism, everyone has to extend his ‘Daeiou’ life form the Divine centre within him.
When the life blossoms from the innermost, all the truth will come to light, which will aid and guide the humanity to make the life completely Blissful.
The keyof Grace is necessary to open the lock of fetters and it has been distinctly styled as vast compassion.
In other words, one has to offer his compassionate life to God in order to get himself transformed as God.
Let this Goal of Daeiou life be achieved through the munificence of the Omnnigrace by one and all and adore our Lord who is all in all.
DAEIOU
In the previous chapters, we have learnt something about the life and teachings of the saint and the supernal powers he attained as a result of his realisation of God’s Grace.
The elucidations now brought out in this chapter will be more objective in nature.
So far it was held that we are but eternal souls temporarily encased in this physical body.
The followers of Advaitha thought that the grace of the Lord would deliver us from this physical imprisonment.
Advaitha philosophy preaches that soul and God ramain as one without duality.
The aim is to merge this soul into Godhead as to become inseparable.
How can one hold his consciousness without a frame to hold it? It can be explained thus.
The physical body is like the outer glass of an electric bulb.
As long as the bulb is intact, light will emanate from the bulb.
The moment the glass cracks, the glow stops.
Similar is the case with the physical body.
When the body is dropped the feeling of consciousness is merged with the Almighty, and it ceases to function.
But the philosophers of Advaitha insist that this illusory body is essentially needed till the feeling of consciousness merges with the Brahman-the God.
Their resumption is that after merger, we can drop the mortal frame and remain in oneness with god for ever.
Here they totally forget that though the soul is eternal in existence, such existence alone cannot be called as illumination.
The truth is that to get illumination and divine experience some sort of frame as the body is needed till it realises the eternity.
Almost all realigions and philosophical systems insist on a body-less liberation.
They insist that after illumination one has necessarily to shed his mortal frame.
But even common sense will speak that one should have the semblance of a body, whether physical, or ethereal to hold on one’s consciousness.
Those sages of yore never thought that it is possible to lead illumined lives by retaining this body simultaneously.
They thought that the humanity at large aspire for the dizzy height of godhead discarding the physical body.
Such out moded and stale religions and physical systems have brought out more and more fetters on man, instead of liberating him from the bondage.
The human beings were groaning under its weight during the past centuries.
Fortunately the Almighty Himself knowing the plight of man has come to the rescue of the mankind.
All the said miracles, siddhies and liberation are only a fraction of His compassionate power.
The major portion has now been revealed to the mankind though his chosen disciple, the saint Ramalingam, now called as Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar.
We have already given about his achievements in this regard in the previous chapters.
It is He who has assured that the so called God is within Him and wiht His guidance, he can become He Himself.
In other words, God has emanated as a human being in order to make man realise himself as one with Effulgence.
The Divine Light has descended from lofty heights into the human form in order to make him immortal.
From the soul of man, it spreads throughout, transmuting the mortal body into an immortal golden one during the process.
For this, one has to eschew the ephemeral pleasures and get into deep meditation to realise the real truth, and be compassionate towards all living beings.
Commpassion occupies the core place of the God.
The universe is enlightened by this compassion.
Similarly if one aspires to get enlightened, he must start his quest only from within.
This practical way ia called ANAGANERI, which is the path laid down in suddha sanmarga and this makes one to live in eternal Bliss ultimately.
This path of Anaganeri is a new path devised by saint to enter the kingdom of God and live in oneness.
So far, the materialists and other worldly people who led a material life, discovered many new things but breathed their last, at the end.
The yogis and other saints finding the world to be a fetter renounced the world, got into deep meditation and merged with him and thus left the world.
In both the above cases, whether he is a materialist or a spiritualist, the life is lost.
This is against the principles of the saint, since he used to live from the soul-abode and at the same time to live in the outer world, with the assumption that the latter life is not a fetter to him, except it is intended to equip him with all experiences, which will make him to realise the Truth at the end.
This is called Anaganeri, which has brought new dimensions to the mankind through our saint.
It will be interesting to note that the first two letters of the two words-GOD, ALMIGHTY when combined together will form the word ‘GOAI’.
This observation confirms the truth that it is only the Omnigracious Light of God Almighty which heads to take possession of the human being gradually to metamorphosise the same into the Eternal Divine Being - The Goal.
Profound compassion and the highest realisation of the Almighty are well reflected in the saint’s most famous, oft-repeated unique Mantra (sared utterance), which is given below:
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
THANIPPERUNGKARUNAI
ARUTPERUNJOTHI
As favoured by the disciples, the literal meaning of this is given as the great effulgence of the Lord with his profound compassion coming to rule the earth.
But the true meaning of this stanza is quite a different one and unless one views this from the inner light with a broad based mind, he cannot have the true meaning. From the experience gained in this line of thought we could see what it is.
The first line can be explained as below:
Before the formation of this universe, darkness prevailed everywhere, and this made one to believe that even the Almighty was inactive during this period. But this is not true, in as much as the God has neither a begining nor an end. The supreme Grace Light has its existence but could not be perceived by anybody as he was in an invisible stage. Only to prove this, the saint has noted in the first line that the Lord Arutperunjothi existed even before the creation of this universe.
How his presence has been perceived, is defined in the middle line. The supreme effulgence with all his benevolence is now acting in the universe both with his inner and outer forms to uplift one and all and thereby make them live a blessed life for ever. This represents the uruva form and formless (aruva)stage.
In the last line the so called Arutperunjothi alone is noted which denotes the fact that the effulgence will remain for ever even after the destruction of this universe. The truth that the Almighty is ever existing is thus proved beyond doubt by this.
‘DAEIOU’
and its internal meaning
During the month of November, 1873, the saint gave a long sermon after hoisting the flag in front of Siddhivalagam by clearly instructing the audience as to the type of work that should be undertaken by them in future. Some of the excerpts are reproduced below:
“Behold, Please don’t aim at any religion as the deity revealed therein is only a model and the real truth has not been disclosed there transparenly.
If we begin to study them after taking much pains, in the short span of time allowed before us, we will be benefitted to a very small extent and thereby miss the opportunity of living eternally with a Blissful life.
The time is very short. For all the above things,I now stand as the sole witness. You very well know the deepest faith I once had in Saivism. That aim has now vanished. The reason as to why I had such deep faith in saivism at that time will only reveal the meagre knowledge possessed by me then.
The God has elevated me to the highest plane now. This is Solely due to my complete surrender. If you adopt the same path, you will also get the best benefit. It is not the religious fervour that has helped me to achieve this distinction is only H is Grace. The merciful deed of the Gracee (îò¾ ) alone has installed me in this super plane”.
(Mahopadesam)
The saint has affirmed by stating that Dayavu(Grace) alone has taken him to this unascendable height.
It is now our part to know the real meaning of Dayavu more vividly., and this is explained below.
The Tamil world Dayavu is mostly known as love, mercy, grace, etc,.But it has got a wider meaning.
When we commence our new life from the Wisdom temple, the light ever glowing from the cerebro spinal cavity, will give new thoughts and ideas.
Once the expression of Dayavu is implemented through one’s thoughts, words and deeds, it is sure that he will get more elucidation.
On the basis of the experience gained, we shall get at the real truth now.
The letter Da- î in Tamil is the 7th consonant and is considered to be the abode of the Lord in the seventh stage of the human body(Niradharam) fro m where one has to realise his existence and abide with God with ever lasting happiness.
Ya- ò Signifies the existence of the God in the soul form of the human body expressing the soul and sense knowledge.
Thus the combination of these two letters îò represents the God in the human form tolead a divine lefe in the world.
As regards the letter vu- ¾ it represents the world with all its animae and inanimate objects which have been created for the sole purpose of gaining experience and in the long run to achieve the goal of immortality.
Further the letter ‘vu’à is placed as fifth vowel, depicting the penta powers of the God. As a significance of this, the human being has got five fingers in each of his hands and legs.
From the above, it can well be inferred that Dayavu is the real form
of God and its experience will make one to live with Godhead.
For non-Tamils it is not easy to make them to understand the real meaning of Dayavu, and for this purpose, a new word has been coined in English as ‘DAEIOU’ and it is hoped that it will werve the purpose.
This word contains one consonant and five vowels.
Everyone knows that vowel is the life form of the alphabbet and consonant denotes the body form.
The letter ‘D’ in the upturned form represents the head of the human being, where the Inner Light is ever kept glowing.
From this light, the penta powers of Porul, Kiriya, Gnana, Yoga and Arul (representing the five vowels) are spreading around to produce in the universe all atoms, energies, Intelligence, Omni-Soul power and Universal Blissful life of God-man.
Thus by this Daeiou representation , one can realise the Eternal Blessed life of Bliss and live in this world for ever in an immortal stage.
This bliss-giving life is a must to the whole mankind.
This is neither a religious nor an irreligious life in nature.
Also it is not a material or spiritual life of the famous saints and rishis of yore.
So, no one should take this as a challenge to their present life.
Without any prejudice and religious chauvinism and casteism, everyone has to extend his ‘Daeiou’ life form the Divine centre within him.
When the life blossoms from the innermost, all the truth will come to light, which will aid and guide the humanity to make the life completely Blissful.
The keyof Grace is necessary to open the lock of fetters and it has been distinctly styled as vast compassion.
In other words, one has to offer his compassionate life to God in order to get himself transformed as God.
Let this Goal of Daeiou life be achieved through the munificence of the Omnnigrace by one and all and adore our Lord who is all in all.
DAEIOU
Siddhi Valagam - Disappearance
http://www.vallalar.org
This building (ashram) is said to have been built by the villagers of that hamlet for the purpose of accommodating a vaishnava guide. But subsequently it was allotted to the saint for his use. It was a time when there was utter necessity for leaders, to bring forth an awakening in south India and unite the people of all castes and faith. There was an urge among the common men to show something in religion and spirituality through a simple and enlightening literature. Our saint rose to the occasion and began the renaissance in a remarkable manner. He propagated the philosophy of service he taught. The poems and other renderings in prose style are so simple and vivid, that even a layman can understand the meaning without having any extraordinary intelligence. His missionary spirit is more reflected from his appeal to the Lord saying.
“I should go to all parts of the world and hallow thy name” Service to fellow beings is his supreme motto. He detested religion from the debating scholars and from the orthodox who attached much importance to rituals. In this context his line”Kallarkum Katravarkum Kalippu arulum kalippe’ (Arul vilakka Malai) means that the Lord gives bliss equally to the mass and the enlightened acquires significance. He had a clear perception of the purpose of his life on the earth. He has recorded his ideal briefly and clearly. His ideal was to reform the worldly, whose life was lacking in the harmony between thought and deed. His ardent wish is to make them join the “Sanmarga sangam” in order to attain the Divine here and now itself. He also declared that God has earmarked his life for this purpose. The sanctuary for eternal service established by him at Vadalue is a monument of his service motto, but at present the public have not given due recognition for the same. It is hoped that in course of time the people will come up to his expectation and follow the truth.
He wished to guide the people of the world in the path of Grace, which is free from violence of any sort. He delivered the message through lectures, essays, heart melting poems and melodious songs. He insisted on “Universal Brotherhood” as the only relation that the people of the world should have among themselves and with the living beings. He held them, both as the chief ideal as of the religion he preached. He insisted on the universal and spiritual aspects of religion. He aimed at the unity of all religions, as ordained by the Lord. He exhorted the people to set aside all their differences and live in amity and peace promoting congenial relationship among them.
He gave a clarron call to the humanity at large to follow universal path, which is free from the obsessions of differences in caste, creed, faith and religion. His literary creations rose with a new vigour and inspiration, and this has helped to evaluate his contribution to Tamil literature. During this period, he wrote the famous ‘Arutperunjothi Agval’ which comprises of 1596 lines and is said that the whole poem was written in a single night. It is termed as the crown of ‘Thiru Arutpa’.
It has become a custom to all his followers that it is recited in chorus in all public functions. It is done individually also by some. There is strong belief that recital of this poem continuously for several days, will make all evils to vanish. With much gratitude, one can say that in none of the poems any grammatical error has crept in. Only in the nineteenth century, Indians established printing press and brought into print many of the Tamil literary works. As the price of the printed books was cheaper than the hand-written palmyrah leaves, the poor people were enabled to obtain books easily at cheap price. This was of great help in spreading education and literature among the people then. All these factors brought the rendereings of the saint “Thiru Arutpa” in reputation.
Though the progress made in this regard by the public is little, yet it is an happy angury that it has been able to penetrate deep in their minds. It is said that in the last days, the saint never used to take any food either in any solid or liquid form. Even in the absence of these, he was founded to be ever busy as in the early years. A Photographer tried his best to have his photo, but never succeeded in his attempt. The above instances clearly prove that though he was seen in the physical body, yet it had undergone changes, which cannot be perceived by materialists. We shall discuss about this phenomenon below.
The body has been classified into three:
1) Gross,
2) Subtle and
3) Causal.
The last one is the basis for the other two, and in the case of the saint as one Trinity. In the words of the saint, it is termed as “Three Dega Siddhi”. By Three Dega Siddhi, the physical body itself can be transmuted in the form of pure wisdom, and from that altar, he can perform the duties of the Lord and administer all the five acts viz., creation, preservation, destruction, veil and bliss. Having attained immortality, and in recognition of the same, in several of his poems, he exclaims as under,
“I am the eldest son of the Lord”
“I have been provided with the sceptre of Grace and thereby rule the universe for ever”
“My Lord, today you have shown yourself to be with me and myself to be within you and thus removed my suffering and done me good”
“O my king, my Lord, my mother, my father, all in one, you removed all the inner veils, thereby bringing me to the perception of things unknown to me so far, and have given me the great experience in the ‘great intellectual space of Grace’ which has caused me bliss. I take refuge with Thee” etc.
In another stanza, he states that he takes refuge in the Lord who fulfilled all his wishes by granting him the “all performing power” through the experience of His Grace.
So saying, he took out the lamp which was kept in his room, placed it outside and and dirrected his followers to consider it as the God of real worship following the path of love and kindness towards all living beings, and thereby attain the siddhi he got.
He thus locked himself inside the room he used to occupy and expressed his desire that none should venture to open it. He also added that if the Govt. authorities persist to open it, let them be convinced of his desire of not opening it and it it is opened, the room will be found vacant, since from that moment itself, he will enter the soul of everyone and lead them to the right path of Grace. These utterances proved to be final.
The above incident occurred at midnight on the 30th day of Januar, 1874, and the directions of the saint are being carried out in right earnest by his followers till now.
There was a wild rumour in and around the vicinity that the saint had disappeared.
As forescast by the saint early, the news reached the Govt. he then Collector of south of Arcot rushed to the spot along with a retinue of a Doctor and other officials.
The doctor went round the room and was surprised to sense the fragrance of ‘pachai-karpooram” (Bournial not combustible) against his own suspicion of scenting of foul smell as in the case of a decayed body.
The collector was informed of the experience gained by the doctor, adn the Collector, who took pains to ascertain the correct position, went round the room and by scenting the same smell as reported by doctor, came to the conclusion that no foul play has been established on the life of the saint as suspected by some.
He then enquired from the followers assembled there as to the type of work that had been carried on. They informed the collector about the instructions given by the saint at the time of disappearance.
Fully respecting the last wishes of the great saint, he offered a sum of Rs.20/- to them as his own contribution towards the good work carried out by them, and returned to his head-quarters.
It will be interesting to note the facts of disappearance of the saint as given by Mr.J.H.Garstein, Collector of South Arcot in the south Arcot Gazette 1878. Some of the excerpts are given below:
“Born in 1823 in the Chidambaram Taluk of vellala (Sir Karuneegar) parents in humble circumstances, the saint developed, while he was an young boy, an undeniable talent and his poems attracted the public. They dealt with religious matters..... “
About 1872, the curious octagon-shaped sabha with the domed roof which is to be seen at vadalur, a hamlet of parvatipuram, was erecteed by him from Subscriptions.....”
“In 1874, he locked himself in a room (still in existence) in Mettukuppam (hamlet of Karunguli), which he used for samadhi or majestic meditation, and instructed his disciples not to open it for some time. He was never seen thereafter and the room is still found locked. It is considered by those who still believe in him, that he was miraculously created one with his God and that in fullness of time he would reappear to the faithful....”
Mr.W.Francis, I.C.S. in the year 1906 has expressed his opinion in ‘The south Arcot Gazetteers’ as follows:
“Parvatipuram- a village of 1189 inhabitants lying 23 miles south west of cuddalore on the virudhachalam road, is connected with one Ramalingam paradesi, a somewhat curious example of a latter day saint who has been almost deified by his followers”.
The saint pained to see that his followers were not amenable to his teachings diligently, used to tell them often that people from north and west would come there to carry out his instructions and it was hoped that their minds would be changed then and begin to follow his trachings.
This prophecy came true.
Madam Blavatsky of Ryssia and colonel Alcot of America came to the placec at a later date and formed the Theosophical society at Adyar in Chennai.
There they used to teach the teachings of the saint to the public to a certain extent.
Lady Annie Besant of Great Britain who succeeded them, also carried out the message of the saint for some years.
As their successors did not evince keen interest in the teachings of the saint, the place is now converted as a school for demonstrating modern art and culture.
As pointed out by the saint already, we shall now turn to the subject with experiences gained from the innermost.
It is said that in and around siddhivalagam, in Tamil means it is the inner part of the body where the soul exists and it is the source of origin from where the attainments (siddhis) used to emanate.
It is said that in and around siddhivalagam, the sweet fragrance of pachai karpooram and the vision of the saint are available to those matured. But it is very rare.
In one of the poems, he states that his body is permeated with that sweet fragrance and the same is prevailing with the Lord Almighty. From this it has to be inferred that mere vision of the saint will not be useful unless the sweet fragrance is scented therein. The combination of both these facts alone can prove the existence of the saint in the locality.
On the third day of Thaipoosam, people used to visit this place to have a glimpse of the room from where he disappeared.
Dr.N.Mahalingam, who is prefixed with the words “Arut Selvar” by the public came forward to construct a building where the light (Jothi) is kept in an elevated place with a dome above and with a hall in front of this light making the public to have a dharsan even from some distance. It is to be noted that it has been constructed from his own funds. Thus was in the year 1985.
With his own efforts, on the day of monthly poosam, he has arranged series of lectures by eminent scholars and thus the place wears a new look now.
With this we shall now proceed to the next chapter, to summarise the teachings of the saint to the maximum extent.
This building (ashram) is said to have been built by the villagers of that hamlet for the purpose of accommodating a vaishnava guide. But subsequently it was allotted to the saint for his use. It was a time when there was utter necessity for leaders, to bring forth an awakening in south India and unite the people of all castes and faith. There was an urge among the common men to show something in religion and spirituality through a simple and enlightening literature. Our saint rose to the occasion and began the renaissance in a remarkable manner. He propagated the philosophy of service he taught. The poems and other renderings in prose style are so simple and vivid, that even a layman can understand the meaning without having any extraordinary intelligence. His missionary spirit is more reflected from his appeal to the Lord saying.
“I should go to all parts of the world and hallow thy name” Service to fellow beings is his supreme motto. He detested religion from the debating scholars and from the orthodox who attached much importance to rituals. In this context his line”Kallarkum Katravarkum Kalippu arulum kalippe’ (Arul vilakka Malai) means that the Lord gives bliss equally to the mass and the enlightened acquires significance. He had a clear perception of the purpose of his life on the earth. He has recorded his ideal briefly and clearly. His ideal was to reform the worldly, whose life was lacking in the harmony between thought and deed. His ardent wish is to make them join the “Sanmarga sangam” in order to attain the Divine here and now itself. He also declared that God has earmarked his life for this purpose. The sanctuary for eternal service established by him at Vadalue is a monument of his service motto, but at present the public have not given due recognition for the same. It is hoped that in course of time the people will come up to his expectation and follow the truth.
He wished to guide the people of the world in the path of Grace, which is free from violence of any sort. He delivered the message through lectures, essays, heart melting poems and melodious songs. He insisted on “Universal Brotherhood” as the only relation that the people of the world should have among themselves and with the living beings. He held them, both as the chief ideal as of the religion he preached. He insisted on the universal and spiritual aspects of religion. He aimed at the unity of all religions, as ordained by the Lord. He exhorted the people to set aside all their differences and live in amity and peace promoting congenial relationship among them.
He gave a clarron call to the humanity at large to follow universal path, which is free from the obsessions of differences in caste, creed, faith and religion. His literary creations rose with a new vigour and inspiration, and this has helped to evaluate his contribution to Tamil literature. During this period, he wrote the famous ‘Arutperunjothi Agval’ which comprises of 1596 lines and is said that the whole poem was written in a single night. It is termed as the crown of ‘Thiru Arutpa’.
It has become a custom to all his followers that it is recited in chorus in all public functions. It is done individually also by some. There is strong belief that recital of this poem continuously for several days, will make all evils to vanish. With much gratitude, one can say that in none of the poems any grammatical error has crept in. Only in the nineteenth century, Indians established printing press and brought into print many of the Tamil literary works. As the price of the printed books was cheaper than the hand-written palmyrah leaves, the poor people were enabled to obtain books easily at cheap price. This was of great help in spreading education and literature among the people then. All these factors brought the rendereings of the saint “Thiru Arutpa” in reputation.
Though the progress made in this regard by the public is little, yet it is an happy angury that it has been able to penetrate deep in their minds. It is said that in the last days, the saint never used to take any food either in any solid or liquid form. Even in the absence of these, he was founded to be ever busy as in the early years. A Photographer tried his best to have his photo, but never succeeded in his attempt. The above instances clearly prove that though he was seen in the physical body, yet it had undergone changes, which cannot be perceived by materialists. We shall discuss about this phenomenon below.
The body has been classified into three:
1) Gross,
2) Subtle and
3) Causal.
The last one is the basis for the other two, and in the case of the saint as one Trinity. In the words of the saint, it is termed as “Three Dega Siddhi”. By Three Dega Siddhi, the physical body itself can be transmuted in the form of pure wisdom, and from that altar, he can perform the duties of the Lord and administer all the five acts viz., creation, preservation, destruction, veil and bliss. Having attained immortality, and in recognition of the same, in several of his poems, he exclaims as under,
“I am the eldest son of the Lord”
“I have been provided with the sceptre of Grace and thereby rule the universe for ever”
“My Lord, today you have shown yourself to be with me and myself to be within you and thus removed my suffering and done me good”
“O my king, my Lord, my mother, my father, all in one, you removed all the inner veils, thereby bringing me to the perception of things unknown to me so far, and have given me the great experience in the ‘great intellectual space of Grace’ which has caused me bliss. I take refuge with Thee” etc.
In another stanza, he states that he takes refuge in the Lord who fulfilled all his wishes by granting him the “all performing power” through the experience of His Grace.
So saying, he took out the lamp which was kept in his room, placed it outside and and dirrected his followers to consider it as the God of real worship following the path of love and kindness towards all living beings, and thereby attain the siddhi he got.
