Monday 23 September 2019

COMMUNICATING WITH THE DIVINE

We were shown the way to pray to our deities, Gods and Goddesses by our parents. They brought us to the temples to introduce us to them. They brought us to sit in prayers at our altars in our homes. But it was all a monologue back then and we were not sure if our prayers were heard.  Occasionally we saw the divine energies speak through individuals to those who stood before them with their problems or just to seek their blessings. At times these deities would call up an individual and pass them a message. They addressed the multiple issues on hand and issues of the day, giving sound advice and directions. These deities were patronized by a small group of devotees or those who found their way there, after finding no way out of their illness or domestic problems, having exhausted all other avenues. As I stood and watched the going on from a distance at the homes or shrines or small temples in the vicinity, the deities looked and sounded fearful to me at that age. I personally chose to keep my distance from them for fear that they might strike me, although at times I was caught in the line of fire when they come without any announcement. Even prior to this, I used to frequent the home of a Chinese medium till I was 13, who would strike himself with the blunt side of a sword and hurt himself just to save my life and cure me of illness and disease upon seeking divine aid. These were my first encounters with the deities and the divine.

Then all that changed one day. We came to know that Siddhas could deliver messages through the tool known as the Nadi that were writings etched out on ancient dried and treated palm leaves read by Nadi readers who were trained to read the characters and writings and decipher, translate and narrate them back to us.

Agathiyar and the Siddhas who came to tutor, teach and show us the way, introduced their teachings as and when we were ready for it. For a start, they asked to come to the path. They waited to see if we took up the invitation. Once we showed interest and concern they paved the magic carpet and laid it before us to step on and take a ride. We were brought to various establishments to spend some time learning how their teachings were deciphered and understood by individuals and their movements. Then they brought us to two personal living gurus to understand further the gist and cream of their teachings. All these took place when I opted to take up his path. I cannot possibly imagine what life would have dealt me if I did not take that very first step on 14 December 2002.

Soon the Siddhas began to address us on a regular basis whenever there was a need to convey their messages. If the Kaanda Nadi readings were readings provided to those who seek to know their past, present, and future, when we began to take heed of their initial messages in these Kaanda Nadi and began to follow their path, the Siddhas began to speak to us through the Aasi Nadi whenever they wished to instruct us. I never imagined that my relationship with Agathiyar and the Siddhas could become interactive. They actually spoke to us in real-time through this tool - the Nadi - and the medium - its reader. Soon the major Gods and Goddesses too began to speak and address us through the Nadi.

Dwelling in this world of Siva, we came to the Nadi as a seeker and as Siva's servant. Coming to the path of the Siddhas, and upon being accepted as his son, we were asked to engage in rituals opening us up to a whole new world of Kriyai. Taking on the path of Yogam we became his companion. 

Not settling for that they began to bypass the Nadi and came straight to us through individuals later. Originally the deities came to pay their respect to Agathiyar who resided at ATM and went off without addressing us. Soon their gaze fell on us too and they began to instruct us too. The mode of instruction and guidance shifted from one based on the Nadi and its readers, that often made us dependant on the availability of free slots, and kept in waiting, to direct communion with them whenever there was urgent need to address matters through people we knew. 

The biggest miracle we came to see was how they came to us through both the medium of the Nadi and mediumship simultaneously in realtime at ATM to heal my back. As Lord Muruga spoke through the Nadi read by the reader, he came through a devotee to touch and heal my back with the peacock feather. An amazing encounter indeed with the divine and its direct means of interacting through and with his devotees.

Then the divine came within to guide us too as our thoughts. Initially being skeptical if it was our doings, initiated by us and our own thoughts that was wreaking havoc in us, they soon laid these doubts to rest telling us that it was all their Siddhu or result of Siddhis.  They also told us that it was all part of the process and that there was no way we could stop it even if we were not desirous of all the miraculous happenings taking place.

There is more to come the way they tell us, forewarning us and keeping us alert to the changes that are due in good time. As we are forcefully brought to end rituals and settle within and dwell in silence, the next stage is laid for us to sit and watch more miracles and Siddhis performed or shown to us. All these were possible due to the guidance, and blessings of the gurus and upagurus in physical form. Just as we came from the external to internal worship, the divine and the guru too has come within shaping our lives as they please. How can we ever thank them?