Srirangam Divyadesa anubavam by Sriman Sadagopan Swamy

[Guest guest]

Dear group members,

I saw a very impressive report on Srirangam

Divyadesa yathrai Anubavam from Sriman Sadagopan Swamy in

the " oppiliappan " mailing.For the benefit of andavan

members also,I just reproduced the message, as this

pertaining to Srirangam,our beloved Ashramam's headquarters.

 

"

" Sadagopan " <sgopan

Sat, 02 Oct 2004 11:25:13 -0400

Re: AdiyEn's Sep 10-17 trip to Dhivya Desams

in Tamil Nadu & Thirumala: Part III/ Sep 13 , 2004.

 

 

 

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

Before Sunrise , adiyEn completed the morning anushtAnams

and headed for Lord RanganAthan's ThirukkOil with my nephew ,

SrikAnth .

 

" TuLavat-thoNDAya tol seert-ThoNDaradippodi soll "

( ThiruppaLLiyezucchi and ThriumAlai) was very much on mind

as we advanced through the quite streets of Srirangam in

the early morning .

 

Swamy Desikan's MangaLAsAsanam of Srirangam Koil

and its many splendoured Vaibhavam of Swamy Desikan

in Desika Prabhandham was going thru adiyEn's mind :

 

" AaarAtha amudham pothintha Koil

ambhuyatthOn AyOddhi mannaRkk-aLittha koil

tOlAtha tani Veeran thozhutha kOil

thuNayAna VibhIDaNaRkku thuNayAna Koil

sErAtha PayanellAm sErkkum Koil

SezhumaRayin mudhal yezhutthucch_chErntha Koil

theerAtha vinai anaitthum theerkkum Koil

THIRUVARANGAM yenat-thihazhum Koil thaanE "

 

Sriranga SthAna VisEsham is celebrated by

Swamy Desikan here :

 

He regonizes Srirangam as the abode of the insatiable

nectar , Sri RanganAthan ; He identifies this Koil as

the One gifted by Brahma DEvan to the kings of AyOddhi;

He salutes this Koil as the One where the aparAjithan ,

Sri Ramachandran worshipped and acquired the name as

Periya PerumAL ; He refers to this Koil as

the indispensable protection for VibhIshaNan , who

stood by the Lord's side during RaamAvathAram ;

Swamy Desikan recognizes this Koil as the One

that brings together all hard-to-unite purushArTams

effortlessly ; our AchAryan identifies this Koil

as the One united with the first letter of the Vedam ,

PraNavam , through its PraNavAkAra vimAnam ; this Koil

is further saluted as the one banishing all anAdhi karmAs

and shining radiantly as Thiruvarangam .

 

adiyEn reflected on ThOnDardippodi approaching

the inner sanctum thru the seven prAkArams

with freshly strung garlands of

TuLasi and multicolored flowers :

 

TamEva MatthvA ParavAsudEvam

RangEsayam rAjavadharhaNeeyam

prabhOdhakeem yO' krutha SookthimAlAm

BhakthAngri rENum BhagavanthameeDE

 

(Meaning ) : adiyEn prostrates before ThoNDaradippodi

( the dust particle of the Thiruvadi of the Lord's BhAgavathAs).

He blessed us with the ten Paasurams of ThiruppaLLyezucchi

to awaken Lord RanganAthan resting on Adhi Seshan

enjoying His yOga Nidhrai at His matchless temple

at Srirangam . He is the One and Only Supreme Lord

( Para VaasudEvan) who is qualified to recieve

the loftiest of adorations as the RaajAthi Raajan

of this entire Universe .

 

adiyEn reflected on the ten moving paasurams of

ThiruppaLLiyEzucchi that weaves in the thoughts of

ANDAL at SrivillipputthuR as She went around the streets

of that dhivya dEsam during " SiRRam SiRu Kaalai "

to awaken Her friends to join in the Govindha Naama

Sankeerthanam and to remind the Lord about the indissoluable

relationship between the Jeevans and ParamAthmA and to

instruct us on how to seek eternal Kaimkarya prApthi

at Parama Padham .

 

ThoNdaradippodi AzhwAr's description of the Sun rise at

the top of the eastern quarter ( guNa disai) , the disappearance

of the darkness of the night in favor of the spreading day light ,

the blossoming of the fragrant flowers , the arrival of the dEvAs ,

the tumult of the drums , the sound of MangaLa Vaadhyams like

VeeNai in front of Lord RanganAthA's garbhagraham are enshrined in

the First Paasuram .

 

In the second Paasuram , ThoNDaradippodi wakes up

the Lord of Rangam and reminds Him about the approaching

signs of the morning : gentle breeze from the East pregnant with

the fragrance of Jasmine flowers and the sound of the awakening of

the Swans from their lotus beds and shaking off the dew drops

from their broad and beautiful wings .

