Those who choose to believe in God, gain strength in all their endeavors in God, and turn to him for guidance and blessings. For those who choose to remain with what they took on and came for in running families and businesses and holding on to careers and society and its wants, they chase their dreams and give back to society in multiple ways. They worship God in temples and homes, offering him what they can afford in return for his blessings in life. They remain satisfied and seek no further.
Then there are others who choose to take up and fulfill their inner yearnings to know God personally going beyond forms and images. They try all means to connect and be with God. They came to gurus who generally are believed to have been there and back. While many remain loyal, some get hurt and leave. Some begin to recoil and seclude themselves. Some get back to their old ways.
Beyond these gurus in physical forms are the Siddhas. The Siddhas though one with creation chose to either remain behind to help the rest of us achieve that state or come from their position to help us as and when needed or called out for. They identify the candidates who are ready to be molded. While some are willing to board the train many feel that they have other matters and responsibilities to take care of and obligations or are not lured as yet and jump off the moving train. To those few who stay on the doors open wide, and they arrive at the next station. Picking up some sights, insights, and experiences in this small town they board the train again for the next station, and so on and so forth till they arrive at the destination that is waiting in this life.
Life is so full of choices but one has to know about the options available. It has to interest him or her. Some are forcefully forced into it or have no other choice. Whatever your reasons and choices there is a slight dash of past Karma in it too I believe. One's desires and wants too, play a major role in shaping our destiny. Life can either be as simple or complicated as we make it out to be for he learns to see and feel the world and that eventually has a deep impact on him even later in life. One is rarely pulled by the divinity immediately upon coming into this world. Those who come young are indeed divine souls that need only remove the last few links in the chain before the soul is set free from taking on more births.
It is the soul's journey truly but we mistake it thinking it is Shanmugam Avadaiyappa's or your journey. Eventually, this truth is made known by the guru. In knowing the soul and freeing it the journey comes to an end. In dropping the identification one loses his individuality. So what is this that we are given honorary titles and spiritual titles only to pull us down and hold us back further? When Agathiyar tells us what should remain is only the awareness of the breath why do we add on to the existing tattvas that already hold us back? The idea here is to drop and not accumulate. It is to negate till what remains is the void or space or emptiness.
All things said we are still vomiting the experiences of Siddhas and saints having mostly read about them or in rare cases having journeyed with them. How many gurus produce other gurus out of the students? They do all things possible to remain in the limelight taking credit for all the hard work that goes behind the screen made possible by the continuous dedication and efforts of their students. Sadly students and disciples remain as students and disciples till the end. A Siddha would initiate, nurture, and have his disciples grow reaching the zenith, and never settle for him to keep worshipping and serving them for life. A Siddha's achievement lies in making others an equal. They work tirelessly towards this. We at AVM are testimony to seeing their commitment wanting to break and remake us into a vessel appropriate to take on the many challenges and transformations that come with this growth. This is the reason the Siddhas do not have a following for each follower is made another Siddha sooner or later in this birth or coming births. Those who are touched by the Siddhas eventually make it having dropped the 16 phases spoken of by Ramalinga Adigal which is commonly accepted as Sariyai, Kriyai, Yogam, and Gnanam. A Siddha giving them varied experiences would herd them onto greener terrains to know themselves and free their souls, never having them remain longer than needed in each phase. In coming to us Agathiyar has broken all the rules in the book, for he says the old ways are too difficult to adopt in this age. He has simplified the means and the way for us to attain a state that he deems fit for us. We are glad that the good shepherd came along and herded us along for otherwise we too would be a lost sheep.