Who are the Siddhas? The opening paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddha says that "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." Many are the books and research papers written on them.
What has a Siddha to say about them? Agathiyar reveals in his Nadi reading to Jnana Jothiamma as follows.
Who is Agathiyar then? The opening paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agastya says of Agathiyar as "Agastya (Tamil: அகத்தியர், Sanskrit: अगस्त्य) was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature." We note with delight that the site also carries a photo of Agathiyar at AVM. Agathiyar in having me commission and make his replica of his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli in bronze in Swamimalai and have him brought over to Malaysia, also told us that this image of his will become popular the world over. True to his words we have seen several statues made later to look like him, we have seen him on book covers, pamphlets, name cards, invitations, and even billboards. It brought us joy to see him everywhere.
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| The original granite statue of Agathiyar at Agasthiyampalli |
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| Agathiyar the day he arrived at AVM in 2010 and the photo of his original at Agasthiyampalli. |
Agathiyar made sure we knew the Stala Puranam or history behind the origin of his statue at Agasthiyampalli too. Suren who made a courtesy call to Dr. VN Jayapalan in Bangalore was passed an audio Cd of its revelation by Agathiyar to the doctor in meditation.
What has Agathiyar to say of his origin? He did reveal a tiny bit after a long moment of hesitation in a Nadi reading to Suren who was coaxed to ask Agathiyar's origin.
I knew neither the Siddhas nor Agathiyar until in 1996 Dr. Krishnan, a medical astrologer and Siddha physician told me about them when I posed a question if there was a possibility that his predictions from horoscopes would not materialize. He replied, "Yes, if we had curses thrown upon us." Asking if he could look into the charts and see if I had such curses, he replied that the horoscope would not reveal but the Siddhas could in the Nadi readings. That was the first time I heard about the Siddhas and their Nadi and Agathiyar. In 2002 I sat for my Nadi reading. Agathiyar called me to his path. It has been some 20 years now that I have stayed on the path. Do I know Agathiyar? What do I know about him?
After the calling to the path in 2002 until 2005 when I met Tavayogi and also had my second Nadi reading, I was searching for more information regarding the Siddhas and their Nadi and Agathiyar. My search brought me to several organizations run under Agathiyar's name. I picked up many books on Siddhas but could not comprehend their songs. Many other books were more focused on Siddha medicine. What we had on the puja or worship of the Siddhas were small booklets of the compilation of the names of Siddhas that were recited during puja. My thirst to do an elaborate puja for Agathiyar after he came in the form of the statue in 2010, saw the birth of "A Compendium of Songs in Praise of the Siddhas" that I compiled from numerous sources for my home puja. This was also sung and used in temples where we gathered to worship and carry out the Siddha puja. It was very satisfying to see the compilation put to good use by others too. Soon I compiled my story and my visits to India that I had shared on websites and blogs and published them online too. This too was very satisfying. I thought this was the only means I could give back to Agathiyar for showing me the path, guiding me, and showing the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon Agathiyar encouraged me to carry on writing this blog whenever I thought I shall call it a day and wind up. These days he gives me the subject matter, the sentences, and the words too. My job is to type it in. I go back and read the post too and revel at the revelations he shares with us. I stand before him and thank him for helping me and others. He does not stop short of revealing matters but gives us practices to carry on and comes by to check on us. Hence Agathiyar is no more describable by words but experienced. His vibration that is in all of us is amplified and is felt traversing through us these days. If he had delivered his five tenets for mankind at the Tamil Sangam of the past, he delivered a short note on the Atma recently that cleared the air and enlightened us.
These are the ways that Agathiyar has come to stay with us, leaving the pages of the sacred texts and volumes of books on him to stay in the homes and the hearts of his devotees. All these were possible by his grace and the grace and efforts of our gurus in physical form.