Compassion towards a devotee

Experiences with Maha Periyava: 

Sri Maha Periyava, who is the omnipotent 

Parameswara Himself, was camping in Sri Kanchi 

Matham, Kumbakonam. The Vyasa Puja was being

 held there in all glory.

The ChandraMouleeswara Puja being over, all the 

devotees were in a hurry to get Sri Maha Periyava's 

darshan, who was distributing the abhishekha 

tIrtham (holy water of ablution) with his holy hands. 

A devotee's turn came in the line formed by them to  

receive the prasadam. After giving him the 

prasadam, the Mahan looked at him raising his 

 head.

He told the devotee, "You come early tomorrow for 

the Veda parayanam (recitation)."

What alternative is there to the Mahan's orders?

As ordered by the Mahan the devotee came up 

early the next morning and participated in the 

occasion of Veda parayanam. When the 

parayanam was going on, Maha Periyava made a 

surprise visit, which was unusual.

He noticed that the bhakta (devotee) who got his 

anugraha the previous day was reciting the Vedas 

with sincere devotion. When reciting the Veda 

mantras, however, the bhakta was having 

breathing problems, so he faltered as he recited the

 shlokas (verses) with difficulty. Kanchi Mahan 

realised that the devotee should be having some

 problem in his throat or lungs

.

When it was time to distribute prasadam after the 

recitation was over, he called the devotee and

 asked him to wait.

The devotee seemed to have sanchalanam

 (trepidation) in his mind that he did not recite the 

Vedas properly and the Mahan had found out 

some errors in his chanting.

After sometime, a physician came and examined 

the devotee thoroughly as ordered by the Sage. 

Later when he took the devotee to his hospital and 

conducted more tests, the physician found out that 

the devotee had a heart ailment, which caused the 

falter in the Vedic chanting.

The physician cured the devotee with good 

treatment that involved no surgery, in accordance 

with Sri Maha Periyava's orders.

Some ten days later, the devotee came to have 

darshan of the Mahan who ordered him, "Now you 

do the Vedic chanting for sometime." The devotee 

was able to do the chanting without any falter or 

other problems.

Thus Maha Periyava saved the devotee from an 

incoming setback of health.

Know what the devotee said about this? "As 

mentioned in Thevaram, when we do sincere 

prayer and worship to Bhagavan, any setbacks

 and difficulties that are to reach us melt away 

automatically."

Compiler: R. Venkatasamy (in Tamil)

Source: Sakthi Vikatan issue dated Sep 28, 2004