Any experiences with Kanchi mahaperiyaval?

March 4, 2009

Dear Devotees,

Have you any experiences that you can share in the forum on the god

who walked, Kanchi mahaperiyaval?

We don't have personal info about Acharya Shankara maybe, but if one

looks at Kanchi periyaval, He must be a very evolved Devi upasaka -

what do our learned members have to say about this?

Regards,

Raghav

March 5, 2009

I humbly submit TWO experiences of my childhood with PERIYAVVAR- once in 1962

when he came with his entourage to Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada & again in

1965-66 when he came to ERNAKULAM Konkani Temple.I had darshan of the sage with

my parents on both occassions.On the first occassion I was asked how I liked the

idol of Lordess Durga in the temple & I just replied " she seems very

angry " .Periyavvar just smiled & told me to go in & see again and that I will see

the Lordess smiling.Behold my Lordess was truly beaming with a smile on her

face.I was just 5 years old then & did NOT know much.He then enquired about my

grand father & came over to our house fir Bhiksha & performed poojas in our

ancestral house.I didtinctly remember him eating PELALU & drinking milk.Never

saw him eating a regular meal,I wondered why !

Second time was in Ernakulam when he came to the Konkani Balaji temple next to

our house on TD road.We went to take his darshan & it was around 8 pm.I was

feeling very sleepy & slept on the floor in the queue.Soon someone came calling

my name -Ramakrishnan & told me that I can bypass the queue & seek his darshan.I

quickly crept under the rope & followed that man -SANKARAN was his name , if i

remember.He took me to Periyavvar & I was surprised that he was the same man I

saw some years backI was shocked to hear him call out my name again & ask me if

my grandfather was fine.I told him that my grandfather had just passed away.He

then told my parents that I will fulfill all my late grand father's wishes.I

keep wondering to this day how he could remember everyone & their antecedents

!.We accompanied his entourage to Kaladi & saw their daily ritualistic lives.To

this day I regret that I did NOT take up study of the Vedas & upanishads as

advised by Periyavvar &

took to this meaningless materialistic life.May be another janma is required

for that Vedic life !

Jaya Jaya Sankara,Hara Hara Sankara,

Kanchi sankara,kama kothi sankara !

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March 5, 2009

Dear Dr.Prasad,

Wonderful experiences - From what I have read, Kanchi periyaval

skipped regular food and did not take salt, sugar (in these direct

forms) from the tender age of 13 - 14! And he continued that practice

till he attained Siddhi.

My gurunatha has had a thrilling experience once - He (and his

brother) saw Periyaval was gesticulating and talking to the Medha

Dakshinamurthy vigraha at Kanchipuram...

Another very common incident quoted by many, many bhakthas was his

elephantine memory - He used to remember sons, their fathers, their

grand-fathers, their lineage, etc. like yesterday!

Regards,

Raghav

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:44 PM, P.R.K. Prasad <aarkepee wrote:

> I humbly submit TWO experiences of my childhood with PERIYAVVAR- once in

> 1962 when he came with his entourage to Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada &

> again in 1965-66 when he came to ERNAKULAM Konkani Temple.I had darshan of

> the sage with my parents on both occassions.On the first occassion I was

> asked how I liked the idol of Lordess Durga in the temple & I just replied

> " she seems very angry " .Periyavvar just smiled & told me to go in & see again

> and that I will see the Lordess smiling.Behold my Lordess was truly beaming

> with a smile on her face.I was just 5 years old then & did NOT know much.He

> then enquired about my grand father & came over to our house fir Bhiksha &

> performed poojas in our ancestral house.I didtinctly remember him eating

> PELALU & drinking milk.Never saw him eating a regular meal,I wondered why !

>

> Second time was in Ernakulam when he came to the Konkani Balaji temple next

> to our house on TD road.We went to take his darshan & it was around 8 pm.I

> was feeling very sleepy & slept on the floor in the queue.Soon someone came

> calling my name -Ramakrishnan & told me that I can bypass the queue & seek

> his darshan.I quickly crept under the rope & followed that man -SANKARAN was

> his name , if i remember.He took me to Periyavvar & I was surprised that he

> was the same man I saw some years backI was shocked to hear him call out my

> name again & ask me if my grandfather was fine.I told him that my

> grandfather had just passed away.He then told my parents that I will fulfill

> all my late grand father's wishes.I keep wondering to this day how he could

> remember everyone & their antecedents !.We accompanied his entourage to

> Kaladi & saw their daily ritualistic lives.To this day I regret that I did

> NOT take up study of the Vedas & upanishads as advised by Periyavvar & took

> to this meaningless materialistic life.May be another janma is required for

> that Vedic life !

>

> Jaya Jaya Sankara,Hara Hara Sankara,

> Kanchi sankara,kama kothi sankara !

>

> ________________________________

> Get your own website and domain for just Rs.1,999/year.* Click here!

March 5, 2009

Dear raghav,

If anybody mentions the name " Kanchi Mahaperiyaval " , it reminds me of the famous

sloka from " Siva Mahimnah Stotra "

of Katyayana Vararuchi Kavi alias Pushpadantacharya. It is:

// asitagiisamam syAt - kajjalam sindhupAtre

surataruvarashAkhA - lEkhanI patramUrvI

likhati yadi gruhItva - shAradA sarvakAlam

tadapi tava guNanA - mIsha! pAram na yAti //.........(32)

English Translation:

0 Lord, if the black mountain be ink, the ocean the inkpot, the branch of the

stout wish-fulfilling tree (kalpavriksha)

a pen, the earth the writing leaf, and if taking these the Goddess of Learning

writes for eternity,

even then your list of virtues would not exhausted (which implies your virtues

are limitless and infinite)

Such is the greatness of Lord Siva.

The same sloka can be attributed to HH Kanchi Mahaswami also.

There is a book called " Nadiche Devudu " authored by Shri Nilamraju

Venkataseshaiah in Telugu which gives the biographical

sketch and the lilas of Mahaswamigal.

He is really a walking god and walking encyclopedia. Name any branch of science

(parA & aparA vidya), swamigal shows his

mastery over it. Even the shilpa sastra, the civil engineering designs of

temple construction.

Just a simple incident about the keen observation of temples:

A famous bharanatyam dancer Dr. Padma Subramanyam approached swamiji for

blessings during a dance performance.

During the course of discussion, swamiji asked how far she has mastered the

dance mudras and bhangimas. She replied

that she had mastered almost all the available dance mudras that were given out

by Bharati Muni in Natya Sastra.

Then swamigal asked a particular dance mudra and asked her to perform before

him. She was aghast and with tears fell at

his feet. She said that she never heard of this mudra and bhangima. Then

swamiji asked her to go to tanjavur and look

at the gopuram of the Brihadishwara Temple. On the top of the gopuram, there is

one danace mudra and try to observe it

carefully. This is the same mudra which i wanted you to perform.

This is one side of the story. Now, the other side is:

During the visit to Tanjavur temple, swamiji halted only for 2 minutes!!!Within

that span of 2 minutes, swamiji performed

danda pranama to Siva, blessed devotees, gave tirtha prasada and alighted the

palanqueen.

WITHIN THIS SHORT SPAN OF " 2 MINUTES " , HOW SWAMIJI FIND THE " TIME " TO OBSERVE

THE TOPMOST GOPURA WHICH WAS QUITE INVICIBLE,

THAT TOO ON THE GOPURA, A DANCE PAINTING, THAT TOO AMONG THE PAINTING " A

PARTICULAR DANCE POSE " WHICH WAS NOT PRESENTED

BY BHARATA MUNI IN HIS NATYA SASTRA.

THIS IS SOMETHING EXTRA-ORDINARY GENIUS OF SWAMIJI.

NOW COMING TO PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF MY GURUNATHA WITH SWAMIJI, IT WOULD TAKE A

BOOK TO WRITE FOR ME.

But extreme care should be taken not to discuss " about the miracles " of

mahaswamigal lest it would become

" miracle mongering swamiji " like other babas.

A small piece of advice:

Let us not go into the miracles of swamiji. Try to emulate Him, his simplicity,

his lifestyle, his upasana mode.

Never alighted modern vehicles who always preferred pada yatra (walking on foot)

(used palanqueen during long tours), wore

on khAdi cloth, wore only wooden padukas, always immersed in antaryada worship,

had a bowl of puffed rice soaked in buttermilk in morning and tulasi

tirtha in night as his bhiksha, used to spend 22 hours reading various sastras,

veda, vedanta, guiding sincere srividya upasakas,

teaching sutra bhashya, prasthana traya to the sanyasis, balancing karmanushtana

and upanishad siddhanta parallely.....and

what not!!!

In a nut shell, Kanchi Mahaswmigal represented that Bindu of Sriyantra that

represents Kameshwara-Kameshwari.

with this i remain ever remembering the holy padukas of mahaperiyavAl...

sriram

, Raghavendra <mkraghavendra wrote:

>

> Dear Devotees,

>

> Have you any experiences that you can share in the forum on the god

> who walked, Kanchi mahaperiyaval?

>

> We don't have personal info about Acharya Shankara maybe, but if one

> looks at Kanchi periyaval, He must be a very evolved Devi upasaka -

> what do our learned members have to say about this?

>

> Regards,

> Raghav

>

March 5, 2009

Dear srI Raghav

I am sure you have gone thru the website of the kAnchi kAmakoti peetam. There

are some real good experiences shared by devotees:

http://www.kamakoti.org/newlayout/template/souvenir.html

srI hari

Gopi

March 5, 2009

, " sriram " <sriram_sapthasathi wrote:

>, always immersed in antaryada worship, had a bowl of puffed rice soaked in

buttermilk in morning and tulasi

> tirtha in night as his bhiksha, used to spend 22 hours reading various

sastras, veda, vedanta, guiding sincere srividya upasakas,

> teaching sutra bhashya, prasthana traya to the sanyasis, balancing

karmanushtana and upanishad siddhanta parallely.....and

> what not!!!

Well said.

It will be much better to try to emulate to whatever extent one can, above

mentioned godly qualities he possessed rather than making statements like below

IMHO.

> In a nut shell, Kanchi Mahaswmigal represented that Bindu of >Sriyantra that

represents Kameshwara-Kameshwari.

March 5, 2009

I agree that my statement was exaggerated but as shastra says

" brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati " . The one who known brahman becomes the

Brahman.

There was a startling revelation by mahaswamigal in kanchipuram during his days

chaturmasya vrata. This incident was witnessed by my gurunatha.

During the chaturmasya vratas, Mahaswamigal used to teach prasthana traya

bhashyas. Once a dandi sanyasi (name withheld) visited kanchipuram and didn't

perform the danda pranama as it was is a sampradaya that whenever sanyasis visit

a pithadhipati have to offer danda pranama with their staff.

Mahaswamigal was teaching Sutra Bhashya and after the class he called this dandi

sanyasi noticing a slight slight ahambhava and made certain gestures.

He pointed out his hand towards Ekamreshwara Temple and again to Kamakshi

Temple. Again he pointed his finger to himself. Saying so, showed his " index

finger " saying that all the 3 are one ie., Ekamreshwara Linga, Kamakshi

Parabhattarika and Himself, all a single entity.

This may look exaggerating but among the listeners of sutra bhashya, my

gurunatha was present who was also the silent witness of this incident.

And hence my statement.

shrI guruh parama kAraNabhUtA shaktih

with regards,

sriram

, " Satish " <satisharigela wrote:

>

> , " sriram " <sriram_sapthasathi@> wrote:

> >, always immersed in antaryada worship, had a bowl of puffed rice soaked in

buttermilk in morning and tulasi

> > tirtha in night as his bhiksha, used to spend 22 hours reading various

sastras, veda, vedanta, guiding sincere srividya upasakas,

> > teaching sutra bhashya, prasthana traya to the sanyasis, balancing

karmanushtana and upanishad siddhanta parallely.....and

> > what not!!!

>

> Well said.

> It will be much better to try to emulate to whatever extent one can, above

mentioned godly qualities he possessed rather than making statements like below

IMHO.

>

> > In a nut shell, Kanchi Mahaswmigal represented that Bindu of >Sriyantra that

represents Kameshwara-Kameshwari.

>

March 17, 2009

Dr Padma Subramaniam recently gave alecture on her experiences with Maha

Periavar at Coimbatore .The program was a series of lectures by various eminent

Scholars and the compilation has now been released as an audio cd.Mr.Rajagopal