The sour pomegranate fruit

[Guest guest]

Namami Sankaraachaaryam, sarvalokaika Poojitham

 

With permission blessings and grace from HH Swamy Vijeyendra

Saraswathi garu of Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Paramacharya and

miracles

 

The sour pomegranate fruit

V. Swaminatha Atreya

It was in November 1963. His Holiness Sri Paramacharya of Kanchi

Kamakoti Pitham stayed for 25 days at Kalyanapuram, a tiny village on

the northern bank of Kaveri near Tiruvidaimarudur.

 

One morning. K.S. Gopalaswami Iyer of Ananda Lodge, Thanjavur came to

me and asked if I would join him and a gentleman from Madras to go to

Kalyanapuram to have darsan of Paramacharya. I jumped at the offer

and went along with them.

 

When our car crossed a bridge over the river Viracolan at

Tiruvidaimarudur at about 3 p.m., the giant lame tusker of the Math

was feeding on coconut branches and leaves on the roadside. The cows

of the Matt were being taken to the river for the wash. The Puja

attendants were taking a nap in a pial in the first house. There was

not much of an activity. We were greeted by the Matt manager and

taken to the Office of the Math, in a nearby house.

 

There our Madras gentleman gave a sheaf of hundred rupee notes to the

manager and got it exchanged to one rupee coins, and put them in a

big wooden tray. He had also brought some baskets of fruits, some

jaggery, some small bottles of pure saffron, a large piece of Sandal

wood, and some packets of pure camphor. WE arranged all of them in

two bamboo trays. He changed to an improvised panchakaccham and wore

the holy ash in his forehead, chest and hands. All this betrayed his

inexperience.

 

All of us trouped into the Puja premises. His Holiness was in the

cowshed, in the backyard of the house, I went ahead of my group and

announced the visitor to His Holiness.

 

His Holiness just nodded. K.S.G. and the Madras gentleman arrived and

placed the offerings before His Holiness and all of us prostrated.

His Holiness recognised K.S.G. with a smile and carried on with the

conversation He had with Y. Mahalinga Sastri (the great grandson of

the reputed Mahamahopadhyaya Raju Sastrigal of Mannargudi). His

Holiness was speaking about a work of Raju Sastrigal

 

Durjanoktiniraasa (damnation of the words of wicked men) Y.M.S.

contributed to the conversation with relevant quotations of the work.

This went on for about thirty minutes.

 

I was a little nonplussed. K.S.G had taken me in his company simply

because he thought that I was close to His Holiness and that I would

be able to present his Madras friend to His Holiness without delay

with all pomp and get rich dividend of blessings for him. But it now

looked as if we were completely ignored. K.S.G. was prodding me from

behind. I was helpless. The Madras gentleman tried to make his

presence felt by laughing aloud at the light remarks of His Holiness.

We were all embarrassed.

 

Somebody peeped in from the entrance of the cowshed. " Vedapuri! Who

is it? " , His Holiness asked. Vedapuri who was fanning His Holiness

went and brought the Sroutigal of Vallalar Street, Mayuram. The

Sroutigal held in his hand in small bamboo tray. Two coconuts and a

bunch of plantain fruits were there. He recited a long hymn of Sama

Veda and prostrated. He submitted with all humility that the marriage

of his daughter had been fixed with a Vedic student and prayed for

the blessings of His Holiness.

 

His Holiness remarked, " You have told me that your daughter was

studying in a High School. Did she agree to the alliance? " .

" Because of Periyaval's grace my family is still following the

traditional style of life " .

 

There was another peep in the entrance. Vedapuri rushed there, talked

to somebody and returned. He announced " It is the old lady of

Villianur. She has brought sour pomegranate fruits (Puli Madulai in

Tamil) for Periaval. Here they are " .

 

" Bring her here " . Vedapuri went and returned saying, " She says she

would prostrate before Periaval from there and go " .

 

" Ask her to come here. " She appeared at the gate, prostrated and

stood trembling.

 

His Holiness took one of the fruits in His palm and rolling it, began

to speak to Y.M.S.

 

" You know Vaitha! " . Reference was to Vaidyanatha Swami Iyer of

Illianur. " Once in those olden days I had some trouble in the

stomach. the famous Natesa Sastrigal of Venkataramana Ayurveda

College, Madras, advised me to take the juice of sour pomegranate. It

is a rare variety. Because it is sour, nobody loves to have it

planted in his gardens. This Vaitha had listened to this

prescription, ran hither and thither and brought some fruits the

third day " .

 

" Then he planted it in the open yard in the middle of his house and

nurtured it carefully. He did not plant it in the backyard, because

the tree would be contaminated by the pollution of food left-overs

and thought I might not accept them. All the fruits borne by the tree

are brought to me. If I were in a different place this lady (His

Holiness mentioned her endearingly " Amma " ) dries the fruit in a

particular way, so that they would be taken after a long time. Vaitha

is no more. Now his wife is bringing me these fruits frequently " .

" Rarity is its value. Archaeological finds, though very old for any

practical use, gain in value. Older the date of the find, greater is

its value. This fruit has no value nowadays, because many remedies

have sprung up for stomach disorder. Yet it is a rare thing. Very

valuable. In this context, a passage in Ramayana comes to my mind.

Hanuman is going round the palace of Ravana. The palace is replete

with treasures of rare gems, and rare art pieces. He differentiates

between the two kinds of wealth in a remarkable way. "

 

His Holiness here spends some moments recollecting the passage.

 

" Yes, it is thus.

Ya hi vaisravane lakshmi!

Ya ca indra harivahane " !

 

Ravana has accumulated the wealth of Kubera as well as Indra.

Kubera's wealth contains gold, silver and gems which can be valued

and totaled but the accumulation of Indra's treasury contained

invaluable, rare and old commodities, which were beyond the value of

valuation. This is indicated by the word `Hariahana'. His horses were

of green hue in colour, a very very rare species. They cannot be

purchases in the market for any price. They are unique. Not even an

imitation of them would be available. Such a rare thing is this

fruit. "

 

The listeners wondered as to what all this exhortation meant. Nobody

understood.

 

His Holiness now turned to Vedapuri: " Come here. This large-hearted

gentleman from Madras (His Holiness mentions his name very casually)

has brought so much for me (His Holiness uses the word `Aparimita'_

Let it go to a good cause. You need not count it. Pour it all in the

upper cloth of the Srautigal. He may have spend countless (Aparmita)

rupees for the marriage. This may fulfil his requirements " .

What a stunning finale to an apparently casual talk? The vanity of

the Madras gentleman just vanished into thin air. By a singularly

graceful gesture, His Holiness elevated him to a height, never

imagined by him. The Srautigal got a windfall of countless heap of

money for the marriage of his daughter.

That is His Holiness.