#MahaPeriyava A family went to have the darshan of Maha Periyava. Along with them, they took one of their family friends who had been living in the USA for some decades. The friend did not have any great faith in our religion, system and especially the monks wearing the saffron.
He went along with them, utterly disinterested in meeting Him. He was under the impression that Maha Periyava was a fundamentalist, an uneducated monk. This NRI had no great respect for Him at all. Not only that, he uttered such inauspicious things about Him, “What does He know?
Does He know English?” There was a big throng of devotees at the Mutt and the family was standing at a decent distance from Him. As usual, Maha Periyava saw this family with His graceful eyes, and called all of them near Him. They all went near Him, the friend too. After all the
usual courteous enquiries about the family, His Holiness looked at the NRI friend and asked him about his details, including his name, whereabouts, his predecessors, where he was working etc etc. Then He asked, “You are born in India, and you know Tamil. Your wife was also born
in India and should know the mother tongue. When you two converse is it in Tamil or English?” The friend replied, “We never use Tamil at home, we use only English. The same goes with the kids also.” Then Maha Periyava asked, “Before speaking, you may have to think and conceive
the sentence. Is the thought process in Tamil or English?” The friend replied, “That too in English only.” Some minutes later, an old lady came to have Maha Periyava’s Darshan. Maha Periyava looked at the NRI person and said, “This old lady is now very poor, but once upon a time
she was very rich. But even after she lost all the materialistic wealth, her devotion towards the Mutt, Acharya and me has never changed even a bit. Could you please tell me the English word which describes this unflinching devotion, which cannot be changed by external
situations? I would like to know”. The man was flummoxed. He thought and thought for a while but did not know the word. Maha Periyava smiled and told him, “Please take your time and let me know.” Even after some time, he could not come up with the exact word. Then Swamiji said,
“Can I suggest one word? Could you please confirm whether the same can convey this meaning? EQUIPOISED.” The man was spellbound and fell at Maha Periyava’s Feet to pardon him for his ego. Compiled by Jagadguru Sri Maha Periyava - Kanchi Paramacharya/Fb Sarvam Sri Krishnarpanam🙏🏻