He thus locked himself inside the room he used to occupy and expressed his desire that none should venture to open it. He also added that if the Govt. authorities persist to open it, let them be convinced of his desire of not opening it and it it is opened, the room will be found vacant, since from that moment itself, he will enter the soul of everyone and lead them to the right path of Grace. These utterances proved to be final.
The above incident occurred at midnight on the 30th day of Januar, 1874, and the directions of the saint are being carried out in right earnest by his followers till now.
There was a wild rumour in and around the vicinity that the saint had disappeared.
As forescast by the saint early, the news reached the Govt. he then Collector of south of Arcot rushed to the spot along with a retinue of a Doctor and other officials.
The doctor went round the room and was surprised to sense the fragrance of ‘pachai-karpooram” (Bournial not combustible) against his own suspicion of scenting of foul smell as in the case of a decayed body.
The collector was informed of the experience gained by the doctor, adn the Collector, who took pains to ascertain the correct position, went round the room and by scenting the same smell as reported by doctor, came to the conclusion that no foul play has been established on the life of the saint as suspected by some.
He then enquired from the followers assembled there as to the type of work that had been carried on. They informed the collector about the instructions given by the saint at the time of disappearance.
Fully respecting the last wishes of the great saint, he offered a sum of Rs.20/- to them as his own contribution towards the good work carried out by them, and returned to his head-quarters.
It will be interesting to note the facts of disappearance of the saint as given by Mr.J.H.Garstein, Collector of South Arcot in the south Arcot Gazette 1878. Some of the excerpts are given below:
“Born in 1823 in the Chidambaram Taluk of vellala (Sir Karuneegar) parents in humble circumstances, the saint developed, while he was an young boy, an undeniable talent and his poems attracted the public. They dealt with religious matters..... “
About 1872, the curious octagon-shaped sabha with the domed roof which is to be seen at vadalur, a hamlet of parvatipuram, was erecteed by him from Subscriptions.....”
“In 1874, he locked himself in a room (still in existence) in Mettukuppam (hamlet of Karunguli), which he used for samadhi or majestic meditation, and instructed his disciples not to open it for some time. He was never seen thereafter and the room is still found locked. It is considered by those who still believe in him, that he was miraculously created one with his God and that in fullness of time he would reappear to the faithful....”
Mr.W.Francis, I.C.S. in the year 1906 has expressed his opinion in ‘The south Arcot Gazetteers’ as follows:
“Parvatipuram- a village of 1189 inhabitants lying 23 miles south west of cuddalore on the virudhachalam road, is connected with one Ramalingam paradesi, a somewhat curious example of a latter day saint who has been almost deified by his followers”.
The saint pained to see that his followers were not amenable to his teachings diligently, used to tell them often that people from north and west would come there to carry out his instructions and it was hoped that their minds would be changed then and begin to follow his trachings.
This prophecy came true.
Madam Blavatsky of Ryssia and colonel Alcot of America came to the placec at a later date and formed the Theosophical society at Adyar in Chennai.
There they used to teach the teachings of the saint to the public to a certain extent.
Lady Annie Besant of Great Britain who succeeded them, also carried out the message of the saint for some years.
As their successors did not evince keen interest in the teachings of the saint, the place is now converted as a school for demonstrating modern art and culture.
As pointed out by the saint already, we shall now turn to the subject with experiences gained from the innermost.
It is said that in and around siddhivalagam, in Tamil means it is the inner part of the body where the soul exists and it is the source of origin from where the attainments (siddhis) used to emanate.
It is said that in and around siddhivalagam, the sweet fragrance of pachai karpooram and the vision of the saint are available to those matured. But it is very rare.
In one of the poems, he states that his body is permeated with that sweet fragrance and the same is prevailing with the Lord Almighty. From this it has to be inferred that mere vision of the saint will not be useful unless the sweet fragrance is scented therein. The combination of both these facts alone can prove the existence of the saint in the locality.
On the third day of Thaipoosam, people used to visit this place to have a glimpse of the room from where he disappeared.
Dr.N.Mahalingam, who is prefixed with the words “Arut Selvar” by the public came forward to construct a building where the light (Jothi) is kept in an elevated place with a dome above and with a hall in front of this light making the public to have a dharsan even from some distance. It is to be noted that it has been constructed from his own funds. Thus was in the year 1985.
With his own efforts, on the day of monthly poosam, he has arranged series of lectures by eminent scholars and thus the place wears a new look now.
With this we shall now proceed to the next chapter, to summarise the teachings of the saint to the maximum extent.
Sathya Gnana Sabai - Temple of Wisdom
http://www.vallalar.org
After the inauguration of Sathya Dharmasalai at Vadalur, the saint used to live in the hermitage called “Siddhivalagam” in the village Mettukuppam. There he used to give sermons which led him to be regarded as a spiritual guide and teacher. It is said that his admirers and disciples and even Govt. Officials had changed their residence and gone to live where they could remain constantly near him.
During this time, all the poems composed in his early days were compiled in five parts by his disciple Velayuda Mudaliar. The same was printed and published in a single volume. Instead of noting the editor’s name as “Chidambaram Ramalingam” which the saint used to put as his signature in all the letters and other poems he had written, the compiler noted it as “Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar”. This volume was produced before the saint for his perusal, thinking that the compiler would get the appreciation of the saint for the work done. The situation changed otherwise. Instead of giving tributes to the work done,,, the saint questioned the disciple as to why the name of the editor was changed, with whose permission it was printed and to explain the significance of the new name.
Without knowing what to do, the disciple stood before the saint with shivering body and with folded hands. Seeing his plight, the saint came to his rescue and offered the explanation as below. It is the Almighty who in the form of supreme Effulgence is bountiful in nature. Since He is termed as all giver, the name goes to the Lord himself and non else. The disciple after hearing the explanation given by the sait, left the place with a peaceful mind and narrated the incident to his fellowmen. From this time onwards, the saint ws called by that name , “Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar”, as desired by his disciples. The saint’s statements are well exemplified by his own experience. He attained the experience of the Lord’s Grace and earnestly wished that his fellow-men all over the world should also get similar experience. The universal path realised and lived by him has been propagated through the poems compiled by him. For this reason his poems are styled as “Arutpa” (the song of grace) It is literally meant that the poems are sung with the aid of Grace only. This is certainly correct, since this is the divine law that without Grace not a single atom can move. The special feature is that Arutpa has been sung not only with God’s Grace but it enables the readers to experience and make them live eternally under this Grace light. This is the peculiar nature of “Thiru Arutpa” and it makes one to be absorbed in ecstasy.
The next significant aspect of the universal religion is the worship of light. The saint experienced the realities of the Lord and the light within the Light, as seen from the poems.
These three aspects of Light are to be distinguished.
The first is the God Light. It is known as the guiding Light.
The second is the living light guided by the first.
The third is the light, which can be realised through the soul atom only .
This light is spotted in between the eybrows and in due course it appears to the saint as an effulgent entity called “Anma Prakasam”. He noted this as the “Hall of true wisdom” (Sathya Gnana Sabai). Only in this hall of wisdom, he perceived the Supreme Effulgence “Arutperunjothi”. His sincere wish is that people living in every nook and corner and corner of the world should realise this importance and get the experience of the Grace Light he got and live for ever with immortality. To symbolize this, he built a specially designed Hall of Wisdom through his followers at Vadalur for universal Worship. This hall was named by him as “Sathya Gnana Sabai”.
It is a lotus like building and stands in an octagonal shape providing windows and doors through which one can see the light kept in an altar with five steps leading to the altar from all the four sides. Seven colourful curtains have been hund before the light and unless they are removed, one cannot perceive the light there. There is an outer wall and the entire thing has been fenced with iron chains in duplicate.
The above symbolization can be explained as below.
Generally people are living a sensuous physical life in this world. In order to transcend to the higher life of Divinity, a person must pass on the gross and subtle bodily stages and take shelter in the soul-abode or causal bodily stage. The above three stages are embodied in the symbolic Temple at vadalur. The practical experience of this Temple is realisable only at the head level.
The first stage of living gross body of eight spans is represented by the octagonal structure of the Temple surrounded by iron-chain fencing. The human body measures eight spans only and the duplicate of the chains in the outer fence contains 21,600 knots, representing the number of times he breathes per day through the holes of the nostrils in the ordinary course.
The second subtle bodily state is denoted by the inner octagonal space covered with the walls containing twenty four openings of doors and windows.
The third stage of the causal bodily stage is with the Divine Light put upon the central altar with five steps on each of the four sides depicting the penta forces of the Almighty.
In between the second and third stage, there are seven curtains which act as a bar to perceive the inner light by ordinary man. But the appearance of curtains is only an illusion and not real. At the time of worship, one is to stand before the central spot of the main door from where he can perceive the Divine Light in front of him and from there he can see the golden and silver apartments in either side of him. All these are to enlighten the inner Divinity to be experienced from the centre of the eye brows.
The Hall which was built according to hiw own plan was dedicated to the public on 25.1.1872 with the star poosam representing the day. All the seven screens were removed one by one, revealing the grand sight to the devotees. He insisted on one’s ardent desire to have this vision of light within one’s own soul through personal experience. His ulterior motive is that the outer structure is there only to enable them to get at the truth and make them to lead a Blessed life.
Contrary to the expectation of the saint, the people used to look at the Hall more with outer senses. This made him to feel sorry about their behaviour and thought that his teachings could not bear the fruit for the present. Thus he closed the doors, locked and took the key to his hermitage. It happened in the year 1873. Though it was closed, the physical life’s sustenance alone is continued through Dharmasalai.
Sone years after the disappearence of the saint, the Temple of wisdom was opened by some of his followers and the festival is conducted annually. But they are not conducted as expected by the saint and hence could not be commented upon.
The dome is construted in such a way everybody who passes that side is being attracted by it. As the temple was built in 1872, due to efflux of time it developed some cracks in the structure. In the year 1949, Thirumuruga Krupananda Wariar, a renowned saivaite scholar took keen interest in the work and renovated the same.
By the Omnipresent attribute of God, He must be existing everywhere. Before seeing Him we must have the real knowledge of him. Because, He is not in any form of a person or a thing which we can perceive by our physical eyes. The spirit of Omnigrace, Omniscience and Omnipotence is His real form, and that Divine Spirit alone is evolving from the Innermost of every particle in the whole universe. Therefore what all we see here is not the form of Him, and at the same time nothing comes to exist in the universe unless that Divine spirit works from the Innermost. This knowledge of Divine Spirit is blossoming in us now, and so we are able to acknowledge Him in and out of everyone. This Omnipresent knowledge of God never comes to light in any life other than human one. This human form is evolved out of a small particle or an organic cell containing the Soul of the Divine Spirit. The Divine Soul atom is extending all forces from the centre of the head. This Soul atom with the Divine Spirit forms the basic point of the embryonic creation from which all our spiritual, vital, intellectual, mental and physical beings have been developed to the present stage. Hence our real and whole being is the development of the Divine Spirit from the Innermost. With this supreme realization we are to live in this world a blessed life of Bliss Divine.
Till now we were unaware of our true self of Divine Spirit. Ignoring our Divinity we were holding ourselves as physical beings only to live a sensuous life and pass away. In this sensuous life, all the experiences we got, have now brought us above the barbarous, civilized, religious, social and scientific levels. And now we are standing before the entrance of Divine Truth. In the past we were living with the guidance of external preceptors and we were praying and worshipping in the outer temples. Even our master yogis and gnanies tried to reach the God-head from the outside, that is from physical to the spiritual state. In their final stage, they vanished into nothingness. Now we have to consider ourselves in real relation to the Divine Self. Since the Divine Spirit has become all our soul, life and body, in fact we are nothing but that Divine Self unfolded. With this Soul-knowledge we are to make our life anew. To choose this soul-life is the real wisdom of man. Any amount of knowledge except the Soul Truth cannot make a man truly wise.
Our Wisdom Temple is not like any other Divine seats in the World. In the worldly temples one can expect to get his sensuous mental gratifications by faith and earnest devotion. The sensuous side of man does not know the highest Eternal Bliss obtainable through practical life of true wisdom. Because the outer temples and their Divine representations are only external symbols of the true ones in the internal. In this human form is glowing the Divine soul-atom on the top of medulla oblongata. This soul-atom is represented as God-head while the surrounding body is the temple itself. As the Soul-God resides fully in the centre of the head. Its fractional and infinitesimal matters and forces have come out to play in and out of man. Therefore, one cannot expect to draw most valuable Divine power either from any forms or symbols outside or from the six nervous centres (six adharas) inside this body. Hence it is wise to get the head spot to have a direct contact with the Divine Self. Here comes the Wisdom temple with its Soul-God of Infinite Grace.
The Temple of Wisdom at Vadalur in the Madras (Chennai) State is spreading its gracious light to enlighten the whole world. In this temple the Divine Light of Infinite Grace is shining from the altar in the centre. All the surrounding structures are to represent the spiritual, intellectual vital and physical objects of our being. The main entrance of our Inner Wisdom Temple is at the root of the nose between the eyebrows. A real aspirant who eschews the carnal sensual pleasures and who earnestly demands the Divine Grace is entitled to gain entrance to this Temple. With the pure concentrated mind at the root of the nose one is to pray for God to grace him. As the spirit of this Grace develops in man all the screens hiding the Divine Light will be gradually removed. At the end he comes face to face and eventually becomes that Light Itself. Now the man feels he is none other than that Light Itself. But he knows, though he is that Divine Atom, he has not been empowered to taste the life of Bliss. Hence he is to make a life of Divine Grace from that Inner centre. In order to get this gracious life in practical experience, the Wisdom Temple of Vadalur has been built out along with the institutions for feeding the poor and educating the aspirants. Though the feeding section only is working continuously without any interruption, the educating section is not kept up as it was intended. So the truth of this Temple and its worship is not understood by the devotees and the general public.
Other temples of the world, though present architectural and sculptural attractions are not intended for reaching the highest goal of Divine Life. Mainly our South Indian Temples are constructed after elementary basic secrets of physical and vital bodily structure. So the entrances to these temples are at the foot point only. In a lying position, the foot is away from the Divine Centre. So in the temple architect the sanctum sanctorum is put upon the opposite end of the main structure. This is to be noted here to have the Divine Altar in the centre of our Wisdom Temple. Only the dissolution of man was the end in all the old temple system. On the other hand our Wisdom Temple alone is to make the man to live a gracious life of Eternal Bliss.
Swami Ramalingam – THIRU ARUTPRAKASA VALLALAR is not only the founder of this Temple of Wisdom, but also is the first man of exemplify in practical experience that Divine life of Grace. He was born to bring out that new Divine Life to this world. By the Grace of God he got the knowledge of his true self which is no other than the Divine one. From that stage of Divine Oneness he extended the life of Grace upon the material world. In due course, his Inner form of Divine Gracious self burst and filled to make him the person or Divine Gracious Light or Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar. This Divine Light form is Eternal, but will be living in casual, subtle and gross (or Gnana, Pranava and Suddha) bodies to up-lift the aspiring humanity. Because he is of Divine Gracious person he can come to sight of others only at his will and anywhere. It is he, who attracts us from our Innermost to acknowledge him and all his attainment. To aid us, he has endowed this Temple of Wisdom and the highest literature of Divine Grace called the THIRU ARUTPA. With all these inner and outer guidance this book of Wisdom Temple is published to enlighten the whole humanity. Let this open the entrance of the Inner temple of Wisdom of every one and offer the Gracious life of Bliss.
(Written by Swami Saravananda, Dindigul, 1939)
After the inauguration of Sathya Dharmasalai at Vadalur, the saint used to live in the hermitage called “Siddhivalagam” in the village Mettukuppam. There he used to give sermons which led him to be regarded as a spiritual guide and teacher. It is said that his admirers and disciples and even Govt. Officials had changed their residence and gone to live where they could remain constantly near him.
During this time, all the poems composed in his early days were compiled in five parts by his disciple Velayuda Mudaliar. The same was printed and published in a single volume. Instead of noting the editor’s name as “Chidambaram Ramalingam” which the saint used to put as his signature in all the letters and other poems he had written, the compiler noted it as “Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar”. This volume was produced before the saint for his perusal, thinking that the compiler would get the appreciation of the saint for the work done. The situation changed otherwise. Instead of giving tributes to the work done,,, the saint questioned the disciple as to why the name of the editor was changed, with whose permission it was printed and to explain the significance of the new name.
Without knowing what to do, the disciple stood before the saint with shivering body and with folded hands. Seeing his plight, the saint came to his rescue and offered the explanation as below. It is the Almighty who in the form of supreme Effulgence is bountiful in nature. Since He is termed as all giver, the name goes to the Lord himself and non else. The disciple after hearing the explanation given by the sait, left the place with a peaceful mind and narrated the incident to his fellowmen. From this time onwards, the saint ws called by that name , “Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar”, as desired by his disciples. The saint’s statements are well exemplified by his own experience. He attained the experience of the Lord’s Grace and earnestly wished that his fellow-men all over the world should also get similar experience. The universal path realised and lived by him has been propagated through the poems compiled by him. For this reason his poems are styled as “Arutpa” (the song of grace) It is literally meant that the poems are sung with the aid of Grace only. This is certainly correct, since this is the divine law that without Grace not a single atom can move. The special feature is that Arutpa has been sung not only with God’s Grace but it enables the readers to experience and make them live eternally under this Grace light. This is the peculiar nature of “Thiru Arutpa” and it makes one to be absorbed in ecstasy.
The next significant aspect of the universal religion is the worship of light. The saint experienced the realities of the Lord and the light within the Light, as seen from the poems.
These three aspects of Light are to be distinguished.
The first is the God Light. It is known as the guiding Light.
The second is the living light guided by the first.
The third is the light, which can be realised through the soul atom only .
This light is spotted in between the eybrows and in due course it appears to the saint as an effulgent entity called “Anma Prakasam”. He noted this as the “Hall of true wisdom” (Sathya Gnana Sabai). Only in this hall of wisdom, he perceived the Supreme Effulgence “Arutperunjothi”. His sincere wish is that people living in every nook and corner and corner of the world should realise this importance and get the experience of the Grace Light he got and live for ever with immortality. To symbolize this, he built a specially designed Hall of Wisdom through his followers at Vadalur for universal Worship. This hall was named by him as “Sathya Gnana Sabai”.
It is a lotus like building and stands in an octagonal shape providing windows and doors through which one can see the light kept in an altar with five steps leading to the altar from all the four sides. Seven colourful curtains have been hund before the light and unless they are removed, one cannot perceive the light there. There is an outer wall and the entire thing has been fenced with iron chains in duplicate.
The above symbolization can be explained as below.
Generally people are living a sensuous physical life in this world. In order to transcend to the higher life of Divinity, a person must pass on the gross and subtle bodily stages and take shelter in the soul-abode or causal bodily stage. The above three stages are embodied in the symbolic Temple at vadalur. The practical experience of this Temple is realisable only at the head level.
The first stage of living gross body of eight spans is represented by the octagonal structure of the Temple surrounded by iron-chain fencing. The human body measures eight spans only and the duplicate of the chains in the outer fence contains 21,600 knots, representing the number of times he breathes per day through the holes of the nostrils in the ordinary course.
The second subtle bodily state is denoted by the inner octagonal space covered with the walls containing twenty four openings of doors and windows.
The third stage of the causal bodily stage is with the Divine Light put upon the central altar with five steps on each of the four sides depicting the penta forces of the Almighty.
In between the second and third stage, there are seven curtains which act as a bar to perceive the inner light by ordinary man. But the appearance of curtains is only an illusion and not real. At the time of worship, one is to stand before the central spot of the main door from where he can perceive the Divine Light in front of him and from there he can see the golden and silver apartments in either side of him. All these are to enlighten the inner Divinity to be experienced from the centre of the eye brows.
The Hall which was built according to hiw own plan was dedicated to the public on 25.1.1872 with the star poosam representing the day. All the seven screens were removed one by one, revealing the grand sight to the devotees. He insisted on one’s ardent desire to have this vision of light within one’s own soul through personal experience. His ulterior motive is that the outer structure is there only to enable them to get at the truth and make them to lead a Blessed life.
Contrary to the expectation of the saint, the people used to look at the Hall more with outer senses. This made him to feel sorry about their behaviour and thought that his teachings could not bear the fruit for the present. Thus he closed the doors, locked and took the key to his hermitage. It happened in the year 1873. Though it was closed, the physical life’s sustenance alone is continued through Dharmasalai.
Sone years after the disappearence of the saint, the Temple of wisdom was opened by some of his followers and the festival is conducted annually. But they are not conducted as expected by the saint and hence could not be commented upon.
The dome is construted in such a way everybody who passes that side is being attracted by it. As the temple was built in 1872, due to efflux of time it developed some cracks in the structure. In the year 1949, Thirumuruga Krupananda Wariar, a renowned saivaite scholar took keen interest in the work and renovated the same.
By the Omnipresent attribute of God, He must be existing everywhere. Before seeing Him we must have the real knowledge of him. Because, He is not in any form of a person or a thing which we can perceive by our physical eyes. The spirit of Omnigrace, Omniscience and Omnipotence is His real form, and that Divine Spirit alone is evolving from the Innermost of every particle in the whole universe. Therefore what all we see here is not the form of Him, and at the same time nothing comes to exist in the universe unless that Divine spirit works from the Innermost. This knowledge of Divine Spirit is blossoming in us now, and so we are able to acknowledge Him in and out of everyone. This Omnipresent knowledge of God never comes to light in any life other than human one. This human form is evolved out of a small particle or an organic cell containing the Soul of the Divine Spirit. The Divine Soul atom is extending all forces from the centre of the head. This Soul atom with the Divine Spirit forms the basic point of the embryonic creation from which all our spiritual, vital, intellectual, mental and physical beings have been developed to the present stage. Hence our real and whole being is the development of the Divine Spirit from the Innermost. With this supreme realization we are to live in this world a blessed life of Bliss Divine.
Till now we were unaware of our true self of Divine Spirit. Ignoring our Divinity we were holding ourselves as physical beings only to live a sensuous life and pass away. In this sensuous life, all the experiences we got, have now brought us above the barbarous, civilized, religious, social and scientific levels. And now we are standing before the entrance of Divine Truth. In the past we were living with the guidance of external preceptors and we were praying and worshipping in the outer temples. Even our master yogis and gnanies tried to reach the God-head from the outside, that is from physical to the spiritual state. In their final stage, they vanished into nothingness. Now we have to consider ourselves in real relation to the Divine Self. Since the Divine Spirit has become all our soul, life and body, in fact we are nothing but that Divine Self unfolded. With this Soul-knowledge we are to make our life anew. To choose this soul-life is the real wisdom of man. Any amount of knowledge except the Soul Truth cannot make a man truly wise.
Our Wisdom Temple is not like any other Divine seats in the World. In the worldly temples one can expect to get his sensuous mental gratifications by faith and earnest devotion. The sensuous side of man does not know the highest Eternal Bliss obtainable through practical life of true wisdom. Because the outer temples and their Divine representations are only external symbols of the true ones in the internal. In this human form is glowing the Divine soul-atom on the top of medulla oblongata. This soul-atom is represented as God-head while the surrounding body is the temple itself. As the Soul-God resides fully in the centre of the head. Its fractional and infinitesimal matters and forces have come out to play in and out of man. Therefore, one cannot expect to draw most valuable Divine power either from any forms or symbols outside or from the six nervous centres (six adharas) inside this body. Hence it is wise to get the head spot to have a direct contact with the Divine Self. Here comes the Wisdom temple with its Soul-God of Infinite Grace.
The Temple of Wisdom at Vadalur in the Madras (Chennai) State is spreading its gracious light to enlighten the whole world. In this temple the Divine Light of Infinite Grace is shining from the altar in the centre. All the surrounding structures are to represent the spiritual, intellectual vital and physical objects of our being. The main entrance of our Inner Wisdom Temple is at the root of the nose between the eyebrows. A real aspirant who eschews the carnal sensual pleasures and who earnestly demands the Divine Grace is entitled to gain entrance to this Temple. With the pure concentrated mind at the root of the nose one is to pray for God to grace him. As the spirit of this Grace develops in man all the screens hiding the Divine Light will be gradually removed. At the end he comes face to face and eventually becomes that Light Itself. Now the man feels he is none other than that Light Itself. But he knows, though he is that Divine Atom, he has not been empowered to taste the life of Bliss. Hence he is to make a life of Divine Grace from that Inner centre. In order to get this gracious life in practical experience, the Wisdom Temple of Vadalur has been built out along with the institutions for feeding the poor and educating the aspirants. Though the feeding section only is working continuously without any interruption, the educating section is not kept up as it was intended. So the truth of this Temple and its worship is not understood by the devotees and the general public.
Other temples of the world, though present architectural and sculptural attractions are not intended for reaching the highest goal of Divine Life. Mainly our South Indian Temples are constructed after elementary basic secrets of physical and vital bodily structure. So the entrances to these temples are at the foot point only. In a lying position, the foot is away from the Divine Centre. So in the temple architect the sanctum sanctorum is put upon the opposite end of the main structure. This is to be noted here to have the Divine Altar in the centre of our Wisdom Temple. Only the dissolution of man was the end in all the old temple system. On the other hand our Wisdom Temple alone is to make the man to live a gracious life of Eternal Bliss.
Swami Ramalingam – THIRU ARUTPRAKASA VALLALAR is not only the founder of this Temple of Wisdom, but also is the first man of exemplify in practical experience that Divine life of Grace. He was born to bring out that new Divine Life to this world. By the Grace of God he got the knowledge of his true self which is no other than the Divine one. From that stage of Divine Oneness he extended the life of Grace upon the material world. In due course, his Inner form of Divine Gracious self burst and filled to make him the person or Divine Gracious Light or Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar. This Divine Light form is Eternal, but will be living in casual, subtle and gross (or Gnana, Pranava and Suddha) bodies to up-lift the aspiring humanity. Because he is of Divine Gracious person he can come to sight of others only at his will and anywhere. It is he, who attracts us from our Innermost to acknowledge him and all his attainment. To aid us, he has endowed this Temple of Wisdom and the highest literature of Divine Grace called the THIRU ARUTPA. With all these inner and outer guidance this book of Wisdom Temple is published to enlighten the whole humanity. Let this open the entrance of the Inner temple of Wisdom of every one and offer the Gracious life of Bliss.
(Written by Swami Saravananda, Dindigul, 1939)
Dharma Salai - Poor feeding home
http://www.vallalar.org
Construction of a house to feed the poor. The main theme of the mission of the saint is to dedicate himself for a selfless service to the human brings at large. It is this higher aspect of every religion to which the saint gives prominence. He holds compassion as the basis of higher spiritual experiences. According to him, he who loves best serves best. The saint emphatically declares that love for god will develop in the human minds only and not in other creatures. When man develops compassion towards his fellow beings, he is said to prepare the ground for Divine Grace.
Without Divine Grace, abiding love for god is not possible. The saint has used the term ‘Jeevakarunyam’ to denote profound compassion. It is said giving importance to this subject, he has dealt with the subject in seven parts but at present only thre of them are available. Compassion is the fundamental trait of the character of the saint. This factor is apparent from his poetic appeals to the Almighty.
There are two aspects for the compassionate service.
They are:
1. Doing good to fellow beings, when they suffer from hunger, thirst, disease, ignorance, poverty and fear;
2. Refraining from killing and taking flesh.
As regards the first, he puts more stress on relieving hungry from hunger. If one pursues the virtue of relieving one from hunger, it is the supreme help. The other kinds of help can be easily rendered by anybody else, as they are supplementaries and sustain the life for some more time.
The saint insists that one should give help to all souls with his earned money and through his own physical labour.
When this is not possible, he should at least pray for them. He insists on family men of low income to be prudent enough in spending money for feeding their own family as well as others who may happen to approach them for food. He thus advocates prudence and thrift. He not only dissuades the rich from spending money unscrupulously on a grand style during their family ceremonies like marriages and other rituals. He persuades them to feed the needy instead.
His suggestion is that anybody can do this according to his capacity. He deplores that rich people when they are jubilant and move pompously in high spirits at grand dinners and ostentatious music, and dance performances, normally do not relish the sight of a poor, hungry, meek human creature waiting anxiously nearby for a mouthful of food.
It is a practical experience gained by the saint himself as revealed in one of his poems. He equally deplores and condemns the act of the pious people in ignoring the poor and destitutes. The so called great men can do so many wonders like transforming a male into a female, but all such acts done by them without compassion are mere tricks to hoodwink the public and they cannot be termed as ‘Gnani’ He himself sets an example for the selfless service. indeed it was his motto. In one of his poems, it is said that he realised God only through this compassionate service and the consequent experience of Grace-Light.
We shall now deal with the other aspects of the compassionate service preached and practised by the saint.
It is the act of Non-killing and not taking flesh. He condemns chiefly the sacrifice of life performed in the name of gods of various types and names. This sort of killing under the garb of religion is an age-old practice. Every village deity was said to be appeased by the sacrifice of poor cattle and poultry.]
This has spread all over the country. People used to eat what they killed in the name sacrifice under the misconception that it is a gift received from the God. In modern society this evil practice has grown by leaps and bounds. People have been advised to take flesh for health reasons as if they are associated with strength and valour. The saint took cudgel against this practice and that of killing. Even from his boyhood, he wished the people to wean away from the act of killing and flesh eating. For this he formulated the unique pathwhich he called as “Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sangam” meaning the path of virtue to establish non-killing and as an unique one to be accepted by all religions.
It will suffice to say here that he was against even hunting of wild beasts. As regards flesh eating, he is very harsh against flesh eaters. According to his theory, flesh eating involves killing the innocent. He describes fleshy food as an inducement for the developments of lower tendencies. In giving reason for his description, he says that the mind of the flesh eaters cannot at all sense the inner self, and consequently the realisation of God’s Eternity will be quite impossible. With copious reasons, the saint has advocated his complete faith in vegetarianism, as the right path to realise the Reality.
Nowadays, more westerners, who were addicted to taking non-vegetarian food, are slowly turning towards vegetarianism.
perhaps the prophecy of the saint has come true in as much as programmes are being arranged annually by several organisations in the line of teachings of the saint to achieve the goal.
Numerous scientists have now come to the conclusion that vegetarian food is more conducive to health, and it nourishes the body with much strength.
It is hoped in the interest of all, the present world will reap the best of the consequences.
Now let us turn to the promotion of universal love and brotherhood.
There is now universal awareness that the entire world should be knit in to a single Brotherhood of nations and live as one family unit.
A strong notion is prevailing in the society that sufferings are inflicted on them according to their past actions and relieving them from their suffering is against the will of god.
In this connection, the contention of the saint is that all people, whether good or bad, kind or cruel, male or female irrespective of any creed or caste, or any nation have the right to live and they should be allowed to live.
Everybody is equal before God-the creater, and hence such discrimination is not at all required.
The saint posing a similar question, answers that people have not realised that all are brothers and that when one individual inflicts suffering upon another by any means, he is really hurting his brothers.
They can be aware of this only if they are made to perceive it even beyond the physical level and to feel their kindness towards other individuals. This perception is called ‘Soul perception’.
But in many cases, it is veiled by ignorance.
All souls are akin to one another as brothers, because their manifestation as living being is effected by the Godhead.
The saint terms as the equal right of souls to love ‘Anmaneya Urimai’
Though the saint belonged to the period, which witnessed political stir all over India, he did not think of associating himself with it.
Instead, in one of his poems he comes with a direct attack on the existing Government about the performance of showing no sympathy towards poor people, and he wishes to have a Government of sympathetic, good natured people.
It is evident from his earlier prose work, ‘Manumurai Kanda vasagam’ that from his boyhood, the saint was endowed with high sense of compassion.
It was his inner urge to propagate it among the people.
This book was writtern in the prose form on the request of one of his teachers for the use of children as it was thought fit to install the sense of compassion in the tender minds of small children.
Here it is clearly seen that the saint has written it for propagating the humanitarian outlook indirectly.
In this context, we can see now how some people come forward to spend some money stating that it is meant for the uplift of the poor.
Though it may be considered as their voluntary contribution to give some help to the poor, it cannot be termed as a contribution made with their whole-heartedness, as envisaged by the saint. But he viewed that it was done by them only to gain some reputation from the public, such an act cannot be taken as one falling under compassion explained by the saint.
The deep compassion rooted through inner devotion only will gain significance.
After due consideration of all the above facts, the saint wanted to establish a free house in order that everyone should live on the earth without hunger.
Knowing the cherished desire of the saint, his disciples came forward to act accordingly.
A site was chosen by him at vadalur and when the villagers came to know of this, they donated about 80 kanis of land for this purpose, free of cost.
The construction of the building as planned by the saint was also started in right earnest and completed soon.
One fine morning at 6 a.m., the day being Thursday, the 11th of vaikasi in the Tamil Year prabava, the inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of the saint. This corresponds to the year 1867 in English.
The saint himself took pains of lighting the oven and render it as a festive occasion.
Thousands of people were fed continuously without a lull for three days.
According to the instructions of the saint, the oven that was lit up then was kept burning without any interruption.
So far none had felt the shortage of food grains in this institution as the public were donating spontaneously.
On poosam day in the month of Thai of the Tamil year, thousands of people gather there and used to feed the poor and the rich according to their capacity to fulfil the dream of the saint enunciated then.
It will not be out of place to mention here, the significance of the day of which the institution was inaugurated.
The time, day, date and the year denote that Grace (Arul) has dawned on the earth to mitigate and also to wipe out the sufferings of the public and to live with Eternal Bliss.
Construction of a house to feed the poor. The main theme of the mission of the saint is to dedicate himself for a selfless service to the human brings at large. It is this higher aspect of every religion to which the saint gives prominence. He holds compassion as the basis of higher spiritual experiences. According to him, he who loves best serves best. The saint emphatically declares that love for god will develop in the human minds only and not in other creatures. When man develops compassion towards his fellow beings, he is said to prepare the ground for Divine Grace.
Without Divine Grace, abiding love for god is not possible. The saint has used the term ‘Jeevakarunyam’ to denote profound compassion. It is said giving importance to this subject, he has dealt with the subject in seven parts but at present only thre of them are available. Compassion is the fundamental trait of the character of the saint. This factor is apparent from his poetic appeals to the Almighty.
There are two aspects for the compassionate service.
They are:
1. Doing good to fellow beings, when they suffer from hunger, thirst, disease, ignorance, poverty and fear;
2. Refraining from killing and taking flesh.
As regards the first, he puts more stress on relieving hungry from hunger. If one pursues the virtue of relieving one from hunger, it is the supreme help. The other kinds of help can be easily rendered by anybody else, as they are supplementaries and sustain the life for some more time.
The saint insists that one should give help to all souls with his earned money and through his own physical labour.
When this is not possible, he should at least pray for them. He insists on family men of low income to be prudent enough in spending money for feeding their own family as well as others who may happen to approach them for food. He thus advocates prudence and thrift. He not only dissuades the rich from spending money unscrupulously on a grand style during their family ceremonies like marriages and other rituals. He persuades them to feed the needy instead.
His suggestion is that anybody can do this according to his capacity. He deplores that rich people when they are jubilant and move pompously in high spirits at grand dinners and ostentatious music, and dance performances, normally do not relish the sight of a poor, hungry, meek human creature waiting anxiously nearby for a mouthful of food.
It is a practical experience gained by the saint himself as revealed in one of his poems. He equally deplores and condemns the act of the pious people in ignoring the poor and destitutes. The so called great men can do so many wonders like transforming a male into a female, but all such acts done by them without compassion are mere tricks to hoodwink the public and they cannot be termed as ‘Gnani’ He himself sets an example for the selfless service. indeed it was his motto. In one of his poems, it is said that he realised God only through this compassionate service and the consequent experience of Grace-Light.
We shall now deal with the other aspects of the compassionate service preached and practised by the saint.
It is the act of Non-killing and not taking flesh. He condemns chiefly the sacrifice of life performed in the name of gods of various types and names. This sort of killing under the garb of religion is an age-old practice. Every village deity was said to be appeased by the sacrifice of poor cattle and poultry.]
This has spread all over the country. People used to eat what they killed in the name sacrifice under the misconception that it is a gift received from the God. In modern society this evil practice has grown by leaps and bounds. People have been advised to take flesh for health reasons as if they are associated with strength and valour. The saint took cudgel against this practice and that of killing. Even from his boyhood, he wished the people to wean away from the act of killing and flesh eating. For this he formulated the unique pathwhich he called as “Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sangam” meaning the path of virtue to establish non-killing and as an unique one to be accepted by all religions.
It will suffice to say here that he was against even hunting of wild beasts. As regards flesh eating, he is very harsh against flesh eaters. According to his theory, flesh eating involves killing the innocent. He describes fleshy food as an inducement for the developments of lower tendencies. In giving reason for his description, he says that the mind of the flesh eaters cannot at all sense the inner self, and consequently the realisation of God’s Eternity will be quite impossible. With copious reasons, the saint has advocated his complete faith in vegetarianism, as the right path to realise the Reality.
Nowadays, more westerners, who were addicted to taking non-vegetarian food, are slowly turning towards vegetarianism.
perhaps the prophecy of the saint has come true in as much as programmes are being arranged annually by several organisations in the line of teachings of the saint to achieve the goal.
Numerous scientists have now come to the conclusion that vegetarian food is more conducive to health, and it nourishes the body with much strength.
It is hoped in the interest of all, the present world will reap the best of the consequences.
Now let us turn to the promotion of universal love and brotherhood.
There is now universal awareness that the entire world should be knit in to a single Brotherhood of nations and live as one family unit.
A strong notion is prevailing in the society that sufferings are inflicted on them according to their past actions and relieving them from their suffering is against the will of god.
In this connection, the contention of the saint is that all people, whether good or bad, kind or cruel, male or female irrespective of any creed or caste, or any nation have the right to live and they should be allowed to live.
Everybody is equal before God-the creater, and hence such discrimination is not at all required.
The saint posing a similar question, answers that people have not realised that all are brothers and that when one individual inflicts suffering upon another by any means, he is really hurting his brothers.
They can be aware of this only if they are made to perceive it even beyond the physical level and to feel their kindness towards other individuals. This perception is called ‘Soul perception’.
But in many cases, it is veiled by ignorance.
All souls are akin to one another as brothers, because their manifestation as living being is effected by the Godhead.
The saint terms as the equal right of souls to love ‘Anmaneya Urimai’
Though the saint belonged to the period, which witnessed political stir all over India, he did not think of associating himself with it.
Instead, in one of his poems he comes with a direct attack on the existing Government about the performance of showing no sympathy towards poor people, and he wishes to have a Government of sympathetic, good natured people.
It is evident from his earlier prose work, ‘Manumurai Kanda vasagam’ that from his boyhood, the saint was endowed with high sense of compassion.
It was his inner urge to propagate it among the people.
This book was writtern in the prose form on the request of one of his teachers for the use of children as it was thought fit to install the sense of compassion in the tender minds of small children.
Here it is clearly seen that the saint has written it for propagating the humanitarian outlook indirectly.
In this context, we can see now how some people come forward to spend some money stating that it is meant for the uplift of the poor.
Though it may be considered as their voluntary contribution to give some help to the poor, it cannot be termed as a contribution made with their whole-heartedness, as envisaged by the saint. But he viewed that it was done by them only to gain some reputation from the public, such an act cannot be taken as one falling under compassion explained by the saint.
The deep compassion rooted through inner devotion only will gain significance.
After due consideration of all the above facts, the saint wanted to establish a free house in order that everyone should live on the earth without hunger.
Knowing the cherished desire of the saint, his disciples came forward to act accordingly.
A site was chosen by him at vadalur and when the villagers came to know of this, they donated about 80 kanis of land for this purpose, free of cost.
The construction of the building as planned by the saint was also started in right earnest and completed soon.
One fine morning at 6 a.m., the day being Thursday, the 11th of vaikasi in the Tamil Year prabava, the inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of the saint. This corresponds to the year 1867 in English.
The saint himself took pains of lighting the oven and render it as a festive occasion.
Thousands of people were fed continuously without a lull for three days.
According to the instructions of the saint, the oven that was lit up then was kept burning without any interruption.
So far none had felt the shortage of food grains in this institution as the public were donating spontaneously.
On poosam day in the month of Thai of the Tamil year, thousands of people gather there and used to feed the poor and the rich according to their capacity to fulfil the dream of the saint enunciated then.
It will not be out of place to mention here, the significance of the day of which the institution was inaugurated.
The time, day, date and the year denote that Grace (Arul) has dawned on the earth to mitigate and also to wipe out the sufferings of the public and to live with Eternal Bliss.
Miracles by Vallalar
http://www.vallalar.org
When the self is in communion with a higher power, nature automatically obeys the will of man. The command over nature is called a miracle as comprehended by the materialist. But the miracles done by the materialists are those experienced by them from the existing mortal body. In respect of the saints and yogis, due to meditation, they attain certain powers (siddhis), which the public feel delightful and thus they used to consider them as super human beings and pay respect. This fanaticism has penetrated deep in the world and is now heading towards utter chaos.
It is entirely a different one with the Adigalar. Strictly speaking he never wished to do it nor tempted to do so. He did not cherish any selfish wish therein. On the other hand, he did not use for anu selfish design the enormous powers he acquired and attained through the Lord’s Grace. This is clearly disclosed by him in one of the poem, his intercession to the Lord to give him the power and strength to serve all in their sufferings. In another place, he has strictly warned against doing miracles and instructed others not to have any faith on miracle-doers. Though these earnest prayers were accepted by the Lord, yet his whole aim was directed towards the Inner Light, as it was the origin for all such achievements. His experience of the Lord in the form of effulgent Light enabled him to become “an embodiment of compassion”
He also says that he does not feign to have attained these powers out of an instinct for self-praise, but acquired them only out of true devotion to the Lord. In short, it can be said that he had no attraction for the worldly happenings. His ultimate wish was only to hallow the name of the Lord through service to all souls. Further his sincere wish was that the entire humanity should get rid of all sorts of violence and follow the path of love to live a Blessed life. Hence when he was empowered to perform anything he liked, he construed it to be the command of the Grace Light only. The following pages will depict some of his wonderworkings and unless they are studied in the light of the above observation the real truth underlying therein could not be elicited.
1. Simultaneous appearance in two places
Thew ‘Hall of True Wisdom’ built up at Vadalur was nearing completion. To hoist the flag, a long pole was needed. For this purpose, Adigalar instructed the contractor to go to Chennai and purchase one to suit the purpose. With due obedience the latter went to Chennai but returned stating that the traders demanded exorbitant price and thus he could not act of his own accord to finalise the issue.
On hearing the same, the saint asked him to go there again and that he would follow. Accordingly the contractor reached the timber depot and to his surprise he saw the saint walking over the pole required. The trader also gave his consent to get a very moderate price for it. As soon as the purchase was over, the saint bid the contractor to send it to Vadalur and left the place.
The very next day, the contractor arrived at Mettukuppam the place where the saint was dwelling in his last days and found the saint giving his discourses to his disciples. The former published the news of purchase of the post at Chennai in the presence of the saint. All were surprised to see that the saint was all along giving his sermon to the gathering the whole of the previous day at Mettukuppam itself. This made them to conclude that the saint was really a super man who had been vested with super natural powers.
2. About Alchemy(Rasa Vadham)
The supernal power the saint attained brought him fame not only India, but also abroad. One day a foreigner approached Adigalar and wanted to know Alchemy. Our Adigalar gave a fine discourse on the subject and the foreigner had a patient hearing. Even though he was satisfied with the saint’s approach on the subject theoretically , he wanted to see it done practically.
In the first instance, the saint hesitated to comply with his request , but felt that it is thewill of the Almighty to demonstrate it in public, and asked foreigner who was wearing a copper ring on one of his fingers to remove it and throw it upwards. This was done and when it turned towards the floor, the saint touched the piece with his finger. Alas to the surprise of the foreigner, he found the ring was transformed into pure gold. He was dumb-stricken and extolled as to how a mere touch would transform a base metal into gold, then what will be the extra ordinary feat of the saint.
The saint told him at large, that such things are common to those who have renounced their worldly poleasures and endure a complete surrender to the Feet of the Lord and thus come up to a higher level.
3. Body dismembered
One day about noon, the saint went out of the Dharmasala and did not turn up for a long time. One of his disciples grew impatient of theabsence of the saint and went out in search of him. It was a gruesome sight. He found the saint’s body dismembered and lying scattered near a bush in a remote locality. The disciple grew panicky turned his way to his original place and lamented before others explaining the scene. Everybody was at a loss without knowing what to do.
In the meanwhile, the saint appeared before them and strictly warned them not to distrub him anymore in the future. After such warning, he also told them that it is the will of the Almighty to do so. He is above all and could demonstrate anything and anywhere and the same should not be treated as a miracle.
4. Proficiency in several language:
This part deals with a phenomenon to show that the saint had a mastery over several language of the world against the general belief that he was proficient in Tamil only.
One Pinagapani Mudaliar was working as the superviser in the Telegraph office at pondicherry. He had mastered 7 languages. He used to make sarcastic observations about the saint, viz..,, his disciples are lazy people used to take food and spend the time leisurely. His egotic mind drove him into madness and thus he ventured to meet the saint and prove his ability.
As usual, the saint was delivering his lectures and in the midst, he told the assembly that one will appear there soon to deliver his own teachings to enlighten them more. In the first instance, they could not understand the meaning of the announcement. mudaliar came to the stadium soon and was sitting in a corner listening to his discourses.
In the midst of the assemble there was a boy aged four. The saint called him and questioned as to the number of languages in which he was proficient. He replied that he knew six languages. Then the saint called Mudaliar and asked him to question the boy in any language he desired. Though the boy ventured to do so, the latter could not utter any word.
He became frightened and admitted his folly. Prostrating before the saint in the midst of all he pleaded for his arrogant remarks. This was a turning point for him and in the subsequent days, he became an ardent devotee of the saint.
5. Feeding a large number people with a handful of food
There was an instance when the inmates of Dharmasala were preparing to take rest after exhausting the food prepared for the day. All of a sudden about hundred persons entered the house stating the they were hungry and had to be fed. The hosts were bewildered as to what to do as it was midnight. And there was no hope of preparing and serving food in a short time to all, they approached the saint and narrated the occurence.
He cooly replied that he would look after their plight, and asked them to provide plantain leaves to feed them. He himself took the handful food left in the kitchen and began to serve. All were fed sumptuously and to the astonishment of the inmates, it was found that the quantity of the food left in the kitchen remained the same as it was before feeding the huge gathering.
This solitary instance will prove that those who have taken refuge in the holy feet of the Lord, will not be let down at any cost and their needs will be provided instantly.
6. Water poured in a lamp kept it burning for the whole night
In the village, Karunguzhi where the saint had his residence in the house of one Venkata Reddiar, one of his devotees, the saint used to go for writting poems, throughout day and night.
One day the inmates of Reddiar’s family had gone out to a nearby village to attend a function and did not return in the night also. There was no oil in the lamp burning in his room. A vessel had been left by his side, and the saint who was much absorbed in writing the poems, without verifying the contents of the vessel, simply poured it in the lamp and it burnt the whole night.
The next day all the family members returned home and found the vessel containing the water empty. Instead, the lamp was found filled with water and it was burning. Quite astonished to see the miraculous deed, they used to worship the saint as God with due reverences for his godliness.
In one of the poems written by him subsequently, the saint refers to the incident as not a miraculous deed, but treats it as an occurrence for exhibiting the real truth. We shall try to learn about the same in the paragraph coming hereunder. Generally a lamp is kept burning with the aid of oil. When it is exhaysted, the lamp flickers and ceases to burn. So also for the existence of the human body, food is the main criteria. Without food the body cannot stand. But in the above case, the lamp is kept burning with the aid of mere water. If that be the case, one can infer that the human body also can survive with the water alone. The saint peersonifies the lamp as the body of the human being and the water as compassion. Thus he proved that he was an embodiment of compassion and did not discard it at any time. His love for humanity at large and the other living creatures was so intense that he always used to extend his help to the needy. In course of time, this compassion filled the entire body was transformed into a pure one (suddha dega) and finally immortalised and began to live there for ever with eternal bliss.
Subsequent pages will throw more light about this subject and so we shall proceed further.
The house where the saint lived in Karunguzhi was a tiled one and Thiru Uran Adigal of Vadalur took possession of the same Subsequently and has since constructed a building with modern structures to have a new look, thereby attracting a large number of people to visit this place at the time of festival.
7. Remaining at one end and viewing things at the other end
with distinct vision.
An incident relating to his life history in connection with the construction of the Hall of True Wisdom (Sathya Gnana Sabha) at vadalur reveals the possession of such power by the saint.
It is said that after giving instructions for the construction of the building at Vadalur, he was retiring at Siddhivalagam, a room in the village Mettukuppam, just 3kms away from vadalur. The construction was nearing completion, but he did not burn up. When his followers went to Siddhivalagam to convey the news of completion to the saint, he pointed out certain omissions in the contruction of the building and urged them to carry out the same. Finding the observations of the saint to be true, they were duly carried out.
From this it has to be construed that though the saint was at Siddhivalagam, Yet he was capable of seeing things happening at vadalur. Such attainments are very rare but the saint possessed all such powers.
8. Appearance in a judicial court
The bickerings in the minds of men drive them to courts even though the issue involved therein will be of a trivial nature. The saint was also not spared in such circumstances. His fame remained unchallenged. One of the contemporaries field a suit against the saint just to bring disreputation to his name. Such an incident occurred during the life time of the saint and it is narrated below.
One Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna is remarkable among those who contributed much to Tamil prose literature. He did memorable work in spreading saivism and saivite literature among the public. He became so much jealous towards the saint the questioned the literature in ‘Arutpa’ (gift of the Divine Bliss)-the renderings of the latter complied and published by his disciples. Accordiung to Arumuga Navalar, it should be termed as ‘marutpa’ meaning that the renderings were made out only by a materialise, and not as ‘Arutpa’ the name with which it was published. The said Navalar thus filed a suit against the saint in the court of the District munsif at Manjakuppam praying for a decree for the withdrawal of the name ‘Arutpa’ by the defendant.
The case was taken on file by the court and it ordered the issue of notice to the defendant. On the date of hearing, Navalar was present in the court before time. Soon the Munsif resumed his chair and called on the defendant by name. No sooner his name was called on, the saint entered the hall. The plaintiff stood in reverence and greeted him with folded hands. His followers who had assembled there also followed suit. The munsif himself got up from the chair and paid reverence to the saint but it is said that it happened so without his own knowledge. A divine atmosphere then prevailed in the court hall, Afer hearing the heated arguments from both sides, the court delivered the judgement.
In the course of judgement, the court held that ‘Arutpa’ is a valuable treasure to the world in Tamil literature and its outcome is entirely based on Divine inspiration. The Plaintiff, who was questioned about the respect he paid to the saint, said that the defendant is a wise and noble soul possessing extraordinary powers as a gift from the Almighty. This is the reason that made him to give reverence to the saint. The court also held that in as much as that on his own admission that the saint is a wise cultured soul, it cannot be argued that his renderings were of a worldly nature. In these circumstances fully respecting the wishes of the saint the court decreed the case in favour of the defendant.
It is to be seen that this district munsif who was elevated to the position of a judge to the chennar High court, is none else than justice Muthusami Iyer whose judgements are of a sane nature and as a memorial to him, a statue has been erected and seen in the High court Buildings, chennai.
Countless were the miracles performed by the saint and pages will not be enough in this small book to bring out all his miracles. It is enough to know that he is an embodiment of all powers. With this we shall proceed to the next.
When the self is in communion with a higher power, nature automatically obeys the will of man. The command over nature is called a miracle as comprehended by the materialist. But the miracles done by the materialists are those experienced by them from the existing mortal body. In respect of the saints and yogis, due to meditation, they attain certain powers (siddhis), which the public feel delightful and thus they used to consider them as super human beings and pay respect. This fanaticism has penetrated deep in the world and is now heading towards utter chaos.
It is entirely a different one with the Adigalar. Strictly speaking he never wished to do it nor tempted to do so. He did not cherish any selfish wish therein. On the other hand, he did not use for anu selfish design the enormous powers he acquired and attained through the Lord’s Grace. This is clearly disclosed by him in one of the poem, his intercession to the Lord to give him the power and strength to serve all in their sufferings. In another place, he has strictly warned against doing miracles and instructed others not to have any faith on miracle-doers. Though these earnest prayers were accepted by the Lord, yet his whole aim was directed towards the Inner Light, as it was the origin for all such achievements. His experience of the Lord in the form of effulgent Light enabled him to become “an embodiment of compassion”
He also says that he does not feign to have attained these powers out of an instinct for self-praise, but acquired them only out of true devotion to the Lord. In short, it can be said that he had no attraction for the worldly happenings. His ultimate wish was only to hallow the name of the Lord through service to all souls. Further his sincere wish was that the entire humanity should get rid of all sorts of violence and follow the path of love to live a Blessed life. Hence when he was empowered to perform anything he liked, he construed it to be the command of the Grace Light only. The following pages will depict some of his wonderworkings and unless they are studied in the light of the above observation the real truth underlying therein could not be elicited.
1. Simultaneous appearance in two places
Thew ‘Hall of True Wisdom’ built up at Vadalur was nearing completion. To hoist the flag, a long pole was needed. For this purpose, Adigalar instructed the contractor to go to Chennai and purchase one to suit the purpose. With due obedience the latter went to Chennai but returned stating that the traders demanded exorbitant price and thus he could not act of his own accord to finalise the issue.
On hearing the same, the saint asked him to go there again and that he would follow. Accordingly the contractor reached the timber depot and to his surprise he saw the saint walking over the pole required. The trader also gave his consent to get a very moderate price for it. As soon as the purchase was over, the saint bid the contractor to send it to Vadalur and left the place.
The very next day, the contractor arrived at Mettukuppam the place where the saint was dwelling in his last days and found the saint giving his discourses to his disciples. The former published the news of purchase of the post at Chennai in the presence of the saint. All were surprised to see that the saint was all along giving his sermon to the gathering the whole of the previous day at Mettukuppam itself. This made them to conclude that the saint was really a super man who had been vested with super natural powers.
2. About Alchemy(Rasa Vadham)
The supernal power the saint attained brought him fame not only India, but also abroad. One day a foreigner approached Adigalar and wanted to know Alchemy. Our Adigalar gave a fine discourse on the subject and the foreigner had a patient hearing. Even though he was satisfied with the saint’s approach on the subject theoretically , he wanted to see it done practically.
In the first instance, the saint hesitated to comply with his request , but felt that it is thewill of the Almighty to demonstrate it in public, and asked foreigner who was wearing a copper ring on one of his fingers to remove it and throw it upwards. This was done and when it turned towards the floor, the saint touched the piece with his finger. Alas to the surprise of the foreigner, he found the ring was transformed into pure gold. He was dumb-stricken and extolled as to how a mere touch would transform a base metal into gold, then what will be the extra ordinary feat of the saint.
The saint told him at large, that such things are common to those who have renounced their worldly poleasures and endure a complete surrender to the Feet of the Lord and thus come up to a higher level.
3. Body dismembered
One day about noon, the saint went out of the Dharmasala and did not turn up for a long time. One of his disciples grew impatient of theabsence of the saint and went out in search of him. It was a gruesome sight. He found the saint’s body dismembered and lying scattered near a bush in a remote locality. The disciple grew panicky turned his way to his original place and lamented before others explaining the scene. Everybody was at a loss without knowing what to do.
In the meanwhile, the saint appeared before them and strictly warned them not to distrub him anymore in the future. After such warning, he also told them that it is the will of the Almighty to do so. He is above all and could demonstrate anything and anywhere and the same should not be treated as a miracle.
4. Proficiency in several language:
This part deals with a phenomenon to show that the saint had a mastery over several language of the world against the general belief that he was proficient in Tamil only.
One Pinagapani Mudaliar was working as the superviser in the Telegraph office at pondicherry. He had mastered 7 languages. He used to make sarcastic observations about the saint, viz..,, his disciples are lazy people used to take food and spend the time leisurely. His egotic mind drove him into madness and thus he ventured to meet the saint and prove his ability.
As usual, the saint was delivering his lectures and in the midst, he told the assembly that one will appear there soon to deliver his own teachings to enlighten them more. In the first instance, they could not understand the meaning of the announcement. mudaliar came to the stadium soon and was sitting in a corner listening to his discourses.
In the midst of the assemble there was a boy aged four. The saint called him and questioned as to the number of languages in which he was proficient. He replied that he knew six languages. Then the saint called Mudaliar and asked him to question the boy in any language he desired. Though the boy ventured to do so, the latter could not utter any word.
He became frightened and admitted his folly. Prostrating before the saint in the midst of all he pleaded for his arrogant remarks. This was a turning point for him and in the subsequent days, he became an ardent devotee of the saint.
5. Feeding a large number people with a handful of food
There was an instance when the inmates of Dharmasala were preparing to take rest after exhausting the food prepared for the day. All of a sudden about hundred persons entered the house stating the they were hungry and had to be fed. The hosts were bewildered as to what to do as it was midnight. And there was no hope of preparing and serving food in a short time to all, they approached the saint and narrated the occurence.
He cooly replied that he would look after their plight, and asked them to provide plantain leaves to feed them. He himself took the handful food left in the kitchen and began to serve. All were fed sumptuously and to the astonishment of the inmates, it was found that the quantity of the food left in the kitchen remained the same as it was before feeding the huge gathering.
