On 13 October 2013, a Seth invited Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal to the Nattadreeswarar Temple in the middle of the Kaveri river at Kangayapalaiyam near Erode. As I was in Kallar visiting Tavayogi with my family, Tavayogi invited us to tag along.
Seth had a very good relationship with the priests at this temple and as a result, we had the opportunity to see Lord Shiva close-up, even after the temple was closed for the day. It was a unique experience for the family and me taking the coracle to cross the river to the temple. Another uniqueness in this temple was that Agathiyar was directly facing Lord Shiva in the inner sanctum. The Shivalingam is also unique as it was formed/made by Agathiyar out of the river sand from the Kaveri river. Lord Murugan had greeted Agathiyar on arrival here and is depicted with his right foot forward.
We were indeed blessed to be brought to this temple to have a darshan of Agathiyar, Lord Shiva and Lord Murugan too. We place on record our gratitude to Tavayogi and Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar, the Seth from Erode, both the senior and junior priest at this temple, and the kind souls who rowed us over to the temple in the coracle.
Here are some photos were taken during my recent pilgrimage with the family to this temple accompanied by Tavayogi, Mataji, Seth and others from the Agathiyar Gnana Peedham in Kallar.
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| Awaiting the coracle to take us across the Kaveri river |
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| The Nattadreeswarar temple perched on the rocks in the middle of Kaveri river |
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| A typical coracle that can sit 25 people |
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| The majestic temple seen from the riverbank |
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| A panoramic view of the river. All photos courtesy of Praba Shanmugam |
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| The senior priest arrives from the temple |
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| Alighting from the coracle on the opposite bank. The junior priests explained about the origin of the temple while traveling on the coracle. |
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| The opposite bank has seen from the temple |
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| Entrance to the temple |
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| The beautiful sunset |
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| A scene depicting Lord Muruga with his right foot forward greeting Agathiyar on arrival |
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| The return journey back to the riverbank |
On 24 October 2013 Jnana Jyothi Amma sent me the following message (I have edited it) on FB
"At about 10 am IST, I got a call from a number ..... 111. I do not answer unknown numbers. I ignored it. Again I got the call from the same number twice. Then third time I picked up the call. A boy's voice."
"He said "Amma .... How is your leg pain?"
"I asked him who he was and from where he was calling, to which he answered his name was Kandhan. I thought it was Kandhan Gurukal (of Panchesti Agathiyar Temple) and asked him from which number he is calling as the number seems to be different."
"He laughed. Moreover it sounded like a boy's tone."
"These are the words he told me, "When are you coming to my temple?"
"I answered, thinking it was Kandhan Gurukal, that I couldn't come last week as I had gone over to Malaysia to participate in Agasthyar's pooje in my friends house."
"He said, "I am aware of that and I gave you Darshan"
"OMG. This took me aback and before I could say anything, that lad continued thus, "You had come to Sangameshwarar Temple long back and done Tharpana at the Thriveni ... remember?"
"I told him I do not remember that temple."
"He told me ..... Bhavani ....... with Maheswari."
"Still I could not recollect."
"He gave me a number ...... a mobile number ..... told me his name was Saravana and asked me to call him NOW and told me that he wants me there and the call got cut. He also told me that the priests are returning soon and asked me to call NOW."
"I called that number and a man picked up the call and I told him that somebody called me now and gave me this number and I do not know the person on the other side. Without a moment of hesitation he told me, "It must be Lord Murugan himself and told me that in this temple Murugan welcomes Agasthiyar and here he holds a parrot which is of great significance and that he would tell me when he meets me in person."
"I asked him what is the name of this temple and what has it got to do with Thriveni."
"He told me this is Nattadresswarar Temple. I was taken aback and I told him last week my Swamji from Kallar, Tavayogi Thangarasan, had come over with his disciples. He told me he was the person who ferried the group across and told me to come over. He told me to be there by 8 am in the morning so that the Abhishekam could be done."
"I then recollected. Yes, Amma had told me to take Maheswari along with me and go to Thriveni temple, dip my whole body in the Sangamam, ..... Cauvery, Bavani and Amritha."
"Shan ..... This was 25 years back. I can recollect everything now ...... need to come out of this first .... sweet voice ... a teenager ... he called me Amma ..... which ..... I did not feel anything that time."
"Now on recollecting .... am chocked beyond limits .... I asked him his name .... he said Saravana .... the guy who ferried you people across ... All this happened between 10-10.30 am on 24 October 2013."
Jnana Jyothi Amma was contemplating on going to this temple later in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February of next year), but there was suddenly an urgency that she should be there for the Karthigai Deepam festival on 17 November 2013!
She messages me again on FB on 12 November 2013.
"Did you get the message what I typed a few minutes back, will be at Nattadresswarar temple on 17th. I called up the number what was given to me .. same person picked it up"I asked, "Saravanan?"
She replies, "No, Senthil, the guy who ferried you across"
She continued on SKYPE to narrate to me the happening. She had called the number given to her earlier by the mysterious caller, the young boy. Amma sensed it was a different voice on the phone. She asks for Saravana but this time the man on the other end addresses himself as Senthil. Immediately he asks Jnana Jyothi Amma why she had not come over yet. The man continues. He lays out the plan. He tells Amma to make her way to a particular hotel once she was in Erode. Someone will take her to Kangayampalaiyam the next day where all arrangements have been made for her to participate in the Abhisekam. The caretakers of the temple will be attending the festivities. She can meet them. She can choose to follow the priests over to the mainland during lunch break or she can have her lunch at the temple. She can participate in the prayers later that evening before she is sent to the Erode bus stand to board the bus back.
Amma and I were both amazed and puzzled. We could not make sense of the calls and the callers. It was all so mysterious.
Just before she leaves her home on the night before Deepam on 16 October 2013, Amma gives me a call to say she was leaving. The next day I receive a call from her. She tells me she was with Agathiyar and was talking to me from his Sanadhi at the Nattadresswarar Temple. She was alone with the senior priest at present after having participated in the Abhisekam earlier in the morning.
On arrival back at home, she messages me on FB on 18 October 2013.
"End. Shan ..... back just now .. time 23.40 ... Monday. Had to postpone my ticket, as I just couldn't make it back the same day. Will either send you a detailed message/ mail or will get on SKYPE after a day or two. I need to take some rest. Lord Muruga gave me his Darshan. Our coolest daddy too."After having a brief rest she messages me again on 20 October 2013 with this extraordinary spate of events that took place at the Nattadresswarar temple.
"Hello Shan, I have recouped only 50%. It'll take a week or so for me to get completely out from exhaustion. A very intense experience!"
"First let me put to rest the confusion what we had about the call, Saravana and Senthil"
"Saravana (guy who ferried you people across) is the eldest son of that elderly priest. He says that he did not speak to me on the number I called the first time (what was given to me through a phone call) as he said that was not his number. It's only the second time I called, just two days prior to my going over there he says he picked up my call and confirmed about the Abhishekams what I wanted to perform. When I showed him the number and time of the call, he just laughed and said, "It is Lord Murugan's game."
"There is no one by the name of Senthil at all. When I stressed that the second time I called it was a person Senthil who picked the call, he too stressed emphatically that it was he who spoke to me. Well, I call one number what was given to me and the person on the other end picks up the call on a totally different number!"
"All this conversation happened only after I crossed the river with the help of the coracle and reached the temple on the other side of the river."
"Now, you definitely would want to know what happened before and while crossing Cauvery river. What a mighty name and a mighty river!"
She takes us back to the moment of arrival at Erode earlier.
"I reached Erode around 9 pm and to my astonishment I saw two people waiting for me at the destination. I could not get train reservations. They asked me if I was the person coming form Chennai and lived in USA and spell out my name and they introduced themselves as Mr.Chandrashekar, President of the Temple Committee and Mr.Gandhi, its Secretary. They had made reservations for me in a hotel close by and they accompanied me there and on leaving the hotel told me that the senior Gurukal would be accompanying me to the temple and asked me to be on the river bank the next day by 7 am."
"So the next day, I booked a cab and got dropped by the river bank. I saw a very senior priest and a lady standing there waiting for me. I wished him and we both got into the coracle and the lady left. Just as the coracle started moving, this senior Gurukal told me that he had been instructed by Lord Murugan the previous night that I would be coming over to perform some rituals and had also instructed him (in this old age) to accompany. After listening to what he had to say, I asked him, "Does Lord Murugan speak to you?" He further added that in his lifetime, this is the second time Lord Murugan spoke to him. The first time, he said was when his mother was very ill. That was a number of years back. He repeated that this was the second time. Other times he says that Lord Murugan speaks to him in "Gestures", but only twice he heard his voice. He said that Lord Murugan told him "My daughter will be coming over to his abode and that "She" (myself) had received Dheeksha from Agathiyar directly." My God! My heart jump started. I told him that on 20 October 2011, I got my Dheeksha from "Appa" (Agathiyar). He told me not to disclose this conversation to anyone over there."
"Now we reached the temple shore and we proceeded towards the temple. Immediately he beckoned two priests along with his son Saravana, gave them instructions to start the Abhishekam for Lord Murugan first , then Agathiyar and then Lord Shiva."
"It was at this juncture that the phone calls etc. conversation were discussed, when he told me his name was Saravana etc and all the conversation what I mentioned to you at the start of this mail."
"Since I was instructed to do these Abhishekam on my son's name, I gave them the necessary details like Gothram, Nakshatra and Rasi etc of my son and all the three Ahhishekam got over in an hour and a half."
"There were very few people in the temple and along with the priests and the two committee members, we all went downstairs where the Nivedhyams offered to the Gods were served as breakfast. After breakfast was over , the devotees who came left and only the priests and myself were there. This senior Gurukal told me that I can rest on a chair near Agathiyar, as, upstairs would be very calm and peaceful. So I went upstairs and you know where daddy's shrine is right? Just opposite to Lord Shiva's Sanctum."
"It was around 10.30 am and that was the time I called you up and told you that I am all alone with daddy once again with not a soul in sight. Picturesque landscape ... the mighty Cauvery flowing silently and the surrounding forests."
"After making the call to you, I thought I would close my eyes and sit as I was feeling very pleasant. Suddenly out of nowhere, a squirrel jumps on my lap and then jumps inside Agathiyar's Shrine. I was sitting just in front of daddy on a chair with closed eyes. Suddenly I heard a voice coming from inside Agathiyar's Shrine calling me "Magale Magale". Before I could open my eyes, I was instructed not to open. Agathiyar gave me some messages, which I will sending it to as a separate mail".
"There were many rituals going on throughout morning with deep Aradhanas being conducted a number of times. Beautiful sight and I felt very blessed. Sitting in the abode of Lord Murugan and Lord Shiva with Agathiyar, Lord Vishnu and Goddess Amma all around me. I felt that this Jenmam (birth) was over for me that day."
"Around 4 pm, I saw a huge congregation of people coming upstairs and preparations were starting for a massive Yagam a short distance away from Agathiyar's Sanctum. Shan you know the location what I'm meaning, Agathiyar faces Lord Shiva, two different shrines facing each other."
"I asked Saravana the significance of this massive Yagna. He said that every Kartigai Deepam, they conduct this Yagam, when all the temple committee members, the owners/builder of this temple are the only ones allowed and the name of this Homam is "Asthra Homam."
"He said this was done annually on every Deepam day. Agathiyar had instructed the great grand father of the person who built this temple, or rather renovated this temple that this Homan should be done on Karthiga Deepam Day."
"I'll now tell you a brief history what was narrated to me later by SK Mayilswamy's grandson, Sarath, a cute lad of 15 years and looks exactly like Lord Muruga. He too had many a tales to tell me which will follow eventually in my writings to you separately."
"SK Mayilswamy (SKM) is a leading cattle fodder businessman in Erode. His great great grandfather was the one who cut and carved the rocks and built a small temple and on the instructions of Agathiyar. Nattadreeswarar Temple ..... name means Lord Shiva's temple in the middle of the Cauvery river. This is the only Lord Shiva Temple in the world where the temple is built right in the middle of a river. Originally this entire premise where the current temple now stands was one huge rock. A huge massive rock in the middle of the river."
"Agathiyar had made a Shivalinga using the sand from the river bed and had installed in this place and was worshiping this Linga. This was three Yugas back. Agathiyar gave instructions to SKM'S great great granfather to build the temple structure. He built the current structure of Lord Shiva, renovated later by SKM'S grandfather. SKM built the current structure."
"Just behind Lord Shiva's Shrine, there are three idols of Lord Balaji and his consorts made of juices extracted from herbs including extracts from the Aathi tree, treated and made into these idols. Everyday these idols are cleaned with oils that has been extracted form the Aathi tree, which is in the temple premises for more than 3000 years."
"A few steps if you proceed towards the left from Lord Shiva's shrine, you can see a flight of steps leading down. At the basement of these steps is a huge rock, where Agathiyar had sat and meditated to attain the Siddhi "Mahima" in order to help him balance the earth on the south side of India as instructed by Lord Shiva."
"SKM while renovating the temple, did not cut down this rock as this was the place where Agathiyar had meditated but SKM had instead built a huge room surrounding it. Both of us, Sarath and myself meditated there for a while. No one is allowed to go to this room downstairs near the rock."
"Long before Agathiyar came here, Lord Muruga had been here doing Tavam."
"The Yagam started around 4.30 pm and about 30 people were there, which included SKM and his family members, including his grandchildren and the temple committee members and two ministers. It was an intense and massive Yagam and I have never heard nor seen one of this magnitude and intensity. It was performed by Saravana Gurukal."
