In a world where there are purportedly said to be 8.4 million species, (See http://aumamen.com/topic/hinduism-science-8-4-million-species-of-life) it's no surprise that man too has a multitude of beliefs, practices, and religions. Among them is the Siddha path or way of living. The first mention of the Siddhas came by way through a friend from Sentul, Kuala Lumpur (KL) who was transferred to my place of work in Lumut back in the early eighties. He asked me to see a Siddha practitioner in Leboh Ampang, KL as I told him of my heaty constitution. I did make the trip and consult the elderly practitioner who sat behind his desk dispensing herbal preparations. He recommended I take Chyavanprash and stop taking chicken meat. His medication and advice worked in bringing the heat down. Since then I had been taking this herbal preparation. Prior to exploring further the Chyavanprash that I was taking, I knew the term Siddha to be only a name as in a branding attached to traditional medicines as in Siddha medicine. After reading about the medicine, I came to know that they did know what was required to restore the body back to good health. A story is told of the origin of this herbal preparation Chyavanprash. A milkman used to send milk to a Rishi who was meditating high up in the hills daily. Once he told the rishi that he could not bring his ailing body to take the strides needed in hiking the hill to bring him his daily supply of milk. The Rishi wrote him a prescription asking him to gather the roots, herbs, etc, prepare and consume them. The old man recovered his strength and continued serving the Rishi. This concoction came to be known as Chyavanprash named after the Rishi. Another story goes as follows.
Various ancient Indian texts like Mahabharata, Puranas etc., relate that Ashwini Kumar brothers, the twins, who were Raja Vaidya (Royal Physicians) to Devas during Vedic times, first prepared this formulation for Chyavana Rishi at his Ashram on Dhosi Hill near Narnaul, Haryana, India, hence the name Chyavanprash. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/)
We learn further that,
The first historically documented formula for Chyavanprash appears in the Charaka Samhita, the ancient Ayurvedic treatise from the early first millennium BCE. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/)
Dr. Krishnan, medical astrologer, and Siddha practitioner was next to mention the Siddhas and their Nadi predictions many years later in the late nineties when I turned up at his office to ask why his predictions for me did not take place. He referred to a higher authority for the answers. They were the Siddhas and their Nadi. After seeing my Nadi, I came to know another aspect of the Siddhas, that they had the unique and mystical ability to look into the past, present, and future and that they would predict certain instances from one's life when one sought to know the cause of his or her troubles. Searching for a site that came highly recommended by Nadi Guru Tamaraiselvan, "Siththarkal Rajiyam", I came across another site "Siththan Arul". I was amazed and spellbound reading pages upon pages of stories that the late Hanumathdasan Aiya of Chennai shared with the admin of this blog Velayudham Karthikeyan Aiya, of how ordinary people were shown remedies and given solutions to all their day to day problems by Agathiyar through the Jeeva Nadi in the former's possession. It was an eye-opener for me for here were instant remedies dished out to people in trouble and seeking remorse merely by these Siddhas looking into their past, and analyzing their karma. Having read through the pages of "Siththan Arul", my appetite for more revelations grew in intensity and was only satisfied after Jnana Jothiamma purchased for me the full set of five books published by Aranthangi Shankar of Chennai that carried even more stories of Agathiyar as revealed to Hanumathdasan Aiya in the Nadi. As I had a ferocious appetite for reading I soon read and ate my way through the pages of these books in a jiffy. My appetite was satisfied beyond words. There was a whole new world out there waiting to be explored and I was going to find out. I took to researching about them. Sadly though when we search for information on the Siddhas or whenever even those traveling the path take the stage, they immediately dwell on the Siddhis that the Siddhas performed and the Kundalini. People who learn the art of magic do them these days too. Did their lives only revolve around making predictions, and dispensing medicinal cures and remedies or parikaram? Many have taken up the science of prediction too and began to guide those in trouble. Are the Siddhas only capable of executing such feats? What is that that makes a Siddha special?
My introduction to the world of Siddhas broadened with the coming of Tavayogi. Agathiyar made me travel to India and live with Tavayogi at his ashram for a couple of days and made him bring me to the abodes of the Siddhas. I had a brief stay and experience of living at an authentic ashram and had a short overnight stint experiencing sleeping in the caves where Siddhas and Tavayogi stayed in the past. I was given a glimpse of their mystical world that goes beyond logic and understanding. For instance when Agathiyar opened his eyes in his granite statue after Tavayogi threw me his shawl to sit on at Agasthiyampalli, figuring that I was a disbeliever he had me shown another instance where he opens both his eyes in his granite statue at Papanasam Temple - only this time it was real humanlike eyes staring back at me. I was again stunned when Tavayogi looked up into the skies and turn to me telling me that the Siddhas were showering flower petals on us ushering us to their abodes as we made the walk through the jungle path. Then he brought my attention to the aroma of sandalwood that lingered in the air telling me that they were around us to receive us. We had the sacred ash or vibhuthi that mysteriously materialized in a cave in Uthiyur that Tavayogi applied on my forehead, his and another man who accompanied us. Although Tavayogi is known to downplay all these miracles I could not help tell and retell them as I thought miracles might lure others to come to visit this path too. Hence the very first post and many that followed were all about miracles.
