purataasi sravanam celebrations in Bahrain

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sriman venkata natharya kavitharkika kesaree I

vedanthacharya varyome sannidhaththam sadha hrudhi II

 

 

Dear bhakthi group members,

 

namo narayana. please accept adiyen's prAnamams.

 

adiyen, r.venkatarAghavan from Bahrain would like to share with all of you

regarding our purattasi sravanam celebrations held at Sri.IVK chary's

residence on october 1,1998.It was indeed a memorable event.Here are the

brief details.

 

All of us know that purattasi sravanam is an important day for all

srivaishnavas as this day being special day for our Lord

"Thiruvenkatamudaiyan" and thirunakshatram for our great acharya Sri

Vedanta desikan. For the vaishnavaites in Bahrain there is a third reason

to consider this month's sravanam as special because this is the first

anniversery for our desikan club (as sri.sudershan describes).Last year a

group of desikan admirers assembled at sri.sudershan's residence and

celebrated purattasi sravanam and decided to continue this kaimkaryam by

holding monthly gatherings on every sravanam and recite Swami Desikan's

stotras.This kaimkaryam has been continuing although sri sudershan left

bahrain in Feb of this year,and finally today is the anniversary.

 

Sri chary is the source of inspiration for the vaishnavites in this tiny

islamic island and he took the charge from sri.sudershan and kept this

monthly gatherings lively.His pronounciation and rhythemic rendering of

both sanskrit and tamil stotras/prabandhams are excellent.Sri.Chary has

been telling that we must celebrate purattasi sravanam in a grand manner

and finally the evening came.

 

The program started with recitation of pancha suktham at about 6.45

pm,followed by Hayagreeva stotram (being vijaya dasami) and then one of

the swami desikan's marvellous composition "Daya sathakam".After these

sanskrit stotras we moved on to Divya prabantham.

 

on 4000 we have started with pallandu then kanninun siruththambu, joining

madurakavi alvar saluting our nammalvar then we recited select verses of

"Thiruvaymozhi".Muthal patthu "uyarvara uyar nalam " then last ten in the

aaram patthu "ulaham unda peruvayya" and concluding ten of thiruvoymozhi

"muniyE! nanmuhanE.."

 

Then we moved on to desika prabantham starting with adaikkalappathu and

continued with prabandha saram where in swami desikan beautifully brings

the total count of 4000 with the details of the author,their

thirunakshatram and brief details of their compositions using the same

words used by alvars.Finally we have recited pillayanthathi composed by our

swami's dear son saluting Swami desikan.In the meanwhile thirumanjanam for

saligrama perumal has commeced.

 

The sattumurai of the evening requires special mention. It was elaborate

with recitation from samhita,ashtakam, thaiththerEyANyakam, sama

,vedam,thaithhtarEyOpanishad, Sri Bhashyam, Sri bhagavath vishayam etc..

and plus the usual prabandha sattrumurai. Sri.Chary's recitation of vedams

and sri bhashyam were excellent and all of us were spellbound and this

pleasent experience can't be described in words. We all forget that we are

in an islamic country far away from our mother land and adiyEn felt as if

we are in thiruvenkatam when we were reciting "iruppidam vaikundham

venkatam". Dear bhagavathas, this is not an exaggeration. It is our true

experience. In short it was a memorable evening.

 

The programme came to an end with recitation of sri desika mangalam and sri

venkatesa mangalam.

 

By then the time was quarter to ten and the small group assembled at the

starting of the programme has grown into a very big gathering and every one

participated felt extremely fortunate to be present and receive HIS

blessings.

 

Finally,a sumptous dinner was served and many devotees shared this

responsibility. The menu included traditional piliyotharai and dhithyonam

among other varied items.The most tasteful item was akkara vadisal prepared

by sri chary himself. " I have another job in hand" quipped sri.chary when

we all complemented him for his excellent preparation.

 

Dear friends, most of you might have celebrated this special day in a grand

manner but celebrating here in a gulf country where such religious

activities are rare requires special mention and we feel extremely happy

for HIS grace and daya for making this event a memorable one. We all seek

Divya dhambathi's blessings to continue this kaimkaryam in the years to

come.

 

Thanks for your patient reading.

 

Kavitharkika simhaya kalyana gunasalenee I

srimathe venkatesaya vedantha kurave namah II

 

adiyEn dasan,

 

R.VenkatarAghavan.