When Agathiyar tells us that everything is Maya including their manifestations in numerous ways, it is not that it is all not real. It is all real. We feel and experience sorrow, misery, pain, suffering, hunger, joy, happiness, bliss, etc. It is just that it is all a fleeting moment.
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami has given a clear understanding of the term Maya at https://www.himalayanacademy.com/
"In common philosophical use, when you hear the word maya you think of illusion. That's because of dominant philosophy in the Hindu world is Shankara's maya-vadin philosophy in which Maya means it's unreal; doesn't really exist."
"Maya in Saiva Siddhanta exists, it's just constantly changing. That's why Gurudeva writes "...the ever perpetuating dance." It's constantly changing; there's nothing permanent about it. So it's a reality but it's constantly changing."
Now I understand why Agathiyar brushed off lightly the extreme pain I underwent in my back between 2010 and 2012, the pain peaking and becoming excruciating and unbearable in 2011. It was a manifestation too. Though all his visits and those of other Siddhas are Maya too as he says, it is not that it is not real but it is all a manifestation that keeps changing.
Even when I faltered in the past, he stood by me telling me that it was his work and that he wanted me to have those horrid experiences that shames me even to think about them now. He pointed out the wrong and harm I had done in the past births, that it was all his doings and that it was excused. I had to learn and gain experiences essential to my spiritual growth. He pardoned me and asked me to pardon myself too. But as the effects of these wrongful past actions had been generated and were released, I still had to carry out remedies that he stipulated deemed fit to subdue the results and damage to my life. I took heed and did my parikaram to his satisfaction.
In the "Metaphysics of Saiva Siddhantam - Sivagnana Boodham by Thiruvilankar Canagarayar, l96l, we read that,
"In order to purify the soul, the Primal One by His infinite Grace, applied Maya and Karma Malams, to the fettered soul, just as a washerman applies Fuller’s earth and cow-dung to remove the dirt in a piece of cloth. The husk, bran and sprout or germination of a paddy seed are comparable to Anavam, Maya, and Karma that encompass the soul. When the husk (Anavam) and bran (Maya) are removed the paddy seed will not germinate, and the sprout (Karma) will not spring up. Similarly, when the Anavam retreats and Maya retires, then the energy that is Karma also retires with Maya. When the Anavam retreats from battle field its opponents Maya and Karma retire. When Maya and Karma Malams counteract on Anavam, the ignorance of the soul, being the effect of the function of Anavam, is removed from the fettered soul and its intelligence illumines. The soul, at this stage, through introspective reflection, arrives at a point where a ray of light falls on the soul in the form of an inspiration. Then the soul discovers the vanity or metamorphosis of the physical world, (the Asat) and is led into meditation. By the Grace of God, the soul becomes blind to the world and attains knowledge of God by His Grace. This is the spiritual truth called Pati Jnanam. The soul which has realized God through divine knowledge Pati Jnanam, after it had renounced the worlds as changing or Asat, is called Jivan Mukta. Jivan Mukta is one who has already attained the Sacred Feet of Lord Siva. When the Jivan Mukta attains divine wisdom, the Pati Jnanam, he shines as a spirit with intense love for God. Then the redeemed soul becomes a Jivan Mukta, as he has reached the Sacred Feet of God. Now the Jivan Mukta is free from the three-fold Malams and is at the Feet of God. Lord Siva appears in him as Joti or light at Suzhi Munai (Susumna Nadi), through unfailing love unto Him. The Jivan Mukta, through unforgetting or unceasing love attains the bliss of the Primal One."
"The Jivan Mukta should now become one with Siva, just as Siva was one with him in his fettered state. When Jivan Mukta is one with Siva, what he does, would not be his acts, but would be the acts of Siva. For the Ichcha, Jnana and Kriya states of Jivan Mukta are identical with those of Siva. Whatever Jivan Mukta does is done according to the will of Siva, for Jivan Mukta is in advaita relation with God, Siva. Jivan Mukta is one living in a body ever after his purification, till he exhausts his residual Karma."
"The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib" quoted in http://www.gurbani.org/articles/webart147.php, speaks these too.
"One who dances (or remains) night and day in Divine Consciousness, he eradicate the spell of Maya (Sakti), from within; once linked to the Supreme Being within, Siva, one will not fall asleep to Maya's delusion again." (The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 506)."
"He who dwells in the the core of his very Being, and there begs for alms (of realizing God). Such a renunciate ascends to the Realm of Pure Consciousness, Siva Puri, within."(The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 952)
"Upon awakening to the Divine Light within (Siva Joti), Maya banishes, and doubts are eradicated." (The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 1238).
"When the Maya-stricken consciousness of man comes to rest in Realm of Pure Divine Consciousness within, he becomes Jeevanmukta: remains dead while yet alive." (The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 1257).
"Having eradicated Maya from within, by the Divine Grace, the mortal becomes established once again in the Divine Consciousness within." (The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 1276).
"Those who become the Gurmukhs are blessed with the Divine Light of the Lord (Siva Joti); Maya comes to serve them." (The Gurbani - Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS 1324).