A Great Tapasvi - Experiences with Mahaperiaval

Mr. Lakshmi narayanan narrated two incidents that highlight the anma


shakthi of Shri Maha periyava.

“Whenever periyava goes on yatra, he used to stay in small villages

enroute. Like that he stayed in a place by name ‘Hakri’ before

Guntakkal.


About 10 Kms from the town, there was a Shiva temple. There was also a

huge banyan tree near the temple on a river bank. Periyava liked the

place and immediately decided to stay there.


It is a small village and was totally dry. In olden times, the river

used to be gushing with water. But at the time of periyava’s visit, it

was bone dry.

Sugarcane growing was the main activity there and there was a sugar

mill nearby. The General manager of the sugar factory was a person

hailing from Tanjore district of Tamil nadu. On hearing that Periyava

has come to their village, he rushed to his presence and paid his

respects.

Periyava asked him ‘I would like to perform Vyasa pooja here. Shall I

stay in this place for a few days?’

A visibly moved GM said respectfully ‘It is our punya and pl do stay

here. Please order us, on what all arrangements we should do and it

shall be done’

Then he organized four truck loads of bamboo poles and coconut leaf

sheets and put up a temporary shelter for a length of 300 feet, which

could accommodate 1000 persons.

Though all arrangements were done very well, Periyava did not sleep at

all that night. Though the Shiva temple and the village appealed to

him, he was perturbed that the monsoons have failed and the place was

dry for quite a few years.

Next day, Periyava did not speak with anybody and was staring at the

river for quite some time. In the evening he suddenly got up and went

upto the river bed and was standing in the river sand. After standing

there for some time, he started walking down the river bed in the sand

for about a kilo meter and returned back. Then he called us and

informed ‘I am going to do Sandhya japam. If anyone comes to see me,

ask them to come tomorrow.’ Then he started his japa. Night fall came

and hurricane lamps and one or two available petromax lights were

lighted.

Around 10 PM in the night,

A cool wind started blowing. Then one or two drops of rain water

started falling from the sky. Then it started in a slow drizzle and

intensified into a heavy shower. I requested Periyava to sit in a

nearby cycle rickshaw and was holding an umbrella for him. The rain

lasted for four hours upto 01.30 AM in the morning.

Water started flowing in the dry river bed!!!.

The next morning, people from the village came in strength, speaking

of the wonder done by periyava and paid their respects to him.

Periyava also happily completed the Vyasa pooja.

Lakshmi Narayanan reverentially said – ‘Periayava is a great Tapasvi.

Citing Vyasa pooja as the reason, he stayed there to do good to the

people of that village.’



In another incident, Periyava went to Pandaripuram in Maharashtra. A

river by name Bima flows there. It used to flow ten years ago, and was

dry since then. In the dry river bed, a number of wells were dug upto

a depth of 100 meters. People used pots tied to long ropes to take

water from these wells. It used to take 20 to 25 minutes even for

filling the pots.

On the other bank of the river, was an old unused dilapidated

Manadapam, and Periyava stayed there.

In the evening at about five ‘o’ clock, Periyava started his Japa.

After about an hour, it started raining. It rained so heavily, that

the river was in spate. Periyava had to use a country boat to cross

the river.

All the people surrounded him and sincerely paid their respects for

bringing rains.

A smiling Periyava said, I did not do anything. Your Pandarinathan

brought rains.

Lakshmi Narayanan reverentially said – ‘Even though Periayava said so

out of his meekness, I know that he is none other than Lord Shiva

personified.’