2. Childhood of Vengamamba and Education

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2. Childhood of Vengamamba and Education

Days rolled to months and months added to years. Three years

passed by Vengamamba became a cutie pie with rolling eyes, chubby

cheeks and rosy lips. One day her playmates made one of the girls

Lord Venkateswara and our tiny tot as Alivelu Manga. The girls were

thrilled at their creation and so was the mother who was a silent

spectator to the whole drama.

Some more years passed by. Vengamamba helped father and

mother in their prayers and many a time she sat like a statue staring

at the statue before her. The parents had mixed feelings of joy and

fear in such situations. They admired her faith in God but had their

own doubts about her future.

Every evening she went to the temple. She collected flowers,

made garlands out of them and offered them to God. Nobody could

compete with her in her skill of making garlands. Even amidst a thick

crowd of people she was lost in her own sweet world. Her friends made

her sing songs on the Lord. She sang them melodiously.

It so happened that once a learned man heard her songs. He

was bewildered to hear that they were composed and sung by the small

girl herself. He accompanied her to her house, introduced himself to

her parents and predicted a bright future for her if they polished

her in these lines.

His words of praise sounded like words of warning to their

already disturbed minds. Any devout parent would like his child to

nurture the seeds of faith in him, but Vengamamba was pulling the

strings too far. With such devoutness, would she lead a normal life,

get married and beget children like any other normal child? Whatever

were the words of the learned man, the parents felt it was high time

they woke up and put her on the normal track.

Promptly a guru was appointed. His name was Subramanya

Desika. He was a great Pandit. He became popular for his fund of

patience and kindness. He saw Vengamamba and guessed at once she was

a bright child. He knew teaching her would get him name and fame. He

began teaching her. In no time Vengamamba picked up whatever he

taught. It was customary for him to incorporate stories of Ramayana,

Bharata and Bhagavatha in his teaching. Little did he realize that

this methodology would only add fuel to fire! He did not know he was

pouring oil over the enkindled light of Bhakti in her.

One day when Vengamamba was not in a good mood to learn, he

began the story of Gajendra Moksha as a stimulant to her. She was

engrossed in it in no time. He narrated the story then. Once there

lived an elephant king. He went with his kith and kin to drink water

to a pond. He made a big mess there. He plucked all the flowers,

threw them helter-skelter, sprinkled water over the she-elephants and

disturbed the water kingdom. This irritated a crocodile under water

he rose up slowly and caught hold of its leg tightly! What happened

to the elephant? Not until she learnt her lessons of that day.

Vengamamba could not argue but learnt halfheartedly. She ran to her

mother for the rest of the story but her mother was not good at it.

Father was not available. She had to wait till her guru came the next

day. She insisted on learning the rest of it before the lessons. This

time the master had to yield to her unsatiating desire.

So he continued, `The elephant fought for many years with the

crocodile and gradually he lost all his energy. When all his attempts

failed miserably, he turned to the creator of the universe, the

crocodile, of his troubles and then he. `Oh Lord help me! Only you

can save me! Nobody else!' Such a situation is a typical scene. As

long as we have everything, we boast about ourselves, we nourish the

ego in us. When we are totally immersed in the sea of troubles

the `ego' cannot help us. When we realize it and surrender totally to

God, God will take care of us.

`A miraculous thing happened here. The elephant's helpless,

sincere cry reached the ears of God far above to his Vaikunta. He did

not inform Goddess Lakshmi, he did not wait to wear his weapons, he

did not wait for his Garuda. He just came at once followed by his

trail, Goddess Lakshmi and his retinue and his weapons.'

`Does he look like our Lord Venkateswara?'

`Yes of course! Your Lord Venkateswara is another form of the

Almighty! He is touched by his devotee's sincere prayer. So he sent

his Sudarshana Chakra to kill the crocodile and saved the elephant so

now my child, shall we proceed with our lessons?' the Guru asked.

But Vengamamba could not come out of the story easily. `Does

God answer our prayers?'

`Yes! He answers the prayers of those who pray sincerely. He

can be seen by such people.'

`Can I also see him? Don't I pray sincerely?'

`Definitely, first you learn slokas and Sastras from your

father. Presently you learn the lessons I teach' the Guru said.

She learnt reluctantly the lessons but was lost in thought.

Gradually she was lost to the world. She spent her time mostly in

staring at God or in praying to God all the time. She would laugh to

herself or cry suddenly. She spoke only of God to her friends. She

was not very keen in her lessons though the Guru was desperately

trying to teach her.

One day Vengamamba was in her own sweet world when the Guru

came to teach her. He called her but she said `Oh I can see God? How

wonderful He is! Look He is calling me!' so saying she rushed to the

temple. She stared long at God, took the prasad and walked back home.

The Guru asked, `Now tell me what happened!' She answered `I

saw the Lord. Lord Venkateswara. He is just as we see him in the

picture. He spoke many things to me but asked me to be silent about

it. The Guru realized that she wouldn't listen that day, though she

had the courtesy to attend his class. He left her alone!