I stop with this - Which is the real No.1 Divya dEsam ?

August 28, 1998

SrimathE NArAyaNAya namaha

On 8/28/98 7:27 AM

Sri Sadagopan Swamy wrote :

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Having said that , I will do some floor crossing in defense of our Kula

Dhaivam and how all these come together at

the Silver mantapam at AhObila Matam

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I would like to point out one thing in specific i.e, all along I have

been arguing for Srirangam as the No.1 Divya dEsam on the basis of a

very very few pAsurams that I know. I haven't even read any vyAkhyAnam

to know the meanings of these pAsurams. All that I have quoted is what

I really understood from the simple Tamizh in the pAsurams. I am not a

scholar and have not attended any kAlakshebams.

Now if great scholars like Sriman Sadagopan are going to enter into

the 'gOdha' and bring out beautiful pAsurams and their true

vyAkhyAnams just what our AchAryAs have interpreted, I will have

hardly any qualification to argue against it. I simply do not want to

do any more vidhandA vAdham. If such beautiful pAsurams are quoted

with our poorvAchAryAs vyAkhyAnams , then even a divya dEsam which has

only 10 or less pAsuram to its credit will look like it is the number

one divya dEsam.

Yes indeed, it is. All the divya dEsams are great and no divya dEsam

is inferior to the other, as it is all Sriman NArAyaNan's abode.

As aptly pointed out by Sri Anatha Padmanabhan in one of his earlier

message, the very idea of taking a form in one divya dEsam is to

please the devotee at that divya dEsam. So under this context, a divya

dEsam in which/near which a bhAgavatha was born or living will indeed

be the number one divya dEsam for him.

For instance my native is Kanchipuram, but I am now living at

ThiruvallikkENi. For me, I would say, Kanchi and ThiruvallikkENi is more

dearer than Srirangam or Thirumalai or for that sake any other divya

dEsam. However one should not forget that every bhAgavathA will have a

personal interest in other divya dEsams also. Like, I would like to

attend the Adyayana utsavam and Panguni Utthiram at Srirangam for its

grandeur, would like to attend the PurattAsi Brahmotsavam in Thirumalai,

and likewise.

But inspite of all this, the fact remains that Srirangam is atleast an

inch above the other divya dEsams.

(1) If not, why the AzhwArs chose to sing more pAsurams in praise of

Srirangam than any other divya dEsam.

(2) Well even if we can discard this as a co-incidence, why was our

AchArya peetam, always at Srirangam and not at any other divya

dEsam.

- Further to add, it was NamperumAL who gave us the Primary thaniyan

"SrisailEsa dayapAthram...", which we recite at the beginning and

the end of every gOshti. (This may be pertinent only to Thenkalais)

- Also the drAvida vEdham, Divya prabhandam flourished only at

Srirangam. Only after the prabhadams got its acceptance at

Srirangam, it started getting acceptance everywhere in other divya

dEsams including Thirumalai. So it is clear that the prabhandams are

available to us now only due to NamperumAL's grace.

We can add on and on. But I don't know much to write. It was for the

above reasons that our poorvAchAryAs have always said that Srirangam

IS the centre of Sri VaishNavAs and hence deemed it to be the number

one of 106 divya dEsams existing in this BhoolOkam and referred to it

as the BhoolOka Vaikuntam. I hope there is no doubt about this.

Also, as I pointed out in my yesterday's message all the AzhwArs,

while singing about one perumAL in a divya dEsam, says that He at that

divya dEsam is the best. So this brings a question as to who is really

the best as per the AzhwArs. There was no such question in the minds

of AzhwArs when they sang about one divya dEsam. When they did the

mangaLAsAsanam at a divya dEsam all that they saw was only Sriman

NArAyaNan in that ArchA roopam. So it made no difference to them. So

they say Oppiliappan is the best at ThiruviNNagar, SrinivAsan as the

best at Thirumalai and so on. The meaning is that Sriman NArAyaNan is

the best at any divya dEsam and amongst all the godheads.

It was our poorvAchAryAs who for a reason, I think, on the basis of

the four points above, settled as NamperumAL as the oldest and hence

the eldest ArchA swaroopam of Sriman NArAyaNan and decided that

Srirangam is No.1. There could be other reasons also. But adiyen do

not know about them.

So it is no wonder I would say, Sriman Sadagopan likes to vote for his

kuladeivam as the best perumAL and ThiruviNNagar as the best divya

dEsam. But the fact still remains that Srirangam remains number one

divya dEsam in the BhoolOkam inspite of one's musings for any other

divya dEsam as per our poorvAchAryAs.

With this I conclude my argument on this subject. Hope all the

bhAgavathAs agree with this. Lastly I would like to state one thing. A

favoured divya dEsam can be any and many to a person but there is only

one No.1. There is a clear distinction between the real number No. and

a favoured divya dEsam.

If, during any of my arguments for my dear Arangan, I have hurt

anybody's feeling or my words where a bit crude, I request all the

bhAgavathAs to kindly forgive me for the abachAram that I have

committed.

Sri RanganAyaki thAyAr samEtha Sri RanganAthan thiruvadigaLE saraNam.

adiyen RAmAnuja dAsan

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh