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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra

Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

Oh! When

 

Adiyen was recently transferred from Chennai to

Coimbatore, and while leaving for the new place of

posting, adiyen went to the temple of Sri

Parthasarathy Swamy at Tiruvallikkeni, for saying

“Bye” to adiyen’s favourite Perumal, in whose temple

and surroundings adiyen had spent nearly rwo decades

and a half,right from adiyen’s childhood. Adiyen would

have taken part in innumerable utsavams in all those

long years, and Srin Parthasarathy was more a family

member, to whom one used to rush, be it with glad

tidings,ddifficulties, problems or just mundane

developments. And on the days that adiyen did not

visit the temple,the deit6y would come in search of

me, on a tiurveedi purappadu. Bhagavatas aquainted

with Tiruvallikkeni would vouchsafe for the fact that

few are the days that the Emperuman remains within the

temple confines-on some pretext or other-pancha

parvas, brahmotsavams , acharya tirunakshatrams, etc-

He is always awaiting an opportunity to go on a jaunt

in the mAda veedis- that was perhaps what prompted

Kodai Nachiar to exclaim, “VeediyAra varuvAnai

VirundAvanattE kandOmE”, and Swami Desikan to

proclaim,

 

’Turaga vihagarAja syandana AndOlikAdishu

adhikam adhikam anyAm Atma shObhAm dadhAnam

anavadhika vibhootim HastisailEsvaram tvAm

anudinam animEshai: lOchanai:nirvisEyam”,

and “Vaikunta vAsEpi namE abhilAsha:”

 

Adiyen is not a very emotional person, more inclined

to the type described by Sri Tondaradippodi AzhvAr as

“irumbu pOl valiya nenjam”. But on that day of

leave-taking, when adiyen stood before Sri

Parthasarathy, a weight descended in adiyen’s heart,

my throat clogged with emotion, and my eyes were

coated with a film of tears- all of it occasioned by

the thought of being away from Him and the uncertainty

of when we would meet again. For, though Coimbatore is

only 500 km away, official constraints and family

preoccupations would preclude frequent visits to

Chennai, and more particularly, to Tiruvallikkeni. An

unfathomable sadness seized adiyen, something adiyen

had not experienced even while taking leave of a host

of close relatives at Chennai. Controlling adiyen with

great difficulty, adiyen bid “au revoir” to Perumal,

and made adiyen’s way homewards.

The episode set adiyen thinking- if a

worthless,insincere,and hypocritical mortal like

adiyen could be so moved- even if only for a few

minutes- what would have been the state of mind of

Poorvacharyas like Sri Parasara Bhattar, Sri

Bhashyakara , Sri Desikan and others, who had to

endure prolonged seperation from their ishta devatas,

what immeasurable pain they would have undergone for

each second of their seperation from Emperuman. One

could also understand the logic behind the decision of

Jaya and Vijaya,( the keepers of the Lord’s doors at

Sri Vaikuntam, when cursed to a mundane existence by

Bhrigu Maharshi), to be born thrice as the bitterest

enemies of the Lord, rather than take innumerable

janmAs as sAtvic mortals, which would have meant a

period of interminable seperation from Sria:pati.

 

Sri Bhattar, who was born and brought up in the

environs of SriRangam temple and who was acclaimed as

the veritable son SriRanganachiar,9 and whose

boundless bhakti towards the Divine Couple gave birth

to several gems like Sri Gunaratnakosam,Sri

Bhagavatguna darpanam,Sri Rangaraja Stavam,etc.),once

had to leave Srirangam due to a difference of opinion

with a chieftain of Srirangam, for a long sojourn at

Tirukkoshitiyur. Every day of his stay there, he pined

away for a glimpse of Azhagia Manaalan, and his

anguish at the seperation found expression in the

form of a beautiful stotram (it is indeed remarkable

how the sorrow of great people is often translated

into immortal epics-Sri Valmiki is a shining example).

 

Listen to these stanzas-

 

“Kastoori kalita oordhvapundra tilakam -, karnAnta

lOlEkshaNam

mugdAsmera manOharAdalam muktA kireetOjvalam

pasyan mAnasa pasyatO hararuche: paryAya pankEruham

SriRangAdhipatE: kadAnu vadanam sEvEya bhooyOpyaham”

Sri Bhattar,unable to see Periya Perumal physically,

recalls in his mind’s eye the enthralling details of

His bewitching tirumukham, resplendant with a

glittering tirumankappu, a sparkling headgear of

pearls, and eyes that have been the subject of endless

attempts at realistic description, and graphically

described by Sri Tiruppanazhvar as “ kariavAgi, pudai

parandu, milirndu, sevvariyOdi, neenda ap periavAya

kaNgaL”.

Overwhelmed by the thought of what he was missing, Sri

Bhattar wonders, “kadA” (OH<When!)- when indeed would

that sweet moment be, when he would have a glimpse of

the enchanting vadanam of Sri \Rangaraja.

 

Sri Bhattar misses not only Namperumal, but also the

sacred, purifying (Gangayil pundimAya) Cauvery, the

sandy dunes of Srirangam and its dense groves, all of

which form the abode of Azhagia Manavalan, in the

following verse-

KadAham Cauvery vimala salilE veeta kalushO bhavEyam

Tat teerE shramamushi vasEyam ghanavanE

KadA vA tam puNyE mahati pulinE bhajEyam RangEsam

kamala nayanam sEsha sdayanam”

 

Similar would have been the feelings of Sri

Bhashyakara when he spent several years in exile in

Karnataka, due to the harassment of Krikanta Chozhan,

and those again of Swami Desikan, during his long

sojourn at Satyamangalam and other places, when

Srirangam was under muslim occupation.

 

Our samparadAyic lore abounds in such instances of

such intense longing for Emperuman, that this piece

could be stretched much longer. However, rather than

test the readers’ patience,adiyen would like to end

here, with Sri Alavandar’s plaintive outpouring-

“KadA puna”shanka ratAnka kalpaka dvajAravindAnkusa

vajralAnchanam

Trivikarama tvat charanAmbuja dvayam madeeya

moordhAnam alankarishyati”

 

Srimate SrilakshmiNrsimha divya paduka sevaka

SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra mahadesikaya

Nama:

 

---------------dasan,sadagopan..

 

 

 

 

 

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