Siddhar Bhoganathar: An Oceanic Life Story
Bhogar or Bogar was a legendary South Indian Siddhar (a mystic, yogi). He was said to have miraculous powers. He is also said in some New Age circles to have been associated with Mahavatar Babaji. Bhogar was a South Indian by birth, belonging to the caste of goldsmiths, who became a siddhapurusha under the guidance of Kalanginaathar.
In Bogar's Saptakanda he reveals details of various medicinal preparations to his disciple Pullippani (so named as he is believed to have wandered in the forests atop a puli or tiger) and at every stage he quotes his guru as the authority. Also Pulippani must have been a young man then, as he is often referred to as a balaka.
The Yoga of love and devotion, Bhakti Yoga, was chosen as being the best means. Bhoganāthar was entrusted by the siddhas with the task of defining the rituals for the worship of their favorite deity “Palani Āndavar”, the Lord (Muruga) of Palani.
In recent times the scientists who attempted to determine the composition of a small sample of the material of the idol, were startled to find that it immediately sublimated when heated. Thus its composition remains a mystery to date. The traces of the substance are contained in the ritual offerings in which it is bathed. When these are returned and consumed by the devotee, their spiritual progress is enhanced.
A MISSION TO CHINA AND TRANSMIGRATION
Kālangi Nāthar decided to enter into samādhi in seclusion for 3,000 years. He summoned Bhoganāthar telepathically from Tamil Nadu to China to take over his mission. Bhoganāthar travelled by sea, following the trade route. In China, he was instructed by Kālangi Nāthar in all aspects of the Siddha sciences.
These included the preparation and use of the kaya kalpa herbal formulae to promote longevity.
After Kālangi Nāthar entered into trance, Bhoganāthar assumed his teaching mission to the Chinese. To facilitate this, he transmigrated his vital body into the physical body of a deceased Chinese man, and thereafter went by the name “Bo-Yang”. “Bo” is a derivation of the word “Bhogam” which means bliss, material and spiritual.
This bliss, for which he was named “Bo-Yang”, is experienced when the Kundalini shakti, the feminine primordial yin energy awakens, passes up to the crown of the head, the seat of Shiva, the masculineyang pole, in the Sahasra cakra at the summit of the head and unites with it.
The result of this integration of feminine and masculine parts of the being, or union (“Yoga”) of Shakti and Shiva, Yin and Yang, is Satchidananda: Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
TRANSFORMATION OF HIS PHYSICAL BODY
Bhoganāthar decided to overcome the limitations of the Chinese body, with its degenerative tendencies, and prolong its life through the use of the kaya kalpa herbs long enough for the effect of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama and related yogic techniques to bring swarūpa samādhi.
In his poem Bhogar Jñāna Sutra 8, verse number 4; he describes vividly what happened after carefully preparing a tablet using thirty five different herbs:
“With great care and patience I made the (kaya kalpa) tablet and then swallowed it:
Not waiting for fools and skeptics who would not appreciate its hidden meaning and importance.
Steadily I lived in the land of the Parangis (foreigners) For twelve thousand years, my fellow!
I lived for a long time and fed on the vital ojas (sublimated spiritual energy) With the ojas vindhu I received the name, Bhogar: The body developed the golden color of the pill:
Now I am living in a world of gold” - (Based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah, 1979, p. 40-42).
He chose three of his best disciples and his faithful dog, and took thorn to the top of a mountain. After first offering a tablet to the dog, the dog immediately fell over dead. He next offered it to his leading disciple, Yu, who also immediately fell over dead. After offering it to the two remaining disciples, who by this time were extremely nervous, and who promptly hid their tablets rather than swallow them, Bhoganāthar swallowed the remaining tablets and also fell over unconscious. Crying with grief, the two remaining disciples went down the mountain to get material to bury the bodies. When the disciples returned to the spot where the bodies had been left lying, all that was found was a note, in Bhoganāthar’s handwriting, which said:
The kaya kalpa tablets are working. After awakening from their trance I restored faithful Yu and the dog. You have missed your chance for immortality. (Ibid.)
