rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye-I

[Guest guest]

asmad gurubhyo namaH

asmad paramagurubhyo namaH

asmad sarvagurubhyo namaH

 

SrI SrInivAsa varadArya krupAtta cinham

SrI SrInivAsa yativarya niviShta bhAram |

SrI rangayogi varalabdha parAtma yogam

rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye ||

 

Dear bhaktas:

 

adiyEn is taking the liberty to write about my

recent experience with undergoing samaSrayaNam

and prapatti under the auspices of SrIrangapriya

mahAdesikan swAmi at the ASTAnga yoga vignyAna

mandiram in HanumAnnagar, Bangalore.

 

Although we are descendants of thirumalai nallaan,

[Read: http://www.abhinava-desika.freeservers.com/

under 'Biography' - "Urukku pollAn, emakku nallAn"]

my parents, unable to find an AchAryan from this

lineage during the 1970s (even though Sri uttamoor

swAmi was still in bhoolokam at that time) - sought

samaSrayaNam from Srimad mukkoor AzhagiyaSingar, who

reigned as Ahobila mathAdipati for 37 long years.

 

In 1993, an erudite scholar, and one of the noblest

of souls, also descended from thirumalai nallaan,

was initiated into sanyAsam by (35th pattam) Srimad

abhinava rAmAnuja parakAlaswami - under the title

SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan. Since then, many persons

- including those seeking an AchArya in the thirumalai

nallaan lineage, have been blessed with samAsrayaNam

and prapatti through this mahAn called RangapriyaSwami.

 

For various reasons, adiyEn had not the good fortune

of SrIvaishNava panchasamskAram for 15 long years

since upanayanam. By PerumAL and AchArya anugraham,

a series of coincidences occurred recently, making

this 'rite of passage' possible. First, a major INS

hurdle was overcome on June 28, 2001 - which allowed

me to travel; second - my wife mysteriously quit her

job 10 days prior to that; and third - a 3 week plant

shutdown was suddenly announced at my workplace.

 

Therefore adiyOngaL were in Bangalore before we knew

it, on July 03 2001. The very next day we went to

SrIrangapriya swAmi's abode, to offer our dAsasya

vignyApanam and dandavath praNaamangaL. AchAryan was

in the midst of Anhikam to SrIkOdhandarAmar in the

uLsannidhi of the mandira. Many of the people present

participated by reciting slokams/pasurams during the

ArAdhanai. This was followed by sARRumurai, mangaLam,

and the distribution of teertham and prasAdam.

 

adiyEn had questions for AchAryan, and eagerly awaited

my turn to speak. The questions were about AchAryan's

guruparamparA, about swAmigaL being from the nallaan

chakravarthi lineage in poorvASrama, about adiyOngaL's

prArthanai to undergo panchasamskAram through AchAryan,

and finally, on whether HH could offer some words of

wisdom to console my wife, who had been grieving for

some time over the loss of her grandmother.

 

To be continued...

 

SrIvAsa samyami vareNya niviShta bhAram

SrI rangayogi varadivya krupAtta yogam |

SrI laXmaNAkhya yativarya krupAtta cinham

rangapriyam mamagurum SaraNam prapadye ||

 

adiyEn SrIrangapriya mahAdeSikan thiruvadi,

-Srinath C.