The very first time I heard of Periyaval was in 1943, when I was in the sixth standard. One of my friends stopped our game in the evening because he was going with his uncle to have darshan of “Swamigal” who was camping at Thiruvanaikoil. A few days later my father the late Dr. V.Subramaniam known all over Tiruchirapalli and especially in the Mattam as he was a general practitioner and dental surgeon took my mother, sister and me to have darshanam too. It was late evening and he performed a pada poja in the presence of His Holiness in a small hut in the garden of the Thiruvanaikoil Mattam. I still remember the serene appearance and blissful smile of Maha Periyaval as he sat through the pada pooja for nearly half an hour. Sixty years have passed and when I close my eyes I can recall the scene to my mind.

One of my most vivid memories which changed the entire course of my life was the granting of permission by Maha Periyaval for me to go abroad. It was around April or May 1960. The first batches of students for the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarships were to be selected. The scholarship scheme was a unique decision from the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference at Colombo a few weeks earlier.

I appeared for the interview at Delhi and a few days later I received intimation of being selected for neurosurgical training at Edinburgh for two years. I informed my father who was at Trichy. In those days I knew that Maha Periyaval did not favour the idea of young boys from orthodox families going abroad for a long period of time. My father told me that I could go abroad only if Maha Periyaval gave me permission. So all of us went to Sri Mattam to seek Maha Periyaval’s blessings. The conversation went like this approximately.

My father: Raman has got a foreign scholarship to go to Scotland for training in brain surgery. He desires to go for the same.

His Holiness: What is the use of that?

My father: Now he has only got a MS degree General Surgery. If he goes abroad and qualifies in neuro surgery he can earn a lot of money.

His Holiness: What is the use of his going?

My father: He can go to England and get FRCS degree and also do research and get a PhD degree.

His Holiness: It is not that. What is the use to the public because of his going?

Then only my father understood His Holiness’s question and ideas.

He replied: Now there is only Dr. Ramamurthi who is doing brain operations. Many patients are not able to get treatment because there is only one person. Very many patients cannot afford to go abroad to get treatment. If Raman goes abroad and trains in neurosurgery and returns, he can operate on many patients. What is even more important is that he can train many doctors in India who can then in turn do brain operations for Indian patients So it will be of great benefit to the public.

His Holiness: If so, let him go.

This is a typical example of how His Holiness judged a certain situation. What mattered was not whether a Brahmin boy would be going abroad leaving his nityakarmanushtanam or a devotee would be able to get high qualifications or a devotee would be able to earn more money.

The real point at the heart of the issue was whether the common man in India would be benefited or not. That was the yardstick by which a decision was taken.

Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara!
source:::: Dr. prof. Kalyanaraman .Neurosurgeon , chennai”s  experience with Perivaa..  as reflected in kanchi perivaa forum.

Natarajan
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