Proceedings of the 9th Bay Area NAMA Sri Vaishnava Satsangham

[Guest guest]

Sri Raamajayam

 

Dear Bhagavathas,

AdiyEn have great pleasure in sharing the joy of celebrating our

recent 9th Sri Vaishnava

Satsangham in the Bay Area on 9th July 2000. The Satsangham this month was

planned to celebrate the TN of Swamy Periazhvaar(10th) and

Swamy Nathamunigal(12th) and since we had HH Tridandhi Jeer(Swami.Chinna

Narayana Jeer) visiting the Bay Area, we decided on the date

as late as last Friday(7th July 2000). Please pardon AdiyEn for the

inconvenience caused.

 

The Jeer's visit here, was met with great enthusiasm here, since the whole week

was packed with programmes graced and being led by the Jeer(Wednesday-Gita

Bhashya Upanyaasam at Sunnyvale Temple, Thursday- Lecture on Selfishness at

Stanford, Friday - Lakshmi Pooja & discourse on Thayaar, Saturday - Sahasra

Kalasaabhishekam, Kalyaana Utsavam, Discourse at Livermore Temple, Sunday -

Samasrayanam for aspiring Sri Vaishnavites,

Satsangham/Ghosti lead by HH).

 

I am sure many would have enjoyed the whole of last week, and would have

established/replenished their faith in Sriman Narayana, as HH lectures explained

concepts like where we are, the nature of the Divya Dhampathis, eliminating

Selfishness and undertaking Satvika Tyaagam. Towards a

great starting point in many a Bhagavathaas Spiritual life, was the Samasrayanam

conducted by HH.

 

On 9th July(our 9th Sri Vaishnava Satsangham) Bhagavathaas assembled in 100s at

the home of a disciple of the Jeer, Sri.Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, very early in the

morning. The Seva Kaalam was conducted with great vigour and the echoing of

Thaniyangal, Thiruppalliezhuchi, Thiruppaavai echoed from the start. After

Thiruppaavai Satthumurai, the Jeer offered us Theertham, amidst recital of Swamy

Desikan's Hayagriva Sthothram, started by his HH.

 

Then HH offered Anugraha Bhaashanam, and spoke about the greatness of

Periazhvaar and his service to our Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam, AdiyEn could not

control my emotions, when Swami mentioned about Kothai, being called "Andaal"

when our Sri.Vishnu Chittar came to realize that his adopted daughter was no

ordinary girl, and she is "Paathram"(target or vessel) to the Supreme's love and

affection. HH simple words yet deep in Sampradaya meaning, witty yet pleasant

words is truly a great experience for all aspiring Sri Vaishnavites.

 

After this event, HH lead us in reciting Periazhvaar Pasuram(Neeratam,

Poochootal, Kaapidal, Senniyongu, Maanikkam Katti) with instructions for us to

follow suit later on with Kanninun Siruthaampu and

Kovil Thiruvaimozhi(tribute to Sri.Naathamunigal). In parallel, Swamy performed

Samasrayanam to aspiring devotees.

 

Just when we were about to start "Muniyae Naan Muganae Mukkannappa", HH took

lead of us again, and we had a reverberating Ghosti completing Thiruvaimozhi,

followed by Thaligai Samarpanam and Saatumurai(both Sampradayams as wished by

the Jeer).

 

HH continued to give us Sandalwood paste, blessings with Akshathai and warmly

enquired about our Satsangham. Sri Vishnu Vardhan, presented the Ghosti with

Sambavanai, and Swami expressed his great happiness with the host and the Ghosti

of the Bay Area offering his Divya Mangalaasasanam to us, 'The Land & its

People'.

 

At this juncture Sri.Parthasarathy, presented HH with an Acharya Ramanuja

CD(Created by Sanskrit Research Center, Melkote by our own Swamy Azhvaar

and Swamy V.Sadagopan), and we mentioned that we were collecting funds for

Kaimkaryam with the proceeds.

 

 

To our surprise one of HH disciples promptly gave AdiyEn cash of $25 towards the

CD, which we gave back to Swami with a remark "we do not collect Kaimkaryam

funds from Yathivaraas". Swami laughed(it is a part of our Sri Vaishnava policy

to put on a smile internal and external, and AdiyEn could not resist Swami being

spared), and continued to bless us.

Swami also mentioned, the same day last year(Periazhvaar TN), a miracle happened

in Hyderabad, that incessant rain gave way only at the

Parade grounds during the Lakshmi Narasimha Pooja in prayers for Global peace &

Kargil, and such a lovely day was our Satsangham celebrating Swamy Periazhvaar's

TN.

 

Soon we were treated to some delightful Bhagavad Praasadham, cooked by the

accompanying Sishyaas of HH, and left home in delight of 'A DAY WELL SPENT'.

 

AdiyEn Sri Raamanuja Daasan,

 

Sudarsana Dasosmi

Thanks to Sri.Vamsi Mudumbi and other disciples of HH, for giving us an

opportunity to reminisce India.

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas,

 

I would like to add a few words about our experience with

Sri Sri Tridandi Jeeyar Swami during Swami's visit to the

Bay Area. Sri Swami commands a very unique and very appealing

presence, and all of us that day felt it. There is something

mysteriously charming about him, in a way that completely

removes all of one's reservations and makes him very

approachable. Several people remarked to me that they felt

unusually comfortable speaking to him and listening to him,

much unlike the feeling they get when they visit religious

institutions in India.

 

By far the highlight for us was Swami's leadership of our

goshti in recitation of nityAnusandhAnam and kOyil tiruvAymozhi

on the occasion of periyAzhvAr's tirunakshatram. Swami would

recite the first half of each pAsuram, and we

would recite the second half. Most of you probably

haven't heard Swami's voice, so I would like to describe

it briefly. It is very sweet and musical-sounding, so much so

that each word he recites seems to float out of his mouth.

Such a voice is ideally suited for solo recitation of

slokas and pAsurams. Furthermore, his intonation is extremely

clear and succinct, and as we saw him, it was clear that he was

saying each line with each line with great understanding and

anubhavam.

 

Needless to say, it was a treat to the ears and eyes. His

recitation of 'muniyE, nAnmukane' (last padikam of tiruvAymozhi)

as well as the sARRu pAsurams (iruppiDam, etc.) of irAmAnusa

nURRandAdi were particularly memorable. Due to Swami's kaTAksham,

our goshti recited the pAsurams remarkably well that day, with

Sri Gunaseelan, Sri Sudarsan, Sri T.K. Rengarajan and others

leading our goshti. Our only wish was that Swami could have

led our goshti in more such prabandha anusandhAnam.

 

At the conclusion, after vaazhi tirunAmam for Sri MaamunigaL,

Sri Swami glanced at the goshti and asked us to recite

Sri Desika's vaazhi tirunAmam as well, to the pleasant

surprise of our goshti. But perhaps we should not have been

surprised, as Sri Swami is well-known for his large-heartedness

and catholicity of outlook, which far transcend small

differences in traditions.

 

Sri Raghu Mudumbai personally introduced aDiyEn (me) to Swami

and mentioned our Bhakti List. Swami said that he had heard of our

group from several people and encouraged all of us to continue our

discussions.

 

All in all, we were blessed to have Swami's mangaLASasanams and

we are eagerly anticipating his next visit to our area.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas,

I would like to add few more points which I learnt from Swami's discourse on

Periazhwar Viabhavam. The way he illustrated the meaning of "Pallandu

Pallandu" was so great that we have even seen Periazhwar and Sriman

Narayanan in Him and through His lectures. The way in which he describes

point that Azwar has lost his mathematical count while going astray from

Pallandu - Few years

PallAyerathandu - Few Thousand years

PalaKodi - Few billion years

Nooru Ayeram - Hundred, thousand years

 

Yes we realized that Azhwar has strated increasing the years and then went

down and its mainly due to his internal pressure of how to bless God for how

many years? Swami explained in classic an simple terms that even adiyen can

understand that!

 

Also Swami started explaining the reflexes of Prumal on Azhwars apprehension

(that evil eyes should not fall on Him) by showing His Valours (Thinthol)

which in turn started worrying Azhwar more; Then Perumal strated showing His

Lakshmi at His heart and try to console Azhwar that since Lakshmi resides in

His Heart no one can do anything to Him. On Seeing this Azhwar's situation

got more aggravated and started worrying about Lakshmi also "VadivAi nin

vala Marbinil Vazhginra Mangaiyum Pallandu";Then Perumal started showing His

Chakra and pAnchasanyam that with these He can kill the evil forces, at this

moment Azwhar himself stop seeing Him and say "ApPanchasanyamum Pallandu".

 

Adiyen have just try to list how Swami narrated Periazhwar's vaibhavam ,

Surely we went into

tears on Swamis discourse . This nice moments adiyen wish to share with all.

 

Also on Swami explained in detail how Kodha has acquainted with

Vadapathrasayee and got the name Andaal (feminine of Andavan who came down

to earth to take care of Periazhwar and us- This is the first time adiyen

has learnt about such a explanation) .

 

Adiyen's and the SriVaishnava Ghosti's pranamams to Swami for blessing us

all for being part of that morning session .

 

It was such a wonderful and blissful day that I could not forget for ever-

Sevakalam Anubhavam with Swami is the everlasting one as Sri Mani detailed.

 

Let me pray that we have such divine experience quite often!!!

 

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

 

Gunaseelan

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear bhAgavathas:

 

Reading about HH Sri Jeear Swamy's activities in the Bay Area and

the impact that he had on the members of our forum there has

inspired me to the verge of tears. My own personal experiences

with HH have been very similar to what others have shared. His

magical charm and sincere devotion is such that he easily takes

one beyond mere philosophical understanding to the direct

experience of SriVaishnavam, with all of its profound principles,

its ardent devotion, and its magnanimous humanitarian spirit.

It is only due to emperumAnAr katAksham that we are able to have

such a revered AchAryan in our midst.

 

Madhuri and I are joining a host of bhAgavathas to meet with HH

in Atlanta. After reading the postings of the past few days, I

am now counting the moments.

 

Ramanuja Dasan

Mohan