THE STORY OF JNANA JOTHIAMMA

This blog features stories of real people and their adventures on the Siddha path. One such soul was Mrs Molly Menon, who later came to be known as Jnana Jothi Amma, a name given by Agathiyar. Her tale is to be told, for it is a magnificent one. This is the amazing story of her devotion and pursuit of reaching Agathiyar. Just as we have seen the many miracles that have taken place at Tavayogi’s Ashram in Kallar, Agathiyar did perform equally magnificent miracles in her life.

Molly Menon, originally from Kerala, who migrated to Minnesota, USA, was an ardent devotee of the Goddess Ambal, Karupanasamy, and Shirdi Sai Baba. Each time she returned to her homeland in Kerala, she never failed to offer her prayers to the seven-foot-tall Karupanasamy, whom she installed in Chennai. She had only just returned to the USA in April 2011 after witnessing the inauguration of Karupanasamy's 7-foot statue in Chennai, which she had sponsored. She was to recall that day later to me as follows. It was the day Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma of Kalyana Theertam left her mortal body.

I was carrying the Kalasam for the Installation of a Diety .... The Kaval Deivam Of the Siddhas and on the other side of the fence, Venkatesh Swami was carrying the Earthen pot round Sadhu Amma's body ..... A soul so dear to the Adi Muni Agasthya ....... on April 17th 2011, Chitra Pournami. 

She got in touch with me by email on July 3, 2011, seeking to know about Agathiyar and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal’s ashram at Kallar, after having read about my adventures with Supramania Swami and Tavayogi that were carried on my earlier websites. She enquired about Kallar and expressed her wish to go over. 

I guess what she read on my website made such a great impression that she left for India again after arriving in the USA just 5 months. Molly used to share many hours with me on SKYPE even before she made the journey to Kallar. She used to watch the prayers for Agathiyar at my home via SKYPE and very much wanted to participate in the rituals. If she introduced me to Skype, where she would speak to me for hours on end about Agathiyar, Agathiyar would take the opportunity to interrupt our conversation and speak to her on Skype. Her yearning for Agathiyar grew from day to day. The ever-compassionate father created an opportunity for her to do so eventually in India itself at her convenience. She returned in October of the same year. 

Her flight on the path of the Siddhas began on that day in 2011. Upon reaching India, she e-mails me on Thursday, October 20, 2011. At Kallar, Agathiyar, through Tavayogi, magically and mysteriously initiated her, without her least expectation. She came to be addressed as Jnana Jyothiamma henceforth, from the moment of initiation by Agathiyar, a name given by Agathiyar. She planned to spend six months at Tavayogi’s Ashram, intending to stay until the Annual Guru Puja and Jayanthi celebrations in December. But she was made to return to the USA by Tavayogi after a couple of weeks, missing the annual event. She left reluctantly and with a heavy heart.

Once back in the USA, she writes to me,

"It started thus .... it started with a call ... instructions from the Divine ..... and I was in India before even I knew what was going on ... only to get back after two weeks to the United States ... and then again get back to India after five months. ..... as the highest power in the universe ‘wanted an audience with me at Kallar’. Will anybody believe what I'm saying? They think me stark mad .. totally screwed up ... beyond the point of no return". 

"Hmm .. dunno what to say ... choked up ... really .. all kinds of feelings sweeping through me ... too many memories ... two weeks ... an experience of a Yuga ... that's all I can say."

Tavayogi read out her nadi while she was there. She shared her understanding with me.

"If Valmiki Ramayan .. history of Rama was written 18,444 million years ago, then his father King Dasaratha would be well before that and Vashishta was his father's guru (also his) ..... that means according to Agathiyar I was there with all these Mahans long before 18,444 million years. No wonder Karuppetta (her favorite deity Karupanasamy) termed it as Jenmandram Connection and Agathiyar also mentioned likewise... I am glazed out totally ... After getting to know all this from the Source .... anybody would renounce the world."

"The Mysterious part is .... my Jeeva Nadi reading went missing, from my study table ...After I returned back to the United States after getting my Dhiksha, I placed it on my study table immediately upon reaching home. I used to gaze at it every day. It was more than a precious ornament to/for me ... something so very precious .. especially as Agathiyan had mentioned to me in that Nadi that there will not be any more Nadi Reading for me. It was right on the same spot I placed for two months ... Then disappeared suddenly ..."

"I could not understand at all, what happened to me at Kallar that day of my Initiation. I used to gaze at my Jeeva Nadi reading book and recollect all the incidents that happened at the Ashram right from the day, I entered it. The peacock that entered the Ashram mysteriously and also left mysteriously. Every night it used to knock at my door. I used to feed it too... I took a number of pics of that peacock. All of them disappeared too from my mobile...Neither did I go to the Ashram for getting Dhiksha nor for getting my Nadi read. Both the above-mentioned terms, I have not heard before and I did not know the meaning of either of the two."

"All I knew and was aware of was, that something ... some strong force was taking me there. Secondly, when for the first time in my life, I saw Agathiyan's pic in Sadhguru Venkatraman's site, I felt that I knew this Sage ... or can I say ... some sort of intense longing I suddenly had to see Him somewhere, and somehow. I did not know where ... but I had a deep yearning that I needed to see Agasthya Maharishi .... There was an enormous yearning within me. It was at this time, around July 2011, the Divine showed me a wonderful Athma ..... an Athma who was very dear to Agathiyan and I stumbled across his site .. INDIAN HEARTBEAT .... and what I read there, left me breathless. Here I find a person, who, along with an Enlightened Master seems to have gone to all the places the Noble Sage had trod. Thus started a beautiful relationship with you Shan... with Tavayogi and not to forget my dearest sister Mataji Sarojini. My heartful thanks to all her family members, including Mataji and Tavayogi, who took care of me while I was there, and my humble prostrations to my Swamiji Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, for having shared with me some of his Divine experiences with Agathiyan and also some advice. At the holy feet of our Father Agathiyan, I submit myself for having accepted me, protected me, guided me, and is still protecting and guiding me. What can I give back to our Father for all that HE has given me? My utmost devotion to His holy paadham." 

After her earlier initiation, there started a trail of miracles and astonishment. As the pull was too strong to reject, she returned to Kallar after five months to participate in the festivities. 

1. She made acquaintances with a Siddha medicine practitioner, Dr. Ram Subramaniam, who was introduced by Tavayogi. She was having severe leg pains that affected her mobility. Treating her and bringing relief to her prolonged aching feet, the Dr. and she made a pilgrimage to Ambasamudram, Papanasam, and Kalyana Theertam. Agathiyar shows a marvelous spectacle and reveals his presence to Jnana Jyothiamma and Dr. Ram Subramaniam at Kalyana Theertam in Tirunelveli. 
2. At Kalyana Theertam, she is greeted by Agathiyar and Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma’s devotees. She is invited into Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma’s ashram. Devotees of Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma bring her to the caves in the vicinity, which she expected that Tavayogi would bring her to, as he brought me. 
3. Her yearning to see Agathiyar materializes when Agathiyar shows her his light form or Jothi Darisanam in the caves of Kalyana Theertam. It is here at Kalyana Theertam that a stream of light appears mystically from the sky, follows her, blessing her, and slowly makes its way to Agathiyar and Lopamudra, who are seated majestically on a chariot!
4. Jnana Jothiamma had always mentioned that she would want to lay a mat and lie in my prayer room.  Her wish was granted when ‘strangers’ laid a mat and placed a pillow for her to rest at Kalyana Theertam! 
5. Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma’s devotees and Jnana Jothiamma then set off to the jungles of Kalahasti to perform a Yagna, fulfilling her wish that Tavayogi should take her to all the caves and shrines of the Siddhas just as he had brought me to. She is shown an amazing streak of light at the original Srikalahasti temple! 
6. I had told her about how Agathiyar had opened his eyes in the granite statue of him at Agasthiyampalli, in Vedharanyam, and at Papanasam in Kutralam, and in the painting of Agathiyar in the home of devotees here in Malaysia. While in Chennai, she is taken to a temple built by a new acquaintance, where Ramanujar opens his eyes! When she came to my home in Malaysia in 2013, Agathiyar opened both his eyes in his bronze statue to bless us!
7. She was sad that she had lost a gift that was precious to her, given by someone close to her when she was leaving the USA. The person she became acquainted with later hands her a box, which, on returning home, she finds out to her amazement, contains a similar gift to the one she lost at Dallas!
8. As she had told me, she wanted to move house as her present home was not conducive to meditation, Lord Muruga provided for her to be in solitude through his devotee, Sri Balakrishnan Swamy Mn, beginning from 7 March 2013, in Palani. Sri Balakrishnan Swamy shared what he thought of Jnana Jothiamma at https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2014/04/jnana-jyothi-amma.html. Agathiyar later instructed her to move to another spot of his at Kalyana Theertam. After a short stay at Kalyana Theertam, she was back in Chennai. In Chennai, a good Samaritan and a developer allowed her to stay in one of his vacant apartment blocks and often dropped in to check in on her. 
9. On 21 March 2013, she informed me over the phone from Palani that a 200-year-old man knocked on her door. She invited him in. He gave a loud laugh and spoke to her about the mystical rudraksha in Tavayogi’s possession. Tavayogi shared with us later in October, when she and my family visited Kallar Ashram, how he came about to receive the 7kg, 1 1/2 feet tall, mystical rudraksha from a sadhu in the early morning hours just a few days before Agathiyar's Jayanthi and Guru Puja celebrations on 31st December 2012 and 1st January 2013. The old man then asked her for a drink. She went to fetch him some drinking water, expecting him to disappear by the time she returned. However, he was waiting for her. He sipped the water and returned her the tumbler. He gave her a peck on her cheek on the exact spot she had kissed the granite statue of Agathiyar at Tavayogi’s ashram in Kallar, which was later moved to and installed in the hills of Kallar. The old man left. All this took place in a jiffy, in a matter of three minutes, she says. She, out of curiosity, peeked into the tumbler. What did she see? There was honey in it!

On 11 October 2013, my family and I met up with her in Trichy before we headed for Kallar, stopping over at several temples on the way. Jnana Jothiamma, Dr. Ram Subramaniam, and Deva, who chauffeured me around back then in 2003 and who brought me to Supramania Swami, were on hand to greet us at the airport. After lots of hugging and formal exchanges, we made our way to the Hotel Temple Inn, which she had made reservations for us. Deva brought his Toyota Inova, a seven-seater that provided a comfortable ride. Once at the Hotel, Jnana Jothiamma prepared hot milk for us and passed the food, which she had packed for us, food that was served as Annadhanam at Tiruvanamalai earlier that morning. Supramania Swami's last wish to me was to feed 1000 people in Tiruvannamalai after his demise. Jnana Jothiamma willingly took up the deed when I mentioned this to her. She and Deva's family had successfully carried out the Annathanam earlier in the morning before picking us up at the Trichy airport. We chatted till the early morning hours and called it a day at 2.30am IST. 

After breakfast at the hotel, which was extremely delicious, we made our way to Kallar with Jnana Jothiamma and Dr. Ram following us. En route, we had a beautiful Darshan (Darisanam) at Tiruvanaikaval and stopped over at Sivanmalai in Kangeyam. 

It was 5.30pm when we reached Tavayogi's ashram, the Sri Agathiyar Sri Thava Murugar Gnana Peedham. We were all pretty excited when, as we alighted from the car, the Toy Train from Ooty that was returning to Methupalaiyam went by. We came to understand later that the train passes the ashram twice a day on its route from Methupalaiyam to Ooty at 7.30am and Ooty to Methupalaiyam at 5.30pm. We got to see it pass by. 

Since I had initially told Tavayogi that I would go to Agasthiyampalli in Vedaranyam before coming over, as my family had not been there, and as the bronze statue of Agathiyar was a replica of his granite statue in this temple, Tavayogi and Mataji were not expecting us till late at night. But along the way, I had my wife knock some sense into me, asking me to be focused on the reason we were going to India. Yes, what she said made sense. We were making this trip only because Tavayogi and Mataji had been asking us over numerous times. And we had only five days and five nights to spare. Anyway, having told him that I shall spend all five days at his ashram,  I did not want to go back on my word to him. Jnana Jothiamma and Dr.Ram left shortly after for Methupalaiyam to catch the train back to Chennai, leaving us in the company of Tavayogi and Mataji.

As we returned to Malaysia, she took a flight from Chennai and arrived the same day at our home. She came again in 2014. She passed away on 4th April 2017. It has been exactly nine years today since she departed us. Jnana Jothiamma stood by Agathiyar till her last breath. That is how she gave back to him for all that he gave her. Obedience and total surrender are the keys to salvation. She was a perfect example of a good student and disciple. What we have of her are her words that I had documented, luckily, and memories of our visit and her visits, and her conversations. She spread the essence of Agathiyar's teachings, brushing it onto all those who came within some distance. If initially, she went in search of the Siddhas, going on an extensive pilgrimage of discovery, with Agathiyar arranging for her to be brought to places, after confining her to her room in an apartment in Chennai, she was visited by the Siddhas later. 

She shared her understanding and perception of her journey with me.

MY UNDERSTANDING.

Now , I have a very clear picture of the roles ANGALIAMMA AND KARUPETTA played in my spiritual journey. They were Ordained to do these acts or functions to help me proceed, as Agathiyan mentioned in my Nadi. When I was lost in a MAZE, (not even knowing I was lost), My father Agathiyan, led me step by step to reach HIS HOME .. POTHIGAI and showed me HIS PRESENCE. The DEITIES were Ordained by Arutperumjothi ... my father Agathiyar, who showed the world that HE IS INDEED ARUTPERUMJOTHI and they guided me to complete the Chariya and Kriya stages in the Bhakthi side and along with Sai Baba of Shirdi, led to Yog state. Just as the DEITIES were doing their ordained tasks and functions, Sai Baba was guiding me throughout my Life's Journey. Now Agathiyan will lead /guide me to the Gnana stage .... .long long way to go. 

I shall now relate to you a conversation that took place between Tavayogi and my self, when I was at Kallar in Oct 2011 .... the day after I received my Dheeksha. He was receiving numerous calls that day and he turned to me and said thus,"Why is it Saibaba is sending all HIS devotees over here (Kallar)?" 

I asked him which Sai Baba? He replied ... Shirdi Sai Baba. Now this clearly shows the connection between Agathiyan and Saibaba. This was further Answered by Venkatesh Swamy to me while I was at Kalyana Theertham. He said that he, along with Sadhu Krishnaveni Amma had seen Sai Baba with Agathiyan number of times at Kalyana Theertham. He further added that Sadhu Amma had told him , that during her early days at Pothigai, when she had no roof of her own and used to live in the cave above Kalyana Theertam, it was Sai Baba who had appeared to her in HIS physical form and gave her some Sarees and some sheets to cover herself. He showed me the Sarees given by Sai Baba. Therefore every soul I had met so far in my Journey was sent/ ordained by Agathiayan .. to lead /guide me.. This is my Understanding NOW.  A clear Explanation ... Am happy to know my path how it progressed.

Vallalar says there are seven screens or curtains preventing us from being able to see the Graceful light and these screens are to be removed one by one and it can be ...... with the Grace of the Divine, when , one attains Spiritual Maturity. We will be able to see the screens in our forehead as we progress Spiritually. These seven screens have been placed by Arutperum Jyothi.

1)The Black Screen. This is the first and the most difficult screen to remove. Once removed, the other screens will be able to fall apart. This screen hides the Sovereignity of Arutperum Jyothi's Grace light with the power of the great 'maya' or the Illusionary nature of the world.

2)The Blue Screen. This is the second screen. While the black curtain is to veil or hide the Cosmic Soul, the blue curtain is to hide the Individual Soul. 

3)The Green Screen. The third screen is the green screen. This screen hides the Cosmic Space representing Divine Energy. Purification of the Mind's faculties and that of the Soul will tear down this curtain.

4)The Red Screen. The Fourth screen is the red screen. This screen is there to hide the space of mystic Powers and at the Appropriate time it is removed.

5)The Golden Screen. The Golden screen is the fifth screen. This hides the real matters worthy of human pursuits as a result, we tend to run after Illusionary ones and when this curtain is removed we will be able to perceive the Real.

6)The White Screen. This is the sixth screen. This curtain hides the space or abode of the Absolute Truth. This being the Original Energy.

7)The Screen of Several Colour. The seventh screen is the screen of Mixed Colour. It veils all experiences of the Aspirant.

By the Grace of the Ultimate Divine, all the above mentioned Screens or curtains can be Removed one by one ..... Aum.

She speaks passionately of so many things, among them her many visits to India's temples.

Yes. I had been here ... rather we as a family with Shankar, had been to Kandha Kotam and Vadivudai Amman Temple number of times about 25 years back. Son was a teenager ... in school.. Every purnima we used to conduct tender coconut water Abhishegam to Amma and visit Vallalar's home .... I did not have even an iota of thought .. nor was it mentioned to me by Shankar...that after a number of years ... me to, would be receiving the same Jyothi that Vallalar had Received.

Even, Last year on my hubby's death aniiversary, I had been to Vadivudai Amma's temple .... to feed the cows with Agathy Keerai ...... a ritual performed after Tarpanam ...which Amma asked me to perform. Had been to Tiruvotriyur also a number of times with Shankar and family ..... to conduct Abhisegam to Siva on Atham Star. That's what I keep Repeating that Shankar is my Mortal Guru and Agathiyar .... My Athma Guru...

All the Devis and Devans and Mahans were with me, guiding me and following me right from BIRTH ....... I realized this after my connection with Agathiyan .... To Quote Vallalar .... .My Spiritual journey has been thus ....."From the Forms to the Formless ... .Jyothi ..... Arut Perum Jyothi." I was totally unaware of all these happenings in my life. I was performing my duties as a wife and Mother .... while the Divine was performing their duties on me .... I was not at all aware that, I ... a Disciple .... was ready to receive the Jyothi...

But Agathiyan .. my Father gave it to me when HE knew I was ready to Receive the "Light ". With tears in my eyes, I pronounce these words ...."In my case ... the SEEKER BECAME THE SOUGHT,'' Agathiyan took me into HIS fold and made me "COMPLETE".... a Desire-less Object. All I can say is THUS ...... Om Sri, Mahasidhargale, Mahangale, Maharishigale, Mahayogigale, Mahamunivargale, Mahadevargale ........ THIRUVADIGAL POTRI POTRI .