INITIATIONS

We have had the divine come many times into someone to bless and leave. But the recent episode of Lord Muruga coming to give initiation was something that intrigued us all. 

I have heard from Jnana Jhothiamma how mystically she was initiated at Kallar Ashram. Tavayogi had told her that he would initiate her and asked Mataji to make the necessary arrangements. As she took her place before Tavayogi, Agathiyar came through Tavayogi to initiate Jnana Jhotiamma instead. After Agathiyar left, and Tavayogi was back to his old self, he called out again to Mataji to prepare for Jnana Jhothiamma's initiation. Mataji told him that it was all over! 

The day before I was to return to Malaysia, Tavayogi called out to Mataji to prepare for my initiation, my third, having received the first two in Malaysia. The first initiation was on the same day I met him at the local chapter of his Agathiyar Gnana Peedham in Batu Caves in 2005. He told Perumal of the Peedham to make arrangements for me to receive initiation. Perumal replied that he shall include me with the other seven who were scheduled to receive their initiation that evening. Once we gathered behind the closed doors of a room at the Peedham in the late evening, Tavayogi offered to initiate my wife too. 

Just before Tavayogi left for India, I had a Nadi reading with Nadi Guru T.Ramesh, recommended by Tavayogi since I told Tavayogi that I was to check my Nadi after 3 years from my first reading in 2002. Agathiyar in the reading told me to meet Tavayogi and receive an initiation that same night. As I arrived at the Peedham and mentioned what was said in the Nadi Tavayogi too was equally surprised just like me as to why Agathiyar directed us so, as he had already initiated me. But he followed as requested. 

The third initiation came quite sudden after Agathiyar had asked Tavayogi what he was going to give me. As I joined him in his morning walk the morning after my arrival at Kallar Ashram in 2005, Tavayogi told me that Agathiyar had come the night before and put this question to him. When Tavayogi asked what was he to give, Agathiyar replied that he will let him know later. As Tavayogi spoke about this, I could only give him a look of disbelief and remained quiet, asking myself if all this was possible? Did Agathiyar really speak to him? Just before I left I asked him how Agathiyar came. He told me as light. And so Tavayogi gave me the initiation the night before my departure. 

As I am penning this post, Sanjiv messages me the following.

Tavayogi ji once told me ... a drop of nector is enough to survive on....dont require food, water...just a drop of nector....from the ajana. He said for months together he would be in state of meditation and bliss...while in Sathuragiri and then as soon as he came out of that state he would feel really hungry and then go out of his hut and hunt for food.

And I use to talk and laugh with him as if I knew him, whereas the truth was that he did not have to make effort to know about us...past, present, future. Once I asked him can you speak to Agathiar ji...and he laughed and said yes...just like I am speaking to you. So I told him I also want to see and speak to him and he again laughed...said if Agathiar comes infront of you and says I am Agathiar...you will not believe him....isnt it?

He had Konganar, although at that time Tavayogi too did not realize it, drop by his old ashram and stay overnight talking in Kannada the whole night long. In the morning he was nowhere to be seen at the ashram grounds. As Tavayogi went for his morning walk he saw him sitting on the road curb beside Turipalam. Bidding farewell to Tavayogi, only then did he reveal himself as Konganar.

Tavayogi had Lobha Ma drop in too, but this time he guessed it was her. She was talking only about Agathiyar.

Lord Muruga too arrived at his ashram to have some fun. Tavayogi put the pieces together and gathered that it was the Lord, when he mentioned places he had been that related to the six abodes of Lord Muruga, besides talking gibberish all the time.

Similarly, Lord Shiva came to help identify and help pick some herbs for Supramania Swami at Parvatha Malai near Tiruvannamalai but Swami did not recognize him. He came as a shopkeeper whom Swami knew in town. After returning to Tiruvannamalai town, Swami dropped in at his store only to be told that he had never stepped foot on the Holy hill.

Such is the play of the divine on his children.

Supramania Swami too gave me a mantra initiation during the very first meeting with him. Dr. Krishnan gave me the mantra of Agathiyar that came over the phone as I sat at the Homa conducting an Amavasai puja at home. It's amazing how Agathiyar makes sure that both his children's material needs and spiritual needs are taken care of when the time is right. That is the compassionate father.

The fourth mantra initiation came through an email from Tavayogi.

Even prior to meeting my gurus and having my first Nadi reading, Agathiyar had sent my nephew to my home and initiated me mysteriously through him with the Vasudeva mantra, my very first mantra initiation, although my nephew revealed that it was from Agathiyar couple of years later.

When in an age where we rush to every holy man who sets feet on our shores to get initiated, collecting initiations as if collecting military awards and wearing them as medals or  service ribbon, medal ribbon, or ribbon bars, Supramania Swami warned us that if initiated into a path, technique, practice or mantra one should carry it out.

So the initiation that Lord Muruga gave came with a condition, that we surrender totally to him. He initiated the heart chakra in those who were ready.

Ram Dass at https://www.ramdass.org/chakras-in-the-body-2/ has this to say.

Jung is primarily concerned with the fourth chakra (the heart chakra). I would point out that there are still the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras, and these are in terms of other kinds of psychic spaces and ways of organizing the universe and understanding what’s happening. There are many theories that are nonmystical and there are theories that are mystical; there are theories that deal with transcendent states and there are theories that don’t.

And when Jung starts to deal with his archetypes, collective unconscious and so on, he is starting to deal with the fourth chakra, which is the same thing as Buddha’s compassion. He is still in astral planes and he himself is afraid to go on, that’s quite clear. He goes just so far and then he stops, because he’s afraid that if he goes the next step, he will no longer be able to do what he does as Carl Jung. That’s a very tricky place, to be able to surrender to your game which you have certain mastery in, in order to go for more.

But I’m afraid that everybody is driven to go for more until they can, in the depths of their inner being, say, “This is enough.” And they can only say that when it is. So the press of evolution on man’s consciousness is inevitable. There’s nothing he can do about it. He doesn’t really have much choice in the matter. He’s just got to wake up at the rate he’s got to wake up.

Ram Dass says Bhakti Yoga or the method of the heart is the easiest to work with in this age of Kali. 

In most relationships, when people come together and fall in love, they go towards each other until they come to a certain point where they see the writing on the wall and are not willing to go any further. Because if you surrender any farther into that love, then who you thought you were, the person making that surrender, has to be surrendered as well. And there is the thought, “Do I really want to die into this one so fast?” And it’s usually very subliminal.

For a person with a low tolerance for change, at this point they pull back and turn to go the other way. This liberates the other person to start and go forward again. It goes on like this and they both keep the same distance. Again, they come together and again they get to the point where one says, “Screw this,” and turns away, which liberates the other. They keep coming back together because they love each other and want to be together but they just can’t seem to do it because they can’t figure out what would happen when they surrender.

This all has to do with power, third chakra power. And love, as a vehicle, has to do with the fourth chakra. Unfortunately most of our relationships get stuck in the domain of power, which is the third chakra, the domain of ego power.

The fourth chakra is where it starts to get interesting, where you’re starting to see behind the veils, and you play out an incredible dance with the lover ...

So where is Lord Muruga taking us?