After the mahabharata war , Yudhishthir was ruling the kingdom .
Bhimasena was assisting the King in public relations ministry . He used to help in solving the problems of people; therefore whoever had any questions/problems would come to Bhimasena and ask him for help.
One day, a person confessed Bhimsena that he noticed a strange thing . His fence near the house was moving into other’s place and he was wondering why it would have happened .
Bhimsena said ..
Look ! I can help if a demon is troubling you, but not these kinds of strange puzzles.
As a result , he asked him to approach Yudhishthir Maharaj.
On the same day, another citizen expressed another strange thing. He confessed that he had a big pot with full of water.
He distributed this water into small pots , for the citizens to be served .
However as there was not much crowd to distribute , he thought these small pots may leak so decided to pour back all the water from the small pots to the original big pot but surprisingly he could fill only half the big pot.
Bhimsena not knowing what to say, asked them to contact Yudhishthir Maharaj.
Another person too came to Bhimsena and said that he saw a strange thing – a big elephant was passing through a needle hole but surprisingly its tail got stuck in that hole. Bhimsena was getting irritated with these unusual stories narrated by them . He was loosing cool .
But as a last resort he again referred him to Yudhishthir Maharaj.
Suddenly ,another person also joined the group and said that he saw big rock on the street. Many strong people tried to push the rock out but were not able to move it.
Suddenly a saint entered the gathering and he waved his Sanyasa danda at the rock And lo !! It moved !
Bhimsena thought that it was a really a bad day for him as he was forced to hear to many cock and bull stories from the citizens . He commanded his assistant to take all of them to the King immediately ..
They all went to Maharaj Yudhishthir and put forth these questions. Yudhishthir Maharaj politely heard their versions and said that, all these happenings shows that kali yuga has entered .
He meticulously answers to the strange incidents and what they really meant ……
The first case is one of the citizen’s fence is moving into other’s area shows that people are interested in what other’s have and feel unhappy why they don’t have, then start thinking a way to acquire them either by hook or by crook.
The second case the big pot full of water. When it is poured into small pots and pour back into big pot, he noticed only half was getting full, which means that one can expect 50% love/affection/help from others compared what you did to the same person.
The third case is big elephant is going through a needle but the tail is stuck, it means that people are ready to spend a huge chunk of their income/strength/resource for the sense satisfaction of their family, friends and love (Personal sense gratification)but when it comes to Bhagavan and devotee-seva they are not ready to spend a little bit also.
The fourth case is, big rock not moved by persons who are having lot of strength but a sadhu moved that rock just by waving his danda, which means that one can get rid of all their unlimited sins, just by performing Namasankirtanam.
(Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.) Though there are so many faults in this kaliyuga, the good thing is, just by chanting the holy names of the lord, one can get up to the highest benefit of liberation as mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatham
kaler dosha-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah kirtanad
eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet –”
My dear King, ….
although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age is by simply by chanting the holy name of SRIMANNARAYANA, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.”
Just hold the HOLY NAME always and swim across this Kali….
Those were the days where Swamy Parasarabhattar was delivering discourses at his ashram in Srirangam . Many devotees used to attend in large numbers .
Amongst them a highly learned pundit and a srivaishnava used to attend the discourses daily .
The learned pundit was received with scant respect and the srivaishnava was received with great attention . One disciple who was watching swamy Parasara bhattar’s indifference reached his Guru and humbly submitted , Acharya !! This pundit is a famous scholar with high respect among the people in entire kingdom .
How could you be indifferent with him considering his scholarship amongst all the people assembled here . Bhattar replied , My child !! Listen to the discourse now . After the discourse you will be able to understand .
In the discourse Bhattar explained the importance of LORD RAMA’s avataram which was a divine gift of free grace to all . LORD irrespective of caste or creed or condition extended friendship with humble folk like Guhan , Sugriva , Vibhishana and many living beings . LORD went a step ahead in performing the obsequies of a brahman for jatayu the bird .
He was humble in accepting food from the hands of Sabari a tribal and partaking food along with hanumanjee. Bhattar continued , The Importance of LORD KRISHNA avatar was Lord delivering the Apocalypse of the epic Srimad Bhagavadgita with its charama sloka and in rejecting the hospitality of Bhishma and Drona for that of Vidura and so forth .
Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil
The reputation of Srirangam comes to LORD RANGANATHAR having mixed with Tiruppan Azhwar as intimately as body and soul . The reputation of LORD OF SEVEN HILLS was as LORD moved freely with the potter kurumbuatta Nambi and King Thondaman .
The reputation of LORD VARADARAJA was his friendship with his dear devotee Sri Thirukachi Nambee and our LORD NARAYANA of Melkote for accepting Swamy Ramanuja as his father and himself being called Yatiraja Sampath kumara . The discourse had a message for unconditional surrender to Lord Narayana with utmost faith .
Once the discourse was done all the people paid their respects to Bhattar and were leaving .The pundit also came along along with the citizens . Bhattar casually asked the pundit ..
Swamin !! whom have you settled to yourself as Ultimate Truth ? The pundit who was attentively listening the discourse answered ! Some authorities speak of Brahma as Ultimate , Few say It is Rudra and few schools claim it is Lord Mahavishnu .
How can we arrive at a conclusion with so many school of thoughts claiming the supremacy of one over other .
Meanwhile the srivaishnava arrived and paid obesiances to the assembly and took permission to leave . Bhattar casually asked the same question to the srivaishnava .
The srivaishnava politely replied Swamin !
Adiyen knows none others than whom devareer daily discusses ..
the only NARAYANA ..maam” EKAM” ….
Bhattar once again asked Swamin , Pray what other truth is available to you ? The srivaishnava replied …
For adiyen Means as well as end is Swamy Ramanuja ..
my end of salvation is the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja …forever and said ..
I seek the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja who considered all the worldly things and pleasures as mere nothing (grass) because of his love towards the lotus feet of Achchuta.
He is our Acharya since he possesses all the auspicious qualities (guNAs) and therefore dayAsAgara (ocean of mercy) for uplifting us .
Continuing , he quotes Embaar’s verse on the divine beauty [azhagu] of Swamy Ramanuja and declares in the end
To reaffirm the faith of HIS devotees, LORD conversed with HIS devotees time to time .
There are three incidents which our Elders keep saying about the compassion of the LORD in temples .
Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil
At Tirumala – Tirupathi, Lord Venkateshwara used to converse with the King Thondaman Chakravarthy . In Kancheepuram, Lord Vardarajar used to converse with his dear devotee Swamy Tirukachi Nambigal who used to fan him daily .
Similarly at Srirangam Lord Ranganathar used to converse with “Tiruvilakku pichan”the temple servant who used to light the lamps in the temple .
It is a general practice all the devotees surrender to LORD and express their gratitude pain and love for the LORD in this material world.
Few devotees develop extremely intimate relationship with the Lord conversing freely and interact almost daily treating him as a human friend.
At Srirangam , there lived a man who was serving at temple . His job was to light all the lamps at the huge temple of Srirangam .
He used to keep the lamps topped with oil and ensure they were maintained in perfect condition . Under constant vigilance he had to ensure the lamps are lighted effectively without any flaws.
He had free access to enter the temple and light all the temple lamps being the temple servant . He had a peculiar habit of addressing the LORD daily about how his day was and was he treated well .
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It was almost routine especially during festivals when LORD had to be amongst HIS devotees . For his behaviour he earned a title Pichan ( mad person ) . Unmindful of whatever people spoke of him he continued to greet the LORD and converse with utmost sincerity and faith .
Lord Ranganathar also got used to HIS devotee’s greeting . Days became months .Months turned to years .Lord out of abundant mercy wanted to reply to HIS dear devotee .
It so happened one day Lord spoke from his Archa thirumeni ,and this also happened regularly .Lord was answering his dear devotees queries .It was more of vatsalya bhavam inquiring the well being of each other . There was no barrier in the divine exchange of speech .A lowly employee of the temple speaking to the LORD who was replying too .To the devotees who were witnessing this man standing before the LORD and apparently talking to himself appeared to be a mad person conversing with himself and they called him “Picchan” ( a mad man). Combining his job title and popularity of remaining , he came to be known as “ThiruviLakku Picchan”.
One day, while carrying out his daily chores , Picchan conversed with the Lord about the great people and the huge crowd attending the festival in the temple .
All knowing Compassionate Lord wanted to draw out his opinion about the great people. Pichan politely replied Oh Lord ! even all these great men had their own weaknesses and it was very confusing to follow them. He submitted that he was very happy with the small service gifted to him by his Elders and seek no favors other than being near HIM always .
There is another pastime which installs absolute surrender to LORD in Archathirumeni . The great Acharyar Swamy Nampillai was delivering a lecture in the mandapam inside the temple and as usual our Thiruvilakku Picchan was standing in front of the sanctorum with a lamp in his hand. Lord was so impressed hearing Swamy Nampillai’s divine discourse which made him get up and wished to be among the august gathering hearing the divine discourse
Suddenly , Thiruvilakku Picchan saw a huge personality near him and realizing that it was LORD himself , he requested LORD to relax and not do this and remain in his original Archa Swaroopam . LORD politely obeyed his devotees concern……………
All glories to this great devotee who had the fortune to enjoy such intimate relationship with the Lord himself who listened to Him .
This Srivaishnava Divya desam is located near the shores of Bay of Bengal. Mamallamallapuram now corrupted as Mahabalipuram is Varaha kshetram and a famous tourist centre.
The sculptures speak volumes about the contributions of Chola,Pandya , Vijayanagara kings to this place and it was an important trade center.
This holy place also glorified as Thirukadalmallai is the birth place of the great Bhoodath Azhwar which is 55kms away from Chennai and one of the 22 Thondai naadu divya desam
STHALASAYANA PERUMAL IN BHUJANGA SAYANAM(Reclining) FACING EAST
UTSAVAR ULAGU UYIYA NINDRAN
THAYAR NILAMANGAI THAYAR
THEERTHAM : PUNDRIKA PUSHKARINI, GARUDA NADHI, BAY OF BENGAL
VIMANA : PUNDARIKA
MANGALASAASANAM :
THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR(20 pasurams-1088-1107),
BHOODATH AZHWAR (7 pasurams),
THIRUMZAHISAIZHWAR( NO 861)
Legend reveals about a devotee Sage Pundarika who was on a piligrimage visiting various shrines, reached this place. He was amazed to see numerous 1000 petaled lotuses in a pond. He immediately desired to offer them to Lord Ksheerabadhrinathan lying at the milk ocean and this desire was also endorsed by asareeri( heavenly voice).
The sage was so immersed in bhakti that he started his way to Ksheerasagaram and as the ocean, Bay of Bengal was obstructing his path, he left the garland of flowers near the shore and in the divine mood , attempted to empty the ocean which was an impossible task. This is as similar to the devotion expressed by the the great Kulashekhara Azhwar who marched towards the sea to fight with the rakshasas along with Lord Rama .
Pleased with the sage’s devotion, Perumal appeared as an old Brahmin and took the audience of the sage . The sage requested the Brahmin to take care of the flowers and left to Mahabalipuram to fetch some food.
When the sage returned he was astonished to see Perumal lying on the floor on Adisesha with the garland of flowers near His Thiruvadi. The sage glorified Perumal and pleaded the Lord to continue to stay in this place and give darshan. Thus, we can see the Perumal lying on the floor and the sage seated near His Thiruvadi.The temple priests were kind to explain about the sthala puranam .Adiyen offers humble obeisances to them .
Sena Nayi was a barber by profession who lived near Pandharapur .A very pious and god loving used to get up early in the morning, have his bath, perform his poojas and only then look at his occupation and other domestic affairs. Sena was also the king’s barber and would have to go to the palace whenever the king called him. One day as Sena was performing his pooja in his house, the king’s messenger came looking for Sena.
Sena was immersed in his prayers . His wife knew he will not entertain anyone disturbing him during his worship to LORD . She politely told the king’s messenger that he was not at home.
Sena’s neighbor who was also a barber on seeing his wife lying , calmly went and complained to the king, that Sena was very much at at home . He also submitted to do the job himself.
The king got angry on listening to him .He sent the guards to arrest Sena. Knowing what was in the king’s mind LORD KRISHNA immediately appeared in the form of Sena and came to palace. The moment the king saw him, his anger disappeared.He got attracted to his magnetic personality . Without battling his eyelids he was watching the beautiful form of sena smiling cheerfully and working with the dressing kit .
When Sena touched him , the king was filled with amazement. The feeling was something new . He had never felt the soothing touch . He watched him without any words . the beauty attracted him . His glance was something divine . Sena went on with his job . He then shaved the king and shampooed his head. It was heaven for the King .The cool feeling along with the fragrance made the King top of the world .
The king felt very happy and told him that he was the best barber in town and should remain with him in the palace forever . Sena then started applying the fragrant oil to the body of the king.
As Sena was collecting the oil from a vessel , the king could see the reflection of Lord Krishna in the oil. He was amazed on seeing this and unable to understand whose reflection that blue eyed lad was being reflected in the oil . That cheerful divine smile made him ecstatic wanting him for more and more of his form . He lost all consciousness and was absorbed in the form of LORD that he was seeing in the oil bowl. The men in the kings assembly started laughing at the king looking at his stage and told him that it was already afternoon and that he should go and have his bath.
The king looked at Sena and politely pleaded him to remain forever . Sena requested the King for a break to inform his family home so that he would return quickly. The king pleased with him gave him a handful of gold coins . Lord took the coins, placed it in the bag in Sena’s house and disappeared.
The king after finishing his bath came and commanded his servants to get Sena at once as he was in a different state of mind and could neither eat nor dress up or sleep . The royal servants immediately went to Sena’s house and pleaded him to reach the palace immediately. The real Sena was too scared to see the King for his act of non reporting to the King . Taking his bag, Sena immediately came to the palace. On seeing Sena entering the palace the king got up and greeted him . He pleads him to reveal that divine form he exhibited few hours ago . Sena was astonished . He then ordered his servants to bring the bowl of oil and saw Sena’s reflection in it, but was disappointed that he could not see the form he had seen in the morning. Sena understood what had happened in the morning His eyes were filled with tears .Sobbing uncontrollably he told the king that it was LORD KRISHNA who had graced him .He was sad that LORD had to take his role to save him from King’s punishment .
The king rushed up to Sena and thanked him for his devotion and told him that he had the fortune to have darshan of the Lord due to his association . Sena then saw the coins that god had put in his bag and distributed them to the Brahmans. Sena then took leave from the king and decided to serve the LORD permanently at Pandharapur
All glories to the DIVINE BARBER ..
All glories to Sena …
Swamy Ramanuja out of deep devotion to LORD VENKATESHWARA instructed his disciple Anathazhwan to proceed to Tirumala and do service to Lord few hundred years ago .
Anathazhwan immediately proceeded to Tirumala with family.
Swamy grew a flower garden which would provide Tulasi and all the fragnant flowers for the daily worship of Lord .
Coming to know about the dedicated service being executed by his dear disciple Anathazhwan Swamy Ramanuja undertook his first trip to Tirumala via Kancheepuram along with his disciples .
Looking at the holy hills Swamy immediately falls like an uprooted tree offering obeisances .
Swamy Ramanuja calls his disciples and gives a discourse about the sanctity of the Hills referring several pasurams which our Azhwars have sung on Lord and the Hills .
Watching the gigantic hills , glorifying the animate and inanimate beings who are serving the Lord Swamy goes in a divine trance .
Coming to know Swamy Ramanujas vist to Tirumala , the local king Vittala Deva rushes to have Swamy’s darshan .
He offers obeisance’s and orders his troupe to take care of the saint and his disciples with royal treatment .
A colony named IlayaMandapam is instantaneously constructed . Around thirty families reside in the colony . Swamy also stay along with them for few days given sermons and gracing the villagers coming from far off places
.
Coming to know about Swamy Ramanuja s visit , Tirumala Nambi rushes to the village for welcoming Swamy Ramanuja .
.Both the Acharyas are overjoyed to be in the holiest place . Tirmala Nambi requests Swamy to join him for the afternoon prayers at the Hills and leaves quickly up the Hills
.
All the disciples request Swamy Ramanuja to lead them to the hills for having Lord’s darshan . Swamy refuses to trek the hills owing to its sanctity .
Swamy informs about all the Azhwars who had remained at the foot of the hills glorifying the Lord and they never attempted to trek the hills hence trekking the Hills amounts to overstepping their commands
.
All the disciples plead Swamy to reconsider his decision as so many disciples will be sad to return without having the divya darshan of Lord .
Swamy Ramanuja considering the disciples plea decides to trek the hills crawling thus not putting his feet on the sacred Hills .
It was those days when the route was very tough even to trek .
Crawling , Swamy reaches the steep Knee breaker Hills .
He pauses to take rest on the step of `knee-breaker’ hill (`mokalla mitta’).
Tirumala Nambi and Ananthazhwar, rush to receive him with the Lord’s prasada — holy tirta and fruits.
Swamy is glad to see them .
He honors the prasad offering the same to many of his disciples .
He takes one Mango fruit and buries the seeds there. In course of time, a big mango tree grew out of these seeds.
On reaching the abode of Lord Venkatesa, Swamy Ramanuja is received with temple honours.
Swamy offers obeisance’s and feasts his eyes on the majestic form of the Lord.
Later he walks along with his disciples to see the verdant ( garden) nandavana, established by Anantazhwar, with a beautiful tank.
He affectionately embraces his dear disciple, and announces “Valarthadhanal Payan Petren” (I have obtained the fruits of bringing you up).
Swamy Ramanuja decides to remain for few days to deliver discourses on the Upanishads.
The discourses were soon compiled in the form of a book, “Vedanta Sangraha”, Swamy Ramanuja’s first work on the Vedanta.
Swamy Ramanuja stayed almost for a year in Tirupati, to study the essence of Valmiki’s Ramayana under the guidance of revered Acharya Tirumalai Nambi.
Since he thought it was a sacrilege to live on the holy hill, which he revered as the body of Adisesha, and Tirumalai Nambi could not miss his service and worship of Venkateswara even for a day, they met at the foot of the hills everyday to study the epic..
Lord Venkatesa, did not want to miss the company of His ardent devotees, and joined them.
The imprint of his lotus feet ( Tiruvadi ) can be seen at the foothills where they studied the Srimad Ramayana…
It was Swamy Manavalamamuni who identified the spot where Swamy Ramanuja had rested, and wished to build a temple there.
Kandadai Ramanuja Iyengar (Muni), a trusted lieutenant of Mamunigal, built a temple there and consecrated a beautiful archa deity (moolavar) of Swamy Ramanuja and arranged for regular aaradhanai .
Manavalamamunigal had lovingly referred to this archa form as
King Veerasikhamani was one of the disciple of Swamy Parasara bhattar . He used to personally come to Srirangam and have darshan of Lord Ranganathar and his Acharyar Swamy Parasara Bhattar . Due to preoccupation with the state matters , he arrived to Srirangam after few months . He was feeling guilty and sad for he could not progress in his spiritual endeavors like listening to discourses , worshiping the Lord , seeking satsangh etc . He humbly submitted to Acharyar about his poor commitment in spiritual progress . The King pleaded Acharyar to advise him a simple method for Lord realisation .
Swamy parasara bhattar out of abundant compassion , advised him to carry the image of LORD RAMACHANDRA always with him in his heart and cherish the divine pastimes . The King was curious to know that incident of Lord Rama which swamy cherished . Swamy Bhattar…
It was Namperumal’s divine plan to make Swamy Ramanujar leave Srirangam for a short time , and purify other places by placing his holy feet in Melnadu and retrieve Thirunarayanan who was worshipped by Sri Ramar and Sri Krishna during Tretha and Dwapara yugas .
Peria Perumal thus created a difficult situation by which Swamy Ramanujar had to leave Srirangam after taking Peria Perumal’s consent and thus proceeded towards north accompanied by Sri Mudaliandan Swamy.
After many days of travel and undergoing various hardships following the course of Kaveri, Swamy Ramanuja finally arrived in Karnataka where the local tribals served them. En route he met his disciple kongu piratti and graced her
.
Check the url below for kongu piratti divine pastime with Swamy Ramanuja
The local people who were averse to Swamy Ramanujar conspired a plan to do away with him.
Swamy Ramanujar learning their evil intentions ordered Mudaliandan Swamy to place his feet in the drinking water pond in that area now called saligrama near Thondanur , which he politely obeyed.
At salagrama ,by partaking this Sripada theertham, the minds of the evildoers changed miraculously and they fell at Swamy Ramanujar lotus feet seeking forgiveness. Such was the greatness of Swamy Mudaliandan .
Ramanujar named this place as “Saligramam” which is near to Melkote.
Even today this pond is maintained by the archakar family .
There is a small temple opposite to this pond in which Swamy Ramanujar’s lotus feet are worshiped.
Swamy Ramanuja had a large number of disciples at Melnadu .
Vangipurathu Achi , Vangipurathu Nambi , Thondanur Nambi , Marudhur Nambi, Malur Nambi , Anathazhwan were some of them in the large group of disciples he had at Melnadu.
Thondanur Nambi was a great bhagavatha , a saint and most respected scholar as he was close to the Royal family .
Thondanur Nambi , during his pilgrimage to Srirangam was attracted to Swamy Ramanuja .
He loved his approach and the simple teachings which leads to self realisation that takes one to godhead. He was one among the 74 Simhadhipathees .
Thondanur was the summer capital of the Hoyasala kingdom ruled by King Vittala deva who was a staunch follower of Jainism .
They were tolerant to other religions too . The King had a daughter who was possessed with an evil spirit .
No treatment could cure her illness . She was always under the possession of the evil spirit which made her do unnatural things .
She was almost dressed like a madwoman and was a big embarrassment to the Royal family . There was another tragedy , during a war the King lost his finger.
This earned him the name Bitti deva .
The King was very upset due to the deformity and the new worry of his daughter that took shape .
No treatment either medicines or tantric rituals could cure her .
The Jain monks also tried their best but nothing seemed possible to relieve her from the evil spirit .
Thondanur Nambi, the disciple of Swamy Ramanujar suggested to the queen that his spiritual master who arrived recently and staying at Saligrama was capable of restoring the princess to normalcy.
The Jain king pleaded Nambi to invite Swamy Ramanuja to his palace .
He even promises that If his daughter is cured he will adopt Srivaishnava faith and surrender to Swamy Ramanuja..
Thondanur Nambi goes to Saligrama and surrenders to the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja and briefs him about the Jain Kings intentions .
It was a wonderful opportunity to grace the King and his people and induct them in the great srivaishnava sampradayam .
Swamy Ramanuja and Thondanur Nambi look for an auspicious time and leave to Thondanur to the Royal palace .
The Royal couple have the divya darshan of JagathAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja .
Both of them fall like uprooted trees looking at Swamy Ramanujas divine aura .
They welcome Swamy to their Royal chambers .
The whole Royal family pay their obeisance’s to Swamy Ramanuja .
The mad princess who was irritating the members few minutes back suddenly leaves into another room when Swamy enters the chambers . With some cajoling the princess who is shabbily dressed is brought before Swamy Ramanuja .
Looking at the pitiable state of the princess , Swamy gives the holy water that was offered to his Lordships and applies the holy turmeric paste offered to Lord on her forehead .
The moment she sips the holy water and makes an eye contact with the great Acharya the evil spirit vanishes and she almost faints before him .
The princess is slowly brought back to senses by sprinkling some water on her .
To everybody’s surprise she gets up , looks at herself feels shy and runs away to her chambers . She dresses herself elegantly and offers obeisances to Swamy Ramanuja amongst all the people .
The Royal couple are amazed with the sudden happenings . They accept that the great seer who is with them is a very pious soul who has incarnated to uplift them . Instantly they surrender to his lotus feet and beg to be taken into his fold .
Swamy Ramanuja asks them to offer prayers at Nambi Narayana Temple and meet him there .
At Swamy Nambi Narayana temple , Swamy Ramanuja conducts a discourse attended by many people . The King along with his Royal family too attend the discourse which speaks about the ultimate purpose of life as a srivaisnava .
. Attracted to his simple teachings the entire crowd adopt srivaishnavism . Amongst the citizens the King , Queen and all his family members are given Panchasamskara initiation .
The King is given a name a Vishnu vardhana after due initiation by Swamy Ramanuja himself . The celebration among st the citizens is multi fold .
All the citizens hail Swamy Ramanujas discourse and accept him as their Jagath Acharya .
Somewhere down the lane the Jain monks are upset with the happenings .
All of them march to the Royal Palace and argue with the king for taking such a foolish step
They convince the King that their proposed debate with Swamy Ramanuja will prove Jainism superiority and he must agree to their command .
The King knew very well that such thing can never happen .
However he along with the Jain monks in huge numbers walk up to the Yoga narasimhar temple located on a hillock as Swamy Ramanuja was staying there .
The Jain monks along with the King meet Swamy Ramanuja and invite him to a debate on the esoteric truths . All the Jain monks assemble and start posing questions .
The euphoria around makes Swamy Ramanuja to command his disciples to surround him with a curtain . Almost 1000 jain monks shoot questions on him without any break .
It is was ONE vs ONE THOUSAND .
The divine incident of Swamy Ramanuja taking over one thousand Jain monks was relished by the disciples . Inside , Swamy Ramanujar was covered by a curtain and with his original form as Adisesha with 1000 hoods, he answers every question of the monk with patience and clarity .
Thus he defeats all the 1000 Jains at a time. One monk was inquisitive to find out why the curtain was put .He slowly managed to peep inside the curtain .
To his shock he could see JagathAcharyar’s viswaroopam and fainted . The Jain monks had no reply and were forced to accept defeat and adopt to srivaishnavism .This incident happened at Lord Narasimha swamy temple in Bhakta nagari (presently known as Thondanur).
Swamy MudaliAndaan who gave us the nectarian sloka DHAATI PANCHAKA in praise of Swamy Ramanujar at this place. This place is on the way to Melkote(about 16 kms) from Srirangapatinam.
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The wonderful opportunity given by Swamy Ramanuja to Mudaliandaan is remembered even today . “Dhati Panchakam” speaks of the victory of Swamy Ramanuja over other philosophies – both those that accept Vedas and those that don’t – and his establishing the Visishtadvaita philosohpy that was built by Azhvars and Purvacharyas.
As the name suggests, it comprises of five slokas The word “DHATI” means “attacking” – as this work shows the attack that Ramanuja carried over the other philosophies that were widespread at that time, it is an appropriate name for it.
Swamy out of his love composed a wonderful composition on Swamy Ramanuja called “DHATEE PANCHAKAM” which starts with the introductory sloka ..
Our Varthamana swamy descendant of Swamy MudaliAndaan was kind to recite this sloka at our residence during his recent visit , a clip presented below and the sloka
It is only he who can command and all our acharyas and we follow his command .
Swamy Ramanuja is the only acharya who was referred with respect and followed by all other schools in vaishnavism like chaitanya, vallabhacharya, Swamy narayan as the margadayee .
Uyya Ore Vazhi Udayavar Thiurvadi!
(only way for spiritual up liftment is to take refuge in Yathiraja Padhuka)
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pictures courtesy : Google images uploaded by several devotees
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 commands and won the battle . After the victory, He kept the sankha and chakra in his palace and worshiped them daily as they were the representation of the Lord on the Hills!
Later , Jagathacharyar’s Swamy Ramanuja’s contribution earned him the title ” Appanukku Sangaazhi Alittha Perumaal” in Tirumala .
Poet Arunagiri also sung in his poem “Ulageenra Pachai umaiyanan, Vada Venkadathil Uraibhavan, Uyar Sanga Chakra kara Thalan” .
During this period there lived another great devotee by the name Kurumbarutha Nambi near the foot of the holy hills .He was a potter by profession . A sincere devotee of the Lord , he made a deity of Lord Venkateshwara and worshipped daily with flowers made of ‘left over clay’ .
Kurumbarathu Nambi was worshiping with the mud flowers , King Thondaman chakravarthy was worshipping Lord with golden flowers. The King was surprised to observe every time he entered the sannithee of Lord he used to see the mud flowers crafted wonderfully lying , instead of the golden flowers that he was offering .
He was keen to find out the reason for the unusual happening . No amount of vigilance worked for him to get an answer . He hence decided to plead LORD to help him in revealing the identity of that intruder .
The King prayed LORD for helping him to reveal his identity . Lord out of abundant mercy spoke to the King about the poor potter , his dear devotee service to him in offering the mud flowers . The LORD said the mud flowers offered by Nambi contained rich fragrance of love than the golden flowers he was offering .
Elders say that generally a person develops EGO if he is good looking ,well educated, has administrative power and enormous wealth.
A person birth in upper caste etc also contributes to his ego and Kurumbarutha Nambi was not attached to all the above which placed him above everything . The divine pastime shows that the Lord attaches no importance to our wealth or position.
The devotee’s love for the Lord was like the maternal love of Periazhvar, who worried over the Lord, when he sang his glorious Pallandu pasuram , to ward off evil eyes from the Lord.
It is bhakti that the Lord values; it is often the humblest of us who gets the grace of Lord. While men may value wealth and bow before the rich, why would the Master of the Universe even care for such impermanent things?
The great saint Annamaya sings a wonderful kirtana in which he mentions the devotees pastime …
May for many hundreds, thousands and crores of years ,the Gem -Hued LORD with mighty wrestling shoulders, HIS bright red lotus feet be protected. This inseparable bond between us ,may it last many thousand years .To the GODDESS who ever adorns the Lord’s right chest many thousand years. To the fiery luminous sudharshan chakra on the right hand, many thousand years. To the Panchajanya ,the famous conch which stikes terror in the battle field ,many many thousand years…
King Vallaba Deva the Pandyan king was going around his kingdom one night in a civil dress . Somewhere near a temple He saw an old man sleeping on a pial (thinnai) in front of a house. The King out of curiosity , woke him up and asked him who he was and why he was sleeping there in the open. The man answered that he was a temple priest and was supposed to leave in the early hours of the day to Sethu to complete his Thirtha yathra . Being new to the place , he took shelter near to the temple .
Out of devotion the king requested him to chant a good sloka. The Priest chanted a sanskrit sloka to the request of the King . Delighted , the King asked the priest to explain the meaning of the chants .
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 “Hastha giri”. ‘Hastham’ 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
Swamy Prativadi Bhayankaram Annan Thiruadigale sharanam
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Picture credits : Google images/antaryami.org/varavaramuni /TTG/ISKCON and enlightened devotees who uploaded the beautiful pictures in social media web sites
Video credits : Thallapaka Annamacharyulu garu / Keerthi / Baba and other devotees
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 goal of forcing Chanda Sahib to lift the siege at Trichinopoly.
The plan was brilliant .Though they did not have enough forces , Saunders agreed . He commanded the 200 of the 350 British soldiers to charge under Robert Clives command. Those 200 soldiers and a further 300 sepoys along with artillery marched towards Arcot from Madras . It was a tough terrain .
Robert Clive was unwell due to the heat and was severely de hydrated . They somehow reached Kancheepuram which was at a distance 68 km from Madras.
Robert Clive was completely dehydrated in the journey .He was seriously ill and the doctors had given up hope.
The entire army was demotivated with his illness . Meanwhile at Kancheepuram ,the temple was busting with festival time .
Many pilgrim’s had camped at the outskirts of the temple seeking Lord’s darshan .
Robert Clive’s forces were camping near the present day Ekambareshwara temple which was used as military camp.
The Lordships are taken in procession accompanied by huge temple elephants , Nadaswaram ,Kolattam along with other festive customs .
The mood was ecstatic as the crowd were eagerly awaiting for the Lord’s shower of mercy on them . The unusual activities that was happening around was very new to Robert Clive .
During festivals Lordships arrive to meet the people . Clive summoned his soldiers to brief him about the unusual music and the crowd .
The soldier was overjoyed to praise the Lordships and briefed him about the Emperor of Emperors Lord Vardarajan .
Robert Clive was immersed in his description and the divine pastimes . One soldier braved to meet the Procession priests for the holy water and the sataari for Clive to honour them who was unwell . Being too tired and completely de hydrated he decided to submit to the Lord’s lotus feet for him to recover after having the holy water .
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 .
Clives’s intelligence informed him that the enemy garrison at Arcot was twice the size of his marching forces. Clive however decided to proceed to Arcot which was 43 km and the troops of Clive, in spite of a delay caused by a tremendous storm of thunder and lighting, reached Arcot .
The garrison left by Chanda Sahib to defend Arcot, struck with panic at the sudden arrival of Clives forces . They at once abandoned the fort, despite their larger number of sepoys and rushed to safe pastures . Clive and his forces took over the city and the fort without firing a single shot and went on to capture Arcot . He was amazed with the unusual events .
A blessing from Lord Varadarajar made the task so simple . He was so much impressed with Lord’s mercy that even without harming a single soldier the war was won . Being deeply indebted to Lord’s benevolence and mercy in gratitude, he decided that he would present to Lord Varadaraja the most valuable thing he captured from Arkad’s treasury. Clive while returning went to Lord Vardarajar’s temple and gifted most famous Arcot necklace to Lord and told the priests to offer the same to the Lord . This necklace Clive makarakandi is decorated to the Lord on ceremonial occasions even to this present day . Later once , on the way to Arkad, Clive stopped in Kanchi to have Lord’s darshan He observed the priests were fanning Lord Varadaraja amidst recitation of divine sukthis .
Clive expressed his doubts about the deity feeling hot. Upon hearing this, the priest fanning the Lord wiped the deity’s face with a small towel and gave it to Clive, who was amazed to find the wet cloth with divine fragnance . He had special regard for the Lord and made it a point to have his darshan whenever he visited Arcot .
Robert Clive later became an ardent devotee of the Lord , an Emperor of Emperors
The disciple wanted to know how to identify a srivaishnava ? Swamy sent his new disciple from Srirangam to Tirumala to ascertain from the great devotee Ananthazhwan as what was the quality of a srivaishnava . The disciple though bit amused with his Gurus instructions proceeded to Tirumala which took him almost a week to reach the holy place .
Being too hungry he reached the ashram of Sri Anatazhwan and expected some good hospitality from the intimates there . The Ashram was full of bhagavathas who were having the prasadam ( Thadiaaradhanai ) . He did not have a proper place to sit along with the guests in honouring the prasadam. He had to wait until everyone finished their prasad which almost took a long time as there were a good number of piligrims who had come to honour the prasadam.
Yagnyamurthy’ was a great scholar who lived near a place called “Vinjimoor” near to Tirumala hills. The scholar he was , highly successful in tarkha vaadam which forced the opponent to accepts defeat in an argument and accept the philosophy of the winner at once.
He had many victories during his encounters amongst learned men . As days progressed, his victories grew by leaps and bounds. Overjoyed , the great scholar decides to proceed to different parts of the country to win over his contemporaries and propagate Advaitam . Thus he moves towards Kasi and on the banks of river Ganges defeats many vidwAns in argument and as per the agreement converts them into advaitans .For his authorative knowledge he was almost being worshipped as one of Advaitin icon.
There were few devotees who somehow wished the learned scholar is corrected soon . They were just praying the Lord to correct the scholar who was a genius in tarka vadham .
Days passed and the count of his followers were increasing . Lord had a divine plan for uplifting this great scholar . It so happened few devotees from Srirangam and Kanchi had come for a pilgrimage to North .
They were glorifying Swamy Ramanuja’s commendable knowledge on shastras and his devotion to Lord propagating Vishishtadvaita . Yagyamurthy’s came to know about Swamy Ramanuja’s greatness through his disciples .Puffed with ego he decided to leave to South to confront on the scholars living there .Enroute , he was imagining the great knowledge he possessed which could nullify even the intellectuals .
After reaching Kancheepuram he invited Swamy Ramanuja for a debate on sasthras and Vedanta . Swamy Ramanuja with a smile told him , Swamy ! Adiyen accepts you are a genius and have no questions for raising a debate to avoid any unpleasant confrontations.
Yaghnamurthi was pleased at Swamy Ramanuja’s reply but took the opportunity to declare in that case you accept my philosophy instead of propagating Vishishtadvaita .
Swamy Ramanuja replied .. your philosophy kept people in a confused state. Hence , adiyen can neither accept it nor follow it. The scholar , took this as a nice opportunity to bow down Ramanuja and overtake him by forcing him for a debate.And it was destined that the debate was to happen . Swamy Ramanuja accepted for the same .
Finally the big debate was about to begin with the authoritative scholars of the era . Advaitam …Visishistadvaitam…at the famous divyadesam Pandavathootha perumal temple at Kancheepuram.
As usual, the rules of the debate were laid clearly before it began . The one who looses shall accept the others faith . The debate started and both the great philosophers put their revered points before . Attacks, counter attacks ensued from both the sides . At some point it looked that the battle would never end. The debate entered the seventeenth day .
The scholar challenged Swami Ramanuja on a key point for which Swami could not retaliate immediately. The day’s battle was regarded as “Over” and was set to continue the next morning .
Swami Ramanuja went back to his Ashrama and offered humble prayers to his “Aaradhana Perumal –Varadarajan” (AruLaLa perumal) .
Putting his request before the Lord he said Oh Lord ! The great Vishitadvaita sampradhayam nurtured and propelled by the revered Acharyas and Azhwars would have to come to an end for the only reason that an ignorant person like me is countering this vedantin .
It will be a disgrace to the entire followers of our sampradaya for a defeat . He was confident that Lord “PerAruLaLan” would always come to his rescue as done throughout his life .
And sure HE did. The same night, AruLaLa perumal came in Swami Ramanujar’s dream and pointed out some of the arguments he could use for winning over Yagyamurthy.
Specifically, HE suggested to take excerpts from “Maayavaandha Kandanam” chapter from Swami Alavandar’s Sidhithrayam. He told Ramanuja not to lose heart and instead said he was going to give him a nice disciple which was HIS plan only .
It was the final day .Almost 17 days of debate was about to end . Swami Ramanujar offered his prayers and cheerfully marched towards the debate hall .He was looking with divine tejas Swamy’s face looked like a freshly bloomed lotus. The scholar was shocked to see Swamy Ramanujar divine tejas . There was a divine aura around him that could neutralise the surroundings .He repeatedly kept watching Swamy’s Tejas . He just did not have any words .. He felt that Swamy Ramanuja was no ordinary human being .He knew he has possessed divine qualities and great wisdom.
He felt belittle and ashamed to think that he was a scholar and that false ego which puffed over his wisdom all these days which he did not realize . The debate was about to start .
Even before Ramanuja could put his points of contention , the scholar prostrated before the great Acharyar saying the debate is closed . He pleaded Swamy ! Adiyen am left with no words . Please forgive me for the foolishness to enter into this debate with an advanced seer and how foolish I was to argue on issues which are unworthy .
Swamy Ramanuja was surprised with his behaviour .He asked him with love , Oh Seer what was so sudden that made you submit ? Yaghnamurthi humbly replied , Swamin I was a fool blinded with ego thinking that I was the most learned man in the world . But looking at your simplicity ,humility and abundant wisdom my ego has been shattered .Swamin !! Please accept my obeisance’s and Kindly accept me as your disciple .Please enlighten me with wisdom .
Just one day back the scene was totally different Swamy Ramanuja felt that the sea-change in Yaghyamurthi’s behaviour was due to the benevolence of Lord PeraruLaLa PerumaL only. He accepted Yaghyamurthi as his disciple . He rechristened him as “ AruLaLaperumanar Emberumanar .” thanking Lord for his grace on him . Yaghyamurthi was now called by the name AruLaLaperumanar . He settled in a mutt near to Swamy Ramanuja’s ashrama and serving his Acharya with utmost devotion .
He became a Tridandee sanyasi from Ekadandi sanyasi . Swamy Ramanuja used to direct few srivaishnavas as his disciples. When Ananthazwhan seeked the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanujar for the first time, they were directed to surrender to Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar and seek refuge under him. Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar was taken back and he could not deny too since it was his Acharyan’s order again. He politely told them that even though you all surrender to me, there will be only one acharyan to you and me and to the whole world.
He is our Jagath Acharyar Swami Ramanujar.
He will take care of you just like he takes care of me”.
Ramanujar also established a separate mutt for Arulala Perumal Emberumanar. Once few strangers had come to have darshan of Swamy Ramanuja at his mutt Since they were new to the place, they asked one of the locals “Where is Emberumanar’s mutt?”.
The local person politely replied ,Swamin please let me know “which Emberumanar mutt are you talking about?
Is it our Swami Ramanujar who is also called as Emberumanar, Ethirajar,Udayavar, Godhagrajan
OR
Swami “Arulala Perumal Emberumanar’s mutt”?
While this conversation was going along, Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar accidentally happened to listen . He was shocked with the local’s reply . He wept terribly hearing that his mutt had caused confusion in the minds of people to an extent that they started believing that there is another Swamy who can be compared to his own Acharyar . Swami Arulala Perumal Emberumanar was very upset . He immediately went ahead and pulled down his mutt then and there .
He took the strangers along with him to Acharyar and seeked his blessings to serve them .He decided to serve Swamy Ramanujar in his mutt itself from then on . In Srivaishnava parlance, when we say “Swami”, it can refer to only one person. He is none other than Swami Ramaujar himself. Just like when we say “kovil” it refers to Srirangam, when we say “Swami”, it is our Ramanujar only.
Swamy Ramanuja along with his disciples proceeded on a pilgrimage to divyadesams glorified by Azhwars . He reached Thirunagari the holy place where Swamy Nammazhwar appeared .He prostrated the Lordships at Sri Aadhinathar swamin.
Later proceeded towards Thirukolur with the thirst to serve the Lordships who were glorified by Swamy Nammazhwar as ” Sri Aravindalochana and Sri Vaithamaanidhee perumals.
It is said that one who has darshan of this holy dhaam and Perumal here will not wish to leave the place .
Swamy Ramanujar proceeded further to the holy spot with entourage .He was overjoyed to reach the divine place where Sri Madhurakavi azhwar appeared . He recollected Swamy Nammazhwar pasurams in the sixth sataka of Thiruvaimozhi –..”Unnum soru parugu neere pasuram ..
