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Siddha Agastya Maharishi

Sid­dha refers to per­fect­ed mas­ters who have achieved a high degree of phys­i­cal as well as spir­i­tu­al per­fec­tion or enlight­en­ment. We look at var­i­ous Sid­dhas who have graced upon this earth with their Pres­ence — their life and the wis­dom they shared in the form of poems, cou­plets that are referred to as Sid­dhar Padal­gal. To begin with, we are look­ing at Sid­dhas from the tra­di­tion of “Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal”. In the pre­vi­ous issues, we saw about Kud­ham­bai Sid­dhar, Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar, Idaikkaat­tu Sid­dhar, Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar, Sun­daraanan­dar Sid­dhar, Karu­voorar Sid­dhar, Gorak­natha Sid­dhar, Mat­syen­dranatha Sid­dhar, Ramade­var Sid­dhar, Dhan­van­tari Sid­dhar, Patan­jali Sid­dhar, Sid­dha Thiru­moolar, Sid­dha Kon­ga­nar, Sid­dha Van­mikar, Kamala­mu­ni Sid­dhar and Sid­dha Boganathar. In the Guru Poorn­i­ma spe­cial edi­tion of series we were blessed to also write about the great Sid­dha Avvai.We also saw how the Sid­dhar­gal poet­ry is pre­sent­ed in Sand­hya Bhasha. In this arti­cle, we will see the glo­ry of Sid­dhar Agasthi­yar.

Agasthya Sid­dhar

Maha Rishi Agasthya Muni­var is hailed as the first of Sid­dhas. It is such a bless­ing that we delve into Sid­dha Agasthya Muni’s charithi­ram. Many ref­er­ences to Sid­dha Agasthya Muni can be found in the Puranas where it is extolled that Maharshi Agastya and Maharshi Vashish­ta are born from Mitra and Varuna, allured by Apsara Urvashi. The seeds hav­ing been put in a pot, Sage Agasthya Muni was born out a pot and was known as Kumb­hamu­ni.

Agasthya Muni is also revered as one of the Sap­ta-Rishis. Many sto­ries from the puranas cap­ture the astound­ing sid­dhis of Agasthya Muni. Once when the Asur­as hid them­selves in the oceans and the Devas request­ed Agasthya Muni’s help and the great Sid­dha drank the oceans com­plete­ly. In anoth­er episode from the puranas, Lord Shi­va asks Agasthya Muni to head south and bal­ance the world as the north was filled with every­one com­ing to wit­ness the mar­riage of Shi­va Peru­man and Devi Par­vati. It so hap­pens that this phe­nom­e­nal mar­riage occurs dur­ing a Pan­gu­ni Uttram, the very astro­nom­i­cal event that marks the release day of this edi­tion too!

Agasthya Muni also appears in the Ithi­hasas Ramayana and Mahab­haratha. In Ramayana, Lord Rama describes Agasthya Muni as the great who made the Vin­d­hya Moun­tains bow down. In the Mahab­haratha, Agasthya Muni’s phe­nom­e­nal prowess are described in the Vana Par­va. You could lis­ten to the entire nar­ra­tion by Shri­man Adi­narayanan, Founder of Anaa­di Foun­da­tion at http://www.anaadifoundation.org/moodle/

Sid­dha Agasthya Muni was car­ry­ing a water-pot, Kaman­dala, in which he was car­ry­ing Maa Ganga’s waters for his every­day Shi­va Poo­ja. It was Lord Ganesha’s leela that He takes the form of a crow and knocks the Kaman­dala lead­ing to the birth of Maa Kaveri in the south. Trav­el­ling south, Agasthya Muni reached Pod­hi­gai Hills and estab­lished the glo­ri­ous Sid­dha tra­di­tion in the south and led the first Tamil Sangam. Skan­da Guru Kavacham hails “அகத்தியருக்குத் தந்து ஆட்கொண்டாய் தமிழகத்தை”. The great Tamil tra­di­tion owes it all to Sid­dha Agath­ya Muni, for it is his bless­ings that the devout Tamil life is such a fer­tile foun­tain of Shi­va Kudumbam’s Grace! Sid­dha Agasthya Muni has ini­ti­at­ed the glo­ri­ous Sid­dha tra­di­tion and blessed us with great med­ical sci­ences, mate­r­i­al sci­ences, mar­tial arts, yoga, lan­guage and many more gifts.

In this edi­tion, we shall see a few gems from the mys­ti­cal works blessed by Agasthya Sid­dhar. In this very first verse of Bhra­ma Jnanam, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni reveals the yog­ic vision of Shak­thi and Shi­va!

 

முக்கோண வீட்டிதழின் முனையைப்பற்றிப்
பாலமெனு மயிர்ப்பாலந் தன்னைத் தாண்டிப்
பார்க்கையிலே தீபவொளி ஞானச் சோதி
நீலமணி யானகுரு நாதரூபம்
நேர்சுழியிற் கண்டறிந்து கொள்ளு வாய்நீ
வாலையுரு வடிவான ஆத்தாள் தன்னை
மயேந்திரகிரிச் சார்புதனிற் கண்டேன் பாரே

Estab­lished in Mulad­hara
Hold­ing the tip of the tri­an­gu­lar house petals
Hav­ing crossed over the hair strand of a bridge
Expe­ri­enc­ing the efful­gent inner light
The form of Supreme Guru whose radi­ance is like a blue gem
Have the expe­ri­ence of ner-suzhi
Cos­mic Moth­er pre­sent­ing Her­self as Kun­dali­ni
In the vicin­i­ty of Mahen­dra moun­tain, I saw!

 

In the com­ing verse, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni estab­lish­es the glo­ry of the Sid­dha tra­di­tion and the nature and work of Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal.

 

இருப்பார்கள் அவர்மகிமை யென்னசொல்வேன்
ஏகபர வெளிதனிலே சூட்சா மாகிச்
சிரிப்பார்கள் பிரபஞ்ச மாயை நீக்கித்
தேஜோம யானந்த மூர்த்தி யாகி
விரிப்பார்கள் சாத்திரத்தில் நூல்கள்தோறும்
விபரமது கண்டுரைப்பார் மேல்மூ லத்தோர்
தரிப்பதுதான் காயசித்தி விண்ணிற் கூடித்
தானிருப்பார் பதினெட்டுச் சித்தர் தானே

How do I extol the great­ness of those who eter­nal­ly live?
Hav­ing become very sub­tle and roam­ing in the match­less para-veli
They will laugh away being dis­en­tan­gled from the delu­sive world-order
Hav­ing attained the form of tejo­mayanan­da
They would elab­o­rate their expe­ri­ences through scrip­tur­al writ­ings
Mel­mu­lat­tor will reveal all essen­tial details
What they have attained is kaya-sid­dhi
The eigh­teen sid­dhas stand celes­tial­ly exist­ing for­ev­er

 

In this gold­en verse from Samad­hi Sut­ti­ram, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni reveals about the prana­va-deha that the great­est of Sid­dhas attain to!

 

போமே நரைதிரை புகழ்பட நோயறும்
தாமே தேகந் தளிர்நிற மொத்திடும்
தேமே தேகந் திகழும் பதினாறாய்
ஓமே வாசியென் றுள்ளிட நிற்குமே

Grey hair, wrin­kled skin, all dis­eases shall van­ish in the glo­ri­ous state
The body com­plex­ion will be like a glow­ing ten­der leaf
The body will ever be in youth­ful six­teen
The prana as aum will become the inner body

 

In this select verse from Thiru­mandi­ra Vilakkam, Agasthya Muni reveals the inde­scrib­able potent of the pan­cak­shara-mantra and the vari­a­tions!

