By the kRupA (compassion) of ChandraMauleesvara, things will happen as you have thought about them", SwamigaL fondled him with words.

anubhavam Ayiram' (Experiences, a Thousand)
Author: Ramani Anna
Source: Sakthi Vikatan issue dated Aug 30, 2008
Type: magazine, fortnightly, Tamil 
Publisher: Viketan Publications

Several years ago... Sri Kanchi Maha SwamigaL along with his parivAram (entourage) did vijayam (visit) of the Thanjai (Thanjavur) district areas. It was the month of Ani (jyaishTha). People from the villages of the surrounding taluks kept coming to have darshan of Maha PeriyavaaL who was camping in a large dharma chatram (free choultry) at ADutuRai.

The pramukhas (notables) of the villages Natarajapuram, Govindapuram, Thyagarajapuram, Sattanur, and Tirumangalakkudi surrounding Aduturai, had arranged on behalf of their places, for a samaSTi bhikShA vandanam (collective feeding of a sage and his retinue).

At a distance of only one k.m. from Aduturai is ADiyEn's (my) native place Marutthuvakkudi village located. My father BrahmaSri Santhana Vadhyar was then the MudrAdhikAri of Sri Kanchi MaTham of that area. On behalf of our village too he wanted a samaSTi bhikShA vandanam to be held. The local pramukhas had agreed for this.

On the morning next day, my father started for the choultry where SwamigaL was camping. He took me with him. 

On seeing him, the MaTha kAryasta (secretary) said, "ShAstrigAL... Aren't you the MudrAdhikAri of Marutthuvakkudi? Shouldn't you have the bhikShA in your place one day? You have it on the coming Sunday possibly?"

My father said forthwith, "I too came over here to have it fixed. We shall have it on the Sunday." He asked the KAryasta, "Approximately what will it our expenses?"

The KAryasta said with a smile, "Shall tell you. Should remit two hundred and fifty rupees as the kANikkai (offering) to the MaTham. Then your expenses of buying coconuts, fruits, vegetables and so on. After everything is over, when receiving prasAdam from AcharyAL, pAda samarpaNai (offering at feet) as convenient to your village. All told it might take rupees five or six hundred for your expenses." And he asked, "Won't there be enough collection at your place?"

With no hesitation my father said, "bEshA AyiDum (will be accomplished well)". He continued with eagerness, "That's alright, but how much do the people of other places offer as pAda samarpaNai?"

"From five hundred to a thousand they do it", said the KAryasta. My father lapsed into deep consideration.

When we had darshan of AchAryAL within a short while, we prostrated to him and got up. My father informed SwamigaL about the BhikShA Vandanam.

"bEShA naDakkaTTumE (may it take place well)", SwamigaL gave anugraha. "Are there tanikAL (rich men) in our place who can do it Ekadesham (alone)?" he asked.

Lowering his tone, my father said, "Three or four persons are there. Among them two or three had now gone to Madras. The uddeshaH (thinking) is that we all get together in the village and do BhikShA Vandanam for PeriyavaaL." He prayed, "AchAryAL should give anugraha." Smiling, SwamigaL raised both his hands and blessed him.

There were only four days for the coming Sunday. My father started the collection. In the three AgrahArams together, there will be about 30 houses. The collection was over by Thursday evening. 400 rupees had been collected. My father and the other VaidIkAs in the village submitted another hundred rupees. Thus the total collection amounted to rupees 500! It was just enough for the BhikShA Vandanam.

Only for PeriyavaaL's pAda samarpaNai, money was required. It was my father's wish that at least five hundred rupees must be offered. He did not sleep well that night.

Friday! We went to have darshan of AchAryAL. Sitting in a thatched shed in the choultry, SwamigaL was giving darshan. The crowd surged like a wave. At a distance, in a corner, joining our palms, we prostrated towards the direction SwamigaL was seated. I looked at my father. His face was soaked in worry. His worry was whatever can be done for the pAda samarpaNai.

Suddenly a voice full of compassion: "Santhanam! Come near. Why are you standing there?"

Laughing and gesturing, AchAryAL beckoned him near. We both went near him, prostrated in shASTaaN^gam and got up. 

"What Santhanam, yesterday you were not seen here at all! Any jOli (work) in your place?" SwamigaL inquired.

"Nothing of that sort Periyavaa. Aren't we doing BikshA Vandanam on behalf of our place this Sunday... On that account I was making some arrangements, that's all." Before my father could finish, SwamigaL interrupted and asked, "That's alright Santhanam, the laukIkams (collection) were completed as expected?" with a laugh. My father hesistated to reply to this.

Before he could open his mouth to say something, as if SwamigaL had understood something, "Worry about nothing! By the kRupA (compassion) of ChandraMauleesvara, things will happen as you have thought about them", SwamigaL fondled him with words.

Suddenly, "Why Santhanam... In the Kaveri river in this place, are there plenty of waters flowing now, you know about it?" he asked. Everyone was confused as to why Periyavaa should inquire about the Kaveri waters.

"It is flowing in plenty Periyavaa", said my father.

Periyavaa did not leave him at that. "Alright, when did you last go for your Kaveri snAnam (bath)?"

"A week ago Periyavaa!", my father replied.

"Let it be. Is there much water flowing now, you know about it?" This is Periyavaa.

A local Anbar (devotee) present there said with humility, "I had gone for the Kaveri snAnam this morning. A fair amount of water is flowing Periyavaa."

SwamigaL was not at samAdhAna (reconciled) at that. "Flowing fairly means... not understandable! Does it flow so one can immerse and do snAnam, I should know about it", he said. Looking at my father, he continued, "Santhanam, you do one kAryam. Go for Kaveri snAnam at dawn tomorrow morning. Have a look and tell me if enough tIrtham (water) flows for bathing with good immersion." Saying this, he suddenly got up and went inside!

We returned to our place thinking that PeriyavaaL was asking all these details for his own immersed bath in Kaveri.

Saturday! It dawned. There was a slight drizzle. In accordance with PeriyavaaL's orders, we went for the Kaveri snAnam. It was then seven o' clock in the morning. Apart from me and my father on the banks, there was not a single fly or crow. Taking bath my father said, "Waters are flowing enough for taking a good, immersed bath! Should go and tell Periyavaa."

Then he started saying the Kaveri snAna saMkalpam in a loud tone. Suddenly, from the banks was heard a clear and loud voice: "SAstrigAL! Please stay awhile. I too shall join you. For me too kindly do the snAna saMkalpam. There will be puNyam for you!" We both turned and looked. A man who could be estimated to be of 55 years of age was descending into the waters. A face that was not familiar at all!

Finishing the saMkalpa snAnam we climbed up to the banks. Changing his clothes, that man gave my father five rupees towards snAna saMkalpa dakshiNA (ritual gift). My father inquired about him.

He started saying: "For me too our pUrvIkam (ancestry) is only Marutthuvakkudi. My maternal grandfather too is from the same place. For my paternal grandfather Venkatachalam Aiyar, there was an own house in Marutthuvakkudi. After my grandfather, none of us remained here. We went to Bombay. Melur ChandraMauleesvara Swami near Tiruneelakkudi is our kula deivam. 'Whenever you went by the side of our place, have a snAnam in Aduturai Kaveri', my mother often used to say. I got that bhAgyam only today. I am going to Thanjavur in connection with a family legal case. Now having got Kaveri snAnam with saMkalpam, much tRupti (satisfaction)!"

Then he asked, "AmA (What) SAstrigAL! I witnessed as I climbed down from the train. Many people in maDisAr and pancha kaccham are moving in throngs. What is the visheSham here?"

My father elaborated to him about AchAryAL's vijayam and the grAma bhikShA vandanam. He was very happy to hear about it.

"Even to listen to it is happiness. There is this nirbandham (constraint) for me not to participate in the BhikShA Vandanam for the loka guru done on behalf of our place. Still, as an offer from our family, please include this amount too in the BhikShA Vandanam." Saying this, he prostrated to my father, and handed over an envelope to him. My father could understand nothing. He opened the envelope and looked. 500 rupees inside it!

"I shall take leave SAstrigAL", my father stopped the man who was just leaving. "Your nAmadeyam (name)?", he asked the man.

The answer he gave: "Chandramauli".

We both stood amazed.

Then we went straight to the choultry. Periyavaa was not there. They said he had gone to Govindapuram Sri BodhendraaL MaTham.

As my father went to the MaTham KAryasta and said, "Periyavaa asked me to check if enough water is flowing in Kaveri for an immersed bath." Before he could finish, the secretary said, "Periyavaa returned at four dawn time this morning finishing his Kaveri snAnam", giving it a grand finale. Our amazement grew!

Sunday. The BhikShA Vandanam was over. All of us in the village prostrated to PeriyavaaL. My father submitted that 500 rupees as pAda samarpaNai in a plate full of fruits.

Looking keenly at that fruit place for a while, SwamigaL said laughing, "What Santhanam! Isn't your wish fulfilled by the kRpA of Chandramauleeswara?" All of us stood amazed and fell shASTaaN^gam before PeriyavaaL.

Glossary:
nirbandh - to fix or fasten upon, attach one's self to, insist upon, persist in, urge 
samaSTi - reaching, attaining; aggregate, totality.





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

Thanks due to  Mahaperiyava Bhaktas for the scanned  photos of Mahaperiyava 

"Which place are you from appA?" SwamigaL asked him.

                                           

The 'Satara' that Resolved the saN^katas
Compiler: Sri Ramani Anna (in Tamil)
Source: Sakthi Vikatan issue dated Jun 14, 2007

VaikAsi anusham - May 31. The holy day when 114 years ago, when the lamp appeared to lead the way with its light to AnmIkam (spirituality). On this golden day when Kanchi Periyavaa took avatar, the very thinking of that para brahmam will give pari pUrNa shanti. 

An incident that happened many years ago.

It was the time when in the Satara town of Maharashtra, the construction works of Uttara Sri Nataraja temple were going on in accordance with AcharyaaL's orders. People thronged daily to have darshan of PeriyavaaL who was camping in the town.

A Sunday. Three o' clock in the afternoon. A 30-year-old youth prostrated to AcharyaaL, his eight limbs touching the ground, and got up. Tears were seen in his eyes. Noticing it, Periyavaa asked him with affection, "EmpA, who are you? Which place, why do your eyes go red?" Without replying, he started crying. People nearby assuaged him and made him sit before SwamigaL.

"Which place are you from appA?" SwamigaL asked him.

"Palakkad, Periyavaa."

"You are coming all the way from Palakkad?" asked AcharyaaL immediately.

"Yes Periyavaa. I am coming all the way from that place."

"Alright. What is your name?"

"Harihara Subramanian."

"besh* (well) a good name. Right, what's your thagappanAr (father) doing?"

"My father is not in jIva dashA (living condition) now, Periyavaa. He was practicing Ayurveda in Palakkad. His name was Dr. Harihara Narayanan--"

Before he finished, SwamigaL with kutUhala (interest) said, "ada (I see), you are the son of Palakkad Ayurvedic doctor Narayanan? Very glad. In that case, tell me, you are the grandson of doctor Harihara Raghavan! All of them earned very good name in Ayurveda!". SwamigaL looked at him keenly, raising his eyebrows.

The youth said, "Yes, Periyavaa."

Smiling, AcharyaaL said, "besh! A lofty vaidhya paramparA (medical lineage). It is alright. You have not added any doctor title before your name?"

"I did not study for that Periyavaa. My father did not prepare me in that way," said the youth, without interest.

"You should not say that way! Did your father not prepare you, or you did not have the shraddhA (strong wish) in getting prepared in that way?"

There was no reply. "Taking birth in that vaidhya paramparA, you missed the chance to know things? Right, up to which class you have studied?"

"Up to the ninth, Periyavaa."

"Why? You had no wish to study further?"

"Somehow I did not have the wish Periyavaa. I now feel for it!"

"Your vivAham (marriage) is done?"

"Done Periyavaa. I have a daughter who is seven years old."

"Right, what do you do now?"

Tears gushed from his eyes. "Since I had no education, I could not get any high jobs, Periyavaa. I am doing the work of a supervisor in a local rice mill. The salary is seven hundred rupees. My family is running only on that amount."

"Oho... Is that so? Right. You have your own gRuham left for you by the periyavaaLs (ancestors)?" SwamigaL asked him.

Wiping his tears, Harihara Subramanian said, "There is a house Periyavaa, built by my grandfather. The very purpose of my coming here is to supplicate to Periyavaa about it. Many years ago, since her husband passed away, my father's sister came over to Palakkad bringing her two daughters. During a Navaratri festival time, my father mortgaged the house to a local person, took twenty-fve thousand rupees from him, conducted the marriage of the two daughters of my aunt, and then suddenly passed away. My aunt too passed away.

"My grievance, Periyavaa, is that during the festival time of Navaratri my father mortgaged the house that was lakshmikaram (prosperous, Lakshmi-given) and passed away. The amount has now come to forty-five thousand rupees including the interest. It seems the house is going to sink!"

SwamigaL lapsed into contemplation for a while. His silence dissolved presently and he said as he smiled, "Alright, now you celebrate the Navaratri festival at home, raising a kolu (an assembly of divine dolls) every year?"

"No, Periyavaa. I stopped the custom of raising a kolu after my father passed away, doing what he did."

AcharyaaL promptly interrupted him and said, "You should never talk so disrespectfully of Atthup periyavaaL (family ancestors). They are all very lofty people. I know it well! They have all gone after doing only excellent things! Keeping something in mind, your stopping the custom of celebrating Navaratri every year with a prosperous kolu is wrong! The Navaratri starts in a week from now. You revive the custom of raising a kolu in Palakkad from this year. All your afflictions will be solved and your will get prosperity!" Blessing the youth and giving him prasAdam, SwamigaL bid him farewell.

Twenty days passed. It was a Sunday. A large crowd in Satara to have darshan of AcharyaaL.

An assistant of the MaTham made way parting people in the queue and brought before SwamigaL a respectable man of 60 to 65 years of age, wearing a saffron jippa (tunic) over a pancakaccham (tucked in dhoti), and a number of tulasi, rudrAkSa garlands on his neck. He prostrated to AcharyaaL and started conversing in Hindi. SwamigaL also did his saMbhASaNaM (conversation) in Hindi and then asked the gentleman to go and sit on the stage opposite him.

At length, a small trunk box in hand, Palakkad Harihara Subramanian came and stood before Maha SwamigaL. He prostrated resting his eight limbs to the ground.

With artha puSTi (wealth of meaning) SwamigaL looked alternately at the youth and his trunk box. The youth opened the box slowly. Very ancient palm leaf scripts numbering 10 to 15 were kept inside the box, wrapped in a silk cloth. That Parabrahmam looked at him knowingly, yet as if it did not know.

The youth said innocently, "You gave me the orders to revive the custom of kolu from this year. When I climbed up the loft to retrieve the kolu dolls, I found this box there. I had not seen it until then Periyavaa! I checked its contents and found these scripts whose letters were unintelligible to me. So I brought it straight here."

AcharyaaL laughed and beckoned to the gentleman in saffron tunic who was sitting on the stage opposite him. To the gentleman he said in Hindi, "The apUrva vastu (rare article) you asked me about only a little while go has come here, look!"

The gentleman immediately sat down on the floor, took the palm leaves and started having a glance at their grantha letters using a lens he had with him. His face blossomed. Lifting those scripts and keeping them over his head, he grinned happily and said, "O Parama Acharya Purusha! I am searching for this apUrva ayurveda grantha for many years. You are the pratyakSa deivam (God present before the eyes)! Within half an hour you have brought before my eyes what I prayed to you for!" He prostrated to SwamigaL with wonder.

Harihara Subramanian stood amazed looking at all this. AcharyaaL called him near and said, "This gentleman is a great Ayurveda Siddha research scholar of Pandaripuram. Only half an hour back he told me about his searching for such an apUrva suvadi (rare palm leaves). Something struck my mind, I told him to sit and wait for sometime. And now you come and stand before me with this trunk box!" AcharyaaL ordered the youth, "All these will be very useful to him. Thinking of your father and grandfather, you submit with your own hands all these things to that gentleman." 

The youth did as he was told. Tears of joy in the face of the gentleman who received the contents.

The gentleman looked at him and said, "I have come to possess an apUrva grantha by your grace! It would not be dharma to receive them without paying a kANikkai (an amount as a token of gratitude)." Then he placed five hundred-rupee-sections** (each having 100 bills in it) along with some fruits in a plate and held them politely to Harihara Subramanian. The youth looked at SwamigaL, who smiled and asked him to receive the money. Hands shaking, the youth received those fifty thousand rupees!

Calling him near, that walking God said, "What did I tell you when you spoke out your grievance about your family ancestors? I said they were all lofty people, they would have gone only after doing excellent things. It somehow struck in my mind. You saw the excellent thing your people had done, on the loft where the kolu dolls were kept? You said your house mortgage loan had swelled to forty-five thousand rupees in principal and interest! Now Sri ChandraMauleesvara has done his anugraham for it. Get back to Palakkad with happiness. Let the money be safe with you!" and bid him farewell after blessing him.

Note:
*besh - I think this term originates form bheSajam meaning healing, healthy. The equivalent terms based on health and healing in some other languages used as appreciative expressions include: nallathu in Tamil, accha in Hindi and 'well' in English.

**The term 'section' in Indian banking parlance, refers to a pack of 100 bills of currency. A 'bundle' is a pack of ten such sections.

Glossary:
puSTi - thriving, prosperity, comfort, wealth, opulence, breeding, rearing, nourishment











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

Thanks due to  Mahaperiyava Bhaktas for the scanned  photos of Mahaperiyava 

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri Ra. Ganapati -- Part-- 3 -- http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

   

      The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri 

                                                        Part-- 3

Ra. Ganapati

In 1935, Maha Periyaval went to Calcutta and performed the Navaratri Puja there. Sri Mantreswara Sarma, a deep devotee of the Sringeri Math, was one of the members of the Puja Committee. He helped in the organisaton of the Puja up to the fourth day. Then he thought, "Could this Puja compare with the once at Sringeri?", and could no longer contain himself at Calcutta. Travelling all the way he reached Sringeri.

Bharati Svamigal eyed him in an unusually harsh manner. "You have notions of difference between us and left that Puja in the middle to come here. Very wrong. Don't stand here even for one second. Go back" he said unrelentingly.

As Sharma was a mature person he learnt a lesson and his mind was cleansed.

In those days when there were no proper means of travel like today, he somehow managed to reach Calcutta right on the concluding Vijayadashmi day and fell at the felt of Periyaval. He conveyed the message of Bharati Svamigal and submitted that his idea of difference had been erased. Periyaval laughed in joy and gave him Navaratri prasadam in `extra dose'.

Maha Periyaval was camping at Mylapore, Mysore, in February 1966. Sri K. Chandrasekharan, the well-known connoisseur of arts, was expressing his anguish regarding some derogatory article or letter written by Math! I wondered at the equanimity of the Jnani, the Samadarsana, equi-vision.

Periyaval looked at me, gesturing with his hands fist-fighting, and asked "Do you follow all this?"

I replied, "I do not follow with intention or relish. But I get to know the details to some extent by reading the article of Polagram Sastrigal in Pradeepam4. I feel sad".

He pursued, "Are you sad only? Don't you get angry with Krishnaswami Iyer?" Periyaval uttered "Kom" instead of Kopam, the Tamil word for anger, in the way a child would pronounce that word! That very manner of expression indicated that the entire arguments and counter-arguments were childish!

As a matter of fact, I was angry with that person - angry because he was diverting the attention of the devout to matters not concerning spirituality and furthering the existing differences. I feel the same way about the `ultra'-devotees of the Kanchi Math also.

I kept quiet, abashed to tell him, the embodiment of Sattva (the goodness of composure), that I really got angry with K. Iyer.

Periyaval himself, an amalgam of the child and divinity, added, "This quarrel is not going to end in my life time5. I don't seem to have the capacity to achieve that. So there is no point in your getting worked up. But no I am keen that your angry towards Krishnaswami Iyer should end. I also feel that I can achieve that. will you do what I say? He has written a book, The saint of Sringeri. Get a copy at once and read it. Say, will you?

Can one disobey such a command?

Like this, thanks to K. Chadrasekharan, Kanchi Chandrasekhara made me get into touch with the other Chandrasekhara, `The Saint of Sringeri'.

After reading that wonderful book, my "Kom" towards the author vanished completely! I understood him to be a person of total devotion to the Guru and a great scholar well informed in the Sastras. If such a one should indulge in controversies - it was clear that it was nothing but the handiwork of the Great Dama Illusion, Maha Maya.

That part, I developed devotion towards that Saint of Sringeri, the central figure of the book. While reading it there were many places where I actually felt as if I were reading about the Saint of Kanchi.

4. The monthly Kamakoti Pradeepam dedicated to the Kanchi Math. It carried a series of articles by the Sanskrit scholar Polagam Rama Sastrigal attesting to the antiquity of the Math and countering the arguments to the contrary.

5. For once the Prophet's words were belied to our and his own joy in May 1993, when the present head of both the Matas met in a conclave of all the five Sankaracharyas at Sringeri in mutual friendship. Coming out of his total withdrawal from the world of action for the none, the Sage directed his successor to offer silks and jewel to the Divine Mother Sarada at Sringeri. The Great Unifier of the Century, he must have felt fulfilled to hear from the successor the soothing report of the happenings at Sringeri on his return. It is the conviction of the devotees that this happy turn of events was brought about by the soul-force of the Sage himself in his centenary year.

The next time I met Priyaval I told him that my "Kom" had disappeared. I also added "At many places, I felt I was reading about Your Holiness".

Even now my heart melts when I recollect what that Child-divinity said in utter simplicity. "Is that so? I really become so afraid after asking you to read the book. Because, I thought that after reading the book you may think, `well, this person ever focused on the Pratyagatman (the soul inward) is sure a Svamigal, How to stay the same of that person, ever-paraak (turned outward) and dabbling on all subjects under the sun? (Periyaval himself used the English expression `under the sun'. That was my fear! Bud did you feel as if reading about me?"

Tears filled my eyes as my mind amused, "Oh Mother Kamakshi! What is this play-acting of yours!"

My thoughts revolved around the pratyak and paraak aspects of the Acharyas. In fine, I came to the following revelatory conclusion. That one is Bharati, this one, Sarasvati. `Bharati' means `one delighting in light' - the light of the Self, the light of knowledge, like a flame steady and one-pointed. Bharati Svamigal personifies that `Sarasvati' means `residing in the waters', the waters of grace flowing in all directions, imparting new life and inspiring all kinds of produce. Sarasvati Svamigal personifies this.

As I felt shy to tell this by word of mouth to Periyaval I wrote it out and sent the letter to him.

The next time I went for darsan - it was a morning - my mind was all agog to know how he felt about the letter. He was not present in the camp and had gone to nearby places. I waited eagerly, impatiently. The waiting dragged on and on. I was a tenterhooks because I had to return to my office.

Periyaval came back at the nick of time, at noon. But, straight he went for a bath to the well. Maybe for some pollution he had inadvertently contracted in his visits.

The attendant was letting the pitcher down the well.

Periyaval asked him, Can you see the sun in the well?"

He said "Yes".

"Does anything strike in your mind?" he asked me.

There are two concepts in Advaita. One is Patimba-vaada, which holds that just like the one sun reflected in many drops of water, the one Chaitanya (Consciousness) is reflected in many antahkaranas (inner faculties) of the jivas (individual souls). The other concept holds that it is not the reflection but the selfsame Chaitanya which indwells in all the jivas. It gives the example of the wide open sky which is omni-spread and is, therefore, indwelling inside all empty vessels. The very consciousness itself fills up the antahkarana just as the very waters of the well outside fills the inside of the pitcher immersed in it. This concept is called Avaccheda-vaada. Now I saw before me the sun reflected in the water and also the attendant letting down the pot into the well.

Putting things together I said, "I see simultaneously examples for both the Pratibimba and Avachheda - vaadas."

Periyaval shook his head negatively indicating that was not what he wanted `to strike in mind."

He looked at the well; and at the sun. He looked at me meaningfully and said "Bha is saras (Light in the water.)"

With this cryptic observation he began his bath.

My hairs stood on end. I at once saw Bharai Svamigal, the sun of knowledge, immersed in Periyaval, the waters of Karuna, Grace.

It also struck upon me that the vice versa was also true. yes, the Light of knowledge too exudes the waters of Grace within. Was not the reflected sun within the well full of water?

Yes, the two Chandrasekharas are a conjoined single entity like a Sankara-Narayana and concretely illustrate the words of Paygai Azhvaar:

Tho' the twine in different roles do move about, part and parcel each is of the other of aye.

COURTESY : http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

KODI KODI NAMASKARAMS
TO KANCHI MAHAPERIYAVA , PERIYAVA AND ALSO BALA PERIYAVAR  

AND ALSO SRINGERI ACHARYAS

Thanks for the photos posted in the internet by both Kanchi acharya bhaktas and also to Sringeri  acharyas bhaktas 

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri - Part - 2 -- http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri 

Part - 2 

Ra. Ganapati

The father of Swaminathan (that was the pre-monastic name of Chandrasekhara Sarasvati of Kanchi) was not a Vedic scholar. He held a secular job. So our body was not brought up in strict orthodox environments. He studied in public schools, like any of us. At the age of twelve he received the exceptional grace of the then Kanchi Peethadhipati who visited the vicinity of the boy's place while on tour. When the Acharya moved to one of the next camps the boy ray away to him without telling anybody in the house. Then itself Acharya had selected him as the next heir. The very next year, 1907, he shed his mortal coils amidst circumstances when Swaminathan could not be brought to his side Since a vacuum in the headship of the Math is not permitted, the Acharya initiated Sri Lakshmikantan, a Rigvedic scholar who as serving in the Math itself into Sannyasa and installed him as his successor. He was the son of the elder sister of Swaminathan's mother. Due to a strange lila (play) of Parasakti, the new heir also followed the footsteps of his Guru to the beyond in a week. As the Math - authorities very well knew that the Acharya had Swaminathan in mind originally, now the 13 year old stripling was brought to ascend the Peetha. That the bud of youngster, not at all conversant in the Vedas and Sastras, transfigured into the ripe fruit, succulent in the knowledge of the scriptures within three or four years is a `truth stranger than fiction"!

Both the Chandrasekharas were not near their previous Peethadhipatis at the time of the latter's passing and so had to receive the initiation from the Guru only mentally or in some higher planes. It is a wonder indeed that both attained not only Self-realisation, but also high proficiency in organisational administration and assimilation of the traditions of the Math. Perhaps the very absence of the personal Guru's guidance and protective armour further stimulated the incumbents to thoroughly introspect themselves in every move of theirs and adhere to the highest norms of integrity. They had to - and they did it to perfection - surrender themselves to the unseen Guide to shape them to perfection. It is doubtful whether a disciple could surrender himself to such an extent towards a physically present Guru.

On ascending the Peetha, if the Chandrasekhara of Kanchi performed the wonder of equipping himself to the demands of a totally new environment, there is a wonder with regard to the Chandrasekhara of Sringeri also. The Sringeri Matha was at the height of its royal glory then. The previous two Acharyas, illustrious personages, had spread the fame of the Math all over India. Is it not a wonder that a person brought up in that very environment, comparable to a royal court, should reduce the royalty to the minimum and mostly immerse himself in solitary meditation? It is to be noted that he withdrew into himself in spite of having the ability to preach and possessing executive skills.

It is indeed the lila of lilas of the "High Command" that the Kanchi Chandrasekhara evolved into such a reservoir of energy as to spread the message of Dharma on behalf of the retiring Sringeri Chandrasekhara also.

Both were extraordinary. But the disciples of both were mostly of the ordinary run. As observed earlier, the two streams of adherents did not join is unity, but made their own claims and disclaimers on account of their partisan prejudices. But on account of the divine prema (love) of both the Saints, the number of such detractors grew thinner and thinner. Those who paid respect with equal devotion to grew in numbers. A number of scholars compared them to the two eyes of Sanatana Dharma. For instance, great sastra - exponents like Ganganath Jha, Thethiyur Sastri, Anantakrishna Sastri and A.V. Gopalachariar and men whom society held in esteem like Sri K.S. Ramaswami Sastri, K. Balasubrahmania Iyer, Justice Chandrasekhara Iyer and others had exhorted the devout public to honour both the sages equally.

The love and regard between these two great Saints can well be called an ambrosial sage of sanctity. Though great Acharyas had headed the two Peethas down the centuries, the lamentable fact was, there was not much goodwill between the two Peethas. It is the rare good fortune of the devout public of the first half of this century that right from the beginning of their pontifical career each of these two Acharyas realised the greatness of the other and were united in a bond of love.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has a parable. Once Siva and Vishnu were conversing in all intimacy in private. They heard a terrific noise of commotion outside. Siva asked, "What is the noise?" Vishnu replied, "Your followers are shouting that you are the greater among us two and my followers out shout them asserting that I am the greater one!" Such `ultra' devotees were there even now! But both the Chandrasekharas were united at heart, like the syncretic deity Sankara-Narayana, with Siva for its right and Vishnu for its left, and having a single common heart. Though they did not meet each other in our physical plane, they were at one at heart. When they ascended the Peetha, times were difficult - the Hindu Society was already divided into factions, was weakened further by skepticism and the new fangled ways and the so-called reforms which were, of course, based on good intentions. The two Saints felt that it was their foremost duty to bring the Hindu Society back into the traditional scriptural fold as one united family. To set the first example, the two themselves stood united.