"The Yagam got over around 6.30 pm and was followed by Abhishekams to Lord Murugan, Goddess Amma and Lord Shivan. That day was also the birthday of SKM's grandson Sarath, He has immense grace and the blessings of God."
"It was during the end of Lord Murugan's Abhishekam that Lord Murugan gave me his "Kazchi" It is not a Darshan he gave me. It was his Kazchi. The Effulgence was BLINDING and I almost fainted. It was just a few seconds and the Effulgence disappeared. This Kazchi was right inside his "Karuvarai" and on top of his head."
"I couldn't stand nor even see anything clearly after that. Everything looked glazed. But somehow, along with the ladies, managed to light the 1008 Deepams which was the custom, before the main Deepam was lit at the Temple Gopuram."
"What a magnificent sight to behold! The air was filled with the chants of Aum Nama Shivaya ... Hara Hara Mahadeva. This locale, the abode of the Gods ... glimmering with the Deepam Lights and the Beaming Gopuram with the Jyothi."
"In the stillness of the night, the only sounds heard were the high pitched tones of the people praising the Lord ... Nattat Ayya ... Nattat Ayya ... Arunachala Ayya ... Aum Nama Shivaya."
"The flow seems endless .... keeps going on and on ... let me pen down a few more things, as the memories are slowly fading ..."
"Sarath had also been instructed to do four Abhishekams that day, as it was Astham Nakshatra that day and was his birth star too. Likewise I was also instructed to perform the Abhishekams that day as it was mine and also my son's birth star that day. What a blessing on a Purnima Karthiga Deepam day!"
"Never in my life had I witnessed eight Abhishekams and a massive Yagam, all in one day. Four Abishekams of mine in the morning and four Abishekams of Sarath's in the evening. After the Lighting of the Deepams and the day's last pooja and prayer/chants to Lord Shiva got over, it was almost 8 pm. I was exhausted beyond limits. Downstairs I saw all the people gathering around the senior priest as he was giving some Upadesam and all of us were ushered for the Annadhanam. I begged apology from the senior priest that I feel very exhausted and that I would not be able to stay any longer to partake the food as I wanted to return to my hotel room to rest. He understood my condition and immediately ordered some food and sweet meat to be packed and requested Selvaraj Gurukal, an Assistant to Saravana Gurukal to accompany me in the coracle to the other side of the river. I sought his blessings and told him that I feel highly honored to be a part of all the heavenly rituals that I could participate today and also thanked him immensely for having taken the pains to wait for me in the morning and to help me cross over."
"This was his reply, "I came to the temple early today as it was Karthigai Deepam. He quickly added with a smile, "Maybe Agathiyar came with you".
"He blessed me and these were his parting words to me, "You can come here anytime you want. This is your home. Your father is here."
"I realize everything around us is "MAYA'... the Unreal. The Siddhas come to us and move with us in a parallel world. There is nothing outside of you. All is within you, "Agathin Ulle Eesan."
"So, Mr. Chandrashekar, the President of the committee came along with me helping me to walk and in a moment Selvaraj Gurukal got the food and some fruits and came along with us. All I knew was I just entered the coracle and lay down as I felt extremely sick. After a couple of minutes, Selvaraj Gurukal woke me up and helped me to get out of the coracle and helped me to my car."
"All through the crossing of the river, I felt my head was placed on the lap of a woman. On alighting, I asked Selvaraj Gurukal where was the lady who was travelling with us. He replied that there was no lady who came along with us. He said, "Amma, only three of us were there. Me, you and the ferry man".
This morning I called up Selvaraj Gurukal to thank him for all the services he rendered to me during my trip there. His reply was thus, "Amma I was serving Lord Shiva, Lord Murugan, Agathiyar and Goddess Ambal. I see all of them in you. Please come back again."
"I asked him if the senior Gurukal accompanied me in the morning. He said I came alone. I further asked him, "But inside the temple he was giving you all the instructions for the pooja?"
"He replied, "Yes Guruswamy was giving us the instructions, but you entered the temple alone."
"Now who was the senior priest who came along with me in the morning? Who was the lady who was standing with him and she did not enter the coracle?"
"I cried to my heart's content and thanked Agathiyar, Lord Murugan, Lord Shiva and Goddess Amma for bestowing me with their grace and helping me to or rather inviting me to be in their abode and to be with / among them."
"With utmost humility and with knees bend, I bow to the Great Cosmic and Celestial Powers, without their Grace, I could not and would not have been where I am today."
"Salutations and prostrations to my dearest daddy Agathiyar who had been been and is still a guiding force, guiding and protecting me all the way with his presence."
"Arul Gnana Jyotheye Agathin Jyothi Thani Perum Kadavule Agatheesar Aavaar"
To be continued ....