Completing what was directed in the Nadi by Agathiyar, I returned home overflowing with bliss that followed me for several months until the daily routine of work and life began to overshadow and drive the bliss within. But how could going on a pilgrimage, praying and worshiping specific Gods and Goddesses, donating towards the priestly class and feeding the hungry, the poor and the animals help in reversing our karma, I asked myself? Even if I did not have the answers then, I had carried out all that was told to me in the Nadi. But there was no way to confirm if what I did satisfied Agathiyar then or if I had done them properly as ordained. Since he told me to come back for reading some three years later after my first reading, I left if as it is.
Meanwhile, I continued worship to the Siddhas and reading up about them. I established correspondence by snail mail and communicated through STD calls with Supramania Swami. He had cherished a 40-year wish. He wanted to build a temple. When my nephew paid a visit to him on my requests, Swami had mentioned that he wanted to build a temple for Lord Murugan in his village Nachaananthal. Later during my correspondence through letters with Swami, he told me he wanted to build the temple in Tiruvannamalai instead. Giving the green light to go ahead, Swami scouted for a piece of land near his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Ashram while I gathered the funds required for the purchase of the land and the costs of construction of the temple.
Swami was delirious when he announced to me over the phone that the land was purchased and that work on the temple could start soon. Swami together with his family used to monitor the ground works by day and return to the village at night. Then I suggested that Swami build accommodation for himself and move into it while working on the temple. Therefore, Swami put up a 11 feet by 30 feet kudil on the piece of land while work was going on. One day, when Swami was alone in his kudil, a stranger appeared at the cross road in front of Swami’s kudil and called him over. He asked Swami why he (Swami) who was on the path of Wisdom (Gnana) was now stepping back onto the path of Devotion (Bakti). His question made Swami realize that this was no ordinary man. Swami realized there was a message conveyed to him and immediately decided to stop further construction of the temple.
Supramania Swami had one work to his credit which he passed on to me and I had published online. It is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CVfxHLPiZmBCiV66B0Z2FLnvrIMQu9qc/view?usp=sharing
Besides the 5 divine hours, I spent with him on first meeting him in 2003, I only saw him again in 2005. But we used to communicate through the post and STD calls until these calls became more regular when I bought him a cell phone. Swami would ask me if I was doing tavam and meditating. As I was slow to reply since I could not bring myself to meditate however much I tried, he told me to do it. Supramania Swami told me my tavam would raise him to a higher state. He also told me that he would come through the light of the lamp that we lit at home. I could not comprehend his words then. Today I understand to a certain extent the significance of rituals, worship and lighting the lamp.
From the revelations in the late Hanumathdasan Aiya's Nadi readings as revealed by Agathiyar we understand that the Siddhas till this day conduct libation or abhisegam to Lord Shiva with 16 items of libation. Just as the hierarchy in the Indian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses is known to worship someone higher than them, Supramania Swami had told me my tavam would raise him to a higher state. Similarly Supramania Swami sat looking at the abhisegam performed to the Shivalinga that graced the samadhi of his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar, when I accompanied him in 2005. What was he watching? Was he watching his guru being bathe in the holy ceremony that was done on Pradosham that day? Hence I understood the reason for Agathiyar to come in the form of a statue and have us conduct it too.
Agathiyar told me that they listened to our plea and performed a Yagam so that Tavayogi shall live. They lit the sacrificial fire or Yagam when we pleaded to Agathiyar to save Tavayogi who was taken ill. Returning to his ashram and having settled all outstanding matters, including passing on the skill and divine knowledge of reading the Jeeva Nadi to Mataji, Tavayogi was ready and willing to leave his mortal form this time. When he was readmitted to the hospital, he called me to say that in the event he did not return to the ashram, Mataji shall manage the institution. I remained silent, stunned by his words. Noticing the prolonged silence Tavayogi bid farewell and hung up. We too did not want to stop or interfere with his soul's wish this time. He soon passed away.
Tavayogi started conducting the Yagam on full moon days in his ashram. Soon he celebrated the Annual Festival or Vizha that soon switched to in celebration of Agathiyar's Jayanthi and Guru Puja. Initially, he used to invite the public and devotees to sit and light their own fire bringing the total of Yagam pits to 108. As it was an extensive and costly affair and due to constraints in manpower to prepare the site and Yaga Kundam, prepare the wood and herbs that went into the sacrificial fire, to monitor, guide and advise the devotees it was dropped and a single large Yagam maintained throughout the later years. When he initiated the Yagam at his ashram grounds, he told me to carry out a similar fest simultaneously. I did light a homam, a smaller version of the Yagam and conducted the festivities on a smaller scale. This is kept alive till this day at both venues. The reason he started to conduct Yagams was to smoother the wreath of Mother Nature who came down on us hard in 2004 in the form of the mighty waves Tsunami and the unpredictable weather that played havoc in many countries. Agathiyar then told me that the Homam I did was not for my individual personal benefit but for the good of the prapanjam or matrix.
What was the significance of lighting a lamp? All temples are lit the traditional way, at least the inner chambers or sanctum, although we have electricity today in most areas. The lamp and its ensuing flame play a major role in all our rituals too. The Yagam or its smaller version, the Homam and the very basic ritual of lighting camphor tablets ignite flames and emit light. It is said that the deities receive our offerings through this fire. The fire consumes the body at the funeral pyre too. And fire is used to cook food and keep wild animals away too.
When a cousin of my colleague went to pee after drowning a few glasses of liquor, he brought back someone from the other world. As the others made a dash for it, leaving my friend alone, the one in him now directed my friend to bring him to a temple some distance away. He directed my friend all the way, continuously pointing towards the temple and to the light that was supposedly lit in the temple. Driving him along, my friend had to remind him that the road has bends, corners, and junctions and they could not possibly run through all those and head straight for the light in a straight line. Once at the temple he asked to light the camphor and told my friend that he was entering the flame. Only after he left his cousin came back to his senses.
We are told to light an Aganda Deepam, a larger than usual lamp and flame these days. Tavayogi told me Agathiyar came to him in the form of light. Ramalinga Adigal brought his devotees to worship Erai in the form of light that he named Arutperunjhoti, leaving behind the worship of Erai with forms.
What did Supramania Swami imply by telling me that he would come through the light of the lamp that we lit at home? How could he travel from Tiruvannamalai and watch us through the light of the lit lamp? To understand what he meant we have to go back to his life story and his endeavors and austerities he performed.
Supramania Swami was born on 17 July 1943 on Kritigai Natchathiram, a Monday in the Tirutani Murugan temple grounds. His mother was taking a kavadi when she had labor pains and delivered Supramanian. She was blessed with a child in God's home ground.
Supramanian’s grandfather Thuraisamy Pillai, an accountant (Kanaku Pillai) at Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarer temple, was a Vaisnavite from Aadi Peedham, Ladavaram near Tiruvannamalai. Supramanian’s father Jayaram Pillai was teaching in Reddi Kuppam, Anaikoyil. His uncles were teachers too.
Supramanian’s father who worshipped Lord Vengadasalapathy gave him an initiation or teecha on Lord Murugan. Supramanian used to follow his father to the woods to chop down the kalli trees. That is when the sap of the tree blinded him. A partially blind Supramanian made his way to Madras (Chennai) hoping to receive treatment at the government hospital. A police officer realizing that Swami was blind and seeing him struggle alone on the streets of Madras called for an ambulance that took him to the hospital. There the local Indian doctors certified that he had to be operated on to remove his eyes. There was no other way to it; any delay would otherwise lead to the poison eventually reaching his brain. One of the doctors, however, sent for an American doctor to get a second opinion. The American doctor said he could save Supramanian’s eyesight and he subsequently performed six operations on Supramanian. The politician MU Karunanidhi who was undergoing treatment for his illness at the hospital took up the cost of operating on Supramanian.
Later Supramanian moved to Thiruchendur where he made a livelihood selling flowers and garlands to support his mother and himself. He used to pull the temple chariot for seven consecutive years wearing sandals with nails on them. He put on the garb resembling Lord Murugan and took part in plays or dramas held at the temple grounds on festival days. After Supramanian was married at the age of 31, he started performing miracles or siddhis. As Ramana Maharishi says, “Just as a man who is drunk is not conscious whether his upper cloth is on his body or has slipped away from it, the jnani is hardly conscious of his body, and it makes no difference to him whether the body remains or has dropped off”, Supramanian too attired in only a banana tree bark, and in a similar state of mind, went about performing miracles and curing folks. He would grab a handful of sand, which turned to sacred ash (Vibhuti), Kumkum, or Panjamirtham accordingly. This he gave to people, who were then cured of their ailments. It was during this period that he indicated to the locals to the site of a vel that was buried by a Siddha in the hills of Tiruvanamalai. He spent seventeen years atop Tiruvanamalai hill. Supramanian had no memory of what transpired during that period. He only heard about his antics after miraculously gaining his memory back through consuming food prepared by a mysterious woman stranger. Although he became a normal person after consuming the miracle food, his ability or sidhi of changing sand and earth to vibhuti prasadham continued for some time and stopped on its own after he had his second daughter.
Supramania Swami made his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar appear from his samadhi when we were chanting the Yogi's name. As we were alone in his kudil that evening of 2005, Swami invited me to prayers and picked up his rosary beads and began chanting the Yogi's name. As it was a simple chant I joined in too. Soon I heard a third voice join us in the chant. I wanted to ask Swami upon completion of the chant but forgot entirely. When I returned to his kudil several days later, after spending some time with Tavayogi at his ashram in Kallar, Swami asks me if I heard the voice? Only then did I recall the event. Swami coolly told me it was his guru who had joined us.
I remember vividly the last conversation I had with Supramania Swami over the phone before his samadhi. I could not get through to Supramania Swami for some time. That evening there was someone trying to call me on my phone numerous times. However, each time I answered the line went dead or disengaged. I then thought if it could be Swami trying to get through to me. When I called his phone, he answered. Finally, I managed to get in touch with him after a long absence. “I have not forgotten you,” he said. “How can I forget you; you have given me a place to stay, referring to the kudil that we had collectively built for him. He blessed me. Then he said, “I am seeing the Jhoti. At times, it stays on for half an hour. My time is nearing. Ask Ramesh (referring to the Nadi Guru I used to frequent) to see when my day will come so that I can send you word and you can be present.” I cried like a child.
He told me he wanted to start a fast of silence (Mauna Virutham) and would survive only on fruits and milk beginning on 31 January 2007 for a forty-eight day period. The day he chose to start the fast would be the eve of the day that Ramalinga Adigal became one with the light Arutperunjhoti.
I called Swami's number on 3 February 2007. Surprisingly Swami answered his phone. When I apologized for calling him and making him break his fast, he replied, “No harm done. I shall talk to you.” He told me he had started the fast on wheat porridge, chapatti, and milk since the last full moon day, 1 February 2007 and would end his fast on Pangguni Utiram day – a fast that would now last 60 days. He did not speak to anyone, only writing out on paper if required. But he made an exception for me. I realize now as I pen these words that that is the grace of the guru. He told me I am letting loose of my senses. He asks me to meditate and be focused. He asks that I gather some funds so that he could feed a thousand devotees when his fast ends on 1 April 2007. But he chose to leave earlier.
Supramania Swami went into samadhi at 10.20 am, on Wednesday, 7 February 2007, four days after I spoke to him, at his kudil in Tiruvannamalai. He was 65. When I was with him in 2005, he mentioned that his lifespan was only 65. Ramajayam tells me he found Swami’s diary after his samadhi. Strangely, Swami had written the exact date and time of his departure. This entry was dated 23 May 2005. He had also written down on how to attend to his body once he passes away. Although he did not have a following, mysteriously a Swamiji to whom Ramajayam served as a driver then in Tiruvannamalai sent twenty of his followers or sadhus from his movement to take care of Swami’s last rites. Supramania Swami was laid to rest the same day within eight hours of his passing away as requested by him (Swami). When I was with him in 2005, he had indicated the spot where he was to be buried at his kudil to me. That was his wish. I was saddened that he was laid to rest elsewhere. But it happens to be that although he had mentioned that he was to be laid to rest at the kudil, the Lord and his messengers decided to provide a better place of rest for their deserving disciple. Agathiyar, on 10 February 2007, told me in my Nadi reading that Swami had gone into Samadhi at the right moment; he had been laid at the right spot and that his samadhi shall gain fame.