Though the Sringeri Acharya gave importance to this social duty cast on him, the bliss of the Self drew him too often, like a magnet, to solitude. So the Kanchi Acharya took up the task of drawing up social uplift schemes with redoubled vigour. It is note that he always sought the opinion and cooperation of the Sringeri Acharya for his important schemes. The present writer had the great good fortune to hear from some such emissaries from Kanchi to Sringeri like Sri K. Balasburahmania Iyer, L.S. Parthasarathy Iyer, and Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathacharyar still happily with us reports about the perfect rapport between the two Chandrasekharas.

Even at times when it was reported that the Sringeri Acharya had gone into a session of seclusion, the Kanchi Acharya would depute his emissaries. They would protest, "How to see him when he is immersed in meditation?", Periyaval would just say "Go and try". They out of his seclusion only just then or the previous day! He would welcome them heartily and beckon them be seated near.

He would start the conversation by sweetly asking something like, "Is Periyaval observing the Chaturmasyam at Madhyarjunam (Thiruvidaimarudur)?"

The emissaries would explain the purpose of their errand and detail out the particular project sponsored by Periyaval. The Sringeri Acharya, his lustrous visage growing further, would carefully listen, and beaming utter words of benign approval in between.

He would remark in conclusion. "He alone can plan such schemes for the world and execute them, even while remaining in Atma nishta (firm establishment in the Self). He feels the pulse of the masses and draws up plans, at the same time taking care not to comprise on the Sastras. Thus he is able to attract the modern people also. Whereas in this place (referring to himself), though it is realised that the office of Acharya entails its duties to the world, the pull is to the contrary. `Here' instruction is given to certain extents only to those who come seeking the people and does them great good. He does than on behalf of us too. It is not at all necessary to consult us about the schemes he draws, because he knows best what is to be done. Apart from giving total approval, I have to only express my gratitude!" Words spoken right out of his heart, open like the spotless sky!

He would honour the emissaries of the Kanchi Math in a befitting away and ask his representatives to take them to all the maths, to obtain the cooperation those heads also for the schemes of the Kanchi Acharya.

On their return a beaming Maha Periyaval would ask, "Have you anywhere seen such a tejasvin (radiant personality)? IT is result of Tapas (Penance), Nishtha (absorption), the exalted heritage both by birth and the Peetha!" (He has referred to the greatness of the father and grand-father of the Sringeri Acharya as also that of his predecessor Acharyas.)

When the representatives conveyed the gratitude expressed by the Sringeri Acharya, he would say, "Is it that he is idle, making us to do all the work? The very radiation of such jnani contributes to the welfare of the world! So we should also express our gratitude!"

There are many instances of both the Acharyas encouraging unity among their disciples, right from the beginning of their spiritual reigns.

Under the helm of Sri T.K. Balasubrahmania Iyer, who had received the title of Gurubhakta Sikhamania (the crest-jewel among the devotees of the Guru) from the preceding Acharya of Sringeri the Vani Vilasam press in Srirangam was run with financial contribution from both the Maths. Maha Periyaval started Arya Dharmam as the magazine of the Kanchi Math, in 1914. T.K.B. was also on the editorial board of Arya Dharmam. He would get any pamphlet for the Kanchi Math printed on a priority basis. In his own Journal Hindu Message, which he had dedicated to espouse the causes patronised by the Sringeri Math, he had written a glowing and lengthy account of the Tatanka Pratishta2, performed by Maha Periyaval in 1923. It is noteworthy that on this very issue of Tatanka Pratishta there were legal battles between the two Math in the last century, when all the courts decreed in favour of the Kanchi Math.

The old people of those days used to talk volumes about the grand manner in which the residents of Veppattur arranged for the Chaturmasyam and Navaratri Puja by Kanchi Periyaval. But instead of publishing an account of this in the next issue of Arya Dharmam, Periyaval directed that an article of seven pages be written on the Navaratri Puja performed in Sringeri by the other Chandrasekhara!

2. Tatanka is an ear-ornament. Pratishta means `installation'. When the image of Goddess Akhilandesvari of Tiruvanaikka (near Tiruchy) was radiating unbearable power, the first Sankaracharya drew the extra-power in two tatankas cast in the mystic design of the Sri Chakra and installed them on the Goddess' own ears. Whenever the tatankas need renovation the Kanchi Acharyas renovate them and install them again on the Godess' ears. Maha Periyaval performed one such Tantaka - Patishtha in 1923.

For the fourth issue of Arya Dharmam of the year Dundhubi (1922), Sri M.N. Subrahmanai Sastri had sent an article in which he had lauded the active spirit of Kanchi Periyaval in going to every nook and corner of the land and giving new life to the Vedic traditions thereby. He had also written that others in the same position had not cared to exert themselves similarly. It was evident that he meant the Sringeri Acharya. The Editor asked Periyaval whether the portions relating to his good work done by him alone be retained, deleting the aside on the other Acharya.

The reply he got took him by surprise. Periyaval said that the portion praising his work must be deleted and the critical observation published.

While the Editor was wondering whether it was really Periyaval who was saying so, Periyaval continued with a `mischievous' smile, "If one person has expressed such a view in writing, there may be lot of others holding the same view in mind. So we should publish it, along with our reply".

Not knowing the reply and how to incorporate it in the article the Editor left it to Periyaval to do the needful.

Periyaval went through the article. He came to the Passage, "if only all the Heads of Maths follow this (i.e. Periyaval's example) our reformist leaders (condemning the scriptural way to life and values) would vanish into thin air". Here Periyaval himself added: "But as the Divine will is not such, they are going into nishta (absorption within)"!

