Once in Madurai there lived a pious Brahmin who was a great devotee of Lord Hari. His name was Hari Vyasar. He used to chant the Lord’s names and recite his mantras regularly and would visit his temple in his region and offer pujas and perform abhishekhams, and then only will have his daily breakfast. Once while he was travelling on the way to the temple of Jagannathar at Puri, he come across a forest kali temple, and went there. There he has seen a farmer sacrificing his goat to Mata Kali. On seeing that, being a Brahmin, he tried to leave that place immediately.
Then, Mata Kali appeared in front of him in her true form, and asked him to have food in the temple. Hari vyasar refused to have the food, saying that he doesn’t like sacrificing the poor animal to her, and asked her to stop such kind of act. Mata Kali accepted his wish, and she appeared in the dream of the king of that region, and asked him to stop animal sacrifice, and instead of that, she has asked him to offer fruits and other vegetarian food items as a naivedyam (HOLY PRASAD) to her. The king had accepted the orders of the divine mother, and stopped sacrificing animal in her temple. On seeing the incidents, hari vyasar was very happy and stayed in the temple for some time and got the blessings from the divine mother KALI DEVI, and then he continued his journey to Jagannathar Temple, Puri.
Due to his noble act, animal sacrifice was stopped in that temple, and gradually it was stopped in other temples in the surroundings of Madurai region. Sri Hari Vyasar was such a kind, soft and a humble scholar, who lived his life by worshipping the god in the holy temples and providing welfare services to the people such as offering food, clothing for the poor people at his own cost. He was also an expert in writing poems and singing songs on Lord Hari. Due to that he got great name and fame, and he received lot of wealth from the kings. But he spent all the wealth for the welfare of the poor people.
It is believed that after his death, due to his noble acts, he has attained the divine abode of Lord Vishnu.
Let us worship the great saint and be blessed.
“OM SREE HARI VYASARE NAMAHA”
“OM NAMO NARAYANAYA NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR