A small eloquent and quaint little Veda Patashala is the host of this very historic Linga -consecrated on top of the , Jeeva Samadhi of Chidambara Naada Yogi . The name may not be familiar to most music lovers but a few who know the history will recall this name with great sense of reverence, the respectful yogi and his great disciple whose music is a defining standard in Indian Music Echelon.

Chidambara naada Yogi, a realised soul, a repository of knowledge and the experience of the same, had initiated Ramaswamy Dikshitar ,father of Muthuswamy Dhikshitar into the Sri Vidya Upasana and in to the tantric form of worship.

Once on his way to Benarase from the south, Chidambara Nada yogi made a halt at Madras, At that time Ramaswamy Dhikshitar and his family were under the patronage of Muthukrishna Mudaliar’s family , who was an agent of the East Indian Company and a great devotee of Indian Art and Tradition. He had requested Ramaswamy Dikshitar to move to Manali in chennai from Tanjavur . HIs son Venkatakrishna Mudaliar was even more so and he looked up to Ramaswamy Dikshitar with great respect and reverence.

Ramaswamy Dikshitar and his family of wife and 3 children , Muthuswamy Dhikshitar, Balaswamy Dhikshitar and Balambika , were living in Madras at the time of the visit of Nada Yogi. .On hearing about his Gurus visit to Madras, Ramaswamy Dhikhitar went to get his Dharshan and invite him home for Bhiksha vandanam. The yogi acceded to the request . So, when the yogi came home .

As is the tradition, after the bhiksha, the children were asked to sing before the guru. Both Muthuswamy and his younger brother Balaswamy sang for the Guru,

The yogi, on hearing the boys sing could foresee the events to unfold and hence requested Ramaswamy Dikshitar to send his older son Muthuswamy with him to Benares. Though Ramaswamy was reluctant , Lord Rama’s life history must have briefly flashed through his mind and hence he agreed , hoping for a bright future for his son, although he knew very well that under the guidance of Yogi , nothing less was to unfold.

Muthuswamy’s life under the guidance of the yogi was like that of a stone that was being sculpted in to a divine form , that which will take the position of a divine form in a Altar. He stayed with the Yogi for about 6 years .

He was trained in various aspects of Mantra, Tantra and Yantra. The essence of Vedas, Puranas, Agamas, Yoga , the Advaitic philosophy of Shankara, the true spirit of inner consciousness and the truth about the existence of life .. all these were indoctrinated in to the young mind by this great Yogi. The brilliant boy that Muthuswamy was, he grasped all this in its true spirit . Being in Benarase, Muthuswamy was also exposed to the sound and emotion of Hindustani music – which is a fusion of Indian Drupad music and Persian music. Karnataka Sangeeth still maintains the original essence of Indian musical ethos – that is to find ones commune with the ultimate – The Aikiya Bhava.( We will dwell more on this in my future articles ) All this had a profound impact on Muthuswamy in his later years, as music and literature poured out of him in a free flow – an encyclopaedic material on all the subjects that had an essence on the realisation of the inner consciousness.

As his education was getting completed, Muthuswamy was all set to leave for his hometown. The Yogi, who was a devotee of Shakthi energy , ( in Varanasi it is Mata Annapurneswari and Visalakshi, in Kanchi it is Kamakshi, in Madurai it is Meenakshi and so on ) was in deep meditation ,after a while when he opened his eyes , he instructed Muthuswamy , that he should to take a dip in Ganges , at the Hanuman Ghat the next day morning.His life mission will be revealed by Devi at that instance and he will have to worship Devi all his life, All his wishes will be granted and that he will attain the ultimate aim of life – the connect with the divine and attain liberation.

As instructed , Muthuswamy went to Hanuman Ghat, next day morning , took a dip at the Ganges and as he came out of the water , he was stunned to see a Veena in his hands , with the inscription of Rama on that – When he went to the Yogi to explain the mystical and mysterious incident , the all knowing Yogi, smiled and said, Devi has announced your life mission, you will be a great Vainika and a Vagiyakara who will find an everlasting place in Indian music space and would have left dynamic impact on the way music is perceived .

That was the turning point in Dhikshitar’s life. He became a musical repository of the highest order. All his knowledge and experiences came out as a musical expression . His musical genius has transcended centuries and is still fresh and multifloues to the seekers today.

Soon , Chidamabara Nada Yogi is supposed to have attained his Jeeva Samadhi. Muthuswamy Dikshitar , who was already well trained in all the Agamas and Sastras, is said to have consecrated this Chakra Lingam on top of the Jeeva Samadhi of this great Yogi and worshipped the lingam for about 8 years doing the prescribed Abhishekams and Archanas.

This beautiful energised abode of the great Yogi , is very well taken care of by great scholars in Varanasi even today. It is situated just before the descent to the Ganga river in Hanuman ghat, near the Kanchi Mutt.

I had the privilege and blessing of worshipping this energised Chakra Lingam , which inspired me to write this article. A must visit place for all musicians, music lovers and devotees of Indian art and culture.