(More photos of Him can be seen at http://valmikiramayanam.in/?page_id=2 )
Known in his Poorvashrama as Sri Kalyanarama Sastrigal of Angarai village (near Tiruchi), fellow devotees of Kanchi Paramacharya used to refer to him even before he took to Sanyas in July 1992 as `Angarai Periyava’ only and never by his name. Though he had a big family to support and no other means of livelihood, this savant from Angarai gave up his Central Government job 50 years ago and took to uninterrupted `seven-day’ recital of Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhattadri’s Narayaneeyam in the forenoons followed by a discourse on it in Tamil in the evenings on the suggestion of Kanchi Paramacharya and brought immense relief and solace to families of countless devotees since then. From 1973 to 1991, he did this `Saptaha Parayanam’ preceding the auspicious Janmashtami every year in the immediate presence of Kanchi Paramacharya. It was delightful to see the Sage of Kanchi sitting nearby and listening to the discourses in rapt attention, as if it were for the first time he was hearing the glories of Lord Krishna!
One of Angarai Periyava’s admirers happened to be none other than a Poorvashrama younger brother of the Sage of Kanchi himself, by name Sadasivan but lovingly known as `Sivan Sir’ who advised his own large circle of friends and devotees to go for advice and solace to Angarai Periyava. And they obeyed Sivan Sir’s advice implicitly all through.
As for himself, this Savant was averse to publicity of any kind — he was indifferent to fame or name or circumstance of affluence or its opposite — he was fond of quoting the praise of Vedanta Desika by his son extolling such qualities of head and heart in his illustrious father and held that as the ideal of his own life.
No account of Angarai Periyava will be complete without a mention of V. Janakiraman who served His Holiness faithfully for 47 years without break. Angarai Periyava was the very personification of simplicity, compassion and wisdom.
Article Courtesy: The Hindu
Thanks to Ram Anantha for the reminder!
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Swamigal’s poorvashrama name was Sri.Kalyanarama Bhagavathar. Earlier, people around Him called him Sastrigal or Angarai Periyava on the lines of Mannargudi Periyava, Mayavaram Periyava etc. He felt it was too high.He said the word Periyava can only fit ‘Mahaperiyava’, When people addressed Him as Sastrigal he said ‘I haven’t read any sastram’
He liked to be addressed ‘bhagavathar’, the way Mahaperiyava addressed him. bhagavathar means one who belongs to bhagavan.
On taking sanyasam (from Mahaperiyava’s padukas) He took the deeksha namam – ramachandrashraya – which means ‘one who depends on ramachandra’ (the chandra here alludes to Sri.Chandrashekara Saraswathi Swamigal – Our Mahaperiyava) He chose this name over ananda, yogi etc. He felt that He can’t even call himself ‘ramachandra dasa’ because ‘dasa’ means servant. He said ‘I am not even fit to serve rama’. Such humility in a person who dedicated his whole life to Rama.
Sivan Sir kept referring to him as Swamigal upon which Swamigal suggested that he can be referred as ‘Govinda Damodara Swamigal’. He was fond of Govinda nama and ‘Govinda Damodara stotram’ by Bilvamangalacharyar. He felt that by saying ‘Govinda Damodara Swamigal’ his devotees will get the punya from chanting the names of Govinda.
In Sri Ramadurai’s video interview, he says Mahaperiyava stating that Angarai Periyava was the avatharam of Adi Sesha. Throughout the life of Sri Angarai Periyava one can clearly understand from his unswerving devotion towards Sri Guruvayurappan. Although clear statistics are available of his Srimad Ramayana and Srimad Bhagavatha parayanams, there is no count available of either Sundara Kandam or Sriman Narayaneeya parayanams since he performed them countless times. Even while asleep, one could hear him mumble shlokas from Sriman Narayaneeyam. He stayed for most part of his life in Triplicane at Hanumantharayan Koil street, just a few hundreds meters away from the famed Parthasarathi Swami temple, but shunned popularity of any sort. I know of a family who stayed next door to the building that he lived in, but they did not know such a mahapurusha existed amidst them. He would never agree to perform Parayanam and Pravachanam to a big audience for he feared that would popularize him. He had government job, serving the Indian Postal Department, but gave up the job since Mahaperiyava advised him to follow the Bhagavatha jeevanam, as followed by his forefathers. This is in spite of the fact that he had a large family to support.
His primary advise to devotees would be to perform sandhyavandanam without fail whatever be the situation and to hold firmly to the Holy Feet of Mahaperiyava, who is non-different from Sri Guruvayurappan.
Shri Ganapathy has written a beautiful article about this Periyava on how He led His life as mentioned in Ramayana.
To download – click here
Categories: Devotee Experiences
Shri Janakiraman Mama (affectionately called as VJR who served Shri Triplicane Periava (Angarai Periava) since 1957 reached the abode of his Guru today early morning! Ram Ram
Shri Janakiraman Mama (affectionately called as VJR mama) who served Shri Triplicane Periava (Angarai Periava) since 1957 reached the abode of his Guru today early morning! Ram Ram
Name nama to Sri Aangarai Periyava
Devotees may contact Sri VJR mama at 044-28587893 for books on Sri Triplicane Periyava.
Sudarshan
Swamigal stayed away from modern gadgets. He did not encourage recording his parayanam and pravachanams. There are very few recordings of his voice. But Swamigal would meticulously write down slokams for his devotees. Each one of Swamigal’s devotee will have at least one slip of paper with a slokam in Swamigal’s own handwriting that would have performed miracles and transformed the devotee’s life.
Sri.V.Janakirama Iyer and now his son Sri.Ramanarayanan are managing the ‘Govinda Damodara Swamigal Adhishtanam Trust’ which has published many books on Sri.Swamigal’s life and his upadesams and ably maintains Swamigal’s beautiful adhishtanam in Pazhur. You may be able to secure some of the voice recordings from them. Write to me for Sri.VJR mama’s contact.
Ganapathy
How to reach pazhur.
Worship timings?
I am giving a link to Triplicane Periyava’s Sriman Narayaneeyam Parayanam of the first shloka http://www.mediafire.com/?29hg06pi6z56wnt.
For more recordings, please contact Sri Ganapathy as suggested by Mahesh,
Complete Narayaneeyam Parayanam by Sri Angarai Periyava:-
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx7ZGw3CQKMCbjm7kaz8tnvqvow95RirD
Sri Angarai Periyava UpadeshangaL Collection:-
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx7ZGw3CQKMCxgcZD-Wmd8YP1-mPpgJRY
Kindly listen and share!
Very grateful to know about this Mahan Sri. Angarai Periyava. My humble Namaskaarams to Him! Great to chant the Names of Maha Periyava, sivan Sir and Angarai Periyava. Great post. Great downloads. Thanks a lot.
Rama Rama
Would like to listen the voice of angarai periyava!
Any possibility? Any recording available?
Please share if available.
Rama Rama
Pl write to ganapathy@msacademy.in for this.
Very beautiful one.
Wher does Sri Angarai Periava stay these days to meet him
Shri Anagarai Periyava has attained siddhi in 2004.
I have had the good fortune of sitting near Sri.Govinda Damodara Swamigal’s lotus feet. You can see an album of beautiful photographs of Swamigal here http://valmikiramayanam.in/?page_id=2
I think you & I either talked or interacted in the past, right??? You lived in US for a long time and moved back etc, right???? anyway, these are great photos….I will create a separate post and link to your site…..great job…..
Mahesh
I lived in US for not very long. Swamigal told me to come back. He said, ‘one cannot put out fire by pouring ghee. You may think that you will enjoy a little more, save a little more and come back. But that day will never come. You have to forcibly turn yourself away from the three gates of hell – lust, aggression and greed. (kama krodha lobha)’. On this advice I came back and then he taught me to read and relish Valmiki Ramayana.
Ganapathy
More about Sri Angarai Periyava:
In Sri Ramadurai’s video interview, he says Mahaperiyava stating that Angarai Periyava was the avatharam of Adi Sesha. Throughout the life of Sri Angarai Periyava one can clearly understand from his unswerving devotion towards Sri Guruvayurappan. Although clear statistics are available of his Srimad Ramayana and Srimad Bhagavatha parayanams, there is no count available of either Sundara Kandam or Sriman Narayaneeya parayanams since he performed them countless times. Even while asleep, one could hear him mumble shlokas from Sriman Narayaneeyam. He stayed for most part of his life in Triplicane at Hanumantharayan Koil street, just a few hundreds meters away from the famed Parthasarathi Swami temple, but shunned popularity of any sort. I know of a family who stayed next door to the building that he lived in, but they did not know such a mahapurusha existed amidst them. He would never agree to perform Parayanam and Pravachanam to a big audience for he feared that would popularize him. He had government job, serving the Indian Postal Department, but gave up the job since Mahaperiyava advised him to follow the Bhagavatha jeevanam, as followed by his forefathers. This is in spite of the fact that he had a large family to support.
His primary advise to devotees would be to perform sandhyavandanam without fail whatever be the situation and to hold firmly to the Holy Feet of Mahaperiyava, who is non-different from Sri Guruvayurappan.
Thanks for the great insight to his simplicity etc. I have heard very little about this Periyava…
I have written a little about Sri.Govinda Damodara Swamigal with my little understanding http://valmikiramayanam.in/wordpress/svkr.pdf
We are blessed to have such divine people in our period.They are Jeevan muktas. We should remember and follow their footsteps
I am Revathi Balasubramanian, Happy to see the article of Sri Angarai Kalyana Sastrigal. Whenener he visits Hyderabad my father Late Sri.Natarajan used to request him to visit our house and recite Sundarakantam. It is a day programme. We had an opportunity to see him and listen to Sundarakantam many times. Recently we happened to listen Sri.Sundar Kumar Avrgal Sundarakantam at Hyderabad in my brother Mr.N.Ramchander house.
such peole are ahrd to find now a days; thks for this write up.
thanks a lot for bringing this out. n.ramaswami
Yes. Sundar Kumar mama always mentions about him in his discourses. But I saw this photo under the name “Triplicane Periyava” and not Angarai Periyava. Mahaperiyava had enormous amount of respect for him.
He is known as Angarai Periyava, Triplicane Periyava, Tiruvallikeni Periyava, Pazhoor Periyava, Govinda Damodara Swamigal, and Ramachandrashraya, the last being his turiyashrama nama.
thanks – didnt know …..
Swamigal’s poorvashrama name was Sri.Kalyanarama Bhagavathar. Earlier, people around Him called him Sastrigal or Angarai Periyava on the lines of Mannargudi Periyava, Mayavaram Periyava etc. He felt it was too high.He said the word Periyava can only fit ‘Mahaperiyava’, When people addressed Him as Sastrigal he said ‘I haven’t read any sastram’
He liked to be addressed ‘bhagavathar’, the way Mahaperiyava addressed him. bhagavathar means one who belongs to bhagavan.
On taking sanyasam (from Mahaperiyava’s padukas) He took the deeksha namam – ramachandrashraya – which means ‘one who depends on ramachandra’ (the chandra here alludes to Sri.Chandrashekara Saraswathi Swamigal – Our Mahaperiyava) He chose this name over ananda, yogi etc. He felt that He can’t even call himself ‘ramachandra dasa’ because ‘dasa’ means servant. He said ‘I am not even fit to serve rama’. Such humility in a person who dedicated his whole life to Rama.
Sivan Sir kept referring to him as Swamigal upon which Swamigal suggested that he can be referred as ‘Govinda Damodara Swamigal’. He was fond of Govinda nama and ‘Govinda Damodara stotram’ by Bilvamangalacharyar. He felt that by saying ‘Govinda Damodara Swamigal’ his devotees will get the punya from chanting the names of Govinda.
V Janakiraman is none other than the one featured n this interview – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tee-sbAQ-Zg.
Angarai Periyava (aka Govinda Damodara Swamigal, or Triplicane Periyava since he lived in Tiruvallikeni) had unswerving, implicit and inimitable devotion towards Mahaperiyava and Sir. Just to illustrate one instance, one day Angarai Periyava went to have darshan of Sir along with VJR mama and found Sir to be eating a dosa ordered from a hotel. Sir casually took a small piece of the dosa and gave it to both Angarai Periyava and VJR Mama. Angarai Periyava, as it were, was a very strict adherent of the Shastras and had by then, obtained Sanyasa ashramam. Without any reaction, Angarai Periyava accepted with devotion the dosa and put it into his mouth, but VJR mama had some hesitation since it was a hotel preparation. But Angarai Periyava advised him to partake it with utmost devotion as it was Mahaprasadam and the pavana ucchishtam of Sir.
I had opportunity to perform in front of Sri Angarai Periyaval many times, when I used to live in Triplicane.. Every year when BrahmaSri Pradosham Mama celebrates Sri Sri Maha Periyaval Jayanthi Uthsavam, the first Pathrikai will be given to Sri Angarai Periyaval.. Great Mahan in our times…