Vilvam ‘Anna’ Vasudevan Kapaleeswarar Temple

The ‘Silent’ Man breathes the Thevaram Verses every minute of his life and believes there is a solution in these verses to every problem in life

He took to 'Silence' for a full year to cure a devotee's child

Has there ever been an Acharya who has initiated disciples into the sacred verses for over a decade without speaking a single word!!!

                     Vilvam Anna @ Kasi

He is back this month at the Kapaleeswarar temple after a long trip to Kasi. The long beard that was symbolic of him in 2020 is gone and ‘surprisingly’ so has his presence inside the Kapaleeswarar Sannidhi. On the evening of the Arubhathumoovar Utsavam last week, this writer received a call at 9.50pm from Lakshmanan, the acting JC of the Kapaleeswarar temple with a query that you do not normally associate with the EOs of HR & CE temples “who is that glowing face on your whats app display.” When this writer informed him that he is the man who has spent the last two decades right inside that temple complex, he responded with delight “I have been (an EO) at almost all the major temples in TN and have interacted with most of the Mutt heads but have never seen anyone with the ‘தேஜஸ்’ of this man.” The JC was the most recent of the callers who have made similar remarks about this man. Top cricketers in the city and some of the leading Vaishnavite Priests at TN temples have seen a ‘spark’ in that man. However, despite their keen interest to meet him, not one has taken time out to meet the man.There may have also been any number of likes and positive comments about him on the social media during his long trip to Kasi end of 2020 and in January this year, when he broke his silence after a decade. It is one thing to post likes, quite another to recite Pathikams inside the temple without the use of mobile phones and talking to one another. 

Back in Madras, he has returned once again to his ‘Silent’ mode but this writer managed to catch the 60 year old Vilvam ‘Anna’ Vasudevan on one (emergency) ‘non Mounam’ day this month at the Kapaleeswarar temple. He is not in the least surprised to hear this (those who saw a rare spark not meeting him). With his first response, he provides total clarity on his outlook to life “You cannot 'convince' people. You cannot change any of them, unless they decide to on their own. If you thought I was so influential, you would be hearing a wave of Thevaram verses around me. How many years have I been reciting the verses and how many people do you now see with me. Unless Kapaleeswarar showers his blessings, no one would reach out.”

It is past 9.30pm and time to leave as the lights go off around the temple complex. As he walks back home along the Ponnambala Vathiyar Street, he says that it is the one day he has spoken this month as there was an emergency call from an overseas country (and that there seems to be some reason that Kapaleeswarar has brought the two together on this one off ‘talking’ day). 

100s of Pages of hand written 'Dharmic' notes

Vilvam ‘Anna’ Vasudevan goes into the traditional looking house and comes back with a large spiral bound book that he hands to this writer. It contains several hundred pages of hand written notes on Dharmic way of life and an understanding of life from the Ramayana and the sacred verses of the Saivite Saint Poets that provide insights into how he has mastered the subject.

Between 2000 and 06, he along with four others visited 200 Thevaram temples where they recited the sacred verses including ones relating to that temple and Pancha Puranam. He had earlier given up his corporate job which he says was 'to take care of his amma', now aged 96, and to dedicate the rest of his life to spreading the greatness of sacred verses. During the big utsavam at the Kapaleeswarar temple, the Chidambaram temple and a few other historical temples, he completes one Parayanam during the period of the utsavam.

He rubbishes any reference to him leading a ‘Saintly life’. But his long time student 34 year old Thaniga Raja says Vilvam Anna breathes the sacred verses every moment of his life and lives by example uniquely, in ‘Silence’.

Solving the financial Challenges

Raja was just 15 years old in 2002 and dressed in shorts when his appa brought him to the Kapaleeswarar temple. He recounts his first meeting with Vilvam Anna “We were in debt and in serious financial difficulty. When Vilvam Anna passed by, it struck him that we were facing some challenges. He called my appa to enquire and handed to him a small book comprising of verses from the Panniru Thirumurai.”

“He asked us to recite with devotional sincerity and sent us back from the temple that day with a belief that our problems will be solved. I really did not understand its importance then.” 

Relief from Jaundice

The family’s problems were indeed solved. A couple of years later, when Raja was struck with Jaundice, at 19, it was Vilvam Anna again who came to the rescue of the family with a devotional ‘Thevaram’ solution “He asked me to recite the ‘Avvanaikku Ivvanai’ verse and I was cured.”

He showcased to us that the Thevaram verses of the Saint Poets had a solution to every problem we encounter in life and that we need to look nowhere else.

Turning Point in his life

In 2008, Raja's appa approached Vilvam ‘Anna’ Vasudevan to initiate his son into the Thevaram verses. In those years, he was on a ‘Silent’ mode thrice a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday and on Pradhosham days. Raja was asked to start off with four lines from Manickavachakar's ‘Thiru Chadagam’ (Thiruvasagam) - Thiruvathavur. He craves for perfection and makes no compromises in life. He is particular on the correct ‘Uchcharippu’ and would not clear the verse otherwise. When he fumbled in the recital, he was asked to leave the then Nallappan street home of Vilvam Anna “I was almost in tears. It was just four lines in Tamizh. He rejected me and I was completely dejected.”

Raja came home and spent several hours not just learning those four lines but an additional 16 lines. He went back to Vilvam Anna and recited those 20 lines with such confidence that ‘he hugged me by the shoulder in front of Kapali. There was a delight in his eyes that I put in the effort and came out trumps.’

It was the turning point of his life. From that day, he began to learn the Thevaram verses as and when he had free time outside of his academics, initially and then his work in a corporate firm. 

A Big Moment at Avudayar Koil

A year later, there was a group that was to go from Mylapore to Thiru Perunthurai, Avudayar Koil but fate decided that Raja would go alone with Vilvam Vasudevan for Thiruvasagam Mutrothal  Raja shows to this writer a hand written note in his personal diary recording 21st February 2009 as one of the biggest days in his life. He dedicates that entirely to the selfless contribution of Vilvam Anna Vasudevan.

Several years later, a Shivan Adiyar at Avudayar Koil funded a sacred verses recording done by Raja and distributed several thousands of CDs to devotees.

Recite the Sacred Verses, Feel no Hunger 

In his Thirumozhi, Vaishnavite Saint Poet Periyazhvar says that all his life he has never starved for food even for a day. Even on days when he did not have food, he never felt hungry for he served as a true devotee of the Lord. If a day arises, when he is not able to chant sacred name of the Lord, then that will be the day of ‘Real Starvation’ for him. 

Raja recounts a similar experience of his years as a college student “On the off days in my college years, I would go to his house at 9am and start reciting the verses. As I sat beside him and began rendering the verses, hours ticked by but my mind was so devotionally attached that hunger never struck me. On most days, it was well past 1pm/2pm when Vilvam Anna would personally feed me with his hands. And then I would sit for another three hours with reciting the sacred verses. I realized when the mind is on God reciting these verses, time just flies and one does not feel the hunger.”

Vilvam Anna Vasudevan has stuck to a menu of ‘salt-less’ curd rice once a day. One has to eat to satisfy the hunger and not for the taste. He has followed that message from the scriptures over the last dozen years ‘The taste buds have gone long back’, he says. 

52 year old S Sasikumar, a businessman, is the other long time ‘student’ of Vilvam Anna Vasudevan. He recalls his experience at the Kapaleeswarar temple well over 15years ago “Like most devotees, I would come and chat around at the temple. While we did go into the Sannidhi to invoke the blessings of Swami and Ambal, a good part of our time at the temple was spent talking with people. He spotted me and handed me a book and asked me to read. And I was completely transformed and became his student.”

Sasikumar has been learning and reciting the sacred verses every evening at the Swami Sannidhi during the Artha Jaama Period for well over a decade. In the first couple of years of his initiation, Vilvam Anna spoke on select days in a week “In those early years, he provided great insights into different Thevaram temples, the relevance of the Naalvar’s verses at these temples and the contributions made by the 63 Nayanars and how we could learn from them and implement those messages in our daily lives.” 

Silence for one full year to cure a Child!!!

Once over a decade ago, when there was a serious health issue for a Kapaleeswarar devotee’s child, he took to ‘Silence’ for a full year invoking the blessings of the Lord through non-stop recital of the Thevaram verses. The child was cured!!!! And he decided this as a way of his life to relentlessly present the sacred verses and follow a ' Silent' path in life.

When devotees encountered Navagraha related issues and he could see the problem in their eyes, he would pick up select verses and hand it to them to recite “There have been several cases when we have seen with our own eyes as to how he has helped solve issues through the verses of the Saint Poets” says Sasikumar.

He recounts the respect the entire Thevaram temples fraternity have for him and cites his experience at the Chidambaram temple as an example ‘When I told them that I was a disciple of Vilvam Anna, the way they addressed me suddenly changed and the respect for me increased manifold!!!’

Not many are able to observe silence and still make a contribution to life. Vilvam ‘Anna’ Vasudevan is an exception. He has observed silence for over a decade and yet has earned the respect of the world as can be seen from the devotees addressing him at the Kapaleeswarar temple each day of the year. The Head Priest of the temple E Venkatasubramanian (Jayakanthan) Shivachariar (Jayakanthan Kapali) told this writer that even the HR & CE officials have high regard for him. He expressed surprise that Vilvam Vasudevan was sitting in front of the Vayilar Nayanar Sannidhi and was keen to get his recital back at the Swami or Ambal Sannidhi for there is a positive vibration when the sacred verses are presented by such holy men inside the Sannidhi.

When he spots a devotee facing a challenge, he immediately provides a ‘Thevaram’ Solution. He breathes these verses day and night and believes within himself that the sacred songs of the Saivite Saint Poets contains a solution to every problem that one encounters and that one can find an inner peace through its recital.

There is a spark in his eyes when he tells this writer that a 10 year old boy has just joined him this month to recite the Shiva Puranam along with him. There is another boy who is being initiated into Vishnu Sahasranamam.

For Raja, who is now learning the verses of Sundara Moorthy Nayanar (Vennai Nallur), it has been 13 long years since he was first initiated by Vilvam Anna Vasudevan. He asks if there has ever been an acharya in this world who has initiated a student for that long a period without speaking a single word and without taking a single rupee or non financial items as Sambhavanai. 

Vilvam Anna Vasudevan's mind is always on the Saint Poets and breathes the Thevaram Verses every minute of his life. Doing Parayanam continuously - Panniru Thirumurai, Vedas, Ramayanam, Bhagavatham and the Puranas- at the Kapaleeswarar temple, he says is his way of life. He is ever willing to initiate anyone into the Thevaram Verses, and is available seven days a week at the Kapaleeswarar Temple. If Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal bless, there will hopefully be several more disciples this decade who will learn and spread the messages from the sacred verses of the Saivite Saint Poets to the World at Large. 

Truly an exceptional 'Silent'' Personality.