Kanchi Paramacharya Community - Story of Syamantaka Mani Told by Sri Kanchi Mahaswami - E-Book #2

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Story of ‘Syamantaka Mani’ told by Sri Kanchi Mahaswami

Volume : 2 Published: June 2013

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Table of Contents Foreword ............................................................................................ 3 Story of Syamantaka Mani.................................................................. 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 30

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Shri Kanchi Mahaswami Thiruvadigal Saranam Foreword Hari Om! We are pleased to bring you our Second E-book from the Kanchi Paramacharya Community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya). This group is dedicated to spread the life and teachings of His Holiness Sri Kanchi Paramacharya, more affectionately known to His devotees as Sri Maha Periyava. The Community is also on Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/1/116160513796892415779/posts). Just look for Kanchi Mahaswami on Google+ and add us to your Circles, to receive the Gems of Paramacharya in your mail box every morning. The response to our First publication released on Sri Maha Periyava’s 120th Jayanthi last month has been overwhelming, and it is again HIS blessings only that we are able to release our Second edition also on this auspicious day of Anusham. All of us are aware that the Mahaswami’s discourses captured in the seven volumes of Deivathin Kural/ Voice of God is also known as the common man’s Veda. Our Maha Periyava has given us a wealth of information through these books, and every single page is a pokisham (treasure) for us to cherish and relish. The Paramacharya has narrated several stories from ancient times in Deivathin Kural/ Voice of God, and in this E-Book, we bring you the Story of Syamantaka Mani, narrated in His own sweet, simple and lucid style. In this elaborate story, Sri Maha Periyava shows us a remedy for getting rid of misunderstandings/ negative publicity and the curse of seeing the fourth crescent of the moon. We also learn about a sloka to be chanted then. There is another important aspect which you will find appealing as you read through this story. Sri Mahaswami shows us the ways of the world, and several morals to be learnt in life. Those sections are highlighted in the pages that follow, for your immediate reference.

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We are sure this E-book will be a feast to your eyes and we request you to forward this to all your friends, relatives and other devotees of the Mahaswami. Although this e-book is for restricted circulation among like-minded members of the society, it is a free publication which can be downloaded from our Facebook Page. We humbly submit our Second E-book at the Lotus Feet of Sri Maha Periyava, seeking His blessings and guidance to continue to spread His Light far and wide. Any feedback may be sent to us at [email protected] Administrator Kanchi Paramacharya Community www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara!

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Story of Syamantaka Mani Source: Deivathin Kural / Voice of God: Volume 4

You may have heard of the story of Symantaka MaNi Upaakhyaanam in Bhagawatam. ‘Aakhyaanam’ means a story. ‘Upaakhyaanam’ means a side story or an addenda. When the major epic is narrated by the PuraNa or Itihaasa, upaakhyaanam is a story that is branched out of the main. In some of these upaakhyaanam, like the Nalopaakhyaanam, there may not be any of the characters of the main story. The purpose may be to highlight a concept or a principle. Some of them may be forming an inalienable part of the main story that would still stand apart! Syamantaka MaNi Upaakhyaanam is thus a part and parcel of Bhagawata. The main story revolves around the divine precious stone known as Symantaka MaNi, it's ownership, the scam about the stone involving Sri KrishNa and the tribulations he underwent in retrieving his name and reputation, is what the story is all about. This story, which is an off-shoot in Bhagawatham, is also narrated in Vishnu PuraaNaa and Skaandam with some variations. The worship of PiLLaiyar by KrishNa is as told to Sanat Kumara by Nandikeswara in Skaandam, is what I am going to talk about. While doing so, I will touch upon the various versions also and make 'an avail’! Once when after marrying RukmiNi, Bhagwan Sri KrishNa was living in Dwaraka, there were two brothers of the Yadava community, by name Satrajit and Prasena. The elder Satrajit had a lot of devotion to the Sun that is Surya Bhagawan. Though nowadays, some people do Surya Namaskara and chant the Aditya Hrudayam sloka and stop with that. The daily ritual of doing 'Trikala' Sandya Vandanam and the Gayatri Mantra Japam is all directed towards the Sun only. However, there was a past when 'Sun Worship' per say, was a separate religion known as 'Souram'! In our religion there are six divisions with six different deities called, the Shanmadham. PiLLaiyar, SubrahmaNya, AmbaaL, Easwara and Mahavishnu, make up the five who are now rather popularly worshipped. In addition, the sixth sub-division of our religion was the Souram, in which Surya or the Sun was worshipped as the primordial God Incarnate! The 'Konark' temple is for Surya Bhagawan. 'Arka' is one of the names of the Sun God. So, 'koNa + arka = koNark' is, the Sun's portion! That word 'Arka' has triggered another line of thought, in connection with PiLLaiyar. This is the advantage of explaining things to others word by word! Whether it is of any usefulness or of interest to the audience or not, the speaker benefits in terms of, ever new connections between events, concepts and anecdotes that occur to him suddenly! Having already shared with you all, as to how PiLLaiyar is connected with AmbaaL, Easwara, Maha Vishnu and SubrahmaNya, the other four deities of the Shanmadham, my mind was wondering as to how to connect PiLLaiyar with Surya the Sun! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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Inadvertently, as the talk went on about Konark and Arka as one of the names of Sun, this word 'Arka' suddenly gave me the connection between PiLLaiyar and Surya the Sun! I thank God for this revelation! Arka the name of Sun is also closely related to worship of PiLLaiyar. To do 'archanai' (offering a flower or leaf each at the lotus feet of the Lord, while chanting Gods name), with the 'ashtotra' (108 Names) or 'sahasra naama' (1008 Names) for PiLLaiyar, the most suitable flower is 'erukkam poo', an evolute out of 'Arka'! That we know is a name for Sun God. Then, in Suryanar Koil (Sun Temple) near KumbakoNam, the 'Sthala Vruksham' is Erukkan! Other than those flowers that bloom at night, out of the other flowers that open out when the sun's rays fall on them, it is the Erukkan that has the presence of Sun so apparently that, for every flower that you offer, you can imagine yourself making a personal submission to God! Now I hope you are clear in your minds as to how, amongst the Shanmadham, the other five that is, AmbaaL, Easwara, Mahavishnu, SubrahmaNya and Surya, agree and consent to the premier place of merit to PiLLaiyar! Let it be so! We were talking about Syamantaka MaNi. Satrajit was highly devoted to Surya the Sun. On the sea shore, he did a tapasya of intense austerities and self abnegation. Surya the Sun God was pleased to give him 'darshan' and asked him to express his wish. He was wearing an effulgent and brilliant gem called the 'Syamantakam' on his chest. Satrajit knew about that stone, that it is capable of enriching him immensely, not only by its own value but by ennobling in terms of prestige and status! So he promptly asked the Sun to grant him the Syamantaka gem! These Gods have the habit of giving whatever asked for, without a second thought! Surya Bhagawan did exactly that. He told him, "This stone is like another form of mine. Wherever it is present, there will be no disease or sorrow. In the house where it is present there will be eight 'bhaaram' (we do not know how much is the weight of that 'bhaaram'), of gold. But there is one condition. The one wearing it should be very careful about cleanliness, physical and otherwise. The slightest deviation towards turpitude can cause much harm". With those words, the Sun gave him the Syamantaka MaNi and vanished from the scene! Satrajit returned to Dwaraka wearing that stone. It was so powerful that no one could see the wearer of the stone, but only a brilliant white light! Everyone thought that probably Surya Bhagawan has arrived in Dwaraka to meet Sri KrishNa Bhagawan! Only in very close quarters, people could recognize Satrajit and get to know as to how he could come to own that gem as a 'prasadam' from the Sun God! KrishNa as one capable of appreciating the aesthetic beauty of the gem praised it much. Satrajit got the impression that Sri KrishNa wanted to own that gem! However much KrishNa may be prone to do mischief in fun, like stealing the butter and the affection of the Gopika girls, leading the life of a householder with 16 thousand wives and such things, he was a totally detatched man of no flimsy needs or desires. As the knower of the Self, he was a Parama Gnaani. After he destroyed Kamsa, he had every right to assume the emperorship himself! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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All the citizens so much in love with him would have whole heartedly approved of such an action! He was however not interested in becoming the king. He installed Kamsa's father Ugrasena as the King. Ugrasena was his maternal grandfather. Not a direct one but, KrishNa's mother's father's younger brother and a very old man at that! After the death of Kamsa, KrishNa moved away to Dwaraka and established a small kingdom there. But, even here, he did not declare himself to be an independent soverign ruler but, placed his elder Balarama to be the King and remained sub-servient to him! Though he is considered as a 'PoorNa Avatara' and not a part incarnation of the ultimate reality, he displayed extreme humility and dispassion. Bhagawatam talks about the time when Mahalakshmi came into being with the churning of the ocean of milk (ksheera saagara). Then all the Deva-s were avidly looking forward to being favoured by Mahalakshmi with a smile or a glance. Vishnu was just by himself with total dispassion standing on the sidelines! Mahalakshmi was attracted by this very apparent unconcern of Vishnu. She thought that to win his heart would be worth the while and so, garlanded him. As he was very kind hearted without passion, he immediately embraced her with all love! I was talking about how KrishNa was devoid of passions and desires. But all the wealth came to him unasked for! Maha Vishnu's Conch (Sangu), Chakra, Garuda and the Koustuba Mala; all came to him unasked for. "kasturi tilakam lalaata palake vakshastale koustubam" we sing. They all just came to him. How can such a man be craving for this 'Syamantaka MaNi'? He is said to have made a statement that, 'if he so desires, Satrajit may give that Syamantaka MaNi'. Even this he could have only meant that 'Satrajit may give it to Ugrasena Maharaj' and not to himself. Even here it is not out of any currying of favour with the king, but with the intention that, instead of the individual Satrajit, if it accrues to the king, all the benefits would accrue to the country that he rules! With that intention of the nation’s well-being, KrishNa indirectly hinted. As per Artha Saastra, if an individual were to come to own possessions richer and wealthier than the king, it could give him a false notion of being superior to the king and that could pave the way for subversive tendencies! Hence such wealth should accrue automatically to the crown. That is the reason why, even the modern day acts of law have made such newly discovered treasures, national properties! As the saying goes, "raja ratna haari", the higher the value of items, they will naturally accrue to the King. With that idea Sri KrishNa made a suggestive indication.

