While many tend to do damage to the ecosystem and the existing fabric of life, some work towards bringing light into our lives and a better future. William Kamkwamba, born in Malawi, built a small contraption that eventually brought, literally, electricity and water to his village. What was initially seen as a crazy idea brought change to his community and transformed their lives. An idea and the initial move and effort towards seeing it materialize shall become a reality someday. Similarly, Agathiyar never gives handouts but instead tells us to place our effort, and that he shall come to our aid.
I was amazed to see a video of mothers gathered at the Aasi Ghat of Kasi in March 2021 and later at Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu in April 2022 in singing mantras that have been kept close to the bosom of men and temple priests in the past. We are told that it took as much as a year for them to rehearse online and in the confines of their homes and finally come together and perform in public. Nothing is impossible when men, and in this case, women, put their minds into it. This is proof of what men and women can achieve when they come together.
In starting my journey, after my first Nadi reading in 2002, in bringing myself to know the Siddhas by name and chanting and worshipping them, I dialed up their number to connect with them. After Tavayogi initiated my wife and me on his visit to Malaysia in 2005, asking me to bring the family into this worship too, we began knocking on their door. After he prompted me over the phone to carry out the lighting of the Homam in my home to coincide with the larger Yagna or Yagam that he had initiated on the grounds of his Kallar ashram after the Tsunami that devastated parts of the world in 2004, a bridge was drawn down connecting both worlds. After Agathiyar had me commission his statue in Swamimalai and worship him beginning in 2010, we had brief visitations from the Siddhas. Finally, in revealing that he was beyond all name and forms and that he was Prapanjam, Agathiyar has come to stay for good in our home. If Agathiyar dictated to me what to do back then, these days he lets me decide what is good for all and endorses the thought, act, and effort.
When I refused his gifts in the past, which included the privilege to build a temple for him and later one from Lord Muruga, the Jeeva Nadi for my use and for those who came seeking, and the act of healing others, he briefly had seekers come over to my house in 2013, moving us to form Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) and had me spearhead this movement, that engaged in worship of the Siddhas both at home and in temples and engage in doing charity, only to dismantle it after six years in 2019. Finally, offering the state of a guru, in 2024, which he retracted immediately, he has me do nothing. Lord Muruga is known to have said the same to Arunagirinathar of Tiruvannamalai. Singer Pradeep Kumar walks us through the life of this saint in his documentary.
He shares further certain aspects of his spiritual journey in music.
Similarly, singer Rajkumar Bharathi, a great-great-grandson of Mahakavi Bharati, expresses these spiritual moments in his life.
A friend and devotee messaged me days ago about his effort in bringing the lives of saints to the net.
This comes after Mrs Kogie Pillay decided to put her thoughts into words and came up with her blog at Aakshara Wellness