Lord Guruvayoorappan –the Aapath Bhandhavan

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Lord Guruvayoorappan –the Aapath Bhandhavan Experiencing God’s Grace By Muttathukattil Mamanna Ittiravi Nambudiri In whatsoever danger you find yourself, if you call Guruvayurappan with

bhakti and melted heart, he will come running to you .There is no doubt about this. It happened in 1919. I had been to Guruvayur during Uttarayana along with my friend Thottam Nilakantan Nambudiripad.We were then studying at Mukkola Pakaraavur Mana and studying Upanishads. From there we went to Guruvayur during the Vaisaka season. Those days there were no bus services; one had to walk. From my place, Paanjal, the distance we had to walk is 30 miles to reach Guruvayur. From Mukkola it is only 10 miles. We stayed at Guruvayur for a month observing bhajan. After we returned from Guruvayur, one day my friend and I went to see sea and also take bath there. It

was near Vanneri village in Malappuram district. There is a vast expanse of sand there but without any sign of human being. We walked through the sand and reached near the waves. A sea is something which remains ever new and fresh despite any amount of time you spend seeing it. Moreover, we had not seen sea before. Therefore we cannot describe our wonder and excitement. Although we tried to take bath, seeing the furious waves we were afraid to venture into the water. There was no trace of human beings anywhere in the area except one or two huts which were far away and no voice could reach there. As we were standing there, we saw four Mappilas (Muslims) who were fishermen spreading their nets in the ocean. It was fun seeing them rising and falling with the waves, throwing

their nets into the sea and drawing them back. Presently we saw the four fisherman walking towards us. Two of them asked us: “Where do u come from. What for?” and so on. We told them the truth- that we were from Mukkola and that we had not seen sea before. Though we wanted to venture into the sea and play, we admitted we didn’t dare. The two examined us and walked towards the other two. I was holding my umbrella in my right hand. I was wearing 2 gold rings at which they were looking intently.I got afraid. I covered the hand with my upper cloth. Then the fisherman were talking between themselves. They were well-built, they came near us and started talking at random: One of them said: “ You see if anyone comes here, there are certain formalities-if there are two rings, one should be given to us.” The second one said: “No, no, that will not do, they should gives us both the rings.” As we kept standing still, the third man said: “If you don’t give the ring, see this knife,

we will give it to you.” I stood perplexed, not knowing what to do or what to say. To tell the truth, we had no objection to part with the ring. But then to avoid any blame on them, they would have pushed us to the sea. This they could accomplish quite easily. Again they started talking something between themselves. As if we did not care to listen to them we turned back and started walking. “You cannot go away like that”, said one fellow and followed us. He caught hold of my hand and changing his tactics, said: “You have come to take bath in the sea. Do not be afraid. I

will help you, come on, walk back”. His tone which was mild first, became harsh. He used force and started pulling me. “Here, everything is coming to an end, death is very near”, I felt. At that very moment, the image of Guruvayurappan whom I had seen only four days back came looming before me and His Names on my tongue. “See, somebody coming, let us go fast”, said one fisherman pointing to someone far away and to the man holding my hand. Others also looked in that direction and got frightened seeing someone. Leaving my hand, all the four picked up their nets and ran

away. We also walked looking behind if any one followed us. We saw none and were wonderstruck. This frightening incident happened in order to experience the Lord’s grace and I am grateful for this. The golden image of Guruvayurappan that appeared before us that day is still fresh in my mind. The above was an extract from a great book –Sri Krishna The Lord of Guruvayur Divine Experiences by Sri K.R.Vaidyanathan, Bhavan’s Book University. It has the English translation of real experiences of our Bhagavan’s grace narrated by readers of the “Sri Guruvayurappan”–a monthly magazine of the Sri Guruvayurappan Sankeerthana Trust, founded by Thirunamacharya Shri Anjam Madhavan Nambudiri (1918-1988), a scholar devotee who held vast audiences spellbound by his inimitable discourses on Bhagavata and the Namasankirtan.

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