FEEDING

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks quotes a saying, “Many people worry about their own stomachs and the state of other people’s souls. The real task is to do the opposite: to worry about other people’s stomachs and the state of your own soul.” How true.

He quotes another, “Someone else’s material needs are my spiritual responsibility.” 

Let us bring cheer and joy to others in ways that would fulfill their needs of the moment. The needs of the poor is very little. Almost always it centers upon food. Knowing this Ramalinga Adigal started the Satya Dharma Salai to feed the hungry at Vadalur in 1867. This activity continues till this day. This noble act has been picked up by many individuals and associations throughout the world. Sadhu Janagiraman and Sadhu Saravanan are among them. They run the Vallalar Mission in Thiruvannamalai. They feed the sadhus and hungry daily and on a large scale during the Karthigai Deepam season. Both sadhus are very passionate about their work and the teachings of Ramalinga Adigal.

Locally Sri Krishna and his family have taken up the call of feeding the hungry and poor. Many noble souls seeing him go live on the streets, have called him up to offer themselves in service. This has been very encouraging and serves as a motivation for him to do further. 

Sri Krishna expanded his service to all fields, reaching out to the poor, old, young, disabled, hungry and unfortunate both locally and abroad.

Just as we light a wick from another flame, while Sri Krishna took the cue from Sadhu Janagiraman and Sadhu Saravanan, Thondu Seivom and Amudha Surabhi took the cue from him and began serving and distributing food to those in the homes and food parcels to the homeless too. The flame from Satya Dharma Salai in Vadalur now is lighted in all these souls in Malaysia.

JEEVAKARUNYAM

I met Sadhu Janagiraman at a function last night. He put forward a question: Given a tumbler of milk,  an earthen lamp, a wick and a match, how do you light it up? He went on to give a beautiful explanation comparing the process that is required first to convert the raw milk into the finished product that is ghee in order to light the lamp, with the process of conversion and transformation that is required in us to attain the state of Jhothi.

UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP 2

When the orthopedic surgeon in the government hospital suggested a procedure that was new to our circles but was used successfully to mend sports injuries in the US since the early 2000's, I took it up, praying that he could mend my daughter's broken tibia and fibula finally.

After she was knocked down by a car while riding pillion, the doctor at the emergency wards assured us that as she was only twenty it was sufficient for the moment to wrap her broken leg in plaster and let mother nature work on it in due course and heal the injured leg . But on our insistent that her internship should not be disrupted the good doctor suggested to have an external fixation done on her leg that would enable her to continue her internship within a month instead of three.

The next day a senior medical officer visiting her at the wards reverses the decision and goes back to the original decision relying on nature to heal itself. Later I meet him where he shares why he insisted on leaving it to nature.

But contrary to the expectations of the doctors, hers was a case of non-union that affected an unfortunate 5% of the casualties. My daughter ended up in a fiber cast for the next 9 months. The doctor had to break the news that there was no way now but to place a plate, something that the doctors were trying very much to avoid having to do and we were praying should not happen. The orthopedic surgeon who was seeing her all the while, began to explain to us how he was going to go about performing the operation. Then almost immediately and as if upon second thought he put forward another suggestion. He recommended another procedure, called Autologous Conditioned Plasma or ACP, although common in the US but was still new in Malaysia. This procedure did not necessitate that her leg be cut opened to place the plate but instead autologous platelet-rich-plasma from a small sample of her blood is induced into her the point of injury, prompting healing effects caused by growth factors released from the platelets.

The doctor's priced suggestion came as a boon for us, music to our ears for she need not have to undergo surgery. The procedure involved injecting into her bone the concentrating growth factors thrice. It worked after the very first treatment! After subsequent treatments her fractured bone finally began to mend together. She walks perfectly well today without any indication of her having met with an accident or receiving orthopedic treatment.

The doctors did their part with utmost dedication, treating her carefully, trying to avoid an operation at all cost, preferring to wait for mother nature to work her wonders. But when there was no positive development, they began to take other appropriate measures and options.

We on our part prayed that she should respond well to the treatment and that she should begin to walk without any form of deformity in her legs. We picked up Dhanvantari's mantra along the way and my daughter began writing this mantra in a note daily. An aunt of hers who herself was diagnosed with cancer brought back the sacred sesame oil used during libation or abhisegam on Lord Dhanvantri at his temple in Chennai, that is given out as prasadham to be applied externally. Agathiyar too assured us in the Nadi that he was there for her and had asked us to refrain from being tempted to seek other forms of alternative treatment, but rather to continue treatment in the government hospital. He assured us that there would not be any major surgery but instead only a minor procedure. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

On 6 December 2015 I received a disturbing news that my mother was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It came as a surprise and shock to the family as she was healthy although she was approaching her 90's. She had complained of breathing difficulties and asked to be admitted. 

On arrival at the private hospital, I was informed that as her vital organs were failing, she was in the High Dependency Unit (HDU). She was conscious and could take sips of water and bits of food although she was all wired up. The doctors and hospital staffs attended to her well, caring for her with all the love and attention for it is not everyday you get to receive a patient who has reached the prime ripe age of ninety.

The family prayed to Erai and the Siddhas to spare her life. We included her in our prayers asking for her speedy recovery. We chanted Lord Dhanvantri's mantra seeking his grace and hoping that he performs a miracle. We chanted Agathiyar's mantra, one given to me in the Nadi many years ago, that Agathiyar said will remove curses, sins, illnesses and arrogance in an individual. We chanted another mantra provided by Agathiyar too in the Jeeva Nadi that he said will help prolong one's life span too. 

By Erai's grace my mother began to recover fast. She was moved to the ICU from the HDU the following day. To our delight and joy, her condition became stable and she was transferred to the normal wards shortly. On 14 December 2015, to our relieve, she was discharged and sent home. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

When my second daughter came down with the dengue fever and was finally warded as her platelet hit a bottom 29, the doctors attended to her but could only wait and watch monitoring her platelet levels and more importantly the Packed Cell Volume (PCV) or in lay terms the “thickness of the blood”, hence dispelling a strongly held belief that dengue deaths occur due to a low platelet count. After conducting our prayers responsibly, as we waited for a miracle to take place, the doctors gave us the good news that her condition had improved and that she could be discharged the very next day. Surendaran Selvaratnam who was having his Jeeva Nadi reading read at Kallar Ashram, calls me from India to inform us that Agathiyar came with Tirumular to the hospital to heal my daughter, specifically mentioning that they both raised her platelet level. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered. 

When I came down with the dengue fever the following year, I had to stay for four days for observation since I had several falls during that period. We waited it out. Finally the doctors informed me that I could go back. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

When my wife had to undergo a procedure that involved spinal anesthesia, Agathiyar in the Nadi told us to go ahead and assured us that he would be at her side during the procedure. In fact he removed the fear we had by revealing the exact procedure that was going to be done by the doctors at the government hospital. As usual we prayed hard and lighted the lamp, something he had always wanted us and other devotees to do when faced with difficulties, sorrow and danger. My wife came through fine. 

When she had bile duct stones called gallstones lodged in the bile duct, causing a blockage, the doctors successfully removed the stones. As the doctors kept suggesting that she remove the gallbladder for the chances of further blockages arising was high and asked us to make a decision on the spot to enable them to book ahead the operating theater, I immediately called Nadi Nool Aasan to know what Agathiyar had to say. Aasan replied that he would check the Nadi and call me back. Within half an hour, he got back to me. Agathiyar told us to go ahead with the operation, clearly detailing the procedure and explaining the pros and cons. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

When my mother-in-law went into a state of depression due to hormonal imbalances, again we prayed that she should come out of that state. My wife requested Tavayogi and Mataji to look into the Jeeva Nadi in their possession at their Kallar Ashram for a remedy. Agathiyar in the Jeeva Nadi gave us a mantra to be chanted 108 daily. We chanted the mantra diligently on her behalf and my mother-in-law came out of her delusion. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

Tavayogi who went to find out why his fever never subsided was initially diagnosed as having urine infection but later the doctors found that he had heart blockage, was immediately operated on and is recovering well. The AVM family prayed for his well being. Many asked how is it a yogi could succumb to this forgetting that a fatal attack had been prevented through an early diagnosis that came about through admission for something else. When our prayers are granted, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

Agathiyar has advised my wife to take treatment at the government hospitals all the while, while he advised my daughter to get allopathic medicine and treatment for some ailments and seek out Siddha medication for others. For many more, he specifies certain rituals at certain temples to be carried out as remedies to certain illnesses and misfortune. We are fortunate to have him tell us the cause and the remedy. It only needs commitment on our part to bring relieve to our sufferings and ailments. 

UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP 1

Even the hardcore atheist or world renowned motivators would agree that there was an intelligence above and beyond all their beliefs and efforts. Their effort is only until taking the food to their mouth. They are in no control of what ensues after that. Neither can they divert the food elsewhere. 

An intelligence designed the digestive system in a unique way to turn the food we eat into nutrients, which the body uses for energy, growth and cell repair. Similarly it designed the excretory system and many more wonders. 

There is an intelligence that works on the food right from digesting it in the mouth, pushing it down the esophagus, and into the stomach where further digestion takes place and eventually it is absorbed through the intestines. Saliva mixes with food to begin the process of breaking it down into a form the body can absorb and use beginning in the mouth. Through a series of contractions called peristalsis, the esophagus pushes the food into the stomach, making sure that the food does not pass backwards into the esophagus by the placement of a valve just before the connection to the stomach. The stomach turns into a mixer and grinder where acid and powerful enzymes are secreted that continue the process of breaking down the food. A 20 feet long intestine, that is neatly packed into our abdomen, continues the process of breaking down food by using enzymes released by the pancreas and bile from the liver. What is left of the food we ate is passed on to the large intestine or 5-6 feet long colon. Sensors in the rectum informs the brain that it is time to defecate. What a wonder this body is. 

Where is our input throughout this whole process? It is to acknowledge this wonder and show his gratefulness that man began worship.

Even the hardcore atheist or world renowned motivators would agree that their effort in wanting a child ends with the discharge of the sperm into the vagina of their partner. From thereon the sperm travels on a path determined by an intelligence till only one sperm gains entry into the egg which immediately shuts its doors to others. Once in, a wonderful process of union takes shape and eventually forms a fetus that takes further shape till a wonderful infant is delivered to the outside world.  

Sperm production starts in the testicles, the two glands contained in the scrotal sac beneath the penis. The testicles hang outside the body because they are sensitive to temperature. To produce healthy sperm efficiently they have to stay at a balmy 34 degrees C. This is about four degrees cooler than normal body temperature.

From start to finish it takes about 10 weeks to create a new sperm cell. The average sperm lives only a few weeks in a man’s body, and at least 39 million are set free with each ejaculation.

Once the sperm is created, it’s stored in each testicle in the epididymis, a six-meter long coiled tube. Just before ejaculation the sperm is scooped up and mixed with semen.

Some mysterious hand leads a male reproductive cell to an egg cell in the female, fusing with it and developing into a new organism. But it isn't as easy as it seems. The battle and onslaught that we face in life starts even before we have taken shape.

Those millions of sperm have begun their quest to find your egg, and it’s not an easy journey. The first obstacle may be your cervical mucus, which can seem like an impenetrable net on your non-fertile days. When you’re most fertile, however, it miraculously loosens up so the strongest swimmers can get through.

The sperm that survive still have a long road ahead. In all they need to travel about 18 cm from the cervix through the womb to the Fallopian tubes. When you consider that they travel at a rate of roughly 2.5 cm every 15 minutes, that’s quite a trip. The fastest swimmers may find the egg in as little as 45 minutes. It can take the slowest up to 12 hours. If the sperm don’t find an egg in the Fallopian tubes at the time of intercourse, they can survive inside you for up to seven days. This means that if you ovulate within this time window you could still conceive.

The mortality rate for sperm is very high and only a few dozen ever make it to the egg. The rest get trapped, lost (perhaps heading up the wrong Fallopian tube) or die along the way. For the few that get near the egg, the race isn’t over. Each one has to work frantically to penetrate the egg’s outer shell and get inside before the others. The egg needs to be fertilized within 24 hours of its release. When the hardiest sperm of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously to prevent any others getting in. It’s like a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment the first sperm is safely inside.

It is a miraculous journey all the way. It is a miracle how a single and lone cell battles all odds and its competitors and survives to fertilize the egg.

The ovaries are packed with eggs, which are made before you are even born. Every baby girl is born with 1 to 2 million eggs in each of her ovaries.

Many eggs begin dying off almost immediately and the rest steadily decrease in number as you get older. When you start your periods, usually between the ages of about 10 and 14, only about 600,000 eggs are still viable. By the age of 30, scientists calculate that about 72,000 viable eggs remain. You’ll probably release about 400-500 eggs during your fertile years, between your first period and the menopause. In countries such as the UK, the average age of menopause is about 51.

During each menstrual cycle, some time after your period, between three and 30 eggs start to mature in one of your ovaries. The ripest egg is then released, a process known as ovulation. The egg is quickly sucked up by the tulip-shaped opening of the nearest Fallopian tube. There are two Fallopian tubes, each about 10 cm in length, which lead from the ovaries to the womb.

Ovulation is usually about 14 days before your next period starts.

The average egg lives for up to 24 hours after release. It needs to be fertilized by a sperm within this time for a baby to be conceived. If your egg meets up with a healthy sperm on its way to the womb, the process of creating a new life begins. If not, the egg ends its journey at the womb and disintegrates.

During fertilization, the genetic material in the sperm and egg combine to create a new cell that will rapidly start dividing. This bundle of new cells is known as the blastocyst. It continues travelling down the Fallopian tube towards the womb, a journey which can take another three days or so.

The gender of your baby depends on which type of sperm burrows into the egg first. Sperm with a Y chromosome will make a boy baby, and sperm with an X chromosome will make a girl.

Source: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a545272/how-you-conceive

Having survived the ordeal and journey, the fetus begin's to take shape. Again a mysterious hand looks over it while it begins to form and grow in the comfort and safety of it's mothers' womb.

Where is our input throughout this whole process? It is to acknowledge this wonder that man began worship.

We have to begin thanking this intelligence that keeps guard 24/7 and checks on all the systems making sure everything is running perfectly, something we take for granted till we find ourselves faced with an illness. In event the system fails, it calls up backup units to mend and make good the defect.

This intelligence provides for our offspring, something we take for granted till we find that we cannot conceive for various reasons.  

Where is our input throughout this whole process? It is to acknowledge this wonder and show his gratefulness that man began worship.

When having problems conceiving, or a problem develops with the fetus, besides seeking proper medical attention, the Siddhas direct devotees and believers to several temples including Karuvalarcheri and Garbarakshambigai temple to offer prayers and register their desire. When their desires and Erai's desire are the same, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

When having problems finding a soulmate, the Siddhas advocate going to Thirumanancheri Temple. On the local front Agathiyar has asked devotees to visit his temple at Eco City, offering prayers to Mother Goddess and Lord Shiva and himself. When their desires and Erai's desire are the same, a miracle takes place. The prayer is answered.

Reference: https://www.webmd.com

https://www.babycentre.co.uk