If you happened to drive through the Aranmula Pandalam rd.

, you will not miss the SVGV

School complex (Hr. Sec., High School and UPS) on the west side of the road at Nalkalikal
and immediately after the Kozhipalam. To the northwesterly of the school complex is the
Siva Temple, that boldly stands on the maha samadhi spot of Shri Vijayananda samikal (a.k.a.
Kaviyur samikal and Kidanganur samikal) the chief disciples of Chattampi samikal.

Vijayananda samikal went into Mahasamadhi on the March 28, 1960 after a brief illness in a
local hospital. My dad (Kythavilakom Parameswaran Pillai) and mom (Easwari Pillai),
travelled to Kidanganur Nalkalikal Asram to be readily there and to part take in the rituals of
keeping the mortal remains in a state of Samadhi. As I was taking my Pre-university
examinations in the Intermediate college, Thycad, Trivandrum I did not accompany my
parents to Asram. During the occasion of silver jubilee of mahasamadhi and the siva temple
at that site, a souvenir was published on April 8, 1986.

I have a special connection with the Kidanganur asramam and Vijayananda samikal in that
firstly it was samiji who initiated me to the ritual of eating solid food like rice etc., and
writing on rice at a later date- both happened in the Kidanganur asramam in the mid-forties.

Kaviyur sami is known widely in the Travancore part of modern Kerala from Kochi to
Kanyakumari for his mission and dedication to the revival of Hindu dharma, humanitarian
acts and deeds aimed at the overall welfare of the citizens. During the pre-independent days,
Travancore as well as the rest of India was a country with masses suffering for everything
from food, healthcare, shelter and education of children.

The only privileged class were those who worked for the local government and those
endowed with wealth. Also the period also saw the WWII. All amounted to penury. The
members of the highest strata had some thing to eat all the 365 days of the year where as
those in the lower rungs of the society had very tough time. The vast majority of day
workers had work and income connected to rice farming and tending the fields

The great souls like Kidanganur samikal well understood the hardship of the majority in any
community. Samiji promoted self-help groups by promoting clusters of handloom weavers.
There existed one such cluster in the Nalkalikal asramam.

Another mission samiji undertook was the revival of hindu thought and actions. The vehicle
he chose was Pournami pooja (on the Fullmoon day) in places far and wide. I remember one
such pooja but only very faintly that took place in the Thirunelli homestead, to the east of
Kattathura, in the Kanyakumari Dist. TN.

The Thirunelli homestead is related to Kythavilakom Neelakanta Pillai- my dads maternal
uncle.

Such and similar Pournami poojas happened almost every month in many places where
Samiji personally could participate in one or at the best to events. This pooja event
aggregated the nearly well to do as well as the members from the less rich homesteads. This
day was one of choral prayers by teams of men and women, some food to go around and
discussions on Hinduism led by scholars.

(A rough translation of a talk to the disciples on the occasion of a Pournami Pooja, Kilroor,
20-9-114. Roughly three years prior to my own birth in 22-3-119)

Hey sisters and brothers:
May I, this destitute, request you all to deeply think about consequences of the strong and
steadily growing schemes, plans and programs around us today. You see, the reasons and
causes for the steady growth and sustenance of such programs and the efforts and sacrifice
the members of the group pay, for is like drop by drop and several drops finally leading to a
flood flow.

With power and knowledge, the nearly vanishing or vanished dharma of Indians, need to be
reinvented and for this this destitute has created or devised a set of righteous programs
that are with the your benevolence, sacrifice or else your endless respect and reverence to me
will bear fruit finally.

These are the desires of this destitute, yet with your unlimited support, I wish to affirm
loudly that this will come in handy for your childrens welfare, worlds spiritual wealth.

As the extent of hard work and sufferings and setbacks this beggar went through are to be
presented and described to you I am sure that many among you will cry loudly with a painful
heart and sobbing, I desist from narrating it to you and instead dedicate all those at the lotus
feet of my guru.

In spite of all the sufferings and setbacks I may go through, finally I am in deed happy to see
that if all of you finally attain or reach a state happiness and contentment.

Disciples and friends.
I, this destitute wish to state that I am here to tell you about what ever I said, not due to
my ignorance of those of you, who are facing livelihood difficulties, in your living
environments as a result of difficulties and troubles, primarily due to financial distress or
down turns.
Perhaps if we do not rededicate to a life of this sort, we have no right to look forward to a
better life. Those who think loud and carefully will soon realize that the current state of the
society is the outcome of the twin evils of loss of faith and ignorance of past. Therefore we
need to regain the wealth and welfare, we need to bring back the dharma of life. So this is
our sole responsibility and Karma.

Dearest friends
All of you know well that our work so far has not led to anything appropriate and useful.
Here this land which once remained deep below in the water, is reclaimed by landfilling with
the investment of money donated by kindhearted and charitable people.
Sisters and brothers
The programs we inaugurated so far require investments for which financial support need to
come from you people here. Therefore, we need to learn, emulate or copy from our friends
in the other communities in respect of how to go forward in helping the causes like these to
achieve personal happiness, family welfare, and rise of the community itself.

So I pray to my guru to bless you fully and completely to live happily and purposefully ever
after. You be benevolent, happy and joyous, our programs be fruit bearing, and useful to
the world.





Also a point perhaps in the top of the mind of samiji was getting people to work and earn
outside of the farms and farming. So several options were considered by samiji like spinning
and weaving so that some money is saved and earned by way of the clothes made in the
Handlooms.

In the Nalkalikal asramam, I remember to have taken note of men and women engaging
themselves in spinning yarn and weaving clothes for sale or use. These were the old
fashioned wooden Pit-looms, where the stood above the ground, while persons of both
genders walked down into a pit opposite of the loom to rest their butt on the edge of the pit
to be able to reach the foot-pedals as well as one rope each on the hands to pull the shuttles
back and forth.

Samiji also discovered the role of education in the emancipation of the masses. Even in the
Nalkalikal area there was no school and it was a big handicap especially for girl children to
go to far off school by foot. Therefore, samiji turned to the education infrastructure for the
benefit of young school age kids in the neighborhood. Therefore samiji founded the first
Sanskrit school near the Nalkalikal asramam compound.

The records or reports say that samiji had established schools in other places too. a primary
or elementary school was established and buildings were constructed along the eastern
periphery of the Nalkalikal asramam property. This school was gradually upgraded and
finally it is one of the wellknown schools with Higher Secondary, High school and UPS etc.
It is a large school complex now. Unfortunately the Asramam administration and school
administration are different and separate.





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