December Sri Vaishnava Conference Report

[Guest guest]

[Forwarded on behalf of Smt. Nagu Satyan]

 

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Satyan, Nagu

Monday, January 5, 1998 9:58 PM

December Sri Vaishnava Conference Report

 

On behalf of Colorado NAMA Chapter Sri Vaishnava families, I

would like to thank all the participants who attended the

conference. In all aspects, we think it was a successful event.

As Smt. Malathiy Dileepan stated, the conference addressed many

facets of Sri Vaishnavism--religion, philosophy, cultural,

networking, and social aspects. On the first day of the

conference, she saw us loading to multiple cars all the

provisions, vegetables, fruits, cooking utensils, paper products,

cleaning materials etc. Her comment was that the effort was

similar to a marriage! I agree with her assessment. We had 15

people in our home. All were busy getting ready to be on time at

the temple. It was fun! Malathiy, my sister-in-law Harini

Dasarathy and I would be at the temple past midnight cleaning up

and organizing for next day early start. We would be back at the

temple by 6 AM. I would like to thank Malathiy and Harini for

their hard work. Needless to say that there were many people who

provided support. The experience has been extremely blissful and

fulfilling. We still talk about the conference and eager to meet

again.

 

Thursday December 25, 1997

--------------------------

We started on Thursday, 12/25 at 1.30 PM and continued till 11

PM. We started with the taniyans for our Acharyas. Sri Dileepan

read and translated the Srimukham from Sri Azhagiya Singar and

Sri Madhavan read and translated the Srimukham from Sri

Andavan. We did not receive on time the Srimukhams from other

Jeers. Smt. Kalpana Iyengar gave an excellent rendition of a

song on Lord Nrusimha, followed by Alaipaayude by Suma

Krishnachandra. Sri Krishna Kalale did an outstanding job of

introducing Vedas and Upanishads. In spite of the fact that the

topic is vast and difficult to summarize and we had to reduce the

available time for him, he approached the topic in a manner that

people were able to appreciate the greatness of our Vedas. The

second panel was on Sri Vaishnavism, with Mani as the chair.

Mani, as usual, did a super job of communicating with the

audience, in very simple terms what is the essence of Sri

Vaishnavism. He had excellent support from Mohan. After each

session, we had questions and answers. We had a break to have

dinner -- all those who ate were provided with prasadam

appropriate for Ekadasi. This was followed by Sri Dileepan who

chaired the panel on Azhwars. He gave an excellent introduction

on Azhwars, and with his panel members provided an appreciation

of the greatness of the Azhwars.

 

The session was over around 10.30 PM. We straightened out the

facility to be ready for early morning start. That night we

prepared sandwiches for the ski group. Malathiy, Harini and I

had a production line going to prepare for about 15 people. My

husband, as usual, being a true Sri Vaishnava volunteered to

drive the van and escort the youth. According to the younger

kids, he took care of them by carrying their things, handing out

lunch packets etc. While the others were skiing, he waited alone

the whole day at the mountains to bring them all back safe to

their parents. The ski trip helped the youth in forming new

relations. In many respects, this type of association helps

nurture the heritage. Many of these kids had not met each other.

However, at the end of the conference they were extremely close.

About 125 (includes 40 from out of state) attended the first day

of the conference.

 

Friday, December 26, 1997

-------------------------

On Friday, 12/26, we started at 6.30 AM for Dwaadasi

ThruvAradhanA by Sri Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan. What a pleasing

voice and what an emotional experience! The most fulfilling

moment for me personally was when Sri Jaganath, Sri Nadadur

Madhavan, Sri Vijayaraghavan, and Sri Dileepan set up the

Acharyas pictures in front of the Perumal. We had photos of Sri

Nammazhwar, Sri Ramanujacharya, Swami Desikan and Sri Manavala

Mamuni in a row. One by one the pictures of Azhagiya Singar,

Poundareekapuram Ashramam, Vanamaamalai and Tridandi Jeers were

added to the second row ( Due to my oversight, we did not have a

picture of other Jeers). It may appear symbolic to some. In my

humble opinion, this is the first step to unify all Sri

Vaishnavas on our common binding theme, recognizing we all have

our individual varying traditions. I was silently listening to

the discussions among the above four. They were ensuring to

recite both taniyans at the start and recite both sarrumurai.

 

We had 12 saligramams, Sri Malolan's Padhukas and Vigrahams. We

were thrilled to learn that any time we have 12 Saligramams, it

is considered as a Divya Desam according to our traditions. We

were truly blessed by the Divya Dampithis to be able to have such

a rare occasion as well as to be associated with so many learned

scholars and bhAgavathAs. We could have kept on listening to Sri

Vijayaraghavan's recitation all day! What a voice and what

dedication! The thiruvArAdhanA was followed by prasadam in line

with Dwaadasi. Many of these bhAgavathAs did not eat on Ekadasi

day. Some had not eaten anything for nearly three days due to

travel on 12/24. We learnt a lot of new aspects of Dwaadasi from

Sri Madhavan, Sri Vijayaraghavan and others. The ladies who

cooked were having their own fun struggling with the

range. Smt. Vimala Rajaji and her mother Smt. Indira Srinivasan,

Smt. Bhargavi Keshava Prasad, Smt. Malathiy Dileepan,

Smt. Harini Dasarathy managed to cook a delicious dwaadasi menu.

 

After the lunch, the men had a discussion led by Sri Dileepan,

with Srimans Ramesh, Madhavan, Vijayaraghavan, Mohan, Jaganath

and Chis Anand, Shrikanth, and Vijay. In the evening, we had Sri

Vijayaraghavan leading in Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, Sri Lakshmi

Astothram, Sri Stuthi.

 

 

Saturday, December 27, 1997

---------------------------

On Saturday 12/27, we started at 7.45 AM with Sri Jaganath

performing the thiruvArAdhanA for Perumal and Acharyas. We were

impressed by the devotion of Sri Jaganath. His respect to

Acharyas is deep rooted. Sri Vijayaraghavan lead the recitals,

with the full goshti support. Sow. Suma Krishnachandra did a

Bharatanatyam dance. Smt. Krishnapriya Kalale sang a Meera

Bhajan accompanied by Sri Anil Sriram on Tabla. Smt. Krishna

Priya's rendition was so moving and touching. Due to time

constraints we could not hear more songs. After the sarrumurais,

we had prasadam. Then we had the open forum on Sri Vaishnavism,

with Sri Rajaji Raghavan chairing the panel. There were numerous

questions from the audience, and many from the youth. Mani,

Mohan, Dileepan and Keshava Prasad fielded the diverse questions,

with good support from Krishna Kalale and Vijayaraghavan

Srinivasan. Again, we could not get to all the questions due to

time limitations. This was followed by the Prapatti Panel, with

Sri Vijayaraghavan as the Chair. This panel lasted for more than

three hours. The subject seems to have gotten the interest of

all ages. Sri Vijayaraghavan gave an outstanding overview of

What is Prapatti and its significance. Sri Dileepan did an

outstanding job of compiling and explaining Azhwars references to

Prapatti concept. Sri Krishna Kalale and Chi. Varadan presented

the two Sri Vaishnava approaches to Prapatti. After this panel,

we had entertainment--dance by Sow. Dipti Prasad (daughter of

Keshava Prasad), a Hindi bhajan by Sow. Netra Sreeprakash, a

Purandaradasa Devarnama by Chi. Krishna Satyan, two bhajans by

Smt. Ambuja Sreeprakash, Smt. Indira Sreenivasan, Smt. Sudha

Ramesh.

 

We had planned for three hours of session on Acharyas. However,

we had to request Sri Madhavan to summarize all by himself in one

hour session. He has spent numerous hours to research about our

Acharyas and has done an outstanding job of putting some charts

together to explain the ages of the Vedas and the two eyes of Sri

Vaishnavism--1) Sanskrit Vedas and Tamil Prabhandham; 2) the

second identification is the two kalais. He conveyed the message

in a very succinct way that both eyes (and both sets) are equally

important to Sri Vaishnavas. In spite of the fact that it was

close to 10 PM and we had deferred dinner to after the session,

people sat there engrossed, trying to assimilate the great

lineage. Again, I have to apologize to Sri Madhavan and the

other panel members for the poor time management. After his

presentation, quite a few Sri Vaishnavas expressed their

disappointment that we did not have enough time for this panel.

After a late dinner, people went home extremely happy with the

full (and long) day.

 

Sunday, December 28, 1997

-------------------------

On Sunday, 12/28, we started at 8 AM, with the thiruvArAdhanA,

followed by recital of Sri Raghuveera Gadyam by Sri

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan and Mani taking the lead. One has to

heat that recital by these two talented people to appreciate when

I state that it was a moving experience. After other Desika

Stothtram recitals, the goshti led by Varadan went into full

swing with Divya Prabhandham recital. This was not on the

original Agenda--however, the enthusiasm was beyond description.

After lunch, we had Carnatic Music recital by Mani Varadarajan,

Ravi Srinivasan (Son of Sri K. Srinivasan) and Netra Sreeprakash

and Ambuja Sreeprakash. Both Mani and Ravi astonished all with

their deliverance. It was an appropriate finale for a successful

Conference. Most of the participants left around 4 PM on Sunday.

 

A few of us had to stay late to shift the things and clean up the

facilities. By the time my husband and I went home, it was 9.30

PM. That night Krishna Kalale and his family joined us for

dinner. I was amazed to see Amritha Dileepan and our son Krishna

stay up past midnight to learn from Krishna Kalale. In my

opinion, because of the small group and the close relationship

that had been formed during the four days of association, there

was free exchange of ideas and thoughts. Both Amritha and

Krishna Satyan impressed the adults with their quick grasp and

their keen interests.

 

I am sure I have missed various other important aspects of this

conference. I request thaose of you who attended the conference to

post your observations and assessment of the conference. However, we

were truly blessed to have been able to bring so many devout Sri

Vaishnavas together to share knowledge, thoughts and opinions freely.

In my next posting, I will share some lessons learned so we can plan

the next conference better.

 

Again, our thanks to Sri Dileepan and family, Sri Vijayaraghavan

Srinivasan, Sri Jaganath Bharadwaj, Sri Nadadur Madhavan, Sri Rajaji

Raghavan and family, Sri Krishna Kalale and family, Sri Belur

Dasarathy and family, Sri Keshava Prasad and family, Sri Murali

Kadambi and family, Sri Sridhar and Mangala Kadaba, Sri Tirumalai

Krishnaswamy and family, Chis Mani Varadarajan, Vijay Triplicane,

Varadan, Shrikanth, Anand, Ravi Srinivasan, Srihari Gopalakrishnan and

Sow. Keerthi Bhaktisarar Iyengar and Sow. Madhavi Samudraala.

 

Nagu Satyan