Saturday 28 January 2017

DEVOTEES OF AGATHIYAR PART 3

Anyone seeing the Nadi for the very first time will be told about his past birth first and foremost. This is necessary so that we understand why we took rebirth. Knowing the past would help us understand why we are here right now and what needs to be done to progress further. After revealing this secret of our soul's former birth and journey, and where we left off, the Siddhas start guiding us from this moment of revelation. Taking their hand we resume the journey, from where we left. Once we know the reason for our birth, exercising care in all our daily chores and with the Siddhas guidance we begin to learn to serve, give and share both to them and humanity. This then brings great merits that then overshadows the bad karma that we had earned earlier. We are then each given a mission to accomplish before we return back from where we came. In the midst of accomplishing our task, we meet and gather together with other souls in the form or guise of the family, relatives, friends, colleagues and many more relationships. Some are meant to last for some time while others are momentary. But the relationship that holds through thick and thin and over many births is the love for Erai. This is the reason we come back into their fold after getting lost momentarily in the pleasures of the world. Many a saint had been jolted from this dream state or maya within seconds and dropped everything the very moment they realise that the world and all in it was momentary or a dream, a play of Maya or illusion. For us it takes a longer period to realise this truth where even after we are confronted with the truth we still remain rooted deep in this Maya. This is because of the past vasanas that crop up at that moment as fears and worries and bond us further and deeper into this world of illusion. To break our hold on this Maya we need to take the feet of those who had battled and won the war against Maya. They are the Siddhas.

With the Siddhas grace we then move forward and faster on the rung to spiritual enlightenment. Eventually it would dawn on us to remain silent for good and break the chain or cycle of birth. We then become master of our fate. This is how the Siddhas aid mankind towards a state of no return, no birth and rebirth.

In my Kaanda Nadi reading, which is based on my thumbprint, in 2002, the very first time, Agathiyar speaks about my past birth in the chapter Santhi Parikaram Kaandam. I was a priest in Kerala. Earlier in 1996, Dr Krishnan looking through my astrological chart hinted that I could have been a priest or a Siddha medicine practitioner. Fast forward to 2013, Bala Chandran Gunasekaran after beginning to frequent AVM, wanted to know our relationship. It is rather interesting to note how the members of the AVM family are connected to each other, not only in this birth but going back several births. Bala was told that we both had lived in Batu Caves in Malaysia in a past live. In another Nadi reading Bala was told that we had lived in the Sringeri Math in Karnataka in a previous birth. That's three of my past births covered.

I had always wanted to know why my late father came over to Malaysia leaving his ancestral home in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and why I was born here in Malaysia? Meanwhile my wife wanted to know the reason she embraced the Siddha path. Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, in June of last year, brought along the Jeeva Nadi not sure if Agathiyar would approve and provide readings in Malaysia. But the most compassionate father pleased us all by providing readings. Away from the norm, he provided readings daily as opposed to Saturdays and Wednesdays only, in Kallar Ashram! My wife and I seized the opportunity to request for a reading too as we had yet to see the Jeeva Nadi in possession of Tavayogi. We cleverly planned to go to him on the pretext of seeing the Nadi regarding our daughter's education. The all knowing father Agathiyar saw through out scheme! To our surprise, he did not speak about her education but instead told us about our past lives. Yes, my wife, daughter and I had been together in the past life too, at  Papanasam in Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu. That's the fourth revelation on my past birth.

How amazing! All the deeds and sins I did in these past lives were recorded, gathered, viewed, assessed, and reviewed afterwhich my present birth was determined. A master creator or Erai had all the necessary and relevant mechanisms and systems in place to undertake a mind-boggling extensive task of assessment of every soul and its determining its eventual destination. He is indeed magnificent!

If we were to leaf through these sacred Nadi leaves further, I presume many more past lives of us would most probably be revealed.

When Agathiyar asked that I come to his path through the Nadi reading, I had no idea what I was to do. I was fortunate that Sri Sentilkumar from Avinasi who read my Nadi in Malaysia, showed me a simple Siddha prayer for a start - chanting the names of the Siddhas. After meeting Tavayogi in Malaysia, I told him that Agathiyar wanted me to come to his path. Tavayogi led me and my wife to chant Agathiyar's moola mantra which we received from him upon initiation the same day we met him. He too asked us to chant the names of the Siddhas. Later during my travels with Tavayogi we chanted the names of the Siddhas at every temple, cave and samadhi.

And so it came to be that we at AVM began to chant the names of the Siddhas at all religious gatherings, festivals, and while at temples, samadhis and caves. During our recent tour of 25 temples including 17 samadhis or Siddha related places, the AVM family of nine, as usual chanted the names of the Siddhas. To our astonishment the mere chanting of the names of Siddhas moved things!

At Thiruvanaikaval in Trichy, an old priest appears from nowhere, walks up casually to Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi, opens the closed grilled gate, lights the camphor and waits for us to end our recitation of the names of the Siddhas before showing the arathi and blessing us all, all to our astonishment.

At the Arulmigu Kasi Vishwanathar Temple, in Thirupattoor, we sat to chant the names of the Siddhas at Vyakrapadhar's Brindavanam. To our astonishment, again a temple priest opens the glass chamber to the Brindavanam and places a garland on Vyakrapadhar's samadhi.

At the Arulmigu Brahmapureeswarar Temple, in Thirupattoor, we began chanting the names of the Siddhas at Sage Patanjali's sannadhi when to our astonishment a priest hurries us asking us to come over to the Goddess sannadhi and get her darshan before closure time. Here we are taught by the temple priest a simple yet effective meditation cum prayer technique that gave us immediate results as he said it would do.

At the Arulmigu Swaminatha Swamy Temple in Swamimalai, in the thick of the crowd that had gathered there, we lighted some ghee lamps and began to sing a couple of hymns and Siddha songs at Agathiyar and Lobhama's sannadhi. To our astonishment we were joined by other devotees, the police personnels on duty giving us leeway to do so.  

As we walked into Agathiyar's sannadhi, at the Sri Agasthiyar Kumbamunivar Sannadhi situated outside the temple grounds of the Arulmigu Adi Kumbeswarar Temple in Kumbakonam, we realised that the vasal to Agathiyar's sannadhi was grilled. Nevertheless as usual, we began to chant the names of the Siddhas. To our astonishment, a man arrives to open the grilled door! He enters the sannadhi and lights up the lamps while a lady leaves a bottle of sandalwood water in our midst and steps aside to listen to us chant! They both then leave together as we continued our chant. Another lady clad in rainbow saree covering her head completely, enters the sannadhi, lights up a lamp, shows the arati before exiting the sannadhi with due respect, in reverse. She never showed her face to any of us. As we ended the chant, the man hurries up to us from somewhere in the temple grounds to inform us that he was going about his chores when Agathiyar instructed him over to his sannadhi to open the doors for us! He introduces himself as M.Shankar, a Siddha medicine practitioner and the gatekeeper to Agathiyar's sannadhi.


At the Arulmigu Sri Mayuranathaswami Temple in Mayiladuthurai (Mayavaram), we light the ghee lamps and recited the names of the Siddhas at Kuthambai Siddhar's Jeeva samadhi. To our astonishment the mere chanting of the names of the Siddhas made us feel the energy and presence of the Siddhas here. 

After chanting the names of the Siddhas at the Arulmigu Koraka Siddhar Jeeva Samadhi Peedham in Vadakku Poigai Nalloor, we sat to receive the sacred temple food Kavadi Soru made with grains collected from the villagers in the vicinity of the temple that was a agelong practise in this village. Dyalan was asked to spent the night here and partake the Kavadi Soru in Agathiyar’s Nadi reading read in Salem on his last trip to India. As we entered the dining hall late having meditated and chanted the names of the Siddhas, we were told only a small portion of sweet rice or pongal was left. We gladly received a handful each thinking that it was the Kavadi Soru. To our astonishment just then another aid came to us serving what he mentioned as Kavadi Sorru! Bala had noticed him bring this Kavadi Sorru from Korakar Siddhar’s altar in the dining hall. We were blessed to be served the very food offering for the Siddha! There was only sufficient Kavadi Sorru for all nine of us although there were many who sat across the room!

