SRI RAMALINGA SWAMIGAL’s LIFE STORY – FINAL PART

Compiled & Written by: Mrs.Sowmya Nikhil  

Ramalinga Swamigal’s days in Chennai were filled with great literary activity. Ramalinga Swamigal had a great interest in the Tamil language and took upon himself to publish and edit some rare books of poets of an earlier period such as “Ollivillodukkam” (Primer of Self Knowledge) in 1851, “Manu Murai Kanda Vachaham” (A tale of justice about how King Manu Nidhi Chozhan dispensed justice to a cow based on Sekkizhar’s Peria Puranam) in 1854, “Thondamandala Satakam” (A Hundred Songs on Thondamandalam) by Poet Padikkasan in 1856 and “Chinmaya Deepikai” (Guide to Spirituality) of poet Mutthaiyya Swamigal of Vridachalam in 1857. At the request of an elder Arumuga Ayyah, he explained the text of ‘Vinayaka Puranam’

One of Ramalinga Swamigal’s greatest works was the “Thiru Arutpa” (The Divine Song of Grace) a collection of 5,818 songs in 6 volumes or Thirumurais in 1867. This sacred collection of songs portrays the eternal concept of truth, the general aspects of life, and his own divine experiences. He also wrote the book “Jivakarunya Ozhukkam” (The Law of Compassion for Life) this was however published after his lifetime in 1879.

Form to Formless Worship

His daily worship at the temple at Thiruvotriyur during the years 1835 to 1858 had brought profound spiritual changes within him. He felt no difference between his first favourite deity Lord Muruga and Lord Shiva. Both had become one for him. He later declared that all the deities are but different manifestations of the One God, who chose to grace him with an experience of the ultimate reality – as an effulgent light (Jothi) in the formless state. Thus, he evolved from form to formless worship. 

 

Vallalar - A Spiritual Guide to Many

 

Ramalinga Swamigal as a guide brought clarity to all those who sought spiritual knowledge. The chief among his disciples was Thozhuvar Velayudha Mudaliar. He was fortunate to be t  aught the meaning of scriptures both in Tamil as well as Sanskrit by Ramalinga Swamigal.

Amongst his other disciples were Veerasamy Mudaliar, Srinivasa Vardachariar, Gnanasundaram Iyer, Sundaram Pillai, and Kriya Yogi Pandara Arumuga Ayyah. During this time, he began to be known as “Thiru Arut Prakasa Vallalar” by his disciples. (Thiru means ‘Divine’, Arul means ‘Grace’, Prakasa means ‘Light’, Vallalar means ‘Philanthropist’. It refers to a person who selflessly gave inner light (wisdom), to others, through Divine Grace). 

 

After his mother’s passing away, Ramalinga Swamigal is also said to have visited several temples along with his followers at Thiruvalidyam, Thirumullaivayal, Thiruvallur, Thirukannamangai, Pullirukkuvelur and had sung many songs in praise of the presiding deities of these places.

Stay at Chidambaram

In 1858, at the age of 35, he left the city of Chennai for good and proceeded towards Chidambaram. It is during this period; he began to call himself ‘Chidambaram Ramalingam’. On the way, he visited Pondicherry where he gave a discourse, and then went on to visit Seerkazhi, Vaideeswaran Koil, Nagapattinam, and Madurai. He finally halted at Karunkuzhi, which was near his native village of Marudur as his brother Parasurama Pillai was staying there. However, Parasurama Pillai passed away a few days later. When Ramalinga Swamigal decided to leave for Chidambaram, Venkata Reddiar who lived in Karunkuzhi, asked Ramalinga Swamigal to stay at his home to which he agreed.

Stay at Karunkuzhi

A room was allocated separately for Ramalinga Swamigal and the Reddiar family had the honour of serving him for 9 years till he left Karunkuzhi in 1867. He spent his days at Karunkuzhi composing poems, delivering discourses, and offered solace to all those who flocked to see him. He visited Vridachalam, Thiruvannamalai, and Thiruvadihai and composed songs in praise of the deities here. However, Chidambaram nearest to Karunkuzhi claimed his daily homage.

He is said to have written the Thiru Arutpa one of his most important works between the years 1860 to 1865. The first four volumes of Thiru Arutpa were published in 1867 and the 5^th Thirumurai in 1880 by Thouluvur Velayuda Muthaliyar. The 6^th volume was brought out by devotees in 1885.

Miracle at Karunkuzhi

Once Ramalinga Swamigal was alone at night and was busy writing out his divine verses. While filling the lamp, he did not notice that he had mistakenly filled the lamp with water instead of oil. The lamp, however, kept burning through the night! It was only the next day when Reddiar’s wife told him that she had forgotten her duty of filling the oil container he realized the hand of the Divine behind it.

Miracles of Ramalinga Swamigal

i) Dry Land turned into Fertile Land – Nataraja Pillai wrote many petitions to the Government then, to help him make his lands fertile, but it was of no use. Ramalinga Swamigal gave him sacred ash and asked him to scatter it on his lands, by which all his lands became fertile.

ii) Extreme Faith of the Devotee in Swamigal – A Chettiar from Sevalai Village had deep faith in Swamigal. He was suffering from an Acidity problem for 12 years. He requested Swamigal to cure his disease and told him that he had the utmost faith in him and to him, he was God. Ramalinga Swamigal graciously accepted his faith and cured his disease with his sacred ash.

iii) His Mastery over Nature – The villagers from Pudupettai asked Swamigal to help them as they had water scarcity. He asked them to bring 6 pots of water and pour them over his head. The Sky drew dark. As Swamigal opened his eyes, the sky opened and they had a heavy downpour and all their wells were filled with water during that summer.

The Court Case at Manjakuppam

Ramalinga Swamigal during this period was advocating to go beyond scriptures, and see the Divine as formless light. The publication of the Thiru Arutpa caused quite a stir amongst orthodox sections of the society especially a person called Arumuga Navalar. He started a controversy against Ramalinga Swamigal describing the Thiru Arutpa as “Marut-pa” (Book of Darkness) because as per his viewpoint, Ramalinga Swamigal was advising people to turn away from religion. When this did not cause any decrease in Ramalinga Swamigal’s fame, he got more incensed and filed a case against Ramalinga Swamigal at the Manjakuppam Court that the latter had intimidated him with an assault on his person.

When on being called to court, Ramalinga Swamigal entered the room, everyone except the British Judge rose as one and did namaste in reverence. This included Navalar as well. The Judge who was observing all this asked Navalar as to why he had stood up when Ramalinga Swamigal had entered the court. Navalar replied, “As a mark of respect”. The Judge then concluded the case saying: “As you find this person worthy of respect, the case filed against him stands closed”.

Debate on Form Versus Formless Worship

On the 16^th of January 1867, Ramalinga Swamigal was present at a festival in Thiruppapuliyur near Cuddalore. Sridaraswami Naicker, a leader of Brahmo Samaj, was also there with some of his followers and was asking people to give up the idea of idol worship through his speeches.  When Ramalinga Swamigal was asked for his view, he briefly commented “Those who have started knowing Brahman should continue further. Those who are doing idol worship should continue likewise. Both are appropriate at their own levels”. The local people requested Ramalinga Swamigal to have a debate with Sridaraswami Naicker and he agreed. Naicker was initially reluctant to publicly debate with Ramalinga Swamigal, but when goaded by the people gathered there, he remarked “To worship an idol seems idle and childish. The proper thing is to contemplate on the Supreme Brahman which is eternal, formless, without attributes, beyond even speech and thought.”

Ramalinga Swamigal with great profundity explained his view thus: “Meditation cannot be on anything other than a form. It focuses on an image or symbol of a Godhead rather than its perfection. The mind cannot directly grasp the essence of Brahman as the mind can only grasp things that are limited in nature. Only when one transcends the mind, can the bliss of the Brahman which is formless be realized. In the course of time, the Form which is meditated upon will dissolve into Formlessness. The culmination of dualism is non-dualism”. He further summarized it thus – “If the meditator disappears it is ‘Non-dualism’ and at one stage when the Form itself will disappear; it is the arrival beyond (Ultimate Merger with the Divine)”.

His Compassion for Life

Vallalar saw God in the form of light and he saw this light in all beings. He was known for his utmos  t compassion for all living beings. According to him, Service to Humanity is Service to God. His empathy extended to all living things and he expressed it thus “Vaadiya Payirinai Kanda Pothellam Vaadinen”. (When he saw the tender plants withered, he felt withered himself). He was a staunch supporter of Vegetarianism and was against any form of cruelty to animals. He was against the caste system or any other kind of discrimination and founded the “Samarasa Vedha Sanmarga Sangam” at Vadalur in 1865. It was later renamed as “Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sathya Sangam” (Society for Pure Truth in Universal Selfhood) in 1872.

Ramalinga Swamigal stated that God is One – Arut Perum Jothi (Vast Grace of Light). ‘Sanmarga’ is to consider all lives as one and equal without any discrimination be it religion, caste, gender, or the place they belonged to. Ramalinga Swamigal propagated the philosophy that one should see the inherent divinity in each soul and respect it. And it is only through compassion and service to all living beings be it a bird, animal, or man, can one reach God.

He established the “Sathya Dharma Salai” for the feeding of the poor and destitute at Vadalur in the year 1867. The objective of this institution was to feed the poor daily without any  discrimination of race, caste, gender, or religion. The stove that was lit by Ramalinga Swamigal, on the day of the inauguration, continues to serve in feeding the masses even now. It was around this period, Ramalinga Swamigal moved from Karunkuzhi to go and live at the Sathya Dharma Salai. It became the center of activities for the ‘Sangam’. In the evenings, he gave discourses and people flocked to see and listen to him and for guidance.

Stay at Mettukuppam

In  the year 1870, he shifted to a small hamlet called Mettukuppam which is about 2.5 miles southwest of Vadalur. He built a shrine called “Siddhi Valaka Thirumaligai” and lived there. He would daily visit Vadalur to check upon the running of the institutions he had commenced. He gave discourses on Siddhantha Philosophy in a language that even a common man could understand. He composed the “Arut Perum Jothi Agaval’ and other Tamil songs.

It was here, he saw Lord Shiva in the form of a flame and composed a song based on his experience in chaste Tamil. He with great admiration and respect composed songs for each of the four Saivaite Saints – Appar, Sundarar, Manikkavasagar, and Thiru Gnana Sambandhar.  Ramalinga Swamigal perceived the Jyothi as a light between his eyebrows (Agnya Chakra). This is where he perceived the Supreme Effulgence ‘Arut Perum Jyothi”. He sincerely wished that people from all over the world experience the Grace Light and attain immortality by merging with the Divine just as he had. To symbolize this, he specially designed and built a Hall of Wisdom otherwise known as “Sathya Gnana Sabhai” at Vadalur on the 25^th of January 1872.  A consecrated mirror, about 4ft in length, along with a lamp was given by Ramalinga Swamigal to reflect the Light of Supreme Grace (Arut Perum Jyothi). Every nook and corner of the structure is symbolic and it was built octagonal in shape. Within it is a 12 pillared hall and nested within that hall is a 4 pillared hall which houses the Light of Supreme Grace. Ramalinga Swamigal wanted to affirm the fact that we need to shed the seven levels of Maya before we can see the Divine Inner Soul Light within us. To symbolically convey this, he placed the seven screens in the Sathya Gnana Sabhai. These veils can be shed only by Divine Grace. He further reiterated that a person can receive Divine Grace only through his acts of compassion and universal brotherhood.

On Thai Poosam Day, the devotees gathered to pray and had a wonderful darshan of the glorious effulgent light as the screens were pulled aside one by one. This special darshan was given on other Poosam days as well in which Ramalinga Swamigal used to participate. This practice is followed till date even after 147 years.

After building the Sathya Gnana Sabhai he gradually withdrew into himself and spent many hours practicing meditation and Yoga. He gave his most celebrated sermon on the 22^nd of October 1873, at the hoisting of the Flag of Brotherhood in  Mettukuppam. He exhorted his followers to focus on spiritual enquiry and detach themselves from the dogmas of religion and reiterated strongly only through acts of compassion can one attain Divine Grace. He said True Knowledge can only be realized when one experiences the Divine within them. To experience this, he said one should develop a deep desire and aim to know the Divine. Divinity will reveal itself according to the individual’s level of consciousness. He asked them to stay focused on this path of introspection as it would be sometime after him, that someone would come to guide them and those were his last words.

Dematerialization

In November, he removed the lighted lamp from inside his room and placed it outside, and stayed confined to his room for days at a stretch. He would then come out for few days, to meet people and give discourses. This went on for three months and on the day of the Poosam Nakshatra, 30^th of January 1874, he indicated his leaving the physical plane, by communicating to his followers that he would be inside his room for 10-15 days and that they were not to look into his room. If anyone would try to do so, the Lord would keep him invisible to their eyes. He gave a farewell blessing to his followers and went inside his room and dematerialized his body. He however continues to bless and serve humanity  through His Cosmic Light Body Form.

As a result of his spiritual transformations, he could dematerialize his body and is believed to continue to bless humanity through his Cosmic form. His vision was to convey to people that through Universal brotherhood, compassion, and constant self-enquiry, they could directly access the Divine within them in the Formless Light, and it is this Light that would lead them to the ultimate state of liberation.

                                       Arut Perum Jothi. Arut Perum Jothi.

                                     Thani Perum Karunai. Arut Perum Jothi.       

References

i)   Murugan Adiyargalin Varalaru based on (Sei Thondar Puranam) by Professor V.C. Sasivalli

ii) Ramalinga Poet and Prophet by Purasu Balakrishnan

iii) The Universal Vision of Saint Ramalinga by Dr.R. Ganapathy – An English Translation of Vallalar Kanda Orumaipadu by Dr.M.P. Sivagnanam

iv) www.vallalar.org ,www.vallalarmiracles.org . and  www.thiruppugazh.org