BACK TO BEING A KID

When we went to Sri Jeganathar samadhi temple in Tapah last Saturday, both my granddaughter and Mahin-Manimala's daughter were running around the newly renovated temple. There was no one else but us and our Paramaguru there. The grills to the inner sanctum and the other sannadhis or shrines were shut. No one came to check on us though we heard the conversation, movement, and activity in the priest's quarters. I guess if someone were to come over and hush the children Jeganathar would have come and told them to let it be. Their cries of happiness chasing each other and having fun are music to his ears and a divine mantra. Indeed he did come and hugged the couple and these innocent and pure and divine children, welcoming them to his temple, adding that he had waited for their arrival. He was glad that they had followed Agathiyar's directive to come over. Agathiyar had also asked them to visit Goddess Thaiyal Nayagi and Dhavantri too. Agathiyar had asked Manimala to go over to Jeganathar's temple and that he shall heal her. But Jeganathar who came to bless them did not seem to do any physical healing. When Manimala voiced this later, I told her that they need not come in physical form to heal. Just by stepping in his place, the energy could do wonders in her without her knowledge.

While traveling to Tapah Mahin mentioned that he knew Dhanvantri's temple in Serdang but could not locate that of Thaiyal Nayagi. When we went over to another spot in the town of Tapah taking the cue from Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar who was brought there where Jeganathar had spent the early days upon arriving at Tapah, Mahin was surprised to find the sannadhi of Goddess Thaiyal Nayagi there. Thinking that now he had to seek Dhanvantri in Serdang, we were made to realize again by Mataji whom I called to update her about our visit, that Lord Vaidheeswaran is the other half of Goddess Thaiyal Nayagi. Then we realized that if Vaidheeswaran was there Dhanvantri too must be present as in India. Although there was no physical shrine for him he most probably was there in a subtle form. So it looks like Agathiyar had sent this loving couple to a one-stop center rather than have them go many places. They are truly blessed.

Goddess Ma came to ask us to cherish the pranks of these children. Agathiyar says it's a joy to be with them. Henry Wei in his book “The Guiding Light of Lao Tzu”, Synergy Books International, writes that both Lao Tzu and Jesus consider reversion to the state of a child as necessary for salvation for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. In the eyes of Lao Tzu, “the infant with its pristine purity and innocence is the perfect symbol of Tao itself.” He goes on to say that one needs to bring tenderness in him.

Imagine being like a little child again and believing everything you hear. There is something so wonderful about that trusting, open-hearted naivete that God loves. The more I have grown up, the more I realize that maturity in Christ is all about “growing down.” It is about becoming a child again. Not being childish but being childlike in our ways and our thinking. (Source: http://www1.cbn.com/Devotions/being-a-child)

Pattinathar is said to have played hide and seek with some children on a beach before disappearing. Each time the children covered him with a huge basket he reappeared elsewhere when finally he vanished. 

Ervin Laszlo in bringing us an insight into the mind of the child tells us, "Young children up to the age of 4 or 5 are permanently in the open region of activity, alpha region or theta region. Children are in that region until they are 8 or 9 years old."

"These are the slowest recorded brain waves in human beings. They are found most often in infants as well as young children."(From https://mentalhealthdaily.com/ we learn of delta waves.)

I guess that there is no need to train a child to sit and meditate then. External worship serves to train and discipline, at the same time bringing a child to the path of worship or sariyai. The concept of God is explained in simple terms and they are shown that God is the statue. Seeing us carry out the rituals at ATM our grandchild who was then 1 1/2 years old anticipates what comes next and shows and instructs us accordingly. Even before we begin, she is already helping us by telling us the placement of the stuff for the puja and helping carry the light things. Children love to help out and can be given simple tasks to carry out. She would come for the Arathi or flame and vibhuti or sacred ash and point out to others around her to be given too, making sure everyone got the prasad. 

Now in her 6th year, she guides her little sister in doing libation and homam.

Kids are taught virtues that they take on with them throughout their lifetime. Sariyai and Kriyai are the initial two steps designed by the Siddhas that include participation from children where they tend to follow and learn to do all that we do. A parent who frequents the temple or spends time doing puja at home will initiate the child to do the same. Kids who follow their parents during the annadhanam will learn to continue the act of giving and feeding later in their life too. 

I am glad my grandchildren head for the puja room in my home and ask to do libation and homam each time they visit us. It is said that singing aloud can help increase the breathing capacity of children. Going around and round like a top spinning is something children including my granddaughters do. It is supposed to activate and keep the chakras functioning at optimum. Let them hang out with God at the temples, and outdoors with nature. Let them explore God's creations. Join them during these explorations and tell them it is all possible because of God. Instill God in them early. Instill faith and belief. Give them hope and be the strength behind them. Instill bhakti or devotion in them. Later they can be initiated into Yoga and Jnana. Older children can then be taught Yoga and Gnana.

We are told of couples desiring to have a child, engaging purohit or priests to perform rituals, and Yagnas to please the Gods and the planets in present times. We have also read of such Yagnas and prayers conducted on much bigger scales in the days of yore. God has given us the gift of birth that is much awaited by souls, standing in line to come down and serve a purpose. The gift of a child is every married couple's dream too. When their desires match, a child comes into the world. Contrary to the common belief that two individuals are brought together through arranged marriage or through love and romance for each other, it is the child that is waiting to be born, that brings the couple together.  My wife and I were brought together - again, by Agathiyar after considering my daughter's desire to be together - again. 

After several miscarriages, Agathiyar asked a couple whether they wanted a child as a product of an act of lust or a child that was divine in nature. The former comes and just fulfills and realizes its past vasanas or desires while the latter comes with a divine purpose. This explains why the devotee lost "her bundle of joy to be" each time she conceived as they were a result of kaamam or lust. Since they have come to his fold, he asked them to bring divine thoughts within in those moments of intimacy and wait patiently for the miracle of life to unfold. The couple now has a beautiful baby girl and another boy. Hence it answers the delay too.

As Neale Donald Walsch wrote in "Conversation with God", "Each element of life down to the tiniest sub-molecular particle is a part of the mind of God, the thought has pullover elements bringing it into alignment", this reminds us of the many stories told of how couples meditated on the divine to issue them a child prodigy or divine child. The divine would then give them an option and asked to consider if they were prepared to accept a short-lived divine child or a normal child that lives long. We have heard of stories where parents undertook tapas, went on pilgrimages, and conducted Havas or yagam, with the intention of wanting to have the boon of a child. These children later became saints, gurus, or spiritual leaders. A friend wrote to me the following some time back, Krishnaveni Amma in his meditation revealed that "She had to search for a suitable womb for souls to get embodied. That is the way of the Masters. They are with us from time immemorial, and, once having accepted us, their care for us extends beyond the many embodiments." In mentioning the way of the masters, we become aware that the divine looks for a suitable womb for a soul to be born. Hence we understand the reason many are asked to wait at times for years by Agathiyar to be blessed with healthy and good children. As God is love or Anbe Shivam, the child carries the seeds of love in them. There are Atmas waiting in line to come in, given the very first chance. Then some Atmas make a calculated move taking much time, while others are kicked into taking an immediate birth. 

Paramahansa Yogananda in giving us a detailed account of the miracle of birth, wrote in "Man's Greatest Adventure", published by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, Kolkata, 1970, 

The adventure begins with the struggle the soul goes through to enter a womb at the time of conception. In the astral world there are millions of souls struggling to return to earth, to enter the mated sperm and ovum cells at the time of conception. At the time of conception there is a flash in the ether and one soul enters as the sperm and ovum cells unite. 

He says we had to compete with other souls in fighting to get into the womb. Once inside there the soul regrets as it realizes that it is once again caught in the web of birth and pleads to return where it tends to struggle inside the womb, asking to be let out.  Inside the womb it has occasional memories of the past coming in. Paramahansa Yogananda says, "The child's will to move is a memory coming from the soul's past. So he stirs restlessly in the mother's womb until he tires and goes to sleep. When the will becomes very strong the baby is born. Though "The baby's first cry is an effort to activate the lungs and start the breath of life", it is also true that it cries for being born again. "His prenatal resistance to birth ends with his first breath when Maya comes over him" he explains. He adds that "The soul's memory of the past is always there. He feels once more attracted to the physical." 

Everyone is a Buddha. Everyone has a Buddha nature. It is just that most do not realize their state as they are veiled in illusion and Maya. In actuality, it is all there hidden by our fears, jealousy, enmity, and all other negative traits. Once the veil drops we see our true self which is pure and innocent as a child. 

A journalist friend of mine from Kerala hit the nail on the head when she shared her understanding.

I've done absolutely nothing to earn this. No yoga, not even pranayama ,no worships, no nothing. Remembrance _ maybe was there. Maybe.. Now I want to tell the whole _ god seeking_ world " stop everything and cleanse yourself" . Appa led me in such a simple way that now I know, every body, anybody can go forward in this path. I've not reached anywhere but still I want to tell them so . Now I know what appa likes the most.. it's not hardwork externally. Internal cleaning is what he want from us. It's so simple. Isn't??? Anybody can do it. 

Maya gave us body. The eyes. It sees the world. It can see everything except us. In spirituality whenever we tell people to look into ourselves they ( for their own sake too) simply put it away as something lofty, spiritual, some special interest of a set of boring dull people. Actually we shall tell them / ourselves to look into our BRAIN . Isn't? in this Kaliyuga it's almost impossible to make people question themselves.. it's the first step we should take. It's only when we start to question our intentions, shall we need the book of rights and wrongs. I say " they, them .." only for the sake of communicating. It includes me too. Me today. More of me from yesterday. I was always there in the worst shape.

Do we actually know ourselves? Have we actually seen ourselves in totality? Can we possibly see within the body with naked eyes? Everything we know about us comes from another source. Otherwise, how would we know what we look like? We can only see all our body parts except for our faces and our backs. If it was not for the mirror that shows our image and the reflection of our face in still waters, we would not even know what we look like. We need the aid of medical equipment to look within the body too. Although man is said to have the capacity to become God, we are so limited when confined to the body and its senses. The actual journey then I suppose is waiting for us beyond this body. Both Bhagawan Nithyananda and Yogi Ramsuratkumar told their devotees at their deathbed that they could do much leaving their body. Agathiyar told us that Tavayogi is now busy with other task in the Siddha realm.

EACH DAY IS A LEARNING

Yesterday my granddaughter who completed her first 5 years of existence and turned 6 surprised us by not wanting to cut a cake but to make her own dish jelly topped with small chunks of mango fruit pieces. Both my wife and daughter guided her in making, garnishing, and freezing it. Then she asked her parents to take her for a bath at the waterfalls and a swim in the river, inviting us along too. We had a field day or is it a water-splashing day? Of course, children being children both she and her little sister did not want to come out of the freezing waters but we had to tell her that it becomes dark in the jungles fast. Anyway, we had to return home to prepare her birthday "cake" too. Only then did she give in. I thanked her for giving us a treat going into the Sungai Tekala Amenity Forest located in Sungai Lalang Reserved Lowland Dipterocarp Forest, on her birthday.

Just days ago my daughter had a booth selling her "Charmed Malaysia", a small collection of handmade jewelry at a fair in the city, where she met another seller having skincare and other herbal products that she learned to make. My daughter told me her newfound friend used to post her personal life on instagram. I asked if one should do that? My daughter explained that people tend to want to know the person behind small-time businesses besides wanting to know the products. They are not too keen to know the success stories of big-time corporate companies that dish out branded products. This might be eyed by those who want to make it big in business though. People always have a heart for these small-timers just making a start and tend to come forward to support and encourage them by buying their products.

I guess this blog too has a good readership because readers delight in relating to the experiences shared on its pages. Siddha Heartbeat which was started on 28 July 2013 at https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/ has an all-time total pageviews of 1,759,428 while Siddha Heartbeat 2.0 started on January 25 this year at https://gnanakottam.blogspot.com/ has 3,762. 

I was watching " The Shipping News" moments ago. Many moments in this movie caught my attention as we could relate to it. Stories told need to be people orientated. In the movie, a new news reporter is told what to do. "I need a reporter. And you'll do local car wrecks. Take the picture, and write the story. We run a front-page photo of a car wreck every week whether or not we actually have a car wreck. Car wrecks are a fact of life up here. Come winter, a drive into town'll be damn near impossible. It's wrecks like that that sells papers. If there's a dark patch on the ground it reads blood whether it's motor oil or Diet Coke. And you want something human, uh a child's mitten, a purse a baseball cap lying in the road. See, that's what makes it human. That's what makes the reader feel." He does as told and gets to write his own column..... The Shipping News, "a story about a different boat every week. Human stuff", that is the title of the movie too.

When he writes a lengthy piece on an accident that had just occurred, beginning with "The policeman ate breakfast at the Codcake Diner before he arrived at the accident scene", he is told off by his editor that "If I wanted War and Peace I would have hired William Bloody Shakespeare" who throws it into the paper bin. I had a good laugh myself because it reminded me of myself. I too had given a lengthy account of my travels to a couple of banks and the post office the day I lost my pass that permits me to enter my office. I was told to make a police report and I did. I began to write a lengthy piece when the policeman on duty asked me what I was doing? Keep it brief, make it short he told me and snatched the piece of paper from my hand and wrote "Pas Hilang" meaning "Pass Lost".  

We are told to "find the center of your story... the beating heart of it... that's what makes a reporter. Sometimes there's a story behind the story." I believe this beat is felt in this blog. A journalist from Kerala wrote to me last night after reading my post at https://gnanakottam.blogspot.com/2022/07/agathiyar.html?m=1

Wanted to talk to you after reading this.... Wonderfully expressed Aiyya,  I remember that in your Nadi siddha path was clearly mentioned. I hope u remember me asking some doubts abt DEHATHATHWAS ..And you appropriately directed me towards some of your posts etc. And you gave me master gurudasan. At that time, 2021 first months_ I tried to read abt panchabhoota tatwas , fundamental principles of siddha _ Ayurveda . I was reading but was not connecting. So I left it there. Then for two weeks I did pranayama basic as gurudasan ji instructed in the video. I learned to sit properly and understood how to place my hands (since a woman) etc... After 2 weeks I stopped it too. See , I couldn't follow anything. I've been chanting agathiyar's potri (20 mins max) for some months _ that's all I was doing. Nothing else. I could understand nothing in siddha marga _ it was the reality. Coz it's all words. Systems. Science. My brain found all of it as an effort. So naturally it refused. It's then, I think I started watching jiddu Krishnamurthy.  I felt connected coz since I couldn't get instructions from agathiyar in his words,  he always sent me good teachers etc. And this one I felt very close with agathiyar in a brainy way.  I was encountering for the first time , some one 100 percentage in vichara marga. Or jnana marga.  Jiddu gave me such a pleasure..can't describe in words. But , ofcourse as u know well, while hearing more, I found the connection between SIDDHA VEDA teachings and jiddu's. Then I started jumping from this beach to that ( jiddu and siddha veda) .

I guess we have to follow the heart rather than the brain and its thirst for logic.

I had a dream. I wanted to be an artist but good sense back then told me I would not make a living out of it in the 70s. I dropped the idea but began to appease my passion for art, culture, and music by drawing and painting these themes. When my brother took the helm of the Penang Indian Cultural Society he roped me in to illustrate their bulletins and magazines. 

I received handwritten letters of appreciation from the late Comicscene Communications head of a local newspaper back then too for my participation in their weekly Saturday columns.

With the coming of Windows 95 and its graphical user interface (Gui) I took to learning the OS and its many supported applications. This helped me design the department's presentations and in-house magazines later in the 90s and in the later years. With the coming of Agathiyar and Tavayogi, I was inspired again to create visuals, create videos, and have Agathiyar and Tavayogi as my lead actors. My dream of becoming an artist and movie director was fulfilled to a certain extent, settling for being an illustrator and a vlogger. Blogging came as a surprise to me too. It started after I began documenting my maiden and second pilgrimage to India. With the encouragement given by Tavayogi and Agathiyar I am where I am today. I need to thank my readers and viewers of my YouTube channel too for their continuous support, readership, and viewership.   

          

Speaking about Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, the difference between him and other gurus is that while the others after learning the trade, started Peedhams and organizations and projected themselves, pushing their moola guru backstage, Tavayogi showed me Agathiyar instead. Never at any one instance did he place himself above Agathiyar. Ramalinga Adigal too came to ask us to stick to Agathiyar and hold him tight. This is why even though we miss him and realize that we really need him now, we can move on without his physical presence as he had shown us the way and given us the vehicle and the tools to travel with. If many followers are lost after the demise of their gurus, though we miss him and would love to have him around especially now when we are beginning to experience so many new things, we have learned to manage well thanks to him letting us explore the path freely right from the beginning without rules and regulations, codes and laws to conform and obey, dictates of the do's and dont's, etc. We were not made to take up oaths or abide by any conduct. We were encouraged to explore the path with the tools and methods and ways given. We have emerged from the web of dependency on the guru and the methods. My granddaughter too like me takes the methods and modifies them making them more beautiful, accessible, and to her liking. Her little sister observes and follows us. 

SRI JEGANATHA SWAMIGAL

A story is authentic if it was an autobiography. Many gurus in recent times have either written their autobiographies or had their close associates and followers write biographies on them. Paramahansa Yogananda has introduced the world of both known and lesser-known gurus to us. Pandit Gopi Krishna has shared his experiences in unknowingly awakening the Kundalini energy and the subsequent turmoil, torment, pain, and suffering he went through. These have served as guides in understanding the guru-disciple relationship in the former and warning signs to us from the latter. Though these are exceptions, most saints seldom speak about their lives and greatness much less document their life stories. I got to know in detail Supramania Swami's life and the miracles or siddhis he performed only from his wife and son on my second and last visit to see him. Tavayogi too shied away from speaking about himself and his journey. Tavayogi never divulged much giving only scanty and brief statements about himself or about the mysteries that shroud the Siddha world. When once he felt he was revealing too much about the Jeeva Nadi of Agathiyar in his possession in an interview to an Indian Tv channel on YouTube, he pulled the brakes. See http://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2015/03/moondravathu-kan-on-kallar-ashram.html . Most saints in the distant past opted to sing about their divine experiences instead as did the Nayanmars and Ramalinga Adigal who came by some 200 years back. 

Much that we know has come by way of mouth carried from generation to generation. Parts and bits of the stories might have been lost in translation or modified and manipulated leaving us to either believe or doubt them or totally reject them. I have had close prominent people in several instances make a mistake in conveying a story that had me in the picture too. One was uttered verbally in a gathering and the other came out in print. But I chose not to correct them. I wonder now how much of what we hear and read is true? I remember how Norman Rockwell depicted these misinterpretations graphically through his illustration that appeared in Readers Digest many years ago. 

The Gossips, Norman Rockwell, Oil on Canvas, 1948

We have all played a similar game too in our younger days where it was fun to see how a message that is related to one at the beginning of a line of people becomes misquoted when it reaches the ears of the last candidate. 

Standing apart from the fraction of inaccurate reporting that is available online, is PremKV's series on Sadhguru Shri Brahma. He and his team have done a wonderful job in sourcing and gathering information about Sadhguru Shri Brahma from people who have in some way seen the man or his miracles carried out. This canvas of videos does justice to the saint. 

Another work that comes to my mind is Gnanabharathi's book "Tamil Mannin Thanthai" on many unknown happenings in Ramalinga Adigal's life. "Read further at http://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2013/07/ramalinga-adigal-arutprakasa-vallalar.html

History has to be preserved and not disturbed, manipulated or added on, all the more if it was a samadhi of a Siddha. We have seen this happen too often both in the West and the  East. Tavayogi lamented to me as we stood at the entrance of a cave at Kutralam hills. "See son, this is "Agathiyar's Cave." But they have named it "Avvai's Cave." The Uthiyur caves where Konganar meditated and Tavayogi later stayed in, today is filled with oil lamps left behind by devotees having worshipped his painting that has been placed in an otherwise empty cave. The cave temple in Sungai Siput has idols and buntings of Siddhas now. People fail to understand that they have an obligation to preserve the historic, artistic and architectural interest of any monument or place for the sake of generations to come so that they shall not be misled by what they see later. 

Agathiyar like many historians has mentioned that much of history has been manipulated for personal gains by certain quarters or individuals. He has access to countless unsolved and untold mysteries but chooses to remain silent. I guess it is the will of Kala (Time) and the might of Maya (Illusion) that coverup many stories. Reading his Agathiyar Gnanam did disturb me as to the authenticity of texts that we considered sacred. He even paints pictures of fraud gurus. Chitramuthu Adigal too I understand has touched on false gurus and teachings. 

The only way to gain and possess authentic knowledge then is to have first-hand experience. Otherwise, the gurus have to come back and verify their teachings and works to us. All else is an interpretation of an individual.

From "AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF RAMALINGA SWAMI" by Dr.C.Srinivasan, we read that,

"There is only one God in the philosophy of the Swami. It must be pointed out that this philosophy has no plurality of Gods. He has made it clear that the God Supreme is Supreme-Grace-Light (அருட்பெருஞ்சோதி). He proclaims that there exists only one God Supreme. He may be in three different states. They are a form, a formless, and a form without form. (The last mentioned in the form of the container of the thing contained. To be more precise, water has no form but the form of the water in a cup or a jar is the form of the cup or the jar.)" In fact, he has graded the various powers that are personified as different deities endowed with certain divine powers. They are known as the Heads of different stages (பதத் தலைவர்கள்). To understand these powers and to distinguish them from one another some symbolic names have been assigned in religious literature." 

"From the meek and insignificant creatures to the highly evolved human beings and super-human beings, all living things are simply manifestations of the light of God. The Light of God supreme is present in everything and more so in human beings. The human being is embellished with a higher sixth sense with which the fraction of light in him should be developed more and more for the complete realization of the God Supreme. He can be realized only by that divine experience."

Many besides Ramalinga Adigal have had such divine experiences. One of them is Jeganatha Swamigal who was a disciple of Ramalinga Adigal. He made his way to the peninsula state of then Malaya, (present Malaysia) and attained Jothi in the small town of Tapah in 1959. We did not know about him until Tavayogi came to our shores and revealed his story at an event we organized in Ipoh in 2008. Tavayogi came to know about Jeganathar after taking abode and refuge at the Holy feet of his Guru Chitramuthu Adigal in 1975. Tavayogi then came to Malaysia in 2004 after Agathiyar directed him to continue to preach the ways of his guru Chitramuthu Adigal, Paramaguru Jeganatha Swamigal, and Moolaguru Agathiyar himself. Tavayogi had written an article on Jeganathar in his Tirupur branch's inhouse publication in 1994. He read the account of Jeganathar's travels to Malaya to us and brought this wonderful saint and Siddha to our attention. I shared the recording of his speech on YouTube which has become a source of information for many seekers of Jeganathar.

Mahin's wife was asked to visit Jeganathar Swami's temple in a recent Nadi reading by Agathiyar that was read by the visiting Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar. They invited me to tag along. Just searching through the net a day before our departure without any particular intent, I happened to drop in on  www.himalayanacademy.com/blog/taka/2018/06/12/our-link-to-a-natha-siddhar/. I was surprised to see parts of my blog post on Jeganatha Swamigal used on this site. Reading further I was pleased to see that the administrator of this website had given credit and acknowledged the source referring thus "Our slideshow today contains a blog post from http://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2013/07/jeganatha-swamigal-jeganatha-swamigal.html". 

I had sourced much of this information from what was delivered to us by Tavayogi and the caretaker of Jeganathar Temple during the numerous visits to the samadhi temple in the past. Both of them have since then passed away. Another wonderful source of additional information was from Nithyavani Manikam’s blog at http://nithyavani.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-post_28.html. She has referred to R.Jeyaganthan and Saravanabhavan's books on Jeganatha Swamigal. Sadly I can't seem to find more details regarding their books online. Nithyavani had sourced some portions from my now defunct website http://indianheartbeat.fws1.com/MyGuru.html and http://tavayogi.webs.com/abouttavayogi.htm too. We learn more about Jeganathar from a piece that was published in the magazine Hinduism Today in 1987. So from the interchange of information from these various sources, I believe that we can safely arrive at a concise representation of Jeganatha Swami's life in Malaya. Here it is.

Jeganatha Swami was born, "two years after the American War of 1812 - a time when the British were establishing a mercantile beachhead in India", describes Hinduism Today, and nine years prior to the birth of Ramalinga Adigal, at Puri, India in 1814, in the Tamil month of Thai. 

He was a follower of Ramalinga Adigal’s principles. He carried and worshipped a painting of the saint and had that placed in his samadhi later. At the age of eighteen, he left for Chittagong in Burma. Later at thirty, he tracked down to Malaya through Thailand. Hinduism Today states that "performing body-numbing tapas (austerities to accelerate soul unfoldment) and finally crossing into Malaysia (then Malaya) in his late 60s, Swami Jaganatha was a Siddha par excellence of the Natha Sampradaya (tradition of the Siva masters). He left a legacy of pinnacle spiritual achievement for all Malaysian Hindus and a posthumous prophecy of international scope that bore true. Few knew him personally. He mainly strode the corridors of our dream world, the realities of the Devaloka surrounding this planet."

He lived in Alor Star (now Alor Setar) and the island paradise Langkawi in North Malaya. He was in Baling for eight years. Moving further south to Tanjong Malim, he worked as a brakeman in the Malayan Railways for four years. The locals there saw him as a spiritual man and addressed him as Swami. Then he decided to go on a road trail to Singapore. But en route, he was mistaken as a spy by the Burmese security forces loyal to the British in Malaya and put behind bars in Taiping Prisons. Miraculously he was released the next day without any interrogation. On his return journey from Singapore stopping over at Seremban, here too people began to take notice of his spiritual nature. He moved northwest to Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan), a small town located at an estuary, where he undertook charity and fed the poor. Finally, he settled in Tapah where he built a hut for himself near a Chinese graveyard and continued his sadhana and tapas, or austerity here. Jeganatha Swamigal purchased three acres of rubber land in the vicinity and allowed the locals to build their homes on his land. He lived a simple life never making himself and his powers known to others. He lived alone. Often he used to be seen in a loincloth and people made fun of him calling him a lunatic. At other times he dressed in white like Ramalinga Adigal. Hinduism Today states that "Finding him was difficult enough even if he inwardly wanted to see you. And the jungle and Japanese soldiers in occupation kept the fainthearted away. But some came." It is said that he never took a bath but there was always a sweet aroma emitting from him. A Malay colleague of mine who has a guru from Indonesia in the Sufi tradition told me that each time his guru eases himself and comes out of the toilet or latrine, a sweet aroma prevails in the air. 

According to Hinduism Today," he lived in Tapah for some 78 years. Hinduism Today describes the place he chose to go into samadhi as follows, "... the emerald jungles of Tapah, Malaysia - his physical home a small, rude hut far from civilization, his spiritual home the infinite realms of Siva consciousness." 

Jeganatha Swamigal's samadhi temple which was more akin to a simple home until it saw a renovation and after being given a facelift has now turned into a spacious temple. Many cement statues of Siddhas now adorn the columns of the temple. I made my first visit to this samadhi temple after it was renovated last Saturday with Mahin and his family. While his wife was asked to visit the temple in a recent Nadi reading by Agathiyar read by Mataji they both asked me to join them too with their two children. I took along my granddaughter too. I am happy I took up the invitation. When a couple was asked to contact Siddha physician and consume Agathiyar Kuzhambu, I had the privilege to be invited by them to see him too. I was glad I took up the invitation as I was given the Kuzhambu to consume too. When Nathan from the southern state of Johore was told about the cave in Sungai Siput where Siddhas are meditating till this day and asked to visit during a full moon by Agathiyar in his Nadi reading, after he shared the reading with me I and my wife made our way to the cave temple. I am glad that Nathan shared the piece of news as I was harmlessly jolted off my seat or rather thrown into a dark pit in a mysterious manner. 

And so it seems that there was a reason for everything to fall into place again. I had previously held the opinion that Ramalinga Adigal was not at Satya Gnana Sabai, a place he had painstakingly built and left behind for generations to come, and the Dharma Salai that was to feed the hungry after my first visit there. I told myself God was not in Chidambaram temple after my first visit there and refused to go again even after Agathiyar had suggested I return there. So did I stand firm that after taking hold of Agathiyar's feet I was not going any place even to Ongkarakudil where Agathiyar suggested that I shall be well received by its patron Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar now. Recently, I told my wife Jeganatha Swami was not at his samadhi grounds no more when we arrived to see renovations in place. We drove off without entering the construction site. The temple has gone through renovations and new installations making it lose its originality. 

We were rather surprised to see a documentary on how the French take all the trouble to preserve even the charred timber roof trusses and every single bit of information was documented on the famed 800-year-old cathedral Notre Dame where a fire destroyed its spire and roof, on April 15, 2019. See https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/notre-dame-fire-melted-scaffolding.

Similarly, another 600-year-old structure, Japan's Shuri castle which was burned down on 31 October 2019, saw a second resurrection when the public from all over the world sent in their photos of the building that they captured while on tour, which was then digitized and assembled together to recreate an image of the building before the fire, right down to its details, replicated in the precise image of its prior appearance. The wooden castle, built 500 years ago, was almost completely destroyed during World War Two. The castle was extensively restored and reopened as a national park in 1992.

When we were at his samadhi temple, Jeganathar came to usher both Mahin and Manimala and his grandchildren telling them that he was waiting for their arrival and was glad they had abided with Agathiyar's instructions as in Manimala's Nadi reading. If this message at the samadhi temple was for Mahin's family, when we were at the other temple at the Tapah Hospital compound he came again this time with a message for me. After spending half an hour at Jeganatha Swamigal's samadhi temple we made our way to the temple mentioned by Mataji in the Tapah Hospital compound.  Only recently did we find out from Mataji that besides the established and now famous samadhi temple of his at Kampung Sami, Jalan Chenderiang Lama, Tapah there is another auspicious spot and temple where he stayed and worship a Shivalinga. This temple is within the Tapah Hospital compound. If it was Tavayogi who brought our attention to Jeganatha Swamigal and his samadhi in 2008, it was his disciple Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar who told me about this temple. She had been brought to this temple on her recent visit to Malaysia after visiting Jeganatha Swamigal's samadhi temple. He cleared my doubt, guilt, and fear that I had, wondering if I had belittled him or had falsely made the earlier remark about his absence. But Jeganathar cleared the air and put my doubt, guilt, and fear to rest and I was told they were uncalled for. Osho used to say that the energy at the temples is always some distance away from the Mulastanam or inner sanctum. We saw this in our travels at Ekambareswarar Temple in Kanchipuram, Mayuranathaswami Temple in Mayiladuthurai, and Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur too. Jeganathar did imply the same too. Goddess Ma Kali told a devotee that she was not at her temple that was involved in internal feuds but would come by when a true devotee steps in.

This reminds me of the moment Tavayogi called me up from his Kallar Ashram on phone and excitedly told me that my brother, his wife, and son were blessed to have had Lord Murugan's darshan. My brother was visiting Kallar ashram with his family then. As they were having lunch with Tavayogi and Mataji, Tavayogi spotted a young man in his 30s dressed in pants and a shirt making his way up the hill where the old ashram was perched on. But something was peculiar with him. If devotees were known to hike up the hill briskly, this lad stopped every few steps and looked around him, and stared at the environment all around him before continuing. Finally, when he stood at the doorway to the ashram kitchen cum dining hall, Tavayogi invited him to take some food. He replied he had taken. He then began to talk gibberish. This went on for some time when suddenly he mentioned that he was in Kataragama and he did not like it there. Then he continued his gibberish talk only to mention Thiruchendur and say the same again about the place. He continued speaking gibberish till he mentioned Palani and said the same about the place. He spoke gibberish again and finally mentioned that he had come by after hearing that there were good souls at Kallar ashram. Tavayogi immediately saw a connection between the places he mentioned and knew it to be Lord Murugan in disguise. When he visually showed that he knew who had come, the lad hushed him and entered the meditation room. This room was always out of bounds except with prior permission from Tavayogi. The 6-tier peedham made of granite is housed here. Tavayogi and everyone else followed him. He applied the sacred ash on their forehead and blessed them before leaving the same way he had come. What was the significance of his visit we wonder? What was the message he tried to convey across? 

Agathiyar reminded us of our conduct when visiting Siddha samadhis through a Nadi reading for Suren read by Nadi Nool Aasan Tamaraiselvan some time back. Agathiyar says as a result of the saints' lifelong tapas, these samadhis having accumulated much energy, were energy spots. Realizing that they could do more in the subtle and spirit form compared to being in the physical and mortal form, these saints had chosen to go into samadhi. Hence there was no requirement on our part to energize the place by performing rituals and agamas. He asked us who are we to energize the place with our rituals when the sages themselves are already a powerhouse of energy? He has asked us to just sit in silence, contemplate on the Siddha present at the spot, imbibe and take in his energy within us. That would suffice. What we should do is to sit quietly and partake in the energy present and bring it within and bring it back with us. 

If no rituals are required then why did he permit us to conduct a yagam at Jeganathar's samadhi temple in the past and again with Tavayogi and Mataji during their visit to Malaysia in 2016, I wondered? When the AVM family was touring India later the same year, prior to attending the inauguration of the new Kallar Ashram, a "lady" in a green saree who came around a second time following us and sat with us, insisted we complete the recitation of the Siddha names even as the temple priests motioned us to end the recitation pointing to their watches reminding us that it was time for closure of Bhogar's samadhi temple at Palani. 

In another Nadi reading read by Tavayogi to Dyalen, a devotee from AVM, Agathiyar conveyed the wishes of  Chitramuthu Adigal that we conduct a Siddha puja at the Murugan temple at Taneermalai in Taiping. We did as told bringing paintings of the Siddhas along. 

I guess Agathiyar made these exceptions because our rituals and puja revolved around the Siddhas. In fact, Agathiyar directed us to light oil lamps and pray, telling us that the Siddhas grace is in all the abodes of Lord Murugan including Batu Caves. He says the way to tap into these energies and receive their blessings at the Siddha spots is by reciting the names of the Siddhas. We lighted oil lamps at Batu Caves and recited the names of the Siddhas three years in a row. We had also been approached by the chairman of the Sri Mayuranathar Srimath Pamban Swamigal Temple, the late Supramaniam Aiya to jointly host several Siddha puja at his temple premises that included lighting the homam and oil lamps. 

மலாயா தேசத்தில் கருத்தான முறையில் சித்தர்களைப் போற்றி வணங்க கூடிய மக்கள் பரிபூரணமாக இருக்கிறார்கள். முருகன் இருக்கும் இடம் எல்லாம் சித்தர்கள் பார்வை இருக்குதென்று பொருள். அதுபோல பத்துமலையும் சித்தர்கள் வாசம் செய்த ஸ்தலமாகும். சித்தர்கள் முருகனுக்குச்  சிவ பூஜை செய்த ஒரு ஸ்தலம். அடியவர்கள் அத்தலத்தில் தீபம் ஏற்றி வழிபட உத்தரவு அளித்துள்ளோம். பஞ்சபூத ஸ்தலங்களிலும் ஆறுபடை ஸ்தலங்களிலும் எங்களுடைய ஜீவம் கண்டிப்பாக இருக்கு. அதனால்  அந்த ஸ்தலங்களில் சென்று சித்தர்களின் நாமம் உச்சரித்தால்  அவர்களுடைய ஆற்றலும் ஆசியும் வந்து சேரும்.

It was truly amazing to have the Paramaguru Jeganathar speak to us. That is the force of the lineage behind the worship of Siddhas. Believe shall set us sail and just as the "wind has the power to affect the boat's speed and direction and can influence the skipper's navigation", the daily prayers shall build momentum in our lives, and these gusts of winds shall power the boats sail onward. The night sky and its stars that are guardian angels, past saints, sages, Rishis, and Siddhas, shall guide us on towards reaching our target or rather the target set for us after coming to their worship. The protective arms of the Siddhas shall keep us safe.

No commentary on Sri Jeganathar would be complete without mentioning Chitramuthu Adigal. Chitramuthu Adigal left for Malaya in 1922, staying in Kuala Kangsar, Perak. He worked as a toddy tapper for six years before returning to India in 1928. He married the following year and had a child in 1930 who survived only for three days. He came again to Malaya and stayed in Taiping, Perak. He went back to tapping toddy. This was when he met Jeganatha Swamigal and Jeganathar took him as his disciple and gave him the name Chitramuthu. Hence began a wonderful Guru Disciple relationship between them. Jeganathar helped Chitramuthu realize his true Self, his full potential, and his mission in life.

Both Tavayogi and Hinduism Today mention one Gurusamy Pillai as having visited Jeganathar in 1951 and again in 1953. "The Swami asked Pillai to write to a close disciple in Sri Lanka telling him to go see Yogaswami (a renowned Sat Guru of the Natha Sampradaya who died in 1964)." The disciple was none other than Chitramuthu Adigal who was in Ceylon then, in 1953. Hinduism Today continues that "Then Jaganatha predicted another "soul" from America called Subramuniya would come. He would reside in Hawaii. Subramuniya will travel around the world and everyone will receive his darshan. Then I, too, will join him," the Swami declared. And indeed Sivaya Subramuniya, born in America, took Yogaswami as his guru, founded Saiva Siddhanta Church (headquarters in Hawaii), and traveled annually from the West to the East."

When the time came for him to go into samadhi, Jeganatha Swamigal asked to be buried alive but the authorities in Malaya as elsewhere did not allow that. Therefore, he dictated that his followers leave an opening with a pipe protruding from the ground. The pipe protruding into the samadhi is just behind the Shivalingam. On my maiden visit to this temple many years back, the caretaker was gracious enough to let me enter the Holy sanctum to view it.

Like Thirumular and Arunagirinathar before him, Jeganathar must have transmigrated into another living thing and left behind his presumed ‘dead’ body to be laid and buried. He must have entered back into his body later, through the pipe that protruded from the ground at his samadhi.

It is mentioned that Arunagirinathar who left his body in the form of a bird, to fetch the Parichatha flower that would cure the eyesight of the king, from another world, to his dismay, found it missing on returning to the towers of Arunachaleswarer temple in Tiruvannamalai, where he had carefully tucked his physical body away.  His arch-rival, Sambanthan, had the body removed and buried elsewhere in his absence. If we are told that as it was already buried under soil, Arunagirinathar had no way to return to his body and stayed in the form of the bird until his reunion with Lord Murugan, Agathiyar revealed that Arunagiri was in his physical human form till his last days.

Jeganatha Swamigal went into samadhi at 4.30 am on 25 January 1959 in Tapah. He chose a full moon and a Thaipusam day to go into samadhi following in the footsteps of his beloved guru Ramalinga Adigal. Eyewitnesses mention that flashes of light were emitted from his samadhi at that moment. 

A Shivalingam was installed above his samadhi later. The locals collected funds to build a roof over it and soon a small temple emerged. In 1980, the famed businessman and philanthropist N T S. Arumugam Pillai of Penang built a small hall. Later in 1990, A.V. Pasupathy Pillai of Malacca renovated the existing Shiva temple. 

Jeganathar lived for 145 years. He had three disciples: Chitramuthu Adigal from Panaikulam, India, Veemavar from Indonesia, and Sathyananthar of Sudha Samajam, Malaya.

SINGING THE PRAISE OF THE GURU

Not everyone is cut for a job or task. I remember Sivabalan remind me, as I was elated when Agathiyar asks me to build him a temple, not to be too happy as this proposal was made to 50 others before me. He should know for he had Nadi readers from India stay at his home and read the Nadi for Malaysians. He would often translate for others. He told me to take it up if I had the resources and know-how. When many come up with talks on Siddha medicine on the net I proposed to a friend to speak on it as he was a good Siddha physician. He turned down the invite. When very few take notes and compile their experiences, I chose to do it because I found it so difficult to lay my hands on accounts of personal experiences of practitioners of yoga, religion, and spiritualism back in the 80s and 90s. My sole source was the limited books written, that were brought into the country and made available at a handful of book stores, again not through experiences but as a study on these subjects. Pandit Gopi Krishna was one who documented his experience with the powerhouse Kundalini. Paramahansa Yogananda has given a detailed account of his vast experiences with gurus and his personal experiments in his autobiography. Though my experiences are not comparable to these prominent spiritual figures I guess they would come in handy for someone just coming along the path of the Siddhas. 

And so it was that I commented on PremKV's YouTube channel that "I guess you are the one destined to bring Swami's fame to the entire world, Prem. Thank you very much to you and your team for all your effort and work. Swami shall shower his grace on all of you" after watching the trailer of the 2nd season on the series on Sadhguru Shri Brahma. I truly believe he was the one task to bring Swami into the spotlight. I watched the 9th episode last night having seen all the previous 8 in the past. He has done a good job in bringing the story of Swami to life. 

Similarly, I was delighted to receive praise from Tavayogi for my work in promoting Agathiyar and his ashram/temple through this blog and my YouTube channel that goes by my name. It was the best gift a disciple could ever ask for from his guru. 

I was not keen on attaining the Siddhis, arousing the kundalini, doing wonders, healing, forecasting the future, looking into the past, dwelling on Siddha medicine, reading the Nadi for others, and all the other fields associated with the Siddhas. I just wanted to remain in his good books and spread his good word. That was what Tavayogi had asked me to do in the very beginning. But then I told him that I was ill-prepared to take on a task of such magnitude as we have many "giants" in the field who came before me. But Tavayogi tricked me to speak pushing me to the forefront at one such gathering at an event to officiate a new Peedham in Banting. Luckily Ramalinga Adigal's Arutperunjothi mantra saved the day for me. Just saying a few words I switched to chanting the mantra and everyone else had to follow. Wasn't I smart, huh?

There was one time I ditched all the websites I had created and the YouTube channel too back in the past when someone made a joke about Supramania Swami on a Facebook account of a friend who had posted Swami's photo. I informed Tavayogi that I had closed all the sites. Tavayogi requested that it be there. I had to start from zero again complying with his requests. Agathiyar too has asked me to continue writing the blog. I guess if this would make my gurus happy then I shall pursue this task given. I am reminded by the stanza from "Shivanandha Botham", a discourse between the Manam and the Arivu, where the Manam is told how a disciple should carry himself before his guru, first as adimai or a slave and later as a thondan or servant looking into his needs and ensuring he is happy always and most importantly wait patiently for the tree to shed its fruit.

ஐயமின்றி யுடல், பொருள், ஆவி, மூன்றும்
ஆண்டவனே உன்னதென் றளித்து பின்னும்
துய்யகுரு நாதனுக்கே அடிமையாகிச்
சொன்னபடி கேட்பதற்கே தொண்டனாகி
மெய்யென்றே அவர் மனமும் களிக்கும் மட்டும்
வேண்டினதோர் சோதனைக்கு மிதத்திடாமல்
செய்யதிரு மலரடியிற் காத்திருந்தாற்
செவியதனி லூபதேசம் செய்வார்தாமே

To whom shall the Guru pass on his Gnana Upadesam?
To the one who sacrifices, without doubting his Guru, his Udal, Porul, and Aavi to his Guru who he regards as his God.
Hence becoming his slave,
Following each instruction as would a servant,
Thus bringing joy to the Guru,
Not giving up under the pressure that comes with his tests,
Waiting patiently at his Holy Feet,
To those, the Guru gives his Gnana Upadesam.

TRAVELING WITH AGATHIYAR

You shall not find doctrines and teachings in the pages or posts of this blog. This blog is solely about the journeys, travels, and experiences gained while doing so by several devotees of Agathiyar. 

Upon my arrival at Kallar ashram for the first time in 2005, Tavayogi asked me if I wanted to go to the caves or visit several gurus. I opted for the caves. But he did take me to these gurus later. He pointed out the one who craved post, authority, and respect. He then brought me to another who was stuck in rituals and recognition. Finally, the third he told me was a Gnani who kept to himself. If Tavayogi took me to see three gurus so that I could know the differences between gurus themselves, experience as a seeker, follower, and devotee for the past 20 years places me in a position to evaluate fellow aspirants. We all started as seekers but we quickly switch to being followers on the Siddha path and have now become devotees of Agathiyar. Many sadly remain seekers even after years of searching. They just do not know what they are searching for. They have formed an idea in them and look outside if that ever exists. They shall never find it out there. The only way is to start on their own with their own idea and experience shall teach them further. Many others remain as followers but drop out the moment something unpleasant crops up with their master or organization or faith. Or they leave for greener pastures when bored with the routine or do not see results or their desires fulfilled and when they feel it is of no use hanging around further. The devotee is one who shall give his time, resources, and life for the cause. 

I guess I too was one such person, in the beginning, a seeker knocking on the doors of establishments in the name of Agathiyar. I simply wanted to know how to worship the Siddhas as Agathiyar had asked me in the Nadi to come to their worship. Existing establishments did not satisfy my yearning and need at that moment. I decided to go alone. That is when Agathiyar sends me to Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar ashram. They filled the void in me. I took up their teachings and practices. Besides this Agathiyar regularly topped up more teachings and practices through his Nadi. It was all so complete and beautiful. From a seeker and a follower I truly became a devotee of Agathiyar. As he is currently in the home of another devotee after puja and praises there I am asked if I miss Agathiyar. I do not. His presence is felt in his room in our home although his murthy or statue is not there. He has moved in with us and walks with us, engages in talks with us, laughs with us, and cries with us too. This is the amount of love and compassion he shows for his devotees. 

The more we rub shoulders with him the more we should be careful with our conduct and speech. He can pull his support away anytime. A daily Nadi reading for someone was brought to an abrupt halt and another was made to suffer mental torture and torment for ridiculing their Nadi. And these were heads of movements associated with Agathiyar's name. I guess this is why we are often reminded that the journey is akin to walking on a razor's edge. So when a book came flying and hit my right eye I immediately asked myself if I had erred and was punished. But Agathiyar only gave assurance that I shall recover my sight and never spoke about the reason for that happening. I am thankful to him as it looks like I am still in his good books at least for now.

POTHIHAI THARMANYAANA CHAKKRAM (PTC)

Agathiyar of Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) is curently at Pothihai Tharmanyaana Chakkram (PTC) staying behind after a puja conducted on 3rd July by the hosting couple and devotees Sri Krishna and Sri Dewi and their children. They have since decorated and conducted daily pujas for him. 

Sri Krishna was brought up in the circle of Nadi readers from India frequenting his uncle's place where he grew. So the Nadi is no mystery to him. After he married Sri Dewi she too took up the path of the Siddhas with much devotion. Sri Krishna besides helping out in translating the Nadi for non-Tamils took them to carry out the parikaram or remedies stipulated in their Nadi both locally and to India too. This couple who were trained in Siddha medicine by the late Dr.Krishnan although they have not made that their occupation, do prepare herbal preparations when the need arises. They have taught yoga and general well-being to the young and old. They took it up upon themselves to feed the hungry extending this charity to schools, orphanages, the homes of the poor, and to the street feeding many hungry souls in their lifetime. Beginning as Agathiyar Universal Mission (AUM) today they are known popularly as Pothihai Tharmanyaana Chakkram (PTC). We at AVM, and our charity wing Amudha Surabhi (AS) were introduced to street feeding by this couple who personally took us along to the many spots where the poor and homeless spend their days and nights in Kuala Lumpur. We take this opportunity to thank this couple who have shared so much with us in the past. 

This couple also conducts the abhisegam and puja for Agathiyar at Sri Kasi Visalatchi Sametha Sri Kasi Visvanathan Swamy Thirukovil at Eco City temple.

THIS GURU PURNIMA DAY ...

Today is Guru Purnima a day to show our respects, homage, and thanks to all the gurus and upagurus who came by in our lives and previous lives too and nourished our soul, taking us to greater heights. I was blessed to be shown my gurus instead of searching for one. Hence I was saved from going through dissatisfaction that some have had with their gurus during their search. I met someone who left to explore the Siddha path and search for his ideal guru at age 25. He was complaining about his previous experiences with his gurus and the establishment. He was then in his late fifties.

In fact, though I carried out puja at dawn and dusk in my home, I never actually went looking for any guru having settled for the pantheon of deities at my altar. I did have some photos and paintings of gurus that I recovered from devotional magazines pinned to the walls of my prayer room back then. That was as much as my devotion was back in those days. In 2001 my nephew came by to deliver the Vasudeva mantra and later a painting of Lord Dhakshanamurthy to be worshipped telling me that I shall meet my guru soon. This message came through him as an energy. I was asked not to question the source. Several years later he tells me that Agathiyar through his Paramaguru Gopal Pillai who had gone into samadhi had delivered the message.

A year later I had a calling to see the Nadi when my colleague spoke about his experience reading his Nadi in 2000. I soon stood at the door of Nadi Nool Aasan Sentilkumar. Agathiyar told me that he was my Moola guru. He also told me that I shall meet my guru unexpectedly. Fulfilling the calling to go to India to carry out several remedies for my past karma I stood at the door of Supramania Swami of Nachananthal village in Tiruvannamalai. I soon found out that he was the guru Agathiyar had mentioned. Several years later I stood at the door of a local affiliate at Batu Caves of Kallar Ashram, India, where its patron Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal had come to officiate. Tavayogi initiated me and my wife and officially took us into the Siddha path. Agathiyar told me that he had sent both my gurus to tutor and nurture me on different aspects of spiritualism.

I was blessed to have many upagurus come by and teach me a thing or two. I take this opportunity to list down and thank all of them on this auspicious day.

• My parents Avadaiyappa Chettiar and Valliammai. I pay my respects to both paternal and maternal ancestors through whose grace I come to touch the path of the Siddhas.
• My siblings.
• My family.
• The years 1980 to 1988 - Sethu Madhavan, Sivaraman, and Kandiah, senior colleagues at our project site in Lumut, with whom I had many hours of discussion during my bachelor days.
• The many books and their authors that served to guide me in yoga and prayers.
• 1994 onwards - Sethu, a senior colleague in Kuala Lumpur who passed me audio cassettes of the Thiruarutpa that opened my heart to seek and know more about Ramalinga Adigal. He introduced me to Dr.Krishnan, an astrologer, and Siddha physician, rekindling my interest in astrology and Siddha medicine.
• 1994 - Segaran another colleague in my office who passed me a painting of Lord Shiva, Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of A Yogi" and a word of advice that brought me immense benefits, before his resignation and departure to India to become a monk at Ranchi Ashram. I learned from this wonderful book about the Guru Disciple relationship for the very first time.
• 1996 onwards - The late Dr.Krishnan guided me and my family in casting our horoscope and treating us. He was also the very first guru to initiate me into Agathiyar's mantra etching out a yantra too to go with it and passing me a rasamani to adorn. He was the first person to speak to me about the Siddhas and their Nadi.
• 2001 - My nephew Thayalan Arumugam who passed me the Vasudeva mantra and painting of Lord Dhakshanamurthy, and his Gurus Gopal Pillai and Swami Annamalai who were conduits for me to receive them from Agathiyar.
• 2002 - My colleague Muralitharan Saminathan and Sivabalan who made it possible for me to have a Nadi reading. Nadi Nool Aasan Senthilkumar who read my Nadi, and guided me on the worship of the Siddhas in a ritual called Naadikku Dhaanam or in paying homage to the Nadi and its authors.
• 2003 - My first guru Supramania Swami of Thiruvannamalai to whom I am indebted for life. He was the beacon that lit up my life.
• 2005 - Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal who came to nurture the flame further and Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar who was supportive of all our ventures.
• 2010 - Agathiyar who came in the form of a bronze statue and filled our home with his grace. The handful of devotees Thayalan, Surenthiran Selvaratnam, Maran, Ganesan, family, and friends who came by to pay homage to him and participate in the puja. 
• 2013 - Thondu Seivom Bala Chandran Gunasegaran who came to witness the Pournami Puja at my home after his Nadi reading and who later brought his friends to read the Nadi and participate in our puja. Mahindren who I believe was sent over to dress up Agathiyar in grandeur after his libation or abhisegam.
• The Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) family that grew in size to a hundred who supported us in all our puja and charity activities. Masters Gowri Varadhan or Acharya Gurudasan, Uvaraj, Arunan who taught us yoga and treated us using Varmam and Energy Healing. Siddha physician and astrologer Arivananthan Aiya who has passed me numerous herbal preparations and is taking care of all of us well.
• Sri Krishna and his wife Sri Dewi of the Agathiyar Universal Mission (AUM) who were role models for us to follow in serving the hungry, poor, and unfortunate.

It has been a wonderful journey with some wonderful people around me. I appreciate all that they have done for me and my family and towards preserving the arts, practices. rituals and teachings of the Siddhas. My pranams to all of them.

SRI JEGANATHAR & CHITRAMUTHU ADIGAL

Mahin has invited me to Sri Jeganathar temple in a town called Tapah some 125kms away this weekend. This is the samadhi temple of a lesser-known saint, known only to older folks in the town and its vicinity until Tavayogi came along and spelled out the saint's life and times to us. Tavayogi after coming to Chitramuthu Adigal as a disciple learned about  Jeganathar. Chitramuthu Adigal who was also in then Malaya for the most part of his life was a disciple of Jeganathar. Tavayogi compiled an article on them for his Tirupur Thaiveedu Prathanai Kuzhu magazine. He read it out to us in an event we arranged in Ipoh in 2008. 

