MOVING ON

First, it is the paper chase, then we chase the rest. We all dream about doing something, setting a goal, and working towards achieving it. In a world that is fast and furious, that wants instant results like instant noodles, we attend to everything as if it were a life and death matter. We forget to slow down, enjoy the moment at hand, and take in the bliss that comes through the senses, which are in direct contact with everything around us, and register them. The mind digests whatever is fed through the senses, then. Then it plays its game. This is Maya, that which is not real and never was a reality.  

Coming to spirituality, another chase of sorts begins. We are so preoccupied with our thoughts and figuring out what to do next, while the saints have emptied their minds and allow the divine to work through them. Even if they do interfere, it is done without raising a finger but by raising their thoughts and connecting with the Prapanjam, which then does wonders. There is no direct confrontation. They use the access that they have to Prapanjam and its mysteries to solve our troubles. As my daughter believes, Agathiyar, in asking me to be his eyes and ears, listen to the problems and sufferings of others, is using me as a postbox. He then sets things right for them. The family always had a practice of writing down our wishes and placing them before him. If, at the beginning, he had us go on pilgrimages and carry out remedies to shed our Karma, most recently, he showed us how we could burn all our sufferings in the fire of the Homam personally in our own homes, and asks that we do not look back, but move on. 

Agathiyar, who initially appeared as the spoken word in the Nadi, entered our homes the moment we began to call out the names of the Siddhas. In carrying out the fire ritual, Homam, they laid the bridge and crossed over to our realm. In inviting them and serving food and delicacies as we would entertain our guests, they sat with us to dine. In joining them to sit in meditation, they cleared the chakras. In having us carry out Asanas and Pranayama, they aroused the energies within, bringing us to higher regions and experiences. The important thing I have come to learn here is just as the energies stagnated in me and Agathiyar had to come to my rescue, we should not stagnate at any of these phases of experiences, holding on to image, form, name, authority, fame, followers, movements, centers, societies, temple, ashram, or Peedham. I guess I had held on to these in my previous births, hence the need to keep coming back crores of years, as Agathiyar says. Both Tavayogi and Agathiyar went further in asking me not to get attached to them personally, too, but to let go. In letting go, we become the One, Yegan. There is no duality. We step out of Dvaita into Advaita.

As I penned this post, a reader wrote in the following.

Thank you, Aiya, for keep writting. Each time I read again and again the same blog entires even back to 2021 or older posts, something was there for me to learn. Something new. My journey might be a long way, but in your writing I see Agathiar appa message. I learned something new again on WORKSHIP post today.

The karuppu Ai image created by Mahindran with your entry is simply superb. Yes, u have been an absolute guidance for me all these 6 years like Karuppu.

THE BLOG

In an age where people like to watch or listen on the go, I am surprised that many also read, as evidenced by the statistics on my blog. With so many hosting podcasts and bringing messages across, it is a wonder that there are still many who read. To all those out there reading my blog, thank you very much. Besides my readers gaining access into my mind and my views, opinions, thoughts, and reading about my experiences and the lessons I learned, Agathiyar has shared many good things that I have carried on this blog. I, too, am learning from it all. This blog serves as a reminder to me in many ways and is a place of recollection of my memories, too, to which I can always fall back, even when a day comes when I might like others lose my memory too.

I am blessed to have taken on this journey, something that never occurred to me, as I was not aware of the Siddha path until the calling came in 2002. If home puja, temple visits, reading, palmistry, astrology, and numerology helped me sail the waters before 2002, after the Nadi reading, the Siddhas held my hands in guiding me through some sixty-odd Nadi readings that I have had. I guess that is the reason some still contact me asking for a reading, thinking that I am a Nadi reader, as I have written extensively on it and referred to it in this blog. Others consult me either before the reading or share their readings with me. 

When man is down and trodden, all the above means and methods to look into the future serve to uplift them from their predicament. And if they care to know their past, too, they would be pacified knowing the reasons for what they are going through. At least they would not feel deserted and bring an end to their problems in unimaginable ways. These aids are a lifeline to keep us afloat through these trying times. People need to talk about their problems. This is the reason temples were built and statues installed. For one who would not want to share with another, the temple walls and the idols are willing to listen. Walking away from the temple grounds, one then feels lighter as one has laid down their baggage. 

Hence, Agathiyar has asked me to listen to others too. I am not supposed to give solutions, though. He listens through me and does what is required of him. We are only avenues for the divine to personally handle the affairs of their subjects and children. 

He has asked that I stay away from the limelight, preferring me to be behind the screen, tasking me with writing instead. I shall adhere to his wish. I never imagined that I would write, but it all fell into place with him often giving me the subject for the day and even the words and sentences falling into their proper place. I keep reading these writings, for it is a learning for me too.

It also keeps me occupied during this phase of my pension days. My mind is alert, just as I keep fit with my daily walks twice a day. Agathiyar has kept me well since day one, for which I am truly grateful. Hence, the reason it troubled me much to see others in trouble back then in my bachelor days and even till now, although Agathiyar has spelt it out as each individual's karma. But the Siddhas did not just reveal the reason and wash their hands. It is said that they pleaded with Lord Brahma, asking him to change people's fate for the better. They have approached Lord Siva to show mercy on their devotees. They give us the way and means, methods, and remedies to bring ourselves out of the dilemma that we had brought on ourselves in the past. What one has to do is listen and follow, with belief and faith. Hopefully, all shall be well in good time. 

THANK YOU READERS

Thank you, readers, for dropping in on this blog. The readership figures move and motivate me to write further. Let us see what Agathiyar has me write on. This is the past week's figures.

SHARING

Know Astrology to know why we or another is the way we or they are.

Know Karma to understand why we are experiencing the phases we are currently going through.

Know Yoga to know the Prana within (Sakti).

Finally, when the Kundalini brings us to connect with the Prapanjam, awareness of the soul, or JeevAtma, shall dawn, and we shall know "thyself", and its oneness with Yegan, ParamAtma, or Sivam.

In knowing these, we have walked the four phases of Sariyai, Kriyai, Yogam, and Gnanam. 

The Siddhas and the gurus in physical form who have been there come to show us the way, the means, and methods towards arriving there, or rather dismantle us and remove the veil that has covered the intelligence that resides within us, bringing on enlightenment. 

Above and beyond knowing and understanding, one has to adopt and practice what is given or told to see its results. The Siddhas and gurus shall give a hand in difficult times, when energy stagnates, or obstacles and hindrances surface. 

So too should one then pass on these messages and practice to others, too. In doing so, our purpose here comes to an end. 

KARUPPU

I had told Mahindren when he came over last Tuesday that henceforth I shall not be taking on any further tasks, zip up, and be quiet, even stop writing. I have to change my stand today after watching the movie "Karuppu" on a streaming platform just moments ago. One might wonder why I did not catch it in the cinemas earlier, while the rest of my family went to watch. As my senses are enhanced, for instance, I could hear the soft hum of my neighbor's refrigerator in the middle of the night while I am asleep in my bedroom upstairs, the enhanced sound system in the theatres is a bit too loud for me. We learn from a search on the net that "sound in movie theaters typically ranges from 74 to 104 decibels (dB), with action scenes and explosions frequently peaking between 110 and 130 dB. This is comparable to the sound of a food processor or motorcycle (at the lower end), up to a jet taking off (at the peak). From the YouTube channel "Acoustic Fields," we hear Dennis Foley explain "how this is all going to work. It's part science. It's part subjectivity, because everybody's preferences are different. I mean, I used to go to the theaters all the time in L.A. The Dolby theaters, the Atmos theaters, huge pressure 120. I'd take my phone, have my app 120 one time 128 huge pressure."

So I opted to bring together a modest home theatre in my living room, where I have control over its volume. 

This movie, like RJ Balaji's previous movie, "Mookuthi Amman," which also carried many messages, made me cry, seeing the torment people go through. It made me understand how the hands of Gods too are tied. It made me understand why Lord Brahma told Agathiyar, "It would take not less than 10 years to seek out their Nadi or Olai Suvadi and make changes to their fate." When the deity Karuppu is questioned, why does he not come to save people, he answers that that was the reason we are placed here. It made me understand our purpose here was not to feed and care for ourselves but to extend a hand to others, too. We are the limbs and senses of God while here. We then become proxies of God. I learned that though the state of Light was out of reach to us, the state of God and the Siddhas, Rishis too, are equally difficult to achieve; at least we can serve as Munis, who were respected and looked up to as village deities, looking after the community and society besides our family. Mahindren made an AI image of me as Karuppu.

Besides the whole pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, our forefathers brought with them their ancestral worship when they migrated to Malaya. My father was from the Mathur Kovil, one of the nine temples associated with the Chettiar community in Sivagangai. I understood that Aiyanar was worshiped back home. I had always stayed away from the worship of ancestral gods, or Kula Deivam, the lineage of souls who took care of the souls who came later; the village deities, or Yellai Deivam, who took care of the community and society living in a place; and the guardian angels, or Kaval Deivam, who stood guard over the individual soul. As a kid, I used to watch many prayers conducted at small temples, shrines, and in many individuals' homes, where the deities came down and blessed their devotees, obliged them by fulfilling their requests, and at other times, took the whip if they were angered. I stayed away as a kid, as the manner in which these deities come on within devotees frightened me. 

Besides Lord Muruga, whom my parents worshipped, I came to receive the protection of the Chinese deities, too. As my parents had lost two children as an infant earlier to diarrhea at the hospital, when I too succumbed to it, my parents rushed me to a Chinese medium, who was a friend and a neighbor. I was spared my life with the condition that I had to be given up for adoption to them. 

