How to do Penance?

How to do Meditation or Penance?

Dear all with oneness of soul, with the grace of our Gnana Guru Vallalar and Sarguru Thiru shiva selvaraj we are bringing out in this article “How to do Meditation or Penance”. The below said way is the way in which Penance was done by vallalar and all the great saints to reach and attain Lord.  Please read it completely and with attention.

Today everyone is of the opinion that Penance or Meditation means something that is done by sitting at a place with our eyes closed and imagining some forms or chanting some auspicious names or mantras of the lord or closing our eyes and observing our breath.  But these were not penance. The above said techniques at the max will allow once to attain a state or give spiritual maturity to do penance and that’s it.  Worse if someone does meditation with the closed eyes then he will be trapped in illusion or Maya.

So the first step for everyone to understand is Meditation or Penance should never be done with closed eyes. Penance is the one which should be done with our eyes open.

If one does any spiritual practice with his eyes closed then only Maya or illusion will be working there. That is why our saint vallalar has asked us to be “Awake”. In Tamil Awake is called as “Villithiru” which implies two things. One is having our eyes opened and other is being aware. Penance has to be done with awareness and also with our eyes open. Eyes can be fully opened or half-opened but never closed.

Among us we have a strong opinion that when our eyes are opened we will see the outside world but when we close our eyes and do mediation we see the supreme lord within us. Thinking that opening of our eyes as the external eye and closing of our eye is the internal eye is the biggest ignorance that we have imagined ourselves.

It is again an illusion thinking that when we close our eye there is calmness which will lead us inside.

Think this way, closing of our eyes is darkness and opening of our eyes is light. Telling in other way closing of our eyes is like New Moon Day and opening of our eyes is Full Moon. In order to indicate this only it is recommended in our country to visit holy place and holy mountains during Full Moon Day. In India we find so many people going around holy mountains and also Jeeva Samadhis of saints during Full Moon Day.

When we close our mind and imagine something then it is possible to see any forms that we visualize. This is again illusion and not true divine experience. Any vision that is got with open eyes when we are fully awake and alert is the true divine experience.

When one person dies we call that the person has closed his eyes isn’t? Even in this world to do any work we need to open our eyes isn’t and this is true even in our spiritual practice.

It is also said during the auspicious day of Shiva Ratiri (Auspicious night of lord siva) if one does not sleep or keep his eyes opened and worship the lord then he will attain the abode of lord.  This is to emphasis the importance of being awake and keeping of our eyes opened for any spiritual practice. Our saint have conveyed this information  through the way of devotion.

In Bhagavat Gita also Lord Krishna recommends one to do penance with eyes opened only.  Great Saint Thirumoolar in his works says “Blind Person Leading Blind men will fall together in the pit of death”. Here he clearly talks about person who teaches peoples incorrect way of doing meditation (doing meditation with closed eye) and the followers of that person finally dying instead of overcoming death.

Now it was seen that Penance has to be done with open eyes! Now let us see how to do penance. Here also the great saint Thiurmoolar in his works ThiruManthiram writes as

“Breaking through the lamp and lighting the light in the lamp

Raising/Simulating the light inside the lamp

And who realizes about the light within the lamp, for them

Union with the Lotus feet of the Lord of the light of the lamp will be possible”   – ThiruMantiram Song 2186

This is the great words which clearly explains how one should do Penance and what is the role of Guru in it. The light that was lit was done by a sarguru.  Let us see the meaning of the above great song.

What is meant by breaking through the lamp and lighting the light in the lamp? To understand this let us see what does Lamp denotes. In human body Eyes were the lamp. Remember the great words in Bible by Jesus “Eyes were the lamp of one body”.

Lighting the light of the lamp indicates – at present we do not have the capability to look inside us, so one has to lit the divine light of the lamp to look inside us. How do you lit a lamp? Through other lamp that is already lit right? So a qualified satguru by the process of Deekshai will lit the light of the lamp by the divine light in his eyes. This is the first step, so in order for one to do penance the divine light in our eyes has to be lit meaning should be initiated to look in.

Why it has been told that before lighting the lamp it has to be broken? It is not that there is no divine light in our eyes now, it is there but it never acts meaning this light is hidden by one’s karma. Everyone’s divinity that is present in one’s eyes is hidden by the karma that one has been born with. So in order to initiate this divine light or make this divine light to act the guru has to break this layer of karma that is covering one’s divine light in the eyes. Breaking also indicates the eyes has to be kept opened. Only when our eyes were open can the Guru’s divine light from his eyes can lighten our lamp (Eyes). By breaking through the barrier of karma and initiating the divinity within us Guru is making us to born again.  This is what conveyed in Bible as “One who does not born again will not reach the kingdom of the lord”. Saint Agastiyar also tells one should know the way to born again indicating this. A person who is born again by Guru through Deekshai is called Duvichan in Sanskrit.

Raising/Simulating the light inside the lamp – The second line tells how one has to do Penance, the purpose of penance is to simulate or increase the effulgence of this divine light in our eyes by constantly keeping our mind on this. How to keep our mind on this divine light? When one is initiated by a guru, the guru lightens the divine light of our eyes, when this divine light is lightened one gets divine consciousness in one’s eye (a sort of burning sensation or feeling inside the eyes). The sadaka or the disciple now just has to concentrate on this consciousness and do nothing. When the divine light is simulated or increased by constantly fixing our mind on it the 7 layers of karma that is hiding our divinity will melt and one gets to see his Soul called Anma Darshan. So with our eyes open and keeping our mind on the divine consciousness in our eye that is got through or initiated by Guru is the correct way of doing penance.

Now Third and Fourth line explains what happens when one does this penance

And who realizes about the light within the lamp, for them

Union with the Lotus feet of the Lord of the light of the lamp will be possible – When the divine light increases and melts our karmas we get self realization and Gnana after which we can unite with the lord of the divine light, which is called Lord’s holy feet. So for the 3rd and 4th Step to occur which is getting Gnana/divine wisdom and reaching the Lord 1st and 2nd Step has to be done.

So one can do penance only after a Sarguru has initiated him. This process is what told by Yovan in Bible as “I am initiating you with the holy water but the one who is more powerful than me will come and he will give initation with the fire and the holyspirit”. Here Fire and Holy Spirit means initiation through sarguru’s divine light of his eyes.

Now the question comes is it not possible to do Penance without a Guru? The answer is NO. It may be possible for some person with extreme devotion like that of Kannapa Nayanar but for others without guru we can no way have self realization and attain lord. This divine light of our eyes is called as Holy Feet of Lord and by various code words like 8 and 2 (Right and left Eye), Sun and Moon, Siva and Sakthi and MeiPorul or Thiruvadi or Padaka.

By Penance we should know and realize about the divine light of our eyes and this divine light lights our wisdom and knowledge. So to lighten or see the light we should open our eyes right! So do penance with Eyes open. Penance in short is the art of doing nothing and just being there. Doing Nothing and Just being there is keeping our mind always on the divine light of our eyes and never flowing with the thoughts.

Now the important question is Can any one be initiated and do Penance? Yes any human being can be initiated and do penance but the person hence forth should live a noble and virtuous life and never do the five great sins which are Stealing, Lying, Alcoholism or Using Any Drugs, Killing which includes eating Non-Veg Food and illicit desire or Lust. Only a pure soul with penance and love can reach the supreme lord.

To know more please read Thiruvadi Upadesa in our website and also our Articles and books.

Our SarGuru with the grace of Vallalar gives this initiation or Deekshai.  So for, he has published around 27 books explaining in detail about Thiruvadi. His Publication also includes commentary on the great works of ThiruMantiram, ThiruVasagam, Thiruvarutpa. By all these books he has established that the wisdom conveyed by all these saints and the way of doing penance is same. All these books were written in Tamil. We have translated two books Saakaa Kalvi (Spiritual Education of Deathlessness) and Vallal Yaar (Who is Philanthropist) and is available in our site. If anyone needs hard copies of the books in Tamil (totally 27 books) and in English 2 books can contact us.

Books:

Saakaa Kalvi (Spritual Education for Deathlessness) – Click Here

Vallal Yaar (Who is Philanthropist) – Click Here

Thiru ArutPrakasa Vallalar

In this section we shall read about the great saint who born in 19th Century and who realized himself and the Supreme Lord and who got the divine light body by the complete grace of supreme lord and who became immortal and who is a ocean of compassion and who out of his infinite compassion on us is showing the way and guiding us to the Supreme Lord. This great saint is called as ThiruArutPrakasa Vallalar.

What is meant by Gnanam ? Complete knowledge is divine wisdom and is called Gnanam.

Pooranam means Completeness. One who knows everything and realized everything is a complete one. He is called divine wisdom person or Gnani.

“One who knows with clarity and without any doubts, for such a person soul is the SivaLingam” – Saint Thirumoolar.

One who knows everything without any doubt and with complete clarity only can tell the truth to others. Such a person only is called Gnani or divine wisdom person.

One who is full of compassion and love, and who considers all the souls as his is a Gnani.

Is there such a person?

Was there such a person? Is it possible for one to be like that?

Yes, there were so many persons like that throughout the world. They lived during different times. Even today they are living and they have won over their death and living a deathless life full of bliss.

During the 19th Century there came one Philanthropist who took birth in TamilNadu, lived and showed the way to divinity for all – made everyone know the greatness of “Eyes” – became Philanthropist – called as Vallalar – became “as that”- attained the divine light body and is there everywhere.

He is the one who is called with love by the people as “Thiru Arut Prakasa Vallalar Ramalinga Swamigal”.

This great saint who got the blissful deathless life and who is a great Gnanai and great Siddhar is sent by the Supreme Lord  to open our handicapped eyes so for us to see the divinity within us.

Since he is the one who searched with the question “Who is Divine Philanthropist”  and found out that the supreme lord is the Philanthropist he  is called as Vallalar (In Tamil it splits in to Vallal + Yaar meaning Who is Philanthropist).

Our Vallalar who got the rare birth of human learnt the rarest Education of Gnanam from the supreme Lord himself. Yes the Supreme Lord himself came as the Guru of Vallalar.

Vallalar did not go to school.  From his childhood days he used to pray regularly in the temple called Kantha Kottam near his home. He says “I Learnt Everything from You” indicating everything is thought to him by the supreme lord. The education he got from the lord is “Spiritual Education of Deathlessness” which can remove one from the distress of birth-death cycle.

His intense devotion and penance is such that he got the grace and vision of Lord Muruga in his age of 9. Right from small age he had the intense hunger to realize the lord and his devotion and penance is such that he forgets his time and food. Mother Goddess Vadivudai Amman who is the mother of all souls fed our Vallalar with divine milk (Amurtham). Many Saints and Divine Forms of Lord appeared to him and bestowed their grace to this great child.

Since he singularly kept his mind always in the lotus feet of lord his wisdom and knowledge began to shine. He came to know everything without any reading.  With Singularity and oneness and by always thinking of the lotus feet of the lord he realized him. He did penance all the time by constantly thinking, realizing and relaxing on thelotus feet of lord (Lotus feet of the lord in our body is the divine light in our eyes).

Vallalar realized that the soul within him is part of the Supreme lord himself.  He also realized that like him the lord is residing on everyone. By realizing this and becoming “that” the supreme pleasure  and bliss that is got is cannot be quantized.

By knowing and realizing the divine truth and becoming like that he got the nature of the divine truth.

The sufferings that he has undergone cannot be told in words.  He saw every soul as his. He felt the distress that every soul felt. This is called feeling of “Oneness of Soul” or Anma Neya OrumaiPaadu.

This is the nature of the person who has become divine philanthropist.

The result of his penance is that his knowledge grew such that it went beyond universe of universes.  His physical body became as divine light body.

Vallalar who took birth in the year October 5 1828 and till the age of 51 he appeared to everyone. Vallalar realized if the soul leaves the body it has to take birth again in other bodies and in order to cut this cycle he did penance on the divine light of the eye. With the Supreme Lord himself as his Guru his penance on the Lotus feet of Lord (Divine Light of Eye) resulted in divine light of his soul increasing to such extent that it engulfed his body and converted his physical body to body of divine light and bliss.

