Visit to divya desams part 12

[Guest guest]

Dear bhagavathas,

 

pranamams.

 

Thanks for the private emails encouraging adiyen's ramblings on this

topic.adiyen have two more postings on this topic. This trip is about

kanchipuram

 

During all the earlier trips, adiyen's mother did not accompany us

due to her health condition, but when we have started talking about

our kanchipuram trip, she was keen to have darshan of Sri Varada.

Since she was with us, we have decided to have a short trip covering

only few temples and not to strain her.

 

You must be aware of Sri Satakopa thathachariar swami of Kanchipuram.

He occasionaly writes in other e groups also seeking help for

conducting nitya aradana at ThiruththaNka divya desasm. He has been

inviting adiyen to come to kanchipuram and he was keen to be with us

during our trip. He is currently working at Padhur (near Kaladi) in

Kerala and visits Kanchi once in a while only. Sri Satakopan swami

spoke to me once in I was in Chennai and adiyen could not make it on

6th July, as our trip to Thirupathi-Thirumala was scheduled for 7th

July. He then called around 20th and invited us to be there on 26th

as he was coming to Navalpakkam for the

Thirunakshatram celebrations of two great acharyas ( Sri Annarya maha

desikan Adi Mrugaseersham and Sri Devanatha thatha desikan (ayya) Adi

Thiruvadhirai). adiyen has agreed to plan the trip accordingly.

 

Only later adiyen has realised that 26th Satarday was dwadhasi and

adiyen was keen to have sreepatha thirtham of Srimad Azhagiya singar

who was staying at Selaiyur for chaturmasya vratam. Since adiyen has

commited to Sri Satakopan swami, adiyen have to perform only paduka

aradana at home and leave chennai early in the morning.

 

adiyen and my parents first went to Kanchi Varadar temple. It was

around 8 AM and kalasandhi was going on. Sri Satakopan swami has

requested us to go to his house and take his sister's son Sri

Ranganathan to the temples around and he promised to join around 11

AM at Thuppul. We took Sri Ranga, who is doing Veda adhyayanam and he

was very enthusiastic in explaining all the details about the temple.

He was soft spoken and very knowledgable on sampradayic issues and we

were very much pleased to spend our time with him. You might remember

our earlier such personalities at Vaduvur Sriram and at Thirunangur

Sri Veda rajan, Sri Ranga is third in that list. His grand father who

is 93 years old is also a Vedic scholar and he is running a Vedic

school in kanchipuram. We were blessed to take his blessings.

 

You must be aware of the Kanchi varadar temple. It is huge and you

have to climb (aththigiri) to have darshan of Sri Varada. amma found

it tough but the thought that we are going to have seva of HIM must

have given the energy to climb the steps. The seva kalam was just

finished and we could get darshan from very close quarters. The scene

is still fresh in adiyen's memory and last week when adiyen called my

mother, she mentioned the same thing. She is still re living the

darshan and it was a wonderful experience.

 

Unlike Thirumala or Srirangam, we could spend good time with Sri

Varada and no doubt the Moolavar is unbelievably beautiful. adiyen

can't explain it further. adiyen read that if one has to describe the

beauty of Lord, even if he uses the entire oceans as ink and wrote on

the sky (paper) even then we will fail to describe the beauty.Such

being the case, it will be foolish on

my part to try to describe in an alien language.

 

We then went to Thayar sannidhi and here too we got good time for a

peaceful darshan. Swami desikan's Sristuthi flashed thru my mind and

she was wearing a warm smile. adiyen always spend an extra minute

with thayar, as SHE is known for her vatsalyam. Since my childhood

was spent at Thiruvahendrapuram, adiyen always compare the Hemabuja

valli thayar with other thayar archas. To me the archa thirumeni of

Sri Vanchulavalli thayar at Nachchiar koil, Sri

Bhumi devi at Oppiliappan koil, Sri Komala valli at Sarangapani

temple at Kudanthai, Sri Amrutha valli at Sholingur, Sri Alarmel

mangai at Thirchchanur and finally Sri Perundhevi thayar at Kanchi

are most appealing. (The thayar at other temples may pardon adiyen)

 

We went to Sri Andal sannidhi and seva kalam was going on here and

then we were given lots of prasadam by Sri Satakopa thathachaiar's

father. We were very happy to see the sacred tank of this temple with

lots of water. After worshipping Sri Sudarshana we came out. adiyen

wanted to visit the Sri Nammazhvar sannidhi but could not do so as

the sannidhi was not open. adiyen

wasn't aware of another Koil desikan sannidhi with in this temple and

came to know about this later only and there was no time for second

visit as we had a long list for that day.

 

Our next visit was to Yathokthakari temple. Here morning pooja was

going on and we have to wait for more than half an hour. We were told

that on Satardays there won't be electricity in the daytime and

except the Varadar temple, no other temple have generator facility.

The temple was pitch dark and we could not even have good darshan of

Moolavar. We were very disappointed, as we could not have good

darshan. Sri Desika has composed Sri Vegasethu stotram on this

perumal.

 

Then we went to Sri Ashtabuja perumal temple. Here since renovation

works are going on, we could not have darshan of Moolavar and the

utsavar was shifted to a small room nearby. Here again, no

electricity and hardly we could see the utsavar. Sri Desika has

composed Sri Ashtabujashtakam on this perumal.

 

Our next stop was Thiruvelukkai. Thankfully there was a gas-fired

lamp and the bhattar was kind enough to use the lamp for our darshan.

The Narasimhar was so beautiful and Sri Desika has composed

Kamasikashtakm on this perumal. We were happy to have good darshan as

we were disappointed in the earlier two temples.

