SaraNAgathi NavAham : Day 1

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Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Sri MalOla Dhivya PaadhukA Sevaka Sri

NaarAyaNa MahA desikAya nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

adiyEn had landed at Chennai around 10 PM on Feb 4 .

Earlier in the day, adiyEn had the sathsangam of

Singapore BhagavathAs ( Srimans Sampathkumar Anand ,

Achutharaman , Parthasarathy , Haresh Balasubramaniyan )

at Sri Anand's house at Singapore . The devotion and

the commitment to the SathsampradhAyam of Singapore

Sri VaishNavAs is exemplary . Sri MadhavakkaNNan was

away at Kulalampur and called in twice . We met later

during my return trip (Feb 15)at Singapore.

 

First Travel day in India : Feb 5 AM

**************************************

 

5.1 **The morning started with a visit with Dr.Venkatakrishnan ,

the Editor of GitAchAryan at his home in ThiruvallikkENi .

His help in referral to Ummidi Jewellers for the creation

of the SatAri for AchArya RaamAnujA is very much appreciated .

Dr.Venkatakriashnan had presented the Lord of ThiruvallikkENi

with a golden satari few weeks back and those design concepts

were incorporated in the SatAri for Udayavar .

 

5.2 5.3 **Feb 5 was the day of Thai AmAvasyai and Thai SravaNam .

Hence , the next stop was at Sri Parthasaarathy PerumAL's

sannidhi , where the Thirumanjanam for the Uthsava Moorthy

was in progress . AdiyEn was invited to join the Bhaagavatha

GhOshti to recite Purusha Sooktham and NeerAttam paasurams .

It was a great BhAgyam to join the GhOshti serving

the Lord , who revealed to us the charama slOkam in

the battle field of Kuru KshEthram using ArjunA as a VyAjam .

The Thirumnajanam with the recitation of Thirumanjana

Kattiyam for Him was a great treat for the eyes and the ears .

 

** The celebrations of PeyALwAr , " Yenthai-

oruvallit thAmarayAL onRiya ThirumArvan "

rang in adiyEn's ears. Here Thirumazhisai

met with the Mudhal AzhwArs and chose Pey AzhwAr

as His Acharyan and saluted the Sri Vallabhan here

as " nILOtham vanthalaikkum Maa Mayilai MaavallikkENiyAn " .

Here, Kaliyan had the sevai of the Lord as GeethAchAryan

( PaRRalar veeyak kOl kayyil koNDu PaarthanRan

thEr munn ninRAnai--ThiruvallikkENi KandEnE ).

 

5.4 **AdiyEn's next stop was before Sri Vedavalli ThAyAr .

The prayer to Her , who pleads with Her Lord to overlook

our bundles of sins and trespasses through Her PurushakAram

is :

 

" BhagavannArAyaNa abhimathAanurupa , svarUpa-rUpa ,GuNa-vibhava ,

Isvarya , seelAdhyanavadhikAsaya asankyEya KalyANa guNa

gaNAm PadhmAvanAlayAm BHAGAVATHEEM Sriyam Devim

nithyAnapAyinIm niravadhyAm Devadeva dhivya MahishIm

akhila Jagan Maatharam (asman maatharam ) asaraNyasaraNyAm

ANANYASARANA: SaraNamaham PrapathyE " .

 

5.5 ** After salutations at Sri Gajendra Varadar's sannidhi

and the rememberance of Kaliyan's Paasura Vaakyams :

" aanayin thuyaram theerap PuLLUrnthu senRu ninRAZhi-

thottAnai, thenamar sOlai maadamayilai ThiruvallikkENi

KanDEnE " . The Lord responded to the SaraNAgathi

of the troubled elephant king was recalled here .

 

5.6 ** The Next sevai was at TheLLiya Singham's

sannidhi .Sri RamachandrA's PanchAmrutha

Sthothra Vaakhyam came to adiyEn's mind:

 

dEvA: SamasthA: kalu yOgi MukyA :

Gandharva VidhyAdhara KinnarAsccha

Yath Paadhamoolam sathatham namanthi

TAMM NARASIMHAM SARANAM GATHOSMI

 

Here, Lord RaamachandrA seeks refuge at

the lotus feet of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan ,

while on His way to LankA to battle with RaavaNA .

 

This remeniscence was followed by Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha

KarAvalampana SthOthra slOkam of HH the 44th Jeeyar of

AhObila Matam , Sri VedAntha Desika YathIndhra

MahA Desikan :

 

Bhakthasya dhAnava sisOr vachanam cha satyam

karthum tadhA munigaNasya samakshamEva

sthambhAvatheerna Dhithi puthra vinAsa kaarin

Lakshmi Nrusimha ! mama dEhi karAvalamBam

 

Here , HH the 44th Jeeyar refers to the Lord who

jumped out of the stone pillar in HiraNyakasipu's

dharbhAr and made true the statement of His Bhakthan,

PrahlAdhan that He is everywhere including that

sthambham . The revered Jeeyar pleads for the Lord

to give His hand and lift him up .

 

Kaliyan salutes the Lord here as " PiRayeRanal

vizhippEzhvaai , TheLLiyasingamAhiya thEvait

ThiruvallikkENi KaNDEnE "

 

5.7 ** The final stop was at Lord VenkatakrishNan's

sannidhi , where ThiruvenkatamudayAn gave His sevai

to King ThondaimAn as KrishNan with His family

of RukmiNi ThAyAr, Aniruddhan, Pradhyumnan and

BalarAman . On the baks of KairaviNi saras , the Lord

stands under Aanana VimAnam to accept our SaraNAgathi .

 

Feb 5: The Afternoon Journey to ThiruviNNagar/Oppilappan Koil

**************************************************************

 

After securing the Udayavar SatAri with the nava rathnams

enmeshed in the foot hold ( Kumizhi) from the gold

smith and lunch , the travel by car was to my birth

place .Today was Thai SravaNam , which happens to be

the birthday of Our Dear Sri Sampath Rengarajan .

The Lord was resplendent with four nila maalais

presented by the parents of Sri RengarAjan .ThuLasi

garlands were making the air fragrant with their

splendid aroma . It was also TheppOthsavam day

at Oppiliappan Koil ;the teppam festival was started by

my late father after few years of lapse . Uthsavar Ponnappan

had descended from the Theppam by the time we got there

(8.30 PM ) and we had the darsanam of the Uthsavar

dhivya dampathis inside the sanctum . SaraNAgathi

Paasuram of Swamy NammAzhwAr was very much on adiyEn's

mind :

 

" Thenn SaraNN disaikkut ThiruviNNagar SernthaPirAn

yenn SaraNN yenn KaNNan YennaiaaLudai YennappanE "

 

" Minnap ponn mathiL soozh ThiruviNNagar sErnthavappan

TANNOPPAARILLAPPAN Tanthanan tann ThALL NizhalE "

 

(Meanings): He is my dear father . He is my sole refuge.

He is the refuge for the entire Southern region . He is

my Lord KaNNan , who taught us the SaraNAgathi Saasthram

and gave us the message of " MaamEkam SaraNam vraja " .

He is my ruler .

 

" The Lord of ThiruviNNagar , who has no equal,

gave me the shelter of His feet , cool , soothing

in the sweltering heat of and even more in the tormenting

world life here .Who did this favor out of His

condesending grace ? The Lord of ThiruviNNagar ,

in His infinite grace , assures me of all This " .

So said Swamy NammAzhwar . With these thoughts ,

adiyEn retired for the night at my birth place

under the shade of His protecting Thiruvadi

on this first of nine day trip.

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE saraNam ,

RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan