Mahaperiyava changes a bad man to good.

The bad becomes good

A devotee who had long connections with SriMaTham. When he was talking to PeriyavaaL, he had the occasion to talk in dUSaNam (blaming) of another man. He had said, "That man is an utter kArkoTaka (the king of snakes)!"

After a minute, Periyavaa said, "You say he is good?"

The devotee could not understand. "I said he is a kArkoTaka who has destructive venom..."

Periyavaa asked him: "You know pratasmaraNa shloka?

Kaarkotakasya naagasya damayanthyaa nalasya cha
Rithuparnasya raajarsheha keerthanam kalinaashanam

"KArkotaka, Damanti, Nala, RithuparNa--just to think of them would remove the sins. They all remain such puNyavaan (sacred)."

The bhakta who did dUSaNam got into saN^katam. It means that he did not after all talk ill of the other person (though he wanted to)!

"You have yourself told me he is a good man. Isn't that so?"

In Periyavaa's outlook everyone is good.

Kaarkotakasya keerthanam kalinaashanam is the vAk (word) of periyor (great men). Yes Periya(vaa) vAk!

Glossary:
cancala - moveable, unsteady, fickle, unconstant
dUSaNam - spoiling, corrupting, destroying purity, disregarding, detraction, refutation, objection, sin, fault, censuring, blaming
kalmiSam - (Tamil) for kalmaSaH, kalmaSam - dirt, stain, sin
prakAshaH - lustre, light, shining, explaining, commentary, part of a book.

Courtesy : http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/archive


Thanks due to  Mahaperiyava Bhaktas for the scanned  photos of Mahaperiyava