There are a multitude of Gods, Goddesses, and deities. Then there is a multitude of Siddhas, Rishis, and Munis, too. Then there are the Gurus in the physical form. After taking up the call by Agathiyar in my very first Nadi reading in 2002, and coming to worship the Siddhas, Agathiyar brought me to my very first guru, Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai in 2003, and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram in 2005. What makes Agathiyar, Supramania Swami, and Tavayogi stand out among the rest?
Unlike settling down feeling good that their followers adore, admire, and worship them, seeing them singing their praises, and doing service to them, attending to their needs and wants, and rather then keeping their followers at their side, remaining merely followers forever, often taking possession of them, Agathiyar, Supramania Swami, and Tavayogi showed us the means to attain their very state instead. They went beyond preaching, teaching, and guiding. They provided us with all the necessary tools, methods, and practices for this purpose. They then continued to supervise and monitor us, checking in on us to ensure we were doing it correctly. They try their very best to uplift us to their state, leading us on the path first as a Guru, wrapping their arms around us to shelter us from danger as a Father does, embracing us in their arms with love and care as a Mother does, then walking alongside us, wrapping their arms around our sholders, as a Companion and Friend, holding our hands tightly as a Lover does, and enveloping us as Mother Earth and the Prapanjam does. By attaining the state of Purity, Completeness, and Contentment, the ParamAtma then comes down and within, to meet the JeevAtma in us to dance the cosmic dance that paves the way for us to merge in Sat, Chit, Ananda, or Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss, becoming the very Light or Jothi that they are.
We must first set aside all our previous readings, understandings, and opinions, and come empty before being filled with new experiences and new learning. Lord Siva, coming in a dream in 1988, asked that I keep all my doubts and questions that arose after my extensive readings did not tally with what took place around me, for a later date. I left it all, including my temple visits and home worship. I was empty during the next 14 years. Reading the Nadi in 2002, Agathiyar filled me in about the reasons for all sufferings, something that I was trying to figure out and reason out before I had the dream.
By first revealing my past Karma in the Nadi in 2002, he had me worship them and go on pilgrimages in 2003, where we shed the Karma by taking long walks that test our endurance and bringing us into contact with Mother Earth, washing the Karma away by dipping into her Holy waters, having the wind which carried the mantras chanted while doing remedies, huff and puff and blow the Karma away, lighting the Homam and have the fire consume all our shortcomings, worries, troubles, sufferings, and whatever Karma that remains. Seeing these burn into ashes, finally, their attention and grace turn towards us. We then pleased the Gods and Goddesses and the Siddhas and cooled them off by carrying out libations to their statues, beginning in 2010. In 2018, Lord Muruga told me in the Nadi that henceforth, he had changed my destiny. This is how my gurus have helped change my fate,
The Thrashings
In nurturing us, they are not always kind, though. Here is where we have to be prepared for brickbats thrown at us, and prepared to be tormented and burned, for how else are we to lose our hold on all the trash that we picked up along the way that is dragging us further into the murky swamp. When seen positively, it is a process of molding, of preparing and bringing the Body, Breath, and Soul to reach their state.
When Agathiyar asked me to build a temple for him in my first Nadi reading in 2002, I was elated and floating, thinking that I was the chosen one and privileged to carry it out. Sivabalan dropped the bombshell, pointing out that I was not special after all, as Agathiyar had asked 50 others before me.
Tavayogi, during the very first meeting in 2005, where I had gone to look him up, stopped me from falling at his feet, a customary tradition, and upheld when one is before a saintly person, and instead pointed me to the wooden sandals that symbolized the Holy Feet of Agathiyar at the local Peedham. Later, when he stepped into my home, taking up my invitation, he passed the word that he did not want us to do Paatha Puja or the traditional ritual of washing the feet of the Holy and saintly. The last blow came as I sent him back to the Peedham he was putting up in, with my nephew on the wheel. As I thanked him profusely for coming over, blessing us and our home, he turned to me, saying that I was living in Maya and was consumed by it. He continued saying that I was thinking that he had something within his apparel of a mendicant. He said he had nothing and was a nobody. He then pointed me to the Light within each of us. He said that he chose to call it Agathiyar, asking me to worship Agathiyar rather than him. I was dumbfounded and speechless. He trashed the blissful and joyful state I was in then. I was silent throughout the journey back to the Peedham. So was he. We dropped him off and returned home. I did not know what to figure out. It hurt me. But I went back to the Peedham to see him and be in his presence. I figured it out later and am truly grateful to him. If he had not spoken those words, I would have returned home and enlarged his photo, framed it, and hung it in my living room. I would have adored him, admired him, and worshiped him. But instead, I took up the worship of Agathiyar as he told me to. I have now come to adore, admire, and worship Agathiyar instead.
If Agathiyar and Tavayogi had told me to frequent the local Peedham where he put up after he left for India, Agathiyar, mysteriously amending a previous Nadi reading, had me come under Tavayogi's wings. Arriving at his Kallar Ashram after taking up his invitation and following the directive of Agathiyar in the Nadi, I met Vimalan and Suresh from Tiruvannamalai, who had stayed back after the Pornami Puja. Suresh brought out a Rudraksha and showed Tavayogi, asking about wearing it on him. Tavayogi approved but told him to be respectful of the bead as it is symbolic of Lord Siva. Once he left, Tavayogi turned to me, surprised me, saying, "We do not need it, my son." Then he turned his gaze on my fingers and saw my nine-stone-studded gold ring, or Navaratnam ring, on my finger. He told me the same. I was confused now, as I was told to wear these gems on my finger by Supramania Swami, telling me that they would do good. Then I told him that I was wearing a mercury bead or Rasamani on me too, to which he said the same. As we took our bath in the Kallar river, the days I was there, I would stash this ring, my pasport and money in a steel cabinet in Tavayogi's room for safekeeping. Once returning from our bath, the ring went missing. After some time, frantically searching for it, Tavayogi retrieved it from the angle iron frame of the cabinet. It had apparently rolled out from my sachet into the groove. Several days later, as I sat before Supramania Swami, who was charting my horoscope, I realized that I had lost one of the stones, the Yellow Sapphire. One cannot wear it now as it is incomplete. I kept it and the Rasamani bead away for good. I was taught to let go.
Agathiyar in asking me to control my anger, giving me a sermon in my Nadi reading for an hour back then, immediately put me to the test by blocking me from boarding my car with my family and driving away. My family had a good laugh, looking up to the skies to see if there was a CCTV, while I was fuming. I failed the test. Again and again he came to remind me, finally asking if he had to take up the cane, his Vaasi Kol, the stick that the Siddhas place under their arm to regulate their breath, again.
After some 24 years on the path, and coming under the wings of Supramania Swami from 2003 to 2007, and that of Tavayogi from 2005 to 2018, and worshiping Agathiyar between 2002 and 2019, Agathiyar brought all worship and charity to a standstill by bringing the shutters down and winding up AVM. I was taught to let go. He had me go within. In ending this period of solitude, he had me go back to society with a reminder only to watch all that was happening around and laugh it off.
Then another blow came in the form of a devotee reminding Bhagawan Ramana's words to Sadhu Om to do what we came for. This was repeated at a Puja in our home, jokingly but continuously, by another devotee who picked it up then and repeated it.
Then Agathiyar came through a devotee some time back, telling me that I should drop my hold on him too. But "How could I?" I exclaimed. I only knew him. Tavayogi told me to hold on to him. Where would I go? Who would I turn to, since Supramania Swami and Tavayogi had gone into Samadhi? Agathiyar replied, asking me, "How else can we become one?"
Agathiyar brought me from Dvaita to Advaita. Agathiyar brought me out of Bakti and Devotion to Gnanam just as Tavayogi had always harped about this much-needed transition to progress further.
Supramania Swami did not keep me under his wings either. He was not possessive of me when I shared my Nadi reading the second time I saw him in 2005, where Agathiyar, in telling me that Tavayogi was my guru, asked me to spend several days with him. Supramania Swami sent me off to meet Tavayogi, packing a thick blanket and placing it in the trunk of the car, saying the Nilgiri hills would be cold. He told me to tell my guru that he had enquired about him. I saw the love, kindness, and most of all the humbleness in him. Upon completing my travels with Tavayogi and returning to Supramania Swami, the first thing he asked was about Tavayogi's well-being, enquiring, "How is your Guru, Raja?" Again, I saw the humbleness in him.
If Tavayogi took up lighting the Yagam annually to contain Mother Earth's and Prapanjam's wrath and anger that we saw as the churning of the ocean and the Tsunami in 2004, Agathiyar had a devotee take notes in his meditation as Lord Siva spoke about the pandemic of 2019 and our role in helping subdue it, by lighting a fire pit, hence aiding and healing Mother Earth and Prapanjam. Later, Prapanjam herself came through another devotee asking us to do it again, fearing a recurrence of the dreaded virus.
The Blessings
Agathiyar came through a devotee and conducted our 60th wedding on Guru Purnima of 2024. He had me take notes a day earlier and asked me to read them out to the attendees. I did as told. He summarized the entire journey in three pages. Here again, he charts the journey in simple terms for those keen to undertake. In asking us who Agathiyan is, he explains the journey of transformation into him, or rather, to rediscover him in us. He poses the questions to us and answers them, too.
"Who is Agathiyan?
You are. I am. True. We all are Agathiyan. The Jothi or flame in us is Agathiyan. He resides as the fire, flame, heat, and warmth in us. He is Esan. He is the Esan who resides within.
Why is it that we do not realize nor feel him?
It is because we have not attained the state of preparedness or readiness to realize him. Once our soul attains this state, we shall begin to realize him.
How can we attain this state of preparedness? First, we have to travel this path. We need to travel to the places and abodes of the Siddhas, witness their miracles, enter the states of bliss, and bring back these feelings and work on them, nurturing them. The Siddha shall come down. When we follow their directives they shall walk with us holding our hands. This travel then shall not be that of an external but of an internal journey. Yoga is the key to this travel within. From Sariyai arriving at Kriyai, now they shall teach Yogam. The journey within shall begin. You shall witness happenings. You shall see many things. It would be puzzling to you. It would be new to you too. Continuing this internal journey, you shall arrive at each Chakra and eventually see the cosmic dance of Thillai in Sahasrara. A 1000-petaled flower will keep on opening up continuously. Arutjothi will come to reside here. Then its effulgence enters within, and just as how the Kundalini upon awakening traverses each Chakra purifying them, this effulgence brings on the shine and luminosity in them. Jothi Darisanam takes place where one sees the light or effulgence. The body takes on the same. Vibrations begin to emit within and around us and are felt by those tuned to receive and feel around us. They shall follow you. You become a Jeeva Mukta, having attained Mukti while living in the flesh.
Henceforth you are no different from Agathiyan and Agathiyan is no different from you. You are me and I am you."
யார் அகத்தியன்?
நீ அகத்தியன். நான் அகத்தியன். உண்மை. நாம் எல்லோரும் அகத்தியன். நம் உள் உள்ள ஜோதி அகத்தியன். அவர் அகத்துள் உறையும் தீ அகத்தியன். அவர் ஈசன். அவர் அகத்துள் உறையும் ஈசன். ஏன் நாம் அவரை உணர்வதில்லை? ஏன் நாம் இதனை உணர்வதில்லை? நாம் பக்குவம் அடையவில்லை. நாம் ஆத்மா பக்குவம் அடைந்தால் நாம் இதனை உணர்வோம். நாம் எப்படி பக்குவம் அடைவது? முதலில் இந்த பாதையில் பயணிக்க வேண்டும். சித்தர்கள் வாசம் செய்யும் இடங்களுக்குச் சென்று, பல அற்புதங்களைக் கண்டு மகிழ்ந்து, உணர்ந்து, பின்னர் அவ் உணர்வுடன் இல்லம் திரும்பி, அவர்களை நினைத்து நினைத்து உருகிப் பூஜிக்க வேண்டும். சித்தன் இறங்கி வருவான். பின் அவன் கட்டளைக்கு ஏற்ப நடந்து வந்தால் விரைவில் அவன் உங்கள் கரங்களைப் பிடித்துக் கொண்டு பயணிப்பான். இப்பயணம் வெளிப் பயணம் அன்று, உள் பயணம் ஆகும். உள் பயணத்திற்குத் திறவுகோல் யோகம். சரியையிலிருந்து கிரியைக்கு வந்த பின்னர் இப்போது யோகம் பயிற்றுவிப்பான். அப்போது உள் பயணம் ஏற்படும். பல நிகழ்வுகளைக் காண்பீர். பலதும் உணர்வீர். புதிராகவும் இருக்கும். புதியதாகவும் இருக்கும். இவ் உள் பயணத்தைத் தொடர்ந்து வந்தால் ஒவ்வொரு சக்கரமாகச் சென்று அடைந்து பின் இறுதியில் சஹஸ்ராரத்தில் தில்லை நடனத்தைக் காணலாம். எந்நேரமும் அங்கு ஆயிரம் தாழ் மலர் ஒன்று விரிந்து கொண்டே செல்லும். அருட்சோதி அங்கு வந்து உறையும். பின் அதன் பிரகாசம் உள் சென்று எப்படி குண்டலினி ஒவ்வொரு சக்கரமாக மேலே சென்றதோ, சென்று கழிவுகளை விளக்கி தூய்மை செய்ததோ, அதுபோல் அருட்சோதி கீழ்ச் சென்று ஒவ்வொரு சக்கரமும் பிரகாசிக்கச் செய்யும். ஜோதி தரிசனம் கிட்டும். உடல் ஜோதிப் பிழம்பாக திகழும். உடல் பிரகாசிக்கும். உடலில் இருந்து அதிர்வுகள் நீண்டு உங்களைச் சூழ்ந்து மற்றவர்களைத் தாக்கும். பலர் இதனை உணரக் கூடும். பக்குவம் அடைந்தவர்கள் புரிந்து கொண்டு பின் தொடர்வார்கள். அப்போது நீ ஜீவ முக்தன் ஆகிவிடுவாய். உனது ஜீவன் முக்தி அடைந்து விட்டது. பின் நீ வேறு அகத்தியன் வேறு அல்ல. நீயே நானாய், நானே நீயாய் திகழ்வோம்.
"Through your daily worship of the Siddhas, we saw joy and bliss prevail daily in your home. It is a powerhouse. I have provided for my blessings and compassion to all who step within your home. Your home is a compassionate fortress (Kottam). We have sought refuge and come to stay in your fort. We are here to stay for good as joy and bliss prevail in your home. Your home is my home. It is Gurumuni's Peedham. All practices shall be made available here. Lord Siva, Parvathi, and Lord Muruga shall bless all. Mukti and Siddhi shall be in abundance. The hunger and thirst for Gnanam shall be relieved here. Lord Siva has come down here. We played our divine game, and Lila here. Many saw miracles and felt the bliss here. Seeing the many variants in worship makes us happy."எங்களை தினமும் தொழுது தெளிவு தேற்றம் ஏகாந்த நிலை கண்ட மைந்தன் நீதான். மங்களங்கள் தன் இல்லில் நாளும் கண்டேன். மகத்துவ சக்தி கொண்ட இல்லம் அப்பா. இல்லமதில் என் ஆசி கருணை எல்லாம் ஏற்றமுடன் நீ காண வழி வகுத்தேன். இல்லமதில் எல்லை இல்லா அருளும் ஆசி ஏக்கமில்லா மாந்தர் வாழ கருணைக் கோட்டம். கோட்டத்தில் அடைக்கலம் புகுந்தோம் நாங்கள். ஆட்சியாய் வாசம் செய்வோம் உன் இல்லில் தான். ஆனந்தம் பேரானந்தம் உந்தன் இல்லம். உன் இல்லம் என் இல்லம். வினைப்போக்கும் குருமுனி பீடம். வித்தை எல்லாம் கற்றுவிக்கும் விருட்சம் அப்பா. அப்பனின் அன்னையின் ஆசி நிறைந்து ஆறுமுகன் கருணைப் பார்வை நிறைந்து மூப்பான நிலை அடைய வைக்கும் இல்லம். முக்திக்கும் சித்திக்கும் பஞ்சம் ஏது பஞ்சமில்லா ஞான வேட்கை தணியும் அப்பா. பரமசிவன் இரங்கி வந்து மகிழ்ந்த இல்லம். கொஞ்சி விளையாடியே மகிழ்ந்தோம் நாங்கள். அங்கு பல அற்புதங்கள் அதிசயங்கள் ஆனந்த நிலை அடைந்தார் சீடர் மாந்தர் பலர். ஓங்கியே சக்தி ஆசி ஓங்கி ஒளியும் ஓங்கி விதவிதமாய் போற்றி பூசை மகிழ்ச்சி.
If we sought refuge at their feet, here the Siddhas say otherwise. If we are always speaking about them. Agathiyar, coming earlier through a devotee, said that they too were always speaking about us. If Agathiyar used to stay for a brief moment, telling us that he had to either head for Kailash or Pothigai, he tells us now that he has come to stay in my home, which he calls a fort or Kottam, and his home too, calling it Gurumuni Peedham. We are truly blessed and indebted to our gurus.