My Strongest Bond with Munishvara @ AIMST University

This article was penned almost a decade ago. It contains my rage and rant as a younger blood. The events illustrated in this article play a very important role for who I am today. I am not going to modify this decade old article in any way. It reflects the emotions of the younger me had the strength, perseverance and pride I doubt I still contain

To be honest, I was never formally exposed to folk deities. It has never been a long term bond despite its intimacy at present.

The only significant memory that is still deeply enrooted in my consciousness is the sweet incident that used to occur when I stayed in my grandmother's place. I was 4 that time. Prior to night slumber, I would hear the sound of anklets in tandem to someone making rounds riding the hooved equine around the residence. This rhythmic tune of the anklets and gallops of a horse was an indescribable lullaby I would yearn for even today.

This is a Muni shrine in my hometown @ śrī varadaraja temple, Subang Jaya. I used to fear Him, even chickening out from footing into His shrine.

Late 2014

I had to move to Kedah to further my medical studies. Coincidentally, there is a Vīra temple in this campus I had just moved to. The green setting of the temple premise appeared nectarine to my bee instinct - hence having me frequent there to carry out my krīya-s and yogic practices in convenience.

Concurrently, I was taking baby steps into the world of Vedas. I was learning the śri Rudram that time.

Months later, around the start of 2015, the temple was renovated and a kumbaabhisheka was conducted. New deities were installed. By then, I had learnt the Vedic hymn and was eager to experiment with it.

My friend and I sat in the fresh temple and recited Shri Rudram. My intellect gave a further boost as the hymn was recited to apt deities - Muni and Veeran who are the very expressions of Rudra.

Temple View ( taken many years back )

Dawn peeling over the sky

Pathway to temple

Upon completion, I was requested by one of the committee members to recite Rudram consecutively for the next 12 days in the temple - to establish a stronger life force in the deities. I agreed.

I braved the forest scent every morning to accomplish the task. My prime interest at that time was never associated with the deities ( yet ). Instead,it was for the nature-rich environment. I was aware on how ancient sages had a habit of retreating to forests to recite these powerful portion from the Vedas. By doing so, the cosmic vibrations spread throughout the world and purified the elements. This was the push for me.

Inevitably, what I did spread vast enough and formed headlines within the gossip picks because imbeciles who fail to comprehend my actions choose to ridicule it.

At times, I had to recite in the evening should I fail to make it in the morning. The temple was locked at times and my voice had to echo from outside the entrance. It wasn't quite simple. Substantial sacrifice of time and energy consumed me. 

I concluded the ritual after 12 days. I took a break and ventured the Vedas further in my personal space.

However, there was a silence within so loud I couldn't ignore. The deities had pulled me to a bond so sweet - I could not avoid running to the temple on an almost daily basis.

Life was extremely simple. I was not yet teaching Vedas. I barely knew about the Vedas. I only knew Rudram. That was it. And I recited that in the presence of the deities.

With time, the bond strenghtened. The Lord of the Munis and Vīra expressed in various dimensions to me. It was nothing in parallel with the typical tales I hear. It wasn't about the smell of cigar. It wasn't the sound of anklets. It wasn't trance. It wasn't a physical sighting of the deity. It wasn't about them fulfilling my desires.

A state of Rudra simply enveloped me the moment I connected with the deities. Like eye and sight, an immense oneness blossomed. The deities were simply the form of Love at its highest frequency.

They became my closest and perhaps only friends.

They were my only buddies whom I sat with during my low times. They were the same buddies I spent time with for a celebration - and Rudram was the very breath through which I spoke to them.

I would omit most of the mystical experiences I have had here as well. They pertain my role there and a link with the ancient leftovers of the spiritual civilization in Kadāram.

Throughout my activity in this temple, somuch drama occurred. For reasons I am oblivion to, my activities were opposed by plenty.

I was accussed for robbery in the temple, many rumours were dramatized as well - I was apparently bringing girls to the temple in the wee hours and got them into bouts of hysteria, I apparently talked to trees in the temple, told people that a ghost resides in the temple etc 

Some nursing students apparently even complained to the administrative body that I was walking shirtless around the temple premise and talked to fishes.

I felt like being the Johnny Sinns of the temple - playing various roles in absolute versatility.

Whosoever related in this directive rumour and gossips, if you are reading this, I have a request to make : Face me like a man with balls, not stick labels behind my back. I may not know who you are but karma will hit your spine so hard that you will never get up as before with the palsy you experience. Mark my words, imbecile(s).You know who you are

They even locked the temple for a period of time just so that they could bar me from entering. As if that was not enough, they even built a fence around the deities. I'm sorry as your economics failed here. Only the deity decides the entry of whosoever into the shrine - not your man-made partition.

I wouldn't lie, the pressure i faced was crude. I still recall the days when I saw myself standing outside the locked temple premise, yearning to get myself close to the vigrahas within the temple. I was boycotted and my image was tarnished deeply with the rumours spread.

There were times when some friends and I made trips to the temple to clean it up ( it would be freaking filthy, polluted by fungating foodstuff, faeces, and other forms of filth of its highest order ).We even spent a lot to replace exhausting prayer items and to dress up the deities - all with my scholarship fund.

Naivedya ( Offering ) to Vīramākāli, fungating and rotting in front of Her. Cleaning this up was crime and the title I got was - Thief

The deities always stood by me. All those who created trouble were rendered powerless. In short, nothing prevented me from doing what I had to do. They may lock, build fences, spread shit under my name but ultimately these clownish stuffs were temporary.

The deities there had revealed some deep secrets of the temple in its past timeline - and that created another very crucial reason for me to frequent the temple to do some necessities, which these morons will never understand. Today, I am happy to see that I gave no flying fuck to morons who disrupted my activities. Till date, I have no clue as to what degree my efforts have fruited, but I believe I gave my best.

The Veda class that runs in the campus initiated in this very temple with poor support. Today, the campus stands as the only educational institute where Vedas are learnt with its adhering knowledge in the field of research. The class even got recognition from international institutes, while those who opposed the effort are perhaps plucking hair by the roadside today.

 Nutshell ...

A big lesson that I learnt, make friends with the divine- and you can win the world. 100s or even 1000s will be rendered powerless if you are righteous and stay connected to the divine grace.

Walk like a king and give no shit if you know what you are doing and the dharma behind it.

A Sikh Boy occasionally helped us tie a good turban

One of the days when I bought a blanket as my friend Harvind Raj didin't want Vīra to feel 'cold' 

Dressing Him up like a Samurai

My favourite Datuk - Used to spend time sitting and experiencing oneness - which created much insecurity among morons who assumed they owned the deities

The deity shedding tears, physically, usually after I offer something

Datuk Gong adsorbed with insectine filth - no one gave a fuck about it

We spent one of the mornings cleaning up the filth

We have spent countless evenings under His grace. My only companion when I was there

To those who know this temple, just be aware that the door at the entrance and the fencing around the deities were done for me. I feel so honoured. Look at how much they are willing to spend just to prevent me from entering a temple.