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Smavedi Chandramouli
My name is Chandramouli, I am known as Smavedi Chandramouli. In the Maha I am known as
Kua Chandramouli. My father who served Periyava for long, was known as Kua Cheenu because he
was the shortest among the three Srinivasans who served Periyava Karvar Srinivasaiyer, Ambi Cheenu
and my father. If the name Srinivasan was called out all three would respond. Since my father was the
shortest among the three, Kua was prefixed to his name. I came to be known as Kua Chandramouli
to single me out as Kua Cheenus son. Besides I was shorter than Balu Mama and Srikantan Mama.
Kua became, more or less, an inherited honorific.
When did I first see Periyava? I was born in his presence, so to say, in Thiruvidaimaruthur, when
the camp was in Mahadana Street. Periyava would take our family along with him from camp to camp.
My parents lost two children, both born in Periyavas camp. Periyava expressed concern over
therepeated loss of my parents. I have heard that my parents had arcana performed to Tirupati
Venkataramanaswami on Periyavas advice and that they partook of the Sripdareu1 and that I was
born after that. Periyava would tell me these family tales. So I was named Venkatarama Sarma, since I
was born of Venkataramanaswamis grace. Since I was born in the sacred presence of Sri
Candramoulsvara swami of the r Maha, I was called Chandramouli. I was born in
Thiruvidaimaruthur.
Three more were born after me but they too died in infancy. Just as they had done before my
birth, my parents had arcana performed to Tiruchanur Padmavati2 and the sandal paste and turmeric
paste used to anoint the diety was received as prasda and subsequently when a girl was born, she was
named Padmavati. The family shifted to Kanchipuram when I was five years old, since Periyava felt that
it was no longer possible to go from one camp to another taking along with him the families of all those
that served him. So the families of all the Brahmins who served Periyava were all settled here.
There is a village called Thimmasamudram, near Kalvai. I was invested with the sacred thread
when Periyava was camping in a hamlet close by. A canal runs through that place. A cart with tyre
wheels, drawn by a pair of oxen, was parked at the bus stand at Kalavai - it had to be there, for that was
Periyavas instructions, so that guests coming to the investiture ceremony as well as to the Maha could
cross the canal and reach the venue without difficulty. This was in 1957 or 1958. I am now running
sixty three (in 2012). Periyava came to Kanchipuram and we settled here. I was put in the ptala on
Periyavas advice. My grandmother wished that I learn English and conveyed it to Periyava.
This is the only son in the family. Everyone in my family knows English. My son has passed High
School, SSLC. So too his grandfather.
Actually, it was not my father who told me all this. Periyava himself did so, or I would not have
known all this. When Periyava was camping in Mylapore, one day, he made me sit beside him in a room
1Camphor
2The
named Ambikapuram, or East Ambikapuram, to distinguish it from Kanchi (also given the esoteric name
Ambikapitha/puram) this village was gifted to theSri Mathain 1291by Sri Vijaya Gandagopaladeva of the Telugu Cholas. In
1916, while at Kumbakonam, Maha Periyava had the famous epigraphist T.A.Gopinatha Rao, bring together in book form all
the extant epigraphical evidences available with the r Kanchi Kamakoti Piha. The book documents references from this
first known epigraphical evidence to the more recent one - a firman of endowment made by the successor of Moghul ruler
Aurangazeb in 1687-1688 (translated by the Portuguese epigraphist D. Havart) - thus establishing the antiquity of the r
Maha. For more details see T.A.Gopinatha Rao. Copper Plate Inscriptions: Belonging to the Sri Sankaracharya of the
Kamakoti-pitha. Madras: The Law Printing House, 1916, rpt.1986, pp.7-8.
4sthna vidvn: scholar/artist/musician of extraordinary learning or talent, in residence a kings court
5A number of methods were devised by our forefathers to preserve the unwritten Vedas in their original form and to
safeguard their tonal and verbal purity: i) to ensure the preservation of syllables in chanting so that full benefits were derived
from intoning the mantras; ii) to fix the time taken to enunciate each syllable of a word; iii) rules to guide how to regulate
breathing so to produce the desired vibration in a particular part of the body such that the sound of the syllable enunciated is
produced in its pure form. To ensure that words and syllables are not altered in the intonation of Vedic mantras, the words of
a mantra are strung together in different patterns like vkya, pda, karma, jaa, mla, sikha, rekha, dhvaja, dana, ratha,
ghana in this growingly complex and intricate mnemonic way of learning. One who has completed the advanced ghana mode
of chanting, then masters the lakaa, or the compendium that encodes these rules. That is, after the mastery of chanting and
retention in memory, then the rules of application in chanting are mastered. Such a scholar is said to have completed
lakaantam (ending (in) lakaa). Each Veda has its own compendium of lakaa. [This note if reliant on Periyavas
exposition.]
For more see Hindu Dharma, Part V, Chap.10, Methods of Chanting, p 156-158.
Also online at http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap10.htm
known as kanyaka dna;when the girl is married before she attains puberty;
Between 1940 & 1943, Periyav toured extensively in Thanjavur district and inducted more than two thousand
Mudrdhikaris (lit. bearer of seal or signatory) who functioned as a liason between the Sri Matha and devotees and all other
people, facilitating reading of puras on ekdai, care of destitute cows or Go rakana, desilting village ponds, cleaning
and maintaining temples and hospitality to pilgrims. To these, was added in 1946, the service of performing last rites and
cremation of the orphaned dead. (More of the last item in a later narrative of this book entitled, S.Sreedhar, Transformed by
Deivattin Kural).
The Mudrdhikari was given a short stick tipped with silver, in lieu of a scepter and to its handle was tied a coin that bore the
embossed figure of Kamki on one side and the name of the ri Matha on the other. (Cf. Later narrative of this
bookbyVittalur Paatti)
8 Offering made to ones family preceptor during weddings, investiture of sacred thread and other such occasions.
7
9Located
6 kilometers south of Kanchipuram; Periyav spent many years in retreat at Sivasthanam in Thenampakkam.
The smantha ceremony, following certain prescribed rituals, is held to bless and rejuvenate the expectant mother in the
fifth or ninth month, to the chanting of udakasnti mantra, of the Kra Yajur Veda, composed by the sage Bodhyana.
[People mistakenly think that rites like Pumsavana and smanta are meant for the mother. Actually, they are for the life
taking shape in her womb, the foetus and are meant to purify it. The elders have a responsibility in this matter. One may not
do the rites meant for oneself, but it is sinful to be negligent about those meant for another life. Nowadays people omit to
perform garbhadhana, simanta, etc, since they think that such rites are not fashionable. Periyav. [See
HD:http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part16/chap9.htm]
11
Lit. Followers of smriti, memorized, knowledge i.e. the Veda,; commonly refers to Saivaite Brahmins.
rice- purification; Purifying cooked food by sprinkling at little clarified butter /ghee or a basil leaf on it.
12Lit.
13
Singing the names of God and devotional hymns in the streets at dawn and cooking ones meal with the rice-grain offered
by devotees while doing the rounds.
14 Periyav did an hours japa every morning which was sometimes done while walking.
15See http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap27.htm. For more see HD, Part V, Chap. 36 & 38.
16Vedapryaa: chanting of sections of the Veda everyday over aperiod of time; paryaa or chanting or reading is done of
other religious texts such as rimad Bhagavad Gta;Veda-pha: study, chanting of Veda; japryaa, Ghanapryaa: advancedmethods of Vedic chanting, according to certain prescribed permutations and combinations of the
words; a ghanaphi is one who performs ghanapryaa.(For more on this see ri Periyavs explanation in HD,Part
5, Chap 10).
17
23Amarakoa:
30
such as Dakshinamurthi wearing a garland of 108 ivaligas upon his matted locks. For more details see Siru-karumbur
Inscriptions at http://www.kamakoti.org
34Wooden-sandals
35Chaitra : March-April
Dismostachya bipinnata; also called Kusa grass; known for its medicinal value and potent compatibility with spiritual
practices
Deities are taken out in procession during annual festivities on various mounts.
38Appayya
39magala
sutra: auspicious thread soaked in turmeric with a symbolic gold ornament, tied around the brides neck by the
groom during the wedding; also called tli in Tamil
lit. nine nights; celebrated four times a year: arad Navartri /Mah Navartri nine days of the waxing
moon phase that immediately follows Mahlaya amavsya; (Sept-Oct); AdaNavartri / Guhya Navartri: July-August;
Vasanta Navartricelebrated spring (March-April) and Vanni/ Vana Navartri celebrated in the open, under a tree (NovDec).
Periyava initiated me into mantra41 in a dream. Periyava had attained siddhi then. My mother
was unwell then. She would get up every half an hour to pass water. When I took her to the doctor, the
doctor said that it was nothing to worry about. At that time I developed a strange illness. I was seized
by a terrible hunger all the time. That day I had eaten a full meal and when I got back home. I was
seized by such pangs of hunger. I told my wife and she gave me some rice mixed with butter milk and
mashed into a thick drink. I drank quite a bit of it and lay down to sleep. After a while I woke up,
hungry again. Everyone was fast asleep. I could not go on like this. Like one crazed I got up and
walked out into the night. After walking a while I reached the Pillayar temple that is situated quite
nearby. I stood there looking at the deity Pillayare! What is the meaning of all this? I have an aged
mother,wife and children at home. Who will take care of them if I die? I stood there in tearful
supplication. Suddenly my mind clearly and I came back home feeling reassured. I came back and went
to sleep. A day or two later Triupugazh42 singing was held at my house as usual. I was resting and
listening to the singing. My mother was lying down too. She was too ill to move. So I washed her when
she had to relieve herself, for which I had made arrangements inside the room. As long as I listened to
the singing blissfully, I knew no hunger so long as it went on. The moment they left, I was again seized
by terrible pangs of hunger. I felt that something terrible was in store and not knowing what to do,I fed
my mother he meal, had mine and just lay down to sleep.
I was then teaching Sma Veda at the paala. At half past two it would be Tuesday the next
morning - I had a dream. An ascetic wearing an ochre waist cloth, many garlands of rudrka and
besmeared with stripes of sacred ash upon his forehead,beckoned me, as I was walking along with my
41mantra:
that which protects by its repetition; a sacred formulaic phrase, syllable, name or mystic formula, an inspired
rhythmicutterance or any of the verses of the Veda. Always revealed, itspower stems from divine inspiration and source. The
power of the mantra being intrinsic to itself, it need not be instrumental to any meaning.
42the
saint- devotee Arunagiris (15th century) devotional hymns on Lord Muruga, known for its distinct poetical qualities
and phonetic evocation as well as its esoteric content
43
Mantra with the seed syllable (dhum) or the condensed sound form of the forces signifying Durga; the mantra salutes the
goddess in her essential sound-form
Nysa means touch; by touching the various parts of the body and parts of the hands, the practionner invokes the
presence of the deities/ forces in the macrocosm of the creation, in the microcosm of the body, at the beginning of
every spiritual exercise
45 The Veda says these words, durgm devm araam aham prapadye only to Parakti Amb. This means I
surrender to Durga who removes all sorrow. The Veda does not address such words to any other deity. So it is
clear that Parakti is everything, all powerful. Periyavas words to Dr. R. Krishnamurthi Sstrigal, Mylapore,
Chennai. Qtd. From In the Presence, Vol I, Appendix to Sanskrit quotations, S15.
Obalations and Gyatr for the evening, The Gyatr mantra first occurring in the g Veda (3-62-10), again in the Yajur
Veda (36-3), is also referred to many times in the Upanisads and is taught to the initiate at the time of the investiture of the
sacred thread. Literally Speech-Song that protects all creation it is the embodiment of the Supreme Brahman, and is a
unique combination of both the power of mantra and of prrthana (prayer). The deity associated with Gyatri mantra, is
Savitr, the Sun, which is metonymic of the Supreme Brahman, suggested by the neutral gender of tat, while the mantra
itself is symbolically represented as a Goddess with five heads sitting on a lotus. ri Periyavl often reiterated the necessity
and efficacy of its repetition - om bhur bhuva sva tat savitu vareya bhargo devasya dhmahi dhiyo yo na pracodayt
||Freely translated it may read as, Om! Embodiment of spiritual energy, Destroyer of suffering, Embodiment of happiness,
That Bright, luminous, Sun (like) Supreme, Destroyer of sins, Divine, May (we) receive, May (it) inspire (Our)
consciousness.
47
Durg Saptashat ,i.e. Seven Hundred (verses on ) Durga, simply Saptaat or Ca (fierce, violent)or Ca pha or
pryaa refers to the act of ritual reading; a seminal text in worship of the Divine Mother.
48
Tiruppvai-Tiruvempvai: collects of 30 verses and 20 verses celebrating esoteric union with ri Narayaa and iva by the
saints ndal and Mickavcakar respectively.
The 19th nakshatra or lunar mansion among the 27, its name and symbol emphasize the word root its symbol is a bunch
of roots that are tied together forming a shape like a lions tail; also considered the star of Saraswati, Goddess of learning.
50
Toakcryas spontaneous adoration his master of r ankarcya in eight verses in toaka metre; for Periyavas own
narration of how it came to be sung see A rare video of Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswami in Youtube; url in
several domains
51
r ankarcyas composition