16th September 2014

Tapasyogi Nandhi launches music CD

Tapasyogi Nandhi, based in Los Angeles, may not be a familiar name for now, but the spiritual teacher could well reconnect with India and all that he had left behind once his book on "mastering the consciousness" is published. Nandhi, who has a significant following in the US and is married to a certain "Kali from California" has an interesting past. Born to a family of entrepreneurs in Sivakasi, the strapping man in his youth was married to Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, and went by the name of Athipan Bose. Nandhi remembers his ex-wife fondly, who had eventually remarried, and divorced again before being linked to a fellow scam-tainted colleague. "I have known Kanimozhi to be a sensitive, caring and ethical person (during my marriage years). When I read of her, the scam and the huge news, it felt awful. I do know that entering politics means stepping into all forms of praise and criticism and its drama. I choose to stay away from all this and I do not want to judge her," he said to the diarist. Their contact has been limited over the years. Especially since Nandhi had a "death experience" and woke up in a cave in Arunachal Pradesh to his epiphany. According to this monk who quit his business, the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers that happened soon after he had landed in the US triggered his spiritual work. The first part of his book details the story of his interesting life just before marrying Kanimozhi, his short stint as a son-in-law to Karunanidhi and the early stirrings of his spiritual turn. The second and third parts deal with his take on yoga and consciousness. "My life is full, and has a purpose," he says, with the equanimity of someone who has been there, done that.