A devotee who took the stage to share her experiences of coming to Kallar Ashram back in 2015 strongly believes in the presence of Siddhas there.
Agathiyar asked me to visit Kallar back in 2005 through the Nadi reading.
Later, in 2013, I brought my family along. It was then the old Ashram.
When Tavayogi built and moved to the new Ashram some 2 km away, the Agathiyar Vanam Family (AVM) traveled to Kallar to join the inauguration festivities.
Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigalaar and Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyaar have extolled the significance of the Kallar hills where their ashram, the Sri Agathiyar Sri Thava Murugar Gnana Peedham, is situated. Kallar is mentioned in Agathiyar 12,000. Agathiyar mentions the significance of this place in the Jeeva Nadi revelations through Nadi Guru Ganeshan of Tanjavur. Agathiyar says the Kallar hills were a place to eradicate one's past Karma speedily. These revelations were compiled as JEEVA ARUL NADI - AGATHIYAR VAKKU by Karthik of the Sidhar Arut Kudil, Thanjavur, and are available on page 103.
இந்த கல்லாறு மலை அதி சீக்கிரம்பூர்வ ஜென்ம பாவங்கள்,
முன்னோர்களின் பாவங்கள்,
சாபங்கள் குறைத்து கொள்ள ஏற்ற இடம்
Agathiyar explains the significance of these hills. Generally, the prime significance of these hills is the abundance of herbs that grow and are available in these regions. He says that a herb or a tree that grows in these hills has 100 times more potential than those grown or found in the plains. Taking into consideration this matter and also for the benefit of mankind and his well-being, temples were built on top of these hills, and man was directed to pray at these temples to reap these benefits. Agathiyar explains the benefits of walking and hiking. A daily routine of going up and coming down the hills will definitely be beneficial. Those unable to hike up these hills could use other means or facilities. By walking, man tends to rejuvenate all his 22,000-odd nerves in his body. This is the physical benefit gained. On the spiritual aspect, one's Karma is reduced, based on the physical exhaustion and tiredness as a result of hiking up the hills. Together with contemplation and continuous prayers, Karma is eventually reduced. Tavayogi was directed to place a statue of Agathiyar in the hills of Kallar too. This place, known as Mulasthaanam, was the very spot where Agathiyar had given Tavayogi his darshan. My family and I were blessed to have stepped on this hill and worshiped Agathiyar here in 2013.
Tavayogi made it a routine to take a walk every morning. I was privileged to tag along on my first visit in 2005 and again with my family on my second visit in 2013. When Tavayogi was in Malaysia, I invited him for a walk, which he gladly accepted, as he had no opportunity to do so during his stay in Malaysia. I keep walking twice a day. But the forest and peatland fires and volcanic eruptions originating from Indonesia have enveloped us and made it unsafe to go out these days. We read that "Regional haze from Indonesian agricultural fires, combined with volcanic ash emissions, creates a highly dangerous mixture of fine particulate matter and toxic gases like sulfur dioxide." (AI Overview)
Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, in wishing to go into Samadhi after traveling throughout India and living the life of a mendicant, was finally instructed to seek a place known as Agathiyar Vanam. Looking up Agathiyar Vanam, he was pointed to the foothills of the Kallar hills. Initially, upon arrival, as he stayed at a run-down temple, the local village head invited him to put up a shed at a vacant spot. As days went by, the public and devotees helped towards building a proper building to house the Aaru Aadhaara Peedham, followed by the 6 1/2 feet tall fiber statue of Agathiyar, Thava Murugar, and Lord Shiva in the form of a 1 1/2 feet tall rudraksham weighing 7 kg.
Later, with devotees from Bangalore coming to his aid, he moved to a larger place and built the present-day ashram. Since his Samadhi in 2018, Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar, who was with him throughout his Pattimandram days and until his end, has been running and managing the Ashram. She is currently in Malaysia. I went over to meet up with her yesterday.
Tavayogi, who began performing a Yagam to appease the wrath of Mother Nature after the tsunami hit the shores of India in 2004, asked me to carry out a smaller version of it here. I hesitated to carry it out, knowing that these rituals were the domain of the temple priests, but Agathiyar, in a Nadi reading, clarified the need to do it. He said that I was not doing it for personal gain but for the good of the world around us. Only then could I put my heart and soul into the act, as I was blessed to do my part for the world at large now. Soon Tavayogi carried it out annually, inviting devotees to participate in lighting individual fire pits with their family members on the Ashram grounds to help 'burn' away their karmas too. He called it the Sarva Dosa Nivarana Maha Yagam. Indeed, recently Agathiyar, in coming through a devotee, asked a family to burn all their problems in the fire of the Homam they lit at AVM. This tradition has been carried out by Mataji in his absence too. The next Puja will be on 27 December 2026.
