Sri Azagiya Manavalanin 5th Day of Panguni Adhi Brhmothsavam!

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Sriman Narayanaya Charanam  Charanam Prabathye Srimathe Narayanaya Namaha Kasturi Thilakothgalitha Srivathsanga kousthuba manibooshithaam Vathsalyathi abhayapradhan bhooloka vaikuntakyam Ranganayika sametha Sriranganatham Aham bhaje.

 Daasan, Happy to Meet you on 5th  day of  Adhi Brhmothsavam Today Lord Ranganatha leaves from his Kannadi Arai (palace of mirror) with Simhagathi (Simhanadai) and goes towards Vahana Mantapam where he would be taking Sesha  Vaahanam  & Karpagha Vruksham so as to stroll around Chitra Streets.!!

 

 

 

On this fifth day, Sri Azhagiya MaNavalan starts his procession at 5:15 AM on the Sesha Vaganam (King of all Serpents).  Lord Sri Ranganatha rests in the Sesharayar mandapam after His majestic walk around the Chithra streets on Sesha Vaganam.  At the mandapam, He provides His blessings to all His bhakthas from 10:00 AM to 5:00PM.  In the evening, at 6:30 PM, the Lord gets on the Karpaga Vriksham , which is a tree that fulfills all desires, to go around the Chithra streets before He retires to His temporary abode of kannadi arai. 

Our desires may be many, but as Sri Vaishnavas, the greatest and the only desire in our minds should be the desire to serve under Lord Ranganatha’s lotus feet all the time.Today we will see about Sesha, also known by other names Adhi Seshan (the first Sesha) and Anantha Seshan (the endless Sesha).  Adhi Seshan is the five-headed serpent who serves as the bed for Lord Sriman Narayanan resting in the Thirupparkkadal.  On our own earth, Adhi Seshan can be seen as the bed of the ArchAvatharas of Lord Vishnu at many Sri Vaishnava Dhivya Dhesams including our own Periya Perumal at Thiruvarangam.  Adhi Seshan can be seen in human forms at some Dhivya Dhesams where there Lord is in His ninra thirumeni (standing posture).  Thiruvallikkeni Parthasarathy and Thiruvellarai Pundareekakshan are accompanied by Adhi Seshan in human form by their sides.  Adhi Seshan has taken several avatharas (incarnations) on our earth as great heroes by the side of Lord Vishnu’s avatharas.  He incarnated as the great Lakshmana to remain by the side of His Lord Sri Rama.  He also incarnated as Balarama by the side of Lord Sri Krishna

Apart from incarnating as the great warriors of RAmayana and MahabhAratha, Adhi Seshan also incarnated as great Acharyas of Sri Vaishnavam to spread the words of the Lord to his devotees.  The foremost Acharya  of Sri Vaishnavas, Ramanujacharya  was an incarnation of Adhi SEshan himself.  Without Sri Ramanuja, Sri Vaishnavam may not have even been here for us.  He gave us the Vishishtadvaiya  philosophy.

  At Thirunarayanapuram, near Melakote, Sri Ramanuja  appears with scales on his body like those on Adhi Seshan himself.  As Ramanuja, Adhi-Seshan not only gave us the pleasure of serving to Lord Ranganatha , but also created the rules and regulations of properly administering the temple of Srirangam.  He was chosen by Lord Ranganatha Himself to be brought in from Kanchipuram after convincing Lord Varadharaja PerumaL, who was very fond of Sri Ramanuja,.  Ramanujacharya still remains in Srirangam in his bodily form at the Udayavar sannadhi in Thiruvarangam.  His devout sishya, KooraththAzwan rendered the following verse (thaniyan) for him:

yo: nithyam achyutha pada:mbuja yugma rukmavya:mo:hathas thadithara:ni thruna:ya me:ne: |     Asmad guro:r bhagavatho:sya dayaika sindho:ho            ra:ma:nujasya charanau saranam prapadye: ||It means:

That Ramanuja, who every day due to the great love for the golden color of the Lord's divine feet, thinks of the things other than those divine feet as nothing and ignores them; I seek the divine feet of that Ramanuja, who is our Acharya, who is complete in all divine and auspicious qualities, and who is the ocean of mercy, as the means.