On 24 July 2007, Agathiyar again mentions Supramania Swami telling me that he was the first guru I went searching for and that he was a true guru. Agathiyar asked that I chant Swami’s name and miracles shall take place in my home. Just as his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar appeared and chanted with us after going into samadhi, Supramania Swami too indicated his presence at my home after going into samadhi. This miracle took place at my home, just as Agathiyar had said. Although we could not see him, the signs that Supramania Swami appeared in my home were there. The day was 17 September 2007. It had been some time now that Supramania Swami went into samadhi. We had just completed our daily prayers for the evening. The smell of jasmine, sandalwood or sandanam, sacred ash or vibhuti, frankincense and other fragrances always lingers in my home during prayers. As I sat with my wife in the living room of our home that day after prayer, there was a distinct smell of tobacco in the room this time. The thought of Supramania Swami immediately came to my mind. Was Swami at my home in Malaysia?
Almost immediately, my handphone rang but stopped immediately. On picking up the phone there was a miss call from an earlier number that belonged to Supramania Swami! I knew that number was no more in use. Swami had taken up another number that was now used by his son after Swami’s samadhi. Nevertheless, I called the number a few days later. A man answered. He asked me who I was and to whom I wanted to talk to. I introduced myself and I asked if he had called me a couple of days before. However, he answered that he had not made any calls to Malaysia. Then I asked if Supramania Swami was around. He answered that he did not know of any Supramania Swami. I enquired about his location. He mentions it was Coimbatore. Then I ask if Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal was there. The reply was no and he did not know Tavayogi either.
Several days later, I called my nephew and explained what had transpired. Upon ending my call, I realized there was a miss call while I was on the phone with him. Again to my amazement, the same number appeared. I called Swami’s son, Ramajayam. He confirmed that the number his father used had been terminated. Later Agathiyar reveals in the Nadi that the miracle did take place indeed. Supramania Swami had come that day!
I have come to realize that God works in mysterious ways to fulfill his agenda. I am grateful to him for showing me Supramania Swami. I am forever grateful and indebted to Supramania Swami who opened my eyes to devotion (Bakti) towards God and Guru by his exemplary lifestyle.
Meanwhile, I continued worship to the Siddhas and reading up about them. I established correspondence by snail mail and communicated through STD calls with Supramania Swami. He had cherished a 40-year wish. He wanted to build a temple. When my nephew paid a visit to him on my requests, Swami had mentioned that he wanted to build a temple for Lord Murugan in his village Nachaananthal. Later during my correspondence through letters with Swami, he told me he wanted to build the temple in Tiruvannamalai instead. Giving the green light to go ahead, Swami scouted for a piece of land near his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Ashram while I gathered the funds required for the purchase of the land and the costs of construction of the temple.
Swami was delirious when he announced to me over the phone that the land was purchased and that work on the temple could start soon. Swami together with his family used to monitor the ground works by day and return to the village at night. Then I suggested that Swami build accommodation for himself and move into it while working on the temple. Therefore, Swami put up a 11 feet by 30 feet kudil on the piece of land while work was going on. One day, when Swami was alone in his kudil, a stranger appeared at the cross road in front of Swami’s kudil and called him over. He asked Swami why he (Swami) who was on the path of Wisdom (Gnana) was now stepping back onto the path of Devotion (Bakti). His question made Swami realize that this was no ordinary man. Swami realized there was a message conveyed to him and immediately decided to stop further construction of the temple.
Supramania Swami had one work to his credit which he passed on to me and I had published online. It is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CVfxHLPiZmBCiV66B0Z2FLnvrIMQu9qc/view?usp=sharing
Besides the 5 divine hours, I spent with him on first meeting him in 2003, I only saw him again in 2005. But we used to communicate through the post and STD calls until these calls became more regular when I bought him a cell phone. Swami would ask me if I was doing tavam and meditating. As I was slow to reply since I could not bring myself to meditate however much I tried, he told me to do it. Supramania Swami told me my tavam would raise him to a higher state. He also told me that he would come through the light of the lamp that we lit at home. I could not comprehend his words then. Today I understand to a certain extent the significance of rituals, worship and lighting the lamp.
