When I stopped to fill the fuel tank in my car recently at a petrol station, an attendant walked up to me to assist. He was a foreigner from Bangladesh, a Muslim by faith. Out of the blue, the young man told me to go to Kasi and explained the route telling me it was not difficult. This surprised me. It surprised me further as it came from a Muslim. A couple of days ago when I went to return a kitten, belonging to a neighbor, whom I found in my garden as it looked sickly, the young man too out of the blue asked me if I had been to Kasi. He was a Malay and a Muslim by faith. This made me wonder if it was a call to go over?
I have not been to Kasi. My brother with his family, my sisters, and my nephew have been there to carry out rites in the past for those loved ones who have passed away. Tavayogi called me from Kasi some years back telling me Agathiyar had instructed him to go there. As his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar was from Kasi, Supramania Swami shared his desire to see Kasi but his age and state of health did not favor the long trip. He never went.
When we are living life joyously, the sudden news of the death of someone related to us or whom we knew momentarily brings us to realize the impermanence of life or rather this physical body. But we tend to go back to doing our business as usual after several days. But going by the many documentaries and videos made in Kasi, death is a daily affair where people simply come to die. I guess for those living here as it is a daily thing they have become accustomed to death.
Shantanu Moitra, not able to accept the sudden passing away of his father due to Covid, travels the full length of the Ganges from its source to the Bay of Bengal, bringing us the sights and sounds of the river and its people. He returns a changed man. His perspective of life and death had changed.
We are all a Buddha. We are no less than the other person. If one is seen as a saint, guru, or master, it is just that he has taped into his resources and energies and with divine grace arrived at the understanding and begins to see himself as one. We too are capable of achieving the same. This is what and where the Siddhas bring us to. Agathiyar has told a couple of devotees that they too were gurus in their own right and not to seek further. He added that the knowledge learned, earned, gained, and gifted had to be transferred to others. This is how each and everyone helps the other evolve besides making personal strides on the path. The Siddhas too did the same, bringing many to the fold. Looking through the books and the net we come across the names of Siddhas who made it into this long list. They are then worshipped by seekers, aspirants, and devotees. Just as one has to touch the feet of another to progress further in any discipline, the disciple comes to the guru or vice versa and pursues a lifelong journey of discovery. Initially being a seeker and searching the globe, he comes to settle at the holy feet of his guru and besides learning from him, imbibes his energy. While Tavayogi without announcing did wonders that brought on miracles and changes in me, Supramania Swami gifted me the merits of his 40 years of Tavam and Tapas or austerities. Later Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal carried on with these wonders that brought awe and wonder in us. This is the difference between academic and spiritual studies.
Just as the monk who spent years learning from his guru in the monastery atop a mountain is told to go down to the village to spread the teachings, just as Guhai Namachivayar sent away his disciple Guru Namachivayar to Chidambaram, Tavayogi upon completion of his tapas in the caves and jungles was asked to look up a place known as Agathiyar Vanam in Kallar by Agathiyar and start an ashram. Later he was asked to come over to Malaysia to spread the word. With his coming, we gained a guru and were gifted with the teachings of the Siddhas.
Would I be going over to Kasi? Only Agathiyar knows. Maybe it would fulfill Supramania Swami's wish.