I am lucky that I could designate a room for my worship of Agathiyar and the Siddhas and to be alone with them. Many might not be at liberty to afford even a private corner in their home. Similarly, an individual might not be at liberty to worship the Siddhas due to indifference or objection from other family members. Others might not have the know-how on conducting rituals or might fear what if they flaw and earn the wrath of the Gods or the Siddhas. I guess that is the reason we have temples so that these individuals who yearned to be with God but could not carry out their prayers in their homes could head for the nearest temples to worship them. God does not discriminate against his children. He provides for all to have a piece of the cake.
Slowly weaning from temple worship to worshipping God within the body that is a temple and abode of the Gods, we are introduced to many more states of spiritual evolution that now take place within. Bhagawan Ramana speaks about his visits to temples in BV Narasimha Swami's book "Self Realization, The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi", Sri Ramanasramam, 1985. He describes his earlier experiences and that upon his awakening.
Formerly I would go there (the temple of Meenakshi Sundareswara) rarely with friends, see the images, put on sacred ashes and sacred vermilion on the forehead and return home without any perceptible emotion. After the awakening into the new life, I would go almost every evening to the temple. I would go alone and stand before Siva or Meenakshi or Nataraja or the sixty three saints for long periods. I would feel waves of emotion overcoming me. The former hold on the body had been given up by my spirit, since it ceased to cherish the idea 'I am the body'. The spirit therefore longed to have a fresh hold and hence the frequent visits to the temple and the overflow of the soul in profuse tears. This was God's play with the individual spirit. I would stand before Isvara, the controller of the universe and the destinies of all, the omniscient and omnipresent, and occasionally pray for the descent of his grace upon me so that my devotion might increase and become perpetual like that of the sixty three saints. Mostly I would not pray at all, but let the deep within flow on and into the deep without. Tears would mark this overflow of the soul and not betoken any particular feeling of pleasure or pain. I had no desire to avoid rebirth or seek release, to obtain dispassion or salvation... in the language of the books, I should describe my mental or spiritual condition after the awakening, as Suddha Manas or Vijnana, ie the intuition of the illumined.
Now I am beginning to understand the reasons for the spontaneous flow of tears before the Gods at the temples I visited. This is what I experience too. The enlightened sage shares his experiences further.
I had read no books other than Periapuranam, my Bible lessons and bits of Tayumanavar or Tevaram. My notion of God (or Isvara as I called the Infinite but Personal Diety) was similar to that found in the Puranas. I had not heard then of Brahman, samsara, etc. I had no idea that there was an Essence or Impersonal Real underlying everything, and that myself and Isvara were both identical with it. At Tiruvannamalai, as I listened to Ribhu Gita and other works, I picked up these facts and discovered that these books were analysing and naming what I had previously felt intuitively without analysis and name. In the language of the books, I could describe my mental or spiritual condition after awakening, as Suddha Manas or Vijnana, i.e., the intuition of the illumined.
Manikavasagar describes his experience in coming to God and how his perspective changed. Initially, regarding the body as an impermanent shelter, he saw the divine in it later. The body that exhibited emotions and sufferings and took on pain now takes on bliss. Manikavasagar upon meeting God and attaining bliss could not live another moment separate from God. Not knowing the means to permanently unite with God he laments, "I tried to severe this body that has sinned, by all possible means and failed. Neither does the soul free itself on its own. I cannot live another moment without you." He then comes to a sudden realization that this body was not his to take. He begins to plead for Paramukthi, gaining Siddhi with the body intact. He prays that God takes him to his abode with the physical body intact. He brings God within so that the physical body does not perish and merges with Tillai Ambalar still retaining his body.
பொத்தை ஊன் சுவர் புழுப்பொதிந்து உளுத்து அசும்பு ஒழுகிய பொய்க்கூரை
இத்தை மெய்யெனக் கருதி நின்று இடர்க் கடல் சுழித்தலைப் படுவேனை
முத்து மாமணி மாணிக்க வயிரத்த பவளத்தின் முழுச் சோதி
அத்தன் ஆண்டு தன் அடியரில் கூட்டிய அதிசயம் கண்டோமே
Residing in a dwelling made of meat walls and with numerous openings, and a false roof, with worms crawling within, when damaged, fluids begin to flow, whence I am tossed about in an endless whirlpool of suffering; when such a dwelling is regarded as real and turned towards the sparkle of the gem studded God, he brings me into his fold and company of his servants.
Thirumular who similarly regarded the body as filth in the beginning, later upon realizing the creator within him, began to regard the body as the abode of the Divine and took good care of it.
உடம்பினை முன்னம் இழுக்கென் றிருந்தேன்
உடம்பினு குள்ளே உறுபொருள் கண்டேன்
உடம்புளே உத்தமன் கோயில் கொண்டான் என்று
உடம்பினை யானிருந்து ஓம்புகின்றேனே
When the body deteriorates, the breath prepares to leave. One who shuns his body would not reach the state of Gnanam. Learning the techniques of sustaining the body, I kept the body standing hence retained the breath in it.
உடம்பார் அழியின் உயிரார் அழிவர்திடம்பட மெய்ஞானம் சேரவு மாட்டார்
உடம்பை வளர்க்கும் உபாயம் அறிந்தே
உடம்பை வளர்த்தேன் உயிர்வளர்த்தேனே