Another couple were introduced formally to the ritual of lighting the homam and reciting the names of the Siddhas yesterday taking up the call by Tavayogi to turn each home an Agathiyar Vanam that was conveyed by Lord Murugan to us recently. In concluding the puja Agathiyar educated us on Guru Bakthi or devotion to the guru. He told us that merely placing paintings, photos and statues of one's guru was not enough. One had to engage with them. In asking me to help out with the names of the 18 Siddhas that he asked the couple to name, I could not go beyond the name of Agathiyar. I told him that I only knew him to which he concluded my statement saying that all was within him (அனைத்தும் என்னுள் அடக்கம்).
After taking up his call in the Nadi and coming to worship him and the Siddhas, Agathiyar called upon me to visit several other places and gurus in residing. I refused to move. I told him that I had "discovered" him and Tavayogi and I was not going places anymore. If he was to give me things at these places that he called me to, let it happen within the four walls of my home. Agathiyar never brought up the subject again. If I had stepped into Ongaarakudil in 2003 on my own, Agathiyar in singing the praise of Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar, the patron of the place in 2008 called upon me to visit him and get his blessings that I did not receive on my earlier visit. I never went back telling him that I had him and Tavayogi. If I had carried out Parikaram or appeasement of our past karma as revealed by Agathiyar in the Nadi, both my wife and elder daughter came with a clean slate. My second daughter like me had a long list of remedies given. Having carried out those that were to be done locally, contemplating the cost of going over to carried out the rest in India, I confided with Tavayogi over the phone. Tavayogi surprised me telling me there was no need to do it. I remained silent as I was confused. On one hand my Sadguru, Moola Guru and Paramaguru Agathiyar personally had dished out the remedies. On the other hand, my immediate guru Tavayogi tells me that there was no need to carry it out. Sensing my silence and confusion, Tavayogi continued after some time. He tells me to carry them out if that would please me. I never did them taking and holding on to the words of my guru. I knew that he would take care of the matter.
A guru's name should be recited in a manner that causes a vibration within continued Agathiyar. Henceforth his name would do the magic of transforming us. Yogi Ramsuratkumar would ask his devotees to recite his name and would himself recite it too. I have to borrow Yogi Ramsuratkumar's words in describing Tavayogi and Agathiyar.
“Nobody can love this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas and nobody can torture this beggar like my Father Swami Ramdas. My Father killed this beggar because He loved this beggar. This beggar died at the holy lotus feet of my father Swami Ramdas in the year 1952. After that my Father alone exists and not this beggar. This name Yogi Ramsuratkumar is not this beggar’s name; it is the name of my Father. Father would always shower his grace on the people who remember this name."
Agathiyar told us how to know if we had connected with the Prapanjam too. A coolness would come over us that brings on much joy and peace within. One would be drenched in it. One would burst out in a cry of joy and bliss. If the search stops when we meet the guru and begin to follow him and his teachings, our efforts stop when the transformation that begins at the Muladhara reaches Svadhisthana. The Prapanjam would feed him further bringing on further transformation without any further effort on his path.
We are here to know the Self. If the guru shows us the way and its means initially, the Prapanjam aids us towards this purpose eventually. If Tavayogi stepped aside after showing us the way (the Siddha Margam or path of the Siddhas) and the means (Kriyas, rituals and Yogic practice) Agathiyar like Tavayogi stepped aside after connecting us to the Prapanjam. It was none interference on the part of the guru after initiating us into these rituals and practices bringing us out of Sariyai into Kriyai and Yogam. In the final stages of Yoga the energies within shall travel finding its path and bring on immense changes and transformation within oneself. Divine knowledge or Gnanam shall dawn bringing us to rest in silence. But as all souls are connected to the Param it begins to reach out to fellow souls too. Just as Thiru Gnana Sambandar took all those gathered at his wedding into God's assembly, the saintly soul brings the others to the gates of the kingdom of god. He becomes the beacon and the light. He becomes a guru.