Journey to Arunachala

Once, it was the annual ceremony of Seshadri’s father Varadharaja Jodithar. Chithi Kalyani wanted Seshadri to attend the ceremony and she begged her husband to somehow find and bring Seshadri to the ceremony. Ramaswamy Jodithar finally located him after intense search and commanded him to come home. When Seshadri said that he was sanyasi and had no bonding or karmas, Ramaswamy Jodithar did not listen and dragged him and locked in a room.

On the day of ceremony, Ramaswamy Jodithar opened the door to bring Seshadri to perform the final part of the ritual but Seshadri disappeared from the room without breaking windows or any openings. This news spread like a wildfire in the city about the miracle. Ramaswamy Jodithar and Chitti Kalyani regretted that they had hurt Seshadri’s feelings without understanding his yogic powers (siddhis). Seshadri travelled to Tiruvannamalai through Kaveripakkam, Dindivanam, Maarchettikulam, Aiyanthoppu, ThoosiMamandur, Tirupathur in North Arcot, Javvadhu hills, Padavedu, Aathuvaampadi, Sanyaasipparai in Thurinjikuppam etc

The incident at Kaveripakkam Muneeswarar temple was an important one. Seshadri was going around the temple with his cousin brother. That time, a snake was hissing and coming from the temple wall. Seshadri’s cousin brother got scarred and started screaming “Anna, snake! Snake!” but Seshadri didn’t even show an iota of fear. The snake crawled and slowly went up his neck and coiled around. People who saw this scene felt that they were having the darshan of Lord Shiva. For those who had attained Oneness, there was no fear from other creatures.

After reaching Tiruvannamalai, Swamigal performed many miracles. On hearing through the word of mouth, Ramaswamy Jodithar came to Tiruvannamalai along with Narasimha Jodithar (Seshadri Swamigal’s cousin) to convince him to Kanchipuram. Ramaswamy Jodithar told Swamigal that Chitti Kalyani passed away and he would live few more days only and begged Swamigal to come and live with him in Kanchipuram. Nothing moved Swamigal. Finally Ramaswamy and Narasimha Jodithar left Swamigal. Though disturbances from his family had gone, people started disturbing him on hearing the miracles of Swamigal.

Swamigal helped many people through his grace and miracles. He gave many upadesas to people based on the level of their evolution in spiritual seeking. Swamigal continuously did giri pradakshina and made others realised the importance of it. He didn’t have a proper place to stay other than Kampathu Ilayanaar Sannidhi in the Sri Arunachaleswar temple. Thus he lived in Tiruvannamalai for about 40 years. During these years, he had never left the city even once.