Swami Desikan Thirunakshatra Sevai at Thiruvaheendrapuram

[Guest guest]

PeriyaperumAL sriRanganAchiyAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Dear BhAgavathA-s,

 

adiyEn had the bhAgyam of witnessing the recently concluded " Padi Utsavam "

at Thiruvaheendrapuram on the day of our Thooppul pillai, AchArya

SArvabhouman Swami Desikar's Thirunakshatram. A brief account of the same is

given below.

 

A big plus point of this Utsavam this time at Thiruvaheendrapuram was the

presence of asmadAchAryan H.H. Srimad Andavan Sri Ranga Ramanuja MahA

Desikan.

 

 

At 6:00 in the morning there is a mild hustle and bustle at the sannidhi-s

of DevanAyakan, HemAbjavalli Thayar and Swami Desikan. Many bhakta-s eagerly

await the Viswaroopa darsanam (SuprabhAta sEvai) at these sannidhis.

At 6:30 DevanAyakan blesses His bhakta-s with His Vishwaroopa DarSanam.

Since the day awaited a lot of activities in the temple, the curtains are

immediately down. The " SaTAri " then proceeds from DevanAyakan Sannidhi to

ThAyAr sannidhi, in a pallakku (palanquin) amidst bhAgavatha gOshti and

vAdya gOshti. After a very brief stop over at ThAyAr sannidhi the " SaTAri "

now proceeds towards the sannidhi of our Swami Desikan. It will be

interesting to note the vAdyams going louder at this time.

 

In this sannidhi one can see the magnificent archai of our AchAryan Swami

Desikan, installed by His son VaradanAtha NayanAchAriar.

The ambience is so thrilling that one can feel the presence of Swami Desikan

in vibhavam who is eagerly waiting to see His Lord.

Swamy Desikan is now honored with the " SatAri " and mAlai. The saTAri

pallakku now proceeds back to the sannidhi of DevanAyakan. The curtains are

now down at Desikar sannidhi, as the bhattar-s get ready for ArAdhanam at

Desikar sannidhi and for His " RathnAngi " alankAram.

 

It is now 6:45 and there is a huge assembly of bhAgavatha-s at ahObila

matam, where Srimad Andavan is performing Paduka Aradhanam. After the

teertha goshti, it is now time to move towards the temple for the grand

occasion.

It is 7:30 and Srimad Andavan proceeds towards the temple. A huge bhAgavatha

gOshti follows H.H.

H.H is received by the temple priests at the foot of the OushadAdri hill,

with due honors and escorted into the temple. The gOshti now proceeds

towards Desikar sannidhi where already a huge assemblage of bhagavathA-s is

waiting. H.H is escorted into the garbha gruham of Swamy Desikan.

 

Swamy Desikan in His glittering " RathnAngi " now emerges from His garbha

gruham into the kannAdi arai (mirror hall). All the bhAgavathA-s are now

seated. One can see people throng to get a glimpse of this great AchArya in

the kannAdi arai, while cameras keep flashing. Many stotrams like

ThiruppAvai etc are now recited. The program here takes about an hour or so.

At the end of this sEvai, the nAdaswaram gOshti gets ready. Swami desikan

now emerges out of the kannAdi arai into the utsava peeTam. All the bhakta-s

now align themselves on either side of the path. Some of them are busy in

occupying strategic positions along the steps to OushadAdri hill, to get a

good view of Swami Desikan's ascend.

While volunteers are getting the way cleared, Desikar is already having a

mild sway, signifying His eagerness to proceed towards Oushadagiri.

 

Things are all set and Swami Desikan starts His journey. He starts His

journey by first completing a pradakshinam of the prAkAram of the temple.

Srimad Andavan follows Swami Desikan, the pArAyaNa gOshti follows Srimad

Andavan and behind them one can see a huge sea of bhAgavatha-s, women

children etc.

After the pradakshiNam Desikar is now at the foot of the Oushadagiri hill.

In the meanwhile the utsavamUrthy of Sri Yoga Hayagreevar has already made

His journey to the top of the hill from the sannidhi below. All arrangements

have also been made in the Hayagreevar sannidhi on top of the OushadAdri

Hill, who eagerly awaits His pet disciple to come to Him.

 

With a loud vAdya ghOsham, veda ghOshams etc, Swami Desikan begins His

ascend. The utsavam moves with a gentle pace. Cracker blasts make their way

into the fresh air. It takes about 25 minutes for the utsavam to reach the

hilltop. On top of the hill Swami Desikan first completes a pradakshiNam and

then enters the holy sannidhi of Hayagreevar.

It was on top of this very same hill that Swami Desikan had received the

Hayagreeva manthrOpadEsham from GarudAzhwAr. Swamy Desikan's mangaLAshAsanam

at the sannidhi of Hayagreevar signifies the same. After receiving the

manthrOpadEsam Swami Desikan receives vishEsha maryAdai and is now seated in

front of Sri Hayagreevar. The ghOshti now recites Garuda panchAshath, Garuda

daNdakam, Hayagreeva stotram and many more. At the end of the session which

takes about two hours, all the bhakta-s are now blessed with teertham,

shaTAri and prasAdam. Arrangements now get underway for the grand padi

utsavam.

 

Swami Desikan begins His journey back and now stands at the tip of the hill

eager to see His Lord. One can see all the devotees standing on either side

of the utsavam and there is also a large gathering at the foot of the hill,

from where one can have a panoramic view.

A red carpet is now brought and rolled out for the utsavam. Umbrellas,

chAmarams and many other upachArams make their way into the theme area. The

vAdya gOshti now moves a little ahead of the utsavam.

 

Amidst cracker blasts, vAdyam and vEda ghOsham Swami Desikan makes His first

step towards His Lord in full rAja gAmbhIryam. Anybody seeing Swami Desikan

now can easily make out that " He is the crown prince of the kingdom of

Ramanuja " .

After every step a " parAk " is sung in praise of Him and He is offered

nivEdanam. The jingle of the umbrella bells and the faint tone of the brush

of the AbharaNams add a mystical reverberation. In between successive steps

the utsavam of Swami Desikan is given gentle oscillations that signify Him

to be the proud receiver of the Hayagreeva manthrOpadEsam. Amidst loud

renderings of " Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam " the utsavam comes almost

to the bottom of the hill after about an hour or so. Here Swami Desikan is

offered many harathi-s.

 

It is from this point onwards that things become interesting. Swami Desikan

just a few steps to complete His journey down the hill, suddenly starts

moving at a tremendous pace. The utsavam now passes through the outer

prAkAram of the kovil in varying speeds and styles. These styles are

basically gathi-s or nadai-s. Swamy moves in rAja nadai, simha nadai, sarpa

nadai etc. The pace keeps increasing as He is approaching the garbha gruham

of His Lord. This basically signifies that His eagerness to see His Lord

increases as He approaches closer and closer to Him. The eagerness with

which Swami Desikan makes his way to the temple is mainly to signify His

wish to see His Lord with an enlightened mind after receiving Hayagreeva

manthrOpadEsam.

 

Swamy Desikan is now at the dwaja sthambam and finally, behold! Swamy

Desikan now has an eye to eye encounter with His PerumAL Lord DevanAyaka.

The Swami now completes a pradakshiNam of Dasa Sathyan, His Lord along the

inner prAkAram and seats Himself in front of the Lord who has showered His

blessings on Swami Desikan by giving Him such a wonderful sEvai.

The devotees are now making a very hard attempt to enjoy this shErthi sEvai

of AchAryar with the Lord. Under Srimad Andavan's presence the gOshti now

begins to recite Desika Stotrams sung in favour of the Lord of

Thiruvaheendrapuram and many others as per the sampradAyam.

 

Lord DevanAyakan is the only perumAL whom Swami Desikan has sung in all

three languages - Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil. DevanAyaka panchAshath,

Achutha Sathakam, MummaNikkOvai, NavamaNimAlai etc (Some parts of His Tamil

works here are extinct). After the reciting of all these stotram-s Swamy

Desikan is now being offered vishEsha maryAdai along with pArithOshakam-s

(presents).

 

The reciting of Devanayaka panchAshath, SriStuthi, Raghuveera gadyam, Gopal

Vimshati, Garuda dandakam etc in presence of the perumAL in praise of whom

they have been sung is something that has to be experienced and mere words

are not sufficient enough to describe them.

 

It then started to shower so heavily that it seemed as if all the devas were

making pushpa vrushti on Swami Desikan.

adiyEn could not record the rest of the events due to tight travel plans.

 

The above are only adiyEn's observations during the utsavam. All omissions

and errors are mine.

 

vAzhi vyAkhyA muddirak kai !!!

 

dasan

Balaji

SIEMENS - Bangalore