Pittsburgh Baktha sammElanam - An abstract of proceedings

[Guest guest]

Dear BAgawathALS,

 

Welcome to the bAgawthALs who are back from the conference. It is

a tradition that adiyEn write about the abstract of the

conferences adiyEn attended and took some role in it. As

requested by Sri VS and other friends, adiyen has attempted to

present the abstract of the speeches once again from the bottom of

my memory.

 

This conference is much more than many others. I need to write a

few lines on this. First of all "Bravo, Sriman Sadagopan. You

did it 'again'." Yeah "AGAIN". Some bakthALS who are seeing Sri

VS only now, want to honor him with a title for his performance in

this conference. It is a very good thought to do so. He has done

it before and now and remains as sArdhulams and thilakams for

ever. Sri Sadagopan is doing such a wonderful kaimkaryam for many

years now. "He was and is and will always be a thilakam".

 

Coming back to the conference, I will write on the portions of the

conference that was not covered by Sri V.Sadagopan in his write

up. It is a norm to write abstract as per the order that was

followed. It is in this context that I have to write the abstract

of the speeches in the order that they were delivered, ie.,

begining with the abstract from my speech. The speeches started

with adiyEn delivering what was seemed tough to cover in 45

minutes on 5 AzwArs aruLich cheyals.

 

In brief, I first delivered on puRa iruL i.e. external darkness

and aga iruL i.e., internal darkness and prathyaksham i.e. direct

appearance of the divine dampathis as the outer most meanings of

the three AzhwArs muthal moonRu thiru anthAthis. Then I went on

to explain para bhakthi nilai, para nyAna nilai and param bhakthi

nilai as the inner message of their 300 pAsurams. I then

delivered some aspects on the most important concepts of our

siddantham charama slokam and thirumanthiram and dwayam as the

inner most anubavam of these 300 verses.

 

I attempted to present a different concept in the vyAkyAnams of

these 300 as to how one's mukthi nilai led the others and

emphasized the company of bAgawathALs such as the sathsangams of

Pittsburgh and the others in the past. I dealt one pasuram for

each of these 3 AzhwArs and attempted to explain all these three

layers in them. I will write about it in detail later. On thiru

mazhisai AzhwAr I delivered on parathatthva nirnayam i.e.

validation of supremacy of Sriman nArayana as the message of this

AzhwAr and dealt his neermai in a pasuram. I finally concluded as

to why all these four stages are of less value in the spiritual

ladder and urged everyone to choose the 'ellai nilai' or "final

state" declared in thirup pAn AzhwAr's pasuram to choose the

bAgawatha kaimkaryam as their purushaarttham and serve sri VS and

Venkat in building the Sri Ranganatha temple. I finished 7

minutes earlier than the allotted time. (*)

 

Sri Madhavan dealt at great length about Sri Vaishnava

gurupArampariyam in the beginning in a very clear way and

explained the hierarchy. He then went on to talk on the essence

of naMMazhwar's arulich cheyal on Lord Venkatan. He finished 15

minutes earlier than the allotted 45 minutes time and the lost

time was regained.

 

Sri Ragavan talked about ANDAL's arulich cheyals. He took an

elaborate attempt to bring out the 6 angas of sarangathi from

ANDAL' s pasurams and most of them from nAcchiyAr thirumozhi. He

also provided his insightful study as to how ANDAL loved Lord

Venkatan as a lover and worshipped Lord Arangan as a pirAn from

naachiyar thirumozhi pasuramns. He also attempted to connect

thiruppavai and naachiyaar thirumozhi and provided insights as to

how they are so enjoyable to have an anubavam.

 

"Sri Swami Desika darsana nidarsaka Simham", Sri Anbil Swami dealt

on the basics first as to who is a vaishnavan and who is a

srivaishnavan. He then went onto explain the details on

saranagathi as observed in Srivaishnavam. The extent of pramAnam

he presented amazed me. There were so many quotes from vedas,

upanishads AzhwAr pasurams, sri sukthis and slokams as well. This

is a high pitched speech delivered in a very voiceful and forceful

style. I am reminded of our kalaskshEbams in India. One cannot

go without the words of nirvEdam ringing in their ears after his

speech. Meaningful explanations were presented in his speech on

nirvEdam as a part of saranagathi.

 

 

Now comes the power house speech of Sri Krishna Kalale. Oh man,

did guys in Washington write his speech ? (you all may know that

Washington is known as the speech capital of the world). Kidding!

He delivered such an eloquent and dynamic speech that I cannot

forget. It was also hitech , ,i.e. he used his laptop to

present. May be it was an artillery firing across the border.

No, No, it was heavy shelling and pounding on the opponent's

lines. He went onto tell us as to how Bagwath Sri Ramanuja saw

Sri Sankara's advaitham and opened it out loose and easy for us to

understand in perspective as to why we Srivaishnavas must reject

it. It was like a pandora box as he digged into each and every

aspect and denying them contradicting them and one aspect after

the other fell in dismay at the hands of Sri Kalale'e skilled

discourse. He went on to prove that the sareera aspect of

advaitham preached by others holds water as per the vyaakyaanams

of Sri Ramanuja. These are not my words but Sri Ramanuja's as

interpreted by Sri kalale's. So please forgive me if anyone feel

offended by these . He delivered these in an unique style in

which the sanskrit original slokams were delivered first and

English translations spelled out as a follow up. NarAyana, adiyEn

and Sri VS were worried if this heavy subject is too heavy for the

timing of the day i.e. the last event of the first day. But many

people stayed put and didn't leave as this high voltage speech was

delivered. He had to wind up the critical view of advaitham and

deal the last 10 minutes on what Sri Ramanuja told us about Sri

Vishishtaadvaidam as the hall had to be vacated for evening

cultural events at 5:30pm. I very much wanted to hear this part

more than the previous one and pleaded to him to cover this in

great detail next time. He did accept to do so.

 

In the evening we participated in Sri Vishnu Sahasra nAmam

pArAyanam at Sri Bindhu mAdhavn's house and the dinner was served

there as well. There was a mini session on Srimad Rahasya trya

saaram rendered by Sri Anbil Swami. He did cover 22 adikaarams in

as short as 1 hour and 15 mintes. Besides, there were questions

and answers and Sri Anbil was also kind enough to part us with

some of the confidential discussions he had with his AchAryAn and

cleared some fundamental doubts even for Sri VS and few of us. It

was an useful time spent as well.

 

Once again I will cover day 2's speeches mainly. Sri Vijaya

Ragavan delivered a powerful speech on daya sathakam. I am in no

doubt that this was indeed the best speech of its kind. One may

ask how much one can talk on a slokam ? Believe me, the

quotations and references made by Sriman Vijayragavn were simply

unmatchable and people were chanting some of these verses as he

was going through them in an "appealing speech". Hats off to Sri

VJRagavan. It is indeed a wonderful speech with so much research

and efforts that were dealt in. He referred to many aspects of

saranagathi as well in his speech. The speech was within the time

slot and as well wide in content. I am extremely happy to have

heard this speech which marks as one of the jewel of the

conference.

 

Sri Varadhan first talked about the AchArya vaibavam of

thirumangai's life and went on to deliver the fundamentals of the

six prabahndams of thirumanagi briefly. He then was swift to move

into the 60 and odd pasurams of thirmangai AzhwAr. The important

thing to note is that when the other 3 of us dealt few pasurams or

only the essence of the respective AzhwAr's arulich cheyals, he

went through each and every pasuram with some quick meaning.

While doing so he touched on two important aspect of

thirumjangai's pasuram i.e. naicchi anusanthaanam and saranagathi

as well. His speech was very fast in delivery and was having so

much of details to cover on all the 60 and odd pasurams delivered

by this AzhwAr on Sri Venkatan.

 

Sri Krishnan of Buffalo spoke nicely on periaszwar's vaibavam and

delivered a related speech on the AzhwAr 's aruLich cheyal on

thiruvenkata mudaiyaan. The important thing to note here is that

he and his wife who performed a musical rendition are physicians

in buffalo and took enormous effort to prepare and attend the

conference despite their pressing service needs of their

profession. Sri Krishnan is also from thirup pathi and is closely

associated with the festivities in thirumalai. His love for thiru

venkata mudaiyaan is second to none. (***).

 

Sri Murali delivered a strong speech on Sri Kulasekara AzhwAr

pasurams. He first briefly went over the history of AzhwAr and

then delivered on the essence of each of the patthus. Initially

his speech seemed cautious but later on it was very casual as he

delivered in a very friendly manner that was very interesting as

well. He discussed the 4m patthu wherein the references to

thiruvenkata mudaiyaan is dealt. His insights and cross

references were thoroughly enjoyable. Sri Murali is a great thiru

venkata bhakthaL himself and his insights also covered his

favourite references to Sri Chakram and Sri Narasimhan and Sri

Haygreevan and pranavA karam. His mother was visiting from India

and indeed it was a proud moment for a mother to see her son shine

so well in the podium alongwith the other learned speakers.

 

 

Sri MG Prasad gave a brilliant lecture of purandaradaasa krithis

on Lord thiru venkatan. There were singers who sang some of the

songs as well. He also talked both about Kanaka DaasA in addition

to Purandara DaasA. HIs AchArya Bhakthi , His clear and coherent

way of presenting is always a pleasure to experience. Prof.

Prasad has always delivered his speech in a pace that anyone can

follow very easily. There is no speech that can be compared to

his delivery and clarity.

 

Sri Venkat Kannumaala spoke on mahAviswasam and charged us all

with a vibrant speech. His speech had some humorous comparisons

from practical walk of life (ie comparing swargam to a star hotel

etc) and very very serious thoughts as well. He drew extensive

references from Srimad bAgwatham from Sri VyAsar both in sanskrit

and the telugu versions. His appeal for us to keep our visvasam

on Lord was very passionate and touching and memorable.

 

Later Sri Krishna VJRagavan read out the well prepared material on

Swami Annamaccharya's life story and connected to the krithis sung

By Smt Myhili Sri Krishnan. He is the son of Sri Vijaya Ragavan

and is very young and it is important to note that he is following

the foot steps of his father very very closely. That marked the

end of all the speeches.

 

Sri Narendra Reddy who is the education committee chairman of the

temple was so helpful and I am surprised to see a person of his

sAthvikam. Despite hectic conference schedule he performed a

srArdham during the lunch break and attended all the events

without fail. AdiyEn thank him for all his patient listening and

gestures in going over some micro details of the arrangements in

these 2 days.

 

 

There were other attendants who were also to be noted are Sri

Jagan and Sri Ramesh of Sri Ahobila muth were helping Sri Ahobila

muth and Sri Ranaganatha temple raise funds. They did a wonderful

bagwath kaimkaryam. Sri Murali kidambi and his brother Sri Kesava

prasad Sri Srirram and Smt ManjulA were helpful in general to the

speakers nad other attendants as well. Smt Manjula's zeal to do

bAgwatha kaimkaryam is very much appreciated. Sri Kidambi Sriram,

Sri Saranatha battar, Sri Lakshmanan of pp andavan ashramam, Sri

Bindhu Madhavan and his brother Sri Bindhu Srinivasan, Sri MR

Srinivasan, were also attending and we enjoyed their company as

well. A professor from NY with his 15 HINDU religious students

was taking notes on the first day afternoon speeches. There were

host of westerners among a packed hall attending my friend and

honorable Sri Madurai Sundar's delightful concert. There were

close to 80 chairs approximately in the conference hall which

covers approximately 100 square foot. All the chairs were full

most of the time. And there were atleast 100 to 120 passing,

standing people anytime. The attendance was peak during noon and

immediately after noon on day 1 and day 2 raising to around 350 to

400.

 

We would like to thank the President of the Temple , SrI Damodhar

Prabhu and Srimathi SudhA Vatsan , another Board Member and many

others who were helping us in running this event succesfully. The

President Dr Sarpeskar and a host of other committee members

mentioned to me that this conference is many times superior in

content to all the previous conferences held earlier. The credit

also goes to all speakers who delivered such contents and the

chairman Sri Sadagopan who led and made it possible. The most

important thing to note is that unlike the other conferences of

the past this conference was arranged using remote control (****).

i.e. Sri Sadagopan was not in Pittsburgh and nor adiyEn and the

participants were there to arrange anything.The efforts Sri VS

took to care about every thing is definitely Himalayan considering

the "remote control" effect of this conference. Everyone simply

flocked in, the day before and some came in only on the second day

to just deliver their speech. But due to bagawAn's thiru aruL and

the efforts of Dr Reddy and other helpers in pittsburgh temple and

constant follow up through emails from Sri VS, all these were

carried out in a wonderful manner as similar to Buffalo, NewYork

and Denver conferences of last two years.

 

Some of us who are also the board members of Sri Ahobila muth USA

board, and members of SDDS met in the temple quarters under the

leadership of Sri Jagan Vice President of Ahobila muth, USA and

Sri Anbil SDDS President, and held deliberations as to how we can

plan the next conference at Pomona NY during Sept 5, 6,and 7. As

pointed out by Sri KKalale it is becoming increasingly efficient

and each conference is excelling the previous one in succession.

The speakers and attendants may only see a slot of 30, 45 or 60

minute speeches or drama or music performances. But it takes so

much lead planning and efforts in advance for the chairman and his

committee and the silent kaimkarya parALs to sweat so much to

bring out the fruits so nicely. We would like to also thank the

wives Mrs kalale, Mrs Jagan, Mrs Rengarajan, Mrs Kidambi Sriram,

Mrs Ragavan of chicago, Mrs Kannan swamy, Mrs Kesava prasad, Mrs

Murlai Rangaswamy, Mrs Sriram Kidambi, Mrs Bindhu Madhavan and Mrs

Bindhu Srinivasan, Mrs Venkat Kannumalla, Mrs Lakshmanan, Mrs

Saranatha battar, Mrs MR Srinivasan, and Mrs Nadthur madhavan, and

all the children of the above mentioned patthinis. These are the

silent heros who also made this conference a successful one simply

by their patience and help they rendered to their partners and

parents in working for and helping in whatever way they can for

the conference. Why we write these is to remind you all that it

is also your co-operation and participation that makes these

sathsangams successful. We look forward to the same for

organizing the Sept conference in Pomona with your co-operation

and participation in full.

 

After the conference, my family, Sri Anbil, Sri Varadhan and I

left for cleveland. On the way, adiyEn narrowly escaped colliding

with a herd of deer in the twilight due to bagwaN's grace. I was

driving at high speed and spotted two deers first 100 meters away

and I slowed down to 50's but then something made me look for

somemore and there was one more rushing just 30 meters ahead and I

pounded on my brakes to avoid collision and then cooled down and

thanked Lord and reached home for a tiring Monday.

 

adiyEn

Sampath Rengarajan

 

note: (*) I was going back and forth working on some *minor*

details and loose ends as instructed by Sri VS, with the temple

committee from then on. I was also kept busy by my son Chi Sravan

who was keen on doing a story for Lord Narasimha. (He did so in

the evening). However, my mind was focused on the talks and I am

attempting to re-present the gist of it to the best of my

knowledge and recollection. I seek forgiveness from speakers if I

missed any important aspects of their speeches.

 

 

(**) Being a pasuram lover, I loved this speech and its insights

very well. At one stage he said he has been studying these for

the last 1 and a half month as a preparation for this conference.

I am also aware of some of the speakers for whom tamil is not

their mother tounge but were chosen to speak on pasurams did also

take that much time and extra care to prepare. The readers must

know that there is so much effort that has gone in to make this

speech so enjoyable and such speeches in all also make the whole

conference successful. All the speakers did a wonderful job.

 

(***) He was also the co-sponsor for the first ever conference

that was conducted two years ago in Buffalo. Someone said that

the conference culture is growing among srivaishnavas after the

pioneering efforts made by this gentlemen and Sri VJ Ragavan with

SDDS in 1996. i.e. in tamil if I must say, "AnRu Buffalovil

ERRiya viLakku inRu engum OLi vittu eRikiRathu" . i.e. the lamp

that was lit in 1996 at Buffalo and continued at Newyork in Sept

1997 and in Denver the same year, is now carried over and burning

in many other places. Thanks to these gentlemen and bAgawathAs of

Buffalo. adiyEn and few of us can never forget the successful

Buffalo conference. It was bAgyam to serve Sri VJRagavan and

Buffalo vAsis and SDDS in 1996 Dec conference and was a bAgyam to

serve Sri Venkat and NY vaasis and SDDS during 1997 Sep conference

and it is now a bAgyam to serve Sri Sadagopan and a host of

participants during this conference at Pittsburgh in 1998.

 

(****) adiyEn and Sri VJRagavan had the bAgyam of serving to

arrange some very minor details through email in addition to the

enormous attempts made by Sri VS. I alone stand as a testimony to

all the 100s of emails Sri VS made in arranging, as he copied them

to me alone on these things and requested adiyEn to assist in

running the conference in whatever way I can. There were always

moments of frustrations in both adiyEn's and Sri VS's mind in

meeting the required arrangements during these exchanges. ie It

is not between myself and Sri VS but between we two together and

the others on the receiving side of the mails.

 

But eventually everything resolved very well and in time. It is

as similar to conducting a wedding

ceremony. And as said by Sri AR, Sri VS did deserve all the

credits for this splendid work and leadership. This is the best

way we can serve our elders and like many others, I also chose to

do my assigned tasks with enuthusiasm and went some extra mileage

and had pleasure in doing so. That is all. As claimed by me in

NY confernce adiyEn firmly believes that only by doing bAgwatha

kaimkaryam the annyAnam is cleared for us and our children who are

growing up in this confused atmosphere.