[sri ramanuja] Sri Rama anuyatra - a brief narration - By Velukkudi Swami

[Guest guest]

sri:

 

For those of us who could not make it, it is our loss,

but Sri Velukkudi Swami has a way for us to experience

a part of the divine tour.

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Velukkudi Krishnan <velukkudi (AT) iqara (DOT) net>

Sep 14, 2006 5:38 AM

Sri Rama anuyatra - a brief narration

 

Sri Rama Anuyatra.

 

Dear Bhaktas,

Sri Rama anuyatra, a pilgrimage following the trail of Sri Rama, was

conducted between 20th Aug and 8th September. The yatra fructified

with Sri Rama Pattabhishekam at Srirangam temple with over 1000

bhaktas attending.

 

Adiyen thought of briefly sharing the experience with all of you.

 

Why this Anuyatra ?

Sri Rama being an Emperor, imposed exile through the boon of

Kaikeyi, and chose to travel the length and breadth of Bharata Desa.

He undertook two journeys, one for the sake of Vishwamitra yaga

samrakshana and His marriage and the other to fulfill the words of

His father. A deeper study would reveal that the objectives of the

second yatra, such as dushkrita vinasa (rakshasa vadha) would have

been possible by easier means considering the power of Sri Rama.

However, Rama chose to travel experiencing agony as per

the saying rAjyAt bhramsa: vanE vAsa: sItA nashtA hatO dvija:

(denied of kingdom, forced to forest, lost Sita, Jatayu a great

friend got killed etc).

 

Inspite of all these, Rama wanted to set His lotus feet on the

entire stretch of this desam to reinforce it as a punya bhUmi and to

shower His katAksham on the needy souls. If we name His jouney as

Yatra, then any journey following Him would be anuyAtra. Given the

absolute servitude nature of the atman, anuyatra is a pleasurable

duty for everyone of us. Thus we decided to conduct this pilgrimage

and announced it a year

ago.

 

Integration in many ways.

This yatra took us through 8 states and 2 countries, necessitating

to mingle with Rama bhaktas of different culture and languages. The

yatrikas, 350 in number, were themselves from Rangam, chennai,

Madurai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Dubai and USA.

They had a great opportunity to exchange their varied experiences.

Food of different tastes, such as UP, Bihari, nepali, marathi,

mysori etc was served (cooked by our team of Srivaishnava cooks and

offered to Perumal). As a humble contribution towards integration

of rivers, we took bath in as many as 9 holy rivers

integrating their significance in our body. To name them - Ganga,

Sarayu, Gandaki, Sona,Yamuna, Mandakini, Godavari, Tungabhadra,

Kaveri (lakshmana tIrtha). To our astonishment, we found one thread

weaving this multi coloured fabric -- Rama Bhakti.

 

Mountains of difficulties turned to dust by Sri Rama

350 yatrikas at an average age of above 60 and highest age of 88,

traveling 8500 kms, in 19 days, in 6 different trains and 45

different buses, carrying around 1550 baggage, looked an uphill task

when we began. But every one of these hurdles added spices to the

already tasty food. None of the trains were delayed which is unusual

in North India. No passengers were left behind even in no

electricity areas. None of the baggage were lost in spite of them

being handled in separate vans. After we returned from Sitamarhi

the bridges were broken and there was no traffic for 12 days. There

was an attack in Nepal highway the day before we went. But there was

no curfew all through our stay there. There was no case of health

problem although we bathed in 9 different rivers and consumed water

at times in unhygienic conditions . Over 100 people having blood

pressure and diabetes and no medical facility in many areas, but

yet, there was no complaint. 350 people for 19 days was almost 7000

man days. There were only two injuries, which were immediately

treated, and those yatrikas happily continued journey. In the entire

route we had to climb 4 mountains to have darsan. At chennai

during the briefing session 250 yatrikas opted to stay back in the

buses, as they cannot climb. Finally during the yatra only 8 stayed

back. It was a great sight to watch all the aged climbing the

mountains. Their lip movement revealed a secret. The only medicine

we had was "Rama Namam". Sri Parasa Bhattar in his commentary to

Vishnu Sahasranama hails Rama Namam as "mrta sanjIvanam". All the

yatrikas were requested to chant "ApadAm apa hartAram... " and Sri

Rama Rama RamEti..." each 108 times daily for 32 days

starting from 8th August totalling to 2.4 million Rama nama.

 

Places and significance

1. Bittoor (near Kanpur) UP. - Valmiki asrama , birth place of Sri

Ramayana and Lava Kusa. We began the yatra from here seeking the

blessings of Bhagavatottama Sage Valmiki. Sri Vaishnavism recommends

worship of bhagavata before bhagavan. This is also the place of

Druva. We had snanam in Ganges.

2. Ayodhya - the birthplace of Rama and the capital of Kosala

kingdom, on the banks of River Sarayu. Members of Janma bhoomi Ram

mandir, voluntarily came and greeted us and gave us a spirited

insight on the happenings.

3. Kamasram - Following the first journey of Rama we reached this

place. This was where Manmatha was burnt by Siva. Visvamitra, Rama

and Lakshmana stayed here for a night

4. Tataka vana - where Tataka was killed by Rama and stayed for a

night

5. Siddhasrama - where Visvamitra performed yagna for 6 days- Rama

stayed here for 7 nights. (4 and 5 are in Buxar - Bihar)

6. Chapra - the confluence of River Ganges and Sarayu as explained by

Visvamitra to Rama

7. Sonepur - the place of gajendra moksha and confluence of River

Ganges and Gandaki

8. Visala nagara (hajipur near patna) - where Rama was greeted by a

King and hosted for a night

9. Sitamarhi (in dharbhanga district Bihar)- birthplace of Mata

Sita. From here starts Mithila desam.

