Experiences with Maha Periyava: The Sethji and His Terminal Illness

Experiences with Maha Periyava: The Sethji and His Terminal Illness

This incident happened about 35 years ago. Paramacharya was staying in Chennai for a few months, blessing people and giving discourses. From Chennai, he continued his yatra out of the city and stayed for a few days in a brick tiles manufacturing factory at Noombal on the Poonamallee high road past the city border.

I went to have a darshan of Paramacharya one evening, accompanied by a Sethji from Calcutta who was a wealthy philanthropist. In the usual way I prostrated to the Sage, my eight limbs touching the ground. Sethji also prostrated in a similar manner. I joined my palms and stood meekly.

Looking at us once and raising His head, Paramacharya asked, "You told me earlier once…was it about this man?" He was matchless in His powers of estimation and retention. I agreed to His words and said with humility, "This man was pestering me for a long time to take him for darshan, which is the reason I brought him here."

I need to tell you a few things about this man. This Sethji is very pious. He used to come daily to my upanyasas on Mahabharata and Ramayana, which I held in Calcutta. Since I was giving explanations in Hindi also, a number of North Indians used to come to my discourses.

Before I started my discourse, I would always talk about the greatness of Sri Kanchi Paramacharya for some time, after the initial prayers. My speech would be about Acharya's immense knowledge, power, tapo shakti, and His greatness with examples that highlighted them. Only then, the actual discourse would commence. This is a principle I have been following for a long time.

Though God has given the Sethji all sorts of fortunes, He had also left him with a large deficiency. It was the misfortune of not being able to take food through the mouth as his gullet was not functioning. His regular food was supplied to his digestive system artificially through a hole in the stomach. With this intense suffering he was living his days.

There was no treatment that he did not take to get this ailment rectified. He had met all the world experts in the field of medicine. There was no count to his temple darshans, prayers and the efforts using mantra and tantra. Still there was no cure in sight. Since he had heard about the greatness of Paramacharya from my daily discourses, he desired to have a darshan of the Sage and check if at last that would cure his malady.

During a recess in the discourse, he held on to it firmly that he and I should go to Chennai and have a darshan of Paramacharya.

I was apprehensive about taking him without the prior consent of Paramacharya. I told him that I would go to Chennai and get Acharya's consent and then take him. He immediately got me a plane ticket to Chennai.

On reaching Chennai, I informed Paramacharya about this Sethji at an opportune time and asked for His consent to bring the man for darshan. Though he discussed with me about the satkarya (good deeds) in Calcutta, He did not say anything about my request. When I reminded Him again after sometime, He curtly said, "Not now". Since Sethji might be shocked at Paramacharya's reply and lose hope in the ultimate cure, I simply told him that I would take him when I left Calcutta after my discourses.

In a way it was a mistake to have brought him, though I did it as a service. All the good and bad that happen in our life are due to our punya and paapa spread over many births. Man is bound to face them. The sins can be reduced only by suffering their effects. If there is continuous suffering, it only shows the quantum of accumulated sins. If the sufferings are faced with faith in God, their effects will be felt less, and good things would reach us when the sins are exhausted. With His foresight, Paramacharya is clear giving such explanations for the good and bad that we face in our life.

One of the reasons that He would not encourage meeting such sinful people who suffer now is that they would simply look for pariharas without realising that they have to suffer for their sins.

I stayed a little distance away from Him and kept on reminding him about giving darshan to Sethji. He did not give a positive reply. It was getting late at night. I approached Him with an intention of taking leave and coming the next morning.

He sensed my thought and said, "Nothing can be done in his matter! Take him away. Ask him to be devoted to God, do good deeds and God will save him!"

I became a little bold and said, "He is doing such good things for years together now. Is there no parihara at all? Everything should have a parihara! Don't our Dharma Shastras provide vimochanas for curses and sins? In God's creation, should there not be a parihara for everything? You should kindly give him your anugraha." I argued strongly in favour of the Sethji.

Paramacharya listened to me carefully, kept silent for some time and then asked me to come near Him with the words, "If that is so, come nearer."

"Will he do what I ordain for him?"

"He will do it; I shall ask him to do it."

"If he doesn't do it?"

"If he does it, let him get prosperity; or else let him suffer."

"It would require a large amount of money for what I ordain for him. Can he make it?"

"He is a millionaire. He would even spend all his wealth to get well."

"He should publish in Sanskrit the eighteen Puranas in our Veda Shastras in separate volumes on good paper in good print and distribute the volume sets free to eligible Vedic Pundits. Will he do this? Can he do this?"

"He can. I shall ask him to do it."

"You know the eighteen Puranas? Give me their names."

I told him the names in this order:
1. Sri Matsya Purana
2. Markandeya Purana
3. Bhavishya Purana
4. Bhagavata Purana
5. Brahmanda Purana
6. Brahma Vaivarta Purana
7. Brahma Purana,
8. Vamana Purana
9. Varaha Purana
10. Vishnu Purana
11. Vayu Purana
12. Agni Purana
13. Naradiya Purana
14. Padma Purana
15. Linga Purana
16. Garuda Purana
17. Kurma Purana
18. Skanda Purana

I was happy that my act had a happy ending.

I called Sethji and told him the matter. He was immensely happy and said, "Yes, I would do this", as he prostrated to the lotus feet of Paramacharya, shedding tears. Paramacharya blessed him profusely and asked his assistants to give him prasada.

As soon he reached his place of domicile, Sethji started this task as the first thing. He allotted an entire floor of his large building as office for this venture. He called Vedic Pundits and scriptural experts from many states, consulted them, and printed the Puranas in good print on high quality paper in large-sized books, spending a fortune on the task, and distributed them free to eligible Vedic Pundits as ordained by Paramacharya. The word 'prem' (love) was mentioned in the part of the book that mentioned its price.

Without checking if his disease was lessening and without even worrying about if it would reduce, or feeling skeptical about it, he was totally and fiercely engaged in the publication of the Puranas as ordained by Paramacharya. Seventeen Puranas came out as books, but there was no ease in his condition! Even during the days of this Dharmic activity, he took food only through a hole in his stomach.

As the work on the eighteenth Purana, the 'Skanda Purana' started, Sethji had suddenly started eating with his mouth as everyone did! His tongue got back its tasting capabilities! He got the bhagyam of his birth that was not in sight all these days. The cruel disease that gave him untold suffering every day and minute was at last cured and gone with Paramacharya's anugraha.

When I got the news, I met Paramacharya and told him, "Acharya's Shakti is the Shakti! Sethji has come alive due to the boon, the anugraha you gave him! Only Paramacharya's anugraha saved him, after he resorted to all kinds of measures. Only you are the God!" I stood before him, drowned in gratitude, shedding tears.

The words that Maha Shakti spoke at that time gave me a darshan of him as the God seen with my own eyes (Kankanda Deivam).

"It is the Shakti of Dharma Shastras of our country that has saved him, is it not?" he said. Neither I nor has anyone ever heard Him declare at any stage that it was His or was done by Him. After knowing about this miraculous incident, the experts from the Western countries started crowding to seek His darshan.

This incident was narrated by Mukkur Srinivasa Varadacharyar Swamigal, the man responsible for Ashtalakshmi Temple in Chennai.

Source: Paramacharyar
Author: 'Paranthaman' (V.Narayanan)
Compiled by Jagadguru Sri Maha Periyava - Kanchi Paramacharya/Fb