The metaphysical life and the physical body
There is the body and there is life, say some.
Tirumoolar asks them, “what is meant by dying?”
To which they reply, “the separation of the life from the body.”
Tirumoolar – “So you agree there is life inside the body?”
Them – “Yes.”
Tirumoolar – “so what happens to the body after death?”
Them – “the body breaks down into each of the 5 elements.”
“So the body which is made up of these 5 elements breaks down into them. But what happens to the life that was in the body?”
Tirumoolar
They looked stumped without a response.
Tirumoolar then explains – “Just as an inanimate object like the body mixes only with the 5 inanimate elements, the animate life will mix only with an animate Entity. That Animate Entity is Sivam and the life stays there temporarily until the next rebirth.”
The soul goes through the cycle of rebirth until it realizes the consciousness of Siva. Once it realizes Siva, it merges with Him in a state of bliss but still being separate from Him at the same time.
The attachment to the 5 senses makes the life/ soul desire the worldly pleasures. Just as someone who gets stuck in deep water because he does not know how to swim, the soul gets attached to the pleasures of the 5 senses. The soul wastes away its entire life drowning in these pleasures.
So, the question arises, “Where did the 5 senses originate from? Did the soul go looking for it?”
If I say, “God only gave those 5 senses” then the response will be “why did God give us the senses so that we drown in pleasures and then He comes and saves us via a guru?”
“The souls are the same and The God is One!”
Tirumoolar
But who gave us the 5 senses? That is the important question. People get different physical bodies depending on what they must live through because of their karma. Even though we might be different physically, the soul is the same. That is why Holy saints look only at the soul and not at the physical body.
Darkness hides the realization but reveals itself whereas ego hides both the realization and itself.
The souls are here to remove the ego to which they have attached themselves. Siva helps to remove the ego through His immeasurable compassion.
We all refuse to accept that we have egos in our day to day lives, even for simple things. That is why it is so difficult to remove oneself from ego. That is why Siva gently removes the ego through His Grace.
The important point to note here is that Siva’s capability is never in question but are we willing to realize our own ego and subsequently our own ignorance?
Some will ask, “Why does He not remove it all in one go? It would be easier for everyone. Isn’t He capable of doing it?”
Ego and free will
How can you help someone who needs help but does not want to be helped? There is this story of a pious man taking a boat to cross the river. The boatman asks if everyone on the boat knows swimming. All nod their heads except the pious man who replies God will save him if anything happens. Unfortunately, the boat capsizes in the middle of the river and others start swimming to save themselves. The boatman tries to save the pious man, but he pushes him away saying God will come to save him. Another person tries the same but to no avail. One more person tries but the pious man pushes him away as well. Finally, the pious man drowns and reaches another dimension where he asks God why He did not save him?
God replies, “You fool, I sent help thrice, but you rejected it all.”
God helps those who help themselves.
Siva is ready to offer Grace, but the soul must not only be ready to be able to receive it but also should do it of its own accord. This is the concept of free will.
Appar sings beautifully about this with a reference to farming.
First the land must be tilled with the truth.
Secondly, the seeds of intent and will must be sowed.
Thirdly, the land must be de-weeded from corrupt thoughts and actions.
Fourth, the land must be watered with patience.
Finally, a fence of steadfastness and discipline must be put to protect the crop.
Those who do this, obtain Siva’s Grace.
The worldly experiences and the ego
Siva gives you what your soul desires because He knows there is no point in giving anything else which is not useful for the soul to reach maturity. It is like giving a gold-plated pen to a small child who does not need it. People are afraid that Siva will bestow His Grace. When those doing penance do not easily receive it, what is the point of giving it to those who do not even asking for it? The soul first reaches out to Siva to remove sufferings and satisfy desires in this worldly existence. Siva will definitely give what you ask, you just have to talk to Him. Only that His response might not always be in the form that you can comprehend. We must raise our level of awareness and consciousness to be able to perceive His response. The soul which keeps asking for solutions to worldly problems finally understands the worldly existence itself is the problem. Just as every month one pays dues for the house or car or other things, the soul keeps on paying its dues. The burden is released only when the entire loan is repaid. Similarly, the solution to worldly problems ends only when the karmic dues are paid. This is difficult to understand at first, so He lets us experience the world and continue paying the monthly installments. There is no other God with whom one can talk, like with Sivam. Just as we need to speak with each native speaker in their own language, the language of Sivam is Compassion.
The important thing is that the soul asks for release by its own free will, else the guru does not appear.
So, to help the soul extricate itself from the clutches of the ego, He gives a practical learning by giving the senses and the body to the soul. When the soul suffers from these experiences, He comes in the form of a guru and teaches the way to elevate oneself not only from suffering but also from the ego.
Definition of success
A man was walking in the jungle when he notices a tiger. He runs like a madman out of fear and stumbles on to a well. He descends into the well and holds onto a branch on the side of the well. He then notices that two rats are gnawing at the branch, the tiger is hungrily looking at him from the top and there are poisonous snakes at the bottom of the well. Suddenly a drop of honey falls on his lips from a tree above and for a moment, he forgets everything except the taste of sweet honey. Our life is also like this. The tiger chasing us is the ego, the snakes are our karma, the branch is our body created from maya and the two rats gnawing at it are day and night. Amidst all this, the superficial pleasures are the drops of honey which we assume to be life.
As soon as one realizes that all successes and failures are due to Him, only success occurs to them.
Why are we here? Have we done or doing anything worthy? These are questions to ask oneself, but does anyone really do it? Once we retire, others ask at what we have saved for retirement. If you say that you have saved Siva’s grace, you will be looked upon as an idiot. Only worldly success is considered as success and spiritual success is not even considered. It is indeed difficult to not only live in this society but also live apart from it. Society does not considered devotion as success. We should learn to place our successes and defeats at the Holy feet of Siva.
The forgotten treasure
This body is a treasure that needs to be used properly for spiritual success.
Once a king in disguise was riding through the forest and saw an old man cutting wood. The old man was carrying the wood with much difficulty. The king asked him about his sons to which the old man replied that his sons had gone afar for different reasons. So, he had to cut wood and sell the charcoal to support his wife. The king then went away and instructed his minister to give 100 sandalwood trees so that the old man can live his life in comfort. After a few years, the king met the old man and was surprised to see that he was still living in poverty. He asked the old man what he did with the 100 trees that he received. The old man said that, he had cut them down as usual to make charcoal and sell it for a living. The king was aghast and told the old man that the trees were sandalwood trees and that each one was worth a fortune. Fortunately, there was one tree left and the king advised the old man to sell it and take care of himself. Similarly, Siva has been giving us our bodies in each birth, but we just burn it in the cremation grounds. Hence, we should take care of this body and attain Siva using the same instead of burning it away in the cremation grounds.
Taming the heart
Siva has wrung out these beautiful verses from the nayanmars and the saints for our benefit, but we do not have time to listen to them.
The greatest impediment to this is our heart. If one can overcome the heart’s desires, then one can attain the successes of the spiritual plane. The heart is never always at the same place as the physical body. Only when the heart is at the same place as the body is, one will reap the benefits of one’s spiritual actions. That is why reading, listening, and singing the Tirumurais tempers the heart and brings it under control else the heart is always going behind the 5 senses. That is why even though saints and holy men live in our world with their 5 senses, the senses and their heart is under their control. Once the heart is under control, then bliss ensures. Also, when the saints see, drink, eat, smell, feel and experience they think of Sivam in all that. It is not mandatory for everyone to go the forest and dwell in caves, one can live anywhere with the control of the senses and the heart. Just as a corpse does not have any likes or dislikes, the saints live in that state.