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Sri Ram Paradesi Swamigal:
[Sathguru Venkataraman revealed the story of Sri Rama Paradesi Swami Siddha to us in the summer of 1988. The photographs in this article were taken in December 1989. What is covered in this article is but a miniscule part of the details revealed by Sathguru Venkataraman. We may cover the rest in the future. More on Siddha Jeeva Samadhi Shrine Worship]
Have you ever met a human being who isn't interested in short cuts? Whether it be fame, wealth, title, position, educational qualifications or any other goal, humans would rather take the short cut than go the roundabout way. This is only natural; and it extends to spirituality too!
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While there's nothing quite as uplifting as learning personally from a Siddha teacher, those who can not do this must at least seek out the tomb shrines of great Siddhas and request them for their guidance and grace.
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We have described the importance of timing in spirituality in an earlier article in AUMzine Issue 1. There are spiritually potent times within a given day, paksham, maasam, varusham and so on. And then there spiritually unique times which occur once in many yugas! The Siddhas refer to the best of these time periods as amirtha néram; these have been further sub classified.
These great Siddhas are reprints of Lord Siva whom the Lord has manifested for the sake of our spiritual upliftment. Hence we use the epithet "divine" while referring to these teachers. Sri Ram Paradesi Svami Siddha is one such divine teacher.
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Sri Ram Paradesi Svami, being a part of parcel of the Universal Lord, is beginningless and endless. He manifests his physical form at will for the sake of uplifting souls in all parts of the universe. In our own world, we can be in the presence of this divine master at his tomb shrine located near the Villianur railway station in Pondicherry, a town about 100 miles south of the city of Madras in south India. There's a large Siva temple near this shrine.
What did he eat? You'd be surprised! Recall that the momentous event that happened during his incarnation was Siva consuming the most lethal Aalahaala venom. True to form, this Siddha master would stick out his tongue when he was hungry and snakes would come from nowhere and deposit their venom on his tongue.
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Om Salutations to Sri Ram Paradesi Swami Siddha
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He would consume the same thus proving His Neelakanta attribute to doubters. Sri Agasthiar tells us that the kids around him enjoyed this so much that they called him visham thinni svami which means the svami who eats venom! Unique are the ways of Siddhas. Ours is not to reason why, ours is to enjoy and make use of their divine presence for our own spiritual upliftment.
We urge you to visit this shrine and offer worship to this great master. Do not think of this shrine as a tomb; think of it as a living, breathing temple. Do not think of Sri Ram Paradesi Svami as just another Siddha; think of him as the Universal Lord Himself. Sri Ram Paradesi Svami can make any one of us a Siddha at a moment's notice. Our sincerity alone matters, nothing else.
Finally offer thanks to the great teacher and take your leave from his presence. Make sure you come again. And make sure you share this knowledge with one and all.
It is not enough that we work on our own spiritual upliftment, but we must do our best to induce others towards this goal also, while being totally conscious of the fact that we are not the doers and it's the Lord who's the prime mover. It's the Sathguru who induces us to induce others towards spiritual upliftment. Thus all praise and glory to the Sathguru. |