From the revelations in the late Hanumathdasan Aiya's Nadi readings as revealed by Agathiyar we understand that the Siddhas till this day conduct libation or abhisegam to Lord Shiva with 16 items of libation. Just as the hierarchy in the Indian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses is known to worship someone higher than them, Supramania Swami had told me my tavam would raise him to a higher state. Similarly Supramania Swami sat looking at the abhisegam performed to the Shivalinga that graced the samadhi of his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar, when I accompanied him in 2005. What was he watching? Was he watching his guru being bathe in the holy ceremony that was done on Pradosham that day? Hence I understood the reason for Agathiyar to come in the form of a statue and have us conduct it too.
Agathiyar told me that they listened to our plea and performed a Yagam so that Tavayogi shall live. They lit the sacrificial fire or Yagam when we pleaded to Agathiyar to save Tavayogi who was taken ill. Returning to his ashram and having settled all outstanding matters, including passing on the skill and divine knowledge of reading the Jeeva Nadi to Mataji, Tavayogi was ready and willing to leave his mortal form this time. When he was readmitted to the hospital, he called me to say that in the event he did not return to the ashram, Mataji shall manage the institution. I remained silent, stunned by his words. Noticing the prolonged silence Tavayogi bid farewell and hung up. We too did not want to stop or interfere with his soul's wish this time. He soon passed away.
Tavayogi started conducting the Yagam on full moon days in his ashram. Soon he celebrated the Annual Festival or Vizha that soon switched to in celebration of Agathiyar's Jayanthi and Guru Puja. Initially, he used to invite the public and devotees to sit and light their own fire bringing the total of Yagam pits to 108. As it was an extensive and costly affair and due to constraints in manpower to prepare the site and Yaga Kundam, prepare the wood and herbs that went into the sacrificial fire, to monitor, guide and advise the devotees it was dropped and a single large Yagam maintained throughout the later years. When he initiated the Yagam at his ashram grounds, he told me to carry out a similar fest simultaneously. I did light a homam, a smaller version of the Yagam and conducted the festivities on a smaller scale. This is kept alive till this day at both venues. The reason he started to conduct Yagams was to smoother the wreath of Mother Nature who came down on us hard in 2004 in the form of the mighty waves Tsunami and the unpredictable weather that played havoc in many countries. Agathiyar then told me that the Homam I did was not for my individual personal benefit but for the good of the prapanjam or matrix.
What was the significance of lighting a lamp? All temples are lit the traditional way, at least the inner chambers or sanctum, although we have electricity today in most areas. The lamp and its ensuing flame play a major role in all our rituals too. The Yagam or its smaller version, the Homam and the very basic ritual of lighting camphor tablets ignite flames and emit light. It is said that the deities receive our offerings through this fire. The fire consumes the body at the funeral pyre too. And fire is used to cook food and keep wild animals away too.
When a cousin of my colleague went to pee after drowning a few glasses of liquor, he brought back someone from the other world. As the others made a dash for it, leaving my friend alone, the one in him now directed my friend to bring him to a temple some distance away. He directed my friend all the way, continuously pointing towards the temple and to the light that was supposedly lit in the temple. Driving him along, my friend had to remind him that the road has bends, corners, and junctions and they could not possibly run through all those and head straight for the light in a straight line. Once at the temple he asked to light the camphor and told my friend that he was entering the flame. Only after he left his cousin came back to his senses.
We are told to light an Aganda Deepam, a larger than usual lamp and flame these days. Tavayogi told me Agathiyar came to him in the form of light. Ramalinga Adigal brought his devotees to worship Erai in the form of light that he named Arutperunjhoti, leaving behind the worship of Erai with forms.
What did Supramania Swami imply by telling me that he would come through the light of the lamp that we lit at home? How could he travel from Tiruvannamalai and watch us through the light of the lit lamp? To understand what he meant we have to go back to his life story and his endeavors and austerities he performed.
Supramania Swami was born on 17 July 1943 on Kritigai Natchathiram, a Monday in the Tirutani Murugan temple grounds. His mother was taking a kavadi when she had labor pains and delivered Supramanian. She was blessed with a child in God's home ground.
Supramanian’s grandfather Thuraisamy Pillai, an accountant (Kanaku Pillai) at Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarer temple, was a Vaisnavite from Aadi Peedham, Ladavaram near Tiruvannamalai. Supramanian’s father Jayaram Pillai was teaching in Reddi Kuppam, Anaikoyil. His uncles were teachers too.
Supramanian’s father who worshipped Lord Vengadasalapathy gave him an initiation or teecha on Lord Murugan. Supramanian used to follow his father to the woods to chop down the kalli trees. That is when the sap of the tree blinded him. A partially blind Supramanian made his way to Madras (Chennai) hoping to receive treatment at the government hospital. A police officer realizing that Swami was blind and seeing him struggle alone on the streets of Madras called for an ambulance that took him to the hospital. There the local Indian doctors certified that he had to be operated on to remove his eyes. There was no other way to it; any delay would otherwise lead to the poison eventually reaching his brain. One of the doctors, however, sent for an American doctor to get a second opinion. The American doctor said he could save Supramanian’s eyesight and he subsequently performed six operations on Supramanian. The politician MU Karunanidhi who was undergoing treatment for his illness at the hospital took up the cost of operating on Supramanian.
Later Supramanian moved to Thiruchendur where he made a livelihood selling flowers and garlands to support his mother and himself. He used to pull the temple chariot for seven consecutive years wearing sandals with nails on them. He put on the garb resembling Lord Murugan and took part in plays or dramas held at the temple grounds on festival days. After Supramanian was married at the age of 31, he started performing miracles or siddhis. As Ramana Maharishi says, “Just as a man who is drunk is not conscious whether his upper cloth is on his body or has slipped away from it, the jnani is hardly conscious of his body, and it makes no difference to him whether the body remains or has dropped off”, Supramanian too attired in only a banana tree bark, and in a similar state of mind, went about performing miracles and curing folks. He would grab a handful of sand, which turned to sacred ash (Vibhuti), Kumkum, or Panjamirtham accordingly. This he gave to people, who were then cured of their ailments. It was during this period that he indicated to the locals to the site of a vel that was buried by a Siddha in the hills of Tiruvanamalai. He spent seventeen years atop Tiruvanamalai hill. Supramanian had no memory of what transpired during that period. He only heard about his antics after miraculously gaining his memory back through consuming food prepared by a mysterious woman stranger. Although he became a normal person after consuming the miracle food, his ability or sidhi of changing sand and earth to vibhuti prasadham continued for some time and stopped on its own after he had his second daughter.
Supramania Swami made his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar appear from his samadhi when we were chanting the Yogi's name. As we were alone in his kudil that evening of 2005, Swami invited me to prayers and picked up his rosary beads and began chanting the Yogi's name. As it was a simple chant I joined in too. Soon I heard a third voice join us in the chant. I wanted to ask Swami upon completion of the chant but forgot entirely. When I returned to his kudil several days later, after spending some time with Tavayogi at his ashram in Kallar, Swami asks me if I heard the voice? Only then did I recall the event. Swami coolly told me it was his guru who had joined us.
I remember vividly the last conversation I had with Supramania Swami over the phone before his samadhi. I could not get through to Supramania Swami for some time. That evening there was someone trying to call me on my phone numerous times. However, each time I answered the line went dead or disengaged. I then thought if it could be Swami trying to get through to me. When I called his phone, he answered. Finally, I managed to get in touch with him after a long absence. “I have not forgotten you,” he said. “How can I forget you; you have given me a place to stay, referring to the kudil that we had collectively built for him. He blessed me. Then he said, “I am seeing the Jhoti. At times, it stays on for half an hour. My time is nearing. Ask Ramesh (referring to the Nadi Guru I used to frequent) to see when my day will come so that I can send you word and you can be present.” I cried like a child.
