We read and watch how Osho takes us through dance and has us settle down in silence eventually. Similarly, the Gods seem to be in a state of constant dance and occasionally take a moment to go into retreat. The saints have seen and sang about this dance. Lord Shiva and Lord Murugan have danced before us. They get us to sing and dance along with them. I set off performing a dance that lifted me off my feet and had me land in a pit in a dark cave during my visit many years back. I was taken off guard and so were my wife and daughter. After some moments of bliss that echoed as laughter in the cave, my wife came up to me to give me a hand to get up.
Similarly, once we have danced in tandem with the needs of the self, family, company, society, etc, they get us to sit down and finally observe a dance of another kind, the dance of the breath. Going into retreat we just observe the breath dance its way. I was watching this dance just moments ago. The breath traversed as if in tune with the songs on Lord Shiva that I played. Before arriving at an awareness of the breath though, we have to work on certain breathing techniques first. Eventually, we need to let go of these techniques too giving the breath the space and time to perform its dance. We are grateful to Tavayogi for having initiated us on this practice that Agathiyar regards as a treasure. Agathiyar warned us not to receive initiations from mass rallies reminding us that the Siddhas always give initiation one to one studying the health factors of the recipient, his or her mindset, and the flow of the breath in their nostrils in these moments. This reminded me of the many moments Agathiyar and Ramalinga Adigal came and set the flow right asking us to do Nadi Suddhi before initiating certain energies in us.
While successive heads of Peedhams and ashrams were afraid to make the change to simplify the worship and make it accessible to the common folk, we went ahead to simplify it bringing the laborious rituals that we once did, and that took several hours to a mere twenty-four minutes. The present heads had their reasons. They did not want to break the time-held traditions that have been upheld in these institutions. We understand and accept their stand. The path and the worship of the Siddhas that came through Tavayogi to us were slowly modified to suit the fast and furious lifestyle of Malaysians. My "Complete Book of Praise to the Siddhas", which was a compendium of songs in praise of Siddhars, was compiled over the years beginning in 2002 and catered for the non-Tamil speaking devotes carrying Romanized words. It saw many revisions and eventually was reduced to a handy booklet of a few songs and pages that would only take 24 minutes of our time. Our puja which took hours similarly was cut short to accommodate the needs of the day, hour, and the divine. There was no hard and fast rule at Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia. We were open to changes that the Siddhas initiated during these moments. We went with the flow. As Tavayogi ended his interview with me and my family who visited him at his ashram in 2013 saying that he has no idea what Agathiyar would do further, we too gather during these pujas drawing up a tentative program that we know shall be hijacked by the Siddhas.
AVM which closed its doors in late 2019 upon Agathiyar's wish, is set to make a comeback again as Tavayogi, Agathiyar, and Lord Murugan desire, not as a center where everyone congregates but to materialize in each devotee's home. The method that came to us is being repacked and packaged and exported abroad anew now. It is set to make a breakthrough in Chennai too. Agathiyar came in a Nadi reading for a devotee in the metropolitan. I see her bringing his intention of turning each home into an Agathiyar Vanam to cross the seas and take a foothold in India too. An Indian devotee from Karaikudi and presently working in Germany mentioned his desire to emulate AVM and bring the Siddha worship there.
Agathiyar initially performs miracles to lure us into the path. In asking me to come over, he told me that he would open his eyes and look at me at Agasthiyampalli. I had no idea how it would take place. I went with eagerness following Tavayogi who volunteered to bring me there after I shared my Nadi reading with him. Since Agathiyar had promised to open his eyes and see me at Agasthiyampalli in the Nadi reading, I began observing his worn-down granite statue that Agathiyar told Dr.V.N.Jayapalan of Bangalore in his meditation, was installed by King Kuberan at the start of Kali Yuga. His image had been worn down, missing all the details, due to years of conducting libation or Abhisegam on him. He was carved in granite with both eyes shut.
As Tavayogi ended his prayer with a couple of hymns, I continued with the recitation of the Siddhas' names or Potri as usual. As I started reciting the Pranavam - AUM, at Agathiyar’s shrine, I could hear and feel the Pranavam reverberate, and bounce off the granite walls. I felt a cool breeze sweep over me even as I was sweating away in the mid-morning heat at the shrine. As I uttered the last line of the Potri hymn, Aum Maa Siddhargale Potri, he had yet to open his eyes. He had yet to look at me. I broke down in disappointment. I cried and cried. I begged Agathiyar to open his eyes and see me. However, he did not respond. I shut my eyes as I wept continuously. After some time, I opened my eyes. Tavayogi who was earlier seated opposite me was no more there. As I turned my gaze toward the entrance I saw him standing outside in the heat. Thinking that he was waiting for me and ready to leave, I joined him outside. He ushered me to his side and pointed out that Agathiyar had opened his eyes twice. He whispered to me that there was the aroma of sandalwood in the air too. He asked that I stand at the same spot he had stood. “Concentrate now. Look at the Siddha’s eyes,” he said. As we stood in the open and in the heat of the day, the shrine was dark. I peered hard at the granite statue of Agathiyar but I could hardly make out his face much less see him open and close his eyes. I could sense Tavayogi’s disappointment that I could not see Agathiyar open his eyes from the tone of his voice when he consoled me, “Never mind, son. Let’s snap some photographs, shall we?” I entered Agathiyar’s shrine again and was about to sit at the same spot when Tavayogi motioned me to sit with Agathiyar in the inner sanctum. Seeing my hesitation to enter the inner sanctum, he told me “Go in and sit at Agathiyar’s feet in the inner sanctum. He is our father. Who dares object?” That is when Tavayogi throws his shawl over to me asking me to lay it on the floor to sit on as the floor. Only then I realized there were oil spills and grime where I was to sit. As I laid his shawl and sat, I turned to look at Agathiyar and what should I see? The Siddha had an eye open. His left eye. I looked hard in disbelief. I was sure they were engraved “closed” as I entered his shrine that morning. I was overcome with joy seeing Agathiyar look at me and I called out to Tavayogi, “Swami…” Even before I could complete my sentence, Tavayogi understood and told me, “Right! He has seen you, has he, come! They will show (themselves) only for a moment.” Tavayogi hurried me from the spot. Even as I came out from his shrine and looked back, the Siddha was looking back at me with one eye open, grinning away. Agathiyar blessed Tavayogi and me by opening both his eyes again at his sannadhi at the Kutraleshwarar Temple, shortly after he did a similar feat at Agasthiyampalli.
When Jnana Jothiamma came over to my home on a morning flight from Chennai in October of 2013, hot on our heels, as I and my family returned from Trichy the previous night, she pretty much wanted to see the libation and ritual of bathing or abhisegam for Agathiyar after watching it on Skype for years. Later my daughter rushed down the steps and showed me several photos that she had snapped during our puja. Agathiyar showed us he was alive and living or should I say kicking in the tiny piece of the metal statue at my home. He had opened his eyes in his statue during the libation. Since then he has been watching us. How do we reckon this? Can a granite statue open its eyes? Or a bronze statue for that matter? Well, it did happen! Today he makes His presence made known to us in multiple ways, blessing one and all.
What is with the eye then? We watch the world with our eyes. The Siddhas show us many a thing first on the outside and later on the inside. If after having us experience worldly existence, engaging us in outside activities, puja, and charity first, Agathiyar gave us inner experiences later and wanted me to publish them. Recently he did show me and my wife something that he hushed us not to speak about, record, or publish. We shall respect his wishes since even the deities and Siddhas look up to him for his consent before going ahead with their call of duty. When Ma Kaali came she asked permission from Agathiyar first before engaging in saving the life of a newborn child. When Bhogar found out that a devotee's ailment was due to the activation or rather blockages resulting from an unjustified initiation or rather a matter of her being in the wrong place wrong time, he asks Agathiyar for approval to release the pent-up energies considering her age and health. A good student will listen to his guru.