in the presence of divine - vol 2 - chapter 7 - dr kalyanaraman

7 Dr.S.Kalyanaraman

It was in 1943. Periyava was camping in Tiruvanaikoil. It was during cāturmāsya1. My classmate

Natarjan said, “I must go home early today. We were playing hopscotch. Periyava is inTiruvanaikoil and

my uncle is taking me with him for darśan.” When I got back home earlier than usual, I told my mother

that my friend was going with his family for Periyava darśan. Quite suddenly, I do not know what

prompted him, my father said, “Let us go to Tiruvanaikoil for Periyava‟s darśan!” There were no buses

then. We had a small oxen cart in front of the house. It would take about an hour to go from Andar

Street to Tiruvanaikoil by cart. I think it must have been half past seven we reached there.

In those days, pāda pūja used to be offered to Periyava that is to his wooden sandals. Earlier for

every name that was chanted2 a silver coin and a flower would be offered. This practice was discouraged

as it was felt that a monarch‟s head must not touch Periyava feet. So small vilva leaves of silver were

offered with flowers and this too was stopped and only flowers were offered because it was not possible

for everyone to make this expensive offering. Periyava was in a small thatched place in front the Maṭha.

We offered our prostrations and returned home. I was but a boy of eight and went along because my

father took me to see Periyava, that‟s all. I knew nothing more. Something seemed to have happened to

me, I cannot say what exactly it was. Somehow Periyava permeates our whole existence.

Later Periyava came to the Fort3, the town. If the gowrikalai was blown it meant the arrival of

Periyava‟s mena and we would run out. At once some rice grain would be spread on a plate and the

coconut and pūrṇakumbha would be readied and carried to the threshold. Periyava offered worship at the

Naganathaswami temple4 in the town. Somehow he has permeated our souls. How are we to discuss how

he does so? When Periyava circumambulates after the Candramouḷiśvara pūja he was Parameśvara

himself. I have said this many times and have written about it also in my book. Periyava permeates your

consciousness in many different ways.

Periyava was camping in Kurnool for cāturmāsya5. Chandramouli Sastri told me this. Bala

Periyava was barely fifteen and it was shortly after he was given sanyās. Ādi Śankara

Bhagavadpadācaryā‟s pādukās were placed for worship. Periyava asked why the pādukās were bare

without their customary silver plating. Chandramouli Sastri replied that it had been removed to replace it

with gold plating. Periyava described the pādukās to Bala Periyava. The pair is made of ivory. Periyava,

it seems, pointed out to the imprint of Ādi Śankara‟s feet on the pādukās. The pādukās were temporarily

covered with silver plating. Periyava removed the plating and showed the imprint to Bala Periyava. If

the feet must be imprinted on ivory, how many miles must the Ācārya have walked. . . from

1 Periyava camped in Tiruvanaikoil from May to October 1943.

2 Worship done with a recital of 108 names of a deity, in this instance, the Guru.

3 Rock Fort in Tiruchi, known as Fort/Kottai colloquially

4 At Nandi Kovil street in Rockfort.

5 In 1983.

2

In the Presence of the Divine

Kanyakumari, Rameswaram, all the jyotirliñgās6, all over India. How much the Ācārya has walked,

from Kanyakumari to the jyotirliñgās and to Kashmir! We finished the pāda pūja and came back to our

lodgings.

My father was always a practical man. “It is unsafe. The pādukās may be taken out for worship

and they will have to be guarded. That is quite unnecessary!”

We were there for a few days. The next day, I conveyed my father‟s views on the matter to Pudu

Periyava.

“Maha Periyava has decided to do it. There is no further discussion!” said Pudu Periyava. I felt that I

ought to take up this sacred task. I shared this with my father.

“That will be a good two lakhs or two and a half lakhs! Can you manage that much?”

“Let me try” I said.

I went to Pudu Periyava the next day. “I may be allowed to do this plating single-handed” I said.

“Let me ask Periyava, I cannot decide on my own!”

So we waited.

The next day was pradoṣa. The Candramouḷiśvara pūja took place in a very huge hall. All the

three Periyavās came there. It seemed as if Periyava looked at me for just for a fraction of a second.

Later after the pūja concluded Pudu Periyava called me and said, “It has been sanctioned! You may do

it!”

Somehow it was done. There are millionaires, several of them, ready to serve Periyava. Some lakhs are

nothing at all! What mattered was the chance I got. We returned home. Soon after, a lady came home to

see me. You probably know them, Auditor Sundaresan.

“I wanted to see you and offer you my prostrations” she said.

“What is this . . . prostrating to me! You are elder to me!”

