Miracles Of Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar
As “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” so too are the miracles that Ganesha performs in the eye of the beneficiary. This may not be clear to others who will see this as merely coincidental. In other words, when one wants something desperately and has exhausted all avenues humanly possible, and finally seeks the help and blessings of Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar, and they get it, the devotee will see this as divine intervention, no less.
As long-time devotees of Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar, we have come to know of many stories of such divine intervention. Here, we share some of these stories with you.
Vinayagar Thiruvillayaadal
When I found out that there was going to be a section in the book about the miracles of Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar, I felt compelled to share one of my many encounters with the great Ganesha with the wider world. In my mind, what I have written here is indeed truly miraculous. It tells you when all hope is lost, He shows you the way.
As it has been my routine for many years, I woke up at 4.30 am in the morning, on 5th August 2019, cleaned up and dressed to go for my daily walk along the beach. My mobile rang. Shan Pillai was on the other end. He said that, after many attempts at contacting the Kanchi Mutt, and chasing Kaameshawara Kurukkal, he was able to get two possible dates for the Kumbahabhishekam. One was 7th June 2020 and the other 30th August 2020. He explained that Kaameshwwara Kurukkal was the one that Perivayar (His Holiness, Vijeyandra Saraswathi, Peedathipathi of the Shankara Charya Mutt.) had tasked with calculating the date for the Kumbabhabhishekam.
Shan said that he was planning to go and see Periyavar to ask him to bless the selected dates and asked if I was interested in following him there. I said, “no” that he should go ahead and see Periyavar himself, since there was only one small window of opportunity to see Periyavar and that was between 7 am and 7.30 am that same day, and I would need to rush in order for me to make it from Mamallapuram to Chennai, where Perivayavar was giving dharshans.
Shan accepted what I said, but from the tone of his voice, I could hear his disappointment. So, after a few minutes of pondering on that decision, I decided to call him back and told him that I would go with him.
I took a quick shower, dressed up and sped to the ITC Hotel, where Shan was staying. A journey that would normally take at least an hour and 30 minutes, took only 50 minutes, not only because I was speeding all the way, but also the lack of traffic at that hour in the morning (around 6 am).
I met Shan and his wife Mrs Pillai, at the hotel, and jumped into the hired car that Shan had. Eventually we reached the Mutt at around 7.10 am. Mrs Pillai wanted to buy some fruits and flowers to present to Periyavar. We rushed through that and lined up in the queue to see Periyavar. There were about eight people lining in front of us.
As we were standing in the queue, the three of us were debating if we should simply give one date or allow Periyavar to choose.
I was very uncertain. On one hand, I preferred the date to be 30th August, as that would give me more time to complete the works, but on the other hand, I felt that 7th June might also be doable, as long as all the pieces fell in place. I told Shan, “Please give the date as 30th August and get Periyavar’s blessing for that date”.
Mrs Pillai also insisted that I should be comfortable with the date which we should suggest to Periyavar.
When we were the next in line to see Periyavar, something in me was telling, “Let Him decide”. So, at the very last minute, I told Shan, “Let Periyavar pick the date. Let us not pick the date”. We did not have any more time to debate. Shan explained to Periyavar, that we were from Melbourne, and that the Vinayagar had been given by Sri Jagadguru Jeyandra Saraswathi Swamigal back in 1989. Shan also said that we were doing our third Kumbababhishekam and we wanted Periyavar to pick one date from the two that had been given by Kaameshwara Kurukkal.
Periyavar chose 7th June 2020. I took it as this was the date Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar wanted. We thanked Periyavar, got his blessings and came out of the Mutt.
It was when we were heading back to the Hotel that reality struck. What had I done? Why did I agree to this date? How was I going to do this? There were so many variables. The first and foremost of which was getting the right size stone from the quarry. I had been chasing the quarry Manager for the last three months and I had not heard anything from him. He had been saying it was coming, and coming and coming, but nothing so far.
Back at the hotel, Shan and I sat with a piece of paper and mapped out what we needed to do to achieve this date. As we were discussing, the phone rang. It was the quarry manager, who said that they had found the stone that I was looking for and would be delivering it early next week. The quarry manager, who had not found the stone for so long, suddenly seemed to have found it. This was such a miracle that the debates of how many shipments and when would the workers be brought to Australia went out of my mind. The only focus was how would I complete this work.
I set about working through all the details to meet the 7th June 2020 deadline, which meant that I had to finish the sculpting, identify appropriate packing materials, have them packed and shipped to arrive by early February 2020, so that the construction in Australia could begin on time.
As I sit in August 2020 and, given COVID-19 and the subsequent travel restrictions, I realise that had I chosen the date of 30th August which I preferred at that time, my men and I would never have come here by early February. We would have taken our time and arrived here probably in April 2020. We would never have made it. The construction work would not have been completed on time. This in my mind is another true miracle.
As I reflect back in time, when Shan rang me and asked if I wanted to be involved in the project in 2017, I was interested, but the committee was very clear that this job would only be given to me, provided my quotation was competitive. This led to many months of difficult negotiations and, at one stage, it meant that we even agreed to part ways. The only thing I told Shan on Aavani Sathurthi in 2018 in front of the Utasava Moorthy after carrying the God for the event, was that, I would give all my drawings and plans to Shan Pillai as a service to Vinayagar. I also told him that he could use that to get multiple quotes from different Stapthies. Perhaps because of this that Vinayagar must have decided that I should finish this most momentous granite transformation of the temple.
Hope from Hopelessness
“Like Kavignar Kannathaasan said: Ninaippathellaam Nadanthuvittaal Deivam Ver Onrum Illai (if everything we wished for happened, then there is no such thing as God). When struggles in life loom over us, that is when most of us turn to religion. I witnessed and experienced Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar's grace and power when I thought I was walking on quicksand, when each and every step in life was seemingly hopeless and helpless.
When we first arrived in Melbourne from Sri Lanka, we hadn’t been equipped to deal with the Western culture, to tackle the language barrier or to deal with the lack of our support network. We had three mouths to feed and two of them needed additional educational support to fit in and to meet the academic standards of Australia.
The savings from back home could only last so long, and financial security was unattainable to us.
Desperation clung to us like second skin, so my husband and I scrounged for jobs, willing to look at all opportunities. When all we were faced was, one failure after another, one crushing blow after another, it eroded on our family’s peace. Our happiness crumbled each day, one piece at a time. Even the weather seemed to compound our despair: the gloomy days of winter, the dark and oppressive clouds, the biting cold wind and the pounding rain just worsened it all.
Just as we were beginning to lose hope, we found Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar. He saved us.
One day, in my dreams, I had just returned from praying at the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple when I dreamt of an old man. He took my hands and led me to a small wooden coin box. As he put a few coins into that box and offered it to me, he proclaimed that it was from the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar temple.
That was it. I woke up. I couldn’t recall his face, appearance or voice. All I remembered was that simple box and the blanket of warmth and reassurance, which had rushed through me. I had almost forgotten this dream had happened until a few days later when the miracle happened. My husband was offered a job.
It wasn’t a job that would let us have a lavish lifestyle, and it wasn’t a job that was going to push us right back into darkness and desperation. It was just right for us and our family. That wooden box was Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar’s metaphor to tell me that He would save us—that we no longer must fight to stay afloat and this job would become our buoy of survival. Like the small wooden box that job was just enough. It was just right. He saved us when we thought all hope was lost, just when we were about to hit rock bottom.
He not only gave us the financial security we were desperately searching for, but also returned our happiness, strengthened our love and restored our family’s peace.”
Delayed Shipment
“I heard the sound my of mobile ringing, and I woke up. I checked the time and it was 6.00 am, it was an unusual time for someone to call me, I thought. When I answered, the freight forwarding agent was on the other end of the line.
“We have some very bad news for you”, she said.
“What, what?” I exclaimed, my slumber quickly wearing off.
“Quarantine has held back the second shipment of stones”, she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“They have found some dry neem leaves in the crates”, she replied.
“What does this mean?”, I asked.
“We don’t know, there is no way of knowing. The quarantine officers are in a world of their own. They have just held back the shipment, and we will need to wait”, she said.
My heart dropped. The date for the Kumbhabhishekam had been fixed and everything needed to go according to the plan with precision. Any delay would jeopardize this plan. This delay was totally unexpected. We had taken so much trouble to avoid this. We had invested in special rubber wood, arranged for each timber to be heat treated; boxes made for each granite stone and then fumigated. At the end of it all, only to be told this was shocking.
“How long will it take to clear?” I asked her again. “We really don’t know,” the reply came. “In our experience, we had one shipment with some neem contamination, stuck in quarantine for over six months.”
Hearing this was too much to bear. I asked myself how this had happened. What happened to all the checks and balances we had put in place? We had even asked that the empty container be cleaned before stuffing it.
I told her thank you and asked her to keep me updated. Clearing of the container is usually a 2-3-day event. Two weeks passed, and the agent told me every day that there was no news from Quarantine. She went on to say Quarantine is not prepared to tell us how long this is going to take and what is the hold up.
I knew this needed divine intervention. I went to the temple and prayed to Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar and vowed that if the shipment got cleared quickly, I would shave my head bald to express my gratitude to Him. The agent called me the next morning and told me that Quarantine had said that they wanted the boxes thoroughly cleaned before inspection.
I asked her if we could clean it as it would save costs and avoid delays. She called back in couple of hours and said yes. We quickly organised a group of volunteers armed with cleaning appliances and went there very early in the morning to have the boxes cleaned. I received a phone call the following day that Quarantine had released the goods.
After being told that neem leaf contamination could take up to six months to clear – with no definite understanding of the rationale for the goods being held up and no one to give us any concrete information – this news was a huge relief. In my mind, it was none other than Vinayagar’s intervention that made this possible.”
Coincidence?
“Being a Health Professional and a member of the younger generation, I am a person of Science. For me, data and evidence is critical to take any decision or to explain any phenomenon. If it is unexplained, it may be a coincidence. This is how I have been trained. So you can imagine my dismissive comment when my mother said that an Astrologer had told her that I would meet with an accident that year.
Despite my training, I had been brought up to believe in God and divine interventions. My mother wanted me to go to Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple, regularly. She felt that indeed, if the astrologer was right, perhaps Vinayagar would make it less painful in the event of the accident.
It was 6am on a typical Sunday morning. We were all fast asleep when our neighbour knocked on our door asking us to come outside because she had heard a loud noise. To our horror, we found my parked car rammed from behind, its rear wheels on the ground, its front forcefully thrust between the kerb and the old tree in front of our home. Someone had hit my car from behind and took off.
As I saw that, I felt a shiver run down my spine. If this had happened one week later, the following Sunday morning (say), I would have been in the car, at that time, getting ready for work. For my mother this was proof enough that the Astrologer was right and indeed it was divine intervention that I was not sitting in the car at that very moment. For me, however, it was a mere coincidence.
Just as I was sorting through my paperwork for my car, so that I can report to the police and to lodge a claim with my insurer, I discovered that my car’s registration was going to expire on the very night of the accident. Obviously, had it expired, it would have been more challenging for me to report to the police and to make the Insurance claim. The worst part is that I had absolutely no idea, as I had not paid attention to it. Once again, I felt this was just another coincidence that the registration had to expire on that night.
As I called the police to report the accident, I got the final astonishing information. A patrolling police car had seen the fleeing car and was chasing after it and was able to arrest the driver. Why was there a patrol car that night, on my usually lonely street out of all the streets of my suburb? Was this another random event?
Surely not. This was the clincher. This one day changed my life and the way I saw the world.
Like in folk tales, I didn’t hear God’s voice; He didn’t come in my dreams; But there was this string of coincidences—a prediction, a near-miss, an expiring registration and the very timely capture of the culprit, with no loss of limb or life, cannot be anything else but Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar’s blessing. I was finally convinced; my regular visits and prayers is what saved me.”
Lost Case
“I came to Australia as a student. I liked Australia so much that I overstayed without renewing my visa. I was caught by the authorities and was going to be prosecuted and deported. However, I decided to challenge my case in court but lost after two appeals. My lawyer said I was never going to win. Then I went to the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple for the first time on Aavani Sathurthi day. Prayed and asked Vinayagar for help. During the final hearing of my appeal, the judge threw out the prosecution’s case on a technicality and I won. This was some 26 years ago. I have remained a devout Vakrathunda Vinayagar follower ever since.”
Turning Point
“I migrated to Australia in the 1980s. I came from a devout Hindu family but had difficulty practicing my faith due to my mixed marriage. My life was also full of financial difficulties and other challenges. One day, my family and I were driving past Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple. I decided to go in and it happened to be the monthly Vinayagar Sathurthi day. I was asked to carry the deity for Ganesha’s regular perambulation. From that moment on, I felt a connection to God, and decided to come for every Sathurthi and participate. Looking back, I feel that experience was a turning point in my life and career. Years later, I returned to my native land and took the reins to manage my father’s business. Today, I’m grateful for my success and I attribute all of this, to my engagement with the Basin Temple and the grace of Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar.”
New Job
“In 1995, the first place that my brother brought me to in Melbourne soon after migrating was the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple. I had just left my job back in my home country, uprooted my entire family and arrived in Australia. I had no job and had four mouths to feed. I prayed to Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar that my decision to leave a well-paying job back home and come here with nothing in hand will be rewarded. My prayers were almost instantly answered. I was called for two interviews the next day chose a job from one of them, and I have never looked back. I attribute all of my success to His grace.”
Homesick
“I was introduced to this Temple by a friend. I was overcome by how beautiful and serene the Temple was. Two years later, she took me to the Ther festival, and I met a lady there, and we got to know each other. I didn’t visit the Temple again after that. One day, I was talking to my mother about feeling homesick and she said to me, why don’t you visit Lord Ganesha in that Temple regularly? I found it ridiculous that this would be a solution to my homesickness, but I decided to give it a try. I met that lady again at the Temple and eventually, she got me involved in small ways to serve Lord Ganesha. My life changed forever after that. I look back and find it funny that this friend and this lady looked out for me even though I had so many other friends in Melbourne. Now I realise it was Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar, through them, who was looking after me. Now if I don’t visit the Temple at least once a week, if I don’t serve Him, I feel like my heart is skipping a beat.”
USA Visa
“I am an ex-priest of the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple. Coming from a poor family, my earnings at the Temple were the main source of family income. My children studied very hard to succeed in their exams but unfortunately opportunities were very limited in my native land. I decided to pray to Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar regularly. I promised to go around the Temple every day until my son was able to get an opportunity in a developed country. After having done this for over 13,000 times, God answered my prayer and my son’s visa for the USA was approved. I have never forgotten Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar’s blessings and will always remember Him.”
Missing Bracelet
The following story was shared by some of the Temple’s former Management Committee members:
“It all started when a devotee reported losing a valuable jewellery. We rushed to the Temple to review the security camera footage to find out what happened to a devotee's $ 3,000 diamond bracelet that was lost at the Temple few days ago. Through the camera footage they identified where the devotee had dropped the bracelet and how another devotee had picked it up and placed it in a safe place away from people's feet. Committee members were then able to take the bracelet and give this back to the devotee. The devotee was completely overwhelmed with joy and simply said this was Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar’ s blessing and donated some money to the Temple.”
Just in time
“It was a few days before the first Kumbabhishekam (11 October 1992). The day for the event was fixed but the main entry to the Moolasthaanam wasn’t ready. This entry strip to be poured as a concrete slab surrounded by the timber floor. The only way this concrete strip could be poured was with a lot of formwork as sheet metal. This requires a skilled concreter. All timber floors were ready but hiring a concrete subcontractor who could finish the job within a day was unimaginable. The Building Committee was in panic mode. A concreter who was constructing the same type of floor in the IBM tower was introduced to the Committee and he took up the job. He poured concrete through the night and the concrete strip was ready within hours. In the end, the first Kumbabhishekam went on well as planned.”
Miraculous cure
“I was an ardent devotee of Vinayagar, even when I was a small boy. I used to pray to the Vinayagar under the tree every day, on my way to school back home in Sri Lanka.
When I came to Australia and was given an opportunity to participate in the building of the Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple in Melbourne, in 1992, I felt, it was a calling from that same “Marathadi Vinayagar”. I readily took it up, and thoroughly enjoyed it. More importantly I felt that this was bringing me closer to Vinayagar.
Suddenly one day in April 1998, as we were taking part in a public function, my wife collapsed. We rushed her in an Ambulance to a nearby Hospital. We soon discovered that one side of her was totally paralysed, and she could not move. The attendant cardiologist said that she has had a massive stroke. She was almost unconscious for many hours, upon consulting her usual cardiologist, this was confirmed, and the Cardiologist went on to say, that she will not be able to recover from this. That she would need help to simply, to do her day to day chores. This was particularly exacerbated, as she already had a latent heart problem.
This totally devastated me. I still had a small daughter to look after, and I would become the sole bread winner in the family. I simply did not know how I could survive.
I went to the Temple, prayed my heart out and said that only He can help me through this. I prayed and prayed for my wife’s full recovery. At the same time, I took extra care to help her with rehabilitation every day. I took several weeks leave from my work and stayed with her to help her speedy recovery. Miraculously, she began to improve slowly but steadily. Soon, she was almost normal, the only sign of the stroke was a mild discomfort.
She went back to work and in fact has continued to do so ever since and she has even been promoted in her role several times.
Today, as I sit back and see the events that happened that year, I am absolutely certain it was the divine grace of Sri Vakrathudna Vinayagar, that my wife is living an almost normal life considering the massive stroke event that occurred in her life.”
Why the same priest?
“I had just been elected as the new President of the Temple and the previous three years were probably the most turbulent years of the Sangam, which had been embroiled in a major litigation between the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the old Management Committee.
As a result of this litigation, the management of the Sangam had passed onto the hands of the BOT.
One of the very first tasks that I had to undertake was to find permanent priests. Through my past contacts with other Priests, we were able to identify and select Gowrieswara Kurukkal. We also wanted a second priest. In this quest, I went to India and through a friend of a friend was able to interview two highly recommended priests. I then selected one of them. When I returned to Melbourne, and wanted to organise the visa papers, to prepare the Sponsorship documents, I came across a letter that had been signed by the previous President of the Sangam to the same Priest that I had selected, with a note stating that he had been selected for the job and that he should prepare to depart India, upon receiving the visa.
In the meanwhile, the management of the Sangam had passed to the BOT, who did not have any idea of this letter and selected someone totally different.
So after, a period of three years, since the previous president had interviewed and selected and sent the letter, the exact same priest had been selected by me, without any knowledge of the previous selection outcome.
I sincerely believe this is Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar’s work. He wanted the priest to come here and work for him, hence He found his way to make that happen. In a country with easily a million priests, why should I eventually end up selecting the same priest?”
Testing Ganesha
Below is the letter of a devotee who attended the Sivarathiri Celebrations at the School hall back in 1990.
A rudimentary translation of this is that a lady who had heard about the new Ganesha Temple decided to come and test HIM and she brought with her a small tray of fruits as her gift to the “Temple”. She says, He must have known that she was coming to test Him, so when she gave a small plate of fruits, she received back from the priest, a huge tray of apples, oranges, grapes etc. This was a “miracle” for her.
