Nama Dwaar Nibbles

Inside the Temple of Madurai Meenakshi is the sanctum of Lord Ganesha bearing the name Mukkuruni Pillaiyar. Mukkuruni Ganesha is also found in Nagapattinam and Chidambaram.
Three ‘kurunni’ (a measure) of grains are used to make ‘modaka’ (a dish made of rice flour) for offering to this Ganesha. Hence, he is known as ‘Mukkuruni Pillaiyar’.

In Madurai, this Ganesha is found on the path that lay between Meenakshi Sannidhi and Chokkanãthar Sannidhi. In Chidambaram, he is found at the head of ‘Therkku veedhi’ (South Street). In Nagapattinam, Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji had a single, huge ‘modaka’ made out of the entire flour and offered it to Lord Ganesha. A sack full of rice was ground into flour and one huge ‘kozhukattai’ was prepared out of it!
Legends have it that everyone teased Ganesha for sitting idle with his pot belly. So, Ganesha decided to find some employment! Ganesha, taking the form of a young boy, approached a devotee of his who was working on the fields and offered to assist him. This man asked, “How much wage do you expect?”
Ganesha in the form of a young boy said, “Three (’moonru’) ‘kurunnai’ grains.”
Thus, he earned the name ‘Mukkuruni Pillaiyar’!

At the end of the work he earned the grains and returned home happily. He went to his mother Parvati and offered the wage earned. Parvati said to her son, “Oh, my child! anything that the son might earn through arduous labour does not make the mother happy. It is only the father who feels pleased when the son earns. So, give the earnings to your Father!”

So, Ganesha went to his father Lord Siva and gave it to him. Lord Siva who behaves like a mad one (‘pithhan’) knows not what He does. He took the grains from Ganesha and emptied the whole sack on his own head!

Mahans can feel the presence of the particular deity in the place even as they feel the ‘deiva sannidhya’. Why should there be ’sannidhya’ in a particular place? A Maharishi must have performed tapas there. Bhagavan must have given him His darshan. Thus, sannidhya is created in two ways - Maharishi’s tapas and the appearance of Bhagavan in that place. When the Mahan who feels the ’sannidhya’ does tapas there, he has visions of all that had taken place there.

Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji (Maha Periyava) during His wanderings in the place that is now called Pazhavanthangal (Nanganallur) lay down in the pyol of a small tile-roofed house. In those days this was a forsaken place outside the city limits. Maha Periyava predicted that innumerable temples would come up there in future as many Maharishis had, in the past, performed yagas there. Now, you do find innumerable temples here. Name the deity and there is a temple for that deity here - Guruvayurappan temple, Rajarajeswari temple, Nrisimha temple, Hayagreeva temple, Karumari Amman temple, a big Anajaneya temple where the deity is about 32′ high, Sri Ragavendra Swami Brindavan, Siva temple, Iyappan temple, Sathyanarayana temple, Venugopalaswamy temple, etc. are all found here.

There is a temple for Sita, too. This is the reason that this place is called Nangai nallur. Nangai refers to Piratti/Sita. Thus, there are Temples for various deities.

Two ‘Kshetras’ (holy places)  in this world (‘Bhoo loka’) are spoken of by the Vedas. One is Seshagiri (the Hill Sesha) with the Srinivasa Perumal in Tirupathi and the other one is Jagannatha Kshetra in Puri.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say, “The waters of the Ganga, the dust (‘rajas’) of Vrindavan and the Prasada of Puri - all these three are ‘Brahmaswaroopa’ - verily the Brahman.

What is it that one should never eat and that is to be totally avoided? It is that which a cat leaves after eating a little. The Shastras say that the worst sin is earned by consuming what a cat has left after eating a little.

The same Shastras say that the Puri Prasada can be taken even from the cat’s mouth and eaten! So pure and special is the prasada of Puri Jagannatha kshetra.

Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji would never drink even a drop of water before completing Sri Chandramouleeswara Puja. Until then not a drop of water would go into Him. But when someone brought Prasad from Puri Jagannatha Kshetra, Maha Periyava who might not have even brushed His teeth snatched it from his hands and took it! One should take this Prasad in this manner without any second thought.

Such is the greatness of Puri Prasad.

Once, during the mid-eighties, Kanchipuram Mahaswamiji Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji (Maha Periyava) desired to see Bhagavan Yogiramsuratkumar and invited him through a personal attendant. He asked the personal attendant to bring Yogiji.

Yogiji, accepting the invitation of Kanchi Maha Periyava, went to Kanchipuram. Maha Periyava sat down and so did Yogi. Maha Periyava and Yogi looked at each other. They did not speak a word to each other verbally. After looking at each other for sometime, Kanchi Periyava, laughing lightly, said to his personal attendant who had brought Yogi to Kanchi, “The matter for which he came is over. You may take him back to Tiruvannamalai.”

Did they meet just to see each other or did they exchange some news? Nothing could be comprehended. Yogi went back to Tiruvannamalai.

Later, when Yogiji was asked what really happened, as there was no conversation and yet Maha Periyava remarked that the work was over, Yogi Ramsuratkumar explained thus:

“We both spoke to each other – through the mind.
Kanchi Periyava said, ‘Bodendra chanted Rama Nama throughout his life. He was a ‘Peettadipathi’ of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Later, installing his successor for the Peetam he went around giving ‘upadesa’ of Rama Nama for all, irrespective of caste and creed; he offered the ‘upadesa’ that the Name of the Lord was the only ‘gati’ (succour) for all in this Kali Yuga. Living in this manner his body was transformed into a ’siddha sarira’. He attained ‘jiva samadhi’ in Govindapuram  on the banks of the Cauvery. Living in ‘jiva samadhi’ for the past 300 years, to date, he is incessantly chanting Rama Nama. You may go and remain in that Govindapuram where Bodendra is.’

This beggar replied, ‘No! No! For this beggar Tiruvannamalai is enough.’
Acharya also said, ‘OK’.
This is what we spoke!”

All the Mahans who incarnated in our Bharata Desa have always treated love for the Nation and Love of God as one and the same. Our Mahans have at one time laboured for the freedom of our Country. It is only the Grace of Mahans that is always protecting our country.

In 1962 Indo-China war took place. At that time Andavan Pitchai,  who lived in Chennai and was a great devotee of Lord Muruga, composed a ‘stotra’ - ‘Shanmukha Raksha Bandhanam’ - on Lord Muruga for the Nation’s victory in the war.

Similarly, in 1965 when Indo-Pakistan war began, Singapparaja, who led the Indian army approached Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji for His Blessings. Sri Maha Swamiji instructed him to meet with Andavan Pitchai. So, Singapparaja had darshan of Advan Pitchai and prayed to Her for the victory of the Indian army in the war. At this time Andavan Pitchai had a wonderful vision. In it She saw Ambal moving in a golden chariot drawn by devas and protecting our border! She immediately wrote a ‘stotra’ ‘Kali Kavacham’. ‘Kali Kavacham’ was printed in tens of thousands and distributed to all.
One day in 1999 when Kargil war was going on it rained very heavily in Tiruvannamalai. Sri Yogiramsuratkumar asked a devotee, “Is this North-east monsoon or South-west monsoon?” The devotee said, “In today’s morning paper it is mentioned that this is North-east monsoon. You usually read the newspaper completely. In today’s issue there are articles of Kanchi Sri Maha Swamiji whom you like very much and also about Sri Rajaji (the great Indian political leader of the past). Have you not read them?” Sri Yogiramsuratkumar replied, “Where was the time for this beggar to read the newspaper? This beggar was busy in Kargil!”

‘GurOstu Mounam Vyakhyanam’
(The Guru preaches through silence)

Once, Maha Periyava was given a grand welcome in a city. Lakhs of people had gathered. All of them requested Him to address them.

When Maha Periyava ascended the dais, He said, ‘So many of you have gathered here. Everyone requests me to speak a few words. All of you would feel disappointed if I refuse to speak. So, I intend to speak a few words. Nevertheless, I feel that I should advise you all to meditate [dhyana] the Lotus Feet of Goddess Kamakshi. This is my duty. But if I advise you all to do dhyana and I do not do it,  it would not be of any use. Further, the time that I spend in advising you all may well be spent in doing dhyana myself.  And, when I attain the fruit of dhyana then again the need to discourse does not arise. Why? All of you would stand transformed by my very presence!

Once, a group of musicians and scholars set out to engrave all the Kritis of Sri Thiyagaraja Swamigal in his Samadhi.  Towards this goal, they were collecting and analyzing the Saint’s works.  In one of the kirtans, they came across a term, ‘yAntha pAntha’ and they found it hard to decipher the meaning of this term.  After researching for quite a while, they finally were about to give up, when they decided to take this matter to Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati. 
The details were narrated to the Mahaswami and His help was sought.  The seer, without thinking for a bit, quipped, “ ‘yAntha’ refers to the alphabet succeeding ‘ya’ which is ‘Ra’  and ‘pAntha’ refers to the alphabet succeeding ‘pa’ which is ‘Ma’ and so Thiyagaraja Swamigal means none other than Rama.”. 
The group was transfixed at the effortless casual explanation of the Sage.
 

Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji’s advice to Paul Brunton was, “ Be humble! You will find what you seek!”

Once a devotee approached Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra saraswathi swami and told ” Swami! I feel very
insecure in life. I have no “Paadhukaapu” (security)” The great Sage of Kanchi gave him His holy padukas and asked
him to offer ‘Poo”(flowers) everyday to them saying ” This is your “Paadhukaapu” (Paduka + poo)!”

Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swami was camping in Guntur in Andhra. It was a rather sunny day and the heat was unbearable. Mahaswami uttered the following golden words “ Just because it is sunny, is it practically possible to cover the entire village with pandal( temporary shelter made from dried palm/coconut leaves) or carpet the entire ground? What is practical is to have our own personal umbrella and footwear that will protect us from the scorching sun. Do not run after money, power and fame. That will be like chasing one’s own shadow and will only elude us always. If we do so, the only result will be our deviation from our goal, in the end of the day. So fix a goal for yourself. Walk towards it in the path of Dharma. The rest will follow!