 

In the next three paasurams , AzhwAr notes the advancing

signs of the dawn and reminds the Lord that it is time for

Him to awaken and bless the ones assembled in front of

His Sannidhi : (1) the spreading of the morning light and

the diming of the stars , the gentle morning breeze

blowing with the sweet fragrance of open areca nut

flowers (2) rhythmic noise from the buffaloes moving toward

their pastures (3) the jingling naadham of the bells from

the necks of the cows as they go about grazing (4) the reenkAram

of honey bees in the rice fields as they leave their hives for

performing Hari Naama Sankeerthanam (5) the stirring of the birds

in their nests and their chirping to comfort their little hungry ones

(6) the distant sound of the waves breaking in the eastern ocean

( " Pulambina putkkaLum poompozhilhaLin vaay ,

pOyiRRuk-kangul puhanthathu pulari , kalanthathu

guNa disai kanaik-kadal aravam , kaLivaNDu--mizhaRRiya

kalambakam punaintha - - - " 5th Paasuram Excerpts ) .

 

By this time , the AzhwAr with His Flower garland container

has arrived in front of the Sannidhi of the Lord of Srirangam

and describes the scene that he sees there ( Paaurams 6-10):

 

There is an immense assembly of many gods with offerings

in their hands ; there is the auspicious cow , Kapilai ; there is

the GajEndhran bleating RangA , RangA ; the great maharishis like

Naarahdar along with Thumbhuru are seen their playing on

their VeeNAs ; the KinnarAs , GarudAs , GhandharvAs ,

chAraNaas , YakshAs and SiddhAs jostle for optimal

positions to have the best view of the Lord's Thiruvadi

as He awakens and blesses them ;the eleven RudrAs ,

the twelve adithyAs , SubramaNya , the ashta Vasus ,

the Maruths and other DEvAs are seen there . Lord

VishvaksEna is seen there with His cane to create

some order among the huge assembly of SEvArthees.

 

Now ThoNdardippodi standing amidst the company of

DEvAs and the AzhwArs that preceded him . He appeals to

the Lord of Srirangam this way in his final paasuram :

 

" Soozhpunal ArangA ! ----

todaiyattha tuLavamum koodayaum polinthu

thOnRiya thOL ThoNDardippodi Yennum

adiyEnai , aLiyan yenRu aruLi unnadiyArk-

kAdpadutthAi ! PaLLI yezhuntharuLAyE !

 

(Meaning ): Oh Lord of Srirangam surrounded by

the sacred waters of River KaavEri ( SahyarAja

Kanyai ) ! This is adiyEn's earnest appeal and

prayer to You during this day break ! Oh Lord of

Lords ! RanganAthA ! Please awaken and bless

adiyEn , Your humble bhakthan , to grow in Kaimkarya

SrI to Your BhaagavathAs and BhakthAs . Let me remind

You ( although You are omniscient ) that I am Your ardent

bhakthan with the name of ThoNDardippodi ( one who delights in

covering himself with the dust form the sacred feet of

Your BhakthAs ) , whose radiant shoulders always

carry the flower basket holding fragrant garlands and

fresh TuLasi leaves for Your alankAram and aarAdhanam!

May those offerings from Your nandhavanam please You

for Your adornment and enjoyment !

 

" adiyEnai , aLiyan yenRu aruLi UnnadiyArkku

aadpadutthAi " is the fervent prayer of the AzhwAr ,

who described himself as the BhakthAngri rENu .

AzhwAr reminds us of the utmost importance of

BhAgavatha SEvai in Sri VaishNavite tradition here .

 

The importance of " VaishNavAngri rajas Subham "

( auspicious dust from the feet of Sri VaishNavAs )

is considered as the Parama prAyascchittham for

all heinous sins ( " Samastha PaapAnAm prAyascchittham

Bhagavath-bhaktha PaadhOdaka nishEvaNam " )

The partaking of the Bhaagavatha Sri Paadha Theertham

is referred to here as sarva Paapa samanam .

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr reminds us of the sure cure of

the removal of all asuubhams through this practise :

" Maayan Tamar adi neeru aNiya muyalin maRRillai

KaNDeer " . " Mayan tamar " are the BhAgavathAs

and " adi neeRu " is the dust from their sacred feet .

Swamy NammAzhwAr states that there is nothing

equivalent to their glory in gaining all PurushArTams .

 

PeriyAzhwAr reminds us that the association of

the dust of the BhAgavathA's paadhAngri rENu

makes this universe filled with parama bhAgyam

( " naathanai Narasinganai navinRu yEthtuvArkaL

uzhakkiya Padha thULi paduthalAl , ivvulaham

bhAkkiyam seythathE " ).

 

As one stood at this sacred site during the spreading

dawn under the shade of the PraNAvAkara VimAnam

in the company of BhakthAs and listened to the gentle

sounds of the yEkAntha VeeNA SEvai echoing in

the Garbha graham made eternally sacred by

our PoorvAchAryAs and the AzhwArs and as one

reflected on ThiruppANar and ANDAL walking from

that site to merge with Lord RanganAtha , adiyEn

considered myself as a Bhaagyasaali to be there .

 

Soon after , the curtains parted and adiyEn had the sevai

of the splendourous Lord in all His majesty and KaaruNyam

along with His dhivya MaNi Paadhukais . Archakar invited adiyEn

inside the gate and asked me to enjoy without hurry the Lord's

dhivya MangaLa Vigraham . As adiyEn was about to leave , adiyEn's

utthareeyam got caught in the rails of the gate .The message

that adiyEn got from Sri RanganAthA seemed to be : " What is Your

hurry ?

Where are you rushing to ? " . adiyEn stopped and had additional

blessed time in front of the Lord of Lords reclining mightily

on His soft bed of Aadhi Seshan .

 

NamO Sri RanganAthAya ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama: "