Prayed for rains, bathed in torrents of Grace !
The year was 2001. The city of Chennai was under drought as the monsoon had failed. Sri Sri Swamiji instructed me to do daily ‘pArAyaNa’ [read] of a ‘patikam’ [divine verses in praise of the Lord] of Sundaramurti NayanAr [one of the four important devotees of Lord Siva from amongst His 63 prominent devotees (NayanmArs)] and as much as I could manage. That ‘patikam’ runs as follows:
‘Vaiyagam muzhudum mA-mazhai marandu
vayalil neerilai mA-nilam tarugOm
uyya-k koLga matrengaLai yenna
OlikoL veNmugilAi parandengum
peyyumA mazhai peruveLLam tavirtthu
peyartthu panniru-vEli kondaruLum (kondu-aruLum)
seiygai kaNdu nin Thriruvadi adaindEn
chezhum pozhil Thiruppunkoor uLLAnE’
Sri Sri Swamiji, saying, ‘in this connection I will narrate to you an incident that took place in the life of Sri Sundaramurti NayanAr,’ narrated the following, “Once, during the lifetime of Sri Sundaramurti NAyanAr there was severe drought in the kingdom and the people sought his help for bringing down the rains. In response to this, the kind NAyanAr prayed to Siva, his Lord. At once there was good rains in the kingdom; it brought great relief and joy to the dried up earth, man and all creatures.”
Sri Sri Swamiji, once again, instructed me to chant this verse [‘patikam’] daily and as often as possible. From that moment onwards, in obedience to the words of my Gurudev, I began to chant it sincerely.
After some months Sri Sri Swamiji happened to pay a visit to TirunAngoor, near SirgAzhi, in connection with renovation of Divya Desams [Temples where one or more Aazhwaars have sung the praises of the Deity]. In those days, Sri Sri Swamiji was paying frequent visits to TirunAngoor in connection with the renovation work. In all these days I had never accompanied Sri Sri Swamiji to TirunAngoor. Surprisingly, this time Sri Sri Swamiji took me along with Him to TirunAgoor.
After a two-days stay at TirunAngoor, on the day of departure, Sri Sri Swamiji desired to visit Lord SivalokanAta Temple nearby. So, all of us who had gone to TirunAngoor with Sri Sri Swamiji accompanied Him to Lord SivalokanAtha Temple. It is the habit of Sri Sri Swamiji to remember and recall incidents connected with the Holy Place that He visits. It was the same now also. As we drove towards Lord SivalokanAtha Temple,
Sri Sri Swamiji began to reminisce – “NandanAr, the great devotee of Lord Siva, who had earned the name of ‘TiruNALLai pOvAr’, had once brought the people of his community to this Temple for the darshan of Lord Siva here. The huge NandikEswara [the Divine Bull] idol that sits outside, in direct line to the main Sanctum Sanctorum, blocked the view of the Lord. The deeply saddened NandanAr prayed with all his heart to the Lord for His darshan. At once Lord Siva, the ocean of mercy, instructed NandikEswara [His Divine vehicle] to move aside and blessed NandanAr and his people, who stood at the Temple Tower end, with darshan. Even today NandikEswara sits in this position [slightly aside and not in direct line to the Lord Deity in the Sanctum Sanctorum].”
As all of us followed Sri Sri Swamiji into the Temple my eyes fell on a stone inscription [‘culvet’] placed on the left side as soon as one crosses the entrance at the Temple Tower. I was thoroughly stunned by the words inscribed there upon. The name of this Holy Place was inscribed as ‘Tirupungoor’! Further, I also found the very same verse [‘patikam’] that I had been chanting everyday, at the behest of Sri Sri Swamiji, inscribed upon another stone! I was so amazed by this that I could not utter anything further than, “Guruji!” At this sudden outburst of mine Sri Sri Swamiji turned towards me with a quizzical look on His face. I could only point to the stone with my forefinger, for, I felt too choked to speak.
Sri Sri Swamiji read the stone inscriptions and said, “I have come to this Temple about 15 years back. The thought of paying another visit had never risen in me. I had asked you to chant this verse only for the sake of rains. But you have chanted it as one would perform incessant japa of a Mantra. Some Divine power has prompted me to bring you to this place. It is said that when incessant japa of a Mantra is performed, darshan of the Deity of the Mantra is had. Since you had been doing incessant japa of the verse that Sundaramurti NayanAr has sung on Lord SivalokanAtha you have earned the fruit of this Lord’s darshan.”
I experienced great joy on hearing these words of my Gurudev.