“No, I must. You see, a fortnight earlier, we had gone for darśan. We heard that there were plans to

make a gold plating for the pādukās. Those of us who were there at once took of our bangles and chains

6 i)The liñgā is an elliptical symbol, suggesting infinity without beginning and end and as a liñgā of light or jyoti, suggests its

primordial, self-willed manifestation with the same attribute of infinity. The twelve jyotirliñgās are remembered with a verse:

ii)saurāṣṭre somanāthaṃ ca śrīśaile mallikārjunam ujjayinyāṃ mahākālam omkāram mamleśvaram

paralé vaidyanāthaṃ cha ḍākinyāṃ bhīmaśaṅkaram setubandhe tu rāmeśaṃ nāgeśaṃ dārukāvane

vārāṇasyāṃ tu viśveśaṃ tryambakaṃ gautamītaṭe himālaye tu kedāraṃ ghuśmeśaṃ ca śivālaye

etāni jyotirliñgāni sāyaṃ prātaḥ paṭhennaraḥ saptajanmakṛtaṃ pāpaṃ smaraṇena vinaśyati

eteśāṃ darśanādeva pātakaṃ naiva tiṣṭhati karmakṣayo bhavettasya yasya tuṣṭo maheśvarāḥ

iii)Somanath in Saurashtra and Mallikarjuna in Srisailam, Mahakāl in Ujjain, Mamleśwar in Omkareśwar

Vaidyanath in Parali in Maharasthra Bhīmaśankaram in Ḍakinyā ,Rameśam in Sethubandha, Nageśam in

Darukavana

Viśvanatha in Vanarasi, Triambaka on the banks of the river Godavari Kedarnath in Himalayas and Gruṣneś in

Śivalaya

One who recalls the jyotirliñgās everyday at sunset and at dawn, is absolved of one‟s sins in the seven lives past.

The wishes of one who visits these are fulfilled and one's merits and demerits are destroyed as Maheśwara is

pleased.

3

Vol. II / Article 7, Dr.S.Kalyanaraman

and offered it to Periyava, but he said, “It is decided to have it done by one devotee alone! You may not

make these offerings!”

It was only then did I realize how fortunate I was. The view that the gold plating was not practically

feasible, was replaced by the one to definitely do it, within a matter of a few hours.

The pādukās are made of sixteen layers. The craftsman came from Mayavaram or Kumbakonam.

It is a very sensitive job and every detail had to be seen and attended to carefully. It took about a month

and a half. The acāri stayed on there and did the work. When the plating was done, the next question

was, when will its pūja begin?

Pudu Periyava said, “I have submitted the matter to Periyava. I do not know what he has planned.”

We were wondering what we had to do and many thoughts ran through my mind. „Would Periyava ask

us details of the work? Would he announce it in a meeting? Would he perform the first pūja himself?‟

and so on.

One afternoon after the pūja was done, Periyava called us. Periyava, Pudu Periyava and Bala

Periyava were there. My father, mother and I were there. My wife did not accompany us on that trip, my

daughter – named Anuradha, because she was born on Anusham, Periyava‟s star – was with us. They

were three and we were four. The pādukās were there. Periyava told us to take flowers in our hands. We

circumambulated thrice, offered the flowers to the pādukās and offered our prostratations. It was done in

just two minutes. The function was so simple and so majestic. Pudu Periyava was so moved.

“Never before nor after!” he said describing it. It was a grand simplicity. Periyava was always so down

to earth – in spite of all the orthodoxy - so practical, and always had the commoner at heart. That is what

is interesting.

It was when the first batch that get the Commonwealth scholarship, soon after independence that

I had put in my application. I was twenty-five and married.I was told, “You cannot be relieved because

you are a temporary employee in Government service. But you could appear for the interview. Let us

see as we go along! In case you are selected, then citing the selection we could relax the rules. In fact

you are not supposed to appear for the interview, but you are being permitted to do so!”

I appeared for the interview, answered the questions posed to me. I am saying this only to show

how Periyava works in our mind. The Chairman said in the course of the interview, “You are twenty-

five years old and have just a year and a half of experience after Post-graduation. Tell me, why must I

select you over-riding others who are thirty-five or forty, have more experience and more publications

that you do? Give me one reason.”

I replied, “I am twenty-five. If you select me I will serve you thirty years. If you select a man of thirty

he will serve you twenty years. I will give you three times the value of the money, so it‟s beneficial to

the Government to select me.” I was selected.I came home and reported the matter to my father. “If

Periyava permits you, you may go” he said. So we went to Periyava. N.C.Subramaniam, a close friend

of the family, came with us. The news was conveyed to Periyava by my father.

“Of what use is that?”

4


“He will be able to study further, M.S. and then PhD. . .”


“I could perform advanced surgeries. I would be able to earn more.”


Only then did my father understand the significance of Periyava‟s question. Dr. Ramamurthi was in

USA then and had not come back.

“It is not possible for everyone to go abroad for surgery. He will be able to perform surgery to many

needing it. He could also train others.”

“What you mean to say is that it will be useful to the people.”

“Yes . . .”

This was what really mattered, not that a Brahmin lad was going abroad, not that he was forsaking his

prescribed spiritual life, not that he would earn more, but that it would be of use to the common man.

This was always the guiding principle for Periyava‟s decision, the good of all. Other things are

secondary. I could narrate another incident. It was during Ugādi7. That day, it was past two in the

afternoon but Periyava did not sit down to perform pūja. There have been days when the pūja would

come to a close at six or seven in the evening and only then would we have a meal. The Sastrigal said,

“It is Ugādi and Periyava must make the sañkalpa.”

“You want me to make the sañkalpa. Tell these people what it means, in the first place. For whom is it

made?”

“For the Maṭha . . ., for Periyava, for Brahmins, for the holy cow . . .”

“No! What is the meaning of the sañkalpa prior to the Candramouḷiśvara pūja, which is performed thrice

a day? The purpose of the pūja done thrice a day to Candramouḷiśvara in the Maṭha, is for the welfare

and prosperity of all people of Bharata, all creatures, for the good of all. That is the purpose of the

spiritual resolve made in the Maṭha, before every pūja.”

Everything pointed to the common man for Periyava. Periyava went in after pūja. We wanted

prasāda. The gentleman in the pūjakaṭṭu replied, “Did you see what Periyava did before he went in? he

looked at all the people assembled here and offered his prayers and salutations to the deity, praying for

7 Ugādi is the New Year's Day for Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh,

where the Lunar calendar is followed and precedes the New Year (mid-April) based on the Solar calendar by at least a

fortnight.

5


all!”It was more the Spirit of the word than the Letter of the Law where Periyava was concerned.

Periyava‟s approach was always unique.

When I came back from abroad, I went to Periyava. My niece Radha was also there, having

returned from Nigeria. You know how Periyava poses questions and teases the answers out of us.

“You know why these people have come. They have returned after a foreign visit and wish to know

what atonement to make. Kalyanaraman is also here, for a selfish reason. He too has come back after a

visit abroad. He has not yet visited Rameswaram and wants to know what is to be done by way of

atonement. What was your last place of visit?”

“Thailand, Bangkok. . .”

“Did you see the Buddha temples there? In the outer courtyard of the temple?”

“Yes. . . “

“What did you see?”

“The entire Rāmāyaṇa is sculpted there.” This temple is in the city of Bangkok itself.

“Do you know how many Rāmāyaṇās there are in India? How many languages there are in India?”

“Twenty or thirty. . .”

“Much more that that! There are as many Rāmāyaṇās in India as there are languages. There are five

hundred Rāmāyaṇās in India. Each region has its own modifications. There is a French author in

Pondicherry, who has written a book where he speaks of a Chola princess given in marriage to a

Cambodian prince. When the princess left, many accompanied her. The French scholar has written about

this in detail. The bridal gifts given by the king were taken there. Many Vedic scholars also

accompanied her. The book gives all the minute details of the itinerary of the day, starting from waking

up in the morning and cleaning one‟s teeth, but there is no mention of the daily samskarās being

neglected. Nor do these many Rāmāyaṇās speak of Rama atoning for forsaking his samskarās even for a

day. Now this gentleman has come from Africa. After all Asia and Africa were a single land mass8, now

the Suez Canal is made by the Whiteman. It was one land. So we cannot say that one has gone to

another dwīpa 9when one goes to Africa. What is important and must be noted is that one must atone if

8 While Dravidologists and marine-geologists, supported by philologists, uphold the view that a single landmass was

splintered after the eruption of a gigantic volcano, into the continents of Asia, Africa and Australia as known now, an

opposing school of thought, dismisses this view as mythical for lack of substantial empirical evidence. Periyava upheld the

former view, which is now gaining ground by scientific discoveries. The debate on the lost land of Lemuria or Kumari

Khanda, the southern portion stretching beyond the now Tamil Nadu, pre-dating the Harappan civilization, falls into this

discussion and is one of the most researched area of study by Indologists today, in spite of the summary rejection of this

hypothesis, largely by the West. In a conversation with devotees, which this translator was fortunate to hear, Periyava said,

„In the past ages, Ambāḷ dwelt in penance, inside a pillar of fire beneath the ocean on the south-eastern side, facing this land

of Bhārata. That is why this land is blessed. Now in this age of Kali, she dwells in the cow-shed.‟ 9 continent

6


one does not perform one‟s nityakarma10

for three days continuously. Rama went by puṣpaka vimāna11

and that did not take three days. The scholars who accompanied the princess reached there in two days.

Soon after their arrival, they would have taken a purificatory bath and performed the daily samskarās.

