Onwards to ThirunArAyaNapuram from Kanchipuram: Sixth day of the Journey towards AchArya RaamAnujA , Feb 10 , 2000

[Guest guest]

SrimathE RaamAnujAya Nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

Prior to leaving PerumAL Koil at Kaanchipuram ,

there were two more stops .One was at Sri Sudarsanar

Sannadhi at the banks of Anantha Saras , where

the archai of Moolavr Varahdan is resting under

water in a special temple .That sacred archai is

prsented to all BhakthAs every fourty (?) years .

 

SudarsanAzhwAn's archA silai is awe inspiring

to behold . The slOka Vaakyams from Swamy Desikan's

profound SudarsanAshtakam went through my mind :

 

"praharaNagrAma maNDitha , Parijana thrANa paNDitha

Jaya Jaya Sri Sudarsana , Jaya Jaya Sri Sudarsana "

 

Lord Sudarsanan shining resplendently as Hethi Raajan

and nEmi Naathan on the right hand of Lord VaradarAjan

is indeed PraharaNa grAma MaNDithan ( One who is

beautified by the assembly of weapons adorning His

sixteen hands ); He is indeed Parijana ThrANa PaNDithan

( The expert in protecting His adiyavars like AmbharIshan ).

 

The dhAyana slOkam was then reflected upon:

 

sankham chakram chApam parasu-

masimishum soola paasaankusAsthram

BhibhrANam vajrakhEDou hala musala-

gadhA kuntham athyugra dhamshtram I

jwAlA kEsam thri-nEthram jwaladh-

anala-nibham haara-kEyUra bhUsham

dhyAyEth shaDkONa samastham

sakala ripu jana prANa samhAra Chakram II

 

The Sixteen weapons adorning the hands of

Lord Sudarsanan is saluted here and He is

visualized for meditation purposes as

being inside the yanthram of six corners

made up of two intersecting triangles in

the dynamic Prathi-mukhAAleetam posture , where

one foot is forward and the other behind to rush

to our rescue. With the tall flames as His

hair , he is ready to destroy the enemies of

BhagavathAs .

 

Sudarsana Prabhu is PraNathArthihara prabhu

and is able to destroy the enemies of the Lord

with His hoomkAram alone . The darsanam of Him

in consecrated temples like at Kaanchi ,KumbakONam

and Srirangam burns away all paapams :

 

"hoomkAra Bhairavam bheemam PraNathArhtiharam prabhum

Sarva paapa prasamanam PRAPADHYEHAM SUDARSANAM "

-- Sri SudarsanAshtakam : Verse 5

 

In the Sudarsana) Kavaacham , Ahirbhudhnyan

( Lord Sivan) is the Rishi ; the chandhas is

anushtup ; the empowering Lord is Sri Sudarsana-

MahA Nrusimhan ; The sakthi is Sudarsanam ;

the viniyOgam is " mama sarva rakshArhtE

Sri Sudarsana-Purusha-Sri Nrusimha PreethyarthE

japE viniyOga: "

 

Thus , there is no Sudarsanan without Lord Narasimhan .

We had the darsanam of Lord Narasimhan next in

that Sudarsana-Narasimha Vigraham at this

sannidhi . Here , Lord Narasimhan has four chakrams

in His four hands . That (Four Chakrams)is also the emblem

of Lord Kesavan in Panniru ThirunAmam . When we

adorn the ThirumaNN on our forehead first , we say

"KesavAya Nama: , Chathuschakram NamasyAmi

Kesavam Kanaka Prabham " for our protection

of the Sri VaishNava Sri. That is why , we also say

"KesavA " and invoke His name sanctified by

the four chakrams in four dirctions , when we

step out of our residences on important occasions.

 

On the ArchA Vigraham , One can have the darsanam

of the dwAdasa Moorthis fitting Sriman NaarAyaNA's

twelve ThirunAmams( Kesavan, NaarayaNan , Madhavan ,

Govindhan , VishNu , Madhusoodhanan, Thrivikraman,

Vaamanan , Sridharan ,HrishIkEsan , PadhmanAbhan

and DhAmOdharan ). The Uthsavar has 8 weapons

in His 8 hands compared to th 16 weapons adorning the

sixteen hands of Moolavar, Sudarsana-Nrusimhan .

