What is the secret to longevity? Dan Buettner in "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zone" attempts to find a single recipe but receives more than he expected. He says that there is this concept in Okinawa Japan called Ikigai. Each individual has a purpose and works to leave his mark behind and be remembered. A kind of mission and a sense of purpose. Dr. Makoto Suzuki thinks having a purpose in life is the main factor in the spiritual health of centenarians. "If we lose the Ikigai we will die," he adds.
I guess we are only around as long as we have a purpose. My mother used to tell us that she had no use hanging around further as she reached the ripe age of 96. My father who passed away at 76 too had settled to move over to the other realm tending to pulling out weeds in the garden. Both my parents could move around and attend to their needs.
What have the Siddhas to say? They say that we come with a certain number of breaths that once exhausted and leaves the body for good, leaves us dead. We are alive as long as the breath keeps coming in. If it leaves and never returns we are presumed dead. On the other hand if it stays in we are said to be in Samadhi. Yoga techniques and practices are meant to add to the number of breaths and hence add on to one's life span. I noticed the volume of air inhaled increase tremendously as I carried out the simple Pranayama practices that Tavayogi showed me and a handful of others during his visit to Malaysia in 2007. It was invigorating and replenished the general health. Soon unknowingly it knocked on the door of the Muladhara and awoke the sleeping serpent that made its way up only to stagnate at Manipuraka, ponding for several years. It was only in 2022 that the dam was broken by the divine hand and I saw the ponded energies force rush up further within days and finally reach the Sahasrara bringing on the blooming and flowering of the 1,000 petals. Ever since then, it has been there, even now as I pen these words.
I do not know if my life expectancy has increased ever since Agathiyar predicted some 80 years for me reading my Nadi for the very first time in 2002. I am now 64. But just as life is not cast in metal or stone but given in a statue, man has the gift to transform himself and his body, mind, and soul. But anything is possible. Agathiyar who was preparing Jnana Jothiamma once she came out of her hibernation where she shed her skin and purged toxins and underwent tremendous bodily changes and transformation, to return to America in 2017 and come over to Malaysia later to preach before returning to India, convinced Agathiyar otherwise and Agathiyar had to grant her wish. She passed away on 4 April 2017 on Indian soil.
So what determines one's life expectancy? So many factors and findings can be placed before us. But Agathiyar tells us that once the soul gives up the journey ends. Even the Gods cannot revive one who has given up on life. Agathiyar in asking the family of a bedridden man to carry out remedies on his behalf also strictly mentioned that he must have his spirits high and believe in his recovery over and over again. But the man passed away. There is never a Nadi reading for a dead man but Agathiyar made an exception. Calling his next of kin for a reading, Agathiyar asked "What should I do? On one hand, we were trying to save him but his soul asked to be relieved. He wanted to leave."
So there seems to be more than science can explain about one's life expectancy. I believe we need both sciences to comprehend life fully. What science fails to explain religion and spiritualism could give clues and vice versa. Let us have an open mind while journeying in life. Enlightenment could come at any time and through anyone and by any means.