One must atone if one does not perform one‟s nityakarma for three days continuously. Looked at that

way, many here would have to atone!”So the point is not that one goes abroad or not, but that one does

not forsake one‟s daily regimen.

A Doctor in the Army from Karnataka -I was an apprentice with when he told me this - He was

in the Burmese front during the war. He was injured by a bullet and fell down unconscious. When he

regained consciousness, he realized that he was in the base hospital. The Orderly posted on duty to serve

him was a Tamilian. He said, “I know nothing, Sir. You were lying unconscious after being hit by a

bullet. Suddenly an ascetic appeared there in ochre cloth and said, „Why my boy! Pick him up and carry

him over your shoulder to the hospital. Run!‟ So I did just that. I carried you here on my shoulder,

running all the way.”

“There was firing and the Japanese army was on the other side and where would an ascetic in ochre

come from in the Burmese front? You probably imagined it. Any way you saved my life!” said the

Doctor and saluted him.

When the Doctor returned home, he came to Kanchipuram and prostrated to Periyava.

“Were you injured during the battle? I came there. Did you see me?” asked Periyava.

In the incarnation as Krishna, he knew he was the Lord. In the incarnation as Rama, we read that he did

his duty all the time, whether he knew it or not that he was the Lord. In the case of Periyava it is a

mixture of both. At times he was like an ordinary man. Sometimes he would also make us feel that he

knew everything.

A lady, the mother of a patient - a young lad - went for darśan the day before the boy was to

undergo an operation. Repeatedly she seems to have prayed to Periyava to send word to me to take

special care of her only son. After a while almost as if impatiently, Periyava has remarked, “He always

remembers me before he performs every operation. That will do.” The lady came straight to my

residence and asked for me. When I met her, she narrated the incident to me, saying that she was coming

straight from Kanchipuram.

“Is this true?” the lady asked me.

Actually when I go in to sanitize my hands before entering the operation theatre, I always remove my

footwear and while I wash my hands, I remember Periyava and pray to him. One cannot pray to him

with one‟s footwear on. I have never spoken of this habit to anyone.

10

One‟s prescribed spiritual regimen for the day 11

The flying-chariot that bore Rama and Sita back to Ayodhya.

7


“Yes,” I said, “I pray to him when I wash my hands before the surgery. “Periyava has sent you to me to

assure me that he knew of this habit of mine and that my prayers reached him.”

I was twenty-five when I completed my research for the doctorate degree. I wrote to my father to

look for an auspicious date for the submission of my thesis. The last date for submission came before his

reply and so I submitted my thesis after placing it before Periyava‟s picture and offering my prostrations

to him. Then nothing happened. There was no reply from the examiner. After waiting for a reasonable

period, my Chief and the President of the Royal College, Wellington, where I was a researcher,

contacted the examiner on the phone.

“I have not gone through it and shall take some time to do it. Don‟t hurry me” said the examiner and put

the phone down.

I was frightened that I may be misunderstood as trying to pull ropes. So we waited patiently. Mine was

the first thesis in Neuro-surgery, not only by an Indian but by anyone in Britain too. Now there are four

categories, of which one is recommended by the examiner, outright rejection of the thesis, resubmission

accepted with modifications suggested by the examiner, accepted and recommended for the viva-voce

and the last, which accepts the thesis as meriting the degree without the oral examination. About two

months later, the report came. Mine was recommended in the last category - of degree to be awarded

without oral examination. A week later I met the examiner, Prof. Brodie Hughes of Birmingham, in a

conference and he complemented me.

“Your thesis was so informative, it merits not one, but two Ph Ddegrees” he said.

It was a very rare occurrence for the degree to be awarded without the oral examination. Whatever the

work we do, he permeates our consciousness.

Before a dissertation is submitted, a synopsis is first submitted. For example, if it is the

subject of physics, there are so many areas of specialization in it. So a synopsis is first sent to the

examiner, to find out if the examiner is competent to evaluate the particular thesis. If the examiner

agrees to, after looking at the thesis, then alone will he be appointed as the examiner and the thesis sent

to him. This synopsis is like a small book, of about ten or fifteen pages. A young scholar came to

Periyava. At Tenampakkam, Periyava would sit on the other side of the well. The young man placed a

copy of the synopsis in front of Periyava and prostrated, announcing that he was about to submit his

dissertation. Periyava glanced at it for a moment, then turned and looked at me.

“You have a PhD degree, don‟t you? Take this, go and sit under that tree and tell me what is in it

briefly.”

It was not my subject at all. Anyway, I took about half an hour and read through it, trying to

comprehend it, with some difficulty of course. I came back to Periyava.

“Have you read it?”

8


“Yes” I said and continued to explain the content of the synopsis. I would have spoken for about two

minutes.

“Is not the third paragraph in the first page contradicted by the second paragraph in the fourth page? Go

and read it. Go and take a look at it.”

I went back and reading through the synopsis, found that what Periyava said was indeed true. I came

back and said that it was so.

“Never mind. The examiner will not notice it. You may go ahead and submit it” said Periyava and sent

off the young man. Periyava would not have looked at it even for ten seconds, but had grasped the whole

of it perfectly. After having taken an undergraduate degree in science as a student and now reading

through it for half an hour, I was not able to see this detail.

A senior Professor at Gulbarga University, very well-known to me, he was President of

the Association of Surgeons, had never seen Periyava before this happened. On one occasion he was

travelling by car with his family, in a forest area of Karnataka. It was raining very heavily and with

children in the car, he did not know what to do. Finally at about eleven in the night, he spotted some

light in a house in a small town. He drove to the house and found the whole family waiting for him at

the threshold.

“Come in, come in, we are waiting for you!” The doctor and his family were welcomed warmly and

taken in.

“Waiting for me!”

“Come in and have a meal first. We can talk later.”

The doctor and his family were treated to a nice meal and made to feel comfortable.

“Periyava walked past our town earlier today. We had made all arrangements to host him in our town,

but Periyava said, „I am going to another place and so cannot halt here. Later a gentleman will come

here by car, at about eleven a in the night. Keep a meal ready for his family‟ and left. We have been

waiting all these hours for you.”After this incident, the Doctor came for darśan very often with me.

Let me tell you about another lady, who had never seen Periyava. She had a son who was in the

fourth or fifth class in school, and she was struggling to make ends meet. She prostrated before

Periyava‟s picture at home and prayed seeking his grace to educate her son, saying she had no else to

turn to. Sometime later, a wealthy gentleman of renown had gone to Periyava for darśan. Periyava

mentioned this lady, referred to her by her name and told the gentleman, “Go and take on the

responsibility of educating this boy, all thorough his studies!” The gentleman came to me and conveyed

the details that Periyava had told him and then we met this lady. The gentleman undertook the

9


responsibility of the boy‟s education fully. The boy completed his schooling, went on to do his higher

studies and is now well-placed in the USA. His mother only knew Periyava from his picture and had not

seen him. She had prostrated and prayed to him, in his picture. Prostrations to him always reach him.

[Another gentleman who is present while this video talk was taken adds here, “We saw Periyava and so

we consider the picture to be a mere picture. The lady had not seen Periyava, so to her the picture was

Periyava himself.”]

Periyava once asked me, “What is telepathy?”

Thousands of years ago, philosophy talk of jāgrat, suṣupti and svapna, the state of being awake,

the asleep and dreaming. Now, five thousand years later scientists have divided the states of

consciousness into three. In the dream- state it is possible to transfer thoughts. It has been proved

scientifically. It has been published in the Archives of Neurology12

. Volunteers are made to sleep in a

room. When subject to the EEG13

, it will possible to detect when the person is in deep sleep or

dreaming, because the EEG in sleep is different from EEG in the state of dream. When the volunteer

gets into the dream-state, then a telephone call is made to another person, three hundred miles away and

he is asked to concentrate on the picture of the dreaming person. This is a scientifically controlled

experiment. When the person wakes up, he asked to narrate his dream experience. The person who is

faraway places a picture of a church and concentrates on the dreamer, putting the thought of going to

this church and the volunteer says he dreamt of visiting this particular church. So if a picture of a little

boy is placed and concentrated into the volunteer‟s mind, the boy is seen in the latter‟s dream and so on.

This has been scientifically proved and has been published in an international journal in the USA, that

thoughts can be transferred when a person is dreaming.

Many factors are involved here. Some people have a greater ability to transfer thoughts than

others. Some people have a greater ability to receive thoughts than others. We have said all this a

thousand years earlier. Some are able to receive an upadeśa at once, for some it does not go into the head

at all. It is like the radio-receiver, you tune in with the right number and you get the station you want.

We believe when we see it happen, if we do not see it happen practically, we find it difficult to believe. I

said this to Periyava, about thought-transfer being proved scientifically. Periyava actually said this to me

then, “When your father writes a letter to me, I know exactly what he is writing.” I realized then that he

was super-natural.

A college student was a chain-smoker. His health was affected and it seemed as if he would fall

ill. He wanted to get out of the habit, but could not. So he sat and wrote a letter to Periyava making a

clean breast of his state. It was not posted. A month later he fell ill and was confined to bed for about

three weeks. During these three weeks he could not smoke, he was not in a position to. When he

recovered, he did not smoke again. I believe this was Periyava‟s grace. I do not know whether it was a

12

International journal published by the American Medical Association and the American Neurological Association. 13

The electroencephalogram, to measure and record the electrical activity of the brain.

10


case of cause and effect. Why must he suddenly be affected by such a severe fever and be laid up for

three weeks? What caused this fever? I believe this was possible only because of Periyava‟s blessings.

Periyava has come in my dreams several times, even now. These are personal matters.

However, there is one dream I must talk about. Periyava appeared in my dream and said, “Write the

names of all the Pontiffs in the Kamakshi temple!” I went to Periyava himself and said, “ I had a dream

in which Periyava seems to suggest that the names of all the Pontiffs of the Maṭha be inscribed in

Kamakshi temple.” Periyava di not say „No‟, but he said, “Not now!” That was the

period when the priests of the Kamakshi temple filed a pliant seeking full control, in the fifties. The case

was won by the Maṭha. Now this work has been done by another devotee, you can see it Kamakshi

temple, with pictures of the three Pontiffs. When we are in his presence, there is no doubt that thoughts

are being transferred. If one prays sincerely, he hears. Even when you do not get what you think is for

your good, in the long run it is clear that was for our good. We have seen this.

Periyava blessed my father with his pādukās. In 1971, my father suffered a heart attack. It was

his habit to convey every bit of news to the Maṭha. He was known as the „Dentist‟. So it was conveyed

that the Dentist had sought a pair of pādukās and the ochre cloth of Periyava. My father was the first

dental surgeon in Tiruchi. Now you have Dental colleges. In those days, 1929, one had to train as a

house-surgeon in dental surgery and only then qualify. You know Vedapuri, who was always with

Periyava, serving him - he conveyed the message. Periyava at once removed the pādukās he was

wearing, the ochre cloth that he wore and gave them, himself remaining only in his loin cloth. My father

used to place Periyava‟s cloth at the head of his bed. After Periyava‟s passing, I asked Pudu Periyava for

a pair of his pādukās, saying that I wished to keep it at home. The next day, Pudu Periyava gave me yet

another pair of Maha Periyava‟s pādukās. I gave it to my daughter. She is worshipping it in her house.

My wife‟s sister is married into a family devoted to Sringeri Maṭha. When they saw that

Periyava had given his pādukās to my father, my sister in law‟s husband went to Periyava and prayed his

pādukās. He is eighty-two now. This happened forty years ago. Periyava said, “You do not need it. A

pair of pādukās will reach you.” The gentleman later went to Sringeri and the Swami there gave his

pādukās.

Periyava performing pūja is a unique event in itself. When he offered the kumkum it would fall

exactly on the deity. So too when he did the abhiṣeka of milk, one could go on watching endlessly. It

was done with such precision, as if with a machine. More than all this I have seen a very special pūja.

You know Dr. B.Ramamurthy, the neuro-surgeon, my guru. His devotion to Periyava was great, very

great. He said, “You go to the Maṭha, don‟t you. Take me with you, will you?” I went from here, via

Ponamallee High Road and he came from Mylapore via Porur, from the other side. There were no cell

phones then. I waited for half an hour or even three quarters of an hour. I was worried because of the

delay. It was a Sunday like this and this delay in the plan to go for Periyava‟s darśan upset me. Finally at

about five thirty, he came there. The two of us went straight to the Maṭha. We learnt there that Periyava

was at Sivasthanam. So we drove to Sivasthanam. There we learnt that Periyava had gone to the temple-

11


pond. So we went to the temple-pond. It was eight on a full moon night. There were flowers on the

pond. Periyava was seated on the steps of the pond. For an hour or so, Periyava performed this pūja. He

took the earth from the banks of the pond, and fashioning it to represent Candramouḷiśwara, installed the

deity in it and worshipped the deity making an offering of handsful of the earth to it. We were only four

or five of us there, watching this pūja.

Dr.Badrinath was my student. He told me that Periyava suffered from spondilitis and asked me

to go and examine him. Badrinath is a very great man. He has given his all to Periyava devoting his life

to Periyava, giving up everything, unlike us who find time for Periyava in between, or make monetary

offerings. We are nowhere near him. So I went to see Periyava.

“Did Badri tell you to see me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Periyava mentioned pain in the neck, so I have come to examine Periyava,” I said and prostrated to

him.

“Why do you prostrate to me?”

“When I operate on my patients I pray to Periyava that they may be cured. Now that I am to examine

Periyava himself I do not know whose blessings to seek. So I prostrate to Periyava that he may be

gracious to me and that it may be cured.”

Then I examined Periyava. I draped a piece of silk on his arm and took a reading of the blood pressure.

After I completed the examination, I said, “It would be good to do some exercises for the spondilitis.”

“What exercises . . .?” So I demonstrated the exercises. A month or so later I went back.

Periyava said, “It is much better now, but I don‟t do the exercises anymore. I stopped doing them.”

“Why, Periyava?”

“You told me to move my arms and neck this way and that, like this, and I was doing the exercises

regularly. Devotees watching me began to imitate me taking these to be some kind of yogic exercises,

shaking their head this way and that. Those without a pain in the neck would probably get it, I thought.

