So what is real in the world? Reading the Tamil version of the children's story Little Red Riding Hood entitled சிவப்பு ஆங்கிச் சிறுமி published by Mind To Mind (M) Sdn Bhd to my grandchildren yesterday, the eldest questioned why the need for the hunter to place the stones into the stomach of the wolf that he had already ripped opened up and stitch it again when it would have died in the first place. She also asked how could the granny and Little Red Riding Hood survive after being eaten and swallowed?
"அந்த ஓநாய் அந்தப் பாட்டியை விழுங்கி விட்டது.... சிவப்பு ஆங்கிச் சிறுமியையும் விழுங்கியது.... அந்த வேடன் ஓநாயின் வயிற்றைக் கிழித்தார். சிவப்பு ஆங்கிச் சிறுமியும் பாட்டியும் வெளியே வந்தனர். அவர்கள் அந்த ஓநாயின் வயிற்றில் கற்களை வைத்துத் தைத்தனர். கண் விழித்த ஓநாய் அங்கிருந்து ஓடியது. அது கீழே விழுந்து இறந்தது."
This seven-year-old has started to think logically. Many children's stories are disastrous if we seriously take a look at them. I quite agreed with my granddaughter too until the story of the Nayanmar saints Sundarar and Sambandar came to mind. Driving by the town of Avinasi with Tavayogi in 2005 he retold Sundarar's story to me too.
At Sundarar | Tamil and Vedas, we read about these miracles further.
Avinasi Lingam went with other boys to a tank to bathe. It was a beautiful lotus tank. Suddenly Avinasi Lingam’s feet were caught by a crocodile and he cried for help. The boy who lived next door to him ran back to town and brought the elders. But Avinasi Lingam disappeared and nobody dared to step into the tank.
Two years after this incident Sundara visited the Brahmin street where one house was celebrating happily the Punul Kalyanam (Sacred Thread ceremony for the boy), but the opposite house was engulfed in sadness. When he came to know about what happened two years ago, he went straight to the tank and prayed to Lord Siva to return the boy. The crocodile came and spat the boy out. The boy, not only came alive intact but also aged to compensate for the lost two years.
This is another instance of Time Travel by a Tamil saint. He went back in time by two years and changed the course of “history”.
Sivanesar kept the ashes and bones (of his daughter Poompavai) in an urn after cremating her body. When Sambandhar visited Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore, Chennai, Sambandhar asked him to bring the urn containing the ashes and bones. The saint sang a hymn beginning with the Tamil words “Mattitta Punnai”. Even before the saint finished the tenth song, the pot broke open and a beautiful twelve-year-old girl came out and stood before them.
How do we understand and comprehend these happenings then?
The mystery in the story is that Poompavai had grown since her death. This means Sambandhar went back in time and revived her at that point in time and brought her back with full growth to compensate for the lost years.
The people who wrote about these anecdotes clearly expressed surprise when the boy and the girl were grown to compensate for the years they lost in “death”. If it is an instant revival we can find many reasonable scientific explanations.
When my wife and I were brought over to the Cave temple in Sungai Siput some years back, the temple priests told us the story of one Mr Krishnan who would sweep the temple grounds while waiting for his son to pray inside the Cave temple. He was not too much of a devotee but just to kill the time he took up the broom and did this service. One day when he had chest pain and was subsequently certified dead at the hospital the temple priest rushed to his side applied the sacred ash on him and sang devotional hymns. To everyone's surprise, he came alive. I met him that day. Another story was told by a friend Sri Jegan of another person coming to life after the sacred ash was applied. Indeed faith and belief thrive beyond logic and scientific explanations.
Agathiyar in coming to us recently asked that I read up the Pathigam "Manthiram Aavathu Neeru" and write on it which I did with my limited knowledge of the language and understanding. Just as a devotee asked me many years ago why we should praise the Siddhas, and my second granddaughter asked me why we should pray to God which I did attempt to answer too, the saints have to come personally to enlighten us and to avoid any misinterpretations. For that to take place we have to reach out to them. Here is where worship begins.