Agathiyar promised to show me miracles in my very first Nadi reading way back in 2002. These miracles were shown on my very first maiden pilgrimage the following year. What we initially thought were miracles, we came to know were in fact sacred moments of our beloved Lord ushering us into the temples and their abodes that are basically a portal to the other world.
Just as the late Hanumathdasan Aiya and his friends felt, after being disappointed with the noise and din outside the inner sanctum at Egambeshwarar temple in Kanchipuram, as I moved away and came around looking for a quiet place, a young priest ushered me into a portal! As the main sanctum was occupied with a family doing a special prayer, and the temple priests were engaged with them, I did not know how I was going to get an archanai done at the sanctum as directed by Agathiyar in the Nadi. As I came round along the corridors of the temple, I came across a huge chamber on my left. A young priest waiting in attendance immediately ushered me in leading the way. As I stepped into the chamber following him my gaze was fixed on the magnificent sight of the Lord. A huge statue of Lord Nadarajah majestically hovered above us. The Lord was towering over us in all his splendor. As I began taking a few more steps toward him I felt as though I had stepped into another time zone; another space. His space. My God, I had him all to myself, I told myself. I was not aware of either time or space. I was lost for a brief period of time. By the time I came to my senses, the priest was already waiting to show the arti or flame. I took in the sights and sounds as the young priest started chanting mantras and showing the arati. I stood before the Lord engrossed in his beauty. That is when I broke down in tears, crying my heart out. There was not a single exchange of words between the priest and me as I gave him a glance of thanks and gratitude and a token, and turned around and walked out of my Lord's home.
Raji was appointed by the travel agency in Chennai to chauffeur me around on my first trip to India. Mysteriously a switch happened moments before my arrival at Chennai airport. Raji who was supposed to pick me up came down will an illness suddenly. Deva turned up to pick me up instead. On arriving at the Utamar temple, Deva left me in the car as he went into the temple to see if there was a priest who could be of assistance in advising me on how to go about doing my parikaaram at this temple as the Nadi did not stipulate in detail as to what I was to do and offer here. All Agathiyar said was that I had to donate to three Brahmin priests at this temple. Then Deva appeared with a priest willing to help. The priest offered to bring me to the Thiruvanaikaval temple too where I had a parikaaram too. He suggested we head for Thiruvanaikaval temple first and fast before they close for the lunch break and come back to Utamar temple in the evening for the parikaaram. Once there he advised me on what I needed to purchase. What was magical was that he used his contacts at the temple to open doors of chambers that were closed! He called for the caretaker and had Lord Vinayagar’s and Lord Muruga's chamber opened for us. At the main Shiva sannadhi, he looked around and called out to an old Brahmin priest who was sitting among others, having his break. “Mama, you are the one to do the prayer,” he shouted out to him. I had the rare privilege to enter the main sanctum. Imagine, it was pitch dark within the chamber though the sun was at its zenith at noon. The old priest dipped his hands into the darkness and I heard the sound of water splashing. He told me that the specialty of this place was that the lingam was partially submerged in water. After the arati, I was moved to fall at the feet of the elderly priest for his blessings. As I picked myself up, I noticed the priest from Utamar temple, the temple caretaker, and Deva were all lying on the ground too in front of the priest. They had followed me. Next, the accompanying priest from Utamar temple insisted this elderly priest should conduct the prayers at the Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sanctum too. Here I broke down. I supposed I must have cried aloud and long here, for the caretaker of the temple began to console me. The priest from Utamar temple asked him to let me be by myself, “Let him be, let him cry.” They all waited for me to compose myself. I finally picked myself up and we all adjourned to buy food parcels from the temple management to feed the poor, the temple cow, and elephant on the advice of this priest from Utamar temple. What did take place at Thiruvanaikaval? I had asked then. I was literally teleported from one shrine to another, with the priest from Utamar temple leading me on, performing each prayer to my utmost satisfaction. On leaving the temple, the priest whom we picked up at Utamar temple insisted that I dropped him off midway. He did not want to be sent back to the Utamar temple where we had met and picked him up, telling us that he had other errands to run. We dropped him at the location where he wanted to get off. After asking him for his consent and handing over to him the first of the three tokens that I was to give as parikaram, we drove off. As I turned to look back at him, suddenly I realized that we had dropped him off at a Hanuman temple! An amazing turn of events.
After worshiping at the famed Sri Rangam temple, as I got into the back seat of the car and reached out to the car door to close it, I was startled by a holy man standing right next to me. Where did he come from? He practically materialized from thin air. He was very fair, of average height, and had a long white beard and long hair that was tied up neatly. He was dressed in a clean white vesti. He looked merry and cheerful just like Santa Claus. He started to bless me, “You shall be fine.” He spoke fine English and Tamil. He kept on repeating this. I got off the car seat and bent to touch his feet. I asked if he had eaten, and dipped my hand into my pockets and handed him whatever amount that came along with it. I bid farewell to him, shut the door, and glanced back. He was gone!
After prayers at Thiruavinankudi temple, I bought prayer items for the abhisegam or libation of Lord Muruga atop Palani hill. On taking my first step, my feet suddenly froze. I just could not move my legs. I tugged on my legs. It did not budge. They felt extremely heavy as if rooted to the ground. Finally, I had to lift my legs one at a time with both my hands. It was as if I was lifting a concrete piece. Watching the scene depicted in the song "Oo Solriya" in the movie "Pushpa", where the lead actor lifts his feet and walks forth and back, I pointed out to others that that was how I had to carry my feet all the way to the top of the flight of stairs.
No one stopped to enquire what was wrong with me as I made my way up the hill slowly. The heart was pumping hard. I was gasping for air. I pushed myself determined to scale the hill, whatever may come. I had to break the climb though, stopping every few minutes. I eventually reached the top of the hill. On reaching the top, I was dizzy and on the verge of collapse. I had to sit. I looked around. I saw some stalls lined up. I walked towards the row of stalls. I dropped my purchases and me onto the ground, leaning against the wall of one of the stalls. I was sweating profusely and on the brink of fainting. The throat was extremely parched and dry. I closed my eyes. As I opened my eyes all was bright and white. I could hear the crowd and see silhouettes of people moving along in front of me.
Regaining my composure after some time, I picked up my stuff and stood up. I stood in a line that brought me to Lord Muruga’s chambers. A priest walked up to me and practically snatched my offerings from my hand. "This is for archanai right?" saying thus he returned to the chambers. Although I was at his sannadhi physically I have no recollection whatsoever of the moments when I stood before him. I was lost in time and space again. Shortly after, the priest ended my lost moments and brought me to my senses. He stashed unto my hands my bag of goodies and some sandalwood paste that Lord Murugan had adorned that morning. I have no recollection of seeing the Lord's image to this day.
I turned to walk out of his sannadhi. I walked through a door into a dark alley. On just taking a few steps I was before another chamber on my right. I looked in. There were four Brahmin priests in attendance. I asked the one closest to the door if it was Bhogar’s Samadhi and he nodded. I entered the room and stood in prayer while he showed the flame or arati. The priest pointed out the opening where Bhogar is believed to be in samadhi. He pointed out the yantra, the jade lingam, and other items of worship that Bhogar had with him. Looking behind me I was surprised to see nobody else. I had Bhogar all to myself! I walked across the room and seated myself next to the exit. None of the priests objected. After a while I opened my eyes to see one of the priests, a young man, lean toward me with prasad in his hands. I received it. He then walked across the room and reached out for a tumbler on top of a closet and handed it to me saying, "It's abhisegam milk." I took it and drank the milk. I took leave thanking him silently.
As I stepped outside Bhogar's chamber into yet another corridor and walked into the open, I fell into a state of a daze. With my heart filled to the brim with joy and bliss, I walked around and around the temple grounds. It was as if I had partaken the ambrosia of the Gods. I kept on walking till I came to my senses and told myself that I had to return to the car. I traveled in silence not knowing what had transpired back there. Two years later Agathiyar in the Nadi reveals that the milk was given courtesy of Lord Muruga.
As if that miracle was not enough Lord Muruga performed a similar miracle the second time I stepped into his temple two years later in 2005. As I stood in line for the gates to the temple to be opened for the day I felt elated that this time around I was seeing Lord Muruga at Palani accompanied by my guru Tavayogi and my brother. But again I do not remember a single thing while there. We came away from his chamber into the open and crossed a courtyard and entered a corridor that was painted with murals depicting events in Bhogar's life. If this was Bhogar's sannadhi then where was I the first time I came to Palani? The route to Bhogar's sannadhi was different then.
