Agathiyar - God, The Heavenly Father, Mother, Guru, Companion - all merged into one.
Agathiyar - Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganapathy, Lord Muruga, Goddess Ambal - all merged into one.
Agathiyar - Ramalinga Adigal, 64 Peedhaadhipathigal, 63 Nayanmar, 18 Siddhas, 9 (Nava) Nathargal, 7 (Sapta) Rishis - all merged into one.
As I take a moment to reflect on Agathiyar and his Grace, many instances and happenings come to my mind. My family and I are indeed blessed to make the acquaintance of one so compassionate and loving as Agathiyar.
My journey on the path of the Siddhas started after the very first Kaanda Nadi reading in 2002. Although I was brought up in a moderately religious family, was into temple worship and having frequented many temples in Malaysia, having met some saints and dignitaries who were invited to these temples, my spiritual endeavors ended there. There was no seeking, in the spiritual sense. Then there was a period where I was engaged in aggressive worship in the early morning hours and at sunset in the comfort of my home. One fine day all these came to an end too only to be revived again in 2001 after a very long lapse.
As I put my thoughts on paper, I am greatly amazed at the number of souls who had come into my life and helped me in one way or another, molding me and guiding me.
As a child, my father used to pull me aside and tell me the story of the creation of the world; and stories of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. My father hailed from India while my mother was Malaysian. My father was from Kilasevalpatti in Pudukkottai district. As he was from the Chettiar clan, he traveled to Burma, Ceylon, Singapore and finally settled in Malaya, attending to his money lending business and properties.
He had wonderful stories to tell. Some are still fresh in my mind.
One frightful incident took place as he was making a pilgrimage on foot to Palani from his home. In those days there was no transport and he had to walk for days to reach Palani. He was saved from a pack of wild dogs ready to pounce on him by a bee sent by Lord Muruga. The single bee came from nowhere and entered the ear of one of the dogs which made the dog scamper away in pain and had the rest of the pack follow suite. He believed Lord Muruga of Palani saved him that day.
My father had visited and paid his respects to Ramana Maharishi of Tiruvannamalai too.
He also mentioned having stayed at an ashram and attending to the needs of the Guru for some time only to be told by the Guru to return to Malaysia and fulfill his responsibilities to his family.
My father passed away peacefully in 1991 on my mothers lap. He was a very charitable man, having given away his properties to friends and kin. He never took us to India, neither did we have the urge to visit India then.
When I went to India the first time in 2003, I traveled to my fathers village. Deva, my appointed driver, was the one who initiated the idea for this visit. This visit was not on the itinerary initially. As I had time on my hands I decided to heed Deva's words. We drove from Trichy to Kilasevalpatti. But for reasons unknown I was not able to meet up with my relatives as there was a funeral taking place at the moment of my arrival. I stopped over, three doors away, at a home to enquire and was told that my cousin had passed away the night before.
As I had yet to complete my 14 day pilgrimage, I abstained from joining in the funeral missing the rare opportunity to meet up with family and relatives gathered that day. I took a couple of shots of the street and my father's home before heading back to Trichy.