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Note: All views are entirely the personal views of the author and this article is shared with the only intention that
it inspire true seekers and help those who visit such places. This article, being about Holy Siddhas, i
am incompetent to talk about anything from those heights but my sincere attempt here is to share whatever is in
my capacity. If any errors or short-comings, they are entirely mine.
We now set out from Chennai to Pondicherry, first to Aurobindo Ashram. Our friend, Sivadas
bhai, insisted that he would drop us halfway and we were happy with the company. He drove us
from Chennai till Mahabalipuram, about 60 kms and from there we three of us bid him goodbye
and boarded a bus to Pondicherry. In about 1-1/2 hours we reached Pondicherry, now known as
Puducherry. Contacting Aurobindo ashram, we were asked to come early the next day as it
Mother's (a saint disciple of Sri Aurobindo) Mahasamadhi day on November 17. It was also
known that there were only two days in a year on which Mother's home is opened for visitors and
the Mahasamadhi day was one. We then walked up an over bridge for pedestrians to reach the
other side of the busy road and booked a lodge, still very close to the bus stand.
We had the list of Jeeva Samadhis and we happy to find many samadhi locations in Puducherry.
The hotel manager gave us guidance to few. Villianur was one spot that often struck again and
again while i was searching for Jeeva Samadhis in TN. This one was specifically marked on our
list and on enquiry was simply amazed to know that Villianur was only 5 km from where we were
right now! Things were clear now that we had to go to Aurobindo ashram next day and then to
Villianur
:)
So, the next day we woke up early and took an auto to Aurobindo ashram (Rs.50), which is
around 6 km from the bus stand. Reaching there, we noticed there were lot of people. Leaving
our footwear outside, we entered into the place and were guided towards the samadhi of both
Sri. Aurobindo and Mother at one place. The entire area was very, very peaceful. Silence was
requested and there was silence maintained all around.
The ashram was founded in November 1926. Sri Aurobindo was a freedom fighter, poet, a
mystic, great scholar, and a yogi. He said, "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step
from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is
inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature's
process."
Mother (Mirra Alfassa) was from Paris, who once met Sri Aurobindo and recognized him as the
one who was guiding her on her spiritual path. She left her home and came and lived with him
and a divine soul that she was, she continued with her spiritual life also looking after the ashram
after the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo 5 December 1950, until her Samadhi on 17 November, 1973.
Today, was November 17th and it was wonderful being here today. Outside her room, we were
handed a small card on which today's date was printed and printed inside was a small message
from Mother. "It is a great mistake to think that physical nearness is the one thing indispensable
for the progress. It will do nothing for you if you do not establish the inner contact, for witout
that you could remain from morning to night with me and yet you will never truly meet me. It is
only by the inner opening and contact that you can realize my presence. ~ The Mother"
Then, we went into the closest room that turned out to be the bookstore of numerous writings of
both the great saints. From here we came out and were guided to an open place where there
were hundreds of people standing silently in queue, to visit Mother's room. After sometime we
walked through the wooden corridors, up a wooden staircase and into the personal room of
Mother. It is a divine atmosphere. Silently we walked through her different rooms that contained
her personal belongings including lot of crystals. Then, we were guided out through another
passage. We must have spent about 15 minutes in this house but it is like walking through a
different space itself.
Later, when i came back home and was going through the list of Samadhis did i find out this
temple location was the Jeeva Samadhi of Sri Tollakadhu Swamigal. What catches the eye
while coming to this temple is this sweet elephant standing here for years and blessing everyone
who give him prasad or coins, wisely putting prasad into it's mouth and passing the coins to the
mahout (covered in video). Then the next place we spent more than an hour was on the next
street where there was a wonderful bookstall where all amazing spiritual books are available
from children's spiritual story books to vedas to all about Siddhas. Since, it was noon time, the
share taxi had closed down till 4 p.m. and calculating the time and distance, and the closing
down of the shop just as we reached there, we took it as an indication go return back. As we
were about to hunt for a bus back to the bus stand, we saw a share auto coming that was
heading that way and we hopped in. He dropped us at the Puducherry bus stand, where our
room was.
We quickly went to our room and dropped whatever we had bought from there and came out on
the street to take a bus to Villianur. There were buses every 2 minutes to that direction. We tried
getting into one bus from the rear door and the conductor refused to take us in. It took me a few
seconds to realize that here in TN, females are allowed entry from the rear bus door and gents
from the front bus door. We got into this jam-packed bus. All that we knew were that we were
heading towards Villianur, nothing else. There was a disharmonious chorus in the bus as the
crowd talked loudly, while the conductor equally raised his pitch at passengers who were lousy to
move even an inch from where they stood. The school lads, drooped and were sleeping against
each other as the bus slowly chugged through the narrow roads with loud tamil music playing to
add to the glory. Not knowing where to get down, i asked a gentleman if there was any samadhi
in this area. None knew, but an elderly person who overheard us said there was only an ancient
temple that he knew but not about the samadhi. Not having any option, we asked him to tell
when it comes. He was kind enough to tap us on the shoulder when the bus reached the said
location. We got down the bus and saw the ancient temple and walked towards it. We met a
person sitting there and asked him who said the temple would open in the evening. Then he
shared something wonderful. He gave us insights into 6 Jeeva Samadhis in that location, out of
which 4 were a little far but two he said were at walkable distance.
We walked for about a kilometer and reached a samadhi on the road side of Siddha Ram Pardesi
Swamigal. We thought of moving to the other samadhi and coming back. Asking for location, we
were guided to another samadhi another kilometer from here. Out of the people we asked 95%
people didn't know what we were asking or if they knew, they did not know it was a Jeeva
Samadhi. Finally, we found a very small temple-like structure. On approaching it, we were happy
to know that this was the Jeeva Samadhi of Siddha Tengai Swamigal. We spent some time
there. A gentleman met us there who gave us many insights of this siddha. He mentioned that
'Tengai' meant 'coconut' in Tamil and that the Siddha would see the future of others in coconuts
that they brought along with them. He also said there was a powerful Jeeva Samadhi of ShaIn-Sha Baba in a dargah in that place. We had to move back since it was getting late.
for a while and helped people get rid of karma and took samadhi. One day, while the workers
were digging for road, they accidentally dug his tomb and out walked the great master! He then
lived among people for sometime and then again reentered his tomb whereupon this shrine is
built. This shrine could have been rebuilt many times all over the years. Above is the photo with
a glare that was clicked on the samadhi from outside.
It was dark by now. There were two Jeeva Samadhis at a place close to our hotel and we wanted
to visit these samadhis, but since it was beyond 8:30 p.m., we decided that we would go there
tomorrow early morning before proceeding to Vadalur. A bus came and we hopped in. Peppy loud
Tamil music was playing and we reached our back to Puducherry tapping our feet to the peppy
rhythm of South Indian music. In few minutes we were back at our hotel. We freshened up and
came down for food. After food, it was about 10 p.m., we were still thinking about the Samadhi
that was close by. We then decided that we could have our after-dinner stroll towards that
direction and atleast check out if they would open early morning. We walked and walked and
walked and by now it was certain that it was not "walkable" distance. Now, we had come so far
that we it was not worthwhile turning back. We decided to take an auto back
after inquiring about the samadhi timings though the streets were now looking empty.
We then went back to the hotel room and checked out of the hotel and walked straight to the
bus stand. We were now heading towards Vadalur, the place of Ramalinga Swami, the Siddha
who disappeared transforming his physical body into light. There were no direct buses to this
place and we were asked to go to Cuddalore first. We quickly got a bus to that place and only
within a gap of having some hot tea, we got another connecting bus to Vadalur. In the bus, we
could make out that the place we are heading to was a village as it passed through narrow
lanes.
i was also recollecting the different type of locations that great saints and Siddhas chose to
manifest in physical form for their divine missions, known only to them. On reaching Vadalur, we
got down and were helped by a friend - Nelson, who though not being in town had arranged us
with a room at Mahatma Gandhi Rural Community College, an NGO he ran. The Shrine is just
opposite to this place.
The hall depicting the entire life story of Ramalinga Swami with clay idols
Then, we walked into a hall where His hand-written manuscripts were kept. Just behind this hall
was the kitchen where the fire that was lighted by Him in 1870 for feeding the hungry and as
per His words the poor and hungry are fed even to this day on meals cooked on the same fire.
After spending some time in these places, we left back to the room. Now, the place where
Ramalinga Swami transmuted to light was a bit far away from here. We hired a taxi and the
driver was a gentleman who knew these places well and told us that he would also take us to the
places where Ramalinga Swamigal was born and the place where he did many miracles. He also
added that he would drop us to our next destination - Chidambaram, all for a bargained amount
of Rs. 750/- Though it seemed little high, we never minded it as we would be still visiting places
of
Swamigal
that
was
unplanned.
He took us straight to the place in Mettukoppu to the place where Swami Ramalinga went into
the room and transmuted himself into light. The place has a big compound with very few people
in white clothing who looked to be the followers of Ramalinga Swami. Few sat in meditative
silence, while few were reading out the songs of Swamigal. All around in the places of Swamigal
one can see nothing but a burning lamp that indicated the presence of Swamigal. We spent some
time
in
here
in
this
beautiful
place
(covered
in
video).
So, he then took us to Karanguzi, which is the place where Ramalinga Swami manifested water
out of nowhere. The place still holds the water full of fishes that is now maintained with a netted
compound for protection and a small temple next to it where His arati is done.
From here, he took us to the place where Swamigal had burnt lamps out of water.
Through some Siddha literature, it was learnt that this place was known to be the meeting place
of Siddhas and they constructed this temple. This temple had many hidden mysteries, which is
said cannot be decoded so easily. One among the mysteries is about the idol of the Dancing
Nataraja that is worshiped in this form and also the form of the Linga and also is the empty
space here, which is worshiped as God in the form of empty space (Chid Akash or spiritual sky)
and that is the reason this temple is known to be the Akash tatva. In a magazine of R.
Kuppusamy, who is a great scholar of the Siddha tradition, he writes about it all.
The worship of the empty space is called "The secret of Chidambaram" because behind the veil of
empty space, there is yet another form of God, the true, scientific form: Light of Infinite Grace.
That vision alone can make one immortal and transform one's body into 'wisdom-light'. This
secret was not revealed but kept as a test for the initiates for about 2000 years. Swami
Ramalinga was sent into this world to revela this secret to the masses, one and all, so that
everyone could become immortal. Actually, when Swami Ramalinga, as a 5-month-old baby was
brought to this temple, the baby giving out peels and peels of laughter on seeing its real mother
(God) and tried to jump forward and hug the Lord. One Mr. Appaya Dikshithar who saw this
divine act, understood the divinity of the child. Thus, the secret of the mantra of Ramalinga
Swami "Arut Perum Jyoti, Arut Perum Jyoti, Thani Perum Karunai, Arut Perum Jyoti", that is the
true form (light) was revealed to Ramalinga Swami at this tender age. It was only now we
understood Swami Ramalinga was closely connected to Chidambaram as He even lived here for a
long
time
before
going
to
Vadalur.
Also, most importantly, we had come to Chidambaram temple with a link one of the great
Siddhas of the 18 foremost Siddhas - Siddha Thirumoolar. He is said to have become light in
this Chidambaram temple, though it is also said that His Jeeva Samadhi was
in Thiruvavaduthurai (about 40 kms from here). Siddha Thirumoolar lived for more than 3000
years.
Siddha Thirumoolar came from Mount Kailash and was known as Sundarar. Once he decided to
meet a fellow yogi and friend down South, who was Siddha Agasthiya. When he reached a village
called Saathanoore, he saw a herd of cows surrounded the dead body of their cowherd named
Mulan. This sight touched him and to help these poor creatures, he used his yogic powers and
putting himself in a hollow log for his body to be safe from animals and danger, he left his body
and entered the body of Mulan. When Mulan came to life, the cows were overjoyed and Mulan led
the cows back to their sheds in the village. After he saw that all cows were safe back home, he
returned to the place where he had hidden his body. But, he was shocked to find his body had
disappeared. It is said that it was Lord Shiva's leela for him to remain down South. Thus, Mulan
became known as Thirumoolar (meaning 'holy shepherd') and lived there. He remained in
Samadhi for 3000 years, only once in a year coming out of Samadhi and uttering a verse of few
lines, that contained all the mysteries and teachings that the great Siddha had contemplated on
for the whole year. Thus, there were 3000 verses narrated by Him which is know known as
'Thirumandiram'. Thirumandiram, is known as the spiritual encyclopaedia that contains all
knowledge from the Upanishads to the mysteries of yoga and tantra to very strong criticisms of
idol worships to condemnation of occult practices to the esoteric significance of rituals and
traditions!
The next morning, trying to know about Jeeva Samadhis in this location, when we approached a
man on the road, he immediately called his friend on his cellphone, who was nearby and he
came to us. He revealed to us four Jeeva Samadhis near that place. We noted it down on a piece
of
paper
and
thanked
him
for
his
timely
help.
We then proceeded by walk to find the first one on the list and it was quite some distance before
we could actually find it out. The search led to a fish market area and place of meat behind which
were narrow lanes. We were going to the Jeeva Samadhi of Sri-La-Sri Avadhoot
Swamigal but we were asked to ask for Kerala Swami was he is widely known here. On doing
so, the people of that area guided us to one small lane. Reaching there, the gates were closed. A
man in a hut opposite to the Samadhi temple, told us it is closed and keys are with a priest who
does not live there. We stood there pondering. The man looked at us and gave us a number to
call. On calling, it was the priest who on telling what we had come for, asked us to stay there
itself and that he would send the keys. He sent the keys through a lady who opened it for us and
we could spend some time there. In about half hour the priest himself came and told us few
things about the Siddha. (covered in video).
The kind man in the hut also sent his nephew and two other kids to help us reach another
location which was also a little bit of walk across the main highway. The kids came with us for a
long distance and pointing out from far the location, returned back. This place was isolated and
only a few houses could be seen in the distance. A man was spotted who was slowly peddling his
bicycle towards our direction. On asking him the location, he said smilingly that the keys of the
temple related to the Swami was at his house and asked us to collect from his house. His name
was
Guru.
We thanked him and on reaching his house and telling about her husband meeting us on the
way, she gave us the key to the temple. The temple had a huge compound and looked very, very
ancient. We opened the gates and also the doors of the locked temple to see a huge Shiva Linga.
i am not sure if the Siddha had spent time in here but His samadhi was close to this temple.
We spent some time in here. Then, the lady told us the name of the person and house in whose
house the keys of the Samadhi was, but that person was not home but we were told that it was a
small Samadhi. On approaching the Samadhi, it indeed was a small one and the gates were just
to the small enclosure of the Samadhi. It was the Jeeva Samadhi of Siddha Theringana
Sambandhar. We had enough ground space to meditate as this small Samadhi was in an open
space. It was close to 4 p.m. by the time we finished and we had not had our lunch yet.
We got an auto to the bus stand and enquired for late night bus back to Chennai the same night
and we got our tickets booked for a 12 a.m. midnight bus. Then we walked back to our hotel
rooms.
Two more Samadhi's were yet to be completed in this area. Taking an auto, reached Vellakollam.
On telling the auto driver about the samadhi here and the next one that was about 7 kms far, the
auto person was kind enough to reveal that in that other area buses are very rare and at this
time it was difficult to get even an auto. So, fixing up the charges with him, he agreed to come
and help out. Moreover, he knew where the current Samadhi was and he reached there. This was
the Samadhi of Siddha Umapathi Shiva Swamigal.
There is a lady who takes care of this Samadhi and she allowed to sit near the Samadhi. After
spending about half hour here, we set out to reach a place called Shivapuri. This area was
completely isolated with few houses here and there. Moreover, it was close to 9 p.m. It was late
to be visiting a Samadhi but still we proceeded. The auto person was of great help as he himself
enquired about the Samadhi and finally reached there. This was the Jeeva Samadhi of Siddha
Shiva Swamigal. We were told that the compound gate is locked and we had to take the keys
from a house nearby. When i approached her she denied stating it was late. Then on
further inquiry from her on from where we were from and how we had located this place, she on
second thoughts brought us the key. Very happily, opened the gate and the auto person seemed
to be very happy. He said he had heard about this great Siddha in Chidambaram but never knew
His samadhi was at such remote location. He was happy to have come there. i asked him to sit
together for meditation, which he happily did.
A large globule or orb was captured on the cam, which can be seen on the above pic. After some
time we left this place. After this we had dinner and i ran into the Chidambaram temple at 10
p.m. as it would close by then to have a final visit before we left. By then the huge temple was
closing and people were moving out. Then, returning to the room, we packed and rested in the
room for sometime and checked out by midnight and reached the private bus pickup point. The
night was cozy in our sleeper beds and we woke up at 5:30 a.m. in Chennai.
After freshening up, we finished off the two pending Jeeva Samadhis in Chennai one of which
was close to the shivir location. We tried locating the samadhi at a temple that was in the vicinity
of
huge
pool
in
Nugabakkam.
There was a huge Shiva temple and on asking the priest there he told us that the Samadhi was
at a little further distance and we may not be allowed there as renovation was going on. We
walked to that location and the whole place was was filled with cement, mud, bricks, planks and
paint boxes. No one objected and so we entered and made a little space to sit in the debris. This
was the Jeeva Samadhi of Siddha Veerama Munivar. The energy of the place radiated amidst
the
debris
of
dust
and
material.
The last samadhi took us some time to detect. Everyone we asked never knew about it but they
kept pointing us to the same road, and we had passed the main road near Valluvar Kottam.
Lastly, we came to know that the Jeeva Samadhi was the same small structure we were thinking
to be a deserted temple! The gates to it were locked and since it was on the roadside, we could
not sit anywhere, so we stood there for a while and meditated. We were told that this opens only
once in a year.
Spending a few minutes there, we returned back to our rooms, packed our bags and left for the
railway
station.
Spending
some
Gratitude
to
all
time
Holy
here,
we
Siddhas
then
for
the
dispersed
from
opportunity
~ Namo Siddhanam ~
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given
back
to
be
to
our
presented
homes.
here.
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