Experiences with Periva - How I Became Devotee of Maha Periyava?
Source: http://thiruppugazh.org 
Author: Shri V.S. Krishnan
It was sometime in 1963. The queue that formed at Sri Sankara Matam at #Kanchi to get Prasad & blessing from His Holiness, @KanchiMatham @Maha_periyava_

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal was moving steadily. At the tail end of the queue, I too was standing, very impatiently. Now, you would ask me: “why this impatience?” In fact, I had not come here on my own accord. I came out of a compulsion.I was working in a #Calcutta

company, reporting to its Managing Partner, Sri S.V. Narasimhan. While granting me leave for going to my native place at #Thrissur, Narasimhan suggested that I break my journey at #Madras, visit #Kancheepuram & seek blessings from Acharya Swamigal. @KumarSarangapa1 @GunduHuDuGa

I was not enthusiastic to the idea because being very eager to see my near & dear ones after over three years I wanted to hurry home & also spend the full leave-time with my people & in my native place. However, I respected Narasimhan’s advice & reached Sri Kamakoti Matam at

Kancheepuram. Needless to say, only my body was there while my mind & heart were hovering around ‘my people & my native place’.
I stood there like a person eager to complete a formality & get over with it. While standing in the queue, I noticed @almightykarthik @Aravindh_partha

Maha Periyava, seated on the ground & surrounded by other disciples. He was smilingly giving Prasad to the devotees coming in front of him & giving his signal of blessing. I thought that the same thing would happen to me also. “He would just give the Prasad, @karthiklv

to the devotees coming in front of him & giving his signal of blessing. I thought that the same thing would happen to me also. “He would just give the Prasad, show his hand in blessing & look for the other person”. My thought went on these lines, but alas, how wrong I was!

When I stood before the sage of Kanchi, I got the biggest surprise in my life. He proved all my assumptions wrong. Rather than waving his hand, Maha Periyava asked me to come near him & sit. He asked me in Tamil: “Where are you coming from?” I said: “I am coming frm #Calcutta.

Then, he asked me “Do you know Narasimhan, the President of Veda Bhavan?” I was stunned. I said: “I am working in his company. He only advised me to come & seek your blessings“. “Oh! very good”, Swamigal said in his characteristic smile. “Convey my blessings to him”, he added.

Then, Swamigal kindly enquired about my welfare & about my activities. I could not believe that #Jagadguru, whose is venerated throughout the world, was enquiring about my welfare. I was humbled. In fact, he spent about 10 mins with me, @SriRamya21 @krithikasivasw

the privilege many other devotees were aspiring for. As I kept talking I experienced a sense of close affinity & affection, as if I was talking to a friend. I realized that there was a magnetic power in him that attracted all devotees towards him. @VarierSangitha @AnuSatheesh5

Maha Periyava was God’s #incarnation (Avatar Purusha) & perhaps he has known in advance what was going on in my mind & like a real #Guru, given me the correct #Vision. His simplicity, his humility & above all the divine #AURA that surrounded him moved me beyond words.

It was an experience that is inexplicable; the #experience that I still cherish in my heart even after 50 years.
The few minutes I spent with him brought an enormous influence on me. I realized that concepts like “my people or my town” are born out of #illusion. @Maha_Periyava

What is real is #Govinda, the truth, whom we can reach through the grace of Guru. This is the lesson I am learning frm Swamigal’s works: “Deivathin Kural”. Guru comes in one’s life in different forms. I realized that in my case, Guru came in form of Narasimhan @SriramKannan77

& shown me the eternal Guru, the #Jagadguru.

Periva Saranam

Compiled by: Voice of Periva | https://t.me/PerivaVoice 

An initiative of Kanchi Periva Forum - http://www.periva.org  | http://www.mahaswami.org 
#Sattology #SanatanaDharma #SanatanaSanskriti