It is not my intention to intentionally cause fear in aspirants wanting to learn yoga asanas and pranayama by writing the last post. It is just a humble reminder to tread the path of yoga with caution and discipline in all matters. Similarly, the gurus or masters must be responsible for their student's progress and not desert them when the energies awaken. Yoga is not all about moving into asanas; neither is it all about holding the breathing or gaining control over it. There is more to yoga than what meets the eyes as is told at https://yogaalloy.com/there-is-more-to-yoga-than-what-meets-the-eye/. Zeynep has written that, "The yoga tradition teaches us how to move our bodies so that we can get closer and closer to the state of mind where we can touch the soul."
What benefits did I gain from practicing yoga? Initially, I felt it has merely a form of exercise, learning from the books. When Agathiyar came in the Kaanda Nadi and guided me with certain techniques, followed by Patanjali and other Siddhas, I had no way of verifying if what I did was right since the Nadi was always a monologue. But I pursued all that I was told to do right until the choice of food to take. The Jeeva Nadi was different in the sense that the Siddhas, reading our thoughts and mind, would immediately respond in real-time and answer us. We knew the right or wrong immediately. By sending Tavayogi over, we learned to put into practice numerous new asanas and breathing techniques. With discipline and consistency in my practice, waking up before dawn, and putting into practice what I had learned from Tavayogi, and again doing the same in the evenings, I saw the results. I sensed a larger volume of airflow come into me through the nostrils; and with it came more prana and energy. With consistent practice, the prana in me grew to a degree where I felt the body expand and bloat as if one the verge of bursting. The prana traveled throughout the body and limbs at times creating a sensation of numbness or heaviness, and ticklish at other times. It was like a surge of current traversing through the nadis and nerves in the body. Soon it would subside on its own. I did not know of this energy surges taking place in the lower chakras during this period until I pulled a nerve and hurt myself as I had explained in the earlier post. After consulting Agathiyar in the Prasanna Kaandam on 26 November 2011, only did he reveal my current state then. He advised me accordingly and allayed my fear and disbursed the pain eventually through a miracle. But I had to bear the pain some 2 1/2 years before that miracle took place. I began to see the physiotherapist beginning on 29 November 2011. Usually, she would give me the Single Infrared Heat Lamp Therapy and minute electrical charges on my back that brought much relief. I was with my physiotherapist again as usual on the afternoon of 15 February 2012. She surprised me by asking me if I was doing the five stretching poses that she had taught me and what I was supposed to do at home. I told her that I still did it. She wanted to see me do it. As I moved into the first posture, I suddenly felt something give way in the arch of my lower back. I let out a cry of relief. I was relieved of the pain and discomfort that I had endured for years instantaneously. She walked away coolly to write her report without further ado. What had taken place then?
With puja to the Siddhas and practice of yoga, my heart began to mellow and I began to weep and sob and go into sudden outbursts of laughter numerous times for no reason. It was not that I wanted to cry but it happened spontaneously. The cry came from within without my control or by me initiating it. I cried my heart out, especially during temple visits and while conducting prayers and bhajans. I used to automatically perform certain gestures too. Surprisingly these involuntary movements never attracted the attention of the public. It was as if the moment was veiled from others just as the doctors and nurses draw the curtain close when they attend to their patients.
With puja to the Siddhas and practice of yoga, my heart began to mellow and I began to weep and sob and go into sudden outbursts of laughter numerous times for no reason. It was not that I wanted to cry but it happened spontaneously. The cry came from within without my control or by me initiating it. I cried my heart out, especially during temple visits and while conducting prayers and bhajans. I used to automatically perform certain gestures too. Surprisingly these involuntary movements never attracted the attention of the public. It was as if the moment was veiled from others just as the doctors and nurses draw the curtain close when they attend to their patients.
- While at the Tiruvanaikaval temple in Trichy, the priest from Utamar temple who volunteered to accompany me there, brought me to Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi. I broke down and cried and cried and cried uncontrollably.
- When I was at the Ekambareswarar Temple in Kanchipuram, I was mysteriously invited into Lord Nadarajah's chamber where I shed tears of joy that came on automatically seeing the majesty and beauty of Lord Nataraja.
- Then when I was in the presence of Supramania Swami in his village home and as he revealed about me without charting my horoscope, though he was an astrologer, I sobbed silently for the whole duration of our sitting, 5 solid hours, till dusk. It was tears of joy and gratefulness to the divine in seeing me through all the years and all the blessings he showered on me till that moment.
- This was true too during each Nadi reading I had. I would shed tears of gratitude to Agathiyar and the Siddhas for seeing me and having a word with me. I would shed tears profusely for their grace and compassion on a sinner such as me.
- Two years later, as I bid farewell to Tavayogi, having verified that a leaflet given to me in 2002 by the Nadi Guru Senthilkumar after my Nadi reading carried his name and intent on building a temple cum ashram for Agathiyar in Kallar was indeed his, I fell at Tavayogi's feet. He moved back and told me never to do that, but instead fall at the feet of Agathiyar, pointing me to a pair of wooden sandals or padhugai, a representation of the feet of the guru to be worshiped and adored in Indian tradition. Until then I did not see it. Neither did I notice what was around the room in which we sat and spoke. The moment I touched the wooden sandal, I broke into tears and began crying aloud.
- Later in 2010, when I was with Tavayogi at an affiliate Peedham of his in Seri Gombak, as I stood in line with the other devotees to get his blessings, and just as I got down on my knees in front of him, there was a sudden burst of laughter and joy that overcame me. Simultaneously he went into a state of laughter and cry too. I did not understand neither his action nor mine. Surprisingly nobody took notice of what was happening but instead went about mingling with others. Later as I drove him to Bukit Rotan to visit a new temple that was under construction, I asked him what had taken place that day. He immediately hushed me looking back to the guide who was drowsing away in the back seat. I never got the answer.
- As I stood with my family at the Sri Jeganathar Sivalayam in Tapah, I was overcome by emotion and cried. Again surprisingly none of the disciples of the Swamiji who was residing in the temple with his entourage took notice of what was taking place.
- When I was with my family at the Sivasubramaniam Alayam, Kampung Kepayang that is housed in a cave, I was again overcome by emotion and cried.
- When my family and I had prayed at the Nattukkottai Chettiar Temple, Penang, and stepped out, a man pointed us to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple, atop the hill where its temple tower was visible from where we stood. I went into a state of joy on seeing it crying out.
- When the AVM family went on a tour of spiritual places in Malaysia, I found myself crying in joy at Lord Murugan's sannadhi at the Sivasubramaniam Alayam, Kampung Kepayang again.
- Revisiting Tiruvanaikaval again, this time with my family and Jnana Jhotiamma in 2013, again I was overcome by an emotional outbreak of cry and joy. I lay on the floor of the temple twitching the body involuntarily, not in pain but in joy. It was as if all the nerves were tugged and pulled at, stretched, and pulled from top to toe quite alike the tensioning of steel bars in the beams. But it was never hurtful but rather pleasant.
- In 2016 as the AVM family made its way to join the festivities for Agathiyar's Guru Puja at Kallar, we stopped over at the Mayuranathar temple in Mayiladuturai. As we sat in the presence of Lord Dhakshanamurthy, Lord Ganesha, and Kuthambai Siddhar, I was overcome by a profuse energy that went through me and left me crying in joy. It refused to settle for a long time.
- I was overcome by emotion sitting at the Sundarananthar Vallabha Siddhar sannadhi at the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple, Madurai, while the rest of the AVM family recited the names of the Siddhas.
- The pinnacle of these show of energies was when my family and I were led by the temple priest of the Sri Siva Shanmugar Temple in Sungai Siput, into the deeper recesses of the cave, and shown the spot my Paramaguru and the guru of Tavayogi, Chitramuthu Adigal had meditated. I went into a spin and was thrown off balance and landed on my back in a depression amidst the boulders. I was literally thrown off my feet but came out unscathed and laughing.
Amidst all these unexplainable happenings, the pain in my lower back appeared again in 2016, and in 2018. In 2016 when Tavayogi was in town, he gave me a herbal preparation to relieve the pain, while Dhavantri relieved my pain by applying his prasatham, the sacred ash, that was brought our by a devotee from Lord Dhanvantri's temple precisely at the same moment. When the pain recurred in 2018 Lord Muruga came through the Jeeva Nadi reading and through a devotee simultaneously, in real-time to heal my back. He explained the healing process in the Nadi as he treated by back by stroking it with a bunch of peacock feathers and giving me water energized with the Arutperunjhoti Maha Mantra. The excruciating pain went away after a few days. Agathiyar too came to reveal in his Nadi from time to time. Going through the books I sort of got an idea of what was going on. Soon Agathiyar asks me to continue some of the yoga practice of Tavayogi again, telling me that I shall know which to do. Ramalinga Adigal too came to teach us further.