"Yes, Periyaval.. what you are saying is true."

Koti Koti Pranams to our Guru !!!

One day a group of people came to visit Maha Periyaval on some urgent consultation.The story goes as follows:

The group of people was the trustees of a Devi temple located in some interior village of Tamil Nadu. The kumbhabhishekam for this temple was carried out about a week earlier by a Devi Upasakar and the function went on very well.

The temple has an inner main deity of Devi and also three outer deities fitted on the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum. The trustees noticed water trickling out from the eyes of one of the deities located on the slots of the outer praharam . They were wonder stuck and at the same time worried and frightened about this situation.

They could not understand how and why the deity was crying.

The trustees presented their side of this story to Maha Periyaval and expressed their inability to understand this peculiar phenomenon.

Maha Periyaval closed his eyes for some time and asked them whether this deity was Durga Devi.They said....." Yes, Periyaval ! "

Then he asked whether the deity’s head was pressed against the top slab of the slot.

The trustees immediately telephoned to the temple priest. After consultation and checking, they informed, "Yes, Periyaval.. what you are saying is true."

The contractor made the slots on the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum for the 3 deities to be fitted inside these slots whilst the deities were made separately by the sculptor. When the deities were received just few days before the kumbhabhishekam, the contractor found out that this particular Durga deity was not fitting inside the slot.

So he just pressed the deity in that slot some how with pressure whereby the head was getting pressed against the top slab of the slot.

Maha Periyaval informed them that is the reason for this phenomenon.

The trustees asked whether they could remove the deity and ask the contractor to increase the height of the slot to comfortably fit in the deity.

Maha Periyaval informed that once the kumbhabhishekam was done, one is not supposed to remove the deity this way before the completion of 12 years i.e. when next kumbabishekam would fall due.

 Maha Periyaval informed that the only solution he would recommend is to chisel out a portion of the top slab to form a curvature (like an umbrella) above the deity.

This way the pressure on the deity’s head will get relieved.

They took Maha Periyaval blessings and left immediately for their native place. As per His instructions, they chiselled out slowly the top slab so that the Durga Devi';s head was free from this pressure.

The next day the water trickling from the deity’s eyes stopped and this was promptly communicated to Maha Periyaval.