On
the auspicious day of lunar eclipse, when countless devotees and sages assembled
for special pujas, Kannappa came there bathing, and with mouthful of water for
abhisheka in his hunting shoes as usual. When he was about to offer abhishekam,
he saw some yellow discharge from the left eye of the Lord. He was upset. In his
zeal to heal the affected eye, he decided to transplant his eye into the Lord's
eye socket. Deciding, he pulled out his left eye with an arrow and put it into
the Lord's eye socket. What a marvel! The eye shone exceedingly brilliant at
once. Before the vanishing of the flickers of smile, he found the right eye
watery and the same yellow fluid coming out. He was about to repeat the same
process for healing, by putting his foot on the affected eye of the Lord to
indicating the point to be translated, for he could see nothing if his only eye
too were to be pulled out. There appeared then, the compassionate Lord and
stopped his inimitable venture. Demonstrating the real nature of true bhakti to
the spectators, the Lord disappeared granting Salokyamukti as desired by
Kannappa in addition to restoring the eye sight to him. Doesn't he deserve the
ever watchful benign look of the Lord here in this loka more than Salokyaprapti
in the loka above? Hence the installation of his image in the garbha griha of
the Lord, and it is seen even today. He was canonized later and called, Kannappa
or Netresa Nayannar.
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