Questions of Ganaesh
Dr K.Loganathan, June 2011
Questions of Ganaesh-1
Friends
I begin this series by way of responding to the several questions that have been raised by Ganaesh and which are available at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/meykandar/message/42368
I shall take the questions one by one rewording if necessary
The first question is as follows:
Q1: Once we achieved the 'sameness in understanding' will we be able to escape the 'existential repetition' -vicious cycles of death-rebirth?!
Reply - Loga
Yes, once the souls learn and develop the same understanding as Siva i.e. enjoy the Njaanam or Sivanjaanam, the existential repetition comes to a CLOSURE for the very purpose of endless existential repetition is achieved. The souls are thrown into embodied existence for a purpose-- that of FREEING them from the Malam that infects them and make them atomic as well as ignorant.
This Malam not only BLINDS the souls, making their seeing delimited but also eventually KILLS them and which is the separation of the soul from a physical body. SIVA, being wholly LOVE, graces them with a rebirth so that the souls can learn and continue to destroy the ignorance and thus the hold of ANava Malam.
Here we must note that while for Siva it is simply a DANCE and hence non-teleological, for the souls this historicity is teleological-- they are moved in a certain direction , towards an END, the Moksa, attaining which they enjoy an existential CLOSURE. The Fundamental Intentionality underlying endless existential repetition of the creatures is leading them towards enjoying Moksa by making their understanding the same as Siva and which constitutes Sivattuvam-- the Sivahood and which is being absolutely Pure and Clean
While launching the phenomenal existence as embodied is the OPENING, granting Moksa and relieving being repeatedly embodied is the CLOSURE. In between there are births and deaths with evolutionary development written into it.
Now there is another dimension to this Moksa, At the point a soul is blessed with Moksa, there is no more Tirobavam, the transcendental CONCEALMENT of BEING(SIVA) -- BEING stands fully disclosed and where the soul standing the same as BEING enjoys it in Deep Silence-- speech is impossible at this stage. This state is what the Nayanmars describe as attaining the Feet of Siva and which is also PiRappu ARuttal, severing from being thrown back into embodied existence.
When in the soul there is neither ignorance not concealment by BEING, there is also no more any reason to assume embodied existence and hence historical existence as such-- living learning developing evolving etc. It is all over and the soul rests in absolute peace and in total bliss in the Sivaloka and at the feet of BEING. The great Saiva Saints also describe this state as witnessing the Dance of Bliss of Siva and Sakti and enjoying supreme bliss and nothing else.
Now there is another question here: If the souls are compelled directly or indirectly towards this journey, towards Moksa, what happens to the FREEDOM of the souls? Isn’t a kind of determinism at work and hence BEING quite tyrannical even though LOVING and Good?
The freedom of the soul is not impaired in the cosmic Dance of Siva for the souls retain their capacity to DENY even BEING and REFUSE to follow they way suggested by BEING as a Guru. BUT howver there is aesthetics at work where the PURITY of BEING attracts all the souls and hence they gravitate towards BEING quite willingly. There is a natural psychotropism of all souls towards BEING where on nearing BEING they experience joys of a magnificent kind while when moving away, they experience all kinds miseries and pains.
Siva is wholly LOVE and that attracts all souls unto Him
Loga
Questions of Ganaesh-2
The next question is as follows:
Q2:
- Our body is like machine....like..every instrument/machine with in-built sensors with limited sensitivity, range/limit of detection and specificity, didn't we humans also have limitation in sensing and thereby have limited learning (pedagogy) and constrained-understanding?
Reply- Loga
While it is true that the human body with its cognitive modules Manam Buddhi Angkaaram and Cittam are delimited in sensing the various kinds of information reaching them from within and without, there are also processes whereby all these limitations are overcome and the sensing through visions are enlarged and deepened so that finally there results a sensing without any limitations. We can rebuild our body itself so that its sensing capacities are continuously enlarged and finally the soul reaches a point where further developments are not possible
We can give an analogy here- that of increasing or widening our sensitivity through building various kinds of instruments-- telescopes microscopes, radio telescopes satellite sensing and so forth. We overcome the limitations of our natural and biologically endowed capacities for creating awareness through the five senses by the aid of technological inventions such as the above.
