Experiences at the Land of Divya Desams - 5

[Guest guest]

Sri :

 

Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha Para Brahmane Namaha

 

Srimate Sri Kanakavalli nAyikA sametha Sri-

VeerarAghava Para Brahmane Namaha

 

Srimate ShatagopAya Namaha

 

Srimate Bhagavad RAmAnujAya Namaha

 

Srimate NigamAntha MahAdesikAya Namaha

 

Srimate Sri Lakshmi - Nrusimha Divya PAdukA Sevaka -

Srivan Shatagopa Sri NArAyana Yateendra MahAdesikAya Namaha

 

 

Dear bhaktAs of Sriman NArAyanA,

 

Namo NArAyanA . kindly accept adiyen's pranAmams.

 

--cont--

 

AzhagiyaSingar started the Upadesam on "SaranAgati" (ie. prapatti) for us

& directly spoke to adiyen : "Unnaku edulAm therium. ErundAlum ,

maththavALukulAm theriyumo theriyAdho ..." ( "You know all these . But ,

others may or may not know .." ). Adiyen really became speechless after

this statement of AzhagiyaSingar which exhibited H.H.Jeeyar's sowseelyam

, sowlabhyam , compassion , ...& host of other kalyAna gunAs .

 

Even to an akinchanan like adiyen, AzhagiyaSingar was speaking with such

kind & encouraging words . Earlier , adiyen understood the great ocean of

mercy of Srimad AzhagiyaSingar from H.H.Jeeyar's encouraging statement on

samAsrayanam article ( If some disciple is atleast interested in some

aspects of sampradAyam & tries to perform some kainkaryam to his capacity

, H.H.Jeeyar spots that & encourages him/her to get them involved further

in the sampradAyam ). But , the reality is that adiyen hardly knows about

the details on prapatti (whatever is known is also due to blessings of

AchAryAs) . Still , AzhagiyaSingar comes down to the level of even adiyen.

Eventhough adiyen doesn't know much on prapatti , the statement

(blessings) of AzhagiyaSingar can never go wrong , since MAlolan would

certainly make it happen for sure .

 

A pretty old Sri VaishnavA was also about to get prapatti performed.

AzhagiyaSingar told to him " IppadiyA varadhu ? Thalaila mudiyellam

niraiyA ingeyum angeyum errukke (referring to giridhA , little front hair

etc). mudiyA kAppAtha porudhu ? chiina paiyan (referring to adiyen) ,

kalyAnam Agappora vayasu , yeppidi vandhirukkAn pArtheengaLA (referring to

shikai) ? yenga errukku unga veedu ? "

 

(" Is this the way to come ? Your head is filled with hair here & there

(referring to giridhA & little front hair) . Is the "hair" that is going

to save you ? Can't you see the way in which this small boy (referring to

adiyen) , in the age of getting marriage has come ( referring to shikA ) ?

Where is your residence ? " )

 

The old Sri VaishnavA answered that he lives at West MAmbalam itself.

Then AzhagiyaSingar advised " Please listen to me. You can kindly go back

for today . Have a shikA & come tommorrow . MAlolan & myself will be here

only . You needn't worry . Hair is not going to save anyone. You live in

West MAmbalam only . So , there shouldn't be much of a problem for you to

come back tommorrow right ? But stay back for the upadesam "

 

When AzhagiyaSingar was about to start the Upadesam , some

kainkaryaparA came & consulted something.Then AzhagiyaSingar told a

kainkaryaparA that the parAyanam of pAdukA sahasram performed by the

ladies be done in a very low voice , since Upadesam is going to take place

here . Meanwhile , the old Sri VaishnavA went back into the crowd (for

reasons known to him only ; probably to get some dakshanA or cassette for

recording etc. But he was a good devotee indeed ; participated in

SAttrumurai , chanted vedAs ,prabandhams & was involved in organizing the

goshti etc ). At this time , AzhagiyaSingar enquired about the

whereabouts of the old Sri VaishnavA & asked us to inform him & make him

attend the Upadesam . AzhagiyaSingar suddenly changed the decision & told

the SriVaishnavA that H.H.Jeeyar would perform the prapatti for him today

itself ( probably AzhagiyaSingar took his absence as a sign that he may

not return the next day ) ; but cautioned that if the prapatti has to be

fruitful , he should be very sincere (atleast follow strictly as per the

Upadesam that is going to be delivered ).

 

Thirty minutes went past just like a second. AzhagiyaSingar explained

about Prapatti very wonderfully in H.H.Jeeyar's own inimitable style (

even a lay man can understand very easily . adiyen is the proof ) . Adiyen

has recorded the invaluable upadesam. Unfortunately , it is at chennai

itself. The upadesam gave the perfect mind set to adiyen for the most

important event in adiyen's life ( includes all previous births etc ).

 

It was adiyen's parama bhAgyam that some devotee had arranged for the

thirumanjanam of all the perumALs . It is certainly a mahA bhAgyam to

prostrate unto the lotus feet of MAlolan when all the ornaments are

removed ( sevai of His (& other perumALs) svayam archA thirumeni happened

to adiyen . This is something extrordinary ) . The parama bhAgyam of sevai

of MAlolan in His archA thirumeni can't be had by all (only to those whom

He chooses ). But , the height of bhAgyam in adiyen's case was the

performance of prapatti when MAlolan was giving His sevai of His archA

thirumeni .

 

The screen was put so that others wouldn't see the performance of

prapatti. Those who had already undergone prapatti ( like adiyen's

father & such close relatives of others performing prapatti) were allowed

in . AzhagiyaSingar cautioned them not to utter the mantrAs .

 

Adiyen can never forget the way with which AzhagiyaSingar made us look

at MAlolan . AzhagiyaSingar was in full ecstacy (adiyen still remembers

the wonderful sweet smile in H.H.Jeeyar's face , completely reflecting

H.H.Jeeyar's deep love towards MAlolan & His archA thirumeni ), when

H.H.Jeeyar showed us the beautiful smile of MAlolan . Oh ! That was a real

treat to our eyes ( the only use of our eyes) . Adiyen took some 4 or 5

seconds to really get the sevai ie. only after closer concentrated look

adiyen was able to enjoy the most beautiful smile adiyen has ever seen .

This sevai is impossible to obtain for anyone who has prostrated to

MAlolan with His usual decorations . What a glorious smile with widely

opened mouth ? AzhagiyaSingar in a very joyous mood with his sweet voice

told us " yenna AdbudhamAna/AscharyamAna siRRippu pArthElA ? " ( "Can you

all see that wonderful ( Adbudham / Ascharyam) smile ? " ).

 

Everyone had their sevai to their heart content. Then AzhagiyaSingar

showed the smile in pirAtti's face . Oh! that was even more beautiful

.. Probably AzhagiyaSingar showed us the most wonderful smile in the

faces of PerumAL & pirAtti to make us understand that when a jIvAtmA

performs "prapatti" , the happiness obtained by the Divya Dampati ( due

to the fact that their dear child would be reaching them soon for

eternal association at Sri Vaikuntam ) would be million times more

than even the hapiness of jIvAtmA which is performing the prapatti !!

 

Then AzhagiyaSingar showed us the lotus foot of MAlolan ...Everyone was

spellbound there . Then started the sankalpam , sAthvIka thyAgam ...,

prapatti to pirAtti , prapatti to MAlolan ....... At each stage ,

AzhagiyaSingar told us about what we are actually doing . Thus , prapatti

in Ukti NishtA ( repetition by the sishyA of the mantrAs recited by an

AchAryA , during prapatti) got completed .

 

Thus the marriage (prapatti) was performed by AzhagiyaSingar & adiyen's

marriage day is thus VaikAsi sravanam .

 

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

P.S. One of adiyen's well wisher & dear bhAgavthA of this

bhakti/prapatti list kindly pointed out the possibility of misinterpreting

an information in the first part of this series ( whether prapatti was

performed once or twice ? ; the wordings sound as if it was performed

twice , which is perfectly against sAstrAs ). Basically , adiyen's

father requested Srimad AzhagiyaSingar twice (once when adiyen was at USA

itself ; the second time being at chennai itself , when adiyen was present

there ) for performing "Bhara NyAsam" to adiyen . The request was only

made twice , but the performance of "prapatti" was only once ( the

experiences of which is written above) . Infact one should request Srimad

AzhagiyaSingar , even in the day/night before prapatti is going to be

performed ( this should be one's bhAvA regarding prapatti ) .

 

If one deeply understands the greatness of prapatti & the importance of

AchAryA , from the depths of one's hearts , one can understand the "bhAvA"

with which adiyen's father requested ( anyway all the Sri VaishnavAs

sincerely approaching the AchAryA for prapatti have this bhAvA ) .It is

always in the hands of the H.H.Jeeyar to reject the plea ( if the person

seeking prapatti doesn't meet certain standards of conduct expected by

H.H.Jeeyar ). It is only out of AzhagiyaSingar's mercy that prapatti is

being performed .

 

Unfortunately , if someone assumes this "prapatti" (that pleases

Sriman NArAyanA to grant mokshA ie. eternal kainkaryam to Divya Dampati

at Sri Vaikuntam) to be something very "cheap" ( like buying something

from stores ) , then he is obviously unfit . "prapatti" is the final

essence of all sAstrAs - the nectar churned out of the ocean of sAstrAs.

Moreover , the granter of moksham is none other than Sriya: pathi , the

unparalleled Lord of all Lords , but who is simultaneously the SaranAgata

Vatsalan ! One should know about the greatness of NArAyanA, atleast to the

extent that, even the demigods like BrahmA , SivA , IndrA etc are mere

servitors to Him . If one doesn't have this knowledge also (ie. thinking

that all "Gods" are same etc ie. devatAntara sambandhA ) , there is no

point in performing prapatti for him ,since the most important requisite

- ananyagatitvA (no other resort) is lost => he won't be given moksham by

Sriman NArAyanA .

 

Even if one is a great bhAgavathA , H.H.Jeeyar can reject his plea .

So , one should have deep humility to accept one's incapabilities , say,

worst among sinners ( Akinchanyam) . Just because the AchAryA performs

prapatti for his disciple , if the disciple takes that to be very light ,

it is a great offense. No one can repay in whatsoever way to the ocean of

mercy of his/her AchAryA ,for performing the prapatti ,which has ended for

sure the long journey of millions of births in the world of samsArA

filled with miseries.

 

 

"prapatti" as the sure means for securing moksham is vouchsafed in

the sAstrAs ( nyAsa vidyA in Upanishads ; Lakshmi tantrA , & Ahirbudhnya

samshitA deals with the way of performance of prapatti ; numerous

episodes in IthihAsAs & purAnAs , Upadesams of Sriman NArAyanA in

His vibhavA form (avatArams) as VarAhA , RAmA & KrishnA giving the highly

cherished charama slokams , etc )

 

But the beauty of Sri Vaishnavam is that Sriman NArAyanA in His archA

avatAram also vouchsafed about the efficacy of prapatti . When Bhagavad

RAmAnujA was at kAnchi , Lord Varadan spoke to Thiruk kachi NambigaL

regarding the 6 questions of Bhagavad RAmAnujA . Varadan assured that

Prapatti is a sure way of attaining Him & He would Himself give anthima

smaranam to the prapannA ( ie. prapannA needn't put efforts for obtaining

anthima smaranam unlike a bhakti yogi ). Similarly , Lord Lakshmi

Nrusimhan while instructing Sri Adivan shatagopa yateendra MahAdesikan (

first jeeyar , Sri Ahobila Mutt ) told that the SaranAgati mArgA should

be propagated to each & every village , & ordered H.H.Jeeyar to take Him

(ofcourse pirAtti is inseparable from Nrusimhan ) along for sanchAram .

 

--- to be continued --

 

Namo NArAyanA

 

Adiyen

 

Anantha PadmanAbha dAsan

 

 

Sarvam Sri KrishnArpanamastu

[Guest guest]

Dear Mani,

 

I agree with your views.

 

It is not always necessary to prepend Sri while referring to Acharyas.

 

Someone suggested that whenever the Lord is mentioned, the pronoun should

start with an upper case and not the lower case (eg) He and not he ; His and

not his. The Lord's Soulabhyam is such that even normally we say Avan, Ivan

when referring to Bhagavaan. This does not mean any disrespect and an adament

adherence to the Case sensitiveness would only impart an artificiality to the

context. This is like the modern fad about asexual expressions so much harped

on by modern dictionaries.

 

The bootomline is that no disrespect is meant in either case.

 

And, an indiscriminate use of expressions like "Adiyen" and "Dasan" without

understanding their meaning and purport also tend to make them look

artificial.

 

The same holds good for the use of lower case i where upper case I would help

in a natural flow and the Naichyanusantanam (whether intended or not) on many

occasions simply does not show up in what is written.

 

These are my personal opinions and I may be wrong. If Bhagavatas do not

agree, I would request them to please excuse for my views.

 

Yours sincerely,

Anbil Ramaswamy

[Guest guest]

> I BEG MERCY FROM ALL OF YOU ...

 

Please do not write in "ALL CAPITALS". It looks as if

you are shouting and is very hard on the eyes.

 

Krishna earlier wrote:

> I would recommend prefix "Sri" to be used before their names.

> In the heat of arguments sometimes we tend to use acharyas' names in a

> style such as He wrote this.... etc. which is to be avoided ...

 

This sounds really nice in principle, but in practice,

even though we mean no disrespect, it is very awkward

and in fact unusual to always prepend the acharyas' names

with "Sri". Nor is it common practice in the works of

our sampradaya.

 

If you look at the works from the pUrvAcAryas on down,

including works by great scholars of this time, they offer

great respect, but also do not prepend "Sri" at all times

before acharyas' names. It is not an "apachaaram" or

disrespectful if we do not do so. Often we hear

"dhEsikan saadhikkiRaar" or "bhattar aruLicceydhaar"

or "aaLavandhaar angE ezhundharuLinaar". Sometimes with

"Sri", sometimes without. We should not prevent others

from writing freely and unawkwardly when no disrespect

is intended or is apparent.

 

My 2 comments as maintainer of the list.

 

your servant

Mani

[Guest guest]

At 04:11 PM 6/26/98 -0700, Mani Varadarajan wrote:

>

>> I BEG MERCY FROM ALL OF YOU ...

>

>Please do not write in "ALL CAPITALS". It looks as if

>you are shouting and is very hard on the eyes.

>

 

 

sorry, I did not realize when I was editing from my eudora; it did not look

so awkward as it came out on the prapatti list.

 

adiyen Krishna kalale

[Guest guest]

Dearest BhAgawatAs,

 

Sri Krishna Kalale wrote:

> LET NO ONE STOP AT VARNASHRAMA ISSUES, OR WELL LET ME GET OLDER, I CANNOT

> PROMISE THAT I CAN LEAD A VERY STRICT LIFE. I WOULD LIKE TO GET THIS

> PRAPATTI DONE WITH MY WIFE/HUSBAND; I WOULD LIKE TO GO AFTER MY KID

> BECOMES 7 YEARS OLD AND CLUB IT WITH THE UPANAYANAM OF THE KID; I WILL GET

> IT AFTER RETIREMENT..... WE CAN COME UP WITH THOUSAND REASONS TO POSTPONE

> THIS. IT IS HIS PROBLEM TO GUIDE US TO LEAD IN WHATEVER STRICT LIFE HE

> WANTS, ONCE WE OFFER OURSELVES TO SRIMANNARAYANA'S LOTUS FEET; WHY DO YOU

> WANT TO MAKE IT YOURS?

>

Let me start by sincerely confessing that I am a total aj~nAni. So, please

forgive my blabbering.

 

Krishna, your points are well taken. I agree with all of your comments

before the one above. Your point has a very noble intention of reminding

the audience about the importance of prapatti. THERE IS NO DOUBT OF THAT

FACT. However, if the crux of the above message is "Don't worry about age,

status, inability to lead a strict life; Don't postpone; go get prapatti

done," then I disagree with that. If that is not the message, please ignore

everything that follows.

 

Just getting prapatti done as a karma might not be what our Acharyas

intended. Perhaps, prapatti has a 99% j~nana content (since Akinchanyam,

mahA vishvAsam, etc. etc. are all what the mumukshu feels deep in his/her

heart ... it is a mental state), and a 1% karma content. The reason I use

the word "perhaps" is because I am by no means knowledgeable in such lofty

matters. So, although one can be assured that the Satya Sankalpi BhagawAn

will make sure that the fruits of one's prapatti are realized, one's actions

also have to be sincere. Just as we follow the sAstras for the other ten

things we do (like performing nithya and naimittika karmas), we should do

the same for prapatti also. I see a big dilution in the concept of prapatti

itself. These days when one gets married, the first thing that is done in

families is to get samAshrayaNam and bharaNyAsam (S and B) done for the

couple. The newly married couple thinks that S and B are the eleventh and

twelfth acts to be done after a hectic ten things they have already done in

the past month. This is what I mean by dilution. The bhAgawatA's

intentions are indeed noble when they suggest that S and B should be done to

the person, but the one getting it done has absolutely no clue what-so-ever

as to what is happening. There is simply no time to get into an education

process. And two months later life has not changed one bit after S and B.

Shouldn't the life a person change after S and B? Should a person not be

stricter in his/her life and follow the sastras to the best of their ability

after S and B? What use is there of S and B if a person does not develop

stricter guidelines for mental attitude and physical conduct? And all this

should come out of the person's own volition. The situation is indeed a sad

one which our AchAryas do not approve of but have to live with in the

greater interests of mankind.

 

I don't have any solutions to the problem. However, I think spiritual

education should start early. The smart and true mumukshus will themselves

approach the Holy feet of those great Acharyas we are blessed with like

Andavan, Jeeyar and several others and surrender to the Lord Sriman

NaaraayaNa with the true bhAvam. Such people will have unshakeable faith in

the glorious concept of prapatti and be true to our siddhAntam. I think the

Lord will himself show the way to the not-so-convinced ones, just as he is

responsible for the conviction in the smart mumukshus. If education and

j~nana are not part of prapatti, it is no prapatti from the jeevAtma's end

(may be there is no difference from the paramAtma's end).

 

To sum it all, a true mumukshu is one who will seek an AchArya with urgency.

If a person would like to postpone matters because they want the child to

grow up, or they want to wait for retirement, or a score of other reasons,

it simply means that the person is not ready for prapatti. What use is

there in just forcing the person to get prapatti done if all he/she thinks

is that it is a mere ritual? Doing prapatti as a mere ritual is in my

opinion the highest form of apachaaram on our Acharyas. Let us not treat

these mahAtmas like toys!!!

 

I hope this is taken in the true spirit. I request forgiveness for all my

bhagawat and bhaagawat apachaarams. If some words I have spoken seem harsh,

that was certainly not my intention. But if you think they are erroneous,

please do correct me.

> || SarvAparAdhAn Kshmasva ||

>

> || Sarvam Sri KrishNArpaNamastu ||

>

> -- Murali KaDAmbi

>

>