Many have come and left the path. I guess they have had bad experiences, or rather, their Egos were hurt. We generally want to be pampered, but it does not happen on the Siddha path. The Siddhas break our Ego. They do not break up families, as commonly believed. Only those who survive the test shall see through their game. In a world where we have so many wants and desires that we put forth to God, many come to the Siddhas seeking the same. I remember Tavayogi lamenting that none comes for Gnanam. Agathiyar, too, in later years, sat with us for two consecutive days, pouring his heart out on how seekers have disappointed him. This is what is different between what takes place here and elsewhere, I told my wife. It is true that, as my wife said, they come when we call out to them, but we are humbled further when they sit with us and hold a conversation. Agathiyar humbles us further when he says the Siddhas too are speaking about us just as we speak about them. And I ask myself, are we deserving of that? Are we deserving of their attention? Are we deserving of their grace? In breaking us, they humble us. In having us build an empire, they then have us let go. Eventually, they ask that we even let go of them too, bringing us to acknowledge that the Atma, Sivam, Agathiyar, and we are one. We rest in peace not after leaving the body behind, but right now while still in this body. We attain the holy feet of god or Siva Patham, not after leaving the body, but right now while still in it. We attain Salvation or Mukti not after leaving the body but while in it. We attain Siddhi, or accomplishment, perfection, contentment, fulfillment, and peace, not after leaving the body but while in it. We attain Samadhi, or merger with the Sivam, not after leaving the body but while in it. We realize our Self or Soul not after leaving the body but while in it. Towards this end, the Siddhas always remind us to take care of this Body, which is a Mud Vessel or Kumbam that becomes a Temple and residence of the divine Soul or Atma within, wherein travels the Breath that is a Vehicle of God and Prapanjam.
P. Karthigayan, in his book "The History of Medical and Spiritual Sciences of Siddhas of Tamil Nadu", Notion Press, 2016, makes a clear distinction between the path of the Yogis and the Siddhas.
Yogis considered their body as a bag of sin suitable only for worldly life and rejected the same... They preserved their soul (Atma) with the spirit (Uyir or breath) within.
The Siddhas, on the other hand,
.... considered the body as a means to achieve exalted spiritual heights and immortalized their body by scientific means.... The Siddhas asserted that one needed to attain Atma Siddhi or spiritual immortality and Kaaya Siddhi or physical immortality... They preserved the body (Udal) and soul (and spirit). By eliminating the worldly substances, the Siddhas renewed their body and reincarnated their spirit or breath with the soul within it. The science of achieving death without dying, or Saagaamal Saagum Kalai, commonly spoken of as an achievement of the Siddhas, is the loss of substances related to the earth except for the form of their profile.
This state of transformation towards Mukti that sees a "loss of substances related to the earth except for the form of their profile" in Ramalinga Adigal at Siddhi Valagam was witnessed by Mother Mira Alfassa during her meditation on 14.1.1978.
“When he was thus absorbed in deep concentration, an effulgent truth-light of grace broke out from his heart and with its unique heat began to burn his radiant physical body very slowly, as at a snail's speed, and that in an upward direction, from the heart towards the head. The burning of the body may be somewhat likened to that of an incense-stick which, however, burns downwards by its inner heat of fire, forming ash covering but without the falling down of the ash-form. When the upper part of his radiant body was burnt completely from heart to head, there was left in its place a form of pure white substance, which also radiated its light of consciousness. The burnt part, however, showed all its features intact and clearly, and even the burnt hair of his head was seen distinctly as luminous white hair. Then the heat of the pure light of grace descended to burn the lower part.”
(Source: "A VISION OF DEMATERIALIZATION OF RAMALINGA'S LIVING BODY" by Gangadharan, http://www.ramalinga.com)
Agathiyar too reveals that when the Udal takes its form, which is a composite of the five tattvas, and again returns to these tattvas, the Uyir merges in the Atma and reaches Agathiyar as Jothi. To reach him is to realize that he and we are one.
உடல் என்பது பஞ்ச பூதங்களில் உரு பெற்று மீண்டும் பஞ்ச பூதங்களிடம் சென்று விட்டால், உயிராகியது ஆன்மா வோடு கலந்து, ஜோதிநிலையில் எம்மை வந்து அடையும்.
Hence, we understand the reason Agathiyar took to task the sisters who sat before him, for not taking proper care of their physical bodies to attain the further states that Agathiyar had envisioned for them. He seemed let down by them as he turned to me and said that although they had come to worship him since their twenties, the past thirty years of their lives were wasted.