HH Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swami

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha:

 

Dear members of the list,

 

As some of the members have mentioned earlier HH Sri Tridandi

Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swami

presided over the Shree Yagam conducted here at the Shiva Vishnu temple,

 

Maryland. This was a concluding 5 day celeberation

of Sri Mahalakshmi Koti Kumkuma Archana started in February. HH's

participation in the pujas, His discourses, just His presence

here had profound devine effect on all those who came in contact with

Him

during the function. I would like to share the write up by son

who is a student at Penn State with you all, which speaks for itself as

to

what effect the Jeeyar had on his young mind.

 

 

" My Venture into Vedic Wisdom

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

I returned home from my fourth semester in college mentally and

physically

tired from the recent finals week. As my sophomore year came to a

close, I

looked ahead to a relaxing summer, a time for me to regroup. I have

always

been what you might call a regular Hindu in that, I pray to God, and I

know

general Hindu concepts and practices. So, having been away from home

for

so long, one of the things I had been looking forward to was the

opportunity

to come to the temple again. Along with home life, it's a sort of

reservoir

where I can come and replenish myself spiritually. I had also known

that

His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Sriman Narayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar

 

Swamiji was to visit our Sri Siva Vishnu Temple once again in early

June.

I was sixteen when He was last here in 1996. I attended all the

 

events while He was here, and had become somewhat acquainted with who He

was

and what He did. Although I recognized Him then to be an elevated soul,

I

was still too immature to fully absorb the whole situation and be

internally

touched by it. In addition, the circumstances of this visit would be

different from 1996 in that there has been an on going, unprecedented

Koti

Kumkuma Archana for Sri Laksmi in the preceding four months, presided

over

by one of the Jeeyar's disciples, Sri Prahalladachaya, and the Jeeyar

was

coming to participate in the final 5 days of it. My mother and sister

had

been consistently participating those preceding months, and I had been

hearing from them while I was in school about how much of an enriching

experience it has been for the both of them. So, having matured since

the

last time such an event had happened at our temple, I looked forward to

the

spiritual experience of being in the company of enlightened souls. All

my

anticipation, however, could not have prepared me for the impact our

Jeeyar

had on me during those five days.

It is difficult to articulate the profound messages I took away

from

those five days, but I can say that through the Jeeyar's words I believe

I

have gained some understanding about the essence of Hinduism, where all

its

universality and greatness lie. At this stage in my academic career and

my

life in general I have been asking questions as I seek to grasp my

identity.

Many of the more spiritual questions, which I felt were the most

relevant

ones, led me to probe my religion, and I was looking for answers of what

 

role my religion plays in my life. I sought concrete answers, and

received

them through our Jeeyar Swami. It was because of him that I was able to

 

understand that we worship the all pervading supporter of the universe

around us, visible and invisible, Sriman Naaraayana. The issue of these

 

many deities that Hindus worship and in many cases quarrel amongst each

other about was put to rest by the Jeeyar's explanation that we worship

the

Lord of the universe in a form we choose, a form He accepts but is not

limited to. Indeed the power that sustains everything and everyone is

intangible to us, invisible but all-pervading; we call it God, and we

give

it many forms which we worship, but I was then able to realize they are

all

One.

Our Jeeyar preaches the importance of the partnership between

knowledge and practice. Only when combined are the two of these useful

and

beneficial. The Swami emphasizes the importance of doing things

correctly,

and yet He does this without making worship seem tedious or

painstaking. He

simply says that there is a right way and a wrong way of approaching

God;

just as a specific key will fit a specific lock, so too are there

specific

protocols to be followed when worshipping God. But equally or more so

than

protocol the Swami speaks of the devotee. Because after all, we worship

God

not for His sake, but for our own. It is for our own enlightenment that

we

seek the divine power. So what does the devotee need to do get closer

to

God? I learned from our Jeeyar that I should accumulate qualities that

bring me closer to the divine, such as compassion, selflessness,

respect,

discipline, and suppress those qualities which disrupt and hinder that

progress, including anger, passion, greed, and jealousy. The positive

qualities that help us reach God are automatically manifested if we

accumulate bhakti towards God. I say accumulate, because, for most

people

like me, it is something that must be generated and nurtured. True

bhakti

in most cases is not innate, like a mother's love for a child. I saw

that my

bhakti must blossom through the consistent practice of worship. It is

with

bhakti that one should worship God, rather than fear or sense of

obligation.

The only way for me to generate that kind of love and bhakti towards God

is

constant prayer, but how does one pray to God constantly? The Jeeyar

cited

the Bhagavad Gita on several occasions when answering that question. It

is

through devotional service to the Lord. I realized then that

worshipping

the Lord should be integrated into my lifestyle, it should become a way

of

life. It does not begin and end with going to the temple and praying,

or

standing before a picture or an idol and praying. Indeed, one's

lifestyle

should facilitate service to God. The Jeeyar clarifies that one can

still

do normal things and live a "normal" lifestyle, but live it righteously

and

in service to God. Any work we do (karma), let it be an offering to

God.

This message taught by the Jeeyar is found in the Gita too. I found it

to

be the answer to many questions. My attempt to put this philosophy into

 

practice, however weak or incomplete an attempt, has brought me peace of

 

mind, and a sense of control and bliss.

What was further inspiring was the actual Yagna being performed

on

those days by the temple priests and the disciples of the Jeeyar. The

Jeeyar and His diciple acharyas brought to our temple immense energy

which

diffused into and visibly changed all who were present. Our temple

priests

were now ritwiks, and they performed the Yagna hand in hand with the

acharyas. The atmosphere during those five days was a window into Vedic

 

times, an era where the wisdom of Hinduism was undiluted and practiced

in

its purest essence, where such yagnas were performed all the time,

everywhere, by enlightened men and women. The Yagnaacharya, Sri

Narasimhacharyalu, a disciple of our Jeeyar and a teacher at His Vedic

school, represented those Vedic times with his flawless performance of

the

Yagna. Every action of his was done with precision, dignity, and pride,

 

just as the sages and enlightened bhaktas did a long time ago. One

could

close one's eyes and leave the parking lot outside the temple where the

Yagna was being done, and forget the present, inhaling the holy smoke

from

the kundas, feeling the energy of the voice of Sri Narasimhacharyalu as

he

perfectly recites the various slokas and Vedic mantras, and travel back

in

time, escaping the trivial worries of modern life behind.

I look back upon those five days as a period in my life where I

was

able to open my eyes, and become aware of a more subtle, and more

relevant

knowledge than I had ever been previously exposed to; a knowledge that

is

applicable in all arenas of life. It made me grateful and proud to be

born

into my culture and to have at least scratched the surface of the Vedic

wisdom which always existed but was manifested from the deep meditation

of

the most austere, wisest sages in the beginning of time. My experience

with

His Holiness Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar, has pacified the turbulent waters

of

life, giving me the knowledge, and through which, the strength to

progress

day by day, spiritually and otherwise. I have by no means done justice

to

my experience, what I learned, how I improved myself as a person and my

life

in general during the Jeeyar's visit to our temple. It is beyond the

scope

of this chronicle and of my ability to articulate. I write these words

with

no other motive than to express to some extent my humble gratitude, and

to

pay my sincere respects to the great souls of the past and present who

have

made available to anyone seeking it the divine knowledge which can

dispose

of all ignorance and lead to happiness and liberation. Jai Sriman

Naaraayana!

 

 

- Phalgun Prativadi

June, 2000 "