Nammazhwar knew none other than Lord Krishna true to his divine pasuram
” Here the mother of ParAnkusa Nayaki decribes the KrishNA- conscious state of her daughter : ” My dear young daughter has gone to ThirukkOLoor . She would not have gone anywhere else. To her , ALL is KrishNA . Food (eaten to satisfy the appetite), water (drunk to quell the thirst ) and betel leaves (chewed for digestion after partaking of food ) are all KrishNA only in her case. Saying KrishNA, speaking of His (auspicious ) qualities , thinking (always ) of Him , she would feel she has eaten and enjoyed . She would not eat food at all since KrishNA-consciousness is enough food for her . Reciting the Lord’s names and inquiring of every one that she comes across , ” Am I on the right track for ThirukkOLoor ? How far is it from here ? , she would be going. The very thought of the place (of the Lord of ThirukkOLoor ) serves as her (total ) nourishment in her walking- journey .”
Immersed in the divine thoughts of Nammazhwar , Swamy Ramanuja saw a lady leaving the village with all her belongings near the boundary of the Thirukolur village .
Swamy was surprised and hence asked her why she was leaving such a holy place when many come from far distances to render service the the Lord here worshiped by the great Nammazhwar ?
Even if people do not have adequate food or clothes because of famine etc , they still come on a pilgrimage and ensure they serve the all compassionate Lord here . In that case what made you leave this holy space ? my child asked Swamy Ramanuja ..
The lady replied eloquently in a free flowing and unimpeded manner citing the history of various great devotees There are about Eighty one sayings ( small sentences ) uttered by her which are all full of great spiritual significance .
A vessel of nectarine sayings full of essence for a devotee ( a must for all devotees to en chew ) She said that it was her misfortune to leave this holy place as she did not have the fitness or eligibility of any of the great devotees she had quoted in the 81 sayings .
Swamy Ramanuja was wonderstruck at her candid reply and wondered her utter helplessness in leaving the holy space . Swamy delivered a sweet discourse so that her mind would be in peace and reconsider her hasty decision in leaving the holy place .
The lady very respectfully offered obeisance’s to Swamy Ramanuja and requested Swamy to initiate a system to be adopted at the temple where the Lord is offered traditional poojas daily , fortnightly ,monthly and annual festivals with pomp and show .
This would increase the glory of the holy place and force the people to stay there forever .
Both of them along with the disciples entered the holy place Thirukolur .The pious lady invited Swamy Ramanuja to her house and offered prasada to be honoured by Jagathacharya . Swamy gladly accepted the same . Later all of them went to the temple at thirukoloor and initiated the process of systematic seva to the Lordships .
Thus the glory of Thirukolur spread and the great spiritual treasure Thirukolur Penpillai rahasyam (Thirukkolur Ammal Varththaigal ) became a legendary guideline for ardent devotees seeking Lords lotus feet .
Brief details of the temple are mentioned below ..
LOCATION
2 miles to the east of Alwar Thirunagari near Thirunelveli , Tamilnadu
PERUMAL
VAITHAMANIDHI PERUMAL , NIKSHEPAVITHAM IN RECLINING POSTURE
THAYAR
KOLURVALLI NACHIYAR, KUMUDAVALLI NACHIYAR
VIMANAM
SRIKARA
THEERTHAM
KUBERA
PRATHEKSHAM
KUBERA, MADURAKAVI AZHWAR
IMPORTANCE
BIRTH PLACE OF MADURAKAVI AZHWAR
“THIRUKOLUR” signifies in tamil ( THIRU + KOLUR ) which means this is a treasure house of wealth. As per Puranas , Kubera was cursed by Parvathi to loose all his nava nidhis (9 types of wealth) , his beauty and one eye during one divine pastime .
As the nava nidhis felt insecure, they too came to this place and sought Perumal’s protection .
Kubera also came to this place during his course of wandering , took a holy dip in the temple tank and offered prayers to Perumal.
In response to Kubera’s prayers, Perumal gave a part of navva nidhis to kubera by measuring the wealth with marakkal( a unit used to measure commodities). Hence, Perumal is seen in sayana posture with marakkal as a pillow .
video Credits : 4000 Divya Prabhandam and Sri Padmanabhan
Thirukannapuram Divyadesam Sowriraja Perumal Temple is located 30 KM from Kumbakonam on the way to Thiruvarur, Tanjore District, Tamilnadu which is one among the Five Krishraranya Kshetrams.
The Main Deity is glorified as Thiru Neelamega perumal along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi Thayar . The Processional deity is worshipped as Lord Sowriraja perumal. Lord Sowriraja perumal is seen with prayoga chakkra in his hands. The place is considered as Bhoolokha vaikundam. This Vaishnava Divya desam temple is located on the Kumbakonam / Mayavaram-Nannilam-Nagapattinam route. One has to get down at Thiru Pugalur and take auto (2kms). The temple can also be reached directly from Thiruvarur. The temple has a 7-tier rajagopuram and a vast temple complex. The Nithya pushkarini just in front of the Temple is so vast that it looks more like a large lake As we go around the main sanctum we can have darshanam of Thirumangai…
The holy place Alwar Thirunagari is located in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. Those were the days when our most respected Azhwar , Swami Nammazhwar was meditating near the southern banks of the holy Tambaraparani river .
There was a yogi who was staying near the northern bank of the same river along with his dog . The dog used to daily leave the northern bank of the river and reach southern bank .It would eat the remnants of the food honored by the srivaishnavas near the temple . It would return daily by sun set back to wait near the tree along with the Yogi .This became a routine for the dog .
One day as usual the dog left in the morning but did not return as per the expected time . There was a change in weather and the weather was too cloudy for a heavy downpour . The yogi was feeling lonely without his company .
He went in search of his companion in the pouring rain . He could see the dog which was swimming against the current and somehow he was not able to succeed . In the struggle the dog had to leave his body . The Yogi was amazed to see another event . The head burst out from the dog and a shining light emanated that was going upwards to the heavens .
This made the Yogi wonder about the holy place .He observed that when a dog who just took the remnants of the pious sri vaishnavas could get salvation what can be told about this holy place where our Nammazhwar had graced this place with his divine darshan .
The great Sri Kamban azhwan had quoted this incident of the dog attaining moksha in his works Satagopar Anthadhee..
This incident of the dog attaining moksha is also sculpted in a stone on the banks of Tambaraparani river near Azhwar Theerthavari mandapam …
Blessed are those devotees who will be attending Swami Nammazhwars Apperance day at Thirukurugoor .
As Lord Narayana came here as ‘Mannan’ to take the hand of Mahalakshmi and later asked Nathamuni to share the Divya Prabandham and the Vaishnava Sampradayam to the world at large, he was referred to as ‘ Kattum’ ‘Mannan- Aanaar’ (the Lord who came as a king and later presented the entire prabandham through Nathamuni). In course of time, Kattum Mannan-Aanaar became Kattu Mannar.
The above sloka …. reverberates in all srivaishnava temples and homes glorifying the rich sampradaya we have inherited from our poorvacharyas who have given us .
Sriman Nathamunigal and Sri Alavandar, the two great acharyas who have been pillars to Srivaishnava sampradayam, took their avatara at 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 Sriman Nathamunigal and Sri Alavandar. Sriman Nathamunigal and Sri Alavandar were the pioneering and foremost Acharyas of Srivaishnavism.
Nathamuni, who mastered himself in Vedas at a young age, was very attached to Veera Narayana Perumal and spent most of his time performing daily poojas for the Lord here. One day, during his pilgrimage to Thirukudanthai (…
A man inspired with Azhwars Divya Prabhandam wanted to learn Nammazhwars Tiruvaimozhi .He proceeded to Swamy Nanjeeyars Ashram and was waiting for swamy’s audience . He was fortunate to be called immediately . Nanjeeyar was pleased with the man’s interest . Nanjeeyar without any thought , directed him to his disciple Nampillai.
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The man was a bit hesitant as he had come seeking spiritual instructions from Nanjeeyar only, as he was told by his friends about Nanjeeyar scholarship and had great regard for him . Though elderly , he was ready to fall at Nanjeeyar’s feet and learn from him rather than to fall at his disciple Nampillai’s feet.
Nanjeeyar calmed the seeker and told him at no point of time he has to fall at Nampillai’s feet. Nanjeeyar called Nampillai his foremost disciple and said ,Child , You need to teach this gentlemen Nammazhwars Thirumozhi .Please see that he is comfortable both in mind and action when you teach him .
Nanjeeyar also told Nampillai that this class shall be a bit different as you shall be seated on the floor and teach this gentlemen who will be seated on a chair . The great disciple he was , obeyed Acharyars command with cheerful smile . Nampillai welcomed the new student with respects to the class .
The lessons began, and as instructed by Nanjeeyar, Nampillai obediently sat on the floor, while the student sat on a chair. The classes was conducted with lot of respect to the student . As the classes progressed, the student felt very bad about being seated on a chair, while his young teacher sat on the floor. One day , he got up with tears and fell at Swamy Nampillais lotus feet like an uprooted tree with tears for his foolish behaviour .He pleaded Swamy to be seated on chair .
Surprisingly for him , Swamy Nampillai said he would no longer teach him. The reason given by Nampillai was that he had been asked by Nanjeeyar to sit on the floor and instruct the student. Now if he were asked to sit on a chair, he could not teach, because that was not what his acharya had expected from him . Thus Nampillai not only was humble enough to sit on the floor and teach he was also always obedient to his preceptor. Later , the student approached Nanjeeyar with tears apologising for his foolish act .
He pleaded Nanjeeyar to be allowed to attend Swamy Nampillai’s class along with other students as a true disciple .Nanjeeyar agreed and once again the student happily attended the classes sitting on the floor .
A similar incident happened in the days of Swamy Ramanuja . There was a learned scholar who wanted to know few esoteric truths from Kooratazhvan. He was a most influential person in the Kingdom . Almost an advisor to the Royal family .
Knowing about Koorathazhwans humility and great knowledge , he approached him for clearing his doubts . He said , the whole kingdom knows that I am a scholar and advisor to the Royal family but I do not want anyone to know about my doubts .
Both of them decided the classes would begin from the next day near the shores of the river . Kooratazhvar humbly suggested that the man sit on a chair and Koorathazhwan sat on the floor as If he was learning from the scholar . The moment they heard someone approach, the man could hand the book over to Kooratazhvar, and the visitor would think Kooratazhvar was the student, which was why he was seated on the floor!
Swamy Nampillai was the fourteenth Acharya in the prestigious Guruparampara lineage of Srivaishnava sampradaya .
One day Swamy Nampillai asked his Acharya Nan Jeeyar the most relevant question of present day. He submitted to his Acharyar humbly and asked Swamin !!
How can one confirm that he has the qualities of a srivaishnava ?
Nanjeeyar was a chosen disciple of Swamy Parasra Bhattar and naturally possessed all the divine knowledge from his Acharyar .
Nanjeeyar replied !
My child If a person undoubtedly believes that Lord Sriman Narayana in his Archa form gracing us in the temples and house does possess all supreme powers as in Srivaikunta Loka, He can count to be one among a Srivaishnava .
