Trip to India..Part 2

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Dear Bhakti Members,

Please accept adiyen's pranamams. This is a continuation, and covers the

second half of my trip to India.

 

On November 26, alongwith my parents and my nephew, we went to Thirupati and

Thirumalai. At tiruchanoor, our dear Thayar had come out to greet us and blessed

us by catching glimpses of her thirukalyanam. It was amazing to be just a few

feet from the Utsavars, that the thought did cross my mind of reaching and

touching their feet. I know it will be a big no-no or sin, but will definitely

be a sin worth the satisfaction. Having restrained my mind and thoughts, we went

ahead and paid respects to Venugopalan and Sundarajan. We followed this with

visiting Sri. Varadaraja perumal koil. Unfortunately, Bhashyakara's sannidhi was

closed, but got a nice darshan in all other sannidhis. Alongwith my nephew

Srisaran (12years), we climbed the holy hills of tirumalai. We did this on bare

feet, and was a nice experience. For some strange reaso, I managed to climb,

with no more than a half-glass of water, and was neither tired nor thirsty at

the end.

 

Nov.27: Rushed to the angapradakshanam queue around 1:30am. (It is always

interesting to see how people react to the chill breeze in the morning.) Since,

it was a friday, the angapradakshnam started at about suprabatham time, around

3:15am. The crowd was relatively small, about 60 bhagavathas. On fridays, since

Abhishekam follows the Suprabatham, we never got to see Perumal, even from a

distance. All of us felt terribly let down. Angapradakshanam (circumabulating

around the prakaram) has the advantage of getting to see perumal, without having

to go thru long queues. Feeling let down, I made my way to Sri Varaha Swamis

sannithi. Since, it was about 3:45am, the only other soul other than the bhattar

was adiyen. I recited my standard set of prabhandhams and Sookthams, and was

filled with joy when adiyen realized that adiyen had the privilege of getting

the first theertham, atleast among non-bhattars or kainkaryapaalas. Perumal

does have a way of satisfying us, and i am strictly refering to SriVarahar. It

does not come as surprise that HE allowed Thiruvenkatamudaiyan to seek

refuge/shelter in his humble dwelling. HE is always my favorite. Smiling and

literally laughing, i made my way back to the cottage, and went alongwith my

folks for the Archana and thomala Seva. We were a little sluggish in getting to

the Perumal sannithi (since my mom is closer to 70, and her legs are not doing

too good), we were literally in the last row. The thing that bothered me the

most was the pushing and shoving. Irrespective of the age/sex, people were

literally pushing the weaklings or the quiet ones, just to get a good place to

sit. From where we were sitting, the only thing one could see was the ceiling,

and adiyen was very furious. The only nice part was to hear the sweet recitation

of Thirumadal. It was a bit comforting, when we got to walk closer to the

Moolavar, and adiyen was more than happy to convey about the lack of

satisfaction from the visit, and how adiyen was happy to be at Sri Varaha Swamis

sannithi.

 

Following the sevai was Sarrumurai sevai. Adiyen wishes to thank (very very

sincerely) Sri. Mani and Sri.Dileepan for providing information regarding this

sevai, even at an extremely short notice, no amount of words can do justice. As

we were getting near Udayavars sannithi, one of the bhattars who saw the Sankhu

and chakram of my samashrayanam, gave me a handful of manjil that was used in

the Thirumanajanam, and adiyen felt extremely ashamed to have been too

materialistic in complaining about the previous happenings. He also guided me

towards the sarrumaurai queue. Once again there was a lot of pushing, but was

overshadowed by the fact that here i was, in tirumalai, being a part of the

sarrumurai ghoshti. Kind of a Dream come true. One again thanx to Shri. Dileepan

and Mani. Following the sarrumurai, alongwith my nephew we hiked down the Holy

Hills. Along the foot path is a small shrine for Sri.Lakshmi Narasimhar. As luck

would have it, HE was having HIS thirumanajanam done, and the two of us were

very Happy to witness this. Tears literally came to my eyes. Someone Somewhere

must have heard my grievances.

 

Nov.29/30: As Srirangam was the temple that adiyen had not visited, took

the Rockfort express to Srirangam. Reached the koil by 8:30am. Made my way to

Udayavars sannithi. Divya prabhandham was being recited and adiyen was very

happy to join the ghoshti and recite the bits and pieces that adiyen know.

Following the sarrumurai, and prasadham, adiyen settled in acorner and began

reciting Gadya trayam, and was very promptly stopped by a bhattar. Feeling

uncomfortable, adiyen walked up and requested for an archanai for Udayavar.

Folloing this, attempted to recite Ramanujan Nootranthathi, and once again, the

same bhattar walked up and asked me to quit reciting. This time I was asked to

sit outside and recite, if i really wished too. To be frank, i was totally

disheartened, and all the more since this happened in our Paramacharya's

sannithi. Following this, dejectedly i made my way to Perumal's sannithi, and on

the way i realized that it was (kausika?) ekadesi, and is considered a very

auspicious day. Once again, the same bhattar showed up, and indirectly conveyed

his feelings. Utsavar meanwhile had arrived from Thayar sannithi, and was as

beautiful as once can imagine, but thru the sad eyes, HE was only nice. Visited

all the sannithis, except Chakrathazhwar's (was closed by 11am), and realized

that once again the favorite sannithi of adiyen;'s was the dasavatharam

sannithi, for two reasons. The first being the presence of all Azhwars by the

ParamapathaNathan, and secondly the Bhattar here is so involved when it comes to

performing archanai both for Perumal and for Andal, that it brings tears to ones

eyes.

Having rushed thru all the sannithis, visited Kattu azhagiya Singar Koil, and

got to witness the peaceful SriLakshmiNarasimhar, who was fresh from his

Thirumanjanam. Got a handful of Manjil, and for a change adiyen was brimming

with joy, and unable to control the same.

 

It is possible that i may have wrongly referred to certain sannithis or Perumal

or Thayars name, and i would be more than happy if someone could correct me.

 

I sincerely apologize for the lengthy note and will try to keep my notes short.

 

Sri Andal thiruvadigale saranam

Acharyan thiruvadigale saranam

adiyen, ramanuja dasan

(srinivasan)