I messaged Srinatha Raghavan on his numerous captivating and informative Fb posts. "There are so many amazing stories out there. Your writings add to this amazement. TQVM." He replied aptly, "It's everyone's collective faith ayya that adds to the beauty of the Divine. Like the Honey Bees, each doing our respective Dharma to the best of our abilities, but at the same time honoring the Queen in our midst by keeping Her happy and at peace." That was a beautiful epitome. That is what this blog is all about too. A collection of stories.
Our life is made of stories. Each day there is a new story beginning or an old one ending or a continuation of previous stories. Finally, the last chapter is written on our deathbed and the story ends. We leave behind our novel. If very few attempt to keep a journal or document their lives, or write a novel, everyone leaves his life story behind leaving their mark on others too. You only have an interesting story to tell if you have achieved something, right? Ramalinga Adigal spelled out his achievements in the songs he penned sharing his spiritual experiences in simple language. When many in an orthodox way opt to keep their divine experiences a secret close to their chest, he daringly exposed them not that he was boastful of his achievements but to show the compassion that the divine was capable of showering on him. He wanted each of us to receive the divine's grace and compassion too. But it was an uphill task and a battle for him. Many a time he voiced his worry about the future of his followers in public. Kalpattu Ramalingam or more commonly addressed as Kalpattu Aiya who held him and his words dear to his heart would faint on hearing Ramalinga Adigal lament his sadness. Gnana Bharathi in his book "Tamil Mannin Thanthai" writes about these numerous instances where Ramalinga Adigal expressed his sadness. In one instance Ramalinga Adigal was saddened that his followers were not heeding his words and openly announced his displeasure at them. Kalpattu Ramalingam who was sitting among them, upon hearing these words of his master, suddenly fainted. Ramalinga Adigal arose and went over to where Kalpattu Ramalingam lay and revived him, mentioning, "I did not mean you". In another instance, Ramalinga Adigal stated his disappointment to them on his followers not heeding his teachings. He passed on to Kalpattu Ramalingam and Karanapattu Kandasamy his doctrines.
Agathiyar too tells us to buck up and reach his state. Tavayogi when he was in Malaysia in 2016, was happy to see a following at AVM dedicated to the worship of the Siddhas something he had cherished in his heart for some seven years. When we arranged to have similar prayers in the homes of these devotees he was even happier. But sadly our wish to see this worship continue in the homes of these devotees did not take place. Agathiyar told us he had waited seven years for each home to become an Agathiyar Vanam. It did not happen.
As a result of his severe tapas and its resulting Tava Kanal, Kalpattu Ramalingam's body became fiery hot and he developed burnt wounds. Seeing him in torment, Ramalinga Adigal commanded that Kalpattu Ramalingam be given food once a day. Once Ramalinga Adigal was away for days on end. Before leaving he gave instructions and reminded his followers to send food to Kalpattu Ramalingam daily. But sadly it was not done. Once on arrival back at Dharmasalai, Ramalinga Adigal inquired if Kalpattu Ramalingam was served food in his absence. As his followers stood in shame and remained silent, Ramalinga Adigal summoned them to bring food and headed straight for Kalpattu Ramalingam's kudil. He fed him with his own hands that day, taking him to another level of bliss.
If Ramalinga Adigal built the Dharmasalai to feed the hungry and passed on the full responsibility of running it to Kalpattu Ramalingam before retiring to Siddhivalagam, Agathiyar is said to fancy cooking huge meals and feeding others too. He is said to feed the elements by serving people food.
Last week I came across a transcription of a seminar given by Sri Kumar in the Nilagiri Hills in 1996 about Agastya, Master Jupiter. ..... He has great, round eyes, is often traveling with his disciples and loves to cook and to serve. Through serving food he likes to spread himself into the people and thus to adjust any imbalances in the mental, emotional, and physical bodies.
In the scriptures there is the story that once a group of disciples in the Himalaya had the questions who is the one fasting most, and Maitreya told them, “It is Agastya, he never eats.” They wanted to see Agastya and went to him. Agastya said: "Observe me for three days.” They were very surprised to see him cooking, eating and serving. He was not missing any meal, and every meal was from our standpoint very excessive in its quantity. After three days the group asked: "We have not understood your way of fasting.” He answered: "In so far as you don’t feel that you are eating, it is fasting.”
He does not think he is eating. He lives in tune with the universal consciousness and in such a tune-up the food is given to all the elementals around him with himself as the channel. (Source: https://blog.good-will.ch/WordPress/2010/10/23/rishi-agastya-a-little-miracle-and-some-stories/ )
Once as they were traveling in a cart drawn by a bull, Ramalinga Adigal laid his head on the thigh of Kalpattu Ramalingam and took a short nap. Suddenly tears streamed from his eyes and drenched Kalpattu Ramalingam's thighs, the floor of the cart, and dripped onto the earthen road they traveled. Watching this unusual phenomenon, questions arose in Kalpattu Ramalingam. Ramalinga Adigal eventually quenched his thirst to know the reason for his continuous stream of tears. Ramalinga Adigal had thought for a moment, "When would he see the day where peace would prevail by God's grace, where all suffering ends, where all are merged in eternal bliss, and where all come in unison bonded by love for each other". Kalpattu Ramalingam on hearing this from Ramalinga Adigal wept thinking how many people actually think about this or have this thought. Kalpattu Ramalingam too prayed to see the day where all sufferings end and only bliss prevails.
When the disciples of Ramalinga Adigal addressed him as Swami he did not like it. He did not want that name to be used on his publications too. He considered himself a servant of God or adigal. These true gurus never wanted us to worship them forever but to achieve their state and stand at par with them. That is their desire and wish. Although Agathiyar had me start with idol worship too he slowly made me realize he was in me too like in everyone else if they only realized. He weaned us off rituals one fine day.
This human phase is well equipped to bring us back to the source. Ramalinga Adigal did just that "evaporating", "disintegrating", "disassemble" called it anything, but he did achieve the impossible. He sent his physical body back into its elements quite similar to what is shown in the movie "Lucy". Ramalinga Adigal rehearsed this process several times before finally announcing to his followers that he would not return. He had the door to his room in Siddhivalagam locked from outside leaving the oil lamp he had worship outside for his followers to worship the flame. But the most compassionate saint came back for his follower Kalpattu Ramalingam some 25 years later to take hold of his hand and bring him into the state of samadhi.
But for many of us we are paralyzed by Maya or illusion drawing its curtains and veiling us and bringing us to become amused in the pleasures of life and eventually stagnate where we stand. I too am often distracted by them and need to remind myself of Agathiyar's prayer for us, to evolve from man to divine. Having come a long way from the source that was light, sound, and vibration; "the atoms that are the simplest form of matter becoming molecules by binding through chemical reactions". "Like atoms binding together to become elements that are the simplest forms of substances", giving rise to earth, water, fire, air, ether that later became courser and complex gross matter, that in turn gave rise to minerals, plants, and vegetations, insects, reptiles and animals, in the evolution ladder till we came to be gifted this human birth.
Agathiyar too in his 5 tenets for mankind directs us to return to our source helping others to achieve it once we learn the art of it. We are purposed here to find the way back and elevate the state of others too be it the mineral kingdom, plant kingdom, animal kingdom, or humans. The search for answers as to how and what we are doing here, our true purpose, etc doesn't come to many. If Agathiyar distinguished the souls as born out of Bhogam or pleasures and indulging in the pleasures of the senses, and those born to become Yogis seeking the truth, there is yet another that of Rogis mentioned elsewhere. These souls are out to harm others. Gnanabharathi writes the following two obvious categories of souls - the Pakkuva Urpatti and Apakkuva Urpatti.
நம் அருளாளர்களாகிய சித்தர் பெருமக்கள் நமக்கு சுட்டிக் காட்டியபடி கிடைப்பதற்கு அரிதாகிய இந்த மானிட தேகப் பிறப்பானது பக்குவ உற்பத்தி அபக்குவ உற்பத்தி என்னும் இரண்டு வகைகளாகப் பிரிக்கப்படுகிறது.
Tavayogi in his speeches in explaining the many variants on the path to spirituality among its devotees poses several questions. There are those who undertake pilgrimages throughout their lives believing that God shall give his Darshan. Another sits in one place and does rituals believing that God shall give him Darshan too. Another believes he can merge with God through the practice of Yoga. Finally, there are those who seek Gnanam searching in the deep jungles and caves for someone or anyone who could enlighten them. Can God be known by going on pilgrimages? Can God be known by chanting crores of mantras? Can God be known by putting the body, mind, and spirit through austerities as in Yoga? Or can it be attained through Gnana or true understanding?
One who has come from temple worship to the recitation of mantras and in performing rituals on seeing its efficacy turns to one who is trapped in temple worship and gives him a hand. The one who is in Yogam having experienced its multifold benefits begins to share the rewards with those stagnated in temple worship and caught in rituals teaching them the science of Yoga. One who had seen the bliss and joy attainable in meditation questions another engaged in doing rituals. Then finally the Gnani tells us that God is not out there but within us.
It is only when we are dealt a blow that we seek answers. Many seek the Nadi for these answers. While many leave indifferent to the outcome of these readings, others carry out the remedies given. For those who decide to worship the Siddhas, Agathiyar gives them tasks to carry out, slowly elevating them from the status of a devotee or servant to a companion. He comes to live with us. He brings us from temple worship in Sariyai that was introduced by our parents to Kriyai, bringing a guru to show us the way to doing rituals personally minus the middleman. Then he brings us to Yoga the stepping stone to the final phase of the journey, paving the way and eventually elevating us from the state of a Bhogi to a Yogi. Today we understand from Agathiyar that the souls living the life of a Bhogi trapped by their senses and immersed in the pleasures of life can indeed make a breakthrough in escaping its hold, switching its purpose with the aid of the Siddhas. They then begin to yearn to know their true purpose and take steps to attain it.
Tavayogi upon ending his life as a householder upon attaining the age of fifty, left his family, home, and business to roam the length and breadth of India, as a mendicant. Then he carried out tapas or austerities in the jungles and caves of Uthiyur, Kuttrallam, and Sathuragiri among many other places. Coming away from hibernating in Sathuragiri he looks for a place to go into samadhi. Agathiyar stops him and directs him to Kallar where he sets up a small cottage to stay in and preach the teachings of the Siddhas. Agathiyar then sends him over to Malaysia, and Singapore to preach the path. In promoting the path he built a temple for Agathiyar and the Siddhas. When I questioned him his reason to do so knowing that he had always wanted us to leave temple worship and come into the fold of Gnana, he replied that it was not for him but for the masses. Meanwhile, Supramania Swami who carried a forty-year-old desire to build a temple in Tiruvannamalai was stopped just as we were getting started on laying the foundation by a Siddha who arrived at his doorstep of his kudil at the proposed temple grounds. He asked Swami who was a Gnani, why he was making a u-turn returning to bhakti? In the local arena, a head of a ashram carrying the name of Agathiyar confronted me as to why I was worshipping an idol and lambasted me for it, throwing the books and songs of Sivavakiyar at me denying and denouncing idol worship even after I tried to explain that it was a directive from Agathiyar in my Nadi. If he had been in the Marga or path for the past 35 years and was a veteran, he failed to understand that I was a freshie, new to the worship of the Siddhas and I needed external worship. He could be right in his views. He might have seen the spiritual progress take place within him. But it was wrong of him to snatch my book of ABC and throw it away and push a treatise of Siddha Philosophy in the face of a beginner. On another note, some hold on only to the words of their masters who had achieved these states of bliss and defame others for their ways, faith, and belief. Sadly many do not accept that it is all a much-needed process of evolution of the soul but instead shun or slur, slander, or insult others with derogatory words for their faith in their practices and their belief in the path, forgetting for a moment that their ancestors, forefathers, parents and they themselves till a certain time were engaged in one of these means or ways. One has to accept the fact that we are all not the same as Tavayogi classifies man into three categories namely peat, charcoal, and petrol, based on its properties of ignition and catching fire. Understandably, the ability to receive and understand, to pick up what is said and meant, differs among us. Many are slow to understand and catch up. As such they shall eventually come by and turn up at God's doorstep. It is a matter between them and God. Let us reserve our comments.
