RAMALINGA SWAMI

 

It was a priest who first recognised him… A man with his five-month old child came to the Chidambaram Temple for the darshan of Lord Natarajar. He stood before the sanctum. The temple priest began offering aarti to the Lord. In the same instant, the five-month old child burst into loud laughter. The surprised priest emerged from the sanctum and walked towards the child. The priest instantly recognised him. He said to the father that his child was in Truth none other than the Lord’s child. This incident took place in the year 1824.

 

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Once, he was seated before a mirror in a dark room with only a lamp burning beside him. At that time, he was only eight years old. While looking in the mirror, the reflection of his face disappeared and instead Lord Murugan appeared in the form of a beam of light. Lord Murugan entered into the eight year old, merging into his forehead.

 

***

 

When he was an adult, for a few years he lived in a small house in a village called Karunguli. An old woman would come to look after him and help around in the daily housework. At nights he would write devotional poems and songs with the help of a small oil lamp. Oil lamps were lit in small mud or clay pots. To prevent the clay from absorbing too much oil, it was customary to keep the pots filled with water overnight before their first use. This would saturate the pores in the mud and prevent it from soaking in too much oil. Once, it so happened that a clay pot cracked. The old woman bought a new one. She filled it with water and left it to soak overnight. She left for the day without mentioning anything about the new clay pot. Evening came to pass and darkness began to fall. Engrossed in writing poetry, He lit the lamp and continued his divine writing.” The villagers were unaware of his divinity. It was through this incident people learned of his true nature. No one knew what his practice or sadhana was. They would often find him in strange paradoxical moments. At times he would be seated surrounded by a circle of fire during the hot noon sun. Some people, on entering his room unannounced, would find his body separated into nine parts. This is called ‘Navakanda Yoga’, in the Siddha cult. While giving discourses, the people sitting in the last row and the people sitting in the first row would hear him the same. And many a times, he had resurrected the dead merely by his compassionate glance.

 

Finally, he sang in His songs: “Oh, divine Light, You made me a great Siddha Amongst the other Siddhas, And all Siddhas speak in surprise of me.”

 

He transformed His physical body into Suddha Deha (pure immaculate body), his subtle body into Pranava Deha (Omkar, or primal sound body) and his causal body into Gnana Deha (Body of wisdom) and attained a Light body, known as “Oli Udambu’. This is the highly revered Siddha Saint Ramalingam, also known as ‘Vallalaar’ by the people; the magnanimous, generous and compassionate one. He lived in society from 1823 to 1874.

 

In the year 1874, Siddha Saint Ramalingam entered into a room and transformed into Light and disappeared before the onlookers. This room is in a town called Vadallur and many of his devotees frequent here seeking his blessings. Siddha Ramalingam’s life was filled with heart-rending devotion and immense compassion towards the suffering of all living beings. This nature caused the divine phenomena of melting habitual inertia and the tamasic nature gripping the body. The transformation occurred down to the cellular level and alchemically transformed Him into a gracious eternal divine Light. This great Siddha Saint sang of death as an ignorant habit and a careless mistake…

 

“O people of the world, Come! Come you can live the life Of deathlessness, Speaking the truth, Nor exaggerate nor lie!

But speaking the solemn truth Come, follow me, To enter the hall of Gold The hall of Gnosis.”

Verse 5876 of Thiruarutpa

 

This was a turning point for many Siddha followers. It brought reality to ancient belief and Truth to the myth of the immortality sung in Siddhas verses. Not long ago, this great Siddha Saint lived among people, showering his compassion and grace to one and all. And when this compassionate one did leave his physical form, he did so by merging into all living beings. This way he re-emerges as the seed, flowering into spiritual transformation. In his farewell discourse, a few moments prior to his disappearance into Light, he proclaimed to his loved devotees…

 

“I am in this body, henceforth, I would enter all physical bodies…”

Peru Upadesha Jan 1874

 

Some of His works are:

Thiruarutpa (6000 songs)

Manu Murai Kanda Vasagam - ethical prose work.

Upadesha (his sacred teachings)

Classification of Herbs

Collection of letters to his devotees

 

“He reigned supreme from my mid-point eye brow;

In His luminosity like that of the camphor flame,

I see no smoke, no flickering, but steady vision;

He unleashed the closed gateway of my mid-eye,

And liberated me from darkness to light everlasting;

It was all His sport, glorified in the sacred lore!

In the pinnacle of Light Mountain, I saw Thee, My eyes rejoiced in awareness serene;

my eyes See naught but Thy light of consciousness;

It is the light of Truth, the light of justice, The light of purity, the Light of righteousness;

Such is Thy Luminosity Supreme That immersed me in bliss.”

Verses from Mahadeva Malai

By Siddha Saint Ramalingam

 

Aus: "Siddhas - Masters of Nature" von Palpandian, mit freundlicher Genehmigung