I have been known to be utterly concerned about others' plight and misfortunes. At times, my wife would tell me to take a break and even stop caring, seeing me in distress. Why am I overly concerned about others? I would ask myself. Then the answers came by way of the numerous astrologers who took to YouTube to explain the repercussions of the movements of the planets recently in June. Being an Aquarius or Kumbam, I came to know that this was my norm and character, or specifications, as Mahindren says. I cannot do much about it. I have to live with it. The saints in similar circumstances would pray to God to accept it as a part of their nature and pardon them.
And so I came to know the reason why Agathiyar had many people knock on my door too and have me listen to them. I came to know why people on the road who are total strangers too would share their stories. I came to understand why I began to share my jotings of my maiden trip to India, which later started me blogging. I came to understand why Agathiyar had me write too, giving me stories through these numerous encounters. Later, he asked that I share the transformations and changes taking place within me as a result of the practices given.
I have become a storyteller. But it all started when I came to the worship of the Siddhas. I would sit on listening to many who came by the Peedham that Tavayogi officiated in Malaysia in 2005, pouring out their grievances. He would listen patiently. He would ask that they worship the Siddhas, never himself giving solutions or remedies, never sending them places or on pilgrimages. Then one Bala asked me why I came to the Peedham and added that those who came had problems. I told him I had none, and I came because Agathiyar asked that I come to the worship of the Siddhas in my Nadi reading. I stayed long enough to actually begin to believe Bala that everyone who came had problems. But I could not accept it, seeing them accuse the Siddhas of wrongdoings and for all their misfortunes. I was confused, just as I had become confused and angry seeing God, who was supposed to be compassionate, kind, and loving, do harm and mischief in the lives of his devotees whom I came to know back then in the eighties as a bachelor. Now, how can the Siddhas do harm to their devotees and followers too? I told myself that I would prove the skeptics wrong. And so I came to take up the pen rather than the sword and began writing about the Siddhas and the path that I traveled, which, to this day, is like walking on a bed of roses. So when others are in pain, it pains me to see them suffer.
When I searched for anything and everything on the Siddhas after having read the Nadi, and when Nadi reader Thamaraiselvan Aiya came over to my house in 2012 for the puja, he referred me to a website, "Sittargal Rajiyam", for further reading about the Siddhas. Browsing through it led me to another blog, "Siththan Arul," carrying many stories retold by the late Hanumathdasan Aiya of Chennai of seekers who were guided by Agathiyar through the Nadi. These stories were later published in five volumes by Aranthanki Sankar Aiya as "Nadi Sollum Kathaigal" and were an eye-opener for me. It sustained my interest in the Siddhas. Today, I am grateful and glad that Agathiyar has used me as a tool to continue sharing stories of his devotees coming before him and relating the miracles the Siddhas performed in their lives, besides what my family and friends and I saw and experienced.