Fond memories of bliss – Part 49

The Madhurapuri Ashram houses a Sama Veda and Yagur Veda Patashala, where a number of young boys study as resident students. Like any other school, every year, during summer, the students get vacation time when they go back to their homes to spend some time with their family. It was May 1st, and the summer holidays had just begun. The face was every student was lit up with joy as each one packed his bags bidding goodbye to his friends.

Sri Sri Swamiji returned to Chennai from Bangalore on 2nd May and went to the Madhurapuri Ashram. There, He found our Thakurji Premika Varadan with a forlorn face. Having witnessed all the Patashala students leave one by one for their vacation, our Thakurji also wanted enjoy the summer vacation and travel some place. Our Sri Swamiji tried hard to calm down Thakurji but He remained persistent in his request. Seeing Thakurji be so adamant and not knowing an alternate, Sri Sri Swamiji decided to take the Divine Couple to Nangur, a holy city in the Thanjavur belt, where there functions another Patashala – ‘Srimati Jayanti Janakiraman memorial Vaishnava Aagama & Dravida Veda Patashala’.

Located amidst many Divya Desams (Temples of Lord Vishnu sung by Azhwars), the Patashala functions in a huge house constructed in an ancient traditional South Indian style. A handful of Vaishnava students learn Vaishnava Agama and Nalayira Divya Prabandham in this traditional Gurukula setting. Sri Ravi, an ardent devotee of our Guru Maharaj takes care of this Patashala.

Learning Sri Swamiji’s (Thakurji’s) plan, one of Sri Swamiji’s attendants said, ‘Agni Nakshatram* is currently on. The Southern districts are bound to be hotter. Will it be okay to take Thakurji there during peak summer?’

Sri Sri Swamiji just replied, ‘Where ever Premika Varadan goes, He will make the place cool.’

The Divine Couple thus set out on their vacation trip to Nangur. At Nangur, it was a shock and surprise for Sri Ravi. It was only the previous day that He had wept bitterly out of devotion that it has been quite a long time since he was blessed to serve Sri Madhuri Sakhi Sameta Sri Premika Varadan and that he misses the ‘kainkarya’ very badly.

Clearly, our Thakurji hatched a plan to execute so many of His divine plays, all at one stroke!

And yes, Thakurji did make our Swamiji’s words true – In spite of being ‘Agni Nakshatra’*, on the two days that He spent His vacation, there was a heavy downpour in Nangur on the 4th and 5th of May!

[*Agni Nakshatra is that period of the year when the Sun passes through the Star Krithika. This 21 day period marks the peak of summer when it is extremely hot]