Our Azhwars were possessing that divine quality which made them glorify the Lordships in all the vaishnava divyadesams and Abhimana sthalas .
No doubt the Lord in the Divyadesam also replied to their devotion .
Thirumangai Azhwar had innumerable experiences in this kainkaryam
And , it is generally seen a man loves his son very dearly .
If the same person loves a srivaishnva as dear as his son he can consider to be in the list of srivaishnavas and in case he has been abused by a Srivaishnava and does not react , and accepts his pungent words with cheerful obedience as positive development for his durguna he is a Srivaishnava.
Finally , the Acharya summed up the answer in few words
Archaavatara abhimanam , Bhagavatha Prema and Bhagavatha Katinokthi Bhogyatha buddhi are essential characteristics of a srivaishnava .
If at all any one has these three virtues, he can conclude within himself that he is a Srivaishnava.
During the last days of his illustrious sainthood , Swamy Nanjeeyar the great disciple of the legendary Swamy Parasara bhattar was bedridden.
Swamy Nanjeer was one of the foremost pillar of Sri Vaishnavism after the period of our JagathaAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja . Before our beloved Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanujar left for heavenly abode he expressed his wish to his disciple Parasar Bhattar about bringing this Vedanthi into srivaishnava fold.(Namjeeyars original name was Madhvachariyar ,and swamin was expert in veda shastra and hence was addressed as Vedanthi).
As instructed by Acharyar , Bhattar travelled to Melkote metthe Vedanthi ( Namjeeyar) and for almost nine consecutive days a debate took place on vedantam . On the tenth day Vedanthi understood the proficiency in Bhattars knowledge and surrendered to the True Knowledge and submitted himself at the feet of Swamy Parasara Bhattar. Bhattar out of utmost compassion performed Pancha Samaskaram to Vedantin and returned to Srirangam.
One new disciple came to him and pleaded Acharyar “May I now request you Swamin, to chant the “Dwaya Mantra”?
Nanjeeyar looked at him and said Child ! “Why do you recommend the chanting to me? Do you not want it?” Is the holy mantra be chanted only by a bedridden man and not by a wandering soul?” The disciple on hearing this became dumb founded and felt ashamed of himself. Nanjeeyar continued
“Dwayam Mantra” must be chanted by all times irrespective of any condition of the body . As body needs oxygen to survive , soul needs Dwayam to progress ..
Another disciple of Nanjeeyar was hearing the conversation .He thought that there was some unfulfilled wish of Acharyar . He humbly approached his Acharyar and asked respectfully Swamin ! Kindly give us the opportunity to fulfill your desire .. what was longing….
NanJeeyar replied, My Child I need the entire wealth of this world .. The disciple was confused … The Acharyar smiled and said …My dear ……“I have a strong desire to behold Sri Namperumal’s Archavatara body in my mind forever . This is what I think that He can give me and it is equal to the wealth of the entire world.
The disciple immediately rushed to the main temple and conveyed Acharyars wish to the chief priest . The priest reported this wish with utmost devotion to Lord Namperumal. All compassionate Lord Namperumal agreed through asuri voice . All arrangements were made . Lord accordingly set out of his Sanctorum with pomp and grandeur and arrived in front of his favourite disciple Sri Nanjeeyar’s Mutt .
The arrival of Lord to Nanjeeyars mutt was very special . Lord Namperumal had just come directly to see his devotee as per his request . Nanjeeyar was overexcited . With copulent tears he was looking at Lord who graced him with very exhilarating divine darshana that was “Sarvasvam”(the wealth of entire world) . It was a one to one seva . NanJeeyar was overjoyed and was having uncontrollable tears all through . He turned round and looking at Swamy Nampillai and other disciples addressed them.
My dear children .. …
Our “Namperumal has fulfilled my wish by his cool grace which is the world wealth for me.
Dear Children ……
Now I am prepared to do reveal whatever knowledge I came to possess by the blessing of my learned Acharya Sri Bhattar. Those who have thirst for knowledge can quench their thirst….
Swamy Nampillai submitted him, Acharya ! Tell us something which I should ever remember as the sole refuge”. NanJeeyar replied …..
Do not think that the Lord is for the sake of the soul but think that the soul is for the sake of the Lord…..
Further Swamy NamPillai submitted another question humbly ,Acharyaa “What should be the behavior of Srivaishnavas when they get separated from the company a Srivaishnava by his departure to Sri Vaikunta Loka from this mortal world?”
My dear Nampillai , answered the great Acharyar .. Adiyens Acharyar Sri Parasara Bhattar advised me with few essential esoteric truths relating to the welfare of my soul which I shall reveal exactly as said by adiyen Acharyar ,
Do listen carefully ….
“Do not be popped up with pride for the following reasons
I am by name Vedanti (one who has learnt vedantas to its core).
I have for my Acharya, Sri Parasara Bhattar
I have given by way of Guru Dakshina plenty of wealth to Acharyar .
The I ‘ness …. dissolution is a must for the souls progress …..
Therefore think always that Swamy Ramanuja’s lotus feet are the sole means of salvation and take refuge unto him. I tell you now in a similar fashion – you also take refuge under Swamy Ramanuja . Do not be elated that you got the fame of Lokacharya and you are capable of bringing out the esoteric meanings of 4000 hymns of Azhwars and the propagator of Sri Bhashya (Beware of these pitfalls)”.
He advised few more essential truths to all his disciples . Nanjeeyar humbly spoke Dear Children ….. I beg your pardon for any fault if committed unknowingly, as it is very difficult for a soul with this body to be free from any fault . Blessing all of them , having “Sri Pada Thirtha” (the holy water after washing their holy feet) of Srivaishnavashe hosted (Tadiyaradhana) dinner for all the disciples ..
Subsequently, He showered his blessings on all the disciples ..Keeping his head on the lap of Sri Senapathi Jeeyar and his holy feet on the lap of Sri Pinbazhagiya Jeeyar facing towards the temple inside his mutt meditating on his Acharyar lotus feet of Swamy Parashara Bhattar, he began his journey to Sri SriVaikuntam
During the days of Swamy Parasarabhattar , a vedantin came to have darshan of Lord Ranganatha . He was very learned in sastras .
While having darshan he noticed Swamy Parasara bhattar advising a group of devotees .The Vedantin walked near to Swamy and asked him to explain how a vaishnava is distinquished from a smarta . Swamy Parasara bhattar did not care to enter into an elaborate controversy with the adversary on this query , delicate in as much as it is a bone of contention between the two divisions the advaitins and visishitadvaitins.
He just smiled and called his attention to the signs of chakra and shankha inscribed in both his arms a sacrament enjoyed by sastras on all vaishnavas .
The vedantin said ..Oh I see !! but what authorities can you quote from the shastras justifying you to set this type of custom ? of wearing Urdhva pundra and the sacraments.
Swamy Parasara bhattar replied .. I shall not trouble you with all that , for when I shall quote one authority , to which we commonly agree . The first sutra of Apastamba Dharma which says Wise practices of our wise elders are our best authority . Only after this comes Vedas .. Adiyens father Kooresa observed the sacrament in question and therefore , Adiyen does it .. Hope you to follow your Elders footsteps without doubt ..
The vedantin was silenced ..Though he was elder to Swamy Parasara bhattar , he offered obeisances and moved away quickly…..
The month of ( March – April ) in tamil (Panguni ) is sacred as it is the appearance month of – Lord Ranganatha on Revathi star and Goddess Sri Ranganayaki Thayar on Uthiram star both occur during the same month.
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The most important and the oldest festival called as “Adi Brahmotsavam” is performed during this month for 10 days and culminates on the day of Panguni Uthiram .
About 800 years ago ……………………………………………
an unusual incident occurred which has remained as one of the most cherished brave effort by our Acharyas for protecting and leaving us the legacy of our great srivaishnava sampradaya and our Lordships…
Almost 800 years ago , the festive mood was vibrating with splendor. At the banks of Kollidam river preparations were being made for Lord’s arrival with pomp and show . The stage was decorated with wonderful flowers and the best decorative lamps .
A huge golden throne decked with diamonds and costly jewels, attracted the venue. The devotees were discussing.. Who else except Lord of the Lords is going to preside now.
Devotees from far off arrived in large numbers to attend the great festival .It was a darshanam not to be missed .
It was customary for the Lord to alight and have Abhishekam done amongst the huge gathering of devotees
. The entire stage was decorated. Milk , Curd , Honey, Coconut water , Rose water , sandal oil , various types of perfumes , flowers , holy basil leaves garlands was set in order for the Lords ceremonial bath .The feast for the eyes was about to begin …
Finally the time arrived …amongst the mangala Nadaswaram and the priests chanting Azhwars prabhandams Lord of Lords arrived in majestic style .
The great Acharya Swamy Desikan , Swamy Sudarshana suri along with several disciples accompanied the Lordships and were guiding the priests in conducting the rituals . Mangala haarathee was offered amongst the huge crowd .
All the devotees in one voice chanted loudly clasping their hands on their heads …..
G O V I N D A ….. G O V I N D A G O V I N D A ….G O V I N D A…… RANGA
Among the most revered Acharyas , Priests and devotees , a distinguished very old devotee aging around 85 years or more ,was contemplating on the various divine pastimes of the great devotees who had served Lord in all aspects , even sacrificing their lives for the Lordships .
Silently glorifying the great Jatayu who served Lord Rama , and Lord Rama performing funeral rites for Jatayu , Lord Krishna preferring to dine with Sri Vidura even though he had the option of dining with exalted elders such as Drona or Bheeshma the episode of ThiruppAN azhvar, LOkasAranga Munithe the great kulasekhara azhwar attachment to Lord , Sri Periya Nambi and his attachment to Sri MaranEri Nambi, Swami Ramanuja and his deep devotion to Sri Thirukachchi Nambi he was silently cherishing …
His thoughts were with pure devotion overflowing ….
What have I done for the Lord ??? for his mercy in being among this august gathering . His face exuded serenity and was in total peace.
Caught up in these devotional thoughts and having darshanam of Lord Ranganatha he was lost in a different world full of bliss …
He had slowly forgotten the world around him.
That great personality was none other than our Jagath Acharyar Swami Pillai Lokacharya .
The proceedings were being conducted smoothly .All of a sudden among the august gathering a person rushed to the old Acharyar . He was sweating . He took courage and said … Acharya , I was washing clothes on the banks of Cauvery river when my donkeys ran away suddenly hearing some unusual noise .
I attempted to find what was the reason . Slowly I climbed a small hillock to see what was that frightening my donkeys . Much to my surprise I noticed a large battalion of men on horses with ammunition marching towards our direction .
With their attire I guess they should be the moslem invaders . I am told by my relatives that many temples around us were being looted and desecrated by these invaders. Acharya , I am scared .. What would happen to our temple and our Lord Ranganatha . I am afraid for our families .Please do something .
