Thanks to Sri Ranga Narapuram for a beautiful translation of HH Periyava’s speech on Sri Jayendra Periyava’s Mahimai, which was shared in the blog a few days back.

5:00

GururBrahma GururVishnu GururDevo Maheshwaraha
Guru Saakshaat ParaBrahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha

Sadashiva Samarambham Shankaracharya Madhyamam
Asmad Acharya Paryantam Vande Guru Paramparam

05:30

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge

Like that, Thyagaraja Swami said Entharo Mahanubhavulu, to resolve the problems faced by the people from time to time to expel the fear of people and to give them courage people may have their individual opinions, but creating a common platform to form good deeds, and integrating everyone with those good deeds
from time to time That society requires a guidance, that will require a guardian and guidance Like that, Mahaa Periyavaa, he was about 50 years by then, could be 50 or 55, at that time he gave someone an Ashram and Sanyasam, and he gave training and introduced him to the general public. He was planning all these at that time.

08:00

At that time several people told him can all these be given in such a quick time, several people told him. Though he liked him very much, he said during the time of his Shashti Abda Poorti that was in 1954. But four years earlier he came to this decision.

Let him complete at least 18 years of age, he said… at the time of his Shashti Abda Poorti he came all the way by walk from Kumbakonam. He was 60 years old then and walked all the way to Kancheepuram from Kumbakonam, stayed here, there is

a lagoon here called Sarva Theertham. At the banks of Sarva Theertha, Jaagrathi
yogeshwaraha, there is a Vishvanathar temple, Chandra Mouli temple. Poet
Sriharsha in a poem called Naishadham, like we say Kalidasa, Valmeeki, poet
Sriharsha is there. While describing Kancheepuram, Sriharsha says where
Yogeshwara is vigilant, where he give blessings, Jagrathi yogeshwaraha, that is
Yoga Chandra Mouleeswarar. Where the yoga linga is located, there is a Kashi
Vishwanathar temple

10:00

At the banks of Sarvatheertha he was giving advices, chanted mantras, I showed
that place some four years ago while there was a function, this is where Periyavaa gave me advice. Sarvatheertham means all the theerthas at one place, in those days people who visit Kancheepuram used to take holi dip there. At the banks of that lagoon, he named, that too a new name, Jayendra Saraswathi Swami. If you refer the existing names till then, Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamikal, Maha devendra saraswathi swamikal, Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamikal, Maha devendra saraswathi swamikal, Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamikal, Maha devendra
saraswathi swamikal, Up to Maha Periyavaa Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamikal
were six. The sixth Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamikal.

For him gave a new name. For a new name they considered Asheervadh, must win
everywhere. Like that the Jaya Varsha like Prabhava, Vibhava, Shukla, Pramoda,
Prajapatti, Angirasa etc. Name of the sixty years till Shashi abda poorthi, of those sixty years, Jaya varsham is one among them, that was the year, his Shashti abda poorthi year of Mahaa Periyavaa. In rememberance of his Shashti abda poorthi, keeping in mind the Tamil year, he named him anew. This name is there in Cambodia. In the last thousand years one Raja had this name Vijayendra. Indra Saraswati comes the traditional way, but with the foreseeing power of Maha
Periyavaa he got this new name, a lot of journeys.

Maha Periyavaa has travelled from Kumbakonam for 21 years. For twenty one
years using palanquin, there they got hundred carts, elephants, camels, nadaswaras, pandits, veda paata salai, it was called a moving town in those days.

A mobile town, that’s how he travelled to Kashi as well. It was during 1934 to
1936. He was expected to visit some other places too like Badri, Kedar etc. Along with Gadwal Maharaja, of Gadwal state, in those days we had a lot of such states with in India. That Raja also has written that you should come and visit Gadwal.

So wherever he missed to visit he went to such places like that of north east,
assam, meghalaya, nagaland and such places. Also Rajasthan, so whichever places
he missed, he went to all such places and ten thousand Kilo Meters journey by
walk. We all know the Cars and Flights came later, from 1970 to 80’s in that
decade he went to several places by walk (paada yatra) like Rajasthan, Maharashtra he accompanied Periyavaa.

14:40

From 1954 to 1969. He has walked a lot at that time also on elephant ride too, even to Sree Sailam, they walked over the mountain by walk, went all over there and conducted Chandra Mouleeswara Pooja, there was a huge crowd in Rajasthan to
witness the Chandra Mouleeswara Pooja. The use of Hand Pumps were introduced
from 1984 only. Ground water from the hand pumps. Till then they were using
water from the well, river or pond. They used only such waters for Naivedyas and
Abhishekas.

15:28

That too without using motors, it’s too hard to find such places at first hand, an IAS officer from Rajasthan, currently retired and living in Delhi, said “I was a Collector and used to ask the requirements, the reply was we need nothing but a place with a well. His name is Ramakrishna and lives in Delhi. He said he arranged the place for them.

16:00

Like that all those South Indians who were settled in North India, Nagpur, Nasik, Patna, Kasi, Jamshedpur, went to such places for Samashti Upanayanam. That is the migration of South Indians, from Trichy, Tanjore, Tirunelveli they first reach Mylapore and Mambalam, Mylapore, Triplicane then Mambalam etc
Madippakkam and such places came later on, they went to North India, first they
went to Burma (Myanmar) then Kolkatta and then Jamshedpur, while going to
such places, to retain their South Indian culture, the North Indians are happy that they have come over there, conducted Chatur Malleswara Poojai and gave
Theertha Prasadam, did Pada Vandanam, Vriksha Vandanam, and the Yatra was
very useful not to forget the whole vedic culture of South India .

17:30

Residents of North India also learned there are Poojas like these, have been
conducting poojas for all the time and also veda parayana or veda recital, this is the way people conducting homams, pronounciation, this is the way how to utter words, How useful a Matt for the general public, how Periyavaa integrates
families, people who live 500 or 1000 Km away were encouraged to follow all
these and the very concept of samashti upanayana was introduced. Upanayana
must be done during Shankara Jayanthi and such information were shared to
people who live in Delhi, Delhi Tamil Sangam, like that Nagpur, Mattunga all
were able to live anywhere in India till his time.

18:30

Let South Indians live anywhere in India, let it be North, South, East or West, he was able to condut the yatra, but now… He gave darshan to all encoutering all difficulties, National integration, understanding between the South and North, speaking in Hindi spread the awareness about Shankaracharyar, spread the slogan Hara Hara Shankara – Jaya Jaya Shankara. At the time of Maha Periyavaa, people used to say the name of Shankaracharya was spread all over, and placed an idol for Aadi Shankaracharyar at places as far as Kailasa Manasarovar… Vighneswar, Bhima Shankar, Naganath, Vaidyanath, thrayambakeswar, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Pasupathinath, Omkaleswaram, Mahakaleswaram, Maha Periyavaa constructed the Sankara Matt at Rameswaram, like these Maha Periyavaa placed idol for Shankaracharyar at Sreesailam and Rameswaram.

20:00

Periyavaa toured the northern region and attracted people – janaakarshanam- by
placing idols. He used to interact with them with a smile and made them happy,
encouraged them, asked them to do it better even if it is at a low scale, he boosted their interests, people are sad in mind, he wanted to make them happy, he agreed give darshan at any time and gave them prasadam, and his jubilance was so propagating.

21:00

Campaigns are diverse, one way is to meditate and advise. He was particular about making people happy and did whatever he could to advise them and then taught them Sanskrit and Vedas. He was particular about presenting what people like most. Then he will advocate them the traditional scientific rituals. His Dharma Pracharam or moral campaign was based on love and enthusiasm.