 

The related prayer to Sudarsana-Narasimhan

in Sri Sudarsana Kavacham is:

 

" Sudarsana NrusimhO mE Sareeram paathu sarvadhA ".

(May the Sudarsana-Nrusimhan protect this body

of mine always to make it fit for His AarAdhanam).

 

There were many beautiful and big Sudarsana-

Nrusimha SaaLagrAmams at this Sannidhi .We left

after this eye-filling sevai of Sudarsanar

to AchArya RaamAnujA Sannidhi in the North West(?)

section of the Temple of Sri VaradharAjan .

 

AchArya RaamAnujA's anugraham

*******************************

 

The puNyam from completing the AchArya

RaamAnujA and His satAri Kaimkaryam with

the help of all BhakthAs propelled us perhaps

to His Sannidhi. There , the life-like Moolavar

sitting in the company of all AzhwArs blessed us.

Earlier adiyEn mentioned that the archakar at

Sri PerumbhUthUr RaamAnujA's Sannidhi presented

the KhAshAyam from the ThirumEni of Udayavar

to clothe the SatAri during its journey to Melkote.

 

Another miracle happened here at Kaaanchi.

The Archakar at Udayavar Sannidhi presented

another khAshAya vasthram adorning the upper

torso of the Moolavar and gave it to us to

house the navarathna SatAri. It was such a spontaneous

act on the archakar's part , which can only be

understood as originating from the grace of

our AchArya Saarvabhouman , who gave us Sri Bhaashyam.

Mudali AaNDAn (Sri RaamAnuja SatAri) -on his

way to ThiunArAyaNapuram to join His AchAryan

at His sannidhi- was thus fully housed in

the divine warmth of His AchAryan's ochre robes

from SriperumbhUthUr ( His AchAryan's place of birth)

and Kaanchipuram ( His AchAryan's dhivya desam ,

where He entered into SanyAsAsramam ).

 

Thus started the Journey to ThirunArAyanapuram

by plane and car from Chennai to Melkote with

the satAri having the sambhandham of many

EmperumAns , EmperumAnAr and AchArya PurushAs

 

At Melkote ,adiyEn was the guest of Dr.Lakshmi ThaathAchAr

Swamy , the Director of the Melkote Sanskrit

Academy .He belongs to the Thaatha Desika Vamsam

as well as Thirumalai ANDAn PiLLai Vamsam ,

which has the distinction of performing

Pushpa Kaimkaryam to lord SrinivAsan at Thirumalai

at the behest of AchArya RaamAnujA .Dr. M.A.Alwar ,

the Naveena NyAyam expert teaching this topic as a faculty

at the Mysore Sanskrit College and adiyEn's

partner in the AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM project

is the son of Dr.Lakshmi ThaathAchAr Swamy . Not enough

can be said about the saathvic nature of this family,

their unfailing hospitality to the visitors to Melkote ,

and their tradition of Scholarship in ubhaya VedAntham.

 

AdiyEn will write in the next few postings about :

 

(1) The time spent at the Sanskrit Academy in

the company of Sri Lakshmi ThAthAchAr Swamy

after the first sevai of Lord ThirunArAyaNan

and Udayavar ( Feb 10 , the sixth day of the navAham).

 

(2) The Morning of Consecration of the SatAri

for AchArya RaamAnujA at the Yaaga SaalA

prior to travel of the satAri to His sannidhi

and the afternoon visit to Jna~napirAN Sannidhi

( the sixteen feet Moolavar of Sri Lakshmi Varahan

from HoysaLA times enshrined in ekAntham at

a tiny hamlet outside Melkote) and conversations

with a great Sri VaishNavite scholar ,Kotthimangalam

Sri VaradAchAr Swamy (February 11 and the seventh day

of the NavAham).

 

(3) The visit to Srirangapattinam on the Ratha Sapthami

day and additional visits to some of the Pancha

NaarAyaNa KshEthrams close to ThoNDanUr , which

were constructed by Mudali ANDAn at the request

of AchArya RaamAnujA to spread the glorious

message of Sri VaishNavam in His adopted land

of KarnAtakA ( February 12th and the eighth

day of the NavAham ). AchArya RaamAnujA's 900th

anniversary of entrance to Melkote was celebrated

few months ago at Melkote by the Sanskrit Academy

and the Sri Vaishnava AchArya Kulams .

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan