Spiritual Stories

Author(s): Raman Maharshi
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

Page 98

temple and appeared to the brahmin priests and to Sambandha in their dreams, telling the brahmins, 'Give them to Sambandha with proper honours,' and told Sambandha, ‘The brahmins will give you all these; take them. As they were gifts from Gods he could not refuse them. So Sambandha accepted them with reverential salutations by doing pradakshina etc., and then got into the palanquin. From that time onwards, he used to go about in that palanquin wherever he went. Gradually some staff gathered around him and a Mutt was established. But whenever he approached a holy place, he used to alight from the palanquin as soon as he saw the gopuram (tower) of the shrine and from there onwards, he travelled on foot until he entered the temple. He came here (i.e. Arunachala) on foot from Tirukoilur observing the same principle since, as you know, the peak of Arunagiri is visible from there."
A Tamil devotee said that that visit was not clearly mentioned in Periapuranam, to which Bhagavan replied as follows: “No. It is not in Periapuranam. But it is stated in Upamanyu's Sivabhaktivilasam in Sanskrit. Sambandha worshipped Viratteswara, the presiding deity at Kilur and won the god's favour with his verses and then he worshipped Athulyanatheswara, the presiding deity at Arakandanallur in the same way. From there he beheld the peak of Arunagiri and sang verses out of excess of joy and installed an image of Arunachaleswara in the same spot.
“While he was seated there on a mandapam, God Arunachaleswara appeared to him first in the shape of a jyoti (light) and then in the shape of an old brahmin. Sambandha did not know who that old brahmin was. The brahmin had in his hand a flower basket. Unaccountably, Sambandha's mind was attracted towards that brahmin like a magnet. He at once asked him with folded hands, Where do you come from?' 'I have just come from Arunachalam. My village is here, nearby,