This solitary instance will prove that those who have taken refuge in the holy feet of the Lord, will not be let down at any cost and their needs will be provided instantly.
6. Water poured in a lamp kept it burning for the whole night
In the village, Karunguzhi where the saint had his residence in the house of one Venkata Reddiar, one of his devotees, the saint used to go for writting poems, throughout day and night.
One day the inmates of Reddiar’s family had gone out to a nearby village to attend a function and did not return in the night also. There was no oil in the lamp burning in his room. A vessel had been left by his side, and the saint who was much absorbed in writing the poems, without verifying the contents of the vessel, simply poured it in the lamp and it burnt the whole night.
The next day all the family members returned home and found the vessel containing the water empty. Instead, the lamp was found filled with water and it was burning. Quite astonished to see the miraculous deed, they used to worship the saint as God with due reverences for his godliness.
In one of the poems written by him subsequently, the saint refers to the incident as not a miraculous deed, but treats it as an occurrence for exhibiting the real truth. We shall try to learn about the same in the paragraph coming hereunder. Generally a lamp is kept burning with the aid of oil. When it is exhaysted, the lamp flickers and ceases to burn. So also for the existence of the human body, food is the main criteria. Without food the body cannot stand. But in the above case, the lamp is kept burning with the aid of mere water. If that be the case, one can infer that the human body also can survive with the water alone. The saint peersonifies the lamp as the body of the human being and the water as compassion. Thus he proved that he was an embodiment of compassion and did not discard it at any time. His love for humanity at large and the other living creatures was so intense that he always used to extend his help to the needy. In course of time, this compassion filled the entire body was transformed into a pure one (suddha dega) and finally immortalised and began to live there for ever with eternal bliss.
Subsequent pages will throw more light about this subject and so we shall proceed further.
The house where the saint lived in Karunguzhi was a tiled one and Thiru Uran Adigal of Vadalur took possession of the same Subsequently and has since constructed a building with modern structures to have a new look, thereby attracting a large number of people to visit this place at the time of festival.
7. Remaining at one end and viewing things at the other end
with distinct vision.
An incident relating to his life history in connection with the construction of the Hall of True Wisdom (Sathya Gnana Sabha) at vadalur reveals the possession of such power by the saint.
It is said that after giving instructions for the construction of the building at Vadalur, he was retiring at Siddhivalagam, a room in the village Mettukuppam, just 3kms away from vadalur. The construction was nearing completion, but he did not burn up. When his followers went to Siddhivalagam to convey the news of completion to the saint, he pointed out certain omissions in the contruction of the building and urged them to carry out the same. Finding the observations of the saint to be true, they were duly carried out.
From this it has to be construed that though the saint was at Siddhivalagam, Yet he was capable of seeing things happening at vadalur. Such attainments are very rare but the saint possessed all such powers.
8. Appearance in a judicial court
The bickerings in the minds of men drive them to courts even though the issue involved therein will be of a trivial nature. The saint was also not spared in such circumstances. His fame remained unchallenged. One of the contemporaries field a suit against the saint just to bring disreputation to his name. Such an incident occurred during the life time of the saint and it is narrated below.
One Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna is remarkable among those who contributed much to Tamil prose literature. He did memorable work in spreading saivism and saivite literature among the public. He became so much jealous towards the saint the questioned the literature in ‘Arutpa’ (gift of the Divine Bliss)-the renderings of the latter complied and published by his disciples. Accordiung to Arumuga Navalar, it should be termed as ‘marutpa’ meaning that the renderings were made out only by a materialise, and not as ‘Arutpa’ the name with which it was published. The said Navalar thus filed a suit against the saint in the court of the District munsif at Manjakuppam praying for a decree for the withdrawal of the name ‘Arutpa’ by the defendant.
The case was taken on file by the court and it ordered the issue of notice to the defendant. On the date of hearing, Navalar was present in the court before time. Soon the Munsif resumed his chair and called on the defendant by name. No sooner his name was called on, the saint entered the hall. The plaintiff stood in reverence and greeted him with folded hands. His followers who had assembled there also followed suit. The munsif himself got up from the chair and paid reverence to the saint but it is said that it happened so without his own knowledge. A divine atmosphere then prevailed in the court hall, Afer hearing the heated arguments from both sides, the court delivered the judgement.
In the course of judgement, the court held that ‘Arutpa’ is a valuable treasure to the world in Tamil literature and its outcome is entirely based on Divine inspiration. The Plaintiff, who was questioned about the respect he paid to the saint, said that the defendant is a wise and noble soul possessing extraordinary powers as a gift from the Almighty. This is the reason that made him to give reverence to the saint. The court also held that in as much as that on his own admission that the saint is a wise cultured soul, it cannot be argued that his renderings were of a worldly nature. In these circumstances fully respecting the wishes of the saint the court decreed the case in favour of the defendant.
It is to be seen that this district munsif who was elevated to the position of a judge to the chennar High court, is none else than justice Muthusami Iyer whose judgements are of a sane nature and as a memorial to him, a statue has been erected and seen in the High court Buildings, chennai.
Countless were the miracles performed by the saint and pages will not be enough in this small book to bring out all his miracles. It is enough to know that he is an embodiment of all powers. With this we shall proceed to the next.
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Ramalinga Swamigal was born to Ramayyah Pillai and his sixth wife Chinnamaiar, who lived in Marudur in South Arcot district, a village 15 km north-west of Chidambaram. By a quirk of fate Ramayyah Pillai's first five wives had died childless and in quick succession. Chinnamaiar however, was blessed with five children, two sons, Sabapathi, Parasuraman and two daughters, Sundarammal and Unnamali. They named their youngest child as Ramalingam.
When Ramalinga Swamigal was an infant (five months old), his parents took him to the Chidambaram Temple. It is said that this infant laughed aloud when the priest offered the traditional Deepa aradhana to the Lord. This apparently routine visit to the temple thus offered him his first spiritual experience as well. later years he said of the experience as:
"No sooner the Light was perceived, happiness prevailed on me" "The sweet nectar was tasted by me as soon as the Arutperunjothi (Supreme Grace Of Light) became visible"[5]
In 1824, the very next month, his father Ramiah Pillai passed away. His sudden death forced a helpless Chinnamaiar to shift to the residence of her eldest son Sabhapati and his wife Parvathi at Chennai. When Ramalingam was five years old, Sabhapati, decided to formally educate his youngest sibling Ramalingam but the young child however showed a deep disinclination towards formal education but on the other hand preferring trips to the local Kandasamy temple. Sabhapati was convinced that the child was on a self- destructive path. As a punitive measure, he forbade his wife from giving Ramalingam his daily meal. His compassionate sister-in-law, however, surreptitiously fed him food and gently prevailed upon him to pursue his studies seriously at home. Ramalingam relented on the condition that he be given a separate room of his own. Now, in the solitary confines of this room, he set up a mirror and in front of it a small, lighted lamp. With these as aids he relentlessly meditated and this was the beginning of the spiritual journey of the young boy. The first reward came in the form of a vision of Lord Muruga. In the saint's own words:
"The beauty endowed divine faces six, the illustrious shoulders twelve"[6]
His elder brother Sabhapati was a learned scholar and upanyasaka (one who tells religious stories). It so happened that once Ramalingam had to substitute for his brother at an upanyasam session. His brilliant exposition and uninterrupted flow of words while enunciating a verse from the `Periyapuranam' by Shaivism an epic poem by Sekkizhar narrating the episodes connected with the 63 Nayanars amazed the onlookers. Later his brother also graciously acknowledged the mental and spiritual superiority of his brother. Ramalingam himself expresses his gratitude to the Divine when he says:
"Effulgent flame of grace that lit in me intelligence to know untaught"[7]
As he made quantum leaps in his spiritual journey he progressed from being a devout Lord Saiva to worshiping the formless. Totally averse to money, he was later on to shun food and even sleep. He renounced the world at the age of thirteen. Surprisingly he remained fit in form. A hurdle on his chosen path came in the form of a forced marriage to his sister's daughter. It is said that the bridegroom spent the nuptial night reading the Tiruvasakam.
His Teachings
He made an indelible mark in the religious history of India when he came out openly against its caste system and the negative impact it had on society. In an attempt to redress the situation he established the `Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Satya Sangam'[8] in 1865, which means `Society for pure truth in universal self-hood'. He had also by this time shifted to a place called Karunguzhi from Chennai. His next step in establishing a practical approach to religion was the setting up of a free eating house called The Sathya Dharma Salai[9] in a place called Vadalur in 1867, where all could eat without any distinctions whatsoever. Ramalinga Vallalar abhorred non-vegetarianism. In one of his poems he says:
It is significant that the land on which this eating house was built was donated by a few landowners. The registered document is available for inspection even today and the service of providing free food also continues to this day.
Ramalinga Swamigal opened a temple at Vadalur on January 25, 1872, called the "Sathya Gnana Sabha" (Hall of True Knowledge), - One of the primary teaching of valallar is "Service to mankind is path of moksha". He declared that death is not natural that our life's first priority should be fight death. He declared religion in itself is a darkness. He laid a very great emphasis on being vegetarian. We said God is "Arut Perum Jothi" who is personification of mercy and knowledge. He said the path of compassion and mercy are only path to God.
In 1865 he established a poor feeding center. On the inaugural day he lit the fire of the stone stove, with a declaration that the fire be ever alive and the needy shall be fed forever. Around 1870 he established the Sathaya Gyana Sabai, hall of True Wisdom Forum and ensuring it was entirely secular . This place is not a temple as no offerings of fruits or flowers could be made, and no blessings were given. It was open to people of all castes except those who ate meat, who were only allowed to worship from the outside. The oil lamp lit by him is kept perpetually burning. He said that our soul is blinded by 7 seven veils.[11] There are seven cotton fabric screens, representing the seven factors that prevent a soul from realizing its true nature.
The entire complex is bound by a chain with 21,600 links, said to represent 21,600 inhalations[12] by a normal human being.
He said intelligence we possess is Maya intelligence which is not true and final intelligence. Path of final intelligence is "Jeeva Karunyam".
He advocated a casteless society. Vallalar was opposed to superstitions and rituals. He forbade killing animals for the sake of food. He advocated feeding the poor as the highest form of worship. He condemned inequality based on birth.
Kandha kottam Kandaswami Temple[13] is located at Parrys Corner in Chennai. At the entrance of the temple, there is a hall called Parivedan mandapam. Sculptured image of Vezhmugathu Vinayakar in sitting and standing positions are kept on either side of the mandapam. To the front of the Artha mandapam, there is a dwajasthambam (Flag Staff). The Mukha mandapam is where the idols of Sarva Siddhi Vinayakar, Meenakshi Sundareswarar, Idumban, Sri Ramalinga Swamigal, and Pamban Swamigal are found.
As a musician and poet, he composed 5818 poems breathing universal love and peace, compiled into 6 TirumuraigaL, which are all available today as a single book called Tiruarutpa[14] (tiru-arut-pa, holy book of grace). Another work of his is the Manumurai Kanda Vaasagam[15] describing the life of Manu Needhi Cholan. Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam[16]
Ramalingar raised the flag of Brotherhood on his one room residence Siddhi Vilakam[17] in Mettukuppam on October 22. He gave his last and most famous lecture, entreating his audience to undertake a spiritual quest and look into the "nature of the powers that lie beyond us and move us," and asking them to meditate on the lighted lamp from his room, which he placed outside.
Swamigal on January 30, 1874, entered the room and locked himself and told his followers not to open it. He said that even if they did open it they would find nothing. His seclusion spurred many rumors, and the Government finally forced the doors open in May. The room was empty, with no clues. The Madras District Gazetteer published by the South Arcot District in 1906 records his disappearance.[18]