ரமணரை சந்தித்த மஸ்தான் என்னும் எளிய இஸ்லாமிய நெசவாளி சித்தராக பரிணமித்த உண்மை அற்புத கதை !
இந்து முஸ்லீம் ஒற்றுமையின் உச்சம் . இறைவனுக்கு மதமில்லை , உண்மையான ஆன்மீகத்திற்கு மதமில்லை என்பதை உணர்த்தும் காவியம் .
I first heard about Mastan from Sadhu Om in the late 1970s. He had gone to Mastan’s home village around 1960 to interview Akhilandamma, one of Bhagavan’s earliest devotees. At that time she was over eighty years of age. Among the many stories she told him was one about Mastan Swami, and how she first took him to Bhagavan in the Virupaksha Cave era. I didn’t read Sadhu Om’s account, which had been published in Tamil, but he did tell me that Mastan was such a great devotee, people today still went to his samadhi shrine because they felt that it was a place where one’s wishes could be fulfilled. Years later I read Kunju Swami’s reminiscences, and these included the story of how Bhagavan sent him to Desur (Mastan’s home village) when Mastan passed away there with instructions to make him a special samadhi shrine that is usually reserved for Saiva saints. I did a little checking and discovered that Bhagavan had only commissioned or requested samadhis of this kind on four occasions: for his own mother, for Seshadri Swami, for Lakshmi the cow, and for Mastan Swami. This put Mastan Swami in very elevated company.
When Mastan Swami died, it was the day of Naraka Chaturdashi - when Deepavali is celebrated as per Tamizh tradition. The day would also be Maasa Sivaraatri - the day before the Amavasya (new moon) (the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight), which is sacred to Siva.
His body was taken in a trolley lent by the Siva temple of the village, in a procession of the villages nearby. It was said to be raining heavily on that day (it usually does on Deepavali day in Tamil Nadu…). The funeral procession carried on through this downpour, and his body was finally interred in the samadhi next to the Appar Swami matam…
The temple that lent the Chapram (the trolley), was the Siva temple at Matam village, the temple of Tadaaga-pureeshwarar (translates to “The Lord of Town of Ponds”). Perhaps the pond next to Mastan Swami’s samadhi, where the annual boat festival is held, is the one referred to in the name of the Lord.
Though Mastan never wrote about any of his experiences with Bhagavan, an associate of his, Sambandan, did record a few of his spiritual sayings in an eleven-verse poem that was composed after Mastan passed away. The language and sentiments of the verses indicate that Sambandan was a disciple of Mastan. The verses clearly show that Sambandan regarded him as an enlightened being who was fully qualified to give out spiritual instructions. Mastan had originally encouraged Sambandan, who must have resided somewhere in the Desur area, to compose some verses extolling Bhagavan’s greatness. Since Mastan knew that he had a talent for composing Tamil verses, he asked him to put it to good use. Sambandan subsequently filled a notebook with about 200 verses that praised Bhagavan. This manuscript found its way to Ramanasramam. Muruganar, who was shown the poems, made many corrections and improvements to the verses. Inside this notebook was a small printed leaflet that contained eleven verses by Sambandan that praised both Bhagavan and Mastan and included brief teachings that both of them had given out. It seems that these eleven verses were composed and published to commemorate one of Mastan’s death anniversaries. The notebook and the printed poem come from the collection of Muruganar’s papers that was passed on to Sadhu Om in the 1970s shortly before Muruganar himself passed away.
22 авг 2024