MY STORY

When I was transferred from a coastal town to the city in 1988, I had no choice but to frequent a food stall opposite my office building for my vegetarian meals. A group comprising of people from all walks of life would gather daily to review the stories carried in the local daily, often passing negative remarks. Five years later, after I returned from another posting, they were still at it. I walked up to them and asked if they had not changed in those years and if they had nothing better to talk about. They remained silent. Some time back, an elderly man walked up to my car following the foreman who came over to look at it. He continued his adverse remarks and tried to get me to show support for his negative views on it. I stopped him from talking further and asked him to talk about his family instead. He had nothing to say. Weeks ago, as I sent my car for a wash, a 48-year-old man who sent his car for a wash too walks up to me and opens up about things being not right, spoiling my beautiful morning. I stopped him in his tracks. I told him to change, and the world would change. He left. If things were truly bad and in shambles, we would not have nationalities from Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Middle East and Nepal take up personal loans or mortgage their properties to buy their way and arrive to work on our shores. Then, some pensioners are disappointed with the occasional small pay hikes. They fail to understand that pensions are a gift to them for life. Be grateful. 

Everybody seems to paint a bleak picture of their world when, in truth, it all lies in our individual perception. You can choose to enjoy the rain and sun or complain. So is it with life. Malaysians have to learn to love, cherish, and be grateful for what we have in our hands. It is a beautiful nation full of resources and opportunity. Agathiyar calls it Sukra Bumi, the land of milk and honey overflowing with wealth and prosperity. 

For a change, stop complaining but instead begin to talk about the good things that life has given us. Nature and life are not obligated to give us treasures. But when opportunities arise, seize them and make some good of it. Learn to look at the little gifts and promises that come our way. 

I have had a very good life till now as  I step into my 66th year this September. Born into a family of nine children, my parents lost two boys when they were a toddler and infant respectively. When I had the same signs of diarrhea and purging that took their lives away, they brought me to a Chinese medium who was then our neighbor. I survived after he asked that they give me in adoption to the gods. I had come to understand that I had come under the shadows of Bhogar and the Siddhas back then. I sought him for the next 13 years before I was forced to go to the hospital for a jab when a dog bit me. 

My father, from the Chettiar clan, was born in Kilselvalpatti, Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu. He and his brother came over to then Malaya. While my father continued the family business of money lending, his younger brother started a driving school in Taiping, Perak. My mother was born and raised here. They married, and she took on the role of a housewife. My parents sent me and all my siblings to school. Life was simple and peaceful. People took care of each other. The neighbor kept an eye on other children. We spent most of our time outdoors, with traditional games that were seasonal to keep us amused for hours. We flew kites, played marbles, and played top and football. Those were fun days for us kids, though our parents struggled to keep the boat afloat. Soon, my elder siblings began to help out with the home expenditures when they each got a job. 

I remember the time my schoolmate and I, both 16 years old, who went jogging, were forcefully lifted off the ground onto a Land Rover, and kicked off the aerodrome field for intruding onto the runway and apparently preventing it a Caribou plane laden with cargo from landing.

If I had been kicked out of the airfield back then, I never imagined that I would return to help build the facilities for the arm forces later. Neither did I know that I would be hitching a ride on a CN transport aircraft, a helicopter, and a war ship after my career kickstarted as a civilian with the military. 

The doors opened up, facilitating and fulfilling all my needs. As I was a Government scholar back then in college, I got a job in the public sector in 1980 that I stayed on for some 36 lovely years before I opted for early retirement in 2016. I enjoyed my career. I was looked after very well. People had always been good to me.  Though my core business was civil engineering, I am grateful to the department for providing access to Information Technology when it was in its infancy, where I picked up the skill to do presentations, which has helped me today to blog and upload videos on my channel.

My guess that my wife was chosen for me when some fifteen girls rejected me, was right when Agathiyar in the Nadi reading for my daughter tells us that my children and wife had been a family in previous births too, and my daughter had asked for this relationship to continue in this birth too. He also added that she was the reason I came to his path. In 2005, Agathiyar sent Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram to our shores, where I met up with him after learning that he was the one who had solicited funds to build a temple for Agathiyar in a pamphlet passed on to me by the Nadi reader in 2002. 

Before that, Agathiyar sent me to Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai on the pretext of casting my daughter's horoscope which was sugested by my wife as I was ready to get into the cab that was waiting for me to send me to the airport to catch my maiden flight to India to fulfil the remedies that Agathiyar listed out in my Nadi. 

I had these two wonderful gurus who carved and molded me. Like people, Agathiyar, the Siddhas, and all the gods, goddesses, and deities in the Hindu pantheon of Gods were always there in my times of need. What else can a man want further? My life was, is, and shall be in their good hands in the days to come too.

Our home too that fell into my lap, turned out to become Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) in the years to come. Now, as I am kept indoors, often alone and asked to observe silence, what accompanies me are these wonderful memories. Then the skies turn grey, and I shudder with fear as I recount the many mistakes I made that could have jeopardised or turned my life around.  Miraculously I was saved in all those crucial moments by a divine hand. Agathiyar later told me that as I had needed those experiences too, he threw them into my path and had me trip and fall into the labyrinth. I am who I am today because the divine looked over my shoulder throughout my life. I am deeply grateful to both people and the divine for looking after me. How can I thank them all? I guess by listening to them and following their dictates. And so did Agathiyar asked me to write about my experiences in my blog, first the external journeys and later the internal transformation. Now, he wants each devotee to share their experiences as well each time we gather. This is where he shows me those who comply and those who choose to defend their stand in not sharing. Finally, he too let it be. I, too, shall take heed and let it be, stepping aside from my previously purposed role as a Spiritual Catalyst - one who does not aim to become a leader but who wishes to cause others to question and find answers within themselves. 

TIME TO EXIT

The last thread that held me back has been severed, and I am free to soar the skies like a free bird. What I thought was my purpose here has held me back all this time. Now, having completed what I came for, I need not wait around to see the garden bloom. The feeling is great, having severed the last strands of ties with the garden or rather dropped ownership of it. I am not to hang around assessing the farm and the orchard and its products, weeding the plants, or pruning the fruit trees. I was here only to sow the seeds. 

I have to move on. Only now my true journey begins. The spiritual catalyst must now allow the universal energy to work on him. Now I am relieved of the role of a Jeevanmukta and have to take on another journey and another role. It is said that at the end of the journey, we have to face three choices. Having climbed up the wall, one has the choice of either taking the plunge and jumping into the other realm without telling anyone, taking a moment to call out to the others and share the sound and sights before plunging, or deciding to return to share the experiences. I have done the latter two. Now is the moment to plunge and swim in the ambrosia for good. The bond can never be snapped if I do not take the plunge now. We have to lose something to gain another. We cannot have the best of both worlds.

DO NOT PICK UP PASSENGERS

The readership of this blog has reached a all new high this week. I take this opportunity to thank all readers. As A.R. Rahman often says all praises go to the Almighthy, we are only but a tool in his hands.

In bringing us together if it appears that Agathiyar is teaching others, I came to find out yesterday while speaking to Mahindren the truth of the matter that is in actuality the teachings are for me. Others are just props. In interacting with them there is a teaching for me. I am supposed to continue sailing the seas after picking up these experiences. I am not supposed to pick up these passengers. It shall bring the vessel to sink under their weight. I shall heed this sound advice henceforth.  

While having breakfast this morning with the family at a food stall an armless man walked up to us selling some goods for a living. Addressing himself as a Shiv Adiyaar he told me that as it was Shivarathri he would love to spend the day at a Shiva temple but as he needs to feed his family he was forced to make the daily rounds. This came as a surprise message to me.

I plan to go ahead with the family conducting the Homam to commemorate and most importantly keep us awake throughout the night as today is the night for Lord Shiva, Shivarathri, if he wills.  

TAKING A GOOD WALK

I asked if I could withstand the test of transformation yet to come in the last post. Even if I fail, I am grateful to Agathiyar for even considering allowing me to attempt to reach this state. As Tavayogi says we shall attempt and come back to continue from where we fail if we do fail, and just as Supramania Swami said we shall work on polishing this vessel to accommodate the divine and his energy, or rather work on rubbing off the moss that we have collected which has prevented us from seeing the truth of who we are and our full potential, I shall come back too. A handful of souls have been following my journey and are keen to see me attain the goals set by Agathiyar. I am grateful to them too. If one man succeeds it is a major step for humanity and shall boost the spirits of others to follow too.

As Annie Besant wrote one has to prepare both the brain and body well ahead before engaging in Yoga, Agathiyar, Patanjali, Kagabunjandar, and Bhrigu guided me through the Aasi Nadi readings beginning in 2005, on diets to prepare my body to receive Tavayogi's Yogic practice in 2007. The latter set the ball rolling by giving me what Agathiyar calls a treasure in the form of certain Yogic Asanas and Pranayama techniques. Even before I received them, Agathiyar mysteriously passed on a Vasudeva mantra in 2001, that I came to learn later was supposed to break the existing knots within the body. It was only after I was confronted by the energies beginning in 2010 that arose as a result of these practices, that I was made aware of the extent and potential of these practices and diets. Agathiyar came to purge my body of toxins accumulated over the years. In 2022 he had given me a taste of how the body would lie dead upon a pyre or in a coffin. He gave me insights into the workings of the Kundalini that had caused all the above to take place which according to Patanjali was activated way back in 2007. 

I had written in a post dated 21 August 2021 that,

"If Agathiyar Kuzhambu was to be taken six months once, Agathiyar set me on another regime of preparing another concoction from a recipe given by him, taking it daily. I took it for some time. Soon the three dosas were expelled without the need to consume these preparations. Kapha was expelled in the morning hours, Vata during the day, and Pitha as I retired to bed. Then its frequency doubled to two cycles of each a day at particular hours. These days the body expels them as and when they begin to accumulate. Besides that the body aches at times before it recedes just as it comes on. As Agathiyar forewarned me, my body has begun to stink."

This cycle has begun again. A couple of days ago the three Dosas began to be expelled as before. Besides that I had been enduring bodily aches for several months now. The pain seemed to have shifted to my right buttock but I took it in my stride as Agathiyar had prepared me mentally in the past when I had acute lower back pain, explaining that even pain was blissful. My urine and sweat stinks. But though these adversities might have stopped me in my tracks before, I was determined to fight them by continuing with my daily walks. A good walk or hike does do us some good. I visited Wukong today with my family.

Agathiyar comes to tell me now that as the Kundalini had progressed further there was a need to consume certain herbs to strengthen the body. With Sivarathri enveloping us tomorrow evening, I wonder if I could go ahead with a preplanned schedule of Homam and Abhisegam at AVM? It is all his will and doing. I have begun to take things in my stride surrendering to Agathiyar and the energy as he says it shall do its work. 

BELIEF & FAITH

When Agathiyar arranges for me to get the necessary herbal preparations to counter the bodily and internal changes that are to take place further within me, it reminded me of the days when he came to the assistance of Jnana Jothiamma back then beginning from 2011 when she first visited Kallar Ashram and met Tavayogi after reading my earlier websites. Initiating her personally Agathiyar took her hand on several pilgrimages and eventually had her locked up, staying in solitude in a house in a high-rise apartment in Chennai, though he had Siddhas drop by and knock on her door delivering herbal preparations to consume as he worked on her body too. Agathiyar does work in mysterious ways. It brings fond memories of my almost daily conversations with her through Skype. Jnana Jothiamma and I came to learn later that a pure diet and body are a prerequisite to the much-desired transformation that the Siddhas look forward to in seekers. Annie Besant in her talks on "The Laws of the Higher Life", the Theosophical Publishing House, 1903, writes,

"You must begin to purify the body before you attempt to practice any yoga worthy of the name. For real yoga is as dangerous to an impure and undisciplined body as a match to a cask of gunpowder."

"Here we see a consciousness that shapes bodies according to its needs, gradually refining them and bringing them under the control of the higher." 

"The brain has to be changed, refined, improved, its connecting links fashioned and manufactured for the purposes of the expression of the higher consciousness." 

"Here, in the jungle, they meditated making the brain tense and refined by the concentration of the mind, and restraint of lower faculties, fixed in rapt attention on the higher, with the consciousness working from above playing on the physical brain and tuning it to respond safely to the higher vibrations. Then it strove to draw the lower upwards (as Tavayogi says of our efforts that are only till the first two initial stages, Muladhara and Svadisthana) until it answered no longer to the stimuli of the outer world. This is a state of yoga - complete withdrawal of the consciousness from the Indriyas."

"Now making the mind steady, holding quiet the powers of the mind, the mind ceases to vibrate, and it becomes still - able to answer the vibrations coming from above."

 She writes in "Avatara-s", The Theosophical Publishing House, 2002, 

"... inasmuch as the body is an instrument we have to use, a certain treatment of the body is necessary so that we may turn our footsteps in the direction of the Path. The body alone will never take us to the heights we aspire to, yet to neglect it will make it impossible for us to attempt those heights at all. ... The body needs to be refined, to be improved, to be moulded into such a form and made of such constituents as may best fit it to be the instrument on the physical plane for man's highest purposes."

"... the purification of the dense body then, consists in a process of deliberate selection of the particles permitted to compose it; the man will take into it the way of food the purest constituents he can obtain, rejecting the impure and the gross."

For those intending to do so, she allays the fear and regret at having sent in gross impure food, telling us that, 

"... by natural change the particles built into it in the days of his careless living will gradually pass away, at least within seven years - although the process may be considerably hastened."

She asks us to look towards the East for answers to "how this danger has been understood and guarded against and avoided."

Agathiyar in consoling Jnana Jothiamma and asking her to bear the pain and suffering told her that the cleansing had to be expedited and that her meat intake of the past sixty years that went on to compose her body had to be expelled out. She had to go through a grueling cleansing process where for instance she vomited 32 times in a day. He also told her that one had to shed seven layers of skin too. One wonders if this is the reason the Saints went into hiding, some as many as twelve years before reappearing in society, having undergone a massive transformation. It is said that their bodies would undergo severe changes and would be hideous to look at during this period of transformation, thus to avoid being ridiculed by society they stayed away. She told me that I would not possibly endure the process. 

I sense that it is my turn to take on the challenges in store. I had approached Tavayogi during his first visit in 2005 asking to see him become "Light" just like Ramalinga Adigal and the Siddhas before him. But he very humbly told me that he had missed the boat as his age then was 69. But interestingly Siddha Dhanvanthri came to us and revealed that Tavayogi had attained the state of Light. Agathiyar later told us that he was doing his job in their realm and as such Agathiyar had to personally come to guide us these days. Lord Muruga too had to postpone sharing the art of attaining "Jothi" with Agathiyar though he was not known back then by the name, in return for the latter's courtesy, kindness, and help in providing food and shelter to the Lord who was known back then as Supramaniar so that he could carry on his austerities, Tapas and Tavam without any hindrance, just because Agathiyar was above sixty in age. He promised to come back for him in another birth and delivered as promised. Agathiyar too became Jothi like Supramaniar. Since Tavayogi told me he had missed the boat, I had my hopes on Jnana Jothiamma when she went through the bodily transformations. But Agathiyar in later years after her demise told me that as her body could not cope with the drastic changes her soul desired to give up. Will I withstand the test, now since the ball is in my court? 

This is how the Siddhas work mysteriously in this realm of ours that has but only a thin veil separating both worlds. I can vouch for this as I had stepped into a portal in Palani during my very first visit in 2003 though I did not know it then. Only when I revisited Palani again in 2005, did I realize that I had walked into a portal back then. This was further confirmed on my last visit to Palani in 2016.

The Siddhas surely work in mysterious ways. All that is required of us is to believe and have faith in them.

FULFILLING AGATHIYAR'S WISH

A concerned reader and friend from South Africa who follows this blog has been enquiring about my health for some time now. As we spoke over the phone last night, I told her that the acute pain I had in the years beginning in 2010 and 2012 and that reappeared again in 2016 and 2018 is being felt in my back but to a lesser intensity. But when I faced it the very first time I was worried sick if it could be a health issue as I was in my sixties. But the Siddha practitioners and Allopathic physicians too struck out any possible issue. In September of 2019, Agathiyar came in the Nadi reading to clear the air and revealed that it was due to the uprising of once dormant energy activated by my Yogic practices learned from Tavayogi in 2007. He brushed the pain aside telling me that pain itself was bliss. This time, I have learned to accept and live with it. It is indeed blissful as Agathiyar said. Under every pain, discomfort, misery, and suffering lies a subtle state of bliss.

Just a couple of days ago, foreseeing another bout of cleansing in the making Agathiyar mooted a devotee to call me and interrupted our telephone conversation. He revealed that I shall foresee further bodily changes taking place and called me to contact the Pulippani Siddhar Peedham in Palani, telling me that I should begin to take certain herbal preparations beginning now. Since my search and association with associations had stopped many years back after coming to Agathiyar and my fellowship to a tutor and teacher ended with Tavayogi's demise, I voiced my reluctance to begin one yet again, Agathiyar told me that though he was with me certain things had to be done through people. I consented. Though I had stepped into the ashram on one of my pilgrimages to Palani, not knowing anyone in the said Peedham, I looked up on the internet and came across a cell number. I called and introduced myself asking to whom I was speaking. He replied that he was a Siddha doctor. What do you know? I dialed the right number and the right person answered. As he agreed to prepare the preparation, the question arose as to who was to pick up the package as I had no intention to travel. Calling up some friends, a friend, and Siddha practitioner told me that he was leaving for India on 3 March and would do so. What can I ask for further? Agathiyar closed the deal beautifully. What an amazing journey it has been. Agathiyar has never failed to amaze me. 

If he had told me of the further changes about to take place in the morning, I went through it in the evening and throughout the night into the next day. The purging of excess Vata (Wind), Kapha (Phlegm), and Pitta (Bile) came on followed by dizziness even as I lay my head down and nausea. But it all cleared in the evening and I am back to my normal self. Why would I want to share these petty things with readers? Am I blowing my own horn? Am I seeking recognition or attention? Am I seeking fame and fortune? I for one was a very timid person since a child keeping to myself and my thoughts. But it all changed after Tavayogi nudged me to take the center stage and speak about the Siddhas whom I hardly knew back then in 2005, and Agathiyar in subsequent Nadi readings asked me to write. This blog has become the voice of Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) over the years. He in 2022 asked me to stop singing his praise and instead share the transformation and changes taking place within. I guess that is my purpose here. 

Someone wrote in saying, "Whether or not someone shares their experiences, if Prabanjam (the universe) wills it, the true seeker will receive all the knowledge they need. In my view, it is our ego (ahangaram) that makes us believe traditions continue because of us, when in reality, they exist beyond individual effort." I guess that is life. You win some (friends) and you lose some.

ABOUT SHARING OUR EXPERIENCES

When I was posted back to the HQ after some 8 years working at a Naval base in a coastal town, I came across a group at the food stall that I frequented, as I had no other choice for my vegetarian meals, who would spread out the local daily newspaper and pass remarks, mostly negative, on what was printed each day. When I returned after some 5 years working at an Air Force base, the same group, minus some who had passed on and had new recruits now, were still gazing at the daily and passing comments. It seemed as if time had frozen. I walked up to them and asked if they never changed in the five years I was gone. I told them to quit coffee shop talk and stand for election and bring the changes they spoke about through parliament and walked away. Some time back a man who was bitterly talking about current issues to the foreman followed him as he moved over to attend to my car. He began to drag me into his conversation too. I asked him to stop. I told him that he would have vomited what he did then at breakfast, the night before, the day before, and in all the months and years. I asked him to speak about his family and experiences instead. He remained silent. There was nothing to say. We are all carrying excess baggage and selling our outdated wares to others day in and out. The wise on the other hand began to document their unique experiences for the benefit of others who come along. We have so many autobiographies and biographies of prominent figures who changed the world. There are many life-changing books written by authors sharing their experiences. 

I remember in the days of my search back then when I was called to the path through a Nadi reading, where every holy man or learned man would swear that the answers were with them but would refuse to divulge them keeping them close to their hearts and bringing them to their graves, it frustrated me. One wonders if they ever knew. Then came along Tavayogi in 2005 who set me walking the path along with him. He got me to speak about the Siddhas whom I barely knew as a new kid on the block back then in 2007. Agathiyar since then has asked me to share my internal transformation with my readers. If Ramalinga Adigal did not share his experiences we would not have the Arutpa in our hands today. So is it with the other saints. If the Nayanmars did not share their experiences we would not have the Thevaram and Thiruvasagam in our hands today. If the Rishis did not share the secrets we would not have the Vedas today. Supramania Swami told me he even has to leave behind the merits gained from his 40 years of austerities, Tavam, and Tapas. I was blessed to receive them. Don't keep your knowledge and experiences with you and bring them to your grave. Let someone benefit from it. Life is all about sharing. Right from the sharing of chromosomes and DNA to sharing food, love, and compassion, one has to give. It is because Agathiyar gave us his breath that we are still standing. Ask all those in whom Agathiyar blew and breathed his breath and revived them. The least we could give is to share whatever joy we have been blessed with. As a reader and devotee said, this shall initiate the search for another to know more and experience what was shared, I take this moment to thank all those who had shared their experiences with us in the past. They could have initiated another to follow in their footsteps or take the first step towards bigger things. It sure did change mine. A book that I read in 1977 while in college that taught me to say "No", Yogananda Paramahansa's "An Autobiography of a Yogi" which introduced me to Godmen in 1994, and the Nadi written by the Siddhas that I read in 2002 changed my life 360 degrees.

Imagine if God did not share his wealth. Ramalinga Adigal lists all that God has shared with him. Each time we come together Agathiyar has asked us to share our experiences and hold a healthy debate. He tells us that even the Siddhas when they come together shared their findings and held debates. Those who frequent AVM will know. It is from the churning of the ocean that you get the Amirtam, Amrita, nectar, or elixir. I believe this blog would not have such a good following if it was flawed in its contents. Thank you readers. 

Readership the past week

KUNDALINI & APPRECIATION

MANTRAS

MAYA

WALKING THE PATH

Just as Tavayogi surprised me pushing me to speak about the Siddhas when he officiated an affiliate of his Agathiyar Gnana Peedham in Banting many years back when he began frequenting Malaysia and when I was a new kid on the block just beginning to take a step on the Siddha path, in recent times Agathiyar has pushed me to speak about the changes taking place within currently to those gathered at the many puja venues. However, to arrive at these changes, one has to leave the previous phases and practices and glide into the next. So I began to address the path of Sariyai which was introduced to us by our parents and added that sadly we stop at this stage, just as they did, not progressing further. For some who had questions that prompted them to seek answers, they went in search of masters and gurus or the latter came by in their lives. But sadly they too stopped short of carrying out the Kriya practices given. Those who furthered the life-changing Yoga practices soon begin to see changes within them. Soon these changes happen without any effort on our part. Eventually, after all the activities and effort, one is asked to bring it all to a halt and remain still, quiet and silent. This is the goal of traveling the path. So I had to clarify that one has to evolve into a beautiful butterfly and never forever remain in the comfort and safety of the cocoon or practices and rituals given. For us to arrive at the goal we have to travel the path, picking up the tools and methods and using and putting them into practice before willingly laying them down too. My short speech was acknowledged by Lord Murugan who came and pointed them out to the devotees gathered on Agathiyar Jayanthi at AVM. In asking them to speak about their journey and experiences he charted the goal for them. 

AGATHIYAR LOBAMA WEDDING & JAYANTHI VIZHA

AGATHIYAR AND LOBAMA'S WEDDING

What a memorable day it has been today. It all started with Sankar Aiya messaging me that he would be conducting the wedding for Agathiyar and Lobama today. (Refer last post). I then thought if I should do it for Agathiyar too as he is with Lobama at AVM since last year. After ending his spree visiting the homes of several of his devotees, he had picked up Lobama or rather entered the hearts of a devotee couple and moved them to purchase a bronze statue of Lobama to keep him company. If Bhogar surprised us coming through a devotee, and performing the homam back then whence the host decided to conduct a puja, today Bhogar came again and went on further to conduct Agathiyar's wedding. Words cannot describe those moments. One needs to be present. We wonder what shall take place tomorrow as we celebrate Agathiyar's annual puja celebration.

AGATHIYAR - LOBAMA'S WEDDING

If Tavayogi introduced me to carrying out the Homam, a smaller version of the Yagam in my home to commemorate the annual Jayanthi celebrations simultaneously while he carried it out in his Kallar ashram grounds beginning in 2004, Agathiyar came in a Nadi reading later to specify the exact time of his birth. That's 27 1/2 Naaligai into the Ahilyam star. Since then, I have adjusted the timings of my home puja or prayers accordingly. Then after some years, in 2018 he switched the Jayanthi celebrations for us at Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) to Thai Pusam Day. Since then, I have adjusted the timings of my home puja or prayers accordingly again. As we look forward to carrying it out on Tuesday, 11 February, Sankar Aiya from the Agathiyar Sannadhi at the Adi Kumbeswarar Temple, Kumbakonam threw in a surprise message a couple of days ago. He tells me that he will be conducting the wedding for Agathiyar and Lobama at Sri Akilandeswari Ambal Sametha Sri Agastheeswarar Temple in Karuvalarcheri Road, Kumbakonama a day earlier on 10 February. That very instant I asked myself if I should carry out the wedding ceremony at AVM too since Agathiyar has been joined by Lobama. 

I had posted news of the wedding taking place at the home of a couple who had hosted Agathiyar last year and decided to get him a bride in bronze too at https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2024/01/agathiyar-lobama-wedding.html and https://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-big-day.html

I asked myself since he had carried out my 60th wedding last Guru Purnima, should I not carry out his wedding celebration too? Wanting to enquire further, speaking to Sankar Aiya he surprised me by asking the same. It brought tears to my eyes. I took it as Agathiyar's wish and proceeded to make arrangements to carry out his wedding. 

We came to know from Agathiyar in a Nadi reading for us some years back, that after engaging in years of Tapas and austerities, and having accomplished them sucessfully arriving at the state of a Siddha, as Agathiyar stood before Lord Siva thinking that he had completed all of Lord Siva's asking, the Lord smiled and told him that there was one last outstanding task and experience he had to gain. Lord Siva told him that he was to marry and found him a life partner too. 

Coming to present times, Sankar Aiya tells me that Agathiyar, just as he had revealed the exact time of his birth to me in my Nadi reding, in a Nadi reading for a devotee some 12 years back, revealed that his marriaged was solemized during Punar Poosam at the above temple before Lord Siva. Hence we now know both the story and reason behind Agathiyar's wedding being held there. 

IN THE HOURS OF SILENCE

ABOUT STORIES

AGATHIYAR PUJA

Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) that was the hub of action in its heyday is now as silent as a pin drop. Though it was the hub for all to gather to conduct puja and execute charity back then, all that prevails these days is silence. Meanwhile, Agathiyar is seeing to the fulfillment of all my desires and wants that I dropped, shelved, or forgotten. Ramalinga Adigal told me once that in letting go, the Prapanjam shall provide for us all our needs. Indeed my neighbor comes by bringing me food to sustain these days of solitary and silence that I was asked to observe. I am never left hungry. I guess the whole idea of having me go into solitary is just as we need a break from work, we need a break from puja, doing charity, and from people and the various vibes. Agathiyar has brought me to the ultimate teaching, that of silence, that was adopted both by Lord Dhakshanamurthy and Bhagawan Ramana.

Though Agathiyar has me stay in solitary there seems no end to the constant stream of thoughts that comes on. Although we are told not to focus on them or follow these thoughts, the stream and flow never ends. We can only watch our thoughts and do nothing to bring a stop to them. But what if there is no thought at all? What would it be like? It is indeed scary to imagine this state, the state of thoughtless state. This phase is to forget the body and know the self. The medium that ties up both is the breath or Uyir. Settling in the breath makes us forget the body and connect with the Self or Atma instead. This is the moment of Atma Darisanam. The Mother that is the breath or Uyir introduces us, the JeevAtma to the Father or ParamAtma. This journey is beautifully depicted in words by Ramalinga Adigal in the song "Aanipon Ambalathil".

Although he had me stay indoors and tend only to my family's needs, Agathiyar came through an invitation to conduct a puja in another state days ago. The host approached us through a relative of theirs who frequented our home puja. The former had been carrying out this annual puja for the past 23 years bringing in someone from an Ashram to conduct the prayers. This time around Agathiyar wanted to break their dependancy on another and instead set the stage for them to conduct the puja themselves in the years to come. Hence I saw myself with Mahindren's family arrive at 6.20pm. The puja was scheduled to start at 7pm. But Agathiyar came much earlier at 6.40. In fact, he was traveling with us, as we came to know later. He told the host that though he had come much earlier there was no reason for them to change their plans. Seeing him arrive I told the host to begin their home puja, what and how they would do daily at their altar, and continue with the day's special puja. I was surprised that they were rather lost on how to begin and looking at each other for a cue. Someone in the crowd then began a prayer for Lord Vinayagar. This was then followed by silence with each looking to the other for direction. Then someone started the ball rolling reciting the names of the Siddhas. It was obvious that these names were alien to those who gathered for Agathiyar called me over and asked that they stop reciting. He told me that the Arutperunjothi mantra would be a fine start and would blend well with those gathered as it was a simple chant to follow. I led the chant. He told those gathered to chant it from the navel and not just merely move their lips. After some time chanting the mantra, he then blessed all those gathered and addressed some. He told the host not to depend on a third party but to carry out the puja themselves. We understand that they never learned the trade by inviting another to conduct the puja. We tend to appreciate Tavayogi now for he had me carry out a smaller scale of the Yagam to coincide with his Agathiyar's Jayanthi back then. He came around later to fine-tune the rituals. We then picked it up and brought the Siddha puja into other's homes. We brought it into the corridors of the temples too. When I stood before Agathiyar finally I thanked him for being there with us. He replied that this was the reason "we" had to come. This surprised me. He did not say that he had come to bring the change but included me and Mahindren's family and the devotee who was a conduit to pass on the invitation from the host to me. So I had to break my moment of solitary and go over to attend the puja. 

Agathiyar had told me back then when he stopped all forms of puja and charity that whatever happened never to stop conducting his annual Jayanthi puja. Initially, this puja at AVM coincided with that of the parent ashram in Kallar and several other venues. But over time Agathiyar switched the date for us to coincide with Thaipusam. We shall be celebrating his Jayanthi on Tuesday 11 February 2025 between 12 noon and 1pm.