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Satrajit's reaction was in a different direction. His analysis of the situation was as follows. "What is Raja and what is anybody else? After all the king is also KrishNa's making only! After all, that king is his maternal grandfather! In the name of the King, this KrishNa is trying to take away the Syamanthaka MaNi!" Not only did he suspect KrishNa of malicious intentions but was also afraid of him. How attachment and desire for wealth can play tricks with your own mind and imagination is the moral of the story of the Syamantaka MaNi Upaakhyaanam! His analysis was like this. 'This KrishNa has killed great wrestlers such as ChaNoora and Mushtka, even in his teens. He made a mince meat of Kamsa. Jarasandha who was so powerful, was beaten and chased around 17 times by this KrishNa. Then, he is also capable of much magic and tricks! How to avoid antagonizing him and if he does become an enemy, how to tackle him?' He did not have the heart to give away the Syamantaka MaNi, while at the same time he was in a quandary as to how to retain that precious stone! This story really teaches us as to how inert material can torture us, even after it's becoming our property! As a stop gap arrangement, he gave it to his younger brother Prasenan temporarily! The younger brother was more intelligent and stronger too. The younger brother happily wore that Syamantaka MaNi and set out on a hunting trip to the forests. (As per Skaandam, Prasenan is supposed to have gone in the company of KrishNa. As per Vishnu PuraNam and Bhagawatam, Prasenan went on the hunting trip on his own!) I hope you remember that the one wearing the Syamantaka MaNi, is required to maintain high standard of physical and moral cleanliness! But Prasenan had to attend to nature's call and there was no water available! He could not clean himself properly. He was attacked by a lion, killed and eaten up! Night enveloped the forest. But the lion catching hold of the Syamantaka MaNi by its mouth was going unaware of the brilliant emanation of light from its mouth, making the night as bright as the day! In that forest, in a mountainous cave, there lived Jambavan. That leader of bears was the same, who had assisted the monkey army of Sri Rama, eons before! Finally Sri Rama, when he gave up his mortal coil and ascended to the Vaikunta, had virtually taken all the people with him. But he left Anjaneya and Jambavan. They both had the worth to prove the point that, as long as you are chanting and thinking of Rama Nama, for him this world of misery and sorrow itself will be heavens! To show the world this truth, they remained behind in the earth. VibhishaNa in Lanka too continued as a 'Chiranjeevi', that is an immortal being! We think of the human being as highly evolved towards perfection. But after Rama Avatara, it was a Monkey, a Bear and a Rakshasa; who were left behind as the eternal examples of the highest levels of devotion! "aswattaama balir vyaasa krupa parasurama hanumanscha vibhishana: iti saptaite chiranjeevina: " says the sloka, describing the seven everlasting souls! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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Though Jambavan's name is not there, he is worth being included in this list! It is part of folk lore to call any expert in any field, who has seen it all, as a 'Jambavan'! Is it not so? To name a few more who are not included, but should be included in this list, I should point out, Agasthya and the forever sixteen years old Markandeya! Rama's time was during Treta Yuga. This event under consideration, occurred at the end of Dwapara Yuga. (More than 300 thousand years must have passed between the two, during which Jambawan must have been alive!) Jambawan saw the lion with the brilliant Syamantaka MaNi in its mouth. At that time he had a baby boy by the name Sukumara. Do not ask me as to how he could live for more than three Lac years and then have a baby boy! He wanted the brilliant gem for his son, as a play thing! As a mighty warrior, he fought with the lion and killed him. Picked up the gem and made it hang above the baby's cot with some toys. (That reminds me as to how Vaali made RavaNa hang as a ten headed insect, over his baby's cot!) The gem despite its brilliance was like a torch light for modern day children! Here is the deviation to the story as given in Skaandam. I hope you remember that as per Skaandam KrishNa was accompanying Prasenan in the hunt. Somewhere along the way, they were separated and Prasenan was killed by the lion and the Syamantaka MaNi landed up with Jambawan. KrishNa searched and searched for Prasenan. Soon it was getting to be dark. By chance when he looked up at the sky, he saw the fourth crescent of the moon. After the new moon, the first and second night, anyhow we will not notice the moon. Third night the sliver of the crescent, is in the sky only for a short period. On the fourth night however, it is more easily noticeable, because it is there in the western sky for about an hour plus after twilight. So, thinking that it would not be prudent to remain in the forest any further, he returned with his followers to Dwaraka. When Prasenan did not return with KrishNa, Satrajit suspected KrishNa of foul play! As per Bhagawatam, Satrajit suspected that KrishNa had dispatched some of his men to follow and kill Prasenan in the forest! In his view, KrishNa already had an eye for the gem and got an opportunity to dispose off Prasenan and grab the gem! When God takes birth in the form of a human being, he has to undergo all the tribulations that man has to face. After all, the purpose of taking Avatara is to show by example, as to how the human being should behave, when faced with difficult situations! “KrishNa has murdered Prasenan, stolen the Syamantaka MaNi gem from him and hidden it somewhere.” These were the two false criminal charges leveled against the innocent KrishNa. He went about everywhere talking about this falsehood!

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The public mind is very easily swayed and corrupted by rumor and innuendo. One day they will be praising you to high heavens and the very next day they may not hesitate to think twice about letting your name besmirched. We see this often, do we not? To some extent, it was always like that only, even in Treta Yuga! It was only after the disposal of Kamsa that the Yadava community as a whole had come out of their doldrums and seen some better days of prosperity. It was KrishNa's kindness which saved them from great threats and hazards. Those very people were talking ill of KrishNa joining hands with and adding their voices to that of Prasenan. One could hear them talking, “Even when he was only a child, we knew that he was a regular thief. Thieving and duplicity, seem to be innate characteristics for him! He could have done this killing of Prasenan and snatching of the Syamantaka MaNi and or even more!” They had forgotten the fact of being saved from Kalinga the poisonous snake and the event in which they were all saved from utter destruction at the time of torrential rains, when he lifted the Govardhana Mountain and held it like an umbrella under which the whole lot of people of Brindavan were assembled. Sri Krishna felt very grieved of being accused of offences which he could never have even thought of. He was not grieved really! He was beyond such human foibles and weaknesses. He just acted as though he was much affected! He acted as though, he had lost his omniscience and omnipotence. He decided to investigate and prove to the whole world as to how Prasenan died and what happened to the Gem Syamantaka MaNi! Having decided to investigate, KrishNa went to that part of the forest where Prasenan had gone, with some close friends of Satrajit. They virtually followed the hoof marks of the horse ridden by Prasenan. After some distance there were no hoof marks. Extensive blood stains and some bones of a horse and a human being were seen. Some pieces of clothing worn by Prasenan, his ornaments and some of the equipment used in riding the horse, like the saddle and stirrups were noticed. One could easily make out that both the horse and the rider had been attacked, killed and eaten by one or more than one carnivorous animals, from the fact that all the flesh and meat had been licked clean! This was not conclusive proof still. Human beings could have been killed and then animals could have eaten the meat. The doubting minds of the persons who had accompanied KrishNa were still not convinced, especially because of the fact that the Syamantaka MaNi was missing from the scene! Luckily, they happened to notice the spoors of more than one animal, prominent amongst which were the spoors of a Lion leading away from the scene. They followed that. After some distance, they came upon the carcass of a lion! Around that were the marks of the feet of a bear! Bears are normally vegetarians, at least Indian ones used to be. Even carnivores normally would not eat the flesh of another carnivore. That is the reason for the lion’s whole carcass lying there still, without much of degradation. Bear’s foot marks are bigger than other animals.

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Bears and chimpanzees stand on two feet and so their impression on the ground is rather deep, since they bear the whole body weight. Then after all, the bear we are talking about is the mighty Jambawan! So, they easily followed the foot marks of the bear from there. Those marks led them in front of a cave and went inside. The cave was deep and long. After some time, others gave up the pursuit and said that they will wait outside. As friends of Satrajit, they were still doubtful of KrishNa! They naturally doubted that after some drama, he may get them lost forever inside the cave and escape himself, this trickster KrishNa! KrishNa was of such an attitude that, instead of exposing others to dangers, he would accept the challenges himself! He told the people accompanying to wait outside the cave and went inside with his body generating a blue light all around! After some distance the cave expanded in to a well spread out hall, brightly lit! I am sure that you would have correctly guessed that the source of light was the Syamantaka MaNi! It looked like a well furnished house. In the centre of the hall was a cradle (with four chains from the roof), in which there was a baby sleeping. The first thing noticed was the brilliant gem Syamantaka MaNi, which was hung over the cradle. Rest of the space in the whole cave was lighted by that gem. You could then hear a lullaby being sung in low tones by a beautiful girl, who was rocking the child’s cradle. During those days it seems that monkeys and bears were capable of communicating with each other and human beings. So, they could talk, dance and sing! May be human race was probably still evolving and the separation from its origins was as yet not so pronounced, as now. Darwin and his followers may be able to explain this. The lullaby that she was singing was not an already existing song probably because, the song was about how the Syamantaka MaNi happened to be present there in that grotto, hanging over that cradle! It was revealing enough to solve the puzzle for KrishNa and whosoever were listening. I do not know how to sing. But I will quote to you the words. This sloka is not to be found in Bhagawata but, is to be seen in both Vishnu PuraNa and Skaandam. “simha: prasenam avateet simho jaambavataa hata : I Sukumaraka maa rothee tava hyesha syamantaka : II ”

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The meaning is that, “The lion killed Prasenan, and then that lion was killed by Jambawan. You! Baby with the name of Sukumara do not have to cry anymore because, the Syamantaka MaNi is all yours now! ” She was thinking that it is all his, the baby’s! She could not have known as to what was KrishNa’s view on the subject! KrisNa entered the scene hearing the song and for him the mystery was solved. One look at him and this beautiful girl was in love with him! She was overflowing with love and fear. Not afraid of him but, afraid that, her father Jambawan may hurt this new found love of her life! Her name was Jambavathy. She thought, “Our father who has made this cave a well protected fort-like thing is likely to get annoyed with this handsome intruder and punish him!” Jambawan was sleeping at that time. She asked him in subdued tones as to what is the purpose of his visit. He gave a detailed reply. She said, “As it is our father will be annoyed at your uninvited presence. Then if he gets to know that you are here to take away the Syamantaka MaNi, there will be hell to pay! So you better take the MaNi now itself and quietly vanish from the scene!” She did not have the heart to tell him to go. But her nascent love for him caused her to talk like this! One woman (peNmaNi – in Tamil ) who had fallen in love with KrishNa – by name RukmaNi – gave a message to him, that he should kidnap her away! This other woman prayed to him to take away this rarest of gems – Syamantaka MaNi - despite the penchant that women normally have for gems and jewels! But this Bhagwan instead of keeping quiet about the secret wish of hers, laughed loudly. He said, “Enough is enough of titles as a thief and thug that I have been unduly given. I am thankful to God for having found a way out of being called a liar and thief by Satrajit! You want me to be called a thief by your father too? No chance whatsoever! Let him give it to me on his own or I will fight him and take it away!” He said. “I know my father’s nature. As it is there is a saying about the grip of a bear as what is not easily pried open! (They call it karadippidi in Tamil!) You can never take away this rare gem that he has obtained for his favourite son, at this old age! You cannot get it by begging. If you have to take it, and then better fight for it and take it”, said Jambavathy. Already she had started feeling responsible and capable of sharing in his earning or loosing name and respect! So, this Bhagwan who was till now playing a rather subdued role, picked up his conch Panchajanya and went “boom, boom” on it!

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Jambawan got up from his sleep. Once he realised that KrishNa was challenging him, he came out beating on his chest, “Oh! I see! You are thinking me to be an old fossil? So, you have the audacity to come in to my den challenging me? OK. I will show you!” Really he handled Bhagwan very roughly. Bhagwan parried. His ulterior motive was of course, to reveal to the world at large, the might of this old bear, as to what a great fighter he is! Jambawan was not aware of the fact that, this warrior in front of him was none other than his own ‘Ishta devata’ Sri Rama! Though fully aware of his own prowess and his opponents, Bhagwan kept his own at parity with the opponent, like a father playing with his own son! They were conducting an unarmed combat of a combination of boxing and wrestling. The aim of KrishNa was to get into much physical contact. From the time of Rama Avatara, it was the wish of Jambawan to come into physical contact with Bhagwan! He really wanted to embrace Rama! But he was shy of expressing his wish! The body of Rama was of the colour of emerald green, hard as a rock, with the skin softer than silk, being an embodiment of love and compassion. Who would not like to embrace that body! But this huge bear was naturally not able to tell anyone about his, this wish! Had he ever wished to express his wish, Sri Rama would not have agreed. Because, he had entrusted his body as the property of Sita his wife. None else could have come anywhere close! He was too strict about his ‘eka patny vratam’, meaning being a one woman man! Not only Jambawan, all the sages in DandakaraNya, who were all ascetics beyond any flimsy desires of the flesh, when they saw Sri Rama for the first time, were so attracted by that noble form, that they wanted to hug him in a total embrace! As deserving matured souls, they put up their wish directly to Sri Rama. His reply was that in his incarnation as Rama, only Sita was entitled to embrace his 'sareera', that is his body. In his next incarnation as Sri KrishNa he will fulfill their desires, he promised. So it seems that, all those Rishis were born as Gopika’s, the women of Brindavan! That being the case of the Rishis and their wish, what is to be done with the wish of the bear who had been rendered immortal! How will he be ever able to fulfill his desire of embracing that divine noble body of Rama, even if he gets to know that KrishNa is none other than Rama! He was likely to hide his desire to himself, especially as it was unthinkable to embrace the flower like body of Rama / KrishNa, with that hirsute blanket like body of his own! So it was the secret plan of God to enable him to catch hold of him and role any this way and that, to his heart’s content, in the pretext of fighting! Within the 'this worldly drama', there are so many divine plays known as, 'Bhagawan ki leela'! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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Exactly similarly Siva as the 'Ishta devata', that is preferred deity of Arjuna, gave an opportunity to his devotee to get in to fisticuff with himself, when he came as a hunter and instigated his devotee in to a fight! Days rolled into weeks as KrishNa and Jambawan kept up their combat! The Yadava-s who were waiting outside, were fidgety! There was no sign of KrishNa. They were away from their own families, going hungry in the forest. It can be quite dangerous and lonely in the forest at night! In ones and twos they all returned to Dwaraka after a day or two or may be three! They did not want to get into any more trouble than what they were already in, however much they might have been beholden to Prasenan or Satrajit! The fight / combat went on for 21 days! Though totally tired and worn-out physically, Jambawan was getting some thrill out of that physical touch of KrishNa's body! That is how he somehow continued to survive. By the end of the third week however, Jambawan could not continue anymore. He knew that it was the power of 'Sri Rama' that had sustained him for so long. Chanting aloud the name of 'Sri Rama' he was beating the next Avatara of Rama only! Jambawan started wondering as to who this man could be, who could withstand his strength combined with that of power of Rama Nama? "Evidently he can just not be a normal person! Who can this man be? And most importantly, why is his physical contact giving me so much of pleasure and thrill?", he thought! The answer just occurred to him in a flash. KrishNa also thought, "How long do I have to go on playing this game? I have so many more commitments, after all!" So we should take it that Krishna caused Jambawan to realize! Jambawan thought, "Oh! God! How more bearishly foolish can I ever become! My very Ishta Devata has come calling on me in this forest after all these years and I am fighting with him!" He felt thoroughly ashamed at his lack of sensitivity. He fell at the feet of Bhagawan and begged his pardon! There is a colloquial phrase in Tamil, 'poosai koduppadu' which would mean literally to give a thorough thrashing, while sounding as though to worship! May be that phrase evolved after this incident, when Jambawan beat up the very favourite God that he wanted to worship! KrishNa picked him up and consoled Jambawan lovingly. Jambawan pleaded and prayed, "I am myself your slave only! There is nothing of mine which is not yours. I offer back to you, your Syamantaka MaNi. With that, I offer to you this Kanya MaNi (gem of a girl), my daughter Jambavathy also. Please be kind enough to agree!" (Women are addressed and referred as, 'peNmaNi and nareemaNi', as per customs and traditions of this country, as a 'gem of a girl and or gem of a woman'!) Jambavathy’s love was also fulfilled when KrishNa accepted her along with the gem Syamantaka MaNi! KrishNa returned to Dwaraka with the newly wedded wife and the gem Syamantaka MaNi. First thing he did was to restore the gem to the original owner Satrajit. Satrajit had given it to Prasenan from whom the lion had got it. Jambawan took it from the animal. © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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KrishNa had got it from Jambawan after a fight. So legally, KrishNa could have claimed the gem as his! But having proved that he was not a criminal, with a liberal heart he gave it to the one who had got the gem after much worshipful Tapasya to the Sun! Now, this MaNi did not give any great satisfaction to Satrajit, but was only a reminder of his fallacies, that was more of an irritant! He felt bad about having subjected innocent KrishNa to false accusations! He wanted to make amends. The best method he thought was to offer his daughter Satyabhama, in marriage to Sri KrishNa! That he did. Satyabhama was the only child of Satrajit. She was the Avatara of Bhu Devi. RukmaNi was Sri devi. So finally it came about that, the Syamantaka MaNi caused KrishNa to face trumped up charges of accusation initially, ending in his acquisition in marriage of Jambavathy and Satyabhama! That was not a bad bargain! Like Jambawan, Satrajit also offered the Syamantaka MaNi along with the Kanya Daanam of Satyabhama. But KrishNa, having accepted the hand of Satyabhama, refused to accept the gem Syamantaka MaNi. He told him that, it was in the rightness of things that it should be with Satrajit, as a gift from the Sun God! Anyhow, Satrajit thought that, as she was his only daughter, all his wealth and property would anyhow accrue to her and KrishNa. So he did not press the point further. After this in a few days, there was news about PaNdava-s, that they were all burnt off when their palace made of 'Arakku', a type of ceiling wax, was reduced to ashes in a conflagration caused by deceit at the behest of Dhuryodana. That is a different story of Maha Bharatha, which we are not going into now! We are concerned only to the extent that KrishNa went to Hastinapura to convey his condolences for the tragedy. The fact that the Pandava-s had escaped by an underground passage from the palace, was not known to the world. Krishna's absence from Dwaraka, led to great grievances to Satyabhama. There was one Satadhanva, a very rough and tough character amongst the Yadava clan. There were two other people of the Yadava clan, involved in this ensuing drama, Krutavarma and Akrura, who were much closer to KrishNa. Actually this Akrura was a devotee of Krishna. He was the one who took KrishNa and Balarama, from Brindavan to Mathura, before Kamsa was sorted out! The common factor between these three personages is the fact that they were all in love with Satyabhama, whom in one stroke, KrishNa had wedded and taken away! Some time or the other, all three of them had asked for the hand of Satyabhama in marriage and Satrajit's answer to each one of them was positive but indecisive. Syamantaka MaNi further complicated the scenario and KrishNa had got wedded to Satyabhama.

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We are yet to come to how KrishNa worshipped Vigneshwara that is, PiLLaiyar. We have to wait a little more for that scene! In the meantime, Satadhanva, Krutavarma and Akrura, all three of them had their genuine hate and complaint against Satrajit! He had given away not only the girl whom they loved, but also given away the Syamantaka MaNi to KrishNa. Though KrishNa had returned the gem to Satrajit, the three came together on a common platform of hate and frustration! Passion and pride for women and wealth, leading to hate and frustration; can even annul one's devotion to God and noble causes', is the warning that we should all draw from this story! Akrura was an ardent devotee of KrishNa and Krutavarma was at least a friend of KrishNa. They were openly anti-Satrajit and spoke in support of KrishNa. But, the scenario changed when Satrajit became the father-in-law of KrishNa, giving his daughter Satyabhama in marriage to him and also gave him the Symantaka MaNi as a dowry almost. Though KrishNa did not accept the Syamantaka MaNi, the attitude of Akrura and Krutavarma changed completely. All devotion turned into one of hate and jealousy. The story teaches us as to how the best of intensions can change when pride and prejudice comes into play! When KrishNa went to Hastinapura, it gave an opportunity to Akrura and Krutavarma to hatch a plan of deceit! Having lost the girl Satyabhama anyhow, they thought of getting at least the gem! They even thought of doing away with Satrajit! Not having enough courage to do it themselves, they approached Satadhanva to act as the hired killer! As aspirants for the hand of Satyabhama, they should have been mutually at logger heads with each other. But as they say, ‘enemy’s enemy is a friend’, the three of them having a common enemy in Satrajit, were thrown together by the circumstances! Knowing that Satrajit did not have KrishNa’s immediate support, they thought that the time to strike was when Krishna was still away in Hastinapura. Satadhanva killed Satrajit by using deceit in a despicable manner and not by direct fight. He grabbed the Syamantaka MaNi. Satyabhama came to know about this and was grieved. She was waiting for the return of KrishNa to punish Satadhanva. Though it is said that due to the power of Syamantaka MaNi, the one having it will have access to all riches and that it will be a source of happiness and good health! What we have so far seen is the opposite! Nothing is free in life and there is always a cost. In this case the cost was physical and inner cleanliness, as clarified by Surya Bhagawan initially, while handing over the gem to Satrajit. In this Satrajit failed badly because, he was suspicious of everyone including KrishNa, as far as the Syamantaka MaNi was concerned. This distrust in the heart is dirt! If Prasena had to give his life because of physical lack of cleanliness, Satrajit was nursing doubt and distrust for long, ending in his having to die for it, at the end.

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Even ‘chiranjeevi’ Jambavan could not keep the gem for long with himself! Under these circumstances, how long could the gem have lasted in the hands of the cruel and scheming Satadhanva? Would it have let him live for long? When KrishNa returned, his loving wife cried her hearts out as to how Satadhanva had killed her father by deceit! KrishNa had decided that her father’s death will be avenged! The moment Satadhanva had knowledge about KrishNa’s decision to avenge the death of Satrajit, he started shivering in mortal fear. Only recently, KrishNa had defeated Jambawan in physical combat over 21 days, as known to everyone! Once he knew that, such a great warrior’s attention was focused on the killer of Satrajit, Satadhanva’s courage deserted him. He ran away from Dwaraka. Before that, he dropped the Syamantaka MaNi in the hands of Akrura! He could have surrendered it to KrishNa and begged of him to spare his life. But that would have been tantamount to acceptance of the crime of killing Satrajit, on the one hand! On the other, his devious mind wanted to deny KrishNa a double victory of defeating him as well as getting his hands on the gem! Another way of looking at it was that, as he had known as to how, whosoever became owners of that gem Symantaka MaNi had suffered, he wished Akrura to suffer the same fate! Evil minds work in deviously evil ways! May be this tactic would divide the attention of KrishNa in two different directions! KrishNa came to know that Satadhanva was getting away on a fast moving horse. He was neither annoyed nor furious. Satadhanva who had murdered his father-in-law by deceit, had to be punished. It was his duty to do so. With his brother Balarama, he chased Satadhanva on a chariot. The horses of the chariot started at a gallop. After much chasing, Satadhanva and his horse were seen at a distance, losing speed. His horse physically carrying Satadhanva’s weight, was visibly in its last legs, virtually. It stumbled and fell down dead, foaming in its mouth. Satadhanva started running away. KrishNa thought that it was not fair (not ‘dharmam’) to chase a man running, on a chariot. So he got down from the chariot and started running himself! Balarama remained seated in the chariot, as he considered that it was not in the rightness of things for one opponent to be attacked by two! Bhagawan caught hold of Satadhanva. There was a fight. Who can last long against the might of KrishNa? Satadhanva was killed and attained to heavens as all his sins were done away with by the grace of KrishNa. As it happened with Jambawan, KrishNa proved to be the stronger and got the name and fame for that, as an effect of the Symantaka MaNi. He searched for the gem in the dead man’s body in vain. With name and fame, he was also due for an equal amount of blame! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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Talking of His Omniscience, Bhagawan Sri KrishNa says in Bhagawat Gita, “I know all that happens in the past, present and future, Arjuna; at the same time, it is true that nobody can ever know me”. Such an omniscient being only play acts as though that, he did not know about the whereabouts of the Syamantaka MaNi. He had brought his elder brother with that expectation that the gem was probably to found in the person of Satadhanva. Balarama, who was also another Avatara of the ultimate only, was equally omniscient about everything including the gem’s location. Having subjected himself to much unfounded accusations and going through the human foibles and fallibilities, KrishNa seems to have placed himself in a quandary, as far as his relations with his elder brother is concerned. He told Balarama, “Brother, I have killed him but, could not locate the gem in his person!” Balarama played his part in the drama equally well! He told KrishNa the following words, “KrishNa, you have always been a double dealing rogue! You are afraid that I will ask for the gem. So you have already played your trick! There is no doubt that you are bluffing. I am ashamed of having you as a relative and live with your pranks!” This ‘PoorNa Avatara’ of the Parabrhmam in human form, without losing his balance, calmly replied with due respect, “My dear Brother, you should not doubt me like that. You can check me thoroughly, if you want!” Balarama’s anger was not to be so easily appeased. However much KrishNa pleaded, he was no convinced. “There is no meaning in checking you in person. You have always been a master of illusion and magic. You will use ‘thiraskaraNi vidya’ to hide the location of the gem from me. It is no good to keep your company. I will not wish to be seen with you anymore.” So saying he walked away from the scene to Videha Rajya, a neighbouring state. KrishNa came back with much anxiety. As though he had not suffered enough, the public ire was again directed against him. They accused him of having killed again for the sake of the gem. They also accused him of antagonizing his own elder brother and expelling him from the country, for the same reason! It is the human tendency to look at the mistakes in others than the good points. What somebody could have done or not done, with all possible combinations, fill up the gossip pages of newspapers. Then there is much discussion on individual opinions and interpretations! More than praising the good qualities in our leaders, we show more interest in their weaknesses and fallibilities! The PuraNas bear out that such has been the case always! On receiving the information about the return of KrishNa to Dwaraka, Akrura who would normally look forward to the company of KrishNa as insurance against fear, was in a dilemma. He thought it better to vanish from the scene! He literally went away from Dwaraka! In his ‘Bhaja Govindam’ song our AachaaryaaL says, ‘artham anartham bhaavaya nityam’, meaning, ‘at least once a day think in your mind that material possession (artham) would automatically lead to conflicts and chaos (anartham)’! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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So material should become immaterial in our lives, as otherwise, we will be in a similar quandary as Akrura found himself in. Though Akrura need never have had these doubts and distrust about KrishNa, a friend in whose good books he had always been; his natural bent of mind towards devotion to God and dharma, did not desert him. So, though he left Dwaraka, he went on Kshetraadana that is, visiting holy places of religious interest! Finally he reached Kaasi! Once he had reached Kaasi, his mind was peaceful and light. He had no personal selfish interests to exploit the fact of having the Gem in his possession. It started giving him Eight Weights (bharam) of gold every day! He spent all the money in getting many temples of God constructed. That sacred gem seemed to have finally arrived at the suitable destination! So while pouring all the wealth, the gem caused that in its proximity there will not be any disease, sadness, floods or drought like conditions! Here in Dwaraka, Bhagawan was brooding as to how this gem has caused all types of troubles! “It had taken the life of three people, Prasenan, Satrajit and now, Satadhanva. First it got me against Satrajit and now my own elder brother is alienated and migrated on some misunderstanding! Akrura’s absence is indicative of the fact that the gem is possibly in his hands. His going away from Dwaraka is also due to the gem only! While Satyabhama has been grieved by the demise of her father, the world is still suspicious of me, my behaviour and my attitude! Why am I being the target of so much distrust and misunderstanding?” Then Narada came there. Narada Maharishi always knew as to when to enter any story and how his entry will cause a major turn in the narrative! His opening statement addressed at KrishNa was, “Swami! You seem to be much lost in thoughts. What is the matter?” Bhagwan Sri KrishNa narrated all the twists and turns that had taken place since the arrival of Syamantaka MaNi in Dwaraka. With sheer humbleness he asked Narada, “There is nothing that is not known to you in all the three worlds of space and time! So, you have to tell me as to why, I am subjected to so much of public distrust and innuendo!” “Oh! That? I will tell you. On bhadrapada sukhla chathurthi, you have seen the crescent of the moon. That is the reason for all of your troubles, as you have been subjected to the curse by Vigneshwara!” Now that statement needs much explanation! We have to know, firstly as to ‘what is meant by bhadrapada sukhla chathurthi?’, secondly ‘what is wrong in seeing the crescent of the moon on that day?’, thirdly ‘what is Vigneshwara’s curse?’ The readers would have now noticed as to how far we have got away from the story of PiLLaiyar and got too involved in that of KrishNa!

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Bhadrapada (also known as Proshtapada), is a double star known as, Poorva Bhadrapada and Uttara Bhadrapada. Generally when referring to the month in which the full moon occurs, in one of these stars, the month is called Bhadrapada and while referring the star itself, it is called Proshtapada. Thus the star could be Poorva Proshtapadee or Uttara Proshtapadee, known in Tamil as Poorattaadhi and Uttirattaadhi. The month Proshtapadhi (that is, the month in which full moon happens to be on the day of one of these two stars), is called in Tamil as Poorattasi! Then there are two schools of thoughts on this. In Tamil Nadu they follow the ‘Souramaanam’, that is the calculations of the first day of each month of the calendar is based on the entry of the Sun in a particular Rasi and its exit. Looking at the Sun from the Earth, it will be found to be aligned with a particular galaxy of stars called Rasi, during that period. People in Kerala, Andhra, Karnataka and all other parts of North India, follow what is known as, ‘Chandramaanam’. Their month starts on the first day/night after the Amavasya (New Moon), that is known as Sukhla Paksha Prathama. The first day/night after a full moon, on the other hand is known as KrishNa Paksha Prathama. The name of the month in this method will be that of the star occurring on the Full Moon day / night in that month. All festivals in India are based on this system of Chandramaanam. So PiLLaiyar Chaturthi will occur in the month of Bhadrapada, on Sukhla Paksha Chathurthi, uniformly for all the followers of the system of Chandramaanam, such as for Keralites, Kannadigas, Andhrites and North Indians. For the followers of Souramaanam, PiLLaiyar Chathurthi could be in the month of AavaNi or Purattasi. I hope you grasp the difference. Let me put it in other words. The day after Amavasya the next month is born. So the fourth day of any month is the Sukla Paksha Chathurthi. (After full moon the waxing moon is the KrishNa Paksha.) But in the case of Souramaanam, the month of Purattasi occurs only when the Sun enters the Kanya Raasi from Simha Raasi. That could happen in AavaNi or Purattasi! Similar thing happens in the case of Sri Rama Navami, Gokula Ashtami, Nava raathri and so on! That is the festivals as per these two methods of calculations could and do differ! It was in one of those ‘Bhadrapada Sukhla Chathurthi’, that is PiLLaiyar Chathurthi evening that Sri KrishNa had seen the waxing crescent moon! Having gone for a hunt with Prasenan and having waited for him for long, he saw the moon and thinking it to be rather late, returned from the hunt, without being able to locate Prasenan! That is the occasion that Narada was referring to! Naturally the question arises as to, why is it so bad to see the crescent moon on PiLLaiyar Chathurthi? That is the question of KrishNa that Narada answered.

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In PuraNas, all narration is in the form of one person asking a question and another answering them. That evidently means that they have done all their other activities for creature comforts and are at ease, being able to give all their attention to what is being said! Almost all PuraNas are in the form of the assembled ascetics of NaimisaraNya asking questions and Suta answering them. That in turn will be presented as having been enquired by one and answered by another. For example, though Bhagawatam is as instructed by Suta to the Rishis of NaimisharaNya, we receive it as a reply from Sukha to Parikshit. Looking at the Itihasas, Maha Bharatam too is in the form of Suta’s reply to the assembled sages of NaimisaraNya. Only RamayaNa is different. Valmiki, who was disgusted with his way of life of dacoity, asked Narada as to, “Who is the ideal human being full of all admirable character qualities?” Narada’s reply was a narration of Sri Rama’s life history. This was later composed in poetical form by Valmiki, taught to Lava and Kusa, the two sons of Rama, who presented it by singing, in the presence of Rama and his courtiers in Aswamedha Mandapam, that became an epic! Maha Bharatham was once again, as instructed to the Rishis of NaimisaraNya by Suta. Then the same story was retold to the grandson of Pandavas, Janamejaya by Vaisampayana Rishi. What was till then in ‘karNa parampara’ that is, verbally told and repeated, was written down by Vigneswara our PiLLaiyar, on the rocks of the Meru mountain with one of his tusks, broken by himself, to be used as the pen! Branching of the stories takes place in between these PuraNas and Itihasas, when any one of the characters in the story would ask questions and Narada or Agasthya or Markandeya or such sages who were authorities of the past, would be clearing their doubts, through yet- another historical narration. Within RamayaNa too, in the Uttara Kaanda (that is canto), the life history of RavaNa and his relatives is narrated, as told to Rama by Agasthya. This Agasthya is the one asking question, which is answered by Hayagreeva, that is the Lalithopakhyanam in the Brhmanda PuraNa! In Maha Bharatham too, there are many such instances when, many Rishis have clarified the doubts of Pandavas, during their 12 years of ‘Vana Vasa’ that is, stay in the forest! Exactly similarly, here in Skandam, KrishNa Paramatma is told by Narada, as to why the waxing moon is not to be seen on chathurthi! This is depicted as told by Nandikeswara to Sanat kumara. Maha GaNapathi used to ride his Mooshika Vahana and roam about happily all over the worlds. During such visits everywhere, he once visited the Chandra Loka or the world of the Moon. He was the baby God of the colour of the Moon as he is known as, ‘sasi varNa’. More over any child loves the Moon. © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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Chandra always had a haughty pride about his own beauty, as he is much extolled and admired by all lovers, poets and lovers of poetry! That praise of the bards went to his head and he started looking down on all others. When a sense of pride comes over you, it is but natural that your perspective gets blurred. PiLLaiyar’s elephant face dripping with love and compassion, the wide ears fanning about, his body of chubby cheeks, well filled belly indicative of wholesome baby fat, with the fifth hand of a proboscis or trunk mischievously touching all things around, while the legs look rather puny by contrast; he is a source of endless mirth and pleasure to the onlooker! For Chandra the Moon, he looked funny enough to be laughed at with derision! PiLLaiyar can take a joke, but not derision and ridicule! He was angered, since discipline of the deities is like a duty of his. Not because he felt personally insulted. He told the Moon the following words. “Hi! Mr. Moon! You seem to be rather haughty, due to your apparent beauty. Your complexion is pleasantly fair alright. But, hope you remember that your light is actually only reflected glory! You seem to be forgetting that the parts of your body which does not receive the Sun’s light are dark and murky! Even when you are in your effulgent glory as a full moon, there are blotches and smudges!” “Let it be so. Who is interested in appearances? Looking at your character, it leaves much to be desired! Because of the aberrations in your character, you were too partial to one wife RohiNi as compared to the 26 others! So your father-in-law Dakshan cursed you to lose your power of even reflecting the Sun’s light! When you were a negligible sliver of your original being, it was my father who gave you back great honour and prestige, by wearing you on his head!” “Then it was his kindness that you were permitted to grow to your full potential of complete roundness. So as to remind you of your disloyalty to your other wives, you were made to wane and by the grace of Parameswara you were enabled to grow, as a cycle alternately! People look at you only because of your cool nourishing light, in the night time. Because of this behaviour of disrespect to me, I curse you that nobody may look at you even for your beauty anymore! Anyone looking at you may be subjected to doubt and innuendo!” This was the curse by PiLlaiyar to Chandra the Moon! The best method of punishing someone too proud of their beauty and their make-up is, not to give them attention and to ignore them! This is what PiLlaiyar did. Instead of cursing Chandra, he caused others to purposefully ignore him. Those who accidentally notice his presence in the sky and then suffer some bad luck are likely to direct their curses at Chandra. Thus he will end up getting light from the Sun and curses from the onlookers!

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One more thing, the world normally shows difference to people who may be of awful character, but if they are good looking, wealthy and in position of authority, he or she is much appreciated and admired. The purpose of PiLlaiyar’s curse is to curb this tendency also. To ignore people who are proud of their beauty is the right punishment. Those who ignore bad behaviour in others and are respectful only towards beauty, position, power and status, are best punished by slander caused to them! Chandra was afraid about the likely curses he would have to suffer from those who become victims of slander, just because they looked at him! With this double dilemma, he hid himself deep inside the ocean! The world suffered a lot due to the absence of the moon at night! The herbs get their nourishment from the moon light only. They were all starving and wilting. The diseases were on the increase due to absence of medicinal herbs. Lovers and poets were badly affected. All the divine beings and Rishis went and complained to Brahma. On such situations people always used to go to Brahma first. Either he will solve the problem or gradually raise the level to Vishnu, Siva or AmbaL successively. In this case however the consensus was to go back to PiLLaiyar himself. So they were all advised accordingly to pray to Maha GaNapathi in the proper manner. In his favourite chathurthi, they all fasted and prepared all sorts of eats that PiLlaiyar is fond of, such as Modakam, Appam, fruits that would be available in the forests, like plantain and jack fruit, sugarcane and such things. ‘More than the items offered, it is your sincerity that is important’, said Brahma. Normally ‘vratam’ means having one meal in the day and fasting at night. In this case, since the moon will be seen only at night, it would have been in the rightness of things to fast throughout the day and finish the same after a proper celebration of devotional procedure at night. That is why it is called a ‘nakta vratam’! Naktam means night and ‘nocturnal’ the word in English is derived from this word ‘naktam’ only! Each God is fond one particular ‘upachara’ (courteous action of reverence). Siva is said to be ‘abhisheka priya:’, that is fond of being bathed and anointed. Vishnu is ‘alankara priya:’, that is fond of being decorated with flowers, leaves, garlands and jewels! PiLLaiyar is very pleased with offerings of eats, like any child should be. If you give anything to it, its immediate reaction would be to test its, softness, hardness, taste etc., by putting it in its mouth. So would this baby God be easily pleased with ’neivedyam’, offerings of food! So he should be offered plenty of Modakam or Kozhukkattai, Appam, Pongal, Coconut, Bananas, Sugar Cane, Pineapple, honey and such things! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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That is why Avvayar starts of her prayers to PiLLaiyar with, “paalum, theli thenum (honey), paagum paruppum, ivai naangum kalandu unakku naan tharuven, kolam sei thunga-k-karimugaththu thoo maniye, nee enakku sangath thamizh moonrum thaa.” With apparent mastery and ease over her language, rhyming and rhythm, she tells PiLLaiyar, “I will give you four things namely, (one) milk, (two) clear honey, (three) the thick paste of dissolved jaggery and (four) dry fruits such as cashew nuts and almonds”. Then with equal mastery over the situation and child psychology, as to how attract the baby by puzzling it with some simple arithmetic, she says, “You give me three things, namely, Iyal, Isai and Natakam of the Sanga Thamizh”! That is poetry, music and dance/drama of the authority of Tamil culture!” AruNagiri Natha in Thiruppugazh, in the very first song addressed to PiLLaiyar is saying, “kaithala nirai kani appamodu aval pori...” meaning, ‘hands full of fruits, appam, aval (beaten rice), pori (popped rice)...’ and so on. So also all the deities and other living beings and flora and fauna went to PiLLaiyar and sincerely prayed to Him, including Chandra! Chandra was sincere. He was genuinely repentant. PiLLaiyar listened to his plea with his big ears and obligingly pardoned him. He rescinded the curse that whosoever looks at the moon should be subjected to scandal and ridicule! He did not totally do what the gunners in the Artillery do and give a command such as, ‘stop – cancel - last order!’ Once a word issues forth from his mouth, it can never go waste completely. Pride in whatever form is to be abhorred. So, people should forever remember that being proud of your beauty, wealth, knowledge or anything for that matter, will lead to their downfall! So, I declare that on my birthday of sukla chathurthi every month, people are forbidden to see the moon. From thirty days of the month, he reduced it to one day a month and that being a chathurthi, the aim is for people to remember this incident and forsake pride! Having condoned the severity of the punishment, he gave some privileges to Chandra with love. He lifted him and put him on his head. Like Parameswara, AmbaL and Vigneswara too, have the crescent moon on their head as an ornament. For this PiLLaiyar has a name as Bhalachandran. Some people wrongly mention Balachandra, as in their interpretation that it is applicable to Vinayaka and or the crescent Moon, as Baala means a child or baby. But this is wrong. Bhalachandran is the correct word as Bhaalam is the forehead. This is one of the 16 names of Gajanana, occurring in that sloka, that I quoted earlier, when talking about how he helped his younger brother get married. Siva having the crescent moon on his head is called Phaalachandra. Some people mistakenly use this word also for GaNesha. It is not great for Parameswara to have exhonerated Chandra, as it was only like a punishment meted out by a judge in the court! He misbehaved with his wedded wives, apologised and so lightly dealt with. But, in the case of PiLLaiyar, it was a personal insult and affront. Despite that, PiLLaiyar was prompt enough to excuse Chandra, when he apologised! © Copyrights reserved Kanchi Paramacharya Community - www.facebook.com/KanchiParamacharya

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If someone pays encomiums of praise for another, it is the custom to pull that person’s leg by saying, “What is the meaning of your putting him on your head and dancing?” That is how you carry the God’s idol or statue, when you take him around temple premises during festivals. PiLLaiyar carried Chandra literally on his head and danced. That is how he got the name as, ‘nrutta gaNapathy’ , the dancing PiLLaiyar! When you are looking at the moon, you will never feel like taking your eyes off. So also, one can never be over satiated, looking at the endearing form and qualities of PiLLaiyar! So, for Chandra to find a place on PiLlaiyar’s head is like decorating the beautiful! He gave Chandra another feather in his cap! Normally for each deity, there is one ‘thithi’ (a day in the fortnight) that is important, during the waxing or waning moon. Murugan is revered on Shashti, that is only Shukla Shashti and not during the waning moon fortnight. For Siva, it is the fourteenth day before Amavasya, known as Masa Sivarathri. Rama Navami is always in the waxing ninth and Krishna Ashtami is always in the waning eighth. AmbaaL’s special day is the PourNami of the full moon. Only PiLLaiyar has both waxing and waning fourth days of Krishna and Sukhla Paktcha chathurthi as important days / nights. He was born on Sukhla Chathurthi. We do not use the word ‘born’ for our gods as they are forever. But we use a word, ‘aavibhaavam’ to mean, ‘coming into being’ or manifestation! That is in the sukhla (waxing) chathurthi, when they keep ‘vratam’ every month. There is another chathurthi that is, the krishNa chathurthi, known as ‘Sankata hara chathurthi’, when people should specially organize prayers addressed towards PiLLaiyar, when we should also pray to Chandra with RohiNi, as per directions of PiLLaiyar! Thereby even the special love that Chandra has for RohiNi over the other wives is also excused! In Gokulashtami, when we offer special prayers to KrishNa, we are required to offer ‘argyam’ to Chandra also! Later in our story, you will see that this special privilege is in difference to PiLLaiyar only, that Chandran is honoured thus, it seems. There is one more story. Rama was born in the Surya Vamsa, that is the family of the Sun and got the name of ‘Ravi Kula Thilaka’! Seeing this, the Moon was much saddened! He went and complained to Sri Rama, that he has been showing much favouritism and partiality to the Sun Dynasty! So Sri Rama promised that in his next incarnation, he will take birth in the Chandra Vamsa! That is what he did in the KrishNa Avatara. As an immediate sop for Chandra, he added his name to his own and got the name of Ramachandra published in the official gazette, as though!

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In the waning fourth ‘thithi’ thus, seeing of the moon which was banned has become a worshipful activity as Sankata Hara Chathurthi! In addition, if you happen to see the moon the previous evening, that is the third ‘thithi’ of ‘thrithiyai’, it is considered as so good that, all your other sins are also absolved! In the Panchangam it will be marked as ‘Chandra Darshanam’! Thus, after PiLLaiyar softened his draconian curses into moderated blessings, Chandra restarted his daily orbit around the earth, to everyone’s satisfaction. Having told KrishNa the story of how Chandra’s behaviour was moderated by Vigneswara, Narada said, “You happened to see the moon on a chathurthi, that too the most important one of Bhadrapada Chathurthi at that! That is why you are finding yourself on the wrong end of the bargains repeatedly. So please do Maha GaNapathi Vratam and worship him!” Instead of thinking of PiLLaiyar to be only his nephew after all, KrishNa did the required pooja on both KrishNa and Sukhla Paktcha Chathurthi, as per customs and traditions, without any let! If you think of keeping the vratam on one and leave the other, then during practice, one may miss one and keep the other and then a time may come when you skip both, as most of the aachara anushtaana-s are nowadays, going by default mostly, by most of the people! So let us say that KrishNa observed both the chathurthi vratam and was blessed to have the darshan of Vigneshwara! He told KrishNa, “Since you have come in human form and living the life of a model ideal to be emulated, my curse seems to have affected you also! Now that you have shown the way out of the bind, your problems will vanish and you will come out shining brilliantly like the moon coming out of the clouds!”, said the nephew to the uncle! KrishNa put up another request. His mind was always on ‘loka kshemam’, that is the welfare of the world at large! Though temporarily his mind was possibly affected by the personal loss of name and fame, like the crystal clear water of a spring is ever so fleetingly turbid due to algae, it sprung back to its original clarity! He said, “Your darshan has cleared the confusion in my mind. It shows your big heart and liberal mindedness. It is not enough, if I am the only one benefitted by this series of incidents. Please be kind enough to say something for the benefit of the public at large!” It suited PiLLaiyar’s intention too. Earlier, in the context of Chandra, people of the world had been debarred from looking at the Moon. As a counter to that, in the context of KrishNa, he wished to grant a boon to people in general! “Earlier I had said that, seeing the moon on sukhla chathurthi will entail much inconvenience, which can be got rid of by making amends only after seeing the ‘moonraam pirai’ or the crescent moon on the third evening after new moon, that is the ‘thriteeyai’! That comes only after the passage of a month! Now I declare that whosoever hears the story of Syamantaka MaNi and thereby are reminded of KrishNa and his experience, will get rid of the stigma of seeing the crescent of the moon on the evening of the ‘waxing fourth’ and attain much relief and peacefulness”!

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All that happens to Avataras will finally turn out to be good and beneficial to people of the world, because the very purpose of their coming into being in this world is, ‘Loka KalyaN”! For getting rid of negative publicity and the curse of seeing the fourth crescent of the moon, even if you are not able to reread the whole of the story of Syamantaka MaNi, think of it in the mind. When KrishNa was play acting as though he was investigating the death of Prasenan, Jambawathy revealed the whole story by that one sloka as a lullaby for her brother. We should at least chant that sloka. “simha: Prasenam avateet simho Jambawataa hata: l Sukumaraka maa rodhee: tava hyesha Syamantaka: ll” While chanting it, we will automatically review the whole ‘Upakhyanam’. The second line, though addressed to Sukumara the son of Jambawan, it sounds as though telling us not to cry! We are also Sukumaras only, that means ‘good boys’! “The Syamantaka MaNi is for you only”, she says. We know that we have two gems of PiLLaiyar and KrishNa to bless us! This sloka can be included in formal pooja, as given in ‘vrata choodaamaNi Kalpam’. As blessed by PiLLaiyar, the scandal about KrishNa was erased in a few days. Dwaraka was affected by the onset of bad times. Rains failed. Trade and commerce was badly affected. People were falling sick with disease and poverty! Simultaneously in Kaasi, there was all round bounty of well being! Information was received that Akrura was there and doing a lot of social service, such as building of temples, free food camps, free medical service and so on! When you put two and two together, you make either 4 or 22! One could easily deduce that, Akrura and Syamantaka MaNi were together there! Omniscient Bhagwan KrishNa did not need the news papers or the support of Press Trust of India or Reuters or any of the news channels of the Tele Vision! Still, as he was playacting as a human being, he sent some messengers to contact Akrura, with the following message. “Dear Sir! Without your august presence, Dwaraka is not a fraction of its past glory! So you must come back to Dwaraka, to be a friend, guide and philosopher of the Yadava community! It is alright, if the gem happens to be with you. That is not a problem at all! Instead of its being in the possession of anyone else, it is best to be in your hands as a man of principles, high discipline and morality! (Though he had every right for the gem, he is showing the least interest in it!) Satrajit, after all is no more. My elder brother has some doubts about me with regard to the Syamanthaka MaNi. Jambawathy could start doubting me about that gem. In turn, SatyaBhama too may start wondering about my integrity! All these doubts can trickle down to the general public of Dwaraka. So, it is best, if the gem happens to be in your hands. You can continue to have it and in the bargain, I am sure the rainless drought conditions in Dwaraka will be removed if you

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come back with the gem! So, I sincerely wish and pray that you find it convenient to return to Dwaraka and that hopefully the gem is with you!” With sincere love and affection, the message also contains diplomacy! Though Akrura had some confusion, since he is basically a devotee of KrishNa, the moment he got a call from him, he immediately came back to Dwaraka and surrendered to Bhagawan. Though Bhagawan had told him that he could keep the MaNi, all wealth belongs to that Lakshmipathi (husband of the Goddess of wealth) only. Akrura was feeling very guilty about the whole series of incidents! So, he respectfully offered the Syamantaka MaNi to KrishNa, immediately on return to Dwaraka. But, KrishNa forcefully insisted that the gem should remain with Akrura only. He told him, “Please think that I have given it to you! I should get rid of the doubt and suspicions about that gem and me, in the minds of all. I am especially concerned about getting back into my elder brothers good books! Then my main interest area is the welfare of the people of Dwaraka! The influence of the gem will make an immediate effect in the social and economic well being of the country, I am sure!” Thus, he ensured that the gem remained with Akrura. As the founding father of Dwaraka, as the King maker who re-installed Ugrasena after deposing Kamsa, as a leader of Yadu Kula and so on, KrishNa had an important role to play in the public life of that period. Such people have to live a life of exemplary cleanliness and transparency above all suspicions. In the case of a normal suspect, the crime has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the case of public figures, the onus to prove their innocence lies with them, as the famous idiom goes, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion”! KrishNa took a lot of pains to maintain an above board record, free of blemishes. Not that he was worried really. He was rather setting himself as a role model to be emulated! Part of that drama was the scarcity conditions that were obtaining in Dwaraka and subsequent period of abundance, after the return of the gem! When the repository of all value as KrishNa was available, it is of little consequence as to where a stone or a gem is located! It was all part of his ‘Leela’, the Lord’s wish and play. Akrura stayed in Dwaraka with the gem. Bad times hovering around Dwaraka slowly but surely lifted, along with all the doubts about KrishNa’s name and reputation! Once Balarama came to know about that, he also returned to Dwaraka from Videha Rajyam. He expressed deep regrets for having doubted KrishNa’s integrity! KrishNa told him not to feel bad. “It is none of your mistake at all”, he said. “The reason is that I happened to see the chathurthi Chandra, in the month of Bhadrapada; which initiated all these events. But all that, has ended in underlining the powerful influence of Vigneshwara and the need to take his protection only! It is all for the good!” This is the story of KrishNa worshipping PiLLaiyar!