பார்த்திடவே தற்புருஷம் இருபத் தஞ்சு
பாடுகிறேன் நமசிவய அகோர மாகும்
சேர்த்திடவே ஜெபிக்கவுச்சா டனம தாகும்
சிவமான சவுமியத்தை செபிக்க கேளு
கார்த்திடவே நங்சிவய நமவென் றாலோ
காதலித்த புத்திரரைக் கொடுக்குங் காணும்
எர்திடவே அங்சிவய நமவென்றாக் கால்
இயல்பாகத் தேகநோய் தீருங் காணே

On rev­e­la­tion, tat­pu­rusha is asso­ci­at­ed with twen­ty five vari­a­tions of mantra
I reveal here the secrets of vari­a­tions of pan­cak­shara asso­ci­at­ed with agho­ra
On rep­e­ti­tion one could accom­plish the state of seper­a­tion
On repeat­ing pan­cak­shara one attains great and aus­pi­cious states
If one repeats nang-sivaya-nama
It would grant the birth of the the eager­ly await­ed
If ham-sivaya-namah is repeat­ed,
All bod­i­ly dis­eases are dis­pelled

 

The elixirs offered by Sid­dha Agasthi­yar are so many. We invite you to con­tem­plate more on these lines and share with us your insights. We also invite you to share with us lines from Sid­dhar Padal­gal that have deeply touched you. You could write to us at anaadifoundation@gmail.com.

Siddha Bhogar

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Bog­ar is a leg­endary South Indi­an Sid­dhar (a Mys­tic and a Yogi). He had mirac­u­lous pow­ers. Most of the under­stand­ing of the biog­ra­phy of Sid­dhar Bog­ar is based on two of his poems, Janana Sagaram-557 and Sap­takan­dam which is also called as Bog­ar-7000. Bhog­ar was a South Indi­an by birth, belong­ing to the lin­eage of vis­vakar­ma (gold­smiths), who became a sid­dha­pu­rusha under the guid­ance of Sid­dha Kalang­i­naathar. Kalang­i­naathar Sid­dhar is the dis­ci­ple of Sid­dha Tiru­mu­lar. Many a times in his works, Bog­ar calls Tiru­mu­lar his great grant guru, in tamil Pat­tar. Describ­ing his life to Pulip­pani (Bogar’s Dis­ci­ple), Bog­ar says he received ini­ti­a­tion (dik­sha = empow­er­ment) from his Guru Sid­dha Kalang­i­nathar, who taught him all Sas­tras, Iti­hasas (great epics), Yoga and the path to attain Samad­hi. He learnt Brah­ma-Vidya from the great Tamil sage and Sid­dha Agastya Peru­man. Lat­er, he wrote Boga Sas­tra of 7000 which includes the tech­niques of yantra, mantra and tantra. After learn­ing the tech­niques of Yoga, mantra and tantra he trav­elled all over the world and also went to Chi­na. The call to vis­it Chi­na came from his Guru Kalan­gi who was in search of a suc­ces­sor to car­ry on his mis­sion there. He vis­it­ed Chi­na sev­er­al times and trained Chi­nese in Sid­dha sci­ences, med­i­cine, Yoga and ancient arts.

In Bog­a­r’s Sap­takan­da he reveals details of var­i­ous med­i­c­i­nal prepa­ra­tions to his dis­ci­ple Pul­lip­pani (so named as he is believed to have wan­dered in the forests atop a puli or tiger) and at every stage he quotes his guru as the author­i­ty. Also Pulip­pani must have been a young man then, as he is often referred to as a bal­a­ka.

Bog­ar antic­i­pat­ing that in due course of peri­od, dur­ing the kali yuga human beings will suf­fer from large num­ber of dis­ease. As an expert in med­i­cine he used 4448 rare herbs and made 9 poi­so­nous med­i­cine (Nava Bashanam), mix­ing these 9 poi­sons into one needs great knowl­edge and skill, to make a Mas­ter Med­i­cine ( One med­i­cine to cure all dis­ease ). Sid­dhar Thiru­moolar also dis­cuss one such Mas­ter Med­i­cine in his book Thiru Mandi­ram. With the con­sul­ta­tion of Agasthiar ( Father of Ayurvedic Med­i­cine) and oth­er sid­dhars, Bog­ar con­coct­ed the 9 poi­sons (Nava Pashanam) and made the Mas­ter Med­i­cine in the form of Lord Muru­gan who is cel­e­brat­ed and wor­shiped at Palani Muru­gan tem­ple.

