I was born in Taiping. The town has a history, making it into the history books. People who go to Taiping go for its Lake Gardens and the Zoo, adjacent to it, which is the oldest zoo in Malaysia that houses a large number of amphibians, mammals, and reptiles. The Lake Gardens was formerly a tin ore mining site. Today I came across an online article at https://www.therakyatpost.com/living/2021/10/11/from-gangstas-paradise-to-natures-sanctuary-taiping-lake-gardens-was-once-home-to-the-triads/ that has brought me to recap the town's history and relive my memories of living in this town, its name meaning peaceful.
The author reveals that,
"However, unknown to many, the Lake Garden was gifted to the Perak government by Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee, a migrant from China in the 19th century. Turbulence in China forced Keng Kwee’s father and elder brother to migrate to Malaya to seek greener pastures. But they did not write back home afterward. Keng Kwee’s mother, Madam Lai became worried and sent her son to look for the duo. And so, in 1841, Keng Kwee, then in his 20s, sailed the South China Sea to Malaya and landed in Penang. Penang island was called Prince of Wales’s Island until 1957. He eventually found his father and brother in Klian Pauh (renamed Taiping after the Larut Wars ended). They had prospered as businessmen. Keng Kwee did not return to China immediately but went to work as a tin miner in the district of Larut where Taiping is located. In an age of chaos where intrigue and double-dealing reigned supreme, he rose to prominence and became head of a secret society. Keng Quee was head of the Hai San, a very powerful and much-feared secret society locked in a series of fighting known as the Larut Wars with their bitter rival, the Ghee Hin. But the Chinese have a saying that one mountain cannot contain two tigers. Hai San contended for supremacy against a rival secret society, Ghee Hin. Their rivalry contributed to the Larut Wars that began in July 1861 and only ended in 1873. In the ensuing power struggle, Keng Kwee outwitted and outlived his rivals. Finally, Keng Kwee had secured power in Larut. Unknown to many, Hai San and Ghee Hin also signed a treaty with the British at the same time. The Chinese agreed to disarm and destroy their stockade. Keng Kwee, together with the leader of Ghee Hin, was appointed as Kapitan Cina."
"Keng Kwee might have lived by the sword, but he was a philanthropist who gave back to society, including building bridges and roads, building schools, and donating large sums of money for disaster relief. In Penang, Keng Kwee was the chief donor to the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Tanjung Tokong, Penang Chinese Town Hall, Kwangtung and Teochew Cemeteries, and the Kek Lok Si Temple. He also helped to build the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang. Today, two streets in Penang are named after him, Jalan Ah Quee and Lebuh Keng Kwee. His former residence in Penang is now the Pinang Peranakan Mansion."
Sadly reports say a fire broke out at the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang, early this morning, destroying 70% of the building involved. But a temple trustee came out with a statement later to FMT "We would like to tell everyone that the whole temple is practically intact. We’ve been flooded with calls asking if the whole temple site has been damaged. It has not. News reports claiming that 70% of the entire temple complex has been razed is not true.” That is a relief.
Taiping town holds so many memories. These days when I return to it I find the streets I grew up on have shrunk. Is it because I have grown in size? Similarly these days I see my home AVM has shrunk too. Is it because I have grown in other ways? Agathiyar told me the need to move house in 2018 was because it was small. I thought what he meant was that it could no longer accommodate the number of devotees he was planning to bring over. At its peak, this small humble double-storey terrace link house of mine could accommodate some sixty-plus devotees with many cramped insides, some sitting on the stairs and others watching through the windows. Maybe it had "shrunk" in size too and could no longer accommodate the Atmas who frequent AVM be it the seen and unseen. Is that the reason those who were gifted to have a darshan of them built enormous gigantic figurines of them later? The Siddhas are said to be six to seven feet tall. Tavayogi told us that Agathiyar was a six-footer contrary to the dwarf form he is given. K. Venkatraman writes in his "Yugangal Kadanthu Vazhum Unnatha Kalai", a Vijaya Pathipakam Publications, the extraordinary story of how he was rooted to the ground as he watched shadowy figures in the light of the full moon at the 18 Siddhas Peedham in the hills of Sathuragiri. They were amazingly each 7 1/2 feet tall and fitted the common description of Rishis, Munis, and Siddhars. An Australian of Chinese origin who was picked up by a devotee driving the Grabcar was brought over to AVM. She came out of my prayer room in tears telling us she saw Agathiyar standing ceiling height before her. The ceiling is at a height of 9 feet. Is there a reason the temple entrances are built tall and high too?
The tin mine in Sungai Besi, which was the largest and deepest open cast alluvial tin mine in the world and in Malaysia, was as deep as 100 meters. Some parts of the pit were so large that a lorry that was still plying the mine in 1991, looked the size of a matchbox to me. A large space might look terrifying for an onlooker like me but it was a means of livelihood for many in its heydays. I thought I stood out in the family group photo until my nephew stood beside me and made us all look like dwarfs. Height and space I guess are very relative. We won't know it until we place something next to it. So is good and bad and all other things.
We are told time and space are relative,
Before Einstein came along, scientists believed that space always stayed the same. Time moved at a rate that never changed. And gravity pulled massive objects toward each other. Apples fell from trees to the ground because of the Earth’s strong pull. All of those ideas came from the mind of Isaac Newton, who wrote about them in a famous 1687 book. Albert Einstein was born 192 years later. He grew up to show that Newton was wrong. Space and time were not unvarying, as Newton had described them. And Einstein had a better idea about gravity. So Einstein’s theory was a different way of describing gravity. But it was also a more accurate one. Newton’s idea worked when gravity is not especially strong on all scales, such as near the sun or maybe a black hole. Einstein’s descriptions, by contrast, would work even in these environments. (Source: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/einstein-taught-us-its-all-relative)
Readers who have been following this blog since its inception might realize discrepancies in its contents over time. When Osho was asked why he had said something different earlier, he replied that what he said earlier was true at that time and what he said now was true now. It could only mean that our perspective changes as we grow spiritually just as our perspective of the world around us changes as we grow from a child to an adult. A reader of this blog who followed every post of mine picked up some discrepancies and emailed me pointing this out as early as in 2015.
Hi sir. Thanks for a very enlightening post from none other than the great sage agasthiar. I really prayed to him to tell me about the working of karma and he replied through your post!I am thankful to both of you.
did agasthiar himself say that one is fated to read the nadi. if it is so then u r fated to change your fate. in short fate rules. this cant be right. and also in another writing on ur blog u mentioned that agasthiar told that 3 peoples karma was dissolved. and they would go to a temple as per fate. how is fate prevalent even after karma is dissolved? i m asking these questions with a sincere approach and humbly to know more about the siddhas. please reply dad.
In the initial years "I" was trying to understand the journey. Now he reveals it. So did he reveal about the Udal, Uyir, and Atma after I posted my understanding of it. It turned out that I had erred in my understanding. He corrected it immediately. Hence what I understood to be the truth then has been shattered by him over time by bringing me new understanding through experiences gained on this journey. Let me remind you that this is not a book of scripture or sacred text but a book of experiences of mine and those of my Gurus, other gurus, family, friends, and devotees on the path. It is a book of learning condense from life's experiences of all the people I have come across in my life too. Neither is this blog and its contents a treatise or textbook on Siddha worship. It's a discovery and an adventure on the path of the Siddhas. As we progress our earlier evaluation based on the experiences and lessons learned is bound to change with new input and new perspectives arising each moment.
As one climbs out of the well he gets to see the outside world better. Later walking down the road he can only see that much. When we board a plane we see more of the terrain if compare to traveling on the road. When seen from space we see the whole world. The world was depicted as flat until we came to know its true shape later. We know that the earlier notion was propaganda by an author who was paid to do so as revealed later.
When we can accept these different views of our world why is it so difficult for some to come to terms and acceptance. When Agathiyar revealed the knowledge about the Udal, Uyir, and Atma in his memo to us immediately, I immediately brought to mind all that had taken place and was told throughout the journey trying to find the answers to previous happenings and events based on a new perspective now given by Agathiyar, trying to understand anew the whole journey in a different light. Indeed by doing so I realize I have come to understand everything in a new light. Acceptance is the keyword here. When I read the Nadi for the very first time, I accepted it without inferring or any doubt or suspicion. When I came to Supramania Swami and Tavayogi I accepted every word they said. But I saw many even after asking Tavayogi for an explanation and listening to him explain they cannot bring themselves to accept lock, stock, and barrel as I did. They had to put forth another opinion or view that they had read or heard elsewhere. They referred to other saints or gurus versions and asked Tavayogi to give an opinion on it. When Agathiyar or Tavayogi has opinioned on a subject all other views and all else should be dropped. But they fought to retain what they had learned earlier unable to let in new ideas and thoughts and understanding come unto them Sadly they shall remain hence forever. On the contrary, we were so eager to learn that Agathiyar had given us an explanation and were elated but sadly some after having read his explanation preferred to enquire from other gurus or retained their stand on what has been embedded deeply in them from their earlier learnings and readings. But that is their right. It is not for us to convince others. As Osho in his "Book of Secrets" says that life has two banks to it, both opposites and contradicting each other and that, "They appear to be contradictory, but they are co-operative." Life as we know is "a rhythm between opposites: male and female, positive and negative, day and night, birth and death. Life cannot exist without this rhythm between the opposites." But he says "The appearance is false. For those who have come to surpass this duality, "Life contains all. Tantra is neither for this nor for that – Tantra is for all. Tantra has no standpoint of its own really. All standpoints that are possible are contained in it. It is big. It can contradict itself because it contains all. It is not partial, it is the whole. Hence it is holy." An enlightened man sees it as such.
To one who has dropped the veil, the opposites both seem cooperative, supportive of each other. Hence he is not disillusioned or disturbed. He does not complain, argues, or debate over it. Knowing that it is holy neither does he touch it, mend it nor manipulate it. To one who is enlightened, he does not play god. As Osho in narrating the story of a Sufi, “The Holy Shadow” says of the Sufi,
This is the ultimate: one has to become the holy shadow, just a shadow of God. This is the greatest revolution that can happen to a human being: the transfer of the center. You are no longer your own center; God becomes your center. You live like his shadow. You are not powerful, because you don’t have any center to be powerful. You are not virtuous; you don’t have any center to be virtuous. You are not even religious; you don’t have any center to be religious. You are simply not, a tremendous emptiness, with no barriers and blocks, so the divine can flow through you unhindered, uninterpreted, untouched — so the divine can flow through you as he is, not as you would like him to be. He does not pass through your center — there is none. The center is lost.
Initially showing us an external guru in physical form the Atma brings us to realize the guru in us. The guru brings us to realize that we are all gurus too. We have progressed this far because we have learned acceptance of new knowledge making us drop earlier concepts and understanding. That is how we build on our understanding, building the blocks. That is how a butterfly evolves too leaving its dark nest or cave that is the pupa and taking flight in a colorful world.
Man's mind is constantly at work seeking answers, exploring and discovering, prodding and researching. There is never an instant when it subsides. When, if at all the thought subsides, Agathiyar appears to him, or rather he sees Agathiyar behind the veil of thoughts. உன் எண்ணம் எப்போது அடங்குகிறதோ அப்போது நீ என்னை காண்பாய். When the search stops he surfaces. It is then his thoughts and he delivers what we need to know. It is then his perspective that is seemingly seen through our eyes. உன் மூலமாக நான் உலகை காண்பேன். He begins to walk among us and talk to us. When the false notion that we are in charge is dropped, the veil of illusion comes down with it too. When the "I" is dropped the Atma comes within in its place. The Atma then begins to take the wheel. All we need to do is enjoy the ride be it a smooth one or one that rides the rapids. But fear not since the Atma is in charge now and not us.