D
dhumakethu
Guest
What normally amounts to immodesty at times becomes a necessity. In this case it has become a sacred pilgrimage.
Dear brother Brahmin, will you come along with me to share my recollection of precious moments/events that has happened during my 70 years of the past? Yes, I am 70 plus of age, who tries to remember only the worthwhile occurrences of the past. Problems have cropped up only to go away, I do not remember most of them – perhaps that is a special gift of God to me.
I am a blessed individual who had the rarest blessings of having darshan of Maha Swamigal Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam for more than 45 years at regular intervals.
Kindly do not pre-conclude or attribute any hold aroma around me. It just happened, perhaps because His Holiness Mahaswami desired it to happen. I wish to share some events and – I pray the present Swamigal blesses me not to exaggerate or indulge in falsehood.
I offer, with utmost humility, these scribbling of mine to the lotus feet of the perennial Kanchi Acharya Parampara.
The Queen of Greece, during her visit to India while at Chennai, desired to have ‘darshan’ of Maha Swamigal, the reason, you will agree, will be best known to the queen only.
Before leaving for Kanchipuram, the queen noticed 2 special chairs accompanying her. When she asked the reason for this she was informed,
“Your majesty, people sit on the floor before His Holiness. We do not want you to get, by chance, infected”. The queen stoutly refused and was firm that she will sit like all others.
When the queen reached the Sankara Mutt, the Maha Swamigal was sitting on a raised platform giving darshan and also offering kind words to devotees. The queen, with her companion, was escorted to the front line where she sat on the floor with difficulty as she was not used to sitting in that posture. The “sanyasa dharma” glittered when sri Maha Swamigal came down hurriedly and sat before her on a wooden plank.
“Why does the Swamiji do that”, was the queens wonder, for which the Maha Swamigal explained “She is the queen of a country and I am only a humble sanyasi. I should not sit on a higher pedestal and talk to her”.
It was later informed that the queen of Greece expressed her joy of leaving with a heart filled with joy.
Lord Shiva is known by many names – one being ‘Margabandu’, meaning a friend/protector during travel.
My personal experience has proved the meaning in totality. During early 1970’s bus frequency from Chennai to Kanchipuram was very limited. The last bus will leave by 7 pm and the travel time used to be for 2 ½ hours to 4 hours. In those days devotees should leave the premises only after His Holiness nods his approval. There was no compromise on it as it was considered “abhachaaram” (sin) to leave without his approval.
Once, on reaching the presence of Sri Maha Swamigal I realized that I was short of money for my return journey. Being a very ordinary person, my mind was more on how many miles I had to walk back to reach home at Chennai.
Around 6 pm, I stood before His Holiness silently, as was the practice, to seek permission to leave. But Sri Mahaswami ordered me to go and sit and pray! It was 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm and so on. My permission was not coming as I was repeatedly ordered to go and pray. The irony of it was that I knew nobody at Kanchipuram.
It was 8 pm, when an elderly man and his wife entered to have darshan of Sri Mahaswami. After blessing them, giving some flowers, etc His Holiness asked them the least expected question,
“Have you come by car? Are you going to Chennai ?”
Slightly startled by this question the elderly man said “yes” and also that he was directly returning back to Chennai. Sri Mahaswami signaled to me to come as I was quite far away. When I reached his holy presence he said to the elderly man,
“If it is not inconvenient can you drop this boy anywhere in the city limits? This boy will go home in some bus from there.”
The elderly man agreed saying that it was his pleasure. I was dropped, not at the outskirts of Chennai, but at my very doorstep.
At home, I felt grateful to Sri Mahaswami for his “parental act”
We know that a judgement is final and unquestionable. But little is known as to how much discipline the judges must observe – in personal and social life. The most important is that they cannot claim exemption from any law – moral, social or legal.
The temple authorities of Tirupati, the Lord of the Seven Hills, had assembled near the dwajasthambam, with poornakumbam, to receive sri Maha Swamigal who was to arrive by foot anytime.
The moment came when His Holiness arrived with a full smile and stood outside the temple. He eagerly looked at the hills around, the blue sky above, the temple Gopuram and the grand walls of the temple. Suddenly he went and stood in the free darshan queue. The temple authorities were taken aback as they had planned to take him by a special entrance to avoid hours and hours of waiting. Somehow they cleared the free darshan queue as quickly as possible and Sri Maha Swamigal had a good darshan of the Lord.
While coming out one of the authorities informed His Holiness that they had arranged for a special darshan through a separate entrance. Sri Maha Swamigal replied,
“When I was looking around I saw a board in Telugu which contained the words “dharma padha” (dharma darshanam). There is also a red arrow below indicating the queue. I have been telling for years to those who come to see me to follow the “dharma paadha”. Then how can I take some shortcut route? Hence I joined that queue.”
