We have two scenarios here. One at the beginning of the journey and another at the tail end of it. As beginners, we are told that god resides in the paintings and statues. As we are familiar with playing with toys as kids it comes easy and we can accept this concept. My three-year-old granddaughter asked her mother as they prepared food to be offered to God if God eats. My grandchildren will feed us using their imagination while at play. It all goes well with them and us adults too. Agathiyar told us that my daughter in her last birth would pick the fruits, that I and my wife, who were fruit peddlers, left at Agathiyar's feet at his shrine in Papanasam, and feed him asking him to eat them. Similarly, devotees bring garments, flowers, and fruits to dress, garland, and feed God. These serve as an act of appreciation and thanksgiving to God.
As we embark on the journey with the Siddhas we begin to have a clearer understanding. We better understand the concept behind all these devotions and their related acts. We come to know and realize that God is beyond form and name. God to us then is the very Prapanjam that creates, sustains, veils, showers its grace, and eventually self-destructs.
So too it goes with our understanding of fate and destiny. There is fate that runs its course. Then as we embark on the journey with the Siddhas we begin to have a clearer understanding. We realize that we are given the freedom and choice to change what was fated. Each decision we make either churns out the run-of-the-mill ordered and programmed fate or creates a new destiny. We are given the freedom to change our fate and create a new destiny. Just as there is a calling from them the Siddhas come to our aid to assist if called for. Agathiyar in asking my daughter about her choice and decision on two matters was waiting for her reply. As she was quiet he told her, "Some other time then," and moved on to me and my wife and told us not to force her into making a decision. Coming later he asked her again. Seeing her remain silent he told her to come to him once she decides. I guess he was planning something for her and he did not want to force it on her.
For some, the Siddhas come down hard on them and direct them on what to do giving them no choices or the liberty to choose or make a decision. The Siddhas expect them to follow. There is no avenue to make a deal here. If they do not follow their directives, the Siddhas back off and let fate run its course.
To those who have followed through with their teachings and practices the Siddhas then come to ask them to even surrender this freedom of choice. When we surrender they begin to chart the course of our lives bringing on what is good for us in their perspective instead of what we consider as good through our tainted and disillusioned perspective.
Sadly we somehow find it difficult to surrender our freedom. Many prefer to follow the crowd that is engaged in merry-making. The lure of the outside world is too great to refuse and begin to look inwards. Most tend to keep quiet and do not want to commit themselves to the cause of the Siddhas. Some might fear the Siddhas and hesitate to step in. I guess those who have come together in the name of the Siddhas in the past are partly to be blamed too, having painted a bleak picture of them. When I turned up at the door of several movements in the years of my search, I had some dejected souls who left the path passing their fear on me telling me that one would have to leave everything and live a life of a hermit. Others claimed that the Siddhas would wreck my family too and break relationships as they did theirs. But for one who has traveled far and long on the path and those who stood steadfast on the path would know otherwise. It is only a matter of who holds on to them till their last day. Agathiyar has never told anyone in our circle that he has to leave his family and become a hermit. Agathiyar and Tavayogi have always asked us to bring the whole family into the worship of the Siddhas. They have us organize joint prayers to extend the Siddha circle. Agathiyar sent many newcomers to join the Pornami puja at my home. Agathiyar visited their homes and had their family members engaged in the worship as well.
As we embark on the journey with the Siddhas we begin to have a clearer understanding of the subject of the soul or Atma too. The Siddhas connect to the souls within us. Identifying these potential souls, they desperately look for ways to help us draw the veil of illusion aside and to free us from the chains of one's ego. The ego in us draws its ugly head at the very moment when we realize that we can make decisions. We forget our true nature and instead identify with the ego, that goes on a rampage. A guru comes along to tame the mad elephant in us. We are brought to face our souls that went into hiding the moment our ego superseded them.
In some rare cases, Agathiyar goes deeper and addresses the Atma himself asking it what it wants, usually in matters of making a choice as to continuing to live or ending this journey. He responds accordingly to Atma's wish. Here too we have a choice. When the family of a bedridden man took the initiative to seek the Nadi and carried out the remedies on his behalf, yet the man passed away. Was Agathiyar to be faulted? People around them thought so and tried to extinguish their spirit and faith in the Siddhas, blaming and ridiculing Agathiyar for not being able to save the man. They told the family members that they had wasted money and time listening to the Siddhas. There is never a reading for a dead man, yet Agathiyar called up the family and asked them what was he to do when the Atma had given up on living. The Siddhas listened to the Atma that wanted to be liberated. When Agathiyar confronted someone else and asked her to delve deep and ask her Atma what it wanted, she chose to reply that she wanted to live.
Traveling the path with the Siddhas our understanding of life and what it offers changes with experience. We eventually tend to accept all these in good faith without losing our faith in the Siddhas or whatever belief we profess currently. These are the true devotees of whatever path they might be in. They hold tight till the end of life's journey.