The Fourth Day of Journey : Sri Ranganathan's sevai , Feb 8, 2000

[Guest guest]

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahamNE Nama:

 

Sri MalOla Dhivya PaadhukA sevaka Sri

NaarAyaNa MahA DesikAya Nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

With the sipArsu from Aakaaratraya Sampannai ,

Sri RanganAyaki , adiyEn arrived at the Dhvijasthambham

/Bali Peetam , where " Oppiliappan " ( SravaNa DhIpam Swamy )

was waiting to take us in to enjoy the sEvai of

the Siddhi-mOkshAnrUpa perumAL ,Sri RanganAthan .

This Lord recognized as " asmadh asava: " ( our very life )

by ParAsara Bhattar and saluted by him as Sriranga-

SrungAran ( the very embodiment of charm and Beauty

enshrined at Srirangam ) is nEthrAndan (a bliss to the eye ).

 

The immensity of Sri Ranganatha Tattvam has been

covered by Sri ParAsara Bhattar in His magnum

opus , Sri RangarAja Sthavam . Towards the end of

the second part of this Sri kOsam , Bhattar focuses

on the anantha kalyANa guNam of the Lord ,

anukampA (Compassion for the suffering Jeevan ),

when that Jeevan approaches Him with KaarpaNyam

( the state of Utter helplessnes ) . As adiyEn

enjoyed the Sarvaanga Soundharyam of the Lord

reclining on His bed of AdhisEshan , ThiruppANar's

AmalanAdhipirAn paasura vaakhyams flashed across

the mind: " nimalan ninmalan neethi vaanavan

neeL mathiL arangetthammAn " . Swamy Desikan's

beautiful summary of ThiruppANar's aanandha anubhavam

of the matchless beauty of the Lord through

his Bhagavadh DhyAna SOpAnam helps us all

to enjoy His dhivya soundharyam :

 

" paadhAmbhOjam sprusathi bhajathE Ranganaathasya JanghAm

UrudhvandhE vilagathi sanairUrdhvamabhyEthi naabhim

VakshasyAsthE valathi bhujayOrmaamikEyam maneeshA

vakthrAbhikhyAm piBathi vahathE vaasanAm mouLiBhandhE "

 

---Sri Bhagavath DhyAna sOpAnam : SlOkam 10

 

(meaning): AdiyEn's buddhi (intellect) takes the form

of a young woman in love with the Lord and gently

touches His lotus soft thiruvadi ;then her gaze moves on to

worship His ankles; next she gets absorbed in the beauty of

His powerful thighs; as her gaze shifts upward , she

approaches with affection His naabhi kamalam and her

gaze rests now on the broad and beautiful chest of

Sri RanganAthan . She reluctantly leaves from enjoying

the beauty of the chest adorned by Vyjayanthi maalai and

gets absorbed now in the mighty shoulders that engaged

RaavaNA in battle . She arrives next at the most

endearing countenance of the Lord and drinks with

great gusto the beauty of the Lord without satiety ;

her (mind's) final focus is on the bejeweled crown

tied with the ever green TuLasi garland . Thus adiyEn's

mind becomes rooted in the dhivyAnga soundharyam

of the RaajAthi Raajan , Sri RangarAjan .

 

Swamy Desikan was overwhelmed by the beauty of

the KasthUri Tilakam adorning th Lord's forehead

which reflects the beauty of the Lord's Thirumukham .

Swamy named one of his important NyAsa granthams ,

" NyAsa Tilakam " and performed his SaraNAgathi in it

to Sri RanganAthan ( mumukshu :dEvEsam tamm aham

saraNam adhigacchAmi).After performing SaraNAgathi

at the holy feet of Sri RangarAjan , Swamy Desikan

declared : " SaraNa VaraNa VaaNee Sarva hEthu: "

( The utterance of SaraNAgathi words /ukthi nishtai

directed at You the are the most powerful ones to bless

the prapannan with every soubhAgyam ).Swamy Desikan

pointed out that even the blessing of sadhAchArya

katAksham originates from the Lord's grace alone :

 

( manyE bhalam praBala dhushkrutha sAlinO mE

thvann moola Desika KatAksha nipAtham aadhyam )

 

AdiyEn is thrilled to repeat this slOkam passage

since , adiyEn is convinced that it was EmperumAn's

compassion brought adiyEn to the sacred feet of my

SadAchAryan to receive the blessings of prapatthi

without anymore postponement during this historic

journey to our PuNya bhUmi .

 

Standing in front of the majestic Lord reclining on

His serpent bed , One by one , the scenes of the AzhwArs

and AchAryAs offering worship to Him from time immemorial

crossed adiyEn's mind .

 

First was Brahma, then Manu chakravathys , who in turn

was followed by Sri Ramachandran Himself in Vibhava avathAram .

The images of AzhwArs performing MangaLAsAsanam to

this timeless Lord flashed through adiyEn's mind.

 

PeriyAzhwAr sums it up for us about the ancient goings on

at Thiruvarangan's MuRRam :

 

" pattarkaLum BhagavarkaLum Pazhamozhivaai

munivarkaLum parantha naadum , siddharkaLum

thozhuthu iRainjat thisai viLakkAi niRkinra "

ThiruvarangA

 

periyAzhwAr is moved by the sight of the assembly of

BhakthAs , DevAs and Maharishis known for their

Vedic scholarship and the entire world along with

its siddhars worshipping with utter devotion

this apramEya jyOthi (lamp) at Thiruvarangam .

 

Andal lost Herself in the beauty of Her Lord

and declared : " Yennarangatthin amuthar,

Kuzhal Azhagar Vaai Azhagar KaNNazhagar ,

KooppUzhil yezukamalap poovazhagar " .

Here , She stepped up on the Naaga paryankam

and took Her original place after a brief

sojourn in SrivilliputthUr to teach us

our inseperable relationship to Her Lord .

 

KulasEkarar considered himself as one of

the adiyArs assembled in the Thiru MuRRam

of the Lord at Srirangam and described himself

as driven to madness over his love for the Lord

( pEyaai ozhinthEn EmpirAnukkE ).

 

Thirumazhisai pointed out that Srirangam is

dense with Paramahamsa ParivrAjaka Thridhandi

SanyAsis eager for the darsana soubhAgyam of

Sri RanganAthan:

 

" siRReyiRRu muRRal moonkil moonRu dhaNdonRinar

aRRapaRRar suRRi VaazhumanthaNeerarangamE "

 

ThoNdardipodi woke up the Lord of Sri Rangam with

his ThiruppaLLiyezucchi and stood in front of Him

at His ThirumuRRam daily to present the fresh TuLasi

and flower garlands from his nandavanam .

 

Thirumangai built the ramparts , brought

NammAzhwAr from AzhwAr Thirunahari and started

the Adhyayana Uthsavam for His Rangan .AzhwAr

saluted the Lord of Srirangam as the quintessence of

the four Vedams : " chandhOgan Pouzhian einthazhalOmpu

Taittiriyan Saama Vedhi " .

 

From under the ThiruppuLi AzhwAr, VaNN KuruhUr

SatakOpan performed MangaLaasaasanam for Sri

RanganAthan as DasAvathAran .

 

Swami Desikan composed 1008 slOkams in less than

three hours at Srirangam about the Paadhukais

of Lord RanganathAn and during that occasion

saluted Him with many beautiful naamams.

 

We were not rushed at Sri RanganAthan

because of " Oppiliappan " accompanying us

and we had a memorable , unrushed sEvai. AchArya

RaamAnujA's satAri was then placed at the feet

of Moolavar , which receives daily Thirumanjanam

with 108 moolikais and vairappodi .Swamy NammazhwAr

( Lord's SatAri) ,who predicted about the avathAram of

the BhavishyathAchAryan ( Future AchAryan,RaamAnujA )

in his dhivya prabhandham imparted his sakthi into

the RaamAnuja SatAri traveling to ThirunArAyaNapuram .

 

AdiyEn would have stayed in front of the Lord all

day and night . adiyEn left His sannidhi once again

reluctantly and offered our salutation to the HanumAr on

a sthambham facing Moolavar outside His sannidhi.

SravaNa dhIpam Swami told us that this HanumAr is at

the same height as AaadhsEshan (Naaga paryangam of

the Lord ) and that He receives also daily Thirumanjanam .

 

When we walked out towards Sri Ranga VilAsa Manntapam ,

a great surprise was waiting for us there . Uthsavar KasthUri

Rangan was rsting there in EkAntham (without Ubhaya

NaacchiyArs) . He was asking as it were , " where are

you rushing without my sEvai ? " . He was adorning

the Sri Ranga VilAsa Mantapam because of PuRappAdu

later for the Teppam Festival . In our tradition ,

Uthsavar is Raaman and the Moolavar is DhAmOdara

KrishNan at Srirangam . We had the most memorable

sEvai from a distance of two feet from Him . The last time,

adiyEn had a similar ekAntha sEvai of Uthsavar at a sOlai

outside Srirangam , where He was resting in connection

with His VasanthOthsavam . Thus this day was blessed fully .

 

We left for Chennai in the late afternoon and

aarived safely around 10 PM to rest prior to

our trip next day (Fifth Day of the trip)to

SriperumbhUthUr and Kaanchipuram to complete

the rest of the journey related to AchArya

RaamAnujA's life .

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan