Experiences at the Land Of Divya Desams - 7

[Guest guest]

Sri :

Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha Para Brahmane 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---

 

We then took leave from Sri purusai swAmy (around 4.30 pm) & reached

our residence "Sri RangaPadmam" . Obviously everyone around were happy

about the prapatti being performed & we all chatted about the same for a

while .

 

adiyen's father requested a leading vidvAn & the scion of the

nAdAdUr ammAL's lineage Sri U.Ve. KarunAkaran swAmi about the

possibility of adiyen getting the blessings of swAmi's father Sri Srinidhi

swAmi . Sri karunAkaran swAmy has taught adiyen many things regarding

sampradAyam & basically swAmi's kAlakshebams ( sankalpa sooryOdayam , GitA

bAshyam - adiyen was fortunate to attended both for only few months

though) , UpanyAsams ( Srimad RAmAyanam , ThiruppAvai etc) has shaped

adiyen to know properly about sampradAyam . Apart from this , swAmi has

patiently cleared many doubts of adiyen & explained them very well inspite

of swAmi's busy schedule .

 

adiyen along with adiyen's father went at first to the place where Sri

karunAkaran swAmy was at that time . Then we all went together to swAmi's

residence with swAmi clarifying many of adiyen's doubts / answering

adiyen's questions on the way . Sri Asukavi Srinidhi swAmy is undoubtly a

"Rishi" of today's world . That swAmi holds the illustrious SribhAsya

SimhAsanam & is a famous kavi apart from being a great vidvAn .

swAmi's prabhAvam in terms of matured jn~Anam , strong vairAgyam & strict

anushtAnams with deep love for Sriman NArAyanA is very widely known in

the vidvAn circles . The biography of this parama bhAgavathOtamA is highly

inspiring & we were fortunate to receive the blessings of such a great

paramaikAnti . swAmi has seen over 85 thirunakshatrams (birthstar) &

thus the body was giving problems . swAmi is in rest only all the time -no

energy to even walk /speak etc continuously . Ofcourse swAmi's world is

different - communion with Sriman NArAyanA all the time .

 

We prostrated to swAmi & swAmi blessed us with the akshadai . adiyen

felt very bad since swAmi was struggling to put the akshadai over our

heads (ie. swAmi was made to strain because of adiyen) . swAmi was very

happy about the performance of SaranAgati & questioned adiyen : " Did you

perform either SaranAgati or CharanAgati? ". adiyen remembered the

upadesam of Srimad AzhagiyaSingar & repeated it by giving the 3 different

meanings of Saranam & the correct meaning of SaranAgati ( not charanAgati)

that is performed . swAmi became happy & blessed adiyen through a

beautiful sanskrit slokam on that spot . Ofcourse swAmi was hardly able to

speak & Sri karunAkaran swAmy slowly got to know exactly what Sri Srinidhi

swAmi was blessing us with. adiyen wept inside the hearts since swAmy was

struggling to speak & became very tired because of this . Inspite of this

, swAmi was very enthusiastic to bless adiyen & adiyen is really very

fortunate .

 

adiyen along with adiyen's father then started for a grand trip

down south . The main purpose was to get the blessings of peria perumAL

at Srirangam & other perumALs at various Diva Desams.

 

It was early morning when we got down at Thiruk kudanthai

(Kumbakonam ) .We went straight to thirunAgeswaram ( Oppiliappan kovil

sannidhi street ) . Our dear Sriman Sadagopan hails from this very sacred

place & ofcourse we went directly to his house there . In those days

adiyen's paternal grandfather & Sriman Sadagopan's paternal grandfather

were thick friends . Former was a leading prabandha adhyApakA of his days

& latter of vedam . Both were ardent devotees delighting in performing

kainkaryams for His pleasure. Also , Sriman sadagopan has extended his

kindness in allowing us to stay there whenever we go (holds good for all

bhakti list bhaktAs too!) .

 

We finished our morning anushtAnams & proceeded straight to offer

prostrations to Sri U.Ve. VankIpuram Navaneetham GopAlaDesikAchAryA

swAmi. swAmi was very happy to see adiyen married ( prapatti). It was

swAmi who an year back taught the essence of SwAmi Desikan's magnum opus

Srimad Rahasya Traya sAram in 14 days . The fruit of that knowledge is the

performance of prapatti & leading the life by sincerly performing

kainkaryams to Sriman NArAyanA & His adiyArs , all for His pleasure.

 

SwAmi was very kind & asked us to take care of AntaryAmi (*) in his

thirumALigai (house) itself . But, swAmi's daughters & their children were

there for summer holidays & because of us devI ( AchArya patni ) has to

prepare additional prasAdam again etc . SwAmi was ready for Ijjai &

adiyen's father didn't want to disturb their routines .