Now what the positive sciences of the West have not done, but the Hermeneutic Sciences of the Tamils have accomplished is widening and deepening the capacity for seeing itself so that what is hidden and concealed also become objects of visions. The Siddhas have endeavoured to rebuild the body itself so that it becomes a telescope, a microscope a Satellite in the Space with many probes and so forth
Recall here the famous words of Appar: kaaNpaar aar KaNNutal KaaddaakkaLee (who can ever see anything if Siva does not show? ), Meykandar: kaaddu oduGkak kaaNaatee ( when the showing ceases the seeing by the souls also ceases), Tirumular: kaLimbu aRuttaan kaN vizippittu. ( Siva opened up the visions and through that removed the Malam) All these mean: There is SHOWING by BEING and SEEING by the souls and where the seeing becomes enlarged deepened widened etc so that the souls see more and more and finally ALL.
The Saiva Theory of Vision
Taking the hint from such observations as above I have developed a Theory of Vision as follows and I have described it insufficient details in my Azivil UNmai(Tamil). Let me recall the essences briefly here.
There is within the natural and initial seeing through the senses five various other kinds of seeing and which become available to us if we move in the right way. These visions are as follows:’
PoRliyap Paarvai:
the seeing through the senses five
Nuuliyap Paarvai:
the seeing through the mental eye where an object is taken as a TEXT with Surface Structure(SS) and Deep Structure(DS) and where we seek the DS through the observable features of SS--like seeing a person is angry by noting wrinkles on his face.
Nutaliyap PaarvaiL
The visions of the Third Eye likedream visions we enjoy during sleep and so forth. If well developed one can dream even while awake and seethings normally beyond our ordinary visions. In the West these are being studied as Telepathy Extrasensory Perception Clairvoyance and so forth and all as parts of Paranormal Psychology. Among the Tamil Siddhas and right from very ancient times such visions have been enjoyed and because of which they are very certain of the existence of deities- the mantra bodies, the archetypes and so forth. This kind of Psychology is the mainstream psychology among the Tamil Siddhas.
These visions are basic and once attained there can be further visions which are further developments from within leading finally to PaarvaiyaRRa Paarvai, a kind of seeing where there is nothing left unseen
In between there are the Parappaarvai( transcendental seeing) Sivap Paarvai (seeing only the divine and aesthetically appealing) Atiitap Paarvai ( seeing the absolutely transcendental and universal) and so forth
All these higher visions are potentially there in all individuals and where BEING is always with ParvaiyaRRa Paarvai the Nookkaatu Nookkal of Meykandar.
The peculiarity of the final vision that leaves nothing unseen is that there is NO CUDDU here -- it transcends any inclination towards ‘this-ness” ‘that-ness’ and so forth. There is nothing as that and this in thin limiting development of vision- only a NOTHINGNESS, a SUUNYAM against it. The soul sees all just the same way as Siva- standing without anniyam, alienness with all (anniyam illaatu) Since at this point there is no TIME consciousness, the soul remains in Deep Silence unable to utter any word at all. Any speech will establish a fissure between it and Siva and hence also with the total vision.
The following verse of Tirumular explains the matter quite well:
645
Cittam tirintu civamayam aakiyee
Muttam terintu uRRu moonar civamuttar
Cuttam peRalaakum aintil todakku aRRoor
Cittam parattil tirunadattooree
Meaning:
The Siddhas who have attained the great powers eight are actually those who have attained Moksa and hence with a soul that is totally divinized and who practice Deep Silence by way of maintaining themselves in the oneness with BEING(Siva). On account of this they become absolutely pure and clean and totally free from the earthly desires. Their mind will always be in the transcendental world watching and enjoying every event as the Dance of Siva-Sakti
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The Siva Pedagogy already there in the world as freely available to all is one of transforming machine-like body so that it becomes more and more sophisticated with greater and greater remote sensing capacities so that finally the souls enjoy a body that allows the same kind of SEEING as that of BEING(Siva) so that there is nothing left outside the gaze of the soul
Questions of Ganaesh-3
The next and the third question is as follows:
-By taking birth as Humans with these inherent limitations, how come we are able to grasp the Truth (in completeness, as it is....without distortion) and thereby escape the existential repetition?
-So, is escaping from existential repetition possible using physical human body or 'mental reflections/understanding' using the existing physical brain?
I take it that this question is directed at the growth of UNDERSTANDING where finally the SattaRivu, the TRUTH or Njaanam is enjoyed and Moksa attained. The question poses a dilemma: the soul is in a physical body but the understanding is not physical but cognitive. So how is that finally TRUTH, the SattaRivu is understood and Moksa is enjoyed?
Here the answer is: the soul LEARNS and the learning that dispels ignorance caused by the Blindness induced by Malam, is the genuine learning. And what dispels ignorance are TRUTH and nothing else.
This concept of Learning as Reduction of Ignorance is not available in Wetern Psychology dominated as it is by Behavirism Cognitive Psychology etc. Even in Depth Psychology there is no such an understanding of Learning as there is no concept of Malam as such.
Recall here the Sumerian Surruppaak (c. 3000 BC): nig-nam kal-kal-in nig-e me kal kal > Ta, nikaznam kalkalin mikavee mey kal kal: if you study the happenings around (properly) you really learn TRUTHS(mey). He also adds in another line that if one learns such TRUTHS, the eyes of the person will glow brilliantly!
Now also recall Tolkaappiyar: (Logic) is ‘mey neRittu’ ; all logical investigations are directed at seeking TRUTHS.
Also recall here TirukkuRaL: meyp poruL kaaNpatu aRivu: it is the mark of intelligence to seek out and see TRUTHS,
Recall also Tirumular who says that the anma ia sat-asat-- something capable of both the transient truths( asat) and the absolute TRUTH(sat). What he says in a nutshell is that the soul is initially something that learns the transient truths but transcending them reaches the Absolute TRUTH, i.e from being a sat-asat becomes finally a Sat. something that enjoys only SataRivu, the Civanjaanam, that which blesses the soul with Moksa and hence brings about the CLOSURE for endless existential repletion.
But the dilemma noted is :This learning is conducted by the anma while inhabiting a physical body but where this Njaanam, the Absolute TRUTH is not at all physical but rather a matter of Supreme Consciousness. How can the soul existing in a physical body develop consciousness that leads to the final liberation?
Now here we can bring in the difference between Cit (entity capable of conscious) and Acit (the physical, the insentient.) The fact is a person as an embodied soul is Cit-Acit, a sentient being but sustaining itself in an insentient machine-like physical body. Here we see the great importance of LEARNING TRUTHS that has been the corner stone of Dravidian culture from Sumerian times itself: it is such a kind of learning that allows the soul become totally a Cit, a sentient entity that does not need anymore the insentient physical body for its existence. By learning truths after truths, it not only widens the horizon of its consciousness, but also reaches the LIMITS, the Supreme Consciousness the Njaanam so that inhabiting a physical body also becomes irrelevant, not necessary any more. From being a Cit-Acit, it becomes a Cit just like BEING(Siva), always of the Supreme Consciousness.
But what is the meaning of TRUTH and how learning truths can lead the soul enjoy the final and redeeming Supreme Consciousness the Njaanam?
Now if you explore the various concepts of TRUTH in Western philosophical tradition such the Correspondence Theory Coherence Theory Emotive Theory and so forth, you will not meet with any definition that can help you to answer this question.
The Saiva Theory of Truth
In Saivism, as we have already noted there is a dialectic in Nature where there is SHOWING by BEING(Siva) and SEEING by the souls and because of which Siva is understood as the Maha Guru. There is a Pedagogy in Nature where Siva teaches by showing and the jivas learn by seeing. In this dialectic TRUTH consciousness emerges when the seeing by the souls is the SAME as the showing by Siva. The consciousness that something is a TRUTH and with apodictic certainty is a way of BEING providing a feedback to the soul that it has seen exactly as shown.
I have a special chapter on this in my Azvil UNmai and the Fifth Thesis defines this meaning of TRUTH as follows
ஐந்தாம் படிமெய்
மேற்கோள்: காணப்படுவதெல்லாம் காட்டப்படுவதாக, எவ்வாறு காட்டப்படுகின்றதோ அவ்வாறே பிழையின்றி
காணுகையிற்றான் உண்மை எனும் உணர்வு உதிக்கும் என்பது.
ஏது: தற்போதம் போக்கி சிவபோதத்திற்கு ஆளாகும்போதே, உண்மை என்ற உணர்வு உதிப்பதின்.
The Fifth Thesis:
Assertion:
Whatever is seen presupposes a prior showing (by BEING) and when the seeing is the same as the shown there is the genesis of truth consciousness as such
Reason
Because truth consciousness emerges only whenthe soul avoids self indulgence and submits itself to the objective--the way shown by BEING
You can read the details (in Tamil) at the following address:
https://sites.google.com/site/ulagansbooks/azivil-unmai-tamil-arum/e3-sutra-27
If in the Natural Pedagogy if BEING is the Guru and the soul is the sisya, the learner then as the soul learns as taught by BEING then eventually. The soul will enjoy an understanding and consciousness the SAME as that of BEING. The Sisya grows and becomes the same as the Guru in understanding and all prompted by BEING
This consciousness is the Njaanam, the Civanjaanam and attaining it will bring to a closure the whole of phenomenal presence and hence the existential repetition of the soul. This kind of development also FREES the soul from beingbound to the physical substratum and thus become autonomous, totally spiritual despite being within a physical body.
Questions of Ganaesh-4
The next question is :
-is any physical transformation happening....i mean 'changes-in/reconfiguration' mantric level (Deep structure/D.S) because of 'transformation' in 'Understanding' (beginner level to advanced practionner) in-turn (Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation) physical tranformation (Surface structure/S.S)(rewiring/reconfiguration/restructuring of the physical brain and body/attainment of siddhies/diamond body)?
I think the development in metaphysical understanding also transforms the body in various ways and which require a deeper exploration. In this essay I shall confine myself to such concepts of Tirumular : cembu ponaakum sivayanama enil: the body will become pure just like copper becomes gold on reciting the Mantra Sivaayanama. Related to this are notions of the body becoming of diamond strength (vaccirat teekam), ‘enRum 16-aay vaazvatu: existing as the ever 16 etc.
These and many other articulations of Tirumular and other Tamil Siddhas and Nayanmars, suggest that there are fundamental changes in the body whereby it is rejuvenation if already senile so that one can live in youthful vitality and with youthful virility to a ripe old age. Such concepts as “Golden Body”. “Diamond Body” and so forth are metaphors for transforming the Malam-infected Biological Body so that it becomes not only something that resists further decay and degeneration hastening senility and hence death but also for RECOVERING the lost youthful vitality by REVERSING the natural biological processes.
This has been substantiated by one of the Tamil Siddhas Gorakkar in his Naman Naasat TiRaukooL ( the key for overcoming Death) where he cites many Siddhas living to the ripe old age of 120 or so and having many spouses even in the old age. While I don’t go along with many techniques suggested by him, but it appears a truth that many Siddhas in fact lived for long and with youthful vitality and virility where some modern in medical science also affirms its possibility but in a different way.
It appears that according to Siddha Science there are interactions between the biological processes in the body and the metaphysical illuminations one enjoys. But how can we make sense of this interaction?
Recall the following verse by Tirumular on PraNaayama:
557
Aivarkku naayakan avvuurt talaimakan
Uuyak koNdu eeRum puravi maRRu onRuNdu
Meyyarukkup paRRu kodukkum kodaatu pooyp
Poyyarait tuLLi vizuttividum taanee
Meaning:
There is the breathing that controls the senses five and serves as the leader of the whole body considered a city. This breathing is the horse where while those who seek only TRUTHS in their life are supported and encouraged, it departs and drops to the ground those who seek falsities and indulge in fantasies.
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This is an amazing insight into how metaphysical illuminations interact with the biological processes. In the literature there are TWO explanations of this.
A: The number of time a person breaths is determined at his birth and as part of Karmic heritage. It is finite in number and while the mental processes of fantasizing speculating vainly and so forth brings about a WASTE in the number of times one breaths by agitating the soul, truth seeking and enjoying truths calms the soul leading to a conservation of breathing thus leading to longevity. A truth seeking and beholding person lives longer by extending the number of days he exhausts the finite number of breathings.
Now there is another view hidden in the MeykaNda Sastras which goes as below:
B; The when the soul enjoys a truth-experience, a Mey UNarvu, there is CiR Sakti Pativu, a registration of the inflow of Energy in the form of illuminating light ( the lumens) and because of which there is no dissipation of psychic energy but rather a gaining of it. This ensures the person remains youthful for long and if already senile then get rejuvenated and so forth.
My own preference is for the second where even Tirumular seems to suggest that. For Tirumular this metaphysically illuminating Energy is AruL and its inflow is called Saktinipaatam- the inflow of Sakti, energizing Power.
And we can make sense of it as follows. We have seen that truth-consciousness emerges only when the soul sees the same as shown by BEING and which means the soul remains one-with BEING at least in a limited way each time it enjoys a truth-experience. Now BEING as Sakti is wholly Power, the Supreme Energy variously transformed by Siva, the Pati. Thus each time the soul enjoys a truth-experience it is one-with Sakti, the Pure and Unlimited Energy and where there can be an INFLOW of some energy into the soul and body of the person.
I think it is such an inflow that has been called metaphorically the Amutu, the Nectar Ambrosia and so forth. It is this inflow of Sakti at the point truth-experiences that can rejuvenate the body as well as purify it of Malam and so forth. This make reactivate the neural network called the Nadies and let the various neural energy streams called Vaayu become active again making the body as a whole youthful again.
But I believe there must also more drastic changes for otherwise escaping from phenomal existential repetition will be impossible.
In the next post we shall explain it but with some uncertainties.
Questions of Ganaesh-5(Final)
The next set o questions are as follows:
-You have explained in the Yoga of Tirumular series, the reflection....then seeing..showing (various darsanas) will in-turn change 'the breathing pattern' the number of inspiration....the number of expiration...thereby kicking the God of death...is it not a physical transformation?!
-If there is change in breathing pattern....attainment of diamond body.....attainment of various siddhies...transformation from 'using' only 5 senses in to opening of third eye..thereby using the 6th sense....leading to transductive perception....are these changes are not physical transformation?
-If these are physical transformation....is there not a 'transformation in Substance' leading to sameness in substance or Homoousion as pati?!
I take it that all these questions boil down to this:
Q5:
Does attaining Moksa that comes along with enjoying the Eight Siddhies also mean the change of the biological body so that it becomes something like that of Siva, the Pati? Is there a transformation of the biological body and hence a transformation in substance so that the body itself becomes something similar to that of Siva?
The immediate answer is: Since attaining Moksa means being relieved of endless existential repetition and which is being thrown into physical embodiment, there must be drastic changes in the soul whereby re-entry into biological body is avoided, made quite unnecessary.
But how is this possible?
In the traditional account it is Karma that regulates the forms of birth as well as being born again and again. We have the Prabta Karma and which is that part of Agamiya Karma, karmic deposits elicited by the activities of the present birth that goes into determining the next form of birth and so forth. The Sanjita Karma is the source of all these karmic elicitations, a store house, so to speak, of such Karmas.
Now we can see that as long as the soul keeps on eliciting karmas, there will be Parbta Karma and hence being born again and again.
At the point of Mukti, there must be something happening to the soul so that this elicitation of Karmas is not only STOPPED but also the CLEANSING of all the Karmic deposits so that the soul is purified. In Saiva Siddhanta, I guess this state is called Iruvinai Oppu, the equalizing of moral issues and moving above this divisive state, something that happens when the soul is wholly LOVE.
I think we can link here this Karma with the genetic structure of modern science and think in terms of transforming the genome itself. We can also understand it as Mantra Complexes, the Akkara Sakkaram of Tirumular whereby changes are introduced so that biological rebirth is made quite irrelevant.
As the soul gains metaphysical illuminations, not only the hold of Malam is weakened and finally freed so that the soul is pure but along with it or even earlier to it, there must also be processes of freeing the soul of the Karmic Deposits that keep on determining its rebirth, re-embodiment , its repeated biological birth and so forth. There must be drastic changes in the Karmic Structure itself or what’s the same the Akkara Sakkaram also the Yantras so that being reborn is made unnecessary.
But then the soul must exist in some form or other and if the biological form of flesh and bones is made impossible, what other form can there be?
It is here that we conceive a Mantra Body as future possibilities for the souls that have attained Moksa and in that enter the celestial world where all the celestial beings enjoy Mantra Bodies. Recall here also Tirumular observing that Siva also enjoys a Mantra Body, the Mantrat Tirumeeni.
It is interesting that so far and as far as I know the West has not talked of Mantras but perhaps as the genetic sciences develop they too will.
Here I think we have to take another look at the AstaaGka Yoga of Tirumular. It appears to me that while the first FOUR organs of Iyamam Niyamam Asanam and PiraNayama are concerned with the biological functioning of the body and hence the Surface Structure, the blood flow the neural network the Tasa Vaayus the Tasa Nadies and so forth, the organs from Pratyakaram onwards i.e. Tiyanam TaaraNai and Samadhi, are concerned with transforming the genome structure itself, the Deep Structure itself, the existing wheel of Mantras or the sustaining Yantra so that, when the soul is separated from the body it is prevented from assuming a biological body but continue to exist in a Mantra Body and hence in the Celestial World along with the celestial beings.
Let us recall what Tirumular means by Pratyakaaram and which is a Sanskritization of Tamil Parutti Akaaram as explained below:
578
Orukkal upaatiyai oNcooti tannai
pirittuNar vanta upaatip pirivaik
karaittu uNarvu unnal karaital uLnookkal
pirattiyaakarap perumaiyatu aamee
Meaning:
The science of Prattiyaakaaram can be explained as follows. There is enjoying the visions of the Third Eye that promote inward gaze(uLnookkal) by drawing away the attention from the physical visions. One has to distinguish such metaphysical visions from those emerging from sense processes and the bodily needs that are impediments towards enjoying the visions of BEING as Pure Radiance (oN cooti). Dissolving (karaittu) all such impediments and meditate deeply (unnal) on the meanings of the visions and destroying the ignorance in the soul is the greatness (perumai) of this science.
Orukkal= urukkal : to melt by heating upaati < u+paati: those which impede(paati) the flow of light(u. uu)
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You can read the whole series at:
https://sites.google.com/site/ulagansbooks/yoga-of-tirumular/bk1-part-2
Beginning from Pratyakaram what we have is the Karaittal, melting and so forth and which may be the Siddha way of describing the restructuring of the existing genome itself so that after death the soul continues to exist in a mantra body, perhaps the Akkara Sakkaram at the point of death.
Concluding Remarks
I bring to a close this series now with the hope that the Saiva scholars of the future will integrate better the traditional notions of Siddhas with modern developments in genetics Depth Psychology and so forth. I believe the various Siddhas Sastras as well as the Pandara Sastras produced from about the 16th Cent may be very useful in such studies.