Who Are The Siddhas?
The Siddhas: Perfect Beings journeying beyond enlightenment.
Attaining Consciousness, shine in radiance of Being!
The Siddhas And Consciousness: Self-realization and the effort to strive towards self-realization has been the hallmark of India for several thousands of years. India currently has an estimated 11 million sadhus, the ascetics who live by the charities and alms of others.
For all of India’s known history, the bedrock of consciousness of India has been nurtured, sustained and grown through individuals whose whole lives are dedicated to enlightenment and the journey beyond enlightenment. Consciousness grows more consciousness. For several thousands of years, the Sages of India understood meditation as the most effective technique to tap into consciousness.
After awakening to consciousness, the Sages further and further expanded this state of focus, silence, contemplation, knowing and surrender. These Sages were called Siddhas, or ‘liberated’ Yogis. By liberated, it is meant that they were free from the bondages of the mind and the realities around them.
They did not bind themselves to any form of dogma or belief, and instead chose experiential wisdom. Connecting to a Guru for guidance, they aligned to the ancient lineage of Gurus who paved the way for realms of higher and higher consciousness. The Siddhas approached wisdom through the process of ‘unlearning’, which means the surrendering of ego, old beliefs and attitudes, and old patterns of thinking.
This inner journey through consciousness of the Siddhas is called Tapas. Tapas denotes an intense continued meditation practice over a long period of time. This could be for days, or sometimes years at a time. In Tamil Nadu as in the rest of India, it is common for an enlightened being to be called a Siddha, Siddhar or Chithar. Chit in Tamil and Sanskrit means the mind/consciousness. ‘Siddhar’ means the one who has mastered consciousness.
When Gautama Buddha was born about 2500 years ago, astrologers identified his star of birth to be powerful in all aspects, as a higher being – and so he was named Siddhartha – the one who is a Siddha, an accomplished higher conscious master. Siddhartha later left his home to seek ‘nirvana’, the attainment of liberation of the mind, and was then called Gautama Buddha. The concept of Siddha is especially held in reverence in South India, where society considers accomplished masters to be God in human form.
Below is an extract of Nandhiji’s own spiritual journey to explain who the Siddhas are:
Nandhiji was fortunate to have been taken through his near death initiation to ‘wake up’ to the inner journey by his first Guru (of Eight), who was a Siddha master. After this experience, he began his journey into the sacred realms of the Siddhas. At each milestone came another Guru to guide him. After years of inner journeying, meeting and absorbing the Siddha wisdom, being consumed in the Siddha mantras while living in the meditative Grace of Siddhas, Nandhiji was inspired to write about the Siddhas from his experience as a Siddha Yogi.
The term Siddha has always drawn intrigue, curiosity, interest and respect in India. Whatever little has been known about them, other than from their Divine poetry and literature, the mystical allure of the Siddhas has created many stories and attributes of miracles and the supernatural. While there are Siddhas in North India, Nandhiji’s reference in this writing is based on the South Indian Tamil Siddha traditions, which is the source of his lineage.
The Tamil Siddha traditions go back several thousands of years, to the worship of Lord Siva in South India by the Dravidians during the time of Ramayana, one of India’s most ancient epics. Tamil is said to be as old, if not older, than Sanskrit. The Dravidians, who spoke Tamil, were a well-established ancient civilization with deep-rooted spiritual traditions, worshiping Lord Siva and Goddess Sakti. What is interesting to note is that most spiritual words in Sanskrit and Tamil are very similar, with the only difference being the energy with breath consumed in pronunciation.
Excerpt, Book Mastery of Consciousness- Awaken the Inner Prophet: Break the limits of body, mind & circumstances