Thanks to Sri Sureh P for this excellent work….
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I am a spiritually uneducated man with no knowledge of Vedas, Sanskrit, Vedantas etc. Four generations of my ancestors in my family before me were always saying Periyava’s names and that is how I also developed Bhakthi towards Him. I had met Him in 1948 for the first time in a small village called Arvimangalam in Thanjavur district. I was 6 or 7 years old. We boys were playing outside. A Mena stopped near us. He called us to Him and asked pointing to me,
“Who is this boy having kudumi (tuft of hair in the back of the head).”
I told Him.
“How old are you?”
“Seven”.
“Whose son are you”?
I told Him.
“Do you know Sanskrit? “
“No”.
“Are you wearing a Poonal?”
Told Him, “No”. But I told Him the Abhivadaye!
He said, “I like you. Do two things for Me, learn Sanskrit and do not remove your Kudumi!”.
Sadly, I did not do both! I was very disappointed with myself and apologized to Him many many years later.
There was a Municipal Chairman in Vellore in 1969. He was against Brahmins. His Mother forcefully brought him to Periyava as he had no children. He did namaskarams to Him.
He told him, “Your Thatha had built a Pillayar Temple, have you seen it?”
He said, “No”.
He showed it to him outside!
“Please do Poojas to the Pillayar”, said He.
“Your Thatha did lot of good deeds and Dharma, a very good man, How is your Father?”
And He poured forth lots of other information about his family, upon hearing which he was shocked at His Omniscience. He became very respectful and folded his hands. Did a Namaskaram to Him.
He gave him a fruit as a prasadam and blessed him saying, “Take this fruit, the dharmas and good deeds of your ancestors will protect you and your family!”
He performed a great miracle to my family member and I am witness to it! Imagine how a man like Jayakanthan who was a sworn atheist initially, became His slave saying Krishna, Krishna..
My sister was a brilliant girl. She did her BSc Honors in Chemistry from Annamalai University and was the first ranker in 1962/63. She went on Ford Foundation scholarship to Iowa in the US before marriage. She was a student of Dr Rajamanickkam Devadas who himself a devotee of Periyava. She did her MS in the US, came back to Avinashalingam College to teach. Did her PhD also there and became a Syndicate Member in the college. Got married at a late age of 29/30. Her Husband had two small factories in Madras. She gave up her job after marriage and joined her husband in Madras. They were very happy for 6 months.
And then tragedy struck. Her husband lost both his eyes due to Glaucoma despite medical treatment. Hence he could not take care of his factories. They had two small children. No job. She was broken hearted and was indulging in lot of self pity.
She went to meet Periyava.
With compassion He consoled her for more than 30 minutes. He said, “ I am also mostly blind. But I am managing and carrying on somehow. You should try to take heart from Me and be brave.”
After she took leave from Him she slowly changed her mindset. She drew courage and inspiration from Him. She went back to Avinashilingam College, joined as a lecturer and remoulded her life! She no longer had any self pity. She was transformed by His Grace. Their two children were model kids and very devoted to Him; they studied brilliantly and one did a PhD in Bio Engineerng while the other is a leading financial consultant in Atlanta in the US. Her husband was also no longer in self pity too; he checked himself into Vijay Merchant’s Rehabilitation Center for the Blind. Despite his physical disablity, both of them were always joking, laughing and were leading a good life!! I doubt if they woukd have been more happy had he got back his sght.
This miracle is possible only because of the divine inspiration from Him, the God, the Master, the Sarveshwaran! Our Master tells you what is right and what is wrong, we just need to have rock solid faiith in Him!
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Shankara. Sarveshwara!
Shri Cooper’ Sundaram’s experience with Mahaswamigal — Part 2
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I call Him my Master. He is Sarveshwaran. Let me tell another miracle which I had witnessed.
There was a gentleman who had lost his parents when he was very young. His Mother passed away when he was just 3 or 4 days old. This happened almost 70 to 80 years back. When his father married for the second time, he did not take his son with him. This gentleman was living with his old grandmother in Mayavaram during is childhood days.
He joined the Railways and became a Special Class apprentice. He was posted at Kanchapura near Calcutta. He got married to a nice girl and they lived in Calcutta then with their three children. He became Class 1 officer, Gazetted officer and then retired as a Deputy Director of Inspection.
Due to lack of normal upbringing he became an Atheist. But he will not hurt anyone. He did not wear the sacred thread (poonal) and did not do Sraartham (ceremonies for deceased parents). He used to tell his wife, “you do whatever you want, I will come to the temple with you but do not ask me to pray.”
As time passed he got all the three daughters married off to good grooms. He and his wife then moved to Madras.
The wife said one day, “I will got to Kanchipuram and see Periyava and come”.
“May I also come Chella, I feel like it”, said he.
“Ok, come.”
Both went to Kanchi. She was afraid that he would embarrass her by speaking to Him without knowing the protocol. He started to address Swamigal as “Sir”! And she gave up and felt helpless and remained quiet.
Swamigal asked him, “What are you doing?”
He said, “I am an Engineer and work with lathe machines and tools and responsible for their inspection.”
“What is a machine tool? What is a lathe?”, asked Swamigal with a child like curiosity, like the way a Mother would ask a child! They were discussing his occupation for 1 hour. There was no talk about Spirituality or God.
“Ok, what are your plans now”, asked the Swamigal.
“You please tell me what I should do now”, replied He.
“I have to take Snanam at a tank which is 1 km from here and then I will be back for poojas. You may wait here”.
He came back and did the Chandramouliswara poojas. The couple were watching the Poojas.
His wife asked him, “are you not hungry?”
He said yes and left to partake the prasadam at the Mutt. And came back to the Pooja place.
When the Poojas were completed he lined up to receive the Theertham. When his turn came, Swamigal asked, “what did you do?”
“I was hungry and I had prasadam.”
“Then I cannot give you the Theertham”, said He.
His wife got the Theertham. And then she went to have the Prasadam lunch.
They were getting ready to leave for Madras when he says to his wife, “look Chella, shall we stay for one more day and leave tomorrow?!”
She said yes. He asked the Swamigal too and He replied “Yes.”
Next day after bath, he borrowed a Veshti at the Mutt, got hold of a Sacred Thread too, applied Vibhuti on his forehead and came to see the Poojas! After the Poojas were completed both of them had Prasadam and left for home in Madras. Again no Spiritual words were exchanged between him and Him.
After three days in Madras, he remarks to his wife, “look Chella, shall I do Sandhya Vandanam?!”
She said, “Yes”.
“Shall I read the mantras from the book? Or shall I seek a Vadhyaar’s help? Will he laugh at me Chella?”
And then he wore the Poonal and started to do Sandhya Vandanam!
And then after some days he tells his wife, “Endi Chella, I have never done Srardham for my parents, I feel like doing it. Shall I get started?”
“Ok, do it.”
“I know a little bit of Sanskrit that I had learnt at school, shall I say some prayers”?!
“Ok, do it”, was her standard reply.
A man who was always cynical about Holy People and God, ceased to be a cynic! Just by a mere Darshana Deekshai!
That man was my Athimber, and his wife is my sister Chellakka.
I wish to believe that my faith in my Master is a rock-like one!. My wife and children have rock like faith in Him! My children’s children in the US pray to Him before writing their exams!
This is my Master! Who changes people!. He is the one Who controls everything, every movement! He is my Sarveshwaran!
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Shankara. Sarveshwara. My Mother.
Shri ‘Cooper’ Sundaram and his Maami’s interactions with Him — Part 3
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He is my Sarveshwaran!
Success does not have any meaning without the Master. He is the one who controls Everyone!
Once we went to Mahagaon to have His darshan. We had taken our daughter with us. Swamigal wanted to know if anyone could read Marathi. There was no one at that time who knew to read Marathi. He asked my daughter if she knew. Se said Yes. And He asked her to read one material in Marathi. She had such Bhaghyam!
My wife is as much a spiritually uneducated fool as I am. But she made up for it in Bhakthi towards Him. She almost thinks that she is the Mother of Periyava. So much she cared for Him.
Once after staying at Satara for three days He wanted to climb up the Sajjan Ghat mountains nearby to visit a temple at the top. He was almost 87 years old that time. And there were heavy rains in the mountains. We were extremely worried for Him. He bathed in the rain waters streaming from the
rocks in the mountain. My wife was afraid that He may get cold. There were no medicines. She gave His kaingaryams, Shri Neelakanta Mama, thulasi, pudina (mint leaves), milagu (pepper), pattai and sukku for him to make Kashayam and give it to Him. Neelakantan told her why she was taking all the trouble as He will not drink Kashayam. Then The Sarveshwaran smiled and told Shri Neelakantan, “go and make the Kashayam and bring it for me!” We were so pleased!
The Kashayam container was wrapped in silk cloth and given to Him. Later a local doctor also examined Him and He became alright!
Sundaram Maami speaks now
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He asked, “can you get Me some Thoothuvalai leaves? It has the colour of a Brinjal plant flower and is found in thorny plants.”
Immediately I asked the workers at Cooper Factory to go to the nearby Irandeshwar mountain and get the leaves. It is believed that
this mountain was a part of the Sanjeevini mountains and Lord Hanuman had dropped it in Satara when He was flying on the way to Lanka. Hence it had medicinal value plants.
The workers plucked all the leaves from all the thorny plants and cactuses and brought them in a bag! I gave this to Swamigal and told Him, “we do not know how a Thoothuvalai leaf will look like, that is why we brought all the leaves! Please choose what You want from this bag!”
He laughed heartily for some time and remarked,”Look, she has brought all the thorny plants for Me”! Later they made arrangements to get this leaf from Madras.
One day the Satara Matam people told me that He wanted a Ripened Bitter Gourd. As they did not know Marathi they did not know where to shop for it
in Satara and approached me. I was nonplussed as I did not know from where to get it from as no one consumed it! I still went to the market and searched
for it. To my utter shock I saw an old woman selling it! I am having goosebumps as I am telling you! Heart to Heart, I knew that if He has said it is available,
then it MUST be available! Shankara!
Satara is know for big gooseberries (nellikkai). I bought some from the market and felt like taking it to the Satara Mutt for Him. As I approached the steps His Kaingaryams, Shri Balu and Shri Neelakantan told me, “Today is Brindavana Dwadashi. He will eat today and He wants Nellikkai!! Another Coincidence
of Coincidences, I had it with me and handed over to him. They said they will make Nellikkai Chutney and give it to Him in Bhiksha!
Ganesh Chaturthi day was approaching. Swamigal wanted lot of different leaves for the Ganesh pooja and His Kaingaryams gave me the list. Most of the leaves
in the list did not make any sense to me, like Naiuruvi etc.! In my garden I plucked Jaathi Malli (jasmine) flowers, Guava leaves etc and put them in a bag.
Also I requested the factory workers to pluck all the leaves. I took the bag and gave it to Him. He gaving a roaring laughter and asked me to empty the contents
of the bag and told us to separate the leaves!
On Ganesh Chaturthi day one worker boy plucked some Thaazhambu flowers and gave it to me. He knows that I regularly use them to do Poojas at home.
Since Thaazam Poo was not ok for Lord Shiva’s poojas, I assumed that it is not OK for His Son Ganesh too and put it in the back of my car. We went to the Satara Mutt and saw Him waving Peacock’s feathers for Pillaiyaar!
Balu Mama immediately approached me and said,” Maami, can I please have some Thazampoo, He wants it for the poojas!”
Sarveshwara, is it really another Coincidence! Or is it His Play! Like this He blessed me many times providing me an opportunity to give Him what He wanted!
Once we came to know that He was staying at Mahagaon in Karnataka for two or three weeks. And we decided to go there for His darshan. We usually went wherever He Went!
Before They left for Mahagaon from Satara, Balu Mama told me that He had asked “how are Dudh Pedas (Milk Sweets) made in Satara region”?
I immediately wanted to make some for my Sarveshwaran!
My husband tried to talk me out of it saying that He does not eat anything at all, and even on those rare occasions He takes Bhiksha from only those people who had taken Deekshai! But I was adamant that I will make some Pedas!
I did not know how to make them, so I called the local sweet maker home. Before starting I took Snanam, wore nine yard saree. Cleaned the stoves. Put a kolam. Bought 5 litres of Pasu Maatu Milk. Asked the Peda man to sit six feet away. He gave me the instructions how to make the Pedas. Had the sugar powder and cardamom crushed and mixed. After heating the milk for quite a while it became solid. Mixed it with sugar/cardamom and made small balls of Peda. Put the pedas in a box and wrapped the box in a silk cloth for purity. And we were ready to go to Mahagaon!
We did our Namaskarams to Him and handed over the fruits which we had taken. We did not show Him the Pedas yet.
The Lord Shankara asks me, “what did you bring for Me!”
“Peda”, I replied.
“Where, show it to Me”, said He.
“It is here”, I said.
Then His Kaingaryams took the Peda inside. My Husband again told me, “please do not be disappointed if He does not eat it.”
After His poojas and Bhiksha He told Balu Mama, “Sundaram Maami had brought some Peda for me, please bring it!”
He took one Peda and put it inside His mouth behind the left cheek, took another Peda and put it behind His right cheek and enjoyed Himself!
We were stunned to witness the Parameshwaran in Bliss and cried in Joy!
My daughter was confused at this and told my husband, “you have said that He has no hunger and does not eat. Then why did He do it now”?
My husband told her, “only to show His Love for the Bhakthi your Mother has for Him”.
