About Poondi Mahan

Poondi is a village in Tamilnadu state, India.

We all know many mahatmas who might have crossed the limits of their physical body senses, but sometimes they returned to normal state. But the case of Poondi Swami is still advanced. He never cared about His body at all. He dealt with normal people and recognized them on very rare occasions.

When a devotee went to Poondi to have Swami’s darshan, He observed the following strange thing that Swami never had the sense that He had a body. A devotee kept Swami’s hair as lord Krishna’s tuft. He decorated it with flowers and kept a nama on Swami’s forehead. After a while, another devotee came, disturbed that Krishna’s tuft and made it like that of lord Eeshwara. He even applied vibhuthi on Swami’s face, hands and chest and went away. Swami never objected any devotee from doing anything. He used to sit just like a statue without caring for anything.

Just as in case of mahatmas like Sri Shiridi Sai Baba, Akkalkot Maharaj, Manikya Prabhu, Mayi amma etc, nobody knew the previous life history of Sri Poondi Swami. Some devotees tried in vain to know about such details. Sri Swami reached Kalasapakam village, Tiruvannamalai district in Tamilnadu in around 1965. Before Swami reached Kalasapakam village, a siddha purusha by name Gurunadhan used to sing songs like “Maharaj is coming, give him the way, hold an umbrella, it’ll rain”. He used to sing so in a very ecstatic state and within 4 days Swami came to Kalasapakam and it rained very heavily. Actually there were no rains in that place for the past 6 months.

By the time Sri Poondi Swami reached Kalasapakam, He might be 20 years old. He used to wear a shirt over another one & had a bag of clothes on His shoulder. His eyes were filled with rheums all the time. He used to roam with dirty clothes, dry hair and unbathed body. But His looks were very sharp and His eyes used to shine greatly. He always used to sit in the cactus bushes in kalasapakam. Once some farmers found Him in the bushes and they cut the bushes and brought Swami out. Swami didn’t speak anything with anyone. He not even asked for food or water. Whenever He felt hungry, He used to eat the cactus fruits and the sand in the river. He used to immerse in intense yoga nishtha on the banks of the river and canal for days together without caring for heat and rain.

As we already noticed, Swami never cared about His body. Devotees used to keep currency notes between his thumb and fore finger. Swami never spoke a single word though people snatched the notes from His fingers.

A cat used to jump on His shoulder and sit there. After some time, cat moved away from His shoulder. Even then, Swami didn’t speak anything.

The cat used to pull the upper garment with its nails and move it aside. He sat like that silently even in severe cold, wearing nothing. One night when a devotee woke up for urinals, he peeped from the curtain, being curious about what Swami might be doing. “At that time, the devotee was fully covered with dress, but still was shivering with cold. Swami was looking somewhere into the space and the cat was on His shoulder. He was wearing nothing on His body. He didn’t even have the sense that He had a body.

After Swami started staying in the verandah of a house, the house owner left that house for Swami and shifted their family somewhere else. The offerings to Swami like flowers, bananas, mangoes, grapes, coconuts etc., were all kept in that house itself. Those fruits and flowers were lying in heaps without any sign of foul smell or degradation.

Sri Swami used to sleep in the sands of Kalasapakam river even in red hot summer. Ants used to crawl on His body in lines. School children used to try to move Him but in vain. The most surprising thing mentioned by people there: “once ants made a hole from His foot to knee and they came out from the knee. When the ants were eating His flesh and blood, Swami didn’t even have the sense. We might have read in books about the penance Ravana that ant-hills grew all over his body and he was just remained with bones. Lord Brahma praised him that he had never seen a person doing such severe penance. So he again blessed him with divine body and even granted all his wishes. Many people are there who directly saw Swami in such a great unbelievable condition.

One sadhaka did sadhana in Himalayas and attained a certain state. After that, he couldn’t reach the higher state even after doing sadhana for a long time. Then he requested many saints to convey him the way to reach the higher stage. He roamed many places in search of that but no one could answer him. One mahatma suggested him “you approach the Swami staying in Poondi village in Madras state. He can surely guide you.”  That sadhaka reached Poondi after a lot of struggle. He was surprised to find the same mahatma there who suggested him in Himalaya to go to Poondi. He was spellbound and dedicated his life to Swami seva.

It is not possible to describe the way he served Swami. One must definitely see it and know about it. Swami used to sit in the verandah of the house which was at a height of 3 feet from the road. People who came for His darshan used to decorate Him as per their satisfaction with vibhuthi etc. when some other person was ready to do the same thing again, the devotee from Himalayas used to request them not to do so. But they didn’t care his request and went away decorating Swami in the way they liked.

The devotee used to get up for every 2 minutes and adjust Swami’s upper garment when Swami was sitting on the verandah. Actually nothing happens to Swami within 2 minutes time. He used to sit for some time and stand for some time and do the above thing. As Sri Sainath mentioned “I never had the sense of hunger and thirst when i kept looking at my Guru”. This was true even in case of this devotee.

This devotee used to bring some prasadam for Swami in a plate covered with plantain leaf and again covering it with a plate. He used to feed it to Swami in small lumps. Swami sometimes swallowed them, sometimes didn’t. In that case, he used to take that back as prasadam.

Thus the devotee was lucky enough to serve the mahatma who Himself is in the form of entire universe. Swami might have blessed him completely since He was extremely satisfied with his service.

A very rich person near Kalasapakam once lost his costly ring somewhere. His wife doubted him that he might have gifted that to some other woman and so she started torturing him. At last she stopped talking to him. Though he didn’t feel for losing the ring, he was very much upset since his wife doubted his character. He was unable to concentrate his mind on anything. He struggled a lot. As per his friend’s suggestion, he came to Swami’s darshan. He took bath in the well beside Swami’s house and saluted Swami with wet clothes. Before he spoke a single word, Swami told “go and search in the drainage hole.” at once he understood its meaning. He went home and ordered for the drainage to be opened. When all the dirty water was removed, he found the ring there. He expressed his gratitude towards Swami who solved his great problem even before he requested for it in the following way. He started the program of annadana on the day when he got back the ring and continued it every year. We can nowhere find such great annadana and procession of Swami’s photo. Every year, on the day he got back his ring, he arranged for a grand function as mentioned above. The large trunks of trees in the Poondi village were decorated with serial set of lights. This rich fellow decorated not only Swami’s house but the entire village also. Annadana was scheduled at 4 different spots in the village. Even people from neighboring villages were also fed bellyful. We can see such procession nowhere. All varieties of musical instruments were brought. Programs were arranged with performances of most famous singers. We must enjoy such function at least once. It is far away from description.  Though such grand function was going on, Swami used to sit reluctantly on the verandah with His looks concentrated somewhere in the space as if it was no way related to Him.

Once 2 farmers came to Swami and conveyed their family problems to Him. Swami told repeatedly “why should people eat soil like animals eating grass?” They couldn’t understand those words and they went away. One of the two died by the next morning. Then onwards, people started realizing Him as mahatma instead of treating Him as a mad man.

One day the students of Kalasapakam came to Swami and asked whether they would pass in the exams. Swami replied positively thrice. They passed. One day when a student was coming, Swami called him “oh judge! come come.” when that student grew up, he worked as a judge in Tiruvannamalai. For some lucky fellows, Swami used to indicate their future happenings in one or two words. Nobody used to come near Swami seeing His eyes filled with terrific rheums, the sniveling nose, His dirty unwashed clothes, torn dress and unbathed dirty body. So there was no disturbance for His yoga.

Swami started sitting by the side of firewood station near the Vinayaka temple in Kakamkartre village. The owner of that firewood land thought of leaving Swami in a faraway place, hating His rheumed eyes, sniveled nose and dirty appearance. He dropped Swami in Cheyyar village bus stand (in Arani root) and came back immediately to the firewood land in a bus. He was astonished to see Swami sitting in His actual place as He was. The people there told him “Swami is here itself from the morning. When did He come to Cheyyar with you?” he was speechless to hear that. Then, Swami left that place and never came back. The owner incurred great losses and faced many difficulties.
If he didn’t like Swami sitting there, it would have been better if he told Him politely to leave that place. How great offence it was to cheat Swami! He dropped Him somewhere else and returned from there without informing Him. It would have been better if he had begged Swami’s pardon at least after realizing that He was a mahatma. Because, unless He was a mahatma, he couldn’t appear in the same place again even before him. His cheating nature and ego itself caused him those many problems.

One day when Swami was sitting near the mosque, a Muslim young man came to Him. He peeled off a sweet orange and started keeping each carpel in Swami’s mouth one after the other. Swami swallowed one and two fell down from His mouth. After this continued for some time, one fellow asked Swami “Swami! What is this? When he kept only one carpel, how could two come out from your mouth?” Swami replied “he is expecting two in place of one.” that Muslim man caught Swami’s feet and said “Swami! Please pardon me. Being greedy for dowry, I’m planning for second marriage. It’s true that i came for your blessing for that.” this leela reveals how mahatmas keep us on right track though we approach them with greedy thoughts and desires. That Muslim man’s mind changed and he cancelled the proposal of second marriage.

Each and every leela that emerged from Swami gradually improved bhakti, shraddha and respect in people’s mind towards Swami. Some people like Pillaru Pachhapanayanar, Manikya nayanar, Sri Vellayan used to search for Swami and feed Him. One day, Sri Vellayan carried food for Swami at 9 o’clock in the night. Daily Swami used to stay in Eeswara temple in Kalasapakam. That day When Vellayan reached there, Swami was sleeping on the floor near a post in the temple. When Vellayan neared Him, he found a tiger in place of Swami. He ran away with fear. When people came to know about this leela, they started saluting Swami with bhakti and sraddha confirming that He was a mahatma undoubtedly and not a mad man.

Swami always carried a bag of dirty clothes on His shoulder, wore many shirts one over the other, wore a dirty lungi up to His knees. His walking style was very effective like an elephant. He used to walk very fast. Nobody could walk as fast as Swami did. While walking, He used to move His hands very forcefully. He never asked anyone for anything. If somebody gave Him tea or color soda, He would drink. People offered on their own will but Swami never asked them. When a devotee Sri Venkatachala setti of Kalasapakam gave Him a glass of gruel, Swami used to drink it very happily. He used to roam in Kalasapakam, Metapalayam, Pilluru villages. When Swami felt like eating something, He used to have cactus fruits and gravel stones ready for Him.

If Swami started walking, He would walk for days together. If He sat somewhere, He would not get up from that place for a long time. If He started rotating His hands, He would do so for days together.

A devotee from Mayavaram, Tanjavuru district came to Swami with severe stomach pain. he tried all the treatments and many doctors but in vain. Even country treatments like yantra, tantra and mantra too failed to relieve his pain. He went for Kandar nadi forecast. That fellow said “your ancestors enjoyed the property of a temple. so you suffer from this disease. There is a mahatma in a small village in the east side of Tiruvannamalai. He is a brahma jnani. if you offer Him a glass of milk on one Thursday, your trouble will be solved.” since he didn’t know about Swami, he searched for Him for one month and at last found Swami in Poondi village. He took bath in the side by river and offered a glass of cow milk to Swami. But Swami rejected it and asked him to take it away from Him. One saint beside Swami took the milk and prayed Swami to solve his problem. Swami told “see how one will be responsible for others karma. His sins must be washed off gradually. The one obtained with karma must be cleared only with dharma. Ask him to come again.” that fellow started coming for Swami’s darshan every day walking on his knees. Every Thursday he oblated cow milk. After few weeks, his stomach pain vanished completely with no traces remaining.

In this leela, we may not be able to understand Swami’s words clearly. Since we are foolish, we doubt “why this fellow suffered for the sin done by his ancestors?” so Swami’s words may seem meaningless to us. But we must think how his body was brought up. Till he was 20 years old he enjoyed the property that he obtained from his ancestors. So some part of their sin showed effect on this fellow too. The same way we will enjoy the virtue of our ancestors’ dhana and dharma.

Dhansingh was a gunny bags business man in Netaji market in Vellore. He was a diabetic patient. He consulted many doctors, took many medicines and thus spent lot of money. Though he followed the food restrictions mentioned by doctors he could find no improvement at all. on his friends’ prompting, he did Sri Swami’s Darshan and conveyed his problem. Swami looked at him sharply and told that he had no diabetes. But the chaplain there again requested Swami to cure his disease. Swami replied “Ayya! he has no disease at all.”

When Dhansingh underwent checkups, the level of sugar was less than the required level. Then onwards he treated Swami as his guru and worshipped Him.

One day Dhansingh requested Swami through Sri Subramanian to sanctify his shop with the touch of His holy feet. Swami told “who told I’m not going to his shop?” everyone realized that Swami was receiving his puja every day in the form of photo in his shop. Even today, after maha samadhi, Swami is saving His devotees who worship His photo.

One day some people brought a 9 year old boy to Swami from a village near Chennai. The boy was dumb. All the doctors’ trials in vain. Swami told “it’ll take some time for this boy to speak.” and gave him vibhuthi. The parents of that boy proved their faith in this way: they stayed in Poondi itself. They offered oblation of idlies every day prepared with intense bhakti and sraddha. After some days, the boy became like a Tamil poet. The parents were spellbound and thought of offering some dakshina to Swami. Swami told “I’m an alms-folk. I don’t want money. Money must be given sufficiently to the doctor, teacher, washer man, barber etc. for their services. It is not meant for me”. From this, we understand how greatly Swami kept Himself away from the money. That’s why he was indifferent on both occasions when people kept currency notes of 10’s and 100’s in his hand and when children snatched those notes from Him.