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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00079 Oct 2003

 
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Dear bhagavathas,

pranamams.

Here is the second dose. This time it is Srirangam.

July 1st to 3rd:

Our next trip was to Srirangam and oppiliappan koil etc. This year we 
were blessed to visit all the three major divya desams ie Srirangam, 
Thirumalai and Kanchipuram in the same order. 

We have choosen 1st July to visit Srirangam because one of our goshti 
member, who is the ubayadharar for nitya aradana on that day. Since 
he could not go on that day, he was kind enough to guide us to go 
there on that day on his behalf and we are thankful to Sri Raghu for 
this. For the first we have enjoyed Sri Ranganatha from very close 
quarters and we were indeed blessed to be with HIM in all the six 
sevas. 

On 31st night we left chennai by Rock Fort express and landed at 
Srirangam around 5.30AM. We went to Sri Radha krishnan mama's house 
in Melur road (father of my friend, who is working in Bahrain) and 
after bath left for the temple. We have just missed the visvaroopa 
darshan at perumal sannidhi but could take the blessings of Thayar 
and Swami desika. Though adiyen had been to Srirangam many times this 
is the first time adiyen has seen the desikan sannidhi in open 
condition. The timing never match to take blessings from swami 
desika. adiyen thought that perumal has commanded us to take the 
blessings from Thayar and acharya before coming to HIM.

Since there was more than an hour to have seva of Ranganatha, we have 
quickly decided to take the blessings of Srimad Andavan, who was at 
Srirangam on that day. HE was leaving to Azhvar thirunagari enroute 
Thiruppullani on that day afternoon. Immediately we went to ashramam 
and adiyen was lucky to participate in the nityanusandhanam 
recitation. After partaking perumal and paduka thirtham of so many 
illustrous acharyas and prasadam we took the blessings of Srimad 
Andavan and then rushed to temple. If you haven't been to this 
ashramam,then you should see it once. Amidst tall trees and in a calm 
atmosphere it was so nice to enjoy the beauty of the nature and the 
veda and prabandha gosham inspires you a lot. But you must be 
prepared for a worst drive thru a small road which is in worst 
condition. Not at all road worthy. Due to shortage of time we could 
not visit the Veda patashala run by Srimad Andavan. My mama's son has 
recently joined the Veda patashala, and we wanted to pay him a visit. 
But bhagavad sankalpam was different.

We came to temple and had a good darshan of Sri Ranganatha. Being 
representative of the Ubhayadharar we could get darshan here. Sri 
Thiruppanazhvar's amalanaadhipiran and swami desika's bhagavad dhyana 
sopanam came to adiyen's mind and adiyen could recite them mentally 
while enjoying the beauty of Sri Ranganatha. It looks like a 
competition between peria perumal and namperumal who is more 
beautiful. How many azhvars and acharyas have enjoyed the beauty of 
Ranganatha. HE is the one perumal who has attracted acharayas of not 
just srivaishnava tradition but even Sri Krishna chaitanya and Sri 
Adi Sankara. All the stories you hear about the namperumal will flash 
thru your mind in that short time and the spritual feeling you 
experience can't be explained in words. The aromatic smell, the 
beauty of HIS ornaments, flowers. Oh what to look and how to capture 
HIM into our mind. The archakas are polite in telling us that we have 
to give way for others. No one will ever want to leave the sannidhi 
but we have to give chance to other devotees who are eagerly waiting 
to have darshan of the Lord. Finally we came out of the sannidhi with 
a light heart and tears in eyes. It was noon by that time and we were 
very hungry by then.

Then we went around other sannidhi's like Ramar, Andal, 
Dhanvantri,mettu azhagiya singar, Venugopalan etc to name a few. 
Since we went on behalf of Sri Raghu who is one of the ubhayadharar 
for nitya aradanam on that day, we have been given prasadam at 
Madappalli. The officer there told us to come in the evening and 
night for darshan. (also for prasadams offered during that time)

After resting for a while, at about 4 PM we went to Sri Poundripuram 
Andavan ashramam. Sri Madhava kannan's (Singapore) father Sri 
Vasudevan mama was kind enough to introduce us to swami and we were 
wonderstruck at the soulabyam of Swami. We spent more than an hour 
with swami and he was very happy about the satsangh activites, our 
web site and about our humble contributions to various divya desams. 
Swami gave a srimukam blessing our newly formed trust and adiyen has 
shown the thiruvaradana kramam book let prepared by us. Swami was 
very pleased and autographed the booklet. Swami also told about the 
upcoming Andal sannidhi samprokshanam which is being done by Sri 
Madhavakkannan and others. The water scarcity in Srirangam was 
discussed and swami was very upset with the present condition. He 
felt that deep borewells in srirangam have dried up the wells and he 
mentioned that a vaidhika can't follow his daily routines today in 
Srirangam. Swami enquired whether we can stay still the Andal 
sannidhi samprokshanam but adiyen could not do so since Sudharshana 
homam was planned at adiyen's residence on that day in chennai.We 
were indeed blessed to meet two Andavans on the same day.

Then we went to dasavatharan sannidhi, which is near Poundripuram 
andavan ashramam. Many of us don't know this temple. We can see 
perumal in all the ten incarnations. The beauty of the moorthis is 
beyond my language. One must visit this temple. Sri Thirumangai 
azhvar stayed here and did kaimkaryams to Sri Ranganatha. Later Swami 
desikan has composed famous dasavathara stotram on this perumal. 
adiyen also understand that 44th Jeeyar of Sri ahobila mutt who has 
undertook the marathon task of constructing Raja gopuram for Sri 
Ranganatha stayed here for many years. Such is the greatness of this 
sannidhi. We performed archana. This temple is being maintained by 
Sri ahobila mutt. If you want to see the images of Dasavathara 
perumal adiyen can scan from the Nrusimhapriya and mail it. Please 
visit this sannidhi next time

Then we rushed to Ranganatha temple and went to Sri Sudarshanar 
sannidhi. Again we went to Perumal and thayar sannidhi and had good 
darshan. We could not do darshan at Sri Bhashyakarar sannidhi since 
it was beyond 7 PM. Adiyen then went to temple for artha jama darshan 
also. The aravanai prasadam given after artha jamam was simply 
superb. Fortunately the house we were staying was not very far from 
the temple. adiyen might have commuted between home and temple for 
more than 10 times on that day, not missing even one seva.

Since we have missed the Vishvaroopa darshan on that day, we want to 
do darshan of this seva next day morning. We were all exhausted and 
afraid that we will miss the seva for which we have to be at temple 
by 5.45AM. We prayed to Sri Ranganatha to wake us early enough to 
bathe and be in time. 

If you haven't seen Vishvaroopa seva, then please make a point to go 
for this next time. It is a treat to watch. People say you don't get 
thiirtham or tulasi or you can't do archana during this time. Forget 
all that. Then preparations to wake up the Lord is simply amazing. 
The Veena ganam, recitation of Thiruppalliyezhuchchi in a melodious 
voice, the arrival of cow and elephant are really a feast to the 
eyes. We were in time but the temple officials did not permit us 
stating that the officer have to come and we lost about 15-20 
minutes. Although the officer on duty have told them about our seva 
(previous night), they were adament. Finally we stormed in stating 
that we will speak to the officer once he has come but can't wait to 
lose the seva. Due to this we could not get a place close to the 
sannidhi.

Finally the screen was opened and the Harathi was shown to perumal. 
Then the devotees were allowed to have darshan of the Lord one by 
one. Adiyen had the bhagyam of seeing Namperumal without any kavacham 
or ornaments. The original divya thirumeni. We trying to see HIM 
without even winking our eyes and in few minutes we were out of the 
sannidhi. When Next? This is the question. Adiyen felt that sri 
bhattar's statement that he will even return from Vaikuntam if the 
Lord over there is not as beautiful as Sri Ranganatha. The 
bhagavathas who are living in Srirangam and having darshan of Perumal 
every day are indeed bleesed.

We went to Sri Bhashyakarar sannidhi and all of you must be knowing 
about the Than ana thirumeni at this shrine. Adiyen will not dwell in 
those topics for the sake of brevity. We had an wonderful darshan in 
the early morning and mentally reciting Ramanuja noorandhadhi 
pasurams and Yathiraja sapthathi. Each sannidhi has its own beauty in 
Srirangam. Quickly we went to Thayar and Sudarshanar sannidhis once 
again in the morning to take their permission to continue our yatra. 
This time adiyen enjoyed the perumal from close quarters and HE 
blessed us with a smile ackowledging our eagerness to see HIM. Adiyen 
read that seeing perumal thru the eyes of Azhvars and Acharyas will 
be the best way to enjoy HIM and he will be happy to bless us even 
though we may not know the inner meanings of the pasurams. This is 
true.

We came home and our next plan was to visit Anbil and Thirupper nagar 
and enroute Kattu azhagiya singar in Srirangam in the morning and 
then travel to Thanjavour for Mamanikkoil.

Adiyen will contine this in my next post.

regards

dasan venkat






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