[forward from Vaidehi]

[Guest guest]

[A forwarded note from Vaidehi Venkatakrishnan]

 

krish wrote:

>It is interesting to note that PERUMAAl wants jewels,

>garlands and aradhana!

 

I just would like to make a comment on this, and please view it in the

context of what follows:

 

We were fortunate to be present at the Atlanta kovil

Mahakumbhabhishekam.

Shri Chinna Ramanuja Jeeyar solemnized the samprokshanam and was

gracious

to speak to the devotees whenever he could, amidst his other

obligations. The day after the Kumbhabhishekam, an abhishekam with the

holy water from

1008 kalasas was performed. While the alankaram for the Lord was going

on, to keep the devotees from distracting their thoughts away from the

Lord, Shri Jeeyar began an extempore talk on the meaning of performing

rituals like abhishekam to the Lord. However he didnot complete all that

he wanted to say as the curtains lifted. Contrary to what we believe, he

explained that the Lord does not require anything from us like being

adorned, have abhishekam performed etc., etc.,(and why would He?) and

that there is a lot more spiritual meaning attached to everything that

is done to Him. It is for our benefit and NOT His. He said the essence

of performing the abhishekam is the cleansing of our body and mind, each

item of the abhishekam progressively representing the next step in

tuning yourself towards Him (water, milk, yoghurt, honey, sandal paste,

etc., each one had a spiiritual meaning for the human being endlessly

caught in maaya). (Some of you might have heard people say why waste all

that money buying all the items - instead they can donate it to any one

of innumerable charitable causes) I am however unable to recall all the

details and the significance of each of the items as he told us. Maybe

someone in the group can for our benefit.

 

Perhaps it is the human nature in us which wishes to see the Lord

donning all the jewels etc., and so on very much like how parents wish

to decorate and deck their children and get unbelievable joy out of

seeing them dressed exquisitely.

 

On a different note, I have been very happy to hear, like everyone of

you, that the stolen jewels were recovered. One of the posts suggested

that perhaps we should not adorn the deities with costly jewels etc.,

Be that as it may, I cannot describe in words the pleasure I got from

seeing Parthasarathy Perumal and all the deities in that temple adorned

with exquisite jewelery. You really wonder whether Perumal looked more

beautiful because of the jewels or the jewels looked so stunning because

He was wearing them and then begin to envy the jewels for the Bhagyam

they got! There are a lot of times when the Murthy gives darshan with a

simple piece of cloth and a garland. That too is a sight you would want

a thousand eyes to look at. But I would rather see a fool proof security

arrangement for safeguarding the jewels than not see them on the

deities!

 

We should also bear in mind that at the times the jewels were made,

people (atleast on special festivals went to the temple in silk sarees

and all the fine jewelery they had - even now in Madras u can see such

sights, though on a reduced scale) adorned themselves too with a lot of

jewelery and those who had the money and the heart no doubt wanted the

Lord to be adorned extraordinarily. Parthasarathy Perumal (Utsavar) has

different complete sets that would adorn him from head to foot, a set

made only with pearls (muththangi), one with diamonds (vajranghi), one

with rubies and corals (rathnagi) and so on.

 

Vaidehi