The answers of Agastya Muni to the generic questions posted by devotees can be found here.
As Agastya went for the Deepa Aradhana, the people who were waiting thought that they could take a stroll and relax a bit, and began to walk in different directions. One of them went to circumbulate the temple, none of them spoke but it was clear that all of them were thinking something. What were they thinking became clear once the
Maharishi came back and started speaking again in the Nadi.
“When I was mentioning about Ganga taking a holy bath here, many here raised a question among themselves. All the devas, devis, erected a shelter in yellow, kept turmeric in, planted banana, jack-fruit and coconut trees, and took a blissful bath, such a wondrous scene and so, a question arises. Ganga being a feminine force, why did Agastya see that? Oh you are all rationalists. You will raise all sorts of questions, so can Agastya see a woman taking bath?
Agastya just mentioned about Her taking bath but never mentioned that I witnessed it. But that turmeric piece was lying there all along. When Ganga finished her bathing, Tamirabarani embraced her, blessed her and felt very blissful. Ganga then asked her, “You have taken all the sins I carried, I am worried now, how are you going to get rid of them?” It is that very day that she asked. Do you know how many information I have kept in it when I said these?
It is the time when Agastya did Abisheka to Nambi, a time that is blissful. It is not once in a year but once in 200 years can one get such a rarest of the rare sight. Agastya is performing one such in 200 years today. You have all come. Just so, 200 years back, all of you had gathered here, doing various services for Agastya. I had called for you then too, but you are seldom aware of it.
You were lying down near that Tamarind tree. You were lying on the laps of the Siddhas as this tree is not an ordinary tamarind tree. In between the Tamarind tree and the ant-hill, you were lying in the bare ground with your hands being your head rest and were sleeping blissfully without any thoughts, with your minds pure. It is the same day. I have gathered you all after 200 years. Another thing like this will happen only after 200 years now. Agastya won’t know if all of you will be here then, as Agastya cannot say how many of you will be re-born. But I can say one thing. When you were present 200 years back when Agastya performed abisheka to this Nambi, the Ahobila Narasimha Deva who was present 200 years back then, has come today as well. Lord Shiva was here too. He said “Dei, open everyone’s ‘eyes'” and went off.
Not just in Tamilnadu, Agastya has brought in all the rivers of Bharat and have done abisheka. To this day, all the rivers have gathered here and are performing milk abisheka to Nambi, but He has not allowed them to complete the abisheka. Once Agastya has done the abisheka, no abisheka is allowed hereafter, He said. So the rivers are doing the pada-pooja to Nambi. There are different kinds of abisheka that Agastya has done. I then decorated Him with flowers, and with the Shenbaga flower which is native to this soil, showed him deepa arathi, did neivedhya and showed Mangala Arathi. There is still pooja rituals happening in full swing.
That is being witnessed by great rishis like Jamadagni, Vishwamitra and many more rishi-munis of the northern side, blissfully chatting among themselves. There is Adi-Sesha on another side seated right next to Garduazhwar. Who will get such a rare sight? Why am I repeatedly narrating this sight over and over again, because this time won’t be there again. You all are blessed, only the few of you. None else. Let many people desire for this, but they don’t get it. Agastya has written already on who all will get this and have called only those. All the devas are doing to be here the whole night. All the temples tonight, will just have the idols but the dwelling lords have come here and they cannot be seen all at once anywhere else.
Not just that, those who have gathered here, how blessed they are, I must say. None should think that they are sinful, they are not qualified, they don’t deserve etc., Every life has done some merit (punya). If I list them, all you will get is head-weight. You will descend from the Siddha-level and think that I have done some merit, Agastya Himself has mentioned it, your ego will rise. As long as there is blood in you, sweat in you, you may commit mistakes. So I just say by filtering out, that you all have done Punya.
I mentioned in the morning itself, there is no Chandrashtamam for you, don’t worry. I have got this approval from Chandra deva himself. Let Chandra be in whatever direction, be with anyone like Rahu, Kethu, Guru or Shaneeshwara, He won’t trouble you. Chandra has given this promise to me. I am just giving away the merits slowly, drop by drop. Everyone is sticking their tongue out, to drink the amrut completely. This is but a spiritual desire, the only desire one can have. There is no harm in desiring for the spiritual, like they ask from me like the grand-children, right-royally. But there is a desire in their minds. What Agastya is going to say next? We must just grab it as it is. This is expected too. Agastya has already mentioned, in Kodumudi also, it is difficult to get re-birth, it’s rare. I shall tell you all, who have done many a sins before.
“You don’t have another birth”! – the reason to say this? As Lord Shiva ordained, you have 9 births, not that they should be human birth. Whether you help the human kind or not, you have a necessity to be born. But I will nullify all those nine births and will prioritize you. There is a reason to say this too. As you don’t have another birth, just
play safe, be careful. Have faith in a good life. Have faith in God, not in Me. It is true that Agastya is the foremost of Siddhas, but I will only guide you in the right direction.
I will throw away all your nine births and will place you ahead, no re-birth. Not just that, how to lead the rest of the life, what sort of miseries may come, how to overcome them, to bear all these, I shall grant you the will as well. First, all the mistakes happen because of Chandrashtama.
….when Agastya was narrating this, it began to drizzle. We all went inside the temple as we did not want the Nadi to get wet. We thought we shall resume our reading by sitting outside once the rain is off. The drizzling was on for fifteen minutes. Agastya understood my mindset at that time and when I resumed reading, He whipped me right so I could understand.
~ to be continued…!
The wonderful featured image for this episode is taken from Deviantart, by Senzune, aptly titled, wonderfully done!