Centenary Celebrations of DEvArviLAgam Azhagiyasi~ngar at NaimisAranyam

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmanE namaH

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaH

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear all,

 

Appended is an eye-witness report on the recent centenary

celebrations of DEvanArviLAgam Azhagiyasi~ngar, conducted in a

very grand manner by the current Azhagiyasi~ngar. The report

speaks for itself! It must have been golden moments for all

those who were fortunat to be there.

 

The aippasi issue of SrI Nrusimha PriyA is also very grand

to this effect in celebrating the centenary - Many wonderful

articles on 43rd paTTa Azhagiyasi~ngar are published,

apart from few articles by this Azhagiyasi~ngar himself.

Some photos regarding DEvanArviLAgam Azhagiyasi~ngar which

are quite rare are also published. This issue is a must

possesion for all the sishyAs and abhimAnis of SrI Ahobila Mutt.

 

A separate souvenir is also planned to be released by the

descendants of DEvanArviLAgam Azhagiyasi~ngar viz. Dr.PadmanAbhan

of Sanskrit Dept in University of Madras.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.

 

 

Srimate Sri Lakshminrisimha Divyapadukasevaka Srivan satakopa Sri

Narayana Yatheendra Mahadesikaya namaha.:

 

Dear bhagavatas,

Adiyen was one of the very fortunate ones to witness the

centenary celebrations of the thirunakshatram of 43rd jeer of

Ahobhila mutt, Srivansatakopa Sri Veeraraghava Satakopa Yateendra

Mahadesikan [sri Devanarvilagam Azhagiyasingar] last week.

It was celebrated in a very grand scale by prakrutam Srimad

Azhagiyasingar at Naimisaranyam.I would very much like to share

our experience with our list members.

 

Expecting the Divyadesam to be a remote and desolate village, we

reached the place on 22nd morning for Abhigamana aradhanam; to our

surprice and pleasure, the whole village was reverberating with

festivity! People from all over India had gathered in the kshetram

not only for the thirunakshatram celebrations but also for

Navarathri and Dassehra which is a very important fesitival there.

 

Sri Ahobhila mutt premises is renovated at the cost of Rs. 10 lacs

to receive the expected crowd for the function.Veda parayanam and

divyaprabhanda parayanam had started five days prior to the main

thirunakshatram day. On 22nd we could see as many as 300 devotees

from all over India, having darshan of Sri Prahlada varadan and

Srimad Azhagiyasingar. After aradhanam and thaliyaradhanai, we took

rest for nearly two hours.

 

Then the newly done up photograph of Sri Devanarvlagam Jeer along

with his beautiful panchaloga idol were taken in a procession

along the streets of Naimisaranyakshetram. More than 300 to 400

devotees [both ladies and gents] followed the procession barefooted

[for 3 to 4 km.] with Nadaswaram and local band in the front and

with scholars chanting vedam and divyaprabhandam. It was really a

rare sight to see Srimad Azhagiyasingar following his

predicessor's idol as long as he could by foot and then opted

to follow by bus.He was visibly happy to see so much response from

his sishyas. No words can express the feelings of the devotees who

were present there. The whole atmosphere was filled with chanting

of the Vedas.

 

The procession reached the 'marwadi chatram' where, 43rd jeer

attained Paramapadam. Then both the idol and the photo were taken

into the room where the sad event took place. It is still

maintained by our mutt. Then, only the idol was brought out and

placed on a small cement rostrum with tulasi madam. Srimad

Azhagiyasingar also seated himself there and all the devotees

collected around and sat on the floor.

 

As Jeer was not keeping good health, Sri Vaduvoor Lakshmi

Narasimhachariar, one of the seniormost Aradhakars in the mutt

spoke about the last days of the great Jeer whose Thirunakshatram

was being celebrated. God! He narrated the whole sequence of

events which took the great Acharya away from his disciples with

so much emotion and heartrending tone that we all were in tears!

Sri vaduvoor swamy had been in the mutt's kainkaryam for long

and has served four Jeers now. He was almost weeping during the

whole event! Especially when he was mentioning about a small

incident on the great acharya's last day in this mortal world,

the whole crowd was in tears!

 

It seems, his nephew and another sishya were sitting near the

acharyan's bed; seeing the silent suffering of the Mahan, they

started shedding tears ; the tears fell on his body and at once he

opened his eyes. Seeing his weeping sishyas, he slowly wiped their

tears with so much Vatsalyam and Karunyam that everybody started

weeping again!

 

Here, I want to mention humbly about my late father,

Vaikuntavasi, Sri Sayee Chakravarthy Iyengar, who was an

ardent sishya of Sri Ahobhila mutt and Sri Devanarvilagam

Azhagiyasingar. He celebrated his Acharyan's 75th thirunakshatram

at Naimisaranyam along with a group of around 30 sishyas and with

blessings from Sri Mukkoor Azhagiyasingar at his own expence. He

strived hard in his life time to renovate the Brindavanam at

Naimisaranyam. This was remembered and mentioned by Sri Vaduvoor

Swamy and acknowledged by prakritum Srimad Azhagiyasingar.

 

Then Srimad Azhagiyasingar spoke about the greatness of the great

acharya for few minutes. He was overwhelmed with joy to see so

many sishyas from different parts of India and blessed them all.

After distribution of prasadam [kesari], the idol was taken around

the 'chakra theertham' and kept in Sri Malolan's sannidhi.

 

Next day, after satrumurai, which was attended by a overwhelming

crowd of around 700 devotees, [which included many VIP's and

sixteen members of Devanarvilagam Azhagiyasingar's family in

poorvasramam], all scholars who attended the veda parayanam and

the kainkarya paras who made the function a great success were

honoured by prakrutham jeer; and the function ended with the

distribution of prasadam. The sambhavanai expenses which amounted

to around Rs. 4 1/2 lacs was contributed by Sri Jagannathachariar

who had come down from United States to attend the function. He

was honoured by Jeer and the collector of the district was also

honoured by him. Sri Desikan of the Mutt who had made very

good arrangements to accommodate a big crowd in the kshetram was

also honoured in the function.

 

As it was already 11 am, some of the devotees including our group

left immediately , towards Ayodhya and other Divyakshetrams .But

the memory of those few days will remain with us for ever! Though

this report is a bit long, this is inadequate to express our

happiness and the sense of fulfillment we experienced!

Adiyen seek pardon for any mistakes in the narration.

 

Smt. R.Kalyani,Mumbai.