 

We had the darshan of "than oppAr illappan " ( Oppiliappan) to our

heart content . Thirumanjanam to both moolavar & Uttsava perumAL was being

performed & it was a real delight to join the goshti of veda - divya

prabandha pArAyanam. We were there for quite a long time than usual

because of thirumanjanam & we were certainly very very fortunate .

 

AnusandhAnam of NammAzhvAr's ecstatic pAsuram on all the perumAls

here is quite appropriate here ( ThiruvAimozhi 6.3.9 ):

 

" yennappan yenakkAyiguLAi yennaip petravaLAi

ponnappan maniappan muththappan yennappanumAi

minnap pon madilsoozh thiruvinnagar cherntha appan

than OppArilappan thanthananthanathALnizhale "

 

" The Lord who has taken His abode at Thiruvinnagar is my father , my

foster mother & my own generating mother too . He is my dear Lord

covetable like gold (ponnappan) , effulgent like gems (maniappan) , cool

like a pearl (muththappan) , who enticed me to His slavery by showing all

these traits. What gold is , what gem is , what a pearl is to materialist

of the world , this Lord is to me , so dear and so endearing. The walls

of this shrine are lustrous as if they are made of gold. The Lord, who

has no equal (than oppArilappan ) , gave me the shelter of His feet - cool

& soothening to the sweltering heat & even more to the tormenting world

life here . Who did this favour , out of His condescending grace ? The

Lord of Thiruvinnagar in His bounteous grace , assures me of all this . "

 

While doing pradakshanam , we can see "chittira thiruppAvai" ie. an

appropriate painting for each pAsuram of thiruppAvai is there along with

the pAsuram . Adiyen enjoyed reciting thiruppAvai along with the

contemplation of each scene . Paintings of dasAvatArams & AzhvArs were

also splendid .

 

After the ArAdhanam , prasAdam was ready in the thiru madap paLLi

(Kitchen for PerumAL) . The kainkaryaparAs at thiru madap paLLi are well

known to adiyen, since an year ago , adiyen regularly had the prasAdam

both times a day , for 14 days . They were happy to see adiyen again &

kindly gave the prasAdam to us. We also bought some prasAdams like laddu

from stalls for our family members at chennai & they also served as dinner

for the night. By the by ,it is well known that Oppiliappan doesn't eat

salt .

 

sri bhoomi nAchchiyAr sametha Sri Oppiliappan thiruvadigaLe saranam

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

(*) " taking care of antaryAmi " : This means "eating" . Actually , a

Sri vaishnavA should eat only prasAdam & food items that are not

offered to Sriman NArAyanA are like poison for them . If one is a prapannA

, then the bhAvA is much more ( a wife of NArAyanA can take only food

remnants of His ) . Eventhough one eats prasAdam , there is a way in which

it has to be honoured . Eating is a "yaj~nA" & the offerings are made to

the antaryAmi present with the jIvAtmA . There are mantrAs specific to

this yaj~nA . Thats why while eating one shouldn't do echchal , talk

about materialistic matters etc. One shouldn't eat or drink while

standing. According to Dharma sAstrAs , drinking water while standing is

equivalent to drinking liquor !!

 

The bottomline is that eating is a yaj~nA done with love for Sriman

NArAyanA . Moreover , a brAhmanA can eat only twice a day . He should

strictly avoid any food item in between these two yaj~nAs . The yaj~nA of

eating prasAdam in the morning should be after sandhyAvandanam, Bhagavad

ArAdhanam etc ( Ashrama specific karmAs/Aj~nA kainkaryams) . Strictly

speaking ,even a drop of water shouldn't be had before all these karmAs &

esp. before SandhyAvandanam . The yaj~nA of eating in the evening

should be after sAyam sandhyAvandanam .These things are not difficult to

observe also. If one observes ekAdasi fasting properly , this will be

easy. Once the taste for performing Bhagavad kainkaryam arises , all these

things will become easier .

 

But during Summer in US ie. at present , one may not be able to wait

till the sun sets ( 8.30 pm or so ) & then perform sAyam sandhyAvandanam ,

wait for sandhyA kAlam to go away & perform the yaj~nA of eating. The

stomach may trouble from 5.30 pm / 6.00 pm itself because the food was

taken in the morning & nothing else has gone into stomach afterwards =>

sAyam sandhyAvandanam is performed much earlier & yaj~nA is also done

earlier . If not , it becomes too late for eating & becomes a problem for

getting up in the Brahma MuhurtA for the next day . This is atleast true

for adiyen .

-------

--- to be cont ---

 

Namo NArAyanA

Adiyen

Anantha PadmanAbha dAsan

Sarvam Sri KrishnArpanamastu