He told me he wanted to start a fast of silence (Mauna Virutham) and would survive only on fruits and milk beginning on 31 January 2007 for a forty-eight day period. The day he chose to start the fast would be the eve of the day that Ramalinga Adigal became one with the light Arutperunjhoti.
I called Swami's number on 3 February 2007. Surprisingly Swami answered his phone. When I apologized for calling him and making him break his fast, he replied, “No harm done. I shall talk to you.” He told me he had started the fast on wheat porridge, chapatti, and milk since the last full moon day, 1 February 2007 and would end his fast on Pangguni Utiram day – a fast that would now last 60 days. He did not speak to anyone, only writing out on paper if required. But he made an exception for me. I realize now as I pen these words that that is the grace of the guru. He told me I am letting loose of my senses. He asks me to meditate and be focused. He asks that I gather some funds so that he could feed a thousand devotees when his fast ends on 1 April 2007. But he chose to leave earlier.
Supramania Swami went into samadhi at 10.20 am, on Wednesday, 7 February 2007, four days after I spoke to him, at his kudil in Tiruvannamalai. He was 65. When I was with him in 2005, he mentioned that his lifespan was only 65. Ramajayam tells me he found Swami’s diary after his samadhi. Strangely, Swami had written the exact date and time of his departure. This entry was dated 23 May 2005. He had also written down on how to attend to his body once he passes away. Although he did not have a following, mysteriously a Swamiji to whom Ramajayam served as a driver then in Tiruvannamalai sent twenty of his followers or sadhus from his movement to take care of Swami’s last rites. Supramania Swami was laid to rest the same day within eight hours of his passing away as requested by him (Swami). When I was with him in 2005, he had indicated the spot where he was to be buried at his kudil to me. That was his wish. I was saddened that he was laid to rest elsewhere. But it happens to be that although he had mentioned that he was to be laid to rest at the kudil, the Lord and his messengers decided to provide a better place of rest for their deserving disciple. Agathiyar, on 10 February 2007, told me in my Nadi reading that Swami had gone into Samadhi at the right moment; he had been laid at the right spot and that his samadhi shall gain fame.
On 24 July 2007, Agathiyar again mentions Supramania Swami telling me that he was the first guru I went searching for and that he was a true guru. Agathiyar asked that I chant Swami’s name and miracles shall take place in my home. Just as his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar appeared and chanted with us after going into samadhi, Supramania Swami too indicated his presence at my home after going into samadhi. This miracle took place at my home, just as Agathiyar had said. Although we could not see him, the signs that Supramania Swami appeared in my home were there. The day was 17 September 2007. It had been some time now that Supramania Swami went into samadhi. We had just completed our daily prayers for the evening. The smell of jasmine, sandalwood or sandanam, sacred ash or vibhuti, frankincense and other fragrances always lingers in my home during prayers. As I sat with my wife in the living room of our home that day after prayer, there was a distinct smell of tobacco in the room this time. The thought of Supramania Swami immediately came to my mind. Was Swami at my home in Malaysia?
Almost immediately, my handphone rang but stopped immediately. On picking up the phone there was a miss call from an earlier number that belonged to Supramania Swami! I knew that number was no more in use. Swami had taken up another number that was now used by his son after Swami’s samadhi. Nevertheless, I called the number a few days later. A man answered. He asked me who I was and to whom I wanted to talk to. I introduced myself and I asked if he had called me a couple of days before. However, he answered that he had not made any calls to Malaysia. Then I asked if Supramania Swami was around. He answered that he did not know of any Supramania Swami. I enquired about his location. He mentions it was Coimbatore. Then I ask if Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal was there. The reply was no and he did not know Tavayogi either.
Several days later, I called my nephew and explained what had transpired. Upon ending my call, I realized there was a miss call while I was on the phone with him. Again to my amazement, the same number appeared. I called Swami’s son, Ramajayam. He confirmed that the number his father used had been terminated. Later Agathiyar reveals in the Nadi that the miracle did take place indeed. Supramania Swami had come that day!
I have come to realize that God works in mysterious ways to fulfill his agenda. I am grateful to him for showing me Supramania Swami. I am forever grateful and indebted to Supramania Swami who opened my eyes to devotion (Bakti) towards God and Guru by his exemplary lifestyle.