There are two salient features in that pithy addition, One is that such happenings take place due to the Divine Will, not understood by us humans, and, no one should be blamed therefor. The second point is that the inaction of the person who was blamed was not due to inertia or inability but due to nishta which belongs to a plane higher than activity.

Some people used to urge the Sringeri Svamigal to travel widely, give out messages and lay down schemes for raising the people, spiritually, in the way Periyaval did. The reply he gave can be inscribed in letters of gold:

"In the present age, the Kanchi Peethadhipati and I are the representatives of Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada. So, regard the good work done by him as done by me as well, and the fame he gets accrues to me also".

There are instances which move our hearts, where even individuals have been made to realise that what apparently was done to them by one of the two Acharyas was on behalf of both.

The well-known legal luminary com minstrel of God, Sri T.M. Krishnaswami Iyer performed Tirruppugazh Bhajans at Periyaval's camp at Pallavoor in Palghat in 927. Periyaval, to match the initials T.M. gave him the title `Tiruppugazh Mani'. From there T.M.K. went straight to Coimbatore rendered bhajan before the Sringeri Acharya who was staying there. the Acharya was told about the title given by the Kanchi Acharya. He replied, "Take it that both of us have given the title jointly."

Once he asked Thethiyur Sastrigal, in a very casual manner, "if he has done something, does it not amount to our doing it?"

When Periyaval visited Coimbatore in 1927 his very camp was in the Sringeri Math there.

In 1925, both of them camped very close to each other in the Ramanathapuram region, with Periyaval observing Chaturmasyam at Ilayattakudi and Bharati Svamigal observing the same vow at Kunrattur, within 10 kms the same set of scholars came to both the camps to participate in philosophical discussions presided over by the Acharyas. Each of the Acharyas would ask the scholars about the interpretations given by the other and deeply appreciate the same.

When Bharati Svamigal left Pallattur in the then Ramnad Dist., Periyaval was scheduled to touch that place on his itinerary. The `ultra' devotees, who claimed that the village owed allegiance to the Sringeri Math, told in a complaining tone to Bharati Svamigal that a grand procession was being arranged by some people for the other Svamigal. Bharati Svamigal replied, all smiles, "Is it so? Ensure that he is received in a befitting manner. We will send our own `boyees' (palanquin-bearers for serving in the procession".

And he did send them. Let us visualise that nectarine incident of the Sringeri attendants bearing the palanquin of the Kamakoti Peethadhipati!

The Late Sri Viswanath Iyer who was the Manager of the Kanchi Math for a long time would recollect one event with the remark, "I have never seen Periyaval `fuming' like that"! It was one of those occasions when Bharati Svamigal, forgetful even about being clad, was in extreme ecstasy, singing, dancing, laughing and crying. A devotee remarked to Periyaval, "He has gone mad."

That was all. Periyaval could not bear to hear it and almost shouted aloud, "Siva, Siva, Siva" and in an exceptional about he fulminated at the devotee, "You fellow! Do know what it is to be mad or normal? Are you all-knowing? How dare you speak like that?" In this way he verbally lambasted the man at length and ended with, "Go and beg pardon of Lord Chandramoulisvara".

COURTESY : http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

KODI KODI NAMASKARAMS

TO KANCHI MAHAPERIYAVA , PERIYAVA AND ALSO BALA PERIYAVAR  

AND ALSO SRINGERI ACHARYAS

Thanks for the photos posted in the internet by both Kanchi acharya bhaktas and also to Sringeri  acharyas bhaktas 

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri -PART -1 -- http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi and The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri

Ra. Ganapati

At this point of time, (October 25, 1992) when we are preparing for the centenary celebration of Sri Kanchi Maha Svamigal, though He would be completing 100 years only in May 1994, we deem ourselves doubly blessed by paying homage to another great saint who has actually completed 100 years three days back. It is a strange coincidence that the monastic name of that sage is also Chandrasekhara.

He is none other than Chandrasekhara Bharati Svamigal of the Sringeri Sankara Math, who held the holy office of Sankaracharya for 42 years during the same period when Sri Chandrasekhara Indira-Sarasvathi was presiding over the Kanchi Sankara Math.

Instead of repeating the conventional term that the two personages were like 'the sun and the moon', we should say that they were like two sun-cum-moons! They were like the sun in full blaze radiating Jnana, and the rigorous Sastric Dharma in a most unique fashion, from 1912 to 1954. Upadesa (teaching) in their case was not merely by words but it was by showing the living examples of what they preached. Hence their words carried the power of the mantras. Both were exalted as great sages, verily as divine personalities.

But their very name has the moon in it. The name 'Chandrasekhara' is very appropriate for these two sages, who carried on their heads the burden of showing the correct path to the world, which was increasingly following sinful ways, in as much as the name originally denotes Siva who is His infinite mercy, pardoned the sinning Moon, reduced to a crescent and stationed him on His matted locks.

It is of note that among the many names adopted by the two lines of the heads of these two Maths the name 'Chandrasekhara' alone is found in both. The Kanchi Maha Periyaval is the seventh among Gurus of the of the Math bearing the name Chandrasekhara; the Sringeri Acharya was the fourth in that Math to bear that name. In Kanchi the names Mahadeva and Chandrasekhara alternate from the 61st to 67th heads. So there is nothing unique in Periyaval, the 68th in the line, having that name. what is significant is that the Peethadhipati of Sringeri who ascended the Peetha five years later also inherited the same name, after 450 years from the seventeenth predecessor in the lineage of his Math! In the divine scheme of things of Parasakti (Mother-Power Supreme), this coincidence occurred as if to show that these two Peethas are but two eyes focused on the same object.

There is another similarly too, of the 'Dasanaama' (ten titles in Sankara's monastic order) Kanchi Peetha has adopted (Indra) Sarasvati. Sringeri Acharya adopt different titles like Tirtha and Aranya. Of these, the title of the Sringeri Acharya we are talking of is 'Bharati' which too is a synonym of Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning. Sarasvati has yet another name, Sarada. The Math of the Kanchi Svami is named after Sarada and the Peetha of the Sringeri Svami carries the same name. The season of 'Sarad' is famous for the beauty of its full-moon. These two sages, like the moon, converted the blazing bright sunlight of Advaita-Knowledge into the cool moonlight of upadesa to benefit the entire world! The blaze arising out of their austerities was cooled in their Bhakti to the Godhead and was converted into compassion and comforted the devotees like the moonlight.

Both are 'incomparable'; also facto they are comparable to each other! They were steeped in Advaitic realisation even while apparently engaged in day-to-day activities. They had authentic divine powers to truly bless humanity. They were intellectually brilliant enough to astound the scholars but at the same time were adopts in expounding great Vedantic truths to the ordinary people in their own language. They were humble the way only the really great are. They loved the entire creation. In the present day of so-called reforms and change they followed strictly and boldly the traditional ways of life, facilely swimming against the current. Far from being puffed up by the greatness of the title Jagadguru, `the world-teacher', they who in their spiritual heights were apart from the world and as real renunciates had no craving to teach anybody, just endured that title, because it came to them unasked and sensing the divine ordination in it, they carried the yoke in utter sincerity and serenity.

In all these aspects they were comparable to each other - anyonya Sadrasa.

There is another similarity. The mother-tongue of the Head of the Kanchi Math in Tamil Nadu is Kannada and the mother-tongue of the Head of the Sringeri Math of Karnataka was Telugu.

Both these sages had no Guru in the physical form to initiate them into Sannyasa. But both stressed in one voice the need for a physical Guru for the world at large.

But in the divine drama of parasakti, two characters cannot be totally identical, as it would not suit Her variety-reveling! So she played her game, manifesting diversities too in the two. In fact the very diversity provided the backdrop to heighten the unity.

(This diversity' is definitely not `mutual difference of opinion': even to think like that is sacrilege.)

Deep within, both Acharyas were the same; but what the world perceived as their external behaviors and activities. In this respect, there was a significant divergence between the two. The Chandrasekhara of Kanchi, though a person of Self-realisation (Brahma-Jnani), paid meticulous attention to the activities of the world outside, and dedicated his life to convert these activities to be in tune with the Sastras; he was always devising one or other scheme to achieve the objective. The Chandrasekhara of Sringeri, though deeply interested in directing the people to the Sastric ways, generally kept himself aloof, immersed in meditation.

Another difference which can be called an offshoot of the above is that though Bharathi Svamigal could have achieved proficiency in any field of knowledge if he so desired, was not inclined to turn his attention to areas other than religion and spirituality. He did not encourage his disciples too in pursuing mere academic research. He absolutely declined to lend his ears to discussions on historic/literary basis for resolving purely religious issues and matters touching the great men of religion. To questions such as the age of Adi Sankara, or his authorship of certain books, or whether Vidyaranya had more than one Guru, his stock reply would be, "Is there any connection at all between finding out the truth in these and your own spiritual development?" The Sage of Kanchi, on the other hand, would encourage research in all fields and himself dive deep into the ocean of the various knowledges including modern Science and bring out myriads of pearls, corals, conchs and shells helping to solve academic problems. It is his conviction that research in any field will sharpen the intellect, and ultimately purify it, to make it fit to imbibe spiritual knowledge.

People held different views on this difference between the two. Some said that only the Sage of Kanchi, thorough with the latest trends and theories of the world, could perform the duties of the Jagadguru perfectly. Others said that it was only the Sage of Sringeri who deserved to be called a Jivanmukta - one liberated even while living in the body. Some also made fruitless efforts to change the ways of the Sringeri Acharya so as to make him gain more popularity, because they feared that the Kanchi Acharya was becoming more popular! When he was immersed in the divine intoxication of Bakthi or the spiritual afflatus of Jnana, some called him mad. The two sages, never bothered about these comments and played beautifully the role assigned to each by parasakti. One was like the lotus flower intent on rising above the waters around and laying itself bare to the skies - setting an example in spiritual ardour, transcending the material aspects of life. The other was like the lotus-leaf which though carrying water-drops, does not allow them to stick on to it, setting an example of Nishkama Karma (disinterested action) for the welfare of the world.

Both these Chandrasekharas were born in families closely connected with the respective Maths.

Some previous Peethadhipatis of Kanchi are the ancestors of Maha Periyaval.

The father and grant father of Bharathi Svamigal were scholars attached to the Sringeri Math. The pre-monastic name which he was given at birth was Narasimha. That name was selected because the previous two Acharyas were called Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati and Nrisimha Bharati. He may be said to have been given in adoption to the Math as soon as he was born. He was the fourteenth child of his parents, who lost all the preceding thirteen children when they were very young. The distraught parents, wishing that at least this child be untouched by their ill-luck, gave over the child to Sri Kantha Sastri, the chief Functionary of the Math. Thus he came under the benign care of the previous Acharya Sri Sivabhinava Nrismha Svami, while very young.

Narasimhan studied in a school for a few years and always stood first in the class. At the behest of the Guru, his secular education was stopped at a stage and he was asked to join the pathasala in the Math to study the Vedic and allied subjects. After studying the scriptures there, he studied advanced courses in the school in Bangalore, run by the Math itself, obtained extensive and intensive proficiency in the Sastras and emerged as scholar. In 1912, at the age of 20 he was appointed as the next heir to Peetha. Even then he excelled in the knowledge of the Sastras and the observance of the rituals, and had also gained sufficient equipment in Bhakti, Jnana and Vairagya (non-attachment).

                 

COURTESY : http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-59.html

KODI KODI NAMASKARAMS

TO KANCHI MAHAPERIYAVA , PERIYAVA AND ALSO BALA PERIYAVAR  

AND ALSO SRINGERI ACHARYAS

Thanks for the photos posted in the internet by both Kanchi acharya bhaktas and also to Sringeri  acharyas bhaktas