Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya Charitram Part#59

 

Land Donation by Ammayyanayakanur Zamindar

Graciously accepting the invitation of Ammayyanayakanur Zamindar, Sri Ramaswamy Nayakkar, Swamigal visited the place, stayed there for fifteen days and grandly celebrated Navarathri there as well. Zamindar welcomed the entourage with affection and made all the arrangements for their comfortable stay and also donated three hundred acres of land at Sirumalai to the mutt. After Navarathri, Swamigal traveled via Dindigul and visited Palani again for the second time, he had darshan of Dhandayudhapani and performed abhishekam to the deity. The citizens of Palani welcomed our Swamigal and performed bikshavandanam and pada puja. From Palani, he left for Tharapuram, Kolinjiwadi, Chinna Tharapuram and Karur to reach Tiruchi in
January, 1929.

Travel in South and North Arcot

In the month of February 1929, Swamigal completed his stay at Tiruchi and left for his tour of South Arcot district. Swamigal spent seven months in Kallakurichi and Thirukovilur districts, performed Vyasa puja (21-7-1929) at Manalurpettai where he stayed for two months.3 Around that time, our Swamigal was taken ill for close to a month with fever. Inspite of this, Swamigal would take a bath and perform his puja thrice a day. This had his devotees very worried and concerned about his health. He refused to hear the pleadings of his devotees to take some form of medicine to treat his fever. He took in only Thulasi Theertham( juice of Thulasi leaves) and eventually got better. Sri Acharyal was taken care of by a Maharashtrian sannyasi who was more than a hundred years old. The doctor from Palghat Sankara Narayana Iyer and Mylapore Vaidya Visharatha Pandit K.G.Natesa Shastri also stayed with our Swamigal for the whole period of his illness to offer their services. Later Swamigal visited his birth place, Vizhupuram on 28-11-1929. The local people gave a very grand welcome to their favorite citizen.

Some of the older people would recall their memories when our Swamigal was a young boy and talk about their association proudly. Swamigal later visited the place where he undertook studies at Dindivanam on 1-5-1930.

During his yatra near the village Dhandalam, a shepherd there wanted to sell all of his lands and offer the proceeds to Swamigal. He would not budge an inch even after Swamigal refused to accept this. He sold his lands to a local wealthy businessman and proudly offered the proceeds to Swamigal. Our Swamigal was immensely pleased with his offer and accepted it praising his devotion. He later made arrangements with the local Tahsildar to have four kanis of land transferred to the shepherd’s name.

Darshan of Karthigai Deepam

Our Swamigal’s purvashrama father Sri Subramania Shastrigal passed away at Kumbakonam on 24-7-1929. When the mutt officials came to Swamigal and conveyed the news, he listened to it silently and did not say anything.

Swamigal visited Thiruvannamalai in December, 1929 to have darshan of the Karthigai deepam there. Thiruvannamalai is a very famous Saivite religious centre and is considered one of the Pancha Bhootha Kshetra, the Theyu Kshetra ( Agni). There once was a rishi called Brungi, who had intense devotion towards Siva to such an extent that he refused to pay his homage even to Devi. The Goddess was upset by this and is said to
have merged with the left side of Siva. This form of Siva is called Ardhanareeswarar and Siva in Thiruvannamalai also goes by the name of Ardhanareeswarar. The God here is called Arunachaleswarar and Devi goes by the name of Abhithakuchalamba. The meaning of her name in Tamil is called Unnamulai. To demonstrate the Lord in his glorious form of Jyothi, a huge Deepam is lit on top of the hill, on the day of Karthigai.

The pilgrim centre is also known for having been sung by Appar and Sambandar. There is also a story in the puranas that Mahavishnu took the form of a boar and went to the nether worlds to see the end of Siva’s magnificent form. Brahma in turn took the form of a swan and flew towards the sky in search of Siva’s head. It is said that both of them traveled great distances and still could not see the end of Siva’s form. This story is depicted in the idol Lingodbhava. Almost all Siva temples have the idol of Lingodbava in the western side of the sanctum sanctorum. A swan on the top and a small boar can be seen in the bottom of the idol depicting the story. It is also said that Vishnu and Brahma searched for Siva’s feet in Thiruvannamalai. There is also another story involving Subramanya teaching Arunagirinathar here. Pattinathar was said to have spent some time
in Thiruvannamalai. Idaikattu Siddhar attained heavenly abode when he was residing here. During our times, Ramana Maharishi spent his life on meditation and did Gnana sadhana in this place.
When Swamigal visited this place for the first time, the people gathered together in great devotion and welcomed him. Swamigal stayed there for almost a month, during which time, he went around the Giri ( hill) and had darshan of Arunachaleswarar several times.

Swamigal wished to see the natural beauty of the river Cauveri and headed from Thiruvannamalai , via Sengam to Harur and Dharmapuri in Salem district. He bathed in the falls of river Cauveri at Theerthamalai. He then traveled to Megadhadu near Hoganakkal where Cauveri was so narrow that it flowed between two rocks that even a goat could jump across. He had a bath in the river there too. Megha meant a goat in the Kannada language and hence this place was called Meghadhadu. Swamigal spent most of the year 1930 traveling around North Arcot district. Vyasapuja that year took place at Poosai Malaikuppam near Arani Zakeer. This place was situated in the middle of a forest and was very inaccessible. But the Zakeer officials worked tirelessly to make all the necessary arrangements for Swamigal’s stay as well as the comfort and convenience of numerous devotees visiting this place to have darshan of our Swamigal.