Siddhar Charithiram : Agasthiyar

This is an ongo­ing series on the Sid­dhar Param­abarai of India. Sid­dha refers to per­fect­ed mas­ters who have achieved a high degree of phys­i­cal as well as spir­i­tu­al per­fec­tion or enlight­en­ment. We look at var­i­ous Sid­dhas who have graced upon this earth with their Pres­ence — their life and the wis­dom they shared in the form of poems, cou­plets that are referred to as Sid­dhar Padal­gal. To begin with, we are look­ing at Sid­dhas from the tra­di­tion of “Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal”. In the pre­vi­ous issues, we saw about Kud­ham­bai Sid­dhar, Pam­bat­ti Sid­dhar, Idaikkaat­tu Sid­dhar, Sat­taimu­ni Sid­dhar, Sun­daraanan­dar Sid­dhar, Karu­voorar Sid­dhar, Gorak­natha Sid­dhar, Mat­syen­dranatha Sid­dhar, Ramade­var Sid­dhar, Dhan­van­tari Sid­dhar, Patan­jali Sid­dhar, Sid­dha Thiru­moolar, Sid­dha Kon­ga­nar, Sid­dha Van­mikar, Kamala­mu­ni Sid­dhar and Sid­dha Boganathar. In the Guru Poorn­i­ma spe­cial edi­tion of series we were blessed to also write about the great Sid­dha Avvai.We also saw how the Sid­dhar­gal poet­ry is pre­sent­ed in Sand­hya Bhasha. In this arti­cle, we will see the glo­ry of Sid­dhar Agasthi­yar.

Agasthya Sid­dhar

Maha Rishi Agasthya Muni­var is hailed as the first of Sid­dhas. It is such a bless­ing that we delve into Sid­dha Agasthya Muni’s charithi­ram. Many ref­er­ences to Sid­dha Agasthya Muni can be found in the Puranas where it is extolled that Maharshi Agastya and Maharshi Vashish­ta are born from Mitra and Varuna, allured by Apsara Urvashi. The seeds hav­ing been put in a pot, Sage Agasthya Muni was born out a pot and was known as Kumb­hamu­ni.

Agasthya Muni is also revered as one of the Sap­ta-Rishis. Many sto­ries from the puranas cap­ture the astound­ing sid­dhis of Agasthya Muni. Once when the Asur­as hid them­selves in the oceans and the Devas request­ed Agasthya Muni’s help and the great Sid­dha drank the oceans com­plete­ly. In anoth­er episode from the puranas, Lord Shi­va asks Agasthya Muni to head south and bal­ance the world as the north was filled with every­one com­ing to wit­ness the mar­riage of Shi­va Peru­man and Devi Par­vati. It so hap­pens that this phe­nom­e­nal mar­riage occurs dur­ing a Pan­gu­ni Uttram, the very astro­nom­i­cal event that marks the release day of this edi­tion too!

Agasthya Muni also appears in the Ithi­hasas Ramayana and Mahab­haratha. In Ramayana, Lord Rama describes Agasthya Muni as the great who made the Vin­d­hya Moun­tains bow down. In the Mahab­haratha, Agasthya Muni’s phe­nom­e­nal prowess are described in the Vana Par­va. You could lis­ten to the entire nar­ra­tion by Shri­man Adi­narayanan, Founder of Anaa­di Foun­da­tion at http://www.anaadifoundation.org/moodle/

Sid­dha Agasthya Muni was car­ry­ing a water-pot, Kaman­dala, in which he was car­ry­ing Maa Ganga’s waters for his every­day Shi­va Poo­ja. It was Lord Ganesha’s leela that He takes the form of a crow and knocks the Kaman­dala lead­ing to the birth of Maa Kaveri in the south. Trav­el­ling south, Agasthya Muni reached Pod­hi­gai Hills and estab­lished the glo­ri­ous Sid­dha tra­di­tion in the south and led the first Tamil Sangam. Skan­da Guru Kavacham hails “அகத்தியருக்குத் தந்து ஆட்கொண்டாய் தமிழகத்தை”. The great Tamil tra­di­tion owes it all to Sid­dha Agath­ya Muni, for it is his bless­ings that the devout Tamil life is such a fer­tile foun­tain of Shi­va Kudumbam’s Grace! Sid­dha Agasthya Muni has ini­ti­at­ed the glo­ri­ous Sid­dha tra­di­tion and blessed us with great med­ical sci­ences, mate­r­i­al sci­ences, mar­tial arts, yoga, lan­guage and many more gifts.

In this edi­tion, we shall see a few gems from the mys­ti­cal works blessed by Agasthya Sid­dhar. In this very first verse of Bhra­ma Jnanam, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni reveals the yog­ic vision of Shak­thi and Shi­va!

முக்கோண வீட்டிதழின் முனையைப்பற்றிப் பாலமெனு மயிர்ப்பாலந் தன்னைத் தாண்டிப் பார்க்கையிலே தீபவொளி ஞானச் சோதி நீலமணி யானகுரு நாதரூபம் நேர்சுழியிற் கண்டறிந்து கொள்ளு வாய்நீ வாலையுரு வடிவான ஆத்தாள் தன்னை மயேந்திரகிரிச் சார்புதனிற் கண்டேன் பாரே

Estab­lished in Mulad­hara Hold­ing the tip of the tri­an­gu­lar house petals Hav­ing crossed over the hair strand of a bridge Expe­ri­enc­ing the efful­gent inner light The form of Supreme Guru whose radi­ance is like a blue gem Have the expe­ri­ence of ner-suzhi Cos­mic Moth­er pre­sent­ing Her­self as Kun­dali­ni In the vicin­i­ty of Mahen­dra moun­tain, I saw!

In the com­ing verse, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni estab­lish­es the glo­ry of the Sid­dha tra­di­tion and the nature and work of Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal.

இருப்பார்கள் அவர்மகிமை யென்னசொல்வேன் ஏகபர வெளிதனிலே சூட்சா மாகிச் சிரிப்பார்கள் பிரபஞ்ச மாயை நீக்கித் தேஜோம யானந்த மூர்த்தி யாகி விரிப்பார்கள் சாத்திரத்தில் நூல்கள்தோறும் விபரமது கண்டுரைப்பார் மேல்மூ லத்தோர் தரிப்பதுதான் காயசித்தி விண்ணிற் கூடித் தானிருப்பார் பதினெட்டுச் சித்தர் தானே

How do I extol the great­ness of those who eter­nal­ly live? Hav­ing become very sub­tle and roam­ing in the match­less para-veli They will laugh away being dis­en­tan­gled from the delu­sive world-order Hav­ing attained the form of tejo­mayanan­da They would elab­o­rate their expe­ri­ences through scrip­tur­al writ­ings Mel­mu­lat­tor will reveal all essen­tial details What they have attained is kaya-sid­dhi The eigh­teen sid­dhas stand celes­tial­ly exist­ing for­ev­er

In this gold­en verse from Samad­hi Sut­ti­ram, Sid­dha Agasthya Muni reveals about the prana­va-deha that the great­est of Sid­dhas attain to!

போமே நரைதிரை புகழ்பட நோயறும் தாமே தேகந் தளிர்நிற மொத்திடும் தேமே தேகந் திகழும் பதினாறாய் ஓமே வாசியென் றுள்ளிட நிற்குமே

Grey hair, wrin­kled skin, all dis­eases shall van­ish in the glo­ri­ous state The body com­plex­ion will be like a glow­ing ten­der leaf The body will ever be in youth­ful six­teen The prana as aum will become the inner body

In this select verse from Thiru­mandi­ra Vilakkam, Agasthya Muni reveals the inde­scrib­able potent of the pan­cak­shara-mantra and the vari­a­tions!

பார்த்திடவே தற்புருஷம் இருபத் தஞ்சு பாடுகிறேன் நமசிவய அகோர மாகும் சேர்த்திடவே ஜெபிக்கவுச்சா டனம தாகும் சிவமான சவுமியத்தை செபிக்க கேளு கார்த்திடவே நங்சிவய நமவென் றாலோ காதலித்த புத்திரரைக் கொடுக்குங் காணும் எர்திடவே அங்சிவய நமவென்றாக் கால் இயல்பாகத் தேகநோய் தீருங் காணே

On rev­e­la­tion, tat­pu­rusha is asso­ci­at­ed with twen­ty five vari­a­tions of mantra I reveal here the secrets of vari­a­tions of pan­cak­shara asso­ci­at­ed with agho­ra On rep­e­ti­tion one could accom­plish the state of seper­a­tion On repeat­ing pan­cak­shara one attains great and aus­pi­cious states If one repeats nang-sivaya-nama It would grant the birth of the the eager­ly await­ed If ham-sivaya-namah is repeat­ed, All bod­i­ly dis­eases are dis­pelled

The elixirs offered by Sid­dha Agasthi­yar are so many. We invite you to con­tem­plate more on these lines and share with us your insights. We also invite you to share with us lines from Sid­dhar Padal­gal that have deeply touched you. You could write to us at anaadifoundation@gmail.com.