Swamy Nammalwar India Foundation - 3rd Anniversary at Kattumannarkoil

[Guest guest]

Priya BhagavatOttamAs,

Nathamunigal and Alavandar ,

the two great acAryAs who have been pillars to our Srivaishnava sampradayam, took

their avatara at Kattumannar

koil , 25 kms from

Chidambaram. Yesterday, the 23rd June was Ani

anusham the avatara day of Swamy Nathamunigal. Swamy Nammalwar India Foundation ( SNIF) celebrated its 3rd anniversary at this

holy place coinciding with the tirunakshatram

celebrations of Swamy Nathamunigal.

It was a new attempt.

 

Earlier the first two anniversary

celebrations were at Chennai attented by over 2000

people and many mathAdhipatis. Since kattumannar koil was a rarely

visited place, it was decided to hold it there. To our pleasant surprise, 8

buses from Chennai with 400 people, 2 buses from Bangalore with 70

people, and two buses from Srirangam with 70 people

poured in. Besides this, about 100 people came on their own.

Along with this, they also visited Srimushnam, Sirkazhi, Chidambaram, Tiruvaheendra

puram and madhurantakam.

 

The main events were

:

Submission of the title “Srivaishnava simham” to

three scholars – Sri U. Ve

MahAmahimOpAdhyAya cEtlur SrivatsAnkAcariar swamy, Sri U. Ve Dr. V. V. Ramanujam swamy and Sri Prapanna vidwan Etiraja Ramanuja Dasar Swamy. Foundation has a practice to honour

one vidwan from tennacarya

sampradaya, one from Desika

sampradaya and one from Srivaishnava

bhagavata goshti. There

were 10 vidwans who spoke on Nammalwar

and Tirumangai alwar - a

compare and contrast on various topics. From the awardees and vidwans to the devotees who attended, there was absolute

harmony and no difference in vadakalai or tenkalai, male or female, Brahmin or non Brahmin. All

attended in equal number. It is worth to quote Sri U Ve

SrivatsAnkacAriar swamy “ I have been honoured by

the President of India amidst an elite gathering. But I am carried away here,

being honoured amidst a large cohesive Srivaishnava gathering. Nammalwar

and Nathamunigal would be pleased by this

sight.” The vidwans were honoured by Sri U Ve ParahamsEtyadi Azhagiya manavala Jeer of Kanchipuram.

 

As a preparation for this , the foundation issued a question bank comprising of

500 questions and answers in Tamil

and English on Srivaishnava sampradaya,

alwars and acAryAs. One

month time was given to over 1500 children from the age of 5 to 18 to prepare.

A proper objective / fill in the blanks / matching test was

conducted last month. It gave us immense pleasure to note that 9 had scored

100, 11 had scored 99, 25 had scored 98, and 50 had scored between 90 and 95.

There were almost 500 calls on the day we published the results which showed

the interest. All the 100 children were offered free trip to Kattumannar koil to receive the

prizes. Over 60 children came in along with their parents. Generous souls

immediately came forward to give them prizes, gold

coin for first two prizes, silver coin for 3rd and special prize.

The foundation also honoured State rank holders (1188

/ 1200) in public exams with Sanskrit as their language. They have been denied

all the status by Tamil nadu Government because they

have taken Sanskrit.

We also passed a unanimous

resolution to represent this case in a positive manner to the Government. Inspired by the response the foundation would conduct these exams every

year at various centres including overseas. I have

already sent this to middle East. I expect your response in

conducting this in the US. We also

have plans to join hands with JET and Vikas tarangini at Chennai to conduct this in their forums. We

would not spare any efforts in catching them young.

 

Besides the above there were many

more events. We also collected a sizeable sum and donated to the repair work

being carried out at Kattumannar koil.

 

 

Last year I had requested in the

Bhakti list for sponsorship for the purse being offered to the Srivaishnava simhams. There was a

good response. I request the same individuals or any other who would be willing

to participate in this service of honouring people

who have put in 40 years of untiring dedicated efforts to our sampradaya.

 

Services undertaken by the foundation :

 

Regular weekly classes in Gita,

Sahasranama, Tiruvoimozhi,

and guruparampara at T Nagar.

Fresh courses are being started at Mylapore and Naganallur.

Monthly classes in English on Gita

at Bangalore

Monthly visakam lectures at

various divya desams

to spread the message the alwar in those

hamlets.

Conducting santhai classes at

divya desams,

undertaking the yearly education expense of those children who attend.

Helping students in need for higher studies.

In the process of acquiring land for a school to be

started in a village.

Conducting divya desa yatra (covered about 60

divyadesams already).

Inscribing or publishing books at Kerala

about alwars divine hymns. There is not much

trace there now.

 

 

We can proudly say that there are no

internal politics, discrimination of any nature amongst the 2000 odd members. Almost

all the mathAdhipatis including Srimat

Paramahamsetyadi Azhagia singar, Andavan, Vanamamalai Jeer, Srimannarayana

Jeer are in the advisory panel of the foundation. All have visited and graced

our functions. We owe all this to Swamy NammAlwar and Swamy Ramanuja.

 

Poliga! Poliga! Poliga!

SrimatE Ramanujaya Namaha.