Gandhi in writing about his acquaintance with religions writes in his autobiography that he came to know two theosophists who invited him to read the Gita together. A verse from Sir Edwin Arnold's translation of the Gita made a deep impression on him.
If one ponders on objects of the sense
there springs attraction
from attraction grows desire
desire flames to fierce passion
passion breeds recklessness
then the memory - all betrayed - lets noble purpose go
and saps the mind
till purpose, mind, and man are all undone.
In writing about passion that goes astray, he believes in the efficacy of prayers to cleanse the heart of passions.
"Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting, or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real all else is unreal. I have not the slightest doubt that prayer is an unfailing means of cleansing the heart of passions. But it must be combined with the utmost humility."
Gandhi writes "If an unbeliever he will attribute his safety to chance. If a believer he will say God saved him." To be humble is to believe that there is someone above us moving the chess pieces.
He adds that "Knowledge of religion as distinguished from experience seems but chaff in such moments of trial. When every hope is gone, when helpers fail and comforts flee I find that help arrives somehow from I know not where."
Tavayogi told us that when he was traveling the length and breadth of India seeking answers, often going hungry, there was a moment when a couple turned up before him giving him a hot meal. On the last leg of his travels to Sathuragiri before he began to camp in its jungles for 8 years, an "old man" who came by gave him a bun that reviewed Tavayogi who was on the verge of collapsing out of extreme fatigue and pain in his chest as he marched into the forest. The blessings showered on my gurus sprinkled on me too as I was served hot food by good samaritans, devotees, and neighbors bringing the food to my doorsteps as I stayed alone and to myself and in the comfort of my home for the most part of the past year and a half. Their blessings trickled to my family too as help came to my daughter when a private doctor who discovered her eye disorder wrote us a referral letter to see the specialist in the government hospital. The specialist while she brought forward her operation on the eye with the problem to an earlier date, immediately called for her presumed good left eye that was discovered to be in need of treatment too to be attended to the same day. In a matter of days, she was attended to and discharged. As Gandhi says somehow help arrives, indeed it did.
We are indeed fortunate to have the Siddhas as our gurus. Coming through their medium of communication, the written word on treated and preserved palm leaves called Nadi or Olai, Agathiyar called me to his abodes led by Tavayogi. A brush of the wind, a scent or aroma that lingered in the air for a while, a coolness or chillness that ran through the back in the hot summer; these were the signs that he showed me. This was the modus operandi of the ever-elusive Siddhas. A wink or a stare in his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli was a much-awaited bonus as he had promised me in the Nadi. From the unseen, he then showed himself in the physical form as the guru. Soon he came in the statues or paintings opening his eyes to capture our attention that is forever fixed elsewhere, opening our eyes to the reality of his existence.
Gandhi wrote on the guru.
"An imperfect teacher may be tolerable in mundane matters but not in spiritual matters. Only a perfect gnani deserves to be enthroned as guru." Such powerful words. The Siddha fits his description aptly. The word Siddha is defined as the "perfected one".
Siddha (Sanskrit: सिद्ध siddha; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished". It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/)
They make their presence seen, heard, sensed, felt, and known in various ways according to the extent of our involvement on the path and evolvement in our various bodies. To the beginner whose sight is laid on the external, they perform countless miracles. Bringing his attention now to the path, they come as a beacon of light or a lighthouse safely guiding him from harm's way and the rapids and rocks that lie submerged beyond his sight in deep troubled waters. Furthermore, they come as food for the elements within us to keep us alive. In event our body fails us they come as medicinal herbs and prasad or energized food offerings that work on the physical body or level. They come through medical doctors and medicines as lifesavers. They become his saviors or guardian angels.
To those who come under the tutorship of a guru in physical form, he is both master and guru. The guru lifts him from his practice of Sariyai and leads him through the other stages namely Kriyai, Yogam, and Gnanam. To those who begin to worship them within, they make their presence felt not seen. The momentary sense of extreme earth-shaking vibration that takes place under our feet; the bliss within oneself as their energy passes through momentarily and at times to stay to gesture or convey and say a few words to those gathered; are a couple of ways to realize their presence around us and within us respectively. If and when necessary the Siddhas' energy comes through a person or medium to heal as in healing the chakras in the energy body. Soon they come in others and speak too, the energy now verbalized. They make us aware of their energy that is ever prevalent and present in all of matter. They bring the prapanjam or cosmos to aid and heal us. They come as a receiving tower reaching out to the skies that taps the cosmic energy from the cosmos and turning into a transmitting tower that now passes on the energy onto others in need, hence bridging the two bodies - the energy and physical bodies.
If we are told on the onset that God was in all things around us, we would neither accept nor would we recognize him and walk past him or through him. It is said that those who know the truth dread to step on the slopes of the holy hill of Arunachala for there are said to be sages in samadhi underneath. The saint Karaikal Ammaiyaar was said to have walked on her head to Lord Shiva's abode not wanting to tread the holy place with her feet. So did I find it difficult to digest it when Tavayogi pointed to the skies and told me the Siddhas showered flower petals on us as we made our way to their abodes in the jungles. I looked up towards the sky and saw nothing. The sky was not falling. I used to take deep breaths trying to inhale the smells and aromas that he pointed out to me that he said lingered in the air in these places. Of course, I could not possibly have seen and taken in the aroma. I had not even a fraction of Tavayogi's experience in the field. It was my maiden journey following my guru into the woods to discover the Siddhas. Try as he did to make me aware of their presence and gain the experience I failed badly in recognizing the traits of the ever-evasive Siddhas. When Tavayogi pointed out to me that Agathiyar was opening and closing his eyes in his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli and I was struggling to see the miracle, I sensed his disappointment as he let me inside the shrine again and have me sit closer to Agathiyar. Maybe he thought my glasses and poor sight were interfering with my vision of the miracle shown. But the most compassionate Agathiyar did not let me return to my homeland empty-handed. As I crossed my legs to sit on the floor, Tavayogi threw me his shawl and motioned me to spread in on the floor and sit. That was when I saw Agathiyar open an eye, his left in the granite statue of his installed by King Kuberan at the very start of Kali Yuga!
And so it was that they placed a marker or stone at the spot wherever God materialized his energy form and was seen or felt or heard. These soon became shrines and temples and places of worship that showed the locals, God with form. Tavayogi too placed a statue at the spot in the jungles of Kallar where Agathiyar gave him darshan in the form of light, only to be removed later by the authorities.
A friend lamented to me that some senior devotees whom he knew and who had come to the path some 30-40 years ago, had taken up the path of the Siddhas had come one cycle and were seeking the Nadi to solve their issues. They had started with the Nadi but after many years on the path seem not able to lose their dependency on it. Haven't the institutions they were aligned with and the gurus taught them to let go of the tools? Tavayogi often asked us, "Why do you need the Nadi (when Agathiyar was with you)?" The Nadi is sought to gain ground on the path. The Nadi is akin to the farmer irrigating and watering the field. Once we germinate we can safely let go of our dependence on it and take up the faith in Agathiyar as our roots grow deeper into the soil or Marga or path. Once we have covered sufficient ground and depth and come to know the Siddhas through the Nadi, we can drop our hold on it and engage in direct talk with them. But true to what he highlighted, they are still hooked to the medium, freezing in time.
We were fortunate to be shown the practice and the tools. We learned, gained the experience, and were willing to let it go only to pick the tools again if and when necessary. When we excel in a practice the guru weans us out of it bringing us to yet another practice. As Sadguru says the Siddha path is about sadhana, there is no end to sadhana in the Siddha tradition. Tavayogi even after living the life of a mendicant and attaining the state of a Tavayogi kept on practicing pranayama in the early morning hours. He would call for a puja or lighting the sacrificial Yagam when the need arises. If and when there is a necessity they take up the tools to implore Lord Siva or to show us the way, as Bhogar implored Siva while conducting libation or abhisegam, to open his door and let us in. Similarly, Goddess Ma showed us how to please Agathiyar and gain his blessings. Agathiyar told us that hearing our plea they had taken up the fire ritual or yagam to implore Siva to save Tavayogi's life the first time he was battling with life. Ramalinga Adigal out of compassion for us too was willing to come down from his stand on not indulging in the worship of lesser deities and those arts and practice related to them. Although it wasn't his turf yet he stepped out of his way to satisfy our pleas. But as we did not have the things he asked for on hand he referred the devotee to another deity.
I had stayed away from such worship that took place in my neighborhood as a child. I would see a goat slaughter from afar and the deities invoked. They were fierce and frightening, holding up whips and swords. But I would attend the feast that followed and would savor the goat that was sacrificed. As a student, I witnessed similar sessions of trance. To our surprise, the energy came on my brother but minus the sacrifice in the temple that my brother-in-law help built while stationed there to oversee the public works projects. The deities left my brother one day informing us that they shall not come through him henceforth.
My first close encounter with Ma Kali was when my colleague invited me to his home and Kali manifested in someone. I was reluctant to meet her for fear of her but upon insistence, I stood before her. The moment she lifted her hand and placed it on my head I fainted not before I felt a surge of heat go through the crown of my head.
When Agathiyar sent youngsters to AVM to learn puja or worship to the Siddhas, we witnessed the many manifestations of the deities in succession paying homage to Agathiyar. Contrary to what was potrayed on Tv, and media they were all gentle. We saw the other side of them. They did not acknowledge our presence, neither did they address us. They came to see Agathiyar and pay their respects to him. Soon they began to address our cause. Then the Siddhas stepped into our homes together with the divine. We never knew that what started as a small prayer to the Siddhas could go a long way in bringing divinity into our small homes. I guess the size of the home was insignificant to them. They only saw the size of our hearts.