Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya Charitram Part#54

 

Yatra in Salem, Coimbatore Districts

After staying for a week in Pondichery, Swamigal visited Kadalur, Virudhachalam, Kallakurichi, Chinnasalem, Atthur and arrived at Salem on 31st March, 1927. The people of Salem gave him a very grand welcome and later, he left for Erode.
Muslim, Learned in Sanskrit The mutt officials communicated to Swamigal, when he was camped at Erode, that a muslim gentleman desired to have darshan o f Swamigal. His Holiness asked the officials to bring the muslim person to him at a given time when there was less crowd.

The gentleman prostrated before Swamigal and offered the slokas that he had composed on Swamigal in the Sanskrit language. He had also drawn pictures containing Sanskrit aksharas ( letters) in the form of a shivalinga. He read the slokas in the presence of Swamigal and also explained the meaning to the surprise of the people gathered there.

Swamigal asked the gentleman as to how he obtained knowledge of Sanskrit to the level of composing slokams. To this, the gentleman explained that his ancestors were all well versed in Sanskrit and he had learnt the skill from his father. He was eager to demonstrate his skill to Swamigal and to other respected people and was glad to have got that day, a golden opportunity, which even his ancestors themselves did not get. He shed tears of happiness and stayed silent in the golden presence of Swamigal. He was blessed by
Swamigal who encouraged him to continue the study of Sanskrit after exclaiming that this was the first time he had ever met a Muslim gentleman well versed in Sanskrit.

Later, Swamigal left for Mettur via Bhavani and Nerunji. The foundation for the Mettur dam was being constructed at that time. Swamigal visited the site of the dam and asked questions to the engineers who were following him around the site. The government officials and contractors at the site offerred bhikshavandanam and pada puja for Swamigal.

Swamigal expressed his wish to see the sight of Cauveri flowing from Mysore into Tamil Nadu at a place that was fifteen miles from Nerunjipettai and had to be accessed after crossing a hill. He left with an entourage of about twenty people early in the morning before six am, crossed the mountain, toured the sights and returned by ten in
the morning itself. However, during their return journey, due to the heat from scorching sun, some of them fainted out of exhaustion. Even though Swamigal was very tired, he sent someone down to the village below and asked for coconut water, lemonade, sugar cubes and buttermilk to be brought from there. He asked that to be distributed to the people who fainted as well as others and rejuvenated them. Later, they all climbed down to the village around 3 pm, where they were eagerly welcomed by the village people and bhajan groups.

Swamigal passed through Soolur and arrived at Coimbatore on 26th April, 1927. Arrangements for his stay were made at the local Sringeri Sankara Mutt. Local personalities, government officials, lawyers, businessmen joined the larger public in according Swamigal a grand welcome that started with a procession at seven in the morning and completed after noon. After morning puja, Swamigal gave the devotees prasadams and abhishekam theertam (water). As the devotees were eager to hear Swamigal’s speech, he spoke very eloquently in simple Tamil and in his own unique style that attracted everyone, for four hours, on “Siva Vishnu Abedam”. In the city where there had not been even a single drop of rain in the past six month, Varuna, the rain god,
opened his eyes and showered on the people, cooling the earth as well as the people’s heart. Swamigal stayed in Coimbatore for four days.