In asking readers to conduct a Homam many responded positively. However, someone told me that currently, the situation is not permissible as a family member was down with influenza. I replied to him that he has all the more reason now to do it. The Homam/Yagam is both a preventive measure and a cure. Whenever any of my family members are warded I do not wait around for updates from the hospital but rush back and perform a Homam seeking divine grace. I let the doctors and nurses do their work and turn to God to look over their shoulders. When Tavayogi was warded I conducted a Homam for his recovery. Later Agathiyar tells me that the Siddhas too came together to conduct a Yagam for the same purpose. Tavayogi regained his health and stayed on to delegate his duties and transfer the skill of reading the Jeeva Nadi in his possession to Mataji. He went into Samadhi a year later. A government servant who was suspended was reinstated into his job after he participated in the Pornami Homam at AVM. A man who was supposed to go to the gallows after the authority found drugs in his car that he had borrowed from his friends was freed after his wife rushed to India and participated in the Yagam at Kallar Ashram. A man who was asked by Agathiyar in his Nadi to participate in a Homam before he turned 60 for reasons only known to Agathiyar turned up at my door after asking around if anyone was doing the Homam. Someone had shown him to me. Similarly, Agathiyar sent many youths to watch and participate in the Pornami puja at my home including lighting of the Homam after their Nadi readings. Recently he has asked several devotees in their Nadi readings to start doing the Homam in their homes too.
Though I have silently reasoned with him at times, I was always one who never gave excuses but followed the rules and obeyed the laws and directives especially if it was from Agathiyar. I saw results in doing so for he knows best, right? So, when Tavayogi told me over the phone to carry out Homam in my home I voiced my fear telling him that it was the jurisdiction of the priests. But he replied it was a simple ritual. Light up the flame and recite the names of the Siddhas, he told. Later when he visited Malaysia and my home again, we watched him fine-tune the rituals and we adopted them. I soon began to read about it and came up with a book "Feeding the Flame" that I published online for the benefit of others too. After going through the books by the numerous authors whom I have quoted extensively in this book, I realized the magnitude of the benefits derived from performing the Homam or a bigger version of it the Yagna or Yagam.
Tavayogi celebrated Agathiyar's Guru Puja annually to commemorate his birth or Jayanthi at his Ashram in Kallar. The highlight of this two-day celebration is the lighting of the sacrificial fire or Yagna. He started performing the Yagna on his ashram grounds beginning with five numbers of Yagna pits and expanding to 108 on the directive of Agathiyar after the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, to calm down Mother Earth and Nature and thus lessen the natural calamities and as a result saving lives and properties. The AVM family was finally blessed to participate in this event in 2016. We were given the honor to sing the songs that accompanied the lighting of the Yagna and participate actively in the other rituals too. Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar carries on the tradition in his absence. This year it will be held on 30 December. We at AVM had been doing the same until Agathiyar switched the day to coincide with Thaipusam for us. Since Agathiyar's statue has moved to the home of another devotee, I await his instruction regarding his celebration.
According to 'Sivagnana Siddhiyar' and 'Sivagnana Siddhiyar Supakkam', "keeping alive the sacrificial fire Yagna and performing with ardor the religious acts associated with the sacrificial fire" is categorized in the Path of Sarputramaargam (Kriyai) or the Ritual Worship of Siva, which is also known as the Path of the Son (of Siva).
"Fresh-smelling flowers, incense, sacred lamp, articles for the ritual ablution of the idol, food offerings to God, five-part purification, seat for the deity, invocation of the God in the form of Light and of life into the idol, invitation of the deity, worship by pure devotion, eulogizing God with love, offering flowers, keeping alive the sacrificial fire, doing all these ritual acts daily. By these acts the devotees abide very close to Ninmalan (Siva with no impurities)."
In re-reading "Feeding the Flame" and posting excerpts from it here, I realize that the sudden and spontaneous explosion in my abdomen a year back and the subsequent release of the energies aroused through the practice of Pranayama as early as 2007 that had ponded for some time and its journey through the Chakras to the Sahasrara creating a sensation and tickling feeling in the crown of my head throughout the day and right now too as I pen these words is explained in 'Sivagnana Siddhiyar Supakkam' as the next phase, Sagamaargam (Yogam) or Attaining the Form of Siva, or the Path of Companionship, the third of four paths.
"Control of the senses; regulating the two breaths (in-breath and out breath); realizing the essence of the six Adhara Kundalini Chakras with triangles and squares; worshipping the presiding deities of each Chakra; ascending to Brahma Randhra and inducing the lotus bud to blossom; stimulating the Sun Mandala there and helping the resulting Ambrosia spread all through the body; worshipping and meditating the effulgent Siva without remissness; and observing the Ashtanga Yogam. These devotees will get the form of Siva."
There is one more phase yet to be accomplished that of the final path, Sanmaargam (Gnanam) or the True Path.
"Wisdom from all Puranas, Sastras, and Sacred texts of all External Religions; elucidation of all and rejecting the falsehood as untruth; knowledge of God, soul, and fetters; acquisition of True Knowledge of the righteous path for attaining Siva; and merger with Siva without any differentiation among Knowledge, Knower and the object of knowledge. People in this just path acquire greatness and attain Siva."
If we learn that the Brihad Narada Purana states that one who performs the Yagna tends to 'transport' twenty-one generations before him to Lord Vishnu's temple, in the Siva Puranam Yagna is said to be the supreme means to please Lord Siva and as such the Rishis were instructed to come down to earth and perform Yagna for 1000 years. It is said that Lord Siva grants boons at the closure of the Yagna. We learn that the Vedas mention Yagna as a means to fulfill man's needs and to keep away obstacles on the path of his material and spiritual progress. It is mentioned that in ancient times besides both material and spiritual gains, massive Yagna were conducted by Kings and householders to create monsoon seasons, bless childless couples with a child, bring good fortunes to the householder, awaken latent soul forces, solve problems in politics and governance and to eradicate germs and bacteria. Lord Siva too in coming to us at the height of the pandemic asked us to help strengthen the forces in the Prapanjam to combat the common enemy by lighting the Homam in our homes. Later Prapanjam herself fearing another bout of uprising conveyed the same message. Agathiyar in asking me to do it revealed in the Nadi that it was for the benefit of humanity and all of creation. Konganar says that Agathiyar was born out of the Yagna or Agni. I guess in doing the Yagna it summons Agathiyar to come forward and grant us our wishes.
We are told that as the gross fire is subtle in nature, when sacrifices are offered into the Yagna it is consumed by the fire and made subtle too. With the aid of subtle wind, this then enters the atmosphere and Diu Loka where the Demigods receive their food in subtle form. We learn that it is mentioned in the Bhagawad Geeta that man has to nurture Demigods through Yagna for his advancement.
There we have it. All the reasons to conduct a Homam. I got immediately on to doing it and carried out the Homam at 12 noon today. Another devotee sent me photos of the Homam he conducted too.
The couple Krishna and Deviy who are currently taking care of Agathiyar's Murthy sent me photos of their puja too.
The couple who are caretakers of the Murthy of Agathiyar at the Eco City temple also conducted a puja for him.
A similar puja, to ward off or minimize the effects of calamities that he foresaw, was done for Agathiyar at the Karpaga Vinayagar temple in Brickfields too after Agathiyar instructed devotees in a recent Nadi reading.
