As I was on the phone yesterday expressing my condolences to the bereaved husband of a couple who were Agathiyar devotees, where he lost his wife in a road mishap, one of many such tragedies and losses which I had written about in a previous post, there was an incoming call. Ending this conversation shortly after, I called the caller. She and her family and siblings were all devotees of Agathiyar, too. She shared her sister's loss of her 20-year-old son due to an unidentified illness. I comforted her. As I pen this post, another news of the death of an elderly relative reaches my ears.
I am reminded of Agathiyar's call to me to listen to others and not turn them away. I am reminded of the days I spent in the company of Tavayogi, where he would patiently listen to all those who stepped forward before him to share their grievances and sufferings. If he were given space to speak, he would tell them that their losses and sufferings were due to Vinai or past Karma. If they were interested in knowing the means to sail through these tough moments, Tavayogi would call upon them to worship the Siddhas.
Though I came to the Siddha path after the calling to read the Nadi and after Agathiyar asked me to come to the worship of the Siddhas, I could accept this advice from Tavayogi to others, too. Generally, in seeking the blessings of the Siddhas, one would expect the Siddhas to burn one's past Karma and reset one's life for a better future. But that was not to be so. It was not as simple as pressing the reset button on a computer or any other device. I soon learned that one has to first heed the words of the Siddhas, put in the effort, as in going on pilgrimages and carrying out the remedies, rituals, and puja, etc and doing charity as in Sariyai and Kriyai, and carry out the practices given as in any of the eight limbs of Patanjali's Yoga.
But although many have been on the path of worship to the Siddhas, and though only a few engage in Yoga, why do they go on suffering? Is there no end to suffering even after taking the hand of the Siddha? Are we then given false hope? Pondering all this, the following dawned on me.
"Say thanks to this life given by the Almighty. Life comes as a teacher to us. All relationships, friendships, and experiences become lessons in Life."
இறை வழங்கிய இவ் வாழ்க்கைக்கு நன்றி. வாழ்க்கைதான் நமக்கு பலதும் கற்றுத்தருகிறது. அனைத்து உறவும், நட்பும், அனுபவமும் பாடமாக இதில் அடங்கும்.
I was made to realise that each soul had previously asked to engage in these events to experience these moments. While our past karma partly determines the birth we take, our past unfulfilled desires, carried forward into this birth, also begin to germinate and grow. Besides these, the Siddhas push us into circumstances that are beyond our control and against our wishes so that we can learn more lessons from these experiences, too. Just as Ramalinga Adigal mentioned that he built the Satya Jnana Sabai for the Devas to come down and learn, we are being schooled too.
This life is precious, as the saints of the past have decreed. We are to make good use of it. We are to be grateful for this birth and this life that is given to us. As Agathiyar asked us not to research the source and the end, Life is truly unfathomable. We often struggle to make sense of it.
Life is akin to a mill, a train treading the track. Whatever is seen on the journey and digested upon briefly alighting from the carriage at these momentary stops or halts, soon becomes a thing of the past as new discoveries and understanding arise.
Thinking that we had begun to understand it, and take a step back to digest these understandings, another episode or event comes up to turn our previous understanding invalid or less accurate.
No wonder Agathiyar says that we have been together for crores of years. Agathiyar himself is said to have lived for four Yugas. No wonder Buddha, who saw a thousand heads to his left, and came to know as his past births, turning to his right, saw another thousand. It takes that long to learn life's lessons.