The above incident was narrated to me by one Sri. Raghurama Iyer whom I always hold in high esteem for his ethics and strict orthodoxy. Next time we try to have darshan in any temple, using influence, somewhere in our heart there will be a pricking. Call it conscience or our inner ethical values which many a times remain dormant.
Interesting it is that many crystal gazers wear all sorts of coloured attire, hats, gloves, etc. But what is the colour of a crystal? It defies all conceivable boundaries. The different cuts or shapes emanate multi-colour, multi-dimensional arrows, arches, etc. In all, this psychedelic display the crystal remains the same. It is colourless. Maybe the yogis, paramahamsas, mahatmas are like crystal – the Nirgunas. They display a plethora of feats yet remain still. They cannot be measured or understood as they defy all set rules.
Intense excitement was afloat as the Mahaswami had ordered preparation for a person to be given “sanyasa”. Many vedic scholars, pundits around were eager that they maybe chosen as the purity involved can be “felt” and not told. At this juncture a few people from Chennai arrived to meet Maha Swamigal. One of them was a foreigner – a Frenchman (if my memory is right). Intense discussion/talk was held by Maha Swamigal, including the foreigner, for nearly an hour.
Then the thunderbolt came when Maha Swamigal ordered the foreigner to be taken for tonsure, kaashayam – in short for sanyasa in the august presence of Maha Swamigal.
A few days later – by that time the “foreign sanyasi” had been sent to the Himalayas – the disgruntled or disappointed “ashrama aspirants” approached Maha Swamigal and expressed their hurt, preferring a foreigner who was perhaps a meat eater, alcoholic and what not was not fair, was their argument.
The reply of Maha Swamigal was astounding, “What can I do ? You are all around me always. But your thoughts are only about your family. He was living thousands of miles away, but always thinking of me”
Indian or foreigner, orthodox or unorthodox, puritan or liberal, scholar or stupid it is the purity of heart and perseverance that made the crystal perform a galaxy of colours, yet remain colourless untouched. Truly Maha Swamigal is the star crystal.
Special attention to my Brahmin brethren placed outside India. The event stated above should/must help to wipeout any longing of yours that you are missing a lot or something of not living in your native soil. Keeping our heart clean, wherever we are, will create a paradise in our heart. Our creator will start discriminating between us only from the day a mother starts charging her child for the milk given by her. So cheer up !
Dear brother Brahmin, will you come along with me to share my recollection of precious moments/events that has happened during my 70 years of the past? Yes, I am 70 plus of age, who tries to remember only the worthwhile occurrences of the past. Problems have cropped up only to go away, I do not remember most of them – perhaps that is a special gift of God to me.
I am a blessed individual who had the rarest blessings of having darshan of Maha Swamigal Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swamigal of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam for more than 45 years at regular intervals.
Kindly do not pre-conclude or attribute any hold aroma around me. It just happened, perhaps because His Holiness Mahaswami desired it to happen. I wish to share some events and – I pray the present Swamigal blesses me not to exaggerate or indulge in falsehood.
I offer, with utmost humility, these scribbling of mine to the lotus feet of the perennial Kanchi Acharya Parampara.
The True Sanyasi
The Queen of Greece, during her visit to India while at Chennai, desired to have ‘darshan’ of Maha Swamigal, the reason, you will agree, will be best known to the queen only.
Before leaving for Kanchipuram, the queen noticed 2 special chairs accompanying her. When she asked the reason for this she was informed,
“Your majesty, people sit on the floor before His Holiness. We do not want you to get, by chance, infected”. The queen stoutly refused and was firm that she will sit like all others.
When the queen reached the Sankara Mutt, the Maha Swamigal was sitting on a raised platform giving darshan and also offering kind words to devotees. The queen, with her companion, was escorted to the front line where she sat on the floor with difficulty as she was not used to sitting in that posture. The “sanyasa dharma” glittered when sri Maha Swamigal came down hurriedly and sat before her on a wooden plank.
“Why does the Swamiji do that”, was the queens wonder, for which the Maha Swamigal explained “She is the queen of a country and I am only a humble sanyasi. I should not sit on a higher pedestal and talk to her”.
It was later informed that the queen of Greece expressed her joy of leaving with a heart filled with joy.
The Margabandu
Lord Shiva is known by many names – one being ‘Margabandu’, meaning a friend/protector during travel.
My personal experience has proved the meaning in totality. During early 1970’s bus frequency from Chennai to Kanchipuram was very limited. The last bus will leave by 7 pm and the travel time used to be for 2 ½ hours to 4 hours. In those days devotees should leave the premises only after His Holiness nods his approval. There was no compromise on it as it was considered “abhachaaram” (sin) to leave without his approval.
Once, on reaching the presence of Sri Maha Swamigal I realized that I was short of money for my return journey. Being a very ordinary person, my mind was more on how many miles I had to walk back to reach home at Chennai.
Around 6 pm, I stood before His Holiness silently, as was the practice, to seek permission to leave. But Sri Mahaswami ordered me to go and sit and pray! It was 6:30 pm, 7:15 pm and so on. My permission was not coming as I was repeatedly ordered to go and pray. The irony of it was that I knew nobody at Kanchipuram.
It was 8 pm, when an elderly man and his wife entered to have darshan of Sri Mahaswami. After blessing them, giving some flowers, etc His Holiness asked them the least expected question,
“Have you come by car? Are you going to Chennai ?”
Slightly startled by this question the elderly man said “yes” and also that he was directly returning back to Chennai. Sri Mahaswami signaled to me to come as I was quite far away. When I reached his holy presence he said to the elderly man,
“If it is not inconvenient can you drop this boy anywhere in the city limits? This boy will go home in some bus from there.”
The elderly man agreed saying that it was his pleasure. I was dropped, not at the outskirts of Chennai, but at my very doorstep.
At home, I felt grateful to Sri Mahaswami for his “parental act”
The Judge
We know that a judgement is final and unquestionable. But little is known as to how much discipline the judges must observe – in personal and social life. The most important is that they cannot claim exemption from any law – moral, social or legal.
The temple authorities of Tirupati, the Lord of the Seven Hills, had assembled near the dwajasthambam, with poornakumbam, to receive sri Maha Swamigal who was to arrive by foot anytime.
The moment came when His Holiness arrived with a full smile and stood outside the temple. He eagerly looked at the hills around, the blue sky above, the temple Gopuram and the grand walls of the temple. Suddenly he went and stood in the free darshan queue. The temple authorities were taken aback as they had planned to take him by a special entrance to avoid hours and hours of waiting. Somehow they cleared the free darshan queue as quickly as possible and Sri Maha Swamigal had a good darshan of the Lord.
While coming out one of the authorities informed His Holiness that they had arranged for a special darshan through a separate entrance. Sri Maha Swamigal replied,
“When I was looking around I saw a board in Telugu which contained the words “dharma padha” (dharma darshanam). There is also a red arrow below indicating the queue. I have been telling for years to those who come to see me to follow the “dharma paadha”. Then how can I take some shortcut route? Hence I joined that queue.”
The above incident was narrated to me by one Sri. Raghurama Iyer whom I always hold in high esteem for his ethics and strict orthodoxy. Next time we try to have darshan in any temple, using influence, somewhere in our heart there will be a pricking. Call it conscience or our inner ethical values which many a times remain dormant.
The Crystal
Interesting it is that many crystal gazers wear all sorts of coloured attire, hats, gloves, etc. But what is the colour of a crystal? It defies all conceivable boundaries. The different cuts or shapes emanate multi-colour, multi-dimensional arrows, arches, etc. In all, this psychedelic display the crystal remains the same. It is colourless. Maybe the yogis, paramahamsas, mahatmas are like crystal – the Nirgunas. They display a plethora of feats yet remain still. They cannot be measured or understood as they defy all set rules.
Intense excitement was afloat as the Mahaswami had ordered preparation for a person to be given “sanyasa”. Many vedic scholars, pundits around were eager that they maybe chosen as the purity involved can be “felt” and not told. At this juncture a few people from Chennai arrived to meet Maha Swamigal. One of them was a foreigner – a Frenchman (if my memory is right). Intense discussion/talk was held by Maha Swamigal, including the foreigner, for nearly an hour.
Then the thunderbolt came when Maha Swamigal ordered the foreigner to be taken for tonsure, kaashayam – in short for sanyasa in the august presence of Maha Swamigal.
A few days later – by that time the “foreign sanyasi” had been sent to the Himalayas – the disgruntled or disappointed “ashrama aspirants” approached Maha Swamigal and expressed their hurt, preferring a foreigner who was perhaps a meat eater, alcoholic and what not was not fair, was their argument.
The reply of Maha Swamigal was astounding, “What can I do ? You are all around me always. But your thoughts are only about your family. He was living thousands of miles away, but always thinking of me”
Indian or foreigner, orthodox or unorthodox, puritan or liberal, scholar or stupid it is the purity of heart and perseverance that made the crystal perform a galaxy of colours, yet remain colourless untouched. Truly Maha Swamigal is the star crystal.
Special attention to my Brahmin brethren placed outside India. The event stated above should/must help to wipeout any longing of yours that you are missing a lot or something of not living in your native soil. Keeping our heart clean, wherever we are, will create a paradise in our heart. Our creator will start discriminating between us only from the day a mother starts charging her child for the milk given by her. So cheer up !
ray2:
