The Voice of the Divine
|
[These are episodes that recount Sathguru Venkataraman's
experiences with his divine teacher, Sri La Sri Idiyaappa Siddhar.
These Guru-Sishya experiences make up Sathguru Venkataraman's
spiritual autobiography.]
|
It was yet another hot Madras evening.
As usual, I had gone to see my divine teacher,
Lord Idiyaappa Siddhar at Mother Angaali's temple.
There was no telling that I would find him there,
but I would go there anyway hoping to see him.
And if he was there, my joy would know no bounds.
I was but a young boy then and I had much to learn.
It was a time when not being able to see his physical
form was unbearable for me. Little did I know then
what the future held for me, but that's a subject for later.
That day however, as luck would have it, he was there
in his customary spot, leaning against one of the temple pillars.
I was so happy to see him. I went up to him and paid my respects.
He looked up and flashed a mischievous smile.
That unforgettable smile which was often the
forerunner of yet another profound spiritual experience.
It was thrilling, but it was also chilling!
For the spiritual lessons in many of these
experiences were not easy to go through,
but Lord Idiyaappa Siddhar made me go
through these lessons for a reason.
He is the master of suspense and that was just as well.
Many a time, it's good if we don't know what the future holds.
If he had said what the lesson constituted,
I may not have had the stomach to go through it.
So I now know that the suspense was actually helpful,
though I didn't quite feel that way then!
Thus the chill and the thrill went hand in hand.
Seeing his mischievous smile, I managed to smile a bit too,
eagerly awaiting what he was going to say next.
"Have you spoken on the telephone?" he asked.
Oh what a letdown! This didn't sound profound at all.
There goes the spiritual experience I was looking forward to, I thought.
"No, Sir," I answered him.
There were not that many telephones in Madras at that time.
Only the rich folk and businesses could afford telephones.
"Well, let's find you a telephone then," he said and got up.
This usually signalled a trek somewhere.
For an old man, he was a swift walker. Keeping pace with him
was not easy unless I ran. I would hold on to my loose shorts
(they really should be called longs because they were so long!)
with one hand and run after him. Must have been quite a
sight!
When he got up and started walking, I dutifully followed him.
We came out of the temple and walked for some ten minutes or
so. My teacher stopped at a place where there was a telephone.
One of those old models where you hold the receiver to the ear
with your left hand and the mouthpiece with your right hand.
"Let me see who is free... Hmm... Oh! You're lucky! Looks
like Rudra Prajapati is free. Let me get him on the line."
I thought that Rudra Prajapati must be some important person
in Madras. I had no idea what he was going to say or what
I was going to say, but this didn't feel like it was going to
be a spiritual ordeal by any stretch of the imagination.
So there was no chill, only thrill!
My teacher made me hold the receiver to my ear and the mouthpiece to
my mouth. He then made the dialing motion and softly
instructed me to say "Om" into the mouthpiece. I did as he
asked me to. The next moment I heard a voice in my ear that
made every hair on my body stand up! It was like an electric
current had surged through me, but in an indescribable and
blissful way. I lost sense of my surroundings. All I could
think of was that bliss filled voice. That voice filled me.
It reverberated inside
me. It touched every part of my being. It removed all sense
of the physical world from me. I was totally lost in a sea of bliss.
I will never be able to describe that sound... that voice!
Just hearing the sound of that divine voice immersed me in an
ocean of indescribable bliss!
In the middle of this stunning
experience, that divine person on the other
end of the line gave me a few instructions that must remain
secret.
When I came to my senses, my teacher took the receiver and the
mouthpiece and placed them back on the telephone. He took me
by my hand and came out on to the street. We made our way back
to the temple.
I had thought that Rudra Prajapati was someone in Madras.
Stupid me! My teacher, the great Siddha, had connected me to
someone in the celestial realms! The unthinkable
Lord Rudra Prajapati Himself! Such a high being!
What an absolutely amazing experience!
No wonder the very sound of His voice immersed
me in a sea of bliss! In the Guru Gita, Lord Siva tells
Mother Parvati that the root of mantra is the Guru's word
(mantra moolam guror vaakyam). The divine sound I heard
that day was mantra and more! It was the seed of bliss!
This experience had a very profound effect on me.
From that day onwards, human voices ceased to have any
interest for me. My teacher's voice, the voice of Siddhas
my teacher introduced me to and that unforgettable voice
on the phone!
Those are the only ones worth hearing. Even today when
I pick up the phone, I am immediately reminded of that
divine voice and I don't feel like hearing other voices
through the phone. And I'm waiting eagerly for the day
when I'll be able to hear that voice again.
With one experience, my teacher had
cut asunder the mundane world of human speech. Do you
know how hard it is to do that? But my teacher did that
effortlessly. Such is his greatness!
Of course, my teacher did not need a
telephone to give me this experience, but this was his
unique way of teaching! I was thinking it was going to be
something mundane, but my teacher gave me such a wonderful
spiritual experience without even giving a hint of it
beforehand! This is why it is important that one shouldn't
take the spiritual teacher for granted. A true spiritual
teacher can bless a disciple with a profound, unforgettable
spiritual experience anytime, anywhere.
Thus came to be yet another great blessing from my divine
teacher, Lord Idiyaappa Siddhar. My most respectful
salutations to Him!
Om Sri Sarva Sri
Saaktha Parabrahma
Maharishi Mahesvara
Kousthuba Purusha
Sri Idiyaappa Siddha Easa
Guru Maharaj Ki Jai!
| 
