We are here to shed all that we have carried with us in numerous births. Not realizing this we keep gathering, collecting, and hoarding more. The pandemic in a way thought us to shed our daily habits and practices. If I had thought that I had wasted precious time doing nothing, Mahin made me realize this. When Lord Murugan told Arunagiri to do nothing (Summa Eru), I guess that was what we were to do too.
I guess we had balanced the scale. Having started the Siddha worship in 2002, we had put some 17 years into it. He stopped it. Having taken up the noble act of doing charity in 2013, after 6 years he asked us to stop that too. If we were to continue our acts it would have tipped the scale and gained more merits for us that would have to be honored in subsequent births. As the idea here is to end the cycle of birth all good things too has to come to an end. All the puja and charity had cleansed our past karma to a certain extent too I guess. When the fields had been removed of weeds, the guru came in to sow the seeds and nurture them. We have grown into seedlings looking up to the sun for survival. Agathiyar shines like the morning sun.
In lighting the sacrificial fire, we think that we are to appease the Gods with our offerings just as we place offerings before him at the temples. This most of the time is an inducement to get the Gods to grant our wishes and fulfill our desires. What we should do is burn all our negativities and impurities, weaknesses and faults, karma and wrongdoings in the fire pit. That's why it's called a sacrificial fire.
We have lost that genuineness and sincerity in all our actions. Behind all our actions is a selfish motive. Agathiyar told me that the homam I was asked to do was for the good of all creation. Tavayogi started doing the annual Sarva Dosa Nivarana Maha Yagam which was an offshoot of his earlier intention to appease Mother Nature after she belted the coastal areas in several nations causing tsunamis in 2004. All good deeds done toward the well-being of others are not accounted as karma and it does not add to our ledger. On the contrary, anything done with vested interest does add to the account.
Man has erred for ages. But that is the way to learn too through making mistakes. After revealing my past karma and sending me on my maiden pilgrimage to India to carry out the remedies, Agathiyar waited a couple of years before coming to me in the Nadi again. He told me to forgive myself for my past misdeeds. It was all his doing too he added. I needed those experiences too he said. That is the compassionate father, willing to forgive us.
In Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi", 1990, Yukteswar advises a new student who occasionally expressed doubts regarding his own worthiness to engage in yoga practice. "Forget the past", Sri Yukteswar would console him. "The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in the future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now." That is the compassion of a guru, ever willing to forgive us.
We are lost. We start our search with a very vague vision of what we want in life. We know that we have come for a purpose but that is veiled and shrouded from us once the "I" in us springs up. The Nadi can help us know our purpose. The guru can reveal our purpose. A near-death experience can reveal our purpose. Or going into the depths of meditation we can come to know our purpose. Agathiyar in giving us the 5 tenets states knowing thy purpose is the foremost accomplishment of mankind.
Lama Surya Das in his "Awakening the Buddha Within", Bantam Books, 1997, stands before his guru Lama Yeshe not sure why he was there.
"The first time we met I remember that he asked me what I was looking for and I had to honestly admit that I didn‘t exactly know. He said, "Let's see if we can't find out together." Together was a magical word!" The guru aids us in finding out our purpose here. That's all he does. Tavayogi too pointed out what I was to do and stood aside, never keeping tabs on me, never pressuring me, never breathing down my neck, and never gave discourses. We were free to explore the path. No doctrines, dos, and dont's, no conforming to rules and regulations, etc.
All the saints came with a purpose. Shiva reveals to Sankara his purpose.
"Vyasa edited the Vedas... you who have a real understanding of the purport of the Vedas, should write a new commentary on the brahmasutras... then appoint competent disciples as guardians of the Vedic path in different parts of the country. Having accomplished all this you return to my state with the satisfaction of having fulfilled your mission." (Source: "Sankara Dig Vijaya - The traditional life of Sri Sankaracharya" by Madhava Vidyaranya, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 2005.
Babaji informs Shama Churn (Lahiri Mahasaya) of his purpose when he wanted to leave everything and follow Babaji. Babaji tells him that "he would have to remain in the family ambit as a complete householder and practice austere Sadhana."
"Since ages vexed householders have prayed to their respective deities, thus "O God, show us such a path that will enable us to practice Sadhana by remaining within the family. Barring family life, we cannot practice Sadhana." Bhagawan sends such a guide who being a family man himself, can show the true path to householders. Shama Churn descended on the earth with a noble vow. He had pledged to householders that he would show them a marvelous, skillful facile path of yoga. Now providence pulled Shama Churn towards the path he was destined to take." (Source: Satya Charan Lahiree in "Purana Purusha Yogiraj Sri Shama Churn Lahiree)
On the local front, Raman Nambiar who later came to be known as Gnana Pitha Shivananda came to Malaya in 1937 and set up the Siddha Vidhya Sangam in Setapak in Kuala Lumpur. He started the Sidha ashram on a 7 ½ acres of land in Tasik near Kroh in Perak which devotees donated. Then he left for India. His devotees started the Swami Shivananda Paramahansa Dhynana Mandram in Bagan Serai, Perak. Prior to his arrival in Malaya, Siddha Bhogar appeared in front of him and gave him initiation. He left on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas on 5 January 1910. He returned from the Himalayas in 1913 as Swami Shivananda Paramahansa. In 1914, he went on a pilgrimage throughout India. He was in Pavanagar, Peshawar, Tirusoor, Savakadu, and Kadathanadu before establishing Samapanthi Bhojana Sangam in 1921. This was later renamed Sidha Samajam. (Source of information: "Siddhaveda Sinthanaigal" by Pa. Subaiyah, published by Shivananda Paramahansa Dhyana Mandram, Malaysia.)
Tavayogi's guru met Swami Jeganathar in Malaya in 1930 and Jeganathar took him as his disciple and gave him a new name - Chitramuthu. Jeganathar helped Chitramuthu realize his true self, his full potential, and his mission in life. He returned to India and left for Malaya again in 1940. This time he came to spread his teachings. He wore kaavi robes and took on the role of a spiritual teacher. He left for India in 1947, leaving behind a large following who had regarded him as their Guru. He was back in Malaya in 1951. He preached at the Sree Thandayuthabani temple in Penang, the Aruloli Murugan temple in Penang hill, the Maha Mariamman temple in Ipoh, the Court Hill Pillaiyaar temple in Pudu, the Scott Road Kandaswami temple in Brickfields, the Athi Eswaran temple in Sentul, the Sree Maha Mariamman temple in Jalan Bandar, the Shivan temple in Jalan Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur and the Mariamman temple in Singapore. (Source of information: from Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal, the Thirupur Thaaiveedu Ainthavathu Andu Niraivu Vizha Malar, 1994, and http://thaaiveedu.blogspot.com.)
Chitramuthu Adigal's guru and Tavayogi's Paramaguru Sri Jeganatha Swamigal did not start a movement as did his students. He kept to himself in his hut that "Hinduism Today," describes as "a small, rude hut far from civilization, in the emerald jungles of Tapah, Malaysia; his spiritual home the infinite realms of Siva consciousness."
At the age of eighteen, he left India for Chittagong in Burma. Later at thirty, he tracked down to Malaya through Thailand, finally crossing into Malaysia (then Malaya) in his late 60s. He lived in Alor Star (now Alor Setar) and the island paradise Langkawi in North Malaya. He was in Baling for eight years. Moving further south to Tanjong Malim, he worked as a brakeman in the Malayan Railways for four years before heading for Singapore. Arrested and jailed in Taiping by the Burmese security forces loyal to the British in Malaya who mistook him to be a spy, he was released the following day without any interrogation. He stopped over at Seremban on his way back from Singapore. He then moved northwest to Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan), a small town located at an estuary, where he undertook charity and fed the poor. Finally, he settled in Tapah where he built a hut for himself near a Chinese graveyard and continued his sadhana and tapas, or austerity here. Jeganatha Swamigal purchased three acres of rubber land in the vicinity and allowed the locals to build their homes on his land. He kept to himself except for the moments when the locals come over to look into his needs. He went into samadhi in 1959. Tavayogi introduced us to this place revealing the above story of Sri Jeganatha Swamigal's travels to Malaya. Since then this place has become popular. Today a newly renovated samadhi temple welcomes his devotees.