Tuesday 20 February 2018

FAITH & BELIEF

I came across a well written blog post on the comparison of faith and belief at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rea-nolan-martin/faith-and-belief_b_4166117.html that holds true in the face of a dilemma.

Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal of Kallar Ashram in India invited me to the path as I explained to him that Agathiyar had wanted me to join the Siddha path in my very first Nadi reading. Almost immediately after my meeting Tavayogi at a local affiliate of his Peedham in Malaysia, a member walked up to me to enquire what was my problem. Even after refuting that I had any problems, he kept insisting that only those with problems came to the path. When I came to the path, many followers who were obviously disillusioned by the torment and misery they went through cautioned me about worshiping the Siddhas. Their worship will land me in more trouble. I would be disillusioned. They would confused me and many more statements were made. The Siddhas are known to break up families, relationships between husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, I was told further. I chose not to believe them for the sole reason that the divine can never do harm and should not harm its children, its very own creation. 

Over the years Agathiyar has busted the wrong perception held by certain quarters based on their personal experiences. I am glad I did not heed their talk.

Agathiyar has brought many couples in matrimony the latest being the marriage of G.Bala Chandran to Rekha, both from the AVM family. Similarly Mahindran and Manimala were married some time back. Agathiyar has promised to bring together many others in marriage. My daughter's marriage was solemnized in the presence of Tavayogi and the Siddhas too.

True to the verses from a recent Murugan Jeeva Nadi where Lord Muruga and Agathiyar have promised to take birth in all the homes of AVM family members who desire to have a child we have many divine children in our midst now. The next generation is under the care and governess of the Siddhas. We need not worry about them.

Traveling this path soon we came to realize that the songs rendered by the mystics and saints were not words of fiction but actual experiences in the realm of the unseen that can only be felt and imbibed within us. We could connect with these divine melodies and the subject matter. Similarly the verses from Agathiyar Geetham are in actuality experiences on the path of the Siddhas.

Over the years we also realized that there was no hard and fast rule on this path but that it was catered or customized to our needs of the moment, our stature and standing on the spiritual path, and the surroundings and its conducive-ness for spiritual development.

Agathiyar leads us a step at a time, giving us chores, tasks and rituals to perform at times and asking us to quieten down at other moments. He monitors us including the food intake and the numerous practices given, starting them and bringing them to an end too.

Lord Muruga in a recent Jeeva Nadi has appointed Balachander Aiya as Guru for AVM. We are grateful to Tavayogi for showing us the path and to Agathiyar who led us on it, taking care that we do not divert or drop off midway.