Leg­end has it that, at Ivar Malai, Sid­dha Boganathar pre­pared the con­coc­tion of nava­pashana, to make the moor­thi of Pazha­nian­davar, the revered Lord at Palani. It is our good for­tune that at the foothills of Ivar Malai, at the Chi­dakasha Hall of Anaa­di Foun­da­tion, we are writ­ing this arti­cle. Sid­dha Boganathar is also said to have been asso­ci­at­ed with Maha­vatar Baba­ji. He is called as the Jnana Guru of Baba­ji.

In this edi­tion, we shall see a few gems from the mys­ti­cal work Samad­hi Dhik­shai blessed by Boganatha Sid­dhar. In the very first verse of Samad­hi Dhik­shai, Bog­ar Peru­man directs the seek­er to kin­dle the ener­gies from mulad­hara-chakra through pranaya­ma and direct it to the chakra of the syl­la­ble ya — ajna-chakra.

பொருந்திடும் வட்டம் பூவிதழ் யகாரம்
திரிந்திடும் வாசி செலுத்திய அவ்விடஞ்
சொரிந்திடும் நூலுஞ் சொக்கிடும் வெளியிடும்
இருந்திடு மூல மிருத்திநீ யூதே

Release the med­i­ta­tive ener­gy from Mul­dad­hara
Direct the breath through the four cir­cles
To the cir­cle of the syl­la­ble ya
Where rhyth­mic breath­ing is inter­nal­ized

Boganatha Sid­dhar also bestows on the sad­hakas the nuances of the samad­hi — state of equa­nim­i­ty, by stat­ing when the kun­dali­ni-shak­thi blos­soms forth, amri­ta shall descend from sahas­rara to ajna-chakra, leav­ing on with expe­ri­ence of supreme equa­nim­i­ty — samad­hi.

தானென மண்டலந் தாக்கிநீ வூதிடக்
கோனென வழலைக் குமட்டிக் குருவாம்
மேனென மெய்ப்பொரு ளெடுத்திடு மப்பலம்
வானென நிமிளை விடியிருஞ் சமனே

To attain lib­er­a­tion direct the prana to the chakra
Where the supreme coiled snake is the guru
Whose sub­lime wis­dom will remove mis­ery
The great red ambrosia trick­ling down shall bring the mind to peace

Sid­dha Boganathar also explains how kun­dali­ni pass­ing through the six chakras will pave the way for samad­hi, that makes jnana as a prathyak­sha. Sid­dha Kak­ab­hushan­dar calls this the state of “wan­der­ing samad­hi”. Soak in!

சமனெனு முயிர்ச் சார்ந்த யிடையிடு
தமனெனுட் டீக்கறுப்புத் தாக்கிடு அவ்விடை
கமனெனு பாத்திரம் சடுவங்க மாகும்
அமனெனு சமாதி அடைப்பது தானே

The state of samad­hi of the soul is per­me­at­ed
In me as a friend inside, where wis­dom has dri­ven away igno­rance
And the six adha­ras, which form the space of the body
Become gate­way for the self-efful­gent samad­hi

Sid­dha Boganathar shows the way to real­ize one’s full poten­tial by break­ing away the lim­i­ta­tions of the body. For that Sid­dha Boganathar clear­ly pre­scribes Hatha Yoga.

அடைப்பது பெட்டி மூடிய மடவாய்
திடப்பது மூடித் திறந்திடு அக்குழி
கடைப்பது அறுசாண் கலத்தி டுபாதி
திடப்பது பற்பந்தி சயகீழ் மேலிடே

To pre­serve the body, open the lid
The lid is opened by Hatha Yoga
The human body is the gate­way
By revers­ing the many-bond­ed body, make it the truth and achieve vic­to­ry

Pampatti Siddhar

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In the erst­while Pandiya King­dom, there lived an easy-going yet fear­less young­ster whose pro­fes­sion was catch­ing snake for liveli­hood. One day, while look­ing for a rare kind of Navarat­na snake he hap­pened to encounter the great Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar (one among the revered Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal). This inci­dent became a turn­ing point in the life of this young snake-catch­er.

 

Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar asked, “What is it that you are seek­ing?” When the young snake-catch­er revealed that he was after a Navarat­na snake, the Sid­dha laughed out loud. “The most glo­ri­ous and splen­did snake resides with­in you! And you are fool­ish­ly search­ing for one out­side!”

 

As the snake-catch­er implored, the Sid­dha explained fur­ther, “The snake inside every human body is known as Kun­dali­ni. The one who catch­es hold of this and con­trols the snake is a true Pam­bat­ti (snake-charmer)! For this snake car­ries on its head the ulti­mate gem!” The snake-catch­er sur­ren­dered to His Guru Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar and received ini­ti­a­tion. The Guru imme­di­ate­ly left the place imme­di­ate­ly. This great Dis­ci­ple to the great Mas­ter mas­tered the con­trol of Kun­dali­ni and attained great Sid­dhis.

 

When the Guru returned, he saw the attain­ment of his shishya. He asked his shishya, ‘Son, though I ini­ti­at­ed you into this path of Spir­i­tu­al­i­ty I did not even ask your name. At least tell me now, what is your name?’ The shishya replied, ‘Swa­mi, I was just a snake-charmer who caught snakes for mon­ey. But you showed me the way of Kun­dali­ni and showed me the way to con­trol it and have the Dhar­shan of the Paramporul with­in me. How can I tell you what my name is? Then and now, my life is all about the snake. So call me Pam­bat­ti.’

 

To this, the Guru laughed and blessed him say­ing, ‘Let it be. From now on you will be called as Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar.’  And so he came to be known as Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar.

 

After his Enlight­en­ment, Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar attained many sid­dhis, espe­cial­ly becom­ing adept in Sid­dha Med­i­cine and Sid­dha Yoga. He prac­ticed as a Sid­dha Doc­tor in Maruthamalai. There is Guha (cave) present even now beside the Maru­damalai tem­ple where he lived. He also lived at var­i­ous places like Mahalinga­malai in Vathi­raayirup­pu, Kol­li­malai, Madu­rai, Puliyur and Bha­vani. Final­ly, He attained Jee­va Samathi at Sankarankoil in Tirunelveli Dis­trict of Tamil Nadu (India).

Literary Works of Pambatti Siddhar
Some of the Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar poems are addressed to a snake. Not to any snake out­side but to the snake that is coiled with­in us, the Kun­dali­ni. With a yog­ic awak­en­ing with­in, the Kun­dali­ni along with our own con­scious­ness rais­es from untruth to Truth. Stay­ing true to the great Siddha’s work we fol­low the Kundalini’s way in select­ing Pam­bat­ti Siddhar’s work. We have picked cou­plets to trace this way of Kun­dali­ni in the hope that it will help the writ­ers as well as the read­ers to lead from untruth to Truth — Aso­ta­ma Sad­hga­maya. We feel blessed to present you selec­tions from Pam­bat­ti Siddhar’s ஆடு பாம்பே! ஆடு! (Dance Snake! Dance!). 

 

“From with­out to with­in” — Tran­scend­ing lim­i­ta­tions in Moolad­hara and Swad­histhana

One of the major chal­lenges for any begin­ners in the path of Spir­i­tu­al­i­ty is their deep attach­ment to the exter­nal objects. Strongest among them is the iden­ti­ty with the body. Observe around you, how undue impor­tance is giv­en to the bod­i­ly plea­sures. Multi­na­tion­al indus­tries and orga­ni­za­tions thrive on glo­ri­fy­ing this thirst for world­ly indul­gence and bod­i­ly plea­sures. There is a proverb, beau­ty is only skin deep. Yet this glob­al­ly resound­ing per­sua­sion is fast entic­ing peo­ple around the world to invest their lives in pur­suit of a made up out­look and exter­nal val­i­da­tion. 

 

Sid­dhas nev­er say reject the body — that will not come from those who devel­oped the whole sys­tem of Yoga for the ben­e­fit of mankind. But they always warn us against giv­ing exag­ger­at­ed impor­tance to this fleet­ing object called the body, which was born and which will even­tu­al­ly die. Rather, they encour­age us to dig deep with­in us, to go beyond this shell called body to find the trea­sure that is deep with­in us. Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar has a whole set of cou­plets on this great truth from which we will share one here:

 நீரிலெழும் நீர்க்குமிழி நிலைகெ டல்போல

நில்லாதுடல் நீங்கிவிடும் நிச்சய மென்றே

பாரிற் பல உயிர்களைப் படைத்த வன்றனைப்

பற்றவேநீ பற்றித்தொடர்ந் தாடாய் பாம்பேLike momen­tary bub­bles that form and pop on the sur­face of water

Our mor­tal body too is sure to be gone (in the Flow of Life).

The One who is the Cre­ator of all beings,

Catch hold to catch hold (real­ize) of Him and Dance, O Snake!

 

“Mak­ing effort to know the Truth”- Churn­ing in Manipu­ra

In a short, crisp and pro­found exam­ple Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar explains the fleet­ing real­i­ty of the body to which we give so much atten­tion and asks us to look for the Cre­ator behind this cre­ation. But what will it be like to be a seek­er who real­izes this? Where will his efforts be here­after? Sid­dhar explains,

 கானலைமான் நீரெனவே கண்டு செல்லல்போல்

காசினிவாழ் வினைமூடர் கண்டு களிப்பார்

மேனிலைகண் டார்கள் வீணாய் வீம்பு பேசிடார்

மெய்யன்பதம் நாடுவாரென் றாடாய் பாம்பேLike an igno­rant deer seek­ing water in a mirage

Fool­ish men seek joy in untruth

Those who have real­ized high­er states observe Mouna (silence)

To search That Essence of all Truth, Know this and Dance, O Snake!

 

“Love for all”- Falling into all Expan­sive Ana­ha­ta

 

The main goal of Spir­i­tu­al­i­ty is know­ing the essence of the Divin­i­ty present with­in us, with­in every­one around us and every­thing of this world and beyond. And the result of it is over­flow­ing com­pas­sion towards every liv­ing things of this world. As Mata Amri­tanan­damayi says, ‘The first step in spir­i­tu­al life is to have com­pas­sion’ or Mas­ter Thich Nhat Hanh puts it, ‘Walk as if you are kiss­ing the Earth with your feet’.

 

At this stage the Sad­ha­ka, the seek­er trans­forms him­self into a Bhak­ta. What are the qual­i­ties of a Bhak­ta? Sid­dhar Pam­bat­ti says,

 எள்ளிலெண்ணெய் போலவுயி ரெங்கு நிறைந்த

ஈசன் பதவாசமலர் எண்ணி யெண்ணியே

உள்ளபடி அன்புபத்தி ஓங்கி நிற்கவே

ஒடுங்கிய டங்கித்தெளிந் தாடு பாம்பேLike oil in a sesame seed, He is all-per­vad­ing

Deeply con­tem­plate on that Isan and His Essence

With a heart filled with Love and Bhak­thi (devo­tion)

Hav­ing still­ness and hum­ble­ness, Dance, O Snake!

 

“Dis­crim­i­nat­ing Truth from Untruth”- The Pow­er of Vishud­dhi and Ajna

Sid­dhar Pam­bat­ti was also a seek­er once. He has walked the same path that we all are tread­ing now. He explains how a seek­er moves about in the world.

 சொல்லும்புளி யம்பழத்தி னோடு போலவே

சுற்றத்திருந் தாலுமவர் தொந்தங் களற்று

நில்லுமன மேநீபர நின்ம லத்திலே

நின்றுணைதான் வெறும்பாழென் றாடாய் பாம்பேLike the seed in the core of a ripe tamarind fruit

Amidst all out­er rela­tions, stay unat­tached to the pulp.

Oh mind, stay root­ed in the pure supreme!

In being so, Real­ize You are That Void and Dance, O Snake! 