A recording was made of his speech. I have since uploaded numerous videos on it to YouTube. The irony is that the temple priests passed an audio cd of this speech to Tavayogi the man himself on his visit to the temple in 2016 telling us that they had a recording of a Swamiji speaking about Jeganathar and that it was for sale. We all looked at each other and told the priests that the Swamiji was none other than Tavayogi.

Since then we began to drop in on Jeganathar each time we either went back hometown or returned to our home back in Kuala Lumpur. Once he took control of me or Atkondraar and I was in a state of extreme joy. He came to us and walked the grounds of his temple. He blessed both my daughters and my wife. We were surprised that all through this time he was present others did not take notice. A group of followers of a wondering Swamiji in the order of Adi Sankarachariar were camping for over a week at the temple but none took notice of what transpired next to them. It was as if a curtain was pulled over the whole episode.

Similarly, when I was overcome by the energy at Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi at the famed Egambeswarar temple in Trichy, except for the priests from Paalur who volunteered to accompany me there, the resident priest and the gatekeeper and caretaker of Egambeswarar temple, and Deva who drove me around, none took notice of the incident. When the caretaker told me to compose myself the priest from Uttamar temple told him to let me cry. Again it was as if a curtain was pulled over the whole episode.

Again on my second visit to this temple and Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi, I broke down and fell to the ground. I felt Jnana Jothiamma who was accompanying me and my family stroke my legs and back trying to comfort me. My family stood clear as they had been told from the beginning by Agathiyar to just watch and they just watched. Again it was as if a curtain was pulled over the whole episode as no one took notice of what was going on.

Traveling with Tavayogi, on day 10, when Tavayogi, my brother, and I were at Papanasam, Agathiyar said the same too that the miracles were for our eyes only - three of us. Before we left Courtallam Tavayogi took us to a Shivan temple, Lord Kutralanathar in town. At the Shiva temple was a shrine for Agathiyar, just behind the Sakti Peedham in the outer precincts of the temple. In "Babaji's Gita" written by Yogi Ramaiah, we read that Babaji "initiated" the temple authorities who built the shrine of Agathiyar and installed a statue for Babaji too. This shrine was built on the exact spot where Babaji was initiated by Agathiyar, writes the Yogi. We sat at Agathiyar and Babaji's shrine and Tavayogi started singing. Tavayogi and my brother were seated to my right but as there was a pillar that obstructed my view of them, I could not see them. Tavayogi broke down as he sang a song from Ramalinga Adigal's Thiruarutpa, 'Indru varumoh naalaiku varumoh allathu mathendru varumoh'. That's when I thought I saw Agathiyar open and shut both his eyes. I got up to move closer, to get a better view and to confirm what I had seen. True enough there was Agathiyar opening and closing both his eyes, which were human-like. When we were at Agastiyampalli the previous day, Agathiyar had opened his left eye only. But it was different then as Agathiyar had opened his left eye that was sculptured in the granite figure. Eyes that were sculptured closed originally, were now watching me - only his left. Here at Courtallam, it was human eyes that were watching me. I stood still, amazed, my sight fixed on Agathiyar's eyes. A moment later I called my brother over to have a look too. I pointed out to him each time the sage opened and closed his eyes.  But he was silent, just as I was back at Agasthiyampalli then. That's when Tavayogi called out to us saying, "You have seen, have you? Come, come, let's leave." (Paarthuthingaleh, vanga pohvohm). Again it was for our eyes only.  

Prior to witnessing this miracle, Agathiyar had opened his left eyes in his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli. He had told me in the Nadi reading before I left Malaysia that he would look at me when I arrived at this temple. As Tavayogi who brought me there and I alighted from the car that I had hired for my entire trip two men seated near the Rajagopuram or main entrance to the temple got up. The one in pants and shirt left whole another clad only in vesti to our surprise ushered us and led the way for us to follow. He led us straight to Agathiyar's sannadhi. As Tavayogi sat down to start singing and meditating as he did elsewhere the old man stopped him. He told us to circumambulate the temple and worship Lord Shiva in the inner chamber first and come back to Agathiyar. We did as told. He was waiting for us at Lord Shiva's sannadhi. He showed the flame or aratti and brought us out into the open. He walked to a spot and pressed his thumb on the ground telling us that that was the spot Agathiyar had pressed his thumb to bring about balance to the world as it had tilted due to the presence of all the Gods gathered to witness Lord Shiva and Parvathy's marriage in Kailash in the past. He then left us. We continued with our prayer. After singing the names of the Siddhas Agathiyar had yet to open his eye as promised in the Nadi. I noticed that Tavayogi was then standing in the open. I moved over to him. He told me that Agathiyar was opening and closing his eyes and pointed it out to me. I could hardly make it out in the heat and bright light of the early afternoon. All I saw was a dark chamber. I guess Tavayogi was disappointed that I could not see the miracle as he told me, "Let's take some photos" and led me into Agathiyar's sannadhi again. He asked me to go and sit with Agathiyar. As I feared crossing the threshold I chose to sit on it. Tavayogi threw me his shawl and asked me to sit on it. What do you know? As I turn to look at Agathiyar he opens his left eye to look back at me. Before I could express my joy and surprise and excitement Tavayogi pulls me away from that spot telling me that they will only show a little while. We left the temple. Again it was for our eyes only.  

Next closer to home, as we walked into the dark caves of Sri Shanmuganathar cave temple in Sungai Siput, I was literally lifted up and thrown into a dark pit by the immense energy at the spot where Chitramuthu Adigal had meditated. I was spared injury as I walked out of the pit with assistance from my wife after I tried to lift myself. As usual, they stood watching until then. What surprised me was that the "temple priest' and his "aid' too watched over the episode. Again it was for our eyes only.  

A friend at the office had a wonderful experience at Jeganathar's temple. He had accompanied his friend and wife and their two children to the temple. As it was way past 12 midnight they decided to stay there and leave in the morning. As the infant was screaming his head off in hunger the parents attended to him. The 2-year-old daughter of theirs who was playing by herself let out a scream too suddenly. Upon enquiring, she pointed to Jeganathar's photo and told them that "Grandpa had carried me!"

AGATHIYAR

In the many Nadi readings that I have had before, Agathiyar has said many nice things about me and the future. After self-assessment, I know pretty well that I do not deserve his praise and all the good things to come as he predicted. It only goes to show the amount of compassion he has for us. 

I was a sinner. I find it difficult to fit into the ideal person that we always envisioned. I could never conform to the ideal person depicted by the saints and the sacred texts either. Someone after coming to know that I only take satvic food immediately hinted that "You do not get angry, right?" It doesn't work for me. I am an angry person and still am. I was counseled by Agathiyar for close to an hour through the Nadi reading in the past. But I guess the habit has become a character. Now I can only plead that the dear Lord accept it as my Guna.

Similarly, I know that I have many flaws and am daily trying to combat them all. I have fears too. I have anguish and worries too. In those times I call out to Agathiyar to help me overcome these feelings. I reach out for the Shanmuga Kavasam by Pamban Swami and the many other Kavasams or songs that serve as shields in times of danger and illness. I reach out for the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra that calms us driving our fears away. I reach out to the Dhanvantri mantra that keeps the illnesses under check. I light the homam and pray that the dangers and illness go away. Though we set out to do our very best and are awfully careful at all times, misfortune does strike us when we let our guard down. These misfortunes are saved to say for the rainy day when it pours, wets, and drenches us. Though he has set the chain of the law of cause and effect into motion he is at hand to assist us in overcoming our sufferings and misery in our times of need if only we look up to him first and later learn to look within. Here then the Siddhas come as an umbrella. They stand by us in these trying times. 

So how is it I wonder Agathiyar has given a perfect picture of me? I guess what he is implying is that the number of hours sitting in puja and doing charity over the past 20 years to a certain extent has offset these weaknesses in me. I guess it does not bother him anymore if I was perfect or imperfect for he always speaks about seeing our souls only. The Atma we are told is untainted and pure and one with God. God who walked the earth in the past now walks and sees the world often extending aid to others, the needy and unfortunate through us. 

Nevertheless, I am truly grateful to him for even considering me as a candidate and taking me as a student on the path. My wife says he knows who has the potential to evolve further and tirelessly works on them. Even if we were to forget him he comes in a timely manner to remind the individual of his past connection. Hence we have seen many would-be saints reminded by a sage or an incident from their past and are connected again taking up the calling. Eventually, they are molded into saints and sages themselves.  

It truly makes you wonder who he is? Hence the lyrics of the first song penned jointly by Tavayogi and Gowri Arumugam of Raagawave Production aptly ask the same "Who are you?" (Yaarappa Nee Konjum Sollappa).

I feel lost now more than ever before since we have come to know many a thing. If before coming to the path we had no knowledge about the cause and effect dilemma, about the several bodies we carry with us, about the enormous other worlds in existence and their inhabitants, ignorance back then was indeed bliss. Wanting to pursue and know further has driven us in circles. Thinking that we have understood something comes up that trashes our former understanding. We start again from where we left. It is a never-ending journey. And we thought we could comprehend all these using our intellect and bookish learning. Nay. It is beyond our understanding and human perception. It is beyond time and space. It is beyond logic and science, laws and formulas. It is sacred and a great secret. The key to this knowledge is with the guru. 

கண்புருவப் பூட்டு

கையறவி லாதுநடுக் கண்புருவப் பூட்டு
கண்டுகளி கொண்டுதிறந் துண்டுநடு நாட்டு
ஐயர்மிக உய்யும்வகை அப்பர்விளை யாட்டு
ஆடுவதென் றேமறைகள் பாடுவது பாட்டு.

சிற்சபையும் பொற்சபையும் சொந்தமென தாச்சு
தேவர்களும் மூவர்களும் பேசுவதென் பேச்சு
இற்சமய வாழ்வில்எனக் கென்னைஇனி ஏச்சு
என்பிறப்புத் துன்பமெலாம் இன்றோடே போச்சு.

ஐயர்அருட் சோதியர சாட்சிஎன தாச்சு
ஆரணமும் ஆகமமும் பேசுவதென் பேச்சு
எய்யுலக வாழ்வில்எனக் கென்னைஇனி ஏச்சு
என்பிறவித் துன்பமெலாம் இன்றோடே போச்சு.

ஈசன்அரு ளால்கடலில் ஏற்றதொரு ஓடம்
ஏறிக்கரை ஏறினேன் இருந்ததொரு மாடம்
தேசுறும்அம் மாடநடுத் தெய்வமணி பீடம்
தீபஒளி கண்டவுடன் சேர்ந்ததுசந் தோடம்.

மேருமலை உச்சியில்வி ளங்குகம்ப நீட்சி
மேவும்அதன் மேல்உலகில் வீறுமர சாட்சி
சேரும்அதில் கண்டபல காட்சிகள்கண் காட்சி
செப்பல்அரி தாம்இதற்கென் அப்பன்அருள் சாட்சி.

துரியமலைமேல்உளதோர் சோதிவள நாடு
தோன்றும்அதில் ஐயர்நடம் செய்யுமணி வீடு
தெரியும்அது கண்டவர்கள் காணில்உயி ரோடு
செத்தவர் எழுவார்என்று கைத்தாளம் போடு.

சொல்லால் அளப்பரிய சோதிவரை மீது
தூயதுரி யப்பதியில் நேயமறை ஓது
எல்லாம்செய் வல்லசித்தர் தம்மைஉறும் போது
இறந்தார்எழுவாரென்றுபுறந்தாரைஊது.

சிற்பொதுவும் பொற்பொதுவும் நான்அறிய லாச்சு
சித்தர்களும் முத்தர்களும் பேசுவதென் பேச்சு
இற்பகரும்345 இவ்வுலகில் என்னைஇனி ஏச்சு
என்பிறவித் துன்பமெலாம் இன்றோடே போச்சு.

வலதுசொன்ன பேர்களுக்கு வந்ததுவாய்த் தாழ்வு
மற்றவரைச் சேர்ந்தவர்க்கும் வந்ததலைத் தாழ்வு
வலதுபுஜம் ஆடநம்பால் வந்ததருள் வாழ்வு
மற்றுநமைச் சூழ்ந்தவர்க்கும் வந்ததுநல் வாழ்வு.

அம்பலத்தில் எங்கள்ஐயர் ஆடியநல் லாட்டம்
அன்பொடுது தித்தவருக் கானதுசொல் லாட்டம்
வம்புசொன்ன பேர்களுக்கு வந்ததுமல் லாட்டம்
வந்ததலை யாட்டமின்றி வந்ததுபல் லாட்டம்.

நாத்திகம்சொல் கின்றவர்தம் நாக்குமுடை நாக்கு
நாக்குருசி கொள்ளுவதும் நாறியபிண் ணாக்கு
சீர்த்திபெறும் அம்பலவர் சீர்புகன்ற வாக்கு
செல்வாக்கு நல்வாக்கு தேவர்திரு வாக்கு.

(Source: http://www.thiruarutpa.org)

It is only through his grace that the door is opened and we are let in. Try as you may to knock on it or bring it down forcibly only emptiness shall meet your eyes as Ramalinga Adigal said in both accounts. If in the former he pleaded to Lord Shiva to open the door in the latter he informed those gathered moments before his departure from the face of the earth that if the authorities should come and forcefully open the door that he shut only an empty room shall meet their eyes.

093. சிவயோக நிலை

1. மதிமண்ட லத்தமுதம் வாயார உண்டே
பதிமண்ட லத்தரசு பண்ண - நிதிய
நவநேய மாக்கும் நடராஜ னேயெஞ்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

2. இந்தார் அருளமுதம் யானருந்தல் வேண்டுமிங்கே
நந்தா மணிவிளக்கே ஞானசபை - எந்தாயே
கோவே எனது குருவே எனையாண்ட
தேவே கதவைத் திற.

3. சாகா அருளமுதம் தானருந்தி நான்களிக்க
நாகா திபர்சூழ் நடராஜா - ஏகா
பவனே பரனே பராபரனே எங்கள்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

4. அருளோங்கு தண்ணமுதம் அன்பால் அருந்தி
மருள்நீங்கி நான்களித்து வாழப் - பொருளாந்
தவநேயர் போற்றும் தயாநிதியே எங்கள்
சிவனே கதவைத் திற.

5. வானோர்க் கரிதெனவே மாமறைகள் சாற்றுகின்ற
ஞானோ தயஅமுதம் நானருந்த - ஆனாத்
திறப்பா வலர்போற்றும் சிற்றம் பலவா
சிறப்பா கதவைத் திற.

6. எல்லாமும் வல்லசித்தென் றெல்லா மறைகளுஞ்சொல்
நல்லார் அமுதமது நானருந்த - நல்லார்க்கு
நல்வாழ் வளிக்கும் நடராயா மன்றோங்கு
செல்வா கதவைத் திற.

7. ஏழ்நிலைக்கும் மேற்பால் இருக்கின்ற தண்ணமுதம்
வாழ்நிலைக்க நானுண்டு மாண்புறவே - கேழ்நிலைக்க
ஆவாஎன் றென்னைஉவந் தாண்டதிரு அம்பலமா
தேவா கதவைத் திற.

8. ஈன உலகத் திடர்நீங்கி இன்புறவே
ஞான அமுதமது நானருந்த - ஞான
உருவே உணர்வே ஒளியே வெளியே
திருவே கதவைத் திற.

9. திரையோ தசத்தே திகழ்கின்ற என்றே
வரையோது தண்ணமுதம் வாய்ப்ப - உரைஓது
வானேஎம் மானேபெம் மானே மணிமன்றில்
தேனே கதவைத் திற.

10. சோதிமலை மேல்வீட்டில் தூய திருவமுதம்
மேதினிமேல் நானுண்ண வேண்டினேன் - ஓதரிய
ஏகா அனேகா எழிற்பொதுவில் வாழ்ஞான
தேகா கதவைத் திற.

(Source: http://www.thiruarutpa.org)

Will the good Lord let me on his secrets too? Will he open the great door to the great universe out there? Will I join their list of names as Music Director Ilayaraja scripts the lyrics to his song on Annamalaiyaar? Will I make it on the list as Ramalinga Adigal proudly tells the world of his acceptance into the fold of the Siddhas?

Only his grace shall pave the way for it. I await with a yearning heart and open palms for that day when all the veils are shred apart and Gnanam dawns.

We read a verse from the "Shivanandha Botham", a discourse between the Manam and the Arivu, where the Manam is told how a disciple should carry himself before his Guru. This appeared in "Tirupur Thaiveedu Prathanai Kuzhu 1994 magazine".

ஐயமின்றி யுடல், பொருள், ஆவி, மூன்றும்
ஆண்டவனே உன்னதென் றளித்து பின்னும்
துய்யகுரு நாதனுக்கே அடிமையாகிச்
சொன்னபடி கேட்பதற்கே தொண்டனாகி
மெய்யென்றே அவர் மனமும் களிக்கும் மட்டும்
வேண்டினதோர் சோதனைக்கு மிதத்திடாமல்
செய்யதிரு மலரடியிற் காத்திருந்தாற்
செவியதனி லூபதேசம் செய்வார்தாமே

To whom shall the Guru pass on his Gnana Upadesam?

To the one who sacrifices, without doubting his Guru, his Udal, Porul, and Aavi to his Guru who he regards as his God.

Hence becoming his slave,

Following each instruction as would a servant, 

Thus bringing joy to the Guru,

Not giving up under the pressure that comes with his tests, 

Waiting patiently at his Holy Feet,

To those, the Guru gives his Gnana Upadesam.

TAVAYOGI THANGARASAN ADIGAL

I do not have many visuals of my first guru Supramania Swami as I had only met him twice at Thiruvannamalai, the first time in 2003 and again in 2005. But Tavayogi frequented Malaysia several times and we had a great time. So here are some visual stories on Tavayogi as a means of showing my gratitude to him too as we celebrate Guru Purnima next Wednesday, 13 July.