Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Sundaramurti worshipped God Sundareswara, the husband
of the goddess Meenakshi, and sang the praise of the god
with his poetic skill. Accompanied by the Chera king he visited
and worshipped at the sacred shrines of the south, namely
Thirukuttralam, Thirunelveli, and Rameswaram. From there
he visited the sacred shrine of Thirukkedeswara in Lanka
Dwipa (Ceylon) and offered worship. There he remembered
Thrisulapuram (Thiruchuli), which is the Muktinagar (city of
salvation) and proceeded thither. As they approached that
city, the crowds saw them both resplendent as though the sun
and the moon appeared at the same time. Sundaramurti was
happy to have the darshan of Lord Bhuminatha and offered
worship with the song, beginning with ‘Unaiuyir puhalai’ and
was overwhelmed with devotion. He decided to stay in that
holy place for a while, and so resided in a mutt (monastery)
on the bank of the river Kowndinya.

“One night during his stay there, Lord Siva appeared
to him in a dream with a ball in his hand (ball is the symbol
of kingship) and a crown on his head, as a youth of
incomparable beauty and with a smile dancing on his lips,
and said, ‘We stay in Jyotivana (Kaleswara)’. On hearing these
words, Sundaramurti woke up with excitement, and
recollected the glorious kindness of the Lord who appeared
and showered benevolence on him, and narrated the
wonderful vision to the Chera king with joy. There and then
he sang, overwhelmed with devotion, the Thevara Pathikam
on Lord Kaleswar, commencing with the words, ‘Thondar
adithozhalum’.

“From there they started to visit the far off holy place,
Thiruppunavayil, and even as they started, God Kaleswara,
who had appeared in the dream of Sundaramurti, and
Amba approached them in the guise of an old brahmin
couple. When Sundaramurti asked them, ‘Who are you?
Where do you come from?’ they replied, ‘We shall talk about
that later. First give us food. We are hungry.’ Sundaramurti
consented and got food prepared and looked for the couple
to serve it to, but they were not to be seen anywhere. All
the lanes and by-lanes of the village were searched but they
could not be found anywhere. They came back to the mutt
only to find that the food that was cooked had all
disappeared and the leaves in which the food was eaten
were thrown all over the yard. Sundaramurti was wonder-
struck and exclaimed, ‘Ah! What a wonder is this! What
can this be except the leela (game) of the Lord of the
Universe?’ As he arrived at this conclusion, he heard an
invisible voice: ‘Where do you intend going without seeing
us that reside in the Jyotivana?’ Sundaramurti was
wondering where that Jyotivana was and how to go there,
when the invisible voice once again said, ‘We are proceeding
there on the vehicle of the sacred bull Nandi. You may also
come there, following its footsteps.’
“Sundaramurti followed the footsteps accompanied by
the devotees there; but suddenly the track disappeared. As
he stood there in confusion, the invisible voice was heard to
say, ‘Look carefully.’ As he followed carefully the footsteps
he saw a particular place full of Siva Lingas. There was no
space even for a single step forward and he and the other
devotees stood there in confusion. Suddenly he saw a narrow
footpath and they followed it, on and on until at last they
beheld the temple of Kaleswara. They all took their bath in
the tank in front of the temple and, as they were thinking of
going into it, all on a sudden, the temple with its tower
disappeared. Sundaramurti was wonder-struck and sang
some songs in praise of the Lord, conveying the idea, ‘Is this
the result of my not having come for worship in your temple
before bathing?’ At once, a whole view of jyoti (light) appeared
and the view of the peak of a temple tower and then the
temple itself with its compound wall. He was overjoyed, had
a darshan of God, worshipped Him and sang songs in praise
of Him, and then proceeded on his pilgrimage. This is a
wonderful story. There are many more stories of him,” said
Bhagavan.

He is the same Sundaramurti that was referred to in
my letter printed earlier under the heading, “Swami is
everywhere,” (No. 70). His story is given in detail in the
Sanskrit works Siva Bhaktha Vilasam, Upamanya Bhaktha
Vilasam and in the Telugu works, Panditharadhya Charitra and
Basava Puranam of the poet Palakurthi Somanatha.

Bhagavan told us once before that the devotion of
Sundaramurti to the Lord is that of a friend, of Manikkavachakar
that of the beloved, of Appar that of a servant, and Sambandar
that of a son.