So I stopped doing them.”

That day when I examined Periyava he was running a high fever with a temperature of a hundred and

five degrees.

“Periyava must take care, frequently for anuṣṭāna Periyava bathes in cold water . . .”

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“How I can I stop the snāna? Yesterday it was lunar eclipse, so I did a grhaṇa snāna. Do you know what

that means? One must dip into the river, holding ones‟ nostrils and take care to dip enough to wet the top

of one‟s head.”

“Did Periyava go to the river running such a high fever and take a dip like this in cold water at

midnight?”

“Not one dip, my boy, a hundred and eight times.”

I did not know what to say or do. I prostrated to Periyava. “What medicine can I give you? It is

Paramesvara who takes care of you. Periyava must be well so that all people are well.”

What to say of Periyava who goes to the river at mid-night and takes a hundred and eight dips in the

cold water, running such a high fever? Is it a human body, after all? In all matters it was so with

Periyava.

Towards the end, ultrasound reading was done – I have written about it in my book. Periyava

was asked to drink lots of water, but not pass urine. The bladder must be full for the examination to be

done. We were seven or eight doctors sitting there. Periyava was lying there. We were waiting for

Dr.Suresh to come. Repeated phone calls were made and we were told that he had started, but he had not

reached Kanchipuram. Periyava had taken lots of water and not passed urine for four hours then. You

can imagine the discomfort one feels. We could almost see that the bladder was full. But Periyava was

conversing with us. There was total detachment between the body and the consciousness. Periyava was

ninety-nine then, a year before the passing. Periyava was taking in a light vein, as if to console us.

“Let him come when he does,” he said, because he knew the doctor was being delayed.

Periyava would fast for days on end. Later Pudu Periyava changed the system. Himself a

diabetic, he never allowed anyone to wait on an empty stomach for long. In those days, when Periyava

did the pūja, we have eaten our meal even at six or seven in the evening, fasting the whole day. As for

Periyava, he never took anything to eat on the days when bhikṣāvandana was not offered at the Maṭha.

Nothing of this would be known to anyone outside. Nowadays hundreds offer bhikṣāvandana. It was not

so then. Periyava was very famous and many were devoted to him, but the Maṭha was in straightened

circumstances. Fasting meant eschewing even water completely. Periyava has fasted for two or three

days continuously like this, repeatedly. Let me tell you of one incident.

In 1962, when Periyava camped in Ilayathangudi – I was in America, no, England, then. My

father would go frequently for darśan. Ilayathangudi Periyava was the younger brother of Periyava‟s

grandfather. Periyava called my father and asked for the almanac to be brought.

“It is not good to eschew offering bhikṣa after Candramouḷiśwara pūja. There are some days in the year

which are important. Let me mark them for you. Start a trust to ensure bhikṣa on these days at least.”

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Periyava saw the almanac and identified eight days for my father.The first day of vasanta-navarātri, that

is, Ugādi, the first day of shāradiyā-navarātri, Bhogi festival, Poñgal, Māṭṭu Poñgal, the third Somavāra

of Kārthika, Brindavana dwādasi and on annābhiṣeka14

. These were the eight important days marked out

by Periyava.

“Somehow we must ensure that bhikṣāvandana is done on these eight days in the year,” Periyava said.

My father placed a seed money of ten thousand rupees then and started this Trust. We do not ask anyone

for donations. Our immediate family earned and built up this Trust, now worth three crores. Now Nithya

bhikṣāvandana Trust offers daily puja and bhikṣa in nine adiṣtānams. If it is known that there is an

adiṣtānam, then daily puja and bhikṣa are offered there.

The adiṣtānam of Sarvajna Sadasivabodhendra Saraswathi, the 56th

Pontif is in Rameswaram,

but the location is not known. The 57th

is Paramasivendra Saraswathi whose adiṣtānam is at

Tiruvenkadu, the 58th

is Atmabodhendra Saraswathi at Vadavambalam, the 59th

is Bhagavannama

Bodhendrendra Saraswathi at Govindapuram, the 60th

is Adhyatma Prakasendra Saraswathi at

Kizhambi, the 61st is Mahadevendra Saraswathi at Tiruvottriyur, the 62

nd is Chandrasekharendra

Saraswathi atTiruvottriyur, The adiṣtānams of the 63rd

and 64th

Pontifs are at Kumbakonam, the 65th

is

Mahadevendra Saraswathi at Ilyattankudi, The 66th

is Chandra sekharendra Saraswathi at Kalavai, the

67th

is Mahadevendra Saraswathi also at Kalavai. Then is Periyava. Now puja and bhikṣa are offered in

these nine places.

Everything happens by Periyava‟s grace. One had to experience one‟s karma. If we pray to

Periyava, the onslaught gets mitigated and what more, we get the strength to bear it and go through it.

That‟s all. Nothing can be done beyond this. It is better is experienced and exhausted in this birth, not

carried over into the next as well.

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i)The start of two of the four cycles of nine days and nights, celebrated starting from the first day of the new moon, in

adoration of the Divine Mother in December-January: māgha-gupta-navarātri;in March-April: vasanta-navarātri; in July-

August:Āṣada-gupta-navarātri and in September-October: shāradiyā-navarātri. See Chapter XXIV, 21-22 of the third book of

the Devi Mahātmyam for more. (The Devi says, „O king! In the month of Chaitra, Māgh, Āśvīn, and Āṣāḍha, My grand

festival should be done on the four Navarātris respectively; and especially on the fourteenth and on the eighth day of the

black half, all persons ought to worship Me with their minds full of devotion towards Me.‟)

ii) A series of three agrarian festivals, especially in Tamil Nady;Bhogi festival, Poñgal, Māṭṭu Poñgal are the purificatory

festival purging the old and ushering the new, the festival of harvest in thanksgiving to the Sun-God and the adoration of

cattle, in mid-January after the harvest respectively.

iii) third Monday in the month Kārthika /November-December, significant for the worship of Śiva

iv) The 12th day of the waxing phase of the moon of Kārthika, when brinda/ tulasi/ sacred basil is worshipped

v) Full moon day in the month of Aipasi (October - November), when the liñga is covered with cooked rice, invoking

prosperity for all. This ancient practice of worship was revived by Periyava in 1986. For more see:

http://isatsang.blogspot.in/2014/11/the-story-of-iyppasi-annabhishekam.html

http://isatsang.blogspot.in/2014/11/the-story-of-iyppasi-annabhishekam.html

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There are many families where there is such great devotion. What we have is nothing compared

to theirs. A certain patient who needed to take a medicine after the night meal, told me in the course ofa

conversation, that he resolved on the day that Pudu Periyava was arrested, not to take it till all the

problems were solved. Many devotees live quietly, not known to us. I went once to a city – I don‟t want

to mention the name – we were getting ready for dinner.

“Wait a moment,” he said. “I must first offer prayers to my deity.”

“Can I see?”

“Yes” he said, and there was Periyava‟s picture. There is yet another doctor who will take his meal only

after reading at least a small portion of Deivattin Kural.

When Periyava was camping in a place beyond Kurnool, Prodattur, a gentleman stood outside

the camp for long waiting for darsan. Periyava asked him what he wanted.

“I belong to the pañchama caste15

. I started my life as a daily labourer, became an overseer, progressed

further and today I own a huge house and a garden. I wished to invite Periyava to my house, but I was

told that Periyava will not come to our place. So I stood here in hestitation.”

“I have come to this town only to come to your house” said Periyava and went there with the pūja.

The man had a sprawling mango-grove and Periyava camped there and performed the pūja there.

I have gone there for darśan and seen this. To Periyava what mattered was the essential spirit behind the

principle, nothing else. We have forsaken that, though we make much ado about orthodoxy. We are in

fact unaware of the scientific fact behind the orthodox way of life and we forsake this also, not knowing

what it is all about. Take the simple rule regarding „pattu‟16

. It is nothing but protein-matter. Protein

decomposes when it come into contact with water and causes infection. Dried fritters are not „pattu‟ for

it ha s no protein matter and does not decompose, whereas sambar has lentils, protein which decomposes

and is „pattu‟. It is basic bacteriology which our forefathers knew this a thousand years ago. Why bathe

after returning from the cremation ground? Again to avoid infection. Essentially orthodoxy is hygiene.

Why seclude women in the house for three days during the monthly periods? There is loss of blood and

fatigue and it was decided to give the lady a period of rest from the heavy chores of the household for

three days. So she is secluded in the house. Today, girls go to Halts at a school and to work, but we

prevent them from entering the pūja room. We have forsaken the principle behind most of our religious

rules, in ignorance of the scientific, health principle behind them. Now they speak of „Drug Holiday‟ as

if it has been discovered now. Patients taking medicine may have accumulated in the lung or kidney.

When the medication is stopped for a few days, the kidney has time to detoxify and send out the

accumulated drug residues. We have the natural fasting of ekādasi, or fasting every Thursday or

15

Lit.fifth; the oppressed who were considered untouchable 16

cooked food, handling which is considered as detracting one‟s state of purity

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Monday. We can eat a little fried items then. Fried items are boiled at a very high temperature, at a

hundred and seventy degrees. Orthodoxy is good of course, but we must know the spirit, the informing

principle behindthe custom. We have forsaken the essentials.

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in the presence of divine - vol 2 - chapter 7 - dr kalyanaraman

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