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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00083 Oct 2003

 
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Dear bhagavathas,

pranamams.

adiyen is continuing my writeup regarding my visit to various divya 
desams.We will cover Thillai vilakam, Vaduvoor( abhimana sthalams) and
Thiruvinnagar.On 3rd July early morning we left Thanjavour and went 
to Thillaivilakam via Pattukkottai. This is a ramar temple and the 
beauty of the Rama is just beyond our expression. Even the moolavar 
is made of Pancha loka and this divya desam is located in between 
Pattukkottai and Vedaranyam. The vedaaranyam means the forest filled 
with Vedic seers. It is believed that great maharishis have lived 
here when Sri Rama was living exile in forest.

The Thillaivilakam is considered as the place of Sri Bharadwaja maha 
rishi and Sri Rama landed here enroute HIS trip to Ayodhya after 
ravana samhara. The anjeyenar here is in standing posture, taking 
message for Sri Bharata in Nandigram near Ayodhya. He is not with 
traditional folded hands. One hand is near the mouth as if he is 
keenly listening to Rama's order. 

There are many such unique things in this temple. The moolavar's 
arrow here is "Rama charam", unlike the artha chandra bhanam which is 
common in all other temples. It is said that this Rama charam was 
used only on three occasions in Ramavatara. One is against Kaksura 
and next was to kill Vali and third one was to kill Ravana. Futher 
you can see the scars on Sri Rama's leg as if we are looking at real 
human beings. Any amount of such expressions will not be enough to 
describe the beauty of the Lord here. We have purchased garlands at 
Pattukkottai for all deities and reached the temple around 9AM.

It was time for morning pooja and we had wonderful darshan of SriRama 
with
Sita, Lakshmana and Sri Anjeneya. One more thing about this temple 
that,there won't be any crowd here. You can stand in front of the 
sannidhi for hours enjoying the divya thirumeni of the Lord inch by 
inch sorry millimeter by millimeter. Although we had a hectic program 
ahead, adiyen could not come out of this temple, remembering the 
adiyen's visits during his school days. 

That day Sri Anjeneyar was getting ready for thirumanjanam but we 
couldn't wait till then due to our other commitments.

When we left Thillaivilakam it was well beyond 10.30 AM and the 
driver has informed that the vaduvoor temple will be closed by 11.45 
AM and only in the evening we can have darshan. The route leading to 
vaduvoor is not good and the car can't reach there by 11.30AM. We 
were worried. In fact our original plan was to visit Rajagopala swamy 
temple in Mannargudi enroute vaduvoor. Now it appeared that we could 
have darshan at Mannargudi but not at vaduvoor.

We had another reason to go to Vaduvoor. We wanted to donate dhothis 
to the vidhyarthis (and teachers) of Veda patashala at Vaduvoor. We 
have purchased the required items from chennai itself and as such we 
have to go to Vaduvoor. The driver has suggested to phone the veda 
patashala and request them to wait for us. Adiyen did so but the 
temple is not under the control of the patashala. Sri Desikachchar 
swamy has told that he will inform the temple but he can't guarntee 
that the temple will remain open.

Our Journey to Vaduvoor was like a thriller as it happened the 
earlier day while going to Thirupper nagar. The road was very bad and 
once we reached Vaduvoor it was around 12.30 PM. The bhattar was 
waiting for us patiently and we have apologised for our delay and he 
gave us good darshan. The Ramar here is very beautiful and to me the 
Ramar in each temple is looking different and to date adiyen has 
enjoyed the beauty of Sri Rama in Madhurantakam, Thiruvahendrapuram, 
Oppiliappan koil, Thillai vilakam and Vaduvoor. Each archa thirumeni 
is different and one can't even feel like winking the eye for a 
second. The bhattar told that originally the temple was Venugopala 
swamy temple and this vigraha is very small now located in a
separate sannidhi. There are many steps to the main sannidhi and he 
pointed out that, this was made thinking the small vigraha of 
Krishna. Now the Ramar is huge in size and he told that it is not 
easy to bring the utsava moorthy from sannidhi for utsavas. The 
archaka was very kind although he has to wait for more than an hour 
for our visit. After performing darshan, he also gave prasadam (curd 
rice). Since we were thirsty and hungry and very anxious throughout 
the journey, we have really relished the prasadam. He asked us to
wait near the Hayagreevar sannidhi and told that he will ask the 
archaka of that sannidhi to come to open the sannidhi for our 
darshan. 

The archaka for that sannidhi was a young person in early twenties. 
The tejas of face is still in my mind. His name is Sriram and he has 
completed poorna adhyayanam of vedam from the local patashala and 
this sannidhi kaimkaryam came to him from his ancestors. He was very 
kind and soft spoken and very knowledgable. 

In the Hayagreevar sannidhi there were vigrahams of Bhagavad 
Ramanuja, Sri Nammazhvar and swami desika apart from Lakshmi 
Hayagreeva.After performing archana, Sriram swami has commenced his 
harati. It went for more than 30 minutes. He described the glory of 
Hayagreeva quoting swami desikan's Hayagreeva stotram. Although we 
know stotram, the meanings given by him breaking each phrase of the 
stotra was enjoyable. Then he glorified Sri Nammazhvar with the 
famous taniyan "Bhaktaamrutham" and Bhagavad Ramanuja was glorified 
with Yatiraja saptathi. Finally he made us to shed tears while
describing the divya thirumeni of Swami desika quoting phrases from 
Pillai andhadhi. He mentioned that he is not looking forward to make 
a living out this kaimkaryam, which has come down from his ancestors 
but doing it for the pleasure of serving acharyas and Hayagreeva. He 
also mentioned that the sannidhi was renovated from the offerings of 
the devotees after archana/harati. He was very enthusiastic and 
looking forward to perform more and more kaimkaryams to Hayagreeva 
over there.

When we have mentioned him that we would like to go to Veda patashala 
to distribute the dhothis to vidhayarthis over there, he came with us 
and told that he is also teaching the young children there. He first 
went to Sri Desikachchar swamy house, which was just two blocks from 
the patashala and returned in a minute. When he came, he first 
requested us to have prasadam. 

It was well beyond 1 PM, and we were exhausted by that time. Our 
original plan was to reach Oppiliappan koil and we have made 
arrangements for afternoon prasadam there.But we got delayed. We have 
politely refused, as it is not fair for five of us to go to patashala 
without prior intimation for having prasadam. Sriram must have read 
our mind and told that it is the order Sri Andavan swami that the 
prasadam should not be cooked just for the vidhyarthis but have 
little extra, since some parents may drop in to their wards and they 
should be served with prasadam. So don't worry. When you all
came, adiyen has ensured that there is enough food and just went to 
Sri Desikachchar swamy to take his permission. So don't hesitate and 
please come, he told.

It was as if Sri Ramachandra moorthy came in the form of Sriram to 
take care of us on that day. The long journeys weren't pleasent and 
we haven't planned the trip properly trying to cover too much 
distance in a day. The unexpected rest and food at Vaduvoor was a 
great relief although it was in the back of our mind that we should 
reach Oppiliappan koil before 4 PM for Kalyana utsavam. They can't 
wait for us, as there will be continous sevas for Utsavar after 
kalyana utsavam. appa made a phone call to Oppiliappankoil and
the Executive officer told that, we have to be there by 3.45PM for 
doing sankalpam.

Sriram and other students served us traditional south indian food in a
plantain leaf. Then he arranged the students to sit and we have 
distributed the dhothis to all of them. They have recited some 
Upanishad passages (can't remeber now) and then went to Sri 
Desikachchar swamy to take his blessings. Sriram was with us till we 
left the place and he is still living in our heart. Later during our 
Thirunangur trip we have met another young lad by name Vedarajan who 
was like another Sriram. We will meet him later and now get to our 
current trip to Oppiliappan koil.

The driver at the time of starting at Vaduvoor itself told that the 
road between Needamangalam and Kumbakonam is under renovation and it 
is NOT possible to reach Oppiliappan koil by 3.45PM. He was true. The 
stretch of 15 -20 kilometers from Needamangalam and Kumbakonam was 
worst road we have travelled in our entire journey. It appears that 
the different contractors are working on this project and it was 
funny to note that you will enjoy a good ride on a newly laid road 
for a kilometer and then the next couple of kilometers will be 
terrible with deep pits and uneven surface. The driver has to to be 
extremely patient. Even before reaching the Kumbakonam it was
4PM and we thought that the Kalyana utsavam must have already 
started. Since we have performed many kalyana utsavams in this 
temple, which used to take place exactly on time, we felt that it was 
not correct to organise such utsavam when we have to many temples to 
visit in the day.

By 4.30 PM, we went to the temple and rushed to the Kalyana mandapam 
but alas, it was empty and there were no signs of Kalyana utsavam. 
What happened? Then we went to main sannidhi to have darshan of 
Moolavar. Since there was a Moolavar thirumanjanam on that day, all 
the temple proceedings got delayed it seems. The utsavar was just 
getting ready with his lone consort Sri Bhumidevi thayar to the 
Kalyana mandapam. This is the first time, adiyen is seeing that any 
utsavam is getting delayed by more than an hour. Is that HIS plan, to 
delay it for the sake of our participation from the beginning? Tears 
rolled on adiyen's cheecks and we did not miss any part of the 
Kalyanan utsavam.

If you want to witness a traditional, Vedic way of marriage, then 
come to Oppiliappan koil and enjoy. There is no hurry in the 
proceedings and the Veda parayanam and other mantras are recited 
loudly, in a majestic voice and it was indeed a treat to be there. We 
were blessed to perform marriage to the never separated divine 
couple. The majestic look of the perumal and the kind look of the 
thayar will ever remain in our mind. My father runs to Oppiliappan 
koil from chennai for every sravanam and we have been to this
temple many times and still every time we go on a south trip we don't 
want to miss the sevai of Sri Oppiliappan. Sri Nammazhvar has choosen 
the apt name for HIM Oppar il appan. Who can match his gamberam? The 
beauty is that even from dhwajasthambam we can see the thirumuka 
mandalam of the Moolavar.

Although it gets crowded at times, still you can have a peaceful 
darshan from close quarters.

Coming back to Kalyana utsavam, after sankalpam we were watching the 
divine marriage sitting close to the divine couple. Once it was over 
we were given the uththiriiyam and a silver dollar with the 
inscription of the perumal plus prasadams. We went again to the 
Moolavar and finally left the temple by 6.30 PM, as our train to 
Chennai was at 8 PM.

adiyen had planned one more trip to Oppiliappankoil on 18th July on 
the Sravanam day. We will meet HIM once again.

After our memorable trip of three days visiting Srirangam, Anbil,
Thiruppernagar, Thanjai mamanikkoil and Oppiliappan koil we have 
returned to Chennai on 4th July morning.

adiyen will cover our trip to Thirumala and Thiruppathi in the next 
posting.

regards

dasan venkat






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