siddha vidya a unique way to attain moksha

SIDDHA VIDYA

OR

A Unique Way to SELF-REALIZATION, NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI

OR

MOKSHA

BY Brahmasri Peruvemba RAMASAMY

Compiled and edited by Brahmasri E.Sankar

INTRODUCTION:
Siddha Vidya was introduced for the first time by His Holiness Swamiji Sivananda Paramahamsa, the divine preceptor of preceptors. He is a native of North Malabar. This Vidya by itself is nothing new and Swamiji vouches that it had been practiced by our old forefathers while doing tapas in the forests and mountains of our blessed Motherland. By the passing away of those divine Rishis and Munis of old the Vidya had perhaps been gradually forgotten or mispractised in some form or other. The blessed Guru, Swamiji Sivananda Paramahamsa, the Founder of Siddha samaj, who discovered the shortest and easiest way to self-realization, Kaivalya, Nirvikalpa Samadhi or moksha, has traveled all through India from Cape Comorin to Afghanistan, through forests and mountains, where, even at the present day, Rishis and Munis and other sadhus still do tapas. He has by constant practice experienced himself what all has been said in his philosophical book called “SIDDHA VEDAM”.

As the old saying goes, the more we advance towards Self-realization the less selfish we become. Having himself enjoyed the Supreme Bliss through his own efforts, our Swamiji wanted to promote and benefit the worldly people. Through his teachings he shows to the public where the Lords of Lords “DAKSHINA MURTHY” have his place of abode in us and also the easiest way to have a Darsan (Vision) of Him.

He makes no distinction of sex, caste or creed for his teachings to be followed and in order that the world may take advantage of his teachings and instructions he wrote a book called “SIDDHA VEDAM” in the year 1922 naming his vedam as the 5th vedam of the universe.

Swamiji established 5 asramams in South India, Four Kerala (Badagara, Kayanna, Iyyoor and Mannurkara in Trivandrum) and one in Tamilnadu (Athur, Salem Dist).
The Swamiji has a large number of followers who are scattered here and there throughout the whole of India, may even out of India. These followers are not eager to bring the general public within their fold; but to such of those who have full confidence in the above vidya and if they think that they would be disciples are quite sincere and worthy enough, the divine vidya is then unfolded to them. Until such time as those anxious volunteer themselves, the followers of the Swamiji are not eager to add to their number. They are not for a moment eager for any preceptor ship for themselves, because in their own vedam it is said that there is no such thing as preceptorship. Preceptorship, in this thesis, only aids one to gain an easy idea over this psychic theory and therefore exists only in name. It should be clearly understood that one’s own mind or rather conscience is considered as the real Guru. So far for the introduction, Now coming to the subject, the followings are in a utshell a few features of the blessed vedam.

“I” submerged in “Brahman”:

By the word Brahman we have to acknowledge some thing unknowable and unperceivable “(like a barren woman’s child)”. People of different sects and creeds fight against one another for the scriptures and their deities’ i.e. God, khoda, Brahma, Hari and Hara and so on and so forth. But the whole of mankind may even the beasts and birds do not doubt about the existence of self and feel “I exist”. If there be any disputant to deny his existence by declaring “I do not exist”, his own conception of negation and the term he uses to prove that negation clearly establish the existence of his self. If there is any undoubted and undisputed truth common to all living entities in this Universe, which does not require any proof to demonstration, it is the conception “I exist” which innate in all.

“God” in us: The existence of “GOD” is a universally acknowledged fact. He is everywhere; but he has neither name nor form. Because He is present everywhere, He is in us too.

Just as a corpse cannot either see, hear, or know anything due to the absence of a Divine Power in it, in the same way we will not be conscious of anything unless we have the same divine power present in us. Even the present state of affairs we won’t have. It is because of the Divine Power in us that we are able to see, hear and know things. And as such, we ought to realize that it is the Divine Power otherwise God in us who is conscious of each and everything. Thus “I” the self is the God in all of us. (“I” means the little self, the ego. But “I” denotes the absolute self, the state of selfless)

Now a question arises. Where is this God or Divine Power in us? He rests in the center between the two eyebrows where our three important veins viz Ida, Pingala and Sushumna have their meeting place.

We refer the God in us, also as the Light of Lights. This is so-called Light of Lights does exist only in human beings but also in every other living creatures in the world. But the Light that shines in every one is visible in varying degrees of luster according to their attachments towards Maya. But you may ask how we are to know of this? From our own experience i.e. when our forehead unexpectedly strikes against a wall in the dark or our eyes chance to move to the centre between eyebrows, or for some reason or other, when we chance to mash our eyes a bluish tint in the form of a round ball and just like an electric flash appears before our eyes. This it is, that we should know as a spark of the divine ray of our Light of Lights in us and it is this light that we should strive to laminate more and more within us by constant practice of Siddha Vidya” is the only gain His Darsan. “Siddha Vidya” is the only proper means for the attainment of the same.

God i.e. “I”, the Self has two states viz, (1) Active state (sakalathwam) and (2) Dormant state (Nishkalathwam). When He is in the Sakalathwa state, the Divine Power in us moves out and becomes active just as when He creates the world, rules it, and finally dissolves all that he has created. In the second state, i.e. in the Nishkalathwa state this power does not move out of us. It exists there and forms a basis for the Sakalan to move out. That is the state of sleep. In our deep sleep we have the Nishkalathwam state. Both these rise out of one’s own self or “I”, the Self i.e. God. When this “I” the self or God in us has a kind of motion we have these two states working in us. The Nishkalathwa state what is called Brahman and Sakalathwa state Maya.

Maya:
This by itself is not the outcome of anything, but something already it existence. Brahman and Maya have neither a beginning nor and end. It serves no use arguing this out. If anyone were to question as to how smoke had its existence in the fire we can only say that the smoke was already in the fire. But, for the outward appearance it is the contrary. For example, let us light a match stick. Instantly we strike it the smoke comes out with “Bhu” sound. Because the smoke comes out first we are not justified in saying that the smoke had a prior existence. Why, because there will not be any smoke unless there is fire. In the same way as the smoke envelopes the real fire, the smoke of Maya envelops the true and real Brahman.

When the Supreme Unit without a beginning or an end unfolds as Akasa out, we have the two stages of `Up’ and `down’. `Up’ is Brahman and `Down’ Maya. All things in the world have their origin from Maya and it is only out of Maya that we see, hear and know everything. If there was no Maya there would not be even the state of Brahman, because it is the movement of one’s own Self or Brahman that is called Maya.
When our own power, Maya, which has its existence from us gets absorbed in ourselves the state of Brahman is nil. It is on account of the movement of Self that we have what is called the state of Brahman. When this movement “Maya” becomes one with us or absorbs in self we have what is called Bliss. In that stage there are no two states of Brahman and Maya. They become one with self. All the sounds etc. are produced from Maya alone.
What is Maya” That represents Eternity. That “Eternal” thing is knowledge and knowledge is consciousness and the same consciousness is a synonym for “I”. When the above states of Eternity knowledge, Consciousness or “I” become nonexistent in us that state is what is called Maya. This world of what we see is not Maya. People call this world of ours as Maya, but it is not so. Everything is from Maya and Maya is the root cause of everything. How does the Eternity of consciousness become devoid in us? It is through the Jeevasakthi or Life breath which is going out every moment from is in the form of Apanan or Vayu.

Now we shall take up the relationship between the Life force or Jeevasakthi which is being wasted by us and the consciousness or the Light of Lights.

Consciousness in Relation with Life breath or Life force:

It is on account of the consciousness that is latent in us that we are able to see, hear and know things. After a person is dead, if the corpse is rolled about or if it is placed on the fire it is not conscious of anything because it has no life breath in it. As such, only when we have life breath in us, have we the knowledge of anything. Again when a man is on the point of death and when he has only a small atom of life breath in him, situated just between the eyebrows, he shows signs of life in him, only by movement of his eyes and face; but he cannot move any other portion of his body. Finally when even this lost atom of Life breath in him becomes extinct, he is not able to show any sign of life at all by any part of his body and finally like piece of wood and is turned into ashes. This therefore proves that when the Jeevasakthi or the Life breath is working in us we have what is called consciousness and when it becomes extinct we are not conscious of any thing at all. By this we come to the conclusion that the Life force in us is the real Consciousness and which is latent in us.

Lifebreath in relation to Mind and Thought:
Suppose we try to recollect a thing which we have forgotten. During the above process the Lifebreath or Lifeforce in us instead of wandering about becomes concentrated. In that state of concentration even if a person were to pass in front of us we will not know it, because our thoughts are concentrated on a particular thing.

Again suppose somebody passes in front of you when you are engaged in a deep conversation with a friend of yours. You may be able to see him and know who he is even when engaged in conversation because your mind was wandering to a certain extent. In the first instance our concentration was deep and there fore we were not able to see the man passing. When we concentrate our thoughts, Lifebreath or Lifeforce becomes centered in us. It is when the Lifeforce goes out that it turns into vayu or air. What is vayu or air after all? It is a kind of motion or vibration. It is from this vibration that we get what are called thoughts. Thoughts originate from the mind. When that motion of Lifeforce becomes one with us our mind also automatically becomes one with us. It is only when the Lifeforce goes out, that it is called vayu or air. But when it is inside of oneself it is called Lifeforce or “Sameeranan”.

Now we understand that when our own Lifeforce becomes one with us we are not conscious of outside surroundings and that all the present state of affairs have their origin only from the motion of our own self. It is only when the motion of Lifebreath in us becomes still and becomes one with us that we have the dawn of knowledge and are able to remember things. The remembrance has there fore its origin from Consciousness, or the Light of Lights. Light had its origin from Fire and Fire from Vayu or air. We thus realize that it is only when the divine Lifeforce of breath, fire Light, or Consciousness becomes one with us that we have the dawn of what is called knowledge. So Knowledge or Consciousness is the Lifeforce itself.

Going still further the Lifeforce or knowledge when it comes out in the form of Vayu, it is called Maya. The process of letting out the Lifeforce, instead of subduing it within oneself and enabling that Lifeforce to reduce itself to NIL is called Maya. That is why we say that the Maya has its origin in us. So much about the origin of Maya.

We have said above that vayu is what is called motion and it is from this motion that we get thoughts and that the mind is the cause for such thoughts.

Our chief aim in life therefore should be to differentiate vayu from Lifeforce or Sameeranan and then by constant practice try to make the Lifeforce become one with our Light of Lights i.e. “I” from whom the Lifeforce had its origin. By this our mind and thoughts automatically become one with ourselves. Then we enjoy what is called the “SUPREME BLISS” That is how we say that Siddha Vidya is the direct way to the “Supreme Bliss” or moksha.

Death (Extinction of Lifeforce):


In the course of a single day we inhale and exhale 21,600 times. When we inhale, the outside Vayu or Apanan gets mixed with our Lifeforce or Jeevesakthi and when exhaling our Lifeforce again turns in to Vayu. Generally it is the practice to inhale less and exhale more. Thus when we breath we let out more of Lifeforce than the Apana Vayu we take in, and thus gradually, in course of time, all our Lifeforce goes out from us resulting finally in our death. To remedy this it is our duty not to let our Lifeforce decay sooner by controlling the outward flow of Lifeforce as Apana, conduct at all times it up and down inwardly, preserve and get the one single flow (Gathi) of Life (Jeeva) the very path to attain salvation and self-realization.

When this Lifeforce through constant Practice becomes one with your consciousness (the Self) i.e. when Life (Jeeva) unites with God (Iswara) you will get the chance to enjoy the Supreme Bliss. Thus by prolonging your Life Energy as aforesaid, Jeeva and Iswara unite together and you attain salvation and Self-enlightment and enjoy the Everlasting Bliss.

The Practice of Siddha Vidya:

If you wish to know the secret of Siddha Vidya you should allow the Lifeforce constantly to traverse in and upward direction in accordance with the instructions given by the nominal preceptor. Then gradually, in course of time, all your nerves, brain etc. will get purified and your Lifeforce without any difficulty whatever will pass on upward with a mild shrill sound through the hole just above the tongue. Just at this state the breath is so fine that you yourself will be led to doubt whether you have the Lifeforce in you or not. It will just be a slight push of breath form the pit of the gullet. This is the proper course of practice. This state of the Lifebreath is what we call Sameeranan i.e. that which constantly moves and hits the Eternal Entity, The Brahman. In this manner one can go on constantly by breathing what is called Sameeranan from the gullet through the holes just above the tongue. Then all the wandering thoughts attain stillness and there comes the detachment in you and the notion of “I” or “Mine” disappears. At this stage through the dawn of knowledge the eternal true consciousness that you attain your ultimate goal in life with the dawn of the Supreme Knowledge you become devoid of all emotions of happiness and misery and you feel in yourself a universal feeling of oneness and ultimately you attain the stage of Nirvikalpasamadhi or Moksha. More of this you have to learn through your real preceptor, the Mind and gain experience yourself. All our knowledge is based upon experience. The Truth taught by the great teachers such as Christ, Buddha, etc. are the results of the experiences of those particular persons.
Now brothers and sisters, to beget faith or not in the success of the above vidya is left entirely to yourself. No amount of arguments will be of any avail. The Bliss is sure of attainment but through patient practice.

Aum… Aum … Aum

Siddha Vedam

The Principle and theory of Siddha vidya the real Pranayama- the one practiced and propagated by the Rishis, The Buddha, The Christ, The Mohammed, etc – the proper way of worship to attain self-realization and enjoy the Sublime Bliss- is extensively deal with in this book by an easy dialect of Guru- Syshya. It is truly the History of life and indispensable to one and all to understand oneself and the world.