When I took up the invitation asking to worship the Siddhas after my Nadi reading in 2002 I was 43 years of age. I never asked why. I just followed. I took the great leap that day though I did not know what was waiting for me. Though I had no idea who the Siddhas were I told myself it was no big deal as we could always ask and look around. I remembered a movement associated with Agathiyar collecting funds to feed the hungry everywhere I went back then in the eighties and nineties. I thought I shall pay them a visit and know more about Siddha puja. But divine grace showered on me the same day and I was shown a simple Siddha puja by the Nadi reader himself when he conducted a simple thanksgiving ceremony to the Siddhas for having documented, kept, and revealed portions from my past lives. I was given a small booklet that carried a long list of names of the Siddhas from which the Nadi reader recited and a painting of Agathiyar from the host who brought in the Nadi reader from India. If Agathiyar was the Moola guru Senthikumar from Avinashi and Sivabalan from Agathiyan Shelter were my Upagurus who gave me the tools and showed me the way. I continued from there doing daily puja to the Siddhas merging what was shown to me into my daily puja of Gods and Goddesses at my home altar. As Tavayogi says if we have the yearning the divine shall bring people and things together, everything was assembled for me to begin my worship of the Siddhas. This is a lesson learned.
I managed to get some information and literature by way of Vcds of talks by the patron and guru of Ongarakudil in Thuraiyur and the many publications that were on sale at their local affiliate in Dengkil. I was coerced to visit him in India which I did the following year as I made my maiden journey to India to carry out the remedies Agathiyar gave in my Nadi. When Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar told me that stepping into his place was itself a blessing without traditionally placing his hands on my head to bless or bless verbally this new kid on the block was damn sore then. Today after twenty years I understand the underlying message for his refusal. Agathiyar made it known to us that the very venue a saint resides is charged with blessings. He does not need to touch to bless you. Anyone who steps in receives it. This is a lesson learned.
The worship of the Siddhas was underway. After each puja, I would tell my wife my wish that if only I could pass on the bliss in me by just touching her. Today Agathiyar, Ramalinga Adigal, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, and Tavayogi hold our hands and hug us passing on their bliss to us. My desire to see others attain the bliss that I did in the brief moments of connecting with the divine was fulfilled.
Though Agathiyar was my moola guru as he revealed in the Nadi, I needed a guru in the physical form now. He paved the way for me to meet my very first guru Supramania Swami in Tiruvannamalai. A bond was cemented that goes on to this day. Just as he brought his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar from his samadhi to join us in chanting the Yogi's name at his kudil back then in 2005, they both came into my home during the recent Sivarathri puja. The Yogi in introducing himself as a beggar to my wife told me that Supramania Swami was with him. He said that when the disciple prays the guru comes. This is another lesson learned.
I had no idea where it would all take me back then. Neither was I keen to know. I just went with the flow without question. I had no fear, doubt, or questions. I was only a passenger traveling on the boat that Agathiyar was propelling. He was the captain. He was responsible for my life as we traverse this mysterious, mystical, and exclusive part of the River of Life.
Agathiyar paved the way for Tavayogi to arrive at our shores in 2005 on the pretext of officiating Peedhams affiliated to his Agathiyar Gnana Peedham in Kallar. I met him then. I shared my Nadi reading that mentioned Agathiyar asking me to come to the Siddha worship. Tavayogi told me that I had come to the right place and asked that I frequent the local center and learn from the patrons. But Agathiyar had another plan for me. Though I and several others were initiated into chanting the mantra of Agathiyar the same day we meet Tavayogi, Agathiyar arranged for another initiation from Tavayogi in private in a message that came through a subsequent Nadi reading. My fate changed the night immediately after the reading. I was to spend several days at Kallar ashram. Upon arriving on my second journey to India just months after he left for his Kallar ashram Agathiyar arranged for Tavayogi to show all the abodes, caves, and temples of the Siddhas. Agathiyar come to his ashram the night I arrived and enquired about what Tavayogi was giving me. When Tavayogi asked him what it was that he should give it seems he replied that he shall reveal it later. A bond was cemented forever. Tavayogi took me on an exclusive journey during the short duration of my stay taking up his invitation and following the directive of Agathiyar. More lessons were learned along the way as I cruised with my guru. Agathiyar who showed me many miracles then told me that these miracles would continue to take place after I returned to Malaysia. They are happening daily. This blog is full of these sharings.
What started as a personal documentation of my maiden travels to India in 2003 followed by another in 2005 that I carried in my website indianheartbeat soon blossomed into a blog in 2013. Siddha Heartbeat was born. What started as a private and personal home puja in 2002 blossomed into Siddha puja at Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia with the coming of Agathiyar in the form of a bronze statue in 2010 and seekers sent by Agathiyar after reading their Nadi beginning in 2013. Today Agathiyar tells me to share the experiences that I am going through internally so that anyone who would want to venture to attain the state of Jothi will know what he has to go through. When he said that, only then did I realize that I too was given a chance to attempt to reach this much spoken-of state that all the Siddhas and Gods and my gurus have attained. I wept in joy.
It took me 43 years to come to a Nadi reading (2002). It took another year to meet my first guru (2003) and another two years to meet my second guru (2005). It took another three years to receive my first lesson in Vaasi Payarchi or Pranayama from him (2007). I was told in a Nadi reading on 13.10.2007 that the Siddhas were delighted to see the kundalini sakti arise. உண்டாகும் குண்டலினி சக்தி உனக்கு உயர்வதைக் கண்டு நாங்கள் வியந்தோம் அப்பா. The arousal of this chakra brought on excruciating, intense, and crippling pain in the lower back during the years 2010 - 2012. It took five years for the dormant energy that was a sleeping serpent to uncoil itself and came out of its slumber and take a peek at its neighbor the Svadhisthana (2012). Then it stagnated in the second chakra. Here it stayed in the murky waters that had ponded for far too long, frequently going down south to revisit the Muladhara for a breather. Ponding of the energy made it conducive for moss and filth to accumulate. It had to be cleared and its waters renewed and energized so that it could flow upstream. For that to take place we had to shut all the doors and go within for maintenance work to be carried out. As we were aggressively engaged and involved in home puja, temple puja, and charity since 2013, Agathiyar brought the shutters down on all our activities and kept us under house arrest by throwing in the pandemic in a timely manner in 2019. In 2022, Agathiyar told me that my guru was supposed to be at my side to see to my needs in these crucial moments of my internal transformation and progress but that he had to take him away abruptly (2018) as he had other errands, chores, and tasks for him at his place. Just as Tavayogi had told me that our effort is only until the second chakra, Agathiyar came to close the doorway leading back to Muladhara and opened a new door channeling the flood waters upstream. Under the watchful eyes of Agathiyar, the serpent made its way up and reached the summit in a jiffy. It now watches sitting on Lord Siva's tresses. As Swami Tadatmananda says of his experiment with Kundalini and speaking on his guru's negative comments on Kundalini Yoga, if his guru Swami Dayananda Saraswati were still alive he might not have undertaken the project, knowing Tavayogi he too would have me shut up, and not allowed me to expose these experiences. But as the waters that reached the summit must pour down to earth as Ganga and emerge as a headwater again to bring others to reach the Lord's abode, we understand now the reason Agathiyar asks me to share these intimate and personal spiritual experiences and turn each home into Agathiyar Vanam too. The cycle must continue. If Tavayogi was destined to leave behind a physical temple at Kallar where seekers could congregate and carry out rituals laid down by the Siddhas, back on our shores Lord Murugan, Agathiyar and Tavayogi desired to have each home become a temple.
Want to come aboard? Or are you hesitating? You need not worry that it is going to jeopardize your career and family life. It is not going to happen overnight. Spiritual progress takes time. It takes time and other factors to ripen. But keep in mind that whatever needs to be done has to be carried out and its results achieved before we reach the age of 60. Otherwise, we shall miss the boat that Lord Siva ferries daily along the River of Life picking up souls ready to shed their mortal bodies and leave for his abode across its banks. It is a long journey. Start now and take the leap and you shall be ready when you are in your fifties. Agathiyar will guide you as to when to start and stop a certain practice. He shall initiate all the necessary practices, monitor, and save you in the event you slip or end up in trouble. But stay on the path and most importantly listen to each of his instructions carefully and carry it out at the precise moment it is given and not postpone it to some other convenient time. It shall then never happen. You shall have to go back and get another spell from him. Just as having planted the seed in them, Agathiyar had many put off the venture and practice of devotees and seekers and aspirants, momentarily to look into the needs of the family and society first, you too can take the plunge after having settled all your responsibilities and engagements. You can then join the bandwagon that traverses daily along the route.
It has been a long journey spanning many births. After numerous attempts at it, we have come this close to achieving it in this birth. Do not miss the boat this time around. Maybe I shall be around to usher you on board then and we could travel together again.