 

Then we went to Ulagalandha perumal koil. You must be aware that

three more divya desams are there with in this temple only. The

perumal was huge as his name suggests and we had good darshan here

too.

 

Then we came to ThiruththaNka, which is also called as Thuppul. Sri

Satakopa thathachariar swami was waiting for us here. Couple of words

about him. His bhakthi towards swami desika is unbelievable. He signs

off his mails with a note "na deivam desikath param". Since we were

exchanging emails for quite some time, we were freely talking various

issues and he was a very

knowledgable person indeed. His done poorna adhyayanam of Vedam and

he has good command of both Sanskrit and Tamil. He could effortlessly

quote from Bhagavad gita, Stotra padam of poorvacharyas and Divya

prabandham. His personal advice to overcome any trouble is to recite

gadhya trayam. He has told many instances when he recited the gadyam

sitting at Desikan sannidhi his prayes have been answered. You must

see his conviction. Pray and cry to

HIM and he will respond to your request. This is his belief.

 

He has been working hard to mobilise funds for nitya aradanam at

Thuppul. He was mentioning about the kind support he received from

Kuwait, Bahrain and other USA bhagavathas. Now the archakas are

getting some compensation thru the Vilakkoliperumal trust. Sri

Satakapon swami has given wondeful commentary of Villakoli perumal

quoting from Saranagathy deepika of swami desika. It was very

interesting to listen to his vivid explanation and new thoughts he

is deriving from the stotras. Deepaprakashar was older than Sri

Varadar, and this may not be known to many, adiyen suppose. Sri

Satakopan in short explained the Aththigiri mahatmiyam, which

explains the story of Sri Varda.

 

Then we came to Sri Desikan sannidhi. adiyen is used to enjoy the

archa thirumeni of Swami desika at Thiruvahendrapuram and this is

only my second visit to Thuppul, the birth place of Swami desikan.

Swami desikan is sitting in a simhasa with a lion on each side. Sri

Satakopan put it as he is Kavi tharkika simham and in Sanskrit we can

say as Kavi simham and Tarkika simham. He mentioned it the simhasanam

was offered by Srimushnam Andavan swami. The Desika's archa is very

big in size (at Thuppul), compared to the one at Thiruvehendrapuram.

Although we were there for more than an hour here, we could not see

any sevarthis in this temple and adiyen was curious and asked about

this. Sri Satakopan has mentioned that it is a pity that

many devotees don't visit this temple and that is the reason the

archakas have to run around to various temples to make a living.

adiyen would request all the bhagavathas who are visiting Kanchi

should take time to visit this wonderful temple and you will enjoy

the peaceful surrounding and eye captivating archa thirumeni's of

Deepa prakashar and Maragatha valli thayar

and Swami desika. Sri Satakopan swami is having novel ideas to have

some one at the temple to recite all the granthas of Swami desika on

regular basis. He is planning to have nitya aradanam with a deposit

of Rs 1600/ the interest will cover one day aradanam (around 75

rupees). adiyen would appreciate your support.

 

Then we went to the newly constructed Mani mandapam at the avathara

sthalam of Swami desika. This was done by another trust called

Thuppul trust, which is also doing kaimkaryams at this temple. We

felt very much blessed to visit the birth place of Swami desika.

 

At this juncture, Sri Ranga who was accompanying us for all the

temples went back to his home and Sri Satakopan continued the journey

with us. We then rushed to Sevilimedu Narasimhar temple.

 

Have you heard of this temple? It seems that Sri Varda was kept in

this temple while the town was invaded by Muslim kings and to

remember this instance Sri Varada comes to this temple once in a

year. Also the famous well from where Sri Ramanuja took water and did

thirtha kaimkaryam to Sri Varada is also near by. The deities here

are very huge in size and they are

so beautiful. This temple main gopuram is totally broken and it is

even not safe to enter the temple thru the main gopuram. The temple

needs urgent help and one bhagavatha Sri Krishnan from Miami, USA

wrote to adiyen sometime ago about this temple. adiyen's father met

Sri Krishnan's father and we are doing nitya aradanam at this temple

with the generous donation of our satsangh member Sri V Murali.

 

The bhattars who are serving the Vilakkoliperumal temple are doing

kaimkaryam here. When we came to this temple we were exhausted but

the darshan of Sri Lakshmi narasimha gave us back all the lost

energy. They have patiently shown all the sannidhis and what to be

done now. More than the finance, there are lots of encroachments by

local public on both the sides of the main gopuram and if the

renovation work starts it will distrub the unlawful tenents and they

are objecting to the renovation it seems. Can u believe this? The

archakas are afraid to antogonise the local people and they have

petitioned to the district collector. They have shown a photo

album with lots of images taken during various times by a bhakha from

chennai. The deities are so beautiful and right now we are performing

nitya aradanam and monthly thirumanjanam. We would require your

support for the renovation of the main gopuram. adiyen can furnish

more details of the temple, if any one requires.

 

We had lunch at Sri Krishnan's house and their hospitality was too

good and they have served a feast for us. Sri Satakopan swami did not

eat as he has travelled by bus from Navalpakkam to Kanchi and he did

not even drink a glass of water till late in the evening when we have

reached Navalpakkam. adiyen was surprised at their strict anushtanams

and we do still have such

bhagavathas who live to every letter of the sastra's requirement.

 

amma wanted to have rest for a while and we spend the time discussing

the modalities of running a trust with Sri Satakopan swami. He

explained the difficulties he has faced and it was a fruitful meeting

as we were new to the trust procedures. BTW, we have formed a trust

titled divya desa

kainkarya trust and it has been registered. Kaimkaryams are being

done in more than 10 temples at this time.

 

adiyen will continue the trip experiences of Navalpakkam and

Thennangur in the next concluding posting.

 

regards

 

dasan venkat