I used to frequent a Chinese vegetarian restaurant in town for my needs since some years back. It was only today that I asked the owner and chef if he was a full-time vegetarian. He replied "No. Only twice a month" which I knew was the night of the full moon and the night when the moon was not in sight. I was so pleased with him that I thanked him. Though he consumed meat on other days he was providing us with genuine vegetarian meals and noodles that are hard to come by these days. And he himself cooks it so tasty. If a vegetarian opens a vegetarian outlet it does not surprise us. But being a meat eater serving us vegetarians was a big deal for me. Then there is someone else who deserves to be praised too. When vegetarians are not given due respect as we see from the menu served where the same pitiful vegetarian dishes are served day in and day out and are there only for the sake of being an accompaniment to other meat dishes in most food outlets we came across someone who ran an outlet in another nearby town, though not completely vegetarian but who catered for vegetarians and only had meat and fish as side dishes in a small quantity and in a small corner of his shop. The Indian owner visits each table to chat and get to know his customers too. Here is a man who respects vegetarians.
We can give numerous reasons to turn into a vegetarian. Many asked me the reason to become one, whether it was for medical reasons or religious beliefs. I had no reason at all. In fact, I just decided to become one overnight. It is 25 years since I became a vegetarian. I am glad I did because I came to know the need to be one if we are to walk the path of the Siddhas and achieve Siddhahood. This was made known to Jnana Jothiamma in her Nadi reading by Agathiyar. As she was molded into one, Agathiyar told her that she had to bear the pain and suffering in expelling the toxin that was accumulated through the years of intake of meat. She was already in her sixties when she came to the path. But her love for Agathiyar and his way gave her strength and courage to go through the torment that resulted as the transformation in her body began to take place. For instance, she shared with me that she was vomiting as many as 32 times a day as her body began to purge and cleanse and purify itself. There was no other way to it. Neither was there any other escape route. So to those who seek to enter the path and reach the destination, it is important that they sustain a meatless diet for it is easier and faster to purify the body right until the very cells. The Asuddha Degam once purified becomes the Suddha Degam. When one is very well into the path and has reached its zenith he does not feed even on grains and greens then. His gross and physical body which itself is meat is transformed into a subtle body. This is the Pranava Degam. Here then we see compassion in its greatest form. As did Ramalinga Adigal's heart cry out seeing the crops wither in the heat of the sun, his compassion went beyond humans and animals and included the plant kingdom too.
Another factor that plays an important part in whether one achieves the desired transformation and state is one's age. If Tavayogi told me that he could not possibly transform his body into light as he was way past his sixties then in 2005, Agathiyar told me the same too that the body cannot bend to the strenuous regime of the transformation that takes place in old age. Hence he has begun to work on the younger generation. Telling a teen to take up yoga he pointed to the fact that he had to work extra hard on a young adult in his thirties to get him to bend his torso. Though the teens are the ideal age where the body is pliable, it is never too late to start as he had asked my father-in-law in his eighties to do the sun salutation pose daily. And turning to me, Agathiyar told me not to disappoint him as he had put in much work trying to get me there. I am grateful to him.
These days as I immerse in joy and bliss that comes on unannounced I wish I could share that with others too. I wish others can share their time doing what I do these days too.