This kaya kalpa enabled Bhoganāthar to transform the Chinese body over a period of 12,000 years, during which time it developed a lustrous golden color. (The physiological transformation to the state of swarūpa samādhi was, however, completed only later, at Palani in the final phases of Kriya Kundalini Yoga and related practices. These phases will be described in chapter 11. Bhoganāthar’s own graphic description is recorded in the poem at the end of this chapter Initiation into Samādhi.)
In Bogar's Saptakanda he reveals details of various medicinal preparations to his disciple Pullippani (so named as he is believed to have wandered in the forests atop a puli or tiger) and at every stage he quotes his guru as the authority. Also Pulippani must have been a young man then, as he is often referred to as a balaka.
It is said that as per the last wishes of his guru, Bhogar proceeded to China to spread the knowledge of siddha sciences and his journey is said to have been made with the aid of an aircraft; he demonstrated to the Chinese the details of the construction of the aircraft and later built for them a sea-going craft using a steam engine. The details of these and other experiments demonstrated by Bhogar in China are clearly documented in the Saptakanda.
Bogar anticipating that in due course of period, human beings will suffer from large number of disease. As an expert in medicine he used 4448 rare herbs and made 9 poisonous medicines, mixing these 9 poisons into one needs great knowledge and skill, to make a Master Medicine (One medicine to cure all disease). Thirumoolar also discuss one such Master Medicine in his book Thiru Mandiram. With the consultation of Agasthiar (Father of Ayurvedic Medicine) and other siddhars Bogar mixed the 9 poisons (Nava Bashanam) and made the Master Medicine in the form of Lord Murugan which is currently worshiped at Palani Murugan temple. There is a place near Palani Hill called Thanasiappan Temple which is the place where Bogar mixed the Nava Bashanam and made the Murugan idol.
Bogar anticipating that in due course of period, human beings will suffer from large number of disease. As an expert in medicine he used 4448 rare herbs and made 9 poisonous medicines, mixing these 9 poisons into one needs great knowledge and skill, to make a Master Medicine (One medicine to cure all disease). Thirumoolar also discuss one such Master Medicine in his book Thiru Mandiram. With the consultation of Agasthiar (Father of Ayurvedic Medicine) and other siddhars Bogar mixed the 9 poisons (Nava Bashanam) and made the Master Medicine in the form of Lord Murugan which is currently worshiped at Palani Murugan temple. There is a place near Palani Hill called Thanasiappan Temple which is the place where Bogar mixed the Nava Bashanam and made the Murugan idol.
Bogar and others then decided that by using the milk and panchamirtham (a sweet recipe) poured on the idol, one can extract the medicine from the idol. The milk and panchamritham then becomes medicine to cure disease. After installing Lord Murugan Navabashana idol at the Palani Hill, Bogar used to worship it with milk abishegam (pouring milk on the idol) and panchamritham abishegam (pouring panchamirtham on the idol).
TAMIL SIDDAR BHOGARNATH WAS THE ORIGINATOR OF BOTH TAOIST AND KRIYA YOGA.
Bhoganāthar or Bhogar, the Jñāna Guru of Babaji, in the poem “Bhogar Jñāna Sagarama” (Bhogar’s Oceanic Life Story, consisting of 557 verses, verse number 2, lines number 3 and 4), identifies himself as a Tamilian, (Ramaiah, 1979; 1982. p. 17). In the same verse he states that the great Siddha Kālangi Nāthar initiated him in Jñāna Yoga (supreme self-knowledge).
Kālangi Nāthar was born in Kaśi (Benares). He attained the immortal state of swarūpa samādhi at the age of 315, and then made China the center of his teaching activities. He belonged to the ancient tradition of Nava (nine) Nāth sadhus (holy ascetics), tracing their tradition to Lord Shiva. There are nine important shrines associated with this tradition, five of which are in the Himālaya Mountains: Amarnāth (where Shiva first taught Kriya Yoga to his Shakti partner, Parvati Devi), Kedarnāth, Badrināth (India), Kailāsanāth, (Tibet) and Paśupatināth (Nepal).
Meanwhile, Bhoganāthar practiced Kundalini Yoga in four stages. The first three stages arc described in a later chapter on “The Psychophysiology of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama”. Bhoganāthar chose the Palani Malai (mountain) in what is now southwestern Tamil Nadu as the site for intensive yogic practice (tapas) for the final stage. He attained swarūpa samādhi at Palani, through the grace of Lord Muruga, or the eternal youth, “Kumāra Swāmi”. The Kumāraswāmi temple at Palani became the epicentre of his activities.
He visited many countries astrally, and physically and through transmigration leaving his body to enter into the body of another.
In one of his songs Bhoganāthar claims to have flown to China at one point in a sort of airplane which he built: he held discussions with Chinese Siddhas before returning to India (Kailasapathy, 1969, p. 197-211).
His visit to South America has been confirmed by accounts left by the Muycas of Chile: “Bocha, who gave laws to Muycas, was a white, bearded man, wearing long robes, who regulated the calendar, established festivals, and vanished in time like others (other remarkable teachers who had come across the Pacific according to numerous legends of Incas, Aztecs and Mayans).” (Lal 1965, p. 20)
TAMIL SIDDAR BHOGARNATH WAS THE ORIGINATOR OF BOTH TAOIST AND KRIYA YOGA.
Bhoganāthar or Bhogar, the Jñāna Guru of Babaji, in the poem “Bhogar Jñāna Sagarama” (Bhogar’s Oceanic Life Story, consisting of 557 verses, verse number 2, lines number 3 and 4), identifies himself as a Tamilian, (Ramaiah, 1979; 1982. p. 17). In the same verse he states that the great Siddha Kālangi Nāthar initiated him in Jñāna Yoga (supreme self-knowledge).
Kālangi Nāthar was born in Kaśi (Benares). He attained the immortal state of swarūpa samādhi at the age of 315, and then made China the center of his teaching activities. He belonged to the ancient tradition of Nava (nine) Nāth sadhus (holy ascetics), tracing their tradition to Lord Shiva. There are nine important shrines associated with this tradition, five of which are in the Himālaya Mountains: Amarnāth (where Shiva first taught Kriya Yoga to his Shakti partner, Parvati Devi), Kedarnāth, Badrināth (India), Kailāsanāth, (Tibet) and Paśupatināth (Nepal).
Meanwhile, Bhoganāthar practiced Kundalini Yoga in four stages. The first three stages arc described in a later chapter on “The Psychophysiology of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama”. Bhoganāthar chose the Palani Malai (mountain) in what is now southwestern Tamil Nadu as the site for intensive yogic practice (tapas) for the final stage. He attained swarūpa samādhi at Palani, through the grace of Lord Muruga, or the eternal youth, “Kumāra Swāmi”. The Kumāraswāmi temple at Palani became the epicentre of his activities.
He visited many countries astrally, and physically and through transmigration leaving his body to enter into the body of another.
In one of his songs Bhoganāthar claims to have flown to China at one point in a sort of airplane which he built: he held discussions with Chinese Siddhas before returning to India (Kailasapathy, 1969, p. 197-211).
His visit to South America has been confirmed by accounts left by the Muycas of Chile: “Bocha, who gave laws to Muycas, was a white, bearded man, wearing long robes, who regulated the calendar, established festivals, and vanished in time like others (other remarkable teachers who had come across the Pacific according to numerous legends of Incas, Aztecs and Mayans).” (Lal 1965, p. 20)
He convened a meeting of many siddhas just before the beginning of the present Kali Yuga, in 3102 BC, to determine the best way for humanity to progress along the spiritual path during the coming period of darkness.
The Yoga of love and devotion, Bhakti Yoga, was chosen as being the best means. Bhoganāthar was entrusted by the siddhas with the task of defining the rituals for the worship of their favorite deity “Palani Āndavar”, the Lord (Muruga) of Palani.
Many rituals that center around the bathing (abhishekam) of an idol of Palani Andavar with many substances, including panchamritham consisting of five fruits and honey, were developed by him and continue to be followed to this day. The idol had to be created from a substance that would last throughout Kali Yuga. The most resilient of known substances, granite, was known to wear and crack after thousands of such rituals. So Bhoganāthar fashioned it out of nine secret herbal and chemical ingredients, nava pashanam, which made it harder than granite. Eight of the ingredients were combined in a mold of the idol. The ninth, was added as a catalyst, to solidify it.
