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Swami went home to his prayer room

   As instructed, Swami went home to his prayer room and happened to place the garland on the picture depicting the divine marriage of Meenakshi and Sundareshwar. He started his meditation and began to hesitantly brief Devi of his problems. While doing so, he saw that the garland suddenly fell off the photo. The divine approval came to Swami but with the order that Swami marry the second daughter in the family. When Swami confronted the families with this outcome, they were furious since they were of the opinion that this only exacerbated the existing situation. They wondered how they could proceed with marriage plans for the second daughter when there was no clear idea of the first daughter's marriage. But, by Devi's grace and to the great astonishment of all, the eldest sister's marriage was arranged within a few days. All the three marriages were conducted on the same day, August 28, 1978 at Swami Malai temple which is one of the six famous sites of worship of Lord Murugan. Thus, Swami got married to a lady named Parimala. During the wedding, Gurunathar Gnanananda granted divine darshanam to Swami, in the form of Gnanaskandar.

   At the very outset of his married life, Swami explained to his wife as best as he could about the merger of Devi in him, and the incidents that followed that episode. He requested her cooperation, and asked her to obey him implicitly, at no time interfering or hindering him in his pursuit. Swami was at a loss as to how he should proceed with his married life. To avoid petty gossip and rumor mongers, he would take his wife to cinema houses, but meditate on Devi there. There was none to disturb him here, so he would find peace and bliss in uninterrupted meditation, with the co-operation of his wife. This practice was not without issue either — family members were mistakenly worried that Swami's obsession with Devi had been replaced by a brazen obsession for movies.

   Day by day, Swami was getting restless. In the year 1979, seeing Swami's pathetic condition, Gorunathar appeared before Swami. He cleared all his doubts and confusions which were in Swami's mind. Swami felt extremely relieved. Gurunathar's advice cleared all the wavering and confused thoughts in Swami's mind, and the big picture became crystal clear to him. Gurunathar gave the necessary advice as and when required by Swami and he blessed Swami with Gnanasiddhi. Thus, Swami was granted with all the siddhis. Now, Swami could materialize whatever he wanted. However what he materializes should be an answer to the need of someone who has approached him, and should be handed over to that person. Thus Swami became a Siddha Purusha. He had been cautioned that he should never use the siddhis for his own selfish needs or for his family. He was instructed to use the powers for spreading peace and wellbeing among all, eradicating human misery. Gurunathar also preached to Swami the essence of Veda and Vedic lore, all the tanthric ways and manthrams, prathistha dharmas etc.

   He was thus initiated in all spiritual disciplines and philosophy. With guru's grace and blessings, Swami became a full fledged siddhar. His state of mind was now calm and clear, as the divine light showed him the right path.

   Soon, people started approaching Swami for getting guidance in matters of matrimony and to get relief from their day-to-day problems. The accuracy of prediction and the easy flexible methods of instruction and solutions that Swami offered made him very popular and accepted by all.

   Swami & family moved to Kumbakonam, a town near his native town. These supernatural powers of Swami had been a matter of concern to his father-in-law for some time. He never cared to recognize, let alone appreciate the extent of Swami's powers. Swami not having a permanent job was his main worry and he made up his mind to take Swami along with him to Dubai. He felt that this would end Swami's abnormal behavior and Swami could return to spend a normal, happy married life with his daughter. After making all the necessary arrangements, he left for Bombay with Swami. They were to proceed to Dubai thereof. After reaching Bombay, both went straight to Kamala lodge, a motel that belonged to one of Swami's father-in-law's contacts. There, Swami happened to notice the photo of Goddess Chothannikkara Devi on the wall. He was thrilled. It is worth noting here that Swami had never seen the idol at the temple, so he was delighted to see that the actual idol was the exact same manifestation that he had been seeing all along in his prayers. On enquiries with the lodge owner, he learnt that the divine mother who was appearing and talking to him was none other than Chothannikkara Bhagavathi, the famous Devi deity of Kerala.

   At that moment, Swami's inner voice prompted him not to proceed to the Middle East. He managed some excuses to wrangle his way out of accompanying his father-in-law, assuring him that he would join him within a fortnight. Swami stayed in Bombay for some time, then without informing anyone, made his way to Kumbakonam. Under the pretext of attending job interviews in Bombay, he started visiting Bombay often, and started conducting Thursday and Friday poojais. In those days, he used to perform ekantha (in solitude) pooja in a closed room. He used to ask devotees to bring flowers. After completion of pooja, Swami would open the door to the pooja room to enable devotees to come inside and pay their salutations to Devi and Swami.

   Devotees used to come to Swami with myriad worries to Swami, seeking his guidance and blessings. At times, Swami would materialize idols of different gods in copper, bronze, silver, gold or spatikam (rare stone) as per divine command and give it to devotees to whom he felt necessary to protect them or solve their problems. He also used to advice them as to what they should do with these vighrahams (idols). Often, Swami would materialize japa malais of tulsi beads and rudrakshams. Almost always, he would materialize the holy sandal paste which not only had a fabulous unique fragrance but also the power to cure all ills. He would distribute the sandal paste as prasadam to ail devotees. A portion of it could be eaten and the rest applied to one's forehead. Soon, a number of people were thronging to Swami's poojais.

   At the time, an incident occurred that is worth mentioning. The owner of a jewelers shop Sri Ram jewelers, located at Swami's home town was a regular at Swami's poojais in Bombay. He sought Swami's help whenever he faced problems in his activities. He was eager to have a glance at the Devi's face which had appeared before Swami at the footsteps of the temple in Kerala. Swami heeded to his request. On seeing the face, he had a desire to make a silver covering for the idol. He requested Swami's permission and on getting approval, took the necessary measurements. Soon, the silver kavacham (covering) was ready.

   One day, Swami found that the kavacham had disappeared. All efforts to locate it were in vain. All of a sudden, Swami happened to notice that the silver covering on the sandalwood idol when he started his prayers. Swami then came to know that it was Gurunathar who was behind the kavacham's hide-and-seek. When Swami asked Devi about this, and whether it should be taken for all the poojais, Devi replied that henceforth, only the silver face be taken for the poojais. She added that this mukham would appear and disappear at Her will. To this day, many of Swami's devotees have witnessed this unbelievable disappearing act.

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