THE LIFE & TIMES OF CHITRAMUTHU ADIGAL

Chitramuthu Adigal

Chitramuthu Adigal and his Guru Jeganatha Swamigal (right). Photo courtesy of Kallar ashram

Chitramuthu Adigal in later years

Chitramuthu Adigal

Jeganatha Swamigal

Chitramuthu Adigal

Chitramuthu Adigal 

When Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal was in Malaysia, the public used to come up to him and voice their unhappiness and tell him of their sorrows, miseries, hardship and misfortunes. He would listen through and tell them that it was all due to their Vinai or the results of their Karma. He would then go on to reveal a solution, not for each individuals specific problems, but a solution to remove in entirety their Vinai, and hence remove all obstacles, hardship and sufferings. His message always was, "Potrinaal Unathu Vinai Agalum Appa" meaning the results of ones karma will be destroyed by ones prayers. He goes on to guide whom to pray to, too. He would gladly tell them to worship Agathiyar and the Siddhas. He would also tell them what to pray for. He says not to pray for a life without hardship, for that would not be possible, but to ask Erai for a way out or solution to overcome their problems.

Once after a similar session, Tavayogi turned to me and questioned whether these people knew the meaning of true hardship and sufferings. What they were going through was inconveniences due to high expectations that they had and that did not turn out in their favor, etc.

Lately when I came across Chitramuthu Adigal's ARUL OLI, in which was published his biography, I realized what Tavayogi said was true. Chitramuthu Adigal had gone through immense hardship and sufferings right from day one. And we thought we face a lot of problems daily. After reading Chitramuthu Adigal's account of his life and times, I realized our sufferings are very minute and negligible compared with what he went through. 

I was once told that whoever wanted to come out of their sufferings should pray to Raghavendra Swamigal, for he himself had gone through severe hardship and sufferings and would understand better our situation too. Tavayogi and Supramania Swami too have had gone through much hardship and have had their fare share of sufferings too. Tavayogi made massive loses in his business, and as a result was in debt. His family and he were forced onto the streets. Chitramuthu Adigal, Tavayogi and Supramania Swami all lost their eyesight at a particular period in their lives, regaining it after some time by the grace of Erai.

Yogi Ramaiah too went through a phase of suffering. He contracted bone tuberculosis which stopped him from traveling to the USA to continue his studies. He was immobilized for 6 years! His wife and servants cared for him at San Thome in Madras. Ramaiah used this time to read up on all the Indian spiritual literature. During these years, Prasanananda Guru aided him in meditation while Omkara Swami shared his knowledge of yoga. Ramaiah also published his first book based on Omkara Swami’s life, "A BLISSFUL SAINT." In 1952, he had a visit from Mauna Swami too, a disciple of Shirdi Sai Baba. Shortly afterwards, Ramaiah had a vision of Shirdi Sai Baba. He asked if Baba was his Guru. Baba replied, "No, but I will reveal to you who your guru is", and Ramaiah was shown his guru Babaji. One day Ramaiah succumbed to the pain and misery that he was undergoing and decided to end his life by holding his breath. Suddenly he heard Babaji's voice telling him, "Do not take your life! Give it to me!" Surprised at the divine intervention Ramaiah surrendered to Babaji.

The next day, upon awakening, Ramaiah felt that he was healed. Summoning the doctors, and to everyone's astonishment Ramaiah was indeed healed completely. Soon Ramaiah regained the use of his legs. In another vision Ramaiah saw Babaji limping and questioned him. To his surprise, Babaji replied he was taking on Ramaiah's illness (bone tuberculosis)!

Let us walk through Chitramuthu Adigal's live and come to terms that our sufferings is nowhere close to what these masters had gone through. This is a translation of Chitramuthu Adigal's life in his own words, from his book ARUL OLI.

He begins by explaining that since people wanted to know about him, and his experiences, and on their insistence he had written about himself. 

Chitramuthu Adigal's mother Karupaai Ammal, was from the village Maanaagkudi in the district of Ramanathapuram. She was married to Dhankodi Naadaar of Marikovil in Panaikulam village. Before the first year of of marriage was over his sister was born. She was named Raamaai Ammal. After 5 years, Chitramuthu was born, in April of 1900. Subsequently his home caught fire and was turned to ashes. His family stayed with their relatives for a few days before moving on to his maternal parents home in Marikovil. On arrival at Marikovil, some huts in the village caught fire. As a result he was called Chithirai Suliyan although his mother gave him the name Muthu. Later his guru Jeganathar gave him the name Chitramuthu.

His mother Karupaai Ammal passed away when he was only 8 months old. He was then raised by his paternal grandma Kumaraai Ammal. 

Many mysterious happenings took place around Muthu as he grew up. As a child, each time he closed his eyes to sleep, Muthu would hear the sound of bells or Mani and would sense lights circling him and lifting him high above the ground. Once following his grandma to the marketplace at Panaikulam, he noticed a 10 year old girl playing with earth on the streets. He rushed to her and asked for sugar. The girl placed some earth in his hands that immediately turned to sugar on contact with his skin. On another instant, when returning from his grandma's home to Utharathisai, and on approaching the Angaala Devi Amman temple, he had a vision of all of existence evolving out of Paraveli. Those were the times when he goes into Sahaja samadhi where he would lose consciousness of the world and his physical body would drop to the ground. (Ramana Maharshi provides a beautiful explanation on this and other forms of samadhi, "Holding on to the supreme state is samadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it is savikalpa. When these disturbances are absent, it is nirvikalpa. Remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is sahaja.) When Muthu drops unconscious, those gathered around him will cry out and weep, but he would wake up in a few moments and leave to play without any concern at all or remembrance of the event. Once when he was called to partake porridge or kool like the rests one night, he refused and asked for rice. He then heard a voice tell him cooked rice was available some distance away and on checking it out it was true. 

His grandma Kumaraai Ammal passed away when he was six. As his father did not show much care and attention towards him, he left for his fathers sister's home. Seeni Aayi, his father's younger sister took care of him. Muthu cared for their cows and goats. One day impressed by the beauty of the sun while herding them, he sang his very first song that came spontaneous. As his sister too was not self sufficient and was finding it difficult to upkeep her family, Muthu was often hungry. At the age of seven, asking to partake what his sister's husband was having, Muthu was refused and chased away by him. Muthu left for Thillangkundu some 5 miles away. He survived doing odd jobs at a coconut plantation in Thillangkundu. His father who was leaving for Malaya, took him away to Mudiveeran, a township, to be tutored but his stepmother placed many obstacles on Muthu's path so he could not continue his studies.

In the absence of his father, Muthu was sent away to Atthiutthu to work in the toddy plantation by his stepmother. Unable to carry the toddy in its large pots, he would let slip and it would fall and break into pieces, losing the days collection of toddy. He would then be manhandled and beaten up. At 12, on the insistence of his step mother, he worked in a Palmyra or Panai plantation. Once as he was bringing down the sap of the tree, he fell from a height and broke his right angle. He was sent back to his sister's home. Later while caring for the herd he used to have stomach ache. He was asked to do penance at the Naaganatha sthalam. Sporting long hair now, he served an astrologer by bringing him fire wood and leaves to serve him food on and in return was fed too. Once as he took these leaves from his sister's backyard without her knowledge, she screamed to find a cobra lodged on his head.

At 16, his uncle refused to give his daughter in marriage to him. The next two years, he earned a living climbing the Palmyrah trees at Marikkovil. 

In 1922 his sister's husband brought him to Malaya where he worked in Kuala Kangsar. Adorning jewelry and living a life considered to be lavish by standards at that time, he spent his earnings wastefully. Unfortunately he had to return to India in 1928 with only a single ten rupee note on him. The locals in his village came forward to give their daughters in marriage to Muthu, thinking that he had acquired much wealth while away in Malaya for six long years. Alas, his true financial state was exposed within three months of his arrival. When all the rests of the local folks went back on their word, Kaalaiyappa Naadar agreed to marry off his daughter Sivagami Ammai to him. His marriage to Sivagami Ammai took place in 1929 in a very modest and simple ceremony. Stepping into married live brought its share of problems and worries on him. He stole some money from his work place, a liquor store, and feasted on meat and ganja. He used to beat up his wife too. 

His wife was brought to the general hospital at Ramanathapuram with severe labor pain. A male child was delivered only to pass away in three days. With no money on him, Muthu came to Alagankulam and borrowed 100 rupees from Aiyaavu Chettiar, left his wife at her mother's home and returned to Malaya. 

While in Taiping he learnt astrology from Erusappa Mudaliar. He took Jeganatha Swamigal as his guru and had his questions and doubts cleared. He received teecha from Jeganathar at Tapah, and began to carry out austerities and sadhana. 

Along the way he became blind and wanted to end his life. That is when an old man with long tresses appeared to him, gave him a smile, took his hands and placed a lime in it before leaving in the direction of the north. Muthu woke up wondering if what he saw was a dream or real. His intention to end his life left him just as the lime in his hand too disappeared. A similarity is seen here between the guru Chitramuthu Adigal and his disciple Tavayogi. Both lost their eyesight and wanted to end their lives. Tavayogi heard a voice that told him Agathiyar was there and not to fear as he was about to step onto the path of an oncoming train.

With both his physical form and mental sate ailing and failing him, Muthu left the hospital at Ramanathapuram, begged two rupees from a relative and headed for the Valanthara train station. While there someone seeing his condition, approached him and took a rupee from him, purchased a ticket and a hot cup of coffee for Muthu and tied the balance of small change into a knot on his clothing and left. Muthu who now cherished and seeked the state of Nithyanandam, built a strong determination to see it through the end. The train from Dhanushkodi heading for Chennai stopped at the station at 8pm. He boarded the train only to disembarked at Ramanathapuram. After having spent the night at the platform at the station, and later got chased away onto the streets, a stranger lead him to a butchery and told him he could spend the rests of the night there. Spreading a dirty linen on the cold floor and hoping to have a good nights sleep, he was rudely awakened by pain as a result of numerous bugs biting into his flesh. The local Munshi seeing his sad state asked someone to bring Muthu to another person to have his eyes checked out and treated. The practitioner gave him some herbs to consumed and send him home, without accepting his money, promising Muthu that he would regain his sight.

Muthu returned to his sister's home. Seeing that his relatives were not keen to receive him, he went to Alagankulam. There a miracle took place. At exactly 12 midnight Muthu regained his full eyesight. Suddenly all was visible to him. Clear and perfect eyesight was restored to him by the grace of Erai. His sadness vanished. Not able to earn a wage, his relatives gave him much trouble. Thinking that a foreign country would appreciate his presence more, he left again for Malaya.

1940, he took on the robe of a Sanyasin and the name Chitramuthu Adigal given to him by his Guru, and began to spread the Sanmargam, taking on a solemn promise not to touch money. He enlisted himself in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army for some time. In 1947 he returned to his wife and home, bringing them too to the fold of Sanmargam. He turned his home into a centre of learning and named his home Aruloli Madam. Starting with his own village, he preached and spread his teachings on Sanmargam and Jeevakarunyam or compassion in the neighboring villages. He brought to a stop animal sacrifice performed at the Venai Theertaal Alayam at Kadukkai Valasai at Maanaagkudi village. Thinking of bringing Atma Gnanam to the masses, he brought some Pandits into his fold, to provide upadesa to the folks. But after two years his hopes of the message reaching the common folk was dashed. He realized his efforts were fruitless and returned home. He started thinking what was the best way to bring change in the mindset of his people at that time and to bring Erai's grace onto them. He realized that with determination, a good health, keeping the senses under control, and having a clear mind at the on set, and by performing service, and with some additional divine guidance, one could go a long way. He took a pledge to see these through in his people.

Several quarters who were against his teachings went on a mission to dishonor him. His writing on the false gurus entitled Gurumathi Maalai became their target of attack. Despite their attempts to sabotage him, his GURUMATHI MAALAI, THIRUPUGAL THIRAVIYAM, PERINBA KURAL, MAUNAANANTHA MOLIGAL, MARANA SINTHANAI, GNANA PANDITHAN, NIRAI NERI MOLIGAL, SEER THIRUNTHU MANITHA, KARUNAI KANNEER, KRIBAI PRAGASA POKKISHAM, GANDHIJIYIN THIRUARUT PULAMBAL, and ARUL OLI MALAR came to be published. 

Although many out of jealousy, schemed ways to bring his downfall, Chitramuthu Adigal always prayed that Erai should shower some grace onto them and all of his enemies too.

Taking on all the praises and also the brickbats, Chitramuthu Adigal spread his wings to Madurai, Trichy, and overseas to Malaysia, via the establishment of his Aruloli Gnana Sabai. He gave motivation to the poor to overcome their fears and reservations through his speeches and writings. 

Chitramuthu Adigal ask to forgive his shortcomings as it was all done during a period when he was ignorant and all that changed when Erai took hold of his thoughts and actions. 

On 5 March 1995 (Sunday, 21st, in the Tamil month of Maasi, in the year of Bava) he attained the state of Jhoti at 5pm at Athma Santhi Nilaiyam in Panaikulam.