Siddhar Charithiram: Boganathar

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 and Kamala­mu­ni Sid­dhar. 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 Sid­dha Boganathar.

Boganathar Sid­dhar

Bog­ar is a leg­endary South Indi­an Sid­dhar (a Mys­tic and a Yogi). He had mirac­u­lous pow­ers. Most of the under­stand­ing of the biog­ra­phy of Sid­dhar Bog­ar is based on two of his poems, Janana Sagaram-557 and Sap­takan­dam which is also called as Bog­ar-7000. Bhog­ar was a South Indi­an by birth, belong­ing to the lin­eage of vis­vakar­ma (gold­smiths), who became a sid­dha­pu­rusha under the guid­ance of Sid­dha Kalang­i­naathar. Kalang­i­naathar Sid­dhar is the dis­ci­ple of Sid­dha Tiru­mu­lar. Many a times in his works, Bog­ar calls Tiru­mu­lar his great grant guru, in tamil Pat­tar. Describ­ing his life to Pulip­pani (Bogar’s Dis­ci­ple), Bog­ar says he received ini­ti­a­tion (dik­sha = empow­er­ment) from his Guru Sid­dha Kalang­i­nathar, who taught him all Sas­tras, Iti­hasas (great epics), Yoga and the path to attain Samad­hi. He learnt Brah­ma-Vidya from the great Tamil sage and Sid­dha Agastya Peru­man. Lat­er, he wrote Boga Sas­tra of 7000 which includes the tech­niques of yantra, mantra and tantra. After learn­ing the tech­niques of Yoga, mantra and tantra he trav­elled all over the world and also went to Chi­na. The call to vis­it Chi­na came from his Guru Kalan­gi who was in search of a suc­ces­sor to car­ry on his mis­sion there. He vis­it­ed Chi­na sev­er­al times and trained Chi­nese in Sid­dha sci­ences, med­i­cine, Yoga and ancient arts.

In Bog­a­r’s Sap­takan­da he reveals details of var­i­ous med­i­c­i­nal prepa­ra­tions to his dis­ci­ple Pul­lip­pani (so named as he is believed to have wan­dered in the forests atop a puli or tiger) and at every stage he quotes his guru as the author­i­ty. Also Pulip­pani must have been a young man then, as he is often referred to as a bal­a­ka.

Bog­ar antic­i­pat­ing that in due course of peri­od, dur­ing the kali yuga human beings will suf­fer from large num­ber of dis­ease. As an expert in med­i­cine he used 4448 rare herbs and made 9 poi­so­nous med­i­cine (Nava Bashanam), mix­ing these 9 poi­sons into one needs great knowl­edge and skill, to make a Mas­ter Med­i­cine ( One med­i­cine to cure all dis­ease ). Sid­dhar Thiru­moolar also dis­cuss one such Mas­ter Med­i­cine in his book Thiru Mandi­ram. With the con­sul­ta­tion of Agasthiar ( Father of Ayurvedic Med­i­cine) and oth­er sid­dhars, Bog­ar con­coct­ed the 9 poi­sons (Nava Pashanam) and made the Mas­ter Med­i­cine in the form of Lord Muru­gan who is cel­e­brat­ed and wor­shiped at Palani Muru­gan tem­ple.

Leg­end has it that, at Ivar Malai, Sid­dha Boganathar pre­pared the con­coc­tion of nava­pashana, to make the moor­thi of Pazha­nian­davar, the revered Lord at Palani. It is our good for­tune that at the foothills of Ivar Malai, at the Chi­dakasha Hall of Anaa­di Foun­da­tion, we are writ­ing this arti­cle. Sid­dha Boganathar is also said to have been asso­ci­at­ed with Maha­vatar Baba­ji. He is called as the Jnana Guru of Baba­ji.

In this edi­tion, we shall see a few gems from the mys­ti­cal work Samad­hi Dhik­shai blessed by Boganatha Sid­dhar. In the very first verse of Samad­hi Dhik­shai, Bog­ar Peru­man directs the seek­er to kin­dle the ener­gies from mulad­hara-chakra through pranaya­ma and direct it to the chakra of the syl­la­ble ya — ajna-chakra.

பொருந்திடும் வட்டம் பூவிதழ் யகாரம் திரிந்திடும் வாசி செலுத்திய அவ்விடஞ் சொரிந்திடும் நூலுஞ் சொக்கிடும் வெளியிடும் இருந்திடு மூல மிருத்திநீ யூதே

Release the med­i­ta­tive ener­gy from Mul­dad­hara Direct the breath through the four cir­cles To the cir­cle of the syl­la­ble ya Where rhyth­mic breath­ing is inter­nal­ized

Boganatha Sid­dhar also bestows on the sad­hakas the nuances of the samad­hi — state of equa­nim­i­ty, by stat­ing when the kun­dali­ni-shak­thi blos­soms forth, amri­ta shall descend from sahas­rara to ajna-chakra, leav­ing on with expe­ri­ence of supreme equa­nim­i­ty — samad­hi.

தானென மண்டலந் தாக்கிநீ வூதிடக் கோனென வழலைக் குமட்டிக் குருவாம் மேனென மெய்ப்பொரு ளெடுத்திடு மப்பலம் வானென நிமிளை விடியிருஞ் சமனே

To attain lib­er­a­tion direct the prana to the chakra Where the supreme coiled snake is the guru Whose sub­lime wis­dom will remove mis­ery The great red ambrosia trick­ling down shall bring the mind to peace

Sid­dha Boganathar also explains how kun­dali­ni pass­ing through the six chakras will pave the way for samad­hi, that makes jnana as a prathyak­sha. Sid­dha Kak­ab­hushan­dar calls this the state of “wan­der­ing samad­hi”. Soak in!

சமனெனு முயிர்ச் சார்ந்த யிடையிடு தமனெனுட் டீக்கறுப்புத் தாக்கிடு அவ்விடை கமனெனு பாத்திரம் சடுவங்க மாகும் அமனெனு சமாதி அடைப்பது தானே

The state of samad­hi of the soul is per­me­at­ed In me as a friend inside, where wis­dom has dri­ven away igno­rance And the six adha­ras, which form the space of the body Become gate­way for the self-efful­gent samad­hi

Sid­dha Boganathar shows the way to real­ize one’s full poten­tial by break­ing away the lim­i­ta­tions of the body. For that Sid­dha Boganathar clear­ly pre­scribes Hatha Yoga.

அடைப்பது பெட்டி மூடிய மடவாய் திடப்பது மூடித் திறந்திடு அக்குழி கடைப்பது அறுசாண் கலத்தி டுபாதி திடப்பது பற்பந்தி சயகீழ் மேலிடே

To pre­serve the body, open the lid The lid is opened by Hatha Yoga The human body is the gate­way By revers­ing the many-bond­ed body, make it the truth and achieve vic­to­ry

The elixirs offered by Sid­dha Boganathar 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.