Post by Sumi on Jan 13, 2012 23:27:34 GMT 5.5
In the year 1927, a dog came to SriMatam camp on its own and started keeping vigil. After his biksha was over, Paramacharya ordered that the dog be fed. Strangely, after tasting the food from the matam, the dog stopped accepting food from anyone else.
The dog used to trot under the palanquin known as mena which carried Paramacharya. Sometimes it would run between the massive, moving legs of the elephant! When the palanquin was parked, it would step aside to a distance and watch the sage descend and walk, wagging its tail.
At one time, the officials thought that the dog had become mad and ordered a servant to leave it in a village, about forty kilometers away from their camp. No sooner had the servant returned, than the dog also had got back to the camp! From that time, until its death, the dog kept vigil and also kept a vow not to take food until it had a darshan of Paramacharya.
As he resumed his divine duties after a short rest following his biksha, Paramacharya would first inquire if the dog was fed.
*** *** ***
There was an incident when Paramacharya served food for an entire army of dogs.
He was observing chAturmAsyam at Vasanta Krishnapuram near Tirukkovalur in the year 1947. The peak of Tiruvannamalai hill, about twenty kilometers away, was visible from that place. Paramacharya used to perform a puja for the mountain that was Lord Siva's form at where he stayed, with a darshan of the peak.
During one such puja, when he was meditating, a dog came and put its mouth to the water in the kamandaluh. The people around were very much upset by this happening, and a devotee who was a retired government official, threw a stone at the dog, which ran howling, and stopped at a safe distance.
Paramacharya's eyes opened at the anxious hubbub. He looked at the people aroud him and ordered: "Collect all the available dishes from the houses of the agrahAram. Also bring bucketfuls of water."
The volunteers group that included retired official went around and brought the food and water. As Paramacharya gestured, the dog that was standing at a distance came near and stopped hesitatingly. As he gestured a second time, soemthing very strange happened.
An army of dogs came from nowhere and calmly arranged themselves in a row, without showing any signs of hurry for the food that was before them. Paramacharya offered food and water to the dogs through the retired official who had stoned the dog earlier.
The dog used to trot under the palanquin known as mena which carried Paramacharya. Sometimes it would run between the massive, moving legs of the elephant! When the palanquin was parked, it would step aside to a distance and watch the sage descend and walk, wagging its tail.
At one time, the officials thought that the dog had become mad and ordered a servant to leave it in a village, about forty kilometers away from their camp. No sooner had the servant returned, than the dog also had got back to the camp! From that time, until its death, the dog kept vigil and also kept a vow not to take food until it had a darshan of Paramacharya.
As he resumed his divine duties after a short rest following his biksha, Paramacharya would first inquire if the dog was fed.
*** *** ***
There was an incident when Paramacharya served food for an entire army of dogs.
He was observing chAturmAsyam at Vasanta Krishnapuram near Tirukkovalur in the year 1947. The peak of Tiruvannamalai hill, about twenty kilometers away, was visible from that place. Paramacharya used to perform a puja for the mountain that was Lord Siva's form at where he stayed, with a darshan of the peak.
During one such puja, when he was meditating, a dog came and put its mouth to the water in the kamandaluh. The people around were very much upset by this happening, and a devotee who was a retired government official, threw a stone at the dog, which ran howling, and stopped at a safe distance.
Paramacharya's eyes opened at the anxious hubbub. He looked at the people aroud him and ordered: "Collect all the available dishes from the houses of the agrahAram. Also bring bucketfuls of water."
The volunteers group that included retired official went around and brought the food and water. As Paramacharya gestured, the dog that was standing at a distance came near and stopped hesitatingly. As he gestured a second time, soemthing very strange happened.
An army of dogs came from nowhere and calmly arranged themselves in a row, without showing any signs of hurry for the food that was before them. Paramacharya offered food and water to the dogs through the retired official who had stoned the dog earlier.