Visit to divya desams part I

[Guest guest]

Dear bhagavathas,

 

pranamams.

 

This series has appeared in few other cyber groups and Sri Anbil

swamin has advised adiyen to forward these msgs to SrirangaSri

also.Please pardon me for duplication,if you have already read them.

 

adiyen will be sharing my travel experiences to various divya desams

during July,August of this year. adiyen has written about all the

temples visited and elaborated the conditions of some temples in

south that are in very bad condition.

 

Let me tell you at the outset that my writing skills are very limited

esp in English. Many bhagavathas who read these postings have

encouraged and that is the reason for sharing this in Thiruvenkatam

group also.

 

Now please read on..

 

adiyen had an wonderful time visiting as many as 40 divya desams

during June,July 2003 during my vacation. A brief note about my

experiences has been described below.

 

Our divya desa yatra has commenced on 26th June four days after our

landing at chennai. One thing to be noted here. We did not visit all

the divya desams listed below in one round trip. We have planned many

2 or 3 day trips covering few divya desams during each trip. Good

amount of time was spent at each temple. Thirumanjanam was performed

at many divya desams. Before that on 22nd itself we went to the newly

renovated Srinivasa perumal koil at Medavakkam. This temple was 400

years old it seems and recently it was renovated with the help of

local public. There are sannidhis for Perumal, Thayar, Ramar,

Krishnar, Sudarshanar, adhi varahar, lakshmi narasimhar and the

temple is located away from the crowded town in a calm and quite

surrounding. This is the first temple we have visited during this

trip.

 

Fortunately on 26th morning our aaththu vadhdhiyar came home to

discuss about the proposed sudarshana homam which was performed on

5th July. Adiyen took the opportunity to do yatra danam with his help

and then commenced our trip.

 

Our first trip was to Sholingur. Every year during the month of

November we used to perform thirumanjanam to Narasimhar Thayar and

Anjenya. This time we thought of doing it during our visit itself so

that we can also see and enjoy the thirumanjanam. Thirumanjanam is

performed at Periya malai for narasimha and thayar only on Fridays

and for Anjeneyar at chinna malai on Sundays only. It may be noted

that the peria malai is bit steep and only by foot devotees can go

up. All the required materials for the thirumanjanam have to be taken

from down including water. So the devastanam has fixed these days but

in any one is desirous of doing it on any other day then additional

money have to be paid for making arrangements.

 

Till last year, my parents-in laws were living in Sholingur at the

foothill of the chinna malai, which used to be very convenient for

having good darshan after to rest (after having good lunch) after our

tiring walk to the hilltop. But now the things have been changed.

There is severe water scarcity in Sholingar esp near the temples and

my in laws were forced to move out after the only water source called

sanjeevi thirtham is also dried up last summer. Making deep bore

wells also did not help, as the area is fully rockey and no sign of

water even after 100 meter it appears.

 

Anyway that is history. Sri Govindan (who is doing madappalli

kaimkaryam at chinna malai) who has purchased our in law's home and

converted it as a chaththiram for pilgrims to stay, (of course no

guarntee for water) gave us a room with fan in the new chaththiram.

Although the peak summer is gone, being a rocky place the house was

like a furnace and the ceiling fan only makes it worse. Living there

for two days eating only prasadam was a task by itself. The sad part

is that there is no water in the thattan kulam, which never used to

go dry. This year summer seems to be the worse on and the pilgrims

are really struggling to bathe and drink without water.

 

On 27th we have started climbing the peria malai at about 5.30 AM and

it was so nice to walk breathing fresh air in a calm atmosphere. The

monkeys were still asleep so we could walk without any fear. They

used to be a terror to me and every time they snatch my bag while

climbing.

 

The thirumanjanam for Thayar has commenced around 7 AM and it was

very pleasing to the eyes enjoyed it from very close quarters. Sri

Raja swami who is the descendants of famous Sri Dhottachar swamy's

family was there and adiyen joined the gosthi reciting pancha suktam

etc. His rendering of Thirumanjana gadyam for Sri Yoga nrusimha was a

treat to listen. It contained many Upanishad passages and divya

prabandham lines. It was very different from the one, which is

recited in Thiruallikkeni. We have also offered new vastrams to

Perumal and Thayar and the alankaram (saththupadi) was simply superb.

We finally left the temple around 10 AM after partaking prasadams

offered after thirumanjanam. Sri Raja swami was talking to us freely

and he was indeed surprised to hear about the satsangh activities

overseas in Gulf and USA. Sadly there are only few adhyabhakas in

Sholingur today. He also invited for the proposed samprokshanam of

Sri Varadarajar sannidhi at the banks of Thattan kuLam.( adiyen could

not make it since it was on 13th July and adiyen wanted to attend the

chaturmasya sankalpa utsavam of Srimad Azhagiya singar).

 

There is an interesting story behind this varadarajar sannidhi. Every

year Sri Dhottachchar swami used to go to Kanchipuram for Garuda

sevai. During his old age, once he was bathing in the thattan kulam

at Sholingur and lamenting for his inability to attend the garuda

sevai at Kanchi. Lo and behold! The Kanchi Varada gave darshan to

Swami at the banks of Thattan kulam itself and it seems that the

devotees in Kanchi could not see perumal during that time. To

remember this event, even today Dhottahchchar sevai is performed at

kanchi. This swami is an ardent bhakta of Swami Desika and he has

written a work called Chanda marutham on the basis of sri desika's

Sata dhushani. Now there is a Varadarajar sannidhi at the banks of

thattan kulam, where the Lord gave darshan to Sri Dhottachchar swami.

 

In the evening, we went to the temple inside the town and being

Friday, there was Andal purappadu. Since the Thayar is residing at

Peria malai itself the utsavams are performed for Andal. The

prabandham goshti (3 persons) sang Siriya thirumadal and it was a so

melodious. Since we are only used to see the book at recite, we are

unable to participate in goshtis where we are permitted to

join.adiyen feels that atleast the important parts of Divya

prabandham should be memorised.

 

Next day we went to chinna malai and thirumanjanam was performed for

Anjeneya. Since there was little crowd at that time (around 11AM) we

could have peaceful darshan there. But here the monkeys are freely

wandering inside the sannidhi also. One has to be very watchful with

our offerings like flower and fruits because in a minute, the monkeys

snatch it. Finally we came down at 12 Noon and immediately left the

place for chennai. The twoday trip was memorable indeed and although

adiyen has visited this temple many times earlier, this time adiyen

enjoyed it throughly.

 

If any one of you wants to visit this divya desam, adiyen can arrange

for stay and good darshan. Although you could cover this divya desam

in one day visiting both chinna and peria malai in the morning and

the temple in side the town in the evening, it will be hectic.

 

adiyen will continue my experiences to other divya desams in my next

posting.

 

regards

 

dasan venkat