Master Ceremony

Martial arts remains as a myth to most of the people in the world. People see that as all about developing fighting skills and getting stronger physically-mentally. Most of the schools promote the same. Martial arts is a way of life. Getting a black belt shouldn’t be just an accomplishment. Rather it signifies the personal growth. I started learning karate in Aug-1999 and got my first black belt in May-2003. I strengthened my body and mind. I learnt several techniques and attended many tournaments. I had a very rich experience which I cherish always but I didn’t have clear purpose and connection between life and art.

After training with Master Bell, I learned about myself through the art. The art helps me to explore profound purpose of my being. The art is strategically in tuned to life. After 19 years of training in marital arts, I learned the tools to elevate myself to very balanced place within myself, a way to deal with day-to-day challenges, in a nutshell a way to live gracefully and teach the same to the people. August-05-2018 is very important day in my life. I’ve been granted 4^th dan Black belt by Grand Master Bell. In traditional Tang Soo Do, 4^th degree black belt is called as Sa Buh Nim (Master) which symbolizes many aspects of human growth. 

If I’ve to put it in simple terms, what a Master level would mean:-

Trained, Disciplined, Keen on listening and paying attention, Peaceful, Well Balanced, Strong & Humble, Loving & Caring, Very Patient & Tolerant, Truthful & Honest, Responsible, Help people to bring them out of their Darkness and never accompany them in their weakness.

Today I’m more humble than ever, more loving & caring than ever, more patient & tolerant than ever and I understand where I came from and where I’m now in my life. I understand that one lifetime will not be enough to truly master an art which makes art/life always fresh and interesting. I see there is nothing more precious than oneself in this world. Realizing oneself and valuing that, will completely change the quality of our life. One will experience the real freedom when one is ready to lose everything except oneself. 

Way to live..

I try to remember when I did get boredom last time, I couldn’t remember. What makes my life interesting to myself? Staying conscious of myself and paying attention to the simple things  makes life very interesting everyday. Every single day, after taking shower, I sit down, close my eyes and just watch myself. These days I’m enquiring “who am I?”. I learn a lot about myself. Self study is very fulfilling.

In this process, I disidentify myself from emotions, thoughts, intellect, body etc and develop a deeper appreciation for my life. It’s such a joy from self which can’t be expressed in words. There are no inner conflicts. Very very peaceful. No complaints about life. When I do a physical stretch, there is a beautiful sense of balance between mind, body and spirit. It feels like I’m enough into myself.

There are one million things going wrong in society. What can I do to change that? Nothing is in my control. I don’t have power to change any of that. At least I can bring order within myself and eliminate any problem from my side to this world. Life order brings peace and confidence. I feel this world needs lots of peaceful people. Kids need strong examples to live life passionately.

Having said that, I feel disheartening sometimes when I see parents irresponsibly inflicting their weakness to kids. Very very few parents look at themselves and ask how well they are doing as parents? Many of them has inner conflicts, anxiety, ego, fear, emotional imbalance but none of them consider that as problem but expect their kids to do well somehow. It’s insanely crazy. Kids will learn a lot from their parents both good and bad. They can feel the energy of the parents. As a society, we put a lot of focus on accomplishments but very little focus on inner wellbeing.

I think any accomplishment with lots of stress is a failure. There is a systematic way to live and deal with things. I think it’s essential to teach this way in home and school. Just taking time to look at oneself is simple and essential but it becomes a rare thing.

Balance

நமக்குள்ள நம் மனசு தாண்டி உணர்ச்சிகள் தாண்டி புத்தியை தாண்டி ஒரு அமைதியான நடுநிலைமையான ஒரு இடம் இருக்கு. அந்த இடத்தில நம்ம மனசு நம் வசம் இருக்கும், புத்தி பிரகாசமா வேலை செய்யும், உணர்ச்சிகள் ஆழமான உணர்வுகளாக இருக்கும். வாழ்க்கை ரம்மியமா இருக்கும்.

சரி, இந்த இடத்திற்கு உள்ளுக்குள் போவதற்கும் அதிலே லயித்து இருப்பதற்கும், என்ன பண்ணணும்?
1. சத்தியமா இருக்கனும்(Stay Truthful). வெறும் பேச்சில இருந்தா பத்தாது. வாழ்க்கையில இருக்கனும்.  If we have any inch of respect for ourselves, that's being true to ourselves. This directly leads to the path of high self esteem .
2. அடக்கமா இருக்கனும்(Stay Humble). இது இல்லாம மன அமைதி எண்பது வெறும் பகல் கனவு தான். Sooner we understand that we are our biggest challenge in our life, things will be easier. But it's very rare to see the people who accepts responsibility for themselves. People who have lots of complaints about life are highly egoistic.
3. ஒழுக்கமா இருக்கனும்(Stay Disciplined). வாழ்க்கை சிக்கல் இல்லாம போகனும்ன ஒழுக்கம் மிக மிக அவசியம்.
Without structure and discipline, every turn in life will become an obstacle. It will give lots of room for emotions to clutter it up.

I observed people attain this very consistently in our karate class and it is very rewarding to watch that.

Touching Thiruvasagam poems

மாய வாழ்க்கையை, மெய் என்று எண்ணி, மதித்திடா வகை நல்கினான்;
வேய தோள் உமை பங்கன், எங்கள் திருப்பெருந்துறை மேவினான்;
காயத்துள் அமுது ஊற ஊற, `நீ கண்டுகொள்' என்று காட்டிய
சேய மா மலர்ச் சேவடிக்கண், நம் சென்னி மன்னி, திகழுமே!

This world/society can trap us in many ways. There are lots of deals, pleasures, comforts etc out there in our world. There is nothing wrong in enjoying them but the moment we get lost into it, we suffer. So in order to prevent it, our head need to be right. Emotions/wants are tricky and can lead into troubles and confusion. In this song, Manickavasagar says that Lord Shiva blessed him with right head to avoid being trapped and also Lord Shiva made him access to everlasting bliss/ectasy within himself to show the real God. 

நானேயோ தவம் செய்தேன்? `சிவாய நம' எனப் பெற்றேன்?
தேன் ஆய், இன் அமுதமும் ஆய், தித்திக்கும் சிவபெருமான் 
தானே வந்து, எனது உள்ளம் புகுந்து, அடியேற்கு அருள் செய்தான்
ஊன் ஆரும் உயிர் வாழ்க்கை ஒறுத்து அன்றே, வெறுத்திடவே!

This song is the epitome of humility. Manickavasagar is not taking any credit for his efforts or penance towards his liberation and he gives all the credit to Lord. With my limited exposure to world literature, I've never seen anyone coming to this level of humility. Apparently, this maturity melted Lord Shiva and he came down as a Master and gave enlightenment to Manickavasagar. What a character he is !!! I wish I have atleast one lifetime at the feet of Manickavasagar to gain even the fraction of that humility. 

`இருந்து என்னை ஆண்டுகொள்; விற்றுக்கொள்; ஒற்றி வை;' என்னின் அல்லால்,
விருந்தினனேனை, விடுதி கண்டாய்? மிக்க நஞ்சு அமுதா
அருந்தினனே, மன்னும் உத்தரகோசமங்கைக்கு அரசே,
மருந்தினனே, பிறவிப் பிணிப்பட்டு மடங்கினர்க்கே.

In this song, Manickavasagar expresses complete surrender to Lord Shiva. In other words, he dis-identify himself from whatsoever happens to him. Though he express the surrender in almost every song of Thiruvasagam, one got to love the beauty of this expression. He says to Lord to do anything with him and there is unimaginable amount of love behind it. He is giving permission to Lord to either rule him, sell him or lease him and he doesn't care. Because Manickavasagar knows Lord Shiva is the only medicine for his liberation and what else he strives for?

Tools and Life

Nearly 15 years ago, around 6am in the morning, my first karate Master Devaraj told me and my friend told that we are gifted to learn this martial art. He also told us that we might come across different life situations, people might come and go, money might come and go, but this art will always be there with you to keep you strong. It's still fresh in my mind. When he said it, it went straight into my heart. What a true and profound statement? I witnessed this in my life.

When I faced difficulties, nobody could do anything about it. Effect of Karma! Sometimes one has to go through what he/she has to go through because of the past choices and the way of thinking. There are days I felt deep emotional pain and felt like dying.  No matter how much philosophy we can speak, sometimes when the reality hits, it hits really. I was emotionally down for some days without getting noticed by anyone. But art helped me to endure it. Master Bell always tells us that anything that doesn't kill you will make you strong. He taught me how to shift the power from emotion to logic and life presented me real situations to test that. I developed a strong sense of resilience within me and I became quite sincere with life. Sometimes failures and learning lessons from them will make us very wise and will add beauty/stability to our character. I don't take anything for granted. I feel this very life is gifted.

I paid attention to people and world around me, I learnt to be real. Nobody has got time to listen to others, thanks to technology and innovation. I don't hesitate to help anyone if needed. Just asking someone sincerely "how are you?" and listening to them makes me feel humanly.  It's more beautiful to love someone than to be loved 😊. It's a freedom. I too had difficulty with my own expectations but at some point, I figured it out those are just expectations and nothing to do with reality. Whatever I expected someone to be for me, I decided to be that someone to anyone into my space.
As life unfolds, I'm learning to be more ease with life. Acceptance, patience and tolerance are key virtues 😊.

I would recommend any parent to offer their kids with profound tools than wealth. Life is to be lived, not just to be survived!

Celebration of life

Somehow today while sipping a nice tea at Saravana bhavan and listening to 'ilaya nila pozhigirathu' (tamil song) at the background, I figured out that I'll also die someday. So I let myself to taste every bit of tea ☕️ . Then I strongly decided to thoroughly celebrate this life until I take a exit from this planet.  I'm thinking what else the best I can do in my life. I'm definitely not going to stress out, work hard or compete with people. Let the successful ppl do it. I don't need to prove to anyone who I am and smart ones will identify anyway 😎. Only one thing is more meaningful now.. Pay attention to smallest details of everyday life, learn joyfully, appreciate everything that I got and love everyone to the core. இசை பட வாழ்தல்(Live life like music). It's like Raja's(Great composer) music 🎶 and life notes are in perfect rhythm 😊

Avudaiyar Koil Trip -- Oct 29 2016

Ever since I started reading Thiruvasagam, my emotions started sublimating to deep devotion towards Lord Shiva. I started having deep gratitude towards Manickavasagar Peruman. It might take many life times by one's own effort to gain the wisdom which is expressed in Thiruvasagam. Very fortunate to be born in this land and in this culture.

For the past one year, I was thinking of going to Avudaiyar temple built by St. Manickavasagar and I visited this temple on Oct-29-2016 (day after Deepavali festival). This is a Shiva temple situated near Aranthangi in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. We started from Thanjavur after having breakfast around 8.45am in a car and temple was about 115Kms from there.  Weather was perfect with slight drizzle and clouds. Thanjavur is known for rich delta area for agriculture and it is delightful to watch lush green fields along the both sides of the road during our drive. My uncle played an audio on Thirumanthira upadesam in the car which set the mood & tone for our destination. Most of the remote Indian roads has many pits & holes filled with rain water and I enjoy driving in them. First we reached a town called Puthukottai, then Aranthangi and finally reached Avudaiyar temple. We parked the car and had a nice hot tea in a tea shop before the temple.  Some people were chanting Thiruvasagam inside the temple and it is broadcasted through loud speakers outside the temple and we heard them while having tea.  My heart became full just by looking temple gopuram(tower) and the saying “Namasivaya vaazhga” at the top of the gopuram. Generally I observe within myself that whenever I visit Shiva temple, temporarily I become free from all of my wants and I become centered on peace and just surrender to HIM. I don’t pray or request anything.  

I recommend everyone to visit this ancient temple with rich sculptures and spiritual significance.

Temple History:-

 Manickavasagar was the prime minister in Arimarthana Pandyan Kingdom in Madurai and he was given huge money and a task to buy horses for cavalry. So he left Madurai and reached a place called Thiruperunthurai (now it is called as Avudaiyar Koil). Till this point in his life, he was living a normal life. At this place, Lord Shiva came as Gnana Guru (Wisdom Master) in human form and gave him three types of initiation (or Dheekshai)

1.      Nayana Dheekshai  -- Through eyes

2.      Sparisa Dheekshai – By touching through hands

3.      Thiruvadi Dheekshai – By touching through feet

As per Shaiva Siddhantha philosophy, God will manifest as Master in human form to those who attain the peak of maturity. Instantly for Manickavasagar, all the illusions fell apart and his body filled with ecstasy.  He sat there in Shiva yoga and forgot about the task given to him by the king. He used the money given by the king to build the temple here. Even as the temple construction was in progress, King Arimarthana Pandian waited for days for the arrival of Manickavasagar and the horses. Later, he realised that the money was already spent and commanded Manickavasagar to bring along the horses without further delay. According to tradition, Lord Siva transformed a pack of foxes into fine breed of horses. In the night, the horses became foxes and let out a deafening howl. God appeared before the king and explained he was behind the mischievous drama. The story of ‘nariyai’ (fox) ‘pariyakkuthal’ (horse) is still enacted during temple festivals in Madurai, the capital of Pandiyas.

Manickavasagar penned Thiruvasagam and Thirupalliyezhuchi while camping in this temple and referred to it as Thiruperunthurai. Lord name is Atmanathar (Leader for Souls) and goddess name is Yogambal (Form of Yoga).  The presiding deity is formless (Atmanathar); there is no Shivalingam but only a pedestal {Avudayar} located in the sanctum, hence the name Avudayar Koil.

As part of everyday ritual here in temple, the priests will put freshly cooked rice in a platform which is almost 30-40 feet away from the main deity during mid-day prayer. It is wonderful to watch that the steam from rice goes to the deity without any air flow. It is a symbolic representation that soul reaches God and both are formless.

It is believed that Manickavasagar is the re-incarnation of Nandi and hence this is the only Shiva temple without Nandi. Nandi is the name for the bull which serves as the mount (or Vehicle) of the god Shiva and as the gatekeeper of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu Religion, he is the chief guru of eighteen masters (18 Siddhars) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi. Nandi is example for unlimited patience and ever waiting without any conditions.

Among all the great people who worshipped Shiva, Manickavasagar is very unique. Probably he is the humblest of all and he cried that he doesn’t have any quality to see Shiva. This melted Lord Shiva and he came down to enlighten him.  We can see that in Thiruvasagam.  Anyone who has little open mind reads Thiruvasagam, it is certain that he or she will melt. Personally, I never found any other book which is so rich and touching. There is a famous saying

“

" திருவாசகத்துக்கு உருகார் ஒரு வாசகத்திற்கும் உருகார்"

”

translating to "He whose heart is not melted by Thiruvasagam cannot be melted by any vasagam(saying)".

My dream come true :-)

All the special features about the temple in Tamil

Pillar with thousand carved pillars

Temple guide(without shirt) and my Periyappa (or Uncle with shirt)

Lord Shiva came to Madurai with horses

This looks like real leg

Three types of Dheekshai

King Arimarthana Pandian

Lord Shiva giving upadesam to Manickavasagar

With my favorite species

Special type of coconut with horns

Bitter Guard - Available here all through the year

Veerabhadra Swami

Goddess Yogambal Shrine

Shrine for Sacred Text "Thiruvasagam"

Well inside the temple

Main Deity -- Lord Shiva as Atmanathar

Coming out of temple with fulfillment :-)