The daily routine of home puja that I did twice at dawn and dusk, and the daily temple visits, together with all the reading and debating with senior friends in my bachelor days beginning in 1980, was brought to an end by Lord Siva appearing in a dream back then in 1988. God, who resided in the skies, brought into the temples and homes, is now seen as the Prapanjam and realized within and in all of her creation.
Then, the many rituals I conducted after coming to worship the Siddhas in 2002, on full moon and new moon nights, as well as other auspicious days, together with the charity programs I participated in with Agathiyar bringing several other followers to my home in 2013, were brought to an end back then in 2019 by Agathiyar, who moved me to dissolve the group. For one who used to check the Hindu almanac, now needs to be told or reminded of auspicious days.
When Agathiyar told me that I did right in seeing him and adorned him as Lord Ganapathy during his Sathurthi many years back, a reader commented in the comments section, saying that these deities are different and cannot be the same. Sharing a lengthy passage he quoted from the sacred texts and other sources.
Thank you for sharing this story. Amazing devotion. I just wanted to comment on your new Video. You show pictures of Aghastiyar worshipped as Ganesha. Ganesha and Aghastiyar are different living entities. The Mayavada theory that all is one and you can worship in whatever way you like is wrong, as will be proved from the Vedas and Vaishnava Acharyas:
"Just as the Gaṅgā is the greatest of all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas." [Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.13.16 https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/12/13/16 ]
Translation:
“Śaṅkarācārya is not at fault, for it is under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that he has covered the real purport of the Vedas.
Purport:
[...]
“The Māyāvāda philosophy,” Lord Śiva informed his wife Pārvatī, “is impious [asac chāstra]. It is covered by Buddhism. My dear Pārvatī, in Kali-yuga, I assume the form of a brāhmaṇa and teach this imagined Māyāvāda philosophy. In order to cheat the atheists, I describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be without form and without qualities. Similarly, in explaining Vedānta, I describe the same Māyāvāda philosophy in order to mislead the entire population toward atheism by denying the personal form of the Lord.” In the Śiva Purāṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead told Lord Śiva:
dvāparādau yuge bhūtvā kalayā mānuṣādiṣu
svāgamaiḥ kalpitais tvaṁ ca janān mad-vimukhān kuru
“In Kali-yuga, mislead the people in general by propounding imaginary meanings for the Vedas to bewilder them.” These are the descriptions of the Purāṇas.
[...]
This is confirmed in the Padma Purāṇa, where Lord Śiva tells Pārvatī:
śṛṇu devi pravakṣyāmi tāmasāni yathā-kramam
yeṣāṁ śravaṇa-mātreṇa pātityaṁ jñāninām api
apārthaṁ śruti-vākyānāṁ darśayaḻ loka-garhitam
karma-svarūpa-tyājyatvam atra ca pratipādyate
sarva-karma-paribhraṁśān naiṣkarmyaṁ tatra cocyate
parātma-jīvayor aikyaṁ mayātra pratipadyate
“My dear wife, hear my explanations of how I have spread ignorance through Māyāvāda philosophy. Simply by hearing it, even an advanced scholar will fall down. In this philosophy, which is certainly very inauspicious for people in general, I have misrepresented the real meaning of the Vedas and recommended that one give up all activities in order to achieve freedom from karma. In this Māyāvāda philosophy, I have described the jīvātmā and Paramātmā to be one and the same.” How the Māyāvāda philosophy was condemned by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His followers is described in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, Second chapter, verses 94 through 99, where Svarūpa-dāmodara Gosvāmī says that anyone who is eager to understand the Māyāvāda philosophy must be considered insane. This especially applies to a Vaiṣṇava who reads the Śārīraka-bhāṣya and considers himself to be one with God. The Māyāvādī philosophers have presented their arguments in such attractive, flowery language that hearing Māyāvāda philosophy may sometimes change the mind of even a mahā-bhāgavata, or very advanced devotee. An actual Vaiṣṇava cannot tolerate any philosophy that claims God and the living being to be one and the same. [Chaitanya Charitamrita https://www.vedabase.com/en/cc/adi/7/110 ]
I told him that if he had so much bookish knowledge, he should start his own blog and educate others, and not comment on others' blogs. I deactivated the comments section since then. Today, Agathiyar shows us that he is the Prapanjam and all of it.
So too do many seekers join movements and societies only to become dissatisfied for various reasons and speak ill or write about them without addressing these issues. Instead, it would be noble to leave these movements to start one on their own, where they can do it the way they want. During my days of search to learn about the worship of the Siddhas, I never found any movement engaged in doing it. They only did charity. I opted to stop my search and stay home to carry out my own home puja to the Siddhas with whatever material I had gathered. Soon, Agathiyar sent me Tavayogi to officially guide me. Tavayogi introduced rituals and initiated me officially into Yoga. The Asanas and Pranayama techniques I adopted and practiced that Agathiyar refers to as a treasure have lifted me and given me immense bliss, though it was painful at the very same time. Since then, Agathiyar had me move into the next phase of abstaining from doing anything and instead do nothing. Internal changes began to take place, bringing on body aches and discomfort. Agathiyar consoled me, equating pain with bliss. These have disappeared just as mysteriously as they came on. I am at peace doing nothing.
There are so many lies being told both in the material world and the spiritual. Everything gets adulterated over time. Just as the best recipes and tastes are lost over time, and in preparing and serving the masses, so too in the religious and spiritual field, sermons and rituals become less authentic, irrelevant, and pointless over time, and at times dangerous when given to the masses. Agathiyar tells us to carefully sieve through them, asking us to question them and not to accept blindly.
Religion is personal. Spirituality is even more personal. One drops the association with others when he reaches the higher rungs of the ladder. Agathiyar told me it was now a solo journey, each man for himself, when he brought the shutters down on Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM). Be true to your soul. Let it dictate to you.