I am reminded of a story shared by a friend. Those who feasted and ate the food served by a king fell ill. When Chitragupta, the keeper of our karma in taking stock of the karma asked Lord Shiva if the king should be accountable and if he should write it to his account, Siva asked him to hold on. When the king hosted another feast, several sadhus on their way to the palace, reconfirmed the event with an old lady whom they met on the way. The old lady turned to them and cautioned them saying that they shall die if they ate the food. Lord Shiva called up Chitragupta and told him to write the karma on that old lady. Lord Shiva knew the actual reason for the food getting contaminated the first time around. An eagle had picked up a snake in its claws and had flown over the palace grounds. The venom from the snake had fallen into the pot of food and it was served resulting in the deaths. Here is a lesson for all of us. We should learn to hold our tongue if we do not know the reason for something taking place.
Today we understand pretty well that it is all a process of evolution of the soul in its quests to become divine. P.Karthigayan writes at https://yogascience.angelfire.com/siddhaphilosophy12563.htm,
Siddhas have identified that the human birth is the best among the creations of God and the same should be spent in realization of the Superior (The God). They have identified that the attempts of human beings towards divine realization falls under four broad categtories, viz., Sariyai, Kiriyai, Yogam and Gnanam . Sariyai refers to external spiritual approach; Kiriyai refers to an external and internal spiritual approach; Yogam refers to an internal approach and finally Gnanam refers to spiritual realization. All these four are inter-related. Therefore, these four are further sub-grouped into four each, as Sariyai in Sariyai, Kiriyai in Sariyai, Yogam in Sariyai and Gnanam in Sariyai, and so on.
Thus, Yogam, presently dealt by us as Ashtanga Yogam, (or Raja Yogam as called by Siddhas) is also categorized into four parts viz., Sariyai in Yogam, Kiriyai in Yogam, Yogam in Yogam and Gnanam in Yogam. The first four steps of Ashtanga yoga, viz., Iyamam, Niyamam, Aadhanam and Pranayamam, are grouped under Sariyai in Yogam. The steps Prathiyagaram and Tharanai are grouped under Kiriyai in Yogam. The step Dyanam is Yogam in Yogam and finally, Samadhi is Gnanam in Yogam.
All the words of Tavayogi ring a bell now. I can relate now to whatever Tavayogi had said when he was around. He never had us gather around him and gave spiritual discourses. Instead, his teachings came by way of a passing statement as he passes us, while we travel with him or as we sit alone feeding our thoughts. As I walk the path I see similar episodes from the times I was with him that I could relate to. As we experience these moments too we came to realize the truth of his words though very brief had much depth and inner and subtle meanings. Watching recordings of his speeches during major events I realized the truth in the simple statements that he made then. Its meanings only have begun to dawn on us now. At times I ask myself if Agathiyar had walked the earth in the form of Tavayogi? Agathiyar seems to repeat these words of Tavayogi or is it the other way around? He introduced us to Agathiyar and showed us the path and the way and stood back never interfering henceforth. He watched from a distance watching silently our progress. He never created a following for him but instead had us all follow only Agathiyar. While others saw Tavayogi and his flaws, we only saw his messages and held on to them. We never saw the messenger. Even when we went for the Nadi reading we only saw the message and not the messenger. Only the message was important not the messenger. Hence it was easy on us to let Tavayogi go when the time came for him to leave his mortal frame. Today even if he is not around us in the physical form, life goes on with us worshipping Agathiyar and the Siddhas because he had laid the way and the means and given us the tools too. Just as Agathiyar did not carry a Sivalinga to be worshipped wherever he laid his foot, but instead created one and left it behind, we cannot carry all the tools with us. We have to make do with what is available at that time and place. We too need to leave something behind for others. Besides leaving our children to carry our name we need to leave our mark here right now. Hence the reason Tavayogi started the enormous task of building an ashram cum temple/ meditation hall and left it behind. Supramania Swami too told me that he would have to leave behind the merits gained from his forty-year tapas or austerities.
The Siddha faith is a living faith where we see ourselves evolve spiritually. It is very much alive and practical, not something carved out in stone or books or fossilized. Even their Nadi becomes very much alive and appears in real-time as we walk with them and gain their trust, as opposed to the initial readings written in the past.