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One great advantage experienced by the Tamilians who follow the Souramana Panchangam. For them, in the month of AvaNi, both Gokulashtami and PiLLaiyar Chathurthi, occur within a gap of 12 to 13 days; celebrating the birth-day / Aavirbhaavam of both KrishNa and PiLLaiyar. For others, Gokulashtami occurs in the month of SravaNa and Vinayaka Chathurthi in Bhadrapada! The special vegetable of AvaNi is the VeLLarikkai, the cucumber! This is the only vegetable which does not become over ripe and can be eaten raw without cooking. It is a vegetable truly indigenous and endemic to South India! Moreover, it is the most ‘saatvic’ of all vegetables! Like both KrishNa and PiLLaiyar won over people’s minds for thousands of generations by their endearing childhood pranks and exploits; the ‘veLLari pinju’ the baby of this vegetable, should be offered to these Gods in their pooja and partaken! They will bless us with wisdom through this raw vegetable! Thus PiLLaiyar, other than being from the ‘big place’ of highly connectedness, has proved himself to be the elder to his own Father, Mother, Younger brother anyhow and Uncle; on various occasions! They have all (Parameswara, AmbaL, SubrahmaNya and Sri Rama,) worshipped him for removal of obstacles and Sri KrishNa has prayed to him for erasing innuendo and safe guarding his reputation! Let us also make him our constant companion, as a Baby God to be cherished, for removal of all the obstacles in the path of our lives too and for the wisdom of understanding that He can endow! Original Tamil version available at: http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural18.htm

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Conclusion We conclude this E-book with a nice poem by Shri K. Chandrasekaran, Musiri. Source: Maha Periyavaal Darisana Anubhavangal (Tamil) - Volume 5 ஸ்ரீ பரமாச்சாரியார் திருப்பள்ளி எழுச்சி 1. பபொழுது புலர்ந்தது புள்ளினம் பொடிற்று பதொழுது நின்றனர் ததவரும் முனிவரும் ! விழுக வில்லலதயொ ஓலைகள் நும்பைவியில் எழுக எழுகதவ, யதிதய எழுகதவ ! 2. மக்கலள உய்விக்க மகொனொய் வந்த மகொலக்ஷ்மி வயிற்றுதித்த மகதவ எழுகதவ ! விழுப்புரம் தந்த ஒப்பரும் வள்ளதல பபொழுது புலர்ந்தது புனலொட எழுகதவ ! 3. பிறவிச் சுழலில் பரிதவிப் பவலரத் துறவிக் தகொலத் தொட்பகொண்ட பதப்பதம ! சுப்பிர மணியரின் சுததன தவதம அப்பிய கொரிருள் அகன்ற பதழுகதவ ! 4. ஜகத்குரு பிறப்பொல் ஜயவருடம் ைிறந்தது உகந்தநொள் ஆனது லவகொைி அனுஷம் ! ஞொனகுரு ததொன்றிய ஞொயிறும் பபொலிந்தது தீனலரக் கொத்திடத் துயில்கலளந் பதழுகதவ! 5. பிஞ்சுப் பருவத்தில் பதின்மூன்று வயதில் கொஞ்ைிலய யடுத்த கலலவயில் துறதவற்ற ைொமி நொததர, ைந்திர தைகரரொய் பூமியில் அருளட்ைி புரிந்தவதர எழுகதவ ! 6. கரும்பு வில்தலந்தி, கண்களில் கருலண அரும்பும் கொமொட்ைி அரைொளும் கொஞ்ைியில் அறுபத் பதட்டொம் ஆச்ைொர்ய ஸ்வொமிகளொய் பபொறுப்தபற் றவதர பள்ளி எழுகதவ !

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7. ைித்தன்ன வொைலில் ைிவலிங்க உருவங்கள் எத்தலனதயொ கொலமொய் எவருக்கும் பதரியொமல் நீரடியில் கிடக்க, நீலர இலறப்பித்து பொரறியச் பைய்தவதர பள்ளி எழுகதவ ! 8. வற்றிய தமனியில் வற்றொ அருட்பபருக்கொய், முற்றிய ஞொனத்தில் தமருவொய், தன்லனப் பற்றிய பக்தர்க்குப் பொர்த்த மொத்திரத்தில் பவற்றி யளித்திடும் விமலதர எழுகதவ ! 9. கண்ணில் கருலணயும் லகயில் தண்டுமொய் மண்ணில் நடகொடி மொதவம் தமற்பகொண்டு நுண்ணிய அருளுலரகள் நொளும் வழங்கிப் புண்ணியம் பபருக்கிய பபரியவதர எழுகதவ ! 10. வட்டுப் ீ பற்லற தவதரொ டறுத்தும் நொட்டுப் பற்றொல் நொளும் கதருடுத்தி ஒருபிடி அவலல உணவொய் அருந்தி ஒருநூ றொண்டுகள் வொழ்ந்தவதர எழுகதவ ! 11. இரகுரொமன் திருப்பபயலர எழுதுதவொர் தம்லம பவகுமொக ஊக்குவித்தீர் பவள்ளிக்கொ ைளித்து! தகுதியுலடப் புலவர்க்குத் தங்கமும் பணமுடிப்பும் மிகுதியொய் வழங்கிய மலழமுகிதல எழுகதவ ! 12. பகொல்லப் படுகின்ற தகொக்கலளப் தபணுதற்கு நல்ல பகொட்டில்கள் நொபடங்கும் அலமத்தவதர தளர்ந்த வயதிலும் திருவடியொல் மண்லண அளந்த அருட்சுடதர அதிகொலல எழுகதவ ! 13. தபொட்டிகள் நடத்திப் பொலவப் பொடல்கலள நொட்டில் பரப்பின ீர் நற்றமிழ் வளரதவ ! பட்டொலட பநய்யப் புழுக்கலளக் பகொல்வதொல் கட்டொதீர் என்றவதர கருலணகூர்ந் பதழுகதவ !

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14. வரதட் ைிலணலய வொங்குதவொர் அலழப்பிதழில் குருவரு ளொபலனக் குறிப்பிடொ தீபரன்று மறுப்பு பவளியிட்டு மகளிர் நலனில் பபொறுப்புடன் பையற்பட்ட பபருந்தலகதய எழுகதவ! 15. நலிந்த மொந்தர்கள் நலம்பபற தவண்டி பமலிந்த தமனிலய தமன்தமலும் வருத்தி, கனகொபி தஷகங்கள் குவலயத்தொர் பைய்தொலும் தனக்தகதும் பகொள்ளொதத் தூயவதர எழுகதவ ! 16. தவத தர்மபரி பொலன ைலபயும் தவத ரக்ஷண நிதியும் ஏற்படுத்தி ஆகம ைில்பைதஸ் ஆங்கொங்கு நடத்தி யொகங்கள் வளர்த்த தயொகிதய எழுகதவ ! 17. விடிபவள்ளி எழுந்தது தவதம் முழுங்குது, அடியவர் குழுமினர் அருளுலர தகட்க! பைடிகள் பூத்தன ைிரைில் நீர்சூட படித்துலறயில் நீரொடப் பகலவன்தபொல் எழுகதவ ! 18. எவலரத் பதொழுததத்தி யொதன ப்ரம்மபமன்றும் புவனங்க ள ீதரழும் பபொய்யொன ததொற்றபமன்றும் ைிவதன யொபனன்றும் ைிந்லத பதளிந்தததனொ அவலரத் துயிபலழுப்ப ஆதவனும் எழுந்தொதன! 19. பொல சூரியன்தபொல் பதின்மூன்று வயதில் ஞொலம் உயர்வுற ஞொனப் பயிர்வளர்த்தீர் கொலம் ஒருமூன்றும் கடந்து நிற்பவதர தூல உருமீ ண்டும் துலங்குமொ பறழுகதவ! 20. விஞ்ஞொன வைதிகள் வொகனங்கள் யொவும் நஞ்ைொக நிலனத்து நடந்தத பயணித்து அஞ்ஞொன விருளில் அல்லற் படுதவொர்க்கு பமய்ஞொன பவொளியொக மிளிர்ந்தவதர எழுகதவ!

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21. வரதவண்டும் குருதவ லவயகம் தலழத்திட தரதவண்டும் நல்லுலரகள் பதய்வத்தின் குரலொக பதொழதவண்டும் நொங்கள் தங்கள் திருவடிலய எழதவண்டும் தொங்கள் இவ்தவலழக் கருளதவ! 22. குருவருட் கவியொம் ைந்திர தைகரன் கருலணக் கடலொம் கொஞ்ைிப் பபரியவலரத் திருப்பள்ளி எழுச்ைியொல் துதித்ததன் இலதப்படித்ததொர் விருப்பங்கள் கூடுதம, வருத்தங்கள் தீருதம!

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Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the following books, blogs and websites which contained relevant information for compiling this E-book on the Story of ‘Syamantaka Mani’ narrated by Sri Kanchi Mahaswami. 1. http://kamakoti.org/ 2. http://advaitham.blogspot.in/ 3. Maha Periyavaal Darisana Anubhavangal (Tamil) published by Vaanathi Padhippaham

Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara!

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