Lord Krishna is believed to have graced him with darshan , as ‘Pandava Dhootha’, in the same way he had in the Mahabharatha episode. Having played the role of a messenger for the Pandavas, Lord Krishna, here at this temple, is known by that same name Pandava Dhootha Perumal.
Pandava Dhootha Perumal Temple ( Thirupadagam ) is located in Kancheepuram in Tamilnadu.
1 km West of Kanchipuram Bus Stand we can proceed to this temple to have a darshan of LORD KRISHNA which is very special We can see LORD Krishna in a majestic sitting posture (facing East), almost 25 feet in height suggestive of the Lord’s Vishvaroopam.
Lord Krishna in order to make peace with the Kauravas, proceeds to Hastinapura to the court of Duryodhana on behalf of the Pandavas.
With a plot to harm Lord Krishna and thus to put all hopes of a peace treaty, the evil Duryodhana digs a pit and tops it with bamboo sticks.
On this bamboo topped pit, he puts up a grand stage, thus setting up Lord Krishna for a mega fall. Once he enters the hall, the all knowing …
Amongst the 12 Azhwars , Vishnuchittar was glorified as ” Peria Azhwar” . Our poorvacharyars comment that though he appeared after Mudal azhwar, Nammazhwar, Thirumazhisai Azhwar, he was honoured with the title “Peria Azhwar because while all other azhwars glorified Lord as Supreme Personality, Azhwar had “pongum parivu” ( vatsalyabhava).
Swamy Manavala Mamunigal in ” Upadesa Ratnamala ” says “Pongum parivaale petraan Periazhwar ennum peyar” meaning that because of the vatsalya bhaavam like a mother towards the Lord, he was conferred with this title. Periyazhwar was overwhelmed to have darshanam of the Lord after winning the debate called by the Pandyan King at Madurai few hundred years back . Having darshan of Lord Koodal Azhagar Perumal , along with the Goddess who had come to witness the marathon procession honours done by the King to the Azhwar , on…
As per the divine order of JagathAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja his disciple Swamy Anathazhwan served LORD VENKATESHWARA at Tirumala hills . He maintained a garden and was offering fragrant flowers to LORD daily .The beautiful garden was planted with flower bearing plants such as vakula , patala , punnaga , shenbaga and other fragrant trees .
The bunches of freshly grown flowers hanging from the branches were grand to look . The ears of pilgrims walking around the garden had strains of music poured forth by bees and all kinds of plumage birds , humming bees , cuckoos and the chirping of birds made the garden a perfect place for divinity . Nammazhwar’s hymns referring to the Lord as residing in flower bedecked ThiruVenkata Hills ( Sindhupoo maghizhum Thiruvengadam) was aptly reverberating .
KANCHIPURAM, popularly known as “ Temple town” is situated 70 kms to the southwest of Chennai -30 kms from Arakkonam and about 25 kms from Sriperumbudur-the birth place of Swamy Ramanujar. It takes about 2 hours to reach this place from Guindy, Chennai (subject to traffic) and about 1 hour from Arakkonam .
Plenty of buses ply from Chennai at frequent intervals to this place. It takes about one and half hours by car from Chennai Airport. Cab charges from Arakonam to Kanchi is fixed as RS.1,200/-. whereas from Chennai Airport it is about Rs.1000/-app.
As Brahma (KA) worshipped Vishnu in this place, it is known as KANCHI.
Kancheepuram is the only mukti kshetram located in South India out of the seven mukthi kshetrams, the others being Ayodhya, Mathura , Maya, Kasi, Avanthi, Dwaraka which are located in the NOrthern India.
SRIRANGA MANGALA NIDHIM KARUNA NIVAASAM
SRI VENKATADRI SHIKARALAYA KALAMEGHAM
SRI HASTHISAILA SIKORAJWALA PARIJATHAM
SRISAN NAMAAMI YADHUSAILA DEEPAM
The above famous sloka refers to the four most important Vishnu shrines-namely Srirangam(also known as “Bhoga Mandapam”),
Venkatadri(Tirumala)( “Pushpa Mandapam”),
Srihasthisailam(Kanchi)(“Thyaga mandapam”) and
Yadhusailam(Melkote) (known as “Jnana Mandapam”).
The above Perumals were worshipped by famous devotees in the four yugas.
Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam (known as “Kovil”) was worshipped by Lord Rama who later presented HIM to Vibhishana in Treta yuga
Lord Thirunarayanan of Melkote was worshipped by Lord Krishna in Dwapara yuga,
Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati (known as “Malai”) is being worshipped by Adisesha and us in Kali yuga whereas
Lord Varadarajar in Kanchipuram (Perumal kovil) is being worshipped in all the four yugas-
by Brahma in Satya yuga,
by Mahashaantan Maharishi who asssumed the form of Gajendran in TReta yuga
by Devaguru Brihaspathi in Dwapara yuga
by Ananatazhwan(Adisesha) in Kali yuga
The sthalavaralaaru mentions that Adisesha (the serpent on which Lord Vishnu eternally resides) emerged from Patala to worship the Lord. This place is now known as “Ananta saras” pushkarini where Lord Athi Varadar resides in water. There is a snake pit(putru) near Nammazhwar sannidhi in the temple premises which is considered to be Adiseshan’s dwelling place.
Ananta saras is the only temple pushkarini in the world which has association with Lord always as HE dwells in the sacred waters of the pushkarini. In all other temples, LOrd visits the pushkarini only for theerthavari and in most of the cases it is the Sudarshana chakram which has holy dip in theerthams.
Brahma-the lotus born who emerged from Lord Vishnu’s naval at the time of creation desired to have darshan of Lord Vishnu and undertook penance. Lord appeared in the form of water at Pushkar in Rajasthan and later in the form of forest at Naimisaranyam near Lucknow. He wished to have darshan of the Lord with chathurbhujam and was advised by an asareeri to perform 100 Aswamedha yagams. AS he felt he was incompetent to perform 100 yagams, he was advised to perform one aswamedha yagam at Sathyavratha kshetram as any act done at this holy place would reap 100 times benefit.
Brahma brought athi (“Dhaaru”-a rare type of wood) known as “DHEVA UDUMBARAM” from DEvalokam on an elephant and Viswakarma -the divine architect carved out Vishnu murthi holding sankhu , chakram, gadam and right hand in abhaya hastham. He installed this murthi and started Aswamedha yagam. The speciality of this wood is it gains lustre when in contact with water unlike normal wood which gets spoilt quickly when kept in water. By placing a piece of wood in a tree trunk, the tree would start growing. This tree can be found only in two places -Athiyur(kanchi) and Gaya. (There are very few temples like Thirukovalur, Thiruvellarai, Puri and Kanchi where the Lord made of wood is worshipped which adheres to agama sastras)
This place came to be known as “Kanchi” as “KA”(Brahma) worshipped Vishnu here. He begun the yagna alone with the help of SAvitri and Gayatri (his other consorts), without his main consort Sri Saraswati.(It may be recalled that in Pushkar also, Brahma did penance without Saraswati’s presence. this can be observed in the Brahma temple. )
Angered by this negligence, Saraswati decided to stop the yaga ( A divine play by LORD) . First, she put the entire world in darkness. The Lord out of abundant compassion to Brahma appeared as Sri Deepaprakasa on Chitra Revati ( Now glorified as DeepaPraksha temple ) . Darkness was driven out. On the auspicious day in the month of Chitra(Apr- May) on Revati star day which is considered as the appearance day of Lord Deepaprakasar , Perumal along with Swami Vedanta Desikar visit Varadaraja temple .
Again when Brahma wanted to start the yagna, Saraswati sent a demon with bird and beast features to stop the yagna. Immediately, the Lord appeared with Eight arms –Sri Ashtabuja Perumal This place is in another separate Kshetram within Kanchipuram. This happened in Chitra Rohini . The demon was driven away and lord Brahma restarted the yagna . Not to rely on others to stop the yagna, then Saraswati decided to stop the yagna herself and took the form of a rushing river – Vegavati .
The Lord now took the reclining pose and as a bridge stopped the flow of the river. This happened in Vekkha and thus the Lord is Sri Yatothkari . This wonderful incident happened on Chitra Punarvasu day . Thus the Lord appeared in Three forms in the month of Chitra in Revati, Rohini and Punarvasu as Sri Deepaprakasa, Sri Ashtabuja Perumal and Sri Yatoktakari. ( One must have darshan of the Lordships in these temples which is very near to Main temple ) .
At conclusion of yaga, Lord Varadarajan emerged out of the scared fire pleased with Brahma’s devotion, in Punyakoti vimanam on the northern banks of River Vegavati.
As Perumal ( Utsava Moorthy ) appeared from fire, the marks on caused due to heat in the form of many small dots can be seen on utsavar’s Thirumugam ( divine face ) . Perumal gave darshan with chathurbhujam holding sankhu, chakram, gadam with HIS lower left hand and lower right hand in .abhaya hastam on Chithirai month chathurdashi thithi on Hastham star. “Ka” – means Brahma and “Anjitham” – means who was worshipped.
As Perumal granted all the boons of Devas, He is known as “Varadar” meaning “giver of boons”. As He is very compassionate, He is known as “Perarulalan.
As He is the master of Devas, He is Devadirajan,
as he resides at Attiyur (this place was once surrounded by Athi maram),
He is known as Attiyuran,
Hastagirinathan as He resides in Hastagiri. Airavatam-the celestial elephant on which Brahma brought the diety assumed the form of a hill to shelter the Lord. Hence , the hillock is known as Hastagiri. (Indra who was cursed by Mahalakshmi to become an elephant prayed at this place and was redeemed from curse.
As the Lord is bestower of boons to , HE is known as “Varadan“
Athivaradar carved out and worshipped by Brahma was the presiding diety whom Azhwars and Acharyars have glorified. The deity of Lord Varadarajar glorified as Athiyuran was the main deity in the Garbagraha of this temple until 15th Century. But as per the stone inscriptions in Thayar sannidhi, in 1487 , the murthi was replaced with shila murthi by Virupakshanayakan (a local king) under the rule of Narasinarayar of Vijayanagar empire.
During the Muslim invasion, in 1687 A.D.,the main deity (Lord Varadarajan) is said to have been under threat by the invaders. The mughals eyed on temples to plunder the abundant wealth kept in the temples . In order to preserve the deity and to avoid desecration of the Lordships, the elders constructed a mandapam inside the tank and placed Athivaradan (moolavar diety) secretly in a silver casket and immersed in the temple tank- Anantha saras . (As per Dr.M.A.Venkatakrishnan, the deity is placed in the tank without silver casket. ). To protect the deity from floating, statues of eight naagas considered to be Adisesha swaroopam were installed around the diety for protection.
The utsava murthi of LOrd Varadarajan and Perundevi Thayar were shifted to Udayarpalayam near Trichy. The temple was in a deserted condition for 22 years. After peace was restored, an advanced devotee named Sri. Aathan Jeeyar who was the guru for Thodamal-the army chief of Arcot king (whose statue can be seen inside Tirumala temple) arranged to restore the utsava murthis in 1711 . AS they could not trace the whereabouts about Moolavar as most of the elders had migrated from Kanchi or left the world, there was none to reveal the whereabouts . It was decided to install a new Moolavirat from a rock in Pazhaya seevaram (a small hillock)-about 15 kms from Kanchipuram. . A replica of Athivaradar was thus carved out and consecrated as per vedic injunctions which we worship today. To mark this incident , every year during Thai maasam(Jan-Feb) , the utsava murthi Varadarajan visits Pazhaya seevaram. The newly consecrated idol was being worshipped along with the utsava murthis.
(After 40 years, due to divine will , when the temple tank Ananta saras got dried up (either due to drought or for cleaning purpose), the Lord revealed HIMSELF in the pushkarini. The Lord was placed in a nearby mantapam for worship as there was already a moolavar inside the temple.
(As per stone inscriptions in the temple, Athivaradar was found in the temple tank in 1781 on July 30th on saturday dasami thithi . )
Later, Lord appeared in a temple priest’s dream commanding him to put back the Lord in the cool waters of Ananta saras as HE was still experiencing the heat generated during Brahma’s yagam. Lord conceded to the devotees’ request to give darshan once in 40 years for a period of 48 days. Thus the practice of taking out the Lord from Ananta saras approximately once in 40 years for a period of 48 days begun. (As per records, it was taken out in 1892,then after 45 years in 1937, later after 42 years in 1979 and now after 40 years in 2019.)
Lord is placed in two postures -lying posture and standing posture . (As per Dr.Venkatakrishnan, the water from the puskarini is completely drained out and on an auspicious day during JUly-Aug when there are not many utsavams, the Lord is taken out carefully from Anantasaras, given holy bath and decorated .NO preservatives are used for protecting the divine form of the Lord. The Lord is placed only to have darshan, six times pooja as per Pancharatra agamasastras are not performed.
Ananta saras is the most sacred temple tank in the whole world because of its association with the LOrd of Universe always. Sprinkling holy water from this pushkarini redeems us of all the innumerable accumulated sins . In all other temples, either the utsava murthi of Perumal or ” sataari ” is dipped in the temple puskarini during culmination of brahmotsavam usually once in a year whereas in Ananta saras, the Lord dwells eternally.
It was Lord Varadar in the form of hunter couple who saved Ilayazzhwan(Swamy Ramanujar) from Yadavaprakasa who had planned to kill him. The most compassionate Lord VAradar along with HIS consort Perundevi Thayar disguised as hunter couple accompanied Ramanujar on the dark night in the forests near Vindhya mountains when Ilayazwan had lost way. Overnight, he was transported to Kanchipuram. When Ilayazhwan went to fetch water to quench the hunter-lady;s thirst, the Lord disappeared .When the perplexed Ilayazwan enquired about the whereabouts , he was pointed towards “Punyakoti vimanam”.
Ilayazhwan realized that it was Lord Varadarajan who escorted him to this place and continued to stay here doing theertha kainkaryam. Also, Swamy Ramanujan embraced Sanyasam as per the Lord;s instructions by having a holy dip in the Ananta saras and was given orange robes by the Lord HIMSELF. Swamy Ramanujar did theertha kainkaryam to the Lord until he was ordered to shift to Srirangam to fulfill Thiruvaranga araiyar’s boon bestowed by Lord Varadar who was immensely pleased with Araiyar sevai performed by him.
Another interesting incident:-when Ramanujar ordered Kooratazhwan who became blind while trying to save him ordered him to prayto Varadar, Kooratazhwan composed VAradaraja stavam comprising of 102 slokas in praise of this Lord. When Lord asked him for a boon, he prayed that he should be given vision to see the holy form of the Lord and his acharyar only. He didn’t want to see the material world.
Like Puri Rathyatra performed 10 days prior to Aashada Ekadasi, the Annual Garuda seva performed on the third day during Vaigasi Brahmotsavam (May-June) especially attracts huge crowds from near and far. The streets are very wide like in Puri.
Another similarity between Puri and Kanchi temples is the dieties are made of wood . IN Puri Jaganath temple, once in 12 years, the moolavar dieties of Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Baladeva are replaced whereas in Kanchi Varadar temple, Athivaradar-the Lord carved out from athi wood by Brahma is preserved inside the temple tank and is taken out for worship once in 40 years.
This town is sanctified with many Acharayas -Sri Thirukachinambigal, Sri Ramanujar, Sri Desikar, Sri Sankaracharyar to name a few. Also , this is the headquarters for many religious peetams like Kanchi Kamakoti peetam, Sri Mudaliandan swamy Thirumaligai, Sri Appan Swamy Thirumaligai and other associate maaligas of Sri Ramanujar’s sishyas. One of the shatberams(6 utsava murthis) was given by the LOrd HIMSELF to our acharyar-Sri Mudaliandan Thirumaligai.
