CHAPTER -3
Shankar Bhatt meets Palaniswamy - His visit to Kuruvapuram
The efficacy of constant meditation about Sreepada Sreevallabha
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Sripada Srivallabha[/caption][caption id="attachment_1027" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Sri GopalBaba Maharaj[/caption]The glory of remembering Sripada Srivallabha By the grace of Sripada Srivallabha I started from Vichitrapuram. My mind is becoming eager to have darshan of Parameswar in Chidambaram. Journey went on well for three days. I used to get food without effort. On the fourth day I stood in front of the gate of a Brahmin’s house in a village and begged for food. The Brahmin’s wife came from inside the house with a fierce face and shouted ‘no food’. I waited outside the house for some time. The owner of the house came out and said, “Sir! I do not have the fortune of serving guests. My wife is an arrogant woman. If she becomes angry she would break an earthen pot on my head.
In this aspect, my wife and the wife of my Gurudev are similar. But my wife insists that I should pay the cost of the earthen pot. My Gurudev’s wife will not insist on paying the cost of the pot. Just now, one pot was broken on my head. We have no dearth of food and water in our house. But I have to certainly pay the cost of broken pot immediately. This is troublesome to me. If I can get some ‘sambhavana’ by getting some work, there will not be any problem. Otherwise I have to borrow money from someone. Again when I get money through ‘sambhavana’, I will repay that borrowed money and give the rest to my wife. That went on for some time. Recently, she has been taking away all the money that I get by way of ‘sambhavanas’. So there is no way of repaying the loan money. No one, who knows my situation, is willing to lend money to me. They ask ‘how do you repay the money? You will not be able to pay even after getting ‘sambhavana’ money now.’ Because I am a rich man no one is giving me money as donation also. More over they are ridiculing me. Now I have topay the cost of the broken pot. My wife, after shouting at you, called me and said, ‘there is a pilgrim outside. You go with him and bring money if someone donates. Then only you will get food in the house.’ As a true follower of wife, I will come with you. I know the houses of Brahmins in this village. We may get money also along with food.” I was stunned. I thought ‘Sripada Srivallabha! What is this test?’ Along with that Brahmin, I went to every household. Leave about money. No one was willing to give even a morsel of food. The Brahmin who came with me said, ‘Sir! Till now, only I was unfortunate.
He had a vision in which an extremely beautiful 16 year old tall ‘yati’ (saint) appeared and put some ‘vibhuthi’ in his mouth. Who is that ‘yathi’? Where does he stay? In what way is he related to Sri Dattaprabhu? Please tell me.’ I said humbly, ‘How can I describe the greatness of Sripaduka’s of Sripada
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Sripada Srivallabha Paduka[/caption]He is truly the avathar of Datta Prabhu. Like Sri Krishna avathar, it is an extremely unique manifestation. Whatever I heard about him is also very little. I am going to Kuruvapuram to have his darshan only. On the way I have been meeting sacred people and visiting sacred places.’ The pundits in Vichitrapuram also were surprised over this strange happening. They praised Srivallabha Swami because the king developed a good heart and released them from their troubles. They were also happy because the Yuvaraja’s dumbness also vanished because of their mandala (40 days) Datta ‘deeksha’. The King honoured me with gold.
Raja Guru said, ‘Sir! Atleast now, we got realization. We understood that by the abuse of Vishnu by Saivites and abuse of Siva by Vishnavites, nothing would be gained except gathering loads of sins. Due to abuse of God, we suffered. Knowingly or unknowingly, we were in for forty days on the advice of Madhava Nambudri. We are very much indebted to you.’ While we were taking leave from them, Madhava Nambudri insisted that he would also come with us. We agreed. All three of us reached ‘Agraharam’.
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Brahmin Agraharam[/caption]I gave the gold given by the King to that agrahara Brahmin. His arrogant wife gave us food after receiving gold. Later she also became a devotee of Sripada Srivallabha. Her arrogance left her and she became docile. I and Madhava Nambudri together continued our journey towards Chidambaram. The sage Agastya took Parabrahma Sastri a resident of Ryali village in Godavari Mandalam for the worship of Dharmasasta Ayyappa Swami. In course of time, the descendents of the kings of Malayala Kingdom invited the Veda scholars from the village Namburu in Gartapuri (Guntur) Mandalam. Thus many Brahmins left Namburu for Malayala Kingdom and spread Veda vidya (knowledge of Vedas). They are called Nambudri Brahmins. The ancestors of Sri Adi Shankara also belonged to Namburu Agraharam.
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Adi sankaracharya[/caption]The Nambudri Brahmins are famous for their traditions, austerity and mantra, tantra and yantra vidyas. But Madhava Nambudri was an illiterate. He was living by cooking in Brahmin houses. He lost his parents when he was very young. His relatives did not take care of him. He had unwavering devotion towards Datta Prabhu. When he heard about the avatar of Sripada Srivallabha, he became very eager to have his darshan. We heard that there was a siddha mahatma near Chidambaram.
We went and met that old Tapasi Sri Palani Swami who lived alone in a cave in the interiors of hills. When we came to the entrance of the cave, Palani Swami saw us and said, “Oh! Madhav and Shankar have come together. What a good fortune!” We understood that he was a siddha purusha because he was calling us by our names even before we introduced ourselves.
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Palaniswamy & Sankarbhatt[/caption]The compassionate Sri Swami said, “My Dear! On the orders of Sripada Srivallabha, the time has come for me to leave this body and enter a young body. The age of this body is 300 years. Sripada ordered me to leave this ruined body and stay in a new body for another three hundred years. Even Jeevanmuktas and those who have gone beyond the cycles of birth and death in the creation, have to come back if Sripada orders them to take birth. The Maha Sankalpa which runs all this creation has manifested itself as Sripada Srivallabha. His manifestation keeps on happening relentlessly in the higher subtle worlds. His is a complete yogic avatar. His partial avatars keep manifesting always on this earth to protect His devotees. My Dear Shankar! You said about Kaanaada Maharshi and his theory of atoms in Vichitrapuram. Explain to me a little.’
The theory of atoms by Sage Kaanaada Maharshi
I said, “Swami! Please forgive me. What I know about Kaanaada maharshi and his theory of atoms is very little. Swami knows very well that what I said was actually spoken from my mouth by some power”. Compassionate Sri Palaniswami said, “The whole creation is made up of smallest particles called atoms. The presence of more subtle particles than atoms will create electric sparks like lightening. Just like the planets move around the Sun in different orbits, these subtle particles also keep on moving at a high speed in their orbits. The vibration of the currents of thoughts of living beings will be more subtle than those subtle particles.
In this vibratory world, nothing remains stable. Its nature is ever changing. It keeps changing every moment. Datta Prabhu’s chaitanyam will be in a more subtle state than those vibrations. It is easy to get His grace and it is also that much difficult. If we divide each particle into endless number, each part becomes equal to ‘nothing’. The union of these endless numbers of ‘nothings’ makes this movable and immovable creation. If a matter is created, there will be creation of antimatter having the opposite qualities.
When these two meet, the antimatter will perish. Matter keeps changing its qualities. When idols are installed by invoking the life force into it and are worshipped, the idols become dynamic and capable of fulfilling the desires in the minds of the devotees. All mantras manifest in the ‘kundalini’. ‘Gayatri’ also manifested in it. Everybody thinks that there are three ‘padas’ (stanzas) in Gayatri Mantra. But there is a fourth ‘pada’ in Gayatri ‘Parorajasi Saavadom’. The fourth part of Gayatri indicates Brahman without qualities.
The kundalini power creates the worlds in 24 ‘tatwas’. Gayatri also has 24 letters. The number 24 also has a name ‘Gokulam’. ‘Go’ means 2, ‘Kulam’ means 4. The Parabrahma is beyond changes. So it is indicated by 9. The number 8 is the form of Maha Maya. Sripada Srivallabha used to ask for bhiksha from people whom He liked, ‘Do Chowpathi Dev Laxmi’. Because Parabrahma is the husband of all jeevas, ‘pathi dev’ indicates No.9. Laxmi indicates No.8, ‘Do’ indicates No.2 and ‘Chow’ indicates No.4. Instead of saying ‘Do Chapathi Dev Laxmi’, He used to call in a distored strange way as ‘Do Chowpathi Dev Laxmi’. Thus he indicates the number 2498 to ‘Jeevas’. The Parabrahman of Gokulam and Parashakti are both there in the ‘form’ of Sripada SriVallabha.
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Biksha[/caption]Know that Sri Krishna Paramatma Himself is Sripada Srivallabha. The Gayatri Mantra is His nirguna ‘Padukas’. ‘My Dear Shankar! There are twelve differences in the gross human body. This gross body seen by everybody is under the influence of gross ‘sun’. By divine sadhana on ‘kriya’ yoga the body changes into twelve different types having different subtle vibrations. These twelve different types of bodies come under the influence of the twelve ‘adityas’. Because Sripada Srivallabha is beyond the influence of the twelve ‘adityas’, His divine gross body will be having different strange divine vibrations. Before taking birth in human form in Sri Peethikapuram, i.e. 108 years before, Srivallabha came to this place and graced me.
He came here in the same form that is now seen in Kuruvapuram. Where is the end for his divine leelas? After some time, when he came here, Mahayogis in Himalayas worshipped Lord Badrinarayana in Badrinath with Brahma lotuses (Brahma Kamalams). All those Brahma Kamalams came here and fell on the feet of Sricharana. He is beyond the time and space.’ I had unexplainable experience with Sri Palaniswami’s words. I prayed ‘Swami! What are Brahmakamalams? Where are they available? I gather from your words that Sripada Srivallabha would be pleased with worshipping with Brahmakamalams. Please remove my doubts.’
Brahma Kamalams:-
Palaniswami told me, looking with graceful eyes. :‘Sri Mahavishnu’ worshipped Sadasiva with ‘Brahmakamalams’. The Nabhi Kamalam of Sri Maha Vishnu also was Brahmakamalam. Worshipping Sri Datta with kamalams (lotus flowers) will give worldly and spiritual wealth. Similar to the Brahmakamalams of the divine worlds, we can see Brahmakamalams in Himalayas on this earth. It gives flowers only once in a year at about 12000 feet above sea level in Himalayas. Another strange aspect of this is, it blooms in the middle of the night.
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BrammaKamalam[/caption]When it blooms a wonderful fragrance spreads the entire area. Mahatmas in Himalayas wait for this wonderful darshan for days and months. It will be covered with snow from the month of Aaswayujam to Chaitram. In the beginning of the month of Chaitram it comes out of snow. The blooming season continues throughout the summer. On full moon day in the month of Shravan, the Amareswara Hima Lingam will give darshan in Amaranath. On that day in the middle of the night, the Brahmakamalams will bloom completely.
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Amarnath[/caption]My Dear Shankar! This wonderful ‘leela’ happens even now and also for ever only in Himalayas for the sake of sadhakas, great Tapaswis and Siddha Purushas. By having darshan of Brahmakamalam, all sins perish. All obstacles for yoga will come to an end. It is a wonderful ‘leela’ which gives immediate results. So yogis and Tapaswis will go to the highest levels in their respective paths. After blooming and giving darshan to the eligible people, the Brahmakamalams disappears. ‘My Dear Shankar!, I decided to stay in Tapao Samadhi for ten days deeksha. If anybody in distress comes here, you and Madhav see that they have my darshan without disturbing my Samadhi state. If they bring any person dead with a snake bite, you tell them that Swami is in yoga Samadhi and hence throw the body either in river water or bury in accordance with shastras. Tell them it is my order.’ Sri Palaniswamy sat on the ‘asanam’ (seat) and went into ‘Tapao Samadhi’. Myself and Madhav were aiding devotees who come with problems, to have darshan of Swamy peacefully. Some of the devotees brought us some food materials. Madhav was preparing food.
In that process he told me that he would go to the nearby coconut tree from which a big dry leaf fell. He wanted to use it for cooking food. I said ‘yes’. Madhav and another person went there. Cruel fate! While Madhav was about to lift the coconut leaf, a cobra snake which was hiding underneath, bit Madhav. Three people went and brought him near the cave. He died. According to the orders of Sri Swami, I buried Madhav’s body. The devotees who came there helped me. I wept inconsolably. Remembering Madhav’s pure heart, his spotless devotion and his unwavering confidence in Sripada Srivallabha, my mind got disturbed badly.
I consoled myself remembering that fate was the ultimate. After this bad incident, I saw another bad incident. One dead body of an 18 year old young man was brought by his relatives wailing and crying. He also died of snake bite. I told them that Sri Swami was in yoga Samadhi and according to his orders, the body had to be buried. The other devotees present there also told them that my friend also died similarly and he was also buried in accordance with the Swami’s orders. With grief stricken faces, and having no other way, they blamed the fate in a number of ways and buried that young man’s body. Every day three or four people used to come for Swamiji’s darshan. They would have Swamiji’s darshan peacefully and go. Thus ten days passed. On the eleventh day, some movement started in Palaniswami. Early in the morning during Brahma Muhurtham (between 3 am. and 5 am.)
Sri Swami became fully conscious and called “Madhava!.” Weeping inconsolably I told him everything that happened. Swami consoled me and passed his yogic looks on me. With that some disturbance happened in my midback and a severe pain started. Sri Swami again looked at me with graceful looks. My suffering disappeared. Swami said, “My Dear! Madhava had no fortune of having Srivallabha’s darshan with his gross body.
His subtle body is with Sricharana in Kuruvapuram on all these ten days. Whatever it was, his wish was fulfilled. Srivallabhas ‘leelas’ are unpredicatable. Nobody can comprehend the secrets of time, action and reason. Only Sripada knows. Sripada gave me the responsibility of bringing Madhava’s subtle body into the gross body. We should immediately do it.” My sorrow suddenly disappeared in a moment. What more do I want than seeing Madhav being brought back to life? We came to the place where Madhava was buried. The dead body was brought out. Two more people were there for my help. Swami told us to go to the palm groove on the southern side and shout, “Oh! Naga Raja who bit Madhav! On the orders of Sripada Srivallabha, you are ordered to come to Sri Palani Swami.” We did the same.
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Snake with Nagamani[/caption]Sri Palani Swami took out four small shells from his ‘koupeenam’. He kept them on the four sides of the dead body. After some time the shells went into air for some distance. After that, they went in all four directions making noise. After some more time we saw a snake coming hissing. That snake was very restless. Sri Palani Swami’s four shells were found stuck on its hood as if pierced on it. Sri Palani Swami told that snake to take out the poison from the body of Madhav. So the poison was sucked out from where it was injected. Sri Palani Swami, chanting the name of Sripada Srivallabha, sprinkled sanctified water on the snake. That snake kissed the feet of Palani Swami and did circumambulation to him three times and peacefully left the place.
The fruit of giving food to Datta Devotees
Sri Palani Swami said like this, ‘This snake was a woman in previous birth. She became old. She had some merit and some sin. Once she gave food to a Brahmin who was a devotee of Datta. Datta has the quality of getting pleased easily. After she died she went to ‘yama loka’. Yama Dharma Raja questioned her ‘you have some merit and some sin in your account. Because you gave food to a Datta devotee you got great merit. Sri Dattatreya is now on earth as Sripada Srivallabha. He ordered me to make some changes in your merit-sin table. He told me to give great merit and make the sin smaller. So Chitragupta made the necessary changes in your table. Do you want to experience the fruit of sin or merit first?’ Because the sin was very small, she said, she would bear the sin effect first and the merit effect later. So she was born as a snake on earth.
As her nature was to harm others, she used to bite who ever came on her way. So she was accumulating more sin. My Dear! There are four races among snakes. The first type of snakes do not harm anybody, take only air and live like yogis. The second type of snakes bite and kill anyone whose shadow falls on them. Third type of snakes will try to avoid being noticed by humans. If they see a man, they will run with fear. The fourth type of snakes, even when no one harms them, bite people with vengeance whom they see without any reason. That snake being a ‘Rajo Guna’ type, bit Madhav who went near it. She bite Madhav because of her previous merit.
Madhav, because of his sin in previous birth, died. By the grace of Sripada Srivallabha, that old woman will be relieved of her snake birth and get higher lokas. The jeevas will be in the shape of a snake in the fetus stage. Because of Naga dosham, dead fetuses will be born.’
The fruit of giving food to an eligible person:-
Sri Palaniswami said, “Sri Datta will be pleased with small things. If anybody gives food to an eligible person in the name of Sri Datta, the donor of food will get special merit. A part of the essence of the food will become mind. The annadata’s (donor of food) mind, attitude, concentration and ego get filled up with auspicious vibrations. With that, he develops a power of attracting things in the creation. Having plenty of things is the grace of Laxmi. This creation is run with subtle vibrations and subtle rules.”
The greatness of Sripada:-
Chanting the name of Sripada brings wealth. How can we describe the fortune of those who get His grace? By the special grace of Sricharana, the body of Madhava buried ten days ago was not spoiled a bit. How could we describe the mercy and divine play of Sripada who was going to give life to that body? Madhava started moving. He asked for water to quench the thirst. Consoling him, Palani Swami made him drink ghee only. That ghee also was one hundred years old. Madhava was refusing to drink it. Sri Palani Swami lovingly said that he would give water after drinking ghee. After Madhav drank the whole ghee, he was given fruit juice and a little later water.
Description of Naga Loka:
Madhav was brought to life. There was no limit for our happiness. Madhav started telling. “With subtle body I reached Kuruvapuram. Sripada Vallabha was a tall person. He had wide eyes. From his eyes, grace, compassion and love would be flowing always. Because I was not having a gross body, I was not visible to the people there, having gross bodies. Shrivallabha told me to go into the depths of that island of Kuruvapuram.
Chanting the name of Sripada Srivallabha, I went into the depths from the middle of the island. In the depths of earth at its center point, I found there were many fortified structures. I learnt that it was Patala Lokam. People having the gross body will be able to see only the gross things there. People like me with a subtle body, will be able to see subtle worlds there. The serpent race living there was having the power to assume any form they like. But they would like to remain in serpent form only. There I had seen many great serpents. Some serpents were having thousands of hoods each hood having gems. Light was emanating from them. Some serpents were in ‘yoga mudra’ with raised hoods and silent. Surprise! There was a great serpent. It also had thousands of hoods. On that, Sripada Srivallabha was lying as Mahavishnu. The great serpents there were chanting Vedas. Swami was listening to that chanting happily. A great serpent standing nearby told me like this.
Sri Dattatreya Maha Mahima:-
“Sri Datta prabhu was born as the son of Atri and Anasuya on the Anasuya Mountain in Chitrakutam in the kingdom of Nepal. He did not end his ‘avathar’ and would roam in subtle body in the peaks of Nilagiri, Srisailam, Sabarigiri and Sahyadri, having only the sides as his clothes.
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Sahyadri Hills[/caption]He became famous as ‘Digambara’. In Sahyadri, he did yoga practice. He taught Kriya yogam to Goraksha Nath. A yogi named Jnaneswar had darshan of Him as Yogi having no form in Khechari Mudra. He is beyond place and time. We, living in the vicinity of Sriprabhu, do not see past, present and future separately. For us everything is ‘present’ only.”
Darshan of Dattatreya with Anagha Devi:-
Another great serpent near me said, ‘My Dear Madhav! we are called Kaalanaaga Rishiswaraas. After Sri Datta ruled us for thousands and thousands of years, He wanted to hide His form. He stayed under water for some years. Then He came to the surface. We, as his friends, waited there only in the hope that He would come with us. We knew that He was trying to hide Himself from us. Again He went into water and came out after a few years.
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AnaghaDatta[/caption]But this time He had a liquor vessel in his hand. In another hand he held a 16 year old fascinating girl. We went away regretting that we misunderstood Him as God and he seemed to be a drunkard and womanizer. He then disappeared. After He disappeared, our eyes got opened. The liquor vessel in his hand was the ‘amrit’ which gave ‘yogananda’ and the fascinating woman was ‘Anagha Devi’ who was the embodiment of the three shaktis combined. To make him come to this earth, we did intense Tapas. By the grace of Sri Datta, He took the form of Sripada Srivallabha in Sri Peethikapuram.
Description of Kuruvapuram:-
‘The place where he immersed Himself in water is now the Kuruvapuram, which is the most sacred place. As he was in the ‘Jala samadhi’, we also were in ‘Yoga samadhi’ in this subtle world with subtle vibrations.
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kuruvapuram[/caption]This is the place where Kuru Maharaj, who was the root person for kouravas and pandavas, was given ‘upadesam of jnana’. My Dear Madhav, it is very difficult even for the ‘Adisesha’ to describe the greatness of this Kuruvapuram.
The previous history of Sadasiva Brahmendra:-
I paid obeisance to the Sricharana of Sripada Srivallabha. With full of grace in his heart, Sripada said, “My Dear Child! The divine auspicious ‘darshan’ of mine is very difficult to get. The great serpent who has talked to you will manifest itself as Jyothi Ramalinga Swami in the coming centuries and it disappears in the form of ‘jyothi’. The other serpent which has talked to you will manifest itself on earth as Sadasiva Brahmendra in the coming centuries and show many ‘leelas’. Sri Peethikapuram is very dear to me. My Padukas will be installed in Peethikapuram. The padukas will be installed in the place where I was born in my maternal grandfather’s house. My works in this manifestation are divine secrets. You go to Sri Peethikapuram, where my Padukas will be installed; and go down into the paathaala and meet the ‘kalanagus’ which are immersed there in the austerities of ‘Tapas’.” Sri Palani Swami said smiling, ‘My Dear Madhav! You can tell about the Kala Nagus of Peethikapuram later. We should immediately finish our bath and do dhyana. This is the order of Sripada Srivallabha.’
******Victory to Sripada Srivallabha ******
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