Arumuga Kavacham

Actually I missed Viji's snippet narrating her wonderful experience of her train journey.This mail is in response to her snippet.

It was the month of Aadi in 1975.Myself,my husband,our two young kids along with my mother-in-law had been on L.F. C to various places such as Trichy, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari etc.
From Tirunelveli to Tiruchendur we travelled by bus and reached Tiruchendur at about
7A. M.On getting down from the bus when we were going towards Senthil Andavan Viduthi, I found out that one of my diamond nose Studs with four diamond droplets was missing and the mere screw alone was sticking to the nose.I did not know whether it had fallen inside the bus or anywhere in the bus stand or in the sea sand while going to choultry.Absolutely no clue.

Anyhow we went to the same bus stop and enquired the conductor whether we can search for the jewel inside the bus.He told that the bus was scheduled to leave for Tirunelveli in the next 5 minutes and during the return trip the bus would stop in Tiruchendur for 2 hrs during which time we may have a look into the bus, if we so desired.

We went to the chatram, had our bath.The intended Special pooja was not performed.I had lot of scoldings and the pleasure trip turned into a horror.
Our thoughts centred around the costly jewel and not on the fascinating Muruga. Time passed.Leaving my mother-in-law and children at the lodge, both of us went to the bus stop. At about 11.45 the same bus arrived at the Tiruchendur Bus Stop, with the same conductor and driver.All the passengers stepped down. The bus was empty.

As agreed to by the conductor, we entered the bus with a new broom stick.Unfortunately this was the first article we had to buy in the pilgrimage centre.I started sweeping the floor of the bus very slowly and carefully-nobody would have done since its manufacture.

We could find pieces of papers,half peeled ground nuts, pieces of plantain leaves with spoilt chutney and Sambar,two or three hand kerchieves full of vomittings and two or three pieces of clothes with defecation by infants --that is all.

Our search was over.

At that time we found one torn out slipper with straps totally gone.We took the slipper and swept the floor underneath.Nothing could be traced.When we were about to throw the slipper out along with other garbage,somehow I turned the slipper upside down. To my great amazement the main mookkuththi with the droplets was sticking with mud in between the uneven undulated surface of the sole of the slipper.( Even those days the jewel was valued at about Rs 2500/-)More than the the financial worth the sanctity attached to nose stud is great.

No need to say that we felt very happy, met the conductor and conveyed our thanks and offered some amount.He bluntly refused to take any money.He said," Just to console you I asked you to come after 3 hours. With so many passengers getting up and down such a small jewel would have been dragged into the earth,without anybody being aware of it.The jewel has fallen on the floor. Fortunately somebody has left his useless slipper on it & so it was not dragged off.

'இது அறுந்து போன செருப்பு இல்லைங்க. ஆறுமுக கவசம் "என்றாரே பார்க்கலாம்! நாங்கள் அசந்து போய் விட்டோம் .( "This is not torn out slipper.But it an armour of Lord Arumuga"-this remark from a conductor startled us.)
நாலு மணி நேரமாக 'நகை நகை' என்று அலைந்த நாங்கள் எங்கே?அறுந்து போன செருப்பை ஆறுமுகமாகக் கண்ட
மனிதன் எங்கே?அந்த நிமிடம் அவர்தான் எங்களுடைய அறிவின்மையை உணர்த்திய ஆறுமுகமாய்த் தோன்றினார்.
( Where are we, who have been longing for the jewel for the past 4 hrs? Where is the conductor who visualised the torn slipper as Lord Muruga?Actually he appeared as Lord Skandha who made us realise our ignorance)

Some experiences whether happen due to divine grace or by sheer coincidence create an awakening in us
This small incident made us brood over so many things
1.We felt rather uncomfotable to clean the bus for an hour or so ,that too with a selfish motive. What will be the feelings of scavengers who are forced to carry night soil on their shoulders?
2.Why didn't we accept the loss of jewel and proceed further?
3. If the conductor himself had swept the floor, he would have found the jewel. Why didn't he do it?
Even today whenever we think of Tiruchendur,more than the sea waves more than Lord Subrahmanya, this humble simple gentleman stands before us.

When ever I feel the strings of of my diamond studded nose ring, I recall the torn and worn out slipper, the unforgettable face of the conductor who saw Lord Himself in the slipper, and of course Thiruchendur Subramanyaswami?
Lord manifested himself to us in the form of a slipper, if we we believe so.
Thiruchendur Murugan, who could stand only a mute witness when his diamond studded "vel" was stolen, and stealthily replaced with a fake one, was graceful enough to restore our nose rings.
It is another story, the "thief" was run over by a sand laden lorry, Mayilvahanan.

While reminding about the incident ,I feel that our action of sweeping the bus as the best worship we you could offer at the sanctum sanctorum and it has a real message.
The loss of the nose ring on the way to a place of worship, irrespective of the worth, carried some sentimental value; had we not retrieved our jewel, perhaps we would always associate Thiruchendur with the loss of a nose ring and certainly not the serenity of the sea shore temple.

As far the sweeping the bus, you must have seen at the entrance to the "Harmandir Sahib", The Golden Temple, the mighty, filthy rich and highly influential Sardars cleaning the shoes and slippers of the pilgrims, left there for safe keep.
Similarly, when Sastha Preethi, a feast offered to Lord Ayyappa, ardent devotees, take it a privilege to remove the leaves and clean the left over, as they believed that the Lord Himself partook in the feast.

In Shrimath Bagavatham Dattatreya talks about 24 Gurus including of a wasp, hunter, thief, courtesan etc.I would certainly include the conductor and worn out slippers as my Guru,having taught us unforgettable lesson in life.
jayasala42

 

Dear Pedda das,
Thank you for your feed back.
jayasala42