AdiyEn's KshEthrAdanam /Seventh Day : Oct 23 , 2005 : Srirangam DolOthsavam

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear Sri Ranganatha BhakthAs :

 

This day we left for recieving the blessings and the darsana soubhAgyam of

the Lord at the center of the Seven PrAkArams ( Concentric Rectangular

Enclosures)

with 21 gopurams in between them.

 

Swamy ParaAsara Bhattar's tribute for these seven PrAkArams and the Lord

inside it is :

 

saptha prAkAra madhyE Sarasija mukuLOdhbhAsamAnE vimAnE

KaavEri madhya-dEsE mrudhatara PhaNiraaD bhOga-paryanga-bhAgE

nidhrA-mudhrAbhirAmam kaDinikaDa-sira: paarsva-vinyastha-hastham

padhmA-DhAthree karAbhyAm parchiitha charaNam RangarAjam bhajEaham

 

(Meaning) : I meditate on the Lord of Srirangam reclining on His most enjoyable

soft bed of AadhisEshA with His eyes closed in YoganidhrA pose. He is keeping

His right hand under His head and His left hand near His hip . He rests under

the shining PraNavAkAra vimAna of the Srirangam temple encircled by seven

courtyards. His feet are being gently pressed by SrI and BhU Devis during His

YoganidhrA at His temple situated in the central region of KaavEri delta .

 

Another oft repeated dhyAna slOkam for the Lord of Srirangam resting under

the PraNavAkAra VimAnam is :

 

KaavEri virajA sEyam Vaikuntam Rangamanthiram

Sa VaasudEvO pangEsha prathyaksham Paramam Padham

VimAnam PraNavAkAram vEdha srungam mahAdhbhutham

Sriranga-saayee BhagavAn praNavArTa PrakAsaka:

 

(Meaning): The KaavEri river flowing at Srirangam is equivalent to the VirajA

river

located at Srivaikuntam . The Temple of the Lord at Srirangam is equal to

Srivaikuntam

itself. Lord Ranganathan is the same One sitting on AadhisEshan at Parama Padham

offering His darsanam to MukthAs and Nithya Sooris.The VimAnam at Srirangam

known as the wonderous PraNavAkAra VimAnam has the shape of the PraNavam .

Here rests victorious , the Lord of Srirangam illumining the deep meanings of

PraNavam .

 

AzhwArs and AchAryAs and YathivarALs ( MUkkOl MUnivarhaL) have thronged

to Srirangam to eulogize the Lord for centuries . The AzhwArs have bequeathed to

us

247 Paasurams extolling the Vaibhavam of their Lord and declaring their eternal

allegiance

to Him as their Supreme Master . The Number of Paasurams by individual AzhwArs

on

the Lord of Srirangam are :

 

PeriyAzhwAr ( 35) , ANDAL ( 10) , KulasEkahrar ( 31) , Thirumazhisai ( 14) ,

ThoNDaradippodi ( 55) , ThiruppANar ( 10) , Thirumangai ( 73) , Poygai (1) ,

BhUtham ( 4) , pEy ( 2) and Swamy NammAzhwAr ( 12) adding upto 247 Paasurams

by 11 AzhwArs .

 

Here lived AchAryAs from the 10th Century onwards : Swamy Naathamuni , Swamy

AlavanthAr and His disciples , AchArya RaamAnuja , KurEsar , Bhattar , Namjeeyar

,

NampiLLai , Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai , PiLLai LokAcchAr , Azhagiya MaNavALa

PerumAL NaayanAr , Swamy Desikan , PEraruLALa Jeeyar , KumAra VaradAcchAr,

MaNavALa MaamunigaL and their respective sishya Paramparais .

 

The Gadhya Thrayams of AchArya RaamAnuja were born here

(at Srirangam) on a Panguni Uttharam day .

 

Swamy ParAsara Bhattar composed many of His Sri Sookthis here .

 

Here Swamy Desikan composed the MahA Kaavyam of Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA

Sahasram during the short span of one single night :

 

http://Paadhukasahasram.Sadagopan.org

 

Here was born the AshtAdasa Rahasyams of the venerable PiLLai LokAcchAr

and the magnificent " AchArya Hrudhayam " of His brother .

 

Here arose Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram of Swamy Desikan.

 

Great kings laid their wealth at the sacred feet of the Lord of Srirangam ,

built ramparts , Gopurams and Mantapams : Dharma Varma ChOzhan ,

KiLi ChOzhan of UrayUr , Sundara ChOzhan ( 956-973 C.E) , the great

Raaja Raaja ChOzhan of TanjAvUr ( 985-1014 C.E), KulOtthunga ChOzhan ,

Vikrama ChOzhan and Raaja Raaja ChOzhan III ( 1216-1257 C.E). The PallavAs ,

The Paandya RaajAs of Mathurai , the HoysalAs of Mysore , The Vijaya Nagara

Kings , The Naiks of Mathurai and others preserved , protected and grew

the treasures of Lord RanganAtha . The history of this ancient temple with

links to Sri Vaikuntam and AyOdhyA is well chronicled :

 

http://ww.Srirangam.org/index1.html

 

The above is the official web site of Srirangam Temple and gives

a good description of the annual festivals , temple times etc .

 

Another web site of interest is :

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/temples/Srirangam

 

The above gives a detailed account of Srirangam Temple by

Professor R.V.Seshadhri , which appeared in Sri Nrusimha PriyA .

 

Approximately 18 articles on Lord RanganAtha by adiyen spanning from March 29

to May 02, 1998

covering the vaibhavam of the Lord of Srirangam , AzhwAr Paasurams , the Four

Kalasams of

the PraNavAkAra VimAnam with their ties to the four vedams , the commentary on

the 247

paasurams of AzhwArs , the Sriranga Pancha Rathnam , Sri Dikshithar's

BrundhAvana

SaarangA Kruthi on Sri RanganAyakan are available to you for browsing at :

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives

 

Please search in the archives of the three months March , April and May

for these 18 plus articles under the author name of Sadagopan .These articles

were written to raise funds for the construction of the Sri RanganAtha Temple

at Pomona , NY :

 

http://www.ranganatha.org

 

Here you will have the darsana soubhAgyam of Lord RanganAtha and other deities

of

the temple at Pomona , NY .

 

The day at Srirangam ( Oct 23 , 2005)

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

adiyEn arrived at the Lord's sannidhi in the early afternoon and

had a wonderful , unhurried dhivya sEvai of LOrd RanganAtha

( Moolavar in ThailakkAppu and the Utsavar with ubhaya NaacchiyArs).

The archakAs were very kind and lifted the pole that serves as the gate

to the Sannidhi and let adiyEn in to be closer to the Lord . From that distance

,

adiyEn had the recollection of the MangaLAsAsanam of ThiruppANar

( AmalanAdhi PirAn ) and Swamy ParAsara Bhattar's Sri RanganAthAshtakam.

It is a memorable experience . Next , adiyEn visited Sri RanganAyaki

ThAyAr Sannidhi and recieved ManjaL PrasAdham and a red lotus flower .

 

Since Uthsavar's PurappAdu that afternoon for Dolothsavam

was only at 5.30 P.M , adiyEn went to the Aasramam of HH. Sri

PoundarIkapuram Andavan on the banks of Coleroon river .

The compassionate AchAryan spent 45 minutes with adiyEn and blessed

me with the recent releases of the deep vyAkhyAnams of Swamy Desikan's

Sri Sthuthi , GodhA Sthuthi and Sri HayagrIva SthOthram .

 

On return to the temple , adiyEn waited for NamperumAL's PuRappAdu

from Moola SthAnam exactly at 5.30 P.M. It was the fourth day of DolOthsavam ,

which starts 8 days before KrishNa Paksha EkAdasi and concludes on

the next EkAdasi dinam . On the first and the 7th day of this Uthsavam

initiated by Swamy KandhAdai RaamAnujA in the Iyppasi month of 1489 C.E ,

PerumAl travels to His Dolai Mantapam with Ubhaya NaacchiyArs to

listen to Arayar's ViNNappam . On the First day , Sri RanganAthan

returns to AasthAnam by 9.15 P.M. with His Devis . On the seventh day ,

He returns at 10.15 P.M . He has an extra stop at ThAyAr Sannidhi for

ThiruvathikkAppu . On days other than the First and the Seventh day

of DolOthsavam , Sri RanganAtha arrives at DolOthsavam alone at 6 P.M

and returns to the AasthAnam at 9.15 P.M . Thanks to the MaNiyakkArar ,

these time tables are exactly followed .

 

It was a divine sight to see the Lord carried on the back of

the ThOLukkiniyAn and surrounded by His Kaimakrya ParALs

and Bhaktha kOtis , checking on His dhivya Soundharyam

at the mirrors on the way and taking His famous steps

and climbing the Dolai Mantapam steps in quick swoop .

Unfortunately , adiyEn could not stay for the Arayar Sevai

since adiyEn had to leave for Mathurai in connection

with the Akkaravadisil Kaimkaryam at ThirumAlirumchOlai

and the Mutthangi SamarpaNam at Sri VilliputthUr planned for

the next two days of this KshEthrAdanam .

 

Sri RanganathO Jayathi ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V. Sadagopan

 

P.S : Dear SishyAs and AbhimAnis of AhObila Matam :

Please support the upcoming 79th Thirunakshathram

Uthsavam of HH Sri Narayana YathIndhra MahA Desikan .

Please contact me for details on your participation .

Thanks .