The results of my medical checkup done after Agathiyar asked us to do it have come in. We are glad that all is fine. I guess Agathiyar has cautioned me to take extra care as chakra activation can cause blood disorders he says just as the practice of Pranayama awakened energies in the Muladhara chakra caused an imbalance in the 3 dosas which led to sciatica kind of symptoms in me in 2011. The doctor cautioned both me and my wife to monitor our cholesterol levels every 3 or 6 months due to our advanced age. But how do we account for the scanty but frequent and foul smell of my urine and stools? How do we explain the turmoil that goes on in my abdomen as a result of wind? I did ask the doctor to check my lungs. It is clear. Then how do you explain the phlegm (Kapha), bile (Pitta), and gas (Vata) that is built up and expelled as I hit the sack daily?
Looking for answers I learned that the dosas are energies it seems.
"Vata is the subtle energy associated with movement — composed of Space and Air. It governs breathing, blinking, muscle, and tissue movement, pulsation of the heart, and all movements in the cytoplasm and cell membranes."
"Pitta expresses as the body’s metabolic system made up of Fire and Water. It governs digestion, absorption, assimilation, nutrition, metabolism, and body temperature."
"Kapha is the energy that forms the body’s structure bones, muscles, tendons and provides the “glue” that holds the cells together, formed from Earth and Water. Kapha supplies the water for all bodily parts and systems. It lubricates joints, moisturizes the skin, and maintains immunity."
(Source:https://www.ayurveda.com/resources/articles/ayurveda-a-brief-introduction-and-guide)
When I hurt my back after forcefully expelling phlegm in 2011, surprisingly I was given a clean slate by the doctors. My X-rays were clear. They ruled out sciatica, slip disks, kidney stones, and injuries. But I suffered for close to 3 years having to bear the excruciating pain. It affected my mobility and woke me up from sleep. Since I was in pain the doctors did me a favor by referring me to a physiotherapist. They asked me to come in for a regular course of heat therapy beginning on 12 May 2011 and taught me several exercises to do at home. Though it brought momentary relief the pain was there. Meanwhile consulting Agathiyar in the Nadi reading on 26 November 2011 addressed the issue. He told me my 3 dosas or humor had gone haywire resulting in the injury and pain in my back. He gave me the herb Triphala to consume through a Siddha physician. But the real relief came on 15 February 2012 when during my regular visit to the physiotherapist, surprisingly she asked me to perform the 5 exercises that she had taught me before her. As I moved into the first position something like a knot that gave way in the middle of my lower back made me cry out in relief. I immediately felt relief and lightness in my otherwise tight and strained back. I was cured miraculously that day. I believe Agathiyar had a hand in it.
The pain came back in June 2016. Dhanvanthri came and treated me. I was told it was a case of excessive Vata and asked to heat up sesame oil and apply it. After some time I realized the pain had gone away.
When trouble struck again the second time in 2018 a sneeze came on me just as I was crossing a street, the intensity of the pull had me squat in the middle of the road just as I was brought to my knees in my shower the first time. Dr. Jana administered an injection in my back that brought relief. Agathiyar told me it was a case of the Vasi or the breath that went wrong. He gave me five herbal preparations to consume and ointments to rub. While this reading was recorded and sent to me, the following day another reading was held at my home by Nadi Guru Taranibalan who was in Malaysia then. Lord Murugan to our surprise came in the Nadi and narrated what was going on in the Nadi and simultaneously stroked my back with the feathers of the peacock (that was surprisingly brought over to my house by another devotee and gifted to us just weeks before) through a devotee. This healing took place to the accompaniment of all those gathered chanting the Arutperunjothi mantra. I was asked to drink the glass of water that was infused with the energy of the mantra. The next day Lord Murugan passed a message through the Nadi reading of a friend. He recommended another ointment and herbal medicine. Similarly, when the energy in my abdomen spiraled followed by my body from the shoulders down stiffened like a log the next day, several days ago, Agathiyar came through a devotee on the third day and treated me to the accompaniment of the chanting of the Arutperunjothi mantra.
As we did not understand many things that day, we looked for an explanation of what transpired back then. Why the peacock feathers? How was the treatment done simultaneously, in real-time, as the Nadi was being read and instructions are given? We were enlightened later by Ruzbeh N Bharucha who shed some light on what transpired that eventful day through his writings at https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/going-within.
"... disease first gets ingrained into our causal body and then moves into the astral and then resides in our physical body. That is why in the early days' Fakirs and Sages, would caress the body of the devotee with peacock feathers, as they could see the illness lodged either in the causal or the astral body. Through their power and affirmations, they would clear the illness, which was still in the causal or astral body, and not allow it to enter the physical body. Or cleanse the auras so that the body would automatically heal." That is what Lord Muruga did that day using the peacock feathers. I guess all these pertain to either the causal, subtle, astral or energy bodies, hence it is not detected through medical checkups.
Ruzbeh Bharucha asks us to bring cosmic consciousness into our causal body that would immediately reflect healing in the physical body. I gathered the following from reading Swami Rajarshi Muni's "Yoga, the Ultimate Attainment", Jaico Publishing House, 1995.
"The prana (that fills the whole atmosphere of the universe) is the spiritual and imperceptible energy out of which matter evolves. When it vibrates and manifests in accordance with universal Will, it becomes matter in the form of Prakriti. From Prakriti, an inexhaustible reservoir, the human body draws prana for carrying out its biological functions throughout its span of life. Prana is extracted from Prakriti as subtle energy through breathing. Oxygen is prana Vayu while Prana is the vital force. Oxygen is capable of sustaining only the gross body while Prana the vital force nourishes and sustains the subtle body. This vital force flows through the channels of the subtle body and can rejuvenate even the gross body increasing its longevity. These subtle channels, like the gross air passage, have their upper ends at the openings of the left and right nostrils. However, they do not end up in the lungs like the respiratory system of the gross body. Instead, they run down to a bulbous subtle structure (Kanda) situated about three inches below the navel of the gross body. There are 14 principal channels or nadis in the subtle body that converge into the subtle bulb Kanda. They branch into 72,000 smaller channels and 350,000-minute tributaries spreading all over the subtle body."
So it looks like we are not only this body but much more.
This is why we need a guru to monitor us, check on us and correct or advise us. We are glad we have Agathiyar with us. The Siddhas having reached the state of Jothi returned to spread the good news and shared the rituals and practices that they once did so that we too could attain their state. They never wanted us to remain their subordinates, servants, or slaves life long. Neither remain a believer, follower, or devotee forever. They want to make a Siddha out of us. Hence we see how they take the trouble to bring us along to their state. We then ask ourselves if we deserve their care and grace. That is the compassion of the Siddhas. Agathiyar now wants me to share my experiences henceforth with readers of Siddha Heartbeat. I shall oblige him. When I asked him for guidance and understanding as to whatever takes place within, he replied that I shall have the experience first and he shall come later to explain.