May 20 1989
Title
Enlightenment experience of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) at the age of 12 years.
Narration
It was with Annamalai Swamigal that The SPH chose to explore the Enlightenment Science of Hinduism. The SPH was a regular audience to Annamalai Swamigal's satsangs during a period of His life. The SPH later describes how when you deeply internalise and experiment with the Truths, the experience flowers.
The SPH describes the sequence of Happenings wth Annamalai Swamigal that culminated in the enlightenment experience at the age of 12 years:
“Once when I visited him with my parents, he was addressing a group of seekers and was saying , ‘We are not the body, we are athman; no pain or suffering touches us’.
I wondered how this could be, for if my mother beat me, I could feel the pain!”
Determined to make this teaching into His experience, the young Incarnation demonstrated the immense courage to experiment with His guru's words. He went home and took the blade that his father uses to shave to cut himself in the thigh and see if he had pain.
In his own words, he said, “Naturally, it not only pained me but I had to be taken to hospital for the wound to be stitched, with more puja from my mother! I had both pain and suffering. I wondered what this Swami had taught us- ‘no suffering or pain’”
Later on the young Avatar approached Annamalai Swamigal and related what happened after. He remembered, “I approached the Swami and related what had happened to me. He then made a profound statement which transformed my life.
He said, ‘You may have pain and suffering now but do not worry. Your attitude of analyzing and searching the truth, your courage to experiment with truth will liberate you from all pains, go ahead!’ He then advised me to start searching for the source of thoughts. Of course, at that age I was only irritated by his comments and my attention was rather on the fruits and sweets that devotees had brought him, hoping he would give me some in consolation! Honestly, I neither understood nor was convinced of what he said.
However, after a few days I began to playfully and casually try out the technique of trying to see the origin of thoughts. I did not do this with any expectation or idea. All I knew was what the Swami had told me: that I would go beyond pain or suffering if I did this technique. I had no concept of God, Brahman, Atma or Gnan. One evening , at the foothills of Arunachala, I was trying out the same technique with eyes closed. I had fallen into deep meditation ; suddenly something opened , seemed to happen inside my being…”
“The next moment it was as if a door had opened inside me and that I had complete 360 degree vision, both laterally and vertically. I could see all four sides – the temple behind me, the hill in front of me, the city on my sides. I could see vertically too – the sky, the rock on which I was sitting. For normal people who have only a maximum of 180 degree of these visions, I know this is very difficult to comprehend. All I can do is promise solemnly that it did happen. No other intellectual explanation is possible. Not only was I able to see all round, I was also able to feel that whatever I was seeing was me. Whether they were plants or rocks or the city or the hill , whatever I could see, I felt they were all just me. The experience was so intense and ecstatic that it was more than 3 or 4 hours before I opened my eyes. I felt feverish with bliss and this mood continued for 3 days.
If hundred of thousands of suns were to rise at once into the sky, their radiance might resemble the effulgence of the supreme person in that universal Form. These concepts can never be understood by ordinary intellect. In my experience, it was like the light of a hundred suns and the cooling effect of a hundred moons. Such was the pleasance of the experience.”
The experience for the incarnation of Paramashiva was something beyond enlightenment itself as it is normally. SPH describes it as "Anchoring into Turiya", the enlightened state. After a nine-month guru-disciple relationship with the embodiment of Paramashiva which climaxed in the experience of Advaita with Paramashiva Himself which the Avatar had at the age of ten years old, this experience was a profound grounding into that Advaita where the supreme consciousness radiated from His body even more deeply.
The superconscious breakthrough which Annamalai Swamigal nurtured until its flowering was especially important in the grand revival of KAILASA as after this, HDH gave the first ever initiation to His friend Sampath to whom He was eagerly demonstrating the powers which started to express through Him. This initiation was the first of millions which HDH would give, ultimately for the superconscious breakthrough of humanity itself.
Photos
Pavalakundru is where The SPH was brought up by His Guru Mata Vibhutananda Puri, where she also built the first monastery for Him, taking the help of His other Gurus - Isakki Swamigal, Ragupathi Yogi and others. It is here that He had the profound experience of enlightenment when He was 12 years of age.