His smile was so radiating. Once one Mr. Morarji Bappu visited here and said I
just can not forget your smile, he said the abitlity to smile under any circumstances is adorable. Then we arranged a video conferencing between Morarji Bappu and Periyavaa. He was delighted when Periyavaa blessed him.

Once there was a speech at Rameswaram, he was at Bombay when the speech at
Kancheepuram took place, he was sad he could not get darshan. Then we told if
given permission to communicate through video and say few words to him, he
talked in Hindi as well like Acha Kar Raha Hai etc he was very happy. He used to
pacify people quite quickly and used to say peace of mind will bring them
goodness. He used to create happiness. Teaching them the upanishads and advising
and later attaining wisdom or gnanam is one side.

23:00

Giving them instant happiness was his policy and encouraged several
Kumbabishekams and marriage assistance, support for education for many, he
proved Dharma can be grown through help and compassion was his main advise,
people get rid of their inner tension the moment they get darshan and they feel as if they get rid of a burden and gives them satisfaction. Also in the modern world, explaining Dharma in a sophisticated way is hard, at the same time…

24:00

in the modern world, explaining Dharma in a sophisticated way is hard, at the
same time if we don’t explain Dharma our main purpose won’t be met. At this time
we published a lot of books.

While in public life campaign, publicity, encouragement, involvement, cooperation are all very important. In the modern management the religion was something like a competition or enmity … there was such a confusion, he brought public movement and started schools, hospitals and proved such services are part of our culture too. Helping is part of our traditions, we provide education and created a trend in the public, he was thoughtful about parliamentarians, or law makers in your vocabulary, the law, campaign, movement were all followed by him and conducted a conference and did several homams and Bhajan fests and did all that is necessary for mass appealing

Both appearance and appealing, he will go himself let it be a hamlet or hut. What the politicians describe as public distribution system, for distributing rice, wheat and sugar. He was distributing Bhajans, giving rhythm, Maddalam the percussion instrument , books, silver and gold coins … ultimately when a religion encounters a competition, when there is confusion among religion .. how to deal with it. Starting from Hindu Muslim subject, diverse communities and languages, he was supportive to the nation. For the integration of the nation, while going to the hilly regions even the tribes were competing each other to get hold of the lemons he threw at them as prasadam. They throng to collect such lockets, lemons etc irrespective of communal differences, at the same time he preserved the veda teaching institutions … Janakarshana… attracting people is very important making people aware of the fact that culture makes us proud and it is second to none. He conducted several eye camps and started hospitals.. in such a way he used to realize it instantly and give away the requirements in time. These two factors were very significant with him.

He used to monitor what people were doing, also stopping conversions. He worked
a lot and his initiatives were always result oriented. His attempts garnered good reception and rewards as well. His activities were always on giving the needy people what they need and making them happy, with a view to let dharma grow through happiness.

He helped for the Kumbabishekam of several temples, he will give away ten or
twenty thousand instantly. Instantly. If only he bless them, they will collect from their place and get the Kumbabishekam done. He will give them hope and
encouraged anyone who came up with an upcoming event. The society requires
proper support and guidance for organizing events.

30:00

As for the South Indian society they say they came from Kyber pass, lot of stories are making rounds but this society remain confident. History depicts us as we came from there migrated from here and there, they all say something as they wish, they would say you are not natives here and so on, at this juncture giving people morale boost. A pooja was conducted at Tanjore in 1970’s. It was a rural village people can’t spend much, all people wish to come to the village, need to cover all, therefore the pooja starts in the morning in the month of Dhanu or Markazhi. Pooja will be at a different place at noon. Without compromising main points he used to maintain flexibility for the society. Pooja must be conducted, for that they prepare sandal paste and Naivedyam must be done with firewood etc. They must think that Periyavaa has paid visit to our place. All these are neighboring villages in Tanjore district located at 5 or 6 kilometers apart. Need to cover all at the same time he can’t spend much time too. He was able to take quick decisions to make all these operations flexible. He will relax any rule at the implementation stage alone, without changing main things.

32:00

What you call liberalisation in management, this is liberalisation within the
religious constitution. Making changes from within Vedic / Scientific teachings, he was an expert in management and courageous too. To make children happy he used to teach them A for Arjuna B for Bheeshma, D for Durga, K for Kausalya and used to prepare books like that, he will not leave both Tamil and Sanskrit at the same time will synchronize with English. Ultimately Bhakthi should remain, service mentality should be continued, people should cooperate within society, need to preserve our inherited sciences, altogether a kind of freedom, but not too rigid but from within the limits of sciences.

33:00

He did it all by waking up at 2.30AM for 29 days. Dhanu Maasa Poojai at 3AM.
He was concerned if it gets late, Deeparadhana must be done before 5.30AM,
Pooja should be over by 6PM, with this eagerness he used to wake up at 2.30AM,
Kamakshi Ammal Darshanam for almost 100 days, whether physically he feels
good or not, Ambal darshan is inevitable, I hope you are all doing a lot of such
good deeds with his blessings. The Jayanthi fest was celebrated properly today. We have prepared a ‘Pathakkam’ (locket) to be sported for Ambal, that will be sported little later. Chinta Pathakkam on the occasion of Jayanthi in those days, you recite Lalita Sahasra Namam as Chinthaka Lola Muktha Phalanvitha, that Pathakkam is called Chinta Pathakkam. It says Ramadasar from Bhadrasaman sported it, Maha Periyavaa described it all in detail and we have prepared such a Pathakkam and will be sported to Ambal in few days time. We have prepared that Pathakkam for Ambal on the occasion of the Jayanthi.

34:45

Also several good deeds for Kamakshi Ammal, He used to tour Madras in 70’s and
visited several houses, each and every soverign given by the people … that is hard work, hard work and smiling face. From 4Am to 10AM or 11AM he will visit ten or fifteen houses, will conduct pooja, again in the after noon he will go to ten to fifteen houses and he will collect all what they gave in gold will be used to prepare bracelet for Kamakshi Ammal, he used to develop parivarams one by one in those years, periyavaas senior when Mahaa periyavaa was there, came from Kumbakonam and did Kumbabishekam. Kumbabishekam. Kumbakonam vichesi,
Kumbabishekamum chesi, sakala jana santhosham chesini is what the inscription
says.

36:00

With the Kumbabishekam he made people happy. Ambal appeared in his dream
and helped conduct the Kumbabishekam. Later at the period of Maha Periyavaa,
1944, he made a Lalitha Sahasra Nama Chain. For Kamaskhi Ammal, a chain
comprising gold soverigns and each inscribed with Lalitha Sahasra Namam. The
gold was given by all including MS Subhalakshmi and with that Maha Periyavaa
prepared a chain with Lalitha Sahasra Nama inscriptions. Later this Periyavaa
prepared a Golden Vimana for Ambal and a Golden Chariot.

37:00

In 1976 or 77 he did Kumbabishekam. It could be ’78 anyway in the 70’s. Maha
Periyava had darshan of Ambal and also did Angapradakshin. He came all the way
to here for Angapradakshinam, but where? All around the pond! He did it at a
larger area. All in a sudden he made all the necessary arrangements as Maha
Periyavaa was about to do Angapradakshin at a larger area. Whenever someone
start or initiate something, they will come and get some money from him, please
touch it and give us, we are going to construct a house or factory. Lot of good
deeds took place on his Star Avittam. Also Kumbabishekams, let it be a small
village or a city he used to go everywhere to lead Kumba celebrations, also
constructed a temple at Allahabad. He served the whole society, irrespective of
North or South terrains. He blessed all and gave assistance. It was highly
encouraging for people to get his guidelines, people did all the good deeds for
Dharma and Society as well as for our temples, all of you were waiting for this
time, At this time all are requested to remain with ‘Guru Bhakthi’ and do more and more good deeds.

Categories: Devotee Experiences