With the annual Siddhar Vizha just two weeks away, AVM is geared to celebrate the coming of the Siddhas with homam, abhisegam and bhajan.
Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal who initiated me into the worship of Agathiyar and the Siddhas, also instructed me to conduct a homam or lighting of the fire pit, a smaller version of the Yagna or sacrificial fire. We did as told. We chanted the names of the Siddhas while feeding the fire.
When I was asked to pray to Agathiyar in the form of a statue, Agathiyar indicated that we conduct Nava Abhisegam or libation with nine items on his arrival to Malaysia. We did as told. We chanted his name as libation was done.
Later I asked Mataji Sarojini Ammaiyar if there were songs to accompany the various items offered in the holy bath to the moorthy or statue. She passed me a list of 19 items of which we decided to offer 16 as the other three items were not available. Then I came across a post in Siththan Arul where the Siddhas were performing abhisegam to Lord Shiva at a temple with 16 items. What a coincidence I thought that we too had followed likewise.
The Siddhas who initiated us with individual home puja in the beginning, began guiding us further. Lord Muruga in a recent Nadi reading for a devotee requested libation with seven items to his moorthy at Carey Island temple. Taking it as a cue for us too, we at AVM switched to offering seven on days when we worshipped Agathiyar as Lord Muruga.
Then when both Bala Chandran and I were undecided whether to perform libation for Lord Muruga or Agathiyar during a recent Amavasai Puja, Mother Goddess requested we do libation for her. She only asked for three items that were offered to the moorthy of Agathiyar at AVM. We took the cue that we shall conduct libation for Mother on Amavasai days with three items.
This is how the Siddhas and Erai brought us to change and accommodate to their needs rather then offering to our hearts desire. It has been a very fulfilling journey both for me and the AVM family threading the path of the Siddhas. At the end of the day the devotees carry the joy and bliss back home and continue with the puja daily at their homes.