The beauty in Hindusim is that it accepts that everything can exist simultaneously. The devotee in the video interview we saw in the last post, says it beautifully that "When I got to India and began to learn about Hinduism, the paradox does not exist .. both stories can exist simultaneously. A relief for my questions because I hit the Dharma. The Dharma answered my questions". The believer and nonbeliever, the gnostic and agnostic, the many sects and religions, and the equally many faiths and beliefs all can co-exist. Each has a role in the divine's play.
My brother-in-law was a Buddhist in his last birth. In this birth, he is a Hindu. He was approached to build or rebuild/renovate temples in places where he had served with the public works department. Finally taking Sri Raghavendra as his guru, he builds a wonderful Mrithiga Brindavanam for him and heads it as its patron founder. I believe we shall experience and go through each faith over the numerous births we take. We shall experience the truths in each, and finally reach the understanding knowing that the experiences and learning, the knowledge and wisdom can be many, but the vibration and energy that is manifested in all are one. We come across this vibration and energy as in energy vortexes, only in places of worship where its intensity is felt immensely. This is the abode of Siva. From here the vibrations ripple out. Man who learns to take notice and becomes aware of it can tap into its source. These energy knots and nodes are available in sound, whirlpools, knots, and chakras too. Going beyond, or rather in going within, he loses touch with the physical world and his physical body, and instead he touches the subtle Atma as he reaches the subtle plane. Going within the Atma engages in releasing the knots, clearing the blockages, renewing its energy, revitalizing it, and electrifying it. The physical body gains a new momentum to do the divine's work. It is rejuvenated. Even as these vibrations and energies are everywhere it is only in these places that a common man can realize it and experience it. He realizes that the vibrations and energies are one but of different amplitudes and frequencies. On the other hand, a Guru and Gnani who is ever connected to the Prapanjam can reach out and fetch immediately these energies and pass them on to devotees through his touch as in blessings, through his look or a mere word. We have witnessed how Yogi Ramsuratkumar passed on the energy to writer Balakumaran just by stroking his back in an earlier post.
My very first encounter with these vibrations and energies was on day 2 of my maiden pilgrimage to India to carry out my remedies or parikaram given in my first Nadi reading some 8 months earlier. It happened at the Lord Nadaraja sannadhi or chambers at Egambareswarar Temple in Kanchipuram. Deva, my chauffeur, and Mahendran, my travel agent in India, dropped me at the Egambareswarar Temple. Deva did not accompany me into the temple on my second day in India, telling me that I did look like one of the locals and had merged in completely with them. This was another of the Pancha Stalam that I was directed to visit by Agathiyar in my Nadi. As the main sanctum was packed with people participating in a ‘private family puja’ and as the atmosphere was extremely noisy, I decided to pray elsewhere. As I came around the temple complex, I came across a huge chamber on my left. When I say it is huge believe me it was really huge and within its walls was an equally huge statue of Lord Nadarajah. As I stopped at the entrance to the chamber to have a look, suddenly a young priest rose from his seat and quickly ushered me into the chamber. I did not see him until he moved to get up and lead me inside. He walked briskly ahead of me. As I stepped inside this magnificent chamber, I felt I had stepped into another world and another plane; into another space and time. An entirely different atmosphere prevailed within the walls. Something I had never felt before overcame me. I could feel a strong vibration come over me. Was I being shown a small sample of the bliss that is often mentioned by the Yogis and Gurus I wondered later? The young priest started chanting as he showed the sacred flame or arati. Lord Nadaraja looked down on me not in a menacing way as one would have thought given the massive height of his that dwarf both the priests and me, but with so much compassion and love. I stood in front of him at close proximity, amazed, astonished, and emotionally shaken up, with tears pouring down my cheeks. I could not contain the bliss any further. I broke into a loud cry. I stood there shedding tears of joy. I had my Lord all to myself at that moment. Everything else stood still! It was some time before I came out of it. The priests who stood afar and only observed approached me with the prasad once I became composed. I thanked him and tucked some rupees into his hand and made my way out of that electrifying chamber of Lord Nadaraja. Further down the corridor, to my surprise, I was invited by an elderly couple to sit and watch with them a private prayer or puja and the bathing ritual or Abhisegam to Goddess Kaali. I stayed long enough to witness the evening Abhisegam performed on Lord Egambareswarar too. All these took place in a short time of an hour from 6 pm to 7 pm.
