"Each day there is a story that deserves to be told, because we are made of stories. I mean, scientists say that human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me that we are also made of stories." - Eduardo Galeano
This quote by Eduardo Galeano, "an Uruguayan journalist, writer, and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left", appears in the opening scene from "Shadow World" too. Indeed we are made of stories, many forgotten with the passage of time and yet many equally retained in memory. This is my story but I won't have a story to tell if Agathiyar, Supramania Swami, and Tavayogi did not come into my life. So it is in fact their story.
When Agathiyar told me to chant his name 100,000 times upon his arrival on our shores in January of 2010, having been cast in bronze in Swamimalai in the replica of his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli, I was figuring how I was going to carry out this feat in achieving the said figure? Referring to Mataji, she asked me "Why are you attempting it alone? Gather family and friends to recite together." So taking her advice I called them over. But we managed to only chant 45,000 in a span of two hours. We had to give up as most of us lost our voice by then. I was saddened and disappointed that we could not reach the targeted number and could not fulfill his command. But the most compassionate father came later in a Nadi reading and told me that he had accepted our puja.
If I had all this while thought that we had placed the effort in reciting his name 45,000 times, he tells me subtly that even that was his doing for it is he who lives in us; for it is he who drives us in spirit and breath and physically drives us to do things too. So it is not us but him in us who gave life to the otherwise lifeless statue by using us as a tool and medium. It is his play on his stage. We are mere vessels I understand these days. So there is nothing to fret about, be angry with nor become upset and worried about. When he tasks us he shall provide the means too. Today I understand pretty well that the numbers are not important. It is our intent and effort that they see.
An Indian citizen from Delhi used to fly to Kuala Lumpur for a Nadi reading regularly. Once she was told to feed the fish, birds, and monkeys. Since all these animals can be found at one place in the premises of Lord Murugan's temple at Batu Caves she headed there having bought the grains and fruits. She fed the fish and birds but surprisingly there were no monkeys to be seen. Disappointed she left the fruits aside and returned. On her next visit for a Nadi reading, she was surprised that Agathiyar told her her Parikaram or remedies had been accepted.
An Indian citizen from Delhi used to fly to Kuala Lumpur for a Nadi reading regularly. Once she was told to feed the fish, birds, and monkeys. Since all these animals can be found at one place in the premises of Lord Murugan's temple at Batu Caves she headed there having bought the grains and fruits. She fed the fish and birds but surprisingly there were no monkeys to be seen. Disappointed she left the fruits aside and returned. On her next visit for a Nadi reading, she was surprised that Agathiyar told her her Parikaram or remedies had been accepted.
Similarly, when my sister was asked to pay homage to Lord Dhakshanamurty every Thursday, she became worried that she could not fulfill the obligation because the nearest temple that housed the Lord was some 35 kilometers way on Penang island. She would have to battle the evening jam to reach the island temple in time for puja. I told her if he was giving us a remedy it would definitely be within our means to perform. True enough, she came to know later that there was a shrine for him in a temple in her town itself.
My father-in-law was asked to do the Surya Namaskar asana recently by Agathiyar. He is 82. Although my father-in-law gave up on the onset, Agathiyar pointed out to us that there is no age limit.
Neither is there the right age to begin doing asanas. I was surprised to see that the movements my granddaughter did as a toddler where she spins around, was in fact "Rite Number One" in the Tibetan tradition of yoga.
The CGI video animation movie "Alita: Battle Angel" is the story of "a cyborg who awakens in a new body with no memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny." Her story is quite like ours too. A line from the movie goes: "The body is but a shell; it is not bad or good it is all up to you." We have been given the perfect tool - the human body - that itself is the greatest miracle, to be used for the divine purpose. But it has been hijacked by the mind that wanders in search of pleasure. We are continuously reminded to make good use of it before it is too late with each passing away or the death of a man. Impressed by Ramalinga Adigal and Jeganathar who followed his teaching, become Light, I asked Tavayogi in the early days of our relationship, to see him perform the same feat too. I really wanted to witness my guru follow in the footsteps of his gurus and join their fold. But Tavayogi humbly and politely told me that he too had to come back to take another birth and that he could not achieve the state as he had gone beyond his sixties. This feat had to be achieved before then while the body was in perfect harmony with the universe. However he told me that what he could achieve in this birth was only Sahaja samadhi. I did not question him further. Neither did I research on this particular samadhi mode.
From http://wanderling.tripod.com/sahaja.html we understand today what he had meant then.
Since Agathiyar said that our chanting of his name shall inject life into the bronze statue of his, I realized that we are indeed powerful machines that when the mind is set to do things it could achieve everything it desires. Hence we are directed to subdue the mind and divert it from its lure towards material things that are impermanent and bring it towards spiritually elevated thoughts and being. And so our journey too took a sharp turn with the coming of Agathiyar, Supramania Swami, and Tavayogi.
The CGI video animation movie "Alita: Battle Angel" is the story of "a cyborg who awakens in a new body with no memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny." Her story is quite like ours too. A line from the movie goes: "The body is but a shell; it is not bad or good it is all up to you." We have been given the perfect tool - the human body - that itself is the greatest miracle, to be used for the divine purpose. But it has been hijacked by the mind that wanders in search of pleasure. We are continuously reminded to make good use of it before it is too late with each passing away or the death of a man. Impressed by Ramalinga Adigal and Jeganathar who followed his teaching, become Light, I asked Tavayogi in the early days of our relationship, to see him perform the same feat too. I really wanted to witness my guru follow in the footsteps of his gurus and join their fold. But Tavayogi humbly and politely told me that he too had to come back to take another birth and that he could not achieve the state as he had gone beyond his sixties. This feat had to be achieved before then while the body was in perfect harmony with the universe. However he told me that what he could achieve in this birth was only Sahaja samadhi. I did not question him further. Neither did I research on this particular samadhi mode.
From http://wanderling.tripod.com/sahaja.html we understand today what he had meant then.
"Holding on to the supreme state is Samadhi. When it is with effort due to mental disturbances, it is Savikalpa. When these disturbances are absent, it is Nirvikalpa. Remaining permanently in the primal state without effort is Sahaja."When he passed away after he was discharged from the hospital devotees of Agathiyar and former followers of his questioned how he could succumb to such pain and die like anyone else, we were saddened by these inconsiderate talk. When his demise was mentioned as death or மரணம் by some quarters, Dhanvathri came and told us to ignore what others might say about his death and instead cleared the air telling us that Tavayogi had indeed attained samadhi and would continue to guide us as light. Recently Ramalinga Adigal came to assure us that he is with us in the form of light. He told us that even as he was speaking to us, Tavayogi was with us in the form of light, confirming Dhavantri's words. Tavayogi being the humble person we all knew him to be, either downplayed and did not publicize his achievements and state or was not aware of the degree or results of his achievements and its relevant state. Ramalinga Adigal tells me that the devotion we had towards him had a part to play in him achieving the state, reminding me of my first guru Supramania Swami's request that I carry on my tavam or austerities so that he could attain a higher state of consciousness. I understand today that we are all connected. Just because we do not see the connection doesn't mean it is not there. Those in the lineage of the masters and gurus help them achieve higher levels and stages of evolution on the spiritual ladder just as the master or guru helps the students achieve a certain stand. It is two-way traffic. We each help and serve the other, both master and student. Even the Siddhas are known to perform the Yagna during the full moon prayers, looking up towards their gurus. An episode is mentioned in Siththan Arul of how the Siddhas performed libation to Lord Shiva in a temple with 16 items on the Full Moon night. Agathiyar through a Nadi reading for Jnana Jyothiamma had requested her to perform the Sodasa Siddhar Pooja, an elaborate ritual for the Siddhas, aided by the Nadi Nool Aasan. Going through the net, I understood a typical Sodasa Pooja would comprise 16 elements.
Since Agathiyar said that our chanting of his name shall inject life into the bronze statue of his, I realized that we are indeed powerful machines that when the mind is set to do things it could achieve everything it desires. Hence we are directed to subdue the mind and divert it from its lure towards material things that are impermanent and bring it towards spiritually elevated thoughts and being. And so our journey too took a sharp turn with the coming of Agathiyar, Supramania Swami, and Tavayogi.
Our parents brought us into Sariyai, the very first step in devotion, pointing us to the statue or picture and telling us that that was God and showed us by example this simple but much-needed form of external worship. The Sariyai we knew of back then was the worship of idols made of earth, sand, rock, and an amalgamate of metals, all retrieved from the bosom of Mother Earth. Unknowingly back then we had already engaged in the worship of the very first primary and grossest of the five elements or Pancha Maha Bhutam, the earth. Back in the confines of our humble home, we were brought to sit together in prayers before the numerous pictures of deities at our altar.
Bringing us to his path Agathiyar introduced the act of doing Dharma and service to others. He brought us to include rituals in our home puja including libation or abhisegam. With the coming of our gurus in physical form, we were introduced to chanting the name of the guru and mantra japa following in the footsteps of Supramania Swami and recitation of the names of the Siddhas following in the footsteps of Tavayogi. We began conducting the ritual of lighting the sacred fire or homa as instructed by Tavayogi. Hence began the next state Kriyai. In Kriyai we saw ourselves introduced to the worship of the second primary element that is fire as in lighting the Yagna and Homam.
Soon Tavayogi who instructed me to purchase a Homa Kundam or copper vessel to light the fire pit and start doing the Homam on my own, came again to instruct me to purchase a copper vessel or kumbam to place water in and showed me the worship of the divine in the Purnakumbam, leading us a step higher to worshipping the element of water.
Although Tavayogi had given us a treasure-house in the form of asanas and pranayama techniques way back in 2008, and its teecha mantra even earlier in 2005, it was only recently that Agathiyar had asked us to start doing it again after bringing a halt to it for many years to enable my back to heal from the sudden expanse of energies as a result of doing the practices. As Tavayogi told me back then that the breath was indeed God, Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal have asked us to observe, watch, and become aware of our breath. Through Yogam we were slowly introduced to the worship of the breath (air) as in the pranayama practices. Agathiyar has asked that we begin kumbakam or holding the breath with the count equal to the first teecha mantra we received from the guru. All our practices were customized by the guru to suit our temperament and condition as students rather than have us pick it up from books and others and bring untold miseries and danger upon us.
If worship to the idol and picture brought us to worship the guru and the divine with a form, Mantra japa brought us to worship the guru and divine as sacred sound and its related vibrations. The worship of the Yantra was in turn worship of the divine in abstract form. Soon Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal came to asked us to kindle the light both in the external lamp and within us as the internal flame. We moved to worship of the formless. Thence worship of the divine as the light was introduced. Tavayogi explains to me that the light they referred to was not the physical flame itself but the ambiance and brightness that engulfs the room or space as a result of lighting the lamp, making the space visible to us, as opposed to an otherwise pitch darkness. We were brought to worship the element ether or space outside us, that is invisible but yet envelops us all around. Traveling within, on the other hand, we shall venture the path of Gnanam through the practice of concentration and watching both the breath and the sacred space within the cranium, the ether. In Gnanam we merge in ether or space in the worship of the self or Atma, where we shall come face to face with our soul, or Jeevatma, our true self, and realize its existence since time immemorial and how it and we are in fact a part of the bigger Paramatma.
In all these modes of worship, we see a pattern form that of cooling the divine or குளிரவை. Agathiyar used to come through the Nadi and reveal his pleasure in seeing us conduct home puja where he says we cooled him through singing his praises. He also mentions that the souls whom we fed too had been cooled down when the fire of hunger was extinguished. This was Sariyai. Soon we cooled him down by giving him ritual baths and showers, indirectly cooling ourselves as he is in us too, residing within our hearts. This was Kriyai. In Yogam the vigorous breathing techniques helped tap into the cosmos and brought within us a large volume of prana. As a result of the continuous practice of Kriyai and Yogam, it aggravates the internal heat leading to the rise of Tava Kanal or the fire of austerities. With the practice of just watching the breath without control or pranayama, as done earlier, the prana from the consciousness is made available by just bringing the awareness to the breath. The cosmic energy or prana begins to run through all the nerve channels and revitalizes the chakras, cooling the whole constitution. The heat from the tapas is cooled by the prana that flows within. Finally sitting in silence seeking Gnanam, the ambrosia that wells up in us drenches us to the very core bringing about bliss beyond description, and cooling us yet again.
It has been a beautiful journey of understanding together with the practices. As we actively engaged in individual home puja, then group puja, and later temple puja, Seva, or service and feeding the hungry was thrown in to bring balance to our lives. We were told then that this was the greatest deed. Walking hand in hand with Sariyai and Kriyai, we were brought to Yogam at the most appropriate time imbibing the teachings of our gurus and the Siddhas. Following their teachings soon we introduced the path or the way of the Siddhas to others too. We were then told the greatest deed was to spread the teachings of the guru. From external puja to an idol, that came from the earth element; followed by puja to the sacred Homam and its element of fire; that in turn led to puja to the Purnakumbam or the element of water; finally we were brought to the worship within, to internal puja that of observing and worshipping the breath. Ether that is visible and reflected when space is lighted is worshipped eventually as Light.
Bringing us to his path Agathiyar introduced the act of doing Dharma and service to others. He brought us to include rituals in our home puja including libation or abhisegam. With the coming of our gurus in physical form, we were introduced to chanting the name of the guru and mantra japa following in the footsteps of Supramania Swami and recitation of the names of the Siddhas following in the footsteps of Tavayogi. We began conducting the ritual of lighting the sacred fire or homa as instructed by Tavayogi. Hence began the next state Kriyai. In Kriyai we saw ourselves introduced to the worship of the second primary element that is fire as in lighting the Yagna and Homam.
Soon Tavayogi who instructed me to purchase a Homa Kundam or copper vessel to light the fire pit and start doing the Homam on my own, came again to instruct me to purchase a copper vessel or kumbam to place water in and showed me the worship of the divine in the Purnakumbam, leading us a step higher to worshipping the element of water.
Although Tavayogi had given us a treasure-house in the form of asanas and pranayama techniques way back in 2008, and its teecha mantra even earlier in 2005, it was only recently that Agathiyar had asked us to start doing it again after bringing a halt to it for many years to enable my back to heal from the sudden expanse of energies as a result of doing the practices. As Tavayogi told me back then that the breath was indeed God, Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal have asked us to observe, watch, and become aware of our breath. Through Yogam we were slowly introduced to the worship of the breath (air) as in the pranayama practices. Agathiyar has asked that we begin kumbakam or holding the breath with the count equal to the first teecha mantra we received from the guru. All our practices were customized by the guru to suit our temperament and condition as students rather than have us pick it up from books and others and bring untold miseries and danger upon us.
If worship to the idol and picture brought us to worship the guru and the divine with a form, Mantra japa brought us to worship the guru and divine as sacred sound and its related vibrations. The worship of the Yantra was in turn worship of the divine in abstract form. Soon Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal came to asked us to kindle the light both in the external lamp and within us as the internal flame. We moved to worship of the formless. Thence worship of the divine as the light was introduced. Tavayogi explains to me that the light they referred to was not the physical flame itself but the ambiance and brightness that engulfs the room or space as a result of lighting the lamp, making the space visible to us, as opposed to an otherwise pitch darkness. We were brought to worship the element ether or space outside us, that is invisible but yet envelops us all around. Traveling within, on the other hand, we shall venture the path of Gnanam through the practice of concentration and watching both the breath and the sacred space within the cranium, the ether. In Gnanam we merge in ether or space in the worship of the self or Atma, where we shall come face to face with our soul, or Jeevatma, our true self, and realize its existence since time immemorial and how it and we are in fact a part of the bigger Paramatma.
In all these modes of worship, we see a pattern form that of cooling the divine or குளிரவை. Agathiyar used to come through the Nadi and reveal his pleasure in seeing us conduct home puja where he says we cooled him through singing his praises. He also mentions that the souls whom we fed too had been cooled down when the fire of hunger was extinguished. This was Sariyai. Soon we cooled him down by giving him ritual baths and showers, indirectly cooling ourselves as he is in us too, residing within our hearts. This was Kriyai. In Yogam the vigorous breathing techniques helped tap into the cosmos and brought within us a large volume of prana. As a result of the continuous practice of Kriyai and Yogam, it aggravates the internal heat leading to the rise of Tava Kanal or the fire of austerities. With the practice of just watching the breath without control or pranayama, as done earlier, the prana from the consciousness is made available by just bringing the awareness to the breath. The cosmic energy or prana begins to run through all the nerve channels and revitalizes the chakras, cooling the whole constitution. The heat from the tapas is cooled by the prana that flows within. Finally sitting in silence seeking Gnanam, the ambrosia that wells up in us drenches us to the very core bringing about bliss beyond description, and cooling us yet again.
It has been a beautiful journey of understanding together with the practices. As we actively engaged in individual home puja, then group puja, and later temple puja, Seva, or service and feeding the hungry was thrown in to bring balance to our lives. We were told then that this was the greatest deed. Walking hand in hand with Sariyai and Kriyai, we were brought to Yogam at the most appropriate time imbibing the teachings of our gurus and the Siddhas. Following their teachings soon we introduced the path or the way of the Siddhas to others too. We were then told the greatest deed was to spread the teachings of the guru. From external puja to an idol, that came from the earth element; followed by puja to the sacred Homam and its element of fire; that in turn led to puja to the Purnakumbam or the element of water; finally we were brought to the worship within, to internal puja that of observing and worshipping the breath. Ether that is visible and reflected when space is lighted is worshipped eventually as Light.
Prophecies and predictions don't hold water unless prayers and effort are placed towards it. Similarly effort is required to attain any state for the matter. In all these we saw the results of our efforts. We were not schooled about the Siddhas and their ways but instead we were led to walk the path with them, doing what comes to them naturally. After placing our efforts towards achieving the goals set by the Siddhas, we wait with patience for their grace. A piece of clay can evolve into a beautiful piece of artwork, statue, or pottery in our hands. Similarly the divine takes us and molds us into his likeness. Coming to live in this world we become a part of prapanjam. When we go within prapanjam soon comes within us. Faith, belief, effort, grace are milestones along the way, that culminates in attaining the goal - the bliss that comes in silence or சும்மா இருக்கும் சுகம்.