Kripaananda Vaariyaar
- At a time when Aryan god worship dominated the land, it was Kripananda Vaariyaar who pulled the crowd to Lord Muruga, the Lord of the Land. The ideology that God is above the concepts of a birth or a death is widely accepted. This formed the base of Kripananda Vaariyaar’s belief. The birthdays of Rama and Krishna are well-known, but that is not the case with Shiva and Muruga. So this led him to the devout worship of Shiva and Muruga. Another theory of his – it is not Krishna, but lord Muruga who mesmerises devotees with his divine flute music – is also noteworthy.
- In addition to being a radical thinker, he was a seasoned orator. His oratory skills were such that it would leave even Lord Muruga tongue-tied.
- When his oratory skills can bring God down to earth, what chance do innocent children have before his speech? He instantly became children’s favourite and he reciprocated the love by reserving the first few rows for children, at all his discourses.
- Despite atheist groups criticising him rampantly, he handled them without losing his temper. This shows his mature attitude.
- He supported Sanskrit, but it did not get in the way of his love for Tamil. He could put a grammarian’s skill to a hard test. His love for Tamil was such that whenever he graced an occasion or wished someone, his wish would take the form of a ‘Venba’, a form of Tamil poetry that consists of 2 to 12 lines.
- His greatest success would probably be the fact that he did not take people to God, he took God to the people. He simplified religion and made people like God as a friend. When religion was a set of scriptures that could not be accessed by anybody, spirituality became a foreign thing. When people like Kripaananda Variyar broke it down to its essence – Compassion – more people started seeking spiritual guidance.
- Being a staunch Hindu did not make him despise other religions. He treated everyone equally. This is evident from an incident that happened in Thirupparankundram. When a set of Muslims wanted to change the name of the town to ‘Sikandhar Malai’, he did not object to it and calmly said ‘What’s in a name?’. “A person who eats only when he’s hungry and stops eating before the hunger is satisfied will never be touched by sickness” – this was an advice given by one of his Muslim friends and he followed it strictly throughout his life. He never failed to mention this advice in any of his speeches.