V§
Yogaswami and another close disciple Kathiravelu, did intense penance for 40 days at the Nallur chariot court under the supervision of Chellappa Swamigal. Chellappa Swamigal’s another follower, Thirugnanasambanthar of Columbuthurai Vithanaiyaar, was helping these two who were doing the penance. One day Chellappa Swamigal called off their meditation and told them, “Two elephants should not be tied in one post”. Yoga Swamigal walked away towards east with His tooth brush stick. The whereabout of the other disciple, Kathiravelu, still remains a mystery.§
Swamigal, took to full renunciation and walked towards Kathirgamam in the eastern direction. This pilgrimage likely took place till 1910. Pilgrims who undertake pilgrimage like this, do not carry money or (extra) clothes. They eat what is offered and sleep anywhere. Many such hardships can be found in the life history of Vivekanandar, who was a renunciate. Yogaswami too had to struggle with hunger, thirst, malarial fever and floods on the way. A teacher, Vallipuram had written the Swamigal’s narrative account of the travel as follows: §
“I was walking towards Kathirgamam and as I was approaching Mattakalappu suddenly, I got fever. I could not walk anymore. I laid my head on a stone and slept underneath a tree. In the morning there was no fever and there was a 25 cent coin on the stone pillow. I took the coin to a store, ate dosai, and continued to walk. On the way Anaikutty swamigal ( must be Sittanaikutty Swamigal) saw me. He came running and embraced me and said, “Because I saw you, it must rain.” I told him, not now. Let it rain after one hour. It rained indeed after one hour. On the way I had to cross a river that had flooded. As I could not cross the flooded river, I dug a shallow ditch in the river bed sand and slept. On the third day, some hunters came to this side of river on a catamaran (some bamboo sticks tied together). They cooked some food and said, “Oh fasting noble man, Oh fasting noble man” and woke me up and fed me. They then took me on the catamaran to the other side of the river.§
Yogaswami returned to Jaffna via Colombo. As we noted earlier, he met the big Anaikutty Swamy in Colombo. He gave Swamigal a five cent coin and blessed him saying “Trunk (Ganesha’s trunk) this is trust” (“Thumpikkai ithu Nambikai”). Swamigal, like a begger, went to meet Sir Ponnampalam Arunachalam. He did not have any change, so he changed a tweny-five cent coin and gave ten cents to Swamigal. Similar to Arumuga Navavalar having supported Ramanathan’s family, Swamigal also supported the benevolent Ramanathan and Arunachalam families till the end. Swamigal always praised their services to the people of Sri Lanka, especially to Tamil community.§
When Swamigal went from Colombo to Mathalai, a miracle took place. There, Saravanamuthu, the father-in-law of Thillaiyampalam who was the president of Sivathondan Nilayam, was working as an overseer. Somebody appeared in Saravanamuthu’s dream and said “A devotee in rags is coming hungry. Go and receive Him”, and disappeared. The next day morning as per the dream, Saravanamuthu met the hungry Swamigal in rags. He took Swamigal to home to refresh, gave Him new clothes and food, and saw Swamigal off.§
The relatives were unaware that Yogaswami had gone on pilgrimage to Kathirgamam. They went and enquired about the where-abouts of Swamigal with his Guru Chellappa Swamigal. “He is already dead”, Chellappa replied. But when they saw Yogaswami returned alive, the surprised relatives went back to Chellappa Swamigal and questioned him why he told that Yogaswami was dead. Again Chellappa Swamigal said emphatically, §
“We do not lie, we told the truth, and He indeed is dead”. The relatives did not understand and thought it was a meaningless saying of an insane man. But, in reality Swamigal is “dead”, for the world and how could they comprehend this (mystic saying)?§
When Chellappa Swamigal was sick, Yogaswami visited him. Swamigal had narrated to a devotee of what happened then. “Chellappa Swamigal was lying down as he was ill. Everybody paid a visit to him; I too wanted to see him and went there. Chellappa Swamigal shouted, “What are you going to see? Stand there. Think about you,”. I turned back and never went again”.§
Swamigal had described the Maha Samadhi of Chellappa Swamigal as follows: “He roamed around the town all day and went back to Nallur Chariot shed and lie down. At that time, one person went there. Chellappa swamigal requested that man to go out and come back later. The man went out and within a short time he heard a thud sound. The man rushed back and saw the body of Chellappa Swamigal stiff like a stick. On close inspection, there was no breathing. Chellappa Swamigal had left his body on his own will.”§
Chellappa Swamigal had insisted with his relatives and devotees that his body should be cremated and was cremated accordingly.§
After his return from Kathirgamam, Yoga Swamigal took residence in the root of an Illuppai (illipai) tree near a shed, where he would stay in the future. Rain or shine, He stayed there in the open. §
As he was living in the open place and exposed to sun and rain, the devotees made a request to Swamigal to move into a nearby shed. This shed was a shop before. One person by the name of Nanniyar, who belonged to Aryalai, was running the shop. One day Nanniyar, while was drunk, tied Chellappa Swamigal to a post in the store. Neighbors who heard the shouts untied Chellappa Swamigal. Yogaswami, referring to this incident said, “Many people now bow their head and worship in the place where, Chellappa Swamigal was tied up.” Swamigal began to live in the shed from 1914. §
Initially Swamigal used to sleep in the North side of the shed. Later Swamigal changed position to sleep on the South side. He had given the reason to Teacher Vallipuram : §
“When I moved into this shed, I used to sleep in the North side. One day, in the midnight, my mind said “snake, snake”. First I ignored, but my mind repeatedly said. So, I lighted a matchstick and saw a snake was lying near me. I said, “Okay, You sleep here and I will move over there”, and from then onwards I am sleeping here in the south side of the shed.”§