(The narrators told me that) Sringeri PeriyavargaL would give all honours to the Kanchi MaTha
pratinidhis, send them along with a pratinidhi of his own MaTham to the other MaThams
under their support, and secure the consent and cooperation of those MaThadhipatis for the schemes
devised by the Kanchi pIThAdhipati.
When these people come back to Maha PeriyavAL, even as he was himself shining with tejas as
a divya mUrti, he would say, "Such a tejasvi have you seen anywhere? So much tapas,
niShTa, and a lofty pAramparyam--pUrvAshrama pAramparyam, ashrama pAramparyam
both!" (He had referred to the greatness of Sringeri PeriyavargaL's pUrvAshrama pitA,
pAttanAr and the greatness of the preceding Acharyas of the MaTham.)
If the pratinidhis convey Sringeri PeriyavargaL's krutajnatai (gratitude) to Maha
PeriyavAL, he would immediately say, "Leaving us to the kAryams is he spending his time as a
vRuddhaH (old man)? He is going on only in niShTa? A jnAni's radiation would on
its own be doing good to the whole world. Therefore only we should express our krutajnatai to
him."
There are many examples that right from the beginning both the PeriyavargaL had established a
unifying approach to their own aNukka bhaktas (close devotees).
In 1914, Maha PeriyavargaL started a publication named Arya Dharmam as the magazine of Kanchi
SriMaTham. In the same way, the Vani Vilas Press run in Srirangam run by T.K.Balasubramaya Aiyar,
who was an atyanta adiyAr (staunch devotee) of Sringeri SriMaTham and had obtained the title
gurubhakta shikhAmaNi from that Acharyar, and the Hindu Message periodical published
in that press, were both dedicated to the works of that MaTham. That same T.K.B. was also in the
editorial board of Arya Dharmam. He would immediately carry out through his press whatever
printing work ordered by Maha PeriyavAL. He had written page after page in the Hindu
Message, in adoration of the tATangakah pratiSTA done by Kanchi Periyavar in 1922 to
Goddess Akhilandeswari--it is remarkable that he did this in spite of the incidents that arose in
the previous century due to this very subject of tATangakah pratiSTA, which resulted in
bitterness of mind between the devotees of the two MaThams.
The elders of those days would narrate the éclat with which in 1919, the mahAjana (people) of
Veppatthur conducted the Navaratri Puja of Kanchi PeriyavAL. But then in the following issue of
Arya Dharmam, Maha PeriyavAL did not allow any essay to be published about these
festivities. Instead, he ordered a seven-page essay to be published on the Navaratri festival
conducted in Sringeri by Bharathi SwamigaL.
"In the essay written by M.N.Subramanya Sastry for the fourth issue of Arya Dharmam in the
dundubhi year (1922), he had adored how Kanchi PeriyavAL for the last four years had gone to
villages, giving a new lease of life to Vedic dharma. Without stopping there, indirectly--still in a
way that the reader's can easily guess--and without mentioning the name, he had also written that
Sringeri PeriyavargaL did not "seem to work for the world" in this way and certain other things in
the same rIti (manner). The editor asked PeriyavAL if he could keep the portions about
PeriyavAL's work, remove the different opinion about the other sage and publish the essay.
PeriyavAL's reply made him stagger. PeriyavAL said that it would be shlAghyam to remove the
portions relating to his work and publish the different opinion about the other sage!
To the editor who stood dumbfounded wondering if it was PeriyavAL who was talking, our Gurunathar
continued with a smile: "If this man is the only one who has expressed his abhiprAyam in
writing, there are many who have the same abhiprAyam in their mind. Therefore, we should
publish that abhiprAya and also give our reply to it."
Not knowing what the reply could be or how he would include it, the editor submitted the essay for
the perusal of AcharyaaL himself.
As he ran his eyes over the essay, PeriyavAL chose the passage, "In this manner (the manner
PeriyavAL was doing it) if every MaThAdhipati set out and started doing work in the field, our
reformist elders would fly like pieces of cotton, their presence being felt no longer." After this
indirect criticism, PeriyavAL himself added the lines, "Since there was no such Ishvara
sammadam, they continue to stay in niShTa."
Two points of excellence are there in this addition. One is pointing out that no one should be
blamed for what happened due to Ishvara saMkalpam which is beyond human plans and human
knowledge. The second is emphasizing that the inaction of the one who was criticised was not due to
laziness or unskillfulness, only due to the niShTa, which is past all actions.
There were devotees who earnestly appealed to Bharathi SwamigaL that he should also like Maha
PeriyavAL do many saMchAra, clear saMdehas and devise schemes. Listen to the reply he
gave to those people: "Myself and Kanchi pIThAdhipatigaL are the two pratinidhis of
Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada in the current time. Rest assured that all the good things he does are also
done by me together with him. In the same way, know that the kIrti he receives also reaches
me."
[Reference: The essay, 'maThangaLin otRumai' ('The Unity of the MaThams') authored by
K.Balasubramanya Aiyar in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Pradeepam issue dated 16.11.1965.]
pratinidhis, send them along with a pratinidhi of his own MaTham to the other MaThams
under their support, and secure the consent and cooperation of those MaThadhipatis for the schemes
devised by the Kanchi pIThAdhipati.
When these people come back to Maha PeriyavAL, even as he was himself shining with tejas as
a divya mUrti, he would say, "Such a tejasvi have you seen anywhere? So much tapas,
niShTa, and a lofty pAramparyam--pUrvAshrama pAramparyam, ashrama pAramparyam
both!" (He had referred to the greatness of Sringeri PeriyavargaL's pUrvAshrama pitA,
pAttanAr and the greatness of the preceding Acharyas of the MaTham.)
If the pratinidhis convey Sringeri PeriyavargaL's krutajnatai (gratitude) to Maha
PeriyavAL, he would immediately say, "Leaving us to the kAryams is he spending his time as a
vRuddhaH (old man)? He is going on only in niShTa? A jnAni's radiation would on
its own be doing good to the whole world. Therefore only we should express our krutajnatai to
him."
There are many examples that right from the beginning both the PeriyavargaL had established a
unifying approach to their own aNukka bhaktas (close devotees).
In 1914, Maha PeriyavargaL started a publication named Arya Dharmam as the magazine of Kanchi
SriMaTham. In the same way, the Vani Vilas Press run in Srirangam run by T.K.Balasubramaya Aiyar,
who was an atyanta adiyAr (staunch devotee) of Sringeri SriMaTham and had obtained the title
gurubhakta shikhAmaNi from that Acharyar, and the Hindu Message periodical published
in that press, were both dedicated to the works of that MaTham. That same T.K.B. was also in the
editorial board of Arya Dharmam. He would immediately carry out through his press whatever
printing work ordered by Maha PeriyavAL. He had written page after page in the Hindu
Message, in adoration of the tATangakah pratiSTA done by Kanchi Periyavar in 1922 to
Goddess Akhilandeswari--it is remarkable that he did this in spite of the incidents that arose in
the previous century due to this very subject of tATangakah pratiSTA, which resulted in
bitterness of mind between the devotees of the two MaThams.
The elders of those days would narrate the éclat with which in 1919, the mahAjana (people) of
Veppatthur conducted the Navaratri Puja of Kanchi PeriyavAL. But then in the following issue of
Arya Dharmam, Maha PeriyavAL did not allow any essay to be published about these
festivities. Instead, he ordered a seven-page essay to be published on the Navaratri festival
conducted in Sringeri by Bharathi SwamigaL.
"In the essay written by M.N.Subramanya Sastry for the fourth issue of Arya Dharmam in the
dundubhi year (1922), he had adored how Kanchi PeriyavAL for the last four years had gone to
villages, giving a new lease of life to Vedic dharma. Without stopping there, indirectly--still in a
way that the reader's can easily guess--and without mentioning the name, he had also written that
Sringeri PeriyavargaL did not "seem to work for the world" in this way and certain other things in
the same rIti (manner). The editor asked PeriyavAL if he could keep the portions about
PeriyavAL's work, remove the different opinion about the other sage and publish the essay.
PeriyavAL's reply made him stagger. PeriyavAL said that it would be shlAghyam to remove the
portions relating to his work and publish the different opinion about the other sage!
To the editor who stood dumbfounded wondering if it was PeriyavAL who was talking, our Gurunathar
continued with a smile: "If this man is the only one who has expressed his abhiprAyam in
writing, there are many who have the same abhiprAyam in their mind. Therefore, we should
publish that abhiprAya and also give our reply to it."
Not knowing what the reply could be or how he would include it, the editor submitted the essay for
the perusal of AcharyaaL himself.
As he ran his eyes over the essay, PeriyavAL chose the passage, "In this manner (the manner
PeriyavAL was doing it) if every MaThAdhipati set out and started doing work in the field, our
reformist elders would fly like pieces of cotton, their presence being felt no longer." After this
indirect criticism, PeriyavAL himself added the lines, "Since there was no such Ishvara
sammadam, they continue to stay in niShTa."
Two points of excellence are there in this addition. One is pointing out that no one should be
blamed for what happened due to Ishvara saMkalpam which is beyond human plans and human
knowledge. The second is emphasizing that the inaction of the one who was criticised was not due to
laziness or unskillfulness, only due to the niShTa, which is past all actions.
There were devotees who earnestly appealed to Bharathi SwamigaL that he should also like Maha
PeriyavAL do many saMchAra, clear saMdehas and devise schemes. Listen to the reply he
gave to those people: "Myself and Kanchi pIThAdhipatigaL are the two pratinidhis of
Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada in the current time. Rest assured that all the good things he does are also
done by me together with him. In the same way, know that the kIrti he receives also reaches
me."
[Reference: The essay, 'maThangaLin otRumai' ('The Unity of the MaThams') authored by
K.Balasubramanya Aiyar in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Pradeepam issue dated 16.11.1965.]
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