An Eye Witness Account of the Celebrations of Swami Desikan Thirunakshathram at Sri ranganathA Temple at Pomona, NY : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhaagavathAs :

 

What a wondeful two days of sathsangam it has been

this past weekend ! Srirangam came alive here and

the majestic sound of AchArya Sookthis in general

and those of Swami VedAntha Desikan in particular

reverberated in the air and were echoed back by

the ancient mountains of the Taconic and Palisade

ranges .BhakthAs from Many states ( New York, New Jersey ,

Connecticut , Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas ,

Vermont , Maryland , Virginia , Pennsylvania et al )

were assembled . Many subha Sakunams (auspicious signs)

were witnessed indicating the Sarvesvaran's sanklapam

(that of the Supreme Lord resting at Srirangam )

to see to that His Temple will come into being in time

for the 21st century as a special gift to us for the new

millenium . AdiyEn is sure that the many BhakthAs who

participated in this MahOthsavam have individual experiences

to relate to about this Bhakthi-filled event of two days.

AdiyEn requests them to share their experiences and post

them for the benefit of other BhagavathAs , who could not be

with us .

 

The Dozen highlights of the meeting are:

 

(1) On this sacred PurattAsi Sanik Kizhamai

(PurattAsi Saturday dear to ThiruvenkatamudayAN),

a magnificient and saampradhAyic (traditional)Thirumanjanam

for Swami Desikan( an avathAram of the GhantA of

Sri Venkatanaathan) , AchArya RaamAnujA , Sri RanganAthA ,

Sri RaamachandrA , Sri VeNu GopAlan, Sri Sudarsana-Narasimhan

and Lord SrinivAsan was conducted to the acompaniment of

Veda paarAyaNam and Divya prabhandham . The uthsava moorthys

glowed with a special effulgence after their sacred bath .Sriman

Poondi Vijaya Raaghavan , the President of RaamaanujA Mission

blessed the ghOshti with a majestic voice leading the divya

Prabhandham recital. The Veda paarAyanam was led by

Sri Venkat Kanumalla , the Aaradhakar of the Sri RanganAthA Temple .

 

(2) The release of the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM was released

in front of Swami Desikan by AdiyEn and the first copy of

the offically released CD ROM was presented to Sri Venakt

Kanumallla for his untiring efforts to keep the Sri VaishNavA

flame alive at Sri RanganAthA's Temple for all of the BhagavathAs

representing many sampradhAyams .The development costs for

this pioneering CD ROM project on AchAryA RaamAnujA as

an educational project for the benefit of the GLOBAL

Sri VaishNavA Community has been fully funded by

Sri Ahobila Matam of North America . A vast amount of the life

and works of Bhagaavth RaamAnujA and his SiddhAntham is covered

here . Planned release of second volume will cover additonal

material from His glorious life especially for the benefit of

young Sri VaishNavAs including Questions and answers for

the Younger generation . Approximately 200 BhakthAs have extended

so far their valued support for this project thru financial support

and they will all receive their copies once the reproduction is

completed soon .Other BhakthAs interested in acquiring their own

copies are requested to contact me (914-762-6690) or tru e-mail

at the above address .

 

(3) The third agenda item was the ofifcial release of the Volumes 4-6

of the Audio CD ROM of the SthOthrams of Swami Desikan by Sri

Poondi Vijaya Raaghavan ,President of the RaamAnujA Mission

of Virginia . The disciples of Srimath Andavan of PeriyAsramam

have funded this project . The first three volumes were released

in April,99 during Sri RaamAnuja Jayanthi at the Sri Balaji Temple

at Bridgewater, NJ . Sriman Shyam Sunder Srinivasan and Sri

VenakatanAthan SrinivAsan , two disciples of PeriyANDavan have

recorded these 28 sthOthrams of Swami Desikan with their clear ,

mellifluent voices with great attention to correct Sanskritic

pronunciations and stops . The whole project has been supervised

brilliantly and executed effectively by Sriman Nadadur Madhavan

of Sri Ramanuja Mission . The cover graphics designed by him

are a treat to one's eyes ( Pictures of Divya desa EmperumAns

and Swami Desikan).Please contact Sri Madhavan (Nadadur )

or adiyen on details about acquisition of these invaluable CD ROMs

to learn and recite the most auspicous sthOthrams of Swami Desikan

starting from Sri HayagrIva SthOthram and concluding with

Sri YathirAja sapthathi .The First copy of the Volumes 4-6

have been presented by Sri Poondi Vijaya Raghabvan to

Sri Venkat Kanumalla in recognition of his many services

to Sri vaishNavA Community .

 

(4) The crowning event of the morning was the Special

tele-upanyAsam by His Holiness, te 45th Jeeyar ,

Sri VaNN SatakOPa Sri NaarAyaNa Yathindhra MahA Desikan

of Sri Ahobila Matam . H.H is staying now at

ThiruvahIndhrapuram for his ChAthurmAsyam and

his auspicious voice came over as amrutha mazhai

(nourishing nectarine rain ) over the air waves

few feet away from the ThirumALigai of Swami Desikan at

ThiruvahIdhrapuram , where the great NigamAntha Desikan ,

the VedAnthAchAryan, the Sarva Tanthra Svathanthrar had

spent 40 years of His 100 year old life on and off .

Lord DevanAthan and Sri Hembjavalli of this divya desam

and Swami Desikan in his ArchA form created by him

and consecrated by his son , Sri Kumara VaradAchAr

were hearing this upanyAsam (tribute to Swami Desikan's

Vaibhavam ) as their own BhakthAs were hearing at Singapore

and all over USA assembled at Pomona , NY and from Massachusetts

to Hawaii. This special Tele-upanyAsam was heard on tnhe banks of

both the Atlantic Oceaan and the Pacific Ocean .AdiyEn

welcomes some one , who heard this UpanyAsam to summarize

it for the benefit of others , who missed it .

 

(5) After a lunch break, the afternoon sessions started with

the welcome and introduction to the sessions by adiyEn

covering the 5 tainyans for Swami Desikan .At the end of

the recitaiton and explanation of the first Taniyan ,

it was wonderful to note that the Temple KainkaryaparALs

carried the ArchA vigraham of Swami Desikan to the conference

site. Freshly garlanded and with noothana vasthram , Swami Desikan

radiated His divya Tejas and took His position as SabhA Naayakar

to listen to the tributes paid to Him .

 

(6) Sri MuraLi Kadambi of Lucent Corportaion was the first speaker

in the afternoon . He brought forth the fine points about

NyAsa Dasakam . This grantham is very important for us in so far

as we recite it in our daily aarAdhanam .Additional information

on NyAsa dasakam and saraNAgathi related sthOthrams of Swami

Desikan ( NyAsa Vimsathi , Adaikkala Patthu , NyAsa Tilakam,

SaraNAgathi Deepikai ) are archived in the Bhakthi and SaraNAgathi

archives of 96-98 .AdiyEn has also created a special domain

home page (http://desikan.homepage.com) for housing Swami Desikan's

and other AchAryAs' works under one heading .That special domain

will be populated on Swami Desikan's birthday that falls

on PurattAsi Sravanam day ( September 21, Tuesday ) , which

also happens to be an EkAdasi day and Vaamana Jayanthi day.

AdiyEn will include postings pertinent to Swami Desikan including

the prolific writings of Swami Desika Bhaktha Rathnam ,

Sri SrinivAsa RaghavAcchAr Swamy of Chennai .AdiyEn will

also construct with the help of data base experts an index

of postings available on the net regarding Swami Desikan's

Sri Sookthis on the Bhakthi and saraNAgathi Archives .It will

be wonderful to have the real audio of Srimath Azhagiya Singhar's

UpanyAsam on Swami Desikan there coutesy of Sri Ahobila Matam .

 

(7) Sriman Anbil Ramaswamy , the President of Swami Desika Darsana

Sathsangham and the Publisher of SaraNAgathi Journal folowed next

and addressed the audience on "Swami Desikan's NaicchAnusandhAnam

and Saathvika AhankAram .With elaborate quotations from the many

Sri Sookthis of Swami Desikan , Anbil Swamy demonstrated the dayA

of Swami in pleading with the Divya dampathis on our behalf. Both

Sri Shyaam Srinivasan and Sri Venkatanathan Srinivasan recited the

appropriate slOkams cited by Anbil Swamin , one of the well known

disciples of PoudarIkapuram Andavan Aasramam .He had so much

outstanding material that had to be compressed unfortunately due to

pressure of time .

 

(8) Sri Sampath Rengarajan of Ford Motor Company , Michigan gave

next a scintillating presentation on Swami Desikan's Tamil

Prabhandhams and focused on one KuraL VeNNpaa of Desika

Prabhandham from Rahasya padhavi/Amrutha Ranjani:

 

moonRiloru moonRu mooviraNdu munnAnkum

thOnRat tholayum Thuyar

 

The essence of this KuRaLLVeNNpAa is : When One understands

the meanings of the three rahasyams ( AshtAksharam,Dhvayam

and Charama SlOkam ) and perform prapatthi ,SamsAra dukkham

will be banished without fail .

 

Sri Rengarajan , the Co-Chair of this conference expounded

the subtle meanings of this powerful prabhandham .

 

(9) Sri MuraLi Rangaswamy , an expert in antenna theory and

dedicated sishyar of PoundarIkapuram Andavan homed in on

the many beautiful messages enshrined in Swami Desikan's

master piece , "DayA Sathakam ". With a careful choice of

the many pertinent slOkams , Sri Rangaswamy celebrated

the Sri Sookthi extolling the DayA Devi of ThiruvEnakta-

mudayAn on His PurattAsi Saturday .

 

(10)The final presentation for the day's sessions were by

a devout Desika Bhakthar from Massachusetts , who focused

on the mastery of the SaamAnya and VisEsha saasthrams by

Swami Desikan before the age of 20 and the many celebrated

incidents in Swami's life during his stays at Srirangam ,

Kaanchi and ThiruvahIndhrapuram . It was a fitting finale.

 

(11) The days events were concluded with a recitation of

the special sthOthram on Lord Achyutha DevanAthan

of ThiruvahIndhrapuram by Swami Desikan in rare Prakruthis

language. Not more than a handful in the world can

recite this sthOthram in its entirety in PrAkrutham .

Srimans ShyAm Srinivasan and VenkatanAthan SrinivAsan

are among the select few .In this lalitha sambhAshaNam ,

Swami Sesikan takes on the role of Sri Venakata Naayaki

and follows the path of ParAnkusa Naayaki and ParakAla Naayaki

to reveal Her longing for the union with Her Lord Achyuthan .

That was a beautiful recitation in front of Swami Desikan's

ArchA Vigraham .

 

(12) At the conclusion of the above sessions , many particpants

travelled to the Sri RanganAthA temple site under construction

and under the golden rays of the clear summer evening had

the darsana SoubhAgyam of the majestic Archa Vigraham

of Moolavar , periya perumAl reclining on His serpent bed

on the Banks of Hudson River and in the middle of fertile

forests and tall mountains . All of us climbed up the ladder

next to have the darsanam of Para VaasudEvan and

the authentically constructed PraNAvAkAra VimAnam

by expert silpis from TamilnAdu headed by Sri Baapu .

The glorious sight of Para VaasudEvan with PrayOga

chakram and the most merciful glances is an image

that will forever reside in one's mind .The PraNavAkAra

VimAnam is surrounded by the dasavathAram statues

exquisitely sculpted by Sri Bapu a la the dasAvathAram

archais in the DasAvathAram temple constructed by

Thirumangai AzhwAr at Srirangam .

 

With Sri RanganAthan's grace ,adiyEn has no doubt

that the Temple for Sri RanganAthA to grow further

the spirtual aspirations of ALL SRI VAISHNAVAAS

in USA will be realized in the year 2000 .

 

I will cover the second day's events in a companion post .

Let us not extend the discussions on " the Billion Dollar

Questions " any further and rededicate ourself to live in

harmony celebrating the Kuladhanams bequeathed to us by

our AzhwArs and AchAryAs .

 

AdiyEn will conclude this posting with two meaningful

prayers reflecting the mood of Swami Desikan in this context :

 

naasthi pithrArjitham kimchith na mayA kimchithArjitham

asthi mE hasthisailAgrE Vasthu PaithAmaham Dhaanam

--Sri VairAgya panchakam :slOkam 5

 

(meaning): My father did not leave behind any accumulated

wealth. Neither did adiyEn accumulate any wealth.But , adiyEn

has in my possession a great wealth accumulated and left behind

by my grand sire, Lord BrahmA that stands on top of Hasthi Giri

known as Sri VaradarAjan .

 

maam madhIyam cha nikilam chethAchEthanAthmakam

savkaimkaryOpakaraNam Varadha SvIkuru svayam

--Sri NyAsa dasakam : SlOkam 7

 

(meaning): Oh Lord VaradhA!Please make adiyEn the instrument

of Your Kaimkaryams and have those Kaimkaryams performed by

adiyEn. Further , please use adiyEn's children , wife , other relatives

as well as my house , gardens and other property for Your Kaimkaryam

and accept them as instruments through Your own sankalpam .

 

That is the essence of the sessions of the First day .

Those who have taken the second mortages on their houses

to support this temple constrcution and the Bhakthan ,

who travels every weekend 1000 miles round trip to

perform the AarAdhanam and then supervise the Temple

construction and the scores of BhagavathAs that contribute

to accelerate the progress of the Sri RanganAthA Temple

construction are the most laudable sevants of the Lord.

AdiyEn prays for the dust from their feet to rest on

my head !

 

Daasan , Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

Convener , Swami Desikan Thirunakshathrma Celebrations , 1999 .