10. Janakpuri in Nepal - the place of Sita Rama kalyanam - 7 members

of bhajanai goshti came from Delhi and conducted a grand Sita

kalyanam.

The whole town was awe struck watching the programme. On our return

to ayodhya, the entire Nepal route was studded with scenic beauty

which we thought was nature's gift to the newly married.

11. Ayodhya again

12. Nandigram - we visited this place out of order. This is where

Bharata stayed and ruled as a representative of Rama Paduka for 14

years.

After Ravana vadha Hanuman and Rama met Bharata here.

13. Srigiverpur - on the banks of river Ganga - the place of Guha

sakhyam.

All 350 of us took a boat ride remembering that of Rama and Guha.

14. Bharadwaja asrama (in allahabad)- confluence of River Ganga,

yamuna and Sarasvati. This sage showed Rama the way to Chitrakoot.

15. Chitrakoot - any urban citizen would envy this place on the

banks of River mandakini. Rama and Sita spent happy days here.

Bharata met Rama and got blessed with paduka here.

16. Atri anasuya asrama - The first place of visit after Rama left

Chitrakoot

17. Viradha kunda - where Rama killed viradha

18. Sarabhanga asrama

19. Suteekshna Asrama

20 Agastya asrama - 18, 19, and 20 are places of unadulterated

natural beauty but very difficult to visit. Many of us were holding

our breath till we came out. (All these are near Satna MP)

21. Ramtek - Another agastya asrama near which Rama killed sambooka

(uttara kanda)

22. Nasik pancavati - where Lakshmana built a beautiful parnasala on

the banks of river Godavari. Place where Surpanakha was severed of

her nose and ears. Battlefield where Rama killed 14000 demons

resulting in Sita's abduction by Ravana.

23. Taket - jatayu moksha sthala - a place to remember where nature

has granted all its treasures. There were anxious moments in

reaching and coming out of this place (65 kms from nasik on igatpuri

road)

24. Kishkindha (hampi) – on the banks of river Tungabhadra - the

monkey kingdom, sabari asram, the spot where Rama killed vali,

rishyamuka parvatam, malyavan where Rama waited for 4 months during

rainy days.

25. Lakshmana tirtha - valmiki gives the route of the large monkey

contingent as Sahya, malaya and mahendra giri. Many research

publications and official gazette of mysore confirm this place in

Nagerhole national park

( 120 kms from mysore)as the mountain range where the army crossed.

Lakshmana shooting an arrow to quench the thirst of the army created

todays iruppu falls.

26. Tirukkurungudi - This is in mahendragiri, which was the last

mountain in the journey after which the army sighted the ocean.

27. Tiruppullani - the place where Rama surrendered to Samudra Raja

in vain and then on went to build the famous bridge.

28. Srirangam - The eventual abode of Sri Ranganatha. Initially,

this deity along with pranavakara vimana was in ayodhya and it was

Vibheeshana who consecrated in Srirangam. Sri Rama pattabhishekam

was conducted here by our goshti. All the 350 yatrikas along with

lot more Srirangam bhaktas took a chittirai veedi pradakshinam

chanting Rama nama in the morning.

 

Parayanam and upanyasam

2 vidvans did parayanam of the whole Ramayanam in 18 days. Besides

this, about 800 slokas were chosen by Sri U Ve Tiruppullani Sundara

raja Iyengar Swamy relevant to the places of visit, and all the 350

in respective places chanted them.

Sri U Ve Parasara Badri Narayana Bhattar Swamy, Sri U Ve Kanchi

Srinidhi Swamy and Sri U Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy conducted

Upanyasams about the significance of every place and happenings as

per Ramayana. It was a great experience for the upanyasaka and the

listeners due to the importance of the place. We could see tears

rolling down many cheeks on listening to the difficulties faced by

Sita and Rama. Everyone was proud of Lakshmana, which made them

plead to be blessed with a trace of his kainkaryam. Sattumurai was

done at Srirangam Ranga Vilasa mandapam.

Srimad Parahamsetyadi Sriranga Narayana Jeer Swamy delivered

anugraha bhashanam.

The function was held in the presence of The Joint Commissioner,

Sthalathar and hundreds of Srirangam bhaktas.

 

Objectives of this yatra

1. To remind Sri Ramayana and live with Sri Rama

2. Getting stuck to our homes, we become rigid and selfish. This got

relieved.

3. None watched TV or read newspapers for 19 days. Sri Rama,

purifying our senses, absorbed all of us.

4. A practice session to reduce our urban comforts and live close to

nature.

5. To try yAdum UrE yAvarum kElIr - every place is my hometown and

every atman is bhagavat bandhu.

 

Volunteers

All these were possible by the grace of Rama and the relentless

efforts of about 25 volunteers of our Kinchitkaram Trust, who hardly

slept for 19 days.

 

Prayer

Every Rama bhakta around the globe gets an opportunity to visit these

places. More importantly along with their children, to see Sri Rama

and Sita come live, and to realise the richness and validity of the

great epic Sri Ramayana. Anybody wanting to know about the route or

stay facilities may contact our center and we would be too happy to

help.

 

We have videographed the whole yatra that would be released as a 6-

hour story (2 DVDs). This would be available in 2 months.

All the upanyasams are available as mp3 cds in the information

centre Ph 044 -24992728.

 

 

 

Velukkudi Krishnan

 

Kinchitkaram Trust