The blessings and attainment he got is such that there is no one equal or greater than him. He was bestowed with all the divine powers (Siddhi) numbering 647 crores.  The number of miracles he did is innumerable. He advised people not to get distracted by his miracles but follow his teachings and gain the grace of the Supreme Lord as he is the one who bestows all the siddhis.

He warned people not to concentrate or have divine powers as one aim as it will distract one from the purpose of birth which is self realization and Lord realization and to attain deathless divine light body.

He asked people not to keep the mind on these divine powers or miracles and to have only goal of realizing the supreme lord. When compared to the grace of the lord no powers or siddhis were equivalent to it. He prays to the lord “to bestow on every one in the world the attainments he has got”.

In order for all the people in this world to get the great divine blissful deathless life, he revealed all the hidden divine secrets openly in his incomparable great work “ThiruVarutpa”. He sings in one of his poem as “Any teaching/art which teaches one to do penance or meditation with closed eyes and teaches that the experience one gets by closed eyes is the final one, should be buried down the earth”.

Vallalar propagated the divine truth that only people who does not kill and eat only vegetarian food were eligible to get the grace of Lord. He clearly states that any person who kills and eat flesh can never get the grace of Lord and is bound to birth and death cycle even if he has power to raise the death. He reveals that this is the supreme law of the Lord. If a person realizes this mistake and reforms himself from the present moment he will be also eligible to get the grace of the Lord.

Vallalar gave the great MahaMantra which explains the Supreme Lord’s State and his nature. The Maha   Mantra is

  “ArutPerum Jothi ArutPerum Jothi

  ThaniPerum Karunai ArutPerum Jothi”

When translated in English it becomes

                                “Supreme Infinite grace light Supreme Infinite grace light

                                  Supreme Infinite Compassion Supreme Infinite grace light”

Vallalar established Dharma Saalai with the noble intention that people who come to see him and people who seek the supreme lord should never suffer from the disease of hunger. That’s why he built the Dharma Saalai.

The fire that was started by Vallalar in the stove in Dharma Saalai is still burning today and is providing food for all the people who come there.

As second Our Vallalar created Siddhi Valaagam. This is the place where our saint vallalar spent lot of time and did divine research to find out who is philanthropist. For the great Discipline of Sanathana Dharma to spread, vallalar who also founded Samarasa Suttha Sanmarga Sathiya Sangam gave a flag to Sanmarga Sangam. In his Writing of Urai Nadai he has told even the explanation of this flag is also divine wisdom and shows the way for Gnana to the divine seekers.

Even today we can get the darshan of this holy room in siddhi valaagam where vallalar went inside and locked himself and from where he became divine light and united with the supreme space. Our Vallalar says the significance of this place as “In Siddhi Valaagam I got all the siddhis (divine powers)”.

As third the institution that vallalar established by being in front is Sathiya Gnana Sabai. Our vallalar who gave the teaching of divine wisdom through his songs in ThiruVarutpa also established Sathiya Gnana Sabai for the sake of common people to understand the divine experiences.

Like other temples Sathiya Gnana Sabai doesn’t have any divine images of Gods nor is there any puja that is performed there.

When we seek the supreme lord and do penance the first attainment that you will get is the vision of the divine flame of your soul. This was demonstrated in Sathiya Gnana Sabai.

Sathiya Gnana Sabai resembles our head. In the front there are two chambers called as Chirsabai (meaning Small chamber) and Porsabai (meaning golden chamber). In the middle of this two and inside you have Gnana sabai. During the auspicious day of Thai Poosam in the Gnana sabai, screens numbering seven with different colors will be removed and the bigger flame will be shown. This arrangement is made by our vallalar.

This type of structure is not made by anyone else. That’s why instead of calling it a temple he called it as Sathiya Gnana Sabai.

Also the arrangement for worship is very new one and is not present anywhere. Unlike other temple which has the divine images of lord, this sabai does not have any images and the worship is only the light indicating that the supreme lord is of divine light only. So in order to see the light the seven screens that were hiding it has to be withdrawn. What this means?

This screen hiding the light represents our karma. This karma is made of three type of impurities which were Ego, Lust and illusion. This Karma hides the divine light of our soul like a screen.

If we remove the screen then we can see the light, similarly if we remove the karma from us we can see the divine light of our soul.

In this world there are so many saints who have taken birth. Everyone has told about Gnanam. There is no denying this fact. But there is none like Ramalinga Vallalar who revealed the divine truths so explicitly and showered his grace on all the people.

The minimum thing a human has to do is to remove the hunger of others.  Because of food a living being lives and once the hunger is satisfied it will start the search “Who is Philanthropist”.  He established Samarasa Suttha Sanmarga Sathiya Sangam.

Samarasa means considering all people to be equal. Suttha means pure. Sanmarga means all sorts of people can come together. Sathiya means truth and honesty and Sangam means institution.

Samamaras Suttha Sanmarga Sathiya Sangam is an institution which guides people of all sects who are true and honest and have hunger to attain the divine lord. When asked who is a true Sanmargi Vallalar replied “One who have won over his death is a true Sanmarki”.

In his songs in Tiruvarutpa he reveals that the Supreme Lord himself has made him to run the Samarasa Suttha Sanmarga Sathiya Sangam and he is the one who is heading this institution today and helping people to attain the Lord and divine deathless life.

With the compassion that no one should undergo his suffering he has showed us an easier and simpler way for us to overcome our obstacles in the path of spirituality.

In the year of 1874 and in the Tamil month of Thai and in the day which is of the star of Punarpoosam, he called all his beloved people and told that he is going to enter in the holy room of Siddhi Valaagam and the supreme lord has shown himself to him. He asked people not to open the room and even if they opened he will not be visible. When the then British Government opened the room they found nothing.

Do you know what is the teaching/Upadesam he did before entering and applying the divine lock on the room?

Every human must know this upadesam which are the supreme words of knowledge, secret of divine wisdom and the guarantee that he has given to us. This words were told by vallalar when he had the physical body and divine light.

“I am here now and here after I will enter in the inner recess of everyone’s heart”. This words has to be sculpted by everyone in their mind.

So what did vallalar meant by these words.

Before applying divine lock and entering in the room in Siddhi Valaagam he told that he is there now, which means he was present before every one. From now means that after applying the divine lock he will enter in everyone’s heart, means that he will enter in every people’s heart which is pure and who live according to the teachings of vallalar. Only for those person’s he will enter in their heart and will guide them. See how much compassion our vallalar has. He is In fact Ocean of mercy.

His words mean “Even though my physical body is converted to divine light body and will not be visible to ordinary eyes, I will be present on all the beloved people as divine light and through the divine light of eyes I will show and guide them to get the divine life of immortality and divine bliss. Who will get such a great pleasure!”

This humble being (Siva Selvaraj) got such a pleasure. In the year 1980 he gave me Thiruvadi Deekshai (Lotus Feet Deekshai). From that on I did the work of sanmarga and he gave me the great honour of being a SarGuru and entered inside my heart. From the first book KanMani Maalai he made me to write 30 books of Gnana/divine wisdom and publish them.

From inside me he has given Thiruvadi Deekshai to more than 2000 beloved peoples.

Even now whosoever is seeking him, he is giving Nayana Deekshai (Other name of Thiruvadi Deekshai) through me.

It is through Deekshai Vallalar will enter inside the seeker and will be his Guru and will guide him to the Supreme Lord.

It is his great grace that kindled us to start this website and reveal the divine truths.

As per his words in siddhi valaagam he has resided in our heart as well.

The great thing that this humble being doing in this birth is that, I am giving Gnana (Divine wisdom) Upadesam to all the beloved people who come seeking the divinity. I am doing this by of the grace of Vallalar. Only if we are alone (meaning with our soul) and do penance you will achieve. Grace of our Vallalar! Grace of SarGuru!

The purpose of this website to collect and present the knowledge which was revealed by Vallalar.

That way which is the noble way and what is that way- it is the way through our eyes, this is what is revealed in our site.

Making the people understand this way and help everyone through this way is the divine work given to us by our great Saint Vallalar.

To know more about Vallalar please read the online book in this link http://www.vallalyaar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/WhoIsPhilanthropist.pdf

“ Let all the living being live in bliss”

“ Let the honorable law of Non-Killing and eating only Plant food be bestowed on this earth”