My father-in-law, 87 now, who was 83 back then, was asked to do the Yoga pose Surya Namaskar by Agathiyar. He had me show it to him. Even I doubted if he could do it at his age and wondered why Agathiyar wanted to put him through this regime. True enough the man gave up just minutes into it. I left it at that. Each morning he continues to walk in his courtyard, pray to the sun, and worship all the deities though. But I have come to believe that with self-confidence and confidence in Agathiyar's words, one can start yoga even when in old age. I guess Agathiyar has faith in us but we do not.
You tend to feel at a loss when you cannot do all the things you did once upon a time. This is what we have come to know about my mother-in-law's feelings. She laments that she cannot do anything, even to serve us when we visit her as she is ill now. It is time she learned to let go and live in the moment, savoring even the pain and agony. We can never go back to the past except in our memories. She has to learn to forgive others and forgive herself too to move on. Each one of us is put on the face of the earth to experience and learn from these experiences and in return teach another. At the end of the day, it is how much we have learned and how much we have given in return.
The youths who turned up at my home to watch and participate in the puja my family and I did, after they were directed by Agathiyar in their Nadi beginning in 2013, were asked to be taught Yoga Asanas and Pranayama in 2021. Agathiyar came and monitored their progress, often pushing them to do it. While a handful followed diligently, understanding the importance of Yoga to advance spiritually, many others ignored doing it. One thing was apparent from all this. They lacked discipline. I guess my career as a civilian with the military forces helped inculcate obedience and openness to taking orders and imbibed discipline in me. It has helped me throughout my journey, for this journey with the Siddhas is one of listening and following too.