Although I have been praying to all the deities in the Hindu pantheon all those years, but it needed a guru to flag off my journey on the Siddha path officially. Calling me to the path through my first Nadi reading, Agathiyar first and foremost called upon me to pray to Lord Ganesa. Ganesa and Vallabai who reside at the Muladhra are known to remove the prevalent and existing blocks and obstacles so that one could progress without hindrances and any further delays. Besides that looking through my past records, Agathiyar mentioned that all my efforts in puja and yoga practice never paid off because of my karma that stood in my way. For the love of me he had me carry out remedies.
After Agathiyar beckoned me to the path in the Nadi reading, Tavayogi had to come by to launch my passage to Siddha hood. It is sort of christening a new ship before its maiden journey or flagging the race to begin it. But even before that Agathiyar passed the Vasudeva mantra through my nephew in a mysterious manner that pierced the knot known as the Vishnu Granti which adds obstructions for the sadhaka, keeping him under the wraps of attachment and bondage that leads to selfishness and ego. Next in line to be pierced was the Muladhara chakra. As the lady saint Avaiyar mentions in her Vinayagar Agaval, the tool that pierced the Muladhara was the breath. The set of Vaasi or Pranayama practices that Tavayogi taught us did its job within months of been officially initiated into the practice in 2007. "The Muladhara located at the base of the spine, the pelvic floor, and the first three vertebrae, acts as the gateway for the energy of the earth to pass through all our various bodies", says Veronica Hope.
The energy gained in its intensity in 2010, creating excessive heat within leading to immobility. The three dosas went haywire as a result of this Tava Kanal. It stagnated at the Muladhara chakra. Agathiyar in revealing the reason for the excruciating back pain asked that I stop all forms of tapas and yoga practices for the time being in a Nadi reading in 2011.
Slowly moving now from the earth element Muladhara in 2012, and coming to the water element Svadhisthana, the serpent energy took a long breather in the waters of the pond, some eleven years. Creativity is said to arise in leaps and bounds, as a result of blessings from Brahma and Saraswathi here. With their blessings my desire to fill the wide gap prevalent then in the absence of Siddha puja and its associated rituals, and the nonavailability of literature on the Siddhas and the path based on personal experiences was fulfilled when I compiled the songs of their praises, began to draw out a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for our simple home rituals and began to write on my journey. Many aspirants came into our lives to assist me. This was the advent of a new way of life, the Siddhar Neri.
In 2022, the dam burst and the floodwaters together with the serpent made its way upstream. The serpent swirled in the region below the abdomen over two consecutive days and made its way up to the crown where it kept swirling. What surprised me was that the serpent did not linger at the other chakras but instead made its way home. The ability to sustain our endeavors by the grace of Thirumaal and Laxmi at Manipuragam; endurance, a much-needed element to travel farther on this path, that is gifted by Rudra and Rudri and the eradication of fear of death and other fears and the burning of our past karma at Anagatham; the gloom and frustration that envelops us at this juncture leaves us by the grace of Maheswaran and Maheswari residing at Visukthi; and finally the fruits of yoga is granted at Ajna, by Sadasivan and Manonmani. Surprisingly all these came by unnoticed and was transcended by his divine grace.
Just as the serpent is depicted around Lord Shiva's neck, the energy now lays coiled in the crown of the head. Occasionally its slithering movement is sensed especially when I bring my attention to it. Mounam or the state of silence sets in without effort. Engrossed in a state of continuous bliss, the body goes into a state of Samadhi while the spirit attains Mukti. All of cosmos becomes a teacher. He comes to know that he is one with the Prapanjam. He is a Jeevan Mukta whiling his time now till the call comes again this time to leave everything behind and journey into another world.
We have to remember though that the results are not distinctively defined and that they might not appear as suggested or listed in these stages or levels of the journey within, but can move to and fro, bringing one to a high state of exaltation or being - one moment - and have him fall back into darkness the very next moment. This is where we need the grace of Erai to constantly watch over us, besides our attempt to watch our thoughts, breath, movements and internal activities.
Tavayogi translated this internal journey and had the "Aaru Athaara Peedam", a granite stone structure at his Kallar Ashram symbolize and depicts the internal journey - externally. It is representative of the six vital spots or chakras along the spine, bringing to worship finally the flame or light emitting from a lamp placed at its peak, that Ramalinga Adigal symbolically left behind for us to worship.