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“śrī caraṇāḥ sarvajñāḥ” and “Periyavar anaiththum arindavar” — Said by two different devotees on the same day

सर्वज्ञाचार्य-भगवत्स्वरूपाय नमो नमः। ४
sarvajñācārya-bhagavatsvarūpāya namo namaḥ | (4)
ஸர்வஞ்ய- ஆசார்ய- பகவத்- ஸ்வரூபாய நமோ நம:

Meaning:
Obeisance to the Acharya figure of the all knowing Bahgavan.
ஸர்வஞ்ய- ஆசார்ய பகவானின் ஸ்வரூபமானவருக்கு நமஸ்காரம்.

A small incident from my memory about the all-knowing Supreme Guru Pujya śrī mahāsvāmiji.

During one of my visits to kāñcī mutt in late 1980s, I was standing in the line as His Holiness was giving darśan. A scholar, and the author of the book titled “śri rāmāñjaneyam”, visited the mutt from Tirupati. The book was submitted for śrīmahāsvāmiji’s perusal.

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There was absolute silence for about 20 minutes as His Holiness was browsing the book. From the conversations, that ensued after the study, in Sanskrit and Telugu, it was evident that His Holiness had understood the message of the book thoroughly. There were questions and answers pertaining to Ramayana. In the end, His Holiness was satisfied with the explanations and the answers provided by the author. The mutt gave a shawl to the scholar.

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Finally the scholar prostrated completely before His Holiness and said “śrī caraṇāḥ sarvajñāḥ” literally meaning that His Holiness knows everything. His Holiness finished the conversation by saying the verse “tattvam tattva videkātmā janma mṛtyu jarādigaḥ” from viṣṇu sahasranāmam.

Later I had the opportunity to discuss with the scholar about the conversation. The scholar said that he was baffled by the thoroughness and intelligence of the questions His Holiness had on the book and śrī rāmāyaṇam; he added that no one can read, understand any book within 20 minutes and ask such questions giving new dimensions to what the author wrote. Hence śrī mahāsvāmiji was none other than the all-knowing īśvarā.

During the same visit, I had the opportunity to witness the singing of the Tamil Vedas (thevaram) by 108 oduvars. Each oduvar was presented with a shawl and rudrākṣa mālā by our periyavA (śrī jayendra sarasvatī svāmiji). Some of the oduvArs who had stayed back, had the blessing of singing one thevAram each before śrī
mahāsvāmiji. At that time, one oduvar started a thevaram and probably forgot the lines to sing further. He was repeating the same line a few times when śrī mahāsvāmiji started singing the next line. The oduvar completed the thevAram, cried and exclaimed that “periyavar anaiththum arindavar” (śrī mahāsvāmiji knows everything).
The all-knowing bhagavān – śrī mahāsvāmiji – smiled and said that “in the morning someone said that same thing in sanskrit. I am getting old and forgetting things because of my age.”
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Posted by Shri Ravi in kanchiforum.org

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