My next experience with these vibrations was on day 5 at Tiruvanaikaval, Trichy. The priest from Utamar Temple, who surprised us, in volunteering to bring me and Deva to Tiruvanaikaval, advised me on what to purchase on arrival on the grounds of the temple. It was 12 noon. The temple was already closed. I understood then why he had suggested and rushed us to Tiruvanaikaval first to carry out the parikaram and return to Utamar temple later in the evening. To my surprise, he used his contacts at the temple to open doors that were closed. With his "magic touch" or rather his good rapport, he had the doors to Lord Vinayagar’s sannadhi opened for us, calling over the temple caretaker to open it up. He had a priest conduct and show the arati. We then moved on to Lord Murugan's sannadhi and the same took place. Then at the main sanctum, he called out "Mama, Come. You should do the prayers!" to an elderly priest who was seated in the dark with the other priests. Did I say dark? But it was 12 noon then. This is how our temples were in the past. The only moment we ever get to see the deity is the few seconds when the arati or camphor flame or oil lamp is hovered before the deity. These days when Agathiyar comes he ask us to shut out the light and kindle the flame in the oil lamp at our altar.
The old priest surprisingly led all of us into the inner chamber through a side door. I had the privilege to be shown the Shivalingam which I came to know was partially submerged in water. The elderly priest bent down in the darkness and told me to listen to the sound of water when he moved it with his hands. When he stood before me again with the prasad I thought I saw my "father" in him. I fell at his feet. As I picked myself up, I realized the priest from Utamar Temple, the temple caretaker, and Deva too had fallen at the priest’s feet following my gesture and were picking themselves up too. The priest from Utamar Temple insisted the elderly priest should conduct the prayers at the Lord Dhaksanamurthi sannadhi too. We all made our way to the sannadhi. After the elderly priest left, I broke down at Lord Dhakshanamurthi’s sannadhi. I lay on the floor crying for no reason. I suppose I must have cried aloud and long for the caretaker of the temple tried to console me. I heard the priest from Utamar Temple say, “Let Him Be, Let Him Cry.” After a while, I picked myself up and we adjourned to feed the poor, a cow, and an elephant on the advice of the priest from Utamar Temple. I was literally pushed or shoved from one shrine to another, by this wonderful group of people, who came to assist me. The elderly priest, the priest from Utamar Temple, the temple caretaker, and Deva, made my day in performing each prayer to the utmost satisfaction. The priest whom we picked up at Utamar Temple to assist me with my parikaram initially at Utamar temple had gone all his way to help us out at Tiruvanaikaval temple too. As we were on our way to send him back to Utamar temple, he insisted that we drop him off at a location he pointed to, telling us that he had errands to run. I handed him the first of three offerings or Andhanarku Dhanam as part of my parikaram. As we drove off I chanced to look back to realize that we had dropped him off at a Hanuman temple! Why did he get down at the Hanuman temple? Who did come in the guise of the priest and showed me around? Was it Hanuman? It would not be a surprise as the agility, speed, and velocity he demonstrated, practically shoving me from one shrine to another, could only mean that it was Vaayu's son who came for us. It did not surprise me either that I did not see him again at Utamar Temple that evening when I was there performing the atonement there!
If these temples brought me to connect with the vibration it was in Palani that the vibration literally, uplifted me. It was day 7. We reached Palani at 8.50 am. After a brief drive around the hill, Deva dropped me off at the entrance to the Tiru Avinankudi Temple. After a brief moment at Tiru Avinankudi temple, as there was a wedding in progress, I purchased some items to bring over to Lord Murugan. I then started for the hill temple. Laying my feet on the first step, I just could not move my legs. They were extremely heavy as if they had turned to stone or rooted to the ground. I had to force myself using both my hands as if prying and tearing my feet apart from the ground. It was akin to uprooting a tree. My heart was pumping hard. I was gasping for air. I pushed myself determined to scale the hill. I did the same struggling to pry myself and take another step till the top. I had to break the climb, stopping every few minutes to take a breather. But the irony is nobody stopped to enquire if I was alright? Was I hidden from their view? Eventually, I reached the top of the hill. On reaching the top, I became dizzy. I was drenched in sweat. My throat was parched and dry. I had to sit somewhere! I made my way to the shops that I spotted in the distance. I just dropped myself and my belongings, leaning against the wall of one of the shops. As I sat there, I was sweating profusely. I was on the verge of fainting. During this time I remained in this position I only saw brightness engulfed all around me. I could make out silhouettes of people walking by. I heard the muffled sound of their talk. Regaining my senses after some time, I stood up. I made my way to queue up in line for the darshan of Lord Murugan. Once inside I do not remember seeing Lord Murugan. All I remember was a priest walking up to me and practically snatching the goody bag I brought for Lord Murugan asking if they were for his abhisegam. I cannot recount what took place next. Next I knew, he was back and shoved the same bag into my hands. He told me that there was the sandalwood paste from Lord Murugan's abhisegam. I turned to follow the crowd ahead of me out of Lord Murugan's chamber. Hardly had I taken a few steps I then chanced upon a room on the right. On peering within I saw four priests. I enquired if it was Bhogar’s Samadhi and they nodded. I entered and stood in prayer while one of the priests showed the flame or arati. One of the four priests, a young man, reached for a tumbler on top of a closet in the room and handed it to me saying it was Abhisegam milk. I drank the milk. As I realized I was the only one then in this chamber then, I took the opportunity to sit for a while next to the exit door with their permission. Upon opening my eyes, the priest who gave me the milk held out some prasad. I received it and took leave thanking him with a nod of the head. As I came out of Bhogar’s chamber I was in a daze. I was drifting as I came around and around the temple. I did not sense my feet touching the ground. I drifted as if a boat or yacht would drift downwind. My heart was full to its brim with bliss. As I finally became aware I left the premises and found my way to the car at the foothill. It was 11 am.
