Ayana Kulaguru; Ayana Devudu
Author: M.V.Pasupathi, Chennai-49 (in Tamil)
Compiler: T.S. Kothandarama Sarma
Source:
Maha PeriyavaL - Darisana AnubhavangaL vol. 1, pages 82-98
Publisher: Vanathi Padhippaham
09-12-1965. That day was a golden day in my life when the matchless Mahajnani's
lila of grace touched my life.
This poor man (that is, I) underwent the training for Tamil teachers since June 1964 at the Government Teachers' Training College. On completion of the training, I was appointed at Chennai Chozhavaram Government High School in November 1964.
One Tiru Meenakshisundaram was the headmaster of the school at that time. He had already known my father, who, as the principal of TiruppnanthaL Senthamizh College was a well known figure. Since I took up work in a school whose head was familiar with my father, I had chances of friendly proximity with him.
I would say that it was not the Education Department of the Government but the Department of Grace of Sri Maha PeriyavargaL that gave me orders to serve at Chozhavaram. This is because, within a month of my taking up the job, Sri Maha PeriyavargaL visited the place. It was during that visit that I had his graceful care.
The headmaster asked me to compose in verses a welcome address on behalf of the people of Chozhavaram to the sages Sri Periya PeriyavaL and Sri Pudu PeriyavaL who were to visit our village. The headmaster asked me to leave aside my lessons for the time being for the purpose of this composition.
It did not occur to me at that time that this was a
bhAgyaM I had received. It seemed to me only as a very big opportunity. The reason that I did not consider it a
bhAgyaM was the inherent fear in my mind. What that fear is, follows later in this essay. When
abhayam was to be received in
ubhayam, will not that
bhayam be gone?
I did not decline the chance given by Tiru Meenakshisundaram. I only postponed it a little. So I told him, "Sir! To teach loudly until my throat is sour and the neck aches is my work at day time. Writing will be my work at night time. I shall see to it that what I write
iravil (at night) will not be
iraval (borrowed), but my own", and went to the class.
I told my paternal uncle that evening about Tiru Meenakshisundaram's offer. My elder brother Tiru K.M.Krishnamoorthy had also come there. Both of them said in one voice, "Your time has come!"
Only after their simulteneous words it struck me--why not write a
prabandham instead of a welcome address.
I summoned up the courage and said to myself with closed eyes, "What is the use in giving a welcome address with five or six verses? All those who attend the occasion will be given the sheet and they will just fold it for discarding later! It can be given as a
pathikam with ten songs in the form of a booklet. Or as a small book as an
irattai manimaalai. If given as a book, people would take it home and would think to at least preserve it even if they won't read it. There is time for composing a small
prabandham."
"Sabash!" said my paternal uncle. "All that is good, but will they accept it to extend on behalf of the people of this village, since a
prabandham is difficult to read?"
I told him finally, "What if they don't agree? I am going to publish it only in this form."
That very night
Pujyasri Sankaracharya SwamigaL Irattai Manimalai was started. The
thaaL (paper) got filled up 'by His grace, bowing at His
thaaL (feet)', as Manivachagam says. With the eyes snowing and the body shivering in ecstasy, the words were born and the task was completed.
The day of publication came, but I did not have enough money. The money I had would have been sufficient if there would be a page less. The problem was solved by the grace of KaruNamurti, using the third page of the thick cover sheet for the excess page, printing the remaining pages on ordinary white paper.
It was a working day on 09.12.1965. Dressed up in a pant and shirt, I started for work, leaving a hundred copies of the printed booklet at home and handed over the bundle of remaining copies to Tiru Meenakshisundarm and said, "You submit these."
Sri S.V. Subbiah (character actor of the cinema) who was devoted to Sri Kanchi MaTham and Sri Jagatgurunathas had at that time arranged for a large receiption for the sages with an enormous
pandal in Kaaranodai, a little distance away from Chozhavaram. He had erected in the cine-style in his garden, a large
pandal that could accommodate thousands of people.
If my memory serves me right as to what I heard about it, it was only to avoid or postpone visiting that grandeur that Pujyasri Kulagurunathas had camped at Chozhavaram on that day. Looking in that angle, I consider that another reason might be to give
anugraham to this poor man. How can human intellect, mind or words probe into the thought processes of the
paramporuL shakti?
Pujya Sri Jagatgurunathas visited Chozhavaram and stayed in a small house, which had a tiled roof. That small house got the status of a holy place due to the two
mahAns' divine stay. It was a small room, with a hall behind it. One person could sit or three stand in the room. Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL was seated this room to give darshan to the devotees.
Carrying fruits and flowers in cane plates, many people went inside. This poor man's publication was also offered to the holy feet, along with the contents of the plates. There was a window to the roadside in the room.
Kamban, the king of poets, would say in his Mithila Scene
paTalam of his epic, 'lotus flowers bloomed at every window' (to have a look at Sri Rama). The description here is slightly different from that.
The golden lotus, drizzling the nectar of knowledge, had bloomed inside the room. Bees had thronged at the window, yearning for a look from the corner of the eye of the ruler of grace. My face was among those bees, looking with uncontrollable yearning and expectation.
What wonder! My book got the priority, and Sri Maha SwamigaL rested his holy eyes on the pages of my book, using a lens. As I looked at how his scan was over each and every word, tears started in my eyes. As that Mahajnani's eyes fell on the last page, my mind met with fear. The fear was due to what would come up as his holy words of judgment of the book. The palms I had joined then, rested on the back of the person who was in front of me at the window.
The holy face that shined with knowledge, matching the splendour of a crore suns, turned to the right. I was shocked. He spoke, "Pasupathi,
nuvvu SriRudram caduvukunnavaa? (Have you read SriRundram?)"
"Swami,
lethu Swamee! (no)", I said.
"
SriRundram lo unnadi vishayaalu ee prabandhamulo unnadhi (The things found in SriRudram are here in this small literary work)", he said.
My fear was gone now. Instead, a greater degree of anxiety caught hold of me.
With no one having introduced me to him, how did he know my face among the many that covered this window? That
mahAn's holy eyes have not fell on me even once all these days! My picture was also not published in that book! Then how is it possible that he recognizes my face and pours his grace on me? Nobody has told him that this man is a Telugu by birth, and yet he opens his holy mouth to me in Telegu! Am I dreaming? With such thoughts, I was reaching the pinnacle of confusion. My inner eyes were ticklish with questions that flashed like lightning; and the walking God was talking to me.
He said, "
ma.vey. antey mantravadi Venkataramaiah, nau" ('antey'=means).
I nodded my head awkwardly in agreement. The reason that prevented me from going near on an earlier occasion, twisted my legs now. Earlier, I had had a sneaky darshan of Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL!
*** *** ***
My age had crossed eighteen. Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL visited TiruppnanthaL. Our residence was in the
sannidhi of the Thaadakai Eeccharam Temple in that village. My father, mother, grandma and younger brothers and sisters were all waiting in the street for a darshan of Kulagurunathar. Arrangements were busily made to receive him in a few minutes.
My mother's eyes fell on me. She caught hold of my hand, dragged me and shut me up in the room facing the road. She climbed up the
thinnai on the roadside, came to the window of the room where I was shut up and told me, "Pasupathi,
occhedi, mana kulaguru; aayana devudu; aayanaku anni telusunu; veediki enthuku ingaa upanayanam seyalethu antey memu emi sesthumu." ('He who is coming is our family guru; he is God; he knows everything; what can we do if he asks why this boy has not had an upanayanam yet.'). She spread out both her hands and spoke in a husky voice, climbed down the raised sitout and went away to the street.
I murmured to myself, "If he is God, he would also know that you have shut me up in a room." It was a murmur that stank with a bit of atheism in it. Besides, there was the base of a longing to that murmur that a festivity where the whole village participated was denied to me.
There was enough gap among the bars to look at the road from the window of the room. The
doli came. My mother and father went near and worshipped. My brothers and sisters prostrated to the sage. I pushed my hands out of the bars of the window and joined my palms.
Since my maternal grandmother (a woman who had committed to mind the entire Bhagavat Gita and taught it to many) was in the state of a widow, she prostrated from a distance. Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL asked something pointing at her and my mother replied him. Having been imprisoned at a distance of twenty-five feet, I could not hear her words, only saw the incident.
Pujayasri Maha SwamigaL visited the
kattaLai maTham which was located four or five houses opposite ours. My father also went to the
maTham.
As she entered the house, my mother released me and said, "
Nenu aayana devudu anni chepthini kaadha?" ('Did I not say that he was a God?'), raising both her hands up.
I was rather afraid that he had asked about my not having been provided with a
poonool. Unable to stand or sit, my grandmother stretched out. I went near her calling, "avvaa! avvaa!". She explained to me what happened.
She said that he inquired about her with the words, 'Is she not the wife of Soolameni Doraisamy Iyer?'
Twenty years after she lost her wifehood, my grandmother came to her son's house at TiruppnanthaL and stayed there. She had had darshan of Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL once when my grandfather was alive, many years before that time. Several years after the change in
kaalam, the change in
desam and the change in
kolam, if Pujayasri Maha SwamigaL inquires about my grandmother, pointing out to her with formal address... what my mother told me were not words, only teachings!
*** *** ***
It was wholly the TiruppnanthaL incident that was the reason for my hesitation to go inside the divine house where Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL was seated and prostrate to him. I tried to release my legs from the tension that had gripped them. I had not had a
upanayanam even by that time. Finally, I managed to go inside, removing my shirt. He did not ask a word about my
poonool. It is not the habit of
Paraman to vex the nervous.
Entering the divine house, I had an ecstatic darshan of the Maha Jnana Splendour. A divine bliss of floating in the sky. I thought he would say something about my book, titled
Sri Kanchi Kamakoti pIThAdhipati Jagatguru Srimad Sankaracharya SwamigaL Irattai Manimaalai (with notes). A rare order of blessing came up from him.
The speech that was earlier in
sundara Telugu, was now in the sweeter-than-honey, chaste Tamil.
"Tiruvalluvar
enna samayam?" (Of what religion is Tiruvalluvar?), the
sarva maha jnanai asked me with these words. In those days, some pens committed sin under the influence of maya, by writing without properly understanding the divine words of this God. This incident is an evidence that even the greatest researcher until this day has not known what this
maha jnani knew about TirukkuraL.
His question gave me the courage, as it was one I could answer. How can a son fear his mother? I replied, "TiruvaLLuvar is a saiva-siddhanti." Even though the information was right the wording was not. The mistake was gracefully corrected after a quarter century by Pujyasri Jayendra Saraswathi Sri Sankaracharya SwamigaL.
In the year 2001, he made me speak about Maanikkavachagar at SrimaTham, gracing the occasion with his presence as
eLi vantha piran (God who came in a simple form). When my speech was completed, Jagatguru Pujyasri Jayendra Saraswathi Sri Sankaracharya SwamigaL gave me the knowledge and grace saying, "You said 'saiva-siddhanti'. Don't put it that way. Say 'Sivaadvaidi'."
If the 69th
pIThAdhipati corrected in April 2001, a mistake out of ignorance that occurred in my words in front of the 68th
pIThAdhipati on 09-12-1965, it is only an explicit proof of how the same
jyoti descends in the many forms of our
Kulagurunathas and protects us.
Pujyasri Maha SwamigaL heard my answer and asked, "how do you say that?". He stopped for a moment and then ordered me, "You come in the evening with an easy on this subject."
I had darshan of the
nathan thaaL (master's feet); I had darshan of the
naa thanthaaL (he who gave me the tongue); and I got
thaaL (paper) in plenty. Collecting the information bits that came to my memory, I wrote an essay in seven pages titled 'TiruvaLLuvar's Religion'. I had the blessing of another darshan at seven in the evening.
I had written in my eassy: the terms
thaamarai kaNNaan* ('lotus-eyed') and
adiyaLandhaan ('he who measured with his foot') that occur in TirukkuraL are references to Tirumaal (Mahavishnu) -- the glory of the Feet in the first chapter, 'Praising God' -- the line
Indirane salum kari (even Indra, the head of Devas, suffered the curse of sages) -- the phrase
ulagu iyatriyaan (he who made the world) --
eN guNatthaan (of eight attributes) and such other lines. I was explaining these lines in front of Pujasri MahaswamigaL. As I read out the TirukkuraL
piravip perunkadal neendhuvar neendhar
iRaivanadi seraadar.
The boundless ocean of births can be crossed, indeed,
but not without intimate union with Infinity's Holy Feet.
(translation by Himalayan Academy
(
Contents of Weaver's Wisdom - Ancient Precepts for a Perfect Life)
he waved his holy hands for me to stop.
He gave the graceful message, "During TiruvaLLuvar's time,
iRaivan meant Sivan."
