The Lord Rides a Bird

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa

Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

yes">                                  The Lord Rides a Bird

 

There is an air of eager

expectancy among the huge crowd that has assembled. From the elderly to the

babes in arms, everyone’s eyes are fixed on the entrance. Unwilling to miss

even a second of the scintillating spectacle, none takes their eyes off the

space between the tall doors that stand wide open. There is just standing space

for everyone, with people standing shoulder to shoulder, occupying all vantage

points. The rich and poor jostle together and the learned Vidvans rub shoulders

with the unlettered, all barriers of social and economic origin temporarily

banished. All of them tingle with anticipation of the unparalleled spectacle

that is about to unfold. Though the event occurs with predictable regularity,

you would think, going by the fervour of the assembled sea of humanity, that

this would be the last such spectacle for the century.

 

“Will you come to the

point?” enquires my daughter with exaggerated politeness. However, readers

would appreciate that there is nothing like a good build up to set the proper

tone to the article.

 

If there is one single

event that never fails to attract a multitude, a single annual occurrence that

people eagerly look forward to, one spectacle that never fails to enthral and

enchant, it must definitely be the Kanchi Garuda Seva. Though the annual

Brahmotsavam for the Lord lasts ten days, with Emperuman ensconced on different

carriers or Vaahanams ranging from the solar orb to the palanquin, it is

definitely the Garuda Seva, which captures everyone’s imagination and is a

terrific crowd-puller. Garudotsavam in general is an extremely popular event

with all and sundry. Based on scriptural texts, many regard witnessing

the utsavam as a sure-cure for even

long-standing diseases. And though the festival is celebrated at all the

temples of the Lord, big and small, the event at Kanchi has something special

about it which can only be experienced and not described.

 

The curtains open pretty

early in the morning, at the Vaahana Mandapam inside the temple, revealing the

breath-taking spectacle of Deva Perumal ensconced on His favourite carrier,

Garuda. Bedecked in His numerous glittering and glorious ornaments from head to

foot, with His sacred feet stretched out to rest safely in the wide palms of

the beautiful bird, Sri Varadan presents a magnificent sight to our sore eyes—a

sight even the celestials, who keep constant company with the Lord, would hate

to miss. Clad in all His finery, with a beautiful headgear, Sri Tepperumal

leans back regally, every bit the Magnificent Monarch—Devaadi Rajan. The

pockmarks on His divine countenance, signifying His origins from the

sacrificial fires, add to His boundless beauty. As always, He sports the Sudar

Azhi and Ven Sankham—the Divine Discus and the Cosmic Conch-- which He is

loathe to part with even for a second, for fear that it might delay a rescue

mission for saving a devotee. Huge garlands encircle His tirumeni, trying in vain to add to His

fragrance.

 

And down below, Garuda

presents no less of an enthralling sight. His countenance bears a broad and

beautiful smile, obviously occasioned by the pride and privilege of carrying

the Parabrahmam itself on his shoulders. What adds to his delight is the honour

of bearing both the Lord’s feet in his palms. If you look close enough,

Garuda’s clutch of the Lord’s tiruvadis is extremely gentle, reflecting his

fear that these delicate feet might get bruised even with tender handling. His

long beak curved majestically, Garuda appears ready to take off, with one knee

bent and poised for flight.

 

  Even in these wee hours, a virtual sea of

humanity gathers at the spot, to pay obeisance to the stationary Lord. And

precisely at 4a.m., a loud cracker goes off, signifying the start of the

proceedings. Immediately, the Lord launches on His sojourn, to the delight of

everyone present. After leaving His dressing room (the Vaahana Mandapam), the

Lord pauses a moment at the lower steps, as if to afford all His devotees an

opportunity to drink in His splendour. Thereafter, there is no stopping Him.

Circling the temple corridor, Sri Varadaraja presents honours to His devoted

servants of yore—Sri Nammazhwar, Sri Ramanuja, Swami Desikan and Sri Manavala

Mamunigal. In the dimly lit Praakaaram of the temple, the Lord presents a

tantalising spectacle, half-seen and half-unseen. After pausing for the

commencement of Aruliccheyal recital, Teppurumal arrives finally at the Gopura

Vaasal, to the delight of all those assembled there. A huge cry of “Varada!”

goes up, emanating from thousands of lips simultaneously the Lord stands there

majestically, with a huge ball of camphor lit to display Him in all His

magnificence. The huge umbrellas above dip just for a moment, hiding His

countenance—tradition has it that during that second, Sri Varadan travels to

Cholasimhapuram, to enable Sri Doddayacharyar to have a glimpse of His

splendour.

 

Once he leaves the temple

entrance, Garuda gathers speed and carries Sri Varadaraja with expedition,

pausing only at a few places, en route to Gangai Kondaan Mandapam in Siva

Kanchi. The progress of the Lord along this route is a spectacle to be

witnessed and is remarkable for its speed, majesty and magnificence. The speed

makes it look as if the Lord, finding Garuda’s pace inadequate, spurs him on,

literally running Himself—“Taarkshyam aaruhya dhaavan”.  This is borne out by Sri Nammazhwar’s line,

“Odum Pul Eri”. While it may be natural for people to fly on birds, have you

ever heard of anyone running while riding a bird? This is what Emperuman does,

practically running while ensconced on Periya Tiruvadi. In His haste to save

devotees in distress, the Lord finds His carrier’s speed inadequate and ends up

running. We must consider here that the Lord is riding on no ordinary bird, but

the swiftest of them all. Yet, His hurry makes Him impatient, just as we find

the taxi’s speed inadequate, when we are in a tearing hurry, even though the

driver might be going at the maximum speed.

 

If we imagine that only

we mortals are assembled in huge numbers at Kanchi to witness this magnificent

spectacle, we would be sadly mistaken, says Swami Desikan. The thirty-three

crore and odd Devatas, led by Indra, Agni, Vayu and others, line the streets of

Kanchi, hoping to sanctify themselves with the dust raised by the Lord’s

majestic progress on Garuda, says the Acharya in the following sloka from Hamsa

Sandesam—

 

“Taam aaseedan pranama

nagareem bhakti namrena moordhnaa

 Jaataam aadou Krita yuga mukhe Dhaatu: icchaa

vasena

 Yat veetheenaam Karigiripate: vaaha veha

avadhootaan

 Dhanyaan renoom tridasa patayo dhaarayanti

uttamaangai:”

 

Thus, exalted Devas stand

shoulder to shoulder with us mortals at Kanchi, (though invisible) their heads

bowed in devotion and poised to receive the sacred dust generated from the

speedy progress of the Lord on Vainateya.

 

Any account of the Kanchi

Garudotsavam would be incomplete without a mention of the Veda Parayana

Ghoshti, who follow the Lord wherever He goes, singing His praises as recorded

by the Veda Purusha. These mahatmas mind neither the hot sun blazing above nor

the blistering heat of the tarred roads, but continue their resonant intonation

with all sincerity and devotion, never leaving their Lord for a second, till He

returns to His abode, safe and sound. It is the Veda Ghoshti at Kanchi which

springs to our mind, whenever mention is made of

italic">ananya prayojana kainkarya paras, sincere servants of the

Lord who seek or expect nothing from Him but the pleasure of constant service

to Him and His votaries. With the large and distinguished Divya Prabanda

Ghoshti ahead of Him and the Veda Parayana Ghoshti trailing Him, Varadan’s face

is wreathed in a beatific smile, reflecting His enjoyment of the branches of

Shruti, one is Tamizh and the other in Sanskrit.

 

The Garuda Vahanam is the

most Vaidika vahanam of all. If you think I am exaggerating, do listen to the

Shruti, which admits that this Divine Bird is indeed the embodiment of all

Vedas. It is not for nothing that Sri Alavandar describes him as “Vedaatma”

(the soul of all scripture). Describing the Lord’s triumphant travel across the

skies, the Shruti tells us that the various Vedic metres are but parts of

Garuthman’s magnificent body, constituting a chariot in which Emperuman rides

majestically—

 

“Tasya Gayatri Jagati cha

pakshou abhavataam,

 Ushnik cha Trishtup cha prishtyou,

Anushtup cha Panktischa

dhuryou,

Brihati eva uktirabhavat,

sa evam cchando ratham

aastthaaya etam adhvaanam anu samacharat”.

