121 CHAPTER – IV MYSTICISM IN VALLALAR The ArutperunJothi Ramalinga Adigalar, popularly known as Vallalar, the Great Munificient, may be regarded as the foremost of the saints and sages of the nineteenth century, considering the heights, widths, depths and intimacies of his integral realization of the Divine in all the inmost, inner, outer, and the outermost parts of his being. 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 Jyoti", the Vast Grace-Light of the Divine in which he identified as the Truth-Light of Knowledge, Satya Jnana Joti. He reiterated Deathlessness of body as an essential part of the realization 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 was considered to be the greatest philosopher. Thulasiram opines: The knowledge and attainment of deathlessness of body is associated with the knowledge and power of self-creating all substances including the divine elements. The Swami also said
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121
CHAPTER – IV
MYSTICISM IN VALLALAR
The ArutperunJothi Ramalinga Adigalar, popularly known as Vallalar, the
Great Munificient, may be regarded as the foremost of the saints and sages of
the nineteenth century, considering the heights, widths, depths and intimacies
of his integral realization of the Divine in all the inmost, inner, outer, and the
outermost parts of his being.
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 Jyoti", the Vast Grace-Light of the Divine in which he
identified as the Truth-Light of Knowledge, Satya Jnana Joti. He reiterated
Deathlessness of body as an essential part of the realization 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 was considered to
be the greatest philosopher. Thulasiram opines:
The knowledge and attainment of deathlessness of body is
associated with the knowledge and power of self-creating all
substances including the divine elements. The Swami also said
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further that the Divine enlightened him. This indicates that the
Swami had the grace of the Lord to see the material or phenomenal
creation in its true nature, when the veil of ignorance was removed
(11).
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
realization of the vast world of Truth-knowledge and the Beyond, and touches
on subjects like transformation and deathlessness of body. Thulasiram
comments:
The quick transformation which the swami had both in regard to his
inner being and the outer physical body was made possible by the
divine grace which crowned him with a crown of the direct light, that
is to say, the Supramental Light had taken its firm station over his
head relieving him from the necessity of ascending to supermind
and descending therefrom as a process of transformation (14).
Besides, he was a critic, writer, publisher and commentator and 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 realizations of the Divine,
particularly that of Truth-consciousness (Satya Jnana). Thulasiram opines:
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The Swami reveals the clue to transformation into a golden body of
deathlessness. He says that the Lord of Cit Sabha (the
comprehending Supermind or Truth-Consciousness proper, also
called Suddha Siva Turya) embraced him objectively in his outer
being in the plane or session of the Samarasa Sanmarga Sabha
(the tertiary session of Truth-Consciousness called the state of
Suddha Siva Jagrata) and by this embrace the Lord impressed on
his body a deathless golden form of His Body (19).
Ramalinga Adigalar states that God Almighty is said to be existing in the
whole of Great Universe for eternity. With His Ungracious power, He is to
blossom fully from the soul particle of a man of perfect Divinity. This shows that
He is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient. Because of these divine
attributes, the One Supreme Almighty alone is expressing out through any
number of Souls of persons come to live on the earth or earth-like planets in the
boundless universe at the time of full ripe.
The appearance of human persons is countless which is not permanent
but ever changing, disappearing and reappearing continuously. However, the
One Divinity working from the Innermost is the Only Entity living through each
of the souls in all times and places. Therefore, the Eternal God alone is making
His appearance in the form of each person only for time being. In reality, the
form of person is the expression of God and God alone. Therefore, the truth of
man is God Himself in fact. Without knowing his own true divinity, the bodily
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being is considered to be the man himself. By the gracious knowledge of God,
coming to the comprehension of completely space-filled great form is the
universal body of God, and the individual human form is His own body of ever
changing aspect. Only for the Divine realization, God is assuming this human
life spun around His small atomic soul Form. From this soul atom, God is
coming to full experience at the omnigracious development. Thulasiram opines:
The soul is a spark of the Divine which is not seated above the
manifested being, but comes down into the manifestation to support
its evolution in the material world. It is at first an undifferentiated
power of the Divine Consciousness containing all possibilities which
have not yet taken form but to which it is the function of evolution to
give form. This spark is there in all living beings, from the lowest to
the highest (i.e. in the worms, animals and man) (187).
Vallalar says that God and Soul are not two, but the same divinity in the
universal and the individual spiritual atomic forms. This true divine soul
knowledge is not understood by the public untill this day. Therefore, the soul
was interpreted wrongly and differently by many people of different times. Now
by the gracious knowledge of God, one can come to correct understanding of
soul, which is truly the primary Divine Light Atom of God Himself exposed at the
very beginning of the creation of the human embryo.
Hence, Soul is but an atomic form of God, giving out all power of life
knowledge and grace for the final salvation. Because the soul of man is God
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Himself, he should rise up from the sensuous bodily plane to the gracious soul
plane. From there the life of Grace must be begun anew. In the course of time,
the blossomed soul graciously fills up in the whole being of man to make him
eternal and Blissful Divine Being, This end is the real goal of man. That is, the
man’s goal is to attain the eternal Blissful Life of God Almighty.
The practical experience of the Divine Goal of eternal Blissful life is
given out by our Ungracious Saint Poet, Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar. In this life
of Divine Goal, God Almighty Himself is coming out in the eternal form of
(Tamil) Arutprakasam which is in practical experiences of Divine Triple Body of
Gnana, Pranava, and Sudda forms. This triple body of Divinity is spoken of in
the Bible, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. With this highest Divine attainment, the
God-man is working now to lift up the humanity to the final Goal of Blissful life.
Ramalinga Adigalar’s highest truth is above all the human speculation and
conception and it is, by His Grace only comprehended and realized. No
religious prejudice should be entertained in knowing and getting the universal
truth and its goal, which is common to all.
Ramalinga Adigalar portrayed that the world in which we live has some
unknown force, which is ever acting in and around and makes the living beings
to undergo several changes. Of all the living beings, humankind is considered
to have the best form. The reason is that he is bestowed with a mind, with
which he can perceive the inner and outer things. From this, he is given to
understand that the unknown Force is nothing else than the God-Almighty.
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A universal awareness has now crept in stating that the entire world
should be knit into a single Brotherhood of nations and lives as one family unit.
However, long before the advent of this awakening, Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar,
a great saint has stressed this and thus dedicated his life and work in preaching
and practising a Universal Religion based on God-centered Beatitude. To attain
this deep, meditation and profound compassion are most essential.
He has composed about 6000 songs and this has been published in the
name of Thiru Arutpa. The theme and inner light of Thiru Arutpa is that the
Almighty, by his own self-will, has expressed in the human body and come to
exist as such.
This Divine compassion led him to write more about this Daeiou and
thereby brought out more than 4000 songs. Until now man by losing his
physical frame, has forfeited the experience of Sathchidaananda. However, by
following the part of this pure Sanmarga, man can become eternal and live
forever in a full-fledged Blissful Divine Life by enjoying all the experience. In
other words, he is destined to live within outward, which has not been gained
by anybody else except Vallalar. This will be a treasure to all those enquiring
feet towards Suddha Sanmarga. Ramakrishna Paramahamsar defines:
An incarnation of God or one born with some of the characteristics
on an Incarnation is called an Eeswarakoti. An ordinary man is
called a jivakoti. By dint of sadhana, a jivakoti can realize God; but
after samadhi, he cannot come back to the plane of relative
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consciousness. The Eeswarakoti is like the king’s son. He has the
keys to all the rooms of the seven-story palace; he can limb to all
the seven floors and come down at will. A jivakoti is like is petty
officer. He can enter some of the rooms of the palace; that is his
limit (Qtd. in Vanmikanathan 21).
Understandable Divine mysticism is working from the innermost. The man
of real wisdom rises up to the higher plane of Supreme Grace, wherefrom he
gets by intuition, all the truths of Divine Secrecy. Saint Ramalingam realized the
most mystic Truth of the ins and outs of all. In order to attain the final goal of
Divine Blissful life, the knowledge of man is developing continuously through
innumerable lives. The spiritual soul experience is to be gained up to this earth
through sensuous life lived here. Above the sensuous pleasure and painful
states, dawns the life of Divinity. Omnipresent God Almighty has come out in
the soul particle in the mid-head of man. This soul truth can be practically
experienced only after overcoming all the sensuous and sensual attractions of
material, physical and mental planes. For the higher purpose of raising us to
the top level, all the mystic verses are furnished in this garland. Somasundaram
Pillai opines:
He speaks of the God coming to him, into the poor hut of his soul,
when he was lying tired and sleeping in the night, awakening him to
give food. He speaks, repeately, of how, in the cold and dreary
nights, when all around him was intense darkness, God appeared
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to him and spoke words of consolation. He came and opened the
door of his hut, and gave to him the great gift of the golden mango,
the taste of which transformed the poverty of the soul into the
richness of God. It was this religious experience that he had in the
temple-that was the starting-point of his life as a religious teacher
and as the author of Tiru Arulpa, that is, the Poems of Grace, as his
admirers and people call them (369).
His poem Arut Katchi (Vision of Grace) describes an advaitic experience
which aligned him with Truth and Grace:
I saw a peacock dance
In the skies above!
My friend! The peacock became a cuckoo.
I gave up activities and saw
The Dancing Lord,
O friend!
Having rejected casteist and religious strife
I glimpsed the Glow of Grace,
My friend!
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Destroying illusions I proceeded
And met the Dancing Lord,
O friend! (Qtd. in George 1054).
Unless we live a pure life of Grace from the Soul abode, all the pulls of the
lower planes can never be overcome at all. Almost in all stanzas, one is warned
from falling down into the black hold of hellish life. In each poem, God and soul
are coming to meet one another to get clear all doubts of the Soul. All the
questions and answers are given through the enlightened mind to the humanity
at large. The sweetness of the poems can be tasted well only in Tamil as it is. It
will lose its virgin taste, if it is rendered into other languages. Some learned
persons may try to express the inner meaning of the poetry, but it is doubtful for
putting the reader on the gracious plane. He wishes to let the world be
enlightened to make the whole humanity happy.
The following verse is taken from the Pillai ciru Vinnappam (My
Submission) which is a petition to the Lord explaining how he desires not the
mundane life and prays for divine help to relieve suffering humanity:
My Lord, this boon I desire,
I cannot stand even minor sorrows
That living beings endure in this world.
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Not for a moment can I bear
To see that grief or hear of it.
May your Grace help my aspiration
To bring succour to beings
Struck down by such distress (Qtd. in George 1054).
Vallalar says that Boundless is the universe. This universe is full with some
Omnipotent and Omnipresent Supreme power, which is called God. From time
immemorial, this universe with its countless heavenly bodies existing and going
on eternally. This eternal existence of this great universe is the proof of the
Infinite-Being or God. Because one has been endowed with the Divine
knowledge of Omni, gracious God he is able to understand the real purpose of
this active universe. In order to reveal the Divine Truth, that Infinite God Himself
has involved and evolved into this great universe.
In the limitless ethereal space, the Almighty power was in the unseen form
of ether. From these ethereal particles, His Omnipresence has come to evolve
into all the basic elements to be created into the entire universe. Now, in this
creation, our planet this earth is fully equipped with facilities to bring out the
Divine Truth from the Innermost. The electronic force in the lifeless material
particles has made out all the atoms, molecules and material forms upto stars
in the sky. In every living being, one sees the life force and sensuous
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knowledge. Especially in the human life alone, the mental, intellectual power
has come to play. By this force of mind, man is able to find out many outer and
inner secrets. One sees the wonderful works of the mind in this vast world filled
up with four billions of people. However, the ordinary mind is unable to
comprehend the Inner secret of Man, which is the Divine Soul itself. This Soul
or Self Knowledge comes out and is revealed in one’s self only when he
completely turns inward eschewing all the outward flowing of the sensuous,
material forces. In such an inner search, Ramalinga Adigalar discovered the
Divine Soul in the innermost. Thulasiram opines:
The Swami gives a practical guidance to his disciples asking them
not to waste their time and energies any more in the said religions
and philosophies but to follow the way of the Suddha Sanmarga
specially at a time when the coming of God. i.e., His manifestation
on the earth was imminent and that too when he was about to go
into seclusion. He gives them the Mahamantra of vast Grace-Light
as revealed to him by the Divine in assurance of Its manifestation
and consequently to mark the effective beginning of Suddha
Sanmarga. The mantra is open and direct expression
simultaneously of the truth of the Divine which was to manifest
imminently as also of the way of Sadhana (295).
The true soul knowledge does not easily understood by the people.
Because its subtlety and Divine attribute are beyond the conception of even the
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learned. The most ancient Tamizhian by the Divine Grace had discovered the
soul Truth, and on that, basic Truth the whole Tamizh language itself was
founded. Therefore, with the help of this language one can realize the Inner
Soul. Since the mere Soul knowledge alone was not enough for the highest
salvation of man, it was not, revealed by His Grace for even thousands of
years. In addition, that Grace, only recently has come down and opened the
Spiritual eye of a Soul of a developed Divine Love. That Soul is shining through
Arutprakasa Vallalar. Thulasiram opines:
The Light of the universal Soul or Spirit is the Jnana Sabha or Cit
Sabha the field or world of play of Truth-Consciousness (i.e. the
comprehensive Supermind); the Light within that light is the divine
Spirit, God the supreme Being (i.e. the One-in-One or the Supreme
infinite Light-in-the Universal Light). The dance or play of
movement of this inner light of the Divine is called the dance or play
of the World of Knowledge which is the blissful dance of the divine
dancer, Nataraja (209).
This Swamigal of Divine Grace has been fully revealed of the Divine
Truth. He declares the Supreme God is Arutperum Jothi (Great Light of Infinite
Grace). That Infinite God of Arutperum Jothi by His Divine Omnipresent
attribute is expressing out from an atom held atop of the central brain-the
medulla oblongata. A deep study of this particular atom will reveal us the truth
of our Soul. This mysterious atom is giving out life energy to the physical body,
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sensuous feelings to sense organs, intellectual and mental thoughts to mind.
Spiritual knowledge too comes out from this particle, and finally this is
discovered to be the Divine atom of Soul from which the Infinite God expresses
out completely and immortalizes the surrounding body by His Gracious
transformation. This is what happened in our Swami Ramalingam.
According to Ramalinga Adigalar, the Divine Soul atom is called
Atman. Though (Sol) is meant merely a word, it is taken to represent the One
word “Om” or the pranavam. Truly, this Om and (Sol) are pointing the Divine
Soul-atom. This word is nothing but our Soul or (Sol). The Soul is a Divine
Atom, which is developed into our whole Being.
Ramalinga Adigalar says that the power of spirit body is wonderful. This
spirit can enter into some child’s body and it will be living there for some time.
During that period, that spirit will be revealing its experiences gathered in the
past life. Therefore, it will appear as if the spirit has become incarnated into this
new form. After some time when the spirit departs from that body, the old
memories of the child will fade away and vanish. Often, one may come across
such a story of incarnation with such proof. Some believes and others unaware
of the truth disbelieve it. Either one believes it or not he need not cling to all
these, but he has to lead a Divine life. Thulasiram comments:
It might be said that what one calls ‘spirit’ is the atmosphere
brought by the Grace into the material world so that it might awake
to the consciousness of its origin and aspire to return to it. It is truly
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a kind of atmosphere, which liberates, opens the doors, releases
the consciousness. It is this that brings in the realisation of the
truth and gives to the aspiration all its power of fulfillment (217).
People hold much respect and reverence towards the past Great men,
Divine personages and many deities. When the Soul truth is realized one can
perceive the one Supreme Almighty Himself is expressing out from each of the
forms. It is better to adore Him in the present circle than to think of Him in the
past bodily forms. One can love and serve the people around him.
Ramalinga Adigalar viewed the Divine Soul in himself. In addition, he
wanted to merge in, eschewing the outer body and life. It was thought and
believed by merging into the soul one can attain the goal of Godhead.
However, the inner life is nothing and there will be no practical experience
without the outer body and life. By the external renunciation, there can be no
prosperity in the worldly life. Therefore, the path of devotion or the bakthi marga
was chosen. All the religions are based upon the idea that man has to return to
Godhead from whom he has been separated somehow.
The Infinite God Himself has come to Soul stage in the human body and
from this stage. He is due to make transformation of the physical into a form of
His gracious light. Hence, in reality the Soul of man is but an atom possessing
the full Almighty Power. This Soul atom is infinitesimal. The Infinite God filled in
the whole of boundless space has come to realize in this very small soul
particle. This is the most supreme power of His Infinite Grace.
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Ramalingar had therefore to be an ascetic that compassion and he be
together and lead his life in this world, that compassion and his life is one, and
that if compassion departs, his life too departs. Love of God is the
fountainhead of compassion towards all creatures. Ramalingar said, “If
compassion departs form my heart, my life too departs.”(Qtd. in Vanmikanathan
10). One could change the words and say with as much truth that if love of
God departs from a person’s heart, compassion towards creatures on earth
also departs. Those who do not love God cannot love His creatures.
Vanmikanathan opines:
When the ascetic is God-oriented, he is a mystic. A mystic has
been defined as one who “surrenders to a power of love that is
greater than human, and advances toward God in a darkness that
goes beyond the light of reason and of human conceptual
knowledge”. This power of love that is greater than human, this
power of love, which is compassion when world-oriented, this alone
is not sufficient when the ascetic is God-oriented. Besides being
loving, he has to be pure in heart and poor in spirit (10).
The Divine Grace commands from Soul and it is fulfilled in the outer life.
The Gracious God takes charge of the Soul-man and makes him himself. This
forms the headline, Infinite God in finite man. May this God of Infinite Grace
disclose all the secrets and give a blessed Blissful life to all Souls.
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According to Thulasiram Religions have multiplied innumerably under
several names such as Saivism, Vaishnavism, Jainism, Buddhism; and their
gods, aims and goals and ways of discipline are only different modifications and
manifestations of tatvas or principles and powers of existence. Ramalingar
observes that they are not the true forms of gods as such, and the traditional
scriptures do not portray the essential forms of gods as they exist in
themselves; so too in regard to the essential nature of the supreme Divine.
These scriptures have given only mental pictures and constructions to the
Karma Siddhis of a partial kind and if one pursue after these siddhis of a little
value and significance, one would miss the main goal of realising the supreme
Divine Ramalingar says:
I myself stand as a concrete example to follow… It is not because
of my ardent faith and practice of Saivite religion that God has lifted
me up to this unclaimbable height but because of the equal vision
of seeing gods, all beings and things as the forms and substance of
the supreme Divine, and the feeling of compassion for all both of
which I followed as the Divine guided me in those days (Qtd. in
Thulasiram 291).
The Swami placed the light of a lamp outside his room asking them to
worship, for some time without wasting time, the said light as a form of the
Divine with the attitude and feeling indicated in the said poem, and telling them
that the light was full of the Divine Presence and that he intended to close the
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door of his room. The lamp was lit by the Swami about two years before and
has been kept up burning ever since. Thulasiram opines:
Worship of a divinely sanctified form is not against the way of his
Sanmarga. But is not tied down to worship of form alone. As a
matter of fact, the Swami, in one of his public notices informs that
the light of lamp in the shrine of Satya Jnana Sabha was to be lit up
only until the open manifestation of the God of Vast Grace-Light
takes place which will become known through the performance of
His miracles (296).
Ramalinga Adigalar’s Sanmargam is composed from the four arts or
discipline. Siriya: The art of divine service in daily life. Kiriyai: The art to perform
Divine devotion or prayer, feeding the poor who have nothing is another form of
action. Yogam: The art of the truth path of communication or yoga is to live in a
good and excellent way. 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.
Then it is important that to arrive at the level of Suddha Sanmargam it is
necessary to pass twelve 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, three times four equal twelve. They
result is to attain the fourth level Saayuchiyam, the integrate union with god.
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Ramalingar described the four levels of experience as Saalokam (Live in
god world), Saamipam (Live near god), Saarupam (Live in the self
consciousness that we are the same as god), Saayuchiyam (Reach the united
union and the unity with god). The united union refers to the inner divinity
realization: saarupam.
Ramalinga Adigalar has the four levels of experience that are combining
with the four Margams. The four Margams are: Dhaasamargam,
Satputhramaragam, Sahamargam, Sanmargam. Vallalar gives this meaning to
the four Margams: Become the servant of all living creatures, Become the son
of all living creatures, Consider all living creatures as our friends and same for
the opposite, Consider the life of all creatures as our life. In each Margam, one
have the four arts, four times four equal sixteen types of experience or levels of
evolution.
Ramalingar fulfilled ten disciplines, virtues that are laid down for an
ascetic. Eschewing eating of flesh, Thavam, Avoiding Unbecoming Conduct,
Not stealing, Truthfulness, Not Getting Angry, Not Harming Anyone, Not killing,
Realising Impermanence of Life, Renunciation.
To Ramalingar, God was his father. He asks God:
Son to you am I not?
And legitimate father to me are you not? (Qtd. in Vanmikanathan
23).
139
The spiritual lineage of Ramalingar can be summed up with this assertion
of Ramalingar. Sons of men can be orphaned, but the Son of God never. God
was in reality mother and father to Ramalingar. He was never an orphan. For
he had lord Civan, Ammai-appan, as his father and mother. More solicitous
than an earthly mother, Lord Civan looked after Ramalingar. He sings:
O Mother mine, sweet to my soul,
Who, when I was lying weary with hunger on a pial,
Came with a shining basin
Containing delicious food
In one of Your sacred arms, (Qtd. in Vanmikanathan 23).
God was not only a mother to Ramalingar, but a stern father too. A father
who dealt condign punishment when the necessity arose. Ramalingar bears
testimony to this in an entire decad of ten stanzas. He sings:
O Gem of a Ruby
Who bestow grace on those free of ill-repute!
O Munificent One!
I, a sinner, (Qtd. in Vanmikanathan 23).
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God was not only father and mother to Ramalingar, but was also Guru
supreme. And, in this role, God gave Ramalingar the thiruvadi deeksha, the
guru placing his lotus feet on the head of his disciple in token of having taken
him as a slave whose future worldly and spiritual welfare was not longer the
concern of the disciple but that of the guru-god Himself in the case of
Ramalingar. Ramalingar has left a record of this unique event in his life in the
following song:
O my Guru who enslaved me saying:
“We have come to know
all the good deeds you have planned to do;
We came to see you in person”,
And lay down on the floor
With an intent to graciously place
Your flowery feet on my head,
And, Who, when I haughtily look hold of the feet
And placed them elsewhere,
Laughed and asked:
“What did you think, O my son,
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have I not this much right?” (Qtd. in Vanmikanathan 24).
Such were the spiritual Parents of Ramalingar, the two-in-One Civan
whose most beloved form is the indivisible one of Ammai-appan, Father-
mother, translated by the ignorant as Arda-naareeswarar, the half-woman God,
raising in the hearer’s mind a picture of a freak instead of an image of the age-
old Tamil concept of and ideal balance of Justice and Mercy, Discipline and
Love.
A vision of earthly evolution into a diviner life, which is to take place
because of the due manifestation of the God of Vast Grace-Light on the earth
and requests the people to receive the God of Light here on the earth in full
honour and glory. This vision of the Swami occurs to him more or less on the
completion of the transformation of his body into its deathless state by getting
the triple indestructible bodies of the pure physical, subtle and causal-Suddha
deha, Pranava deha and Jnana deha along with a potential power even to
resurrect the dead into bodily life. Thulasiram opines:
He completely overcame sleep of the body. He observes that the
Lord by withholding sleep, gave him progressive riches of growth,
he overcomes the difficulties and as a result the attainment of
deathless and sleepless body full of blissful impulsions and
energies (662).
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A vinnappam is an address of prayer to the supreme Divine as God of
Vast Grace-Light (i.e. the Supramental Ishwara) who is usually addressed in
the integrality of His Infinite Being, consciousness-force and Bliss manifesting
Himself as the beautiful Truth-form of Sat the Being in the world of Truth-
Consciousness-force and making the Truth-dynamism or Truth-play of Bliss in
unity.
It seems that the Lord directed the Swami to marry the Grace-Sakthi in
order to overcome the difficulties and reach the highest state of perfection. The
Swami married symbolically the Grace-sakthi (i.e. the Supramental Grace-
Sakthi) after a short announcement to his disciples. This indicates that he had
become one with the Sakthi, the divine Mother. It is by Her help that he finally
scores victory over death and attains all siddhis usually referred to as the triple
siddhis namely karma siddhi or karma jnana siddhi, yoga siddhi or yoga jnana
siddhi and Jnana siddhi proper (i.e. atma jnana siddhi and tatva jnana siddhi)
which are respectively (a) the powers of supramental intuition and inspiration of
ideas, feelings, will, word, etc., fulfilling into inspired arts and sciences.
Thulasiram opines:
According to the Swami a deathless body is constituted by divinized
five elements, namely, deathless ethereal substance, non-ignitable
air or gas, non-flowing liquid (cf: condensation of blood in Swami’s
body), soundless fire and non-obstructing matter (cf: his body of
supple and pliant bones and muscles) with a self-creative power of
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constituting or creating all substances of whatever kind including
bodily substances (664).
The Swami admits that he was quickly transformed into the deathless
state of body. His realization of Truth-Consciousness of Satya Jnana or the
Supermind and the resulting transformation of his body too into its perfection
and deathlessness has taken place in an incredibly short time. This became
possible, because the Light of Truth -Consciousness Satya Jnana Joti was
formed above and within him and, by an integral realization and possession of
the summit of supermind. Ramalingar referred the tertiary poise of Supermind
thus:
In the Sanmarga Sabha the Lord kept me uniquely distinct or apart
from Himself “O Lord! Thou hast kept myself and Thyself in an
uniting contact of oneness or unity : keeping myself and himself into
one formation, the Lord drew me apart giving me the form of bliss
(Qtd. in Thulasiram 673).
However it is conceivable evident that by the special union with the Divine
at the bodily level on the earth, both the Divine Being of Light and the Swami
with the truth-conscious Light of his being, nature and body should have
descended into the Inconscient or got involved and engulfed temporarily by the
material Inconscience but working out from within the Inconscient matter so as
to play the siddhis in due course of time. Thulasiram opines:
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The swami’s sacrifice of deathless body was directed towards a
two-fold purpose. It was meant not only for the manifestation of the
Light or Being of the Light on earth, but also for the preservation of
the gains of His transformed body for the mankind in its
evolutionary march. The Divine should have fixed the Swami’s
being, nature and deathless bodily substances into the inconscient
earthly matter in order to make him serve as a medium of
response, as a responding force and being of the transforming
Light in the earth-nature and in its inconscient bed (682).
All glory to the Supreme Divine who has secretly fulfilled Himself through
the sacrifices of Swami Ramalingam and is now fulfilling more openly: