In sharing with Mahin over the phone updating each other, and looking back he wrote back to me later.
Yes Anna. Here he asked us to conduct homam n chant mantra so that will clean Prabanjam and this sick will be over slowly. But in that naadi he told he will take care those say his name. What I understand is when we doing homam while our thoughts are settled & we’re neutral it will goes to everyone. But when we only think about ourselves it will help to clear our karma only. Anna always saying that while Anna looking more details about Siddha path at early stage at many different group, each group doing something different only. None are sync with oru Kodpaadu. So in that case, Appa looking at their Kodpaadu and answer them what they want only.
Mahin made me realize that the Siddhas approach is different to each individual and to groups of devotees too. In Tanjavur Ganesan Aiya's Nadi readings it was more towards rituals. In Hanumathdasan Aiya's readings, it was all about past karma and remedies. In the current bout of readings both in print and in circulation, it's about wrongdoings of certain quarters and about the devotees' need to uphold virtues. Only with us does Agathiyar share Gnanam. Even the rituals he gave us earlier were for the good of all and not for individual gain. Just as a father addresses each child differently according to their nature, needs and desires Agathiyar comes to them in the nature that they look towards him. All our thought, desires and wants, our questions and queries come back to us through Arul Vallu and Nadi in the forms and ways that we desire. Our desires and questions take shape before us through these mediums at least for now. Just as those into meditations will come to know their past as Tavayogi knew his, having moved away from the need to depend on Nadi, in going within our Atma shall enlighten us further and take us on another journey from there, we are told. The parents lead us to the temples or Sariyai. The gurus lead us into rituals and charity or Kriyai and later into Yogam as in the eight aspects of Yoga, once we learn to identify with the soul an entirely new journey takes on we are told. In putting an end to all the searching and questioning, and in going within nothing takes shape or arises then. There is only emptiness and the void, no shapes, no forms, and no names. What remains is full awareness. The awareness knows all. All prior questions are not answered but known. We do not need to understand but tend to know in these moments. If all our academic means of gathering facts and figures, all our intellectual discourses and discussions that are tainted by the ego, and all that is perceived through the senses is (mis)interpreted and distilled, and hence tainted too, only in knowing, the truth is known.
In realizing that Agathiyar has a different approach to each of his devotees and also sectors and groups of his devotees I look back at my insignificant journey that I have come to treasure. I had my first audience with Agathiyar through a Nadi reading in 2002. He addressed me and my life, both past and present, and threw in a few glimpses of my future. Going over to the local affiliate of Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar's Ongarakudil at Dengkil, I came to read further about the movement and their charity drives. I was impressed by his talks back then carried in VCDs and books that carried his writings. This drove me to his kudil while on my maiden trip to India to carry out my parikaram or remedies. Then in 2010 Nool Aasan Thamaraiselvan Ramaiya Aiya (Selvam) recommended a blog சித்தர்கள் ராஜ்யம். Browsing through it led me to another blog சித்தன் அருள். I got hooked on it and began to share translations of numerous posts into English on my blog. I sought to buy the full five volumes of these Nadi revelations in print. Gnana Jothiamma purchased them from its publisher Aranthangi Shankar. I got to read more stories from it. These were solely about one's karma and remedies and stories from the past, if I may say. Then when Nadi Nool Aasan J. Ganesan of the Siddhar Arut Kudil, Thanjavur published online Nadi reading for their Arut Kudil, both in print and audio, I came to know that these were about rituals solely to the extent that some upheld what was said in these Nadi readings and pointed out to us the need to have our fingernails trimmed if we were to sit at a Yagam or Homam. These days we get audio readings from numerous sources that are not substantiated as to their source or venue where it is read, or to whom it is read to, where Agathiyar is seen to go on a spate of anger, cursing wrongdoers who use the name of Siddhas and make numerous claims. I began to ask if I was on the list of his targets too. I made my way to him and asked for forgiveness if I had wronged him.
Agathiyar nor Tavayogi never intervened in our rituals back then allowing us full freedom to experiment. All Agathiyar asked was that we perform abhisegam or libation to his statue upon arrival on our shores back then in 2010 and recite his mantra that was his name too 100,000 times. We did as told taking the cue from Mataji. She sent me a list of items some 23 that were commonly used to bathe the idols at temples. I picked up 16, more than the 9 he had asked for thinking the more the merrier. She told me to gather some devotees together and as each recites the mantra it would become a cumulative count and that we could achieve the said number of chants. But we only managed 45,000 rounds that day. But the most compassionate father accepted both the ritual and the chant. Even when Tavayogi started us doing Homam, he did not dictate nor show us the way. He said it was a simple thing and nothing to fear as I hesitated to do it for it was the turf and domain of the trained priestly kind. The Siddhas accepted it. They never intervened nor did they change or add on more regimes or discipline in our rituals. In fact, it was we who in figuring out how best to improve on our puja added on more songs and took more time to execute the rituals bringing it to last 2 hours and more at times thinking it was richer in a sense. Then Tavayogi came and performed both the Homam and Abhisegam at my home on his next visit. It was over in a jiffy. Later Goddess Ma came to perform abhisegam to Agathiyar's idol and she too did it in a jiffy. Then Bhogar came and did it in a jiffy too. Here was a lesson taught to us by the Siddhas and the Gods. We changed our method by watching them do it. Our puja was shortened tremendously. The Siddhas came to address us followed by the lesser deities and the Gods and Goddesses too after each puja. I saw only mature devotees make a beeline to them, standing before them in silence while the Gods realizing their needs of the moment addressed those issues, as opposed to the many who came to ask for petty desires and wishes to be fulfilled elsewhere, be it through the divine words or Arul Vakku or the Nadi.
Many years into the rituals, we realized that we could not sustain our thoughts on these rituals as we saw a change take place within where the recitations and chanting and singing slowly died down on their own as we found joy in just sitting and taking in the ambiance and energy that prevailed during puja. We had evolved further. I guess Agathiyar knew that we were ready to go within, as he came to endorse it, asking us to stop all external forms of worship and to go within, worshiping him silently within the inner chambers of our hearts. Those were blissful moments. Agathiyar and the other Siddhas, our gurus, and deities began to speak from within us and from within other devotees in these hours of silence. They spoke about Gnanam. Then I realized that it was only here at AVM that we see Agathiyar speak about Gnanam. The whole model of our puja had changed from one that was charged with energy with activities and lots of singing to sitting quiet and receiving their energies for a change and for once. We remember Agathiyar tell us that one should refrain from performing rituals at Samadhis of gurus and Siddhas, and instead take in the enormous amount of energy from these places or vortices by sitting quietly in meditation. Sadly we are turning these Samadhis into places of worship and rituals too. Generally, temples do need to be energized following the Kumbabishekam with the daily routine and regime in rituals but not the Samadhis. Agathiyar in telling us that we were to give him both form and life when he directed us to commission his statue, is telling us that it is we who bring God alive, who is in all, into the living presence of a material form, both tangible and seen. It is we who bring God alive first in the states then later in our thoughts. Soon the living God arrives to lodge for good in the inner sanctum of our hearts never to depart. A temple shall be destroyed, a place of worship burned down and our memory might fail us but he shall live on in the abode of our hearts till we perish.
அருள் கொண்ட என் மைந்தன் உன் இல்லம் புகுந்து அமறுவேன் அதன் பின்னே பீடம் தன்னில். நல் நவவகை அபிடேகம் செய்து குறித்தபடி லட்ச உரு என் நாமம் செப்ப ஆட்சியை உரு கொடுத்து உயிரும் தந்து அனுமார அதன் பின்னே பீடம் அமரத் தான் வழி நீயும் செய்வாய் மைந்தா.
So we understand the concept of temples and the need to energize the statues constantly. Man who has the potential to become God, for a beginning heads towards the temples seeking worldly things. When he begins to question the sufferings that come from his many asking, desires and wants, he then seeks to know the reasons for it. He steps into the next phase of life. He reaches out to the Gods in the temples, the priest and holy men, the gurus, and some are called to the Nadi. These places provide an answer to his queries and remove his delusion bringing on a realization and an awareness of the mechanics of life. If he chooses to tread further he shall delve deeper into the means to overcome sufferings as did Prince Siddhartha in the past. Those who pursue the inner path diligently become enlightened eventually. They have a true understanding of birth and death, of the world and its laws, and of life and its laws too. They reach a state of Samadhi or non-interference. They learn to watch as they can see through all these happenings past, present and future. Nothing bothers them. They see the futility in involving in the Lila or the divine game of God. They merely become the Watcher. This is when they unite and merge with the Greater Watcher. They tap into its energy. The Samadhis of theirs attain the highest states of divine energy. There is no need for us to energize them further through our rituals. All we need to do is to sit and partake in the energies that bring on a force and vibration within that drives the sluggish chakras in us to awaken, awakening us to realize our true potential too, that we too can become like them. Sadly we stop at the worship of these saints but never want to go further, following in their footsteps. Following in the footsteps does not mean we adorned the attire they had worn and live like them. It has nothing to do with the external appearance or lifestyle but one of adopting their words and teachings, putting them into practice, and seeing the changes take place within.
I came to receive several Nadi readings or was made aware of them in recent times purportedly from the Siddhas, cursing and angry with certain quarters. I refused to accept them as spoken by the Siddhas on reading it or hearing it initially. They were truly disturbing. I asked myself why are they so angry? The Siddhas we know are known to be gentle and kind, forgiving and compassionate. We have had the experience of interacting with them on a daily basis. They are never close to what we read and hear in this Nadis. Going by the recent spates of events and messages that came my way, I thought how could Agathiyar take sides when he tells us that he shall take care of those who say his name. What about the others then? Is he is not a father to all? Isn't he supposed to be impartial and unbias? Does that mean that the rest who don't know of the existence of Siddhas, who never came to them, and never worshipped them are doomed? Then what is the difference between man and the Siddhas? Man is known to say such things promising heaven and the kingdom of God to those who seek his form of God and his interpretation of God and condemns the rest to be doomed. He thinks his God created him and should only save him and those who follow in his path. If that is so who created the others from the other faiths? If God was one as many uphold, he must have created both the believer and the atheists, the good and the bad, the kind and cruel, etc. When we begin to segregate mankind saying God or the divine created the good and Satan created the bad and the evil, duality arises immediately. From one it becomes divided into two. Then we see the numerous divisions mushroom from these divisions further. The ripple effect starts. This is illusion and Maya. The moment we deviated from the one, Maya sets in and brings on further divisions. Only Agathiyar could and should answer.
As Mahin says further, "When a person becomes neutral & connected with Prabanjam, He will forgive everything like his anger & curse. When a person comes into a state where he forgives everything, everyone that’s bcm Gnanam" or நடு நிலையில் இருந்து காண்பதுதான் ஞானம், we have to learn to untangle ourselves and free ourselves from the very web that we had spun. We are now fully caught and entangled in its web. No amount of counseling from the saints can help us come out of it. We need their grace to come out of it. We need to cry out to them for help, not in elevating us from our human sufferings but to relieve our souls of its entanglement with worldly affairs. I need to remind myself daily too.
Agathiyar must pardon me for questioning his moves and motives. He had told me that his Nadi readings are true and that one should not spite it or have his curse fall upon them pointing me to a certain incident that happened to another in the past. But again we were told not to accept blindly their sayings, readings, teachings, etc but to delve deep into them, not in the sense of researching and investigating its authenticity but rather to understand the subtle "between the lines" messages. He had told us to mind our business and carry out what was given to us, even if the world around us came to an end. But I do not want to be the last man standing. I want this world and everything in it to survive especially in these times of the dreaded virus that has taken control of our lives for good. When the whole of the scientists and medical fields are battling to save lives and all of humanity and bring this pandemic under control, God cannot favor some and rid the others. These are the people we see in our eyes as God now, risking their lives staying on and working hard as front liners to save the lives of pensioners like me and others safe. I can opt to stay indoors for our safety. But they have to be on the field and out there. It brings tears to our eyes as the medical personals recall these moments of uncertainty and numerous deaths at https://youtu.be/8E3Smk06MJo. My prayer goes to them and I promise that I shall follow their plea to us to help battle the virus by staying home. That is all that I have to give them right now.
In bringing us to carry out rituals Agathiyar told me, who shied away from them for fear and for my un-keenness to engage in them, that I was not doing it for myself and for my personal gain but for the good of Prapanjam. If prior to this I had dragged my legs to do it, only then did I do it with a new resolve. Agathiyar came later to tell me that he was the Prapanjam and that the Prapanjam was in him too. I engaged in it wholeheartedly telling myself that it was for the good of all including me, my family and friends, and the Gods and deities too. Lately, Lord Shiva came to address our prayer for the pandemic to end. He made no promises. All he told us was that we had brought it on ourselves and that we need to fight a sole battle without the aid of the Gods. He was not angry with mankind. It was neither justice meted out or his act of justice, nor did he punish us for our misdoings. To protect each man, woman, and child he gave us a couple of mantras to recite. The Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra that is known to take away our fears of the pandemic and uncertainty that it has brought on all of us and the Dhanvantri Mantra that acts as a force field and shields against all diseases. He asked us to perform the ritual of Yagam or Homam. That is all he could do to help us, giving us these suggestions. This is the true identity of God. Impartial but concerned. Unbias but compassionate. I am beginning to love him all the more. He did not instill false hope, send us on a wild goose chase nor campaign us to come into his faith taking an opportunity in dire times. He did not promise any miracles. He did not promise that he shall sweep it away with the wink of an eye or sweep it all away with a magic wand either.
He has brought us to accept all things in life for he knows every inch of us and knows every corner of the world and the universe, the cosmos, and beyond. Nothing can miss his eye though he is seen sitting with eyes closed in deep meditation. As he is part and parcel of all, he senses everything that moves and exists. He is not asleep but fully awakened and aware of all things. He is the Watcher.
