an endearing experience

Friends, There is a very good number of visitors to this blog, if I am to believe the statistics.  I just wanted to share with you all a very sweet experience.

When I was young and my father was alive, and for ever so many pervious years before that it was a practice or rather a holy vow in our family to take a Kavadi to Pazhani (Palni) where the ever merciful Dhandayuthapani, the young recluse, Murugan, is present.  This is during thaipoosam. I have been going to Palni from the age of five to about forty (and I am nearly sixty now). Then my father passed away and I could not fulfil the vow and from 2002 to 2011 I have never gone to visit Dandapani. Meanwhile my right knee has got ruined practically from gout and arthritis and even to reach the first floor of my office at Trivandrum or Kollam I had to use the  lift and often the shoulders of my friends. The loss of connection with Pazhani Andavar was very painful. Ultimately I decided to go to Him and I reached on a short Visit to  Palni yesterday.  It is Khatri (agni nakshatra--karthika jnaattuvela time and it is the hottest time of the year.. karthika being ruled by agni.). I thought I could reach the Hill temple using winch but the crowd was impossible. So I decided to climb the steps and once that decision was made, I was able to do it.  I climbed up the 400 odd steep steps, stood in the queue for a long period and had the Darshan of my Swami.  I retraced my way down also by foot.  For a normal healthy person this is not anything special.  But a man with a ruined knee doing this and feeling not much of difficulty during the climb and even afterwards, is nothing short of miracle.  It is a only His Sweet Grace . Dandapani has endorsed his promise in His form  as Krishna.  

मूकं करोति वाचालं पङ्गुम् लङ्घयते गिरिं।
यत् कृपा तं अहं  वन्दे परमानद माधवं॥
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅgum laṅghayate giriṁ|
yat kṛpā taṁ ahaṁ  vande paramānada mādhavaṁ||

"His Grace makes the dumb eloquent, He permits the lame   to cover  by foot the mountain... I bow to the storehouse of such Grace, the ever blissful Maadhava and He is also the Dandaayuthapani.