Friday 7 June 2019

WHEN NATURE BEFRIENDS US 1

When we arrived at the car park at the University of Malaya and alighted from the car, my brother, brother-in-law, my friend Murali and Nadi reader Ramesh acknowledged that we saw Tavayogi ushering the participants and visitors of the First World Conference on Siddhar Principles 2007. As we approached him all of us fell at his feet. Only then did we realize that it was not him but someone else. How did all five of us mistake another sadhu for Tavayogi?

When I was with Tavayogi, a call came in from his cook at the ashram. His cook excitedly told him of the miracle that took place back at the old ashram just moments earlier. As he walked down the small hillock, he saw Tavayogi walk up the small path leading to the ashram. How could that be he asked him as Tavayogi was in Malaysia? Soon the figure of Tavayogi turned to become that of Agathiyar. The figure vanished into thin air.

When Tavayogi and I alighted from the ambassador at the entrance to the Brihadeswar temple at Thanjavur, a peddler selling rosaries walked up to us hurriedly and asked Tavayogi with a surprise look on his face, what was he doing there, mentioning that Tavayogi had been at the temple the day before? How was that possible when I never left sight of Tavayogi as we travelled to the abodes of the Siddhas?

It is said that the Siddhas do come in the form of insects too. But I tell Agathiyar not to come in this form as I shall kill it. I can vividly remember how a mosquito sent me to the wards for the very first time in my life after it bit me. I was warded 4 days for dengue. My daughter had been bitten a year earlier. She spent a night at the wards. So you can understand my anger towards it.

During the morning tea break at the First World Conference on Siddhar Principles 2007, as my brother and I enjoyed our cup of tea at the car park, a squirrel scrambled down a tree and ran towards us. It sniffed our toes before making its way up the tree again. Why did it do that?

When my family and I were led by Simbu, Prabakaran and Kartik up the jungle track behind the old Kallar ashram, we suddenly heard the rustling of leaves and twigs and the boys immediately alerted us to stay put. He feared it was the wild elephants. A spotted dog came out of the bushes and stood in front of us instead to our relief, before heading back into the woods. 

Peacocks and peahens are said to frequent a home in Batu Caves where the owner will place bread in their living room for the peafowls to feast.

Gayathri Muraleedharan from Kerala messaged me the following.
Last week an interesting thing happened here..but a not miracle..mustn't be. These days I'm reading yoga vasishta and how beautifully and blessedly I've been directed to that book, oh I can't express! I started the book and was having goosebumps like feeling/happiness each time I read it.
One morning after my bath, I opened my rooms door. There, on our fan in the hall was sitting a beautiful kingfisher! At the sight of me, it started circling the fan and flies towards this bookshelf.
This is the place where I keep Agathiyar. In my book shelf which I consider the only safest area
I shrieked and got inside my room nd closed the door. Then I felt such a happiness for the sight of the bird and having woken up my son, we opened the door. But the bird was not there. A window portion was opened in the room. Maybe it flew through it. But after some time I wondered that within one or two minutes can a bird find its way through a grilled window?  Oh I don't know.. miracle or no miracle, I Cherish sooo much the sight..
A similar incident took place when my daughter had to walk quite a distance to meet her friend in college to deliver the accessories that she had made for her. After walking some distance she felt tired and as it was almost dark, she was a bit worried and regretted having decided to walk rather than wait for the shuttle bus that plies through the campus grounds. That is when she saw an Oriental Magpie-robin perching on the railing along the footpath, minding its own business. As she came up to it, my daughter began to address it. "I saw the Robin and talked to it asking it to accompany me." To her surprise, the tiny bird kept her company, following her from tree to tree, flying ahead of her and perching on the branches of the trees waiting for her to catch up, until she reached the spot where her friend was waiting.

On another day, an afternoon, as she was making her way up three flight of steps to a hall for a rehearsal of an event, the bird landed in front of her and hopped onto each step of the stairs till the top before it flew away. Since then it has been accompanying her around the campus when she is going somewhere alone.