If the miracles he displayed in India were not enough, Agathiyar promised more on my return to Malaysia. He did keep his word. He performed a similar miracle in my home after eight years in his metal statue. He opened his left eye as he did at Agasthiyampalli. He chose the moment when his beloved daughter Jnana Jothiamma was with us for a very short visit. He had shown numerous miracles to Jnana Jothiamma earlier and the most spectacular was when he came as a beam of light that traveled from one end of the lake at Kalyana Theertam to the statue of Agathiyar and Loba ma at the other end, disappearing mysteriously just as it had appeared. Dr. Ram Supramaniam of Tirunelveli was witness to this spectacular play of light as he hurriedly followed the column of light capturing it on camera in the heat of the afternoon. It is said that the Siddhas show themselves as balls or specks of lights around the falls at Kalyana Theertam late at night. Hearing this I was excited and wanted to see this display of light too, but Tavayogi suggested otherwise that we head for the caves at Kutrallam for our overnight stay. When Bala Chandran, Dyalen, and both Masters Uva and Arunan were returning from their climb to the Pothigai peak after paying homage to Agathiyar, a tree trunk that had fallen across their path gave way to them as it sank further into the ground sufficient enough to let them walk across rather than around it that would have taken more time and effort.
Once convinced of their existence, I obediently listened to the Siddhas and carried out the remedies, advice, and practices and waited patiently for further guidance while carrying on with my home worship to the Siddhas. I was then called for more Nadi readings, this time from the Siddhas' Aasi Kaandam. If the Kaanda Nadi was traced and located using our thumbprint and followed by a series of questions that only needed us to nod or negate, the Aasi Kaandam comes as a gift to those who have submitted to the Siddhas and taking up their ways. I am indebted to the Siddhas to have their grace fall on me and call me by whenever they wanted to tell me something. We are also cautioned that if we misuse this privilege, they shall withdraw back on all future readings and might bring a stop to it. Then as we progressed on the path and became intimate with them, another avenue opens up where a conversation with the Siddhas pursues literally a two-way dialogue as our real-time thoughts are acknowledged and answered immediately through the Jeeva Nadi. In the absence of Tavayogi in physical form these days they convey many messages choosing to speak to us through ordinary people. Agathiyar has shown us that he can come in a palm leaf as words, come alive in stone and metal, move wood and the rest of nature, come as an aroma in the breeze and wind, appear in the sky in broad daylight as light rays, and as ball of light, stars in the night sky and come through fellow humans too.
Seeing that we are willing to learn, Agathiyar recently lamented to us that no one is practicing the way of the Siddha path (Siddhar Vazhkai Neri Murai). What then is this Neri and how do we live it? It is a way of life living close to nature, respecting it, and always remembering to give back to it. It is not much of adopting and following doctrines, codes of practice, and conforming to rigid practices but more tuned towards flexibility in experimenting, and learning further as one progresses gaining new insights, perspective, and experiences. It runs parallel to the way of the Buddha and the compassion shown by his followers. Taoism has very close ties to it. It shares the dictate of "love thy neighbors as thyself" as practiced by both our Christians and Muslim brothers. Though the teachings of the Siddhas run parallel with the rest of the world's teachings and practices, one point to be noted as standing apart from the rest is that the Siddha path was closely related to nature. The Siddhar Neri is rather a comprehensive way of living according to the dictates of nature and nature's law besides respecting the divine laws, taking into consideration the many aspects of this body that man has inherited and identifying his true purpose in coming to earth and living it.
They make us take stock of our lives and be responsible for our actions. Hence the very first lesson on this path is to understand the underlying philosophy of karma or the cause and effect of all our actions, thoughts, and deeds. For this purpose, an inventory of our karma is printed out and given to us to study, evaluate, and redeem the prize as in good actions or suffer in silence for those bad deeds. They instill in us the fact that while living this life one needs to learn the truth and the purpose of taking birth as human birth is regarded as a rare and precious commodity. Thus Agathiyar's 5 tenets for humanity revealed during the Tamil Sangam comes in handy. Next, they teach us by showing us the impermanence of life. Hence the old Kallar ashram that is in a dilapidated condition slowly falling apart and to the ground; the idol of both Agathiyar and Loba ma that was washed away together with their chariot in a recent flood at Kalyana Theertam; the mandala that is painstakingly painted and destroyed and blown away with the wind, after a small prayer by the Buddhist monks to reenact and instill the thought of the impermanent state of all things; the long line of ancestors who came and only left their genes behind in their children; and the long lineage of gurus who came, realized, taught and left their wisdom behind as glowing seeds in their students; all serve to be reminders that nothing shall forever exist and gives an equally grim reminder that life is short and that we are in a race against time and its byproduct - aging. Hence what are we to do within this short span of time? Understanding the urgency, the next step would be for us to know and seek our creator who has given us a wonderful body and all the right elements for survival, and on top of it has added on a bonus as in the many pleasurable things that we enjoy. If we have attended to the needs of the flesh it is time to seek the needs of the soul now. It is time to unite with him in thought, deed, and spirit. If he had come through many mediums and forms of communication as we have seen above, his arrival here now in the present moment is to address our soul that is the medium that bridges both the physical and material world to his spirit and make it aware of its origin and bring it back over to his kingdom. As Pon. Govindasamy reveals in his book "Vallalaarum Brahma Gnana Sangamum", Bharath Book Bureau, Chennai the Divine's plan, that of the mission of the Divine to save the souls that are riddled, locked, and chained by Aanavam, Kanmam, and Maayai and bring them back to his state of purity, the only obstacle then is the Self that is chained to these three impurities or Malam. The Siddhas have come as a savior to release us from this bond. We are here to transform this body to its basic elemental state that is beyond the meat and flesh of the physical body and its internal organs that have tagged along with our baggage of karma in all our years of living. The greatest challenge yet for us is to transform this body into light particles.