Thanks to Professor Sridhar for sending me this….
This article was written in 1947 that reflects the trend in which how vedic traditions were being forgotten in those days itself. If Periyava were to comment on today’s condition, not sure how He would…
I am too young to comment this in this forum as there are several senior devotees – yet, let me say this hoping that this will be taken in the right sense….As devotees of Paramacharya, it is not only sufficient to read and mesmerized by His thapas and anugrahas and all miracles etc, we should attempt to follow His advises in whatever way possible. We dont have to target being a gnani etc…..Simplest thing to follow is doing our nithyakarmas (sandhyavandhanam). All our Periyavas have talked so many hours highlighting the importance and power of doing this.
Yes. Everyone of us (devotees) know as to how our Mahaperiava exhorted us to at least perform sandya vandanam without fail daily. Are we doing without fail ? Introspection is necessary. Many of us (kindly excuse if I am wrong in my
assessment) find excuse for not doing or doing sandya vandanam is not on top priority. Of late we do not even compel
our children to do sandya vandanam once they enter college. If at all we are true devotees of Mahaperiava, there is no point in remembering HIM without performing atleast sandya vandanam.
The God incarnate Mahaperiaval understand the modern world and give enough concession in following acharas/anushtanams but still many of are not doing the minimum of sandya, deva ,pithru pooja etcIn fact the pedaling of cycle has stopped but still if some thing good is hapening for brahmins it is because of anugraha of Mahaperiaval and the speed with which our pithrus sincere foloowing of vedic acharas etc.We are interested in finding excuses for not doing the minimum acharas/anushtanams and do find time and strength to to follow prohibited karmasl
let us think for one minute of of our progeny and and do the nithya karma at least for the better ment of our progeny if not for carry forward the swadharma to the next generation
my mother used to say”nanna irukkanumna seyunga nalam kettu vazhanumna seyyathengo”
This is the biggest contribution (we doing anustanam at the least sandhyavandhanam) we can make to the society. See how foreful Periyava is on this one.. I am also reminded of another incident which has appreared in one of the magazines..I may not be good in translating this (doing it from memory. This was in tamil)…
When someone told Periyava (at the ripe age of 95+), when he painstainkingly went down step by step under the hot sun in mangaleswara theertham in Kanchipuram – why do you need to do this? we cannot bear you going thru this – he turned and asked –
Do you know who is a stithapragna? When someones does’nt feel the prick of a stone in his leg, when the harsh words do not hurt him, when he does not feel hunder – he is a stithapragna. He achieves these by staunch adherenace to karma anustanam. In case, any of you hv achieved this, you need not do all this. But, I hv not reached that state and hence I hv to go thru this (probably, he was going for his madhyaneeha snanam in the theertham – which has a separate story connected with Rm Veerapan, the earlier minister!)… It brough tears to my eyes when I read this. What are we worth?
Amazing…..what are we? We are all worthless when compared to what He expects us to be……
What a compassionate clarion call to us. It is impossible for us to remain free of any guilt.
True words. Most of us are happy talking about Periyaval and eulogizing him. When it comes to how much we attempt to follow his words (especially doing nithya anushtanams), we stand no where. These days, even at home, we find it difficult to maintain the purity(madi vasthrams) and we feel what is the point in doing to the anushtanams without the required levels of purity. I say this to myself and people like me: Let us start doing the regular anushtanams however unfit we are. Who knows, Periyaval’s grace may make us Perfect one day.
The statement of our PeriyavaAl Is 100% true,my father who died 10 months back( March 12th 2011) used to tell to us and used to extend any help any one who really want to do anustana,saying this is the order of Maha PeriyavaAl..He joined ,Royal Air Force and take part in the second world war, when he return home our great grand fatherwho is a Ganapadigal,Enna,puthusa punal podanamo? and he put some test to my father ,he won all the test and told our great grand father,i used to perform sandhyavandhan if the water is not available with my tea.Roba samthosham, now you are eligible for the marriage. we should adore the words of our Periyava,our Acharya is very strictly advising his devotees to perform our anustanam,so we should listen to his words and perform our rites without any fail.’Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshithaha”,Dharma thai nam kappathinaal, Dharmam Namai kappathum” ennu shonnar.
My father died at the age of 95,and he never fail to do his daily duties .His death was very peaceful,saying the last word he visualise the presence of Parvathi and Paramesvara before him and he did namasthe and breath his last.His body was taken to the cremation ground with bhajan by the people of our village.
T.S.Muralikrishnan,
Perumbavoor. 683542
Kerala.
Your Father is a blessed soul Shri Muralikrishnan. What a clarity in his thoughts regarding his anushtanam duties even in 1940s and especially when engaged in war. Incredible!