Report: Sri Ramanuja Jayanthi-05, Washington DC

[Guest guest]

||SrImathE SrI RangarAmanuja MahAdEsikAya namaha||

 

Sri Ramanuja Jayanthi Calebrations 2005

Washington DC

 

At the outset, Sri Ramanuja Mission would like to

thank all the bhagavathas, participants, volunteers,

donors and spectators who attended and made Sri

Ramanuja Jayanthi Celebrations in Washington D.C. a

truly memorable one.

 

I am sure the Bhagavathas who witnessed this event are

still reeling under the bhagavath-bhaagavatha

anubhavam from the grand event. These vivid images

are available for your viewing at

 

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Paduka Sahasra and Nalayira Divya Prabhanda PaarayaNam

commenced 10 days before the Jayanthi celebrations

instilling fervor among volunteers. Volunteers from

across the community took pride in owning up various

kainkaryams like Pushpam, event-decoration, flyers,

vastrams, aabharaNams, prasadam, and sankalapam, to

name a few. Traditional sevakaalam started at 8:00am

on the morning of May 15th with the ghoshti emanating

sheer devotion. Thirumanjanam to Sri Venugopala

perumal parivaaram and Udayavar followed by

Alankaaram, Paduka Aradhanam (of all the illustrious

Acharyas of Srirangam Srimadh Andavan Ashramam and

that of Prakrutham Srimadh Poundareekapuram Andavan),

Mantra Pushpam, Archana and Sattrumurai marked the end

of the first session.

 

The much-awaited Purappaadu of Udayavar to Sri Balaji

Sannidhi started at 11:15am amidst the rendering of

Iramanusa NooRRandhaadhi and Vedam. Sri RAmAnujar was

received with complete temple honors. A brief

mangalaashasanam took place followed by the chanting

of parts of SrIbhAshyam and SrIrangagadhyam. Sri

RAmAnujar wore a parivattam and was given Panchmudra

Shatakopa maryada. This climactic moment was aptly

concluded with Sri RAmanujar heading back to the

auditorium amidst the chanting of Kaliyan’s

Siriya Thirumadal.

 

This was followed by the awards ceremony, which was

eagerly anticipated by the entire E-sathsangam and

bhAgavathas from all over the world. Bhagavathas who

couldn’t physically be there had dialed into the

telebridge to be a part of this awards ceremony. It

is no secret that the anticipation was due to the

Lifetime Accomplishment award, ‘Kainkarya

Rathnam’, to be bestowed upon U.Ve Sri Anbil

Ramaswamy who is popularly known to the e-sathsangam

as ‘Anbil mama’. Following a brief

introduction about Anbil mama’s accomplishments,

he was conferred this title amidst Vedic chanting,

along with parivattam and malai mariyadhai. Sri Anbil

mama after receiving the award then delivered a speech

in Sanskrit and English (the entire transcript of

which has already appeared in a previous volume of the

SRS journal). The second luminary that was going to

receive an award, and the title of ‘Kainkarya

Thilakam’, was Sri Venkat Raghavan from Dubai

for his untiring service through the popular

e-granthakOsham www.srivaishnavam.com. Sri Venkat,

who had remotely dialed in, spoke about the honor,

thanked Sri Ramanuja Mission and mentioned the

activities that he was a part of in the gulf-region.

This emotional hour came to a close with the Theertha

Chatari Ghoshti serving to all the attendees. Prasadam

was then served to all the attendees.

 

Tots eagerly waiting to perform ran across the hall,

giving a glimpse of what was to come – the

cultural events started at 1:00pm with a Dance Drama

on the life of Sri Andal. Children of various age

groups displayed a multitude of talents in singing,

dancing and acting. This was followed by a

scintillating Kuchupudi dance by Sri Yagna Mutnuri.

This dance captivated the audience by virtue of its

precise footwork, beautiful expressions, and above

all, the devotion that brought it all together.

Following the dance was a drama on ‘The life and

works of Sri Alavandar’. Much like last

year’s drama on ‘The life and works of Sri

Koozhathazhwan’, this drama educated the

audience about an important avatara purusha in the Sri

Vaishnava lineage while inspiring and moving them as

well. In all, the cultural programs served as an

excellent opportunity for community participation to

complement the religious efforts, while the

participants were able to demonstrate their respect

and devotion for the sampradhayam in a way that

brought the day’s events to a satisfying close.

 

 

The celebrations then concluded with the chanting of

Mangalam, followed by a vote of thanks.

 

Dasan, Balaji Ramanujam

For Sri Ramanuja Mission, Inc.

 

||SrImathE SrI RangarAmanuja MahAdEsikAya namaha||

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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