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Sunday, February 10, 2013

In Kanchi Mahaan's Shade of Mercy...5


Compiler: Raa. Venkatasamy (in Tamil)
Source:Sakthi Vikatanissue dated Jul 31, 2004

Auditor Venugopal was a native of Salem. He was a staunchbhakta(devotee) of Maha PeriyavaaL. He was the auditor of Kanchi Sankara MaTham. It was his custom to say word for word that it was only Maha Periyavaa who guided him to that profession.

As he gained some popularity, Venugopal bought a car. The desire of showing to Maha PeriyavaaL the new car bought for the first time (in his life) rising in his heart, Venugopal was headed straight for Kanchipuram in his car. Only when he parked the car in front of the MaTham did he come to know that the Mahaan was camping in Kalavai! The car then started off its trip to Kalavai.

Parking the car outside where Maha PeriyavaaL was staying, Venugopal went inside the camp.

As he saw Venugopal entering, Maha Periyavaa asked him, "car vAngiyirukkiyo?(So you have bought a car?)". And that was even before Venugopal started telling the sage about his new car. The auditor was dumbstruck. The Mahaan was one who knew time in all its three tenses.

"Yes", he said slowly. For a moment he even thought if it was a mistake in buying the new car before he had a word with the Mahaan. But then the Mahaan never found fault with living comfortably within one's means!

"It is a good thing only. Alright, you do an errand for me now!" said the Mahaan.

The auditor only nodded his head in affirmation, consenting to do an errand for the sage.

"You need to go a little distance from here and turn right. If you go along the road thereafter, you will sight a pond. An old man will be sitting on the banks of the pond. You bring him here in your car. What, will you do it?" The auditor started off even before the Mahaan finished.

Going like an arrow on its course, the auditor found the old man with a beard on the banks of a pond. He did not think if Periyavaa wanted to bring that old man. For he knew that there would be a thousand meanings in what Periyavaa said.

Going near the old man, the auditor spoke to him about the sage's instructions.

"Did he call me? Then surely I shall come with you", said the old man. Staggering, he got into the auditor's brand new car, who took him to the Mahaan'ssannidhi(presence). The old man stood folding his palms before the sage.

"enna saukkiyama irukkiyA?(What, are you doing well?)" was the question Periyavaa asked the old man.

"edo irukkEn(somewhat fine)!"

The MaThams honours were given to the old man in accordance with the directions of the sage. After giving the old man dhoties, shawls and some money for his expenses to the man's satisfaction, Kanchi Mahaan told the auditor: "Take him and drop him where he wants to alight and then come back!"

A car ride for the old man again. The auditor dropped him as he desired and then came back to the MaTham. He did not ask who that old man was, nor the sage said anything about it. Auditor Venugopal stood before the Mahaan, his hands humbly folded across his chest.

"The man you brought here--do you know who he is?"

The auditor nodded his head to say no.

"When I was a small boy, suddenly one day he brought me in his horse cart. I did not know why at that time. Only after coming here, they said that I was the 68thPIThAdhipati(pontiff)... I did not know Samskrutam at that time... I did not know Vedas... Only after coming over here, all those lessons. How many years have gone by, did you notice it? It was only thisperiyavar(respectable old man) who brought me here, making me sit inside his horse cart. He also did not know then why they asked for me here! How can I forget him? I suddenly remembered him, which is why I asked you to bring him here in your new car," said Maha Periyavaa.


..........................

In Kanchi Mahaan's Shade of Mercy...6
Compiler: Raa. Venkatasamy (in Tamil)
Source: Sakthi Vikatan issue dated Sep 14, 2004
translator: saidevo

Maha Periyavar was camping in Pandaripuram in the year 1981. When people were having his darshan in a line, in the midst of the crowd, a Seit from North India brought and kept a tin of ghee before Maha PeriyavaaL.

As he saw that, the Mahaan said, "One rupee... one rupee...". No one there had any idea of why he said that. Thinking that the sage was really asking for a rupee of money, people started taking an one rupee coin to keep it handy.

The Mahaan told his MaTham assistant nearby: "I had asked that Seit to procure ghee for only one rupee. Ask him why he has brought a tin of it!"

People around were surprised looking a this. They blinked, 'When would Periyavaa have asked this Seit to procure ghee?'

The Seit who understood it spoke in a leisurely way: "Somebody kidnapped my daughter. Swamiji came in my dream and said, 'Procure ghee for a rupee and come to Pandaripuram. Your daughter will return home untainted.' As told by him, the next day my daughter returned home safely. That is why, instead of the one-rupee-ghee I have brought a tin of it."

This made everyone there surprised and happy that the Mahaan had made them realize that it was true that he appeared in the dream of the Seit and spoke those words.

That Mahaan who is omnipotent, gets to know everything and extends his graceful assistance to the needy then and there.

*** *** ***

The incident that Karuppatthur Chandrasekhara gaNapAThigaL narrates about the lofty state of that mighty God who gives his anugraha to the world, would make us go into ecstastic shiver.

The gaNapAThigaL went to attend a satas (assembly) that was held in the presence of the Mahaan when he was camping in KaLahasti. Having had darshan of the Mahaan, the gaNapAThigaL was going round the MaTham premises.

The dim light of the oil lamps burning here and there. Suddenly a noise of someone clapping his hands. The gaNapAThigaL turned and looked in the direction he heard the noise from. In the inky darkness, nothing was visible to his eyes, so he continued walking.

Again the clap of hands! When the gaNapAThigaL walked in the direction of the noise, he saw the Mahaan sitting hidden by a pillar.

"Come here!", he called the gaNapAThigaL. The saMbhASaNaM (dialogue) that ensued between them is given here.

Mahaan: Some people will not feel anything when they are struck or pinched in some parts of their body. They say that those parts have gone numb. You have heard of such a thing?

gaNapAThigaL: I have heard of it. What Periyavaa said is vAstavam (truth).

Mahaan: For some people, sometimes their tongue won't feel the taste. And some would have lost their power of hearing, either in birth or in the course of time.

gaNapAThigaL: Heard of it.

Mahaan: For some, when they have cold, their noses would not smell; they will be alright when the cold is gone.

gaNapAThigaL: Yes, I have noticed it.

Mahaan: Have you noticed me frequently? If you have done it, you would understood one thing well. People who come to see me, make me wear a variety of garlands. Have you seen my taking some fragrant flowers from those garlands and smell them?

gaNapAThigaL: I have seen it that way oftentimes.

Mahaan: But then the reality is that no smell is felt by me. This state continues for nearly forty years now. Alright, if at least a foul smell is felt by me, no, I have sort of tested it. I have not yet encountered an atmosphere that would make me hold my nose. If this is the case with me, those who come to have darshan of me have a different state. They would hold their noses with their hands and cloths and suffocate... seen it? (a loud laughter). Thus, no foul smell is also not known by me! I am one who is beyond all these things.

Hearing Maha SwamigaL thus speak explicitly, the gaNapAThigaL stood amazed. Since then, Karuppatthur Chandrasekhara gaNapAThigaL keeps telling, his heart melting, about the grace of that great God in whom are immersed all the pleasures of the world, but who shows up himself as a simple man beyond the world, doing his anugraham to everyone.

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