I was blessed to have the protection of Madurai Veeran at the same time as I grew up, placing flowers and worshiping him at the small shrine the landlord had at the back of the house we rented. Moving into another home, a neighbor used to worship Muniandisamy. They frequently hosted these events. Someone would conduct some rituals before raising the sword high that terrified the goat (and me too). The bleating would stop the moment the sword fell. Someone would go into a trance, and people would queue up for his blessings and relate their problems to which he would provide an answer or solution. Of course, I would stay my distance, watching from afar for fear of being struck by the whip he held. 

When my brother-in-law built new temples or renovated existing ones in the Krian and Kinta districts, where he served in the Public Works Department, a fest would be held on completion of the works. Then they also used to have annual fests too. Someone would go into a trance during the fest. Again, the public stood in line to seek guidance from the "divine" through these energies that came through them. On one such occasion at the Macha Muneeswarar temple in Simpang Ampat, Semanggol, to our surprise, my brother too became a vessel and conductor for these energies to work through. He surprised us further by speaking the Chinese dialect when addressing Chinese devotees. He never spoke Chinese before that. Soon, the deities themselves revealed that they would stop coming through him. And it stopped. My brother-in-law moved on to guru worship and built the Jeganthguru Sri Raghavendra Mritiga Brindavanam in Buntong, Ipoh, in later years.

Taking on a career, I met Maniraju, who used to share how the deities came in a trance and gave advice,  guidance, healed, and cured many devotees at the temple in his estate home. As almost all of them were fierce and came with lots of anger, I was surprised to hear that Lord Muruga was gentle and kept on laughing. Although I had asked him to inform me when they summoned Lord Muruga, I never had an opportunity to be there during my eight-year stay. 

Later in life, though I had belief and respect for what many called them as lesser deities, I always told them, "Let us go our way and not cross paths". All these changed when I came to the Siddha path. Soon these deities arrived and showed their presence during the many Puja we carried out for the Siddhas. Agathiyar often summoned them and directed them to attend to certain tasks that would ease the pain and suffering of his devotees. Agathiyar had me receive them in my home, telling me that they, too, were his creation. My perspective of these deities has changed from one of fear to one of inclusiveness when Agathiyar brought them into my world and vice versa, bringing me to a new understanding. 

When Agathiyar came in the form of a statue, I began to bring Agathiyar's statue around to others' homes. Asokhan, a Military Police personnel at the Ministry in Kuala Lumpur, invited us to his home too. But as he was staying in the military quarters, he switched the venue, asking me to bring Agathiyar some 247 kilometers to his hometown in Karai in Kuala Kangsar district. When my family and I arrived with Agathiyar, he made another switch in the venue. Asokhan told me that we shall perform the puja at a shrine temple of Muneeswarar under a tree some distance away from his childhood home. As we were told that the former priest at the temple had had a dispute with the temple committee and left the night before, we conducted the Homam and Abhisegam. That is when a priest appeared. After we performed the Homam, I went up to the priest who was sitting quietly watching us, and invited him to perform the Abhisegam for Agathiyar. He readily accepted. But before beginning the Abhisegam, the "visiting priest"  conducted the Nitya or daily puja for all the deities placed at the temple grounds. That was the very first Abhisegam for Agathiyar conducted by a temple priest on our shores, after the initial Abhisegam at the Adi Kumbeshwarar temple in Kumbakonam in 2009. Till this day, I do not know why Agathiyar chose to go all the way to Karai, and who was the "accidental priest" who came along to do his Abhisegam.

I got acquainted with Mrs Molly Menon from the USA, who was originally from Kerala, and who came to be known as Jnana Jothiamma later, through an email she sent after reading this blog. Shortly after returning to the USA in April of 2011, after participating in the inauguration prayers for a temple she jointly built for the seven-foot-tall Karuppu in Chennai, she returned to India, in November the same year, to visit the Kallar Ashram to know more about Agathiyar from Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal after reading the blog. Her guardian angels, Karuppu and Goddess Kali, led her and left her at the doorstep of Kallar Ashram in the custody and care of Agathiyar. Her life changed after that momentous visit to Kallar, and she devoted herself completely to Agathiyar and his Seva. She used to share her encounters with these deities with me. I began to understand them better.

Walking the path of Siddha, I could not help but notice that these deities were in the forefront on each path and track we took, especially during the hike up into the jungles, hills, and mountains.

Soon, my home, Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM), became a venue where we had many unexpected visitations and where the divine could work most discreetly. These were quite different from the modus operandi we were previously familiar with, in other places, where offerings are made, and the deity was summoned to come onto an individual, who was often a regular medium or channel for them. With the Siddhas and in their presence, these deities came on their own, to pay their homage to Agathiyar and left on their own, hardly turning to look at us. They came discreetly, engaged with Agathiyar, and left as discreetly as they came, without bringing attention to their arrival and presence in my neighborhood.

Some regulars at AVM, who also sought guidance from Karuppu at other temples, shrines, and homes of worship, were surprised to find that as they stood before Karuppu, he only spoke to them about Agathiyar and Siddha worship, and often guided them before they embarked on pilgrimages to Siddha abodes, caves, and temples.

I now realize that there is a well-worked-out, greased, and oiled machinery put in place by the divine to help guide and care for us and every sector of the community. All is well and in its proper place. The divine had mutual respect for the other and knew its boundaries, as we come to know in the movie "Karuppu" too. They are basically there, waiting to serve mankind and help it rise up the spiritual ladder. We only need to know how to harness their energy for our upliftment. It all boils down to faith and belief, puja and prayers, and respect and surrender.

If my perspective of these deities had changed from one of fear to one of inclusiveness, with Agathiyar bringing them into my world and vice versa, and I had become accustomed to their presence after Agathiyar had Karuppu stand guard at my door, after watching the movie "Karuppu", I have even a higher regard and respect for him. 

Just as I could relate to the messages conveyed in the movie "Karuppu" I could relate to Pa Vijay's lyrics in the song "Vaa Endrathum" from the movie Charukesi.

அண்டம் படைத்து அகிலம் படைத்து 

அணுவும் படைத்த இறைவா
சர்வம் நிரம்பி சகலம் கலந்து 

யாதுமாய் நின்ற தலைவா

வா என்றதும் வருவான் தருவான் 

ஒரு தோழன் போல் தோடுவான்
மாயா உலகில் மெய்ஞானத்தின் 

கண்ணுக்கு முன்தோன்றுவான்

அன்பின் மொழியால் நான் கூப்பிட்ட குரலுக்கு 

ஓடோடி என் முன்னே வா என்றதும்

வருவான் தருவான் 

ஒரு தோழன் போல் தோடுவான்

அன்பே உலகம் 

அன்பே அகிலம்
இருக்கும் அனைத்து உயிர்கும் 

அவன் இருப்பது ஒன்றே நிஜமாகும்

அனைத்தையும் அவனிடம் விட்டுவிட்டால் 

அவன் அருகினில் இருப்பது தெளிவாகும் 

கூடவே நடந்து வந்திடுவார்
அவன் குரல் கேட்பதற்கு முடியாது

அவனிடம் பேச அன்பை விட 

வேறொரு மொழியே கிடையாது 

எறும்புக்கும் தினம் பசிஆற்றுகிறான் 

அவன் இருப்பிடம் எங்கே தெரியாது

எனும் எண்ணத்தை தாண்டும் வரை

அவனை புரிந்து கொள்ளவே முடியாது 

வந்து போவதே நம் வேலை 

வழி நடத்துவதெல்லாம் அவன் லீலை

 
அன்பை ஆசகம் கேட்கின்றார் 

அதை தந்தால் நேரில் வருகின்றார்
காட்சி தருகின்றேன்

This line expresses it all, that our work is in coming and leaving later, while the rest is all his play or Lila. வந்து போவதே நம் வேலை, வழி நடத்துவதெல்லாம் அவன் லீலை. 

DO NOTHING

Watching the sneak peek of the film "Charukesi" reminded me of how Agathiyar and Lord Siva came unannounced, last Sivarathri, and asked us to play them a song while they listened in a state of bliss. Yogi Ramsuratkumar (bringing Supramania Swami with him) and Bhagawan Ramana, too, who identified themselves, came when we played songs during the previous Sivarathri, the former asking to replay them. It comes to show how the divine is down to earth and very much a part and parcel of our daily lives, watching over us and listening every minute.  

I have come to realize that my life, just like everybody else's, is orchestrated by a divine hand, for how do you reckon and explain the manner and reasons for us to meet some? For instance, just days ago, when the Rava Thosai, which I ordered at the restaurant where I dined often, looked pathetic and unappealing, the server asked if I wanted it replaced. I said yes, and he took it back. As it is, Rava Thosai takes a little longer to cook compared with plain Thosai, so I had to wait much longer now. Just then, an elderly Malay man walked into the restaurant. He walked past me, mumbling something to himself, and soon returned to sit at a table next to mine, where he started small talk. Coming to know that he, too, was a pensioner, we shared the good life as pensioners. I then bid farewell to him. As I made my way to the car, I realized that the blunder and delay in having something, as in my case, the Thosai, made me sit long enough so that we could meet. And so too I have come to realize it is with all blunders and delays in our lives, for they are meant for a reason. 

Who would have thought two boys of 16 years, me and his classmate Beh Swee Yam, would hold back a military carrier from landing on the runway, and that I would one day join the Defense Ministry? We were so naive, innocent, and stupid that we did not realize the reason the Caribou, a Canadian specialized cargo aircraft, was circling for some time was that we were running on the field, in its path of landing, until there came soldiers on a landrover with a hailer shouting for us to vacate the grounds, telling us the plane could not land. They picked both of us up, dumped us into the vehicle, and kicked us out of the aerodrome, never to come back, asking us to go run somewhere else. It is a wonder that they did not place us in a lockup and charge us for trespassing on a restricted area. 

I'm only beginning to know myself now, at the age of 67. I have come to understand why I am the way I am, too, after following the recent barrage of astrological predictions on the net. When I asked myself why I was always the odd one out in following these videos, which revealed the nature of those born under the star Aquarius or Kumbham Rashi, I came to know that there was nothing wrong with me. I have come to drop all my guilt and accept myself for who I am. I am at peace with myself and others. As I shared it with my friends, Mahindren told me, I was designed as such. I understood then that if I wanted any change to the present, that would initiate another birth and prolong the cycle further. I have come to know that the stars dictate my nature and characteristics just as the soul determines our parentage and place of birth, among many other things. Is this then self-realization, as Mrs Kogie Pillai thinks? I have yet to know the "thy" that the saints speak of in "know thyself," though. After I came to know Agathiyar on this journey, what I mistakenly thought was a new relationship that blossomed over the past 26 years, on the contrary, he tells me we have traveled for crores of years together. He remembers, but I forgot. After reading the Nadi, Agathiyar told me my present birth was a result of my past karma. When I grieved for my sins, he told me he had pushed me into doing it for want of those experiences, too. Agathiyar too came, asking me to now know my "Self", the Atma, and know Sivam.

I have come to know that that which has a hold on us and vice versa is Maya, hence the reason Tavayogi stopped me from worshipping him even before I got to know him better, and stripped me of my attachment to the gemstones and mercury bead I was wearing on my finger and on me respectively, for a start. Agathiyar had me let go of all the tasks that he had initiated me to do, after having gained the experience from them, before it could get hold of me. He had me drop my hold on his statue that he had me commissioned and made, and that I worshipped in my home, too. He went a step further and asked that I let him go too, for only then could we be one, the Yegan, Sivam, he said. In having me let go, Agathiyar handed me back into the arms of Mother Prapanjam. 

Now I understand why Lao Tzu asked us to go with the flow. What we should do is use Maya to our advantage and for our purpose in coming here, where eventually, after the band stops playing and the music dies down, and everybody has left, our creator sits at the last table waiting to claim us, his soul and property, and bring us back home. It reminds me of the song "The Last Waltz" by Engelbert Humperdinck.

I wondered, should I go or should I stay

The band had only one more song to play

And then I saw you out the corner of my eyes

A little girl alone and so shy

I had the last waltz with you

Two lonely people together

I fell in love with you

The last waltz should last forever

But the love we had was goin' strong

Through the good and bad we'd get along

And then the flame of love died in your eye

My heart was broke in two when you said goodbye

It's all over now

Nothing left to say

Just my tears and the orchestra playing

(Source: https://genius.com/Engelbert-humperdinck-the-last-waltz-lyrics)

Becoming spiritual is not about adopting or opting for a change in garb, doing away with our normal clothes, but a change in mindset and perspective. Once this happens, we settle down into acceptance. This is "Summa Erupathu" in all manner, doing nothing.

VAIRAGYA

My blog posts might seem repetitive. A friend and reader from Kerala once wrote in, saying, "Even if you wrote it umpteen times, we learn from repetition the most." Science says that in repeating 21 times, only then shall it begin to register in our subconscious minds. Repetition and making a habit of good things register a corresponding response and outcome in the subconscious. I used to wonder why Tavayogi kept repeating the same speech everywhere he went. Reading the book "Jeeva Brahmakya Vedanta Ragasiyam" by Satchidananda Yogeeswar, I was asking myself why the author repeats the same matter again and again in subsequent pages. He answers my query in a later chapter, saying that one needs to drive a notion again and again so that it is registered and remembered. So too, I guess I end up repeating the same in these pages, at least so that I can remember them too. Please bear with me.

Now, coming to today's post, are we ruled by the stars? It sure does seem so. Are we merely living out what has been determined in the stars? Going by what Tavayogi says, that we are living in the past, and creating the future, it sure holds water. 

As there is a barrage, onslaught, and overdose of talk shows on the net currently, where astrologers are each predicting what is going to happen to us, due to certain planetary movements taking place currently, though I had left seeing my horoscope after taking Agathiyar's hand, curiosity and having much time on my hands, I too was drawn into watching them. And they sure answered the what and why of things that happened the way they did. I can settle in peace now, knowing that it was not my doing, but the circumstances and events were all their doing, all laid out waiting to happen. Knowing that relationships, and the direction they took, too, were determined by the stars and not of my doing, has me lay down my guilt. I remember Agathiyar telling me that though karma prompted certain actions, Agathiyar too had pushed me into certain circumstances, and for the sake of gaining those experiences, too, had me engage in them. 

As Bhagawan Ramana too says that all is well, the saints tend to leave it as it is. They live a life, bringing in and channelling the divine love and showering it on others, and share the bliss, too. I came to know that even if one wants to be a saint, it has to be written in the stars, from reading JN Bhasin's book "Events and Nativities Explained", Sagar Publications, 1974, where he studied the birth charts of prominent people, including saints, and wrote about the expressed need to have vairagya in one's charts. 

No astrologer, neither AM Duraisamy nor Dr Krishnan, mentioned vairagya in my charts. Supramania Swami expressed his wish to chart my chart, wanting to know why I came to him. He told me something had taken place the previous night as I was sound asleep. As I was sleeping on the floor of the living area of his kudil, while he was sitting beside on his bed made of jute ropes, rolling the Rudraksha beads, a mother and child had come and sat beside me. They were in conversation, oblivious to Swami watching them. The kid placed his hand on my belly button. Soon, the kid invited his mother into Swami's prayer room. Following them into the room, Swami was surprised to see the room empty. Swami shared this with tears brimming and a smile the next day. Before that, he told me that he was taken aback when I stepped out of the car and approached him upon arriving from Malaysia. The reason being that he heard the Pranavam loud and clear that moment. When I asked him later why he had closed the window with a gunny sack, which he purposely positioned to watch the Holy Hill from his bed, he told me that he could no longer see Annamalaiyar's form, as he was fiery. He told me that he saw Siddhas and Rishis going about doing their work on the hill. He surprised me by saying that he saw me too in their midst. Agathiyar, in coming to us after Tavayogi's samadhi, told us that he had to come to guide us further, as Tavayogi was called in to do Agathiyar's work in their realm or Siddha Loka.

It is said that all findings and discoveries are made in this realm by the Siddhas and Rishis before man discovers them for himself. I always wonder how lyricists and music directors come up with such soulful songs, be it for the cinema or devotional. I have come to believe that these writings and tunes are constructed in another plane before these souls pick them up, arrange and conduct them, and deliver them to us, just as the writings come to me in a continuous flow as I pen these posts, too.

When we come to the Siddhas, they speak about karma and reveal ours. The option is there for us to live it through without interfering, or take measures to try and make it favorable, less hurtful, and less of a torment. I understand now, when I had noisy neighbors, during the period of my solitude, Agathiyar asked that I bear with the noise, as it was a test. Rather than attempting to change others or confront the external source of our troubles or problems, he asked me to change my mindset and go with the flow, instead, watching the transformation taking place within. 

As Siva Thondan wrote earlier, in his analysis of "The Kolaru Pathigam" by Thirugnana Sambandar, 

"For one who has taken refuge in Shiva at Sirkazhi, the planets — all of them, in whatever configuration — become 'pure good' (Nanmayae Aavaarkal).... 

This is not a promise of astrological correction — a better chart, an improved Dasha. It is a statement about the ontological transformation of the soul's relationship to cosmic forces....

This is not the dismissal of planetary influence; it is its theological reframing....

What it promises is that the devotee who is anchored in Shiva-bhakti — whose soul is oriented toward Pati rather than contracted around its own Prarabdha — will not be bound by what the planets deliver. The experience may still occur. Its binding power will not.....

This reflects the Siddhantam's precise theological priority: the devotee's relationship is with Pati, and Pati's Grace operates at a level that encompasses and transcends the Pasa order of which the planets are a part....

The practice of its recitation is itself a living enactment of the philosophical principle: the devotee does not ignore the astrological warning, nor does the devotee capitulate to fatalism. Instead, the devotee brings the planetary situation into the field of Bhakti — into Shiva's presence — and there the cosmic arithmetic is reconstituted.....

..this practice as expressing what the Siddhantam teaches: that Karma is real, that planetary influence is real, that they must be engaged and not bypassed — but that Arul operates from a level that neither Karma nor planets can constrain. 

The Kolaru Pathigam is not magic. It is sadhana — it reorients the soul's fundamental posture from anxiety about cosmic forces to trust in the sovereignty of Shiva. And in that reorientation, the planetary machinery — still running, still delivering its consequences — ceases to be the defining reality of the soul's experience."

I guess, though, I don't have viragya or the determination that buries all other aspirations in solely wanting only to reach the Holy Feet of the divine, in my charts; their mercy, grace, and blessing have fallen on me, seeing those little moments where I attempt to carry out what they say or gave me to do, which has brought me this far. This is enough. And Agathiyar, in telling me that I had taken crores of years, traveling with him, to just arrive at this stage only now, has me realize that there is a long way ahead. As Supramania Swami and Tavayogi say that there is always a tomorrow, another birth where we could perfect our skills and attain Siddhahood and Godhead, I shall keep polishing my skills and keep trying. 

Though it seems our life is predetermined and we have to live it, Siva Thondan, in sharing Thirugnana Sambandar's song, gives us hope.

Saiva Siddhantam takes karma seriously enough to have built a precise and systematic account of it. It takes planetary influence seriously enough to situate the Navagrahas within a coherent cosmological hierarchy. And it takes liberation seriously enough to insist that neither karma nor cosmic alignment constitutes the soul's final condition.

The Siddhas and the divine have the final say!

Of Astrology, Palmistry, Nadi Reading, and Soul Contract Reading

Astrology, Palmistry, Nadi reading, and Soul Contract Reading help us know ourselves and the direction we could take, saving us time and money in futile ventures. They can warn us of booby traps along the way. For the spiritually inclined, these could show us to our guru, the path, and the teachings that our soul desires. They address both the desires of man and his creator. 

Srīnāthā Rāghavan wrote in fb about his encounter with an astrologer. 

He called out to me, "What is it you want to know?"

That was pretty much a direct Question, so I replied, "My Future?"

He was quick to answer, "So you know the Present well, I guess?" It was a valid Question and I did not have any answer for it, when He said, "Astrology, as much as it gives you an idea of the Future, it's primarily meant to tell you how to use the Present well."

I listened to His wise words, as He continued, "Our Future is based on the choices made in the Present, so it is very important to gauge and know all the options available with us in the NOW, and which one to choose so the future is pleasant."

I asked, "Then isn't our Future predetermined?" To which He replied, "A part of it is fixed, what we call Fate, and a part of it is in your hands, what we call Destiny."

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Fate is like Laws and Destiny akin to Rules, the former is fixed and predetermined and rarely can be broken, but the latter can be broken through effort, and if not broken, then at least bent as per situation," He said.

After reading my birth chart and telling me some points to take note, He said, "Don't rely on the Stars too much, as even they are controlled by a Higher Power & Intelligence. So either believe in the intelligence of THAT (God) or THIS (Yourself). 

So too my friend and reader Siva Thindan, in writing about "The Kolaru Pathigam's refrain, which appears in each verse with structural variations, states the central theological proposition with directness: the planets — all of them, in whatever configuration — become 'pure good' (Nanmayae Aavaarkal, நன்மையே ஆவார்கள்) for one who has taken refuge in Shiva at Sirkazhi. This is not a promise of astrological correction — a better chart, an improved Dasha. It is a statement about the ontological transformation of the soul's relationship to cosmic forces."

Though I had my horoscope charted at the age of 23, by Sri AM Duraisamy Aiya from my hometown on 15 May 1983, I never kept track of what was said. 

As I was saved by the Chinese gods as an infant, I frequented Chinese temples too in the eighties. There, I was asked to shake a can of numbered sticks. One carrying the number 11 dropped. The temple priest opened up a huge book, looked for this number, and started predicting. He told me that I had the Gods as my friend. 

Later in the nineties, when I was introduced to Dr.Krishnan by Mr. Sethu from my office, he did a reading on 12 Feb 1996, when I was 37. I began to frequent him. Was it a coincidence that I should have a reading during the Guru dasa at both times? I began to show a keen interest. I bought books on astrology and read them. I took an interest in reading about numerology, too. 

Dr.Krishnan spoke about many things, including my health concerns, education and career, business opportunities, and career switch. He told me that I was a priest in the last birth. He said that the stars showed that I was inclined to do service and religious deeds. He predicted that I would meet my guru and travel to India, which did take place in 2003. These were later told to me by Agathiyar in my Nadi reading in 2002. 

In 1997, Dr.Krishnan gave me tips on doing puja and meditation, and suggested which gemstones to wear. I wore the Rasamani bead he made me on 16 March 1997. Being a Siddha physician too, he gave me tips on proper diet. I was moved to learn about Siddha medicine and bought books and read them. 

Coming out of Goddess Mariamman's temple in Jalan Bandar, Kuala Lumpur, after praying to her, I chanced to see an astrologer practicing Kili Jotidam, having a parrot on the five-foot way in front of the temple. As I was undecided whether I should opt for a job in a new Ministry or stay put in my present, I consulted the parrot, which picked a card numbered 21 that carried a painting of Goddess Saraswathy. She told me to stay put. I did as told. 

I wore the blue sapphire later on 2 Dec 1997 on the advice of Dr.Krishnan. I was moved to know more about gemstones and bought books and read about them. 

On 13 Nov 1998, Dr.Krishnan told me that I could take up politics or spirituality. I had missed to reap gains and benefits due to the planetary positions. He surprised me by saying it was not necessary to chart the horoscopes of my wife and children and went on to speak about them based on my chart. He spoke about the Siddhas and their Nadi for the very first time, while I sat and listened in a state of bluriness, when I asked if his predictions had never materialized for others. As he did not point me to a Nadi reader, nor did I have any idea to travel to India, I left it at that.

In 2002, when Muralidharan Saminathan from my office talked about his experience in seeing his Nadi in 2000, an excitement came over me to see mine. He made an appointment, and I saw myself sit before a Nadi reader in Petaling Jaya. Agathiyar asked that I go to India on a pilgrimage to temples and to carry out remedies for my past karma. 

I left for India in 2003. I met my very first guru, Supramania Swami of Tiruvannamalai. Returning home, I had a nine gem-studded gold ring made and wore it on my finger after Swami told me it would do me some good. 

In 2005, I met Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram in Batu Caves, where he would come to break my hold on all things dear to me, including him. Agathiyar, too, in the years to come, had me drop my hold on all that he had me carry out, and even my hold on him. 

Subsequently, Agathiyar, in another Nadi reading, asked that I go over to India and stay at his ashram for several days. I left for India after he returned to his ashram. Tavayogi took me places. He had me drop my hold on the Rasamani and the Navarathna ring. Supramania Swami, being an astrologer too, in wanting to know why I came to him in 2003, sat down to chart my horoscope. 

In 2013, when Agathiyar asked that I visit Tavayogi, I left with my family. 

Tavayogi and Mataji came to Malaysia again in 2016 to attend my daughter's wedding. That was to be his last visit to Malaysia. 

I left for the inauguration of his new ashram, later that year, with fellow devotees from Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM). 

Tavayogi went into Samadhi in 2018.

On 4 Feb 2024, Haary Roshaahn Yograj read my "Soul Contract Reading," also referred to as a "Tool for Accession" for mankind. where we get to know our purpose here and how far we have lived it out or worked on it. He wanted to read mine after getting to know me, AVM, and engaging in the many puja and charity programs we held. 

I have indulged in astrology and numerology, but this was simply superb. It struck me that Agathiyar, too, had given humanity 5 tenets as tools for accession. Agathiyar, in his 5 tenets to mankind list the first as knowing one's purpose. Reading the 5th purpose, "Once you work through it all, you begin to manifest your soul purpose by helping and giving back to humanity". Haary wrote in, "Wow, Uncle Number 5 is the same as what I explained. 

He gave his interpretation of this reading.

Every soul, before being born on earth, they have chosen their name prehand, and this is then telepathically channeled to its parents. Intuitively, the parents feel to name their child a specific name. This is not a coincidence; this is because THE SOUL HAS CHOSEN ITS JOURNEY AND ITS NAME PREHAND.

A Soul Contract Reading (also known as the Spiritual Numerology of Moses) is an accurate channeled system of spiritual interpretations of your birth name. From your birth name, we decode the Spiritual Map of Your Life, so you can align with it and manifest your soul purpose.

Soul contract reading gives you a deeper understanding from the spiritual perspective of what you are here to experience in this lifetime, what are your challenges, and what possible lessons that you might need to learn and face. With that, you also have certain strengths or gifts within yourself. And lastly, we are able to decode what you are here to achieve in this lifetime. And once you have worked through all this, you then become the positive aspect of all the numbers, and you begin to manifest your soul purpose by helping and giving back to humanity by using your talent." 

I was asked to come out of my cocoon and take up my purpose as revealed in the "Soul Contract Reading". My purpose in coming here was to be a catalytic spiritual teacher. Agathiyar came to endorse this reading later and told me that he had now to prepare me to fit the role. He asked me how was he to depend on one person to do his work. He had to raise everyone to come to the state where they carry out his work. Again, Agathiyar said that since I had desired it, he had to fulfill the Vasana or Karmic imprint by preparing me for the role. 

Running a search on the term "A spiritual Catalyst", Teal Swan at https://tealswan.com/resource, gives a detailed description of it. 

"A spiritual Catalyst is a person who precipitates an event or a change on the level of spirit (the essential, incorporeal part of someone or something). Spiritual Catalysts, like gurus, have attained a high level of spiritual authority, awareness, and knowledge, which enables them to guide others. Spiritual Catalysts, however, do not aim to become “Leaders” to their disciples as much as they wish to cause their disciples to question and find answers within themselves. It is the firm belief of a Spiritual Catalyst that if a person is caused to initiate their own exploration on the level of spirit, that person will then become the conscious leader of their own life. It is also the belief of a Spiritual Catalyst that if a person becomes the conscious creator and leader of their own life, that their life will inevitably become a kind of living enlightenment; thereby allowing that person to live in a continuous state of internal peace and joy."

If previously Agathiyar had told me that he would not "expose" me, giving me the task to just keep writing, later, Agathiyar came along asking if he should make me a guru, telling me that I had desired it, again another Vasana, but immediately retracted the offer, saying he would make me somebody else. As with everything else, I am not giving much thought to it, telling myself that I will eventually come to know. 

Going by the gift of life that I had after my parents brought me to the Chinese Gods who saved me as an infant, going by the change in the planetary positions of my horoscope that Agathiyar revealed in the Nadi, which was pretty different from what I had held to earlier, charted by Sri AM Duraisamy and Dr.Krishnan, and with Lord Muruga coming in a Nadi reading in 2018 and declaring that he had henceforth changed my fate, it is pretty apparent that the Siddhas can change our fate and write a new destiny. I shall keep holding on to them for life. 

THE MIGHT OF AGATHIYAR

In wanting to learn astrology back then, I bought books and looked through them. In plotting my horoscope for a start, I found it to be a great science. The challenge is not in plotting it but in delivering the Gochara Palan or providing a reading of the circumstances that arise from and as a result of these planetary movements. Astrology cannot be said to be a hoax, for Thirugnana Sambandar himself had composed a hymn, "The Kolaru Pathigam", that acknowledges the planetary reality, as Siva Thondan wrote earlier.

In coming before Agathiyar and his Nadi reading for me, Agathiyar, besides mapping out my horoscope, spoke about karma and curses, and revealed mine too, and gave remedies to soften the effects of my past actions. Though initially the Siddhas tend to help us work out our karma, the ailments of the body, and address our needs towards our continued sustenance and survival, they later bring us to a state of acceptance. They then work on the soul, "orienting it toward Pati rather than contracted around its own Prarabdha." "The experience may still occur. Its binding power will not," says Siva Thondan. When the soul or Pasu deals directly with God, "Pati's Grace operates at a level that encompasses and transcends the Pasa order of which the planets are a part."

And so I have come to know why Tavayogi would call all those who came before him with problems and troubles, to worship the Siddhas. 

Furthermore, it is said that the Siddhas had approached Lord Brahma and voiced a similar concern to him in the past. Velayutham Karthikeyan Aiya, the admin and author behind the blog "Siththan Arul", reveals in his blog entry, taking us back to a time immemorial, when the most compassionate and kind Siddhas presented their wishes for humanity to God or Erai. The Siddhas had wished that whoever seeks them out for solutions to their problems and surrenders to them, shall be pardoned for their past deeds. However bad and evil they may be, they shall not be put through the trial and tribulations and made to face the consequences, but instead be saved. When Erai granted the Siddhas this wish, the next instant the Siddhas wrote down in Tamil prose on dried palm leaves that came to be known as the Nadi, the reasons for each individual’s sufferings, listed out solutions and remedies, and showed ways and means to overcome or end the seeker's problems, sins, diseases, illnesses, and sufferings. 

Karthikeyan Aiya adds that the Nadi has been written by Siddhas for us to know about our past, the present, and the future. The Siddhas are those who know the past, present, and the future. They were gnosis. The Siddhas were similar to a company’s secretary. The Siddhas were God’s messengers. When those who had prayed to God and had yet to receive God’s blessings approached the Siddhas instead, they immediately received God’s blessings.

If I understood that this one sage, the Almighty Agathiyar, was equivalent to all the gods when it was told that he was sent to the south to balance the world that had tilted due to the presence of the Gods and Goddesses gathered to witness Lord Siva and Pravathy's wedding in the north, Velayutham Karthikeyan Aiya's post on Thursday, 12 September 2013, sheds further truths. In Agathiyar's revelations in 2009 to Karthikeyan Aiya's friend, the famed Jeeva Nadi Guru of Chennai, through the Jeeva Nadi in his possession, Agathiyar says that,

"I had taken the Avatar Lord Murugan as my guru. Lord Shiva has handed over 75% of his authority to me. Lord Vishnu has given all of his authority, blessing me to conduct myself on his behalf. Thus, I have been given all the powers of Lord Vishnu. Lord Brahma, on his behalf, surrendered all the knowledge of his (Brahma's) creation to me. Lord Brahma granted that if I wished so, I could change the fate and destiny of all those who were dumb and not knowledgeable, of unsatisfactory health, mentally retarded, lame, paralyzed, deaf and dumb, and blind, all created by Lord Brahma for various reasons known only to him (Brahma)."

As Siva Thodan wrote: "the Siddhantam teaches: that Karma is real, that planetary influence is real, that they must be engaged and not bypassed — but that Arul operates from a level that neither Karma nor planets can constrain."

"The devotee in bringing the planetary situation into the field of Bhakti — into Shiva's presence — and there the cosmic arithmetic is reconstituted."

"The Kolaru Pathigam is not magic. It is sadhana — it reorients the soul's fundamental posture from anxiety about cosmic forces to trust in the sovereignty of Shiva. And in that reorientation, the planetary machinery — still running, still delivering its consequences — ceases to be the defining reality of the soul's experience."

"The deepest paradox of Saiva Siddhantam: the very Pasam — the bonds of Anavam, Karma, and Maya — that obscure the soul from Shiva are simultaneously the curriculum through which the soul grows capable of receiving Shiva's grace. The Pasam, in Saiva Siddhantam, is not ultimately opposed to Shiva. It is the very material through which Shiva works."

 "The Pasu struggles within Prakriti Maya."

When we surrender looking out to the basic needs and the struggles in our daily life to the divine, we have more time to look within - at our soul or Pasu.

While Nadi and horoscope readings reveal the person that we are and the reasons for taking birth, helping us to understand our Prarabdha karma, the soul can only be known by the guru pointing it out. Sivam is then known by the grace of the divine. 

Surrendering self-willed action by Karma Marga, going beyond feeling by Bhakti, and eventually going beyond thoughts by Gnana, thence we come to the threshold of Gnana Marga for good. 

When the vessel is ready for the divine energy to traverse within and along its network of nerves, the Siddhas take control of the breath and deliver the much-anticipated and awaited Kundalini energy, breaking through all the blockages inherent in the body, consuming the poison, opening up the chakras, and delivering ambrosia that reverses the aging process of the blessed devotee. When I surrendered to Agathiyar in 2002, took heed of his words, did his will, carried out the given practices, the Kundalini arose and made its way to the higher reaches. My effort was only in faithfully and diligently carrying out the Yoga Asanas and Pranayama practices that Tavayogi showed me in 2007. It opened the Muladhara without my knowledge, bringing on intense pain in my lower back, down to my right foot, which I had to bear for some 2 1/2 years. In 2022, Agathiyar opened the gates to the dam at Svadishtana, which withheld and forced this force to pond and stagnate, allowing it to flow swiftly in a couple of days to the Sahasrara, where the 1000-petaled lotus blossomed in all its glory and majesty. When I asked him if there were any further practices, he replied that there were none and that she would do her work. If Tavayogi told me the same too, that "Our effort is only till Svathisthana. The Siddhas shall lead us on beyond that", Lucy Cornelssen, in her book "Hunting The 'I' ", Sri Ramanashramam, 2005, quotes Ramana as saying, "Your efforts can extend only thus far. Then the Beyond (Sakti) will take care of itself. You are helpless there. No effort can reach it......He knows what is best and when and how to do it. Leave everything entirely to him. His is the burden; you have no longer any cares. All your cares are his. Such is surrender. This is bhakti."

Lucy writes, "Henceforth his karma is his guru's, his desire conforms to his guru's, his possessions are those of his guru's, his responsibilities become those of his guru's, his body, mind, and soul are that of his guru's."

The self, soul, or JeevAtma that designed and engineered this body for its purpose in coming here, which eventually turned out to be to do Agathiyar's tasks, went into hiding and later returned to take up the calling to read the Nadi, whence a beautiful journey began that has now come to a closure, revealing the Bigger Self or Soul, Param or ParamAtma.

Agathiyar says that we are all one Atma, one energy that has taken various forms, and that we are here to do God's work. He adds that,

"The 'I' has to be erased. Only then shall the Atma surface. That is my Atma too. All is God's Atma (ParamAtma). We are all part of God. We have come to do his work. We have taken many births. But then we only attended to our work. At least begin to do God's work now. Ask Agathiyan what your purpose is in coming here. He shall make you realize. He shall guide you on what to do and what to let go. Your Atma shall speak to you. Only when you drop your work shall your Atma arise. It will begin to do its work. Agathiyan shall drive your Atma and bring it with him. It shall not be after death but right now in the here. It is not death. Do not waste precious time by stalling. Everything should happen now in the present. It should all take place while you are alive. Once life leaves you, you are just a corpse. It serves no purpose. Achieve it while alive. Lord Murugan had come earlier and reminded you of the need to surrender. This is the reason. Surrender unto me. Surrender when you are still alive. There is nothing to achieve after death. Karma shall follow the dead. If you achieve it while still alive, there is no death. Neither is there karma."

அனைத்தும் ஒரே ஆத்மா. ஒரே சக்தி கூடி செயற்படுகின்றோம். அவ்வளவுதான். இறைவனின் செயலைச் செலுத்துகிறோம். 

உங்கள் வடிவம் நாமம் மறைய வேண்டும். அந்த நான் மறைய வேண்டும். அப்போது மிஞ்சி இருப்பது பரிசுத்த ஆத்மா. அது என் ஆன்மா. அகத்தியனின் ஆத்மா. ஈசனின் ஆத்மா. சுப்பிரமணியனின் ஆத்மா. தவயோகியின் ஆத்மா. முருகனின் ஆத்மா. அன்னையின் ஆத்மா. விஷ்ணுவின் ஆத்மா. 

நாம் அனைவரும் கடவுளின் அம்சம். அவரின் வேலையைப் பார்ப்பத்திற்கு வந்திருக்கின்றோம். பல பிறப்பு எடுத்து விட்டோம். அப்போது நாம் காரியத்தைப் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருந்தோம். இனியாவது இறைவனின் காரியத்தைப் பார்ப்போம். 

அகத்தியனிடம் கேளுங்கள் "நான் எதற்கு வந்தேன்?" அவன் உணர்த்துவான். எதனை நீங்கள் செய்யணும் என்று, எதனை நீங்கள் செய்யலாகாது என்று, அவன் உணர்த்துவான். 

உங்களுடைய ஆத்மா உங்களிடம் பேசும். எப்போது உங்களுடைய காரியத்தை விட்டு விடுகிறீர்கள் அன்றுதான் உங்களுடைய ஆத்மா வெளிவரும். அது தன்காரியத்தைப் பார்க்கும். 

அகத்தியன் உங்கள் ஆத்மாவிற்குள் செலுத்துவான். உங்கள் ஆத்மாவை தன்னுடன் கூட்டிச் செல்வான். அது இறப்புக்கு பின்னர் இல்லை இப்போதே இத்தருணமே கூட்டிச் செல்வான். அது இறப்புக்கு சமம் இல்லை. இறப்புக்கு பின்னர்தான் அனைத்தும் நடக்கின்றது என்று எண்ணிக்கொண்டு பொன்னான காலங்களைப் போக்கி விடுகின்றனர். அனைத்துமே இப்போதே நடக்க வேண்டும். அனைவரும் என்னுடன் இப்போதே வந்து சேர வேண்டும். உங்களின் ஆத்மா என்னோடு இணைய வேண்டும். அனைத்தும் உயிருடன் இருக்கும் போதே நடந்தேற வேண்டும். உயிர் பிரிந்தபின் அது வெறும் சவம். யாருக்கும் பயன் அற்று அழுகி போகும். உயிர் இருக்கும் போதே அனைத்தையும் சாதித்து விடுங்கள். 

அமைதியாக அகத்தியன் செயல் படுவான். முதலில் உங்களை என்னிடம் ஒப்படையுங்கள். அன்றே என் குருநாதன் பலமுறை உங்களிடம் வந்து அமர்ந்து உங்களிடம் பலமுறை கேட்டான் சரணம் அடைந்து விட்டீர்களா? அதற்கு இதுதான் அர்த்தம். உயிர் இருக்கும் போதே சரண் அடைந்து விடுங்கள். இறப்புக்கு பின்னர் ஏதும் இல்லை. இறந்தவனுக்குத்தான் மறுபிறப்பு. இறந்தவனுக்குத்தான் கர்மா தொடரும். இருக்கும் போதே சாதித்து விட்டால் மரணமும் இல்லை கர்மாவும் இல்லை.

As we recall all the above that Agathiyar told us in January of 2022, Agathiyar reminds us why Lord Murugan came to ask us to surrender. It is only when we surrender that the divine can work on us. It is only when the "I" that is thought to be the doer submits to the holy feet of the divine that the Atma that resides within us and has been watching silently can arise to lead us to greater heights, not to achieve more monetary gains, but to show the way to God. This JeevAtma shall lead us to the ParamAtma. 

Having got the greatest boon from Agathiyar, this is where I have to tread with caution, for this last phase is akin to walking on the razor's edge. I have to keep reminding myself of all the teachings of my gurus, especially on humbleness, and not slip into arrogance that destroyed King Ravana of the past and many gurus in present times too, for history stands witness to how arrogance, the ego, destroys man. In witnessing others' flaws and their downfall, it serves as a lesson for us to take charge of our lives the way the Siddhas intended and desired. This is where I have to be continuously aware of my consciousness and senses, and keep watch. This could yet be another test for me, probably my final, after having tested me several times earlier to see if I was a viable candidate for the post that the Siddhas have reserved for me. I am glad and grateful that I have made it this far to qualify to be a candidate to join their ranks. In holding to Agathiyar's feet, we can be assured that we will be delivered safe and sound to the holy land. 

THE SOUL'S JOURNEY

Although I was into Sariyai, taking after my parents, visiting temples, and praying to the many deities at my home altar, I only came to do rituals on my own after coming to the Siddha path. Agathiyar, in calling me to the worship of the Siddhas, in my Nadi reading in 2002, armed me with his painting and a booklet carrying the names of the Siddhas. He then sent Tavayogi over to our shores in 2005, where Tavayogi officially initiated me into doing rituals, such as lighting the sacred fire or Homam. I later guided my family after he asked that I bring them into the Siddha worship too. I began doing the ritual of libation or Abhisegam to Agathiyar's bronze statue, which Agathiyar had me commission and made in Swamimalai in 2010. Later, he sent many youths to watch and participate in our family puja beginning in 2013. Agathiyar came through the Nadi regularly to guide me, apart from Tavayogi, who would do the same through phone calls or whenever he visits Malaysia. If Agathiyar showed me to Tavayogi, Tavayogi asked me not to hold to him, instead showed me to Agathiyar. Tavayogi, who tells us that Agathiyar was God, Taniperung Kadavul, showed me Agathiyar as syllables of his Moola mantra written on paper when he initiated me and several others the first time, on his visit to Malaysia in 2005. After a Nadi reading, where Agathiyar sends me to receive another initiation from him, in private, it came as a "touch" on my shoulders. Tavayogi tells me that Agathiyar came as light the night I arrived at his ashram shortly after, asking what he was going to give me. Bringing me to the woods and jungles, he pointed me to Agathiyar as nature or Prapanjam, showering flower petals on us and coming as aromas. Bringing me to see the miracle where Agathiyar opens his left eye in the granite statue of him at Agasthiyampalli, as Agathiyar had promised in the Nadi, Tavayogi throws in a bonus when we are at Papanasam, where Agathiyar opens both his eyes to see us. Giving me another initiation as a bonus and a parting gift, he told me that Agathiyar was the breath or Vaasi. Agathiyar, who then comes as a bronze statue, an exact replica of his granite statue at Agasthiyampalli in 2010, opens his eyes in his statue in 2013. 

Having his devotees bring my family and me to the Kallar hills in 2013, Tavayogi tells me that Agathiyar had come to him as light in the hills. Coming down the steps of the Nattatreeswarar temple in Erode, he tells me that both Agathiyar and Siva were one. Agathiyar, in asking me to let go of him too, asked, "How shall we become one?" He asked that I come to know the Soul or Atma and know Sivam. 

I have come one full cycle. I started my journey as a spark, a soul from the source, according to Agathiyar, many crores of years ago, lived through many lives, including that of a Namboothiri priest in Kerala and a fruit seller in Papanasam, took up this body that my soul designed for its current purpose and soon went into hiding, only to have Agathiyar call it out and reveal its purpose through the Nadi and have Tavayogi come knocking on its door, and bringing it to familiar places reminding it of its past bond. Though Agathiyar knows me from the past, I have forgotten him. He had to come knocking on my door and bring me places to remind me of our bond. 

But the sad thing is that I have yet to know Agathiyar. I do not know if he was for real. I do not know if he is thin and tall or short and stout. I do not know if he is fair skin or dark. I do not know if he is a she either. Though he has shown himself to some who visited my home he has not shown himself to my family or me. I do not know any "his"tory of his except for what has widely been spread by way of mouth, in the Siddha texts, in books, in research papers, in Nadis, in movies, etc., and the little preview he gave us in his Nadi reading.

Dr. Mandayam Kumar from the Siddha Medical Research Institute in Bangalore gives a short narrative about Agathiyar at http://www.tknsiddha.com/medicine/origin/ and in another article of his, "Siddha Agastya – Foremost of the Siddhas". The Dr mentions that it was possible to find out details about Agathiyar during the course of literary research on the Siddha medical sciences in a Tamil manuscript written on palm leaves about 3,000 years ago. The text attributed to Lord Muruga is titled "Prapancha Kaandam," and according to the Dr runs into several volumes. Agathiyar narrated the contents while his student Pulastyar recorded it.

Sage Agastya is stated to have been born nearly 5000 years prior to the commencement of Kali Yuga, at a place in Gujarat, as the son of Bhargava and Indumathi, who followed the traditional Pasupatha cult which was widely prevalent at that time.

Agathiyar was said to have been born about 4573 years prior to the commencement of Kali Yuga at a place in Gujarat, in the early hours of Tuesday, 14 February 7673 BC. Belonging to the early Aryan race, his father Bhargava was well-learned, while his mother Indumathi was from Punjab. They were both devotees of the Pasupatha order of Rishabha Muni. 

Agathiyar had his early education in Gujarat. As his thirst for knowledge, in particular on philosophy, yoga, medicine, and astronomy, was immense, he traveled all over Kashmir, Tibet, China, Nepal, and Kailas in Manchuria. (Mount Kailas was deemed to be in Manchuria during that time). He became a disciple of Nandi and Dhanvantri. He then traveled towards the south to Cambodia and Malaya (present-day Malaysia). In Cambodia, he established the very first of his many educational institutions for the propagation of philosophy and science. After establishing a similar institution and hospital in Malaya, he crossed the sea to the continent of Kumari Kandam. During Agathiyar’s time, Kumari Kandam occupied a vast area extending from present-day Sri Lanka to the Antarctic. King Ravana, a great devotee of Lord Shiva, who ruled this continent, gave away a portion of his kingdom to Agathiyar to establish more institutions. The foremost of these institutions in this region was known as Arunodaya Giri or Meozone. Here Agathiyar practiced Yoga and taught it to his large following of disciples. Agathiyar then went back north to Malaya, where he was betrothed to the king’s daughter. (Pa. Kamalakannan in "Cittar Uruvil Shivaperuman", Vanathi Pathippakam, 2007, says Agathiyar married Yasomadhi from Cambodia. Among his children who ruled the land, Yasovarma became a famous ruler.)

He then ruled the kingdom of Vijayapuri. He returned to Kumari Kandam, where he met Lord Murugan in the form of Supramaniar at Trikona Malai (present-day Trincomalee). At the hill station called Kadari Kama or Kadhirgama, Lord Murugan imparted spiritual knowledge to Agathiyar. 

Agathiyar could see impending calamities take place in the future during his meditation. As a result, he moved to the North Pole, considering it to be a safe place. This period of his move to the Arctic was said to coincide with the end of the Dwapara Yuga, placed at about 6580 BC. Just as he had seen an impending calamity and had decided to move north, a tremendous explosion on the planet Mars sends a piece of debris toward Earth. This impact caused a great deluge on Earth. Significant portions of Kumari Kandam submerged into the Indian Ocean. Continental drift then resulted in the present-day arrangement of this region. After the great flood, the Himalayan mountain range emerged in North India. 

Amidst all these geographical changes, says the Dr, Agathiyar went seeking a place that would not be affected by future calamities. He located a mountain range in South India. This is the present-day Courtalam. This spot is said to be the safest place and free from any future catastrophes. Agathiyar met Lord Dhakshinamurthi, Shenbaga Devi, and Lord Murugan at Mahadeva Giri in Courtalam. This meeting also signified the commencement of the Kali Yuga. Other Siddhas then started coming to Mahadeva Giri. Lord Dhakshinamurthi revived the knowledge of the Vedas and instructed these Siddhas to propagate this knowledge in the appropriate manner and time for the benefit of humanity. The imparting of this knowledge was said to have taken place on the 21st day of the Tamil month of Kartigai, during the eleventh year, Eswara Samvatsara, of Kali Yuga. Agathiyar gave much importance to this day. All his dating was reckoned from this day. 

After extensive discussions held in Alagan Kulam, the Siddhas recorded their knowledge on palm leaves and presented them to Lord Dhakshinamurthi for his perusal. This included the 64 kinds of learning, 18 Puranas, 96 tattvas, and 48 branches of scientific knowledge. Agathiyar, on the instruction of Lord Murugan, originated the Tamil language. The entire literature in Tamil came to be called "Siddhaveda". It was then translated into the four existing languages of that period, which were Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew, and Chinese. 

Bhogar from China (Agathiyar in the Jeeva Nadi revelation to Hanumathdasan of Chennai says Bhogar was from Mongolia), Thaeraiyar from Malaya, Yugimuni from Kerala, Pulipani from Kantha Malai, and Pulastyar, and Kapiyar all served Agathiyar. A conference of Siddhas called Siddhar Sabai was held during the 53rd year, Siddharti Samvatsara, of Kali Yuga at Courtalam. An institution known as Siddhar Gnana Koodam was inaugurated by Lord Murugan and was headed by Agathiyar. Pulastyar and Kapiyar headed the literary section while Pulipani headed research. Thaeraiyar, an exponent in surgery, headed a medical research center established at Thorana Malai. Yugimuni, who was into herbal medicines, headed an Ayurvedic hospital at Paradesi Kundai. Bhogar, who was in charge of all scientific research, established an alchemy research center at Tiruparankundram. Pambatti headed a team researching venom at Marudamalai. After having established these institutions, Agathiyar again started on an extensive mission of propagating the wealth of knowledge gained by these Siddhas in Tibet, Manchuria, Egypt, Palestine, Rome, America, Africa, Malaya, and the Arab world. 

After satisfactorily completing their mission of propagating the said teachings, the Siddhas went into samadhi, merging themselves into the cosmos. Supramaniar went into samadhi in Thorana Malai, Bhogar in Palani, Thaeraiyar, Pulipani, and Yugimuni in Kantha Malai, and Agathiyar himself chose to come back to Courtalam. He chose a spot called Dhashina Meru in the Pothigai hills. This spot is also the abode of Dhakshinamurthi.

P. Karthigayan, in his book "The History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", Notion Press, 2016, writes that Agathiyar had many mentors, including (Lord) Siva and (Lord) Kumaran, and an equal number of disciples. Agathiyar, in his search for knowledge, approached many people from various communities, finally picked up the yogic way, and excelled in it. On achieving the inner glow, he took on the name Agathiyar. P. Karthigayan lists out an extensive list of Agathiyar's contributions towards the community and humanity, hence receiving the famed title Gurumuni or great mentor. P. Karthigayan dates Agathiyar's achievements accordingly as pre- and post-Sanga period, whence the establishment of the Sangam or literary academia took place. If during his pre-Sanga days, he was into yogic practices, after the establishment of the Sanga, in his post-Sanga years, he concentrated on medicine and science. He established more Sangams and monasteries, pioneered and promoted the Tamil script and Tamil grammar, collected and compiled the works of the Siddhas and published them, streamlined the Siva faith, spread the Siddha Marga, and exposed the false teachings, in total bringing a Renaissance. His greatest achievement was his ability to live for four eons, at the time of mention in writing by Bhogar, and still lives among us in the present times. Agathiyar is said to have "given rise to 48 generations." 

M. Govindan, in "Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition", Kriya Yoga Publications, Quebec, Canada, 1991, details Agathiyar's journey as starting at Agastya Ashram near Nasik (Pancavati in ancient times), married King Vidarbha’s daughter Lobhamudra (mentioned in the Mahabharata), and met up with Rama. Then his pilgrimage takes him south, where he has a residence at Malakuta near Badami (ancient Vatapi Puram or Dakshina Kasi) in the northern part of present-day Karnataka. He then comes further south to the Pothigai Hills. He moves on to the Indonesian islands, the islands of Borneo, and takes up residence in Maha Malaya hill in Malaya Dvipa. He enters Siam (present-day Thailand) and Cambodia, where he marries Yasomadhi. They beget a young prince named Yasovarma. Agathiyar is reported to be living until the present day at Courtalam.

Pon. Govindaswamy, in his book, "Sirsabaiyum Porsabaiyum", Bharath Book Bureau, 1985, mentions that Agathiyar took birth as Valluvar and gave us the "Tirukural" besides other texts. He mentions that Agathiyar took birth as Ramalinga Adigal in the 19th century and gave us the "Tiruarutpa". 

When the south tip had raised after all the Gods and Goddesses, Devas and Devis, Siddhas, Rishis, Munis, and many more deities and divinities gathered at Kailash to witness Lord Shiva's marriage to Goddess Parvathi, Agathiyar was sent to the south to bring about a balance. Pon. Govindaswamy, in his book, "Vallalarum Bramagnana Sangamum", Bharath Book Bureau, calls this event where the earth tilted a Mystical Occult Event. This event is mentioned by Tirumular in his Tirumanthiram.

Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar, in his book, "Potrinal Unathu Vinai Agalum Appa", explains further the process through which Agathiyar attained the highest state, that of becoming one with Erai or God. I shall run through a translation of his writing, originally in Tamil, briefly. 

This state was granted to Agathiyar by his Guru Supramaniar (Lord Muruga) because Agathiyar had provided the space, shelter, and all comforts for Supramaniar to carry on with his penances (tapas) and austerities (tavam) in a past birth. Agathiyar was 60 years of age then when Supramaniar attained the body of Light through his tapas, thanks to Agathiyar looking after all of Supramaniar's needs. Supramaniar promised Agathiyar that they shall meet in a subsequent birth and that he shall return the favor. Agathiyar mentions that he learned the Siddha way from Supramaniar. Supramaniar granted Agathiyar the body of Light or Jhothi Nilai in a subsequent birth as an appreciation of Agathiyar's service rendered to him and for helping Supramaniar himself achieve his desire in attaining the Jhothi Nilai. In that birth, Agathiyar traveled in vain in search of his ideal guru. As foretold in the earlier birth, Agathiyar eventually met Supramaniar at Kodaikanal, where Supramaniar made him recall the past and, as promised in return for all his services in the past birth, blessed Agathiyar and taught him secrets of attaining the state of Erai. This reminds us of how Mahavatar Babaji came for Lahiri Mahasaya to redeem him, showing him his past belongings to trigger his memory of his forgotten past. 

Agathiyar began by performing puja to Supramaniar. By way of devotion to Supramaniar, he began to realize that he had had the greatest gift, which was the human birth, which comes by very rarely. Through Supramaniar, he came to know himself and the divinity that resided in the physical body. He understood the very Nature that brought him forth and resided within him. With Supramaniar's guidance and blessings, Agathiyar relished the ambrosia or nectar that came about through his tapas. This removed the seven veils to reveal the Jhothi in him, hence attaining the body of Light. With this came Bliss, Siddhis, and the state of Deathless-ness. Agathiyar attained the five natures or Tanmai of Erai, namely Creation, Sustenance, Destruction, Veiling, and Showering Grace. Supramaniar granted Agathiyar the title Gurumuni and Kumbamuni and sent him off to spread the Siddha way extensively all over the globe, bringing many into his fold. All the Siddhas soon looked upon Agathiyar as their Guru. 

We learn from Vashisht Vaid's blog https://holysageagathiyar.com/ that at the Tamil Sangam, Agathiyar presented before the assembly of Gods and Goddesses, the Sages, Siddhas, Rishis, and Munis, the Five Tenets that defined man's purpose in taking birth. 

There you have it, the many stories and versions of the origin and travels of Agathiyar according to ancient scrolls, masters, and scholars. 

Then, when curiosity took hold of us and we wanted to know from the horse's mouth, Suren placed the question before the grandmaster himself in 2017. Agathiyar has never spilled the beans about his origin to us, until that moment of "confrontation". Although he asked of what use was it to us, the most compassionate and loving father shared a tiny weeny bit with us. The story goes as follows.

Agathiyar, in his very first mortal birth, had the vision of Kailash at a very young age of 10. After having the vision, he took up extreme tapas (tavam), including breath control. With the holy feet of the Sadguru forever in his thought, he reached a state of Nirmala at Kailash. Upon receiving theecha from Lord Kailai Shiva, he was blessed to be born a Siddha. It was a mystical birth. Agathiyar adds that it was not necessary to delve into the source and the details (Rishimulam Nadhimulam Ariyalaagaathu).

Born as a Siddha now and moving in the jungles, sustaining only on fruits, his thoughts were fixed on Erai. He soon had the vision and grace of Goddess Vana Kali. Continuing with his seeking and search for realization and further severe tavam, in Pothigai, Agathiyar came to know about the medicinal benefits of various herbs and plants. Lord Kailai Shiva showed himself in a vision and conferred on him the names Gurumuni, Kudamuni, and Kumbamuni. Though he had merged with Erai, Agathiyar stayed on at Pothigai upon Lord Kailai Shiva's directive. Time went by as Agathiyar went without food, remained in silence, stayed in the state of Vasi, adhered to the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, and performed extreme tapas for the rest of the Yuga. He gained the Siddhi to travel through the air. Having achieved so much, yet Lord Kailai Shiva told Agathiyar that there was something that he had failed to accomplish and do. When Agathiyar asked for further clarification, Lord Kailai Shiva laughed and looked him in the eye, and said, "Although you are an embodiment of Jnana, and those who hold on to your feet shall never face any disappointments, Gurumuni, you do not have a companion as I do." Agathiyar was taken aback. He came to know that the Lord intended to get him engaged to the very representation of Mother Kaveri, and Kaberan's daughter, Lobamutrai. Hence, in this Kali Yuga, his energy that was of Shiv Sakthi came to reside at Kalyana Theertam with the intention of blessing all those who saw him and Lobha Ma as a personification of Shiv Sakthi.

If we have all these great stories to go by, Agathiyar went beyond paper and pen, scriptures and texts, and he went beyond speaking through Nadis, coming into our humble homes and into his devotees, living and dining with us as family, conversing with us, and enjoying the songs that we play. We are blessed to be personally touched by him. His touch has done wonders that words cannot describe. One has to travel his path to know him. Mere research and talk about him only inflates our ego and distances us. One has to take up his course for all of mankind alike, as he had revealed at the Tamil Sangam. 

1. Man has to first and foremost understand his purpose in taking birth. 

2. With his purpose known then, he should come to thank the divine creator or energy that brought forth his birth (through consultation with the lunar forefathers and their angelic hierarchies that co-exist with us down here). 

3. We then thank all the caretakers, both seen and unseen, in the present and the past. 

4. There arises then an obligation on our part to "dutifully aid and help, the ongoing evolution of all co-existing human beings." 

5. The final task is to extend this aid and help towards "the ongoing evolution of all co-existing beings and entities, existing upon the lower levels of the evolutionary ladder, dutifully supporting the manifested matrix or Prapanjam." 

(Summarized from Vashisht Vaid's post on his blog https://holysageagathiyar.com/ )

Rather than investigate his origins and delve into it, Agathiyar walks us on his path and mission instead. One has to course through his teachings, not in the classrooms or in present times online courses, but walk the talk and see his presence everywhere in the good, bad, and ugly too. These experiences bring us closer to knowing the man. 

Agathiyar asked that we let go, even him, to know him. We have to step out of Dvaita into Advaita to become one with him, the Yegan. 

He asks us to know the Tatvas to come to know the soul or JeevAtma or the Pasu that "currently operates within, and navigates the 24 Ashuddha Tattwas." 

One then has to carefully tread the path the Soul brings us to, just as Lord Muruga came to warn us, as "it is operating within the Guna field of Prakriti Maya."

He is then a Jeevan Mukta, a liberated soul. 

"This is what Saiva Siddhantam means when it speaks of liberation not as an escape from the world but as a transformation of one's relationship to it. The cosmos remains. Its order remains. Its instruments of karma — the Navagrahas, the Nakshatras, the turning of Dashas — remain. What does not remain is the misidentification of the soul with its Prarabdha. And in that dissolution, which is the work of Grace alone, the planets that once signified bondage become, as Sambandar sang without hesitation, pure good — Nanmayae." (Source: Siva Thondan)

Finally, "arriving at the summit — the five Suddha Tattwas, the level of Shiva's own nature," we shall know Sivam.

A NEW BEGINNING

Our parents play a great role in shaping our early lives, besides bringing us into being. The dream begins. We begin by being told, shown, and taught survival skills. A part of living is the many moments we connect with God. We are told that there is a God. We are given daily routine practices to follow and adhere to. Although these are initially mechanical in nature, growing up, we start to believe in them. The experiences that come our way build our faith in God. 

My friend and reader Siva Thondan writes,

It begins with faith and belief — Shraddha — not certainty, but the willingness to keep showing up before the altar even when the heart feels dry. 

If we figure and think that we are in charge of our lives, there come moments when we realize that we are not in control and cannot dictate the manner in which we wish things to turn out. We become helpless. We begin to turn to and look out for assistance, guidance, and solutions. Faith and believe begins to erode fast. We head to the temple and surrender all our troubles and problems to the divine, whom we have come to believe resides in these statues and temples. This is the moment God comes in a physical form, taking one of his numerous creations. We must be vigilant in his presence and heed the signs. For instance, a guru might come by taking the burden off our shoulders. We surrender unto him or her, laying all the baggage at his feet and return relieved of the weight that we had shouldered earlier. 

Siva Thondan writes,

The Guru in the Saiva Siddhanta tradition is not merely a teacher — he is the very form through which Pati, the Lord, extends His grace downward toward the bound soul. And yet even the Guru does not walk for us. 

In surrendering to a higher force, we begin to see changes take place. These changes could be as in things beginning to work in our favor. Or the change takes place within us, where we begin to accept it as the will of God and live with it. We could remain as pampered children wanting everything in life, or change and accept the will of God as ours. In the latter instance, in surrendering to God, he then begins his work on us, having given the clearance to do so. A new beginning takes place. We go with the flow. God then becomes personal. The path too becomes personal. The journey, too, is redefined to fulfill the desires, needs, and purpose of the soul in coming here. 

Siva Thondan writes,

Saiva Siddhantam reminds us that the soul — the Pasu — is not uniform in its bondage or its readiness. Each soul carries its own weight of Anava — that primal sense of smallness and separateness — wound tightly around it across countless lifetimes. The loosening of that knot is not a single event. It is a long, patient unraveling, unique to each soul, overseen by Shiva alone in His infinite compassion.

My unraveling is taking crores of human years, says Agathiyar, for he tells me that we have known each other for that number of years. And I am still not there yet. He is still working on me to reach the state of "Suddha Avastha — the state of purified soul-consciousness."

We are all on our way — the layman, the seeker, the guru — each carrying our particular weight of Malam, each receiving our particular measure of grace, each being worked upon by the same silent, tireless, infinitely patient Pati.

Saiva Siddhantam speaks of the soul moving through Kevala Avastha — bound and unaware, shrouded in Anava Malam — into Sakala Avastha, where the soul engages with the world and its experiences become the very classroom of liberation. Most of us live here, in the Sakala — and that is not a failure. It is where the work happens. It is where Charya, Kriya, Yoga, and Jnana — the four-fold path — slowly, faithfully, do their purifying work upon us.

.......practice prepares the vessel. It thins the walls. It makes us more permeable to what is always already pouring toward us.

Meykandar in the Sivagnana Botham reminds us that the soul cannot know itself or Shiva through intellect alone — it must be touched, turned, and transformed from within.

The soul that persists will find, one day, that the silence it once found empty has become full. That the God it once sought outside has been recognized within. That which began as effort has become effortless love — Anbu — which Thirumoolar in the Tirumantiram calls the very substance of the path.

PRACTICAL (& OFTEN BITTER) LESSONS IN LIFE

Speaking to a friend over the phone last night, he mentioned the story of a lady who faced so many problems share them with his friend. His friend, who knew a bit of astrology, asked her to see an astrologer. She then went missing for some three months. Finally catching up with her, she told him that she was sent by the astrologer to do remedies throughout India, but nothing good came from it. On the contrary, she lost more money in following his direction and instructions. His friend, in shifting the blame, asked her why she did them. I told my friend that his friend was to blame because he should have zipped up. I learned the hard way too, when the counselling, my wife and I gave to strangers who stood at our door after Agathiyar claimed that he would send them over, turned unfavorable to them. Calling up Tavayogi on the phone, he asked me why I interfered. I should have shown them to Agathiyar. Indeed, during the times I sat with him as he listened to the problems of many who came to see him when he was in Malaysia back then, he would listen patiently, explain that all their problems were because of Vinai or past karma, and have them worship the Siddhas. He would not say anything else. Neither would he dish out amulets, talismen, mantras, or remedies. He stayed away from taking on others' karma. So my wife and I, after learning the hard way, backed off asking Agathiyar to end all those visits. He listened and stopped sending people around. Then one day, as I stood before his bronze statue in my prayer room, I heard him ask me where I would go if he were to shut his ears. I was stunned. He wanted me to listen to others just as he would listen to all my outpourings to him. The moment we consented to his wish, he started sending them again. But we zip up these days, just listening and providing a shoulder to cry on. 

Then, when a family who had similarly seen the worst of times and did the same as in traveling places that included India for solutions, but to no avail, contacted me to see Agathiyar recently, Agathiyar told them to place all their troubles into the fire pit or Homam that he had them lit in my home, and never look back. Today, they keep coming to thank him because their life has changed for the better. I understood the greatness of carrying out the fire ritual only then. Tavayogi, seeing the onslaught of nature during the Tsunami in 2004, began lighting the Yagam on his ashram grounds the following year to appease Mother Nature, and asked me to do it too, coinciding with the Agathiyar Jayanthi Vizha. 

In subsequent years, he had families sit in on individual and personalized fire pits around the main pit that Tavayogi administered, calling it Sarva Dosa Nivarana Maha Yagam. I understand now that he had gotten them to personally take charge of their karma and practically dispose of it in the fire that they lit. 

Agathiyar too told us that the Siddhas had sat doing this ritual, asking that Tavayogi's life be extended so that he could settle the affairs of the ashram and hand it over to Mataji in 2017. Given an extension, Tavayogi went into Samadhi the following year.

In bringing a halt to all rituals and charity in 2019, Agathiyar told us that we could take them up if necessary. At the height of the pandemic, Lord Shiva gave us a memo asking that we conduct it to assist Mother Nature and Prapanjam in combating the dreaded virus. Fearing a recurrence, Prapanjam herself, coming through a devotee, asked us to do it again.

I am glad that many in our circle have taken up this simple ritual in times of their needs.