By reaching out to Agathiyar it does not mean an end to patronizing temples. God has been fossilized in the form he appeared to some in the past. These forms have been carried for generations. We have held on to that for ages. Our ancestors followed, our parents followed and now we too follow. Our children and grandchildren shall follow too. There is nothing wrong with it. We all started there once. Our parents took our hands and brought them together pointing out to us that God resides in the temples. My second granddaughter who just turned one year brings together her palms in prayer and looks up towards the flight of steps, knowing pretty well that their altar is on the living area of the first floor. But with the coming of Tavayogi he wanted us to come out of temple worship. Tavayogi in sharing his experience tells us that Agathiyar came as a voice and stopped him from jumping onto the tracks of an oncoming train. This was before he shed his role as a householder. He tells us that Agathiyar came to him as light in the hills of Kallar when he came there to go into samadhi. He tells us that he came in person to ask what he was going to do for me on my first night out with him in his ashram in 2005. Tavayogi points me to the skies, the breeze that blows across our faces and sends a chill down our backs, the aroma and sweet smell that lingers in the air away from the maddening crowd of the cities while walking alone in the jungles. These are signs of Agathiyar and the Siddhas to look for he says as he hurried on and I struggled to keep pace in the jungles. If he had told me that Agathiyar was God during my first initiation, during subsequent initiations he tells me that Vaasi or the breath is Agathiyar. Later he tells me that Lord Shiva and Agathiyar were one. Agathiyar on the other hand, in revealing his form tells us that he is not the midget as he is portrayed on the walls of the temples. Tavayogi too told us that he was a six-footer and has installed a statue to correct the previous perception at his ashram. Then the lesser Gods told us that he was Goddess Ma. Agathiyar came to tell us that he was Prapanjam and that the Prapanjam was in him. Then he comes to tell us that he is the very vibration that creates, sustains, destroys, veils and graces all, bringing a close to all the disputes and confusion as to whether God had a form, name, and gender. All these revelations are meant to progressively break our hold on forms and names as we walk the path. So there is indeed no right and wrong about it. Each has a purpose just as we have one too.
We have been bound even in individual and personal matters regarding the search for God. The rulebook is thrown at us. Religion lays down rules. We have to conform to regulations. Customs and traditions dictate our lives. We need to please others. Tavayogi once told me that a Siddha can never be bound. Similarly, the soul needs to be free to evolve. No constraints. No rules. Now we understand why Agathiyar praised Ramalinga Adigal, Bharathi, and Periyaar telling us that only they could do what they came to do.
As we walk into Siddha worship, it too comes with the rituals that are conducted in the temples. Initially these are needed to build a bridge between their realm and ours. When the Siddha begin to reside in these statues, in our homes and our hearts, these rituals are then only taken up when there is a need for them as in current times of the pandemic. Slowly we are led to acknowledge the soul within us. There is a paradigm shift towards the soul and the means of salvation, moving away from the previous life of looking after our affairs and occasionally popping into a temple. We begin to see life from the perspective of a Siddha. They only see the soul, not the body. Agathiyar wants us to reckon the soul within as the link to God. P Karthigayan in his book "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu" defines the soul as the bridge between the body and the spirit. But they tell us that for the soul to continue in the body we need to take extra care of this body that has now become a temple. All the senses that were running wild captivated by the lures of the world around need to be harnessed and a harness put on it. The senses rather than accumulating more karma by its actions and deeds now tug not the baggage of karma but a wagon laden with God's gospel dispensing them to all those willing to give an ear. We know of many saints including Arunagiri and the Nalvar and Nayanmars after gaining Gnanam entered temples bringing the many lilas or plays of the Divine to the common folks, in the form of songs and pathigams, helping to strengthen their faith further. Many are the stories of miracles performed by these saints too.
We too were witnesses to many stories regarding the deities. During one of our excursions in feeding the hungry, we served food parcels at a temple late afternoon towards the evening. We were apprehended by the temple priests telling us that to hand out only after the Nithya or daily puja to Mother Goddess. The reason being only then shall she see the good deed that we were doing! Although I thought that it was absurd and absolutely ridiculous, I held my tongue as we were in God's presence. If we go by his words, does that mean that the deity watches us only after the doors to the temples are opened? Is the deity, like us working certain hours a day? Does she retire after dark? Who then saves us if something were to happen during these hours of her absence? Sadly we are bound and tied by so many rules and regulations in these public places of worship. But we still have to respect them for as the saying goes "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
In another venue, Goddess Ma came to a devotee telling him that she was not there in the place of worship for there was no righteousness in managing the place. She only comes when a good soul steps into her temple.
Agathiyar in the initial years of worship at AVM used to say in the Nadi readings that he had arrived from either Kallar or Pothigai to address his devotees gathered in worship. He would then tell us that he had to leave immediately to settle other chores and at times telling us that he was summoned by Lord Shiva. Later he used to spend more time and carry out tapas here, the venue becoming a transit camp for him now. Then he sort of had a leg in our home and was always on-call for us. Today he has come to reside and stay with us permanently. Walking into his room we feel his presence 24/7.
It can only mean that the Siddhas are here to make a difference. They expect to see us evolve too. If we have not evolved on this Siddha path and continue to carry out the directives given on day one till this day, it only means that we have stagnated. Many rests on their laurels or the words of the Siddhas stagnating in time. The Siddha path is like a river forever flowing reaching out to people on both banks throughout its journey.
I was a Bhogi too until Agathiyar came to redeem me through the Nadi reading. I caught on to his teachings and am seeing its results. Coming to the Siddha path we take on the role of a priest, guru, messenger, agent, middleman etc. Now its a wild adventure, an exploration without boundaries. If we had to conform to rigid rules and fear in temples worship, the Siddhas instill love. The saints went back to the temples not as devotees no more but as gurus and masters bringing people to the awareness of the self and the soul. Reading the songs of the Nayanmars and Ramalinga Adigal will suffice to show us the wealth that is in each of us. Instead, we are seeking it outside. It needs a guru to bring us to our senses to show us that the divine resides within too. Then the guru like Tavayogi steps aside and rejoices in watching his student take baby steps towards the divine, cheering us on at times and apprehending us at other times. At times holding on to our hands and leading us for a distance and then leaving our hands to bring us to stand on our own feet and venture further. The moment we fall he is there to hold us, pick us up, give us a pat and encourage us to continue. If danger is lurking ahead he picks us up and carries us to another safer place to continue the walk.
If we start to collect praises, honors, etc we shall end up admiring them and showing them off to our visitors. While I set out to do my part for the marga or path by sharing the teachings of Agathiyar and Tavayogi through this blog as a means of showing my gratitude to my masters for their calling, for having me tag along, for giving me the reins to lead others too, for having trust in me to carry out their tasks and giving me a new pep up in life and a purpose, the divine worked in the background in rewarding me. Both Agathiyar and Tavayogi brought fame and respect to me. I was never fond of walking into and staying in the limelight. But as Ramalinga Adigal said by avoiding attention it shall come unto us, it was that I was pushed to the front or called up and honored many a time. I take it as the grace of the divine showered on this undeserving seeker. I share the compliments and garlands with them. But I should not become complacent. Each day I ask him if there was anything else that I need to do taking up the prayer of Ramalinga Adigal.
I shall abide by his wishes. As Bharathi said he only met disappointments when he undertook to accomplish his wishes. But the moment he began God's task he saw through it without fear and favor. So shall we do his work. We are blessed to have the divine walk among us accompanying us in this birth in many forms. Besides coming as gurus and upagurus, they come as family and friends. They even came as a bird to my daughter whenever she calls out to them. The Siddhas enlighten us on our purpose by opening our eyes to all that is happening around us. This shall help us make decisions. When I asked Agathiyar that I want to be born again and again to serve him he asked me in return whether that is what I wanted? He moved close to me and asked me to look around and see for myself the infights and competition. "Do you want to go through this again?" he asked. After leaving our individual wants and desires aside, finally, he told us that he would want us with him his Tirukootam. When Tavayogi chose to dedicate the rest of his life in service to Agathiyar, preaching his faith and path to people, adorning the robe and taking on the life of a mendicant, Agathiyar answered his daughter who was emotionally disturbed over her father's decision to opt-out of family life. He asked her if she only wanted to remember him or have the world remember him. Today even after his demise his name and deeds flourish in these pages of this blog.
Further reference https://www.vedantu.com/chemistry/difference-between-elements-and-atoms