Although Agathiyar says that we have known each other for crores of years, I have yet to know him. Although he has shown himself to many, he has yet to show himself to me. Whatever is published on this blog is based on the revelations in my Nadi and what was told by Tavayogi and other devotees. Though I have referred to several authors and their findings, these are purely academic in nature. Tavayogi, who we saw as Agathiyar walking the ground, never defined Agathiyar in a specific form, nature, or terms. If Agathiyar appeared to him as light, he had statues of him made and installed at his ashram. If he asked us to take the next step, moving away from Bakti or devotion to Yogam and Gnanam, he had a temple built for him. When I questioned him, he replied that it was not for him but for others. When Agathiyar and Tavayogi initiated us to carry out rituals and charity, and Agathiyar brought all these to an end eventually, I thought of ending even the annual puja that coincides with Thaipusam, the last standing ritual which he asked us to do after he had me drop everything done earlier. Agathiyar very cleverly sent over a family that requested to participate in the puja. Agathiyar then came to ask me to do it since they had asked. Lord Muruga, coming through a devotee at the end of the puja, expressed his gratitude and thanks hence binding me and having me continue this annual puja in the years to come. I can now understand why Tavayogi built the temple.
Thinking that building a temple from the ground up was a humongous task, I set out to have Agathiyar's statue placed in any existing temples that would permit it, after Agathiyar asked me to build him a temple in my very first Nadi reading in 2002. But as the temple commitees dispointed me, I dropped it. On the other hand, Agathiyar, who had me commission his bronze statue in the replica of the granite statue of him at Agasthiyampalli, to be placed at the Sri Raghavendra Mritiga Brindavanam Kinta upon completion, on his part, changed his mind and remained in my home. In 2018, Lord Muruga came in the Nadi asking me to build him a temple. As the initial excitement had died down after no one offered space in their temples, and I never moved, even after Lord Muruga said that he would give me the grounds, finance, and people, he finally told me that he had tested me. He said that my home was his temple.
I am spellbound and amazed at how a simple family home could become a temple. Several devotees who dropped by at my home for the very first time were equally surprised to see no photos of Gurus, Siddhas, Gods, and Goddesses in my home. There was only the bronze statue of Agathiyar and Lobama and an oil lamp.
They performed Patha Puja, or the ritual of pouring milk and washing the holy feet of Agathiyar. There was no chant played in the background. No bells rung. No incense lit. Yet, the Siddhas and the Gods frequent our home, passing on messages and their blessings and grace. This is a far cry from tradition. It is a temple without the typical structures as seen elsewhere. There is no signage to announce it as one. Many have left disappointed after expecting it to be like other temples and Peedhams. I guess this is what Lord Muruga in asking me to build him a temple, told me that I would do it differently, and it would be different. We are truly indebted to them for showering their grace on us and all those who drop by.
If the Siddhas have often said that the body was a temple and Agathiyar had often said that he was in us, he finally threw the bombshell, telling me to even drop my attachment towards him, asking how else we can become one? Just as Tavayogi wanted us to come out of Bakti, that is Sariyai and Kriyai, into Gnanam, Agathiyar wants us to come out of Dvaita into Advaita.