In Kanchipuram Sivasthanam, the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Advaita Sabha was held. A number ofmaha vidvAns (great pundits) had gathered. NooraNi Sri Ananta Krishna SastrigaL was also there. One of the Udupi ParyayapIThAdhipatis (pontiff) was on hisvijayam(tour) to Kanchi. NooraNi Sri Ananta Krishna SastrigaL supplicated to PeriyavaaL to bring the Udipi pontiff to the Advaita Sabha. Sri PeriyavaaL asked Sri Ananta Krishna SastrigaL himself to bring the pointiff to the Sabha.
Udupi SwamigaL visited the Sabha with happiness. Everyone asked him to give ananugraha bhASaNa(holy lecture). So he gave a longvicAram(inquiry) and spoke that the Advaita Shastra had its own shortcomings. He elaborated on many things in his talk of nearly an hour. Looking at the Pandits, he asked them to reply to the points he raised in his lecture. But then since he talked fast and long, thevidvAns asked him to repeat his lecture. To that Udupi SwamigaL said that if Sri PeriyavaaL directed him to repeat his lecture he would do so. Sri PeriyavaaL at once said with amandahAsam(gentle laugh), “You don’t have to repeat it. I shall do theanuvAdam” and did hisanuvAdamlike a tape recorder, without leaving anaMsam(part) of what Udupi SwamigaL had said. All themaha vidvAns, including the Udupi SwamigaL were wonder-struck.
Once when Sri PeriyavaaL did his vijayam to Chennai, thousands of people had gathered to have darshan of the puja performed by Sri PeriyavaaL. A woman had come with her child. Someone had stolen the gold chain that was on the child’s neck. Whatever efforts the woman took to locate it, she couldn’t succeed; she was very unhappy. After the puja was over and thetIrthawas given, people queued up to receive the holy water. The woman who lost the chain came before the sage in her turn. A woman who stood before her extended her hand to receive the holy water. Sri Periyavaa looked at that woman and said, “You first give back the chain you have kept hidden in your waist to the woman behind you. Only then thirtham for you.” The woman who stole the chain gave it back as directed and the ignominy she suffered on account of her theft was known only to a few people around her. She had the mental peace that Sri Periyavaa saved her from an ugly situation. The woman who lost the chain was also happy. They both returned to their homes in happiness.
Once when Sri Periyavaa was staying in Sivasthanam, Kanchipuram, a youth who had obtained the doctor degree for his researches in botony sought his darshan. Periyavaa asked him, “What is the reason for the namevetrilai(betel leaf), you know?” When he said that he did know it, Periyavaa explained, “vetrilaiis a creeper. Any creeper would have flowers that ripe into fruits. The ripening into fruit may not be there, but at least the flower will be there. There is no creeper that never blossoms. But then in this creepr there would be no flowers or fruits. Only the leaves will be there. Since this creeper remains a plant with mere leaves it got the namevetrilai(mere leaf).”
The youth who had taken the doctor degree realized that it should really be given to PeriyavaaL.
Sri PeriyavargaL had apAra jnAnam(limitless knowledge) in Silpa Shastras. He would teach facts that the sculptors themselves would not know. In the Agama Shastras, they have divided rocks into three kinds: male, female, neither male or female. Some statues of gods should be made only of male rocks, some of female and some ofnapuMsa(genderless) rocks. The sculptors would know the nature of the rocks by a cursory go at them with their chisel. But Sri PeriyavargaL would tell the nature of a rock just by looking at it.
In addition, there could be a toad inside the rock. Such rocks should not be used for sculpting god statues. Once asthapati(sculptor) showed a rock to Sri PeriyavaaL, who said forthwith, “This rock has a toad inside it.” The sculptor argued that he tested and decided that there was no toad inside, so he brought the rock.
Periyavaa asked him to break the rock. When it was done, a toad came out jumping from inside the rock. The sculptor was surprised. Thus the knowledge Sri PeriyavaaL had in Silpa Shastras is rare for even those who worked with it.
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Natarajan
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