Mahan Sri Seshadri Swamigal is
such a great saint among his contemporaries that he rarely needs
any introduction. But for the minority who have not heard about
him, these are a few humble words from me to enlighten the
greatness of Sri Seshadri Swamigal.
Sri Seshadri Swamigal was known for his great spiritual
eminence and for his yogic (spiritual aspirant seeking
union with God through mental and physical disciplines) power
through tapas(austerities). An elaborate study of his life
reveals that he was an ascetic of a very high calibre who had
thorough control of senses, both physically and mentally. His
self restraint is commendable. He inculcated the habit of
performing the tapas, mantras and sadhanas (spiritual
practice) from a very young age which helped him in developing
various siddhis(supernatural attainments) or psychic
powers of telling about the past and the future, reading the
minds of people with the same ease as exploring the unknown and
unseen. With this power, he also fulfilled the desires of people
by showing them the visions they wanted to see, both in their
dreams and while being awake. His miraculous touch is said to
have cured many people suffering from diseases and ailments who
came to him with sincere faith and devotion.
Though ascetics are praise worthy, people having worldly
desires rarely admire them. The same can be said in the case of
Sri Seshadri Swamigal also, but careful investigation shows us
that the priceless gem that made him outshine others was the
attainment of Self-Realisation.
Sri Seshadri Swamigal believed in the paths of karma(deeds)
and jnana(knowledge) along with bhakthi (devotion).
One can see an intricate net connecting all of them. He destroyed
the darkness of ignorance and illusion and brought the people
into the eternal light of Self-Realisation. He fulfilled the
desires of the devotees who sought material prosperity as well as
spiritual enlightenment
Sri Seshadri Swamigal was born
on January 22nd 1870 in a small village near
Kanchipuram in South India in the renowned family of Kamakoti. He
learnt vedas(Hindu religious literature) at a very young
age. An incident in his childhood reveals the greatness of his
power when his mother took him to a temple fair and he touched an
idol from a seller who had all the idols sold out like hotcakes,
which were not getting sold out earlier. This gave him the name
"Thanga Kai"(golden hand). Since he did not have
any worldly attractions, he became a sanyasi (ascetic) and
came to Tiruvannamalai at the age of nineteen and remained there
till he attained Mahasamadhi(a subtle state of divine
bliss) in the year 1929.
Sri Seshadri Swamigal never stayed in one place in the town
of Tiruvannamalai where he resided for around forty years. People
who observed his routine found him to be a sanyasi without
any attachments or attractions towards the illusory world. He
neither had any house to go to nor family relations or friends to
adhere to. He never followed a daily habit. When he was presented
with expensive clothes or food which he abstained from, he used
to give it away in charity and used to have gruel from some poor
man's house and spend the night in some choultry.
He did not care to bathe or have a shave for several
days and would roam around without caring for himself as he
neglected his body. His actions lead people viewing him from a
worldly perspective to take him to be a madman, but careful
analysis indicates that every action of his was deliberately done
for the service to the people to uplift them to the spiritual
level. He wanted the people to get rid of their past sins by
repeating "Kamokarshid mantra"
which he himself repeated 150,000 times to show the greatness of
the mantra.
There have been several instances where the devotees have
been blessed by Sri Seshadri Swamigal.
Few of them are:
A South Arcot judge, K.Sundaram Chettiar visited
Tiruvannamalai and prostrated before Sri Seshadri Swamigal who
accepted his offerings of clothes and was promoted to the rank of
High court judge due to the Swami's grace.
Sri Krishnaswamy Sastri's wife was suffering from swelling of
the stomach,hands and legs and vomiting of roundworm. Doctors
gave up hope and they visited the Swami in Tiruvannamalai as a
last resort on a horse carriage. Sri Seshadri Swamigal got into
the carriage and put his leg on her swollen body and rode the
carriage into the sadhu choultry and asked her to swallow some
sand and apply it on her body for three days. Miraculously, she
was cured of her disease completely.
Similarly, Sri Seshadri Swamigal cured many other incurable
diseases and ailments of his devotees.
Thirupugazh Swamigal was not a literate, but due to his
devotion towards Lord Muruga(Hindu mythological God), he
learnt Thirupugazh(verses in praise of the Lord) quickly
and when he sang, it used to touch everyone's soul. To get a
Guru, he came to Tiruvannamalai. As he prostrated before Sri
Seshadri Swamigal, he was blessed and was told to continue
singing Thirupugazh as it is a great mantra. He then went
to Vallimalai(a place in South India) and became the great
Vallimalai Swamigal.
Natesa Mudaliar visited Tiruvannamalai and had a darshan
(sight of the holy image) of Lord Shiva and Ambal(Hindu
mythological Gods).He heard about Sri Seshadri Swamigal and
wanted to have the upadesh(spiritual instruction) from
him. Swamigal told him "Wisdom and salvation are not
understood properly. Discriminate between reality and unreality.
Realise your self to the utmost ".
Sri Seshadri Swamigal used to roam around and visit shops in
Tiruvannamalai. During such visits, he used to throw the articles
from the shops. The shops he entered used to do good business on
that day and so shopkeepers used to eagerly await his arrival. To
this day, the shops in Tiruvannamalai have his photos as a symbol
of good luck and prosperity.
Other miracles which he
performed are :
* Making rains come on the request of his devotees .
* Giving a darshan of himself to five or six devotees
at different places at the same time.
* Showing devotees swargalokam(heaven) and mumurthidevas (mythological Gods in Hindu literature).
* Giving darshan as Parvathi devi(Hindu
Goddess) to many devotees.
Swami's upadeshas :
* By the touch of the Swamigal, many devotees have instantly
realised their inner self. He instilled many mantras particularly
the Rama mantra to many devotees.
* He emphasized that every one should kill Ravana and Rakshas
within themselves; Ravana signifying the desires of any
object and Rakshas meaning anger. He wanted people to get
rid of lust, greed and anger.
* He laid stress on realisation of the true inner nature of
the self as people were going about their daily activities
without thinking about God.
* He preached to many devotees to go around the sacred
mountain of Tiruvannamalai which is said to be a form of Lord Shiva
himself, especially on Tuesdays and emphasized about giving annadanam(feeding
the people with rice).
Even today devotees of Sri Seshadri Swamigal are being
blessed with their worldly desires being fulfilled and their
spiritual quench satisfied by his grace.
Tiruvannamalai is about two hundred kilometres from Madras,
one of the metropolitan cities of India. Seshadri
Swamigal ashram is located about two kilometres from the
main Sri Arunachaleswarar temple and next to Ramana ashram in
Chengam road, Tiruvannamalai.
The ashram gives us a feeling of being in a
hermitage due to its surroundings, fountains, flowering
trees and peaceful and pristine pure atmosphere. The
serene atmosphere has made many devotees realise
themselves. Poojas (ceremonial worship) and abhisekhams
(sacred bath of milk, curd and water etc. given to the
deity) are conducted everyday. Group bhajans (singing
devotional songs in chorus) are conducted on Monday
evenings and on some auspicious days devotees go around
the mountain. Giving free meals is carried out everyday
for hundreds of people. Swamigal's aradhana (day of
attainment of mahasamadhi) and jayanthi (birthday of the
Lord or holy person) are being celebrated in a grand
manner every year.
Books of Swamigal's life and experiences, are available both
in English and Tamil in the ashramam bookshop. Other spiritual
books are also available.
Many of the devotees are following the preaching of Seshadri
Swamigal by doing the following:
* Morning meditation from 3am to 5am.
* Going around the sacred mountain of Tiruvannamalai.
