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SPIRITUALITY portant, we must pay respect to all living creatures.”
tery, which can last longer if you learn to breathe.”
Pandian’s siddharhood did not prevent him from leading a normal life. He was married and became the headmaster in a school in his village Sokkalingapuram, near Karaikudi. He was a highly respected teacher. In recognition of his outstanding services as a teacher he was awarded the Best Teacher Award on September 5, (Teacher’s Day) 1996 by the former president of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma.
Listening to Pandian, the secret of a long and healthy life sounds simple: control your breathing. I am curious to know the average life span of a siddhar. Pandian shows me a picture of a man in his living room. “This siddha died when he was 900 years old”.
Pandian remembers that night very well. “When the president saw me wearing this cotton cloth, he asked his secretary if he (Pandian) was the awardee!
“Your mother calls you daughter. Your brother calls you sister. Your husband calls you wife. But you are always the same person. This is God”.
“But as soon as he looked into my eyes, he asked me to bless him, calling me ‘Guru Maharaja’ - king of gurus.’”
Another Way of Being
And what about God? Pandian seemed to me the right person to ask such existential questions.
Inhale, Exhale
Pandian says goodbye to us in a modest way that shrouds his being in holiness: “I’m still practicing to become a good siddhar. It’s a journey of a lifetime.”
“I wake up at three o’clock every morning and meditate until six,” Pandian answers my question about his daily routine. “Now that I’m retired, I have much more time to concentrate on my practices. In the middle of the morning I take a one-hour nap. Then from six to nine p.m. I meditate again. After meditation I feel more energetic and focussed. At the age of 50, a man is full of wrinkles... But look at my skin!”
On the contrary, Sevuga Moorthi, the other siddhar we meet in the village of Singampunari, is very self-confident of his siddharhood: he looks at us with a deep gaze that seems much more like that of a Bollywood actor than a holy man. He welcomes us into the rural home where he lives with his wife Meena and his two daughters, Kaviya (8) and Dharavika (11).
He really looks younger than his age. “Every day,” Pandian continues, “a normal man loses 24,000 breaths because he is not able to breathe the right way. Breath is our energy. Our soul is our bat-
For somebody like me, who grew up in a Catholic Christian country, it sounds strange that a holy man has his own family. He is 44 years old and studied acupuncture. But this practice doesn’t interest him anymore. He now earns a livelihood by curing the people of the village with herbs and secret siddhar medications. “I’m also able to do black magic, but only in extreme cases. If a person is going to die, for example, I can bring him back to life.”
Pandian: The Way of the Warrior
Sevuga Moorthi became siddhar at the age of 15. “I started to meditate and through
meditation I found a link with Swami Sivananda Paramahamsa,” –the same swami that Pandian venerates. Talking to him, I discover more similarities between the young and the old siddhar, even though they seem so different. Sevuga Moorthi also wakes up every morning at three o’clock and meditates for three hours. “All of us siddhars meditate at the same time to be connected and we meditate facing North to benefit from electromagnetic energy”. After that, he lives a normal life. He takes his daughters to school on his motorbike, eats vegetarian food, and helps the people in his village. I ask Sevuga Moorthi an existential question: What is the meaning of life? “Our lives are like a dream,” he answers. “When you become a siddhar you wake up”. In response to my question as to what is meditation, he said, “Meditation expands the soul.” The two most important places for siddhars in and around the village are the temple dedicated to Muthu Vaduga Nathar, the first important siddhar in the area, and the Siddhar Malai, the holy mountain where siddhas are buried. Unfortunately, it is impossible to visit the burial place of siddhars for it is believed that they are better kept as a secret to avoid vandalism. On the other hand, the temple is easily accessible. It is situated right in the middle of the village and open every day from 6 to 11 am and from 4 pm to 9 pm. The best time to visit is in the middle of August, when a big festival dedicated to Muthu Vaduga Nathar is celebrated. He lived 200 years ago and was the first siddhar who went to the mountain to meditate. When he came back he started teaching meditation techniques. That’s why everybody here calls him simply ‘Vathiyar’ – the teacher. Despite the fact that he lived 200 years back, in the Siddhar tradition he still is a living presence.