Acharyal's visit to our house - Part III

The entrance of the apartment wearing a festive look with the huge kolam (credits to Vasanti mami, Lakshmi, Subha, Vasanti Mami's orpadi and of course Pranav and Sriram).





The builder Sri Nataraj and the engineer Sri Ravi willingly contributed their might for this important day by way of arranging for elaborately decorating the apartment main entrance and the path leading to our house, apart from getting the exterior walls painted afresh.




A banner was also put at the entrance of the house. At first look this may look as if we were all posing for the photograph. But the fact of the matter can well be deciphered if you have a closer look at everyone's face. There was no instruction given to anyone, neither did krishnamurti anna call to inform us that Acharyal had started from the other side of the bank in Narasimhavanam. Commanded and propelled by the internal force, as bees to the collect the nectar, as iron filings towards a magnet, we all assembled at this place to receive Acharyal and accord Him a welcome to the best of our might....not in terms of the paraphernalia but in terms of our bhava. As aptly said in Shiva bhujanga stotram,

bhavat gourvaram mallaghutvam viditvaa prabho raksha kaaruNya drushtaanugam maam.

I neither know now depths of my lowness nor the heights of thy glory. But our All knowing Acharyal has come to grace us propelled by no sukrutam on our part but by the glory of His unbounded and unconditional compassion.

In the pursuit, some amount of ego does definitely raise its ugly hood now and then. But by Acharyal's grace they never stayed on for long as His compassion reminded us about the great bhaktas: like nandanaar, kannappan, vidura, akroora, prahlada, uddhava, gopikas to name a few of the innumerable blessed front runners. Recalling their experiences definitely bestows immediate humility. I request to the readers to kindly brush any overtones exuding self-praise as ignorance of the author in the whole article.

The much awaited moment of Acharyal coming to set His Holy Foot at the residence of this poor man was fast approaching. I was experiencing a strange sense of relief that I am not able to reconcile even now as to how that sense of calmness prevailed at that instance in my mind. I had not checked with others on this as to how they felt but I assume that everyone was experiencing a calm induced by bliss as Acharyal was about to arrive.
The horn of Acharyal's car announced the arrival of the entourage of Acharyal. First a jeep carrying Acharyal's utensils, aasanam, arrived. Following this vehicle, Acharyal's car arrived. Along with Acharyal, Lord Chandramouleeswara and Lord Ratna Garbha Ganapati also arrived.

Upon Acharyal's arrival, Acharyal accepted the purna kumbam offered by my father amidst of the chanting of
"na karmanaa na parajayaa". I was fortunate enough to be present near my father. Subsequently Acharyal also accepted the maalai mariyadai offered by my periyappa and others. My mother performed the harati first followed by others to welcome our Acharyal. My mother will cherish this life-time experience forever. Acharyal chose her to shower His bountiful blessings that day.