Bringing me on his path, after I took up his call, Agathiyar has carefully charted the ways and means for me to tread the path, leaving a milestone at every mile of our journey, waiting there for me to catch up on him and encouraging and continuing me on yet another phase of the journey. Before engaging in the worship of the Siddhas, engaging in all the pranayama techniques and cleansing regimes, Agathiyar had mysteriously passed the Vasudeva mantra to me through my nephew Thayalan Arumugam. R Venu Gopalan writes in his book, "The Hidden Mysteries of Kundalini", that
The Vishnu Granthi adds obstructions for the Sadhaka, keeping one under the wraps of attachment and bondage, leading to the process of selfishness and supra ego. Hence, the Vasudeva mantra is recited for balancing the Vishnu Granthi. The Nadis of the heart Chakra are cleansed, and it balances the heart Chakra. Continuous practice of meditation on this mantra helps purify the thinking process too. It also helps in dissolving all the past Karmic deeds for a better future.
Agathiyar, giving his very first instruction in Yoga through the Nadi, asks that I do Nadi Suddhi. Swami Vivekananda, speaking about this practice of Nadi Suddhi or purification of the nerves, quotes from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad.
Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibration will begin, the whole constitution will be remodeled, as it were. First, the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practise pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any interval, throw the air out throught the right nostril, closing the left. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the left, according to capacity; practising this three or four times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in 15 days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins pranayama.
In giving me Agathiyar's Teecha or Diksha Mantra, Tavayogi brought the desired transformation in me, without my knowledge. It worked internally, bringing changes in my physical body too, working on the Asudha Deham to become a Sudha Deham, and hopefully shall move on to become Pranava Deham and attain the desired Oli Deham. Agathiyar wishes us to go through this transformation that had taken place in many saints of the past. How compassionate of him to desire that we too should relive these transformations. All he wants of us is to realize our divinity, and he is on hand to help us realize it. Frank Alexander, in his book "In the Hours of Meditation", Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1993, explains the Guru-discipline principle lovely.
More and more does the personality of the disciple merge in the Guru nature while all the time the Guru's personality is seen to merge more and more into that of which even his body had been a manifestation. Then the sublimest oneness is attained. The waters of the dual personalities of Guru and disciple become the ocean of the infinite Brahman.
Agathiyar and Tavayogi walked me through Sariyai, Kriyai, Yogam, and Gnanam. Tavayogi introduced me to doing charity and feeding the hungry at his ashram in India. He showed me the abodes of the Siddhas, bringing me to the temples, jungles, and caves, giving me first-hand experience of the life of a Siddha. Moving me away from Sariyai or temple worship, they then brought me to the next stage, to having me engage and conduct worship of the Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu Pantheon personally through rituals like libation and Homam, and the many other rituals that came along with the worship of the Siddhas. Besides undertaking these Kriyas, Tavayogi taught me several Yoga Asanas and Pranayama techniques too, bringing me to go through a series of changes in me that were targeted to help me step into and have an insight into the next stage or phase, which was Gnanam. Through his many short and brief observations and statements that he would utter as he walked by or walked with us, he brought me insights into the mysteries of the world of the Siddhas, something that has only begun to dawn upon me now in the present moment.
We see a similar reference to this journey that begins in the external and ends with an internal transformation. Patanjali's "Ashtaanga Yogam" or the eight limbs of yoga, defines Yamam (abstinences), Niyamam (observances), Asanam (postures), Pranayamam (breathing), Pratyaharam (withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dyanam (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption), that brings the practitioner from the outer to the inner realms.
Ramalinga Adigal had drawn up clearly the many milestones one has to encounter and move on, continuing the journey that brings one to the much-anticipated destination and kingdom of God.
When we undergo these changes, it is not always a smooth process as we come to learn together. I succumbed to extreme lower back pain beginning in 2010 for some 2 1/2 years. Agathiyar came through the Nadi and advised me on caring for my back, recommending specific herbs to be taken. When the pain recurred in 2016, Tavayogi passed me a herbal preparation to soothe the pain. When it still persisted, Dhavanthiri came through a devotee and applied the sacred ash from his temple in Chennai and advised me on other measures to be taken. When the pain struck again, in 2018, Lord Muruga came through a devotee and the Nadi simultaneously to heal my back for good with his peacock feathers and the chanting of the Arutperunjhoti Mantra. Agathiyar asked that I resume several of the Pranayama techniques that Tavayogi had taught me, which he hinted that I should know for myself.
Having come to surrender to Agathiyar, he began to chart both the external journey and internal too, bringing me within henceforth. Agathiyar, in preparing me to go with, gave me his Agathiyar Kuzhambu prepared by Siddha practitioner Ariwananthen Aiya to consume, which he said would first cleanse and help regulate the three Dosas, Vata, Kapha, and Pitta, and strengthen the physical form that had seen a dip later. Further to placing me in isolation, Agathiyar had me carry out a daily cleansing regimen by taking a "magic portion".
Geetha Anand writes in her blog http://agatthiyarjnanam.blogspot.my/ that
The Siddhas did not believe in attaining Moksha after death. There is no guarantee that one will actually achieve it either! They believe that the body should be used properly as a Moksha Sadhana.
So they paid attention and worked on their body as they did on the soul and spirit. Thus, the Siddha, instead of fighting the body and its natural tendencies, transforms it using the same principles into a supreme vehicle that carries them towards liberation. Besides working on the physical body, Agathiyar brings us to work within the Chakras too. Bringing me to the path after his calling that came through my first Nadi reading, Agathiyar first and foremost called upon me to pray to Lord Ganesa the reason being that Ganesa and Vallabai (Vallabah Ganesa) at Muladhara, are known to remove the prevalent existing blocks so that one could progress without hindrances and delays. I then arrived at Svathisthana, where creativity arises in leaps and bounds. With blessings from Brahma and Saraswathi, my desire to fill the wide gap prevalent then, in the nonavailability of literature on the Siddhas, was fulfilled when I compiled the songs of their praises, began to write on my journey, and began to draw out a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for our simple home rituals. Arriving at Manipuragam, I was able to sustain all my endeavors by the grace of Thirumaal and Laxmi. When I then arrived at Anagatham, I was gifted with endurance, a much-needed element to travel farther on this path, by Rudra and Rudri, besides Rudra defeating the fear of death and other fears and burning past Karma and bringing on a deeper understanding of the mystery that lies ahead. What lay ahead at Visukthi was that Maheswaran and Maheswari waited to pick me up from the gloom and frustration that would fall upon all travellers traveling this path. I believe that I have arrived at Agnai now, the spot where silence or mounam dwells. At Ajna, both Sadasivan and Manonmani are known to grant one the fruits of Yoga. Mounam, the state of silence, too, sets in without effort. I believe I have seen and been through what P. Karthigayan has described relating these experiences with the Chakras as above.
What then lies ahead? From here, one travels on to the Kesari Margam, to the cosmos and back, writes P. Karthigayan in his well-researched book "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", Notion Press, 2016.
The mystical flight and inner journey to countless universes start here. Moving further up, or rather within, Dyanam and Samadhi bring one to be receptive to the spirituality of oneself, the Siddha, and their wisdom. Going within and with internal worship, Dyanam on the six vital points helps one arrive at Samadhi. Engrossed in a state of continuous bliss, the body goes into a state of Samadhi while the spirit attains Mukti. One attains the powers of the creator. All of the cosmos becomes a teacher. He will come to know that he is one with the matrix or Prapanjam. He who has reached this state is a Gnani.
