Coming to read the Nadi in 2002, Agathiyar called me to worship the Siddhas too besides the pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. I had never known about gurus until then. He introduced me to my first guru Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai. I did not have the faintest idea what I was getting into or rather what I was getting then. Swami taught me devotion to a guru by example. Coming to worship the Siddhas Agathiyar showed me to a guru in the way of the Siddhas Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram. Calling me to visit his ashram Agathiyar brought me directly under Tavayogi's tutorship instead of while my time in a local peedham that he came to officiate in 2005. Worship of the Siddhas which included reciting their names and conducting Homam and doing charity to others created a portal to the other world. A drawbridge was brought down that gave access to the Siddhas and the divine to pop in any moment they wanted. Supramania Swami brought his guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar from his samadhi to chant his name together. He too visited my home in a mysterious way later after his own samadhi in 2006. Recently his guru the Yogi popped into our home to listen to a couple of Sadhu Om's songs on Bhagawan Ramana that was set to music and sung by Sriram Parthasarathy that I played during the break between the abhisegam during Sivarathri.
Meanwhile, Agathiyar had many come over to my home since his arrival in the form of a bronze statue in 2010. He had them watch, participate and learn the rituals and prayers. When Tavayogi and Mataji arrived in 2016 we made the rounds bringing the bronze statue of Agathiyar to visit the homes of those who invited them. It was not my intent to have these devotees drop by every Guru Naal or Thursday or on other auspicious days to join in prayers. Neither did I hold on to them nor force them to stay. Many came and equally many left. Those who stayed were told to see to their responsibilities towards their parents and family, and their careers. Agathiyar had me wind up the Whatsapp group and put a stop to the activities just as the pandemic reared its ugly head in 2019. There was a beautiful opportunity for those who bid farewell to continue the Siddha puja in their homes armed with the literature and the methods picked up from AVM. I wonder how many did? I think I have figured out what needs to be done as they had assigned me a new task which is to convert each home into Agathiyar's Vanam as my home evolved over the years since 2002. I guess I have ended up doing exactly what Tavayogi started doing back then after he returned from the years of traveling as a mendicant and started an ashram. Though I did not do the former, an ashram grew around me and my home as Agathiyar revealed later. He told me I need not adorn the cap of a mendicant and leave the family. The home was an ashram. It was his Vanam or garden first before Lord Murugan recognized and acknowledged it as a place of the practice of austerities and name it Tapovanam. Agathiyar once predicted that it would become a Gnanakottam. Today Agathiyar presides over us and speaks about Gnanam to us.
I guess that is the reason Lord Murugan and Agathiyar recently wanted me to check on them again and revive the Puja if they had taken a break from it. Agathiyar comes to stay put in the homes that invite him and conduct puja for the Siddhas. To those who regularly keep up with the worship, I guess it is time that they stepped out of Kriyai and took up Yoga. For those faithfully carrying out Yoga, it calls for a sharing of Gnanam then. The invitation is out. Are there any takers?