When Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal came to propagate the message of the Siddhas to Malaysians in 2005, he accepted me as his disciple among many others. He brought me officially into the fold of the Siddhas. It has been 9 years now since I received my teecha (an undertaking on the part of the disciple to uphold the teachings of his Guru that shall bind both the Guru and disciple forever) from him.
It has been 9 memorable years with Tavayogi, not forgetting the years prior to meeting Tavayogi when I was with my first Guru Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai.
It has been a long journey, a journey of 12 years, under the tutelage of two wonderful Gurus, each a jewel in his own way.
Supramania Swami did not have a following. I can safely save that I was the only student of his. He loved me as a son. The five hours I spent with him on my first visit to see him over an astrological chart for my daughter, was equivalent to a whole life time of being with him. The year was 2003. The place Tiruvannamalai. The bondage was sealed that day. The relationship bloomed and continued till Supramania Swami was called back to the Kingdom of God on 7 February 2007.
Supramania Swami through his daily routine showed me devotion in its purest form. Once as we sat before his Guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar's samadhi shrine and libation or abhisegam was done to Shiva and Nandhi during the Pradosham hours, Swami sat still for the whole duration, lost in his own world, just watching. I was wondering what was he seeing in that abhisegam?
He brought Yogi Ramsuratkumar to his kudil, after the Yogi had gone into samadhi in 2001, to chant with us the Lord's Nama Japam, "Yogi Ramsuratkumara, Yogi Ramsuratkumara, Yogi Ramsuratkumara Jeya Gururaya" I was blessed to be present during this private and special moment between the Guru (the Yogi) and Disciple (Swami). I was privileged to be allowed to enter their "space".
I saw the magnanimity of Swami when he helped me pack some blankets of his, as I set off to meet my new found Guru Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar. On returning to his kudil, from a pilgrimage of some caves, temples and samadhis with Tavayogi, Swami enquires about the health and well being of Tavayogi. Show me a Guru who would send his student to another Master and enquire about the Master's health later.
I am glad that I had helped Swami fulfill his life long wish to build a temple, although the temple was not completed. His 40 year wish had been fulfilled. Lately in October of last year, I managed to fulfill his other wish, through Jnana Jyothi Amma, that he mentioned a couple of days before his samadhi. He had wished to feed 1000 people at Tiruvanmalai on completion of his 60 day tapas, but did not live to see that day. Jnana Jyothi Amma completed that wonderful task to the utmost satisfaction of all the Gods, the testament to it being the words uttered by Ramalinga Adigal in her ears at the Neerannamalai Temple, "Purthi Aayiruchi, Sandosham".
If Supramania Swami showed me true temple worship and Guru Bakthi, Tavayogi took me a step further into his world of Siddhas. He took me to the abodes of the Siddhas, intoducing his new found student to them. It was indeed a great privilege to be taken in into their Marg and introduced to them by a Siddhan and a Munivan. I think I am one of the very few students to have the privilege to be taken on the path of the Siddhas by the Guru himself, while he was still fit as a fiddle.
Tavayogi just like Supramania Swami expected me to adhere and put into practice all that was taught. Swami in his usual way, would give a gentle reminder but Tavayogi would lash us if we default on these practices. Both these Gurus had only good intention, having seen the potential in us, to rise to greater heights and if possible to be at par with them. They did not expect us to remain a student and to do service to them forever. Instead they refused to let us do their chores, banned us from performing the "bathing of the feet" ritual, were extremely against the worship of them and forming cults around them. Both my Gurus showed me the power or sakthi behind them and all of us,; the energy that was moving us all. They asked that we worship this energy. Swami called that energy Shiva while Tavayogi chose to call IT Agathiyar.