 

In the ripe tamarind fruit, one could see how the seed is very smooth and per­fect­ly non-sticky to the flesh around it. In the case of a man­go seed or a date-fruit seed, one could observe how the seed has a lot of pulp attached to it. Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar advis­es one to be like the tamarind seed even amidst all world­ly rela­tions and rel­a­tives. He says in the core is the That Void, the true nature of the Self.

 

“Sur­ren­der and Ulti­mate Bliss”- Ecsta­t­ic Sahas­rara

This is the jour­ney of a sad­ha­ka. It begins with the real­iza­tion of the tran­sient nature of exter­nal things. Then the out­go­ing mind is turned inward. It con­tin­ues onwards in search­ing for the Truth with­in. Dur­ing this jour­ney, the seek­er cleans­es his inter­nal through Antahkarana Shud­dhi and devel­ops a prop­er inner atti­tude for real­iz­ing the Truth — Antar-Bha­va. 

 

It is a great hon­or and priv­i­lege to walk the path of Truth. But it is a path that can­not be walked alone. A per­son walk­ing this path needs the nur­tur­ing of a moth­er, sup­port of a father and the guid­ance of a teacher all merged in one — a Guru. Lucky is one who has the bless­ing and ini­ti­a­tion of one’s Guru on this dance of the Kun­dali­ni, the Snake. But what is the end result? After all, it is Truth and that which is. We ought to have known our true nature and it is our short­com­ing if we have not real­ized it. But the Guru is always com­pas­sion­ate. He not only helps us in unveil­ing the maya, he also gives us the Ecsta­t­ic Real­iza­tion and the vision to see it all. What remains is the Truth, our Love for the Guru and Ecsta­sy.  Who can explain this expe­ri­ence bet­ter than Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar who him­self walked his path with the Grace of His Guru, Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar.

 உள்ளங்கையிற் கனிபோல உள்ள பொருளை

உண்மையுடன் காட்டவல்ல உண்மைக் குருவைக்

கள்ளமனந் தன்னைத்தள்ளிக் கண்டு கொண்டன்பாய்க்

சுளித்துக் களித்துநின் றாடாய் பாம்பேLike plac­ing a fruit on an open palm, 

The Sat­gu­ru shall bestow the Real­iza­tion of Truth.

Remov­ing all agi­ta­tions of the mind, see That, Love Him

and Dance And Dance for­ev­er, O Snake!

 

The metaphor of “fruit on the palm” is found in var­i­ous Vedan­tic lit­er­a­ture also. The sto­ry of Hastham­lakacharya, one among the dis­ci­ples of Sri Sankaracharya, is very rel­e­vant and will help us under­stand more. Once a man called Prab­hakara had a son who for most of his life appeared to be dumb. When Sri Sankaracharya had come to the vil­lage where they reside in, the father brought his son to the great Mas­ter and shared his wor­ries about the boy. Sri Sankaracharya looked at the boy and asked him, “Who are you?” Much to the ela­tion of every­body around, the boy respond­ed in 12 poet­ic vers­es which were a gist of the Vedan­ta. 

 

Only then did every­body real­ize what an evolved intel­lect the child had. Sri Sankaracharya named the child Hastham­lakacharya and accept­ed him as his dis­ci­ple.  Hastha means palm and amala­ka means a goose­ber­ry fruit. He was named so sig­ni­fy that his knowl­edge of the Self was as clear and easy as a fruit on the palm. Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar uses here this metaphor to extol the Grace of Guru which can bestow atma-vidya vivid­ly.

 

In this edi­tion, we have pre­sent­ed a few gems from the works of Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar. There are as many as 600 poems writ­ten by Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar and we have bare­ly scared the sur­face of it. We invite you to con­tem­plate more on these lines and share with us your insights. We also invite you to share with us lines from Sid­dhar Padal­gal that have deeply touched you. You could write to us at anaadifoundation@gmail.com

 

In absorb­ing this, may our abhyasa con­tin­ue, may our shrad­dha in the Sid­dha Parampara strength­en and may rev­e­la­tions awak­en as we grow with­in!

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