I can never thank enough for what Agathiyar has given me despite my many weaknesses, sins, and karma. Though some events were frustrating eventually we have come to understand the maths behind it. After I read the Nadi in 2002 Agathiyar revealed that all my puja and yoga practices that I did in my bachelor days got me nowhere. The reason was that my karma stood in the way of me reaping the fruits of my efforts and labor. Agathiyar also revealed that all the predictions given by astrologers got me nowhere. The reason was that my Lagna (Ascendant) which is calculated on the basis of our birth date, time, and the location I was born was not applicable as it was switched mysteriously. He revealed the new horoscope that was based on another Lagna, shifting the position of all the other related planets and bringing a new Gochara palan or benefits in the movement or transit of these planets.
Seeking to know further about the Siddhas and their path after Agathiyar asked me to come to the worship of the Siddhas in my Nadi, I was frustrated as my search got me nowhere. None of the establishments or movements were into worship though they were intensely involved in charity and feeding and some others had dropped worship of the Siddhas and took on the worship of light. As Agathiyar had specifically told me to worship the Siddhas beside the other deities and had me witness a simple Siddha worship that the Nadi reader did for me after Agathiyar asked me to pay homage to the Siddhas for documenting and revealing my past, present, and future, I continued with the recitation of the names of the Siddhas in the confines of my prayer room even away from the eyes of my family.
In 2005 after Agathiyar showed me Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal who was visiting Malaysia, Tavayogi asked that I engage my family in the worship of the Siddhas too. He asked that I frequent the local peedham that he had come to officiate. But Agathiyar had other plans for both of us. He had me get another initiation in private this time after a Nadi reading. My journey now began officially coming under the tutorship of Tavayogi without the need to seek others. He invited me to his ashram. Agathiyar too instructed me in the Nadi to spend a few days at his ashram. Leaving for India a month after his departure, I began to learn his ways.
Tavayogi had me conduct a Homam that lighted up my home and filled it with aroma and smoke. It brought the family together in worship. Each of us participated actively in preparing, conducting, and cleaning up after the puja. When he came later in 2007 to Malaysia he finetuned the ritual for us. Tavayogi taught me and several others some Asanas and Pranayama techniques that refined the practices that I did as a bachelor.
Agathiyar on his part came as a bronze statue in 2010 replacing his picture I received from the host who brought in the Nadi readers from India that kickstarted my worship of the Siddhas in 2002. Now carrying out libation or Abhisegam brought our home worship to the next level. Things began to move and we saw a majestic jump in the method and ways of worship.
In 2013 Agathiyar brought strangers to my home after their Nadi readings to watch and participate in the Siddha puja. Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) and Amudha Surabhi (AS) its charity arm took shape. We were making headway and much progress. We brought Siddha worship from the confines of AVM into the homes of devotees and the temples. Just when we thought that we were getting somewhere Agathiyar brings the shutters down on all our activities and events. He asked us to go within, working on our breath.
Here is where I realized that we are all seeking to come together in a common place to worship and leave. We never wanted to turn host and open the doors to our homes and invite others to join our home prayers and give them a treat before sending them away. We expect others to host and we join in prayer. I was saddened that except for a handful who carried on the tradition that they saw and picked up at AVM others went into oblivion. They equated Siddha puja with that of temple worship where we go, pray, and return having nothing to do further with the temple. Siddha puja is different. With the worship of the Siddhas in our homes, we invite them. They come to stay with us, eat with us, speak to us, rejoice with us, celebrate with us, and also weep with us during our troubled times, rest and sleep in our homes, and go into the state of Dhyanam and Tavam in our homes. It was Tavayogi's dream too to see each home become Agathiyar Vanam. This was related to us by Lord Murugan who came through a devotee. Agathiyar had a dream. And so Agathiyar sent Tavayogi to our shores to preach the path. He did as told. So did Tavayogi's Paramaguru Jeganatha Swamigal and guru Chitramuthu Adigal have a wish. The AVM family fulfilled Chitramuthu Adigal's wish to see the Siddha puja conducted in the Waterfalls temple in Taiping. Should we not fulfill Tavayogi's wish now just as Tavayogi fulfilled Agathiyar's wish and the AVM family fulfilled Chitramuthu Adigal's wish back then?
The Siddha path is only for those who are keen to take up the worship of the Siddhas in their own homes, invite others to partake in the bliss that they derive from these pujas, feed those who attend, engage in doing charity, and bring the worship into others homes. If you are prepared to do all these please step in otherwise it would just be like another visit to the temples.
We have to live the path we choose and not regard it as another ornament or attire that we adorn when needed and remove at other times. We have to breathe the path. We have to sleep on the path. We have to speak the path. We have to speak the truth just as the Sanskrit teacher in the movie "Mohalla Assi" teaches his students that Nachiketa taught us to choose the path of honesty. But when poverty takes its toll on the family, and he decides against the principles he upheld all this while, his wife confronts him, "You never compromised in your life. Why now?" Pandey replies "When time changes for the worst, our values get diminished. Poverty crushes everything." But they remained true to their core faith even as life strangled them slowly. Let us be true to ourselves in the face of any calamity or hardship. Let us be true to the Self. Let us be true to the Atma. Let us be true to the Siddhas who have worked hard on us to mold us into their image. Let us speak about and pass on the legacy of the Siddhas to others. This shall be our greatest achievement even overshadowing devotion and worship, acts of dharma, service, charity and feeding, and all other noble acts. For that to take place we have to live the life of a Siddha first.