In recent times the scientists who attempted to determine the composition of a small sample of the material of the idol, were startled to find that it immediately sublimated when heated. Thus its composition remains a mystery to date. The traces of the substance are contained in the ritual offerings in which it is bathed. When these are returned and consumed by the devotee, their spiritual progress is enhanced.
A MISSION TO CHINA AND TRANSMIGRATION
Kālangi Nāthar decided to enter into samādhi in seclusion for 3,000 years. He summoned Bhoganāthar telepathically from Tamil Nadu to China to take over his mission. Bhoganāthar travelled by sea, following the trade route. In China, he was instructed by Kālangi Nāthar in all aspects of the Siddha sciences.
These included the preparation and use of the kaya kalpa herbal formulae to promote longevity.
After Kālangi Nāthar entered into trance, Bhoganāthar assumed his teaching mission to the Chinese. To facilitate this, he transmigrated his vital body into the physical body of a deceased Chinese man, and thereafter went by the name “Bo-Yang”. “Bo” is a derivation of the word “Bhogam” which means bliss, material and spiritual.
This bliss, for which he was named “Bo-Yang”, is experienced when the Kundalini shakti, the feminine primordial yin energy awakens, passes up to the crown of the head, the seat of Shiva, the masculineyang pole, in the Sahasra cakra at the summit of the head and unites with it.
The result of this integration of feminine and masculine parts of the being, or union (“Yoga”) of Shakti and Shiva, Yin and Yang, is Satchidananda: Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
TRANSFORMATION OF HIS PHYSICAL BODY
Bhoganāthar decided to overcome the limitations of the Chinese body, with its degenerative tendencies, and prolong its life through the use of the kaya kalpa herbs long enough for the effect of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama and related yogic techniques to bring swarūpa samādhi.
In his poem Bhogar Jñāna Sutra 8, verse number 4; he describes vividly what happened after carefully preparing a tablet using thirty five different herbs:
“With great care and patience I made the (kaya kalpa) tablet and then swallowed it:
Not waiting for fools and skeptics who would not appreciate its hidden meaning and importance.
Steadily I lived in the land of the Parangis (foreigners) For twelve thousand years, my fellow!
I lived for a long time and fed on the vital ojas (sublimated spiritual energy) With the ojas vindhu I received the name, Bhogar: The body developed the golden color of the pill:
Now I am living in a world of gold” - (Based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah, 1979, p. 40-42).
He chose three of his best disciples and his faithful dog, and took thorn to the top of a mountain. After first offering a tablet to the dog, the dog immediately fell over dead. He next offered it to his leading disciple, Yu, who also immediately fell over dead. After offering it to the two remaining disciples, who by this time were extremely nervous, and who promptly hid their tablets rather than swallow them, Bhoganāthar swallowed the remaining tablets and also fell over unconscious. Crying with grief, the two remaining disciples went down the mountain to get material to bury the bodies. When the disciples returned to the spot where the bodies had been left lying, all that was found was a note, in Bhoganāthar’s handwriting, which said:
The kaya kalpa tablets are working. After awakening from their trance I restored faithful Yu and the dog. You have missed your chance for immortality. (Ibid.)
This kaya kalpa enabled Bhoganāthar to transform the Chinese body over a period of 12,000 years, during which time it developed a lustrous golden color. (The physiological transformation to the state of swarūpa samādhi was, however, completed only later, at Palani in the final phases of Kriya Kundalini Yoga and related practices. These phases will be described in chapter 11. Bhoganāthar’s own graphic description is recorded in the poem at the end of this chapter Initiation into Samādhi.)
In this poem Sutras of Wisdom — 8. He sings prophetically of the taking up of the practice of pranayama in modern times by millions of persons who would otherwise have succumbed to drug abuse:
"Will chant the unifying verse of the Vedanta. Glory to the holy feet of Uma (the Divine Mother of the Universe. Shakti) Will instruct you in the knowledge of the sciences, ranging from hypnotism to alchemy (kaya kalpa).
Without the need for pills or tablets, the great scientific art of pranayama breathing, will be taught and recognized By millions of common people and chaste young women." - Verse no. I (based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah, 1982, p. 40).
BECOMES KNOWN AS LAO-TZU, FOUNDER OF TAOISM
After this incident with the Chinese disciples, Bo-Yang became also known as Lao-Tzu, and was accessible for nearly 200 years, and trained hundreds of Chinese disciples in Tantric Yoga practices, wherein semen and sexual energies are conserved and sublimated into spiritual energies. The advanced techniques which he taught involve raising the energies from the mūladhāra cakra corresponding to the perineum up to the sahasrara cakra during sexual intercourse with a spiritually minded partner, resulting in sublimated energy, tejas. manifesting throughout all the cells of the body.
"Will chant the unifying verse of the Vedanta. Glory to the holy feet of Uma (the Divine Mother of the Universe. Shakti) Will instruct you in the knowledge of the sciences, ranging from hypnotism to alchemy (kaya kalpa).
Without the need for pills or tablets, the great scientific art of pranayama breathing, will be taught and recognized By millions of common people and chaste young women." - Verse no. I (based upon translation by Yogi S.A.A. Ramaiah, 1982, p. 40).
BECOMES KNOWN AS LAO-TZU, FOUNDER OF TAOISM
After this incident with the Chinese disciples, Bo-Yang became also known as Lao-Tzu, and was accessible for nearly 200 years, and trained hundreds of Chinese disciples in Tantric Yoga practices, wherein semen and sexual energies are conserved and sublimated into spiritual energies. The advanced techniques which he taught involve raising the energies from the mūladhāra cakra corresponding to the perineum up to the sahasrara cakra during sexual intercourse with a spiritually minded partner, resulting in sublimated energy, tejas. manifesting throughout all the cells of the body.
In the fifth century B.C., Confucius met Lao-Tzu Bo-Yang and afterwards said of him:
"I know a bird can fly, a fish can swim, and an animal can run. For that which runs, a net can be fashioned; for that which swims, a line can be strung. But the ascent of a Dragon on the wind into heaven is something which is beyond my knowledge. Today I have met Lao-Tzu, who is perhaps like a Dragon. Among the Chinese, particularly, the Taoists, the Dragon are the symbol of Kundalini Shakti, the primordial force."
At the end of his mission to China, about 400 BC, Bhoganāthar, with his disciple Yu (whom he also gave the Indian name Pulipani) and other close disciples, left China by the land route. As recorded in the Taoist literature, at the request of the gatekeeper at the Han Ku mountain pass Lao-Tzu crystallized his teachings. He did so in two books, the Tao Ching, with 37 verses, and the Te Ching with 42 verses (MacKintosh, 1971)
In book two he says ‘Do good to him who has done you injury’, which was also said by the contemporary Tamil Siddha, Tiruvalluvar in his Tirukkural (Tiruvalluvar, 1968). Taoist yoga traditions continue to seek physical immortality using techniques remarkably similar to those taught in Tamil Shiva Yoga Siddhānta.
RETURN TO INDIA
Along their way, they visited several shrines in the Himalayas and Kāmarūpa, the famous Tantric Shakti shrine in Assam. He composed his greatest work of 700,000 verses near Mt. Kailasa with the blessings of Lord Shiva. It was later abridged to 7,000 verses, and is known as Bhogar Sapta Kandam. He later visited Gaya, India and Arabia. Upon his return to Tamil Nadu he introduced the Chinese salts and chemistry, which he called Cīna-cāram and porcelain making. He submitted his 7,000 verse manuscript for evaluation to his guru, Agastyar at Courtrallam and to an academy of siddhas there. It was endorsed by all of them as a great work.
Following this, many siddhas, including Konkanavar, Karuvoorar, Nandeeswar, Kamala Muni, Satta Muni, Macchamuni, and Sundarandar became his disciples to study the sciences of kaya kalpa and yoga. He eventually turned over his teaching mission to Pulipani.
ESTABLISHES SHRINE AT KATIRKAMAM AND ATTAINS SWARŪPA SAMĀDHI
After performing tapas at Sathura Giri, and Shiva Gin, he went to Katirkamam in Sri Lanka to perform tapas and win the grace of Lord Muruga. Under inspiration from the Lord he established the famous Yantra shrine, representing the 1,008 petalled lotus cakra, which blossomed in Bhogar there.
Next he went to Palani where he attained swarūpa samādhi. He retired to Katirkāmam, where Babaji Nagaraj met him around 211 AD.
SECOND MISSION TO CHINA
Later, after the period of the Six Dynasties (220 to 590 AD), Bhoganāthar returned with some Tamil disciples to China. He left his mission in Tamil Nadu with Pulipani, the Chinese Siddha. During the construction of the Brihitīswarar Shiva Temple in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, around 900 AD. Bhoganāthar advised its builders as to how to raise the eighty ton capstone to the top of the temple, more than 200 feet high. This was done through his disciple Karuvoorar and another Tamil disciple who acted as intermediaries and through messages tied to the legs of courier birds, like today’s homing pigeons.
At Bhogar’s suggestion a gradient ramp five miles long was built, up which the stone was pulled to the top of the temple. This was one of the most remarkable engineering feats of all times. About this time he also advised the King of Tanjore to build a small shrine dedicated to one of his greatest disciples, Karuvoorar, behind the Bhrihiteeswarar Shiva Temple.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
While Bhoganāthar is reported to have left the physical plane at Palani, he continues to work on the astral plane, inspiring his disciples and devotees, and even in rare instances he transmigrates into another’s physical body for specific purposes.
GATEWAY OF EARTH & STONE
At the top of Palani Hill, near the holy Murugan which Bhogar had crafted from nine poisonous substances, there is an opening in the Earth; it is a hole in the ground; the mouth of a cave which lies below. Bhogar often lowered himself into the Earth, sat in the cave, accessing Life's hidden secrets. He performed great austerities there, the magnitude of which very few in this modern age can fathom.
There at the opening Bhogar erected a humble shrine to the Great Mother: a few yantras, a couple of five-metal icons baring the form of the Mother and her son Murugan. He worshipped a small emerald lingam there, about ten inches in height. His one and only disciple, Pulipani (perhaps the only one who truly understood the sage), kept him company at the entrance to the underground cavern on the top of Palani Hill.
When Bhogar felt that his outer work was done, he entered the gateway of earth and stone and sat down in the darkness of the cave. Faithful Pulipani heaved a stone slab over the entrance, sealing Bhogar forever in the blackness of his earthen womb.
For thirteen generations Pulipani's descendants have watched over that stone slab that marks the gateway to the underground chamber. Long ago, Bhogar's little shrine was set atop that hallowed spot, and even today, is still worshipped by the vigilant sons of the faithful Pulipani. They say that Bhogar is seated quietly in meditation even now; alone in the darkness; watching the slow passage of time.
His breath is still. His mind is quiet, his heart unwavering; but through the dense dark matter of his earthly form stabs the vibrant & relentless flame of the Kundalini Shakti. There he waits...
"I know a bird can fly, a fish can swim, and an animal can run. For that which runs, a net can be fashioned; for that which swims, a line can be strung. But the ascent of a Dragon on the wind into heaven is something which is beyond my knowledge. Today I have met Lao-Tzu, who is perhaps like a Dragon. Among the Chinese, particularly, the Taoists, the Dragon are the symbol of Kundalini Shakti, the primordial force."
At the end of his mission to China, about 400 BC, Bhoganāthar, with his disciple Yu (whom he also gave the Indian name Pulipani) and other close disciples, left China by the land route. As recorded in the Taoist literature, at the request of the gatekeeper at the Han Ku mountain pass Lao-Tzu crystallized his teachings. He did so in two books, the Tao Ching, with 37 verses, and the Te Ching with 42 verses (MacKintosh, 1971)
In book two he says ‘Do good to him who has done you injury’, which was also said by the contemporary Tamil Siddha, Tiruvalluvar in his Tirukkural (Tiruvalluvar, 1968). Taoist yoga traditions continue to seek physical immortality using techniques remarkably similar to those taught in Tamil Shiva Yoga Siddhānta.
RETURN TO INDIA
Along their way, they visited several shrines in the Himalayas and Kāmarūpa, the famous Tantric Shakti shrine in Assam. He composed his greatest work of 700,000 verses near Mt. Kailasa with the blessings of Lord Shiva. It was later abridged to 7,000 verses, and is known as Bhogar Sapta Kandam. He later visited Gaya, India and Arabia. Upon his return to Tamil Nadu he introduced the Chinese salts and chemistry, which he called Cīna-cāram and porcelain making. He submitted his 7,000 verse manuscript for evaluation to his guru, Agastyar at Courtrallam and to an academy of siddhas there. It was endorsed by all of them as a great work.
Following this, many siddhas, including Konkanavar, Karuvoorar, Nandeeswar, Kamala Muni, Satta Muni, Macchamuni, and Sundarandar became his disciples to study the sciences of kaya kalpa and yoga. He eventually turned over his teaching mission to Pulipani.
ESTABLISHES SHRINE AT KATIRKAMAM AND ATTAINS SWARŪPA SAMĀDHI
After performing tapas at Sathura Giri, and Shiva Gin, he went to Katirkamam in Sri Lanka to perform tapas and win the grace of Lord Muruga. Under inspiration from the Lord he established the famous Yantra shrine, representing the 1,008 petalled lotus cakra, which blossomed in Bhogar there.
Next he went to Palani where he attained swarūpa samādhi. He retired to Katirkāmam, where Babaji Nagaraj met him around 211 AD.
SECOND MISSION TO CHINA
Later, after the period of the Six Dynasties (220 to 590 AD), Bhoganāthar returned with some Tamil disciples to China. He left his mission in Tamil Nadu with Pulipani, the Chinese Siddha. During the construction of the Brihitīswarar Shiva Temple in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, around 900 AD. Bhoganāthar advised its builders as to how to raise the eighty ton capstone to the top of the temple, more than 200 feet high. This was done through his disciple Karuvoorar and another Tamil disciple who acted as intermediaries and through messages tied to the legs of courier birds, like today’s homing pigeons.
At Bhogar’s suggestion a gradient ramp five miles long was built, up which the stone was pulled to the top of the temple. This was one of the most remarkable engineering feats of all times. About this time he also advised the King of Tanjore to build a small shrine dedicated to one of his greatest disciples, Karuvoorar, behind the Bhrihiteeswarar Shiva Temple.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
While Bhoganāthar is reported to have left the physical plane at Palani, he continues to work on the astral plane, inspiring his disciples and devotees, and even in rare instances he transmigrates into another’s physical body for specific purposes.
GATEWAY OF EARTH & STONE
At the top of Palani Hill, near the holy Murugan which Bhogar had crafted from nine poisonous substances, there is an opening in the Earth; it is a hole in the ground; the mouth of a cave which lies below. Bhogar often lowered himself into the Earth, sat in the cave, accessing Life's hidden secrets. He performed great austerities there, the magnitude of which very few in this modern age can fathom.
There at the opening Bhogar erected a humble shrine to the Great Mother: a few yantras, a couple of five-metal icons baring the form of the Mother and her son Murugan. He worshipped a small emerald lingam there, about ten inches in height. His one and only disciple, Pulipani (perhaps the only one who truly understood the sage), kept him company at the entrance to the underground cavern on the top of Palani Hill.
When Bhogar felt that his outer work was done, he entered the gateway of earth and stone and sat down in the darkness of the cave. Faithful Pulipani heaved a stone slab over the entrance, sealing Bhogar forever in the blackness of his earthen womb.
For thirteen generations Pulipani's descendants have watched over that stone slab that marks the gateway to the underground chamber. Long ago, Bhogar's little shrine was set atop that hallowed spot, and even today, is still worshipped by the vigilant sons of the faithful Pulipani. They say that Bhogar is seated quietly in meditation even now; alone in the darkness; watching the slow passage of time.
His breath is still. His mind is quiet, his heart unwavering; but through the dense dark matter of his earthly form stabs the vibrant & relentless flame of the Kundalini Shakti. There he waits...
