PROFESSOR’S

DIARY

For the teachers of yesterday, today and tomorrow

SUBRAMONIAN

Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6

McNichols Road, Chetpet

Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2015

Copyright © Subramonian 2015

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 978-93-5206-518-9

This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have

been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher disclaim the

responsibility.

No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission

from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

I dedicate this book at the lotus feet of my Divine Mother who is the

true author of this book.

Contents

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

1.InSearchofSiddhas

2.ExperienceistheTrueGuru

3.InfluenceofFamilyBackground

4.AFamilywithaHistoricalBackground

5.MyVariousAvatars

6.TheJourneyContinues

7.ChangeAloneisPermanent

8.TheMetamorphosis

9.TheGlobalTeacher

10.“AMMA”themakingofthefilm

11.LifeisLikeThat

12.TheTraingoesonnoDriverbutGuard(God)

Preface

Teaching is a noble profession they say, but without remuneration, I cannot practice it nor can you.

Leaving aside the nobility part of it, talk about sincerity and punctuality; sorry, my friends, I have

come across very few teachers who are in time for their classes and complete teaching for the entire

hour in a pre planned manner and with the right preparation.

If you were to ask me why all this sudden preaching, I understand that a teacher is also a human

being, and he/she has to complete a number of routine chores at home, and I can hear you say, “…and

you do not know how much pressure I am having at home.”

Ok, let us come to the point. I asked a teacher to take up an extra hour of class as another teacher

was on leave. The answer I got was, “Sir, I am already tired after lecturing for two hours

continuously.” Well I said, “Ok friend, I will go and engage that class because as the Principal of the

college I am answerable to the management.” I can hear the voice in your mind saying, “You lazy dog,

you are sitting here in an AC room and enjoying the time surfing the internet; go and face the students,

only then will you know which monkey is up on which tree.” (With due apologies to the student

community).

I wanted to prove that a committed teacher can go in for any number of hours without a break if he

/she is determined.

I took up the challenge, and I won the National Record in India for teaching continuously for sixty

one hours and thirty five minutes (Poor students, they got caught without escape).

The greatest Indian, Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, sent me an invitation to meet him, without any request

from my side, just because of this. ‘The Hindu’, in its report, addressed me as a “Global teacher”.

Why? I took these pains, to prove that the teacher can do it, and to uplift the image and branding of the

teacher in the minds of one and all.

Coming to research, many aspiring students have approached me saying, “Sir, I want to do PhD, but

when I approached a guide he is asking for two lakhs; I do not have that much money; my father is

only a priest in a temple.”

It is very sad that real talents for research are being blocked for the sake of wealth. I heard

somebody saying “Sir, if they are having merit they could have joined IIT or IIM.” Well friends, that

is true, but all fingers are not alike and all cannot become ‘Kalams’.

Poverty should never stand in the way of education for any human being in this world.

We cannot become Abdul Kalams, but at least we can be part of some noble cause in his name by

sparing a few minutes of our precious life for the sake of poor students who need education, so that

India can be proud of you..

The pages of this Diary will throw light on my experiences as a Professor for more than 37 years.

Words are inadequate… if I am able to spark in your minds a small light, I am the winner, together

with you!

Dr. Subramonian

Acknowledgements

I express my gratitude to all my family members who were very supportive while writing this book.

My special thanks goes to my dear wife Rani Lakshmi Bai for all those black coffees she was

providing me throughout the night to energise me. I thank my dear daughters Janani and Aparna for

helping me to choose the right images for each chapter. I am indebted to my media designer Mithun

who was working with me day and night to create all the images for this book.

Sri.Kodi Swamigal, Puravipalayam

Yogi Ram Surat Kumar, Thiruvannamalai

Srila Sri Gopal Swamigal, Sinchuvadi

InSearchofSiddhas

In Hinduism, a siddha is ‘one who is accomplished’. It refers to a perfected master who has achieved

a high degree of physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. Siddha may also refer to

one who has attained a siddhi, paranormal capabilities.

In my life, I came across not one but three siddhas - the ‘Kodi Swami’ from Puravipalayam near

Pollachi, Coimbatore, the ‘Sinchuvadi Swami’ from Sinchuvadi village near Udumalpet, and ‘Yogi

Ram Surat Kumar’from Thiruvannamalai.

If you were to ask the need for their being introduced here, a teacher should know the connection

between spirituality and teaching. The role it plays and the influences on the life of any teacher, will

be clear if you get a chance to meet these purest of pure in hearts, self-less ones with no expectations

- an example of a very rare phenomenon which proves many things you may not understand, you may

not believe, and will sometimes find difficult to accept.

Let me start with “Kodi Swamigal” from Puravipalayam, Pollachi. At that time I was on deputation

with the district collectorate as a Mass Media Coordinator. One fine morning my team head said, “We

have to move to a nearby village, the District Collector is supposed to participate in a program there

and we have to videograph the event.”

We followed the collector in a jeep. During the travel one of the team mates asked, “Has any one of

you heard of Kodi Swamigal? We said, “No.” Our team mate continued, “You should be very careful

with this siddha; when one of my friends met him, he asked him for his gold watch and he had to give

it as there was no other way.” When he had finished his sentence, and we looked ahead, the

collector’s car was not there ahead of us, even though we had been following him closely. The driver

who was very thorough with the route had got confused, and he said, “I do not know what happened,

but we missed the correct route.” This happened somewhere near Puravipalayam. With much

difficulty, we arrived at the venue later on, with much delay, and attended the function.

My mind thought that perhaps the team member’s comment had been heard by the siddha, and he

had given us a warning signal.

The teacher, who wants to become a role model, and wishes to achieve something in his career,

needs to have these types of acquaintances, although they are very difficult to come across.

After returning to college service, one day I asked one of my friends who hailed from a village near

Puravipalayam about ‘Kodi Swamigal’. He said he knew of him, and added that the saint is about

three hundred years old. I am not a person who takes everything at face value. I searched and

researched and found that many of the villagers and their forefathers had seen the saint in the same

palace (Yes, in the Puravipalayam Jameendar’s Palace).

I decided that I would meet this saint, and requested one of my colleagues who was from a nearby

village to help me to meet the saint. We went there, and found that there was a long queue waiting to

see him. The queue went up slowly to the first floor. There I saw an old man sitting on a chair. (When

I made enquiries, people said it was very rare to see him getting up from the chair, and that he did not

attend to nature’s calls, nor did he take food or bath). At very first sight my mind told me that he is

different and unique. It is my practice never to touch the feet of anybody other than my father and

mother. However, I prostrated before him and touched his feet, got his blessings and left the place.

After marriage, when the birth of our first child got delayed, my wife became very much worried. I

told her, “We will go to the saint.” So we went, and on that day too there was a long queue. We stood

patiently. I told my wife to pray sincerely, and that the saint could grant our wish. We were just behind

another couple, they prostrated and the saint blessed them and they left, and in a second, we were

standing before him and prostrating. He blessed us, and within months we were blessed with our first

baby.

I used to smoke nearly five packs a day and I could not stop this habit. It was my practice to

meditate in front of the saint’s photo in my house daily every evening. One day while I was praying

the lights went off and I was in complete darkness. I prayed to the saint, “I trust in you, I want light

now, I do not know how you are going to do it, it should come, when I say ‘now’, and that too not in

the normal way, it should come as if high voltage is there (more bright luminance than normal). If it

comes I will stop smoking.” I said, “Now”, the light came on with full brightness and then slowly

became normal. I stood up, went to my room and took my cigarette pack and was about to throw it

away. My wife noticed this and asked me, “What happened?” I narrated the event to her, and she said,

“Why you are wasting the money, you just smoke that also and then throw it away!”

Ateacher, when he becomes spiritually attached, can surely come out of any of his negative habits.

Days passed. It was my practice to visit the abode of ‘Kodi Swamigal’ every Saturday. I would

start in the afternoon and used to reach Puravipalayam mostly by 6 PM in the evening. This was

because the door which leads to the first floor where the saint was seated was closed by 7 PM. I had

to change nearly four buses to reach Puravipalayam as there were no direct buses to this place.

One Saturday, due to lack of buses, it was past 7 PM when I reached Puravipalayam, and the door

leading to the saint’s room had been closed. I was upset, I prayed in my mind, “I took all efforts to

meet you and you know well it was not my mistake. I will meet you today.” I made up my mind and

sat in a corner in front of the Zamindar’s palace.

Although it was a full moon day the place looked dark to me. I was not afraid as my full

concentration was on meeting the saint. Suddenly I saw a car slowly approaching. The car stopped

before the palace gate, a lady came out from the palace and welcomed the group of people who

arrived by the car. They went inside, and I too accompanied the group knowingly or unknowingly. I

saw a cinema like set up inside the room like we see in movies - a seat for the king and two parallel

rows of seats in front of the main seat. Suddenly I remembered that I did not belong to this group.

I came outside and nobody noticed me. I just looked at the door which led to the first floor. The

doors were open. I do not know what happened after that; the next moment I was just standing before

the saint. In the place where he was sitting, I could see only a light at which I simply could not look

at. It was so bright and powerful. I prostrated and apologised in my mind for entering the room

without the permission of the saint.

When I was coming down the stairs thereafter, the group which had come earlier was coming up.

The lady who had welcomed the group asked me, “You?” My answer was, “I am a professor, a

devotee of the saint.” They never questioned me and let me off. The identity as a teacher and being a

teacher often saves you in times of need.

Now I noticed that the whole place was suddenly very dark, and naturally I was a little afraid. I

prayed to the saint, “Oh saint, it is so dark here, show me the way.” The next minute I saw that

somebody was behind me showing a torch light to guide me. I turned back and found a small boy who

was lighting the way for me. I did not ask him anything; the only thing I remember is that he was with

me up to the Bus stand where there were plenty of street lights.

While I was waiting for the bus, I said in my mind, “If you can show me the way up to the bus

stand, why can’t you accompany me up to my house?” The bus arrived and I occupied my seat. The

person who was sitting beside me asked “Sir, where are you going?” In reply I asked him where he

was from, and he replied that he was from the palace and was going to the same place where I had to

go. I was a little shocked but never showed it outside.

I reached my place. It was a full moon day. I had to walk a little way to reach my house. On the

way, on my left side I saw a very divine looking snake with the full moon shedding light on it as if it

is blessing me and guarding me.

Every spiritual event in your life makes you more fit enough to be a good teacher.

‘Sinchuvadi Swami’ the saint from the village Sinchuvadi in Udumalpet gave me a better direction

in my career and life. At that time I was suffering a lot financially, so much so that truly I was not able

to make both ends meet. My family expenses were shooting up. Although my wife was a government

employee, I made it a point not to take her salary for household or any other expenses, as I considered

it as her own hard earned money and I should not accept it at any point of time. (When she got her first

salary after our marriage she was about to hand over her full salary to me, but I told her you keep this

for your expenses as you earned it). I got married while I was a National Service Scheme Program

Officer so I told my wife’s family that I would not accept anything whether it is in money or in kind

and that I would bear all the expenses of the marriage. (In fact I had to sell my only house in Kerala

which I had built out of my savings for the marriage expenses).

One day while talking with one of my friends he told me that I should meet Sinchuvadi swami. I

asked, “Why?” He said that he had once gone with his friends to meet him, and at that time the swami

was picking up some broken bangle pieces from the road and collecting them very seriously. His

friends made fun of the swami and passed some comments. The next minute what they saw was the

face of the swami as a vishwa roopa (face alone as a big image). Now you understand what is what,

they left the place immediately.

I decided in my mind that I have to meet him. I took the help of one of my students who hailed from

that village and went with him to meet the swami. The saint was inside a Perumal (Vishnu) temple

and the door remained closed. He was inside the temple seeing us through the grill gate, and he

shouted at us, “Go away, do not come here.” But I did not go away, and sat there deciding that I would

not go until he opened the gate. Time tick ticked away and at last he opened the gate. We went inside

but he went outside. I was waiting patiently when he came back, sat in a corner and started talking to

somebody as if he were talking through a mobile, “…oh is it so, ok and…” like that. I could not

understand anything but my mind told me that he was talking to somebody whom you cannot see,

perhaps to the Divine.

He simply ignored us and never asked us anything. Sitting before him for some time praying, I left

the place. After that whenever I got time I used to go to him and he became familiar with me and

started saying, “he is digging and digging and continuously digging.” I did not understand the meaning

of this at that time, but later I understood that he meant that I would become a researcher and do

knowledge mining and keep myself engaged in search and research of knowledge.

At another time he called me by name and said ‘education’. (I understood later that although I had

wasted a lot of money and time on starting different kinds of businesses and lost money, he wanted to

tell me that I would shine only in the field of education). I was really shocked when he told me one

day, “the train goes on no driver only guard (god).” Whenever I met him after that he would ask me,

“You did not understand the meaning of what I said” (for the meaning of which, even today I am

searching).

He guided this teacher towards the right path; perhaps in some corner of the world some saint will

be waiting for you, who knows? Therefore search and research until you find him.

I used to discuss spirituality with my wife most of the days and one evening my wife asked me, “Do

you know this saint from Thiruvannamalai, Yogi Ram Surat Kumar?” I said, “No.” “On seeing the

photo of the saint my inner self told me you should meet him.”

I take decisions very fast in spiritual matters. I told my wife, “Ok, we will go and meet him and get

his blessings!”

With our children being very young, we found it very difficult to board the town buses which were

always full. Somehow we reached Thiruvannamalai, and as we had enough time we went to the

Ashram of Bhagavan Ramana and sat there silently for some time. I have never felt so much divine

bliss anywhere.

I understood why religion and education are closely linked. I learned an example of patience there.

I came to understand that Bhagavan was in penance in a cave and worms penetrated his skin, but he

sat still as he was not in this world but in a divine world.

Time came to meet the great Yogi Ram Surat Kumar who used to say, “I am not a good teacher, I do

smoke and I cannot stop this.” How many of the saints in mother India or elsewhere can admit this so

frankly?

I was in the queue when I saw the Yogi sitting as an example of simplicity, seriously reading a

book; he was not bothered about who was standing there or why they were standing there.

I remembered what some of my friends from the police department had told me about him. In the

beginning the Yogi used to be on the streets. It was his habit to grab food from the vendors and run

away. The vendors got annoyed and they went and complained to the local police who sent a van full

of policemen to catch the Yogi. Seeing the police after him he ran with the police following him

closely. Suddenly he stopped and lo, what the people saw was a lion standing in front of them. They

immediately left the place and reported this to their superiors and soon an abode was made for him.

As in banks there is a KYC (Know Your Customer), I had a habit of KYS (Know Your Saint). My

research about him revealed that he was a professor in Philosophy from Banaras Hindu University. It

was my wish to sing in his ashram, but I was very shy to ask permission for this, fearing that they

would refuse. After the Yogi attained Samadhi, I went to the ashram, sat before his statue and started

singing about him. People there tried to stop me but one lady who was in charge of the ashram, told

them not to disturb me.

Life Experiences are our True Guru

In search of the inner-self

ExperienceistheTrueGuru

Patience and tolerance are the two key factors which make a successful teacher. You should be very

patient and tolerant with your students. Most of the students are very active and when they become

more active they will become more restless. The punishments you give to a student should indicate

that ‘I do not like what you did’, rather than, ‘You did it’.

Eye contact is something very important to maintain discipline in a class. You have to face the

students by looking into their eyes. (Please do not stare). It should be like that you start from one point

of the class room and end at another point. It is not so simple, you have to practice a lot and do

homework. I used to sit before a mirror and look at my own eyes every day for at least ten minutes.

During this period I would give suggestions to my mind, “I am confident.” You should have such

positive messages for the mind. The result will be simply marvellous when also supplemented by

simple mediation techniques. When I am in a class, if any student misbehaves, I will simply look at

him stopping the class for a second; there will be abrupt silence in the class and all the other students

will be looking at the particular student. Next I will just turn my face off towards the door, and he

understands and will go out of the class but he will stand near the door. He will keep standing there,

and after 10 minutes I will go to him and ask, “Do you feel for what you have done?” He will

immediately accept his fault and then I will say, “Please get in” This is very important, the use of

‘Please’.

You have to recognise and respect the feelings of each individual irrespective of their age. There is

a joke about one professor in our college who is a language teacher and is not so familiar with the use

of English. One day one boy did some mischief in his class. He immediately shouted at him, “Get

out.” The boy went out murmuring but he did not leave the premises. He was standing near the door

for some time, and the professor’s heart melted. He felt very uncomfortable and he said to himself,

“What I have done? I asked him to go out of the class, and now that boy feels sad and I too feel for it.

I will ask him to get in.” But the words “Get in” would not come to his mind or he did not remember

it at that point of time. He just went outside the room and said, “Get out”, pointing his hand towards

the class room, and the boy went into the class room happily.

Teachers are students always as they have to learn each day to keep themselves updated. It is

interesting to find that sometimes our own students give us some new information. We have to accept

it and appreciate them for sharing such information. I also found that sometimes students correct us by

looking into the black board and saying, “Sir/Ma’am there is a mistake in the spelling.” We should not

get annoyed but again accept and appreciate their efforts as not all students dare to do this as they are

sort of shy or afraid to point out these errors.

The students should be provided with information outside the text book but relevant to their study in

an interesting manner. For example, in one of my management classes I observed that my students

were sitting breathless and concentrating when I shared an information about the “X Brand” tooth

paste. Showing them the carton I asked them, “Do you know at which place this is manufactured?”

They gave different answers starting from Mumbai, Chennai and so on.

I showed them the carton of the tooth paste and the place of the manufacture was the place in which

they were living. I came to know this by keen sense of observation. When I use a tooth paste, I do not

simply using the tooth paste; I used to observe details such as its manufacturing date, place and so on

out of curiosity. This is a quality a teacher should develop to impress the students. You may ask why I

should impress them. Simple, to extract respect for your knowledge.

You have to also read the latest subject related magazines and journals so that you can mix it in

your lecture class not in detail but in excerpts which the students will enjoy a lot. In fact it is not the

text book information which is prepared three years ago, but the current information you share that

attracts them.

For those students who are not so good in English, I used to recommend reading cartoon story

books, which I found useful in improving their vocabulary and also their spoken English. (In fact I

improved my English using this technique).

Teachers have to think about the need for evaluating the knowledge rather than the memory of

students. It is very pathetic to observe that till day we are following up the very old traditional

memory test for testing the knowledge of the students.

The evaluation system in the higher education level is done in such a way that you have to evaluate

a certain number of answer scripts in a day. I hope we are not in a manufacturing process that certain

number of products are to be manufactured within a day. Even in manufacturing some sort of quality

tests/standards are maintained.

There is a system of continuous assessment in higher education for which each university

prescribes its own thumb rules. For example some universities follow the norm of twenty five marks

for internal assessment out of hundred marks. Is there a system to monitor this, and who supervises

this? Has the student got any role to be played in this? Is he given a chance to improve himself? Is

there any grievance redressal system? If you go in depth only this??? will be left as your final answer.

Our country is never in short of eminent academicians but they are all very busy in elevating their

qualifications and the number of their research papers. Why do we hesitate to come out of this

traditional system of evaluation? Is it because we lose our remuneration for answer scripts

evaluation? Then it is the right time to think about the future and career of your own children.

Because, they too stand a chance of becoming just personalities with good memories, and not with

good knowledge.

Money is the vitamin M for livelihood but not at the cost of the career and future of the students of

mother India. Teachers, think twice before you carry out your evaluations and assessments, because

the tomorrow of the youth of this country is spread out before you in the answer scripts you are going

to evaluate.

Be a true teacher; evaluate the answer scripts thinking that you are evaluating the answer script of

your own children.

A teacher is a student always as he has to learn every day to keep him up to date otherwise he will

become something similar to an outdated machine or software. How we will keep ourselves updated

in this fast changing world? The key factor here is the student himself. Nowadays he has access to the

latest information. You cannot restrict the flow of knowledge. My findings are that internet is the

major source of information for students of this day. Although they use it for accessing many types of

social media, they also come across a variety of useful information and they record this in their

minds. This pops out when the teacher discusses something relevant to this in the normal lecture

class, sometimes placing you in a difficult position.

I remember in the year 2004 when I was undergoing a special training in University Grants

Commission in E-Learning. (I was one among the two professors selected from the state of Tamilnadu

in the first and final batch). I found that many of the professors who had come there for the training

representing different states were sitting idle before their computers, as they were not aware of how

to start their computers. I do not blame them; what our trainers should have done first was to give

them not training in E-Learning, but to teach them the basics of the computer. The professors were

selected on the basis of a project submitted, without enquiring into their basic knowledge in

computers. A few of us trained the other professors daily in handling the computers effortlessly. I was

lucky enough to be with one of the mathematics professors from Kerala who was the first one sent to

UK to learn the intricacies of the computer, and he brought one of the first generation computers to

India, purchasing it out of his savings to educate his students. Even today students flock in large

number to his house to see this first generation computer as a historical piece. (I have also worked on

this computer; in those days, after switching on the computer we used to go to the nearby tea shop to

have a tea and by the time we return the computer would be ready for work). Today we are not

satisfied even with the latest platforms; we want speed and more speed. The moment the computer

hangs, the world comes to a standstill for us (we will tolerate anything except this in our life).

I do remember that in the year 2000, while I was working in the Maldives, the one thing I was

afraid of was computers. I had made up my mind that I would never go near a computer. I used to

request my fellow teachers to help me with computer related work. (Ironically, I later achieved the

Guinness World Record in Online Teaching for teaching 1934 students from 16 countries worldwide

using a computer only). As teachers we should keep ourselves updated each day, each minute, each

second, otherwise you will get outdated and you will lose the respect the students give you. I am

happy when my students get up and greet me when I enter a class only if my knowledge level is

maintained at a higher level than that of my students.

Many people are very much interested in obtaining a “Dr” title before their name. It is a craze for

many corporate heads and even others as well. Many corporate heads who have approached me have

told me how they were cheated by many study centres, because many of such universities represented

by study centres vanished into thin air with the passage of time due to varied reasons. The main

reason for this is that private universities give the role of marketing to private individuals who pay

heavy amount for obtaining the national rights of marketing. These people, for the sake of making

money, act without any ethics as they are only worried about multiplying their profits.

What really happens is that sometimes they go to the extent of printing certificates and selling them

without the knowledge of the concerned university. One fine morning when the cat is out of the bag,

the UGC declares that all the degrees issued by the particular university are not valid. Some innocent

scholars think that they have already completed their degrees, and so that is not applicable for them;

no friend, it is not like that - degrees are not valid means none of the degrees issued from the very

beginning are not valid. In simple words you have lost your money, time and energy.

One thing people do not realise is that research education is something of a high order and level.

Only people with the right qualification and right experience can guide you towards the right path.

Please understand that if you pursue a research degree through a study centre of any university, it is

not valid, as UGC has already stated and announced this in their notifications.

You have to acquire your research degree only through a Private/Deemed/Government

University/Approved Research institution, and the mode of study should be part time or regular.

Experience makes a teacher perfect. I have observed students remaining in pin drop silence when

my classes are going on; it is not because I am a strict disciplinarian, it is only because they love

classes which are informative.

I remember while I was working in a college in Kerala, one day while taking the class I just looked

out casually and found that in a particular class students were standing crowded. Out of curiosity,

after my class was over, (that other class continued even after the interval bell) I went near the class

and noticed that the teacher was engaged in narrating in an interesting manner a story in the text book.

He was a language teacher. When I enquired with my fellow teachers I came to understand that

students from other classes also attend this class even at the cost of absenting themselves from their

own classes, as this teacher’s classes were so interesting. Such is the student psychology which is

quite unpredictable, and which you can learn only with the passage of time.

While I was working in a women’s college, one day our principal took leave and put me in charge

of the college. It was the habit of some students those days (and even today), to cut their afternoon

classes and to go for a new movie. Everything went so smooth except in the afternoon, when I found

that most of the students were absent. On enquiry, I found that they had gone for a movie absenting

themselves from the classes. Fortunately or unfortunately, an order was received at that time from the

district authorities to let off all classes due to some official reasons.

I did not waste any time. I discussed with my fellow teachers and decided to go for the same movie

for which the students had gone. I went with all of our teachers (tickets sponsored by me). We took

tickets for the higher class so that we would be sitting behind the students without their knowledge.

All went well till the interval when lights were switched on and one of students who was sitting in

the front row just turned back and scream aloud in the shock of seeing all the teachers together in the

theatre. We never asked anything; I did not want to be a spoil sport. Next day when the same students

came to the college none of us asked them anything. They were really shocked to see our NO

REACTION but RESPONSE.

Teachers are not just teachers nowadays - they are Government/Aided/Private college/school

teachers. The position of Guru is very important in shaping the future of any student. But why are there

these variations in status? Today one of my friends, a very learned and experienced scholar, had a

discussion with me. We discussed for a long time about the present scenario in the field of education

and how to make changes in it. A teacher is always a student because being a teacher places him in a

very important position. He has to learn every day to keep updated to impart the latest knowledge to

the students. The teacher should realise the role that he is playing and the duration for which the

impact will remain in the hearts of the students.

The teacher should keep the students engaged for the full hour of his allocated time. You may

wonder how this is possible. This is possible only by prior planning. When I am going to a class, I

plan in such a way that I lecture for thirty minutes and for another thirty minutes I will share the notes.

I used to plan in advance, that these are the topics I am going to cover, this is the new knowledge in

the subject area I am going to share. Teachers who engage their students in this way will remain in the

hearts of the students for ever.

Once I was visiting an educational exhibition sponsored by a leading newspaper. While I was

taking my rounds, one gentleman (he was the Professor of a very leading college in Coimbatore,

admission to which is only a dream for many of the students) stopped me. In fact I did not know who

he was, but he introduced me to his faculty saying, “Do you know who he is, a teacher who will never

refuse to go for any number of classes, if asked he will handle any subject at short notice.” This gave

me plenty of strength in the future when I was a teacher in many other colleges. Actually I never knew

till then that this is another quality others expect in a teacher.

InfluenceofFamilyBackground

Teachers, teaching is a profession you should be proud of and not a profession to enjoy more

vacations! (Sorry to say this but once I asked a teacher aspirant why he preferred teaching, and his

answer was, “Sir, there are more number of holidays in the teaching profession than in any other

profession).”

Nowadays it has become a practice in educational institutions to invite people who are in higher

positions or one among their students who have come to a higher position to address the students on

special occasion. The mind of a student is such that he is very open and accepts the principles,

concepts and theories propagated by these orators without thinking in depth about the truth of these

theories, for the reason that they are quite innocent.

Today morning my daughter (Aparna) asked me, “Daddy all my classmates are talking about

‘Cockroach Theory’. What is it daddy?” Actually I wanted to tell her, “Dear Daughter, the only

‘Cockroach Theory’ I know is what your mummy does when she gets irritated with these pests.” I

know she will not be satisfied with my answer so I started ‘Googling’. I searched and researched and

at last I found that one gentleman who has become the head of a leading international IT company,

who is an Indian, has propagated this theory among students, while addressing them as a former

student of his college and the chief guest at a function.

This theory he introduced because he just wanted to explain the difference between ‘React’ and

‘Respond’, but I still feel that he could have found another good example as an Indian. Our great epics

such as ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharatha’ and ‘Bhagavad Gita’ are never short of any such examples for

this, and also there are no copyrights. He could have very well opted to quote from any of these.

(Perhaps it is that the gentleman concerned might not have got time to go through these epics due to his

24 x 7 work schedule).

According to his theory, if a cockroach lands on your shoulder, and if you panic, it is “React”,

while if you boldly take it by hand and throw it off it is “Respond”. It looks very childish to me

especially when it comes from a young man who has reached greater heights through constant hard

work, talent and sincerity. My question to him is what if it is a snake in the place of a cockroach -

what will you do? Panic and run, or will you take it by hand and throw it away. So it all depends

upon the particular situation and common sense, and not something that can be applied as a scientific

or management theory. My daughter was waiting to hear from me, and I told her, “My Daughter, do not

worry much about these theories, concepts and principles, as one day you may develop a ‘Frog

Theory’, who knows.” When I looked out of the window I saw a frog jumping and playing happily in

the garden without worrying about these man-developed ‘theories’.

From cockroach theory my mind made a journey in time to the question, why was I so spiritual?

These thoughts led me to my family roots. I was born in Kollam, a small town surrounded by the sea

on three sides, in the state of Kerala. At the time of my birth, when my mother (Govindammal) felt the

labour pain, unfortunately no one else was in the house. She was crying in pain and at that time she

saw a Brahmin priest standing near the door. The priest gave her some bhasma and asked my mother

to consume it. The next moment the priest disappeared and my elder sister (Santha) came rushing in,

and she called for the midwife. The midwife carried out her duty and my mother gave birth to twins -

one male and one female.

The female died after sometime and I survived (may be applying the theory of “survival of the

fittest”).

My father (Shanmugham) was a photographer - the first photographer in Kerala. He learned

photography from a British photographer in Sri Lanka. He was also a student of the School of Arts,

Trivandrum. He maintained the family with the income from his studio. We were eight in the family -

four males and four females, and I was the youngest of them. My schooling went on quite normally in

a nearby government school. My father was a good motivator; he used to present me with some

handicraft dolls immediately after my examinations. Later I came to know that these handicrafts were

made by a poor handicapped craftsman, and my father really wanted to help him and that was the

source of the gifts I got.

He was a very hard worker and a multitalented person - he was a clay model maker, artist,

photographer, mason, carpenter and electrician. He was very particular that all his sons should learn

this from him as this would come in handy in times of necessity in any household. This helped a lot in

the later stages of my life when I found it difficult to get an electrician or mason to carry out some

minor repairs in my house, as I was already trained for this.

He was a very loving father; the only problem with him was that he was not so sociable with

everybody in the house. He used to go to his studio (Shanmugham Studio) in the morning, and used to

return in the late evenings. We did not get much chance to interact with him.

For high school studies I was put in an Anglo Indian school (St. Aloysius) fifteen kilometres away

from my home. At first I did not like this idea but as there was no other go I had to accept this. Every

morning my father used to give me pocket money for going to the school by bus. But I saved this

money and purchased the then popular cartoon story books ‘Mandrake’and ‘Phantom’. Reading these

books helped me to improve my English. I scored good marks in English even though I was an

average student in other subjects.

My father knew that I used to go walking to school, but he never questioned me. On my way to

school I would see a few of the students of our school passing me by very fast in their cars. I never

felt any desire or wish to go one day in a car like them. Whenever my father found that I was scoring

poor marks he never shouted at me or got angry with me; instead he arranged tuition masters and tried

to coach me to get better marks.

Navaratri (Golu) was celebrated in my house every year for which all our family members used to

assemble without fail. We would invite the public for the Poojas in the evenings, and there would be

a heavy crowd in our house. The most important part I loved in this festival was not the dolls

beautifully arranged on the nine steps, but the different types of eatables my mother would make. Each

day there would be a different item, and it would go on thus, until the ninth day, when there would be

nine items.

I would also actively take part in the festival by making clay models under the supervision of my

father, and would try to impress the visitors.

Years passed… the curtain slowly fell down on my school life, and the curtain of my college

admission rose. Most of the students in Kerala those days wore dhotis to college, and some wore

pants. But I did not like both. I persuaded my father and went in half trousers for admission. As my

father was very popular in the town, the principal who was a priest immediately granted me

admission. (The principal did not know that there was a small hole in my half trousers and that I was

hiding it with my right hand).

The college life began, and once again I had to walk to the college for kilometres because there

were no direct buses. The atmosphere of college was entirely new to me. I avoided talking to my

class mates as I felt very shy. I took commerce as my major subject (under pressure from my family)

at the pre-degree level. The syllabus there was a subject “General Education” which consisted of

Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The students hated this subject for reasons known only to them. They

would create all sorts of nuisance, that a teacher had to be put on duty for observation while the

classes were going on.

In the English classes there were about more than a hundred students in a single class, so that we

the back benchers found it very convenient to escape classes after giving attendance through the side

doors when the teacher was not observing.

When the General Education Examination came up, I discussed with my brother and somehow

arranged an additional sheet and drew a diagram of a frog and took it to the examination hall. I had

never done this earlier, and as a first timer, in fear I pinned both the sheets, the one I took for copying

and the original also. When the results came I got zero marks, meaning that I did not get marks even

for the correct answers I had written. I never repeated this after that for any other exams. The teachers

never called me or questioned me on this.

I completed the pre-degree level, and joined for Bachelor of Commerce course; but I did not know

the basics of accounting and suffered a lot, but I never told anybody else. In the second year we had a

compulsory subject ‘Hindi’. I never attended this class and was always bunking. Examinations came

around, and I was very much afraid; I prayed sincerely to God to please save me. My intuition told

me that every ten years the University repeated the same questions. I verified some other questions;

yes, I was right. As my brother had also studied the same course, I made a thorough search of the

whole house and got hold of the question paper, and with this preparation went for the examination.

To my surprise all the questions were from the old question paper. (Thanks to the traditional system of

question paper setting).

While I was studying for my Bachelor Degree, I got attracted towards the teaching profession.

Anybody and everybody cannot become a good teacher unless you love this profession that much. I

chose this profession at the age of twenty, because I needed to support myself. Although my father

was a well-known photographer in the town and was earning pretty well, I felt it very delicate to ask

him for money. He was prepared to support me, but I did not want to disturb him for anything. I

preferred to buy my dresses with my own money. I started with two or three students for private

coaching and day by day it increased to fifteen. I was earning nearly Rs.2000 in the year 1975;

ironically my first salary as a lecturer was only Rs.350 in the year 1978.

As our family had got a good reputation in the town the public felt it very safe to send their wards

to me. This was my practice ground. I tested all methodologies to make students understand difficult

subjects; however they were very weak. For example if it was a novel, I would first tell the story,

then I would tell them who were the important characters in the novel, and what were the important

events in the novel. That was more than enough for them to score high marks in their English Paper

two.

Patience - that was the mantra within me. I was never aggressive with weak students. I was trying

to find out why they were weak. Mostly they had made up their minds that this was a tough subject

and that they do not want to study it. They had also recorded in their minds that they would never

score in this subject. A thorough brain wash is what was needed, recording in their mind that they

were wrong and that they could score high marks if they put in a little effort. I appreciated their efforts

even for a slight increase in their scores, and this made a magical effect on their score cards.

I remember a time when my daughter (Aparna), was in class five. My wife used to beat her all the

way up to the school as she refused to go to school; what I used to do at that time is to tell my

daughter that if you go to school, I will buy a lovely bird for you. At this she would immediately

agree, and would run to the school. By evening before she returned, I would buy the bird and keep it

in a cage to show her. (However we used to set it free later after convincing her, for which she would

happily agree).

Whatever promises you make to children, you have to keep them, otherwise it will leave an

unforgettable mark on their minds.

When you are in a noble profession, you will have to face many tests; that is because God will test

you to find that whether you are fit for that mission.

It was my habit while working as the principal of a college to send teachers on rounds during the

lunch break, not to check for disciplinary issues, but to find out whether there are any students who

are sitting and starving because they have not brought lunch or they do not have money. If the teachers

find any such students they had to report that to me, and I would ask the teacher to take the student to

the canteen and buy him food on my account.

Only if you have known the pain of starvation, will you know and understand what it is like. God

gave me a chance to experience it years back. One day during my study days before the examination, I

was alone in my house in Kerala. All my family members had gone out for a marriage. They left in the

early morning hours, telling me that they would be back within an hour. I was preparing for the

examination walking here and there. It was my habit to study in the shade of a mango tree in our

house. Hours passed. First I felt the feeling that I am hungry, then I was very hungry, then there was a

pain in my lower abdomen as if somebody was inside my stomach and stretching and pulling the

intestines inside. I was about to cry but controlled myself. Then I wished that if at least a mango were

thereon the tree, then I could have it.

I looked up everywhere and I could see only dark green leaves everywhere. I was very much

disappointed. With confidence I searched again hoping and praying in my mind asking the mango tree

“Oh, Mother, I am very hungry please give me something”. Now I could see a golden yellow coloured

mango hidden behind the leaves atop. Yes, it was a fully ripe mango fruit with gold, yellow and red

colour shades in it. The next minute the mango came down straight. You cannot believe it, or you may

say it was a coincidence. For me it was an experience to learn what and how starving is.

On my birth day I would ask my staff before I take my lunch, “Please go to that temple near the tank;

one old lady is sitting there and she is very hungry.” With minds full of doubts, my staff would go to

the spot and the very next moment I will receive a call from my staff saying, “Sir, the lady is there and

she asked, ‘Is it sir who sent you?’ I do not know that lady in reality, but how does she knows me?

How do I know that the lady is sitting there hungry? You may once again say that it is a coincidence or

just intuition, but still these incidents are question marks in my life.

Donating food for a hungry, needy person is the best donation you can ever do – much greater than

giving away thousands of rupees!

AFamilywithaHistoricalBackground

Family background plays a great role in the career and life of a teacher. My mother was born in a

family that lived in the same street in Ettaiyapuram where the Great poet Bharathiar lived. After

reading his books I used to ask my mother whether it was true that the poet used to feed the sparrows

from the rice kept at home for cooking; her answer was, “Yes, I have seen him doing it several times.”

My grandfather was a court employee who had to perform the duty of issuing court orders for

confiscation of property. After doing this he would cry the whole night saying, “They are poor, they

do not have anything, and I issued the orders to them, God will never forgive me.”

My paternal grandmother used to give discourses in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. My

paternal grandfather was a head constable with the British police. (Perhaps it was this affinity to the

British that attracted my father to go with a British gentleman to learn photography in Sri Lanka, and

to later introduce it in the state of Kerala).

My mother used to tell us our family stories in the late evenings. One of these was about a man of

our family who went into the deep forest with one of his friends in search of a sheep which he had

lost. (My forefathers were shepherds).

When this man and his friend went inside the forest they saw a saint in meditation. Seeing the saint

in such a place they were very much afraid and they simply sat before him in prayer. The saint opened

his eyes and asked them, “What you want?” They did not know what to ask or what to say. The saint

took a bundle of palm leaves from the air and said, “Only you can read this. Use it for a good

purpose!”

They returned home, and kept the bundle in the corner of a room in the house. (This house is still

there at Nagercoil, as a memory for us, and whenever I entered the room where the palm leaves were

kept once upon a time, I used to feel that there is something very different in the atmosphere there).

Their daily chores made my ancestor and others forget all about this. One day our man all of a sudden

remembered the palm leaves and started reading them. He understood that they are very powerful

mantras.

This gentleman, who thus acquired magical powers, started using them. His start up was with the

children who love magic a lot. He used to ask them to sit on a carpet (a magic carpet), and would ask

them to close their eyes, and then take them to nearby villages where there were festivals. He made

sure all the time that the children were safe. After the festival within no time he used to reach home

safely with the children.

It was the practice at that time to sacrifice goats in a nearby temple, but the then king put a ban on it.

The villagers were very tense because they thought that they cannot please their goddess without the

sacrifice.

The village head accompanied by the villagers approached this gentleman and requested for help,

as guards of the then king had surrounded the temple to stop the sacrifice at any cost. Our gentle man

went to the temple carrying a small stick, and started touching the guards. Within no time all the

guards were standing still. He gave a sign to the villagers to go ahead with the sacrifice. Everything

was completed but how to wake up the guards who were standing in deep sleep. They looked at the

gentleman, and he once again touched all the guards, and all of them were back to life immediately.

The guards requested the villagers not to talk about this to anybody else as the king would get

annoyed if he came to know about this.

On another occasion while our gentleman was in his role as a shepherd, the king of Travancore

came by that way. It was late evening. At that time the king had some enemies. The king was

travelling in a palanquin carried by bearers, and one of the bearers sprained his foot forcing them to

set the palanquin down on the ground. The king became worried and asked the soldiers accompanying

him to look for help. The soldiers found our gentleman who was seriously engaged in looking after

his flock.

The soldiers took the gentleman with them and presented him before his majesty. The king asked,

“Do you know anyone else nearby who can help in treating the sprain of this bearer?” His reply was,

“Which one is he?” The guards pointed at the bearer who had the sprain. It took only less than a

minute for our gentleman to cure the bearer with just a touch of his stick.

The king was very happy, and asked, “What you want?” He pointed his stick at an area of the

ground and said, “I need all this area.” The king happily agreed to this and asked him to visit the

palace the next day to accept his reward. Later on our gentleman donated all these lands to a nearby

temple. (A few months ago this year, I got a chance to meet the present Princess of Travancore and

shared this story with her. Her response was, “It is our good fortune that the stick was a small one.”)

As for the palm leaves, the gentleman requested his kith and kin:

“Do not use these as they are meant only for my use.”

After the demise of the gentleman the villagers did not know what to do with the palm leaves. They

tried to burn them, but nothing happened. Again they threw them away in the nearby sea at

KanyaKumari, but the bundle came back very safely. They then consulted some saints of the day and

came to the conclusion that they should be kept in a secret place buried under the ground, and a

Samadhi should be built over that area. (We the family members do not know where they are kept, and

we are never worried about this also, as we know very well the consequences of going in search of

them).

In my dreams when I was young, I used to fly out of my body and return to the body later. The

dream as such was that when everybody was there with me I would show off before them that I can

fly, and at that time even I felt that my body is slowly levitating and going up. I did not understand the

meaning of this for a very long time. (Later when I used to fly frequently for official purposes, I found

a connection between my dream and my flight experiences and came to the conclusion that this is why

I had this type of dream).

In class I used to sit on the back benches as the teachers found that with my height I would be

blocking the black board if I were to sit in the front. I was only an average student. Whenever I saw

an aeroplane up in the sky I never dreamt that one day I would be flying too in one of them.

In college too, I used to go walking to attend my classes. Only when I joined for Post-Graduation

did I get a cycle which my brother had been using. When I became a lecturer my brother gifted me a

bike. I used only bikes until I became a Principal. Once I became a principal I used to go by a rented

car. Later on I purchased a used car and then my own new car.

But I never felt any difference between going walk and going by car, because it never made any

difference to me, as by walking, using a cycle, bike or car you cannot make time travel - you can only

travel the distance.

Later on in my life I used to fly frequently for official or personal purposes. I never felt any

difference because I know well that I am only travelling the distance. There is no difference in the

happiness or the travelling experience.

Once when I met one of my relatives who was highly attached to spirituality, I asked him, “If at all

God appears before me, what shall I ask?” His answer is recorded even today in my mind. He said,

“You can ask for ashtama siddhi” meaning eight kinds of boons, namely:

Anima (shrinking) — Power of becoming the size of an atom and entering the smallest of beings.

Mahima (illimitability) — Power of becoming mighty and co-extensive with the universe. The

power of increasing one’s size without limit.

Lagima (lightness) — Capacity to be quite light though big in size.

Garima (weight) — Capacity to weigh heavy, though seemingly small in size.

Prapthi (fulfilment of desires) — Capacity to enter all the worlds from Brahma Loka to the nether

world. It is the power of attaining everything desired.

Prakasysm (irresistible will) — Power of disembodying and entering into other bodies

(metempsychosis) and going to heaven and enjoying what everyone aspires for, simply from the spot

where he stays.

Isithavam (supremacy) — Have the creative power of God and control over the Sun, the moon and

the elements and

Vasithavam (dominion over the elements) — Power of control over King and Gods. The power of

changing the course of nature and assuming any form.

He continued, “But never ask for all these, but ask only for a mind without any thoughts, because

that is the most precious one.”

I hope that you might have understood - while I walked, I never wished to go on a cycle; when I got

a cycle, I never wished for a bike; when I got a bike, I never wished for a car. This means that I was

in a thought-less stage that I never wished for anything - but God gave me all that I deserved. (I can

hear you saying that without desire how can one live in this world). Who says that you should not

have desires? You can very well have a desire to help others who are in need. Think about helping

others and the Supreme will think about helping you!

As my father was in the profession of photography I got interested in film making at the age of 20

while studying for the undergraduate course. We students as a team prepared a wonderful script for a

short film with a theme which intended to spread awareness of the problems arising from the use of

drugs by youth. (The Gap).

We decided that we must take leave from our classes to make this film, but we needed the

permission of the principal of the college for this. I met the principal and he said, “I want to see the

script”, to which we readily agreed and submitted the same. The next day the principal called me and

said, “You must bring a consent letter from your father.” I never expected this, but I could not express

anything to him because he was very strict.

That evening I informed my father about this, and to my surprise he appreciated my efforts in this

new endeavour, and also advised me that it should not affect my studies. The next day I was standing

before the principal with a feeling that I have achieved something very great in my life. (I never felt

anything very special when I created my first Guinness World Record because I strongly believed that

I was only a tool, and that God himself is the real achiever).The principal looked through the letter

and said, “Ok, you can go ahead.”

He also allowed nearly thirty days leave with attendance for our entire team. We started the shoot

and were about to complete it. I realised at this time that the funds with me were not sufficient. I was

funding the project with the money I earned through my private coaching, and believing the promise

given to me by the script writer who was one of my junior students that he would support me

financially. All on a sudden he told me that his uncle who was to support the project was no longer

interested in this, and so he was unable to help. I was upset but was determined to complete the

project. I took out all my savings and spent the money for the completion of the project. (I am happy

that all my team members of that time are now number one film directors who are doing films with

super stars in Kerala).

The film was screened in our college auditorium, and the Media wrote about me addressing me as

the first student film producer/director in Kerala. The college declared a day’s holiday for honouring

me and my team members. The saddest part was that I could not keep the promise I have given to my

dad, as I scored only poor marks for the degree. Later on this led to denial of admission for my post

graduate studies, but I kept trying, and the very next year I got admission for post-graduation and

achieved also the university rank. (While I was in my PG class one day the principal called me and

said, “You are unanimously elected as the Film Club representative from the entire PG section.” What

I was thinking was that I had never submitted any candidature for the post, then how it that I had got

elected is. I knew the number of sections and the number of students in the whole college, but I did not

know them personally. What had happened was that although there was a gap of one year in my

studies, my juniors had not forgotten me; they planned it and they had done it to honour me for my

successful project. I was not aware that they loved me so much).

These incidents gave me plenty of strength in my later life in all my endeavours in whatever role I

have acted. The role of the teacher is of a guide, friend and role model. It is very important that the

teacher should create an everlasting image in the minds of students.

MyVariousAvatars

I remember how when our principal (Father Rozario) came to our post graduate classes, even though

he had got a lot of administrative work, he would make sure that he prepared well before coming to

the class, so as to impart knowledge to us in the best possible way.

The way in which he taught us, even today refuses to leave my mind. When I became a principal, I

searched for my Guru, and found him in the corner of a very cold room where water was dripping

from the ceiling. I touched his feet and asked him, “Do you remember me, Father?” His reply was

instant, and calling me by name. Amazing memory. I asked him, “Did you ever think that I would

become a Principal?” (I was only an average student; I remember when I was a graduate student I had

scored very poor marks because of my attention getting diverted to films, and running after the

production of the short film which was the first film produced by students in Kerala. “The Gap”

produced in the year 1975, told the story of a youth who was addicted to drugs and ultimately ended

his life. Our principal had taken special efforts in providing me admission for post-graduation by

going to the university and getting an extra seat sanctioned).

When I failed in a paper in the first year, he immediately met my father and told him, “The effort I

took in getting him a seat is fully wasted.” My father had no reply to this. But I took it as a challenge

and scored the third rank in the University for the same Paper. The Principal called me that day, when

I did not know all about this, and asked me, “Do you know what is your score is?” I was standing in

front of him all shivering, when he suddenly smiled and told me, “You are the third rank holder in the

paper.”

I did not know what to say. It came as a real shock for me because I alone knew what had happened

on that day of the university examinations. I entered the examination hall, the examination commenced,

and the question papers were distributed. I took a glance at the question paper and answered all the

questions. They were all accounting problems, and you may not believe me, but I had finished the

three hour examination in half an hour. (Credits again go to Prof. Balakrishnan, my accounting teacher

who made me an expert in accounting which helped me throughout my career. The problem was that

this became a problem for me, as I could not believe that all my answers were correct, and thought

that perhaps I might have goofed up.

I did not know what I could do; I was sitting in the examination hall feeling very restless. I looked

at another student who was sitting just in front of me. (He is the grandson of the Guru of the great

singer Yesudas. A friend in need is a friend indeed. He just showed his answer paper to me; the

answers were entirely different. I decided, ok everything is lost now, oh God, but I will not copy from

him whatever may come, and I will stick to my answers). And this gave me a third rank in the

university. The distance between the two brackets may be too long but the truth about an incident is

too short and needs no explanations. Because truth is the only thing which you can express in few

words, a lie need more words to prove that it is true and in the end the truth pops out.

“Trust in God, Take efforts” - these were the words which gave me strength throughout my career.

The belief of an individual should not influence others unless and until they themselves accept it. Out

of intuition I used to predict events and most of my words came true. I do not know why this happened

and how this happened, as I have never tried to research it. (Please, I can read your thoughts, “…why

can’t we ask him a question”, no friends, I stopped this because I believe that what is known to God

should be known only to him).

Once I felt that I had this institution, I thought why can’t I help people with this wonderful tool.

People used to crowd around me innocently whenever I started to say something, and they called me

“Bhagavan”. My friends suggested that we will start an ashram for you and you can sit there and start

predicting. I told them, “I am not a sanyasi, I am a family man I do hate even wearing a ‘Kavi dhoti’

realising that I am not fit for it. I never consider myself to be a cent percent perfect man, as we often

make mistakes and cleverly escape by saying –‘To err is human’.

I thought that as media is a more powerful medium, I will start predicting through a local TV

channel. Whether you believe it or not, my phone became always busy, my house was never short of

guests. My wife told me that my children were not able to concentrate on their studies because of the

flow of guests who pop in worrying only about their future and expecting a solution from me all

twenty four hours.

The TV Channel gave me 15 episodes, and it was a very popular channel. (It has now become the

number one International TV channel in Tamilnadu). My style of prediction was a little different. I

developed a software with the help of one of my friends who was an expert in the software

development in those days. I used to use both intuition and science in a perfect mixture.

Every day was a day of adventure. I started believing that I am quite extra ordinary and super

natural in mind (not in practice). My answers were almost perfect so that from the camera man to the

anchor, everybody in the studio became my fan.

It was time for the final episode. Being a working professor at that time, I had never shown my face

on the channel. Only the visual of a globe revolving and the VJ would be there on the screen, and

viewers could only hear my voice. (I can hear you saying “what a good idea, he has already planned

his escape in times of calamity by predicting his own future in advance).

Questions came one after another, and answers were also given to the satisfaction of the viewers.

The last and final question came from a girl. She asked, “Sir, We are having a problem in our house;

my brother does not have a child and we are quite worried about this. Could you please suggest a

remedy for this?” The studio came to a standstill for me, and the others were waiting anxiously for

what I was going to say. Time went tick ticking. I concentrated and looked into the software which

was helping me and gave the answer boldly, “This is a problem of six months ago.” The very next

minute the girl said, “Sir, I apologise for what I have done. My sister in law is carrying for the last six

months and I was just testing you.” The curtain slowly came down, and the program ended. Think

what would have happened if I had given a different answer; I could not simply escape by saying “To

err is human”. The next moment the camera man left his camera as it is, where it is, and the anchor

came running to me saying, “Sir, how have you done this?” I said, “I am only a tool; I do not know

what is happening through me.” (This happened in the year 2001).

I understood that predicting is a risky venture having more risk than in a stock market speculation

and I stopped predicting in public. I limited this within the friends circles, and that too only if they

were in any emergency.

With dreams of becoming a lecturer, after completing Post Graduation I continued to take private

coaching. My time plan was such that I would read books in the mornings, and in the afternoons I

would go to see old movies. Nobody knew about this (or at least I thought so). In the evenings I

started my tuitions and used to continue up to 8.30 PM.

One day as per my time schedule, I got ready for going for the movie. My inner self told me not to

go, but who cares? I just started my bike and reached the theatre. On the way I saw my father passing

by in a rickshaw. I turned my face away to avoid him.

That day my father told me, “It is not good to go to the movies every afternoon.” That was all that

he said; he never asked, “Why did you go?” This put a very strong full stop to my habit. One day one

of my professors called me and said, “There is a vacancy in “X”college, you go and meet the

principal and you can join there as a lecturer.” That was my first appointment as a lecturer and that

also immediately after completing my post-graduation. These days we talk about placements and

placement agencies, but those days the teachers really loved their students, and they cared about their

placements personally.

I met the principal; it was a women’s college. I thought it would be far more convenient to handle

and manage girl students rather than boys. The principal asked me about my family. When I mentioned

my father’s name, as she already knew him, her immediate reaction was, “You join today itself.”

There were about a hundred girls in my class. I was standing in front of them and as I was thorough

with the accounting principles now, I started the class by explaining each and every element in the

problems. I even explained the meaning of each and every term involved in accounting. For the

students it was a new experience. Again more students came to me for private coaching not only from

my class but also from other teachers’ classes. The atmosphere was such that If I take private

coaching for the students of other teachers, they never felt jealous or angry (which I experienced in

another state as a lecturer).They encouraged me, and appreciated me, which helped me to mould

myself as a better, or even best teacher in my career.

All went well in the college until suddenly the teachers declared a strike as the salary had got

delayed and there were no increments. The angry teachers surrounded the principal and declared a

gherao. A tense situation prevailed. As I was the person closest to the principal, I could neither join

them nor support the principal. The principal was an aged lady who was suffering from diabetes; she

wanted to go to the rest room urgently but the teachers never permitted this. Somehow I convinced

them saying that I will resolve everything, please leave the principal. On my promise the strike was

withdrawn. The next day the management called me too for a discussion, and agreed to all the

conditions put up by the teachers. I was very much surprised to find that I was a good conciliator

also.

In between I got a job in an aided college thanks to the efforts taken by my second bother

(Sundaram). I resigned my earlier job in the women’s college. I was given a very touching send off by

my students and colleagues. I realised how much they loved me. I joined the new college as a

lecturer. I had to get up early in the morning, take my breakfast and pack my lunch. My sister (Prema)

took special interest in all these chores by getting up early in the morning. (I was very fortunate,

because all my sisters and brothers loved me very much). One week passed smoothly. Then one day,

within a few minutes of my starting my lecture, I saw students running here and there, and students of

my class were also crowding close to a window and looking out. I enquired what had happened. One

of the students told me, “Sir, it is a problem of a love affair; two boys loved the same girl and one of

the boys has stabbed the girl student to death inside the college campus.” In those days a college

lecturer’s job was a very precious one, especially in an aided college. The salary pack was very

attractive, and it was a permanent job with a pension more or less equivalent to a government job.

This was the scenario those days.

I went to the principal’s room and said, “Sir, I do not want to teach in this college where the

students murder a girl student in cold blood, I cannot bear it.” The principal advised me that it would

be very difficult to get this job back once I had resigned. I just said, “I am resigning.”

On returning home, I told my father what had happened. He congratulated me on my right decision.

Such a wonderful and understanding father he was! I went and met the principal of my old women’s

college and narrated the whole story. She also said that my decision was correct. She advised me to

join back duty, which I did immediately. After that I had to take private tuitions as usual to supplement

my expenses.

I was a voracious reader. We had a home library in our house which had more than 1500 books,

and whenever I got time I used to read these books. There was a municipal library in our town

(Kollam). You may not believe it if I say that I had read all the Malayalam novels in that library. This

gave me the impetus to write novels in Malayalam. I started writing a novel in Malayalam

(Nizalukalkku Niramilla), but I needed money to print and publish it. When I had almost finished

writing, I approached a printer known to my father and entrusted him with the printing of the book.

Simultaneously I used to send my manuscripts to many leading publishers for acceptance. One day I

received a letter from a leading publisher (Vidyarthi Mithram, Kottayam), informing me that my novel

had been selected for publishing. My joy knew no limits but by that time the printing of the book was

almost complete and only the binding was left to be completed. I informed the publishers about this.

They replied that I need not worry about this and that I had to send them by parcel whatever I had

completed. It was raining heavily that day. When I informed my father about this, he said, “No need to

worry, I will help you to pack”, and he himself helped me to pack and take it to a lorry parcel service

for sending it.

The publishing house used to pay me the royalty in small shots, and I used to go and collect it in

person. It was another source of income for me. One day when I was in urgent need of money I started

by train to the publishers’place in the hope that they would pay me. I had just enough money to go to

Kottayam and no money to return. I was very confident that the publisher would pay me because they

were very punctual in making payments. As ill luck would have it, when I reached the publishing

house the concerned person who had to sign the order was on leave all of a sudden. The office people

said, “ Sir, you can come next week and collect the royalty.” How could I tell them that I did not have

enough money even to return home?

I reached the railway station and thought for a moment. I found that I could take a ticket to travel up

to half the distance. I got into the train and sat praying to God all the time to save me. Suddenly I

found that one of my very close friends was sitting beside me. I told him about my situation. He said

not to worry, and in the next station he went and purchased a ticket for me to travel up to my place.

(What is to be noted here is that as a friend he could have given me the money and asked me to go and

get the ticket, but what he had done was to go himself all the way to purchase my ticket).

One year passed by. My current management closed the college saying that the strength of students

was very poor. They transferred the existing students to another college. So again I was left

unemployed. I continued to survive with my private tuitions. One of my friends whom I met while

strolling on the roads, gave me an important piece of information that the government was giving

loans for educated unemployed, and that I could apply for the same to start a business.

At that time I was also seriously thinking about the idea of a business that I could do successfully. I

thought a video cassette library would be a good option as there were no such libraries at that time in

our town. I applied for the loan and at the same time had a discussion with one of my students who

said that his uncle would join me in the venture as a partner. The loan got sanctioned; my partner

supplied me a large number of cassettes, and I had to give a share too. With my collections added, my

library was the biggest in the town.

I started the library in a room in a lodge which belonged to one of my close relatives, an engineer

who was in charge of building a memorial to Gandhi Ji who had visited Kanyakumari in 1925 and

1937. It is constructed at a place on the seashore, near to Kumari Amman Temple, where his ashes

were kept for public darshan before immersion in the sea on February 12, 1948. The Mandapam is

built in the Orissa style of architecture and designed in such a way that on his birthday, 2 October, the

rays of the sun, through a hole in the roof, will fall exactly on the spot where the urn was kept.

The business flourished. I thought of having my own building for the library. I asked my father’s

permission to build this in a place which housed an old shed on our property. My father immediately

agreed to this and I started construction.

The construction was completed and the library was inaugurated by the then Superintendent of

Police. As the business has now grown, I appointed one person as a manager and two or three

delivery boys for home delivery of cassettes. I used to buy copy righted cassettes and the print was

very good, so the public were attracted. My shop and house were in the same premises. The house

was on the way to the beach, the only entertainment for all. I placed a name board on the side of the

road. Days passed and my shop became very famous. The film stars of Kerala - many super stars -

visited my shop to borrow cassettes from my library.

One night somebody knocked at our gate. On enquiry they said that they urgently needed some

English movie cassettes for reference purposes for a shooting, and that a very famous director of

those days had sent them. “Oh my God my shop has become very famous”, I thought. I selected some

cassettes and gave them.

TheJourneyContinues

Business went well but day by day I noticed that a number of libraries were coming up. Moreover I

got distracted by a love affair. I was in love with a girl who was my student. She belonged to our

caste. The girl’s family also had knowledge about this but did not oppose this as our family was well

known to them. We became very close. You know well, communication being the key factor in love of

any period and at any age, what will happen in those olden (golden) days when there was no

mobile/SMS, and I had no other way but to use a landline to contact my girl. (I remember gratefully

the services of the wife of one of my professors, who also helped me in making the calls, as I did not

want the girl’s family to identify me. She would call as a friend of my lover and then hand over the

phone to me).

The doomsday came when my mother went with my girl’s mother for a temple festival in the

morning and she was not able to return home even by afternoon. My father came for lunch at that time

and found that nobody was in the house to serve him lunch. He got angry and enquired with us later,

and found that my mother had gone with my girl’s mother for the temple festival. He went straight to

my girl’s house and shouted like anything, pulling the curtain down on our love.

Even after that I used to talk to her over phone occasionally. One day she told me that their family

were planning for her marriage. I told her, “If you are ready, you come out of the house with me and I

will take care of you.” I had planned everything in advance and in order, and I informed everything to

my eldest brother (Rethnaswamy) who was holding a very high official position in the government of

Tamilnadu. He had promised me all help and even made arrangements for our marriage; he had also

informed the local police as a precaution.

The most important day in my life dawned. I was anxiously waiting for my girl to come out of her

house; I even got a glimpse of her coming out looking here and there as if she were ready. Time went

by, but she never came out. At last I found out that she could not come out as she had been put under

house arrest by their people. Everything moved very fast from then onwards. They immediately

shifted her to some place which I could not locate. They even shifted their own house so that I should

not find her although I tried my level best.

One day I came to know through one of our family friends that she had got married to a doctor, and

the name of her husband was the same as mine!

One year after her marriage, I got married; but she became a widow as her husband died in a road

accident. I remembered the words spoken by her brother when I had informed him about our love. He

said, “Man proposes, God disposes.” Yes, it happened just like that!

I lost my money in the business, my partners deserted me, my own staff deceived me by

manipulating the accounts, and I was in debts. My brothers, sisters and my father had a discussion and

they settled all my debts from my share of our property, even foregoing a part of their share. I

remember that my father, who was a replica of true love and mutual respect, never questioned me

about anything. I remember the day when I was in my peak period, when he came to my office and

asked me, “I need five rupees.” I was shocked to hear this from him, but I knew that he was no more

in charge of our studio business and my brother had taken over the business. I never asked him

anything. I just opened my cash drawer and said, “Father all that is here is yours, you can take as

much as you want.” But he took only five rupees and without saying a word left the place.

My mother, with whom nobody can compete in the preparing of any type of dishes, now became

sick and was in bed. Medical records revealed that she was having cancer. We took her to various

hospitals. It was in the eighties when there was not much cure for cancer. She was in her last stage,

and hospitals declined to admit her. I had a more affectionate relation with my mother than with

anybody else. I started enquiries and found that one of my former customers of the video cassette

library, who was a doctor, was a regular visitor in one of the best hospitals of the town. I immediately

contacted him, narrated everything, and he arranged for my mother’s admission. The day came when

my mother left us forever. When the bill was brought to us and we looked at the bill amount, we could

not believe our eyes. My doctor (Dr. Satish Chandran) had collected only a very small amount as the

fees. Adoctor with ethics and with humanity…

I was completely upset. I called up my brother and said that I no longer wished to be in Kerala, and

to please help me find a job in Tamilnadu. He told me to come to the city of Coimbatore where he

was working. My eldest brother was so honest that he was not prepared to go for any

recommendations for anybody, even for his own brother. I stayed with him in his quarters with his

family. My sister in law (Govindammal) looked after me as her son. I felt very uncomfortable to

remain idle in the house all the time. One day I saw an advertisement in which a vacancy for lecturer

was announced. I immediately applied for the post and waited for the interview letter. I got it and

went for the interview. There were about eighty candidates for one vacancy, but I was very confident

as most of them were freshers and I had more than ten years’experience at that time.

The interview started and I was called in. One lady who I later understood was the HOD, started

firing questions at me. I answered almost all questions correctly. To my surprise, I found that the lady

had answers to the questions written on her hand hidden under the table and was verifying the

answers. I looked straight at her eyes so that she could not look into the answers and she immediately

closed the interview.

The results were declared, but my name was not there. Again I was not upset. I enquired about the

secretary of the college and the location of his house. One fine morning I went straight to his house

and introduced myself. He offered me a seat and also a cup of tea. While sipping the cup of tea,

casually I asked him, “Sir I am having more than ten years’ experience, and I have answered all the

questions asked in the interview. I would like to know the reason why I have not been selected?” His

faced showed that he never expected such a question. He said, “See, the Vice Chancellor has

recommended his personal driver’s brother for the post, and how can we say no?” I answered, “Sir,

why can’t you appoint me as an honorary lecturer? I do not want any salary.” He said, “Ok, let me

discuss this in our board and thereafter we shall inform you.”

After a week I received my appointment order appointing me as an honorary lecturer. Days passed.

The principal observed my class. After a week he called me and said, “From today onwards you are

appointed as a regular lecturer.” From there another mile stone in my career started. I was very strict

in the college but passionate and understanding. I was appointed as the NSS Program Officer of the

college which gave me a lot of spiritual experience as I used to stay in ashrams with my student

volunteers for social work in the local area for about ten days at a time.

My interest in film making was with me all the time. I started taking short films for the local

companies in my spare time, and within a short span of time I became very popular. An idea struck

me, and I made a film on the NSS which won me the Vice-Chancellor’s Meritorious Service Award.

(The same Vice Chancellor who had recommended his driver’s brother as a candidate against me in

the interview).

In my young age it was my ambition to become a police officer. Naturally I had that in my mind for

a long period of time. When one day I saw one of my fellow teachers in police uniform I never

wasted a minute. I got all the details from him to become a Traffic Warden in the Tamilnadu Police. I

wore the police uniform, and went for training in the PRS grounds. As I already had similar type of

training in NCC, I did not find any difficulty in the training. I got a deputation as a Public Relations

Officer in the department for a short span of time. This satisfied my ambition to become a police

officer. During my service I won the best Public Relations Officer award.

The college service went well. Our HOD changed and one of my closest friends, a family friend of

mine, became the new HOD. This person who was very naive, did not know how to communicate.

(This was the same competitor who had competed with me in the interview in the beginning).One day

when the department meeting was going on, in the presence of all the staff members he ordered me

“You go and switch on my fan”. I felt very much insulted when he said this in front of all the staff

members. I decided that one day I have to become a HOD. I started taking efforts through friends and

found that there was a vacancy in a new college in a nearby village. Without thinking much about it, I

resigned my job. (All my colleagues are still serving in the same college as lecturers).

I got married while I was working in this college. I felt a little sad when I had to leave the college

but I decided that one day I will come back to this college in a higher position. (Yes, I did. Later the

University appointed me as a University Representative for the same college for a period of 3 years).

During this period my father who was a blood pressure patient developed a blood clot in the brain

and became paralysed. I remember that day very well; I used to visit Kollam very often and at that

time, I was in the house reading a book. When I came out of the room, I noticed that there was no

movement in him. The nearby doctor was called in, he examined him and said that he was no more.

I got the new job as HOD of not one department but three. (Thanks to Prof. Prasad). As an add-on I

was also given the Principal in Charge position as I was the senior most. But another lecturer who

was looking after this position got irritated and was waiting for a chance to get back at me. One day

the students bunked classes and went for a movie - the same situation as I had already handled while I

was in Kerala, but here the atmosphere was different. My principal asked me to conduct an enquiry. I

conducted the enquiry in my room. Students came in one by one. One girl came in, and while

conducting the enquiry, I asked her: “What you are doing? Will you do anything you like?” The words

were simple, but my opponents twisted these words against me by brain washing the students. They

told them, “How dare he use such words to a girl student, we have to retaliate.”

Fortunately the management and the principal were with me. They said, “Do not worry, we will

face it.” The students went on strike. At that time I was staying in a rented room in that small town

(Pollachi), and I used to come to the college by bus. Every day, in the morning the students used to

assemble before the college conspiring to catch me and insult me before other students (under the

influence of my opponent lecturer).As a stringent devotee of Hanuman Ji, it was my practice to chant

Hanuman Chalisa while going to the college and while returning back. During these days of crisis,

after my morning prayer, I used to concentrate and decide how I have to go to college. Sometimes my

intuition told me to go by bus and at another time it advised me to go by an auto.

When the students waited for me to come by bus, I came by an auto, and when they were waiting for

me to come by auto, I arrived by bus. They were never able to find out how I was going to come to

the college. Their conspiracy totally failed. In the mornings they used to assemble at a stop prior to

the college bus stop till all the students had arrived, and then they would proceed to the college gate.

Now the miracle happened. While they were at the bus stop prior to the college bus stop, all of a

sudden it rained heavily and they returned completely wet to the college stop and found that it was

very sunny there. The next day they assembled before the college gate, and it rained heavily there.

This repeated for three days. The students got confused, many of them became sick and the number of

agitating students decreased.

After this, one evening the leaders of the strike came to my room. I offered them seats. They told

me, “Sir, we apologise for what has happened, it was our mistake, and we will attend classes from

tomorrow onwards.” I said, “No problem, you can.”

The next day all classes started very normally, but one of the students came and met me in the

department and told me “Sir, we want to tell you something. One of the lecturers in your department

has motivated us to do this, and before we enter the class we want to have a word with him”. I was

not shocked to hear this as I had already understood this. I told them that I would discuss with the

principal and inform them. The principal agreed to this. They took the particular lecturer to a room,

closed the doors, and after sometime everybody came out. I do not know what happened inside the

closed room, and I do not also want to know what happened.

It was at this time that I got the contact of the ‘Sinchuvadi Swami’.

Days passed smoothly but my financial position became very weak. I wanted to manage this at the

cost of going abroad. One day one of my management advisers came to the college to evaluate all the

teachers’performance under instructions from the management.

He was a very strict disciplinarian (looked like that, but later I understood that he was a very nice

and knowledgeable person who had come up in life through sheer hard work). He called the staff one

by one; everybody was very tense but I was not. He called me, and offered me a seat. I was waiting

for the questions chanting Hanuman Chalisa in my mind. All of a sudden a bug came into the room

from nowhere, and it started circling the head of the adviser. He felt very uncomfortable, and started

shooing it away. But the bug was very persistent in distracting him. He looked at me and I said, “Sir,

it will be over in a minute.” The next second the bug which was flying crashed with the ceiling fan

unexpectedly and fell down lifeless. The adviser told me only one thing, “Sir, you may go now and

ask the next person to come.”

This episode was totally forgotten by me and later on when I attended an interview in the same

village for the post of principal, and the managing trustee there asked me about this, I answered him,

“Sorry Sir, I do not know anything about that.”

I got an interview letter for the post of a teacher in the government school in Maldives. To my

surprise I got selected. I was very happy that at least now I can manage the family expenses as the

salary package was very attractive. At the same time there was a pain in the corner of my heart that

my family will not be with me. The day came when I had to join duty. I googled and collected all the

information about Maldives, its culture, the people and so on. I understood that Maldives is a country

where the sands are white as the smiles of the locals, where fish swim happily in the warm waters of

the Indian Ocean, where the weather is a dream, and the deep rays of the sun wait to engulf you in

their arms.

My family accompanied me up to the departure gate. I boarded my flight. It was the first time I was

boarding a flight, and I had my own doubts as to what if I had a vomiting sensation; only questions

and no answers - I felt very shy to ask anybody else. The flight landed in an island within an hour. I

was very proud because I was not now ordinary, as I was working abroad. Time passed, and I

understood that the flight has landed in a small island where there is nothing but only the airport. I

found that there were many other teachers like me in a flock. We went by a boat in turns to the main

island Male. A taxi was waiting there for us to drop us to a nearby hotel. On reaching the hotel we

received instructions about what to do and what not do. They also advised us after taking our

passports to be ready all the time, and that we may be called for joining duty anytime.

The next day they informed us about the places of our duty, meaning the islands in which we have to

join, but they never revealed how many days it would take to reach the island or how we would be

travelling. Each night I found some teachers missing from the group. I assumed that they might have

gone for joining their duty. All the time I was sleeping or spending the time inside the hotel room as I

did not know when my turn would come up.

ChangeAloneisPermanent

One evening they called me and told me, “You should be ready by eight in the evening; you will be

taken to the boat jetty and should board dhoni number so and so.” My imagination was that I would be

boarding a passenger boat. When later I arrived at the boat jetty I found that it was not even a boat,

but a dhoni which carries vegetables and consumables from Male to other islands. It had a top but

was open on all the sides except the roof, with some poles on the parallel sides to hold on to. The

vegetables and consumables were stored in the bottom cellar of the dhoni.

To my luck I had purchased one bottle of soft drink and some bread on my way to the boat jetty.

After sometime another gentleman joined me. He said that he was a maths teacher who had been

allocated the same school where I had to join. I was happy that I had got company now. We waited for

hours for the dhoni to start its voyage. At last it started on the journey the next day early morning.

During all this time we were forced to spend our time in the dhoni.

We asked the Captain of the dhoni how much time it would take to reach our island. It was a real

shock for us when he said, “Only three to four days.” There were totally five of us in the dhoni, the

captain, one assistant, an engineer who wanted to get down somewhere near to our island, myself and

my friend.

The dhoni moved very slowly. I was surviving on the soft drink and the bread I had. I remembered

the days, when I would fight with my wife over simple reasons such as salt is more or less, when she

prepared our lunch.

Days rolled down. Two days passed. We asked the captain when we would reach our island. He

showed a very small green spot far away and said, “Do not worry, it is very near.” One more day was

about to pass. My friend and I got very much tired and all of a sudden to add to our misery the sea

suddenly got rough. The waves just pushed the dhoni up and suddenly dropped it down. I was afraid

and had a vomiting sensation. My friend was already in this process and I had no choice but to follow

him. At that moment I took a decision in my mind that on reaching that island I would immediately

resign my job and would go back home. Still the sea was rough and the dhoni went up and came down

in the waves. I thought now the only escape is the supreme. My friend was a Christian I asked him,

“Do you have the Bible?” He said, “Yes.” I requested him, “You start your prayers; I fear that

something very bad is going to happen.” He took his Bible. I started chanting “Ram, Ram”. A miracle

happened. All of a sudden the sea became normal. A narrow escape, we thought. The captain said, “It

is already late. We will halt in the nearby island and take rest and continue our journey tomorrow.”

Fortunately it was the home island of the engineer who was travelling with us. He invited us to his

house and provided us with some chapatti and tender coconut. He also talked to the island chief and

provided us with accommodation in a government guest house. He contacted our island authorities

through wireless and informed them about our arrival. The school authorities informed us that only I

needed to join at that island, and that the other teacher who came with me has arrived by mistake, and

he had to travel all the way back to his island.

The next day morning both of us left that island and started our travel by small boats in different

directions. I reached my island and was warmly welcomed as a foreign teacher by the local teachers

and assistant head master. They told me that two accommodations were available and showed me

both. I selected the room adjoining the assistant headmaster’s house.

I had to join duty the next day morning at seven, and they said there would be a breakfast interval,

and that the classes would be over by one. I arranged the room neatly and had a bath. I could hear the

rumbling sound of the waves, and I enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere.

I woke up earlier than usual the next day morning and was ready for the school. I remembered that I

was not so familiar with cooking and I knew to cook very few dishes. I was in the hope that there

would be some hotels and that I could manage my breakfast there. Later after class I found that there

was nothing such as hotels there, and that all the teachers were doing their own cooking.

In the afternoon I went to the nearby shop and purchased a stove, kerosene and some vegetables and

provisions. I was not so happy, but there was no other go and I had to do it. I started self-cooking and

slowly started enjoying it. The students were good and well-disciplined with a thirst for knowledge.

They liked me and called me SB in short.

The head master liked my teaching style and the way in which I maintained the discipline in the

class. He entrusted me with the duty of library in charge and also the charge of the class leaders.

Everything went normal, and I became friends with the other teachers, both local and foreign. As I

was elder to all of them they respected and loved me very much.

We had vacations once in a year for nearly a month, and it was a real festival for all of us. I used to

buy dolls and chocolates for my children and for my wife (Rani Lakshmi Bai) some small gifts. On

arrival at the Trivandrum airport, I used to pass through the green channel and sometimes a customs

officer at the door would ask, “What is in your luggage?” I would honestly answer, “These are only

chocolates and dolls.”

During the first vacation I noticed that there were some problems with the sight in my left eye. I

consulted an eye specialist, and to my shock he told me, “Already you have lost 75% of your eyesight

in the left eye, and only 25% is left. If you do not undergo a surgery you will lose your vision

completely.” My wife admitted me to a nearby hospital; the surgeon (Dr.Satyan) was an expert and

also a doctor with ethics. The surgery was done successfully, and I returned home. My vacation was

over and the time came for packing my luggage.

Back to school in Maldives. By now I had got accustomed to the atmosphere and the people. They

were all very affectionate to us. Classes continued as usual along with a number of local festivals in

between, in which all of us teachers participated actively. Normally I used to shut myself in my room

thinking about my family all the time. I felt very lonely. The only source for our provisions was the

dhoni which went to Male every ten days.

That evening my friend came to my room and said, “Sir, the dhoni is not going today; we have to

suffer as there are no provisions left.” I was carrying my pendulum as I used to do pendulum dowsing

at home. I took my pendulum, carried out the dowsing and told him, “The dhoni will go today.” My

friend did not agree, as he had checked just a few minutes back, and the captain had said that the

dhoni was not going that day. I said, “You please go and check again.” He checked again and found to

his astonishment that the captain had changed his mind and the dhoni was going that day. This made

them look at me as someone very special.

I used to write plays for our school drama competitions and all the plays written by me won prizes.

Now what happened is that all the teachers were standing in queue before my room requesting for

scripts, and I would write these for them happily. One day while we were in the school playground I

observed that my eye sight was slowly become blurred. I got confused, and informed my friends about

this. They too became very much worried. Within the next few minutes they arranged for me a

speedboat which had come that way, and they even packed my dresses and I was all set for the

journey.

I reached back home, and after discussions with my ophthalmologist, found that my right eye was

also affected, and the only option was to undergo another surgery. I was admitted to the hospital. The

doctor gave me anaesthesia. They took me inside the operation theatre. The surgery started but I felt

that the anaesthesia was not sufficient or not working. I could very well hear the doctor asking for a

blade. He cut open my eye, I could feel the pain, but I could not move or say anything because I was

afraid that the doctor’s attention may get diverted and he was holding the very sharp blade in his hand

close to my right eye. I was waiting for the doctor to put the blade away from my eye, and once he had

done it, I said, “Doctor the anaesthesia is not working.” With a smile he said, “Nothing to worry, I

have already completed the surgery.”

Again back to Maldives to the school. The loneliness, I could not bear again; I never mingled with

my friends and used to remain in my room all alone. It was my practice to take a soft drink and a

biscuit packet with me for breakfast. While going to school one day, my assistant head master

(Mr.Ahmed) passed by me and asked, “What is it that you are carrying?” I said, “My breakfast.” He

continued, “Oh, so this is your breakfast. Ok, tomorrow onwards I will arrange with my mother-in-

law for your breakfast.”

He left, and from the next day onwards his mother-in-law brought chapatti and fish curry for my

breakfast regularly to my room without fail. After a month I asked my assistant head master, “Sir, I

have been taking food from your house for the past one month. Please permit me to pay for it.” His

instant and abrupt answer was in a single word - “No”.

Days passed. My seclusion in my room continued. I used to keep a Holy Quran in my room as the

entire population in the island were Muslim, and I got attracted to the principles of the religion. I

started reading the Quran and some the teachers used to ask me to write excerpts from the holy book

for use by the students. This brought me closer to Islam.

On some weekends we used to go to the nearby uninhabited island after taking permission from the

owner. There was a very beautiful lagoon with the colour of the sky nearby that small island. It was

so crystal clear that if you dropped a coin into it you could easily locate it. We teachers used to

practice swimming in the lagoon.

In the nights, on some days I would hear the sound of footsteps as if somebody is running, after

knocking on my door. When I opened the door I could not find anybody. This was repeated for many

days. The thought of something, some negative forces disturbing me, is what I imagined. I never told

anybody about this, because I know well that they would make fun of me.

I became restless. I was keeping the holy Quran and also Devi Bhagavatham (it is said that when

negative forces look at this book it will appear like a fire ball) with me, and how dare these negative

forces disturb me. I was a stringent devotee of Devi Maa. I prayed earnestly to the Divine Mother and

then immediately I heard the song “Ayigiri Nandini Nanditha medini…” (The Mahishasura Mardini

Stotram -This song was composed by the great sage Adi Shankaracharya sometime around 810 AD.

This song is sung in praise of Goddess Chamundeshwari and describes the way she destroyed many

demons).

Now I understood clearly that it was a positive force. None other than my Divine Mother to whom I

was very much attached right from my very early childhood. I remember how during my college days,

one day in our Pooja room, from the photo of the divine mother (Chottanikara Bhagavathy), something

like Bhasma started falling down. I showed this to my sister (Prema), who said, “It is your

imagination”, and she tried to wipe it away with a cloth, but it continued to fall from the photo for

some time.

Again I remembered during my college days, when I was all alone in the house, I used to hear

footsteps (similar to this) and heard very feeble sounds of somebody trying to talk to me. Again when

I was in love, to make my love successful I used to pray very sincerely during rahukal to please the

goddess, reciting “Lalitha Sahasra Namam”. (This hymn occurs in Brahmanda purana - Old epic of

the universe - in the Chapter on the discussion between Hayagreeva and Agasthya. Hayagreeva is an

incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse and is believed to be the storehouse of all knowledge.

Agastya is one of the great sages of yore who is one of the stars of the constellation Great Bear. At his

request Hayagreeva taught him the most holy 1000 names of Lalitha).

During the days of Ramadan I used to be all alone in my room. Again I used to hear somebody

knocking at my door and running away; I never went to look for who it was as I was now sure that it

is none other than my Divine Mother playing pranks with me. Now I was totally transforming to

another mental stage - a meditative stage. Nobody noticed me as it was holidays during that time. I

forgot to take food, take bath, or to drink water. I never felt like visiting my rest room.

The most important day in my life came which became the cause for a complete change in my life,

my status, and my financial position. I understood from the holy Quran that on the nights of Ramadan

angels would come to watch what people are doing, and those who are doing righteous deeds will be

blessed by them. That day my mental situation was such that I was afraid and confused.

In the night I felt that somebody is in my room and they are talking to me which I could not hear

clearly. Well that is the end, I thought of running outside and getting help, but something prevented me

from doing this. I looked at the holy Quran on my table. I do not know what happened to me I started

saying, “La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah.” I said this once and I heard it repeated a hundred

times by many people around me although nobody was there in the room.

I understood that the angels were in my room. I kept quiet and sat in a corner of my room on the

floor. The next day the school reopened, but I never went to the school. Other teachers came in search

of me. I never revealed anything to them. They asked me whether I had taken food. I just nodded my

head to say “no”. They brought me food which I refused to take. They went back disappointed

thinking that I was sick and asked me to take rest.

The wheels of time rolled on. Days passed. An incident took place one night. (Now I was able to

communicate with the unknown in such a way that I would ask a question and I would get an answer,

sometimes it was the voice of a male and some other time it was the voice of a female that I heard).

That night also I was sitting awake, and I heard the voice of my Divine Mother. She asked, “Son,

what do you want?” I said, “Mother, I want to see you!” Her answer was a question, “In what form?”

Without hesitation I said, “In the form of light, Mother!” The next minute I saw a very bright green

light on the wall of my room. I continued, “Oh Mother, you have to give me a promise.” She asked

me, “What?” I said, “You should promise me that you will be with me till my end and after that.” She

promised me that she would do so.

The next day I took a glass of water, saying, “Let water be my food today.” The following day,

saying, “Let air be my food today”, I took a deep breath. I was sitting in the chair and refused to move

from it. My colleagues got worried and admitted me to the nearest hospital on the nearby island. On

my way while I was about to board the dhoni, I said in mind looking at the sea, “There should not be

any problem because of you in this island, and God if you have really blessed me, the sea water

should not cross this line as I love this island very much.” With my foot I drew a line on the shore

which nobody noticed. (When tsunami attacked the whole of Maldives there was not much damage in

this island).They admitted me in the hospital and still I refused to take food or water. The doctor tried

glucose intravenous infusion which failed. The doctor informed the teachers to put me in a different

house. The teachers packed my luggage in my presence. I looked all around. I saw fresh vegetables on

the kitchen table, which I had purchased earlier for my use. I said in my mind to the Divine Mother,

“Let these vegetables not rot but dry and remain here until I return.”

TheMetamorphosis

They took me to a new house and put me there. I could see some difference in their total behaviour;

they were looking at me with respect as at a person blessed. Sometimes the villagers used to visit me

standing in a queue, once a person brought a tender coconut for me and on top of it I saw the image of

Hanuman Ji and some Arab letters along with it. I just touched it and gave it back to the person who

gave it to me, and he was very happy. I really did not know what was happening around me. But I

understood that now I was blessed by the divine.

On another occasion a boy gave me a cream biscuit and when I opened it into two pieces, I could

see some Arab letters. That also I gave back to the boy and he ran way with the biscuit as if he had

got a gold biscuit. Message spread everywhere, and they wanted to send me back home for reasons

known to them. The government arranged for everything. I arrived in Male. One higher ranked official

from the department of education came and received meat the Airport with a lot of respect. They put

me in a very good hotel. The next day morning the same person came and asked me, “What

happened?” I told him, “I said ‘La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah’, and I heard it being

repeated for more than a hundred times.” Although he was a little shocked to hear it he never showed

it.

He said, “This has happened to many people in some islands, do not worry you can come back and

work here any time you wish.” He arranged for my transfer to my place. I reached my sister’s house

in Kerala safely. Still I was hearing sounds as if somebody was talking to me and I used to

communicate back with them. I clarified almost all my doubts in spirituality with the unknown.

My sister (Prema), while I was in her house asked me, “Why are you keeping this Quran with you?

Better you keep it here.” I gave it to her, but in my mind I prayed to God, “I want this Quran, I love it,

please give it back to me.”

My wife came to pick me up from my sister’s house to take me to my home in Tamilnadu. I reached

home, but the sounds also followed me. It seems like it never wanted to leave me alone. On reaching

home I said in my mind, “As you are in the form of Mother Kali (I assumed so), you wait outside and

come inside my house only after I ask you to come as there are children in the house and they will

become afraid of you.”

Days passed. The “sound problem” continued. I never told my wife anything about my experience.

But she had got her own doubts and she took me to a psychiatrist who examined me and said that there

is nothing wrong with me. Now I was able to control the sounds, and only if I wished I could

communicate with them, otherwise I was peaceful. The problem never ended as I did not have a job.

Everyday my wife gave me pocket money which I accepted with great pain in my heart.

After two years of service in Maldives as a teacher when I returned to India, I found it very

difficult to find a suitable job. Every day I was searching the newspaper for some possible vacancies.

Much to my disappointment, I was not able to find a suitable job. One day to my surprise an

advertisement came announcing the vacancy for lecturers. I searched the net to find out who was the

principal. I found that he is a person who knows me well.

Without wasting time I applied for the job. Within a week I got the interview letter and went to the

interview full of hope. Once I entered the college premises I found that many of my former students

also have come to attend the interview for the post to which I had applied. They stood up and wished

me and I wished them back. After much hesitation they said, “Sir, we know well that you will get the

appointment, let us leave.” I told them, “It is a competitive world, do not go, you also attend the

interview. Who knows who is going to be selected.” The interview started. The principal who knew

me well never showed any signs of it. I became very uncomfortable but I answered all the questions

without worrying about the correctness of the answers. There were arguments between me and the

interviewers because of which I had to raise my voice and talk a little loud.

When I came out, my students asked me, “Sir, what happened inside? We could hear you shout.” I

answered smilingly, “No, boys. Just expressing myself that they were wrong.” They said, “But why

sir, they will think badly of you and will give you negative marks.” I said, “I am not bothered about it.

I just wanted to express what I felt as right, for that if they are not going to give me this job I am not

bothered about it. I can try somewhere else.”

When the results came they had selected me in the first round and said that there was a second

round. That also I attended with confidence and finally got selected. Why I am telling you this is you

should be confident, truthful and you should be sure that what you are talking is right and you should

not change it for anybody else or for any reasons, even if you are going to lose something. Sometimes

that attitude will take you to greater heights.

On the first day of joining college, I noticed something different in the attitude of the other lecturers.

I could understand them; I was a professor with more than twenty years’ experience at that time,

whereas they were only with five to seven years’ experience. I came to understand that the Head of

the Department was a little afraid that his position may be changed by the management and that I may

be appointed as the HOD. On the first day itself they took care of me by providing me with a rusted

folded old chair, whereas all the others were sitting in S type new chairs. The condition of my table

was such that it might collapse at any time.

I explored and analysed the situation. I thought that this job is much more important for me than

anything else. I looked all around, got an old newspaper which I placed on top of the rusted chair, and

took my seat. I am sure my colleagues never expected that. The HOD told me, “Sir, you have to take

Income Tax Law and Practice”, to which I happily agreed. (Normally many teachers do not go for this

subject because of mandatory updates every year). Every day I prepared very carefully before my

entry into the class. I worked out the problems and made sure that the answers come out without any

difficulty. I noticed that the answers derived in the solutions were based on the latest amendments and

if I worked out with old rules, I could not get the answers given in the text.

One day while I was engaging the class, one of the lecturers who was handling the same subject

came running from his class (he was a fresher and had some regard for me). He said, “Sir, I am not

able to get the answer; I tried everything and now the students are waiting. I do not know what to do.”

I told him, “Do not worry, you just work out with the new amendments and you will get the answer.”

After that he met me in the department and thanked me for saving his face before the students. (This is

why I do my homework first and then present the problems in the class).

I have to mention this because lack of preparation by the faculty may sometimes lead to very

serious consequences such as students losing faith in the teacher, which will result in disrespect

towards the teachers. Knowledge is the key factor for class room teaching supplemented by well-

planned preparation before the class.

In the same college where I got welcomed with a rusted chair, one day I noticed that during the

lunch hours, my HOD was busy thinking about something and his face showed that he was upset over

something. I was about to take my lunch, but asked him, “Sir, did you have your lunch?” He answered,

“No, Sir. The principal asked me to prepare some files of the department, and I am with that.” In fact

he did not know how to prepare it.

I told him, “Sir, you go and have lunch, I will do this for you”, to which he agreed immediately.

Being a professor with more than 20 years of experience I was able to prepare the file within no time.

When our HOD returned after his lunch I handed over the file to him saying, “Sir, now it is ready. You

can submit this to the principal.” The principal congratulated my HOD on such an excellent work not

knowing the truth.

We have to understand that if I had reacted when I was given a rusted chair, things would be very

different. Now I had responded in such a way that things were in my favour. A person is happy not

because everything is right in his life; he is happy because his attitude to everything is right. Do not

react but respond, and then nothing can disturb you.

Things changed when everybody in the department came to know about this. They started loving me

respecting me. After this the HOD never did anything without discussing with me. One day the HOD

told me, “Sir, Can you prepare a research proposal which we can submit to the UGC for research

grant?” I immediately agreed to this, prepared it, submitted it to the UGC and got approval to the tune

of Rs.8, 00,000 in the year 2001.

Things changed very fast. The management was closely watching all this. One fine morning the

secretary of the college told me, “Sir, this is not the place you should be in.” He took me to a new AC

room fully furnished with telephone, internet and so on and said, “You can continue your research

from here.” The next day while I was standing outside my new room, I heard the lady who used to

sweep the room saying to herself, “If a person wants to live, he should live like this!” I do not know

why she said this, and what does she know about all this? I believe this is a comment straight from the

Almighty who was telling me indirectly “be careful, be always what you are, as nothing is

permanent”.

Words which influence others should come from the Supreme. Words which have meaning come

from sincerity in a profession. Any mission to succeed needs the prayers of one and all, and the

blessings of the Supreme. My first research started with my query to find whether magic is only hand

tricks or something more than that. I found the answer. (Sorry, it is the secret of the trade and no

sharing please). But this research led to another interesting lead to mantras and their effects in the

form of sounds. I experienced it, but I do not want to share it, as certain subjects are to be kept secret

for the welfare of the human kind, otherwise they will reach the hands of antisocial elements.

That year when we were celebrating Karthigai Deepam (I was born in this month), my wife went to

the nearby temple with our children and I was all alone in the home. Suddenly the rain started pouring

down like anything. My wife had already lit small clay lamps and had placed them in a row on the

compound wall. I thought my Divine Mother is standing outside and is getting wet, and said in my

mind looking at one lamp, “Let this lamp shine and continue to burn even if there is heavy rain or

wind. If this happens, I will ask my Mother Divine to come into my house.” The lamps went off one

by one in the rain and wind but the one I was concentrating on continued to be lit very bright. I took

the lamp in my hand and said, “Mother, come with me inside my house and stay here. I will build you

a temple on the first floor of my house as I want the temple to look unique and the only one of its kind

in the whole world.”

My wife returned home; I never told her anything. The ambition remained in my mind. I found it

very difficult to raise funds. I planned in my mind in what form I should place the Mother in the

sanctum sanctorum. My mind never agreed for placing an idol inside. I wanted to place a lamp there.

My intuition said it should be in the model of the clay lamp which I had brought inside. But that was

not unique too, I had heard a lot about the Nava Pashanam. (Nava Pashanam is one of the most

acclaimed Siddha elixirs known to mankind. Nava means nine and Pashanam means poisonous

substance) Idols in the temples which are said to be very powerful are made of this. I decided that the

divine lamp of the Divine Mother should be made of very rare divine herbs and I sought the help of

my father-in-law (Jaganathan) who helped me to locate a researcher in herbs (Dr.Selvaraj), who

collected the rare herbs for me and provided me with the same after hearing the noble purpose for

which I was seeking them.

Now I searched for a suitable person to make the lamp. By divine grace by brother’s son (Kannan)

introduced me to a temple artist (Jyothish) from my birth place who took the responsibility of making

the divine lamp. After some months he called me and said that the lamp is ready. There was no limit

for my joy. I reached my native place at once and met the artist. When I enquired about the lamp he

said, “Sir, I have kept the lamp at a different place.” I asked him, “But why?” He said, “Sir, when I

completed the work and kept the lamp in my room, all of a sudden I felt some difference in the

atmosphere as if a hurricane had struck, and the windows and doors in the room were blown open. I

became afraid and took the lamp and kept the lamp in a distant place.” He went and brought the lamp.

The representation of my Divine Mother…

I received the lamp and asked him, “How much I should I pay you?” He said, “Nothing.” I took the

lamp to a nearby kali temple (Puthiya Kavu), which was very famous in my place. I informed about

my intention to place the lamp inside the sanctum sanctorum, and took it back to my home to my third

brother (Rangan). He was very close to the temple management. However he told me to take

permission from the chief priest (Balamurali Ji, who became the Sabarimala Chief Priest later). The

chief priest came and I told him about my intention. He asked, “What shall I pour into this lamp to

light it?” My answer was “ghee”. He immediately took the lamp from my hands and placed it inside

the sanctum sanctorum, and returned it after sometime.

I returned back home and placed the lamp in my Pooja room. But my dream of building a temple for

my divine mother remained unfulfilled. As usual I was attending the college duty. One day a spark

came into my mind that if I purchased at least one bag of cement I would be able to build the temple. I

checked my bank account. There was enough money to buy one bag of cement. In the afternoon I

started from the college and was heading towards the ATM.

This incident happened while I was in research (search) about the existence of the supreme. There

was heavy traffic on the road. My scooter approached a busy junction. (It was my habit to concentrate

on the road and at the same time repeat the names of God while driving). At the junction suddenly one

three wheeler came in front of me as if it is going to crash face to face with me. Knowingly or

unknowingly my hand pressed both left and right brakes together (or I thought so, but in reality I

pressed the right one first).

The next minute I found that I was lying on the road with the two wheeler on top of me. In one

minute the crowd assembled around me. One person helped me to get up and another young man

asked, “Sir, shall I take you to the hospital?” I requested them to please help me to sit on the two

wheeler, and then I could take care of myself, which they did half-heartedly. They told me, “Sir, we

saw you going flying up and settling down, and the two wheeler falling on you, but you act as if

nothing has happened.” I did not know what to answer; in fact I do not know what happened.

TheGlobalTeacher

When I reached the ATM I found that there was no balance in the account as I had issued a cheque

earlier and that cheque had come for collection on that day. All my dreams were shattered and with a

heavy heart I took my scooter and started it. I felt pain all over my body and also many cuts and

wounds on my body started bleeding. Somehow I reached home, and at that time a friend of mine

arrived, who took me to the nearest hospital for first aid.

My only thought was how to build the temple of the Divine Mother and I started the construction

with my little savings. The work of the sanctum sanctorum was started and I was able to complete

only the structure with no plastering. The roof used to leak during rainy days on which days I used to

sit inside the sanctum sanctorum and cry and pray to my Divine Mother, why is this so, I am your son

and you do not help me to complete this work. My fingers unknowingly scratched three marks on the

structure inside the sanctum sanctorum, the word “Om”, a “Cross” and a “Crescent”. For me, the

Supreme is one and the same, and only the paths to reach Him are different. I built a semi-circular

platform to place the divine lamp which I had already got made and kept in my Pooja room.

After a few months I quit my job for higher salary and position and joined another college. One of

my professors (Dr. Gopal) who was very close to me, helped in this. In this college one bank manager

came for delivering a lecture and we became friends. I met him in his office and narrated my story.

He asked, “How much do you want?” I never expected this and asked, “Sir, how much can you give?”

He said “three lakhs”. I had never expected this and I had never handled that much money in lump sum

at that time. He sanctioned the loan and I started the work of building the temple on the first floor of

my house. When the sanctum sanctorum was built, I decided that the roof should be an exact replica of

the Egyptian pyramid. I was with the mason ready with all the measurements that I had collected from

the net for this purpose.

At that time my principal called me and entrusted me with an important work. Absent minded, I left

the house and reached my work place and I had totally forgotten to give my measurements to my

mason. After some hours when I returned home I was shocked to find that the mason had already

completed the roof work. I asked the mason to measure the roof and to compare it with the plan I had

in my hand. To our surprise it was built as per the measurement plan of the Egyptian pyramid.

While I was working in this college one of my former students (Kumaresh) was very close to me

and used to come to me for counselling very often. One day he told me, “Sir, I am in love with a girl; I

cannot live without her, you have to help me.” How can a teacher help a student to make his love

successful? I thought of my own love which had failed and immediately agreed to help him without a

second thought. He used to come to my temple regularly and became a strong devotee of my Divine

Mother. I found him very upset one day and asked him for the reason. He said, “Sir, one astrologer

after seeing my horoscope told me that my life is in danger and that I will meet with an accident.” I

told him, “Do not worry. The Divine Mother can change your fate. Pray to her sincerely.” He prayed

and went away.

One day while I was meditating my intuition told me to call him immediately. I called him and

asked him to come to my house at once. He normally used to come to my house on his bike all these

days. Something told his mind not to take the bike that day. He was staying with one of his friends

sharing a room. He placed the bike key on the table in the room and left to meet me. When he reached

my home I took him to the temple, asked him to sit down, and started reciting Arunagirinathar’s

“Thirupugazh” (“Holy Praise” or “Divine Glory”) which is a 15th-century anthology of Tamil

religious songs dedicated to Murugan, the son of Shiva, written by the poet-saintArunagirinathar. The

anthology is considered to be one of the central works of medieval Tamil literature, both for its

poetical and musical qualities, and for its religious, moral and philosophical content)and asked him to

close his eyes and listen to the recitation. While listening, I noticed tears rolling out from his eyes in

small droplets.

All of a sudden his mobile rang. He looked at me, and I said, “Go and attend the call.” The call

was from one of his other friends informing him that his roommate had taken my student’s bike and

met with an accident, but he was safe. (The door to the main sanctum sanctorum in the temple of

Divine Mother is the contribution of this student).

Next I planned for the inauguration of my beautiful temple. I searched for a suitable person. The

image of a boy who used to help me during my social service and was studying for engineering came

to my mind. He was a close relative of an ashram head and later became the ashram head. I met him

and requested him to perform the inauguration of the temple by lighting the divine lamp. He

immediately agreed for this as he knew me personally. Invitations were distributed, and my media

friends were informed about the inauguration. The day came. I just went to the ashram to bring the

ashram head to my house. I reached the ashram and met the head. He said, “Oh, I had completely

forgotten about this, you could have reminded me a week ago. Today I am having an important

appointment. I do not think I can come today as I have been waiting for a meeting with a VIP for many

years.” I stayed there like a statue. By this time I had started receiving calls from my home informing

me that my media friends had arrived and all were ready for the inauguration. I switched off my

mobile. I told the ashram head, “Your appointment will happen today and your wish will be granted

by my Divine Mother, I shall wait outside.” The head did not say anything. The next minute a car

came through the ashram gates. A well-dressed gentleman got out of the car and went inside the

ashram to meet the ashram head. A miracle happened. The ashram head came out of his room saying,

“It is time, let us go.” You can understand the state of my feelings. I thanked my Divine Mother in

mind. We reached my house, the ashram head lighted the divine lamp, and he told the public and

media, “This is a very special place, make use of this.”

I noticed that while he was lighting the lamp tears rolled out of his eyes for reasons known only to

him. The temple became famous. Devotees used to come to my temple regularly. My wife told me that

the children were not studying because they could not concentrate, as there would be somebody in the

house all the time. I stopped permitting the public and permitted only friends and relatives into the

temple and the house became normal.

