Thursday 2 April 2020

KNOWING AGATHIYAR

Just as Dr. Bhani gave an example on how a particular hymn by the lady saint Avvai carried three meanings to three different people over three different periods of their lives: being first a traditional devotional song to sing in front of a statue or picture of Lord Ganapathy at the temple or home; that took on a different meaning to a Siddhar practitioner revealing secret ingredients for a Siddha medicine, and finally extolled as Jnana or great spiritual wisdom to a spiritual guru, Agathiyar too has taken on a myriad of forms and names to each one on the path of the Siddhas.

So what do you do when Agathiyar calls you to worship him and the Siddhas? We have been used to worshipping deities all these while having pictures of them at our altars at home and statues of them in the temples. Although others might have had questions popping up in their mind then, like: "Is this a new cult? Are we being diverted from our traditional worship to something new? Who is Agathiyar? My devotion to the traditional path has kept me alive, so why do I need to change to another?", I jumped the bandwagon without further ado.

I did not have to seek far for Agathiyar introduced me to all the Siddhas through a ritual Nadikku Dhanam at the end of my Nadi reading. The Nadi guru received my offerings towards the Nadi and their authors the Siddhas and in return carried out a prayer calling on all the Siddhas to come forward and receive my thanksgiving offerings. And so I was given a long list of names of these Siddhas to be recited and a picture of Agathiyar to be worshipped with garlands, flowers and completed with burning of incense and showing of the arathi or light. I began immediately.

Armed with these tools, the Nadi reading that came as a revelation and remained a constant guide in my life, the list of names of the Siddhas, and a picture of Agathiyar, I began my maiden worship to Agathiyar and the Siddhas.

We saw an aspect of Agathiyar having written each man's journey etched into dried palm leaves that were treated with peacock oil, known as the Kaanda Nadi when a seeker has a calling to see and read it. There is another Nadi, the Aasi Nadi where one is called over for a reading by the Siddhas, something that I came to read over a period of time, after walking the path. Then there was yet another called the Jeeva Nadi where the palm leaf is used as a medium in real-time, where words appear and disappear after its read. My first encounter with the Jeeva Nadi was through reading a blog that carried extensive revelations from it. When I happened to come across Karthikeyan Aiya's blog Siththan Arul while searching for another site recommended by Nadi Guru Tamaraiselvan, Siththarkal Rajiyam, I was amazed and spellbound reading pages upon pages of stories that the late Hanumathdasan shared with the admin of the blog of how ordinary people where shown remedies and given solutions to all their day to day problems by Agathiyar through the Jeeva Nadi in the former's possession. It was an eye-opener for me for here were instant remedies dished out to people in trouble and seeking remorse. The single greatest amazing fact that I came across reading the documentation of the conversation between Agathiyar and the seekers is the one instance where Agathiyar asks Hanumathdasan to hand over the palm leaf to the seeker of Malaysian origin so that he could read its contents in his local language, Bahasa Malaysia! Having read through the pages of Siththan Arul, my appetite for more revelations grew in intensity and was only satisfied after I purchased and read the full set of 5 books published by Aranthangi Shankar that carried even more stories of Agathiyar and his Nadi.

I had the good fortune to chat online with Karthikeyan Aiya too which was nourishing to the soul. Who are the Siddhas? Karthikeyan Aiya reveals in his blog.

“The Siddhas are those who knew the past, present and the future. They were gnosis. The Siddhas were similar to a company’s secretary. The Siddhas were God’s messengers. When those who had prayed to God and had yet to receive God’s blessings, approached the Siddhas instead, they immediately received God’s blessings.”

Velayudham Karthikeyan Aiya explains the origin of the Nadi.

“The Nadi has been written by Siddhas for us to know about our past, the present and the future. Many have corrected their lifestyle after listening to the explanations, heeding the instructions and carrying out atonement. Many more had regained their health and peace of mind.” Karthiyen Aiya’s blog entry brings us back to time immemorial where the Siddhas, being compassionate and kind, put forward to God or Erai as Agathiyar wishes to address, their wishes for humanity. The Siddhas had wished that whoever seeks them out for solutions to their problems and surrender to them, they shall be pardoned for their past deeds, however bad and evil they may be, and shall not be put through the trial and tribulations and made to face the consequences but instead be saved. Erai granted the Siddhas this wish. The next instant the Siddhas wrote down: the reasons for each individual’s sufferings; listed out solutions and remedies; and showed ways and means to overcome or end the seeker's problems, sins, diseases, illnesses, and sufferings. They wrote them in Tamil prose on dried palm leaves. These writings came to be known as the Nadi. Karthikeyan Aiya adds that one has to seek out the Siddhas to solve his problems.

Velayudham Karthikeyan Aiya shares more secrets that came to be revealed to Hanumathdasan Aiya by Agathiyar on Siththan Arul at http://siththanarul.blogspot.com/2013/11/149.html.

The gist of the post is as follows:

Brahma says to Agathiyar, "You are asking me to go easy on too many devotees. It would take not less than 10 years to seek out their Nadi or olai suvadi and make changes to their fate. If you keep on recommending that I save them by changing their fate, who is going to pay back for their deeds and karma. Do we not need to punish them for their karma." Brahma goes on to add that he cannot stop the incident from happening but can reduce the repercussions or effects as a result of that event. Agathiyar pleads to Brahma telling him that he believes all should be saved, that their fate should be changed. He suggests that Brahma increase his workforce so that these changes could be hastened. Agathiyar humbly requests that Brahma change the karma of all those who came seeking him (Agathiyar) as he had given his word to them. He seeks Brahma's word of promise that he would not harm any of his devotees.

We too have come to witness and eavesdrop on a similar happening where the divine entities engaged in a discussion of whether to save an infant fated to die. Ma who is known to be always in her ferocious forms showed her compassionate side to a devotee of Agathiyar who came on behalf of a relative for a solution, that day. She asks for permission if she should go to save the little soul. She awaited Agathiyar to instruct her. Agathiyar tells her to go immediately. But she reminds him of the consequences of messing or meddling with one's fate. The most compassionate father tells her that he shall take care of other matters. The parents of the child were given remedies to perform immediately. The message was conveyed to the parents and the rest of the family. They did the parikaram sincerely. We receive news that the child had recovered, although not fully but was saved from immediate impending death.

But the family was not satisfied and showed the emotion outwardly. They were rambling about the child not having fully recovered and the onset of other new and fresh complications, failing to understand that Agathiyar and Ma had done a great miracle by saving the child's soul. I was disappointed with the family too. The important issue on hand was to save a life, a request that the relative had brought to the attention of Agathiyar. Agathiyar had heeded the plea of his devotee and put the necessary machinery to work towards saving the child. He explains to them how Ma Mugambikai fought to bring back the life of the infant. But there was no outward show of gratitude even then. They were concerned about other supplementary matters that according to me can be dealt with over time, given the advancement in the medical field and the talent of our doctors. Just as an accident case is rushed into the emergency room, we do not find all the specialists from all the fields gather together and work on the injured person all at once, but rather they will diagnose the severity of the case and work on saving the life first, attending to the brain injury, and the heart and lungs first, leaving all other accompanying supplementary injuries to be treated at a later moment. Once the person is stable only then would they attend to the fractures of the limbs, external wounds, and bruises, etc. In short life-threatening matters are attended to first and superficial ones latter. Similarly, Agathiyar and the network of divine personals worked towards saving the life first and leaving the rest of the complications that arose later, in the hands of the well trained and knowledgeable surgeons, doctors and medical staff. But the family seemed to fail to understand that a miracle did take place.

When I informed Dr. Krishnan that I had seen the Nadi and was asked to come to the path of the Siddhas, he gave me a yantra that he made for me, prepared and worshipped at his altar and later passed on a mantra of Agathiyar to accompany the puja for the yantra. Apart from the picture of Agathiyar that was given to me by Sivabalan to be worshipped immediately upon Sentilkumar completing my Nadi reading, I had Agathiyar now represented as and in the form of a yantra.
Yantra literally meaning "machine, contraption" is a mystical diagram, mainly from the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. They are used for the worship of deities in temples or at home; as an aid in meditation; used for the benefits given by their supposed occult powers based on Hindu astrology and tantric texts. Specific yantras are traditionally associated with specific deities. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yantra)
Armed with these tools, the Nadi reading that came as a revelation and remained a constant guide in my life, the list of names of the Siddhas, the picture of Agathiyar, and a yantra, I continued worship to Agathiyar.

When I was brought to Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai in a mysterious way, on the pretext of drawing out my daughter's horoscope, a new relationship bloomed that day between a guru and his student. He took me as his son and student, initiating me with a Siva Mantra. Supramania Swami introduced me to guru bhakti or devotion towards the guru, an entirely new concept and perception. From the unseen Gods and Goddesses whose form was captured as visions and paintings that we adored and worshipped at our altar at home and the stone statues in temples, now I was shown the might and compassion of divinity that takes the form of humans too as the gurus. But to meet him, I was to prepare myself first. I was given a Vasudeva mantra by my nephew in yet another mysterious way a year before. After a long period of hibernation staying away from all forms of worship and reading spiritual texts, he initiates me into the mantra that was from a mysterious source, that was revealed as from Agathiyar too, only after a couple of years.

If Supramania Swami ignited me into the traditional worship of Lord Shiva and Lord Narayana, and into guru bhakti, Agathiyar sends me Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal Tavayogi whom I met under mysterious circumstances too in 2005, to be nurtured further and molded into the ways of the Siddhas. Holding on to a leaflet given to me by the Nadi reader Sentilkumar in 2002, I wanted to verify if the name on the piece of paper was the Tavayogi who was to officiate a Peedham in Malaysia then. A beautiful relationship bloomed again between a guru and his student when Tavayogi officially gave me initiation into the Agathiyar mantra. He invited me over to his Kallar Ashram in India providing me with my very first experience of staying at an ashram, and brought me into the jungles, caves, dens, and abodes of the Siddhas, giving first-hand experiences and insights into the lives of the Siddhas.

So when Tavayogi tells me that Agathiyar came the night before and asked what he (Tavayogi) was going to give me, I looked back at him in disbelief but chose to remain quiet. How was that possible I asked myself? The Agathiyar I knew till then only spoke through the Nadi. When Tavayogi took me on the new adventure walking the path of the Siddhas, he would look towards the sky and point out to certain aroma that lingers in the air telling me that the Siddhas came or were ushering us with flowers. I would look up in disbelief.  When he called me to his side and told me that Agathiyar was opening and closing his eyes in his granite statue at his temple in Agasthiyampalli, I blinked into the darkness of the inner chamber, hardly able to see his form much less see him wink. I remained silent. When he spoke about the reason he placed a statue of Agathiyar in the jungles of Kallar hill, having had a darshan or vision of Agathiyar I asked him how he came and he replied: "In the form of Light". When this subject was brought up again, finally, I asked him if they really do come in all these forms that he mentioned, Tavayogi, as usual, replied with another question, "Why don't you believe, my son?"

Armed with these tools, the Nadi reading that came as a revelation and remained a constant guide in my life, the list of names of the Siddhas, the picture of Agathiyar, the yantra, and personal gurus to guide me, and a whole lot of new mystifying experiences, I continued worship to Agathiyar.

Agathiyar chooses to come into our home in the form of a bronze statue in 2010. We had a personal form of God whom we bath, dressed and worshipped, where a subtle relationship between the divine in the metal and the devotee who chose to see him going beyond the material. Following the directive to conduct abhisegam to him, and the homam that was instructed to be done by Tavayogi, and supporting these agamas with the acts of doing charity, we stepped further into Sariyai and Kriyai. 
Agathiyar at Gnanakottam Malaysia



Just as when one begins to serve another, only then shall he begin to know the likes and dislikes of a person, his principles, his perception and understanding of things, his knowledge and learning, his experience and wisdom, etc, armed with these tools, the Nadi reading that came as a revelation and remained a constant guide in my life, the list of names of the Siddhas, the picture of Agathiyar, the yantra, and personal gurus to guide me, and a whole lot of new experiences, I continued worship to Agathiyar and began to serve him. The object of our worship manifested in the bronze statue of his. He transferred his energy into the metal piece that became alive. One fine day he opened his eyes in the statue to show us that he was living in it too. That is proof of the extent of one's faith, belief, prayer, and rituals that can take shape and materialize in this physical world. We call it a miracle. He calls it his play or lila or Siddhi or Siddhu Vilaiyaathu. Agathiyar began to verify these miracles in our Nadi readings, confirming them since we were ever skeptical of miracles that he showered on us day by day. Rather than wait for something to take place to belief; belief in us and it shall take place, say the Siddhas.


But the answer to the question "Who is Agathiyar?" was nowhere in sight. Going through the numerous texts on Agathiyar and the Siddhas, we are given many varied accounts of him, right from his birth to the many miracles he did. But just by reading his biography, it does not bring one to understand him better, although we shall have admiration and respect for him. It is only by knowing him personally that one can rightly say that he knows Agathiyar. How does one get to know him personally? When he drops in on us daily. When he becomes a part of our family. When he dines with us. When he rests his weary feet in our homes. When he chooses to continue his tavam in our home. When he calls over and sees his devotees at our home.

So who is Agathiyar? Rather than belief what we have heard or read about him, we chose to hear from him, as they say, "straight from the horse's mouth", as usual, we got Suren to be the scapegoat, to ask Agathiyar about his origin, knowing pretty well that he would answer with another question as does Tavayogi; "Why did we need to know, and of what use was it to us, and not to investigate the beginning or source and the end". As we expected Agathiyar said all these but surprised us by giving us a tiny clue as to his origin. We are grateful to him.



Tavayogi and Mataji have spoken extensively about Agathiyar, the Siddhas and the path.





Dr. VN Jayapalan was shown the origin of the very first temple for Agathiyar that stands to this day at Agasthiyampalli, of which its replica is at Gnanakottam Malaysia.


From Salokyam or living in a world created by him as in Sariyai, seeing and worshipping him externally, Agathiyar came to us Sameepam or very very close as in Kriyai. He stood in our thoughts. He stood in our actions. He began to speak through others. These days he holds our hands again as we venture into Yogam or Sarupam, taking on his soul and form, and Jnanam, where a state of Sayujyam awaits its practitioners, just as Sivavakiyar mentions these four paths or neri and its relative state of Moksha vis:

Upon entering Sariyai, Salokyam shall one receive,
Through Kriyai, Sameepam shall he reach,
In Yoga, Sarupam shall be attained,
Jnanam, these four, Sayujyam shall one attain.

Traveling with Agathiyar we have learned to drop our own desires, likes and dislikes. These were what initiated this cycle of death and birth in the very first place. Coming to him, he made us realize the effect of our past karma on the present and its possible influence in the future. He gave us the tools to cut asunder the chain of action and its corresponding results. With the aid of Tapas or tavam or austerity, devotion or bhakti and service and doing dharma or charitable acts, we can convert the harm to goodness. Bringing change for the better, we can move forward accumulating good merits that would help shadow or offset our liabilities.

Karthikeyan Aiya quotes Agathiyar, its translation, "Karma is the reason for all occurrences. You can't change that. But can realize it. If you pray, we can change it. Sit in prayer. We shall take care of it." Those were Agathiyar's comforting words.
ஒவ்வொரு சூழ்நிலைக்கும் காரணம் கர்மா. அதை உன்னால் மாற்ற முடியாது. உணர முடியும், பிரார்த்தனை செய்தால் எங்களால் மாற்ற முடியும். பிரார்த்தனையுடன் அமரு. நாங்கள் பார்த்துக் கொள்கிறோம் என்றார்.
Agathiyar has shown us that with devotion and worship towards him we can gain his blessings and grace; we can bring him from his abode in Pothigai into our homes; we can bring him into the very statue or picture that we use to worship him; we can bring him to reside in our homes, and bring him to reside within too. He explains about the state of Dhyanam and surrender that follows: (from Siththan Arul at http://siththanarul.blogspot.com/2014/05/172.html)

Similarly in heightened and deep meditation one screams for the Lord, emotions flow, all 7417 Nadis with all that is said to be the body, comes together in spontaneous involuntary movements and emotional outbursts and finally settles down, coming to a state of total surrender too. When one surrenders his or her body, soul and spirit to his guru, in desperate times, the guru comes forward to take the rein. Agathiyar has done so on numerous occasions.
த்யானத்தில் உச்சநிலை ஆகும் பொழுது, அவரவர்கள், தன்னை மறந்து, முருகா என்றோ, அம்மா என்றோ, வேங்கடவா என்றோ அடி வயற்றிலிருந்து எழுப்புவது வழக்கம். உணர்ச்சிப் பெருக்கில், 7417 நரம்புகளும் ஒன்று சேர்ந்து, உணர்ச்சிகளும் ஒன்று சேர்ந்து, ரத்தமும், நரம்புகளும், எலும்புகளும் ஒன்று சேர்ந்து ஒடுங்கிப்போய், உச்சநிலையை அடைவதைத்தான் த்யானத்தின் உச்சகட்டம் என்று பெயர். ஒருவன் எப்பொழுது த்யானத்தின் உச்சகட்டத்தை அடைந்துவிட்டானோ, அப்பொழுதே. முற்றுமே இறைவனிடம் தன்னை ஒப்படைத்து விடுவான். இதை உடல் பொருள் ஆவி என்று அந்தக் காலத்திலேயே சொல்வார்கள்.
உடல் பொருள் ஆவியில், எப்பொழுது சரணாகதி தத்துவத்தில் ஒருவன் விழுந்துவிட்டானோ, "நாராயணா" என்ற ஒரு வார்த்தையிலே அத்தனையும் அடக்கம் என்று பெயர். நாராயணன் அவன் பார்த்துக் கொள்வான். உனக்கும் அவனுக்கும் எந்த சம்பந்தமும் இல்லை. பொறுப்பை உன்னிடம் ஒப்படைத்துவிட்டேன். நீ தைரியமாக பொறுப்பை ஏற்று செய் என்று அர்த்தம். குருவை ஒருவன் அடைந்துவிட்டாலோ, குருவே அந்த பொறுப்பை ஏற்றுக் கொள்வார் என்று அர்த்தம். அகத்தியனே பலருக்கு குருவாக இருந்து பல நன்மைகளையும் செய்து காட்டி கொடுத்திருக்கிறேன், பலரையும் நட்சத்திரமாக மாற்றி அமைத்திருக்கிறேன்.
The most compassionate Agathiyar reveals how he brings each individual's prayers personally to the Lord's attention. Agathiyar narrates how he brought his devotee's wishes to Guru Bhagawan personally. At that hour his devotee shed some tears for something that took place in the subtle body.
இவன் போட்ட பிரார்த்தனைகள் அத்தனையையும், கூட்டாமல், குறையாமல், அலுங்காமல், சிதறாமல், அப்படியே கையினில் ஏந்தி, குருபகவான் சன்னதியில் வைத்துவிட்டேன். அப்படி வைத்துவிட்ட நேரத்தில்தான் இவன் தன்னையும் அறியாமல், அகத்தியனை நோக்கி கண்கலங்கி பேசினான். ஆக எதற்கு சொல்லுகிறேன் என்றால், அகத்தியன் இவன் கொடுத்த வேண்டுகோளை, கையாலே தாங்கி, அந்த பொற்தாமரை மலரடி பாதத்திலே வைத்த பொழுதுதான் கண் கலங்கி இருக்கிறான். சூட்ச்சும சரீரத்திலே ஒரு நாடகமே நடந்திருக்கிறது.
What would be Agathiyar's aspirations for us? Would I be wrong to say that he wants us to become a Siddha too? I believe this would be his wish for after calling us to his path, he led us through Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam, dissipating the knowledge and techniques through gurus and upagurus. Then he and Ramalinga Adigal come to lead us on into pranayama and meditation, refining the technique we had picked up, showing us the means to overcome difficulties and obstacles faced along the way. Ramalinga Adigal brings us hope and assurance, asking us to stick with Agathiyar who he promises shall remove the curtain or veil that comes between us and God.
By this descent of  Divinity,  the curtains veiling the greatness and  power of the spiritual light in the human individual gradually begin to fall. (Source: "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Ramalinga Swami" by Dr C. Srinivasan, Ilakkia Nilayam, Trichy, 1968)
Dr. C. Srinivasan retraces Ramalinga Adigal's footsteps. He says that he has tasted the bliss of all the sixteen stages contemplated by the Vedas, by the permutation and combination of the four paths, such as Devotion  (Sariyai), Action (Kriyai), Meditation (Yogam), and Wisdom (Jnanam), one after another and attained higher and truer perfection with the aid of the Supreme Grace, besides the ultimate goal of all the six heavenly avenues including Vedantham and Siddhantham, leading to Divinity. He has further given an exposition of his admittance into Sanmargam by the bounteous and boundless descent of the auspicious Supreme Being in him which has resulted in his immortality.
சரியை நிலை நான்கும்
ஒரு கிரியை நிலை நான்கும்
தனி யோக நிலை நான்கும்
தனித்தனி கண்டறிந்தேன்
உரிய சிவ ஞான நிலை நான்கும்
அருள் ஒளியால் ஒன்றொன்றா அறிந்தேன்
மேல் உண்மை நிலை பெற்றேன்
அரிய சிவ சித்தாந்த வேதாந்த முதலாம்
ஆறந்த நிலை அறிந்தேன்
அப்பால் நின் றோங்கும்
பெரிய சிவ அனுபவத்தால் சமரச சன்மார்க்கம்
பெற்றேன் இங் கிறவாமை உற்றேன் காண் தோழி. 
Armed with these tools, the Nadi reading that came as a revelation and remained a constant guide in my life, the list of names of the Siddhas, the picture of Agathiyar, the yantra, and personal gurus to guide me, and a whole lot of new experiences, his presence in the form of a statue, and his company, I continued worship to Agathiyar and began to serve him.