As you know I have shared many upanyasams of Sri So So Me Ayya – each one is an absolute treasure. His command over Tamil , literature, his ability to reflect his bakthi towards the listeners is absolutely phenomenal – all for commoners like us. I had interacted few times with him in the past. However Auditor Sri Seetharaman, my good friend, has become a priya-sishya of ayya. He talks daily to ayya from US and had learnt many many tamil literature from Ayya. Sri Seetharaman is taking this initiative to publish this book. My namaskaram to Ayya and pray Mahaswami for blessing him good health and long life.

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In the year 1973, on the suggestion of “Vakeesa Kalanidhi” Sri.K.V.Jagannathan, Professor Radhakrishnan of National College, Tiruchirappalli brought together nine famous Tamil Poets of the time and got a magnificent work done on Mahaperiyava under the title “Nava Mani Maalai.” One of the nine garlands (nava mani maalai) in the compilation was So So Me Sundaram Ayya’s “Chandrasekarar Thiruneeru ViduThoothu. Mahaperiyava hugged this work of Ayya to his chest and blessed him.

This great work was penned by Ayya 50 years ago when he was 30 years of age. Ayya transforms himself as a lady yearning for the love of her sweetheart, Prince and Lord “Mahaperiyava.” Per Thoothu Literature (Thoothu Ilakkiyam) this great work has been compiled by Ayya strictly adhering to “yappu” and “kalivenbaa” norms. Ayya expresses his love (divine love and not worldly) for Periyava and chooses “Thiruneeru” (vibhuthi) as his messenger to go to Periyava, express his feelings, bhakti, towards HIM and in return bring back the garland (maalai) that adorns the neck of Periyava. Ayya sings in praise of Periyava, detailing HIS greatness, karunyam, kataksham and other divine features, fantastically describing why he chose “Thiruneeru” (vibuthi) as his messenger instead of a Swan, Peacock, Parrot and a whole lot, instructs his messenger (Thiruneeru) what route to take to go to Kanchipuram, on reaching there what all to say to his LORD (Periyava) and in return bring back the garland that adorns the neck of Periyava. The entire work is pure nectar and takes the reader to ecstasy and bliss, with overflowing bhakthi and devotion.

The original manuscript was released in the year 1973 in Sankara Matam, Rameswaram. The original manuscript consisted only of poems. Now, in this book, Ayya has also written the translation / meaning (Urai) which makes it an amazing reading.

Ayya made a brief mention about this work in one of his lectures at Sri Seetharaman’s home in Virginia in June 2022.Sri Seetharaman immediately took a sankalpam to publish this and by the grace of Periyava this book is going to be released on June 17 2023 between 4 and 7 PM at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai. All are welcome!

Periyava Sharanam!

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