Centenary celebrations at NAIMISARANYAM

[Guest guest]

Srimate Sri Lakshminrisimha Divyapadukasevaka Srivan satakopa Sri Narayana

Yatheendra Mahadesikaya namaha.:

Dear bhagavatas,

Adiyen was one of the very fortunate ones to witness the centenary

celebrations of the thirunakshatram of 43rd jeer of Ahobhila mutt,

Srivansatakopa Sri Veeraraghava Satakopa Yateendra Mahadesikan [sri

Devanarvilagam Azhagiyasingar] last week.

It was celebrated in a very grand scale by prakrutam Srimad Azhagiyasingar

at Naimisaranyam.I would very much like to share our experience with our

list members.

 

Expecting the Divyadesam to be a remote and desolate village, we reached the

place on 22nd morning for Abhigamana aradhanam; to our surprice and

pleasure, the whole village was reverberating with festivity! People from

all over India had gathered in the kshetram not only for the thirunakshatram

celebrations but also for Navarathri and Dassehra which is a very important

fesitival there.

Sri Ahobhila mutt premises is renovated at the cost of Rs. 10 lacs to

receive the expected crowd for the function.Veda parayanam and

divyaprabhanda parayanam had started five days prior to the main

thirunakshatram day. On 22nd we could see as many as 300 devotees from all

over India, having darshan of Sri Prahlada varadan and Srimad

Azhagiyasingar.

After aradhanam and thaliyaradhanai, we took rest for nearly two hours. Then

the newly done up photograph of Sri Devanarvlagam Jeer along with his

beautiful panchaloga idol were taken in a procession along the streets of

Naimisaranyakshetram. More than 300 to 400 devotees [both ladies and gents]

followed the procession barefooted [for 3 to 4 km.] with Nadaswaram and

local band in the front and with scholars chanting vedam and

divyaprabhandam. It was really a rare sight to see Srimad Azhagiyasingar

following his predicessor's idol as long as he could by foot and then

opted to follow by bus.He was visibly happy to see so much response from

his sishyas. No words can express the feelings of the devotees who were

present there. The whole atmosphere was filled with chanting of the Vedas.

The procession reached the 'marwadi chatram' where, 43rd jeer attained

Paramapadam.

Then both the idol and the photo were taken into the room where the sad

event took place. It is still maintained by our mutt. Then, only the idol

was brought out and placed on a small cement rostrum with tulasi madam.

Srimad Azhagiyasingar also seated himself there and all the devotees

collected around and sat on the floor.

As Jeer was not keeping good health, Sri Vaduvoor Lakshmi Narasimhachariar,

one of the seniormost Aradhakars in the mutt spoke about the last days of

the great Jeer whose Thirunakshatram was being celebrated. God! He narrated

the whole sequence of events which took the great Acharya away from his

disciples with so much emotion and heartrending tone that we all were in

tears !

Sri vaduvoor swamy had been in the mutt's kainkaryam for long and has

served four Jeers now. He was almost weeping during the whole event!

Especially when he was mentioning about a small incident on the great

acharya's last day in this mortal world, the whole crowd was in tears!

It seems, his nephew and another sishya were sitting near the acharyan's

bed; seeing the silent suffering of the Mahan, they started shedding tears ;

the tears fell on his body and at once he opened his eyes. Seeing his

weeping sishyas, he slowly wiped their tears with so much Vatsalyam and

Karunyam that everybody started weeping again!

Here, I want to mention humbly about my late father, Vaikuntavasi, Sri

Sayee Chakravarthy Iyengar, who was an ardent sishya of Sri Ahobhila mutt

and Sri Devanarvilagam Azhagiyasingar.

He celebrated his Acharyan's 75th thirunakshatram at Naimisaranyam along

with a group of around 30 sishyas and with blessings from Sri Mukkoor

Azhagiyasingar at his own expence. He strived hard in his life time to

renovate the Brindavanam at Naimisaranyam. This was remembered and mentioned

by Sri Vaduvoor Swamy and acknowledged by prakritum Srimad Azhagiyasingar.

..Then Srimad Azhagiyasingar spoke about the greatness of the great acharya

for few minutes. He was overwhelmed with joy to see so many sishyas from

different parts of India and blessed them all.

After distribution of prasadam [kesari], the idol was taken around the

'chakra theertham' and kept in Sri Malolan's sannidhi.

Next day, after satrumurai, which was attended by a overwhelming crowd of

around 700 devotees, [which included many VIP's and sixteen members of

Devanarvilagam Azhagiyasingar's family in poorvasramam],all scholars who

attended the veda parayanam and the kainkarya paras who made the function

a great success were honoured by prakrutham jeer; and the function ended

with the distribution of prasadam.

The sambhavanai expenses which amounted to around Rs. 4 1/2 lacs was

contributed by Sri Jagannathachariar who had come down from United States

to attend the function. He was honoured by Jeer and the collector of the

district was also honoured by him.Sri Desikan of the Mutt who had made very

good arrangements to accommodate a big crowd in the kshetram was also

honoured in the function.

As it was already 11 am, some of the devotees including our group left

immediately , towards Ayodhya and other Divyakshetrams .But the memory of

those few days will remain with us for ever!

Though this report is a bit long, this is inadequate to express our

happiness and the sense of fulfillment we experienced! Adiyen seek

pardon for any mistakes in the narration.

Smt. R.Kalyani,Mumbai.