I had no problem climbing the 272 steps at Batu Caves. Neither did I have a problem climbing the numerous steps in the Gua Tempurung Caves back home prior to this trip. So why couldn't I climb Palani Hill? As I left Bhogar's chamber, I asked myself where did the long queue of people in front of me and those behind me go? Not comprehending what had just happened back there and then on 7 September 2003, Agathiyar reveals what took place at Palani in the Nadi reading two years later on 19 August 2005!
These brief moments of connecting with the vibrations and energies continued even after I returned to Malaysia as Agathiyar told me in the Nadi that I shall not be spared even on my home ground. Two years later in 2005, as I bid farewell to Tavayogi, after meeting him for the first time in Malaysia, and as it was customary to fall at the feet of gurus, I did just that. He moved back and told me never to do that again. Instead, he pointed me to a pair of wooden sandals or Padhugai, telling me to fall only at Agathiyar's feet. Only when Tavayogi pointed me to Agathiyar's feet that I saw the sandals and the large painting of Agathiyar in the meditation room of his local affiliate Peedham in Batu Caves. Before that, I was so engrossed in the conversation with him that I had failed to notice my surroundings. It was just as I had no awareness of my surroundings in the presence of the Divine in all the temples I visited in India. The moment I touched the wooden sandal, I broke into tears and began crying aloud for reasons I could not comprehend. It was not that I wanted to cry but it happened suddenly and spontaneously. The cry came from within without my control or me initiating it. I cried my heart out. I guessed then that my soul got connected with Agathiyar recognizing him as my guru from the past. My guess was right. Agathiyar says the same of the Atma in his recent memo.
These vibrations were felt while doing pranayama too. Following the techniques that were shown by Tavayogi, in the years beginning from 2008, I could feel large volumes of prana enter into my lungs and into every part of my body. I guess every cell was revibrated by the massive flow of prana. So when I caught the flu after 6 years, I realized how the most common cold could derail our mission in life. Prana is life. If that prana is cut off by the mucus that accumulates in the nostril and its passages, and the chest, we suffocate. This is what Ramalinga Adigal says too, that the kapam or phlegm is what kills us at the last stage of our lives. Appreciate the free flow of prana that we had evidently enjoyed all these years without any effort on our part. Take time to notice it and pay attention to your breath. The difference between a Siddha and a common man is not in the many Siddhis or "magic" they perform but in the attention given to the breath. While man is so occupied noticing what goes on around him, the Siddha only is occupied in noticing his breath. He shuts everything else. That is Samadhi.
Tavayogi was a student of Chitramuthu Adigal. Chitramuthu Adigal in turn was a disciple of Jeganathar. Jeganathar was a disciple of Ramalinga Adigal. Ramalinga Adigal's guru was Agathiyar. Learning this, each time we went back to our hometown in Perak we would stop over at the Sri Jeganathar Sivalayam in Tapah. If it was not possible then we would drop by on the way back. As I stood with my family at his samadhi temple one day, I was suddenly overcome by emotion and cried for reasons I do not know. Surprisingly the disciples of a Swamiji who were residing at the temple then did not notice what was taking place right next to them. It is as if these moments are veiled from the sight of others. My family was always the sole witness. I felt the grace of my Paramaguru. The Atma brought us to engage with the lineage of gurus. I guess I touched the Atma and vice versa.
When I was with my family at the cave temple of the Siva Subramaniam Alayam, Kampung Kepayang, I was again overcome by emotion. The vibration shook my very core again.
When my family and I had prayed at the Nattukkottai Chettiar Temple, Penang, and stepped out, and as we asked for direction to go over to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Temple, atop the hill next from a man mending his flower shop, he pointed us to its tower that was visible from where we stood. I went into a state of bliss and laughter just looking in the direction he pointed. He told my family, "He is in bliss." I guess I felt the bliss of the Atma then.
Revisiting Tiruvanaikaval again, this time with my family, Jnana Jhotiamma of Chennai and Dr. Ram Subramaniam of Tirunelveli, in 2013, again I was overcome by an emotional outbreak of cry and joy at Lord Dhakshanamurthi’s sannadhi. As we assembled at his sannadhi, I hit the floor crying my heart out again. Jnana Jhotiamma was trying to pacify me. When I came around to get a hold of myself, a young priest came along and opened the grilled gate to the sannadhi and went about the puja. Jnana Jhotiamma prompted me to leave some money on his tray as he finished showing the Arati or camphor flame. As I walked up to him, he suddenly asked me "Did you see?" "பார்த்தாயா?" Immediately my glance went to Lord Dhakshanamurthi and back to the priest. I saw the priest take the posture of Lord Murugan in the form of Lord Dhandapani of Palani. I fell at his feet immediately and began to cry out. As I rose I realized the priest had stepped aside. I kept on asking if the others had seen him too as we left the sannadhi.
Then the highlight and pinnacle or grand finale of all these shows of vibration and energy happened in the inner caves of the Sri Siva Shanmugar Temple in Sungai Siput on 7 March 2016. When "the priest" who had volunteered to take us on a tour of the cave stopped at a spot and revealed to me and my family that that was the spot where our Paramaguru Chitramuthu Adigal had meditated for years, I suddenly went into a spin, lost my balance and fell on my back into a depression in the ground, just missing the boulders by inches. This was the only instance caught on video. I must have connected with the Atma again.
When Tavayogi and Mataji visited us in June of 2016, as we sat together conducting the Homam at AVM, Mataji had sensed a ground-shaking vibration under her seat. She asked me the next day when we gathered at the home of another devotee to conduct a Satsang if I had sensed the vibration. I did not. Calling aside Sri Krishna we asked if he had sensed it. She told me when she told Tavayogi he too had not sensed it. The following day Agathiyar came in Tavayogi's Jeeva Nadi reading for a devotee and revealed that the Siddhas had come down and sat among us during the puja. Only Mataji was given the privilege to sense their presence. Their presence was sensed by Mataji by way of an immense vibration from the ground.
Later the same year as the AVM family made its way to join the festivities for Agathiyar's Guru Puja in Kallar, we stopped over at numerous temples among them the Mayuranathar temple in Mayiladuturai. As we sat in the presence of Lord Dhakshanamurthi, Lord Ganesh, and Kuthambai Siddhar, I was overcome by a profuse flow of energy that went right through me and left me crying in joy. It refused to settle for a long time. The ground was shaking and so was I. Later at the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple, Madurai, I was overcome by the same vibration and energy sitting at the Sundarananthar Vallabha Siddhar Sannadhi as we recited the names of the Siddhas.
When the couple Mr. and Mrs. Sri Krishna who had devoted their lives to the service of Agathiyar and charity, asked Agathiyar his true form like Tavayogi, Agathiyar answered with another question. "What do you sense in all your spiritual and charitable undertakings?", he asked them. They replied an "Athirvu" or a vibration. "That I am" he replied.
In the beginning, when I made contact with the vibrations I could not make any sense of it. I could not comprehend what was happening and why it was happening. These brief moments at these holy spots never exhausted me or drained our energy. I always remained alert and on my feet. Even if I fell in salutation I would pick myself up without any assistance. The only time I needed help in rising up was when I fell into a depression in the ground of the cave temple at Sungai Siput. My wife had to give me a hand. There was no need for another to help revive me either. It was just that I was not myself then. But it was blissful. But the opposite happened when I was in public places. I felt drained off my energy level when in the midst of people and the crowd such as at supermarkets and malls. Hence I kept away from the crowd unless it was very absolutely necessary. I guess after some time I had built sufficient immunity against the onslaught of others' energies for it does not bother me much these days.
The Siddha's dream is for us to attain this state where we can connect and interact with the prana, these vibrations, and energies. This is only the start. Soon we begin to connect with the Prapanjam. The Prapanjam then takes care of all our needs. Just as in our everyday life when we intensify our efforts we see results, similarly in the race to achieve oneness with the Prapanjam we need to intensify the efforts too. And it all begins with worship at the temples followed by worship of the Siddhas. Then we need to practice yoga. Then the guru comes to initiate a chain of events that we never dreamt of. I had wished that in these brief moments I could pass on these vibrations and energies to others. And so we did by holding hands together. Those who were receptive to these energies experienced it. Ramalinga Adigal would wait eagerly for these moments of bliss to appear. Tavayogi told me we needed to prolong these moments. As for me even if it was to come to an end now I would die happy.