 

And this is what Sri Varadaraja’s

progress along the streets Kanchi reminds us of. It is as if the Paramapurusha

Himself has come down to Kanchi, to let us all have a glimpse of how He travels

in style.

 

It is perhaps a unique

distinction of this Vaahanam that it figures specifically in Bhootattaazhwar’s

tribute, specifically extolling the praises of the Lord atop the Great

Bird—“Atthi ooraan pullai oorvaan” says Azhwar, who too has been apparently

impressed beyond measure by the Garuda Sevai. The magnificence of this Emperuman

has mesmerised not only Sri Vaishnavas of all hues and persuasion, but everyone

irrespective of caste, creed, religion or even race, as would be evident from

the composition of the crowd thronging the festival. Proof, if such were

needed, of this Lord’s votaries transcending races, is available in the form of

the Makara Kandi, a priceless jewel offered to Perarulaalan with love and

devotion by Robert Clive of the East India Company.

 

The weather is oppressive

and makes you sweat like a pig; the crowds are huge and push and pummel you

till you are sore in every limb;

the policemen don’t let

you stand anywhere in peace, in their anxiety to avoid a stampede; and wherever

you do stand, a taller person stations himself right in your line of vision,

with his devotion prompting him to extend his hands above his head, thereby

further blocking your view. However, all these minor inconveniences disappear

in a trice, once you have your eyes’ fill of Sri Varadaraja and His splendour.

For that moment, you are unable to think of anything but His magnificence, His

majesty, His brilliance and His beauty beyond compare. Your eyes fill with

involuntary tears—“aananda kanneer”—caused by the blissful experience. You now

realise what made Swami Desikan vow to forego even Paradise and opt for a

constant sight of Devapperumal in His various vaahanams—“Satyam sape Vaarana

saila naatha! Vaikunta vaasepi na me abhilaasha:”

 

It is no accident that

the Lord dresses Himself and gets atop His various vaahanams at the Vaahana

Mandapam, which is also the sannidhi of Swami Desikan. True to his ardent wish

that he should constantly enjoy Emperuman’s splendour in His various carriers,

without even a moment’s interruption caused by the blinking of the eye,

(“anudinam animeshai: lochanai: niriviseyam”) the Lord confers upon the Acharya

the rare privilege of enjoying the entire proceedings from extremely close

quarters.

 

We have heard of people

entrusting their souls to the Lord. A special feature of this year’s Garuda

Sevai was that one gentleman had entrusted his yellow cloth bag and its

contents to Garuda, hanging it from the Divine Bird’s fingers, apparently to

ensure its safekeeping. This has been captured for posterity by a candid

camera, which has faithfully recorded this “Bhara Samarpanam”.

 

Srimate Sri

LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra

Mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan

[Guest guest]

>

> The Lord Rides a Bird

>

> We have heard of people entrusting their souls to the Lord. A

special feature of this year's Garuda Sevai was that one gentleman

had entrusted his yellow cloth bag and its contents to Garuda,

hanging it from the Divine Bird's fingers, apparently to ensure its

safekeeping. This has been captured for posterity by a candid camera,

which has faithfully recorded this "Bhara Samarpanam".

>

 

 

SrI:

 

Dear svami,

 

Wonderful piece on thEpperumAL and garuthmAn. The nice pictures of

those wonderful moments were captured by SrI.Diwakar Kannan.

 

http://www.pbase.com/svami/parthiva_garuda_sevai

 

Again aDiyen went thro' this gallery and found out that somebody

entrusted their "bharam" at the divine hand of peria-tiruvaDi, which

is pitiable.

 

Possibly, this picture of peria-tiruvaDi (resembling the Lord) from

thiruththaNkAl - http://www.pbase.com/svami/image/45310685 ,

captured by SrI.Vanamamalai Padmanabhan during the recent

samprOkshanam - shows that He is cautious about those gentlemen.

 

 

dAsan