Melkote Yatrai: Eighth day of Nvaaham / February 12 , 2000

[Guest guest]

Continuation of our reports of our Yatrai on the 7th day :

 

After having the darsan of Lord Lakshmi Varaha, and after

visiting the shrine of Lakshmi Narayana having three shrines

known as Trikoota Acahala(this is a unique feature of

all Hoysala temples where the main deity is directly

visible from the main entrance, and there will be

two other deities on either side, and by standing in

the middle of the " Nava-ranga " mantapa, one can have

the darsan of all the dieties simultaneously)

at Hosa-Holalu, we returned to Melkote.

 

During the visit to these places, we had the previlege of

having the esteemed company of Sri U.Ve. Kottamangalam

Varadacharya Swami, who is a walking encyclopeadia

in the real sense of all our Sastras, and all the Darsanas.

He has an experience of 60 years in these fileds,

and was the premier-most sishya of the legendary

Sri Sri Abhinava Ranganatha Brahma Tantra Parakala Swamy,

the potiff of the Parakala Mutt. Under this revered AchAryan ,

three Varadacharya-s (popularly known as " Varada-traya " )

studied simultaneously ; they were Sri UVE SMS Varadacharya,

SRI UVE ES Varadacharya, and the present Swami.

They were most proficient in Vyakarana(known as Pada Shaastra),

Mimamsa(known as Vaakya Shaastra) and Nyaya/Tarka Sastra

(known as Pramana Shaastra), and Visistadwaita Vedanta

was the common specialisation of each of them. Of the three,

ES Varadacharya, is no more. Under the feet of

the above mentioned SRi Sri Parakala Swamy,

the three VaradhAs used to study as follows :

 

A particular Adhikarana from the Brahma Sutra/Sri Bhashya

would be given as a topic beforehand. All the three

Varadacharyas were to make extensive studies about that

Adhikarana not only from the point of view of their

own Sastras, but also from the view-point of the Advaitins

and the Dwaitins. Then under the Swami, after the introductory

discourse by the Swami Himself, the three Varadacharyas

had to present the views of different points of view

expressed in different texts pertaining to different

authors owing allegiance to different systems of philosophy.

Then extensive and intensive debate would take place

and ultimately the Parakala Swamy would announce

the result of the delibarations. This continuously happened

for about 25 years, and this in itself is a pointer to

the great scholarship of these great Varadacharya-s.

Of these three Sri U.Ve. Kottamangalam Varadacharya Swami

accompanied us, and enlightened us about the burning issues

of today in the fileds of philosophy, religion, society etc ,

which had to be solved in a way that is true to the path

followed by our Poorva Acharyas. This meeting with

a living legend too is one of the most memorable

highlights of our visit. Sriman M.A.Alwar has the bhAgyam

of receiving instructions on the fine points of

Our SampradhAyam from this MahAn .

 

Later, we arrived back at Melkote, and since we were

extremly tired, cancelled a visit to the temple,

and meanwhile held discussions about future Multimedia

CD Rom Projects on our Sampradayam, like the one on

Bhagavan Ramanuja that has reached many of you.

Both the TennAchArya and Vadakalai version of

Bhagavath RaamAnujA CD ROM is still available

for those , who wish to acquire them for their

private libraries.

 

The Ratha Sapthami day at Melkote

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

The next day, the 12th of Feb, was " Ratha Saptami " ,

a great " Parva " day, the day when the Sun-God is said

to have made his first appearnce. According to our Sastras,

Surya-Bhagavan is none other than Surya-Narayana,

and to commemorate this auspicious day,

Lord Selvappillai mounts the " Surya-Mandala-Vahana " ,

or the mount of the Surya, with Aruna,

the charioteer of Surya and his horses placed in front,

as if leading the Surya. The procession in the Mada-Veedhis

was exquisite and it is difficult for Bhagavatas to forget

such a beautiful and divine sight. We also visited

the temple once again and had a close darsan of all

the dieties at the temple.

 

After finalising our discussions with

Sriman UVE Lakshmi Thathachar, the Director of

the Academy of Sanskrit Research(a separate note on

this will be written shortly), an organisation devoted to

the presevration of our rich cultural heritage,

especailly pertaining to Srivaishvava / Visistadwaita,

we had Phala-Ahararam and left for Thondanur,

where Bhagavan Ramanuja arrived first before

visiting Melkote.

 

There , we visited first the " Moti-Talab " ,

a breathtakingly big tank said to have been built at

the niyamanam of Bhagavan Ramanuja Himself.

Thereafter , we visited the shrine of Nambi Narayana,

a big temple, renovated recently and well maintained.

Here , the speciality is that Nambi Naryana has

the Chakra in his left hand the Sankha in the right

as in ThirukkOyilUr , and this is said to be so,

since he had to do Samashrayanam to " Thondanur Nambi "

a contemporary and later disciple of Bhagavan Ramanuja

when he visited that place. Also present in that temple

is a beautiful stone " PeeTha " where Bhagavan Ramanuja

used to sit while delivering Kalakshepams. Later, we visited

the Krishna Temple which is adjacent to the Nambi Temple.

Here we had the darsan ofthe most beautiful Krishna

(both Mulavar and Utsavar) . The speciality of this Krishna

is that while other Krishna-s every where have their

right foot forward, this Krishna has his left foot forward.

The temple too is well renovated and maintained,

and in the adjoining mantaps, different classes for

children are held. It is cool and serene and ideal for eductaion,

and it brought us visions of how Gurukula

would have been in ancient times. After having

the darsan at these two shines, we proceeded to

Sriranga Patna to have the darsan of Lord Ranganatha.

We had to skip another shrine i.e. that of Lakshmi Nrusimha

and Bhagavan Ramanuja, where Bhagavan Ramanuja is said

to have answered thousands of Jains simultaneously by

having thousand mouths in the form of Adishesha .

It is a pity that the presssures of time

would not permit such a visit. We arrived next at

Sriranga Patna on this Ratha Sapthami day .

 

At Sriranaga Patna, which is known as " Aadi Ranga " ,

we had the darsan of the most beautiful Ranganatha

with Kaveri Thayar at his feet. The beauty of this

Ranganatha is beyond description , and can be only

experienced by those who have the darsan of

the Lord, who is all splendour.

 

It was a major festival day at Srirangapatnam . Huge crowds

were at the sannidhis . Outside , the vendors were selling

ripe banana fruits into which strands of fragrant

Marukkozhunthu were inserted . The young people were

showing off by throwing these " banana missiles "

at the target of the kumbham of the ratham in which

Uthsavar was resting after the Ratha Sapthami Journey .

The Kumbham was at a pretty high level and

most of the people missed hitting the Kumbham.

The folklore is that any one , who hits the Kumbham

on this day with the banana missiles will be blessed

with great Isvaryam . Uthsavar was well protected with

screens so that no errant missile came His way. It was

a scene of great joy with people of all ages mingling

and having a good time on this sacred day of uthsavam .

 

We dropped Dr.M.A.Alwar at Mysore . One can not thank

him and his family enough for the warmth of their

reception and hospitality during this visit to

Melkote and environs . It was a great bhAgyam to

be with this well known AchArya PurushA Family

belonging to AnandANpiLLai Vamsam , celebrated

for its pushpa Kamkaryam to Lord Srinivaasan

of Thirumalai at the request of AchArya RaamAnujA .

 

After saying good bye to Dr.Alwar ,we arrived at

the Mysore Railway Station to catch the ShatAbdhi

Express for our trip back to Chennai .

 

Thus ended the eighth day of NavAham , which was

one of the three days spent in Karnataka offering

worship at places associated with the digh vijayam

of Achaarya RaamAnuja some 900 years ago.

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan