Telepathic Old Man
When he was about seven THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM met Narayanaswami Thatha (thatha means grandfather in Tamil). Thatha lived in a small Ganapati temple on Thirumanjana Gopuram Street. He was a master of tantra, yantra and mantra, all three techniques of realization. He had great powers of telepathy. The local police would come to him seeking help in identifying perpetrators of crime. Thatha would take a mirror and draw a square on it; the picture of the criminal would appear within that square. People who lost things and people who lost children and relatives would come to him and he would show them where they were on his mirror. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM watched him do this without tiring day after day. He would miss school and seek the help of Thatha to escape punishment from teachers. Thatha would make sure THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's attendance in school was marked.
Thatha never kept money overnight, as he had vowed not to save money. Whatever people gave him he spent or gave away the same day. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM used to bring him food from home as his mother was quite generous in feeding spiritual people.
Occasionally THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had problems with his father's mother who was very stingy. This lady would grudge giving water from the well inside the house to others. Other than her all others in THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's family were very generous to the poor and needy.
Thatha used to materialize objects. He also would provide people solutions to their problems. Once a low caste man came to Thatha with a problem and Thatha advised him to go around a Siva temple three times. The man said that in his village he would not be allowed into the temple being a low caste person. Thatha then pointed to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and told the man to go around him three times. When he did Thatha told him his problems were solved. Neither that man nor THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM understood the meaning of what Thatha said; but then the man's problem did get resolved.
From Narayanaswami Thatha THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM learnt the science of tantra, mantra and yantra, and how they worked, and how they should be used. Once THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM asked Thatha to provide him with a mantra and Thatha said that there was no need for that since THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had his own mantra a thousand times more powerful.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM as was his wont continued to develop more spiritual connections. He met a sanyasin who used to sit in the Arunachala temple near the Tirumanjana Gopuram. This sanyasin, Narayana Swamigal was quite popular in Thiruvannamalai. He was called Mouna Swamigal or Silent Sage as he never used to speak. He never used to eat as well. Whenever some went to him to seek blessings Mouna Swamigal would raise both his hands and stand in that posture for ten minutes. He had a small slate board on which was written in Tamil 'summa iru sollarai' or just be silent. He sat truly silently, without inner chatter. Whenever THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM sat with Mouna Swamigal he too felt the peace of inner silence. Mouna Swamigal is still alive. He has moved up the Arunachala hill to a lonely spot where he has been living without food or water for 15 years.
Right from childhood THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's energy attracted people of similar energy and attitude who willingly helped the child move forward on his chosen spiritual path. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's encounters with sages and ascetics right from early childhood kindled in the child a deep desire to emulate them.