Besides the whole pantheon of Gods and Goddesses our forefathers brought with them ancestral worship when they migrated to Malaya. The family pays homage to these deities known as kula deivam or ancestral gods. Village deities or yellai deivam and guardian angels or kaval deivam, who took care of the community and the individual soul respectively, were continued to be worshiped too.
My father was from the Mathur Kovil, Karaikudi. He settled in Malaysia. I understood that Aiyanar was worshiped back home. He was a Vasudeva bakta but switched to worship of Lord Muruga later. He used to share many of his encounters with the divine and their miracles.
Besides Lord Muruga I came to receive the protection of the Chinese deities too. My parents had lost two children earlier to diarrhea at the hospital. When I too succumbed to diarrhea as an infant my parents rushed me to a Chinese medium, who was a friend and a neighbor too at that time during our stay at the Larut Matang district. I was spared my life with the condition that I had to been given in adoption to them. I survived that day.
Right through my teens I used to be healed by this medium and the entire pantheon of Chinese deities. A typical healing session would begin with the medium chanting and hitting himself with the blunt end of a sword. He would then write Chinese characters in ink onto yellow strips of paper and burn it over a glass of water. The ash falls into the water and I was made to drink it. I was then cured.
My father was from the Mathur Kovil, Karaikudi. He settled in Malaysia. I understood that Aiyanar was worshiped back home. He was a Vasudeva bakta but switched to worship of Lord Muruga later. He used to share many of his encounters with the divine and their miracles.
Besides Lord Muruga I came to receive the protection of the Chinese deities too. My parents had lost two children earlier to diarrhea at the hospital. When I too succumbed to diarrhea as an infant my parents rushed me to a Chinese medium, who was a friend and a neighbor too at that time during our stay at the Larut Matang district. I was spared my life with the condition that I had to been given in adoption to them. I survived that day.
Right through my teens I used to be healed by this medium and the entire pantheon of Chinese deities. A typical healing session would begin with the medium chanting and hitting himself with the blunt end of a sword. He would then write Chinese characters in ink onto yellow strips of paper and burn it over a glass of water. The ash falls into the water and I was made to drink it. I was then cured.
That was my very first encounter with the mystical world of the gods.
I was blessed to have the protection of Madurai Veeran at the same time. I grew up placing flowers and worshiping him at the small shrine the landlord had at the back of the house we stayed in. A rooster was occasionally sacrificed. When the person on whom came these energies turned vegetarian, these sacrifices stopped too.
I was blessed to have the protection of Madurai Veeran at the same time. I grew up placing flowers and worshiping him at the small shrine the landlord had at the back of the house we stayed in. A rooster was occasionally sacrificed. When the person on whom came these energies turned vegetarian, these sacrifices stopped too.
Moving on into my later years of childhood, I used to see goats tied up and ready to be slaughtered as sacrifice and thanksgiving for boons given to devotees in the home of a neighbor, who worshiped Muniandisamy. They frequently hosted these events. Someone would conduct some rituals before raising the sword high that terrified the goat (and me too). The bleating would stop the moment the sword fell. Someone would go into a trance and people will queue up for his blessings and relate their problems to which he would provide an answer or solution. Off course I would stay my distance watching from afar for fear of being strike by the whip he held. That was my third encounter with people going into trance.
Meanwhile my home and temple worship continued.
Meanwhile my home and temple worship continued.
When my brother-in-law started building either new temples or shrines and renovated existing ones in the Krian and Kinta districts where he served in the public sector, a fest would be held on completion of the works. Then they also used to have annual fests too. Someone would go into a trance during the fest. Again the public stood in line to seek guidance from the "divine" through these energies that came through them. On one such occasion at the Macha Muneeswarar temple in Simpang Ampat, Semanggol, to our surprise my brother too became a vessel and conductor for these energies to work through. He surprised us further by speaking the Chinese dialect when addressing Chinese devotees. He never spoke Chinese before that. Soon the deities themselves revealed that they would stop coming through him. And it stopped.
My brother-in-law moved on to guru worship and built the Jeganthguru Sri Raghavendra Mritiga Brindavanam in Buntong, Ipoh.
My brother-in-law moved on to guru worship and built the Jeganthguru Sri Raghavendra Mritiga Brindavanam in Buntong, Ipoh.
Taking on a career I met Maniraj who used to share how the deities came in a trance and gave advise, guidance, healed and cured many devotees at the temple in his estate home. As almost all of them were fierce and came with lots of anger, I was surprised to hear that Lord Muruga was gentle and keeps on laughing. Although I had asked him to inform me when they summoned Lord Muruga, I never had an opportunity to be there during my eight year stay in Dindings district.
It was during these days that my home puja intensified, where I began to offer prayers and perform simple rituals.
Moving into the city now, I did not come across devotion to these devotees then. Although I acknowledged their existence, I prayed that we do not cross paths. After an absence or a period of hibernation, I came into the Siddha path. The Siddha path was more focused in the sense that the teachers on this path gave us a long list of names of Siddhas and asked to chant them. That was sufficient we were told. The rests would fall into place. If before this I had numerous pictures of deities and gurus at my altar and prayer room, one day I made the decision to have only that of Agathiyar.
When Agathiyar came in the form of a statue, I was taken to the next level of worship, another dimension, from 2D to 3D. When I began to bring Agathiyar's statue around to others home, Asokhan invited us to his home too. He was staying in a military quarters in Kuala Lumpur. Then he switched the venue asking me to travel some 247 kilometers, to his hometown in Karai in Kuala Kangsar district. When my family and I arrived with Agathiyar, Asokhan told me that we shall perform the puja at a shrine temple of Muneeswarar under a tree some distance away from his childhood home. I was told that the priest at the temple had had a dispute with the temple committee and left the night before. As we prepared to conduct homam and abhisegam, a priest appeared.
After we performed the homa, I went up to the priest who was sitting quietly watching us conduct the homa, and invited him to perform the abhisegam for Agathiyar. He readily accepted. But before beginning the abhisegam he conducted the nitya or daily puja for all the deities placed at the temple grounds, informing the young kid who assisted the earlier priest with the pujas at the temple, that the sequence and puja before this was all wrong. he showed him the right way to go about the puja.
The visiting priest carried out the abhisegam for Agathiyar to our hearts content. On arrival he told the temple management that he had to leave by 5pm, but stayed on till 9pm to help us with Agathiyar's puja. That was the very first abhisegam for Agathiyar conducted by a temple priest on our shores, after the initial abhisegam at the Adi Kumbeshwarar temple in Kumbakonam in 2009. Till this day I do not know why Agathiyar chose to go all the way to Karai, and who was the accidental priest who came along to do his abhisegam.
Getting acquainted with Mrs Menon from the USA through an email she sent after reading this blog, paved a wonderful relationship between us, where I saw her embark on her spiritual journey. Shortly after returning to the USA in April after participating in the inauguration prayers for a temple she jointly built for Karupanasamy in Chennai, she arrived again at Kallar Ashram in November the same year to know more about Agathiyar. Her guardian angels Karupanasamy and Ambal, led her and left her at the doorstep at Kallar Ashram in the custody and care of Agathiyar. Her life changed after that momentous visit to Kallar and she devoted herself completely to Agathiyar and his Seva. She used to share her encounters with these deities with me. I began to understand them better.
It was during these days that my home puja intensified, where I began to offer prayers and perform simple rituals.
Moving into the city now, I did not come across devotion to these devotees then. Although I acknowledged their existence, I prayed that we do not cross paths. After an absence or a period of hibernation, I came into the Siddha path. The Siddha path was more focused in the sense that the teachers on this path gave us a long list of names of Siddhas and asked to chant them. That was sufficient we were told. The rests would fall into place. If before this I had numerous pictures of deities and gurus at my altar and prayer room, one day I made the decision to have only that of Agathiyar.
When Agathiyar came in the form of a statue, I was taken to the next level of worship, another dimension, from 2D to 3D. When I began to bring Agathiyar's statue around to others home, Asokhan invited us to his home too. He was staying in a military quarters in Kuala Lumpur. Then he switched the venue asking me to travel some 247 kilometers, to his hometown in Karai in Kuala Kangsar district. When my family and I arrived with Agathiyar, Asokhan told me that we shall perform the puja at a shrine temple of Muneeswarar under a tree some distance away from his childhood home. I was told that the priest at the temple had had a dispute with the temple committee and left the night before. As we prepared to conduct homam and abhisegam, a priest appeared.
After we performed the homa, I went up to the priest who was sitting quietly watching us conduct the homa, and invited him to perform the abhisegam for Agathiyar. He readily accepted. But before beginning the abhisegam he conducted the nitya or daily puja for all the deities placed at the temple grounds, informing the young kid who assisted the earlier priest with the pujas at the temple, that the sequence and puja before this was all wrong. he showed him the right way to go about the puja.
The visiting priest carried out the abhisegam for Agathiyar to our hearts content. On arrival he told the temple management that he had to leave by 5pm, but stayed on till 9pm to help us with Agathiyar's puja. That was the very first abhisegam for Agathiyar conducted by a temple priest on our shores, after the initial abhisegam at the Adi Kumbeshwarar temple in Kumbakonam in 2009. Till this day I do not know why Agathiyar chose to go all the way to Karai, and who was the accidental priest who came along to do his abhisegam.
Getting acquainted with Mrs Menon from the USA through an email she sent after reading this blog, paved a wonderful relationship between us, where I saw her embark on her spiritual journey. Shortly after returning to the USA in April after participating in the inauguration prayers for a temple she jointly built for Karupanasamy in Chennai, she arrived again at Kallar Ashram in November the same year to know more about Agathiyar. Her guardian angels Karupanasamy and Ambal, led her and left her at the doorstep at Kallar Ashram in the custody and care of Agathiyar. Her life changed after that momentous visit to Kallar and she devoted herself completely to Agathiyar and his Seva. She used to share her encounters with these deities with me. I began to understand them better.
Walking the path of Siddha I could not fail but notice that these deities were in the forefront on each path and track we took, especially during the hike up into the jungles, hills and mountains.
Soon AVM became a venue for the divine to work most discreetly, bringing us into the realm of these deities or too put it in proper perspective, bringing them to Agathiyar's abode. We have had many unexpected visitations. These were quite different from the modus operandi we are familiar with, with regards to these deities. If before, offerings were made and the deity of our choice summoned to come on an individual who was a regular medium or channel for them, with the Siddhas and in their presence, these deities came on their own, to pay their homage to Agathiyar and left on their own, hardly turning to look at us. They came discreetly, engaged with Agathiyar and left as discreetly as they came, without bringing attention to their arrival and presence in my neighborhood.
Mrs Menon, who later came to be known as Jnana Jhothiamma, saw them move in a parallel world with ours, without us noticing.
Some devotees of Agathiyar who also seeked guidance from these deities were surprised to find that as they stood before Sangili Karupar he only spoke to them about Agathiyar and their mission. He often guided them before they embarked on pilgrimages to Siddha abodes, caves and temples.
While devotees of Agathiyar visiting AVM were asked to light lamps and put forward their wishes, those with domestic problems were told to head for Agathiyar's sannadhi at the Eco City temple. Meanwhile we were told that Agathiyar and Lord Murugan at Pothihai Tharma Chakkram would help those harmed by evil energies. This is how the divine has distributed the work load, segmenting the devotees into smaller manageable groups according to their problems, and specifically working on them from these specific locales.
Now we tend to understand the reason why they send us to specific temples for specific reasons. At these places the divine appears as and when the need arises upon hearing the devotees prayers, sometimes in the physical form and at times very subtly. Now we tend to understand what Tavayogi meant when he used to tell us that the Siddhas were present showering flowers and their blessings on us.
Soon AVM became a venue for the divine to work most discreetly, bringing us into the realm of these deities or too put it in proper perspective, bringing them to Agathiyar's abode. We have had many unexpected visitations. These were quite different from the modus operandi we are familiar with, with regards to these deities. If before, offerings were made and the deity of our choice summoned to come on an individual who was a regular medium or channel for them, with the Siddhas and in their presence, these deities came on their own, to pay their homage to Agathiyar and left on their own, hardly turning to look at us. They came discreetly, engaged with Agathiyar and left as discreetly as they came, without bringing attention to their arrival and presence in my neighborhood.
Mrs Menon, who later came to be known as Jnana Jhothiamma, saw them move in a parallel world with ours, without us noticing.
Some devotees of Agathiyar who also seeked guidance from these deities were surprised to find that as they stood before Sangili Karupar he only spoke to them about Agathiyar and their mission. He often guided them before they embarked on pilgrimages to Siddha abodes, caves and temples.
While devotees of Agathiyar visiting AVM were asked to light lamps and put forward their wishes, those with domestic problems were told to head for Agathiyar's sannadhi at the Eco City temple. Meanwhile we were told that Agathiyar and Lord Murugan at Pothihai Tharma Chakkram would help those harmed by evil energies. This is how the divine has distributed the work load, segmenting the devotees into smaller manageable groups according to their problems, and specifically working on them from these specific locales.
Now we tend to understand the reason why they send us to specific temples for specific reasons. At these places the divine appears as and when the need arises upon hearing the devotees prayers, sometimes in the physical form and at times very subtly. Now we tend to understand what Tavayogi meant when he used to tell us that the Siddhas were present showering flowers and their blessings on us.
When Agathiyar sent me home after bringing me to his abodes in India in 2003, showing me his many miracles, he told me that these miracles will continue once I was back home. Since then he has never stop showing us his presence through miracles. There was never a day go by without a miracle done.
I could join Thondu Seivom and Amudha Surabhi to distribute pastries and drinks to the homeless some days back having recovered from my lower back pain thanks to the divine hand and his apostles. Dhanvantri came through a medium, to massage and heal my back. It was a relieve. Balamurugan, a former regional manager and accountant who left his appealing career, to take up Siddha Vaidyam and Varma Kalai, came over to give me treatment on two occasions. His oilments brought further relieve. Then Shanga who was a former trainer at a gym came over to guide me on simple exercises that brought much relieve. Dr Janar came over and gave me a jab right at the spot of the inflammation in my sciatic nerve bringing immediate joy and relieve. Then Agathiyar gave me prescriptions in the Nadi through Nadi Nool Aasan T. Ramesh who read it and sent me the recorded message. Saravanan Palanisamy brought me these ointments and herbal preparations, prepared by another devotee of Agathiyar, Arivananthan Aiya of the Arulguru Aghathiyar Arulsiddar Peedam.
The finale was when the ever playful Lord Muruga played his lila or divine game at AVM both through a Jeeva Nadi reading by the veteran in the field, Nadi Nool Aasan Taranibalan Aiya and concurrently attending to my pain and healing my psyche too, through another. That evening we saw both worlds merge and collide to bring relieve to a devotee. Sri Krishna was an instrument for this lovely miracle to take place, ferrying Taranibalan Aiya to AVM, who consented to read the Nadi with the blessings of Lord Muruga. This reminds me of how Sri Krishna ferried Agathiyar, Mataji Sarojini Amma and others in the coracle across the flowing Kaveri river to the center where Agathiyar made a Shivalinga from the river sand, that today has come to be called the Nattareswarar temple. In this era, he has ferried many to India to carry out their remedies or parikaram.
As I was practically "crippled" for close to three weeks, unable to drive, the divine made sure all these aids and assistance came to me in good time. All these wonderful souls contributed their ever vast knowledge and years of training in bringing relieve to me. The divine showered his compassion on this insignificant soul. What have I done to deserve these blessings? How do I repay their kindness? I am indebted to all these good souls and the divine.
I now realized that there is a well worked out, greased and oiled, machinery put in place by the divine to help guide and care for us and every sector of the community. All is well and in its proper place. The divine had mutual respect for the other and knew its boundaries. They are basically there, waiting to serve mankind and help it rise up the spiritual ladder. We only need to know how to harness their energy for our upliftment. It all boils down to puja and prayers.
My perspective of these deities has changed from one of fear to one of inclusiveness. Agathiyar brought me to their world and to a new understanding.
The finale was when the ever playful Lord Muruga played his lila or divine game at AVM both through a Jeeva Nadi reading by the veteran in the field, Nadi Nool Aasan Taranibalan Aiya and concurrently attending to my pain and healing my psyche too, through another. That evening we saw both worlds merge and collide to bring relieve to a devotee. Sri Krishna was an instrument for this lovely miracle to take place, ferrying Taranibalan Aiya to AVM, who consented to read the Nadi with the blessings of Lord Muruga. This reminds me of how Sri Krishna ferried Agathiyar, Mataji Sarojini Amma and others in the coracle across the flowing Kaveri river to the center where Agathiyar made a Shivalinga from the river sand, that today has come to be called the Nattareswarar temple. In this era, he has ferried many to India to carry out their remedies or parikaram.
As I was practically "crippled" for close to three weeks, unable to drive, the divine made sure all these aids and assistance came to me in good time. All these wonderful souls contributed their ever vast knowledge and years of training in bringing relieve to me. The divine showered his compassion on this insignificant soul. What have I done to deserve these blessings? How do I repay their kindness? I am indebted to all these good souls and the divine.
I now realized that there is a well worked out, greased and oiled, machinery put in place by the divine to help guide and care for us and every sector of the community. All is well and in its proper place. The divine had mutual respect for the other and knew its boundaries. They are basically there, waiting to serve mankind and help it rise up the spiritual ladder. We only need to know how to harness their energy for our upliftment. It all boils down to puja and prayers.
My perspective of these deities has changed from one of fear to one of inclusiveness. Agathiyar brought me to their world and to a new understanding.