An article about Sri Mukkur Lakshmi Narasimhachariyar Swamigal by Sri Vijayaragjavan Bashyam

An Experience with Sri. Swami - Vijayaragjavan Bashyam

Sri Mattapalli Naatham Pranathosmi Nithyam Namaha I can still remember it as if it had happened yesterday. I had gone to Chennai in order to write the TNPCEE-99 exam in March 99. Two days before the exam I had gone to Venkatesan Street in the afternoon, to have the darshan and blessings of Sri Swamy and Yagnya Narasimhan. That day my cousin SriVidya also accompanied me as she had to learn Sri Hayagriva Sthothram from Sri Swamy, the traditional way. That day Sri Swamy asked me to stay back, have tiffin and then only leave which is His usual practice. Sri Swamy asked me also to participate in the "Santha" programme. Then started a wonderful set of 90 mins where Sri Swamy used to say the sloka first and then we ( Sri Swamy's daughter in law - Deepa Manni, Sri Swamy's daughter - Godhasri, Sri Swamy's grand-daughter - AmrithaVarshini, My cousin Srividya and I ) used to repeat it twice. Initially I was afraid about making mistakes but I also knew that Sri Swamyy is the incarnation of humility, patience and all the various Kalyaanaa Gunas and true to that, He used to correct everyone gently but firmly. In this way we learnt the first five slokas of the "Sri Hayagriva Sthothram" that day.

After the " Santha " programme had finished, Maami served tiffin. In the meanwhile, I had shown to Sri Swamy a minor work in Sanskrit which I had composed with umpteen number of mistakes. Sri Swamy patiently corrected it and explained for another couple of hours the rules to be followed in Sanskrit prosody. I was stunned by the simple way in which He explained such a tough subject to a novice. He then recited it a couple of times Himself to check if it sounded properly and then called Lakshmanaachaariyaar and asked him to sit down and made him listen to the corrected sloka remarking " ivar ( I never understood why He used to address me in plural) evaLO azhagA maTTapalli perumAL mela mangaLAshTakam paNNirukar paarungO," even though after all the corrections, there was nothing left in the poem which could be attributed to me. He then said that both of us will recite in chorus and we recited it a couple of times. He then said that He would recite the first two quarters and then I should recite the next two quarters and again we recited similarly for sometime. Finally at the end of the day Sri Swamy presented me with 10*6 cotton dhoti.

Even as I recollect and write about this incident, my eyes are getting moist, my fingers are trembling and I am unable to type. Never in my life will I ever know such a person like Sri Mukkur Swamy and I am thankful to God that I got such an opportunity to be associated with Him at such an early age.

vandeham aachaaryam devam kalyaana guna svaroopam |
vaadhoola vamsha tilakam tam nrusimham sadaa bhajeham ||

This article is taken from Sri Narahari Hrudayam:-

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