Going through the net we see many offers to raise the kundalini showing the ways and means to go about it. When an aspirant among us asked about it, Tavayogi told us it was not necessary to know about it back then. It was not something to be tampered with he added. I guess he speaks from experience. Instead, he got us to worship the Siddhas by reciting their names. He got me to carry out the homam in my home. Agathiyar brought many to my home to witness and participate in the Pournami puja. Tavayogi showed us Yogasanas and Pranayama which we started to practice. He started us doing charity. From Sariyai he moved us to do Kriyai and engage in Yogam. There was no shortcut to arrive at activating the chakras and raising the kundalini. We had to know all these first. In worshipping the Siddhas they began to help us remove our karma by first revealing the extent of our sins and having us go on pilgrimages and carrying out remedies. This acquired their blessings and we were pardoned. In carrying out the Homam a bridge was drawn for the Siddhas to come down from their realm and live with us. They became a shield and force field. If puja and the rituals removed the external obstacles, in performing Yoga the blockages within us were removed steadily.
A year before I came to read the Nadi I was asked to pray to Lord Dhakshanamurthy to show me a guru in physical form or rather have the Lord come as the guru. I was blessed to have my nephew come along on 6 October 2001 and pass me the Vasudeva mantra that is said to pierce and balance the Vishnu granthi. I learned later that there are another two knots Brahma granti and Rudra granthi. We are told that further practice of pranayama would pierce these too and the six chakras. R Venu Gopalan in his book, "The Hidden Mysteries of Kundalini", enlightened me further on this mantra stating that the Vishnu Granthi adds obstructions for the sadhaka keeping one under the wraps of attachment and bondage. It helps dissolve all the past karmic deeds for a better future. From Awakening State at http://www.awakeningstate.com/spiritual-awakening/om-namo-bhagavate-vasudevaya/ we learn that "This Sanskrit mantra can be practiced to attain freedom (moksha) from Samsara – the “Karmic Wheel” that keeps us bound to cycle after cycle of incarnations. This liberation mantra is a karmic eraser." Agathiyar told me that my past karma stood in the way of deriving the benefits of all my spiritual practices becoming a stumbling block. He gave me the right tool to help me clear my karma.
If the heart knot is said to be the Vishnu-Granthi in some text, elsewhere we come to learn that the piercing of the Vishnu granthi or knot is at the throat while the Brahma granthi is the knot in the heart and the Mahasunya or Ajna between the eyebrows is where the piercing of the Rudra granthi happens. We tend to notice a discrepancy as to the location of the Vishnu granthi here that results in a domino effect. References to the Hathayoga Pradika and Siva Samhita, locate the Brahma granthi at the heart or Anahata, the Vishnu granthi at the throat or Vishudhi, and Rudra granthi between the eyebrows at Ajna, while Yogi Professor Ramdas Prabhuji at https://lahirimahasayakriyayoga.org/om-namo-bhagavate-vasudevaya/, locates the Vishnu granthi as being at the heart. Nevertheless, it's the message that is important here. We shall leave it as it is until we can get further confirmation regarding their locations.
In a book titled, "Saint Dhruva", it is mentioned that this mantra was given to Dhruva by Saint Narada who initiated Dhruva into the mysteries of yoga and meditation leading to samadhi. Narada taught Dhruva the practice of pranayama by inhaling, exhaling, and holding his breath. He taught Dhruva to overcome thought fluctuations with the help of breath control. Narada also taught Dhruva to meditate on Vishnu in the sanctuary of his heart repeating the Lord’s name mentally and offering prayers and worship.
This mantra was mentioned in an extract from the English translation of the book "Kriya Yoga Vijnan - The Science of Kriya Yoga", the original by Saint Lahari Mahasaya. Lahari Mahasaya has named this sadhana, Omkar kriya. This is essentially a pranayama and the basis is the Vasudeva mantra.
My nephew only revealed the source of the mantra on 24 December 2005. It was from Agathiyar. I had received this mantra even before Agathiyar came to me through the Nadi reading a year later in 2002. Besides that, Agathiyar sent me to carry out remedies too after my Nadi reading. The hikes to the hills and climbs to the temples and the tracking through the jungles helped lessen the hold of karma on us as we shed sweat and tire ourselves going through the regime. Eventually, the energies at the numerous temples visited and the blessings of the deities together with the parikaram or remedies carried out cleared the path further. Agathiyar showed numerous miracles. Returning home from my maiden pilgrimage to India, the spate of energy transmission that erupted in spontaneous outbreaks of tears and cries of joy, experienced in India, continued. With karma cleared over the two years and out of the way, Agathiyar gave me the technique of Nadi Suddhi to adopt and put into practice to rid the mind-body and purge the impurities upon my return from India in 2003. The purification of the nadis is required before one progresses to take up pranayama. These are prerequisites to taking up asanas and pranayama as we take note in the 8 angas of Patanjali. Swami Vivekananda speaking about this practice of Nadi Suddhi or purification of the nerves quotes from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, "First, the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practice pranayama." He adds that "Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibration will begin, the whole constitution will be remodeled, as it were." We have to start here before we can even lay our sights on awakening the Kundalini.
