It is truly amazing to listen to Agathiyar speak through his Nadi back then in the days of numerous Nadi readings. Now it is equally amazing to listen to him speak through his devotees. I used to sit in awe just as a little child sitting with mouth opened wide and listening intently to the stories read out or told by elders, listening to the Nadi. Now though the medium of communication has changed it is still equally thrilling. I used to look up to Tavayogi with my eyes blank often wondering how that was possible when he told me Agathiyar came and spoke to him. Later when Jnana Jothiamma came along she too would tell me that Goddess Ma would talk to her. Coming to Agathiyar later, she tells me that Agathiyar had intercepted our Skype calls and spoke to her leaving me in the lurch figuring out what was going on as the line though active remained silent. These days it has become a daily thing between us and the Siddhas. If initially, he came through the Nadi readings, he then came through devotees face to face and now even over the phone on calls and video calls keeping up with the latest technologies. We are indeed blessed.
Agathiyar has been reminding me since back then about the need to control my anger. Listening to my mother's prayers he gave me an hour-long lecture on anger management in the Nadi and almost immediately tested me to see if I could surpass the feeling. I failed miserably in his test twice the same day and within minutes after the Nadi reading. Then he revealed that anger would get in the way of my tavam or austerities and practice. After he kindled the chakras and had the energies travel up to the crown he kept reminding me that anger would bring these energies to fall back to their original places and bring to waste all his efforts to bring an internal transformation within. Why is anger considered an obstacle in the Divine plan?
Pon Govindasamy reveals to us the Divine's plan in his book "Thiruchitrabalam Yendra Sirsabaiyum Porsabaiyum Avaniyin Antaranga Arul Arasu Chidambara Ragasiyam" and "Vallalarum Brahma Jnana Sangamum" published by Bharath Book Bureau Chennai. He states that it is the mission of the Divine to save the souls that are riddled, locked, and chained by Maayai, Kanmam, and Aanavam and bring them back to his state of purity.
கட்டுப்பட்ட உயிர்களை தளை நீக்கி (மாயை, கன்மம், ஆணவம்), தன்னைப்போல் அகண்டாகார பரிபூரண வஸ்துவாக மாற்றுவதே ஈஸ்வரனின் சங்கல்பம் ஆகும்.
Pon Govindasamy explains the different states of the souls.
- The souls generally are tied down to the three Malams or Impurities, namely Maayai, Kanmam, and Aanavam.
- In dropping Maayai, they evolve into Rishis and are known as Piralayaakalar.
- The Maha Rishis who had defeated Maayai and Kanmam but were restrained by Aanavam are called Vignanakalar.
From one of the talks by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami at https://www.himalayanacademy.com/ we have a clear understanding of these three Malams.
"In common philosophical use, when you hear the word maya you think of illusion. That's because of dominant philosophy in the Hindu world is Shankara's maya-vadin philosophy in which Maya means it's unreal; doesn't really exist. Maya in Saiva Siddhanta exists, it's just constantly changing. That's why Gurudeva writes "...the ever perpetuating dance." It's constantly changing; there's nothing permanent about it. So it's a reality but it's constantly changing. "Maya, the ever-perpetuating dance of creation, preservation, and dissolution."
"Karma: Gurudeva clarifies: "...(our prarabdha karma, brought with us to face in this life, along with the karma we are creating now and will cause in the future)"
"We live, in our normal state of consciousness, in a sense of separation and being an individual. But, in a deeper sense, everything is really One all the time. Paramaguru Yogaswami liked to remind everyone, he would say: "How many people are here?" And the correct answer is just one, swami, just One. So we tend to forget, we identify and we think of ourselves as a separate being rather than being just the One Being. That's Anava."
Man's purpose we then understand is to evolve to become Sakalar as in a Jeevanmukta, man who has attained Mukti while still living, and in return for this privilege brings others to the spot too. When a Jeevanmukta drops his hold on Maayai, he evolves to become Piralayaakalar as in the Rishis. The Rishi who drops Kanmam too evolves to become Vignanakalar as in the Maha Rishis. Only Aanavam remains in them.
மக்களை சகலர், பிரளயாகலர், விஞ்ஞானகலர் என முப்பெரும் பிரிவுகளாக வகுக்கப் பெற்றுள்ளன.
ஆணவம், கன்மம், மாயை என்ற மும்மலங்களாலும் கட்டுப்பட்ட சீவன் முக்தர்கள் வரையிலுமான ஆன்மாக்கள் சகலர் எனப்படுவர். சகலருக்கு மகரிஷிகளை அதிட்டித்து நின்று உபதேசிப்பான்.
மாயா மலம் நீங்கி ஆணவம், கன்மம் என்ற இருமலங்களுடன் மட்டும் கூடிய ரிஷிகள் பிரளயாகலர் ஆவர். பிரளயாகலருக்கு இறைவனே குருவடிவம் தாங்கி வந்து உபதேசித்தருள்வான்.
மாயையும், கன்மமும் நீங்கி ஆணவ மலத்தால் மட்டும் கட்டுப்பட்ட மகரிஷிகள் விஞ்ஞானகலராவார். விஞ்ஞானகலருக்கு இறைவன் உள் நின்றே உணர்த்துவன். இது இறைவன் உணர்வும் விஞ்ஞானகலர் உணர்வும் ஒன்றித்த நிலையாகும்.
God comes in human form to guide man to achieve the state of a Jeevanmukta called Sakalar.
God comes as Shiva to the Piralayaakalar who then turns to educate the Sakalar.
To the Maha Rishis, God comes within to teach. With the descent of God, the Maha Rishis became one with God.
Man shall evolve into Rishis, and Maha Rishis as he drops his hold on each of these Malams. This task of bringing man out of the Malams is given to the Vignanakalar or the Siddhas and the Maha Rishis who had defeated Maayai and Kanmam but were restrained by Aanavam.
Pon Govindasamy reveals further. In each Kalpa, the seven landmasses under seven Manus appear and disappear one after the other. When the third land mass Kumari Kandam appeared, God sent Agathiyar, one of the seven Rishis, as its protector. Agathiyar then a Rishi and a Piralayaakalar, learned the sciences from God who came as Lord Murugan and imparted the true knowledge at Pothigai. Agathiyar mastered the five aspects of God which are creation, sustenance, destruction, veiling, and blessing, and also achieved all eight siddhis. He then stood as a Vignanakalar, appearing as true knowledge or an epitome of Gnanam. He stood as Lord Dhakshanamurthi.
Having been there Agathiyar wants to help us reach these states too. We understand his concern and care. The Siddhas are forever willing to guide man back to God or Erai as they choose to name the Divine. That was the wish they put forward to Erai. From Velayutham Karthikeyan's posting in his blog Siththan Arul at http://siththanarul.blogspot.com we understand the compassion of the Siddhas towards humanity. Karthiyen’s blog entry brings us back to time immemorial when the Siddhas, being compassionate and kind, put forward to the Almighty, their wish to guide and save humanity. The Siddhas had wished that whoever seeks them out for solutions to their problems and surrenders to them, shall be pardoned for his past deeds, however bad and evil they may be. The Siddhas asked that man shall not be put through trial and tribulations and made to face the consequences of his actions but instead be saved. Erai granted the Siddhas their wish. After the audience with Erai, the next instant the Siddhas wrote down; the reasons for each individual’s sufferings; listed out solutions and remedies; and wrote down ways and means to overcome or end the seeker's problems, sins, diseases, illnesses, and sufferings. They wrote them in Tamil prose on dried palm leaves. These writings came to be known as the Nadi. Though the Siddhas are waiting to help mankind, Karthikeyan adds that one has to seek out the Siddhas to solve his problems. Simply said coming to the worship of Siddhas helps to break the chain of karma. Bringing us to know our past acts and giving remedies to rid the baggage, they bring us to their worship that burns the remaining past Karma to ashes never to raise its hood again. Bringing us to carry out good deeds and charity they bring a balance to the merits that determine the possibility or otherwise of a next birth. Then they bring us to Yogam where the internal transformation begins. As they have us start each phase they have us end it to move on to the next phase. Finally, we stand at the door to Gnanam. The Gnana Thiravukol or key to Gnanam is provided by the Siddhas. Though the Siddhas are waiting to help mankind, Karthikeyan adds that one has to seek out the Siddhas to solve his problems. Agathiyar's job is to identify and prepare the candidate and bring him to Lord Shiva eventually. Hence we understand his sternness in wanting us to gear up and place the effort towards this. We should be grateful that he has chosen us.
Pon Govindasamy writes that Agathiyar in this current era was Brahma's representative at the "Antaranga Arul Aratsatchi" based at Chidambaram. He is tasked to look into the affairs of the portion of the Vedas known as Karma Kanda. Agathiyar goes through each individual's account of merits and demerits (karma). To aid him in this task he has Karma Devas known as Chitraguptas. Besides that, he is responsible for culture, kriya, and agamas. He oversees Sanatana Dharma. Through his thoughts, he drives scientists and researchers to excel in their fields.
Having complied with the basic requirements the Siddhas take joy in having prepared the candidate for his purpose. He is then given the freedom to venture on his own. He finds his true self, nature, and center. He lives in society unattached and as a Jeevanmukta. He makes quick progress by remaining indifferent to all that happens around him and becomes a Rishi and a saint called Piralayaakalar. Finally, he takes the big step to becoming a Maha Rishi who is known as Vignanakalar.
We are indeed blessed to have come to be acquainted with a Maha Rishi of such a nature and stature. And it all started with his call to come to his path and worship him and the Siddhas besides the whole pantheon of Gods made through his tool of communication then, the Nadi. The Nadi reading did change our lives for good. Taking heed we started his worship. Love for him began to bloom within our hearts. We began to take his words as the Gospel. Compassion for others began to bloom as we began serving the unfortunate as he ordained. He came through his Aasi Kaandam to further guide us. He came as both gurus Supramania Swami and Tavayogi and upagurus to teach and show us the methods of ritualistic worship or agamas and Yogic practices. In their absence in physical form, Agathiyar comes personally to guide us. We are blessed indeed.
As "The greater the voltage in a circuit, the greater its ability to "push" more electrons and do work" Agathiyar comes to enhance our storage capacity and upgrade the transformer station in readiness to receive the high pressure and voltage that is to come within us as we traverse higher altitudes heading for the summit and peak of God-realization. If he in preparedness for us to receive his grace brought us to his abodes that were power sources on earth, in the preparedness of us to receive the effulgence he moves within and clears the path of obstacles, widening it if necessary, and pushes us forward with urgency. That is the grace of Agathiyar.