Parithiyaar, who wrote the first commentary on TirukkuraL explained the meaning this verse as "Those who did not meditate on Shiva's feet won't be able to cross the ocean of births." I remember this fact now due to the graceful sweep of the sage, and this I submitted to him in words.
He said finally, "Have you seen the
nigaNdugaL (dictionaries)? All those would explain the meaning of
iRaivan as Sivan. There are other meanings, but among the names of Gods, only Sivan!" He had shown a new way to research the religion of TiruvaLLuvar that has not been seen by any researcher till date. My wonder knew no limits.
I went to the French Library in Chennai and checked the
nigaNdu. There are many dictionaries named
ChuuLamani, Divakaram, Pingalandhai, and Asiriya Uriccheer Nigandu. There is a
sUtra that reads '
iRai Sivan kadan vengai'. I understood that
until the sixth century the word iRai denoted only Sivan as a meaning that referred to the God; that word did not refer to other Gods until then. It was clear how deeply and subtly Sri Maha SwamigaL had mastered TirukkuraL. I adored that limitless and great knowledge.
After giving darshan on two occasions with great Tamil
jnanam in the
jnanakkutil at Chozhavaram, Sri Maha SwamigaL gave me
prasAdam. He took my book the
Irattai Manimalai with his holy hands, applied the
prasAdam to it and graced me with a unique blessing, "After your
jeeviyam we will recognize this as a
paarayana pustakam".
He pointed to the next room and said, "Pudu PeriyavaaL", giving me his assent to have darshan of that sage.
*** *** ***
I had my first
bhAgyaM of having darshan of Sri Pudu PeriyavaaL through the order of Sri Maha SwamigaL. It was a
pillaiyar chuzhi that indicated that the
bhAgyaM of having darshan of the Kanchi sages would continue through my life.
To reach the next room where Pudu PeriyavaaL was giving darshan, it was necessary to come to the street and then enter the room. I prostrated to Jagatguru Pujyasri Jayendra Saraswathi Sri Sankaracharya SwamigaL. Even during my prostration he said, "
Irattai Manimalai". He blessed me showing his
abhaya karam and his unique, sweet face that poured grace.
The first words that issued out of his mouth, with no one having introduced me to him, was a pleasant surprise.
The actual meaning of
Irattai Manimalai as a garland made of beads in two rows started fading from my mind. With the darshan
bhAgyaM of Pujyasri Pudu PeriyavaaL, It dawned within me that it was actually a garland of
stotra on the two
nava manis.
There is another reason for it. The
prabandham of
Irattai Manimalai has to be composed in the metres of
veNba and
kattaLaikkaliturai as an
antAdi, tying up the first word used as the ending word. This is the form that many poets would consider. But the work
Navaneethap paattiyal has given a rule that
Irattai Manimalai can also be made in the metres
veNba and
Asiriya viruttam. This sage is Sri
Pudu PeriyavaaL. The Grace has made this
newness possible in the poetical work. I couldn't find out how I chose the metre
Asiriya viruttam instead of
kattaLaikkaliturai.
The newness in prosody came up to praise Sri Pudu PeriyavaaL. All the twenty verses have only the name Sri Sankaracharyar, which is the common name of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti
pIThAdhipatigaL. This is a natural thing that settled in, due to the indication of the Grace.
Sri Pudu PeriyavaaL asked about my job details, blessed and gave me
prasAdam.
Note:
* -- Readers may please indicate me the verse numbers of the
kuraLs mentioned in this paragraph, as well as any other verses or other references that has a bearing on TiruvaLLuvar's religion.
Glossary:
abhayam - fearlessness, protection
antAdi - end and beginning, a poetic work where the ending word or phrase appears as the
first of successive verses.
desam - place
doli - palanquin
irattai mani maalai (Tamil) (lit). a garland of beads in two rows; here a set of twenty
hymns.
jeeviyam - (Tamil) life
kaalam - (Tamil) time
kolam - state, position
paramporuL - (Tamil) that which is eternal, Brahman
paTala - a chapter or section, among other meanings.
pathikam - (Tamil) a set of ten hymns
paarayana pustakam - a book to be recited repeatedly
pillaiyar chuzhi - the letter 'aum' denoting Ganesha written as the first thing in a task of
writing on paper.
prabandhaH - literary work, bond, tying up, order, system
stotra - praise, eulogium, a hymn of praise, ode
ubhayataH - from both sides, doubly
