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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[From the 218 & 219th episode of the Tamil series]
Sage Narada wasn’t completely convinced still. He thought to himself, “How many times have I returned without having the darshan of Lord Narayana in Sri Vaikunta, for someone like me who always utter the name ‘Narayana’. Is He going to give darshan to this Kumba Muni? Let us wait and see.” He was jealous about the affection that Agastya Muni receives from Lord Shiva and Lord Narayana.
As Lord Narayana was about to incarnate in just about two seconds, Narada bid farewell to Agastya and reached Tirumala. Sage Agastya was wondering why Narada got into the turmoil of jealous, which is a sole proprietary of human beings, how did He get such thoughts?
He also felt that Boomi Devi should have a good darshan of the Lord during the incarnation. Till then he thought, “let us bear the base of Tirumala for Narayana” and began to pray to Lord Narayana.
There at Tirumala, Lord Narayana took the Avatar in Kali Yuga with Adishesha’s head as the centre, with Salagrama (Saligram) garland with various other garlands, radiating with divine fragrance that filled the entire Tirumala, the Devas, Siddhas, Gnanis, Pundits, Vedic scholars, Lord Brahma with His consort and Lord Shiva with His, the holy rivers such as Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Kaveri, Vaigai, Tamrabarani etc., witnessing the beauty and showering flowers on Him, He took the avatar as a stone while the Tiruvonam star was rising.
The Veda Kosha, the jubiliant voice of the Devas, auspicious instruments, all filled the air. The Lord smiled at everyone and with Abaya Hastha, he blessed those around Him. Everyone was witnessing such a rare sight having forgotten about themselves. Right at that time, the form of Lord Vishnu (Narayana) disappeared. Everyone was shocked and began to worry.
Even the Siddhas thought that the Lord wanted them to worship Him as the stone thereafter. Lord Brahmadeva Himself was taken aback for a quick fraction of time while He was getting ready for the Kumbabisheka after doing Balalaya.
Lord Maheshwara (Shiva) and Parvathi glanced at each other that appeared as if saying, “Here, He has started His divine play right away”. The rishis thought that they should probably continue their penance to get salvation for they had hoped that a longer duration of the Lord’s darshan will help them on their realization / salvation, ‘let us resume our penance in the banks of Koneri’, they thought.
There was one who doubted even this disappearing, yes it was Narada. He whispered to the couple of Brahma and Shiva ‘I shall be right back’ and went straight to Patala Loka.
Agastya Muni was holding the base of Tirumala in one hand and the other hand holding the Kamandalu with the elbow rested on the Vasi Kol, while praying to Lord Narayana. Right before Him stood the all pervading Lord Vishnu, just as He appeared in Tirumala. Agastya opened His eyes suddenly to witness the brightness of a thousand moon’s radiance before Him where He was pleasantly surprised.
In that pleasant state of shock, Agastya Muni folded both His hands to worship Narayana who blessed Him. Only after a few moment did He realize that He had taken His hands out of the base of Tirumala that He was holding all the while. He worried. But the base stood right where it was when Agastya muni held it. Agastya was surprised and He uttered it too.
“Many such things are going to happen in this Earth” – said Lord Vishnu in His divine voice.
“O Lord! I now realized that it is only your play for I was thinking that I was bearing this piece of land, but now I am clear, nothing is in my hands.”
“Agastya Himself knew that only now, is it?” – the Lord was in His usual playful mood.
“Yes, my Lord!”
“At least you understood. But there are quite a few who do not know what is the Absolute. They think that everything happens because of them. They seldom think of the Almighty”. – Lord Narayana
“It is true, indeed. Now that you have taken the avatar in Kali Yuga, even they will realize the truth. You have come right here to show your darshan for Adiyen. This is a very big bhagya.” – Agastya was emotional.
“O Agastya! For this Avatara as the stone, there are crores waiting up there but for my word, you bore the weight here.”
“If you command, I shall do anything O Swami!”
“I see that even Boomi Devi has come up after giving away her responsibility?”
“Yes, I had sent her up for her to get the darshan” – said Agastya.
“I could not see you being here without having the darshan. Hence I showed up myself for a bit and came here” – said the all pervading one.
“What sort of a merit would I have done, for me to get such a darshan?”
“Not like so, for Lord Parameshwara Himself showed His wedding right here in the Southern part of the land from Mount Kailash. Is this any greater than that?” – the Lord asked naughtily.
“O Lord, yourself, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma, all three are showering blessings on me. I am very proud to think of my blessings. But it is not fair to make these uncountable beings wait for your darshan, O Lord” – Agastya prayed to Lord Vishnu.
“Look, you do not have to bear this weight, I shall take care of it. Come with me up!” said the Lord and Agastya agreed. Sage Narada was over hearing these conversations and was surprised to see the respect that Lord Vishnu showed to Agastya Muni. He thought:
“Lord Shiva showed His wedding to Agastya exclusively. Today, Lord Narayana shows His darshan exclusively to Agastya. Though I am a great rishi, I am just merely a rishi in front of Agastya I suppose for He is not just the foremost of all Siddhas, He is also foremost of my Guru’s”
No one however knew that it was Lord Vishnu’s play through Agastya to get Narada mature!
~ to be continued…!
Featured image courtesy: Telangana Info