The Fourth day of the Soul's Journey to AchArya Peetam and Sriranga KshEthram :Feb 8, 2000 (Continued )

[Guest guest]

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Sri NaarAyaNa YathIndhra MahA DesikAya Nama :

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

In the holy kshEthram of Srirangam known as

BhUlOka Vaikuntam , illustrious AchAryAs (pillars)of

Sri VaishNava darsanam have spent significant

periods of their lives . Some were born here like

Paraasara Bhattar , Periya Nambi , Vadakku Thiruveedhi

PiLLai , PiLLai LOkAcchAr et al .Some ascended paramapadham

from here like Thondaradippodi AzhwAr , AaLavandhAr ,

Udayavar , Sudarsana Soori and many others . Many Taniyans

for dhivya prabhandhams were born here .The NithyOthsava-

SamAyuktha Sri Ranganathan with His divine consort

has blessed many AchAryAs here , some times by speaking

to them by breaking His ArchA SamAdhi and at other times

through archaka mukham . One of the fundamental

doctrines of Sri VaishNavam is that the SadAchArya

anugraham is indispensable for gaining the blessings of

the dhivya dampathis .Hence , we will focus on

the reverence of AchAryAs for the SaraNya Dhampathis

of Srirangam , who grew the sampradhAyam to

illustrious heights in response to the niyamanam

(Command ) of the dhivya dampathis of srirangam .

 

The glories of this KshEthram have been celebrated earlier

in Bhakthi list by Srimans Thirumanjanam Sundararajan

Swamy, Sampath Rengarajan and adiyEn in a series of

postings ( March 29-May 2 , 1998) in the context of

the construction of the temple for Sri RanganathA

at Pomona , NY .Hence , adiyEn will focus here

only on the Bhagavath GuNAanubhavam at Sri RanganAyaki

and Sri Ranganaathan's sannidhis as experienced by AchAryAs

and travel in the same path blessed by them .

 

Sri RangadhAmEswari

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

 

As adiyEn stood before Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr's

sannidhi , the first prayer that came to mind was

from Sri Lakshmi ashtOtthara satha naamAvaLi :

 

" LakshmIm Ksheera samudhra raaja tanayAm Sriranga dhAmEsvarIm

daasI bhUtha samastha dEva vanithAm lOkaika dhIpAnkurAm "

 

adiyEn's next prayer followed from Sri MahA Lakshmi Ashtakam :

 

" siddhi bhuddhi prathE dEvi Bhukthi Mukthi pradhAyini

Manthra mUrthE sadhA dEvi MAHALAKSHMI namOsthu thE "

 

MahA Lakshmi taking the form of Sri RanganAyaki here

has been the object of praise of Sri AlavandhAr in

the second half of the second slOkam of his ChathuslOki:

 

" thAmm thvAmm daasa ithi PRAPANNA

ithi cha sthOshyAmyaham nirbbhaya :

lOkaikEswari lOkanAtha dhayithE

dhAnthE DAYAAM thE vidhan "

 

(meaning ): Oh the Mistress of this Universe !

Oh dear consort of the Lord of the Universe !

Knowing that You have dayA for me as a krupaNan

(Dheenan ) , adiyEn approaches You and eulogizes

You as Your Daasan and Prapannan without any fear .

 

She is svathO nithyAnukUlai ( One who has the natural

disposition to bless Her children at all times ).

AlavandhAr recognized this anukampA and PurushakAra

aspects of Her and approached Her as Her Daasan and

Prapannan . AdiyEn reflected on the profound nature

of this passage from ChathusslOki as adiyEn's eyes

feasted on the uthsava moorthy (Sri RanganAyaki )and

the two moola BhErams behind latter( Bhu Devi and Sri Devi).

 

My next prayer was from the last slOkam of KurEsan's

Sri Sthavam :

 

" yasyA: KatAksha VeekshA kshaNa laksham lakshithA mahEsA:syu:

Sri RangarAja Mahishee saa maamapi VeekshathAm Lakshmee "

 

(Meaning ): May adiyEn become a dhanyan through Your side

glances falling on adiyEn as in the case of those , who

have become the beneficiaries of great wealth (Isvaryam )

through such glances of Yours falling on them for

the fraction of a second .

 

This prayer was followed by another by the sellap piLLai

of Sri RanganAyaki , Sri ParAsara Bhattar , the son of

KuResan , whose sannidhi is on the way to ThAyAr sannidhi.

 

In his GuNarathna KOsam , ParAsara Bhattar identifies

Sri RanganAyaki as " an adolescent girl , who is just

in the confluence of childhood and Youth (Saisava-

youvana vyathikarA ) " . Bhattar salutes Her further

as BhU devi avathAram , SitA PirAtti ,which fits well

with the Bhu Devi moola bhEram in the sannidhi. Bhattar's

celebration of the dhivya soundharyam and the anantha

KlayANa GuNams of Sri RanganAyaki is matchless.

In the 61st slOkam of Sri GuNarathna kOsam , Bhattar

points out that Sri RanganAyaki is " the Mother , Father

and all that one cherishes as near and dear " . Bhattar

recognizes Her Supermacy and Her incomparable role and

states that the conferral of Her grace would free us

of any worry or fear .

 

Swamy Desikan, who was given the birudhu of

" Sarva Tantra Svathanthrar " by Sri RanganAyaki

has brilliantly summed up the three roles that

She plays as the dear consort of Sri RanganAthan:

 

(1) She pleads for us as the mediatrix (purushakAram )

(2) She stands together with Her Lord as UpAyam

during the occasion of Prapatthi performed by

the chEthanams

(3) She stands with Her Lord as the fruit of that

Prapatthi (viz)., Moksham .

 

Swami Desikan celebrated this yEkasEshithvam

of the SaraNya Dhampathis and performed his

SaraNAgathi to this " Sakala Bhuvana prArthanA

KaamadhEnu: " with the prayer : " SrEyOmUrthim

Sriyam asaraNa: thvAm SaraNyAm prapadhyE " .

Swami Desikan states here that he has no other

recourse (asaraNa:) and therefore performs

prapathti at the lotus feet of this embodiment

of auspiciousness , who delights in protecting

those , who seek refuge in Her .

 

Comforted by these noble and reassuring thoughts

of AchAryAs over the centuries , adiyEn enjoyed

the sEvai of Sri RanganAyaki . There was a power

cut and hence there were no artificial(electric)

light in the Sannidhi. It was like old times , when

the illumination was solely from the lamps lit

with the wicks soaked in fragrant ghee .AchAryAs

must have been the beneficiaries of such sEvai ,

when there was no other illumination than

the MangaLa dhIpams lit with fresh ghee .

 

With adiyEn's mind filled with the memories of such

an adhbhutha sevai of our Mother , the dayA vigraham ,

adiyEn reluctantly took leave of Her to offer my praNAmams

to Her Lord .

 

AdiyEn will continue with that anubhavam in

the next posting .

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan