There is this message that keeps coming to us and "haunting" us. If you intend to reach the state of Jothi, do it before 60 years of age.
It is said that Agathiyar in a former birth had assisted Lord Murugan who was Supramaniar then by providing him a place to stay and complete his tavam. Attaining the state of Jothi he wanted to teach Agathiyar too. But as Agathiyar was 60 and above he promised to meet up in another birth. Supramaniar kept his word.
Reading and hearing about saints attaining the state of Jothi, I asked Tavayogi wanting to see him attain this state before my very eyes. He told me he had missed the boat. He was reportedly said to be 69 when I met him on our shores in 2005. He told me that it had to be achieved before 60.
When Agathiyar and Bhogar came for another devotee in her sixties, Bhogar hesitated to release the dormant energy in her in view of her age. But as Agathiyar assured him that he would take care of its consequences, Bhogar went ahead to release the Suzhumunai.
When the Siddhas worked on Jnana Jothiamma who was in her sixties then, her body could not take it. She has to come back and make another attempt.
Coming to a youngster in her late twenties, Agathiyar mentioned that the state should be achieved by 58. As her mother was 54, they acknowledged that they would have to face the mammoth task of transforming her in a short period of time.
Speaking to a teen, he told her to start the yogic practice given to her, telling her that he was already facing an uphill task in molding the body of another devotee who was in his thirties.
Similarly, when Agathiyar began to speak to us through devotees he told me as I was in my sixties the transformations in me were the reason for my discomfort and pain again hinting at my age as a stumbling block. I came to see the Nadi when I was 43 in 2002. I complied with all that was said, instructed, and given. This saw the Muladhara in me triggered in 2007 after just months of putting into practice the yogic practice Tavayogi had shared. I had to go through much pain similar to sciatica for some 3 years beginning in 2010 before it miraculously was banished for good not before the doctors, physiotherapists, sports masseurs, gym instructors, Varma masters, Siddha physicians, and the Siddhas and Lord Murugan came to bring some relief. I saw the doctors. They gave me a clean slate but put me on physiotherapy. I attended the sessions twice a week. Agathiyar watched silently. In November of 2011, when I decided to ask Agathiyar in the Nadi, he revealed the reason for the injury, which was subtle in nature. He tells me what was going on and why I succumbed to the back pain. He said I faced discomfort and pain in the body due to the heat generated in the Muladhara from these practices. The 3 dosas too have run out of proportion. Hence he asks to stop all forms of practice. He suggested several Siddha herbs to consume.
பாரிச (உடலின் ஒரு பக்கம்) பீடைகளும் வந்து நிற்கும்உற்றதொரு மூலாதார சக்கரமும்
உயர் விதமாய் உஷ்ணம் அடைந்ததால்
உரைக்க வரும் சோர்வுகளும் தேகம் தன்னில்
உரைக்கலாம் முக்கூற்று திரிப்பும் இப்போ
முறையாகச் சமநிலையில் இல்லாதிருக்கச்
சோதனைகள் வந்து நிற்கும் அச்சம் மிகுந்து
செப்பலாம் தவம் தன்னை நிறுத்திவைக்கப்
பங்கம் ஏதும் வந்திடாது கலக்கம் கொள்ளா
Agathiyar in a Nadi reading on 28.3. 2015, said things that I could not comprehend. He told me that "You have received my Jothi. You have changes going on in you. The internal Light has expanded bringing on these changes and opening the Suzhumunai. நீ உலகில் என் ஜோதியைப் பெற்று விட்டாய். தேகத்தில் மாற்றங்கள் பெற்று இருக்காய். அகத்துக்குள் அகத்தின் ஜோதி பெருகி தேகத்தில் பல மாற்றம் பல சக்தி கிட்டி முனை திறந்து இருப்பாயே.
Ramalinga Adigal came later to help us to enhance the Jothi in us by asking us to travel with the breath. "Follow the Pranavam in you. Try. Let the Jothi burn brightly within you. You shall merge in it. I shall come along with you as long as the Jothi is in you. I shall be with those who are aware of it. " உமது பிரணவத்தை கொண்டு செல்லு. முயற்சி செய். ஜோதி அதனைச் சுடர்விட செய்யுங்கள். ஜோதியோடு கலப்பாய். உன்னுள் ஜோதி எரியும்வரை நான் உன்னோடு வருவேன். ஆழ்ந்து இருப்போருடன் நான் சேர்ந்து இருக்கிறேன்.
But the energy that was released had stalled and ponded in Manipuraka after that. Agathiyar came to break the bunds and release the waters in 2022. There is no looking back now as the waters reached the Sahasrara in a matter of days bringing on a whirlpool in the crown of my head. A piercing sensation happens at random at this spot till these days.
Would I, could I reach the state too? Only time can tell. But time is running out. It looks like time is pretty precious for those on the trail of the light.
So what is this state of light? Though Tavayogi told me he had missed the boat, a devotee had a dream after Tavayogi's demise whereby she saw Tavayogi on a boat with several others clad in white heading towards the other bank where stood a hill where Siddhas went about their chores. The one rowing the boat was Lord Shiva. Dhanvantri in consoling us said that he had attained the state thanks to our tavam or austerities. Supramania Swami before leaving his mortal body told me he had seen the Jothi. He covered the window of his living room at his Kudil with a gunny sack saying that he could not see the fiery Arunachala mountain. He too saw Siddhas going about their chores. When I asked Tavayogi how Agathiyar came to him the night I arrived at his ashram, he told me that it was in the form of Jothi. Tavayogi had placed a granite statue of Agathiyar to commemorate and mark the spot where Agathiyar had appeared as the Jothi after calling him over to Agathiyar Vanam in the Kallar hills. Ramalinga Adigal and Jeganathar who followed his teachings are said to have attained this state too. When Tavayogi brought me to visit three living masters in Ooty during my first visit to his Kallar ashram in 2005, the last lone hermit we met and whom Tavayogi touched his feet and later proclaimed as a Gnani told me that the next time I came he would be a star in the night sky.
What then is the right age to undertake this adventure in transforming the body and the Self, after which the feat is said to be impossible to achieve? Though there is much said and written on the state only one who has been there can actually tell us what it is to be light. Hence we have to heavily depend on the Siddhas and Ramalinga Adigal for answers. The latter is said to have disappeared several times and reappeared to tell the tale. He explains the many states of transformation that he went through before finally attaining the state and coming back to write about it in the compendium of songs known as the Arutpa. We shall explore this state further in the posts to come.