Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam : Part XX( Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi day)

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

SrI RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs: This would be one of the last of the three

postings on the recently concluded Thiruadhyayana Uthsavam

at the Sri RanganAthA Temple at Pomona , NY.

 

Here is a summary of the happenings on the important

day of Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi or Moksha EkAdasi.adiyEn

thanks Sri Sampath Rengarajan for helping me with

a full recall of the events that took place .

 

On Sri Vaikunda ekadasi day, the very first sEvratthi

arrived at 3:30 AM . The nityanusandhAnam commenced

at 4:30 AM with the ghOshti of 40 sEvartthis. Around 5:30 AM ,

there were more than 80 sEvratthis lined up on both sides

leading to the Garuda sannithi ,which is a distance of 100 feet

from the Main Sannidhi of Lord RanganAthA.

 

The amarar'a athipathi , Sriyapathi Sri RangEswaran beamed

with joy at the sight of His devotees assembled at Brahma

Muhoortham that special day and left Garbha gruham for

the main hall to the accompaniment of the full throated

recitation of the Final ThiruppAvai Paasuram "vagak kadal

kadaintha Maadhavanaik Kesavanai " first followed by

the chanting of chathur vEdham passages.

 

At about 5:30 AM, Sri Ranganathar entered through

the specially constructed Sri Vaikunda vAsal along

with about 100 sEvarthis. He came around the sanctum

to the main entrance of the Temple and proceeded to

the southern entrance symbolizing AyirakkAl mandapam

(thousand pillared maNTapam at Srirangam ).

 

Many sEvartthis arrived now and recieved the blessings of

Sri Ranganathan , who was ready to take on the role of

Mumukshu entering Sri Vaikuntam.

 

At around 9:00 Am. " ManiyakArar" ( an important executive in

the Srirangam Temple administrative hierarchy responsible

for the conductance of the uthsavams in the traditional way )

was adorned with mariyAthi and parivattam as he brought

with great reverence the vastrham of the Sri Rangam moolavar

and Uthsavar Sri Namperumal. The Prabandha ghOsti procedded

in front of the MaNiyakkArar carrying these sacred vasthrams

from Srirangam and was followed by vEdha gOshti .The vasthram

went around the temple along with 100 sEvartthis and

was duly recceived by the temple bhattars. Sri Ranganatha

Moolavar and uthsavar of Pomona Temple adorned the vastrhams of

Sri Rangam Perumals on this Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi day. It brought

tears in the eyes of many as the strong presence of Sri Ranganatha

was felt through the "special pefume " that is unique for

any vasthram associated with Periya perumAL of Srirangam.

At one time , the dhObhi for Periya PerumAL 's vasthram

alone can identify the PerumAL taking temporary residence at

Thiruppathi hills based purely on the dhivya gandham of

the VeshTi worn by the ArchA Vigrham staying near KonEri

fountain .

 

 

Around 10:30 AM , after mangala hAratthi for Arayar( Sri Usha

NArAyanan ), She performed an Arayar sEvai for the firsdt

ThiruvAimozhi paasuram (UyarvaRa-- pAsuram .Similar to

the tradition at Srirangam , thambiranpadi vyAkyAnam

( commentary fr the Paasurams used by Arayars ) was

used by Sri Thirukkudanthai Sampath Rengarajan to

explain briefly the importance of Aryar sEvai for

uyar vara paasuram.(i.e)., the first line conveyes

the meaning of pranavam and the second line conveys

the bagawan sabdhham and the third line the para Vasudeva

sabdham and the last line the nasmas sabdhham of

the Sri VaasudEva manthram , the most sacred of all

the manthrams (PraNavam).. namo bhagawathE vAsudEvaAya".

Right after that , irAppthu began with the thiruvAYmozhi

chanting. There were 20 people on the gOshti that day.

On the evening of Sri vaikunda ekAdasi the sARRumurai was

done with Sri ArA amuthe pathigam in a very moving and

traditional way. It was very touching and fulfilling.

During the day of Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi, 1,000 Mumunkshus

(people desirous of Moksham ) entered the Sri Vaikunta

Vaasal (gate) and felt fulfilled.

 

The next day , the paRayanam was concluded with the sARRU murai

using " kangulum pagalum pathigam " where the Mother movingly

asks the Lord to tell her about the Lord's intentions

rgarding her daughter, who has lost her mind over RanganAthaa.

There were some 10 gOShti members who were singing in praise

of muhil vaNNan's naamam . On December 28th , many sEvArrhtis

and an army of kainkkaryaparALs started arriving from

all states. On the night of December 28th , eleborate arrangemets

were made by these kainkaryapraLS untill the next morning (2:00AM)

for the biggest event of the year (viz)., Swamy NammAwhwAr mOksham.

The path of travel to the mOksham was made 12 floursent lamps

with six on each side to resemble a total of 12 sooriayns

or Suns lighting the way . The entire temple was made roomy

for accomodating as many sEvartthis possible. Our sincere

Thanks to all those kanikaryaparaLs Sri Arun, Sri Kesvan,

Sri Aravind Sai, Sri Ramanan ,Sri Srikanth, Sri Narasimhan,

Sri Ramesh Ragavan, Sri Sarathy, Sri PArtha Srinivasan,

Sri Srivatsan, Sri Prasad, Sri Krishna Kanumalla,Sri Chandra,

Sri Niranjan, Sri Satyan, Sri Rengarajan and the priests ,

who helped in conducting this major uthsavam in the most

traditional manner .

 

adiyEn will describe the Swamy NammazAr Moksham in

the next post and follow it up with the Paasurams

used by aRayars at Srirangam during the Thiru Adhyayana

Uthsavam next. This series would conclude with those postings.

 

Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaThakOpan