The reason I wrote, "My Story" in the last blog post is that when I came to the path, there was no written document on the experiences of devotees, seekers, aspirants, and sadhakas upon being introduced and coming to the path of the Siddhas. All we had were the autobiographies and biographies, articles, and books on those who had already achieved a standing in the religious and spiritual world. These were of Siddhas, Yogis, saints, masters, and gurus. There was no sharing of the journey by the common man, the freshie, the newcomer, the new seeker, and the follower.
When Pandit Gopi Krishna wrote his autobiography "Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man (later renamed Living with Kundalini)", "he presented his personal account of the phenomenon of his awakening of Kundalini", it was a welcome change, coming from an ordinary man.
"In the introduction to Krishna's book, Frederic Spiegelberg writes: Being exposed to Gopi Krishna's experiences is like meeting a space traveler who seemingly for no purpose has landed on a strange and unknown star without the standard equipment of the professional astronaut, and who simply reports about the bewildering landscape around him, colorfully, truthfully, without really knowing exactly what he has found. We have here, in this wholly unintellectual personality, a classical example of a simple man, uneducated in Yoga, who yet through intense labour and persistent enthusiasm, succeeds in achieving, if not Samadhi, yet some very high state in Yoga perfection, based entirely on his inner feeling development and not at all on ideas and traditions. . ." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopi_Krishna_(yogi)
Similarly, there was no documented guideline on the worship of Siddhas. What was available were tiny bits of information, songs, methods given to small groups of followers by their respective gurus, masters, and leaders of associations in the name of Siddhas. I began to compile, for a start, all the songs that I managed to find from books, the net, and audios that I could use to sing during my puja to the Siddhas. That is how "Siddhar Vazhipaadu - The Complete Book of Hymns to the Siddhas" came about.
We used it during our Koottu Prathanai or Joint or Group prayers. Soon others appreciated this small endeavor of mine and brought these songs into the temples and their homes. My family and I were blessed to have had the opportunity and privilege given by Tavayogi to sing from this compilation some songs in praise of the Siddhas at his Kallar Ashram once in 2013 and again with the AVM family in 2016.
I began to plan my maiden trip to India in 2003 after Agathiyar asks me to go over and carry out my remedies as suggested in my Nadi reading. I opened up Google maps and traced the temples he had designated that I visit. I also took notes of the temples along the route to the mentioned temples. This was the start of my documentation on paper. After visiting each temple I would write briefly about my experiences either as I was driven around or after I returned to the hotel. Coming back home I posted my travels in India on several websites and travel blogs. I continued writing on my experience on all aspects of Siddha worship on my website indianheartbeat. When I traveled with Tavayogi to the abodes of the Siddhas on my second trip to India in 2005, I took notes again and wrote about it. Soon as I found blogging was more user friendly in terms of embedding media, I opted to blog. Hence Siddha Heartbeat was "heard" for the first time.
Jnana Jyothiamma was an ardent reader and strong follower and contributor to this blog. Having been born in Kerala, studied in Tamilnadu, and settled in the USA, she made her way to Tavayogi's Kallar Ashram in late 2011 after reading my piece on my maiden travels. This is Jnana Jyothiamma's first mail to me on 30th June 2011.
"Greetings to you Sir, I am Mrs Menon. I was reading an article from Agasthiar.com. ..... I read all the articles posted on Sadhguru Venkataraman's site.... when one link led to another and then to another another and finally saw this link ........ My travels with Supramania Swamy. This interested me a lot .... I had for a very long time trying to find out visit Saint Agasthiar's cave. What is this person who is mentioned as Tavayogi. Is he a guide or an Enlightened Master. Then I saw this link which shows...."email me ". Hence I thought I would email and find out the details of all that is mentioned here. I would also like to know who shanmugam avadaiyappa is / regards Mrs Menon."
Going by the messages and emails I received, I am happy that this blog has served a small group of devotees of Agathiyar yearning to know about Agathiyar, the Siddhas, and the path and wanting to start worship to them and perform rituals. I am grateful to Agathiyar to have used me as a tool to share his messages that come in numerous ways and means. I too am learning with you readers what is being revealed and shared. The revelations amaze me too. It is all news to me too.
The blog only speaks about the compassion of the Siddhas in wanting to see all of us rise up and become one of them. The intention in sharing is not to beat the drum about our achievements but to share the possibilities and the means out there for all of us to at least attempt or try. The tagline for this blog states, "An Avenue that Showcases the Workings of the Siddhas", and there is a short note that confronts anyone wanting to comment, "These blog postings are purely about devotion (Bakthi) and miracles and are those of beginners who have taken the first step in exploring the mysterious and mystical world of Siddhas", asking those who have advanced spiritually to refrain or reserve their comments. This blog is about exploring the path of the Siddhas by individuals who are ordinary people. It is about losing our way and getting back on track with the Siddha showing the way. It is about making mistakes and learning lessons from them. It is about falling and hurting ourselves and given a hand to get up again. It's a journey of individuals trying to figure out and piece together the many pieces picked up on the journey. It is about understanding the messages, the teachings, the practices, and methods. It is a documentation of the adventure and experiences of individuals walking the path. These are simple stories and encounters of individuals that are shared for the benefit of, again, beginners on the initial, preliminary, or primary stages of discovering the Siddha way. We try to relate the workings of the Siddhas with what we encounter while taking their path. It is not about established doctrines or the revelation of the secrets of the path. It is neither a Gospel nor a Holy Book. Hence there is no need to debate, refute, or accept the experiences shared in these pages, for as we all know experiences vary from person to person. I had to clarify on the onset about the nature of the blog to its readers so that they can move on if they were seeking to know the doctrines, ideologies, and secrets of the Siddhas. Here we try not to even touch on the history of the Siddhas for it is debatable as it borders touching on the fringes of mysticism, legends, myths, Puranas, and heavenly stories. We have stayed clear of issues that are debatable preferring to talk about personal experiences with the Siddhas and the miracles shown, with the belief that no one would or ought to debate or argue about another's experiences.