“The Lord allowed my feet to reach one hundred and six Divya Deśams… only so that my soul would long for the final two.”
Yesterday…
I stood in silent gratitude as the Lord gently unfolded the purpose behind every pilgrimage He had blessed me to undertake.
The sacred rivers…the towering gopurams…the mountain paths…the countless darśanas…
were never isolated journeys.
They were chapters of a single story His story. My story.
Our journey Home. Yet…
one memory still remained unfinished.
When I completed the pilgrimage to the 106 Divya Deśams…
many dear devotees embraced me with joy.
“Swamy…
you have completed all the Divya Deśams.”
I smiled.
But somewhere deep within…
my heart quietly whispered,
“No… not yet.”
There were still two.
Not because I had forgotten them.
But because no mortal pilgrim could ever stand before them.
For years…
that question accompanied me.
Whenever I met revered elders…
learned scholars…
or sat before my beloved Ācāryas…
I would ask with childlike eagerness,
“Swamy…
where are the remaining two Divya Deśams?”
Almost every elder smiled.
Not because the answer was difficult.
But because they knew…
the answer would change the way I looked at every temple I had ever visited.
One venerable scholar finally said,
“My child…The first one hundred and six were meant for your body.The remaining two await only the liberated soul.”
His words settled into my heart like sacred seeds.
He explained that the 107th Divya Deśam is Thiruppārkadal…
the Ocean of Divine Milk…
where Śrīman Nārāyaṇa reclines upon Ādiśeṣa.
The 108th Divya Deśam is Śrī Vaikuṇṭham…
the Eternal Home.
Neither belongs to this earthly realm.
No traveller can purchase a ticket.
No mountain trail leads there.
No aircraft flies there.
No human eye can behold them.
Only the soul…
led by the Lord’s own grace…
may enter.
As I listened…
my heart filled with wonder.
Then came an even greater surprise.
The Āḻvārs…
our beloved seers of Divine Love…
had already seen them.
Not with physical sight…
but with hearts illumined by divine grace.
Periyāḻvār sang.
Āṇḍāḷ longed.
Thirumazhisai Āḻvār marvelled.
Thirumaṅgai Āḻvār glorified.
Nammāḻvār…
whose soul seemed to breathe the air of eternity…
poured forth pāsurams overflowing with longing for those Divine Abodes
How extraordinary…
The places hidden from the world’s eyes…
had been lovingly revealed through the songs of those who loved Him beyond measure.
Their pāsurams became our eyes.
Their longing became our invitation.
As these memories unfolded…
I instinctively looked beside me.
There He was.
Śrī Viśvaksena Radiant. Compassionate. and Silent.
He had never left my side.Until this moment…
I had been so absorbed in my own memories that I had scarcely noticed His constant presence.
He looked at me with the affection of a guardian entrusted with a precious child.
Without my asking…
He smiled.
“My child…
do you now understand why the Lord allowed you to walk through one hundred and six Divya Deśams?”
I remained silent.
He continued. Every temple removed one veil.
Every pilgrimage softened the heart.
Every tear washed away another attachment.
The Lord was never counting the temples you visited.
He was preparing you to recognise your Eternal Home.”
His words entered my heart more deeply than any discourse I had ever heard.
Then another realization quietly dawned.
Perhaps…
the Archirādi Mārga had never begun after leaving the body.
Perhaps it had begun long ago…
the very first time I sincerely folded my hands before Him.
Every act of humility…
every moment of forgiveness…
every victory over pride…
every surrender of anger…
every offering made without expectation…
had already been steps upon this Path of Light.
My daily meditation suddenly came alive.
Every morning…
I had lovingly recited,
“Koormādīn Divya Lokam…”
For years…
they were sacred words.
Today…
they were no longer words.
They had become a doorway.
The radiant path beneath my feet gradually changed.
The brilliance of the Archirādi Mārga became softer…
deeper…
more serene.
Even the celestial beings accompanying us slowed their pace.
No one spoke.
Not because there was nothing to say…
but because silence itself had become worship.
Viśvaksena gently raised His hand toward the distant horizon.
Far ahead…
I saw something that no earthly ocean could resemble.
It stretched beyond sight.
Yet it did not move.
It shimmered with living light.
No waves crashed.
No winds blew.
Its stillness was more powerful than the mightiest storm.
My heart began to tremble.Without thinking…
I folded my hands.
Even Viśvaksena bowed His head.
For the first time since our journey together had begun…
He did not immediately speak.
After a long and sacred silence…
He softly whispered,
“Beyond these shores…
the songs of the Āḻvārs become living reality.”
I looked again.
The luminous expanse seemed almost alive.
Not calling.
Not pulling.
Simply…
waiting.
Waiting as though it had known my name long before I had ever uttered His.
I stood motionless.
Had I finally reached the very Ocean that no mortal eye had ever seen?
Viśvaksena gently smiled. “My child…
tomorrow…
you shall understand why the Āḻvārs wept when they sang of it.”
Our Pūrvācāryas teach that the first 106 Divya Deśams are divine gifts granted during earthly life.
The final two—Thiruppārkadal and Śrī Vaikuṇṭham—belong to the eternal realm. They are attained not through physical effort, but solely through the Lord’s grace bestowed upon the surrendered soul.
The Āḻvārs, through divya-dṛṣṭi, lovingly revealed these eternal abodes in their sacred pāsurams, inviting every seeker to long for the Home beyond all worlds.
When I completed my pilgrimage to the 106 Divya Deśams…
I thought I had reached the end.
Today…
I realize…
I had merely arrived at the shoreline.
“The feet completed one hundred and six pilgrimages. Grace alone completes the final two.”
“The Āḻvārs did not merely describe eternity—they invited us to remember it.”
“The Lord never measured the number of temples I visited. He lovingly measured how much of my heart had become His.”
Perhaps…
the greatest pilgrimage is not from one sacred place to another.
Perhaps…
it is from the restless mind..to the peaceful heart…
where the Lord has been waiting all along.
Tomorrow
The Ocean waits.
The Āḻvārs sang of it.
The Ācāryas bowed before its mystery.
Even Viśvaksena now stands in reverent silence.
What lies beyond those luminous waters…
that even the eternal servants pause before entering?
Tomorrow…
The Ocean That Reflects Eternity.
“One hundred and six temples taught my feet to walk…
