When my nephew came by my home on a Saturday afternoon in 2001, and gave me a Vasudeva mantra to recite I immediately started on it that same evening without question. I learned a couple of years later the mantra that came through him had came from his Paramaguru Gopal Pillai who was told to pass it on by Agathiyar. That mantra broke the 14 years of my abstinence from all forms of worship and temple visits, reading and discussing about customs, tradition, religion and spiritualism that Lord Shiva had asked of me in my dream. I took the ticket and boarded the boat that came by. It required commitment and discipline on my part to maneuver and sail the boat. That mantra took me traveling on a river cruise a year. A year in 2002, later I came to read my Nadi where Agathiyar asked me to recite Lord Ganesha's moola mantra. I did as told. If the Vasudeva mantra is said to pierce the Vishnu granthi, that obstructs the sadhaka, keeping him under the wraps of attachment and bondage, the Ganesha mantra broke the shackles (karma) that held me back from receiving the benefits of my practices. The way was paved for me to meet my guru the following year in 2003. Before parting with him, having accidently stumbled upon him (or was that preordained as Agathiyar hinted beforehand in the Nadi reading) on the pretext of having my daughter's astrological chart drawn, he passed me a Shiva mantra. I started on it. As Agathiyar had wanted me to come to the Siddha path he sent Tavayogi to our shores three years later in 2005. Tavayogi initiated me officially into the path giving me Agathiyar's mantra. I began chanting it. Six years later in 2011 Agathiyar shares another mantra of his through a Nadi reading asking me to give it to the world. He expressed the benefits in reciting it.
ஓம் ஸ்ரீம் ஓம்
சற்குரு பதமே
சாப பாவ விமோசனம்
ரோக அகங்கார துர்விமோசனம்
சர்வ தேவ சகல சித்த ஓளி ரூபம்
சற்குருவே ஓம் அகஸ்திய
கிரந்த கர்தாய நம
Aum Srim Aum Sarguru Patamay
Saaba Paaba Vimosanam
Rowga Ahungaara Durvimosanam
Sarva Deva Sagala Siddha Oli Rupam
Sarguruway Om Agasthiya Kirantha Kartaaya Nama
Just as his request to me to build a temple for him in my very first Nadi reading was not exclusive to me as I came to understand from Sivabalan who brought in the Nadi readers from India, telling me Agathiyar had mentioned this desire of his to fifty others but none took it up, this mantra too I came to learn later was given to a brother of a friend and devotee in his Nadi. His brother enquired from me why his mantra differed from what I had received. If I had begun reciting the mantra the moment it was revealed, he started to evaluate its accuracy.
A story is told of the arrogant young monk who decided to apprehend an old man for reciting a mantra "wrongly". The young monk after years of tutelage under his master finally was told by his master that he needed to leave the monastery to get to see the rest of the world. He was instructed to preach the teachings he had acquired at the monastery. The monk left the monastery that was his turf for years and came down the mountain. Upon reaching the plains, and while waiting for a boat to cross the wide river, the young monk came across an old man chanting on a riverbank. The old man was chanting the same mantra that the monk had mastered at the monastery. But it seemed different - with a slight variation. So, he apprehended the old man telling him that he was going about the wrong way of reciting the mantra and taught the old man how it should be recited. The old man listened attentively. The young monk was proud that he had passed on what he was taught and that he had found his first candidate to whom he had started to preach. When a boatman arrived, he boarded the boat that would take him across the river to the nearby village where he could continue preaching. About halfway through the journey across the river, the young monk noticed that the boatman had gone all pale and his jaw dropped. The young monk turned around towards what had caused him to go into that state of utter shock. What he saw shocked him too. The old man whom he had met at the shores was now standing beside the boat - on the surface of the water! The old man whispered to the lad that he had forgotten the mantra he was taught. He requested that the monk repeat it. The young monk who was pretty shaken up, held the old man’s hand and asked for forgiveness for underestimating the power of his practice. He asked that he pardon him for being egoistic and arrogant and begged to be taken in as his disciple and be allowed to follow him back.
Yesterday my friends brother called me out of the blues after some 13 years and enquired what was the results, I gained in chanting the mantra given by Agathiyar. I enquired if he was reciting it. He did for some time he said. Now there was a sudden urge to continue reciting it, he continued. I told him that it would not serve him any good now. A mantra given is a ticket for taking a ride and later a cruise on the river of joy, journeying towards God's abode. It is relevant to the time it is given. Hence the trip has to be taken then and not delayed or postponed. Agathiyar always tells us that all that is done on time shall bring benefits (குறித்த நேரத்தில் செய்யும் அனைத்தும் ஜெயம்). Another devotee who was told to come to his path in 2013 delayed it. She stood at my door some years back wanting to do so much for Agathiyar. I told her she had missed the boat ride. I could not possibly bring the entire AVM family together for her purpose to reenact the good times we had together after Agathiyar had disbanded the group in 2019. Later Agathiyar too told her the same.
A mantra given is a ticket to embark on a journey. Subsequent mantras come as a connecting flight. It brings us to the next destination where we receive another mantra and ticket to continue the journey. So, it is important that we catch the ride, or flight on time for just as time and tide waits for none, the Siddhas move on to other matters on hand.
My friend's brother wanted to know if I still go for Nadi readings. I told him that I have grown out of it. These are tools given to us initially to find the path. We can safely leave these tools when we reach our destination and are on familiar grounds and among friends. The Siddhas coming through the Nadi, came as gurus, and friends later. They now speak to us through others and many other ways. We can drop our dependency on the Nadi. This is how we evolve through the stages. This is how we mature spiritually.