Though the reason we are here is to live out our unfulfilled desires and past karma, it all boils down to our souls' upliftment. The divine too has a reason to place us here. As we are Jeevatma that resides in the pindam or physical, material, and gross plane, our essence is one with the Param or Andam that is in and is all of creation. But we are not aware of our Godliness or Holyness until the guru who has been there comes along to remind us of our true nature. We are unaware of the Soul that resides in us. Even if we are aware we tend to shelf the Soul, push it aside, and ignore its very existence, looking for and getting hooked to other attractions in life. The Tatwas and their nature are so overpowering that they take the limelight and credit and we believe them to be true. The guru only sees the soul and comes to our aid. The Siddhas for instance help us deal with the Tatwas by first looking into our past deeds and clearing the Vasanas that brought forth this birth and that induce us to carry out actions that are detrimental to the evolvement of the Soul. Next, a cleansing of the body and mind takes place which leads to the purification of the Tatwas. Eventually, the gross is shed or converted into the subtle. And all these have to take place before we reach the age of 58 and 60 as Agathiyar and Tavayogi told us respectively.
I had no inkling that my life would change so much in some 14 years after Agathiyar made my home his Vanam. It surprises me now that somehow I can split my life into several phases of 7 years. Upon attaining the age of 28 I was told to hold all my questions and doubts to some other time by Lord Shiva coming in a dream. I was so confused, bitter, and angry at God for causing mischief in the lives of my relatives and friends. At least that is what I thought back then. I just could not stomach the sufferings that these people who believed in God and prayed to them had to go through. After 14 years of abstinence from all forms of worship, readings, and discussions, Agathiyar passes the Vasudeva Mantra to clear the blocks or rather begin to remove the first of several veils. Gopal Pillai who had attained samadhi came through a devotee and passed on the mantra and message to my nephew who was a disciple of Annamalai Swami in the lineage of Gopal Pillai. My nephew "passed" the mantra to me asking me not to question its origin. It was years later that he revealed that the mantra was from Agathiyar. The following year I saw the Nadi and followed the path of the Siddhas. It has been some 21 years now that I stood on this path faithfully without any expectations. Surprisingly I came to know of the personal shifts that occur and are spoken or written about by authors. Sonya Danaher in reviewing psychologist Andrew Fuller's book, "Your Best Life at Any Age", writes at https://medium.com/, "A seven-year cycle has also been attributed to many of the so-called ‘random’ things that happen in life." Fuller speaks about ‘identifiable, common patterns’. "These patterns reflect an ancient idea that has influenced and permeated every civilization and almost every religion: behold the seven-year cycle!"
The Divine has chosen to shower me with gifts. All it needed was to heed their advice, practice what was shown or given, and adhere to the discipline that is needed to achieve results. They saw to it that we achieved it. Having said all this there are bound to be moments when we tend to doubt or question many a thing. There are many moments when we feel enlightened and seem to understand everything. Then there are the dark days when we become confused and frustrated that things are not moving as we understand them to be. I guess there are many layers or curtains or veils that we have to ditch to come to a clear understanding. I guess this is the reason only a handful have made it. When I wondered how many more births it would take to arrive there, I realized that we were already there or rather we never left or went anywhere in the very first place. We never arrived nor left the place. We never added on nor relinquished a thing. It was all veiled from us. The moment the veil was dropped we saw him and saw through his divine play. Remove the ignorance and we become enlightened. Once the mist and fog cleared we could see through clearly. Today we stand naked before them, removed of all the Malas or impurities that covered us and the disillusion that veiled us. All else was a dressing and were accessories that never impacted the soul that was ever pure, that was a part of the Brahman, that was the Param. The Jeevatma had stood with the Paramatma all this while though Maya created the illusion of diversity and individuality. Once the veils were shed and Maya was dispersed what remains is the original Self or Atma. We realize that we are pure to the soul. We realize that we are all Buddhas. We are already Buddha.