It's the fact that many people travel distances and go to extreme limits to reach their goal. Many people have many different goals and dreams. Well, in my country, people travel a lot to visit the temples. Some go there to ask forgiveness, some for fulfilling their wishes, some for vacation and some for fun and exploration. It's always the people who try to reach the god, but sometimes there might be a time when the opposite and unexpected happens. Yes, sometimes the god visits his devotees unexpectedly. Those guys are either very holy and spiritual persons or some great siddhars and maharishis who hardly mingle in this society of ours. But the spiritual persons which i'm talking about are people like Swami Vivekananda, Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharishi, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Kanchi Periyavar. These people were great people with mind far exceeding than any other ordinary human being. But they didn't perform any magic and miracle like those fraud saints and swamis that fool around now a days. They preached people to lead a better life in this present spoiled and corrupted world. They were the enlightened ones who tried to make this world a better place.
Now i'm going to tell an incident that happened with the Kanchi Periyavar. He was the 68th Jagadguru in the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Many of you know about him a lot more than me and for those who don't know, please google it and you will be shocked to know the life and history of this great man. So, this happened a year before he attained mukti.
He was at the age of 98 or near so, and he was very weak at that time as the old age took it's toll on him. One evening, he was meditating as usual and then suddenly he called for his disciples. He expressed his wish to go to Chidambaram to visit Thillai Nataraja Temple. He wanted to touch and get the blessings from the Lord Nataraja's Kunjithapaatham. Kunjithapaadam is an item made of various roots from the various rare medicinal herbs. It is used in the everyday pooja for the Lord Nataraja and is worn on his feet. There is a saying that looking at it alone can give oneself moksha. And if touched, it can cure and relieve oneself from many types of diseases. Sri Kanchi Periyavar wanted to touch and pray it as his last wish before his mukti.
Now, he expressed his wish but the disciples were all confused and worried as it was nearly impossible for them to bring Periyavar to Chidambaram. He was very old and weak and he could hardly travel. And in those days, in 1991,92, there were not a lot of facilities to travel peacefully as it is today. They were planning to arrange a car but the roads were not good and travelling from Kanchipuram to Chidambaram was a lot of distance. This could make things worse for the Periyavar. All the disciples were discussing on how to fulfill his wish without giving much pain and trouble to his body. Periyavar went and slept in his room without asking more from his disciples as he too knew the difficulties and problems that could arise in his wish. The whole night passed by.
Next day, early morning, dikshitars from the Chidambaram Nataraja temple came to visit Periyavar to offer him prasadam and Kunjithapaadam. All the disciples were totally shocked and had no idea what was actually going on. Periyavar saw the dikshitars and welcomed them inside with great respect. [For people who don't know who dikshitars are. They are a special class of vaidika brahmins who perform daily rituals in the Chidambaram temple.] They presented him with the Kunjithapaadam that he wished for. No one told anything about kunjithapaadam to those dikshitars but they bought it for Periyavar's sake as per his wish. When asked about why did they bring it, they gave no proper reason and said it was just their wish to bring it to him. Periyavar gladly accepted the gift and kept on his head as a blessing from Lord Shiva himself.
Periyavar just thought and wished about it and Lord Nataraja fulfilled his wish by going to the devotee instead of the devotee going to him. When i read this article i too was shocked at the immense grace Periyavar had. Now that is the true bond, love and devotion between a person and his god. Look at the picture, the kunjithapaadam is on his head.
| Sri Kanchi Periyavar with the Kunjithapaadam on his head. |
He was at the age of 98 or near so, and he was very weak at that time as the old age took it's toll on him. One evening, he was meditating as usual and then suddenly he called for his disciples. He expressed his wish to go to Chidambaram to visit Thillai Nataraja Temple. He wanted to touch and get the blessings from the Lord Nataraja's Kunjithapaatham. Kunjithapaadam is an item made of various roots from the various rare medicinal herbs. It is used in the everyday pooja for the Lord Nataraja and is worn on his feet. There is a saying that looking at it alone can give oneself moksha. And if touched, it can cure and relieve oneself from many types of diseases. Sri Kanchi Periyavar wanted to touch and pray it as his last wish before his mukti.
Now, he expressed his wish but the disciples were all confused and worried as it was nearly impossible for them to bring Periyavar to Chidambaram. He was very old and weak and he could hardly travel. And in those days, in 1991,92, there were not a lot of facilities to travel peacefully as it is today. They were planning to arrange a car but the roads were not good and travelling from Kanchipuram to Chidambaram was a lot of distance. This could make things worse for the Periyavar. All the disciples were discussing on how to fulfill his wish without giving much pain and trouble to his body. Periyavar went and slept in his room without asking more from his disciples as he too knew the difficulties and problems that could arise in his wish. The whole night passed by.
Next day, early morning, dikshitars from the Chidambaram Nataraja temple came to visit Periyavar to offer him prasadam and Kunjithapaadam. All the disciples were totally shocked and had no idea what was actually going on. Periyavar saw the dikshitars and welcomed them inside with great respect. [For people who don't know who dikshitars are. They are a special class of vaidika brahmins who perform daily rituals in the Chidambaram temple.] They presented him with the Kunjithapaadam that he wished for. No one told anything about kunjithapaadam to those dikshitars but they bought it for Periyavar's sake as per his wish. When asked about why did they bring it, they gave no proper reason and said it was just their wish to bring it to him. Periyavar gladly accepted the gift and kept on his head as a blessing from Lord Shiva himself.
Periyavar just thought and wished about it and Lord Nataraja fulfilled his wish by going to the devotee instead of the devotee going to him. When i read this article i too was shocked at the immense grace Periyavar had. Now that is the true bond, love and devotion between a person and his god. Look at the picture, the kunjithapaadam is on his head.
