"Sri Sivan Sir Sadguro Sharanam. Prostrations to Lord Vinayaga who stands revealed in the essence of Vedanta."

My name is Krishnan Mohan. I had the good fortune to be associated with Sri Sivan Sir (hereinafter referred to as Sir) for about a decade and  proof read His  magnum opus "Yeni Padigalil Mandargal" (YPM hence forth) which was first published by Narmada Padipagam in Chennai in 1986. SIR attained Siddhi on 7.3.1996. He wrote a treasure trove of manuscripts from which the essence was culled out and published as YPM (Yeni Padigalil Mandargal) by Sir Himself in 1986 of which a revised edition was brought out in 1994. This book has the potential to change one's outlook and priorities drastically for the better in worldly as well as spiritual life. Sir is present in it and will guide those who hold it in their hands in their quest for spiritual bliss. YPM IS THE BEST AND SAFEST SOURCE TO KNOW ABOUT SRI SIVAN SIR.

Sri Sivan Sir was an enlightened soul held in high regard by such lofty saints as Kanchi Maha Periyaval and Govinda Damodara Swamigal (Triplicane Swamigal). He was incidentally born to the same set of divine parents who gave Kanchi Maha Periyaval to the world. He was born as Sadasiva Sastri on 3.10.1903.

I have been fortunate to interact with some  genuine saints who had a few things in common. They were free from hypocrisy, thoroughly honest, practised what they preached,  lived a simple life as laid down in our scriptures, and avoided use of modern gadgets.  More importantly  they kept scrupulously away from money, honour and  popularity.

I met Sivan Sir when I was almost convinced that a majority of people considered God to be  some kind of magical protection against the effects of conscious sinning and considered pardoning such wanton sinners His sole  business! Unfortunately this plausible point of view is upheld by most of our self serving exponents of Dharma by clever or even distorted presentation of our holy epics such as Ramayanam,  Mahabaratham,  Srimad Baghavatham etc . It is strange that those who  lecture glibly about god and guru as  omniscient beings somehow believe that they are privileged souls and the same omniscient god or guru will turn a blind eye to their sins committed in secrecy!

YPM  has a different point of view. It says that only paying lip service to god, guru and scriptures but violating them in day to day conduct is a sin and those who do this are probably worse than those who denounce god! YPM holds the view that it is better to be a benevolent and honest atheist than being a divine fake or hypocrite!

I want to keep my personal views to the minimum as the purpose of this website is to let interested but Tamil challenged readers into the contents of YPM in a very, very selective manner as an exhaustive translation is both impossible and beyond my very limited capabilities.  There is nothing like reading it yourself as the contents of YPM are too subtle expressed in an inimitable style thereby making any translator's job quite unenviable.The USP of YPM is that a honest and interested reader can't help interacting as he reads. It is not a scripture which one can read with the sole aim of giving discourses.

In Sir's  own  words YPM throws light on both "what is what and what is not" in the spiritual realm. For spiritual novices like me  "what is not" is certainly more useful and easy to understand . For we are living in a strange era where people believe in god but persist in sins, love Krishna but can't stand the word "scriptures" (Krishna whom we extol as Jagadguru asks Arjuna to consult scriptures when it comes to dos and donts of life ), praise and even propagate Guru but disregard His guidance  in day to day life!  Above everything  saints are respected for sheer worldly qualities like creating and augmenting wealth, intelligence, appearance, popularity, organisational and oratorical skills, political acumen, influential contacts and the like. How great is the sway of Maya in that we expect  someone like us, perhaps superior in the above mentioned worldly qualities to deliver us from the cycle of birth and death!

Sir never drank plain water, took bath only a few times in a year (no bad odour about Him) and lived on a few spoonfuls of cooked rice daily. Once I asked Him how He was able to give up water, He replied with child like innocence "Adu Bhagavan kudutha token". So profound and yet so humble. I have seen Him wearing a sweater in May in Chennai when it is extremely hot and humid here. Sir used to refer to professional speakers and writers in the field of religion and spirituality as "informative" people. He was of the view that we should call someone knowledgeable only if they have some experience.

Most of the time I have seen Sir like Sri Dakshinamurthi, conscious, sitting without any movement, radiating peace and tranquility! When I learnt Gita later I found verse no17 in chapter 3 (Karma Yoga) tallying perfectly with Sir's impossible trait . The verse says " but for that man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied in the Self, and who is content in the Self alone, verily there is nothing to do." Sir was a living interpretation of this verse.

If any of the readers know Tamil and still have not made an attempt to read YPM, it is a very costly omission. YPM has the potential to disabuse your mind of its pet ideas on God and spirituality besides acting as a powerful  antidote to attachment to the world. This on condition that one is a honest seeker and not just a on a wild goose chase for some magical potion which will enable him  to lead an untrammeled worldly life culminating in God realisation . Try it and you will be convinced. It contains everything which the Vedas contain-again in Sir's  own words.

My only qualification to do this job is that I have seen Sir and prostrated to Him and  He in His infinite wisdom used me as an instrument in the revised edition of YPM in 1994.