We all die. Even the Siddhas die too. But death is different for them compared with us. Generally, if we need a reason to die and not to be born, looking deep we realize that there is always a reason for something to take place. The reason to die might be succumbing to a disease or an illness, a tragedy, or a road mishap, and at times it comes in unimaginable ways as in freak accidents. Then to those who believe in Karma, it is reason enough to take a birth.
If we are caught unaware by the missionary of death, Lord Yama, the Siddhas, saints, and sages tend to decide when to leave. My first guru Supramania Swami knew about his death and wrote it in his diary that was discovered by his son upon his death. The date coincided with his passing. He had told me that he would leave when he was 76 when I saw him last in 2005. The Siddhas welcome death while we fear it. Agathiyar too told me to welcome death for it was passing into another realm and world, and another body, gathering more experiences from further learning.
To borrow Gordon Matthew's words from his translation of Meykanda Devar’s "Shivagnana Botham", "By reason of the soul’s virtue in previous births", we are born anew into this world to our worldly parents. With the realization of the ever-existing Atma that had engineered this body, bringing in the breath and Prana and the elements from the Prapanjam, and forced to withdraw from the stage and moved behind the stage by the Ego, comes a renewed birth in this life itself. For those ignorant of the Self, a Guru comes by and points us to the Real Us, our Atma, and sets us on a discovery of a new birth and a new life.
First, there are the Sakalar, having come to rid the three impurities in them, Karmam, Mayai, and Anavam. It could come by through a guru in the physical form.
“To Sakalar, souls immersed in all three impurities, God comes as a Guru of human form, he imparts it concealing himself as a Guru.”
"By reason of the soul’s virtue in previous births, God, who has been immanent in the soul, making it known, now vouchsafing to take the form of a Guru, initiates the soul in the Saiva mysteries. The primal one himself teaches these souls as a Guru: for in the form of consciousness, he is in union (with him)."
"When because of the soul’s meritorious practices, the primal one enlightens the soul as a Guru… When God comes as a Guru and teaches the soul, the soul is made to see that the world of experience, evolved from Maya, is non-real. It ceases then to identify itself with the non-real and to depend upon it; and in so doing it discovers its oneness with God."
Then we have the Pralayakalar. They have Karmam and Anavam, the former being Vasanas that need to ripen and the latter the distinction that God and they are two entities, still remaining intact in them. It could come by through a guru in the form of deities and Gods and Goddesses appearing before them.
“To Pralayakalar, souls affected only by Anava and Karma, he comes as a Guru in Shiva’s form; he himself standing before them as Guru imparts true knowledge.”
Then there are the Vijnanakalar who do take birth too, but not due to past Karma but to realize his Self as one with the Divine, which he failed to see before. It could come by through as the dawning of Self-knowledge. Veeraswamy Krishnaraj in his comprehension of Arulnandi Shivachariyar’s "Shivagnana Siddhiyar", writes that,
“To Vijnanakalar, souls involved only in Anava, he comes as the inner principle of the soul’s consciousness; he himself appears, as true knowledge.”
"Vijnanakalar - the highest class of souls among the three mentioned in "Shivagnana Siddhiyar" with only one impurity known as Anava Malam, do not need an external Guru to instruct them. Lord Shiva by remaining inside them as the inner guide rids them of the Anava Malam, bringing the merits and demerits to a resolution and conferring spiritual knowledge or divine grace known as Saktinipata, the descent of Sakti into the soul. Vijnanakalar receives Gnana from Lord Shiva himself as the incorporeal inner guide."
These are the souls closely associated with God and practically sit at their feet and think about them day and night to the extent the very essence of God prevails in them. They are seen as God and Divine too.
Now where do we stand in this hierarchy of souls?