Sri maNava:La maha:muni & Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami thirunakshatra celebrations in PomonA, NY

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha | Sri Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

SrisailEsa dayA pAthram deebhakthyAdhi gunArnavam

Yateendra pravanam vandhE ramyajAmataram munim

 

The moment we heard about the Sri maNava:La maha:muni’s & Sri Chinna Jeeyer

Swami's thirunakshatram celebrations at Pomona temple for the first time, our

joy knew no bounds as we are going to be part of a great celebration. We began

to expect the excellent occasion to submit our humble mangalasasanams to the

great acharyas by reciting his divine works in the sannadhi of Lord Ranganatha

along with a grand bhagavatha ghoshti. The actual celebration was scheduled to

be on Sunday, Nov.10th 2002. We began to count the days for the divine occasion.

When an incapable baddha jeevathmas like us, have so much of enthusiasm to

celebrate the divine day on which the great acharya took avataram as a ethi

punarAvatharam, what to say about the state of our beloved Namperumal who is a

pradhana sishya of our Swami maNava:La maha:muni!

 

Finally the divine day came. Lord Sri Ranganatha underwent suprabhatam and was

eagerly awaiting the bhAgavata ghosti. The bhagavatas got collected in the

temple premises by 10AM in the morning in front of the Ethiraja and his beloved

sister, Sri Soodhikoduththa nAchiyar sannadhi. The divine Sri manava:La

maha:muni was invited right in front of the divine thiruvadi (feet) of Sri

Ramanuja. Sri manava:La maha:muni was decorated with flowers and fruits were

placed in front of Him. Then the ghosti seated themselves and started with the

“SrisalEsa thaniyan”. The ghoshti of bhAgavatas began with the recitation of

the nithyAnusandhAnam with great devotion and bhakthi. Then we proceeded to

recite the divine works of eetu perukkar, ramyajAmatru muni, vara vara muni,

yatheendra pravanar, Sri manava:La maha:muni one by one.

 

Starting with thiruvAimozhi nootrandhAdhi, which is an excellent prabhandam

given by swamy, as an essence to thiruvaimozhi of nammAzhvar. Each paasuram in

this prabhandham is a shortened form of ten paasurams in each padhigam of

thiruvaimozhi. This gave us the joy of reciting the whole of thiruvaimozhi in a

very short time.

 

That was followed by Arthi prabhandam, the last prabhandam of Sri manava:La

maha:muni, in which swamy has shown his utmost eagerness to immediately attain

the divine feet of God by the divine mercy of his acharya, Ethiraja(Swami

Ramanujacharya). Each and every paasuram shows the acharya bhakthi and

charamOpayanishta of Sri manava:La maha:muni in a crystal clear manner and makes

even our hard hearts to melt and long for the divine thiruvadi of God shedding

our samsAric miseries.

 

Completing two prabhandams of swamy and reserving swamy’s masterpiece, Upade:sa

ratnama:la for the sattrumurai, we proceeded to recite the excellent Sanskrit

strotra of swami, the EthirAja vimsathi, about his beloved acharya, Swami

Ramanujacharya composed under the order of his direct acharya, srisailEsa,

thirumalaiAzhvar, Sri ThiruVaimozhi pillai.

 

Meanwhile, there was another special occasion, the mahasudarshana homam

performed in front of the Periya perumal sannadhi. Since it was time for the

poornAhuthi we stopped with the ghosti and took part in the mahApoornAhuti. We

came in pradhakshinam around the homa kundam and recited the

‘SudharshanAshtakam’ given by Swamy vedanthAchAriyar. This was followed by the

thirumanjanam to namperumal along with the recitation of purushasooktham and

neerAttam of PeriyAzhwar. At the same time, there was one group of bhakthas, who

entertained namperumal with their devotional bhajans, rendered in their sweet

coordinated voice.

 

After the thirumanjanam, while namperumal underwent his divine alankaram, the

ghosti of bhagavatas returned back to ethiraja sannadhi and continued to recite

Upadesa rathinamAlai, which is a divine prabhandam in which Sri manava:La

maha:muni gives a detailed note about all the alwars, their thirunakshatrams,

their places of birth and also gives the greatness of the acharyas who have

given excellent commentaries to the divine work, thiruvAimozhi of nammAzhvar.

Swamy in URM also gives a detailed note of how a shisya and an acharya should be

and advises all of us to follow our acharyas and proceed in the right path, as

per the Ramanjua siddhantham.

 

The sattrumurai paasurams were reserved for the grand finale. Then Swami

manava:La maha:muni was carried to the namperumal sannadhi by two bhagavatas. On

seeing his Acharya coming towards his place, Namperumal’s thirumuga mandalam

blossomed like a lotus on seeing the rising sun. Swami manava:La maha:muni then

joined the Azhwar, Acharya goshti in Namperumal’s sannadhi. Then the great

sattumarai was performed, with the recitation of all the sattumarai pAsurams of

Swami manava:La maha:muni divine works and finally the goshti concluded with the

vAzhi thirunAmam and Naal Paatu of Swami manava:La maha:muni.

 

This day also marked the celebration of thirunakshtram of HH Sri Tridandi Chinna

Jeeyar swamy, whose excellent service to the community continues by the divine

grace of the divine couples. Mangalasasanams were made by the bhagavata goshti

for HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar’s continued bhagavat/bhAgavata kainkaryam.

 

Finally the Acharya sambhavana was made generously by the bhagavatas.

 

Some of the bhagavatas who made this celebration a grand success with the divine

krupa of Perumal and Piratti and the divine blessings of all the Azhwars and

Acharyas, were, Smt Sasikala Iyengar, Sri AMR Kannan swamy, Sri K.V.Narayanan

swamy, Smt Shanthi and Sri Srinivasan swamy, Smt and Sri Sudharsan Azhagiyar

swamy, Sri T.R.Govindarajan swamy and Adiyongal (Sumithra and Varadarajan) and

many other bhagavatas. We are grateful to the management of Pomona temple Sri

Venkat Kanumalla and other Archakas who were supportive in performing the

celebration in a grand manner. With the divine grace of Lord, we hope this

celebration will continue for years to come.

 

 

“SrimathE ramyajAmAtru munindrAya mahatmanE l

sriranga vAsinE bhooyAth nithyasri nithya mangalam ll

 

Ve:da:ntha dwaya thathvajnam manthra manthra:rtthadam gurum |

Sri:manna:ra:yana:cha:rya ra:ma:nuja yathim bhaje: ||

 

Chinna Jeeyar mangaLa: Sa:sanam

 

durmukhyabda tula:sva:thi: pratipath subha janmane: |

Sri:manna:ra:yaNa:bhikhya yati:Sa:na:ya mangaLam ||

 

ra:ma:nuja Sattha:ra:ti sankalpa phala ru:piNe: |

a:rsha dharma svaru:pa:ya yathi ra:ja:ya mangaLam ||

 

na:ra:yaNa yathi:Sa:na divya:nugraha bhumaye: |

Sruthi sammatha viSSwaika hitha bo:dha:ya mangaLam ||

 

viSwaSa:nthi prada:nuna Subhakrathu vidhayane: |

janapa:Li: Sirobhusha: swa:mine: nithya mangaLam ||

 

durmukhyabda tula: sukla pratipath swa:tibhe: subhe:|

a:vira:si:th tridandi sri:na:ra:yaNa yatIsvaraha ||

 

Jeeyar thiruvadigale sharanam

Jai Sriman Narayana | Adiyen Ramanuja dasan, Varadarajan