 Om Shakthi Narayani Siddar Peetam – Ariyur –
Vellore January 1996
I was suddenly introduced to Om Shakthi Narayani Sidhar
Peetam in a dramatic manner. One day when I returned late night from my work, I found
several vehicles parked outside my house and about ten persons waiting inside. One of them
introduced himself as Magistrate Durai Shanmugham, spokesman of the Om Shakthi Narayani
Peetam, located in Ariyur, near Vellore. He told me about the twenty-year-old young man
called ‘Sathish’ who transcends into Goddess Narayani so much so that people
have started calling him Narayani Amman.
All my life I have been suspicious of ‘Godmen’. I
am also wary of stepping into the realm of uncertainties and I am unwilling to set
examples with my behaviour which may not have desirable implications for others in
society. Hence, I generally stay clear of unexplainable phenomena while not adversely
commenting on them. However, I heard the story of the young man (Goddess Narayani Amman)
with great attention and sincerity.
Goddess Narayani was born as Sathish Kumar on 3.1.1976 to
Nanda Gopal, a cooperative spinning mill worker and Jyoti Ammal, a school teacher in
Satvacheri village, near Vellore. From his childhood he has been having mystic
experiences. From the age of six or seven he was found worshipping Ganesh and images of
other Gods under the trees instead of playing with other children. By the time he was
twelve, he was seeing wonderful visions of a circle of light between his eyebrows, while
going to sleep. By the time he was sixteen it became known that he was having the gift of
performing miracles and materialising objects from thin air.
In October 1993 Goddess Narayani seem to have informed him
that she will appear in the form of a Swayambhu (self-manifest idol) from the anthill near
the family house in Ariyur. It appears on that day as seven children poured the turmeric
water on the anthill, the fumes came out, the earth burst open and a Swayambhu idol of
goddess materialised. This is the icon, which is worshipped everyday now in the Peetam. In
short, we can say that the grace of the goddess is believed to be upon Sathish from a very
young age.
 For his humble origins he has had an unusual childhood and youth. His education
stopped with school leaving, which he completed in Vhooris School, an educational
institution run by the Christian missionaries. He had not come in contact with any
religious or spiritual teacher or Guru and had not undergone any formal learning in
scriptures or religious texts.
The group had come to invite me to participate in the
twentieth birthday celebrations of Sathish and to set up a platform for future
philanthropic and welfare activities of the Peetam. I was very reluctant to accept the
invitation due to my long-standing prejudice against Godmen.
I did not know any of these people and I wanted to know why
they should want me to come. To which they replied that the Goddess Narayani herself had
instructed them to invite me. After getting the instructions they had left Vellore
immediately at 4.00 p.m. and had reached Madras by 7.00 p.m. and since then, had been
waiting in my house.
It was getting more and more interesting. After much
thought I decided to accept the invitation. I had two of my own children nearly
twenty-years-old. I thought ’ let me treat this young man also as my own child and go
for his birthday celebration with an open mind and experience the goddess and all that may
follow’. The Peetam was also registered as a trust during November 1995 to undertake
charitable and welfare activities and I thought it may be enlightening to know how the
Peetam wanted to become socially useful.
Thus I attended my first function in the Peetam. It was a
humble beginning. There was only a small house and the image of Goddess Narayani was
housed in a makeshift temple. I participated in the Puja and other rituals and witnessed
the materialisation of vibhuti (holy ashes), kumkumom (vermillion) and a small icon of
goddess that I still carry in my handbag as a good luck charm.
This was the beginning of my relationship with the Peetam.
For last three and a half years I have remained in touch with the Peetam and have seen it
grow. The good word about the grace of the god upon the Peetam has spread far and wide. A
large temple and a Gyana Mandapam are under construction. There is a nursery school and a
dispensary. The Peetam has also acquired seventeen acres of land for utilising for public
purpose.
After performing numerous miracles in the tradition of
‘Saibaba’ Mother goddess has visited many countries like Canada and USA on
invitation. Today Narayani Amman has a sizeable number of devotees in Canada and USA as
well as in Singapore, including a large number of ethnic Chinese devotees, a group of whom
recently visited the Peetam.
During my recent visit to the Peetam I met the Physics
teacher of Sathish and his elder brother Balaji and gathered some more facts about his
early childhood and school days.
Mr. D. Venugopal – Physics teacher of Sathish
Speaking on his student’s progression as
‘Narayani Amman’ said, " I used to teach Physics in Vhooris School in
Vellore where Sathish was a student of +2. A lot of things started happening in the
school. One day a lot of vermillion was materialised by Sathish. Another day he
materialised a red rose and gave it to me. After sometime the rose turned white.
Other students used to challenge him or tease him. Once a
student called Ramprasad taunted him about his miracles. At that time Sathish did
something and the entire classroom was filled with flowers. After that nobody teased him.
One day the headmaster called him and said that he had heard that the boy could
materialise things and said, "You must materialise something for me just now."
On hearing this young Sathish materialised a chocolate for his head master who being a
science teacher was flabbergasted. After that day he did not say anything to the boy. 
After his retirement, Mr. Venugopal has become a devotee of
his erstwhile student. He seems to have attained resolution of his personal problems and
spends most of his time in the Peetam.
Balaji, elder brother of Sathish,
Who is a microbiologist, spoke about the childhood memories
of his younger brother thus: "Sathish was always different from other children. From
a young age he was doing pujas and worshipping the images of Ganesha and other gods
sitting under a tree or in the puja room. I actually never gave it any importance. I
thought he was playing with the images. I did not think he was serious. From the age of
twelve he used to visit our family house in the Ariyur village, to worship the anthill
over there every Friday. He will go direct from school to Ariyur on Thursday evening and
stay with a neighbour. On Friday morning he will worship the anthill and go to school
directly from there. He was very devoted but I did not realise it then. Many times the
rest of the family also followed him to worship the anthill on Fridays.
I used to occasionally hear about some miracles from the
boys in the school but I dismissed them as pranks. When Sathish was sixteen, I was in the
college at Pudukottai and my mother rang up to tell that the Goddess has bestowed Sathish
with the divine powers, which have become manifest. The whole town has come to know about
it. I told my mother that it was nonsense.
Anyway when I came back home I did not believe it and told
Sathish that what he did was a gimmick. At that time he was chewing a pan (beetle leaf)
and told me to drink his spit. I refused but my mother insisted that I must take whatever
is being offered to me (by the Goddess) so I put forward my palm to hold his spit and
drank it. It was sweet milk and not a beetle spit. I was totally shocked. From that day, I
stopped questioning him and jeering at him."
To be continued next week as
– Conversation with Goddess Narayani Amman
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