As the senior priest began explaining to Tavayogi and my brother the origin of the temple, I walked across the room to the exit door and sat down again. Again a young priest was in attendance. As we stepped out of the chambers into the corridor the young priest reappeared in the corridor. Again he had a tumbler in his hands. He passed it to Tavayogi who was in front. Tavayogi took a gulp and passed the tumbler to my brother who was behind him. He took a gulp too and passed it to me. I emptied the milk down my throat and passed the tumbler back to the priest with a nod of thanks. I hurried behind Tavayogi and my brother who had already moved out into the open. That is when it happened again. I was in a state of bliss exactly as I had experienced on my first trip. I began to lag behind as Tavayogi and my brother walked ahead. Tavayogi stopped and waited on me, which he hardly does on walks and travels with him. There was a sparkle in his eyes as he turned towards me and asked the question "What son?" (Enna Magane) with an extraordinary smile on his face. That moment I knew that he knew! He knew what was happening to me. I just walked right up to him and laid my head on his chest in thanks and gratitude. After a brief moment, he turned around and continued walking. I was literally walking on air again!
Jnana Jhothiamma who came down to Trichy from Chennai to greet us upon arrival accompanied me and my family to Thiruvanaikaval in 2013. Again I broke down at Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi. An intense vibration overpowered me as I lay helpless screaming, crying, weeping, laughing and shouting out in ecstasy all at the same time. I could sense Jnana Jhothiamma stroking my feet and legs trying to calm me down. When I sort of came out of it, she came up to me and whispered to me to place some token on the tray of the priest in attendance. He was tall and well built, fair and handsome with a green cloth wrapped around his waist. He was giving out the sacred ash to other devotees too. I took some rupees from my wallet and approached him. As I stood in front of him and placed the money on the tray that he held out in his hands, he asked me, "Did you see?" (Paartiyaa?), moving his eye from side to side and drawing my look towards Lord Dhakshanamurthy's statue. Immediately I saw Lord Muruga of Palani in the flesh in the form of the priest! What he had hidden from me all three times at Palani, he showed me at Thiruvanaikaval.
My family and I were coming in circles looking for Tayumanar's sannadhi at Trichy Malai Kovil in 2013 when we heard a loud clap of the hands. An old man was clapping his hands and motioning us with hand gestures from his seat some distance away. As we approached him, he got up from the ground and lead us hurriedly to several sannadhis before showing us up a flight of steps. We followed his gesture and were met with Lord Shiva in the form of a lingam.
If in 2003 Agathiyar came as a stranger adorning a white vesti and blessed me, as I got into the car and was about to close the door, at Sri Rangam, in 2016, he came as an elderly lady clad in a green saree and blessed all of us from the AVM family. She was standing under the covered way with hands greeting us as we passed by her looking for Sri Ramanujar's samadhi in the courtyard of the temple. Something moved me to turn back and pat her cheeks. As soon as Bala Chandran who was to identify Agathiyar in the very first temple we went to and hand our contribution to him as directed by Karupanasamy Aiya back home, fell at her feet she looked towards the sky and began blessing him and turned her look towards every single one of us who was rooted to the ground. There was something about her look that froze us.
At Thiruvanaikaval, as I hastened into the temple looking out for Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi where I lost control of my senses on my earlier visit in 2003 and again in 2013, a lady in a green sari came up to me and placed prasad in my hands, right in front of Sri Jambukeshwarar's sannadhi. Again we were allowed into the main sanctum and the priest shifted the water with his hands to show us that the linga was partially submerged in the water. As we arrived at Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi, Bala spotted both Agathiyar and Lobhama just some distance away. We made our way back to Agathiyar and Lobhama and offered our homage. As we took our places at Lord Dhakshanamurthy's sannadhi it was locked. As Bala began the recitation of the Siddhas' names an elderly priest suddenly appeared and walked up to the shrine to unlock its grills. When Bala stopped the recitation abruptly on seeing him, he gestured Bala to carry on while he stood in attendance listening on. Just as we were coming to the end of the recitation, he picked up the arati tool and lighted the flame, as if he knew we were about to end the recitation of the long list of names of the Siddhas, the Siddhar Potri! The priest had no reason to be there but he appeared!
On the way up to the Trichy Malai Kovil in 2016, who should I meet but the mute man who appeared mysteriously and led and guided my family and me on a specific way to worship around the temple three years earlier?
At Brahmapureeswarar temple the AVM family is called over to Ambal's sannadhi where surprisingly the priest shares with us a meditation technique that went along with a universal prayer for the well-being of all of Erai's creation. Upon reciting after him, it energized our palms too.
At the Adhi Kumbeswarar Agathiyar sannadhi, a devotee of Agathiyar, Siddha medicine practitioner, and current caretaker Thiru Sankar is told to drop what he was doing and head for his sannadhi. He hurries into the sannadhi and unlocks the grill doors. Again the doors to Erai's chambers open as we sat reciting the names of the Siddhas.
At Kuthambai Siddha's Jeeva samadhi at the Arulmigu Sri Mayuranathaswami Temple, Mayiladuthurai (Mayavaram), we experienced the Siddhas presence that was so overwhelming that the ground shook as Bala Chandran recited the names of the Siddhas and we followed. A similar phenomenon was felt at Sundarananthar Vallabha Siddhar Sannadhi at the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple in Madurai as we began to recite the names of the Siddhas.
Just before we embarked on this trip to India in 2016 and witnessed the inauguration of the new Kallar Ashram, Tavayogi and Mataji were in Malaysia for my daughter's wedding. During our puja at AVM Mataji felt the ground shake. Later she shared that with me. Sadly none of us had sensed it. Three days later Agathiyar in a Nadi reading read by Tavayogi for a devotee mentioned that the Siddhas had been present and only Mataji sensed their presence. He said the ground had shook beneath her seat as she led us on the recital of the names of the Siddhas.
As we arrived late at night at the Arulmigu Koraka Siddhar Jeeva Samadhi Peedham, in Vadakku Poigai Nalloor, and as Dyalen was asked to spend the night at the temple in his Nadi reading, to our disappointment the gates were closed. As we thought that we might have to spend the night in the open air as did many others, we managed to find some vacant spots on the covered verandah of the temple. As we prepared to lay our tired torso down to rest, suddenly a voice from the dark asked, “Where are you coming from?”(Yengiranthu Varinga?) As we looked around for the source of the voice, he asked the same question again. Shanga replied that we were from Malaysia. Immediately the voice ask if we would like to enter? (Ulle Varingala?) Then we saw a figure get up from under a blanket and move to the gate. We were allowed access to the temple to spend the night. We spent the night inside the temple.
As I woke up pretty early and saw that the other devotees were still asleep, I moved over to Korakar’s samadhi and had a quiet moment with him. I came back to my spot and began my normal routine of checking my breath and performing pranayama. Slowly one by one the devotees began to arise. I eased myself too before going out to the front of the temple to take in some fresh air. It was 4am and already the local buses were plying the route. It was then that Sugu shared his experience the night before. He had only slept about 2 hours and remained awake the whole night long. When he did wake up he saw "me" clad in his saffron or kavi vesti standing in front of Korakar's sannadhi. He then turned to where I slept and saw me there too! He saw two of me! He had goosebumps and dived back into his blanket wondering what was going on. The night before he had loaned me his saffron vesti. But I had used it to support my head.
Sugu continued narrating. In the middle of the night, he stuck his head outside his blanket as he heard someone walk by. There was indeed someone. He or she, he wasn't sure, was clad in a rainbow-colored clothing and was covered fully from head to toe. Sugu immediately hid behind the covers again. He was not sure of the mysterious figure until I asked him if it was the same person that we saw at Adhi Kumbheswarar Temple earlier upon our arrival there. A lady in rainbow-colored clothing came before the sannadhi and lit a lamp after Thiru Sankar, the caretaker open the grills. It must have struck a chord in him for he agreed that it was indeed her. Now we were wondering how did she appear again, here at Vadakku Poigai Nalloor, some 72 km away?
My third encounter with the divine energies at Palani was not exclusive to me alone but took into consideration the presence of all the AVM family members. To our amazement, a lady, again dressed in a green sari, drove us to complete the Siddhar Potri. As we stood in front of Lord Muruga at Palani, again I saw nothing that I could remember! How do I explain this? As we left Lord Murugan's sannadhi we stepped into an open courtyard and walked across to a flight of steps that took us into a corridor. We stood in line waiting to enter Bhogar's samadhi. As arati was shown by a tall and well-built, fair and handsome, young priest, a lady who stood with us started chanting aloud a hymn for Bhuvaneswari. All our glances turned to her. She caught our attention. She then hurriedly left ahead of us as we stepped into the open. As Bala Chandran wanted to chant the names of the Siddhas inside Bhogar's sannadhi, we returned to the corridor again and positioned ourselves just outside Bhogar's chamber in a way as to not to obstruct other devotees from queuing up to see Bhogar. To our surprise the lady we saw earlier appeared and took a seat to the left of Bala. As it was closing time the temple aids were signaling us to hurry up but Bala was motioning them trying to buy more time. As the aids continued to motion us to end our recitation, the lady told Bala, "If the others want to leave they can but you stay and finish (the rendition of all the names of the Siddhas)". She gestured telling Bala to speed it up. Bala began to speed up the pace of his chant as the rest of us kept up with Bala's momentum too. The moment we ended the rendition she got up and entered Bhogar's sannadhi. She applied the holy ash and kumkum, blessed us, and speed off like a bullet. We came out of Bhogar's chamber in a daze and sat down in the courtyard trying to digest what had just happened in the secret and sacred chamber of Bhogar!
I guess the Paramatma came with us on all of our journeys, arriving even before us and ushering us to their abodes and temples. After reading Agathiyar's memo to all of us through Mahindren some time back, we came to know that this was Atma Darisanam. Agathiyar told us that the Atma that joins us in the mother's womb, leaves us when we begin to make decisions. It is never too far though, keeping a watch over matters but never intruding.
"The Atma keeps both the Udal and Uyir under its control in a secretive, subtle manner. This subtlety stays from 1 to 5 Varagai with the child before it's veiled. I cannot tell you the reason for it to be veiled now. Nevertheless, the Atma will return unto him depending on his actions."
"When the Atma in you pulls you to a path and if you realize it, it appears as an Athirvu or vibration and disappears. If you practice extending this vibration in you, you shall merge in this vibration that is the Atma and arrive at Erai/ Agathiyan."
"The Atma does not carry our karma, but the Atma shall help rectify our karma. When the karma is rectified, the Atma's seeking shall be hastened to the extent that man's daily seeking shall exhaust. His entire seeking shall shift towards efforts on reaching me (Agathiyan)."
ஆன்மா உடலையும் உயிரையும் தனது கட்டுப்பாட்டுக்குள் வைத்துக் கொள்ளும் ஒரு சூச்சமம். இந்தச் சூச்சமத்தை பிறந்த குழந்தைகள் 1 முதல் 5 வராகை வரையிலும் உடன் இருந்து மறையும். மறைத்தலின் காரணம் இன்னதென்று இப்போது உனக்குச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனபோதிலும் ஆன்மா ஒருவரின் செயலைப் பொறுத்தே மீண்டும் அவனை வந்து சேரும். ஆன்மா உன்னோடு இருந்து உன்னை ஒரு பாதைக்கு இழுத்து செல்லும் அப்போது நீ அதனை உணர்ந்தாள், உன்னில் அதிர்வாய் தோன்றி மறையும். அந்த அதிர்வினை நீ உனக்குள் நீடிக்கப் பழகினால் உன்னால் ஆன்மா என்னும் உனது அதிர்வுகளில் ஊடுருவி என்னுள் (இறை / அகத்தியன்) வந்து சேர ஒரு வழி.
ஆன்மா உனது கர்ம வினை தாங்கி வருவது அல்ல, ஆனால் ஆன்மாவே உனது கர்ம வினையைச் சரிசெய்வதற்கு உதவி புரியும். கர்மவை சரி செய்த பின், ஆன்மாவின் தேடல் அதிகமாகி மனிதனின் அன்றாட தேடல் தீர்ந்து போகும். அவன் தேடல் முழுதாய் என்னையே தேடி வர முயற்சி செய்யும்.