India is a land of mystic. Similarly the Siddhas world is mystical too. It is rather difficult to comprehend the workings of the Siddhas. Although they have written down extensively their findings based on their personal and vast experiences, it is enveloped in mystery, and coded in paripasai we are told. Hence to know the Siddhas one has to get the help of someone already on the path. That is the Guru. We seek out a Guru with the hope that he could shed some light on this mystery. Even then this guru in physical form has his limitations - limitations regarding in depth knowledge of these mysteries and limitations in his acquired or trained capabilities. As Agathiyar mentions even the best of the gurus still has to address his karma that follows each human and earthly birth. So what do we do to attain or gain unadulterated pure knowledge and experience? We seek the very source - the enlightened beings who have shed this mortal body and are forever present in a suksma form ever willing to help mankind achieve the same state. They are the Siddhas.
In an astounding and rare revelation Agathiyar explains who these Siddhas are.
In an astounding and rare revelation Agathiyar explains who these Siddhas are.
Agathiyar says they all evolved from the prime source Adhi Sivan. It is from this Adhi Sivan that the numerous forms, from the minutest to the largest forms took shape. This Adhi Sivan resides in all living beings too as the Jhothi. Hence the Siddhas too are present in us. Eventually one will realise the oneness between all these forms and the self and Adhi Sivan. To realise this truth, Agathiyar ask that we contemplate on one form, that of the Jhothi.
When I was with Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal in the earlier years of my search, I put a question to him that was bugging me. The whole idea in devotion was to become focussed, develop concentration and eventually move into a state of meditation where there was no distinction between the meditator and the object of meditation. This was my understanding. If that was true why then do we keep so many pictures of deities at our altar? All these pictures of deities and gurus do not help in bringing our focus to a point. Infact I saw it as a distraction. So I put this question to him casually. He simply agreed with me without elaborating and added that that was what I would be doing once I was back home in Malaysia. I returned home and did the same. I had only a picture of Agathiyar and removed all others. I regarded Agathiyar as a representation of all the numerous deities in Sanathana Dharma or Hinduism.
Later Agathiyar asked me to have his image at Agasthiyampalli made in bronze and worship at AVM. I used to dress him appropriate to the religious occasion of the day and sing the praise of the Gods and Goddesses on these special occasions. Then he calls me in for a Nadi reading just after the Vinayagar Chathurthy prayers and endorsed that what I did was the right thing to do - seeing him as Lord Ganapathy too.
In a later reading he expounds the truth that he is of the universe and that the universe is in him too!
After our prayers at the Nattadreswarar temple in Kangayampalayam in Erode, as we come down the flight of steps Tavayogi turned around to me and mentions that Shiva and Agathiyan are one!
When I arrived for the very first time at the old Kallar ashram in 2005, Tavayogi during his morning walk around the neighbourhood, revealed to me that Agathiyar had come the night before and enquired what he was going to give me. I looked at him in disbelief wondering if that was possible and really did happen. When he took me on a longer walk across India, visiting places of interest and worship of the Siddhas, he looked up at the sky and told me that the Siddhas were showering us with flowers. Again I could not bring myself to believe him. I only saw a clear blue sky then. I finally cornered Tavayogi to reveal how Agathiyar came to him, as he began to narrate the reason for installing a granite statue of Agathiyar in the woods of the Kallar hills behind his ashram. Agathiyar had given his darshan or vision and instructed Tavayogi to install his statue at the very spot of this miracle. Tavayogi tells me that he came in the form of light!
"Ayya" through a medium in a recent revelation to Bala Chandran and friends, drives home the same point - the source is one but the form is many. Ayya says that Agathiyar has assumed the form of Vaalai now as witnessed by AVM family members during our recent spiritual tour of India. Very aptly and timely, Agathiyar mentions too in Surendaran Selvaratnam's Nadi, asking AVM family members to include the worship of Vaalai at the end of their daily prayers.
As we move up the spiritual ladder the form of the supreme being too changes accordingly to the stage of understanding in us. This is clearly visible if one follows Ramalinga Adigal's life and his choice of worship of deities at each stage of spiritual advancement.
Agathiyar in the above Nadi reading continues to mention that the Siddhas have merged with Shiva. The Siddhas although having lived at various times evolved from Adhi Shiva and eventually merged back into him. Although they took various names and forms (anegan) they are but one or yegan.
The Siddhas too having gone through the path of devotion, have eventually seen the dance of Shiva at Chidambaram. Merging with Shiva then they came to be known as Siddhas. "This has been mentioned by one of us, Moolan (Thirumoolar) ", adds Agathiyar.
Tavayogi always reminded me that whatever said has to be authentic and substantiated by proof. But most of the time the Siddhas appear without prior warning and leave abruptly, not permitting us to capture their arrival on film. Neither would there be eye witnesses to that miracle. But the most compassionate Siddhas eventually reveal and endorse what took place through their medium of communication with the common man - the Nadi. That is how he explains to us too and presses home the point that they do exist and keep performing these lilas or miracles.