At the Arulmigu Subramania Swamy Temple at Ettugudi, we recited the names of the Siddhas at the Jeeva Samadhi of Vaanmigi Siddhar in the courtyard adjacent to Subramanya Swamy’s sannadhi. A family who wanted to perform annadhanam waited for us to end the chant before beginning feeding. To our astonishment they served us first before moving on to serve the food parcels to other devotees at the temple.

At Tanjai Periya Kovil in Tanjavoor we gathered before Karuvurar's sannadhi to chant the names of the Siddhas and to our astonishment soon found a large group of devotees had joined us in prayers too.

At the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple in Madurai, we sat some distance away from the busy Sundarananthar Vallabha Siddhar's sannadhi to begin the recitation of the Siddha names. We stopped midway to give way to the sacred arati that was brought to the sannadhi. To our astonishment a man passes us  a booklet on Amman 108 Potri, carrying Madurai Sri Meenakshi Amman 108 Potri Archanai and Sri Sivaperumaan 108 Potri Archanai, which we recited on completion of our chanting of the names of the Siddhas. Again we realised the amazing spur of energy at this spot as we kept chanting.

At Pazhamudircholai Murugan Temple in Madurai, we began chanting the names of the Siddhas as Dyalan went into a deep meditation. We waited for him to come out of it which took some time. To my astonishment, when he opened his eyes he motioned me to approach me. I knew then that it was not Dyalan for he would come to me and not ask me over. I went over and knelt before “him”. He asked me a question, “Who is the female deity in green and carrying a trident or sulam?” I answered that it was Madurai Meenakshi but added that the Siddhas see all forms of Dewi as Vaalai Thaai. He immediately told me that we had the grace and blessings of Vaalai Thaai. We realized later that that was the start of Vaalai Thaai accompanying us at all sannadhis together with the Siddhas!

At the Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani, Bala Chandran Gunasekaran, Shahalini and Malarvathy began to climb the steps of Palani on their knees as I led the others chanting the names of the Siddhas. To our astonishment a lady clad in a green saree with a child in her arms began to accompany us alongside. There was no reason for her to join us but when the trio stopped for a breather, she too stopped. Seeing a phenomena developing here, and remembering the words of “Ayya” before we left for India,  I pointed out to Bala that Dhandayuthapaani was there, referring to the child in his mother's arms. Ayya had asked us to be aware and told us that we would receive darshan of Dhandayuthapaani at Palani. The child was shaved bald, presumably just some moments ago, since he had sandalwood paste applied on his shaved head. He wore a cute miniature vesti around him and was so adorable. I asked the mother to let him down. Bala taking note of what I said, immediately carried the child on his shoulders and continued his climb still kneeling. After some distance the boy wanted to alight and followed us on foot. Reaching the top we gathered together at a spot and completed chanting the names of the Siddhas.

As we lined up in the outer corridor to enter the inner sanctum of Bhoganathar’s sannadhi, we noticed a “lady” meditating. Soon she was behind us in the inner chamber too, singing aloud a hymn of Bhuvaneswary, an aspect of Vaalai Thaai. Bala tells me she had asked them to receive the kumkum that the young priest handed out. She then left the sannadhi hurriedly ahead of us. As we desired to chant the names of the Siddhas, we re-entered Bhoganathar’s sannadhi and found a spot along the corridor to sit and chant. To our astonishment the lady who had left earlier, was back in the corridor and sat beside Bala who led the chant. It was almost closure time and the temple helpers hurried on the devotees, calling out to them loudly. Soon they closed the grills to the sannadhi too. They hurried the devotees already at the corridor to move on. They signalled us too to end our chant. Although the aids kept reminding us loudly, Bala kept pleading asking for a few more moments through hand gestures. To our astonishment the lady seated beside Bala motioned him to speed up the chant but not to stop. While the aids wanted us to end the chant she on the contrary asked Bala to continue chanting. Bala sped up the chanting. We who followed repeated "Potri Potri" too sped up to keep up with the rhythm that Bala was chanting. Finally just as we ended the Potri the mysterious lady took off into Bhoganathar’s sannadhi. To our astonishment again, the lady was waiting for us to turn up at the inner chamber. I was told she applied prasad to the forehead of the girls and Bala and wished them well, saying all shall be fine. Before she sped off again as she did earlier with a certain urgency, she told them, "This is the reason I came!". 

At Sri Konganar Siddhar Thirukoil in Pon Uthiyur Maalai, Uthiyur, we regretted that we did not bring along lamps to be lighted inside Konganar's cave. To our astonishment someone found an unused lamp. We became excited. Then we found another and then more. There was now eight pieces; we needed another one piece so that all nine of us could light up the lamps. Then we found the last one too! We could not believe our eyes that there was nine pieces of earthen lamp ready for all nine of us. Now what about oil? To our astonishment there was a little oil, available in a large container sufficient for the nine lamps! What about the Vilakku Thiri or cotton used in lighting lamps? Again to our astonishment we found a new bunch of Thiri. We were overwhelmed at the play of the Siddhas! This reminded me of how Tavayogi and I "discovered" that there was the sacred ash or vibhuti in front of us in a piece of newspaper when we came out of meditation at Konganar's cave!

Finding all the items we needed to light the lamps, each one of us began to light them. We began chanting the names of the Siddhas. On completion we waited for Dyalan to come out of his meditation. To our astonishment, Dyalen awoke from his meditation to inform us that both Agathiyar and Konganar were there and that they had blessed us. He asked if we felt their presence through the breeze and wind while inside the cave?

At the Natadreeswarar Temple in Erode, one completion of chanting the names of the Siddhas at Agathiyar's sannadhi, to our astonishment the temple priest took us around the temple sannadhis and temple grounds explaining to us about the temple and the deities on his own accord. He even took us to the herbal garden that they had where the trees and plants relevant to the nine planets, the birth signs and birth stars.


On the last leg of our spiritual tour, Bala again led us in chanting the names of the Siddhas at Kallar Ashram during the Sarva Dosa Nivarana Maha Yagam. To our astonishment Tavayogi announces the arrival of the Siddhas based on the movement of dark clouds that were hovering above the ashram grounds.


Upon returning to Malaysia, Bala and friends went back to "Ayya" who revealed that Agathiyar had come as the "lady' at Bhoganathar's sannadhi to hear us chant the names of the Siddhas!

We never anticipated nor expected to be shown so many miracles one after another. Soon we found that it was too much to digest. We returned home to Malaysia carrying with us these amazing memories of these experiences.



AVM is grateful to Tavayogi for showing us Agathiyar and guiding us. When the public came to Tavayogi with problems, he would reply that they had to go through this tough periods due to their vinai or past bad deeds or sins, "Evai yellam unathu vinaiyaal nadappathu". After pointing out why they were in their present state, Tavayogi would give them a solution too, "Potrinal unathu vinai agalum appa", meaning prayers would remove those past sins of yours. Finally he would mention whom to pray too, "Siddhargalai Potrungal", meaning pray to the Siddhas. He hands out a copy of his compilation of the names of Siddhas, "Siddhar Potri Thoguppu" and some vibhuti prasad. This was his panacea or medicine for all of life's problems and he would lovingly dispense it to all who came for a solution to their problems.

Never have I seen Tavayogi tackle, heal or take on the karma of others. Instead he would point them to Agathiyar showing them the master player himself. This is how he pointed me to Agathiyar too. I am deeply grateful to him for showing me Agathiyar rather than portray himself (Tavayogi) as a savior of mankind expecting to be worshipped and respected by his subjects. Of course we are grateful to Agathiyar too for taking us in!