Nothing is of our doing. We have been looking towards the skies for generations in our moments of need. Just as after a rain shower we see fresh growth on the face of the earth, what we do here is germinate ideas, execute, and see them through. God does not fail us. If most look after their affairs, a handful come to do God's work. I have to thank many souls for accompanying me on my journey, coming as Upagurus who passed me a message, a book, a practice, etc, that has brought me this far.
- I am thankful to my parents, N. Avadaiyappa Chettiar and R. Valliammai, for each giving me a part of themselves that, with their tender care, became an embryo and fetus later and gave birth to me, naming me Shanmugam Avadaiyappa. They contributed the Nun Uyir in certain proportions, Earth 1/3, Water 4/3, Fire 5/6, Air 8/2, and Sky 1/8, to take a form and shape in my mother's womb, and become the embryo. 1 portion of Earth from the mother and 3 from the father, 4 portions of Water from the mother and 3 from the father, and so on, came together to take the form of an embryo in the womb.
- I am thankful to them for sending me to school to learn the academic subjects needed to seek a career later in life. I am grateful to them for teaching and guiding me in prayers and Puja at home and also in the temples, starting me on taking baby steps towards reaching the true home and temple that resides in each of us.
- I am grateful to the teachers in school who taught me the languages that came in handy in traveling the journey, meeting people from all nationalities, and now serve to connect readers through this blog.
- I am glad I picked up a book in the college library, which unfortunately I cannot remember its title, which taught me to say no to an otherwise accommodating person like me.
- I am glad to the divine for picking my course and subsequently determining my career, from the many applications I made to institutions of higher learning. I never regretted his decision, for I enjoyed my work putting in some 36 years from 1980 to 2016, from the age of 20 to 56.
- I am grateful to the fortune teller on the five-foot way who helped me decide whether to stay put in the current job that served the military or accept another that came from the public works department. Though I opted to stay put, eventually, by his grace, I was absorbed into the latter towards the end of my career, having spent years doing my job with contentment and to the appraisal of my employer, the civil service.
- I am grateful to my seniors in the field of civil engineering for grooming me.
- The year 1988, was a turning point in my life where after I was transferred from a coastal town to the megacity and capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, my life took a turn mooting me to seek spiritual knowledge after several souls gifted me with treasures of great masters, which I only came to know them as indeed treasures later as I traveled the path of these masters and found out for myself the immense treasure house that they had left for us to pick up and follow. A fellow officer from the department, Mr Segaran, passed me a painting of Lord Shiva, Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi", and a parting word of advice that painted, doctored, and guided my life henceforth. He left the civil service to become a monk in Paramahansa Yogananda's mission in Ranchi. Another colleague, Mr Sethu, passed me several volumes of songs on cassettes titled "Arutpa Amudham". Listening to these songs drew me to know more about its author Ramalinga Adigal. I purchased the complete works of his Thiruarutpa that churned the insides, bringing bliss within. During the First Convention on Siddha Philosophy held in Kuala Lumpur in 2007, I met Ooran Adigal, who had compiled this edition, and had him autograph my copy.
- I am grateful to Siddha Physician Dr. Krishnan for looking into my stars and pointing me to the Siddhas to know what stood in my way, preventing me from achieving the benefits and fruits of my efforts. Though I frequented him for horoscope readings, we spoke about Siddha medicines and astrology, with him telling me that I shall do well if I took them up. I began to pick up books on both subjects and read through them.
- I am grateful to Mr Murali Saminathan for bringing up the subject on the Siddha's Nadi and sharing his experience in reading the Nadi and arousing my interest to know my fate too. He pointed me to Mr Sivabalan, who brought in the reader Mr Senthilkumar from Avinashi, Tamil Nadu in 2002. I am grateful to the latter two who kick-started my journey, opening up the preface to the immense volumes of Nadi readings that were to come my way in later years.
- I am grateful to Agathiyar, who invited me to join forces with him, though it was initially a calling to come to the worship of the Siddhas. Before I could embark on the journey, Agathiyar sent me on a pilgrimage to temples, asking me to shed my past Karma first. This brought me eventually to meet my very first guru in flesh, Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai, on my last leg of travel after circumambulating the Holy Arunachala in 2003. I am grateful to Agathiyar for sending me to him, for he passed me his entire merits, of all his Tapas, Tavam, and austerities of over 40 years to me as a passing away gift just before he was called to the Lord's feet in 2007.
- I am grateful to Agathiyar for sending me Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram, who took me as a student and initiated me and my wife officially onto the path of the Siddhas in 2005. I am grateful to him for having passed me a treasure according to Agathiyar that aroused the sleeping giant within and has today brought me to be contented, at peace with myself, and a state of bliss - a set of Yoga Asana and Pranayama practice and techniques.
- I am grateful to my wife, Mageswari, and children Praba and Vimala for standing by me, witnessing and understanding, and accepting the process of transformation that is going on within me.
- I am thankful to readers for bearing with me as I keep repeating my experiences and travels.