Swamy Lokacharya was taken aback . He closed his eyes and said ..Don’t worry ..Our Lord will take care .. He got up majestically and walked towards the deities . Prostrating to Lord seeking his grace He looked at that man and said … Just go and continue with your routine work . But ! Just keep watching the invaders movements and inform as soon as possible
Swamy Desikar , Swamy Sudarshana suri and other Acharyas assembled and met Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar and concluded it was Ulugh Khan the army commander sent by Tuglak. They had to take a quick decision .
All of them informed the priests for staying beside the deities at all cost , and gave some important tasks to be completed without any delay .
They briefed them about the unexpected calamity that may take place any time and hence instructed the priests to secretly carry the Lordships to the temple without the regular Abhisheka .
The devotees who had assembled were slowly coming to know about the sudden change in the programme as the news spread like fire . All the assembled devotees silently marched back to their respective homes cursing the enemies who created this unholy trouble. The Lordships were silently taken back inside the temple . Swamy Lokacharyar called the Chieftain and the Elders of the temple and advised them what could be the steps that may have to take facing the invader.
The objective was not to confront the enemy but to focus their efforts to ensure that the moola virat was not desecrated. All of them decided that they shall form three groups .
One group shall be headed by the eldest Swamy Pillai Lokachariya, who shall carry the deities of Lord Ranganatha and His concerts in a covered palanquin and proceed southward with few disciples .
Swamy Sudarshana suri took up the task of erecting a stone wall in front of the main sanctorum to misguide the invaders . A stone wall was constructed with support of many disciples in a short time ..
The third team was to provide cover for the team lead by Swamy Pillai Lokachariya [the team with the deities of our lord and his consorts so that swami had enough time to maintain safe distance from the enemy.
Swami Desika who was the youngest among the Acharyas was requested by Shri Sudarsana suri to go with the third party and somehow save himself so that he at least might be left to propound Sri Vaishnavism and the teachings of Jagatha Acharya Shri Ramanuja. Shrutaprakashika was the work that was made out of generations of learning’s from Acharyas and an elaborate commentary on JagathaAcharyar Swamy Ramanuja’s Sri Bhasyam .
Sudharsana Suri entrusted his two young sons and manuscript “SrutaprakaasikA” to Swami Desika Swami Desika had an earnest desire that this great work must at any cost be saved . Swami as instructed immediately took up the directions from Sudharsana Suri and was about to leave towards northward with the little boys .
At the temple town , all of them decided in one voice that they will not oppose the army , but behave as if nothing is so serious .. There was a regular update about the Invaders who were approaching . The people were in two moods whether they should remain in town or flee.
Who was to decide and advise them? The people were utterly confused .They decided to take counsel from Lord Ranganatha himself then decided to appeal to the LORD Himself .
They all dropped chits (Tiru Ulla seettu) expressing their opinion and with devotion they drew up one chit which said that all could remain at Srirangam itself. They decided in was the Lord’s order and remained facing the situation bravely.
The same evening, the invaders marched inside the Srirangam town from Samayavaram . Thousands of the town’s citizens were harassed and injured .The terror in which the enemy looted the prosperous town speaks about the bravery of the srivaishnavas there .It was a very sad plight and the bloodbath that followed who resisted will make one cry for our great forefathers who sacrificed their lives . This had been recorded in the History of Srirangam Temple known as Koil-Ozhugu .
The great bloodshed of 12,000 Sri Vaishnavas at Sri Varahaswamy Sannidhi makes it the worst day in the temple town .
Inside the Hall , Swamy saw heaps of corpses lying around . He somehow braved the boys to lie down unnoticed to give an impression that no one survived .
The little boys stretched underneath along with some of them and our dear Swami also lay down next to them along with the holy book. Swamy Desikar thus concealed the two boys and himself amidst a heap of corpses and passed the night with caution .
The enemy troops assumed that they were corpses and did not bother to probe. Observing the enemy troops moving away , Swamy slowly took the frightened boys before dawn unnoticed in North-Westerly direction towards Satyamangalam . He was completely exhausted and was worried with LORD and the other revered Acharyas .
At the other side of the temple , while the enemy was invading the town, the old Acharyar dutifully carried the Lord’s deity with a small group of disciples with utmost caution braving the worst scenarios of terror with fear . Leaving Srirangam, he had to suffer many hardships during the journey. He had to be wary of the enemy attack while he also had to protect himself and his party from robbers.
He was constantly praying LORD for his mercy and keeping his disciples motivated with LORD’s divya charitam . All of them decided that whatever sufferings may befall them, Lord Ranganatha’s should not face any danger or desecration. After an arduous trek, they reached Jyothishkudi near Madurai. Lokacharya was a man strictly adhering to religious modes of conduct and manners.
He was finding it difficult to secure accommodation and catering facilities on the way. These troubles were common to people in those days but the Acharya had to face more severe hardships as he had to carry Lord Ranganatha without any hardships to the Lord . All through the journey, they had to pass through possible attacks from invaders and thieves. They had to trek hundreds of miles on foot. In spite of all kinds of hardships, the Acharya carefully kept the Lord Ranganatha in his personal possession.
He was particular that the traditional daily worship of Lord Ranganatha should not be missed and therefore carried the deity himself with greatest care and devotion and proceeded towards the south. Trekking several miles with constant fear of the enemy lack of food and rest had adversely affected the Acharya’s health. Also enroute , he had to face the enemies wrath some occasions injuring him too .
Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar accepted all the sufferings for our LORD .He was mentally distressed about the future . His mind refused to continue living on this earth seeing the tragic state in which Ranganatha had to be kept often hiding here and there .
He wept several times with the unexpected turn of events . It was like Jatayu the great devotee of Lord Rama injured by Ravana while the latter was carrying away mother Sita, he wept helplessly.
He proceeded to a village called jyothishkudi, which was surrounded by the Anamalai mountains adjoining thick, dense forests. They found a dilapidated mandapam (ceremonial hall), and decided to retire for the night.
He was exhausted and came to know it was time for him to leave his body. He was surrounded by his great disciples . Looking at LORD sweating , he said to his disciples , Please fan the Lord as he is also tired coming along with us . The disciples were sad to see their Acharyar completely exhausted and had tears watching the scene when he was fanning the Lord with those injuries in his body ..
There was a pin drop silence ..With tears He meditated on his Acharyar and father, Swami vadakku thiruveedhip piLLai , pleaded them to forgive him as He could not able to protect Lord Ranganatha .
He could see numerous ants in the small place .
He touched all of them, for the reason they also would be in srivaikuntam along with him . as it is believed that any living being touched by the hands of a Sri vaishnavA is assured mOksha .
He was always pining, ‘Let this body and soul of mine be sacrificed for Lords sake!’ and had his wish fulfilled. He sought nothing for himself, amassed no earthly riches, and laid down his life for a Noble cause and became Lokacharyar .
He once again justified his name as the universal guru, for he delivered even ants and insects until his last moment!!
The most amazing incident was when we can observe millions of ants in that region even this day who could be the descendants of the ants that Swami delivered by his touch.
Lokacharya was one of our esteemed teachers and philosophers who preached equality of men irrespective of caste, place of residence, etc.
After the disappearance of Pillailokacharya the disciples performed the last rites and continued their journey along with Lord Ranganatha towards south passing through a very long route covering Thirukoshtiyur ,Jyotishkudi .Srivalliputhur ,Calicut , Gundulpet , Chittoor Melkote , Sathyamangalam and finally Tirumala in the present Sriranganatha Mandapam where LORD stayed for 60 years .
Click the appended blog post below for details of LORD meeting our Nammazhwar and the divine pastime of Swamy Srisailer with Azhwar and Lordships
The great Iyppasi sravana ( October –November ) festival is celebrated as a mark of respect for Acharyar Pillailokacharya’s sacrifice even today .
He attained the lotus feet of his Acharyar in the tamil month of Adi, on the dwAdasi day. On reading this wonderful divine pastime we need to believe that
May be our LORD wanted to see himself being protected by his devotees and glorify our respectful Acharyas who had done everything as HIS kainkaryam ..
Who or How else can we explain the need to “save” our Lord!!! who is beyond every thing.
All glories to Swamy Pillai LokaAcharyar
lOkAchAryAya guravE krushNapAdaSya SUnavE |
SamSArabhOgiSandashta jIvajIvAtavE nama: ||
All glories to Swamy Sudarshan suri
All glories to Swamy Desikar…………
“shrImAn venkaTa-nAthAryaH kavitArkika-kesari | vedAntAcharya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hridi | kavithArkika simhAya kalyANa guNa Saline Srimathe vEnkateSAya vEdhAntha guravE namaha
Those were the glorious days when the most revered Acharyar Swamy Yamuna Acharyar was living . A great devotee Nambi also lived near srirangam . One day, Swamy Yamunacharya was on the way to a village .
To his surprise he saw Nambi who was working in the field was drinking the mud water in the field with his two hands. Yamunacharya was amazed to see this action of Nambi. He sent one of his disciples to inquire about his strange act with Nambi .
Nambi with all humility answered Swamin !! philosophically this body goes into this mud (earth) after our death and this body made up of Panchabhootas has to rest at the place it originated , hence my taking mud water should not amuse you .
Swamy Yamunachary was hearing his statement with interest . He understood that Nambi was almost like Satakopa, who had eradicated with anger, the Sata vayu before it enters into his body and became Satakopa our Nammalvar only . He understood this great personality was non other than our Swamy Nammazhwar .
Hence he called him Maran Err Nambi.
Swamy Yamunachary pleased with his answer , invited Nambi to join his ashram . Nambi was touched ….
He said Oh Acharyaa !! ,
being born in a panchama varna my qualification doesn’t suit to be amongs’t learned disciples .
Swamy Yamunacharya replied ,
My child … Nambee …..there is no caste-bar for a Brahmajnani and he must join him without any obstacle.
Thanking his Gurudeva for the mercy … , He accompanied him to Srirangam and arranged his residence near his Ashram . Nambi was overjoyed and served his Acharyar with unstinted devotion .
He started attending classes regularly and relishing the esoteric truths . It was a great privilege to be amongst the great disciples of Swamy Yamunacharya. Nambi’s joy knew no bounds. He made a small idol, a replica of his Acharya in clay and started worshiping with deep devotion . He was always in the mood of serving his Acharyar and was thus immersed in the discourses .
Once , looking at the small hall where the daily discourses were conducted , Acharyar decided to enlarge the Hall in a new place and thus initiated construction . He fixed an auspicious muhurtha for inaugurating the New Hall and conduct a class .
Nambi came to know about the New Hall . He was keen to visit and do some service there . He managed to reach the New Hall and was amazed to see the large hall well ventilated . He walked inside the Hall with prestige for being a student of the great school .