VAradaraja Sthavam by Kooratazhwan, Varadaraja Panchasat by VEdanta Desikar, Devaraja Ashtakam by Thirukachi nambigal are few famous renderings on this Lord. Thyagaraja has also composed a beautiful kirtan on this Lord.
Our poorvacharyars attribute the word “amararukku athipathi ” of the first pasuram in Nammazhwar Thiruvaimozhi to this Perumal.
MOOLAVAR
SRI VARADARAJAR, PERARULALAN, DEVADIRAJAN, DEVAPPERUMAL, ATTIYURAN
This temple town is dotted with many temples of which there are 14 important shrines dedicated to Lord Vishnu and 13 temples for Parama Shivan. The sthalapuranam for all the Vishnu temples is inter connected with Brahma’s penance. Brahma who started Aswamedha yaga without his wife SAraswathi had to face many hurdles and everytime Lord Vishnu appeared in various forms to encounter SAraswati’s obstacles until Brahma successfully completed the yaga.
The temples are located in Little Kanchi and Big Kanchi. Out of 22 divya desams in Thondai naadu, 14 are in Kanchipuram itself and another at Thiruputkuzhi, the details of which are briefly given:-
PERIA KANCHIPURAM:-
Sri Nilathingal thundathan Perumal, (in Ekambareswarar temple)
Sri Ulagalandha Perumal , Ooragham
Sri Jagadeeswara Perumal, Neeragam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram
Sri Karunakara Perumal, Kaaragam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram
Sri Kaarvannan (Kalva) Perumal, Thirukaarvanam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram(all these temples are in Ulagalandha Perumal kovil itself)
Sri Aadivaraha Perumal, Thirukalvanur (in Kamakshi temple)
Sri Vaikuntanatha Perumal, Thiruparameswara vinnagaram
Sri Pandava dhootha Perumal, Thirupadagam
Sri Pavalavannan Perumal, Thirupavazhavannam(also,Perumal gives darshan as Pachaivarnan beside this temple)
(CHINNA KANCHI)
Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple, Thirukachi
Sri Ashtabuja Perumal, Thiruattabuyakaram
Sri Deepaprakasa temple, Thiruthanka
Sri Azhagia Singar temple, ThiruVelukkai
Sri Yathothkari temple, Thiruvekha
With Kanchipuram as base town , devotees can also have darshan of Thiruputkuzhi Divya desam (1 hour drive from Kanchi). If you start early, you can finish visiting Kanchi temples by noon. Thiruputkuzhi, Sriperumbudur, Kooram can be visited in the second half of the day.
Check out the divine pastime in the appended blog post. Click the link
Of these, Sri Varadarajar temple with its imposing towers , Sri Kamakshi temple, Sri Ekambareswar temples attract many pilgrims including foreign tourists daily.
The famous Lord Varadarajar temple wears festive look daily .
Around 280 Utsavams happen in this temple all around the year
Lord Devaraja has captivating beauty and it is said that Swami Ramanuja was totally attracted by His shoulders
Perundevi Thayar, the consort of Devadirajan does not come out of the garbagriham like SriRanganayaki. Even the utsava murthi of the Thayar is not taken out for procession beyond the four walls of the temple. Whenever Perumal is taken out in procession inside the temple, HE is accompanied by Perundevi Thayar .
The Theppam (float festival) is celebrated in Anantasaras tank. The temple pond known as Anantha Saras /Amrutha saras never dries up , the Vimanam is known as Punyakoti Vimanam.
Every Friday , Thayar comes in a procession within the 4 walls of the temple. Almost 280 utsavams are performed to Lord whole year . Brahma in Kreta Yuga, Gajendran, the elephant in Tretha yuga, Brihaspathi in Dwarpara yuga and Adiseshan in Kaliyuga offered their prayers to Lord here .
The wonderful temple is located on a 23-acre complex and has 3 outer precincts (prakaram) namely Azhwar Prakaram, Madai Palli Prakaram and Thiru Malai Prakaram. The main sanctum faces west and can be entered through a 130 feet tall, 7-tiered rajagopuram (main gateway tower).
The eastern gopuram is taller than the western gopuram, which is contrasting to large temples where the rajagopuram is the tallest one. There is a 100 pillared hall has sculptures depicting Ramayana and Mahabaratha .The main shrine of Varadarajaswamy is on a small hillock 10m tall and a fleet of 24 steps, termed “Hasthagiri..
The temple has 5 prakarams. The first prakara which is on the Hastagiri hill houses the garbagriha and the pradakshinam path. The garbagriham is known as “Vayya maligai” – earthly mansion of the Lord(Leela Vibhuti) .
A flight of steps from the lower hill, known as Varanagiri which houses Narasimhar, leads us to the garbagriha where we can have darshan the Lord in His pristine glory.
The second prakaram is known as Thirumalai pradakshinam as it runs round the hill.
The third prakara known as Madapalli prakaram/ Alavandar prakaram houses the temple kitchen, numerous shrines and mantapams for Garuda, Adisesha, Perundevi Thayar, the abhsiheka mantapam where the utsava murthis are given abhishekam, pavitrotsava mantapam where the Lord’s vaahanams are kept, the unjal mandapam etc.
The fourth prakaram known as Azhwar Thiruveedi houses the vigrahams of all Azhwars , Acharyars, Krishna, Varaha, Sri Ranganathar etc and the Anantasaras tank.
The fifth prakaram is known as “Mada veethi “ and it was here that Sri Alavandar first saw Sri Ramanujar and blessed him that he would be the foremost for propagating Vaishnavism by declaring “Aam invan mudhalvan” meaning yes, he is the foremost.
As mentioned earlier, the Garbagriham is located on top of Hastagiri hill with enclosures on all sides. However on one particular day after 15 days from Chithira Pournami, the sunrays fall directly on Moolavar’s Thirumugam . (Similarly in Vaikunta Perumal kovil(popularly known as Kallapiran) in Pandya naadu, the sunrays fall on the moolavar’s thirumugam twice in a year)
Even the stones on the compound wall are 24. The pushkarini also has 24 steps. Gayatri mantra has 24 syllables. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Lord, Who has Gayatri as His body, has everything, around number 24. Apart from this, according to Visishtadvaita philosophy, achit entities are 24. That is inanimate entities are 24. When we cross the 24 steps we land on the top floor and that is the 25th entity, Jeevatman. From this floor we have to climb some more steps to reach the garbha gruham of Lord Devaraja Perumal. We come to the corridor on the floor and we go round that. One end of the corridor is famous for two things.
One of the ancestors of Lord Rama named Asmanjhan and his wife who were cursed to become lizards were redeemed from their curse at this place by the Lord. Hence, it is believed that touching the golden and silver lizards would cure us of all ailments. Crowds throng to touch these lizards for getting rid from material ailments forgetting that the Lord of the UNiverse standing as Varadarajan saves us from this “Samsaram” and gives “MOKSHAM”
Another adjoining mandapam, Kachhikku vaithan mandapam follows the corridor . Every evening the Lord would arrives at this mandapam, and Swami Thirukacchi Nambi would start his fanning service Thirukachi nambigal, the great Vaishnavite saint had the bhaagyam of conversing with this Perumal while fanning the Lord(Alavatta kainkaryam). This is beside the “lizard mantapam”
It is believed that Brahma comes here once a year on the full moon day in the Tamil month of Chitrai (April-May) around mid night, for a darshan of Lord Varadarajan. On this day, it is the practice for the priests to place food inside the sanctum and to wait outside for 24 minutes. At the end of this, the food is said to smell sweeter.
It was thus decided by Elders that LORD has to be taken out from the temple tank once in 40 years and various pooja shall be performed for 48 days and then kept in the bed of the Pushkarini for the next 40 years.
The 96th Pasuram of Irandam thiruvanthathi glorifies LORD as
Bhoodathazhwar addresses the Lord as “athiyooran” who is fond of garuda seva(pullai oorvan -pul =bird. Kanchi Garuda seva is world famous.
Thus Lord Athi Varadhar gives His darshan to the devotees only once in 40 years and that too for a period of 48 days.
Close darshan of Athi Vardar
The Rising of Athi Varadhar” happened in the years 1739, 1779, 1819, 1859, 1939, 1979 and Now in the year 2019 and fortunate are those who are having darshan .
Athi Varadar
Athi Varadar thus graces the devotees once in 40 years . Lord arrives from the Anantha saras and alights outside for public worship for a period of 48 days. This event took place last in 1979 and now in 2019 darshan has already commenced now . Lord gives darshan in reclining posture during the first 24 days and later gives darshan in standing posture for the remaining 24 days.
The Great Priests who were involved in the Rising of Athi Varadar from the Anantha Saras
Vendittrellaam tarum vallal Manivannan” is how our Nammazhwar describes the Lord. Whatever we ask, the Lord is ready to give us the same and much more, however exalted be the boon we seek.
Check out the url links below on abundant mercy of the Lord of the Lords ..
Once the revered Acharyar Nadathoor Azhwan was on the way to a nearby temple . He met a learned srivaishnava friend who had come to accompany Azhwan upto the temple . En route they were discussing the divine experiences of Azhwars and Poorvacharyas .
Suddenly they came across another srivaishnava with Tilak but was belonging to a lower caste . As was the custom those days on seing the two revered Acharyas he moved to another side of the road and waited obediently for them to leave .
The learned vaishnava friend who was accompanying Azhwan looked at the passerby and started shouting at him for trespassing …….. and was too harsh on him …..
Nadadoor Azhwan who heard his shouts , fell down in a swoon . He was brought back to consciousness . The learned Vaishnava asked Azhwan If his health was fine and why did he swoon ?
JagathAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja happened to pass by the banks of the river .
One curious boy noticed the smiling swamin from a long distance
He informed the other kids and all wished to have Acharyas appreciation .
A divine pastime happened few hundreds year ago near the banks of Cauvery river. One sunny day few srivaishnava boys were playing on the banks of Cauvery river .
As they inherited their parents daily rituals , the boys smartly erected a small temple and installed an idol out of the Cauvery mud from the banks of the river . Each of them had some little contribution in bringing mud , pebbles , leaves , flowers etc .
As a part of the religious code as observed at their homes , they adorned themselves with the Urdhvapundra ( Tilak ) and were completely dissolved in devotion assuming it to be the real Periya Perumal Temple .
Few began chanting (glorification verses) Thirupallandu pasuram verses innocently but it was divine feeling for the crowd .
They offered Theertha prasada readily available from the banks of the river.
King Thondaman Chakravarthy was a great devotee of Lord Venkateshwara .He was ruling the region of Tamil Nadu including Tirumala several hundred years ago . The King used to speak to Lord and by the mercy of LORD he was ruling the kingdom to the satisfaction of the people by all means .
During this period an Asura Simhada started torturing the people which made the king upset .No amount of resistance could drive out this Asura .The unusual happenings in the kingdom was causing fear among the people . The King was annoyed and hence surrendered to Lord Venkateswara to save the people from the calamity .
The Lord out of compassion to the King appeared to him and lent his ThiruSankha and Sri Chakra and commanded the King to vanquish the enemy with the divine weapons . The King obediently followed the Lord’s…
Srivilliputtur beautiful village turned ” town” houses two famous temples- Lord Vatapatrasayee kovil ( sri vaishnava divyadesa kovil) and Andal kovil(Godadevi’s residence).
Located in Virudhunagar District about 75 kms away from Madurai from north and about 70kms away from Tirunelveli from south ,this temple is famous for Mother Andals appearance.
The Rajagopuram of the temple has eleven tiers and 192″ height being one among the tallest towers of temples in the state. The Tamilnadu Government’s official symbol remains to be this gopuram .
This holy place is worshiped as Varaha kshetram. Bhrigu and Markandeya maharishis were performing penance at this holy place .
The demon Kalanemi was troubling them causing hindrances in their daily rituals . Lord eliminated the demon Kalanemi using Sudarshana Chakram.
The sudarshana chakra cleansed its blood stains by taking a dip in this holy tank located inside the temple in which the rivers Ganga , Yamuna and Saraswathi reside . Hence, this temple tank is called as Thirumukkulam tank.
Glorifying the Lordships, the Saints pleaded the LORD to reside at this holy place and out of abundant mercy Lord conceded their request and continued to reside in this place in sayana thirukkolam under a banyan tree. Hence, Lord is worshiped here as is VATAPATRASAYEE
Over a period of time this place got covered by sand dumes and then huge vegetation erupted all over .
After a long period of time this holy place got converted into a dense forest . Due to the passing time , the deity also got submerged in the soil. Later, Villi a hunter came in search of his brother happened to take rest under a banyan tree. He heard an asareeri ( divine voice ) saying Lord is lying down under the same banyan tree.
He was instructed to clear the woods and build a temple for the Lord.
Villi rushed to the King and thus , with the help of Pandyan king, cleared the place, took out the deity , built a temple and town.
Hence, the place got the name Villiputtur. Sri was prefixed to the name after Andal ( Godha) appeared at this place .
The divine pastime is to be cherished on this auspicious appearance day of our divine mother Andal .
Vishnu chittar,( Peria Azhwar ) an amsam of Garudazhwan, was performing pushpa kainkaryam to the Lord in this place. Azhwar was offering morning ablutions and after watering the flowers and the Thulasi plants plucking the blossoms and Thiruttulai dalams was moving ahead towards the temple .
He suddenly espied at the foot of a cluster of Tulasee plant a little baby girl moon faced with curly hairs and the smile resembled the fine gentle flutter of petals of a golden lotus .
Peria azhwar was wonder stuck with the divine play .It was a feast for his eyes looking at the abundant merciful eyes of the baby girl .
He accepted her as his daughter as per the divine will and took her home .
The girl displayed extraordinary features of divine beauty and love for Azhwar .
Azhwar brought her up with utmost care and affection .
He became her mother father and protector .He named her Godha devi ( Godha = Earth )
THE GIRL WHO EMANATED FROM EARTH .
Godha displayed divine qualities . She was alike the moon and her presence was an object of decoration for the Tulasee garden and she appeared as an incarnation of beauty , wisdom and piety .
Right from her childhood Godha temperaments and attitude were different from those of the children of her age .
She appeared a philosophical genius of saintly nature almost like a girl saint always contemplating about Lord and the divine pastimes .
Always immersed in Krishna katha , she helped her father in watering the flowering plants in the garden .She used to follow her father like a shadow in all the divine services , preparing garlands for the Lord , worshiping and offering prayers .
She was always found muttering LORD’s holy names and became an angel in the lives of Azhwar and disciples . She was seen in gentle smiles of understanding and appreciation and sat like a saint in penance always in the mood of Krishna .
One evening Azhwar went into the garden to pluck the flowers when they were about to bloom .
Each flower had a specific time when they used to bloom .
He collected all those flowers meticulously so that the fragrance is enjoyed by the SUPREME LORD .
After preparing a garland of fragrant flowers along with Tulasee he hung the garland on a wooden peg across a wooden pillar within the ashram .
He had to go to the temple after sunset and hence he took a stroll .
One day ,when he returned , he saw Godhadevi having worn the fresh garland, who was looking into the mirror imagining Lord Krishna’s presence . Azhwar was stuck with dismay and confusion at the childish act of his daughter .
He entered the abode sad and with a troubled voice gently lamented
..My child Godha ..
What is this you have done ?
How could you choose to adorn the garland that was made for the Lord ?
This garland has now become impure and unfit to be offered it to Supreme Lord ..
It is already late and no time left to pluck the fresh flowers and prepare a new garland for Lords service. The time for temple worship has already begun . My child .. Today Lord will not adore a garland and this is a sin … My child I will be committing an offense today without adorning HIM with a fresh garland……………….
Godha was cool and gentle .She never spoke a single word ..
After offering services to Lord Azhwar came back to Ashram and was upset for chiding Godha . He did not sleep . He recounted those days of service and pleaded forgivness to Lord .
Somehow he was filled with remorse and he woke up early to meet his daughter . But he could not find her inside . He raced into the garden to check ……
Godha was already there playing with someone in the garden . Azhwar stood behind a tree and was watching patiently . Godha was in a different mood running around the cluster of Tulasee plants trying to catch some one .She was whispering Krishna
..Not there ..Here . I found you …..and laughing …in ecstasy she ran and calling Krishna’s names ..
Azhwar quickly realised Lord was really playing with her .He was in a fix . Should he embrace his little daughter and kiss her or should he prostrate on her little feet for her exalted piety. He walked into the Ashram and looked at the wooden peg . The garland of flowers and Tulasee appeared fresh as it did previous night .Without any hesitation he carried the garland to the temple and offered it to Lord Krishna …
He submitted with reverence Oh Lord ! Godhais my daughter that providence showered on me . Its your divine play .Please accept her garland as she is always in your thoughts .
Time passed . Both father and daughter were together in all the divine services .Godha was nourished with Lord’s kalyana gunas . Godha was now 12 years .
She acquired erudition and scholarship in Tamil and Sanskrit . All the thoughts focused on Lord Krishna .
She desired Lord to be her husband ……………………..
Mentally fixed in Lord’s anubhavas she was transcendental soul .
One day Azhwar leisurely asked ..
My dear Child ..Godha ..
You say you would marry Lord Krishna himself
…Fine ……………
But my dear ..Tell me !! How did this thought arrive ?
Goda answered !!
Father ..whatever the reason ..Only LORD KRISHNA will be my husband …
And I shall be HIS only …
she was serious …
and Azhwar could not question her decision even if it was childish .
. However he once again approached and said ..Godha
My dear child ..
I accept but tell me …
LORD KRISHNA is omnipresent and tell me how can you marry Lord in Nirakara roopam ?
Godha smiled and said …Father !! I wish to marry Archavataram which is there signifying the Omnipresent Lord ..
Azhwar continued ..Fine my child ..But …………..,
there are 108 Archavataram of Lord in Divyadesams ?
Godha was quick to respond without any hesitation .
.Only Arangan … The Lord of Lords at Srirangam … I choose my Ranganatha …
She learnt about the Kaathyayini nombu observed by the Gopikas of Vrindavan during Margasira month (Dec-Jan)….
and nurtured a desire to do similar nombu to attain Lord Krishna.
She imagined herself and her friends to be gopikas in Vrindavan, observed nombu in Margasira month by personally inviting her friends to participate in worshipping the Lord .
She composed Thiru paavai comprising of 30 pasurams to attain the Lord . Thirupavai is known as the seed of Vedas –
“Vedam annaithukkum vithu”.
In the fifth pasuram-
Maayanai mannu vada Madurai maindhanai…..,
she says “vaayinaal paadi, manathinaal sindhithu….. by doing so, our sins get burnt like a cotton which falls in fire. This is the tamil translation of Lord Varaha murthy’s advise to Bhudevi—kirtanam, smaranam,, vandanam etc. Mentioned earlier in the post.
She proceeded in her divine outpourings on the Lord further which is known as “Nachiyar Thirumozhi” comprising of 143 pasurams invoking the Lord at Thiruvenkatam, Thirumaliruncholai , Vrindavanam etc. Nachiyar Thirumozhi expresses the pangs of separation from the lover.
Our poorvacharyars comment that we get golden ornament only when it is put in fire. Likewise, the Lord out of HIS compassion on us, restrained from giving darshan as HE preferred to listen to HER hankerings for HIM. During abhishekam to Lord Srinivasa in Tirumala when the Thayar from the Lord’s vakshasthalam( chest ) is removed for a while , Swamy Ramanujar instructed Nachiyar Thirumozhi to be recited.
Her bhakti was unparalled which made Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam to appear in Periazhwar’s dream.
Lord ordered him to bring Andal dressed as a bride to Srirangam where HE would marry HER.
Azhwar was keen to undertake her wish . He thought as per Lord and Godha’s wish , he would ask her to dress in a brides attire and proceed to Srirangam .
There she would stand before the LORD and in adoration worship and pray .That micht surely afford her satisfaction to her fancy .
Azhwar announces his decision among st his disciples .Godha comes to know about her fathers decision and feels elated . The good news reaches the Pandayan king who was a disciple to Azhwar after getting to know about Azhwar greatness …
.
He had already seen Periazhar devotion to Lord . The Royal couple reached the Ashram of Azhwar and pleaded Azhwar to handover all the responsibilities of conducting the divine marriage by them . During the discussions ,the chief Priest of Srirangam temple arrived at Azhwars ashram and informed Lords eagerness to meet Godha .Periaazhwar was overjoyed and thanked all of them for their concern.
The Chief Priest offered the silk clothes and ornaments of Mahalakshmi to Godha . Godha was now dressed like a bride .
Dressed in yellow colour silk profusely golden laced , the golden ornaments glittering with navaratnas and flowery decorations profusely dressed on head and plait ,
Godha was perfect bride for our LORD of LORDS our RANGANATHAR ..
She sat inside the palanquin arranged by the royal couple.
The august assembly had famous musicians , vedic pundits , dancers and several artistes .
The procession began with pomp and show the entire pathway was colorful with flower decorations .With musical bands ahead followed by Royal couple , the vedic priests , PeriaAzhwar along with his disciples the men , women and the children followed the palanquin .
Fireworks all over , the celebration was unique and the entire population followed the palanquin ..
The procession reached the Srirangam temple entrance .
Godha got down and paced towards the sanctum quickly as if she was so familiar . She walked straight into the sanctum sanctorium after crossing Garuda mantapam…
She came near the main temple … And …kept walking briskly with her anklets jingling in the background ..
The temple sanctum sanctorium where only the priest enters arrived ..
LORD who was also eager to meet Godha had a bewitching smile ……………………..
She stepped in ..and reached seshapanpu ( fourteen folds of Adhishesha ) walked over the folds of Adhishesha and reached the lotus feet twain of Lord and sat at HIS lotus feet .She touched those wonderful sacred feet with her tiny beautiful tender hands and dissolved in HIM once for all ….
Periaazhwar was watching .He was speechless . Standing motionless with tears and grief he went near the sanctum and with a quivering body and lips shivering , expressed in broken words ..
Lord !! Where is my child Godha ? Oh Ranga !! My child Godha … a small girl who was everything to me ….. and just stood like a pillow gazing at LORD …
A pin drop silence for few minutes prevailed ……………………….
A divine voice was heard by Periaazhwar asking him to be composed as the entire divine play was enacted by Lord for our upliftment ….
It may be noted , Andal is given more preference than Ubhaya nachiyars in our temples. In Srirangam, Namperumal’s garlands are offered to Ranganachiyar on Panguni Uthiram, with Kamalavalli nachiyar on Panguni Ayilyam, with Cherakulavalli Nachiyar on Maasi Punarvasu but Namperumal doesn’t accept their garlands! It is only one sided whereas Namperumal exchanges garlands with Andal. First Andal’s garlands are worn by Perumal and then Perumal’s garlands are offered to Andal.
In Kanchipuram, the processional diety Varadarajar exchanges garlands with Andal everytime before HE goes to HIS abode
In Tirupati, Swamy Ramanujar arranged Andal as Lord Govindaraja Swamy’s consort.
In Tirumala during Brahmotsavam, on Garuda vahana utsavam day , garland from Srivilliputtur is offered to Malayappa Swamy. This custom is followed in almost in all the divya desams.
Last but not the least, in Srivilliputtur, the garland worn by Andal on the previous day is taken out in a procession on the next day to Sri Vatapatrasayee temple and is decorated to the Lord.
Thiruaadipooram , the apperance day of Goddess is the most important festival celebrated in Srivilliputtur lasting for 10 days. After several years , Andaal left Her sanctum (Garbha graham ) and rushed to welcome Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja as Her elder brother for fulfilling Her pledge to offer 100 vessels of akkAra-adisil to Lord SundararAjan of ThirumAlirum ChOlai.
After that reception to AchArya RaamunjA , the ThiruppAvai Jeeyar , She never went inside Her sanctum and stays even today at the ardha manTapam . and later for Swami Desikan times
She engineered to arrive in front of the house outside Her Thiru MaaLikai Veedhi , where Her parama bhakthan was staying during his visit to Her city. Moved by that extraordinary display of Vaathsalyam and daya of Mother ANDAL , the LOka MaathA , our Kavi Simham poured forth in rapture his eulogy of Her anantha KalyANa guNams .
Thus originated the GodhA sthuthi .
Neeratam festival during the last six days of Margazhi ( Dec- Jan ) month attracts millions of devotees ..
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pics : Thanking all the great devotees who have uploaded the wonderful pics in social media as a seva for the benefit of giving darshan of the deities
Special Thanks to all the painting artists who had uploaded in social media during Dhanurmaasamwhich adiyen has used for the benefit of readers to race their soul to SRIVILLIPUTHUR
Swamy Mudumbai Nambee Ananthacharya was one amongst the 74 Simhadipathees nominated by Jagathacharyar Swamy Ramanuja .
Swamy Ananthacharyar belonged to the illustrious family of the great srivaishnava stalwarts Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar and Vadakku Thiruvidhi pillai . .
During 1360 , Swamy Ananthacharyar was blessed with a son who was named as Hasthagiri Ananthar Anna being ardent devotees of Lord Varadaraja . ( Lord Varadaraja has been giving darshan to the devotees at this holy place called “Hasthi giri”. ‘Hasthi’ means elephant and “giri “ means hill) .
The young boy was very attractive and devotional right from his childhood .The boy was admitted in to the school of Swamy Nayana varadacharyar , the direct descendent of Swamy Vedanta Desikar . He received the Vedic inputs from his Acharya and progressed in leaps and bounds by his sheer devotion .
During this period , a staunch Advaitin Narasimha Mishra had come to Kancheepuram . He decided to debate with the learned scholars in that area in proving the supremacy of Advaitam and thus convert the opponent and his followers into his fold .
As his mission was incomplete , he invited Swamy Nayana varadacharyar for a debate as was done during those days .The bet was announced that the one who looses will follow others faith along with his followers . Swamy Nayana varadacharyar was not keen to interact with the scholar and not able to decide how to ignore his request too . It was the last day .The young boy could see his Acharyar’s concern .
He wanted to somehow make his Acharyar happy . He understood from his senior disciples what made his Acharyar sad . He never wanted the rich heritage of Vishishtadwaitam being taken for a ride by the vedantin .It was a high time to make the world believe the glorious sampradaya Jagathacharyar Swamy Ramanuja had given us . The young boy approached his Acharya and pleaded him to be allowed to take upon the vedantin . Swamy Nayanavaradacharyar was glad that the young boy was also thinking in the same lines .Confident of his victory , he blessed the child with Sri Hayagreeva Upadesa mantra and wished him the best .
The young lad Hasthagiri Anna with the blessings of his Acharyar walked into the debate hall which had revered scholars from different places . The locals also assembled to watch the Vedantins arguments. He looked at the learned scholars and the great vedantin Narasimha Mehta . He was amused with his looks and the arrogance in his speech . The vedantin chuckled at the boys entry for his age and size . He said this boy is of no match to me .Anyway as his guru has sent him on his behalf , let me bundle him up with simple questions !! he thought .
Hasthagiri Anna looked at the vedantin and said .. Hey Vedantin .. Are you going to wage a war against me ? Why does size or stature matter to you .For a person like you I am the best match .Let me not disturb my Gurudeva ..The debate is to convince you and all these so called scholars the illustrious sampradaya of Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja is supreme .If you have any doubts , questions ask me else accept the sampradaya which will give you moksha .
The Vedantin was surprised with the boys daring words . He decided to quiz him in shastras and then take him on about the sampradaya . The outpouring of Vedic knowledge , apt recitation with intricate meanings made vedantin shocked . The debate was almost looking like a repeat of Swamy Yamunacharya debate with the Vedantin few hundred years ago and Swamy Yamunacharya was glorified as Alavandar the King…
Few onlookers rushed to their Acharyar to inform him about Hasthagiri Annas mastery in handling the vedantin with esoteric truths .The Old Acharyar walked along with his disciples to see the brave boy’s confidence . Hasthagiri Anna presented many verses in the Vedic texts to demonstrate the supreme position of Swamy Ramanuja’s Vishishitadwaitam . The debate ended with the vedantin accepting the supremacy of the sampradaya . All the scholars unitedly agreed with jubilations about the young boy defeating the arrogant vedantin in his own den.
Overjoyed the Acharyar hugged Hasthagiri Anna and said henceforth you will be called as Prathivadi bhayanakaram Anna . Meanwhile the Vedantin along with his followers rushed to Anna accepting defeat and pleaded to be taken in their fold . The Acharyar blessed both of the disciples and handed over the reins of the school for him to take over due to his old age .
Swamy Annan was carrying out the Theertha kainkaryam at Kancheepuram as done by our Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja . One day he took permission from Lord Vardaraja for having darshanam of Lord Sreenivasa at Tirumala after getting immersed in the Nammazhwar’s description of Tirumala and Lord Srinivasa in Thiruvamozhi .
Anna became associated with Swami Ananthanpillai descendants and was engaged in serving Lord Srinivasa by collecting and preparing the water required for His worship every day.
One day, while returning from Akasha Ganga after having gathered the holy water to be taken to the Lord, a devotee from Srirangam came across his path. As divine will would have it, they entered into a conversation. The devotee from Srirangam narrated the glories of the revered saint Svami Mamunigal and his extraordinary service in Srirangam. Anna was deeply moved on hearing about Swamy’s devotion to Lordships and the zeal to carry out the mantle of Jagathacharyar Swamy Ramanuja’s philosophy all over . In the process of hearing the satsangath , he completely forgot about the holy water he was supposed to deliver to the Lord.
Having exhausted with their patience, the priests from the temple came out in search of Anna and hurriedly collected the pots of holy water from him and rushed back to the temple to complete the worship according to established protocol . Anna was confused and hence rushed to the temple to inform the priests that he had not yet prepared the water by mixing in it fragrant substances, as was the norms . But as it was too late the worship had already begun and nearing completion . Anna was cursing himself for overlooking the protocol that was followed . He was dejected for not compiling with the procedures thus committing an offence . Standing all alone inside the temple Anna was seeking forgivance .
Lord Srinivasa , all compassionate Lord , broke his silence .There was a divine voice coming from the deity form, addressing him , “Oh My dear Anna! The holy water you delivered today had the best fragrance and quality. I am pleased with your service!” Don’t be dejected !!!
This was a shock to Anna, who had not added any fragrance at all that day. On pondering , Anna realized that the water must have got fragnant by the mere mention of the account of Swami Manavala Mamunigal vaibhavam .
Realizing the glory of the saint, Anna took permission from Lord Sreenivasa and left Tirumala heading towards south to srirangam to have Swami manavala maamuni’s darshanam .