Another great Acharya of Sri Vaishnavam, Sri Manavala MamunigaL was also an incarnation of Adhi Seshan.  He appears sitting on his pedestal with the five-headed Adhi Seshan forming an umbrella over him.  Swami MamunigaL was summoned by Lord Ranganatha to Srirangam and was asked to give a discourse on thiruvaimozhi based on Swami Nampillai's Eedu Muppatharayairam, the celebrated commentary on Nammalvar's Thiruvaimozhi. The discourse was done over a period of one year, over which all the festivities of the temple was put on hold as ordered by Lord Ranganatha. On the last day of discourse, Lord Ranganatha impressed by Swami Mamunigal's exposition, took the form of a priest child and presented Himself in front of the gathering and rendered a benedictory verse or thaniyan, honoring Swami MamunigaL and disappeared into the sanctum sanctorum.  The benedictory verse given below is recited in almost all the dhivyakshetrams, before the commencement of Dhivya prabhandham as ordered by Lord Ranganatha

sri:saile:sa daya:pa:thram dhi:bhakthya:di guna:rnavam |  yathi:ndra pravanam vande: ramya ja:ma:tharam munim ||It means:I offer my respects to Sri Manavalamamuni, the receptacle of Sri Sailesa’s (Tiruvaimozhipillai’s) grace. He is the abode of gnana (wisdom), bhakti (devoutness) and all other good qualities, and is forever lost in meditation on Sri Ramanuja.

In the evening, our Lord Azagiyamanavalan  boards the Karpaga Vriksham vaganam. Karpaga Vriksham is a wish-fulfilling divine tree that is mentioned in the Rig Veda. Along with the Kamadhenu, or 'wish-giving cow', the Kalpavriksha originated during the churning of the milk ocean, and the King of the devas, Indra returned with it to his paradise.  The wish tree is one of those prized possessions of the earlier era when humanity was in its infant stages. Science was practically non-existent and for human beings to survive, a source was needed to fulfill its basic requirements and necessities. At this stage, there were Karpaga Vriksha spread all over so that one could ask for anything one wished and all wishes were fulfilled then and there. \

 Wish Tree is an individual tree, usually distinguished by species, position or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. By tradition, believers make votive offerings in order to gain from that nature spirit, saint or goddess for fulfillment of a wish.

Here is a verse from Sri Brahma Samhitha, a Sanskrit Pancaratra text, composed of verses of prayer spoken by Brahma to Govinda at the beginning of creation quoting Karpaga Vriksha or Kalpa-vriksha being abundent in Sri Vaikundam.

Chintamani prakara sadmasu kalpa-vriksha Lakshavriteshu surabhir abhipalayantam Lakshmi sahasra sata sambhrama sevyamanam Govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami“I worship Govinda, the Primeval Supreme Lord. His Divine Abode is strewn with beautiful houses built with touchstone, surrounded by millions of Desire Trees. There the Lord, served with utmost love and respect by hundreds of thousands of Goddesses of Fortune, looks after the well-being of millions of Surabhi cows, who give unlimited quantities of milk.â€

With our NamperumAL mounted on the Karpaga Vriksha vAganam, one who seeks His blessings under this tree gets all their prayers answered and fulfilled.  Thus the Lord grants all that is wished by His true devotees and shows them the path of enlightenment that leads His bhakthAs to His lotus feet.

Our Lord  Nam Azagiyamanavalan   returns to the kanndi arai  with Ekantha Thirumanajanam with Worm hot water  for the rest of the night.

 I am concluding the fifth  day in the chitra festival with this saying that " For our old age Srirangam is the heaven in the earth (booloka vaikuntam) "   Vaachaka dosham Kshamikavum

 Tomorrow Azhagiya manavaalan proceeds  to Woraiyur With Kamalavalli Thayar Serthi Sevai!!

Seeking the Lotus Feet of RanganathaIncase anyone amongst you find some mistake please kindly apologise.Adeyen

Narasimhabhattar

 

 

 

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