"Delete my portion and publish Sringeri Acharya's opinions!"

Sringeri PeriyavargaL (referred here to HH Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati III Swamigal, the 34th Shankaracharya of Sringeri) would give all honours to the Kanchi MaTha pratinidhis, send them along with a pratinidhi of His own MaTham to the other MaThams under their support, and secure the consent and cooperation of those MaThadhipatis for the schemes devised by the Kanchi pIThAdhipati!

When these people come back to Maha PeriyavaaL, even as He was himself shining with tejas as a divya mUrti, He would say, 

"Such a Tejasvi have you seen anywhere? So much tapas, niShTa, and a lofty pAramparyam-- pUrvAshrama pAramparyam, ashrama pAramparyam both!" (He had referred to the greatness of Sringeri PeriyavargaL's pUrvAshrama pitA, pAttanAr and the greatness of the preceding Acharyas of the MaTham.) 

If the pratinidhis convey Sringeri PeriyavargaL's krutajnatai (gratitude) to Maha PeriyavaaL, He would immediately say, 

"Leaving us to the kAryams is He spending his time as a vRuddhaH (old man)? He is going on only in niShTa? A jnAni's radiation would on its own be doing good to the whole world. Therefore only we should express our krutajnatai to Him!" 

There are many examples that right from the beginning both the PeriyavargaL had established a unifying approach to Their own aNukka bhaktas (close devotees). 

In 1914, Maha PeriyavargaL started a publication named Arya Dharmam as the magazine of Kanchi SriMaTham. In the same way, the Vani Vilas Press run in Srirangam run by T.K.Balasubramaya Aiyar, who was an atyanta adiyAr (staunch devotee) of Sringeri SriMaTham and had obtained the title gurubhakta shikhAmaNi from that Acharyar, and the Hindu Message periodical published in that press, were both dedicated to the works of that MaTham. That same T.K.B. was also in the editorial board of Arya Dharmam. He would immediately carry out through his press whatever printing work ordered by Maha PeriyavaaL. 

He had written page after page in the Hindu Message, in adoration of the tATangakah pratiSTA done by Kanchi Periyavar in 1922 to Goddess Akhilandeswari--it is remarkable that he did this in spite of the incidents that arose in the previous century due to this very subject of tATangakah pratiSTA, which resulted in bitterness of mind between the devotees of the two MaThams. 

The elders of those days would narrate the Èclat (ostentatious, dazzling display) with which in 1919, the mahAjana (people) of Veppatthur conducted the Navaratri Puja of Kanchi PeriyavaaL. But then in the following issue of Arya Dharmam, Maha PeriyavaaL did not allow any essay to be published about these festivities.

Instead, He ordered a seven-page essay to be published on the Navaratri festival conducted in Sringeri by Bharathi SwamigaL. 

In the essay written by M.N.Subramanya Sastry for the fourth issue of Arya Dharmam in the dundubhi year (1922), he had adored how Kanchi PeriyavaaL for the last four years had gone to villages, giving a new lease of life to Vedic dharma. Without stopping there, indirectly -- still in a way that  the reader's can easily guess -- and without mentioning the name, he had also written that Sringeri PeriyavargaL did not "seem to work for the world" in this way and certain other things in the same rIti (manner).

The editor asked PeriyavaaL if he could keep the portions about PeriyavaaL's work, remove the different opinion about the other sage and publish the essay. 

PeriyavaaL's reply made him stagger. PeriyavaaL said that it would be shlAghyam to remove the portions relating to his work and publish the different opinion about the other sage! 

To the editor who stood dumbfounded wondering if it was PeriyavaaL who was talking, our Gurunathar continued with a smile: 

"If this man is the only one who has expressed his abhiprAyam in writing, there are many who have the same abhiprAyam in their mind. Therefore, we should publish that abhiprAya and also give our reply to it!"

Not knowing what the reply could be or how he would include it, the editor submitted the essay for the perusal of AcharyaaL Himself. 

As He ran His eyes over the essay, PeriyavaaL chose the passage, "In this manner (the manner PeriyavaaL was doing it) if every MaThAdhipati set out and started doing work in the field, our reformist elders would fly like pieces of cotton, their presence being felt no longer." 

After this indirect criticism, PeriyavaaL Himself added the lines, "Since there was no such Ishvara sammadam, they continue to stay in niShTa." 

Two points of excellence are there in this addition. One is pointing out that no one should be blamed for what happened due to Ishvara saMkalpam which is beyond human plans and human knowledge. The second is emphasizing that the inaction of the one who was criticised was not due to laziness or unskillfulness, only due to the niShTa, which is past all actions!  

There were devotees who earnestly appealed to Bharathi SwamigaL that He should also like Maha PeriyavaaL do many saMchAra, clear saMdehas and devise schemes. 

Listen to the reply He gave to those people: 

"Myself and Kanchi pIThAdhipatigaL are the two pratinidhis of Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada in the current time. Rest assured that all the good things He does are also done by Me together with Him. In the same way, know that the kIrti He receives also reaches Me!" 

*****

Shankara, what words!

Reference: The essay, 'maThangaLin otRumai' ('The Unity of the MaThams') authored by K.Balasubramanya Aiyar in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Pradeepam issue dated 16.11.1965. 

(From an essay published in the Kalki Deepavali Malar, 1992). 

Author:....... Raa. Ganapathi 
Source:....... 'KaruNaikkadalil Sila AlaigaL, 
Publisher:.... Divya Vidya Padhippaham (Jun. 2005 Edition) Pages 95-98
Type:......... book, Tamil 
From:.... http://www.telugubhakti.com/

Glossary: 

shlAghya - praiseworthy, excellent