I am extremely happy to see mami’s interview that was posted recently by Sri Sai. Mami has probably several hours of incidents/anugrahams to share on Mahaperiyava. When I asked mami for an interview, mami was not keen on doing that. Now that mami has given an intro, maybe we should request mami to tell us more..

Mami & mama are true blessings to our society. They have been doing this thirupani that even emperors could not do in those days. Mami’s knowledge in Tamil literature is beyond words. Every time I talk to mami, she quotes thevaram, thiruvasagam, scriptures in temples.

Periyava, as we all know, would choose only qualified people to do certain job. From the little experience mami had shared, it is very evident why Periyava was looking at mami for more than one hour when mami’s mother laid mami as a baby at the holy feet of Periyava!! He has been giving strength, courage, perseverance, tolerance in doing this thiruppani. I know the kind of insults/problems mami gets during each and every kumbabishekam when she approaches donors. I have been on several calls when mami has cried – not for insults to her, her pain of seeing how some people tries to stall the work etc. People say all sorts of things straight on her face. Anyone other than mami would drop the whole project right at that moment and go back to their personal business. Only mami, with Siva krupai, has the maturity to brush aside all those insults and discouragements and do this. Her bakthi and confidence towards Iswaran is quite amazing. Even Rs 10 crore project will not make mami to worry. She is always confident that swami won’t let her down. So far, He has always been with them!

I was talking to Shivaraman after Vedharanyam kumbabishekam. Shivaraman was out of words to describe the kind of energy mami gets during the kumbabishekam. Traveling on the road for several hours, arranging a million things for the event…She barely sleeps during those kumbabishekam days – wakes up at 3.30 AM to carry our her nithya puja and deal with 1000s of organizing issues. Temples like vedaranyam are so huge and that too when ministers and govt officials show-up, the pressure mounts and mami and mama dealing with all of them is beyond imagination. To speak for me, at home, to conduct a 2-hour Anusham puja by calling 15-20 people, we feel beaten up at the end of the event – imagine mama & mami doing at a himalayan scale at her age. Only Periyava has been giving them needed energy and motivation.

Mami’s contribution is not limited only to temple renovations but more importantly to making changes at the grass-root level. She has talked and help several villagers and their families to adopt to religious principles and helped women empowerment at those levels. These have resulted in villagers to give up their drinking habits, get back to normalcy and so on! These women consider mami as their guru/guide etc.

Mama’s contribution to this is unimaginable level of efforts. I have seen mama working on his camera, laptop, getting the images, uploading them, creating power point presentations and the list goes on…In contrary to the saying, here “mama is behind mami’s success”!

HH Vaariyar Swamigal, during his old age used to feel worried that there is successor to take over His job. I have heard in His lecture, “How many years I am going to do this upanyasam? Pulavar Keeran has attained siddhi – I am the only one doing upanyasam…Some more people need to take over this”. I quote this analogy as these thiruppani is currently done one and only by mami – none other. Without mami, nothing will happen….We want mami to continue this thirupani to revive our culture, help 100s of shivacharyar’s families and help prevent so many innocent people getting converted to other religions etc. At the same time, we want more people to take up such tasks and do it sincerely and selflessly.

Only after inspired by mami, as part of the Kanchi Guruparampara Foundation, I included temple renovation as one of the key focus areas. As a foundation, we are committed to support temple renovations. In 2016, the foundation has plans to do undertake at least 1 “vaanam paartha shivalingam” – hope Periyava and mami would give us to do this. I have already mentioned this to HH Balaperiyava during my last trip. We will do this project with mami’s support.

Before I end this note, I ask all the readers only one thing – participate in these projects even in a small way – it does not have to be financial help alone. Even if you pass the message around to your friends, that is a great help. There are always lots of donors for popular kshtrams but when it comes to very small dilapidated temple in a remote place, mostly no donors come forward to support. Please pay attention to all my postings in periyava karyam blog and do your best to support in whatever way possible.

Also visit mami’s blog at http://ancienttemples.webs.com/ to know about past and upcoming kumbabishekams.

She is a real scholar in Tamil Literature and history. While our universities take pains to honor film actors etc with a honorary doctoral degree, I wish they do this for mami also. It is not that mami wants a Ph.D, but  to honor a person who is selfless in her contribution to our culture.

We seek Parameswaran’s blessings towards this noble couple for more and more punarudhdharanam of temples in the future.

On behalf of all you, my namaskarams to this great couple!

Mami/Mama – i am fortunate to know both of you. I still remember our first meeting in Ilayathangudi adhishtanam! What a divine place to meet you both!

Mahesh