An experience at Melkottai

[Guest guest]

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

 

My heartful thanks to all those who wrote on

Melkottai.

Staying just 200 km from Melkottai (Hosur) I am

wondering now how I failed to make it to Melkottai all

these years. That too when I have every reason to be

proud about a persoanl connection I have with Chelva

Pillai.

Yes. The first time I came to know about Melkottai was

when, about 17 years ago, I spotted a post card size

photo of Vaira mudi Sevai inside an old book. Struck

by the beauty of the lord, I immediateley made a

painting of it in water colour. I was so infatuated by

the painting I made that I refused to part with it

even when my father and father-in-law wanted to keep

it with them. I knew very little of the lord then and

all that I wanted to do was to see the Vaira Mudi

Sevai (it is vaina mudi) and know whether the lord

resembles the one in the picture I made.

 

Then about 7 years ago I made a trip to Melkot to see

the vaira mudi sevai. It was so exquisite that it

looked as though the lord just dances and jumps up

and down along with the devotees. I could not see the

lord from close quarters nor could I have the darshan

of Thiru narayana.

But after reading the mails from fellow devotees in

Bhakti list, on route to Melkottai, I decided to make

the trip at the earliest instance. And went there this

sunday.

What an experience it was!

I have visited most of the divya desams in Tamil nadu,

but nowhere have I found this kind of manda hasam in

perumal vadanam. If 'Ari thuyil' is characteristic of

Ranganatha, it is 'ari nagai' (the all knowing smile)-

'I know what is in your mind' - is what binds us at

his feet. I understood why Ramanuja said that one

must live at least in a thatched hut in Melkottai.

But my real 'rendezvous' took place in Chelva pillai

sannidhi

oh, he is the one who is my lord, But is HE?

Does HE not look like my child?

The face , the smile - it is not an ordinary smile.

It is like the smile you find on the face of a six

month old baby.

Yes, I mean it and I have seen it.

If you are closely watching a baby grow, you can

identify the different smiles of the baby at different

times.

Suppose you are very close to the baby, say the mother

of the baby and the baby easily identifies you as it

has been regularly seeing you from close quarters.

It is around the sixth month that it starts moving

away from you and spend some time playing away from

you. In the first few occasions, if the baby sees you

from a distance, you can see a slight knot in its brow

- just for a fraction of a second-

and then recognising you,

'is this not the one whom I am so dear to'

-the baby is likely to drop the things it is palying

with and rush towards you with a gurgling laugh

-seeming to ask you

'where did you go? where did you go?

 

This is what I found on chelva pillai's face.

 

-the padapadappu that I have missed you

-the paraparappu that I must reach you soon

-the kuduhalam that I have spotted you

-the uthsaham that I am back in my right place

 

Is this what chelva pillai expressed when he spotted

Ramanuja who came in search of him?

Was it really a re-union as cheva pillai rushed to

Ramanuja as how a baby would rush to the mother with

pangs of having missed her for some time.

 

Guru paramparai prabhavam describes the union like

this:-

"Etta chattaiyum,

kattina siru sadangaiyum,

muditta my vanna narunkunjiyum,

tan mugaththu chutti thoonga thioonga,

perujgy-yilum gudhithu,

thannialosai salan salan endrida...'

The bhava, the looks, the smile on Chelva pillai

looked so real - so familiar to me that I have not yet

come out of the spell.

Is this the lord whom Perialwar describes in his

pasurams? Like how periyaval try to find whom

Nammalwar meant in his 'vuyarwara'

songs.(Thirivaimozhi, mudal pathu))

Did Perialwar in a state of trance envisioned chelva

pillai and sang the songs.

Because after seeing Chelva pillai, I get reminded of

HIM only,in every pasuram of Perialwar Thirumozhi.

Or the lord has deliberately kept HIMSELF away from

the vision of Alwars so that HE can lend HIMSELF a

soulabhyan to us, the lesser mortals in this kaliyuga.

Any way the trip to MElkottai was a rewarding

experience for me.

 

Back home, I looked at the Chelva pillai I have with

me. The smile, the Bhava and the resemblance are all

there. Even the mischivouss sparkle in the eyes is

thre. Only that HE looks more an adult in my picture

than what HE looks in person.

I look at my hands and tell myself

'Dhanyan aanen'

The Taiittriya vachanam -'karmethi hasthayoho'--

some gratifying karma in my hands.

Has HE not blessed me??

 

jaysree sarnathan.

 

PS: I have not spoken about the experience in

Ramanuja's sannidhi.

That will run into another story!

Let me for the time being restrict myself to some

information-

like

After an over-night stay at Mysore, one can proceed

towards Melkot via Sri ranga pattnam. But the road

condition leaves much to be desired.

But if you proceed from Mandya, the road is pretty

good.

Or one can stay in Bangalore and start by 5 am to be

available for the thirumanjanam for Ramanuja at 7.30

am.( by personal trasportation)

On Ramanuja's thirunakshatram every month, one can get

to see his thiru meni during thirumanjanam.

The scars from the injury in his shoulders when he

came through the forests with Chleva pillai had been

meticulously carved in his thiru meni, as per his

instructions.

and he is marvelous - will speak to you-so says the

Bhattachar

and I raelised it on that day - the narration of which

is beyond the scope of this list.

 

JS

 

 

 

 

- Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup

http://fifaworldcup.