மகா பெரியவா- 5

21 Jan 2012

While admiring Maha Periavaa for what He did to the mankind, we should also know the ordeal he went thro in his early days as Sankaracharya.

Here, Brahmashree Musiri Dikshitar recounts the early days of our beloved Maha Periyava.

Thenambakkam, Biksha time: the young soft voice asks : 'vaazhaipazham illaya ?' a curt 'no'. 'has not come yet?'. an indifferent 'no' 'poovan pazham kooda illaya?' asks our Maha Periyava who is saakshath Parameswaran, who sees to that every single soul gets its food everyday.'not that too' comes the reply in an emotionless voice.

Aduthurai, Bhiksha time : 'has not the juice of lemon added to kosmalli?'. 'no' 'has it not come ?' 'no'. 'you can get it in the Aduthurai shandy'. 'a lot of crowd. no one has the time to go and buy it'.

Mutt : 'ugranathukku poi krambu vaaindu va' (for HIS toothache). the man in charge of the kitchen :'no, don't have it'. ' i am not asking for myself. it is for Accharya'. ' look, its not as if i have it and don't want to give it. as i said i don't really have it' says the dry voice.the devotee comes back and says it politely to Maha Periyava. In a quiet voice HE says 'go and ask in some of the houses around. some one will give'.

Brahmashree goes on to add 'if Mahalakshmi thaayar had known how much her son would struggle to get even a banana, a lemon.......what a heart break it would have been for her. what a sacrifice she did, for the benefit of millions of people like us and what she got in return (She would have always seen HIM as her son)

Well, this is what HE really went through when HE was in the teens when the mutt was not doing well financially. HE went through all that, did tapas, adhered to vrathas, sacrificed even the smallest of comforts and lived 100 years (and even after) to bless us all. BLESSED ARE WE. ( I am blessed too, to come back after a long gap and put up a post on HIM)

Sri Maha Periyava Thiruvadigal Saranam. Hara Hara Sankara, Jaya Jaya Sankara.