SriVaishnava Yati Sammelanam

[Guest guest]

vSrimathe srivanSatakopa Sri Vedantha yatindra maha

desikaya namaha.

 

Sri Vaishnava Yati Sammelanam

 

Sunday,11th feb was a red-letter day in the annals of

Srivaishnavism. The day witnessed a congregation of

ten illustrious Sri Vaishnava Yatis, to signify the

end of various internecine disputes that have plagued

the sampradaya so far. The meet also heralded the

birth of a new era of unity and hope.A brain child of

HH sri Vadikesari Azhagia Manavala Jeer of kanchi,the

coming together of the Yateeswaras belonging to the

various denominations of our sampradaya was the

culmination of His Holiness’ untiring toils in this

direction. Some of the other moving spirits behind

this marathon endeavour were Sri Ramaswamy{advocate},

Sri SVS Raghavan,Sri MA.Venkatakrishnan, sri Velukkudi

Krishnan,Sri Rajagopalan,and others.

 

The venue was the Vanimahal auditorium in

T.Nagar,Chennai and long before the proceedings began,

all the seats were filled and people were standing at

vantage points to catch a glimpse of the yatis as they

arrived. There was a devotionally surcharged

atmosphere and wherever one looked, one could spot a

thirumankappu. Nearly 3000 Srivaishnavas belonging to

both the kalais thronged the venue.The dais was

tastefully decorated and adorned with the photos of

the emperumans of the 108 divyadesas, and below

them,that of Sri Ramanuja, flanked by SriVedantha

Desika and Sri Manavala Mamunigal.

 

The venerated Yatis who participated in the

Sammelanam were _Their Holinesses-Srimad Azhagiasingar

of Sri Ahobila Mutt, Srimad Andavan Srin Rangaramanuja

maha desikan, Sri Rangapriya desikan of bangalore,Sri

Vadikesari Azhagia manavala Jeer of Kanchi,Sri Varada

Etiraja Jeer of Sriperumbudur, Sri Embar Jeer of

Sriperumbudur, Sri Siriya Kelvi Appan Jeer of

Tirupati, the Azhwar Tirunagari Jeer,Sri Yadugiri

Yatiraja Jeer of Tirnarayanapuram, and Sri

RangaNarayana Jeer of Srirangam.All the Yateeswaras

had taken time off from their divine duties to

participate in the first ever such holy

congregation.You could well imagine what a treat it

was to have a dharshan of all the Yati Sarvabhoumas on

the same stage. One was tempted to burst into song and

exclaim with Sri Nammazhwar-“Kandom kandom

kannukkiniana kandom, thondeer elleerum vareer

thouzhuthu thozhuthu nindru aartthum”.

 

Priot to the arrival of the Yatis, to

engage the audience, divyaprabanda ganam was provided

by Sri Venkata varadan swami and party. Appropriate to

the occasion, the proceedings began with the majestic

chanting of ghanam and Aswamedha maha mantras by

Mukkur Sri Lakshminrsimhachar swami. Sri MA

Venkatakrishnan and Sri Velukkudi Krishnan , who acted

as comperes, gave introductory speeches ,succinctly

outlining the purpose of the conference. One notable

feature was that all the speakers, including the

Yateeswaras, quoting Sri Nanjeer, dwelt on the need

for Sri Vaishnavas to adhere to the swaroopa niroopaka

dharma of empathy with all beings and para dukkha

dukkhitvam.The recent calamity in Gujarat found its

echo at the meet and all the speakers urged for

liberal donations to mitigate the hardship of those

who had lost their property and dear ones. A

two-minute silence was observed in memory of the

departed and, in more practical terms, a donation of

Rs.10000{as the first instalment} was announced for

the cause.

The host Jeer( so to say) ,HH sri Vadikesari

Jeer, welcomed the other Sanyasins and the devotees

and gave a clarion call, in Tamil and English, for Sri

Vaishanavite unity.The audience ‘s response to this

call was a ringing and prolonged appalause, signifying

their collective agreement with the Jeer’s noble

thoughts. This was followed by another rousing speech

by Sri Etiraja Jeer of Sriperumbudur ,which displayed

his multilingual felicity. Sri Sriranganarayana Jeer

,Sri Azhwar Tirunagari Jeer Sri Embar Jeer and Sri

Tirupati Chinna Jeer individually appealed to Sri

Vaishanavas to eschew all differences and stay united,

so that our great Sampradaya, fostered by Acharyas

like Sri Ramanuja, Sri Vedantha Desika and Sri

Manavala Mamunigal, could survive in the present-day

hostile atmosphere and flourish too. Then followed an

inspiring speech by the 93 year-young Sri Yatiraja

Jeer of Melkote, who, despite his advanced

thirunakshatram, took an active and inspiring part in

the proceedings and stayed from commencement to end.

Sri Rangapriya Maha Desikan, in his address,emphasized

the universality of the Narayana namam and its

acceptability to even the dvaitins and advaitins.His

far-reaching vision conceptualized the entire world as

one big Sri vaishnaivite family(Vasidaiva Kutumbakam).

 

Srimad Azhagiasingar of Sri Ahobila Mutt, in

his anugraha bhashanam,outlined the crippling problems

confronting Sri Vaishnava Yatis today. He dwelt at

lengthover thedwindling revenue and mounting

expenses,making it difficult to maintain and manage

temples and mutts which had only land as their primary

source of revenue.He put forward the suggestion that

the Government should take over unremunerative temple

lands and provide reasonable compensation therefor,

which would help in easing the liquidity position of

mutts and temples, and provide them with a steady

interest income.HH emphasized that what was required

was Governmental assistance and not Governmental

interference.He also spoke of the difficulty in

finding fit persons both for administering temples and

for archaka kainkaryam.

The concluding speech was delivered by HH

Srimad Andavan, who began with the vedic invocation

“Bhadram karnebhi:” and his inimitable ringing tones,

declared that the time had come for every Sri

Vaishnava to introspect, shed all inhibitions and past

baggage of disagreements and to focus on unity. A very

brief exposition of the Seer’s musical talent left the

listeners longing for more. Urging people to shed kala

bhedas, He attributed attempts by some elements to

criticize Sri Desikan or Sri Mamunigal ,as misguided

and lacking in sampradayic gnana.

 

The proceedings which began at about 11 am came to

an end around 3 pm, with the recitation of the

mangalam composed by Sri Manavala Mamunigal by Sri MA

Venkatakrishnan . Resolutions were passed with the

unanimous approval of the Yatisarvabhoumas, setting

up a committee consisting of the representatives of

the Jeers , to discuss and decide on issues of common

interest and to liaise with the Government on matters

requiring their assistance.

As the sponsors emphasized, the Yati Sammelanam was

just the first step on the long road to Srivaishnavite

unity and there was an indeed ambitious programme on

the agenda.

One must say that even if it was a first step, it

was a giant step, having, as it did, the wholehearted

blessings of all the principal Yativaras of Sri

Bhasyakara Sampradaya. Dasan,

Sadagopan.

 

 

 

 

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