Messenger Of God !

Lord Ranganatha Swamy Of Srirangam.

When my wife saw the granite figurine of Sri Ranganathaswamy (Lord Vishnu lying

on his snake bed ‘Adisesha’), in my friend’s consulting room, (he was using it as a

paper weight!) she immediately fell in love with it. She falls in love with many such

things and would like to possess them. I usually manage to bring her back to her

senses and make her give up the idea. If she had had her way our house would

have been full of such artefacts and we would be sleeping in our front yard by now!

Of late, she has stopped informing me about her love affairs. They remain stored

in a corner of her brain and wait for a suitable opportunity to be put into action.

This was one such.

When she learnt that my niece was due to go on a trip to Srirangam, which is

famous for it’s Ranganathaswamy temple, the R swamy who was sleeping in

her brain suddenly woke up and poked her. She thought that such a statuette

was sure to be available for sale in Srirangam and immediately placed a request

for one. My niece was very obliging but she wanted a picture of the statuette

and details like the size and material etc. So, I got an order, not to comment or

question, but to run to my friend’s clinic, get a picture of the idol on my phone

and also get the measurements and approximate weight.

I went to my friend’s clinic and put in a request for a ‘darshan’ of ‘Ranganatha swamy’

and also permission to take a picture. Our conversation went thus,

“What Swamy?”

“Ranganathaswamy”

“What happened to him?”

“Nothing happened to him, I wanted a picture”

“Why are you asking me for it?”

Then I knew that the matter needed some explanation. I explained to him about his

figurine, my wife’s wish, and the need for the picture.

“Oh you mean that god lying on a snake? Someone had brought it from Pondicherry.

It was on my table for a long time. But I don’t know where it is now ”

He searched around for it. In his medicine cabinet, under his x ray machine, behind

the refrigerator and in all the drawers of his table. But there was no trace of Ranganatha

in his clinic. He called his wife (like me, his clinic and residence are in the same

premises) and she looked around in other rooms. But Ranganatha had disappeared.

His wife very apologetically said “sorry”, took my number and said that she would

make a detailed search and would send me the picture as soon as she found the idol.

The granite figurine of Ranganatha swamy, which is on my friend's table.

My wife was disappointed and sent Ranganathaswamy back to the corner of her brain

to resume his sleep. My niece breathed easy, finished her Srirangam trip and returned

without  Ranganathaswamy. The matter was forgotten.

Few days after the Ganesha festival, my friend called me.

“Raghu, We found that idol which you were looking for” He said. “I feel that the god

himself sent you to my place”

“No, it was my wife who sent me. Not the god”

“You are not getting my point. Let me explain” and he continued,

"After you left that day, we searched all over the house but we could not find the
idol. I had not cared for it when it was there but somehow I felt very bad about
losing it and instructed all our servants to look out for it. And you know what? Our
gardener found it in the sack containing the coconuts from our garden. I don't
know how it got there. Anyway I feel very happy about it. It is back on my table
again. I light a lamp in front of it everyday and that makes me feel that the day has
begun well. I think god himself sent you to make us find him again. You are really
a messenger of god".

I felt like writing about the incident and I have written. But, with the reputation the

messengers of god presently enjoy in our country, I think I should have suppressed it !