Part 12
Kururamma, another favourite devotee of Guruvayurappan – 1 of 3
Kururamma (original name Gauri) was born in AD 1570. She grew up as an ardent Krishna-bhakte. An elderly Brahmin Vedic Scholar of Vengilassery village’s Kurur-Illam married Gauri when she was still a child. She became a widow at the tender age of 16. Being childless, she was destined to live in solitude. But Kururamma faced life by taking refuge in her ‘Ishta Devata’ Sri Krishna. Her constant prayer was: 'May the little lad dark and lovely, the supreme Brahman of the Vedas, appear before me in all his splendour, with a flute held to his young lips.’
The Namboodiri community in those days did not allow widows to participate in any social activities. Their only let out was to work in the kitchen and do prayers. Due to the merits of her previous birth and by the grace of God, Kururamma’s mind always stayed with God.
God designed Kururamma’s life in that way with the purpose of drawing her closer towards him. She did not have anything of her own. After her kitchen work, she used to sit and do constant Nama-japam. In fact, the nama-japam became just like breathing and it elevated her to the highest level of bhakti-yoga. She went on fasts very often. Gradually her mind was purified. She had no emotions other than pure love. She looked upon everyone as her own children.
"Shuchir va ashuchir va sarvaavashtaasu sarvada", means clean or dirty, one can chant Naamam all the time. But usually women take those three or four days during their menstrual cycle to miss their prayers to feel free of any guilt.
Kururamma used to do Nama-japam ( only naamam, name of God) without any hesitation during this "inauspicious" time too. Vilawamangalam Swamiyar heard about this and was very upset that she was doing Nama-japam during this time. He worried that she might be setting a bad example for all other devotees.
So, one day during those one of her inauspicious times, Vilwamangalam happened to visit her house and he heard her chanting Naamam. He noticed that the paayasam usually made by her was missing that day and he guessed the reason. He was very disturbed to hear her loud chanting of Naamam.
He asked Kururamma's servant Madhavi, "I heard that Kururamma is chanting naamam even during her inauspicious time of the month and can you ask her why she is doing that, setting a bad example to all younger devotees?"
Kururamma was standing far behind the door paying respect to Vilwamangalam. In those days Namboodiri women were not supposed to see any other men than their own brothers and husband and usually all the conversation happened through a maid servant or children.
Vilwamangalam did not have an answer and he did namaskaram to Kururamma and to his great surprise, he saw Balagopalan smiling and waving at him holding Kururamma's mundu or dhothi.
This story leaves us with absolutely no excuse not to think of Him any day or any time of our life! Let Guruvayurappan not make us find different excuses to forget Him!
Poonthanam and Kururamma were contemporaries. Once a devotee who was afflicted with a grave illness approached Poonthanam and wanted to know if he will be cured from his illness. Poonthanam replied that he will ask Guruvayurappan and get back. That night, Poonthanam asked the Lord whether that devotee will be cured, and Guruvayurappan replied that he won’t be cured of his illness.
The next day, Poonthanam conveyed the Lord’s verdict to that devotee. The devotee was in tears when he heard the decree of the Lord, who later met Kururamma and she was unable to see the forlorn devotee crying. After hearing the sequence of events that had happened, she assured him that Lord Guruvayurappan is bound to his devotees and that he will alleviate the illness for sure.
The next morning, she told him that Guruvayurappan had advised him to chant the mantra
“Achyutha Anantha Govindha” written by Veda Vyasa and that the illness will be cured by incessant chanting of this Namatraya mantra.
Achyutanantha Govinda Namochchaarana bheshajah|
Nashyanthi sakalA roga satyam satyam vadaamyaham||
The mere recitation of “Achyutha, Anantha and Govindha” is a wholesome medicine for all types of illnesses and this precept is indeed true!
Kururamma advised him to chant the mantra every day and also asked him to have a pot of water containing Tulasi leaves in front of him while praying and drink it later. He followed her advice verbatim and was soon cured of his illness.
After some days, the devotee went and met Poonthanam and narrated what had happened. Hearing this Poonthanam became sad that Guruvayurappan had not been truthful to him and hence did not go to the temple that day.
That night Lord Guruvayurappan met Poonthanam and enquired the reason for his absence. The Lord confided in him that he missed all his Njanappaana and “Mara Prabhu” recitations. Poonthanam told the Lord that he will not come to the temple anymore and that he was unhappy with the conflicting verdicts that the Lord had given to him and Kururamma regarding the devotee who was afflicted with the grave disease.
Hearing this, the Lord told Poonthanam the following – “Oh Poonthanam, you asked me if the devotee will be cured or not and I replied no, because as per the devotee’s fate he wouldn’t be cured of the disease.” But Kururamma didn’t ask me this question and instead said, “Oh my dear Lord, there is nothing in this world that is beyond your control. My dear brother is afflicted with this grave disease and I am sure that you have the cure for it". The Lord then continued and told Poonthanam that he gave the cure since Kururamma asked for it!
The moral from this dialogue is that one should pose the right question in the right way to the Lord for him to shower his grace on all our prayers and endeavours!
Years passed. Kururamma became aged. All her relatives died one after the other and she was all alone. Kururamma became aware that she had none except Krishna. She prayed to Him ardently. One day, Bhagavan appeared and asked what boon she wanted. Kururamma prayed with folded hands:
"O Krishna! I don't have anyone. You be with me always. Don't abandon me like you did with Yashoda".
Bhagavan smiled, nodded His head and disappeared.
The next day itself, Bhagavan appeared as an orphan kid “Unni” , in front of Kururamma . Due to His Yoga-Maya, she could not recognize Him as Bhagavan. She treated him as her own child. She loved him, cared for him, chastised him and took care of him.
To childless Kururamma, Bhagavan served as her son. He lived with her, played with her and even made her angry with His childhood-mischiefs. He helped her in all household chores as a dutiful son does for his beloved Mother. From the time of Unni’s arrival, Kururamma lived in great joy.
Krishna [Unni Krishnan] used to help Kururamma in picking up the flowers and arrange for pooja. One day when Amma was getting the puffed rice ready, the naughty Unnikrishnan mixed the puffed rice and husk together. Amma scolded him. She told him not to touch those things because they are for offerings to God. But Unni did not seem to care. He did the same thing again and again. Amma couldn’t bear any more. So, she got him and put him in a big pot and closed it with another pot, which is used for frying rice. Unni was making noise from there. After a few minutes the noise stopped. Then Amma got worried and looked in and saw Unni lying very tired. She felt bad and took him out and started to pamper him. He suddenly got up; mixed the rice and husk again which was kept separated by Amma and ran away quickly from there!
Very nice good
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