Going through my library of video footage and videos uploaded to YouTube brings fond memories. Looking back on our journey brings much delight and many memories and reminiscence.
When Tavayogi began to visit Malaysia in the past, I never missed going over to see him and spend some time in his company. He used to be invited over by existing affiliates of his Agathiyar Gnana Peedham, Kallar in Malaysia. On one of these visits, I produced my very first video compilation of him and presented it to him on my laptop at the residence of a senior devotee. He was pretty impressed. I mentioned to him that I had carried a desire to become a movie director as I was a movie buff often reading and getting to know everything regarding each movie in my school-going days. My family would get my opinion and review before they decide to watch the movies in theatres. But good sense prevailed and I chose not to pursue that as a career but instead took up engineering. The passion was rekindled with the arrival of Tavayogi. He became my star and me his fan. I began to compile videos of him and his ashram and upload them to YouTube. Fellow devotees were reminded to take photos and videos wherever they went. They helped me add on to my collection and library of videos. Suren was a frequent traveler to Kallar followed by Bala Chandran. They passed over a considerable amount of footage. Both Mr. and Mrs. Balachander contributed videos of places they went to in India too. I personally filmed many events hosted by AVM and AS too and others handle the camera when I was occupied. I take this opportunity to thank all these kind souls who traveled the journey with me.
When someone insulted my guru Supramania Swami by posting a derogatory comment that accompanied a photo of his that was shared by another friend, I decided to deactivate/ closed all my social media accounts. I lost all the earliest uploads. When I reported my action to Tavayogi, he asked me, "Why son, Let it be. Many will get to know the path." I then took to uploading whatever I had on hand again beginning from zero. Let us revisit some of these memories.
Many such videos were brought down by me later as I was informed the BMG or songs used to accompany these videos were copyrighted. So was my first video of Tavayogi that included a BMG that I used from the famed Sitarist Ravi Shankar's album "The Essential Ravi Shankar". These days YouTube allows us to retain them but the revenue from advertisements goes to the original copyright owners of the music tracks. Hence I included this clip in a recent video that I uploaded. Watch it from 5 minutes on.
You might have noticed advertisements appear on my channel and videos now since I started monetizing them too.
Subsequently, Tavayogi and Mataji would pass on videos and DVDs of their annual festival held in conjunction with Agathiyar's Jayanthi. I uploaded them too.
When Agathiyar spelled out his Moola Mantra in my Nadi reading I wanted to share it. Coincidently I came across Pradeep Swaminathan's composition of Avvai's "Vinayagar Agaval". A portion of his musical composition seemed suited to my rendition of the mantra and pleasant to the ears. Hence I used it and uploaded the mantra.
Upon the arrival of Agathiyar in the form of a bronze statue, I began to carry out puja and its accompanying rituals both at home and in the homes of fellow devotees who invited Him over. I began to share them too with the intent to bring others to carry them out too showing them that it was indeed a simple affair.
When Tavayogi was in Malaysia for the first World Conference on Siddha Philosophy in 2007 we stole some moment to bring him to the Arul Oli Mandram in Ipoh to speak to devotees of Saint Raghavendra who had gathered there. At this venue, Tavayogi for the very first time revealed the history of Saint Jeganathar to us referring to his paper that was carried in the publication of his society at his hometown in Tiruppur where he who was known as T.K.Thangaraj used to conduct puja to the Siddhas with fellow devotees. Jeganathar was the guru of Chitramuthu Adigal. Arul Oli Mandram was built in honor of Chitramuthu Adigal. Tavayogi happens to be a student of Chitramuthu Adigal. I posted the recording that was made that day too.
The irony is that when we brought Tavayogi to Saint Jeganathar's samadhi temple in Tapah in 2016, the temple head passed an audio CD telling us that a Swami had narrated the history of Jeganathar and the temple. When asked to play, we were all surprised to hear Tavayogi speak. It was rather candid to see that they had downloaded the audio from my YouTube channel and produced the CD.
When Tavayogi showed us several Yoga Asanas and pranayama techniques we recorded these for our reference. I uploaded this too so that it would reach a wider audience.