Guest guest Posted May 31, 1999 Report Share Posted May 31, 1999 Dear friends on the bhakti-list, I am writing this only to join SrimAn Sempath Rengarajan in his appeal for contributions from all bhAgavatOttamA-s towards Sri Sarangapani temple renovation at Kumbakonam. Sri.Rengajan requested me to post on the list a piece on Lord ArAmudan. We have all been reading about the glory of this great divya-kshEtram in the most informative postings of both Sri.Rengarajan and SrimAn Sadagopan. What more is there to add? And whatever little I may have to share with you all, I am afraid is really not worth adding ... But I will say this: Our Lord ArA-amudan is a Great One and the proper upkeep of His great temple in Kumbakonam is our inalienable and common duty. Some of us tend to look upon our temples as simply staid relics of religion. Others regard them merely as the legacy of our bygone forebears. If you think deeply about it, our temples are actually the wellsprings of living inspiration. Why? If we are able to draw any spiritual sustenance or strength from Vedic literature and philosophy, from the "pUrANa-itihAsA-s", or from "AchArya-sri-sookthis" and "darsanam-s", from the "divya-prabhandams", "stotra-granthA-s", "anusandAnam-s"… if all those today give us, either individually or as community, whether in our homes or in our social congregations, through direct or vicarious experience… if they all give us any sense of self-worth in being Indian, or more essentially, in being descendants of the glorious Vedantic tradition of the land of India, we must remember it is only our great temples that have enabled them all. Our enjoyment of reciting a stanza from the holy "prabhandhams" is infinitely enhanced if, at the same time, we recall also to our mind the deity, the landscape and the temple environs of the particular "kshetram" the "pAsuram" relates to. If we find ourselves transported to the 'sannidhi' of Ranganathan at Srirangam every time we begin to recite: "AlamA-marathinn-illai-mEl oru bAlagan-Ay…!" it because, within our "inward eye", we are moved to imagine the 'tirumEni' of the majestic "murthy" there. The sonorous strain of Vedic chant… "sahasrasheerUshA pUrUsha-ha, sahasrAksha sahasrapaath…"… those strains, if you have noticed, ring more vibrantly in our ears than tolling bells each time we are also able to recall to mind the sylvan ambience of Vrushagiri, the magnificent temple atop its mound and "tiruvEngadamudaiyAn" preparing Himself for a "shukra-vAra-tirumanjanam". Every time we silently close our eyes and savour the deep and mystic lyricism of Swami Desikan's "gopala-vimshati", we also behold the dusty hamlet of Tiruvaheendrapuram, and witness the shrine of Krishna there slowly emerging out of some misty vision inside our mind. aDharA-hita chAru-vamshanAlA-ha makooTAlambi mayoora pinchhamAlA-ha harineela-shila viBhanga-neeLa-ha pratiBhasantu mamAntima prayANE II If our lives are but hapless rafts, bobbing violently without direction or purpose on the turbulent seas of the present times, we all badly need anchors of faith to root us firmly into the bedrock of native, Vedic civilisation. Our temples, indeed, are those anchors. ********** ************* ************ Please do contribute your might to the cause of renovating the great temple of our ArAmudan. adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan, Sudarshan ____ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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