Now I was heading three departments and had also the charge of the college in the absence of my

principal. I was a new comer and the existing staff could not digest this at all as they felt that I was

overtaking their seniority. They started murmuring and were waiting for a good chance to trip me up.

This happened one day when the principal (Dr.Muthuraj) called me and said, “The management has

asked me to relieve you, I do not know the reason for this.” The principal was a person of high ethics

and calibre and moreover he loved everybody as his own brothers and sisters…a true teacher with

true qualities who was very active always. I told him, “Sir, I need time, I am a family man, please

help me. I have been selected for a special training by UGC and I am the only professor selected from

this state.” I added, “Please grant me leave on loss of pay. I can manage with the allowances the UGC

will be paying me.” He agreed and granted me leave on loss of pay.

I reached Delhi and completed the two months’ training. During this time another professor/scientist

(Dr.Rajendra Mishra) who was in charge of the training centre became very close with me. He was a

very knowledgeable person who gave personal attention to all the trainers.

The Learning Object Repository created by me won the award for best LOR. I received the award

from the hands of the Chairman, UGC. On coming back to college I found that things were not

favourable to me. The principal had changed his role and now he had become the Secretary of the

college. Once I joined he called me and said, “Sir, I have to relieve you as there is lot of pressure

from the side of the management.” I said, “Sir, I am a family man. If you send me out all on a sudden,

what I will do for my subsistence?” He was so good and he did not want to relieve me, but he was

being forced to do so. He told me, “Please wait outside for a minute.” Seconds, minutes and hours

passed, and at last he called me and gave me the real shock of my life. He said, “Sir, tomorrow you

can go and join this college as the principal.” He added, “There will be some problems you have to

face there, but never mind it.” I thanked him and left his office.

The next day I went to the new college to join there as the new principal. One lady who was the

vice principal guided me. I used to go on my two-wheeler to the college; I thought a car would be a

better choice. I discussed this with my wife, and she immediately refused to agree to the purchase of a

car. I convinced myself and started going to the college by a hired car.

The college was fully under the control of the lady vice-principal who was very close to the

managing trustee. I used to go on rounds. Once, in a particular class I found that a student was sitting

with all his shirt buttons open, posing like a gang leader. Reaching back to my room I asked the peon

to call that boy. The student came to my room with his shirt buttons open. I reminded him, “You are a

student, you should dress and behave properly, please button up your shirt.” He was staring at me

(later I came to know that he used to carry a knife with him and he would not hesitate to stab anybody

if he got wild).

I asked him whether he knew a particular person, mentioning the name of a local gangster. (Actually

I did not know him personally, but my cab driver knew him well. I mentioned his name saying that he

was the leader of the local gang).The boy never expected this, and his very next reaction was that he

put on all the buttons and said, “Sorry sir.” I said, “You may go now, and please do not repeat this

ever.” Sometimes a teacher has to come down to any level to manage students like him.

With the passage of time I understood that the lady vice principal was manipulating the college

funds after getting my signature. Our trustee had got a very bad habit of asking us to assemble on

every Friday evening. He would head the staff meeting, and criticise all of us for no reasons. He did

not hesitate to even make fun of the principal before all the staff members. I thought it would be better

to inform the trustee about this lady vice principal’s activities. I went to the trustee’s house and

informed him everything, and he immediately arranged for an audit and the lady got caught red-

handed.

It was my ambition to create a Guinness World Record. I started applying and got an approval for

continuous teaching. I planned everything myself, such as where it should take place, who should

participate with me and all such details. The reason for the attempt at that time was that the attraction

for the teaching profession had gone down a lot, which had led to shortage of teachers. This was

because everyone was interested only in the IT field. I made the attempt to attract the attention of one

and all towards the teaching profession. The attempt started, and all the teachers were very

cooperative towards me (or so I thought).The first twenty four hours passed by. The media supported

me a lot. Every day the public visited our college to see the attempt. Hours passed. I used to take 15

minutes rest as per Guinness guidelines after every eight hours. During this time I used to take food or

use the rest room. I was nearing completion and only a few hours were left to break the previous

record. Somebody brought me food during the break; I took it and continued my teaching. Slowly I

noticed that something was happening to me. I could not complete the attempt; I was admitted to a

hospital with chest pain.

The very next day I was out of the hospital and attended the college duties as usual. Months passed

by. The new vice-principal who joined in the place of the lady was a professor who was well known

to me. He had joined duty while I was making the attempt. For some reasons he was also asked to

resign and go out of the college later. On the day when he was relieved, he came to my room and said,

“Sorry brother, I have deceived you.” I did not understand anything, but later I assumed that he may be

the reason for the failure of my attempt as he had taken almost all the faculty who were helping me in

the attempt to some other program of his own purpose.

Later I was able to get my attempt declared as a National Record and I received my award from the

hands of the then Governor of Tamilnadu, Shri Surjith Barnala Ji was appreciated by my trustee, his

words being, “Well, you have created a record. Good! But do you think this will help you earn your

livelihood?” How could I digest this? I decided at that very moment to resign my post. I searched for

better opportunities through my circle of contacts, and came to understand that a new college was

proposed to be started in a nearby village. They asked me whether I would be interested to join as the

founder principal of the college, to which I immediately agreed as the group who managed the college

was a very popular one, and more over they offered me a salary package which was higher than what

I had expected.

But I had to get myself relieved from my current job. That was the annual day of the college, and the

trustee came to preside over the function. During that time I informed him about my decision to resign

from the college. He said nothing. But he called his personal secretary and offered me more salary

than what the new management had offered. My answer was a definite “No”. I told them, “I have

already given my word and I have to keep it.” When I was about to leave the college I met the trustee

and thanked him, and I could see tears at the corners of his eyes. This was the appreciation that I

really expected.

New college, new atmosphere. The building was under construction. There were only a very few

staff. It was a family type atmosphere. The staff were very cooperative. The number of students was

not much, as the courses offered were very few in number. I worked hard to market the courses as

there was heavy competition from neighbouring colleges. I wanted to introduce something different in

this college to make it look unique and distinct from other neighbouring colleges. I developed a very

strict discipline system such as compulsory prayer sessions in the morning and so on. This made the

college popular and more number of girl students joined the next year. The parents felt that the college

was safe for their girl children and many a time they expressed this to me openly.

The college was growing year after year. With the increase in strength, the problems also

increased. There were ego clashes between departments and between teachers. I tried my level best

to counsel them. It was at this time that our new trustee who had successfully completed his studies

from London took charge of the affairs of the college. He was very different in his approach. He used

to discuss everything very freely and was a very benevolent and understanding person.

At this time I thought why I cannot again try for a Guinness World Record. I sent a proposal to the

Guinness after obtaining permission from my management. Guinness gave me permission to go ahead.

The record aimed for was in “Largest Computer Class in the world (Multiple Points)”. As per the

Guinness guidelines I had to assemble the largest number of students for the class at multiple points

(Internationally). My training in E-Learning which I had obtained from the UGC helped me a lot here.

For three months I slept only for two to three hours in the night, but I attended the college as usual. I

searched for a platform (epal) to communicate with the teachers throughout the world. I found it and I

started communicating with teachers in different parts of the world requesting their participation.

Soon I got positive replies from different parts of the world. I thought “How to learn Online”

would be a good topic. After filtering and finalising I selected 25 countries. I needed a software for

this project - a video conferencing software. Those days video conferencing was not so popular. I

searched the net and found a number of softwares. As a person with only a commerce background, I

could not make head or tail of them. I searched again, and found a simple software from Australia. It

was a paid software. I practised with it and within days became familiar with it. But that was not

enough as my team members spread out throughout the world should also become familiar with the

use of this software.

By this time I was thorough with the software. I prepared a small manual in simple words about

how to use the software. I sent this to all the 25 participants, and a number of doubts flowed in. I

replied and clarified them all. Now funds became a problem as I was funding the project with my

own personal money. I talked with my management and they immediately agreed to fund the project. I

found that the software was very expensive for a short period use. I sent an email to the CEO of the

software company in Australia explaining the purpose for which the software was intended to be

used. He was very happy and immediately promised me that he would provide all support. I asked

him why they were helping me, and his answer was that all his family members including his mother

were teachers, and that he respected teachers and had great regard for the profession.

Further, the next day he refunded in full the money I had paid for the software. Such a great man

(Mr.Anthony Hosking), who loves teachers. The management sanctioned me the funds. But the clerk

who did not like my project did not take any initiative to release the funds. The day chosen for the

attempt was drawing close. I became tense, called my CEO and informed him about this. Within an

hour I saw a car coming fast into our campus. It was my management Trustee’s car. He came straight

to my room, and after handing over a cheque to one of his friends who had come with him, told him,

“He is going to do something great; please give this to him.” There is a saying that what you give with

your right hand even your left hand should not know; but this great man perhaps might have thought

that what he gave even he should not know, and that was why he gave the cheque to his friend and

asked him to give it to me.

The day of the attempt dawned. I got up early in the morning and reached college sufficiently early.

I tested the internet connection. There was no connection! It was a dial up connection and a broad

band connection was not available at that time. There were only a few hours left for the time set for

commencement of the attempt. I tried to set it right using all my knowledge but I was not able to do it.

It was early in the morning and it was difficult to get any computer engineers at that time. Again I tried

praying to the Mother Divine. By this time it was time to start the attempt. The media arrived at the

college gate. I was still fighting to retrieve the net connection.

Suddenly a miracle happened. The net got connected. I wasted no time. I started connecting with all

my team members. To my surprise I found thousands of logins coming in. I did not know what to do. I

immediately called my friend in Australia. He said that he would take care of this and he explained to

me that this had happened because somebody must have leaked the password to many of their friends,

and all of them had tried to log in simultaneously. The attempt was inaugurated by the then Vice

Chancellor (Dr.Thiruvasagam) via video conferencing. Our managing trustee presided over the

function through video conferencing.

I had already made arrangements for a projector screen in my room on which all the media

including television media were anxiously watching the whole attempt and activities. I started the

class, the audience were able to see both the teacher and the students from the different parts of the

world. The class continued for one hour, and after this the students clarified their doubts. The attempt

was successfully completed. But the Guinness authorities had to approve it. I prepared a very

detailed report about the attempt and submitted the same to the Guinness with certificates from

witnesses, media reports, photographs etc.

After a month I got a call from the Guinness announcing that the record attempted had got approved,

and that I was declared as a Guinness World Record Holder in “Largest Computer Class in the World

(Multiple Points)”. As the news flashed, many VIP’s in the city started calling me and congratulating

me. They said, “You have made Coimbatore proud.” (Even today I hold the record as nobody has

broken it yet, and Guinness is displaying my record on their website).

The interest in film production was in my mind all this time. One day during the prayer session my

Divine Mother told me, “Tell my story.” How could I neglect the command of my mother? I started the

preparations. I asked permission of management; as this was a devotional movie and they are a very

spiritual group they never objected to this. I never prepared any budget… I was confident that I would

be able to finish the shoot with the savings I had. I enquired with my brother’s son (Narendran), who

gave me the address of a production company in Kerala.

I went to meet the CEO of the company and explained the project to him. He promised all

cooperation from his side.

“AMMA”themakingofthefilm

The story of my film “Amma” was a compilation of true events which you may not believe, but which

had happened in my temple.

I once again confirmed for myself that I had enough savings to complete the project. At that time a

mega serial (Devi Mahatmyam) was going on in a famous TV Chanel (Asianet) in Kerala. My wife

was persistent that the actress (Praveena) who acted as the Devi in the serial would be the right

choice. I took efforts to obtain the Mobile number of that actress, got it and called her. Her PA

attended the call and said that she was in a shoot. I tried again and the actress attended the call. She

asked me the details and gave me an appointment to meet her in her house at Trivandrum.

I visited her house in the late evening with my daughter Aparna. The actress was very sociable, and

asked me to tell the story. After hearing it she said that she was ready to act in the film. I asked her

about the remuneration, and she said that as this was a devotional subject I need pay only what I

wished.

The shoot started and as I was having high blood pressure I found it difficult to be with the team

always, but still I managed it. I wanted to finish the maximum number of scenes within a day as the

production costs were very heavy. I even managed to shoot in Asia’s biggest drama stage

(Kalanilayam). It was the first time they were giving permission to shoot a film on their stage. I

finished the shoot and editing but many works were yet to be completed like dubbing, music etc. I

went to Chennai to a leading recording theatre for using their facilities. They at first refused for the

reason that their Managing Director’s son who is also a well-known actor was having the recording

of his movie at the same time in the theatre. It was a Friday and was a very auspicious day for Devi. I

was waiting outside the recording theatre thinking of making some alternate arrangements.

Suddenly the power went off and they were forced to cancel the recording of their Managing

Director’s son. After some time the power came back all on a sudden, but by that time the actor had

already left the studio. They called us in and asked us to start the recording. It was really a very nice

experience. I was sitting and watching how efficiently 6 dubbing artists were giving voice for 21

characters changing their voice modulation according to the need and the number of the characters.

Personally I felt that the fees paid to the dubbing artists were very low considering the efforts they

put.

In the middle of the recording I got an idea. I discussed this with my team and decided to call one

famous dubbing artist (Anuradha) who gave voice for a hit Devi movie (Amman).When I enquired

with other team members they said that it would be difficult to arrange her. I got her number and

spoke with her directly. Her reply was, “I would be fortunate to involve myself in such a good story

which is devotional and more over today (Aadi Friday) is a very auspicious day for Devi worship.”

Actually she was very busy with another recording in a very popular studio, but she stopped it in the

middle and came to our studio.

Before starting the recording she asked me about the story and characters. In the script there was a

portion in which the devotee asks the Devi, “Give me a promise that you will be with me till the end

and after that.” At this stage she stopped and came out of the recording room and asked me her doubt,

“Sir, is there any mistake in the script as it is written that when the devotee asks the Devi for a

promise, he says “Devi you should be with me till the end and after that.” I said, “No problem ma’m,

it is like that only.” She then asked me where this temple is and expressed her wish to visit it. (I

remember when I was admitted in the hospital for MG crisis, the doctors declared me dead, the

words in the promise ‘till the end’fits here, and when I sprang back to life after 15 minutes, the words

‘after that’fits well with the promise).

The most interesting fact is that none of the dubbing artists were looking into the script and reading

from it; the words just came out in a flow but got fixed exactly at the places required. Dubbing was

completed and now re-recording and background music were left.

I went to Cochin in Kerala for this purpose. It was the season of heavy rains in Kerala, and I

always needed an umbrella to go out of my room. The date for re-recording was fixed. I went to the

studio with the master DVD. I had to wait for a long time as the studio (Paramount) was very busy.

The works of many hit films were being re-recorded there. At last our turn came up. I went inside.

The studio’s interiors looked very simple. A most interesting part during the re-recording was when I

saw one man who was in the adjacent room assisting in the work, going out urgently and returning

with a bucket of water. I thought poor man he has got an emergency and he is rushing to the toilet.

Later I understood that he was trying to produce the sound of waves while a boat was moving in the

river, using the bucketful of water and moving his hands in the water.

Re-recording and background music completed, I returned home and fixed a date for the release.

The short film was released in a press meet. But making a film is not so simple, as I learned from my

experience. It is not the question of money alone, but the very hard work needed to complete a movie.

Later this movie was telecast in the Polymer TV.

As our current AO had resigned due to some personal problems, anew AO joined service. He was

very active and had a screw driver in his hands always. Whenever some small electrical problems

occurred, he would never call any electrician, but would rectify them himself. I was very happy and

told the management that he is very good in executing his work. Later I found that he did not know the

basics of office administration and that he avoided sitting in the office. This person was also very

close to the management, and because of this I did not have much say in his activities. At first he was

very active, but later his attention went to counting the coconuts in the campus. I never saw this

person sit in his office and do his office work. Again as he was supposed to be under the direct

control of the management, I could not say anything.

With the passage of time his attitude changed, he started creating problems for me, and interfered

with my official work as the principal of the college. I advised him in vain. He was not prepared to

correct himself. One day when we were discussing something, he said, “Do you know, it is my uncle

who has saved our chairman’s family from many serious problems and my uncle is a very famous

tantric.” Day by day he entered into the good books of the management, due only to the reason that he

gave a very accurate counting of coconuts in the campus as compared to the former AO. The

management thought that this fellow is very honest.

The staff started complaining to me saying that the AO was using bad words to them if they came

late. I said that I would enquire into it. I started observing his activities, because before I took any

decision about any person I used to convince myself that my decision is correct by indirect enquiries

with a random sample.

As our college was on the outskirts of the village, sometimes snakes used to visit our class rooms

and lab. Whenever such a thing happened, the peon would come running to me. I would tell him not to

beat it but wait for some time. I would remain in prayer for a minute and then tell the peon to go and

see, and he would find no snakes there. I do not know how I did it, perhaps due to the blessings of my

Divine Mother.

In the college I noticed abnormalities in the atmosphere. Some of the teachers were conspiring

against me because I was very strict in enforcing the college rules. Although they received many

benefits through me from the management they did not have any gratitude. These teachers induced the

students to agitate for simple reasons which I was able to resolve within no time. They never

expected this and started creating other problems for me. My intuition told me, “Suppose this

management sends you out, what are you going to do for a livelihood?” As a devotee of my Divine

Mother I used to visit the “Chottanikara Bhagavathy Temple” in Cochin regularly. On one such visit,

while coming out of the temple I heard a voice behind me say “PhD”.

I started planning for the future and started a research institution online on my own offering only

doctoral level programs. As this level of study is very difficult and technical, I presumed there would

be no competition. The institution was inaugurated by the then communications minister (Mr. A.

Raja).

There was good response from the students and they started joining for both national and

international programs with us. The uniqueness of the institution was that I was able to clear all their

doubts about research, UGC Regulations and so on, as I was an academic researcher and also an

expert for e-Learning for UGC.

One day I went with my family for a short trip and was returning to the college. The car was parked

in the college portico for dropping me. I went to my room. Soon I heard some noise outside and came

out of my room and found that our administrative officer was fighting with my driver for parking the

car in the portico. I thought, I am the head of this institution - if I do not even have the liberty to park

my car in the lobby for a minute, then why should I work here. At that moment our trustee arrived. I

told him what had happened and said, “Sir, either you keep the AO here and send me out, or relieve

him immediately.” He promised me that he would take action against him. The next day the action was

taken not against the erring administrative officer but against me; they relieved me without giving any

notice.

I was happy because I knew very well that with the blessings of my Divine Mother I would survive

at my best. At this time I had already started renovating my temple in the house. The most interesting

fact was that I started the renovation work in the morning and then left for the college to resign and

attended a recitation of “Bhagavatham” in the evening. In the college I called for a meeting and

informed the teachers that I had resigned; it was a real shock for them (except for those who already

knew about this). They accompanied me up to the lobby with tears. I thought this is the reward and the

standing ovation for me for teaching and administering efficiently and sincerely for all these days and

years.

My wife told me that I had done a mistake, now that I had started the temple renovation work, how

was I going to manage all those expenses? My answer was “the Divine Mother”. I was able to

complete the temple renovation in time. Meanwhile I found a rented place for my institution as I no

longer wanted to remain in the house idle. The landlord was one of my close associates. I thought that

as most of my students were from the Gulf countries, I should do up the interiors just like the offices I

had visited in Sharja. As I had photographs of the same, I showed the interior decorator all these

photos and started the work. The work was completed. Vice Chancellor (Dr.Manimekalai) of a

university (Mother Teresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal) came down and inaugurated it. During

this period some students used to call me and ask, “Sir, are the courses recognised by UGC?” and I

used to ask them, “What is UGC?” But most of them were not able to answer that it is ‘University

Grants Commission’.

The institution became very popular within no time, as I was already known to the student

community and the testimonials with me supported me a lot.

LifeisLikeThat

All the experiences in my life were lessons to me from which I learned in detail and applied in my

life. Learning from experience is an art for which keen sense of observation is needed. If you think

that my life is a success and that I have achieved something in my life it is only due to constant hard

work. When others were sleeping I was fully awake and improving myself. I remember the days when

I was in college as a principal; I used to call my commerce faculty and would ask “What is debit?

And, what is credit”. They were not able to explain the terms in simple words. I used to advise them

that to extract respect from the students you should be able to explain the different terms in a subject

in simple words, for which you need an in-depth knowledge of the subject.

One day I called one of my faculty members who had completed MCA, and requested him, “Could

you please help me to upload these files to my website?” He said, “Sorry, sir I have not studied this

for MCA.” After he went out, I just googled and learned the same from the net. I tried it and found that

I would be able to upload the files through the FTP, again I called the same faculty and taught him

how to upload files using FTP. This is the pathetic situation of education in our country. The students

learn many things, but by the time they complete studies, what they have studied becomes outdated.

It is not the question of getting outdated but the question of whether we update ourselves. The

answer is “No”, because once we complete our studies and come out we are so busy with our daily

chores and we think that as I have already completed my studies and obtained my degree what is the

need for further study? As I said earlier learning is a never ending process if you are really interested

in learning. Similarly addressing the students and speaking with them is also an art.

Once the Principal of a school in which my elder daughter (Janani) was studying, invited me for

their annual day. The local IG of the police was the chief guest. There were more than 10,000 people

in the audience. The meeting started and the volume of the claps was very low. The person who

brought the IG for the function, who was a local VIP, was also with us.

Each time when a speech was over he used to remind the audience to clap but the audience were

not that much interested in clapping. It was time for the vote of thanks and the principal requested me

to deliver the vote of thanks, to which I agreed. While I was sitting on the dais, I was observing the

speech of the IG. I noted that he stepped down from the stage to congratulate the band troop students

as their performance was simply excellent. I started my speech thus, “Today a star came down from

the sky; do you know which star? None other than our most respected IG.” I continued, “Now today

your wards have performed, and whose duty is it to appreciate and clap them? None other than you.”

The audience was listening to me with their jaws dropped. My speech continued, “ How will you

appreciate them? Don’t you think that you have to stand up and clap and encourage your own

children?” The whole audience, the full 10,000 stood up and clapped. The IG looked at me with envy.

The principal came to me took my hands in hers and said, “Thank you. You are having the sense of the

right time.” I replied, “ No, sister. It is just God’s gift.”

As a senior professor I was invited by UGC to deliver a lecture on E-Learning at Devi Ahilya

Vishwavidyalaya, Indore. I was just strolling in the university premises. I found that the students,

although they were in pairs with girl students, were maintaining discipline and prostrating before

their teachers whenever they passed them. The respect they gave their teachers attracted me a lot.

When my turn came for the speech I started my presentations showing my Guinness World Record

attempt details and my photograph with Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. To my surprise the entire audience in

the auditoriumstood up and congratulated me. I understood how much they respect and love teachers.

A teacher, if he wishes to attach himself to spirituality, will have experiences which others cannot

experience. I remember the day when I took my daughter (Janani) to a dentist who was also a very

close friend of mine. When the dentist asked her to sit in the seat, my daughter tried to run away in

fear. The doctor was put into a difficult situation and he did not know how to handle it. I said to the

dentist, “Please wait a minute, I will set it right.” I told my daughter, looking at her eyes, “Close your

eyes slowly.” She closed her eyes. Then I gave the command “Sleep”. She was in deep sleep within

no time. The next instruction was given by me, “You will not have any pain.” The dentist was standing

beside me watching all this drama. I told the doctor, “Please go ahead with your work.” But he said

that the patient should open her mouth to extract her tooth. I said, “Open your mouth” to my daughter

and she did it. The dentist extracted the tooth successfully. After that I told her, “Wake up”. After

waking up, she did not know what had happened. When I told her everything was over now and we

could go home, she never believed it. At the time of leaving the hospital the dentist made a request to

me, “Sir, could you please teach me this technique?” A smile was my reply as even I myself did not

know how I had done that.

Adventure was never short of in my life. I read about the Marunthuvazh Malai also known as the

Marunthu Vazhum Malai (“the abode of medicinal herbs”), which forms a part and is the southernmost

tip of the Western Ghats.

According to tradition, the Maruthuva Malai is a fragment of the Sanjeevi Mountain, a piece of

which fell down here, and it was carried by Hanuman from Mahendragiri to Lanka for healing the

fatal wounds of Lakshmana, the brother of Rama, the epic hero. It stretches for more than a km,

reaching a height of 800 feet at the highest point. It is about 2 km from Swamithoppe and 11 km from

Nagercoil.

This hill is also believed to be noted in Ayyavazhi mythology as Parvatha Ucchi Malai. Apart from

the Mythology, this hill is historically related to the life of Vaikundar. So, a few theologians consider

this hill as sacred and consider it one among the Ayyavazhi holy sites. Backing some quotes fromArul

Nool and Akilam some even argue that Marunthuvazh Malai is one among the Pathis.

There is a mention about this Marunthu Vazh Malai in Sri Pada Sri Vallabha Charithamrutham

written during the thirteenth century in Sanskrit, which is a biography of Lord Sri Pada Sri Vallabha

(first avatar of Sri Dattatreya).This place is mentioned as Maruthuva Malai and the legend about this

mountain is captured. It is also said in the holy book that this is a Holy land and Siddhas and saints

live on this Mountain.

Maruthuva Malai is also a sacred hill especially for followers of Shri Narayana and sages like

Agastya and Paramartha lingeshwar. On top of Maruthuva Malai there is a cave called Pillathadam

where Narayana Guru used to meditate for many years at a time when the hill was a thick forest with

leopards and poisonous snakes. According to him as told to the villagers, “animals will not attack you

if you have no fear or anger towards them or any inclination to hurt them.”

At that time I saw a television episode of Maruthuva Malai in which they narrated that if you stand

before the Pillai thadam and wish for anything, and if you see small foot marks in the sand, your wish

will be fulfilled, and if you see the mark of a snake having moved in the sand your wish will not be

fulfilled in the near future. I got interested and wasted no time. I told my wife that I was proceeding to

Maruthuva Malai. She said nothing as she knew well that once I had decided, nothing can change my

mind. I told my driver, “Get ready, we are going for a short trip for 2 days to Nagercoil.” We reached

Nagercoil and stayed in a hotel. I enquired the route to Maruthuva Malai and started early in the

morning the next day.

When you drive towards Kanyakumari, the hill is on your left just 5 kms before you reach

Kanyakumari. It is a small mountain and that is Maruthuva Malai for you. You can drive to the foot of

the mountain and park your car. From the foot of the hill to an altitude of 200 metres, steps have been

constructed to help you climb the mountain. You might think that this is the easiest thing for you but

while you climb up you may experience pain in your calf muscles.

On completion of the climb through the steps, you will reach a spot from where you can have a

good view of the western coastline of India. The Arabian Sea will welcome you from this location.

There is a well at this spot. It is a fresh-water well. The next 200 meters will take you through an

adventure trip, because you have to climb rocks.

This is the most adventurous part of the climb. Sorry, friends. I stopped at this stage and asked my

young driver to continue and give me a first-hand report about what he had seen and experienced

there. Before he started I told him giving a plastic container, “Try to collect some sand from the Pillai

thadam, I want to keep that sacred sand in my temple”, to which he agreed. As per his version after

his return this is how he narrated his trip.

He told me that that there are 200 caves in Maruthuva Malai. Lot of siddhas and yogis will be

meditating inside the caves. Just 3 of these caves are accessible for regular mountain climbers. If you

need to go to all the caves, you need mountaineering equipment. There is a cave (Pillai Thadam)

where the Kerala sage Narayana Guru came and meditated. It is a holy place for the followers of

Narayana Guru. The air in this cave is clean and it is a perfect setting for meditators. Reaching here

my driver noticed that only one man was there, and he asked that man whether he could have some

sand as a memoire. The person replied that we should not keep it in the house and if it was for a

temple he could take it. He carefully collected the sand and brought it safely to me.

He said that there is a kind of herb near this cave which when mixed with a bottle of water, makes

that water into a jelly like substance. Many sages who come to this mountain use this herb to convert

water into the herb jelly and by consuming that jelly, they can meditate for a week without drinking

water. The name of the mountain is Maruthuva Malai because many medicinal herbs are found in this

mountain. This is another reason why an early morning climb of this mountain is very good for your

health.

He continued and said that once we reach the top of the mountain, we can see windmills. These

wind mills are on the east coast (the side of the Bay of Bengal).

The southern tip of India can be seen from this spot. The Vivekananda rock, and the Thiruvalluvar

statue can also be seen from here. You can see fresh water streams from the top of the mountain.

For my driver the climb down looked very easy. But when we started climbing down our legs

started to shiver. The sand which the driver had brought was kept in my temple. (I can hear you

asking, “Did you see something in the sand like foot marks?”) The answer is, “Miracles never cease

to exist.”

Another TV episode provoked me to visit the Pon Uthiyur and to go to the Konganar Caves with my

4thPhysical Education Director. Konganar is considered as the son of Bogar. His period is said to be

5thand centuries B.C. He had lived probably in Koganagiri of Kongunadu in Tamilnadu. Out of all

his works more than 40 deal with the alchemy and the elixir (muppu) of life. He has also contributed

much on philosophy, medicine and spiritual practices.

The history goes like this. When the great Ramayana war happened between Rama and Ravana in

Ceylon, Rama’s brother Lakshmanan was attacked by an arrow sent by Ravana which made him

almost dead. So to cure him, Jambavan asked Hanuman to get a Sanjeevani herb from the Himalayan

range in between the peaks of Rishabam and Kailasa. And Hanuman followed the command. But in

the specified location in the hill between the 2 peaks he couldn’t find the herb. Frustrated he felt like

breaking the hill into pieces. But he suddenly came up with the idea of lifting the whole hill and taking

it to Jambavan and he did so. When he flew across the whole length of India from Himalayas to

Ceylon, a few pieces of the hill fell in several places along the way. One of it was in Uthiyur, where

the sage Konganar Sithar meditated in a small cave at the top of the hill. Once Hanuman reached

Lanka, Jambavan took the Sanjeevani herb from the hill and gave its juice to the whole battalion and

saved everyone’s lives.

The place was midway between Dharapuram from Kangeyam. I started with my Physical Education

Director and was there at Uthiyur in a short time.

It was a pretty small village with a hillock at one side. Not just a hillock, there were at least three

or four. There was a little temple after a flight of hundred steps from the ground, which is the base

temple ‘Uthanda Velayudhasamy Thirukoil’with a huge water-well. The little path with a few rocky

steps beside the temple led us to the base of a hillock and the steps ended there. There were a few

more little mandapams in a dilapidated condition.

From that point there was no proper path as well. And so we started our trek. Somehow we

assumed that the little temple like structure at the peak of one of the hillocks was our destination.

There was a little muddy pathway that was rocky at most of the places which took us directly into the

midst of the forest area of the hillock. We ventured into some of them and came back to the main

pathway. At several places, we were faced with double roads and it was our own choice to take

whichever path we wanted to as there was no soul anywhere around to ask! The route was rocky and

the hill was pretty vertical. In many places the muddy pathway was also missing. The sight of the

same pathway continuing after a small distance guided us through. Filled with several plants that

formed a decently thick forest-like area, I am sure, several among these huge number of plants must be

medicinal which would include the Sanjivani as well.

A route divided into two and there was a little board that showed an arrow to a route that read

“Route to Chetti Thambiran Temple”. A little more trek and we were at the Chetti Thambiran Temple.

This is a small temple formed by the space in between two rocks. The sounds heard here were freaky

at times, thanks to the several rocks and boulders and the heavy winds that blow through them.

Alittle further climb from there took us to the hill top and there was a little temple of Lord Ganesh.

The wind was fantastic and the view was breath-taking. Care had to be taken not to go to the edges

of the boulders there. A fall from there could definitely prove fatal. When we enquired about the

Konganar Cave we got an astonishing piece of information. This hill had several more herbs I guess.

It was thicker and had several plants that I hadn’t seen before. There were several fruits that looked

delicious. Enroute, there was a funny structure of a tree. The areal root of a particular tree had joined

itself to another tree and had formed a swing.

But as we ascended the trees were less and there were more plants and shrubs. And soon there we

reached that temple he had told us about. It was a typical small village temple. There were several

monkeys here. From here, some people again guided us to the peak of the hill to go to the Konganar

Caves. As we stepped to go higher, some strange wild sounds scared me to the core. After

contemplating for some time, whether to venture up or not, we spotted a few more monkeys. Funny

enough, it was those monkeys that produced those strange sounds like real wild beasts.

There atop the peak was a little room created by the space between two boulders. It was here that

Sage Konganar Siddhar meditated and lost his physical self. Siddhas are yogis who are in the high

meditative state and lose their physical state and attain divinity.

There is a pathway to enter this cave from the rear as well. It could be entered from the rear side

through a small tunnel like opening and one can crawl down into the cave. Or else in a simpler way

you could enter it from the huge front opening. I sat inside the cave and meditated for a few minutes.

On return I found that some monkeys were surrounding us, may be they expected that we would give

them some food. They were very big in size. Our PED was a little afraid. I told the PED to throw all

food packets with us as far away as he could. He did it immediately and the monkeys went in search

of the food and we ran with full speed and reached the foot of the hill. On reaching the car I noted that

one monkey was looking at me very seriously from a distance.

As a voracious reader, once I came across a book about Kadamattath Kathanar. As I was very much

interested in knowing more about magic, I got interested in the life history of Kadamattath Kathanar.

This interest led me to read more and collect more information about him. When I got a chance to

attend the marriage of one of my students, I visited the Kadamattom Church. I entered the church and

prayed saying in my mind, “Please accept me as your son.” I do not know why I said that but my

intuition told me to do so, that’s all I know. While I was in prayer I noticed an old man sitting in the

church and reading a book very seriously. I thought that he might be a care taker of the church.

I came outside the church and found that on one side of the church people were trying to light

candles but they were not able to do so as the winds were blowing very strong. I went near the place

took the candles and lighted them and said aloud, “Is this wind a problem for the Kadamattathu

Kathanar?” I placed the candle in the place and nothing happened. The winds did not disturb the

candles now. To my surprise all the candles which were blown out previously were also burning

beautifully now. When I looked around casually, at a distance I could see the same old man standing

and looking at me. I thought, poor man I have to help him by giving him some money, but something

prevented me from doing so.

On returning home out of curiosity I googled for an image of Kadamattathu Kathanar, and it was a

real shock for me. The image which I got from the net and the old man I had seen in the church were

one and the same. I stopped my enquiries and started my research. I enquired with some of my

students who were living near the church about the old man whom I had seen in the church, describing

his appearance. My student said that he knew all the people in the area of the church, and that he was

pretty sure that no such man existed. My thoughts travelled back to the stories I had read about the

Kadamattathu Kathanar (Paulose), who has born to a poor family and lost his parents in his

childhood. Although he was brilliant and had thirst for knowledge, he was not able to attend school.

When he did not have enough even to satisfy his hunger, how could he go to school. One day when he

was very hungry, he went to a nearby church and prayed in front of Jesus to get him some food.

Hearing those prayers, the priest of that church took him to his room and fed him. After that he

enquired about the details of Paulose. Hearing his touching story, the Father decided to adopt him.

Father appointed him as an assistant. Paulose had to do all the odd jobs and in turn he got enough food

and permission to attend the school run by the church. Meanwhile, he started learning theology too

and was conferred with the title of Brother. Now he came to known as Brother Paulose.

There was a large farm in that church where there were hundreds of cows. Cowherds used to take

them to the nearby forest to feed them properly. One day Brother Paulose also accompanied them.

They were enjoying the calmness and the beauty of the forest and the cows were enjoying the fresh

grass and leaves. Suddenly a tiger appeared roaring aloud. The cowherds and cattle scattered in

different directions. However, the tiger went back immediately. Later, the Father, with the help of

some local people located all the cows and cowherds, but to his utter shock he noticed that Paulose

was missing. They searched till sunset and then went back in great grief.

Meanwhile, Paulose lost his way inside the dense forest and walked in the opposite direction.

When it became dark and as he reached a plain, several people with ugly features surrounded him

with weapons. They took him to a cave where he saw an old man whom all the others were treating

with great respect. Although Brother Paulose could not understand their language fully, he understood

from their facial expressions that they were asking the permission of the old man to eat him. Then the

old man came nearer him and told him that they were tribal people inhibiting that forest. Some of them

used to go out of the forest and earn money and food by showing magic to the public. But, most of

them were living by hunting inside the forest. If anybody from the outside world entered that area,

either they would kill and eat them, or they would be kept with them as slaves.

Understanding the reality and fearing a miserable death at the hands of those barbarians, Paulose

agreed to serve them as a slave. Gradually, he could attract the special attention and affection of the

chief of the tribe and thus he learned sorcery and Tantra. Many years had passed and Paulose

developed an ambition to meet his old mentor, the Father of the Church. By that time he had learned

enough to make the people fall asleep and then he could escape from the cave. But he thought that by

doing so he would be cheating his master. He was in confusion and the chief suddenly recognized the

change in Paulose. He asked about the reason and Paulose told him the truth. Then the Chief told him,

“I cannot allow you to go out as it is against the rule of the land, but if you go out I will not take it as

cheating. However, you should promise that you will never reveal this place to anybody in the outside

world.” Paulose promised accordingly, and came out of the cave after making the security persons

fall asleep with the divine powers he had acquired from the chief of the tribe. He went directly to the

church and introduced himself to the Father. The Father embraced him tightly with tears of joy in his

eyes. Later Paulose continued his studies in theology and became the main priest of the church on the

death of the old priest. From then onwards he came to be known as “Kadamattath Kathanar” or the

Holy Priest of Kadamattom Church. This church is still there and it is located in the Ernakulam

district of Kerala on the way from Ernakulam to Moovattupuzha.

He had done many miracles to save people from the effects of evil spirits and a single page will not

be sufficient to describe everything. I am mentioning here just one episode. In those days, on the way

from Thiruvananthapuram to Padmanabhapuram, there was a thick forest and most of the people

feared to go through that. According to the locals a Yakshi (a celestial creature which lives on human

blood) lived there. She would come in the disguise of a beautiful woman and attract the travellers.

When they went along with her into the forest, she would kill them and suck their blood.

Once Kadamattath Kathanar was travelling along this road, and this Yakshi appeared in front of

him. She requested him for some lime to chew with the betel leaves. Kathanar offered the same on an

iron nail. As soon as she touched the iron nail, she got caught inside the magical layer created with

the divine power of Kathanar and she followed him as a slave. Kathanar reached a place called

Kayamkulam, where he went to a home to have some food. Only one old lady was there. She received

the Kathanar and the woman with him with great respect and offered food. When she asked about the

woman, Kathanar told her that the woman is his servant. Then the old lady requested him to leave her

there as she did not have a servant or a companion. Kathanar did so.

Gradually the Yakshi became very close to the old lady. One day when the old lady was caressing

the hair of the Yakshi, she saw an iron nail penetrated inside her head. Without knowing the real

reason, the old lady removed the nail and the Yakshi got back her freedom. She started from that

house. Kadamattath kathanar came to know about this suddenly. By analyzing the omens and signals he

understood that she was travelling northwards. He started his journey and finally he saw her at a

place called Mannanam. There he caught her, and told her that if she continued to lead her old life, he

would kill her. If she was ready to live without attacking any people, she could live there peacefully.

The Yakshi agreed and Kathanar let her free.

Even now, many people claim that they have seen that Yakshi many times, mainly on the nights of

Fridays. Now she is affectionately called ParumalaYakshi.

The story continues …

But I came back to reality and thought that perhaps as I had got a longing to meet the Kadamattathu

Kathanar from my very young age this miracle might have happened.

During my first visit to Tiruvannamalai, I made a research. The findings of my research were that

there is a story of the Sacred Tiruvannamalai Mountain from the ancient times which tells us that a

quarrel between the Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma depicts the origin of the mountain. Both the creator

and preserver of this universe were fighting to claim who is the more powerful one among them. This

went on for years. The sage Narada also convinced them that neither of the two were powerful nor

supreme. Then, the Lord Shiva made up his mind to show the truth, who is the actual Supreme One

among the two.

To prove this he took the form of a pillar of fire which was very tall and immense. This fire stood

in front of the two and a voice was heard from the fire, which was Lord Shiva himself, saying that,

“Among you two whoever will first approach the top and bottom of this dazzling fire will be said to

be the most powerful forever.” Then Brahma changed himself as a swan and flew up to the sky to

reach the top of the Fire and kept flying for hundreds and hundreds of years. But could not reach the

top of the Fire… Lord Vishnu changed himself into a boar and started digging down the earth to find

the bottom and did the same thing for years, but could never find the bottom. Then both of them

realized that Lord Shiva, he who is endless without the start or an end was only the “Superior” among

both of them. Their fight came to an end.

They came back to Earth and bowed in front of Lord Shiva, who was in the dazzling form of fire

and requested him to stay in the same form on this Earth and to bless the devotees. Who is the actual

meaning for the power of creation and preservation; Lord Shiva agreed to stay in the same form and

transformed himself as a mountain. From then, every Karthigai Deepam Festival the column of dense

fire comes to sight on the top of the mountain. At Tiruvannamalai this is done on the 10th day of this

Festival of Karthigai Deepam.

The knowledge of all these made me visit Thiruvannamalai again and to go for a Giri Valam. My

family reached Thiruvannamalaiin the early morning. My co-brother was giving us all the

instructions. He told us let us start from the front of the Arunacahalewara Temple and walk

clockwise. I noticed that one bull which was standing near the temple was looking at me ferociously.

At that time I decided in my mind as a devotee of my divine Mother, I will only chant “Om Sakthi”

and will complete the Giri Valam. The very next minute the bull came straight towards me as if it was

going to hit me, I moved to a side and escaped. I thought perhaps “Nandi Bhagavan” did not like my

idea of saying “Om Sakthi” instead of “Om Nama Shivaya”.

We started the walk, and I said in my mind, “Oh Divine Mother, give me the energy to walk and go

around this mountain and please see that my foot does not touch the earth.” While walking I

remembered some books which I had read about the sacred geometry.

The Sacred Geometry and Ashta Lingams

In nature, we find patterns, designs and structures from the most minuscule particles, to expressions

of life discernible by human eyes, to the greater cosmos. These inevitably follow geometrical

archetypes, which reveal to us the nature of each form and its vibrational resonance. They are also

symbolic of the underlying metaphysical principle of the inseparable relationship of the part to the

whole. It is this principle of oneness underlying all geometry that permeates the architecture of all

forms in its myriad diversity. This principle of interconnectedness, inseparability and union provides

us with a continuous reminder of our relationship to the whole, a blueprint for the mind to the sacred

foundation.

In the ancient world certain numbers had symbolic meaning, aside from their ordinary use for

counting or calculating … figures such as the octagon were related to the number of their sides (i.e.

eight) and that number had a symbolic relevance.

The arrangement of the Ashta Lingams around the octagonal perimeter of Arunachala reflects the

geometry of a Cosmogram. The octagonal shape is surrounded by a total of eight Lingam Temples

(Ashta Lingams). Each of these Temples is located at the four cardinal and four inter-cardinal points.

This was also believed by the ancients who originally constructed the Lingams at their eight cardinal

and inter-cardinal points to represent, characterise and vitalise certain aspects.

“The formation of matter from energy and the natural motions of the universe, from molecular

vibration to the growth of organic forms to the motions of planets, stars, and galaxies are all

governed by geometrical configurations of force. This geometry of nature is the essence of the

sacred geometry used in the design and construction of so many of the world’s ancient sacred

shrines. These shrines encode ratios of creation and thereby mirror the universe. Certain shapes

found in ancient temples, developed and designed according to the mathematical constants of

sacred geometry, actually gather, concentrate and radiate specific modes of vibration. For

example, a particular structural geometry and precise directional orientation of a pyramid shape

completely alters the electromagnetic properties of the space contained within the pyramid. Three

dimensional structure and vibration are absolutely, though mysteriously connected. This is well

known to makers of musical instruments. It was also known to the makers of ancient temples.

Certain shapes resonate to cosmic frequencies too fine to be registered on the electromagnetic

spectrum. The fineness of the vibration is the key to their powerful effect.” [Paul Devereux]

Arunachala is surrounded by eight lingams (Ashta Lingams) each residing in one of the eight

directions of the four cardinal points (South – Yama, West – Varuna, North – Kubera, and East –

Indra) and four intercardinal points (South East – Agni, South West – Niruthi, North West – Vayu and

North East – Esanya).

The Hill which is octagonal in shape is surrounded by a total of eight Lingam Temples (Ashta

Lingams). Each of these Temples is located at the four cardinal and four inter-cardinal points. This

was also believed by the ancients who originally constructed the Lingams at their eight cardinal and

inter-cardinal points to represent, characterise and vitalise certain aspects and qualities of life.

Ashta lingams

Indra Lingam (East) Agni Lingam (South East) Yama (Ema) Lingam (South) Niruthi Lingam (South

West) Varuna Lingam (West) Vayu Lingam (North West) Kubera Lingam (North) Esanya Lingam

(North East)

The Lingams have the dominant Graha of the God to whom they are associated. It is believed that

placating a specific Lingam will bring various benefits that are associated with the respective Graha.

Indra Lingam

The Indra Lingam has East as its direction. It is associated with the celestial Lord Indra. Lord Indra is

the king of Heaven according to Hindu mythology. His consort is Indrani. His vehicle is the

celebrated four-tusked white elephant Iravatham Indra manifests himself seated on his elephant

wielding in his hand the weapon Vajra with which he destroys ignorance and bestows spiritual

knowledge on his deserving devotees. The Indra Lingam is dominated by the Grahas, Lord Surya and

Lord Shukra (Venus). Devotees are blessed with long life and with prosperity, on worshipping Indra

lingam.

Agni Lingam

The Agni Lingam has South-East as its direction. It is situated close to Seshadri Ashram on Chengam

road and is located on the right side.

Lord Chandra (Moon) is the dominant raha of Agni Lingam. Lord Agni is the God of the fire of

Knowledge. He has seven hands and seven tongues. Agni is the light of the lives of all creatures and

is invoked in the performance of Homa. His vehicle is the goat Saga who serves as the sacrificial

beast in the fires of Homa.

Worshipping this Lingam helps devotees get relief from disease, to maintain good health and also

helps them face problems and difficulties in their lives.

Yama Lingam (South)

The Yama Lingam has South as its direction. It is associated with Yama the God of death. It is situated

beside the cremation grounds.

The dominant Graha of this Lingam is Mangala (Mars). Yama is portrayed sitting on his mount, a

powerful black buffalo named Mahishan and with two monstrous dogs by his side. He is supposed to

carry a huge lasso with which he drags each being at the time of death to face heaven or hell

according to the being’s karma.

Devotees get rid of their financial constraints on worshipping the Yama lingam. This Lingam is also

conducive for longevity of life span.

Niruthi Lingam (South West)

The Niruthi Lingam has South West as its direction. It is situated on the Girivalam pathway near the

Shantimalai Compound.

Niruthi is the king of the Asuras (demons) and he jointly rules the Southern realm along with Yama.

His associate is a dog.

Legend reports that king Nala bathed in Niruthi Lingam Theertham to be relieved of sins incurred

due to his karma. This Lingam is especially renowned to help people recover from the bad effects of

black magic. Health, wealth and fame are the beneficial aspects of this lingam. It is also beneficial for

couples to worship at this Lingam if they wish to have a child.

Varuna Lingam (West)

Varuna Lingam has the West as its directions. This lingam is situated on the outer girivalam pathway

about one kilometre before the village. Varuna’s vehicle is Makara (that lives both on land and

water). This Lingam has Lord Shani as its dominant Graha. Varuna Theertham, a holy tank, is located

here. Legend has it that the eye of Varuna is Surya and when Surya appears in the constellation of

Makara, it is a special event and honoured as Makara Sankarathi. This day falls each year in mid-

January and is celebrated as Pongal. Varuna is the king of appreciation and enjoyment. He governs the

whole world. He is the God of rain and God of all the waters in the three worlds. He surveys the

deeds of man according to his karma and keeps them under his control.

Vayu Lingam (North West)

Vayu Lingam has the North-West direction as its direction. It is situated on the girivalam pathway.

Vayu is the Hindu god of wind and he is often associated with Indra. His vehicle is the deer. Kedhu

(Kethu) is the dominant Graha of this Lingam. As Vayu is the God of wind, it is reported that at any

time of the day, and in every season, when one enters this shrine one is always greeted by a gust of

wind.

Relief from heart diseases, stomach problems, lung problems and general illness are conferred

upon the devotees on worshipping this Lingam.

Kubera Lingam (North)

The Kubera Lingam has Lord Brihaspati (Guru or Jupiter) as its dominant graham. He has three legs

and eight teeth. His vehicle is a female goat. His abode is in the capital of the Himalayas. His consort

is Yakshi. He is the Chief of the Yakshas who safeguards the riches of the Devas. It is believed that

Lord Kubera came to this place to worship Arunachala in order to maintain his wealth and prosperity.

Hence a Shiva lingam was installed and consecrated at a point exactly north. Kubera is the God of

wealth and material possessions. He does not create wealth, but he is believed to be the one who

distributes wealth amongst his devotees.

Esanya Lingam (North East)

Esanya Linga has the North East as its direction. It is located on the old girivalam road. Esanya is one

of the seven Rudras of Shiva. He is covered with ashes and surrounded by ghosts, he has matted locks

and fierce eyes and is seated on a tiger skin. He holds the crescent moon and the river Ganga in his

locks. His body is adorned by coiled serpents. In his hands he holds the drum and the trident of Shiva.

Devotees are blessed with peace of mind on offering prayers to Easanya Linga.

A specific theory of the relevance of the Ashta Lingams has been propounded by Monica Bose in

her book ‘Hill of Fire’, in which she associates the Ashta Lingams to the traditions of Vaishnavism

rather than Shaivism. “Giripradakshina or circumambulation of the Hill is traditionally performed

following the movement of the planets around the unmoving sun, which means keeping the Hill always

at one’s right. The eight cardinal points are marked by Shrines, Tanks and Mandapams, for those

edifices date from an earlier medieval period when the Vaishnava faith was in the ascendant over the

Shaiva faith, and the Hill was then regarded as the Wheel of Time in the hands of Mahavishnu.

Chakra means wheel or force field. Legend says that it was made by Shiva and gifted to Vishnu as a

token of love. The story goes that Vishnu offered a thousand lotuses to Shiva every day. One day in

order to test the sincerity of Vishnu, Shiva hid a lotus. But in order to complete his worship Vishnu

plucked out one of this eyes and offered it in place of the missing lotus to Shiva. In his pleasure at the

sacrifice, Shiva gave his prized weapon, the chakra to Vishnu.

The Vishnu Purana identifies the chakra with the human mind who’s “thoughts, like the chakra, flow

faster than even the mightiest wind.” When used as a weapon, the distinguishing feature of the chakra

is its ability to return to the hand of he who throws it.

“The world rests as the lotus in the palm of my hand, the cosmos revolves around my finger like

a discus. I blow the music of life through my conch and wield my mace to protect all creatures.”

Vishnu holds the chakra as a terrible weapon but also to preserve the Universe as whenever this

energy is released it would instantaneously end time and causation. Hence the chakra is

representative of the Wheel of Time.

By this time I finished my round and looked for my wife and others and they came after an hour by

an auto. They said that they felt very tired and that they took the Giri Valam in an auto.

TheTraingoesonnoDriverbutGuard(God)

Intuition is something which guides you in the right direction many a time. As a victim of Myasthenia

Gravis (Atype of muscle weakness) I was suffering for many years. It started like this. One day while

I was discussing something with my wife, she said your voice is not the same as usual. As I used to

deliver lectures in All India Radio, she used to listen to this without fail and she is very familiar with

my modulations. But I was adamant and said there is no difference in my voice.

After some days I realised myself that something is wrong with my voice. My wife and I went to a

number one ENT Specialist in the city. He made all the tests and said you have to consult a

neurologist. The very next day, we went and met a neurologist and he said “I suspect that you are

having Myasthenia Gravis”. I did not understand anything. He asked me to undergo a number of tests

including the EMG which was not so comfortable as I was subjected to mild electric shocks in my

face. The doctor confirmed that I was having MG but I could not believe this. The first thing I did

after reaching home was googling the net for details of MG. I made an in-depth study of MG and

understood that it is a very serious disease but I was not afraid. I also knew that it could lead to a

crisis, which in turn may lead to the death of the patient. I clearly studied what should I know/do in

case of a crisis.

Days passed, and I was regularly taking medicines under the direction of my neurologist. One day I

thought how many tabs I have to take daily, it is really very uncomfortable. I stopped the medicine and

started training my mind that I do not suffer from MG. After some days I found I could not drink water,

take food and something is blocking the path of food in my throat. I was not upset, I was not worried

because I have got strong trust in the Supreme.

My intuition told me to go to the hospital immediately. I informed my wife to admit me immediately

in the nearby good hospital and I told her the only escape in crisis for MG is plasma transfer or an

operation for removal of thymus gland (thank you Google).

We went immediately to the hospital. On the way I noticed the other signs of MG crisis such as

drooping of eyelids, double vision and I could not hold my head up properly, it was slowly bending

down. We met the neurologist and he admitted me in the hospital. My brother-in-law (Sivanu) was

with me. My wife ran to the nearby Perumal temple to pray for me. Brother-in-law told me that he

would just go home and come back. I was just sitting and watching the TV. My wife returned and

asked me “Why are you sitting all the time, try to walk for some time” and forced me to stand. I was

trying to stand but by that time all the organs below my hip got paralysed and I could not stand.

She tried to make me stand but I collapsed. I told her to call the nurse who came running. I told the

nurse that I could not stand and also that I was having difficulty in breathing. She brought the oxygen

cylinder. She tested everything and said, “There is nothing wrong.” But I could not breathe and the

next few minutes became an important part of my life. I collapsed completely with little life in me.

My wife shouted like anything (she told me later what happened), but the nurse continued to hold on

to her past statement that everything is ok and she could not identify any problem. My wife raised her

voice and said take him immediately to the ICU, otherwise I will burn down this whole place. (She

became a Kannaki of the Poompukar).Then they moved me to the ICU. My nephew (Shanmugham),

who was the legal adviser of the hospital, was informed. He immediately came and made

arrangements for coordinating the expert doctors. I was put on ventilator. The doctors said, “There is

no guarantee, let us wait and see.”

After some time they declared me dead. My wife could not believe this because I used to tell her

that I will leave this world only when I wish. She was completely shattered and sat on a bench

outside with memories of our past. Our relatives were informed of my demise, and everybody

immediately arrived although it was midnight. Many people who were my neighbours, started prayers

to bring me back to life, if at all there is a chance. The fact is that not even once had I talked with

them or met them in the recent past, but they loved me and I do not know why and how.

After fifteen minutes, seconds tick ticked away, my heart started tick ticking and I sprang back to

life. I was kept in the ICU for a long period of time. I could not move my hands or any part of my

body because I was totally paralysed. But my mind was very strong along with my trust in the

Supreme.

In the hospital, I used to communicate with the tip of my fingers with much difficulty. I would hold a

ball point pen and used to scribble on a writing pad what I felt and what I needed to inform the

nurses. I remember one day a nurse poured very hot Horlicks through a tube inserted in my throat; you

can imagine how it travelled to my stomach as a fire ball, but with a smile, I wrote on the paper and

showed what happened. The nurse apologised. It was very interesting inside the ICU as normally

outsiders are not permitted to go inside.

In the evenings the duty doctor and attenders used to eat “Chilly Gobi” inside the ICU. You can very

well understand how my mouth watered smelling the dish from my bed. This was because I was

permitted only limited food, a certain volume of water, Horlicks etc. Some of the lady nurse attenders

were carrying sticks to frighten the patients like school teachers, if at all they refused to take the

medicines. (After all they were nursing students from the same hospital). There were both male and

female attenders whom I found in pairs playing around. (I do not blame them, after all they are young

and at their age they will do only that). They were running here and there like butterflies.

The date for my plasma transfer was fixed and I did not have any anxiety. I came to understand that

the hospital was going to do this for the first time and the person who has to do this is also a first

timer. Actually they were more worried than me about doing the transfer successfully. They told me,

“Sir, if you feel anything uncomfortable, give us a sign and we will stop the process”, which I agreed

to. To my shock they invited all the nursing students and teachers to witness this great event. All of

them assembled around my bed.

The person in charge explained in detail what he was going to do. Everyone waited for the climax.

Slowly doubts crawled into my mind. They are doing this for the first time… will they do it

successfully… At that time the person in charge shouted “Jai Jakkamma (Let victory be to the Divine

Mother)”. Even today I probe my mind wondering why he said this. (But I understood that as a

stringent devotee of the Divine Mother I received this signal from to indicate to me not to be afraid).

Man realises the existence of god when he is susceptible to pains and hardships in his life. The

project (process) started for plasma transfer. They fixed a number of tubes all over my body. The

person in charge instructed the attenders to be very careful and alert. Once he started the transfer of

new plasma, it would enter through this tube and at that time the blood pressure reading would rise,

and then they have to immediately inject such and such medicine…His instructions went like that.

While the process was going on I felt a chill all over my face. Within hours they finished the transfer

successfully. This was repeated in the coming days and for nearly five times and was very expensive.

(My wife had to sacrifice all her gold savings for this, but she had done it to save my life; if your wife

is very much attached to gold do not blame her because it is only to save you at such times of crisis).

Slowly the condition of my health revived and the doctor decided to transfer me from the ICU to a

normal room. My wife asked the ICU attenders, “When you are going to transfer him?” The answer

was, “Any time ma’am, even now you can take him”, the reason being that very few people left the

ICU alive and they did not want me to be a witness to all their pranks inside the ICU anymore. I

remember one attender whose response when I said, “I could not sleep”, was, “close your eyes

tightly”, as if he did not want me to see what was going on in there.

Later when I was shifted to a room, one day the head of the attenders (a nursing student) came and

said, “Sir, we did not know that you were a principal and a professor, we have made lot of noise,

misbehaved and disturbed you inside the ICU, please do not feel anything.” My answer was, “I saw

only some butterflies in a garden and not you.”

I also observed that some of the senior attenders (paid and regular staff) were very sincere and

earnest to the core inside the ICU. They used to give me a towel bath very caringly and with lot of

love, respect and affection. There were a few nursing students who took their role very seriously and

were caring for the patients as if they were their own blood relations.

The neurologist (Dr.Asokan) used to visit me every day and took photographs of each of my

movements on his mobile, which he studied very carefully to proceed further in my treatment. I have

never met with such a sincere and selfless doctor in my life. With the passage of time one of my hands

revived, followed by the other hand, and then the legs. But still I was not able to sit in a chair or

walk. My wife used to feed me like a baby, and clean my dirt, which any other people will hesitate to

do. She was more than a mother to me.

Days passed and I made up my mind that I should try to walk, and I can walk, and I started trying to

walk - first with the help of my wife and later with the help of a physiotherapist. But all the time my

mind told me to trust in God, and take efforts.

I succeeded in walking, and later I got full movement of all organs. I returned home safely with the

blessings of the Supreme. Again one problem was left with me - my voice was not clear. For this,

every morning, when I woke up the first word I used to say was “Amma”. I repeated it for many days

and slowly I noticed changes in my voice, my voice became quite natural as it was in the past. I

became the old personality I used to be.

Why this is narrated here is to tell you that when you think everything is lost, if the Supreme

decides nothing will be lost. The trust in the supreme and your efforts will play miracles in your life.

Think, if I did not have any trust in the Supreme, if I did not take any efforts, what would my fate have

been? I learned from my experience who was my true teacher - our life experiences, if you observe

them closely, will become sometimes the best lessons which you have ever learned and which you

will never forget in your life.

You should be bold and keep your mind focussed and should not bother about what is going on

around you in times of crisis. I still remember the pain I experienced when the nurses were searching

all over my body, puncturing very hard with a needle, for veins which refused to show themselves to

the nurses for reasons best known to them.

For many days I remained fully awake in the night, because I never felt like sleeping, but I never

had any thoughts in my mind. My mind remained fully blank.

There was no past, present, or future in my thoughts. Fifteen days I existed with just a quarter glass

of water supported with intravenous therapy. It was not difficult for me but what was needed was the

blessings of the Almighty, training and practice. Train your mind so that you can also reach a

thoughtless stage.

I strongly believe even today the blessings of the Siddhas whom I met during my life time are with

me and will continue after that.

Even today my Divine Mother is keeping her promise “…I will be with you till the end and after

that”.

The words of the ‘Sinchuvadi Swami’

“The train goes on, no driver but guard (god)” - still keep me going on till the end and after that!