It is not about the numbers nor perfection in the pronunciation when we are given a set of mantras to recite. For instance, when Agathiyar came in the form of the metal statue to AVM on 2nd January 2010, just in time to celebrate his Guru Puja the next day, we had arranged to gather and chant his name 100,000 times as he had instructed in my Nadi reading. Try as we did to reach the target, we could only achieve 45,000 times with the handful of family and friends who attended the puja. This chanting took us two solid hours too. Our throat was dry and parched and we were exhausted at the end of it. We decided to stop. But the most compassionate Agathiyar came in the Nadi after several days and told us that he had accepted our puja.
மனமது செம்மையானால் மந்திரம் ஜெபிக்க வேண்டாம்
மனமது செம்மையானால் வாயுவை உயர்த்த வேண்டாம்
மனமது செம்மையானால் வாசியை நிறுத்த வேண்டாம்
மனமது செம்மையானால் மந்திரம் செம்மையாமே
Similarly, is it with the pronunciation of chants and mantras. A story is told of a young but arrogant monk freshly graduated from a monastery trying to correct an Oldman with his pronunciation of a mantra that he had been chanting for ages.
A young monk after years of tutelage under his master finally was told by his master that he needed to leave the monastery to get to see the rest of the world. He was instructed to preach the teachings he had acquired at the monastery. The monk left the monastery that was his turf for years and came down the mountain. Upon reaching the plains, the young monk came across an old man chanting on a riverbank. The old man was chanting the mantra that the monk had mastered at the monastery. But it seemed different - with a slight variation. So he apprehended the old man telling him that he was going about the wrong way of reciting the mantra and taught the old man how it should be recited. The old man listened attentively. The young monk was proud that he had passed on what he was taught and that he had found his first candidate to whom he had started to preach.
Now the young lad had to hire a boatman to take him across the river to the nearby village where he could continue preaching. About halfway through the journey across the river, the young monk noticed that the boatman had gone all pale and was looking over his (the monk) shoulder with his mouth wide open. The young monk turned around. What he saw shocked him too. The old man whom he had met at the shores was now standing beside the boat - on the surface of the water! The old man whispered to the lad that he had forgotten the mantra he was taught. He requested that the monk repeat it. The young monk who was pretty shaken up, held the old man’s hand and asked for forgiveness for underestimating the power of his practice. He asked that he pardon him for being egoistic and arrogant and begged to be taken in as his disciple and be allowed to follow him back.
The idea in giving us these practices is to get us started and moving in the direction first while he then comes and joins our journey. If we were to investigate, research, debate and argue on the onset we will never make the first move. This is what I came to know happened to the person who had questioned me about the differences in the mantra given by Agathiyar to both of us in 2009. He had called me when he came to know that I too had received the mantra earlier through the Nadi, from the Nadi reader and watching my video of it. He asked why he was given a slightly different version of it. I told him that I do not know but that I did not wish to investigate and that I had already started on it. He called me several weeks ago and enquired of me the effects and benefits of the mantra and told me that he wanted to start chanting it again. I told him it was not necessary as it would not benefit him now. Whatever tools, means and ways, practices and techniques given by Agathiyar has to be carried out during the stipulated time to reap its benefits. Though the Siddhas are beyond time and space, as man is caught in this time space web, and as he has to conform and live accordingly, the Siddhas study both the time and space to guide us further with our practices or tasks. It is a calculated move by the Siddhas given to us to achieve the desired results and see success in the venture. Furthermore, the agents of his assigned to help us at these moments would not be anywhere around during the times of our choice to start or carry out the tasks. The planetary positions too may not be favorable then to us then. He often tells me to adhere to time. He says that குறித்த நேரத்தில் செய்யும் அனைத்தும் ஜெயம்.
When Agathiyar told me that the Tamil months of Thai and Maasi in 2009 was favorable to start the task and commission the making of his metal statue at Swamimalai, I informed Varadhraj of Bronze Creative to begin. As Agathiyar's statue was meant to be placed at the Jegathguru Sri Raghavendra Swamigal Miruthiga Brindavanam Kinta, Perak several well wishes questioned me telling me it was too soon to start as the opening of the venue would be delayed. I asked Varadhraj to pull the brakes. The work stalled. I realize this was a mistake I did listening to others as it contributed to many trials and tribulations when Agathiyar finally made his way here. Meanwhile as the official opening of the venue was delayed further and postponed thrice, I called Varadhraj to complete it not wanting to delay the process of making his statue that was a priority and task given to me. The preparation of the venue was secondary. True to my thoughts Agathiyar came in the Nadi and told me that he was to stay at my home on transit before finally leaving for the venue. But the most compassionate Agathiyar chose to remain in my home forever and had switched another statue of his in its place by having a donor contribute one purchased of the shelf. The lesson I learned was that every task given by the Siddhas has to be carried out at the moment mentioned. Any delays on our path will not see the expected results. Do not dilly-dally in these matters.