Yesterday just as I was taking my first mouthful of food during lunchtime, a surge of pranic energy passed throughout the body, what I believe resulted from the food that was packed with it. My wife is a good cook and those who had been to AVM shall vouch for her. Though the food was simple and an everyday meal dished out by my wife but it tasted extremely delicious compared to other days. The energy brought much joy that I called over my wife and daughter and fed my two granddaughters too. Though this surprised me I could figure out what was taking place. Similarly, as I brush past and through the branches of the pinwheel flower tree in my garden, picking out the flowers for puja, surges of pranic energy like minute electricity pass from the tree to me. When I stand outdoors or in front of an open window the breeze and air that brushes by invigorates and brings tremendous bliss. It is as though the pores of the skin are open and breathing directly too beside the nostrils and nasal passages. Bathing too is invigorating and refreshing these days, that I have them often. When abhisegam or libation or bathing the Murthy of Agathiyar or his bronze statue, my body and internals are simultaneously cooled down too. These I suppose are prana in action. I remember my first surge of prana enter my body in abundance when I took up and began to practice diligently the pranayama and asana exercises that Tavayogi taught us back then in 2008. If back then it came after much effort, these days it just comes on. Any act for the matter is enjoyed these days bringing immense joy within. I realized my senses were enhanced beginning some years back as my vision improved tremendously, my taste buds were able to pick up and identify the ingredients that go into food, my hearing was enhanced so much so that every noise and sound was amplified manifold, and my breathing cleared. It was as if my being was rejuvenated, the whole body brought alive and connected with the surroundings.
Before I had the calling through the Nadi, I had already switched to a vegetarian meal on my own accord for no particular reason be it religious, spiritual, or medical reasons. It just happened one day in 1998 that I decided to stop taking non-veg. I never looked back since then. When Agathiyar had other Siddhas address me in the Nadi too, Patanjali asked that I adopt a diet substituting or replacing Rajasic and Tamasic food with Satvic food to bring the body into top form to conform to the demanding needs of Yoga. I then had to cut down my already limited choices of food refraining from what was processed and none-natural.
I had been practicing yoga by reading books since the eighties. When I was shown to Tavayogi he taught us officially initiating us into the dynamic practice of Asanas and Pranayama in 2008. In 2011, when I succumbed to extreme back pain the doctors and Siddha physicians cleared me of any medical issues like kidney problems, stones, or slip disks. Though I was given a clean sheet the pain never went away. I requested physiotherapy for my back pain as it brought relief at least during these moments of treatment. Agathiyar in the Nadi revealed the reason for my suffering after almost three years. He told me that my yogic practices had resulted in dormant energies arise within. These energies cleared the "house" of blockages besides correcting the three dosas hence resulting in the dosas going haywire. Agathiyar had me stop all my practice totally and immediately. He recommended herbs to consume that would bring back balance to my body and its internals. One fine day after bearing the pain for close to three years, my physiotherapist asked me to perform the five exercises she had given. As I moved into the first pose, something snapped in my lower back and I had immediate relief. It was as if a knot had given way, as if a dam had burst open. I was in ecstasy. I had recovered. Five years later the pain raised its hood again in 2016. I wasn't sure if it came with age, or if I had any ailment and needed treatment. But it went off just as it had come on. Then I suffered the pain again in 2018, this time just as intense as the first. If the first time around it came on as a result of me clearing my throat and spitting out the phlegm that was a morning ritual while taking a bath where this act had tugged on a nerve in my buttocks right down to my right toe, this time around a sneeze pulled on the same nerve again. Agathiyar gave another set of herbs to consume. Finally, his guru Lord Murugan came to heal me with his touch and the brush of peacock feathers, accompanied by the chanting of the Arutperunjothi mantra by those gathered around. I am grateful that the divine, the Siddhas, my gurus, family, and fellow friends in this journey did not desert me in my time of need.
Then Agathiyar began preparing my body to receive and accommodate the energies of a different kind, their brief presence within. He had to purge my body of toxins accumulated over the years. Agathiyar while recommending a herbal concoction to a couple, made it available to me too. He directed us to Siddha physician Thiru Arivan Aiya. Agathiyar told me later that his Agathiyar Kuzhambu besides being a purgative, strengthens the body too.
Agathiyar Kuzhambu is said to be one among the 32 Siddha medicines taken internally listed in the "Gunapadam Siddha" text literature, which covers a vast area of indications. It contains 11 ingredients which are mentioned in the Siddha formulary of India - part -1, that when combined act as a purgative. Besides being a purgative it is said to cure many diseases too. (Source: Muralidass SD and Shree-Devi MS: “Agathiyar kuzhambu”- not only a purgative- an overview. Int J Pharm Sci & Res 2019; 10(5): 2156-63. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.10(5).2156-63. and http://ijpsr.com/bft-article/agathiyar-kuzhambu-not-only-a-purgative-an-overview/?view=fulltext)
If Agathiyar Kuzhambu was to be taken six months once, Agathiyar set me on another regime of preparing another concoction from a recipe given by him, taking it daily. I took it for some time. Soon the three dosas were expelled without the need to consume these preparations. Kapha was expelled in the morning hours, Vata during the day, and Pitha as I retired for bed. Then its frequency doubled to two cycles of each a day at particular hours. These days the body expels them as and when they begin to accumulate. The body aches at times before it resides just as it comes on. As Agathiyar forewarned me, my body has begun to stink. I guess this is the reason the Saints went into hiding for a brief period in their lives where these drastic changes and transformations took place. Now I understand what Jnana Jothiamma went through in the many emails she wrote to me on her experiences and sufferings. I guess there is a price you pay for transforming the Asudha deham to that of Suddha deham and later to Pranava deham and finally the Gnana deham. Hence I have come to figure out why he shut down AVM and asked that I stay indoors.
Agathiyar set me to continue from where I had left the Yogic practices given by Tavayogi telling me that I shall know which to do (so that the back pain doesn't recur). I am careful with carrying on the practices these days. Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal came often to fine-tune the breathing techniques as taught by the Siddhas in the Nadi and personally by Tavayogi. Agathiyar taught us the right way to take a shower without jolting the body that prevents slag in the nerves in old age. He asks that we sprinkle water thrice over the top of the head and then go on to wet our feet. Then we pour water over our limbs beginning with the legs, moving to the torso and abdomen till the shoulder. Then wash the face thrice and only then pour water over the head. If we are dipping in the stream, river, or ocean we do accordingly too. Elsewhere, we are told to retain water in our mouths too while bathing and taught to take water in sips rather than in large gulps by those adopting the Siddha way. Finally, Bhogar asks us to appreciate and acknowledge nature and learn to love all of nature and live with it. This is the first step in linking with the prapanjam.