Guest guest Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 Tuesday, April 14, 2009 09:00 PM Sri Padam Thangigal Respected Swamins, "Sri Padam " The Lotus Feet of Sriman Narayana is the most sought after ,admired,a source for absolute peace ,happiness,mental stability,tranquility, you define it as you desire.The Golden ultimate action by all of us "surrender unto His Feet" is the journey all of us try to attempt and undertake. While a number of us may have heard about SriPadam Thangigal a term to denote a group of persons who have dedicated themselves in the service of the Lord.They are the persons who carry the Archa Vigrahams of the deities,The Lord with His consorts,Thayar,other Lords in the temple ,Alwars and Acharyas . In the Srirangam PeriaKoil you can identify these persons by their head gear which they wear in red colour. In Chennai you have SriPadam Thangigal at Triplicane Parthasarathy Temple,Nanganallur temples.Sathayanarayana Temple at T.Nagar. The SriPadam Thangigal at Triplicane ,over the years have organised themselves into an association and we are informed there are 100 srivaishnavite volunteers.We were wonder struck and amazed after listening to them their activities. In Sri Parthsarathy Temple the festivities are almost on all the days of the year.At least for 100 days they have major festivities.On all the days the volunteers dedicate themselves in carrying the Arch Vigrahams from one sannadhi to main mandapam,Purappadu within the temple,main purappadu on the main streets around the temple.On the Garuda Vahan Purappadu Day it was a sight to see all youngsters about 100 of them in their teens some in the age group of 20 and all within 30,sporting ThiruNamam and in the attaire a Srivaishnavan is expected to visit the temple.On Bramha Utsavam Days the day starts by 5 in the morning for these persons to dedicate themselves and after the night purappadu and upto the time the Swami returns to His Asthanam,they are around to maintain the schedule. Quietly they were mentioning the money they receive from the temple ,the entire amount is put back in the form of other activities.The latest being a Vahanam for the Lord .Over the years they have spent the money received for these kind of activities as well.A number of them are well educated and employed as well.As when Swami Veera Raghavan has to visit Sriperumbhudur from Thivellore,or for Devadi Rajans grand functions,Swami Mudaliyandan ThiruMasi Kettai Utsavam,the group involve themselves in these activities To us yet another activity was beyond our imagination."Catch them Young has been the slogan.A sizeable number of kids in the age group of 6 to 12 are encouraged and taught Alwars Arulicheyals.Especially during Navarathiri ,these youngsters recite SiriaMadal not only in the temple when there is Purapaddu for Thayar but also at houses when invited. Let me conclude this mail by saying Srivaishnavas around the globe should encourage such activities and also help in creation of such groups in important temple towns. Let us pray Lord Sriman Narayana for increasing this tribe manifold. Adiyen Sri Mudaliyandan Swami sishya sampath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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