21. कामिताशेषफलदः Kāmitāśeṣa-phaladaḥ

One who bestowed the desired fruit without exception

The desire for any object is fundamentally not for the object per se but for the happiness one expects to derive from the object. The Śruti points out, “O dear one! Nothing is dear for its own sake; it is for the sake of the Ātman that everything becomes dear.”⁶⁰ Bhagavatpāda explains, “That Ātman, because of which the body, wife, offspring, possessions and the like are dear, is, for this very reason, the most beloved of all. Everything other than the Ātman is the cause of sorrow. Therefore, how can these really be objects of love?”⁶¹ He follows this up with the following analysis: “There is liking for an object here only as long as it gives happiness; there is dislike for an object for as long as it gives sorrow. The same object cannot give happiness all the time, nor can it always be a cause of sorrow. What is disliked may become dear at some point of time; what is dear may later become the object of dislike. Therefore, the Ātman alone is what is always the dearest.”⁶² Therefore, a person who loves an object and hence desires to attain it, does so because he believes it will bring him happiness, but his calculations about the object may just go completely awry.

A kāmita-phaladaḥ, bestower of desired fruits, may be likened to the kalpataru or wish-fulfilling tree that gives whatever is desired, without consideration of whether it would be ultimately beneficial to the recipient or not. However here, the word aśeṣa, without exception, has been added as a qualifier for the giving of desired fruits. This is profoundly significant because it means that His Holiness never failed to give completely to devotees, the desired fruits. This is possible only if He consistently and unfailingly granted happiness in response to what was desired. This granting of happiness by His Holiness could be in the form of granting the very object of a person’s desire, or in the form of granting something else if that alone would be in the person’s interests. Thus this nāma asserts the competence and compassion of His Holiness in unfailingly conferring all that was conducive to the true welfare of an individual.

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The following is an account narrated by Sri Tirumalaiswamy.

“In 1984, I went to Kalady for the darśana of His Holiness. That day, while giving evening darśana, He was seated quite relaxed and no one else was present. His Holiness said to me, ‘What do you want? Whatever you want, you may ask without any reservations.’ I replied, ‘I wish to be blessed with the holy remembrance of Your Holiness’s lotus feet always. I do not want anything else.’ His Holiness blessed me, saying, ‘You have my complete blessings. As per your wish, you will always have the thought of me in your mind.’

“After that, I always had His smaraṇa continuously amidst all my activities, from morning to night. The thought of His Holiness was always perceptible, even as I bathed, performed pūjā, travelled, etc., keeping me ever joyful.”

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A pious lady who was spiritually inclined, fervently desired mantropadeśa from His Holiness. Her husband and parents-in-law, however, were against the idea, because they felt that if she received mantropadeśa, then she would be engaged in mantra-japa all the time and neglect her young children and the household. She could not request His Holiness for mantropadeśa by bypassing them, and yet her desire for it only grew by the day.

His Holiness was camping in Mumbai where the family resided and the lady used to attend the Candramaulīśvara-pūjā performed by His Holiness in public every evening. One day her desire for mantropadeśa had become very intense. During the pūjā that evening, when His Holiness got into His knelt-down position facing away from the audience in order to place the Candramaulīśvara-liṅga back in the maṇḍapa after abhiṣeka (ceremonial bath given to a divinity) and alaṅkāra (adornment of the deity with sandalpaste and flowers), the soles of His lotus feet were, as usual, directly visible to the gathering of devotees. At that juncture, the lady quickly prostrated to His feet from her position in the crowd, and mentally said to Him, “I am unable to obtain mantropadeśa from Your Holiness directly, and so I am going to chant the Śakti-pañcākṣarī-mantra from this moment on, taking it that Your Holiness has blessed me with the mantra. I pray for Your Holiness’s blessings.” She then quickly reverted to her seated posture. Once His Holiness had placed the Lord in the maṇḍapa, He turned around and sharply looked at the lady, who was one among a teeming crowd.

The lady then sincerely kept chanting the mantra in her mind, whenever she could, using her fingers to keep count, without the knowledge of anyone in her family. For instance, whenever the family would go on an outing, say to watch a movie, she would remove her slippers and sit cross-legged in her seat in the theatre and quietly chant the mantra. None knew of her practice.

Many years later, after her children were well-settled, etc., her husband had the desire to get mantropadeśa from His Holiness. When he told the lady of his desire, and offered to request His Holiness for mantropadeśa for her too, she expressed disinterest and encouraged him to ask only for himself. After all, it was her firm belief that His Holiness had already initiated her long ago, though none else was any the wiser about it. Her husband therefore requested His Holiness for mantropadeśa for himself, and His Holiness readily acceded, asking him to come the next morning.

The devotee asked his wife to accompany him for the mantropadeśa, which she did. Once His Holiness had initiated him, in spite of her having expressed her unwillingness earlier, the man requested His Holiness to kindly bless his wife too with initiation. His Holiness’s instant and response was, “I have already initiated her long ago.”

His Holiness had granted the lady the fruit of what she had desired, namely the mantropadeśa, without having explicitly initiated her into a mantra.

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A Malaysian student had once come to Sringeri as a tourist. Having had darśana of Śāradāmbā, he developed a desire to procure and wear a pendant with Śāradāmbā’s form imprinted on it. He searched all over the marketplace and made enquiries with various devotees at Sringeri, but drew a blank.

That evening, the student was standing along with several other devotees who had gathered for the darśana of His Holiness. His Holiness spotted the Malaysian and beckoned to him to come forward. He then asked the young man through an interpreter, “Who are you? Which country are you from? For what have you come to Sringeri?” The student answered. Having conversed with him for a few more minutes, His Holiness blessed him with a silver coin. Later, the lad was overjoyed on seeing that the coin had the form of Śāradāmbā embossed in it. What he was not aware of was that the coin was in fact given to only those who perform pādapūjā. He was surprised that without his even intending to ask His Holiness for such a pendant, His Holiness had, of His own accord, blessed him with it and fulfilled his innermost desire.

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The following was narrated by Smt. Susheela of Erode.

“On His way to Coimbatore, His Holiness’s car entered the colony where our rented house was situated. When the car stopped in front of our compound gate, His Holiness got out of the car, removed His pādukās and started walking barefoot. I was worried as to why His Holiness had to remove His pādukās, as the place was full of sand and sharp stones. His Holiness walked slowly and, on His entering the house, I could find the dust from His feet forming footmarks on the floor! He then looked at me with His characteristic smile and said, ‘See, I have come. Are you happy now?’

“Only then did I realize that He had, in letter and spirit, fulfilled my earlier request to Him, of gracing my house with the dust of His feet. Choked with emotion, I apologized, ‘Just to get my wishes fulfilled, I have committed the sin of making Your Holiness walk on sharp stones.’ His Holiness said, ‘It was not a problem at all. I am quite used to such terrain.’”

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