My favorite Divya Desam

[Guest guest]

adiyen wishes to thank Sri Anbil Ramaswami for having broadened this

discussion outside the pale of Azhwar aruLicheyyalgal. This gives the

rest of us, not so familiar with chaste Sanskrit and Tamil to join in

this discussion.

 

adiyen votes for Dasavataara Sannidhi in Srirangam, for the following

reasons:-

* They appeared upon the request of Thirumangai Azhwar. He did

not do penance for years like the Rishi in Thiruvellore. He just called

them and they came.

* Their arrival did not result in any pain to anybody. They were

not carried on the back all the way from Ayodhya thinking that the

ultimate destination was going to be Lanka, only to be disappointed in

Srirangam. Padmavati did marry someone talking, laughing and moving

about only to find Him a motionless vigraha the next instant.

* They are there in whatever forms they did leelas as vibhava

avataras. One does not have to look at one type of Vigraha and imagine

another type of Perumal.

* The Matsya avataaram protected the Vedas as well as the devotees

during Pralayam.

* The Kurma avataaram fulfilled the material desires of the devas

and asuras. Both wanted the nectar and they went to Sriman Narayana.

He asked them to churn the ocean. The mountain collapsed. He came as

Kurma avataaram and supported the mountain on His back. They still

together did not have the strength to churn the ocean. He then entered

their bodies and personally churned the ocean. Finally when Thaayaar

came with the amritam, both the devas and asuras forgot about any

gratitude to Perumal and all of them chased lustily after thaayaar and

tried to snatch the amritam from her. She ran to Perumal and the asuras

snatched the amritam. Then Perumal took Mohini avataaram and made sure

that only the devas got the amritam.

* If it was not for Varaaha Perumal, we would not be on this lokam

writing all this today. He was the first Perumal to make the concept of

Prapatti known to this world.

* While men and gods had to wait a long time during Rama and

Krishna avataarams before the primary Rakshasaas were destroyed, in

Nrsimha avataaram, this was accomplished in an instant. The entire

avataaram was over in 1 hour and 48 minutes.

* It was Vaamana avatara that made Ganga river holy, giving

millions an opportunity to get closer to moksham. For Ganga is the

water that Brahma used to wash Trivikrama's feet when it reached

Satyaloka.

* Parasurama got rid of sinful kings from the earth 21 times.

* It was Sri Rama who actually made us see that Utopia is possible

on earth. He alone ensured that everybody followed Dharma.

* No other avataaram has had as many leelas as Sri Krishna. In no

other avataaram is Sri Vaikuntham portrayed in its entirety as it was

during the Krishna avataaram. While the Azhwars endured His separation

during His absence, the Gopis had to endure it even when He was present.

In no other avataaram did the 5 principal weapons of the Lord come in

their original form. The Panchajanya Shankhu alone was used during the

Mahabharata war, and it alone finished off the war before it even

started. The rest was simply a formality. The Sudarshana Chakram was

used a number of times, notably to kill Sisupala and Dantavakra. The

nandaka sword was used to humiliate Rukmi who tried to prevent the

marriage of Rukmini with Krishna. The Saranga bow was used in this

battle and many others. It was also used by Krishna win a bride where

He had to pierce a fish in an instrument twice as complicated as what

Arjuna did to marry Draupadi. The Kaumadaki mace was used in battle

against a king who attacked Dwaraka. He married 16,000 princesses who

were kept as slaves by Jarasandha and whom nobody else would marry. He

Himself, never actually became a king. This is why dharma did not

prevail as well as it did during the Rama avataaram. Finally, in the

words of adiyen's Acharya, no other avataaram has explained Saastras so

completely as Sri Krishna did in the Bhagavad Geeta, bringing out hidden

concepts of the Upanishads into the open.

* The future Kalki avataaram will restore Dharma and bring Sat

yuga back. Thus the Karuna of these Perumals cannot match those of any

other.

* While the other divya desas were enjoyed by Azhwars and other

realized souls, these Perumals got Swami Desikan to compose the

dasavatara stotram. The phalam of this stotram is that it will negate

the negative effects of malefic planets. While the rest of the divya

desams can be enjoyed by realized souls, people who consider vigrahas to

be stones, images and symbols etc. can chant the dasavataara stotram,

get rid of their immediate material suffering and also attain self

realization as the unseen result of chanting of this stotram.

* It was these Perumals that played host Srimate SrivaN SaThakopa

Sri VedAnta dESika Yateendra Mahaadesikan, when He built the Raja

Gopuram for Sri Ranganatha. They did not ask for one for themselves.

* It was from here that the idea of Sri Ranganatha Temple of New

York, the only temple in America apart from Iskcon temples, subscribing

to a single philosophy free from contradictions, took root. While in

other divya desas, Sowlabhyam is seen after we take the trouble to go

there, these Perumals have made sure that Sri Ranganatha Himself comes

here so that we can worship Him, simply by going to New York and not

have to worry about seeing Him only when we go India.

* On a personal note, it was in the Dasavataara Sannidhi that

Malolan accepted adiyen's Prapatti at the feet of the great Srmad Mukkur

Azhagiya Singar.

* Finally in honor of this Mahaan, nitya Prasadam is being

distributed at this Sannidhi every day since His departure to Sri

Vaikuntham in August 1992.

 

Therefore in terms of Karuna, Sowlabhyam, dayaa and all other gunas,

this Dasaavataara Sannidhi beats all other divya desas hands down.

 

adiyen

jaganath.