A friend and devotee once asked, "Why praise the Siddhas?" The answer has dawned on me just now. In worshipping them, they make us into one, too. We become that which we aspire to be and worship. Heaping praises for living gurus only raises their state, while we continue to remain followers. But singing the praises of the Siddhas raises ours. In the former, the relationship could turn sour, but not in the latter. Even if we were to leave the Siddhas, they do not. I know someone who had been a right-hand man in this case woman, for a guru, leave him for good. Similarly, others have come by and narrated their disappointments with their former gurus.
The Siddhas have us leave behind all our longings and desires, not by suppressing them but by exhausting them. Similarly, they help us exhaust our past Karma in the flame of the homam that they have us conduct personally. In taking up the remedies and rituals, they encourage us to make a concerted effort to rid ourselves of our Karma. Henceforth, life would be smooth sailing.
Leaving our material longing in search of spiritual advancement, the natural tendency is to now hog on to the religious rituals and practices. The Siddhas, after having us gain the experience, have us let go of our hold on these, too. Agathiyar, coming to a couple, a couple of years back, asks them to draw the curtain close to their daily puja at home. They refused, saying that it was the only means to be at peace. So did he ask me to end all the puja at home, bringing down the shutters to AVM in 2019, bringing an end to 17 years of worship and Puja. I followed as told, although many became confused and some angry, thinking that I had shut them out. He had them go their way, bringing the tools and the method with them to plough and toil on new grounds, with their family and friends, rather than continue to till the soil at AVM. As for me, he had me go within. In 2023, he decided to leave my home, asking me to send his statue away to the home of another devotee. I followed as told. He eventually came back and said he would never leave me. I am at peace, too, after letting go.
Thus, this is how they test us to see if we are hooked on to them, which is pretty dangerous. Books and texts, Gurus and Upagurus, amulets and talismans, astrology and horoscopes, the Nadi and predictions, paintings, pictures, and statues need to be seen as tools, mediums, and guides. They should not govern our lives entirely, taking control of all our decisions. We have been given intelligence. In taking up the way of the Siddhas, it becomes divine intelligence. When this divine intelligence dawns, we can drop the above-mentioned tools safely. When divine intelligence dawns, the Siddhas too step back and return control of our lives to us and let us run the show again. We become representatives of them. We become beacons and light onto others walking the path too. We become Jeevan Muktas, having gained Mukti or liberation while alive.