The life of saint Ramalingar- birth and Parentage
Truth is the only path to attain God.Whenever man forsakes this ancient and sacred path,God the merciful sends his personal messengers to reinstate in the human heart.,the eternal and fundamental principles that constitute the greatness of man.These prophets are the pride of the age in which they are born.As they hold communion with their master,they impart to the world the divine message in the customary human language.They practise in their own lives what they preach to others.Thus they exhibit to the entire humanity the way to attain salvation,such a great life is that of the tamil saint ramalingar,popularly known as Vallalar.
Ramalingar was born on sunday the 5th October 1823 in the village of Marudur on the outskirts of chidambaram,in South Arcot district.He comes from a typical saivite
family of South india,that strictly avoids flesh-eating and holds siva as the one supreme God of the Universe.His father ramaiah Pillai was a prominent person in the village,well known for his piety,learning and altruism.As an ardent devotee of the four great saints of saiva religion (Viz:sambandar,Sundarar,Thirunavukarasar,Manickavasagar),Ramaiah Pillai had ever on his lips the great lyrics of Thevaram and Thiruvasagam.he was the local teacher and Karnam and was helpful to everyone that came to him either for advice or for material help.
His married life in the earlier days was far from happy.He lost one after another his first five wives shortly after each marriage.he tokk chinnammaiyar as his sixth wife and had a happy family life.Chinnammaiyar was a good and pious woman and she performed her household duties perfectly.She was an ideal woman to have borne such a son as Ramalingar.It speaks much for the pair so as to say in the words of Thiruvalluvar : " the excellence of a wife is the good of a house and good children are its precious ornaments.They whose hearts are pure will have good descendants".
Of few in this world could these be said with greater truth.As a result of their happy married life,they got two sons Sabapathy and parasuraman and two daughters sundaram and Unnamulai.
The young ramalingar was the fifth child of ramaiah pillai.There is an interesting mystical story of ten referred to in connection with his birth.It is said that one day by the grace of god,a Siva Yogi,wearing on his shoulders the tiger skin and smearing all over his body the holy ashes,came to Ramaiah pilaai's house.he apperaed weary and obviously was hungry,Chinnammaiyar welcomed the holy guest with reverence.She fed him with all kindeness.The yogi was overjoyed at her profuse hospitality and in return gave her a pinch of the sacred ashes.he blessed her saying "A great son will be born to you very soon; he will do good to the entire world by establishing sanmarga or the true path for the benefit of mankind",and went away.When her husband came home in the evening,Chinnammaiyar narrated the incident to him and both thanked god for His grace.
shortly afterwards,chinnammaiyar began to feel symptoms of pregnancy in her and according to the prediction,she gave birth to a male child in due course. When Ramalingar was born certain natural occurrences also proved the sanctity of his birth.There was unusually heavy rain in the vivinity. All the tanks which lay dry for a longtime began to overflow.The fields yielded a good harvest.There was unusual properity in the country with sumptuous food for men and cattle.All the people in the village and nearby felt that these were indications of the future greatness of the new-born child.Ramaiah pillai held feasts,entertained all in his village and named the child RAMALINGAR in the presence of elders.he was indeed very proud of the birth of this son who was destined to bring joy to his house and prosperity to the land.
(To be continued)
Truth is the only path to attain God.Whenever man forsakes this ancient and sacred path,God the merciful sends his personal messengers to reinstate in the human heart.,the eternal and fundamental principles that constitute the greatness of man.These prophets are the pride of the age in which they are born.As they hold communion with their master,they impart to the world the divine message in the customary human language.They practise in their own lives what they preach to others.Thus they exhibit to the entire humanity the way to attain salvation,such a great life is that of the tamil saint ramalingar,popularly known as Vallalar.
Ramalingar was born on sunday the 5th October 1823 in the village of Marudur on the outskirts of chidambaram,in South Arcot district.He comes from a typical saivite
family of South india,that strictly avoids flesh-eating and holds siva as the one supreme God of the Universe.His father ramaiah Pillai was a prominent person in the village,well known for his piety,learning and altruism.As an ardent devotee of the four great saints of saiva religion (Viz:sambandar,Sundarar,Thirunavukarasar,Manickavasagar),Ramaiah Pillai had ever on his lips the great lyrics of Thevaram and Thiruvasagam.he was the local teacher and Karnam and was helpful to everyone that came to him either for advice or for material help.
His married life in the earlier days was far from happy.He lost one after another his first five wives shortly after each marriage.he tokk chinnammaiyar as his sixth wife and had a happy family life.Chinnammaiyar was a good and pious woman and she performed her household duties perfectly.She was an ideal woman to have borne such a son as Ramalingar.It speaks much for the pair so as to say in the words of Thiruvalluvar : " the excellence of a wife is the good of a house and good children are its precious ornaments.They whose hearts are pure will have good descendants".
Of few in this world could these be said with greater truth.As a result of their happy married life,they got two sons Sabapathy and parasuraman and two daughters sundaram and Unnamulai.
The young ramalingar was the fifth child of ramaiah pillai.There is an interesting mystical story of ten referred to in connection with his birth.It is said that one day by the grace of god,a Siva Yogi,wearing on his shoulders the tiger skin and smearing all over his body the holy ashes,came to Ramaiah pilaai's house.he apperaed weary and obviously was hungry,Chinnammaiyar welcomed the holy guest with reverence.She fed him with all kindeness.The yogi was overjoyed at her profuse hospitality and in return gave her a pinch of the sacred ashes.he blessed her saying "A great son will be born to you very soon; he will do good to the entire world by establishing sanmarga or the true path for the benefit of mankind",and went away.When her husband came home in the evening,Chinnammaiyar narrated the incident to him and both thanked god for His grace.
shortly afterwards,chinnammaiyar began to feel symptoms of pregnancy in her and according to the prediction,she gave birth to a male child in due course. When Ramalingar was born certain natural occurrences also proved the sanctity of his birth.There was unusually heavy rain in the vivinity. All the tanks which lay dry for a longtime began to overflow.The fields yielded a good harvest.There was unusual properity in the country with sumptuous food for men and cattle.All the people in the village and nearby felt that these were indications of the future greatness of the new-born child.Ramaiah pillai held feasts,entertained all in his village and named the child RAMALINGAR in the presence of elders.he was indeed very proud of the birth of this son who was destined to bring joy to his house and prosperity to the land.
(To be continued)
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