When I was called to the path by Agathiyar following my first Nadi reading, I had no idea about the Siddhas. Leafing through the oracle they could tell me about my past, present, and future. I was told that this information was written and documented in the way past, freezing the Siddhas to a bygone era. Leafing through whatever books I could purchase or lay my hands on, and gnawing into them like a hungry caterpillar, we were told that these were men turned Siddhas or the Perfected ones having carried out austerities. "One who is accomplished", "Masters who have achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual perfection", "One who has attained a siddhi, paranormal capabilities", "A being who has achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment", and "One who has attained physical immortality", are some attempts at defining the Siddhas. With whatever little I could learn from the Nadi readers and armed with Agathiyar's painting and a book containing a long list of names of Siddhas, I started on the road hoping to discover more about them. I made my way to existing establishments carrying the names of Siddhas hoping to gain an insight into Siddha worship as Agathiyar had told me to worship them. But they were engaging in everything else but worship of the Siddhas. Frustrated I began to carry out my own home puja to them, gathering all the songs of praise I could lay my hands on. I started carrying out the Yoga practices that I picked up from books and that were put on hold by Lord Siva coming in a dream some 14 years earlier. I had already been a vegetarian for some five years then.
With the coming of Tavayogi magically into my life in 2005, I took up his invitation and Agathiyar's directive in my second Nadi reading to visit his ashram, a month after his departure for India. And so a beautiful relationship and journey began on the path of the Siddhas. Prior to that I magically walked into the arms of Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai during my maiden journey to India in 2003 after reading the Nadi to fulfill the remedies and atonements or Parikaram as directed by Agathiyar. If in reading his autobiography, Paramahansa Yogananda opened my eyes to the existence of Godly men, masters and gurus, Supramania Swami lighted the beacon of love and devotion to these Godmen or gurus, having five gurus to his credit. What was hidden from us all these years by pioneers in this field soon came to light with the arrival of Tavayogi. Rather than preach as he did to others, he took me on an excursion into the caves and jungles, had me meet other gurus, and started me on doing charity. I took up from there. Coming subsequently to our shores in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2016 he showed us the Yoga practice, fine-tuned the rituals, and paved the way for a calm transition to the path. Agathiyar and the other Siddhas introduced more practices and finetuned further existing practices through regular Aasi Nadi reading sessions that at one period of time were held weekly. With the coming of the pandemic and the return of Nadi readers back to India, Agathiyar began to guide us coming through others. Soon deities and other Siddhas came too. If they showered spiritual knowledge, Ramalinga Adigal came helping us tap into the Prapanjam that showered its energy on all those present for a start. They gave us the tools to communicate with the divine energies and heal ourselves, rather than summon them for help each time. The Siddhas that we read of in books materialize in our lives and began to guide us both in the material and spiritual world. P. Karthigayan writes in his book "History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", that the Siddhas asserted that one needed to attain Atma Siddhi or spiritual immortality and Kaaya siddhi or physical immortality. In Atma Siddhi they preserved their soul with the spirit (or breath) within and in Kaaya Siddhi, they preserved the body and soul (and spirit). While Yogis considered their body as a bag of sin suitable only for worldly life and rejected the same; the latter considered the body as a means to achieve exalted spiritual heights and immortalized their body by scientific means. By eliminating the worldly substances, the Siddhas renewed their body and reincarnated their spirit or breath with the soul within it. The science of achieving death without dying, or Saagaamal Saagum Kalai, which is commonly spoken about as an achievement by the Siddhas, is a loss of substances related to the earth except for the form of their profile. Substances of a perishable nature will be replaced by substances of a cosmic nature and complete the transformation known as Kaaya Siddhi - retaining one's body forever. The Siddhas held the view that "if one "ate" the cosmic substance for immortality, the body will slowly acquire similar cosmic qualities and their mere touch can turn on miracles." For this purpose, the Siddhas discovered Karpam which was of a dual nature, strengthening both the spirit and the body. This science is known in the Siddha circles as attaining Kaaya Siddhi or physical immortality or the deathless physical state attained by altering the natural physical fabric through science that prevailed then, which P.Kartigayan explains as "possessing the blood of Gods in a lustrous body.
Concentrating on the center of the forehead, called Lalaadam, soon one is led into a thoughtless mental state that of Mounam, says Karthigayan. Prolonging this state is Thavam. Probing the questions in Thavam is Gnanam. He says, "It is believed that such questions will be answered by our own conscience through our spirit's connection to the cosmic library."
Karthigayan refers to Bhogar on how one is slowly groomed on the Siddha path. He starts with the purification of body and mind first, only then is he introduced to the true wisdom distinct from the false that is short-lived. If he has genuine interest he stays to further himself, otherwise, he proclaims himself as a guru and leaves. For those who stay, the divine knowledge shall be revealed slowly based on his determination and merit. Finally, he is given a divine bead that serves as armor in his journey.
They are working towards making us a Siddha too. In wanting to assist me to attain their state too or at least attempt to reach the shores and maybe continue inland in another birth, Agathiyar, Ramalinga Adigal, Tavayogi, Supramania Swami, and the Siddhas have invested their divine knowledge in us. If Tavayogi officially showed me to Agathiyar and launched the Yoga practice in me, Agathiyar pardoned me and erased my past karma Lord Muruga rewrote my destiny. Ramalinga Adigal came to show us Prapanjam and placed us in her good books. Supramania Swami passed on the merits of his 40 years of austerities to me that skyrocketed my state. How can I repay the debt? How can we repay their kindness and compassion?