Ananta Sayana kept lingering in the mind, didn’t know where to begin. To think of ask the temple authorities, they were already in trouble as the information about the secret doors and the wealth had spread out and therefore there was a lot of restrictions.
I decided to ask the Maha Guru Himself. I prayed earnestly to him on my visit to Bala Ramapuram Agastya Temple that Thursday. I prayed:
“O Gurudeva! Please guide me and show me till the point where you are related to the Padmanabha Swamy temple. I am not at all interested in knowing anything about the things there, which draws the common man to it now. Why did the Lord dwell here while being at Thiruvattaru? Please enlighten.” – and began doing Pradakshina. When I finished 6 and doing the 7th, I heard this clearly in my right ear:
“Come to Pancheshti where we did the yagna, I shall clarify!”
I am hearing the place’s name for the first time. I did not know where Panchesti is. Perhaps it is in the Northern India, then it will be a bit troublesome to go there, I thought. I still wanted to check with the temple priest and inquired.
He didn’t know either, he asked me why I am inquiring about Panchesti. I explained to him that I placed a prayer to Guru Agastya and He wanted me to come to Panchesti, hence I asked if you know.
It appeared I have to find out myself and eventually forgot about it. A week passed by where I visited a relatives’ house. While at conversation, I generally asked if he knows about Panchesti. He said the place is in Tamil Nadu itself, some 25 kilometres from Chennai and that he has visited it as well. He mentioned a few more details about the temple too and said ‘This is the place where Guru Agastya did 5 yagnas’. The keyword ‘yagna’ got my attention, since that’s what the Maha Guru mentioned too.
I requested him to take me to the temple. Second week from that day I went to Chennai and stood in front of the Panchesti temple with that relative. I got goose-bumps while standing in front of the temple. My heart felt very pleased.
“This has reached here O Gurudeva, just as you instructed. Your grace is requested.” – I prayed.
It was evening and so the evening pooja’s bell began to ring, making the whole place surreal. I went inside, had darshan, got the prasad and began Pradakshina.
While standing in front of Agastya Muni’s shrine, I felt He will surely guide me and answer my questions. I sat down meditating in the same place for a long time.
“Before going to Anantasayana, this is where We did the 5 yagna’s. A very holy place this is. This is where Lord Shiva changed his wish to an order. We took His command. This is not the time to share all the deva-rahasya. The sun has set. Search! Look with sincerity, honesty and yearning. At the right time, We shall let you know what you need to!” – these vakya came out.
There was silence everywhere, no other replies. I prostrated to Maha Guru and proceeded towards the Gopura. The priest accompanied us.
“Every month during Sadhaya Nakshatra, there is special abisheka, pooja done here. There are a lot of Agastya devotees who come here and do this pooja. They do these pooja after the order from Agastya in Nadi Reading they say. Guru Agastya has performed 5 yagna here a very long time ago. Only then He went to the Malayala country they say. The devotees say that any prayer kept during this pooja bears its fruits.” – said the priest.
While listening to all these, I thought, “O Gurunath, can’t I get a small hint please?”
The priest who came till the entrance, stood in the steps of the Gopura and was talking. As I looked in to his face, my sight witnessed the wall of the Gopuram.
There,
Padmanabha Swamy’s Ananta Sayana pose, where there was a Siddha seated beneath His right arm. Generally there is a Shiva Linga under the right arm but there’s a Siddha here!
I felt very happy, asked the priest to move a bit and showed him the sculpture and said, “I got what I came here for. Maha Guru’s grace is very very big!”
I took a picture of the sculpture and bid farewell. From that day on, the Maha Guru began to give me answers and clarifications for my questions through different people and circumstances.
Within this, the restrictions in the Padmanabha Swamy temple increased manifold. As per the High Court order, armed Black Cat squad came for protection. No one could spend more time in the temple.
During the ten days Urchava in the temple, during the 10th day while Araatu (Theerthavari), the elephant from a different temple became mad and the surrounding appeared sort of dangerous. The Navarathna ring worn by the Maharaja was lost as well in a few days.
As the things weren’t right, the Maharaja was concerned if something went wrong in the temple pooja and requested a well respected Prashna expert to come for.
The Prashna expert sat down in meditation and obtained Padmanabha Swamy’s approval. Though he got it, he had to wait till the next day.
“There will be a boy from the Telugu Desam who will come tomorrow to have our darshan with his father. Do the Prashna with him. Test the answer that comes out and then inform!” – Padmanabha Swamy gave him such instructions.
The Prashna expert and his 22 disciples began to wait for this event.
Let us wait for a week or so too!
~ stay blessed!
The images are taken from the same post in Sitthan Arul blog with gratitude.