I'm 67, turning 68 next year. They say we come to learn. So what did I learn in these 67 years of existence? If I had learned the temple rituals as a Namboothiri priest in Kerala in my past birth, I guess this time around I was to learn about Agathiyar and the Siddhas.
Being a playful kid, like many of us are at that age, I too did not ask for details when my father mentioned his stay at an ashram in his land of birth, India, back then. I regret it now, especially after I came under the wings of my gurus too. I would love to know who his guru was.
I was fated to know about the Siddhas only when I was 43 years of age. Before that, I continued the family tradition of visiting temples and conducting home prayers. If others came seeking solutions to life's troubles, I came because I was asked to by Agathiyar in the Nadi reading. If the Siddha Puja seemed new and alien to me initially, I realized later that many who came to it saw it as a replacement for temple rituals and puja. But I was shown that it was an extension of it. It was the bridge that connected us to the Gods in the temples. The Siddhas are the means to reach the Divine. They have access to the Divine and their kingdom. Taking up the call in my Nadi reading to come to the worship of the Siddhas drew down the bridge. The Siddhas began to come over, moving into our homes and lives. Wanting to know further about them, I sought the many institutions that ran under Agathiyar's name. None satisfied my hunger and thirst to know the Siddhas. I soon began my solo journey. Armed with a booklet of hymns on the Siddhas and a painting of Agathiyar, I did my own home Puja. By their grace, I was shown to two wonderful gurus who each molded me into who I am today. I realized that the reason I could sail through life without hitches was that I did not hitch to anything. I just did what I had to do and moved on. As I journeyed along, following the dictates of the Siddhas who had been "There" and back, there came a time when whatever I saw, tasted, heard, listened to, felt, and touched - everything out there became divine and spiritual. Now I understand why Tavayogi immediately brought me into the caves, woods, and jungles - to see, listen, sense, feel, and touch nature - on the onset of my arrival at his ashram in 2005. Giving me practices and methods and showing me the ways and path; one-to-one later, on the directive of Agathiyar, I came to know the reason for it too. I came to learn that there is danger in generalizing practices and methods and even treatment too. The guru is there to customize the practice for each student. Tavayogi too did the same. Soon, the Siddhas also began customizing Kriya rituals and Yoga practice. They made me realize the fact and truth that we miss while alive: that we go into the state of Samadhi and come out of it each moment. The final breath that comes in to stay for good keeps us in Samadhi for good. If it leaves to never return, that is death.
There were days when I would walk past a man hungry or someone in trouble. Now I cannot do that without stopping and asking if he or she needed something.
During my walks around my neighborhood, I would stop to chat with a Malay neighbor who is also the Bilal in the local mosque several doors away. When I told him that I have only met the best of people and that the Lord has given me everything on a silver plate, mentioning that when one looks towards doing God's work, God takes care of all his work here, he immediately brought to my attention a similar verse from his Holy Book: "Whoever engages in the works of Allah, Allah takes care of his works." That brought tears of joy to me; indeed, that was true. I am blessed indeed.