The answers of Agastya Muni to the generic questions posted by devotees can be found here.
The readers are requested to send their spiritual experiences related to the Siddhas to GnanaBoomi at Gmail dot com. Though the experiences are unique and personal to them, it can shower some light or guidance to those who read them. Thanks!
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[Papa Nasam, Tirunelveli]
When the Kettai star came up, I mentioned some wonderful words early in the morning. The Nava Siddhas were protecting you in the form of air all night. I mentioned it only after bathing as certain things ought to be said and done only after bathing. The air flow that you might experienced is none other than the Siddhas. It wasn’t any evil spirit or anything. The Siddhas came in the form of air. They did it just to protect you all. I didn’t expect this myself. I just said ‘stand by their side for protection’ and went to Chathura Giri but they have protected you all.
I went to Chathura Giri to massage the Holy Feet of Lord Shiva. Why? It is indeed my duty to massage His son Karthikeya’s for He is my Guru. I asked, why should I massage Your feet and Lord Shiva replied. Here, let me tell you.
The Lord who lies in the snake bed in the great ocean Parkadal with His beloved wife Lakshmi Devi seated beside, massaging His feet. Lord Shiva asked Parvathi Devi, His consort in a lighter vein to massage His feet and She replied, “Why I? I am in the equal part of your body. Who will massage my feet. Will you?” Then I took the privilege and said that I will massage their feet. The truth is, it is Shiva’s desire to massage his feet. He has never desired for anything for He is the foremost of all Siddhas, who govern and guide us. He got this desire of having His feet massaged as that of Parandhama. A Siddha should be devoid of desires. The foremost of Siddhas, Lord Muruga, His father, Lord Shiva, shouldn’t have got this desire. But Parvathi Devi refused, only with love and not with anger.
Had it been another instance, Shiva would have performed the Rudra Thandava. Hence I was there, massaging both their feet and was giving you my words. What a divine sight da! The Ambal, the Holy Mother, she blessed me as I massaged Her feet, where she kissed me on my forehead.
I am in Papa Nasam now, seated in the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Muruga, in a corner. When you all are going to take bath, I will come there in the form of water to rub your back, where I have come with the same hands which massaged the holy feet of the divine Father & Mother. For those who take bath in the Papa Nasam river, even those who have never done any good, done enough sins, have not been devoted, whoever it is, when they take bath in this river, their sins will be washed off. The ignorant, illeterates, those who only believe in God, can they sit and do prayers? No. For them, I have got the boon that they could come here and take a holy bath to ward off any bit of sins.
It does not mean that when one takes bath, all the sins are cleansed. But here, I got tihs boon from Lord Shiva that their sins will be washed off completely, just that they have to ensure that they don’t commit further sins. This is exactly that holy place where I got the boon from.
Where he is reading the Nadi, this is exactly where I performed the second Yagna. Not just me, Brahma Deva on my right, Lord Nandi on a corner chanting Veda Mantras, and everyone took part in the yagna some 4817 years back. It is that very place where I am talking this now. Not just the ignorant and illeterates, even the children, the sins they committed without knowing, will be washed off here. Some might think. I have come here but how will my family members who could not come here get benefitted by this holy place? I say this now, that when one takes a holy dip here, on your behalf, your family will get 33.1/33 percentage of that Punya”
A person interrupted at this time and said, “I can’t hear properly. Please say that again.”
He was right. There were people who came to the temple, the children playing and shouting, the place was a bit noisy where they could not hear properly. So I explained the gist of what the Maha Muni said.
“That is, those who are ignorant, innocent or those who cannot come to this temple, if they come here and take a holy dip, their sins will be washed off. But Agastya has argued with Lord Shiva and got this boon that even for those who do not show any devotion, their sins should be washed off as well, if they take a bath here. Second, the place where I am seated now, is exactly where He was seated and performed the second Yagna. Third, some of you may think that your family members could not reach this place and the Maha Muni said that around 33.1/33 percentage of the Punya that you will get from here will be given to your family members, relatives or friends who could not come here. You need to think of those whom you could not bring here when taking a holy dip, that’s all. So there is a chance that you get the Punya not only for yourself, but for those whom you thought of, and could not take along.”
“Not just that, the devis and devas who took bath in Thamirabarani yesterday have come here. So if you take bath calmly and happily, all the rivers, Yamuna, Saraswathi, Thungabadhra, Godavari, Vaigai, Thamirabarani, Kaveri & Krishna, all 8 rivers’ devata are here. So if you take bath here, you get the merit of taking a holy bath in all these 8 rivers at once. Ah you think that I am cooking up some story don’t you?! No No! The humans but can think only that way. Do you know why I keep on reminding you these? Ah because you are all Rationa…..lists!! Can this happen? He just says something out of the palm leaves etc., you may think. Don’t! I said that this is the rarest of opportunity and hence I took you here. Else, I would have easily diverted you elsewhere!” – said Agastya!
~ to be continued…!