Agathiyar opened his eyes in both his granite statues at Agasthiyampalli and Papanasam in 2005 and told me that these miracles would continue once I was back home from my pilgrimage. When he told me to commission his bronze statue in Swamimalai and have it brought over to my home in 2010, he asked us to "energize" and give it "life" by chanting or reciting his name 100,000 times. With continuous libation to his statue and worship, Agathiyar opened his eyes in the bronze statue in 2013. Returning from his ashram, Tavayogi had us start doing the Homam in our home too. When I dragged my feet in doing it as I was not keen on rituals, Agathiyar came in the Nadi and told me that it was for the good of Prapanjam and all its creation. When Tavayogi started us on Yoga giving us several techniques in 2007, and when my Muladhara chakra was activated unknowingly in 2010, I had extreme cruciating pain in my back and body over the next few years. Agathiyar asked me to lay off the practices in 2012, only to have me start back in 2019. In 2023 he had me part with his statue only to return several weeks ago. He now tells us that he was not (only) in the statue and asked to refrain from performing further rituals and just imbibe and take in his energies just as we should at Samadhis. He asked me that since I had successfully let go of my attachment to his form (as in his statue), when was I going to let go of my attachment to him? When I replied, "How could I?" he answered, "Aren't our souls one?" Then we have Sivavakiyar through his songs question us if the act of circumambulating and placing flowers at the feet of stone images or idols of gods, and if the act of reciting mantras would bring these stones to speak, when the Lord resides in each of us.
“நட்ட கல்லைச் சுற்றி வந்து நாலு புஷ்பம் சாற்றியே; சுற்றி சுற்றி வந்து முணு, முணுக்க சொல்லும் மந்திரம் ஏதடா! சுட்ட சட்டி சட்டுவம் கறிச்சுவை அறியுமோ! நட்டகல்லும் பேசுமோ; நாதன் உள்ளிருக்கையில்..!”
If Agathiyar started me with carrying out worship of the Siddhas, reciting the names of Siddhas, making offerings of food, bathing, and clothing his statue, lighting the sacrificial fire and placing offerings in it, then we have Agathiyar in his songs tell us that once the mind settles there is no need for rituals, to chant mantras, nor to control the breath, etc. As we had unknowingly brought our focus and concentration to these acts, it was akin to meditation. The mind eventually settles on its own. In carrying out all these precise methods and practices, helped tame the mind.
மனமது செம்மையானால் மந்திரம் செபிக்க வேண்டாமனமது செம்மையானால் வாயுவை உயர்த்த வேண்டா
மனமது செம்மையானால் வாசியை நிறுத்த வேண்டா
மனமது செம்மையானால் மந்திரம் செம்மையாமே
It might seem that the messages of the Siddhas contradict each other. We have to understand that there is no one formula for all. Each method and practice, remedy or ritual is customized for each soul that steps up before the Siddhas seeking refuge, salvation, solace, and peace. It is given when and if we are ready to receive and put it into practice and no sooner. We have to understand that the method and practices too have to be dropped, just as we let go of our hold and grip on the rope to reach further up. Hence Sariyai prepares us to receive the path, with us visiting temples in our neighborhood regularly, going on pilgrimages, and praying at home. When we are ready God whom we accepted as residing in temples and in idols and paintings takes the form of a guru in the physical form to take us on the path most suited for and desired by our soul or JeevAtma. God who introduces us to our gurus, as he did introduce me to Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai and Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram, has the guru "re-introduce" us to our long-lost buddy, the soul, bridging the bond we once had with our soul before birth, during conception, while in the womb and only to leave us after several years of our existence as a child. If the rituals help bridge both our worlds, the earth and the heavens, the guru helps draw the fallen bridge between the gross body and the subtle soul. Just as Tavayogi stepped back after introducing me to Agathiyar and Agathiyar stepped back after introducing us to Vaalai, she, in turn, stepped back to introduce us to the larger Prapanjam beyond form and name. The guru stepped back after drawing the veil and showing us our true Self, the JeevAtma which now takes reign of its kingdom once again and henceforth dictates us accordingly. Having us travel the path or phases of Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam, the JeevAtma appears before us bringing on Gnanam that dispels the ignorance and our perception of the world and all in it, revealing its nature that it is there to stay forever, in life and death. We learn that only the ParamAtma was, is, and shall be around forever. Life and death are only doors that we have passed through numerous times for eons and ages. The JeevAtma comes to help shed the previous beliefs, practices, and bindings we have on all things external and changing. It makes us understand that all that changes is Maya and has us seek that which is beyond change. We settle in the JeevaAtma and carry out its dictates. The search stops. All reading stops. All actions that we desire stop. Every move of ours is that which the JeevAtma dictates. The JeevAtma in us reunites with the Atmas in others and all of nature, realizing that it was all one all the while. The JeevAtma in us begins to connect with others and elevates them too to know their Self too. As the JeevAtma is a part of the whole, the ParamAtma, we become enlightened souls or Jeevan Muktas. We then become a JeevanMukta having attained Mukti while living.