When I was called to come to the worship of the Siddhas in 2002, I took it up immediately. Agathiyar had me shown the worship by having me perform a simple puja called Nadikku Dhanam. It was a means to say thank you to the custodians of the Nadi, the Siddhas who had taken the trouble to record my life story, or rather the many lives this "Atma" had taken since the beginning. Only one birth was mentioned then, that of a Namboothiri priest in Kerala in the past. Later in my daughter's Nadi reading, it was mentioned that I was with her and my present wife making a living selling fruit in the temple grounds at Papanasam, Tamil Nadu.
The Nadi reader Sentilkumar led me on this puja that included making offerings to the Nadi and its author the Siddhas besides reciting the long list of names of the Siddhas. As I did not know anything further about them, I began to explore the Siddhas. The first place that came to my mind was the Agathiyar Sanmarga Sangam, in Dengkil, a local affiliate of the main center in Turaiyur, Tamil Nadu. I made friends with Anbarasan, Manivannan, and Jayanthi Ma who briefed me on the many activities of their movement both here and at their main center. I received much literature and bought VCD's of talks of their patron guru Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar. All this information was refreshing but incomprehensible then. I was impressed by the Siddhas and included a visit to Turaiyur in my itinerary. I made my maiden pilgrimage to India the following year. It was basically a visit to the numerous temples listed by Agathiyar to perform my remedies or parikaram.
When I had my first Nadi reading, the Nadi reader had passed me a leaflet from a Thaiveedu Thangarasan M.A. who was sourcing funds to build a temple for Agathiyar in Kallar. I had kept it with me. In 2005, I "chanced" or was it fated to read an advertisement that appeared daily in the Tamil daily. It was regarding the officiating of a Agathiyar Gnana Peedham, a branch of the main in Kallar, at Batu Caves by Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal. Does this ring a bell? It did for me. I looked through my store and collections of cuttings for the leaflet I had received in 2002. I called up the contact number placed in the advert and made arrangements to meet Tavayogi. I met him. Thus started a wonderful journey with Tavayogi on the path of the Siddhas. Then Agathiyar told me the reason he had me travel to India immediately on the heels of Tavayogi a month after he left for India. I was to learn about him from Tavayogi. Tavayogi gave me practical lessons on the path of the Siddhas by bringing me to the many hot spots of the Siddhas and literally hotspot me to their data. I saw the life he lived. I lived his life to a certain extent in the few days I spent with him. I came back enriched.
I continued my worship of Agathiyar and the Siddhas that was shown by the Nadi reader Sentilkumar. Tavayogi had me begin lighting the Homam, a smaller scale of the Yagna or Yagam in my home. Agathiyar threw in the ritual of conducting libation or abhisegam to him when he came as a bronze statue commissioned by him in my Nadi in 2010. Agathiyar sent many seekers to my home after that. My home became Agathiyar Vanam or Agathiyar's Garden. Agathiyar continued to guide me through the Nadi while I picked up many things from Tavayogi during his subsequent visits to Malaysia in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2016.
Today after the demise of both my gurus in physical form, Supramania Swami and Tavayogi, Agathiyar, Ramalinga Adigal, Bhogar, Dhanvantrhri, Lord Shiva, Lord Muruga and Godess Ambigai come through others and lead us on. Karupanasamy and Ma Kali too to make their appearances to pay homage to Agathiyar. Supramania Swami and his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar and Tavayogi came to guide us further too.
And all this started with having faith in their words; having faith in the Nadi, an instrument of communication between the Siddhas and mankind, and taking up the call to come to their worship. They dealt with the rest. They knew what we deserved without us asking for it. For what would you ask for? Having no previous knowledge about the path, what could you possibly ask for? They had us do puja and rituals, charity and dharma, asana and pranayama, calling us to place concerted efforts and calling for us to have the discipline to see through these practices. All they asked for was our time, which ironically is the time awarded and gifted by them to us to live the life we wanted. They wanted us to divert some time from our daily chores and the unending wants and desires of ours, to do their thing, their tasks, and fulfill their purposes. How many dare to part their time for them? We did, and we saw results. Soon Agathiyar brought us out of these stages of Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam and had us sit in silence in Gnanam contemplating now on our thoughts, the deeds, and equally the sins we did. In sitting alone, we came face to face with our Selves. It was frightening to face the silence. It echoed deep within us. Likewise, it was horrible and shameful to face our karma that began to show up. Furthermore, it was tedious to curb or drown the continuous surge and onslaught of our thoughts coming to the fore. We resolved to let it be. In watching them the thoughts shall die a natural dead provided we do not give life to it and move into action. The past karma that comes to haunt us as in suffering, misery, illness, and diseases now is burnt to ash by the thought and reflection on it and in repenting and regretting our actions.
In promising us that our karma shall be resolved by going on pilgrimages, having us endure treacherous routes and jungle tracks, and climbing up to those mountain tops which itself should tire and exhaust us besides exhausting our karma. Soon they get us to do the Siddha puja and rituals like lighting the homam in our homes, which helps burn further our karma as we sacrifice them in the fire. The puja done shall reduce our karma by invoking the blessings of the divine. When the divine light comes within, the karma that is the darkness in us shall be driven away. In getting us to do charity when we relieve the suffering of others, our karma changes for the better, taking on these merits and dissolving the ill effects of our past actions. Finally, in having us drop all the above and sit alone in retrospection of our past, as the tears stream down our cheeks when we recollect the past deeds and pain and harm we caused to others, the final remaining karma is washed away. We become a clean slate or a clean sheet of paper. In the event, we pass on there shall be no screening of our show before us as we had destroyed our life's movie. The movie is only screened before us if we had not learned our lesson and regretted our actions while living, if we had no time to reflect on our actions and keep doing them repetitively. Tavayogi told me even our past births shall arise before us in these moments of silent contemplation. The karma in these births too shall be exhausted by the realization of the Atma and regretting our actions. Lord Murugan in coming to claim Arunagiri's Atma, consoles him that just as a murder of crows disperses the moment a stone is thrown at them, similarly our karma is dissolved the very moment we regret our actions. He brings Arunagiri to sit in silence. In that moment of silence that stretches for 12 years, his body transforms, shedding any signs of leprosy that he had. His body, life, and soul are renewed. He becomes a saint.
Today as I face noises, smells, irritations, and disturbances from my neighbors that intrude into the private space that I had created sitting alone with Agathiyar, I guess what is left of my karma is taking shape and confronting me this way. I guess I have to submit and surrender to them and live it out without taking any action. Just as all good things do not last, these too shall end someday.
It is truly wonderful to observe how the Siddhas have been faithful to us in return for our faith in them. First, they called us in for a Nadi reading to expose our karma, the seed that leads to all our miseries and sufferings, obstacles and delays, etc. They educate us on the extent and power of karma. They get us to nullify its effects by engaging us in charity and doing good deeds etc. Furthermore, they get us to do parikaram and remedies that shall build faith further. Once the ground is rid of the weeds, and toiled by our efforts, and fertilized with teachings of Nanneri or good virtues, then they sow their seed within us, provided we become aware and care for it. This seed shall grow into a tree that shall give shade to many others later. This is the tree of Siddhahood.