On reaching Srirangam , Anna has darshan of the Lordships and goes straight to attend the discourse of Swamy Manavala mamuni which impresses him very much . He waits patiently for having Acharyar’s darshanam . Amongst all the disciples , Swamy Manavala Mamuni calls him and asks Oh! You are that srivaishnava called as Prathivadi Bhayankaran in a lighter vein .
Anna humbly offers obesiances and replies Swamy , that he is Prathivadi Bhayankaran to his opponents and a servant of servants to srivaishnavas . Swamy is pleased with his commitment in protecting our rich sampradaya and honours him with another title “SrIvaishnava dAsan”.
Later , Anna moves to Tirumala for serving Lord Srinivasa .
Swamy Manavalamamuni joins him at Tirumala and taken by the glory of Lord Srinivasa, he ordains his disciple Prathivadi Bhayankaram Anna to compose hymns on Lord Srinivasa through which Lord’s glory is well understood and enjoyed by all walks of people. Anna taking his Acharyar’s command composes hymns on LORD that shed light on the greatness of the Lord of the Seven Hills.
Annan, pens the morning song suprabhatham slokas comprising of (29 verses , stotram 11 verses , prapatti 16 verses and mangalam 14 verses)
The holy verses has four aspects Suprabhatam, which is the actual awaking of Lordships Sree and Vishnu, Stotram, which is essentially a glorifications and the last Prapatti through Sree and the beautiful Mangalam to Lordships which serves as a conclusion.
These four hymnal renditions of Anna are the hallmark of worship that are conducted in Srivaishnava parlance. The Vaishnava Agamas require the Lord to be worshipped and honoured at least as much as a king is. The Suprabhatam or wishing of an auspicious dawn is not only analogous to the service offered normally to the royalty but also an expression of Mangalasasanam. Mangalasasanam is the highest virtue recognized in Srivaishnavism.
It is It is the exalted state of devotion where the devotee is not worried about his own welfare or the welfare of others, but only about the welfare of the Lord (which automatically ensures the well being of everyone and everything else). He serves the Lord, sings His benediction and longs for His auspiciousness always and the Prapatti is another core concept of Srivaishnavism that teaches the complete resignation to the saving grace of the Lord. The final goal of a Srivaishnava is to please the Lord with one’s services. One of the most important forms of service is the service of singing the Lord’s praise. He is sthavapriya: or one who is pleased with stotrams. The Venkatesa Stotram serves this purpose. Through the four works, Anna captures the entire essence of Srivaishnavism as he sings the glory of Lord Venkatesa. The pleased Lord listens to these hymns several times every day during the course of His worship in several temples…
Swamy Manavala Mamuni then ordered his disciples , that every day except in the month of Margazhi, these four stotras must be recited at the time of opening of the temple sanctorum in the morning which is being religiously followed till date .
Thus we have an advanced Acharyar Swamy Prativadi Bhayankaram Annan of Tirupati Suprabhatam fame who was a disciple of both Swamy Vedantha Desika’s son and Swamy Manavaala Maamunigal, indicating that there was no remarkable differences in following between the two sects .
His treatises establishing the unifying nature of all of our acharyas are a treasure for several generations .
A detailed description of THIRUMANJANA SEVA at Tirumala is appended in the below linked post
Neeraja was a gopi who came to Gokulam as the daughter-in-law to a Gopa family. She was beautiful and humble and loved the new place which had some special vibrations .
Her husband and in-laws cautioned her about a dark skinned cowherd boy who was very mischievous and warned her to be away from his pranks.
They threatened her to keep away from Him and to avoid Him by every possible means. Neeraja was confused.
However ,she was very curious to see how he looked and what were those pranks which attracted so many gopis .
Her mind was absorbed now .
One summer evening, near the outskirts of a village ….
Neeraja was returning from the banks of Yamuna river immersed in the thoughts of the dark skinned boy. .
Suddenly , she heard some mellifluous music from a direction which almost pulled her She ran towards the direction from where the sweet melody was heard .
She somehow reached those wonderful grooves in the forest .
Krishna the irresistibly attractive lotus eyed Preceptor of the Universe, bestower of boons, Eternal Lord, was playing the flute as the sun sank in the west.
His small lovely fingers were over the flute and the cosmic music gushed out . She instantly fell for him and was watching from the grooves .
The vibration of this divine instrument was able to break the meditation of the greatest sages. Krishna the cosmic musician he was thus challenged the cupid with his transcendental music .
Something divine happened .
The birds flying above descended down , and one on the trees started chirping with joy . The peacocks assembled to dance with their gaiety steps .
The calves stopped sucking their mothers udders and remained like statues .The poisonous reptiles were humbled to the divine music .
The bamboo trees nearby were shedding tears of joy because a little part of it which made up the tree was creating such a wonderful music.
The clouds passing over the land stopped moving and provided an umbrella to Krishna. Lakes and rivers overflew with water, expanding their banks hurriedly desirous of embracing Krishna’s lotus feet which mesmerized her with captivating celestial tune .
Krishna’s beloved cows stood in tranquilly with their ears spread just to catch the nectar-filled tune flowing out of his flute.
Few cows and calves that were eating the grass, froze their actions in order not to let those munching sound disturb His divine music and thus get the fullest enjoyment.
Krishna knew the gopis would come and be with him in the moonlight dancing in eternity. Grace can only flow through Krishna’s flute, as there is nothing inside its body to prevent his will from coming through.
There were three kinds of flutes used by LORD …..
One called venu,
one murali, and the third flute was
called vamsi.
The Flute Venu is very small, not more than six inches long, with six holes for whistling.
Murali is about eighteen inches long with a hole at the end and four holes on the body of the flute.This flute produces a very enchanting sound.
The vamsi flute about fifteen inches long, with nine holes on its body was melodious
Lord used to play on these three flutes occasionally when they were needed. Lord has a longer vamsi, which was called as mahananda or sammohini.
When the flute is more longer it was called akarsini and when it is even longer was called anandini.
The anandini flute is very pleasing to the cowherd boys and is technically named vamsuli.
The flutes were made of marble and hollow bamboo bedecked with jewels.
When the flute is made of jewels it is called sammohini.
When made of gold, it is called akarsini.
The gopis heard the celestial music and wondered how sweet it could be if they were able to sing and dance with Krishna in accordance with the music.
The minds of the gopis , wandering in different directions, were now centered on the divine music that came from the flute of Krishna.
The mesmerizing music of the flute it was, each gopi simply left what household chores they were doing and rushed to the flow of music like bees encircling the honeycomb without looking back. Few gopis left the dishes still dirty butter un churned racing into the flow .
Some even left mothers in mid conversation and few allowed the food to burn on the stove.
The call of Krishna’s flute was eternal and they couldn’t resist . Lord is never without the flute , whether he is with his mother, on the grazing grounds with his herd of cows, among his cowherd companions or roaming around on the Yamuna banks.
Even when He is not playing the flute , it is safely tucked in His waistband, never leaving Him..
The Gopis ran into the forest seeking that transcendental bliss, where Krishna stood with his flute. He was too handsome and each gopi felt he was looking right at them. They formed into a garland and began to dance around him, their ankle bells tinkling, their saris waving to the divine tune. He played his flute and the gopis danced eternally.
Some waved their arms in the air, some spun in circles and some bent their knees and waist, swaying with the flute music.
Krishna meets with Radha and the Gopis
The flowers decorating their neck and ears scenting the air and thus the gopis reached for their Lord of all Senses. As they reached for him he reached back, expanding himself to meet each gopi individually.
Each gopi placed her hands on his shoulder and Krishna placed his hands on each gopi’s shoulder.
They smiled at him and their eyes twinkled at him. He laughed out loud, delighted with their joy. They danced and danced, waving their wrists, stamping their feet and twirling in the moonlight.
The bells and bangles of the gopis and the stamping and clapping of hands and feet joined with the singing of Krishna to fill the night. Some gopis twirled their saris, spinning with Krishna. Others sang back and forth with him, or stepped lightly in time with beautiful Lord. Some clung tightly to him, crushing their flower garlands into his strong chest, while others barely touched him as they danced in time with the music.
The singing and dancing, the twirling saris and intertwining arms was so beautiful that the moon paused in her track across the sky to watch the eternal joy .
Those gentle deers and sleepy birds watched from the edge of the forest with unknown joy while the dance continued . Krishna and the gopis danced on, each gopi embracing Krishna as if he was only for her. Each gopi completely satisfied with Krishna the Soul of the Universe’s touch and gaze.
The gopi’s faces and arms were dripped with sweat . Krisna wiped the droplets from their chubby cheeks. Garlands of flowers lay crushed on the ground as the gopis, one by one, dropped their arms in exhaustion. Krishna, still expanded to be with each gopi individually, led them to the banks of the Yamuna River and poured the cool water over their faces and hands.
The gopis splashed the water on him back playfully and their laughter filled the clearing. The gentle wind picked the scent of flowers from the garlands around the gopis neck and the blossoms in their hair and carried it up to the watching moon.
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Slowly, the moon sank and the sun began to rise and here the gopis rested in the embrace of Krisna, each gopi held tight, held lovingly, held personally by the endless compassionate Lord. Krishna the eternal friend he was expanded and held each gopi in his arms for each one to feel HE is there to just be with them.
Neeraja was watching all the fun , unmindful of the time that was passing .She was in a divine trance .She suddenly shook up and went back home love struck .
Her husband and in laws disowned her and she was made an outcast , a harsh punishment . Neeraja felt it was a call to transcend the material bonds, to free oneself from the trammels of earthly endeavours. Neeraja did not care for any one now.
She became mad and yearned to meet Krishna .Her thoughts were always filled with HIS smile and the divine play .She was immersed in HIS love .
Everything was Krishna now .Her breath was krishna . She was in overwhelmingly in an ecstatic state. It was Neeraja who was the first gopi to rush and hold the reins of Akrura’s chariot when he was taking Krishna to Mathura away from Gokulam as per Kamsa’s plan , and try to push the vehicle back.
Dejected she spent her life in the Vamsi Kunj, whole mind fixed on the Lord always whom she had dissolved in her heart .
Years passed. She was getting old. One day she prayed desperately to Krishna …
My Lord!! I can no longer bear this forlorn life. My eyes have gone dry, they have no more tears to keep this love for you. My heart too is fast turning into a wasteland.
Please come and grace this craving soul !! My Lord, please come and save me, take me unto yourself. Her prayer was sincere and unconditional..
Krishna heard the prayer. He responded to her yearning and presented himself immediately before her .He called her by name, so sweetly that the very voice filled her with new life.
The Vamsi Kunj was now fragrant with divine glory.
Krishna came near her and took Neeraja’s palm in His hand and said……..
Neeraja my dear …. Tell me … “What do you desire?”
Neeraja was overjoyed. She looked at Krishna and said …
My Lord!! I wish you to play the flute once just for my sake.
Krishna smiled and gave the excuse that He had not brought His flute.
But, looking at Neeraja’s yearning, he plucked a reed from a bamboo tree in Vamsi Kunj and broke it right and in a trice converted it into a flute.
With Neeraja on his lap, Krishna played the flute melodiously by which the entire Gokula and even the whole world, was bathed in ecstatic joy.
When He stopped, Neeraja had attained final beatitude and was no longer a limited individual Gopi separate from Him.
Every Gopi’s story is nectarine , each in its own way, for they were all so transmuted by the unconditional bhakthi they bore towards the Lord.
The Gopis were declared by sage Narada in the Bhakthi Suthras (aphorisms on devotion) to be the greatest among the bhakthas (devotees).
Satyabhama took pride on being Krishna’s most beloved but soon had to swallow it as she made a futile attempt to measure Krishna’s weight in gold.
Rukmini proved her love to Lord by offering a sacred Tulsi leaf instead which caused the scales to promptly tip by the weight of her devotion to Krishna.
When Krishna was leaving Gokula to free his biological parents and Ugrasena by vanquishing the demon Kamsa, Radharani was awaiting for Krishna on the way. Krishna’s eyes dissolves in Radharanis eyes .He asks the driver to stop the cart. Akrura surprisingly asks, Oh Lord!! “Who is she?” Krishna responds, Akrura
“Everyone is drawn to me, but I am drawn to her!”
May our lives too celebrate their stay and…………
let’s fall at HIS holy feet our divine father always in thoughts and deeds ……….…
Lord Sri Venkateshwara’ awakes with Annamayya’s melukolupu,
and follows the day’s rituals, ends with the great saint poetess Vengamamba’s Mutyala Harathi
.
Mutyala Harathi’, is the last ritual performed during ‘Ekantha Seva’ to Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala .
This seva is symbolic gesture of the Lord’s love for His devotees.
The ritual was started by saint-poetess Tarigonda Vengamamba and for almost the last three centuries is being performed on par with ‘Lalipata’, ( Lullaby) introduced by another great devotee Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya….
Performing both the rituals during ‘Ekantha Seva’ to the Lord is remembering these great devotees who had surrendered to Lord .
The speciality of Ekantha seva is glorified as…..
‘Tallapaka vari Lali, Tarigondavari Harathi’ among the devotees.
Swami Alavandar is universally considered to be the Acharyar of Sri Ramanujacharya, though he had never spoken once to Swami Ramanuja till he lived.
Whatever he taught Ramanuja he did it only through his disciples. Alavandar’s disciples were priceless gems. Perianambi, Thirukoshtiyur Nambi, Thirumaalaiyaandan and Peria Thirumalai Nambi were the chief disciples.
Of these Perianambi personally taught swami Ramanuja and it was Thirukoshtiyur Nambi who made swamy Ramanuja walk to his place 18 times to learn the meaning of LORD’S name.
Alavandar had another disciple by name Maraneri Nambi. The other disciples were all high-caste Brahmans whereas Maraneri Nambi belonged to a caste which was in the lowest rung of the social ladder during those period.Alavandar did not discriminate between his disciples and he loved Maraneri Nambi more than the other disciples.
Peria Nambi and Maraneri Nambi were of the same age. They became close friends. They would discuss their teacher’s words and each friend would contribute to the other’s learning. Once Alavandar was suffering from a painful disease called the carbuncle. Carbuncle, known as the King of Boils, Rajapilavai, in Tamil, is caused due to inflammation of tissues in the back and neck.
The shooting pain emanating from the fast-spreading boil would be unbearable. Antibiotics and painkillers were unknown in those days and it is difficult for us even to imagine the kind of pain the disease inflicted on its victims.
Swamy Alavandar was suffering silently. He did not even let his disciples know about the disease lest they should be worried. Perianambi and Thirukoshtiyur Nambi alone knew.
One day Maraneri Nambi went to Alavandar’s house. He insisted that he should see his Guru. Alavandar was hesitant. But Maraneri was adamant. So he was let in. Alavandar tried to cover his pain and welcomed him with a smile.
He thought that Maraneri had come there to clear his doubts in his lessons. The best way out was to dispose Maraneri as early as possible without letting him find out his disease. Maraneri came into the room and prostrated at his Acharya’s feet.
“May you be blessed, Maraneri Nambi.
Please get up. You see I have a lot of things to do today.
Please tell me your doubts fast. We don’t have much time.” “Gurudeva, I have been your disciple for decades. Have I asked anything from you?”
“No.” “Today I have come to you with a desire. I have set my mind on that object.
And I can’t live without that. You have that with you. Can you give that to me?”
“It’s yours Maraneri. Whatever it is.”
“Thanks, Gurudeva.”
Maraneri ran out to fetch a silver vessel containing the holy water.
Alavandar was puzzled.
“Please Gurudeva show me your hands.”
“What for, Maraneri?”
“When you gift a piece of land you need to solemnize the gift with the holy water, right?”
“Yes, you are right. You want the mutt’s land near the river kaveri .Well, it’s yours.
Take it………………….
“No, Acharya.
”“Then..’
“Please repeat whatever I am going to say..
“I, Yamunaithuraivar alias Alavandar, do hereby gift to my disciple Maraneri Nambi, the Rajapilavai disease which I have now, along with the pain, the suffering and all the after-effects.”
“What the hell you are doing Nambee ? This is not a game.
This water is holy. And if I repeat whatever you said, then you will have the disease, you moron. Don’t ever say the words again.
“You are one of the greatest Acharyas, the world has ever seen.
You have promised to give whatever I want…….
How can you go back on your word, Gurudeva?”
“But that’s ridiculous, Nambi.”“What is ridiculous, Acharya?
You are our Guru. You have a hundred disciples.
A thousand people come to you every day to listen to your words.
Even the Lord who sleeps forever in the temple is looking forward to see you every day.
“How can you afford to be confined to your bed?
And by your kind, wise words you are removing our pains. Pains which have been following us for millions of births.
How can you suffer in pain, Acharya?
“I am a low-born worm, Gurudeva.
By accepting me as your disciple you made a gift to me which is worth more than the whole universe.
“Now, Gurudeva, please.. I beg of you.. please allow me to do my part.
If you refuse to give your disease then I will have no option than to die at your feet.
It’s your call.” Alavandar melted. He poured the water on his hand and chanted the appropriate mantra.
“Please bear with me, Gurudeva. I have one more request.”
Alavandar looked at his disciple through a screen of tears.
“Let this transaction be not known to anybody else in the world.”
Alavandar was happy and sad at the same time.
Happy that he had such a loving disciple and sad because he was forced to give so much of pain and suffering to such a nice man.
Maraneri Nambi went out as a happy man.
Peria Nambi met him outside the room.
“Why are you so happy, my friend?”
“After many decades of discipleship it was only today that our Guru was kind enough to give me a precious prasadam.
And that too only after I compelled him to do so.”
Perianambi did not understand a word of what his friend said. Alavandar’s recovery was quite dramatic after that day.
A week later Maraneri Nambi was down with carbuncle. It is said that he suffered for three months from shooting pain. Whenever he was in pain he would only chant the name of his Gurudeva.
Because his Guru’s blessings were fully on him and because the Lord was moved by his selfless love Maraneri Nambi recovered from the disease sooner than the usual time.
Years flew.
Swamy Alavandar was more than a hundred years old.
One day he passed away.
Maraneri Nambi and Perianambi, who were in their eighties, cried a lot over the death of their loving Guru.
Swamy Ramanujacharya then came to Srirangam and took over the reins of the Ashram. Maraneri Nambi was now in his death bed.
He called his friend Perianambi one day and insisted that he should be left alone with his dear friend.
“Perianambi, my dear friend, I have a fear.
When I leave this body they would give this body to my relatives.
I have quite a lot of them, no doubt.
But most of them are drunkards and cheats.
They would drink arrack, dance around my dead body and utter all profanities.
“I am Swamy Alavandar’s disciple and I have been thinking only of my Guru and God all these years.
“Giving my body to my relatives would be like giving the sacred ghee offered in the yagas to a street dog.
My body in which my Guru and my Lord reside should not be humiliated by those crooks.
”Perianambi held his friend’s hands and assured him.
“I will take care of that. Our Lord, our Guru and the new head, the loving Swamy Ramanuja will never let that happen.
Believe me, Maraneri. “
Maraneri Nambi was relieved.
He died peacefully in his sleep that very night.
When Perianambi heard of his friend’s death he came running to the Ashram. He supervised all the funeral arrangements himself.
And then he did the unthinkable.
Perianambi who was born in the highest caste of Brahmans did the last rites himself and lit the funeral pyre.
It was nothing short of a revolution in those days.
How could somebody born in the highest of castes, somebody like Perianambi, do the last rites for someone born in the lowest of castes?
It created a great furore.Many disciples of the mutt opposed Perianambi’s action.
Perianambi was banned from the temple. He was not allowed to mingle with the people.And somebody took up the matter with Swamy Ramanuja.
Now Perianambi was Ramanuja’s teacher.
Ramanuja knew all about Perianambi’s love. He also knew about Maraneri Nambi’s devotion.
After all Ramanuja was the man who stood on the top of the temple wall and revealed the most sacred secret to those born in the lowest of castes, in spite of his Guru’s warnings.
Yet he wanted the other disciples to know about Peria Nambi and Maraneri Nambi.
He summoned Perianambi to his presence and held a court martial.
“Oh Worshipful Acharya, you have been charged with a very grave offense.
That you did the last rites for a man born in the lowest of castes. You are a learned Brahman.
“You know it is forbidden by the sasthras. And the punishment prescribed for such an act is total ex-communication.
That is you can’t enter the temple, this mutt or any other Brahman’s house.
What’s your answer, Acharya?”
Perianambi knew his disciple like the palm of his hand.
He knew that the show was only for the gallery.
He saw the disciples jeering at him.
Normally a soft-spoken person that eighty year old man now roared like a lion, no like the lion-faced Lord Narasimha.
“Ramanuja, I have not done anything wrong.
Do I have to remind you that in the great epic Ramayana our Lord Rama did the last rites for a bird, Jadayu?
“Neither am I superior to Rama nor my dear friend Maraneri Nambi inferior to that bird.”
Measured words.
Not a single word wasted.
Pointed arguments.
The arrow hit the bull’s eye.
The lion-faced Lord had killed the demon called bigotry.
Or at least that was what he thought……
Ramanuja clapped his hands like a child.
He then turned to the other disciples.
“Are you clear now?
Do you have any counter arguments?”
Nobody spoke.
But very few understood.
Well, they exactly did not have an argument against Perianambi’s powerful example.
At the same time they were not large-hearted enough to condone Perianambi’s excesses. They started avoiding Perianambi.
If he went to the temple the priests would leave the place.
If any Brahman saw him on the road he would turn his face the other side and walk away…..
Swamy Ramanuja came to know of the ill-treatment meted out to Perianambi.
He was very sad.
After teaching love for years and years, these people still acted like fanatics.
‘What’s the big deal? Why should I waste my life teaching these bigots?’
Ramanuja ran to the temple. It was late in the night.
They were about to close the doors.
They were waiting for the Acharya to finish his darshan.
Ramanuja was sobbing before the sleeping Lord.
“I tried my best to make them understand Perianambi’s love.
I have failed in my mission.
Please, Lord, you will have to do something about it.
“Please don’t let Perianambi suffer for his greatest act of love.
Please my, Lord. Please…
”The Lord who is nothing but Love, the Lord who even while sleeping on the banks of Cauvery is constantly thinking about his devotees, the Lord who cannot tolerate any kind of bigotry, just smiled.
He had already made up his mind to teach a lesson to those fanatics.
It was festival time in Srirangam. The very next day was the famous car festival.
The huge Ther (car) of Srirangam was to pass through the house of Perianambi.
When the Lord’s Ther came into the street Perianambi was sitting in his pooja room with all the sadness in his face.
He had never missed the car festival in the past.
Because he was a well-learned Brahman and one of Alavandar’s disciples, the car would stop at the gate of his house so that he could have dharshan.
But this time it was different. He was not allowed in the temple.
And nobody talked to him. He also knew that the Lord’s car would not stop in front of his house, this time.
His eyes were shedding tears of love…..
“My Lord, do you also think that what I did was wrong?
Maraneri Nambi is a much better person than I.
And I am really proud that I had the blessing to light his funeral pyre.
“If you have also decided to let me down, Oh My, dear, dear Lord, so be it. If you let me down, I don’t want anybody else to save me.
Do whatever you wish, my Lord.” The Car had just approached the house of Perianambi.
When Azhagia Manavala Perumal seated in the car was right in front of Perianambi’s house-entrance the huge car suddenly came to a grinding halt.
Actually the administrators had cunningly planned to make the car run at double the usual speed when they were crossing Perianambi’s house.
But those petty minds were but small pieces of cotton in that large fire of love whose name was AzhagiaManavala Perumal. He had his say.
And He always had his way.
The gigantic Ther stopped before Perianambi’s house.
It looked as if their roles had been reversed.
For years and years Perianambi used to wait outside his house for the Lord.
Today the Lord was waiting for him.
The administrators thought it was a mechanical problem and could be corrected only if they applied more oil on the axis. Pots of oil were poured on the humongous axis.
Yet the car would not move.
They sent word to the nearby villages.
Hundreds of people came to pull the car.
The Lord did not even move a milli-metre.
They sent word to the stable and six elephants were brought to pull the car.
The Lord was adamant.
They then went in search of mantrikas and astrologers.
The Lord was waiting patiently at the gate of Perianambi’s house.
Four hours had passed.
Perianambi was crying in the pooja room.
Nothing moved.The best of mantrikas was summoned.
He came there, closed his eyes and went into a state of trance.
After thirty minutes he woke up.
“Idiots, you have hurt a good man, a noble soul.
Unless you give Lord’s prasadam to him with due respects the Lord will not move an inch from this place.
And fools, do remember this.
If he thinks ill of you even for a second you’ll all be burnt to ashes in no time.
You can even play with this God. He won’t mind. But never try to play with his devotees.
You will be annihilated.
Emboldened by their silence the mantrika delivered his punchline with aplomb.
“You fools, if you have any sense still left in you, fall at Perianambi’s feet and beg his pardon.
Unless he forgives you even this loving Lord will not forgive you. Mind it.
”He refused to accept any fees from them.
“I have a strong policy not to accept anything from sinners like you.”
He ran away from the place. Then and only then they realized their mistake.
The Chief Priest went into Perianambi’s house and fell at his feet. “Perianambi, our Lord, Azhakia Manavalar is waiting to see you.
At your gate. Looks like He won’t move any further unless you come out and see him. ‘Please come with me and accept the Lord’s prasadam.
And please forgive all of us. We are all petty-minded people.
“We now know for sure that you are on our Lord’s side. No, no, our Lord is on your side. Please come, Peria Nambi.
The Lord has been waiting for you for the past four hours.” Perianambi ran out of the house.
It was a sight to see almost the entire town falling at his feet.He ignored them all and fell before the huge car.
The Chief Priest lifted him up and honored him with the Lord’s cloth and his sadari. A garland was taken from the Lord and was placed on Perianambi’s neck.
Azhagia Manavala Perumal was affectionately smiling at his devotee.
Perianambi was respected like a King amongst his peers.
For did not the Lord Himself stop at his place?
Seeing the bewitching smile on Azhakia Manavalar’s most beautiful face Peria Nambi folded his hands.
He did not even attempt to control his sobs.
“Any day your love is a million times better than mine, my Lord.
Give me a billion births to be born as a worm to be crushed by the feet of your loving devotees.
I can’t even repay a small fraction of your love.
Oh My Lord, you stopped at my place!
You stopped at the house of this worm!
You waited for me! My Lord! My Lord!”
The Chief Priest came near Perianambi and gently reminded him.“Please let the Lord go, Perianambi. It’s getting late, you see. Please..”
Perianambi moved away.
The Lord took leave of his devotee and resumed his onward journey. The huge car now moved as if its wheels were on air.
The gigantic Chariot started moving when less than fifty people gently pulled its ropes.
Credits : HG Shri Varalotti Rengasamy
All glories to Peria nambee All glories to Alavandar Srimathey Ramanujaya namah:
Pics : Thanks to Google images /and other websites shared by advance devotees
KANCHIPURAM, popularly known as “ Temple town” is situated 70 kms to the southwest of Chennai -30 kms from Arakkonam and about 25 kms from Sriperumbudur-the birth place of Swamy Ramanujar. It takes about 2 hours to reach this place from Guindy, Chennai (subject to traffic) and about 1 hour from Arakkonam .
Plenty of buses ply from Chennai at frequent intervals to this place. It takes about one and half hours by car from Chennai Airport. Cab charges from Arakonam to Kanchi is fixed as RS.1,200/-.
As Brahma (KA) worshipped Vishnu in this place, it is known as KANCHI.
Kancheepuram is the only kshetram located in South India out of the seven mukthi kshetrams, the others being Ayodhya, Mathura , Maya, Kasi, Avanthi, Dwaraka which are located in the NOrthern India.
Lord Varadaraja Perumal temple is glorified as the ‘Perumal Koil’ among Divya Desams. While Srirangam is…
Swamy continued Vibhishina though born among Rakshasas ( demons) was quiet saintly in nature .He tried his best to dissuade his sibling Ravana from his evil ways , but he would not listen .
With disappointment , he severed himself swiftly from all connection with him and his kingdom , Vibhishana soaring into the sky crossed the ocean along with four of his attendants to surrender to Lord Rama.
Lord was encamped with his army on the other shore Sethu near Rameshwaram.
A mere mention of the hallowed abodes of Emperuman would, by itself, ensure that none goes to Hell , indeed, if everyone were to just say the name of a divyadesam once, it would render the hellish worlds uninhabited and desolate, says Azhwar in the following pasuram—
The revered Azhwars and Acharyars take up upon themselves the burden of saving men who LORD gives up hopelessly for the reluctance in seeking HIM .
Do Acharyars really possess these virtue ?
An example is quoted from scriptures
By a Rishi’s curse a saint was consigned to the nether region , the hellish planets . The saint he was continued to follow his devotional practices with all sincerity .
The demons noting that the person could be a faction from devas , harassed him with their weapons . But as he was a devotee of LORD Sriman Narayana he proved invulnerable to them .
The worried demons approached their guru Shukra for a suggestion to wound the arrived devotee .
Shukra suggested ,
My dears !!
Begin by abstracting his love for Sri Hari and rest is assured for him to be in your grip …
KANCHIPURAM, popularly known as “ Temple town” is situated 70 kms to the southwest of Chennai -30 kms from Arakkonam and about 25 kms from Sriperumbudur-the birth place of Swamy Ramanujar. It takes about 2 hours to reach this place from Guindy, Chennai (subject to traffic) and about 1 hour from Arakkonam .
Plenty of buses ply from Chennai at frequent intervals to this place. It takes about one and half hours by car from Chennai Airport. Cab charges from Arakonam to Kanchi is fixed as RS.1,200/-. whereas from Chennai Airport it is about Rs.1000/-app.
As Brahma (KA) worshipped Vishnu in this place, it is known as KANCHI.
Kancheepuram is the only mukti kshetram located in South India out of the seven mukthi kshetrams, the others being Ayodhya, Mathura , Maya, Kasi, Avanthi, Dwaraka which are located in the NOrthern India.
SRIRANGA MANGALA NIDHIM KARUNA NIVAASAM
SRI VENKATADRI SHIKARALAYA KALAMEGHAM
SRI HASTHISAILA SIKORAJWALA PARIJATHAM
SRISAN NAMAAMI YADHUSAILA DEEPAM
The above famous sloka refers to the four most important Vishnu shrines-namely Srirangam(also known as “Bhoga Mandapam”),
Venkatadri(Tirumala)( “Pushpa Mandapam”),
Srihasthisailam(Kanchi)(“Thyaga mandapam”) and
Yadhusailam(Melkote) (known as “Jnana Mandapam”).
The above Perumals were worshipped by famous devotees in the four yugas.
Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam (known as “Kovil”) was worshipped by Lord Rama who later presented HIM to Vibhishana in Treta yuga
Lord Thirunarayanan of Melkote was worshipped by Lord Krishna in Dwapara yuga,
Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati (known as “Malai”) is being worshipped by Adisesha and us in Kali yuga whereas
Lord Varadarajar in Kanchipuram (Perumal kovil) is being worshipped in all the four yugas-
by Brahma in Satya yuga,
by Mahashaantan Maharishi who asssumed the form of Gajendran in TReta yuga
by Devaguru Brihaspathi in Dwapara yuga
by Ananatazhwan(Adisesha) in Kali yuga
The sthalavaralaaru mentions that Adisesha (the serpent on which Lord Vishnu eternally resides) emerged from Patala to worship the Lord. This place is now known as “Ananta saras” pushkarini where Lord Athi Varadar resides in water. There is a snake pit(putru) near Nammazhwar sannidhi in the temple premises which is considered to be Adiseshan’s dwelling place.
Ananta saras is the only temple pushkarini in the world which has association with Lord always as HE dwells in the sacred waters of the pushkarini. In all other temples, LOrd visits the pushkarini only for theerthavari and in most of the cases it is the Sudarshana chakram which has holy dip in theerthams.
Brahma-the lotus born who emerged from Lord Vishnu’s naval at the time of creation desired to have darshan of Lord Vishnu and undertook penance. Lord appeared in the form of water at Pushkar in Rajasthan and later in the form of forest at Naimisaranyam near Lucknow. He wished to have darshan of the Lord with chathurbhujam and was advised by an asareeri to perform 100 Aswamedha yagams. AS he felt he was incompetent to perform 100 yagams, he was advised to perform one aswamedha yagam at Sathyavratha kshetram as any act done at this holy place would reap 100 times benefit.
Brahma brought athi (“Dhaaru”-a rare type of wood) known as “DHEVA UDUMBARAM” from DEvalokam on an elephant and Viswakarma -the divine architect carved out Vishnu murthi holding sankhu , chakram, gadam and right hand in abhaya hastham. He installed this murthi and started Aswamedha yagam. The speciality of this wood is it gains lustre when in contact with water unlike normal wood which gets spoilt quickly when kept in water. By placing a piece of wood in a tree trunk, the tree would start growing. This tree can be found only in two places -Athiyur(kanchi) and Gaya. (There are very few temples like Thirukovalur, Thiruvellarai, Puri and Kanchi where the Lord made of wood is worshipped which adheres to agama sastras)
This place came to be known as “Kanchi” as “KA”(Brahma) worshipped Vishnu here. He begun the yagna alone with the help of SAvitri and Gayatri (his other consorts), without his main consort Sri Saraswati.(It may be recalled that in Pushkar also, Brahma did penance without Saraswati’s presence. this can be observed in the Brahma temple. )
Angered by this negligence, Saraswati decided to stop the yaga ( A divine play by LORD) . First, she put the entire world in darkness. The Lord out of abundant compassion to Brahma appeared as Sri Deepaprakasa on Chitra Revati ( Now glorified as DeepaPraksha temple ) . Darkness was driven out. On the auspicious day in the month of Chitra(Apr- May) on Revati star day which is considered as the appearance day of Lord Deepaprakasar , Perumal along with Swami Vedanta Desikar visit Varadaraja temple .
Again when Brahma wanted to start the yagna, Saraswati sent a demon with bird and beast features to stop the yagna. Immediately, the Lord appeared with Eight arms –Sri Ashtabuja Perumal This place is in another separate Kshetram within Kanchipuram. This happened in Chitra Rohini . The demon was driven away and lord Brahma restarted the yagna . Not to rely on others to stop the yagna, then Saraswati decided to stop the yagna herself and took the form of a rushing river – Vegavati .
The Lord now took the reclining pose and as a bridge stopped the flow of the river. This happened in Vekkha and thus the Lord is Sri Yatothkari . This wonderful incident happened on Chitra Punarvasu day . Thus the Lord appeared in Three forms in the month of Chitra in Revati, Rohini and Punarvasu as Sri Deepaprakasa, Sri Ashtabuja Perumal and Sri Yatoktakari. ( One must have darshan of the Lordships in these temples which is very near to Main temple ) .
At conclusion of yaga, Lord Varadarajan emerged out of the scared fire pleased with Brahma’s devotion, in Punyakoti vimanam on the northern banks of River Vegavati.
As Perumal ( Utsava Moorthy ) appeared from fire, the marks on caused due to heat in the form of many small dots can be seen on utsavar’s Thirumugam ( divine face ) . Perumal gave darshan with chathurbhujam holding sankhu, chakram, gadam with HIS lower left hand and lower right hand in .abhaya hastam on Chithirai month chathurdashi thithi on Hastham star. “Ka” – means Brahma and “Anjitham” – means who was worshipped.
As Perumal granted all the boons of Devas, He is known as “Varadar” meaning “giver of boons”. As He is very compassionate, He is known as “Perarulalan.
As He is the master of Devas, He is Devadirajan,
as he resides at Attiyur (this place was once surrounded by Athi maram),
He is known as Attiyuran,
Hastagirinathan as He resides in Hastagiri. Airavatam-the celestial elephant on which Brahma brought the diety assumed the form of a hill to shelter the Lord. Hence , the hillock is known as Hastagiri. (Indra who was cursed by Mahalakshmi to become an elephant prayed at this place and was redeemed from curse.
As the Lord is bestower of boons to , HE is known as “Varadan“
Athivaradar carved out and worshipped by Brahma was the presiding diety whom Azhwars and Acharyars have glorified. The deity of Lord Varadarajar glorified as Athiyuran was the main deity in the Garbagraha of this temple until 15th Century. But as per the stone inscriptions in Thayar sannidhi, in 1487 , the murthi was replaced with shila murthi by Virupakshanayakan (a local king) under the rule of Narasinarayar of Vijayanagar empire.
During the Muslim invasion, in 1687 A.D.,the main deity (Lord Varadarajan) is said to have been under threat by the invaders. The mughals eyed on temples to plunder the abundant wealth kept in the temples . In order to preserve the deity and to avoid desecration of the Lordships, the elders constructed a mandapam inside the tank and placed Athivaradan (moolavar diety) secretly in a silver casket and immersed in the temple tank- Anantha saras . (As per Dr.M.A.Venkatakrishnan, the deity is placed in the tank without silver casket. ). To protect the deity from floating, statues of eight naagas considered to be Adisesha swaroopam were installed around the diety for protection.
The utsava murthi of LOrd Varadarajan and Perundevi Thayar were shifted to Udayarpalayam near Trichy. The temple was in a deserted condition for 22 years. After peace was restored, an advanced devotee named Sri. Aathan Jeeyar who was the guru for Thodamal-the army chief of Arcot king (whose statue can be seen inside Tirumala temple) arranged to restore the utsava murthis in 1711 . AS they could not trace the whereabouts about Moolavar as most of the elders had migrated from Kanchi or left the world, there was none to reveal the whereabouts . It was decided to install a new Moolavirat from a rock in Pazhaya seevaram (a small hillock)-about 15 kms from Kanchipuram. . A replica of Athivaradar was thus carved out and consecrated as per vedic injunctions which we worship today. To mark this incident , every year during Thai maasam(Jan-Feb) , the utsava murthi Varadarajan visits Pazhaya seevaram. The newly consecrated idol was being worshipped along with the utsava murthis.
(After 40 years, due to divine will , when the temple tank Ananta saras got dried up (either due to drought or for cleaning purpose), the Lord revealed HIMSELF in the pushkarini. The Lord was placed in a nearby mantapam for worship as there was already a moolavar inside the temple.
(As per stone inscriptions in the temple, Athivaradar was found in the temple tank in 1781 on July 30th on saturday dasami thithi . )
Later, Lord appeared in a temple priest’s dream commanding him to put back the Lord in the cool waters of Ananta saras as HE was still experiencing the heat generated during Brahma’s yagam. Lord conceded to the devotees’ request to give darshan once in 40 years for a period of 48 days. Thus the practice of taking out the Lord from Ananta saras approximately once in 40 years for a period of 48 days begun. (As per records, it was taken out in 1892,then after 45 years in 1937, later after 42 years in 1979 and now after 40 years in 2019.)
Lord is placed in two postures -lying posture and standing posture . (As per Dr.Venkatakrishnan, the water from the puskarini is completely drained out and on an auspicious day during JUly-Aug when there are not many utsavams, the Lord is taken out carefully from Anantasaras, given holy bath and decorated .NO preservatives are used for protecting the divine form of the Lord. The Lord is placed only to have darshan, six times pooja as per Pancharatra agamasastras are not performed.
Ananta saras is the most sacred temple tank in the whole world because of its association with the LOrd of Universe always. Sprinkling holy water from this pushkarini redeems us of all the innumerable accumulated sins . In all other temples, either the utsava murthi of Perumal or ” sataari ” is dipped in the temple puskarini during culmination of brahmotsavam usually once in a year whereas in Ananta saras, the Lord dwells eternally.
It was Lord Varadar in the form of hunter couple who saved Ilayazzhwan(Swamy Ramanujar) from Yadavaprakasa who had planned to kill him. The most compassionate Lord VAradar along with HIS consort Perundevi Thayar disguised as hunter couple accompanied Ramanujar on the dark night in the forests near Vindhya mountains when Ilayazwan had lost way. Overnight, he was transported to Kanchipuram. When Ilayazhwan went to fetch water to quench the hunter-lady;s thirst, the Lord disappeared .When the perplexed Ilayazwan enquired about the whereabouts , he was pointed towards “Punyakoti vimanam”. Ilayazhwan realized that it was Lord Varadarajan who escorted him to this place and continued to stay here doing theertha kainkaryam. Also, Swamy Ramanujan embraced Sanyasam as per the Lord;s instructions by having a holy dip in the Ananta saras and was given orange robes by the Lord HIMSELF. Swamy Ramanujar did theertha kainkaryam to the Lord until he was ordered to shift to Srirangam to fulfill Thiruvaranga araiyar’s boon bestowed by Lord Varadar who was immensely pleased with Araiyar sevai performed by him.
Another interesting incident:-when Ramanujar ordered Kooratazhwan who became blind while trying to save him ordered him to prayto Varadar, Kooratazhwan composed VAradaraja stavam comprising of 102 slokas in praise of this Lord. When Lord asked him for a boon, he prayed that he should be given vision to see the holy form of the Lord and his acharyar only. He didn’t want to see the material world.
Like Puri Rathyatra performed 10 days prior to Aashada Ekadasi, the Annual Garuda seva performed on the third day during Vaigasi Brahmotsavam (May-June) especially attracts huge crowds from near and far. The streets are very wide like in Puri.
Another similarity between Puri and Kanchi temples is the dieties are made of wood . IN Puri Jaganath temple, once in 12 years, the moolavar dieties of Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Baladeva are replaced whereas in Kanchi Varadar temple, Athivaradar-the Lord carved out from athi wood by Brahma is preserved inside the temple tank and is taken out for worship once in 40 years.
This town is sanctified with many Acharayas -Sri Thirukachinambigal, Sri Ramanujar, Sri Desikar, Sri Sankaracharyar to name a few. Also , this is the headquarters for many religious peetams like Kanchi Kamakoti peetam, Sri Mudaliandan swamy Thirumaligai, Sri Appan Swamy Thirumaligai and other associate maaligas of Sri Ramanujar’s sishyas. One of the shatberams(6 utsava murthis) was given by the LOrd HIMSELF to our acharyar-Sri Mudaliandan Thirumaligai.
VAradaraja Sthavam by Kooratazhwan, Varadaraja Panchasat by VEdanta Desikar, Devaraja Ashtakam by Thirukachi nambigal are few famous renderings on this Lord. Thyagaraja has also composed a beautiful kirtan on this Lord.
Our poorvacharyars attribute the word “amararukku athipathi ” of the first pasuram in Nammazhwar Thiruvaimozhi to this Perumal.
MOOLAVAR
SRI VARADARAJAR, PERARULALAN, DEVADIRAJAN, DEVAPPERUMAL, ATTIYURAN
This temple town is dotted with many temples of which there are 14 important shrines dedicated to Lord Vishnu and 13 temples for Parama Shivan. The sthalapuranam for all the Vishnu temples is inter connected with Brahma’s penance. Brahma who started Aswamedha yaga without his wife SAraswathi had to face many hurdles and everytime Lord Vishnu appeared in various forms to encounter SAraswati’s obstacles until Brahma successfully completed the yaga.
The temples are located in Little Kanchi and Big Kanchi. Out of 22 divya desams in Thondai naadu, 14 are in Kanchipuram itself and another at Thiruputkuzhi, the details of which are briefly given:-
PERIA KANCHIPURAM:-
Sri Nilathingal thundathan Perumal, (in Ekambareswarar temple)
Sri Ulagalandha Perumal , Ooragham
Sri Jagadeeswara Perumal, Neeragam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram
Sri Karunakara Perumal, Kaaragam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram
Sri Kaarvannan (Kalva) Perumal, Thirukaarvanam in Ulagalandha Perumal temple prakaram(all these temples are in Ulagalandha Perumal kovil itself)
Sri Aadivaraha Perumal, Thirukalvanur (in Kamakshi temple)
Sri Vaikuntanatha Perumal, Thiruparameswara vinnagaram
Sri Pandava dhootha Perumal, Thirupadagam
Sri Pavalavannan Perumal, Thirupavazhavannam(also,Perumal gives darshan as Pachaivarnan beside this temple)
(CHINNA KANCHI)
Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple, Thirukachi
Sri Ashtabuja Perumal, Thiruattabuyakaram
Sri Deepaprakasa temple, Thiruthanka
Sri Azhagia Singar temple, ThiruVelukkai
Sri Yathothkari temple, Thiruvekha
With Kanchipuram as base town , devotees can also have darshan of Thiruputkuzhi Divya desam (1 hour drive from Kanchi). If you start early, you can finish visiting Kanchi temples by noon. Thiruputkuzhi, Sriperumbudur, Kooram can be visited in the second half of the day.
Check out the divine pastime in the appended blog post. Click the link
Of these, Sri Varadarajar temple with its imposing towers , Sri Kamakshi temple, Sri Ekambareswar temples attract many pilgrims including foreign tourists daily.
The famous Lord Varadarajar temple wears festive look daily .
Around 280 Utsavams happen in this temple all around the year
Lord Devaraja has captivating beauty and it is said that Swami Ramanuja was totally attracted by His shoulders
Perundevi Thayar, the consort of Devadirajan does not come out of the garbagriham like SriRanganayaki. Even the utsava murthi of the Thayar is not taken out for procession beyond the four walls of the temple. Whenever Perumal is taken out in procession inside the temple, HE is accompanied by Perundevi Thayar .
The Theppam (float festival) is celebrated in Anantasaras tank. The temple pond known as Anantha Saras /Amrutha saras never dries up , the Vimanam is known as Punyakoti Vimanam.
Every Friday , Thayar comes in a procession within the 4 walls of the temple. Almost 280 utsavams are performed to Lord whole year . Brahma in Kreta Yuga, Gajendran, the elephant in Tretha yuga, Brihaspathi in Dwarpara yuga and Adiseshan in Kaliyuga offered their prayers to Lord here .
The wonderful temple is located on a 23-acre complex and has 3 outer precincts (prakaram) namely Azhwar Prakaram, Madai Palli Prakaram and Thiru Malai Prakaram. The main sanctum faces west and can be entered through a 130 feet tall, 7-tiered rajagopuram (main gateway tower).
The eastern gopuram is taller than the western gopuram, which is contrasting to large temples where the rajagopuram is the tallest one. There is a 100 pillared hall has sculptures depicting Ramayana and Mahabaratha .The main shrine of Varadarajaswamy is on a small hillock 10m tall and a fleet of 24 steps, termed “Hasthagiri..
The temple has 5 prakarams. The first prakara which is on the Hastagiri hill houses the garbagriha and the pradakshinam path. The garbagriham is known as “Vayya maligai” – earthly mansion of the Lord(Leela Vibhuti) .
A flight of steps from the lower hill, known as Varanagiri which houses Narasimhar, leads us to the garbagriha where we can have darshan the Lord in His pristine glory.
The second prakaram is known as Thirumalai pradakshinam as it runs round the hill.
The third prakara known as Madapalli prakaram/ Alavandar prakaram houses the temple kitchen, numerous shrines and mantapams for Garuda, Adisesha, Perundevi Thayar, the abhsiheka mantapam where the utsava murthis are given abhishekam, pavitrotsava mantapam where the Lord’s vaahanams are kept, the unjal mandapam etc.
The fourth prakaram known as Azhwar Thiruveedi houses the vigrahams of all Azhwars , Acharyars, Krishna, Varaha, Sri Ranganathar etc and the Anantasaras tank.
The fifth prakaram is known as “Mada veethi “ and it was here that Sri Alavandar first saw Sri Ramanujar and blessed him that he would be the foremost for propagating Vaishnavism by declaring “Aam invan mudhalvan” meaning yes, he is the foremost.
As mentioned earlier, the Garbagriham is located on top of Hastagiri hill with enclosures on all sides. However on one particular day after 15 days from Chithira Pournami, the sunrays fall directly on Moolavar’s Thirumugam . (Similarly in Vaikunta Perumal kovil(popularly known as Kallapiran) in Pandya naadu, the sunrays fall on the moolavar’s thirumugam twice in a year)
Even the stones on the compound wall are 24. The pushkarini also has 24 steps. Gayatri mantra has 24 syllables. Therefore, it is no wonder that the Lord, Who has Gayatri as His body, has everything, around number 24. Apart from this, according to Visishtadvaita philosophy, achit entities are 24. That is inanimate entities are 24. When we cross the 24 steps we land on the top floor and that is the 25th entity, Jeevatman. From this floor we have to climb some more steps to reach the garbha gruham of Lord Devaraja Perumal. We come to the corridor on the floor and we go round that. One end of the corridor is famous for two things.
One of the ancestors of Lord Rama named Asmanjhan and his wife who were cursed to become lizards were redeemed from their curse at this place by the Lord. Hence, it is believed that touching the golden and silver lizards would cure us of all ailments. Crowds throng to touch these lizards for getting rid from material ailments forgetting that the Lord of the UNiverse standing as Varadarajan saves us from this “Samsaram” and gives “MOKSHAM”
Another adjoining mandapam, Kachhikku vaithan mandapam follows the corridor . Every evening the Lord would arrives at this mandapam, and Swami Thirukacchi Nambi would start his fanning service Thirukachi nambigal, the great Vaishnavite saint had the bhaagyam of conversing with this Perumal while fanning the Lord(Alavatta kainkaryam). This is beside the “lizard mantapam”
It is believed that Brahma comes here once a year on the full moon day in the Tamil month of Chitrai (April-May) around mid night, for a darshan of Lord Varadarajan. On this day, it is the practice for the priests to place food inside the sanctum and to wait outside for 24 minutes. At the end of this, the food is said to smell sweeter.
It was thus decided by Elders that LORD has to be taken out from the temple tank once in 40 years and various pooja shall be performed for 48 days and then kept in the bed of the Pushkarini for the next 40 years.
The 96th Pasuram of Irandam thiruvanthathi glorifies LORD as
Bhoodathazhwar addresses the Lord as “athiyooran” who is fond of garuda seva(pullai oorvan -pul =bird. Kanchi Garuda seva is world famous.
Thus Lord Athi Varadhar gives His darshan to the devotees only once in 40 years and that too for a period of 48 days.
Close darshan of Athi Vardar
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The Rising of Athi Varadhar” happened in the years 1739, 1779, 1819, 1859, 1939, 1979 and Now in the year 2019 and fortunate are those who are having darshan .
Athi Varadar
Athi Varadar thus graces the devotees once in 40 years . Lord arrives from the Anantha saras and alights outside for public worship for a period of 48 days. This event took place last in 1979 and now in 2019 darshan has already commenced now . Lord gives darshan in reclining posture during the first 24 days and later gives darshan in standing posture for the remaining 24 days.
The Great Priests who were involved in the Rising of Athi Varadar from the Anantha Saras
Vendittrellaam tarum vallal Manivannan” is how our Nammazhwar describes the Lord. Whatever we ask, the Lord is ready to give us the same and much more, however exalted be the boon we seek.
Check out the url links below on abundant mercy of the Lord of the Lords ..
The above sloka …. reverberates in all srivaishnava temples and homes glorifying the rich sampradaya we have inherited from our poorvacharyas ….Swamy Nathamunigal and Swamy Alavandar, the two great acharyas have been pillars to Srivaishnava sampradayam, took their avatara at the holy place Kattumannar koil, which is 25 kms from Chidambaram in Cuddalore district of Tamil nadu, South India.
Kattumannarkoil (situated on the banks of the vast Veeranam Lake) hallowed by the birth of these Acharyas is the only place with magnificent temples dedicated to Swamy Nathamunigal and Swamy Alavandar.
Swamy Nathamunigal was the foremost Acharya of Srivaishnava sampradaya .
Nathamuni mastered himself in Vedas at a very young age,.He was devoted to Lord Veera Narayana Perumal and spent most of his time performing daily (…
The above sloka …. reverberates in all srivaishnava temples and homes glorifying the rich sampradaya we have inherited from our poorvacharyas ….Swamy Nathamunigal and Swamy Alavandar, the two great acharyas have been pillars to Srivaishnava sampradayam, took their avatara at the holy place Kattumannar koil, which is 25 kms from Chidambaram in Cuddalore district of Tamil nadu, South India.
Kattumannarkoil (situated on the banks of the vast Veeranam Lake) hallowed by the birth of these Acharyas is the only place with magnificent temples dedicated to Swamy Nathamunigal and Swamy Alavandar.
Swamy Nathamunigal was the foremost Acharya of Srivaishnava sampradaya .
Nathamuni mastered himself in Vedas at a very young age,.He was devoted to Lord Veera Narayana Perumal and spent most of his time performing daily (…
Pilgrimage to Pandharpur near Sholapur in Maharashtra and having darshan of Lord Vittal is incomplete without mentioning the great devotee Pundalikan.
Pundalaikan who hailed from southern part of India undertook a pilgrimage to kasi along with his parents and family . As his old parents couldn’t withstand the long journey they camped on the banks of Bhima river in the present Pandharpur.
As there was no improvement in their fitness and due to their old age , they decided to stay there forever serving LORD and his devotees .
Pundalikan was a caring and obedient son .
Always in the service of his parents chanting the holy name he continued to start a fresh life being at this new place.
The Divine Name of ‘ Jai Jai Ramakrishna Hari Jai Jai Vasudeva Hari’ ever reverberating in this holy town made him swoon into transcendental bliss .
Pundalikan was so concerned that he changed the course of the river so that it would pass by his hut to enable his parents for taking their daily bath .
Even today we can see the shape of this river looks like a crescent of moon and hence the river came to be known as “Chandrabhaga” river.
All compassionate Lord Krishna in Dwaraka, wanted the world to know about this great devotee Pundalikan who was serving his parents with utmost sincerity .
The cheerful obedience mixed with devotion attracted Lord personally to visit his hut to bless him. It was a direct meeting of the great Lord with his favorite devotee .
Lord arrived near his hut silently and was immersed in listening to his devotees Nama sankirtana.
Lord walked inside his hut like a normal man and looking at his devotee called him.
Pundalikan was engrossed in the Holy name and was serving his old parents by comforting their legs .
The voice was melodious …… unheard ….
My son !!
Lord once again called
Pundalikaa…..
Look ..
Pundalik was in trance and that bliss he was already enjoying the holy name in his transcendental mood and hence he did not want to come out of that mood ..
and he did not want to disturb his old parents sleep as they too were engrossed in the Holy name ..
He attempted to whisper slowly his helplessness ,that he couldn’t come and receive the honorable guest due to his position .
He requested him to please wait .
He presumed that once his parents were fast asleep he could take leave from them and attend the respected guest .
He innocently requested the revered guest to rest .
Lord replied , I find only bricks around . Any way as desired by his devotee he just stood on a small brick which was lying nearby.
The demigod Indra to atone for his brahmahathi dosham immediately took the form of brick awaiting Lord’s arrival so that the Lord would place HIS lotus feet. The divine incident was happening at the great devotees hut.
Once he observed that his parents were fast asleep , he comforted them and looked around .
Pundalikan had a glance of the wonderful darshan .
Lord Krishna as Vitthala, standing on a brick, hands on hips, with a smile on his lips.
He scanned the lovely form further . His eyes were starving for that darshan .Torrent of tears flowed ..Speechless . His soul now rejoiced in pure love ..
His breath that was synchronized with the holy name could swim deep in that ocean of sheer bliss ..
.Panduranga …
My Lord !! Vittala…
Nothing more ..Let this remain with me .
..Oh ! Lord …
Ocean of Compassion … You came to see this worm …
And..
LORD ! Please forgive me for asking you to stand on the brick ..
Pundalikan was inconsolable ….
Lord Panduranga, Lord Vittala the enchanter of the Universe, wearing ‘Makara Kundala’ (fish shaped ear stud) in his ears, …….
Peethambara (clad in yellow silk), wearing exquisite royal ornaments, a bewitching smile playing on His lips and having the insignia of Goddess Lakshmi on His chest, two palms on His hips was looking at Pundalikan ..
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Pundalik was overwhelmed and touched .
He submitted to LORD for HIM to stay there forever.
Lord with a enchanting smile replied ..
My dear son !
Now an forever will I remain on this brick standing to see all my children seeking me…
Rukmini ,SAtyabhama arrived later , assumed the same posture of Lord and blessed Pundalikan.
AT the behest of Pundalikan, Lord resides here and gives darshan to millions of devotees . As Lord stands on Vittu(brick) , HE is glorified as as Vittalan.
The place where the Lord stands is the present temple.
The Saints like Namdeo, Dnyaneshwar to Tukaram wove their life around Vitthala and saw in Vitthala their brother, father, friend and a compassionate Lord who could bless them with ultimate salvation.
“Vittala ” is our Compassionate Lord who mingled with all the devotees by taking various roles like a cobbler, barber, servant, potter, gardener thus assisting his devotees in household chores and helping them in their own spiritual up liftment and seek salvation
Pundalikan and his parents attained Lord’s feet after the divine darshan . The Pundalika Temple is about half a km from the Vitthal Temple.
This temple marks the spot where Pundalika, the Lord’s devotee, spent the last years of his life and also is the place of his Samadhi. It is on the riverbank of Chandrabhaga.
Great Bhagavathas have composed wonderful Naama sankirtana which swoon even a rock to breath the holy name and reach HIS holy abode ..One such kirtan is presented below sung by Sri Kadyanallur Rajagopal feeds the soul with a grand feast of holy names .The lyrics is shared below for the feel …
Shanka Chakra Dhara Vaijayanthi Dara Pithambaradara Govardhanodhara Tulasimala Shobhita Gala Garuda Gamana Hari Pankaja Nabha Vittala Yere Pandhari Raya Mastaka Linga Swaroopa Linga
Roopa Banga Sajjana Sangha Yadukula Thilaka Manmatha Janaka Pathitha Pavana Dena Dayalo Vittala Yere Pandhari Raya
Thirumazhisai is a holy place located equidistant to Kancheepuram , Mahabalipuram and Mylapur in the present chengelpet district ( Tamilnadu) . This place is very famous for Lord Jagganatha Perumal temple . The holy place has cool streams fruit and flower grooves yielding abundant fruits. The blossoming flowers all through makes it a perfect place for a nature lover .
Several seers , sages , nomadaic saints , bhikshukas relax and perform penance at this place for eternal peace .
In such an wonderful place , Thirumazhisai Azhwar appeared much earlier than the advent of Kaliyuga .
Azhwar lived for almost 300 years glorifying the Lordships .
Thirumazhisai Azhwar was a junior contemporary of the foremost Azhwars Pogai , Pey and Bhudath Azhwar who laid a solid foundation for vishistadvaita long long ago .
Azhwar was brought up by his foster parents at Thirumazhisai . It is believed Azhwar left them at a very…
It takes about one hour to reach the caves on top of a hillock ascending through steep narrow steps. There are three caves which have been identified as Sitadevi’s captivity.
With the blessings of Asmath Acharyar and Elders we could have darshan of all the holy places related to Srimad Ramayana , in India during 2010 which is briefed as “SriRama Anu yatra” travelogue
The inert desire of visiting the holy places in Srilanka fructified this August 2018. Our Thirumaligai deities accompanied us all through ..
After obtaining Asmath acharyar’s blessings ,and with the grace of our Kula deivam-Kazhiyur Adikesava Perumal and Lord Srinivasa, we undertook this yatra overseas ..
The prayers were with utmost faith . Oh Lord! I am new to your place . I have come here on a mission .Please help me in succeeding in the mission .To everybody’s surprise Clive had completely recovered by next morning. Thanking the Lord he marched along with his men to Arcot .
During the years 1690 to 1800 , the Nawabs of the Carnatic (also referred to as the Nawabs of Arcot), ruled the Carnatic region of South India. They had their capital at Arcot near Vellore region in Tamil Nadu . The temple town Kanchipuram was ruled by the Arcot Nawabs .
Robert Clive from East India was serving as a clerk could not digest the French expansion taking place at different parts of India .He was too upset with the British response to the French onslaught during the Carnatic wars .
He could see the French advancing in the areas around Madras with the Muslem kings . He was moved and hence proposed a plan to the governor at Madras to somehow defend this . He wished he could somehow challenge the strong Franco-Indian forces at Trichinopoly by taking a strike at Arcot, Chanda Sahib’s capital city, with the…
Puri” means fullness. This holiest temple town is in the form of a conch. It is also known as Jagannath dhaam-the abode of Jaganath, Purushotama kshetra, Nilachala Nilagiri- the blue mountain, Sri kshetram-the abode of Sri(Lakshmi).
The holy dham vibrates with Mahamantra and other holy names of the Lord. It is also known as “Yamanika tirtha”-the place where Yama,the God of death cannot enter.
The greatness about the holiest shrine Puri is mentioned by LORD
HIMSELF in Narada Purana as:
“PRATIMAAM TATRA TAAM DRISTVAA SVAYAM DEVENA NIRMITAAM ANAAYAASENA VAI YAANTI BHAVANAM ME TATO NARAAH
The Supreme LORD reveals to Mahalakshmi”
Jagannath Puri is one of the four holy dhaams (Sacred places) located on the eastern part of India near the shores of Bay of Bengal. The other three dhams are Badrinath located in the North, Rameswaram in the South, Dwaraka in the West. Sripad Sankaracharyar, Swamy Ramanujar, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are the prominent acharyars who have visited this place.
The great saint Sankaracharya established a mutt at this place and composed the famous “JAGANATHASHTAKA” in which he prays Lord to help him cross over the ocean of samsara.The temple is situated over Nilachala mountain.
Out of the 4 entrances to the temple, the eastern gate is glorified as the “Simha dwaaram”. At the entrance, we can find small replica of Lord Jaganatha and Sri Ganesha. deities .
Rath Yatra is held in the month of Aashada, when the Lord HIMSELF steps out of the temple to give darshan to all the lucky souls. Usually we find Dwaja sthambham in front of all the Sri Vaishnava temples. But at Puri, we find Aruna sthambham.
A huge stone pillar is erected on top of which is Aruna,the charioteer of Sun God with folded hands waits for Lord Jaganaths commands . It symbolizes that those who worship the Lord will be enlightened . The figure of Aruna is kept in a height which equals the height of the Lord in the garbagriham.
We have to trek 22 steps to reach the garbagriham which split into sets of 5 more steps. One has to climb 5 steps, walk few distance, again take another flight of 5 steps and so on.
These steps denote that one has to leave aside the 5 worldly fetters-lust, anger, greed, jealousy and pride.
The first five steps represent the five outer sense organs-eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
The next 5 steps represent the 5 pranas or life airs-prana, apaana, vyaana, udaana, samaana.
The next five steps represent the inner sense or tanmaatras-rupa(sight), rasa (taste), gandha (smell), sabda (sound), sparsa (touch).
The next five steps are tha panch maha bhutas- earth, water, air, fire and ether.
The last two steps represent buddhi or intelligence and ahankara or false ego-the false conception of identifying the soul with the body.
One by one all the must be purified before passing into the Inner sanctum of the temple and having darshan of LORD Jaganath
Huge mud vessels containing offerings to lord that becomes maha prashad (every day 56 items of bhog (food offerings) is offered to the Lord eight times.
Elders point out that the Lord gets up at Tirumala , has lunch at Puri, and relaxes at Srirangam.
The moment one thinks of Puri, he is immediately reminded of the Mahaprashad.
As is customary in all the Sri Vaishnavite temples, we offered our obeisances to (Peria Thiruvadee)Garudazhwan before having darshan of the Lord. Here , Garuda is in the form of a wooden log. In the big hall in front of the garbagriham, there is a pillar which devotees circumbulate .
This is the place where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited this place to have darshan of the Lord, he fell into ecstasy looking at the mohana roopam of the Lord.
He was in a trance for many hours totally absorbed in the Lord. (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is an incarnation of Lord Krishna and Radharani.
He appeared to promote prema bhakti as the easiest means of attaining the Lord in Kali Yugam. He taught that chanting the Lord’s names as in Mahamantra is the easiest way to reach the lotus feet of the Lord .
Most of the teachings of Mahaprabhu connects to the principles of Sri sampradaya followed by JagathAcharyar Swamy Ramanujacharyar’s )
In another instance, when an old lady was struggling to have darshan of the Lord, Mahaprabhu carried her on his shoulders so that she could have Lord’s darshan clearly. This incident in carved in the pillar .
Subhadra, Lord Krishna’s sister , painted in yellow marking auspiciousness is in the middle On HER right is Baladeva in white and to HER left is Jagannath, the Lord of the Universe who is Neelavannan(darkish) in colour Lord Baladeva and Lord Jaganath are on the either sides of Subhadramaata. Near Lord Jaganath’s is Goddess Rukmini Devi’. Lord Jaganath is the tallest among all – Sri Sudarshana chakram also graces the devotees .
The outstretched arms of the Lord were like inviting to embrace us.
The Lord’s eyes are wide open(without eye lids) so that HE can constantly pour HIS abundant grace on us.
A darshan of Lord Jaganath relieves one from the cycle of births and deaths.Holy bath is given only once in a year which is celebrated as Snana Yatra on Jeshta Pournami day before Rath Yathra.
On other days, a mirror is placed in front of the deities and the holy bath (abhishekam is performed to the Lords’ reflection .)
Kathopanishad says:- Atmaanam rathinam viddhi shareeram rathamevatu Buddhim tu saarathim viddhi manah pragrahameva cha
The body is the Chariot and the soul is the deity installed in the chariot. The wisdom acts as the charioteer to control the mind and thoughts. Rath Yatra is celebrated in Puri in the month of Aashadam(June-July) on the second day of the waxing moon (After Amavasya) in Sukla paksham with great pomp.
Lakhs of devotees assemble at Puri to participate in this and get a chance to pull the chariot unmindful of the stampedes.
A glimpse of Lord Jagannatha on the chariot is considered to be very auspicious and saints, poets and scriptures have repeatedly glorified the sanctity of this special festival.
The sanctity of the festival is such that even a touch of the chariot or even the ropes with which these are pulled is considered enough to confer the results of several pious deeds or penance for ages.
THE MAKING OF THE HUGE CHARIOTS
The wooden logs cut from Phassi, Dhausa tree are initially set to float in Mahanadi river and are brought to Puri by road.
Every year new chariots are made for Rath Yatra using these logs of wood. The construction of the 3 chariots starts on the auspicious day of Akshaya Trithyai-(the 3rd day in the bright fornight)in the month of Visakha- about two and half months before the Rath Yatra.
Only the descendants of the original carpenter are privileged to construct the chariots . After performing yaga, the construction of the chariot commences amidst chanting of mantras. During this time,some important events like Chandan Yatra, Snana Yatra and the Lord falling sick take place in the temple.
Lord Jaganath along with Subhadra and Baladeva leave the main temple and go to Gundicha temple which is about 2 kms north of the temple.
The Lordships leave in 3 separate chariots specially made for this purpose and give darshan to all the devotees including the persons who are not allowed inside the temple.
They stay at Gundicha temple for 9 days and return on the 10 th day.
Gundicha temple is also known as Janaka Puri , Yajnavedi(as this was the place where Brahma performed first fire sacrifice), Adapa Mandapam (mandapa where the deities are isolated).
The Lord moves about as per HIS free will the travel time cannot be ascertained.
There were instances where the Ratham would not move for days .
As the three chariots move about simultaneously, the road through which the chariot passes is very wide and is known as Grand Road like in Kanchipuram.
To enact that everyone is same in front of the eyes of the Lord, before the procession starts, in olden times, the king of the state used to clean the way using a golden broom.
(This practice was started by King Prataparudra who was a great follower of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
He expressed his humbleness by sweeping the road before the procession started, he used to press Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s legs to gain his audience.
A narration about Rath Yatra without mentioning Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s leela is incomplete.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu after embracing Sanyasrama spent most of his time at Puri in the Lord’s presence . he used to sing and dance in ecstasy for hours together in front ofLord Jagannathar.
Once during Rath Yatra, Mahaprabhu was leading His sankeertana. His disciples were in groups at different locations and chanting the Mahamantra. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in all the nine groups singing and dancing in ecstasy at the same time.
This was observed by His foremost devotees. He thus revealed that he was an incarnation of the Lord in Kali Yuga. Puri is still vibrant with Gaudiya Sampradayam established by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The procession winds slowly through the Grand street and reaches Gundicha temple. This is considered to be Lord’s aunt’s place. Some refer Gundicha as King Indradyumna’s wife.
In the Gundicha temple, the deities are placed in the respective altars and offered puja for 9 days. Devotees throng to this temple to have Lord’s darshan as it is considered to be beneficial for one’s upliftment. On the 10th day when the deities return to the main temple, they are adorned sith golden crowns,necklaces,belts, golden hands, feet and weapons. This is known as “Suna vesa”.
May all auspiciousness and unstinting bhakthi to LORD JAGGANTHA be with us Please forgive this servant of yours for committing any offence by my inabilty to glorify LORD as no words are enough to speak about LORDS opulence.
Our Sri Sri Gour Nitai deities at Thiruvengadam ( Residence ) who had arrived from Sri Jagganath Puri Dhaam ..
Sanandhana was dejected!! What use of my austerity and sadhana? When a normal person won Lord mercy by his sheer love without any iota of pride. He understood Lord was looking for his innocent and unconditional love .
The spiritual pride of Sanandana was shattered with that incident …
True!! He recollected his guru’s teachings …” when devotion enters a man he becomes humane” . The hunter was a truly humane.
He realised it was Lord’s divine will to reveal HIMSELF. He quickly walked out of the jungle accepting the Lord’s instructions praying continuously chanting the ” Mantra Raja Pada ” sloka and humming Lords holy names . It is almost end of the jungle .Suddenly he hears a chorus of Hari Naama sankeertanam
Rushing into the crowd, he finds few sadhus chanting “Rama nama” .. Immensely pleased that he reached…
it was Bharata to be praised as the most supreme devotee among the devotees of Lord Ramachandra .The reasons quoted are enlightening .
Though Bharata and Lakshmana were both immensely devoted to Lord Rama and wished to serve him , the one who obeyed was Bharata .
He submitted to Lord Rama by ruling Ayodhya for 14 years patiently bore the sorrow of separation and ruled the kingdom to the joy of the people .
Even though he was the King , he wore matted locks and the bark of a tree , denied himself the prosperity of the Kingdom , slept on the floor and led a harsh life .
Out of the innumerable avatars , Lord Maha Vishnu incarnated as Lord Rama…
Lord appeared to establish dharma in the world by following the rules and regulations laid down as per the Shastras.
The purpose of his appearance was to annihilate the evil forces torturing the world in the form of Rakshasas headed by Ravana and establish dharma .
Dasaratha Chakravarthy who ruled the world from Ayodhya performed Putrakameshti yagam and was blessed with NECTAR which was distributed amongst his three wives- Kousalya who was given half the share, then to Sumitra with one-fourth share , and then to Kaikeyi who was given one-eighth share and the balance of one-eighth was again given to Sumitra. Kousalya consumed first, followed by Kaikeyi and then Sumitra who had two shares consumed the one-fourth share and then one-eighth share. Based on this sequence, four lovely sons were born to Dasaratha…
Before the one omnipotent Lord , all the devas ( demigods) tremble and crouch . One such incident happened during the time of Pillay Uranga Villi dasar .
Pillai Uranga Villidasar was a favourite disciple to Swamy Ramanuja .He became very close to his Master so rare that was his piety though belonged to a lower caste he had privileges conferred upon him .
He was previously a wrestler who by grace of JagathAcharyar turned to become Swamy Ramanuj’s disciple .
His turning into disciple can be read in the appended blog post
One of Villidasar’s land tenant was put into torture by the village deity called Aiyanar .
“Aiyyanar” shrines are located at the peripheries or boundaries of rural villages, and the village deity is seen with a sword riding a white horse who eternally ,fight against demons and evil spirits vigilantly who threaten the villagers .
Lord Krishna in Guruvayoor stands out and has enticed everyone the most. The beautiful stature of Lord Guruvayoor attracts the devotees to come in large numbers and imagine to hug the Lord.
Guruvayoor is located in Trichur district in Southern India.
Sri Narayana Bhattatri composed the beautiful Narayaneeyam, containing thousand slokas which is sung in most of the houses in India .
Guru and Vayu adorned the deity of Lord Krishna to Narayana Saras and ParamaShivan was residing in a temple. On seeing Lord Krishna, it is said that Shiva moved out of the temple and shifted to a place called Mammiyoor.
So ParamaShiva gave his own place to Lord Krishna and that is verily where Guru and Vayu consecrated Krishna.
The little Krishna stands there as “Guruvayurappa” even today. ParamaShiva’s temple in Mammiyoor is about a kilometer away from the Guruvayur temple. It is believed that Shiva looks at Lord Krishna and is doing penance in Mammiyoor.
Poonthanam was a great devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan . (Kerala ) . He was an ordinary and simple man . He was not familiar with Sanskrit . He used to sing praises of the Lord in Malayalam which was his mother tongue.
Out of sheer love he wished to chant Sri Vishnusahsranamam .
He started reciting Vishnu Shahasarnamam .
Among the 1000 holy names at one particular place , instead of reciting the Holy name as “Amara Prabhuhu” he recited it as “Mara Prabhuhu”.
Amara connotes Devas and Amara Prabhuhu means the ‘Lord of all Devas’.
Another great devotee of Lord Krishna ( Guruvayurappan ) Bhattathiri a Sanskrit scholar the author of the epic Srimad Narayaneeyam , who was passing by , heard Poonthanam reciting the nama as Mara Prabhuhu.
The next day, Poonthanam again recited the name as Mara Prabhuhu. Bhattathiri who was passing by became upset hearing Poonthanam’s recital of Vishnu Shasarnamam He walked near to his place and roughed him not to chant Vishnu Shasarnamam since he had not learnt it properly. Poonthanam was sad for the offence .He pleaded LORD to forgive for his poor knowledge in Sanskrit.
That very night, the all compassionate Lord Krishna arrived in Bhattathiri’s dream and commanded him that he was pleased with Poonthanam’s devotion more than Bhattathiri’s scholarliness.
He also clarified that the holy name he chanted was correct and is indeed “Mara Prabhu” which connotes “Lord of all human beings, plants and animals”. Lord says my dear child , I am the bhagawan of amarars, then are you are the prabhu of trees. Because It is I who created the marars themselves. If a child is reading, don’t you know the meaning of it, being a maha pandit.
Asvatthah sarva-vrikshanam (10.26), have I not told you in the Gita,
Among trees, I am the sacred Ashvattaha!
Why dont you say so?
Therefore I don’t need your vibhakthi, but I need Poonthanam bhakthi only,
‘Coming to terms , Bhattadri realises the offence he had committed .
The very next day, Bhattathiri rushed to his house and prostrated unto Poonthanam and that “Amara Prabhuhu” and “Mara Prabhuhu” are indeed correct and requested him to continue chanting the nama verse as “Mara Prabhuhu”.
It was indeed a divine play of the Lord to show that he was indeed “Mara Prabhuhu”.
There was a follower of Poonthanam who would string garlands to Lord Guruvayurappan. She would offer the garland to the Lord every evening.
One day she was running a little late as she had some chores to complete. By the time she reached the temple, the Dolotsavam was over and the temple was closed.
There was no one else in the temple and she saw Poonthanam, who was the last person to come out of the temple. She offered her obeisances to Poonthanam and expressed her sadness that she was not able to get the garland Lord on time
Poonthanam took her near a tree before the temple and asked to offer the same .This tree called “Manjulal” is housed outside Lord Guruvayurappan temple.
One would first have the darshan of the holy tree before entering the temple.
Since the Lord was “Mara Prabhuhu” who is the Lord of trees [Mara], Poonthanam requested the girl to offer the garland to this tree. She implicitly obeyed Poonthanam and offered the garland to Manjulal.
The next morning, when the priest opened the temple to wake up the Lord, they saw the same garland around the Lord’s neck. Such was the Lord’s compassion on that little girl who verbatim obeyed a devotees words.
Of the five fold manifestations of the SUPREME LORD ( Param , Vyuham , Vibhavam , Archa and antharyami ) , the worship able form of Archa moorthy is easily accessible and takes one into permanent state of bliss .
The reason being Lord as Parama padha nathan is always surrounded by the divine planets and the Oceans and it is not of easy to access for the ones residing on earth with this material body.
The second manifestation of the Lord as ” Ksheerabdinathan” is in the middle of the milky ocean. LORD graces as Ksheerabdinathan to the demigods and the revered blessed sages . Even this darshan is not accessible with our material bodies.
The third manifestation of the LORD is what we have been celebrating as Lord Rama and Krishna avatars . The blessed manifestation was cherished by the great devotees of those times , the gopikas and…
With a plot to harm Lord Krishna and thus to put all hopes of a peace treaty, the evil Duryodhana digs a pit and tops it with bamboo sticks.
Pillai Urangi dasar the new disciple was listening .
Lord was encamped with his army on the other shore Sethu near Rameshwaram.
After obtaining Asmath acharyar’s blessings ,and with the grace of our Kula deivam-Kazhiyur Adikesava Perumal and Lord Srinivasa, we undertook this yatra overseas ..
The Introduction is appended in the below URL 
kazhiyur varadan's blog 