Yamunacharya came to know through his disciples about Nambi visiting the Hall . Pleased with the happening , Yamunacharya cancelled the inaugural ceremony and informed that there is no need for any ceremony now , as Nambi’s foot sanctified the hall . He decided conduct the discourse immediately on the same day
Thus ,Maran Err Nambi earned that much of affection from his Acharya.
Once Swamy Yamunacharya 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 to imagine the kind of pain the disease inflicted . 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 the senior most disciples alone knew.
One day Maraneri Nambi went to Acharyars ashram .
He insisted that he should see his Acharyar . The diciples resisted .
But Maraneri was adamant.
So he was let in.
Acharyar attempted to cover his pain and welcomed him with a smile.
He thought that Nambi must have come to clear his doubts in his lessons.
The best way out was to dispose Maraneri as early as possible without letting him find about his disease.
Maraneri came into the room and prostrated at his Acharya’s feet.
The Acharyar spoke
“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.
Nambi replied …
“ Acharya ,…
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, Acharya .”
Maraneri ran out to fetch a silver vessel containing the holy water. Yamunacharya was puzzled.
“Please Gurudeva my Gurudeva show me your hands.”
“What is this 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 , 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.”
The Acharyar was shocked .. He roared …
“What the hell you are doing, you idiot? This is not a game. This water is holy. And if I repeat whatever you said, then you will have the disease, you moron. The disciple innocently pleads……
…. Acharyaa 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?”
The Acharyar replied My child … “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 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 gift your disease to me , 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 and the pain subsided ..
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..
Pillai Uranga Villidasan 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 .
Very often Swamy Ramanuja was seen returning from Kaveri leaning on the shoulders of Swamy MudaliAndaan and Villidasan .
A brahmana is unclean before bath and clean after a bath and the disciples watching were curious with their Masters way why they had not changed places while accompanying Swamy Ramanuja .
They took courage to question their Master for an explanation.
Swamy condescended to them saying , my children ! Have you not heard that learning , riches and high birth swell a fool with pride , but adorn the wiseman ?
This man our villidasan is utterly destitute of this three fold vice but we are not .
Hence he is fit enough to be touched by me .On hearing the golden words the disciples bent their head in shame and dared make any further protest , but all the same malice kindled their minds against the favourite disciple Villidasan who was a sudra and more close to their master than a Brahmin disciple could be .
They could not digest a sudra should stand so high to their masters estimation , as their own prestige as Brahmins was being jeopardised.
Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil
Swamy Ramanuja was aware of the disciples grudge towards the advanced devotee who was a gem among all of them .
As a true Master he wanted to convince the error which is making them spiritually fatal .
He devised a plan and hence called a close disciple in private and ordered him to secrete all the clothes of the disciples in the night when they were fast asleep. ( these were the clothes which are washed and hanged high to be dried up ) .
The task was accomplished .
The next day all the disciples were aghast with the missing of their daily wear . Each one was accusing the other and the entire scene turned into chaos.
They were calling names against each other .
Swamy Ramanuja walked into the chambers hearing the unusual noise . All the disciples vented their anguish about the missing clothes .
Swamy Ramanuja calmed them and advised them to accept the same as Lords providence . Alternate arrangements were made .
Days passed , Villidasan who was living near to the Ashram was serving Acharyar with utmost devotion . One day it got delayed as Villidasar was entrusted some jobs for some festival .
Swamy Ramanuja walked into the disciples chamber and told them that they all must go to Villidasars house located few meters away and make an attempt to rob the precious jewellery and other ornaments from Ponnachee his wife when she is asleep.
All of them knew Villidasar was a rich person and had gifted many golden jewellary to his wife Ponnachee in the past on several occasions and she was always bedecked with the ornaments .
It was decided that they need to rob the jewels when Villidasar was serving Swamy Ramanuja in the ashram .
The disciples were very happy . All of them marched hurriedly to Villidasars house .They could see Ponnachee fast asleep .
Ponnachi was sleeping on the floor of the hut using her hand as a pillow. She was bedecked with wonderful gold jewelry The moment one of the disciples bent down to unhook her ear-ring, she woke up.
Without any inhibitions they waited , collected all the jewellery from the chest and attempted to remove the jewellery worn by her during her sleep once again . But , Ponnachee recognised the disciples and did not want to startle him.
She thought ,when Swamy Ramanuja’s disciple committed such an act of theft it must have a divine sanction .
She then laid still and allowed them remove the ear-rings, bangles and the nose-ring she was wearing on the left side of her body.
She felt they were taking away their own property for whatever effects she owned in this world were not really hers but entrusted to her for their sake .
This is how Property is to be spiritually viewed . She gently rolled over for them to strip the other side of the jewellery she was wearing .
She was anxious that the vaishnavas should complete their work and not go away with half work done . But her movement however created a fright and put the disciples on their toes to leave the place .
The vaishnavas returned to the ashrama .Pillai dasar after completing all the works assigned to him submits his humble prayers to Acharya and takes leave .
Meanwhile , the disciples entered the ashram and explain the happenings at Villidasars house in detail to Acharyar. Swamy Ramanujar orders them to follow Villidasar immediately up to his house and watch all that might take place in the house . The disciples quickly left the jewellery in Ashram and followed him in the dark .
In the house Ponnachee was eagerly waiting for her husband as done daily.
When she heard the footsteps of Villidasar , she hurriedly went to the entrance and welcomed him .She washed his feet with all affection .
Villidasar looked at her very strangely as she had decked jewellery one sided only.
He said , What is this lady ?? taken aback with her strange dress sense .
Nothing My Lord she replied soothingly .I shall explain you in detail .
Please honour the prasada quickly as it is already too late .
She continued about the incident that happened few minutes back .
She pleasingly said that the vaishnavas who are our gurus had come to our house just now my dear …..while I was lying asleep.
May be they were in need of their jewels .
I could hear them whisper that I was asleep and It was the right time to take the jewellery .
Lying down hearing their whisper , I pretended to be fast asleep so that they could complete their task .
They laid hands on me and took all the jewels from my right side as the left side was visible .
Our effects are theirs as you know , so to let them have all , I quietly turned around my right side with all my care doing so to make them believe that I was really fast asleep, but my bad luck it some how gave them a alarm and to my utter regret they left without completing the job they had come for .
On hearing this Pillai urangi got upset and was angry with her .
He said ..Hey Foolish woman !!! you have spoiled the great opportunity to serve the vaishnavas .
You must have laid motionless till their work is completed ….
……If the jewels were theirs Its their wish to take them as they like . I am really very upset with your behaviour……
He said half the jewels have been best invested , the remaining are vanity .
The vaishnavas were observing the conversation behind the doors . They hurriedly left back to Ashrama and gave a full report of the conversation .
Swamy Ramanuja the Acharyar now spoke to his disciples and asked them to remain awake. He then instructed them to wake up all the other disciples.
All of them should clean themselves and assemble before the Acharya for an important lesson. Eager to hear new lessons from the Acharya, they all gathered around him in no time.
Suddenly from no where Villidasan ran into the mutt with his wife .
He fell down at the Acharya’s feet like an uprooted tree.
He and his wife Ponnachee were with tears .
The other disciples were stunned at the unusual sight.
They had never seen Villidasan crying so much.
“We have committed a grace sin Acharya. We have together sinned. We are no longer fit to be your disciples. Condemn us to the worst of hells; even then the retribution will not be adequate.” cried Villidasan
“What happened, my child? Why are you crying? Why is your wife crying?” Swamy Ramanuja asked the devotee disciple ..
Acharya “Some of your learned disciples had come into our hut today to take my wife’s jewels.
She was sleeping.
Your disciples took the trouble of removing the jewels from her person themselves.
Ponnachi did not want to startle them by waking up all of a sudden.
When she turned the other side so that they can remove those jewels also, they just ran away.
“Acharya, I am not even fit to be a dust in the feet of those learned disciples. Aren’t you called the Udaiyavar?
Doesn’t that mean that all of us,all our belongings, properties and everything belong to you?
When you sent your men to take your things, Ponnachi should have welcomed them and should have given them whatever she had.
She has sinned, My Lord. “And I have sinned too.
Please curse us a punishment .
My wife has decided not to wear jewels on the one side of her body for the rest of her life.” for the grave sin committed ….
“You showed LORD to me. And I could not even give some worthless piece of yellow metal to you, when you needed it! What a sinner I am! There is no hope for me, there is no salvation for me!”he was uncontrollable ….
Swamy Ramanuja turned to his other disciples.
Please tell me whose wisdom is better , great yours or his ?
Please know that caste is of no importance..
It is the virtue that is most important and prized .
This is why I say ….
Even River Cauvery cannot clean me completely. But this man’s touch can purify me. That’s why I lean on him when I return from the river.
Villi, my child ….. please teach these people how to love.”
The disciple who first complained to Ramanuja about Villidasan prostrated to him and Ponnachi’s feet begging their pardon.
Swamy Ramanuja then returned the jewels to Ponnachi and commanded her to wear them then and there. And also ordered that she should never be without those jewels. The silence that reigned in the Ashram was pregnant with many lessons, many teachings and many leanings….
It is told that Villidasan was called as Mahamati ( a human wiser than wisdom ) the wisdom blinded by love for Lord .
He was love blind as to fear any danger for one who is above all dangers .
Mahamati used to walk with his sword drawn in front of the Lord so that he may stop anyone who dared to do any act in the least offensive to the Lord of Lords….
More details about this great disciple can be read in this post linked below :
THIRININRAVOOR is located 30 kms from Chennai on Arakonam route – and 5 kms from Thinnanoor station is this Sri Vaishnava divya desam .As Goddess Maha Lakshmi arrived from SriVaikuntam and stayed here, this place came to be known as “THIRU” “NINDRA” “OOR” (THIRU= LAKSHMI, NINDRA= STANDING, OOR=PLACE).
Lord MahaVishnu and Samudrarajan, Goddess mahalakshmi’s father reached Bhoolokam in search of Thayar as without Her presence, Sri Vaikuntam wore a dull lifeless look. Samudra rajan ,in the course of his search reached this place. He was overwhelmed to see his glorious daughter Mahalakshmi and addressed Her as “ENNAI PETRA THAI” (mother who gave birth to me emphasizing the fact that Mahalakshmi Thayar is the Divine Mother for the entire world). Varuna, the God of rain, who came in search of Samudrarajan as he had to quench the sea water for forming clouds saw Samudrarajan at this place. Hence, Samudrarajan…
It may be mentioned here that TIRUMALAi is Kaliyuga Vaikuntam and Sri Vaikuntanathan has manifested Himself as Lord Srinivasar.
The sacred TIRUMALA Hills consisting of seven peaks is considered to be seven-hooded. Blessed are the devotees who are fortunate to have his darshan .
There are countless devotees who have served the LORD since ages .
One such great devotee was Swamy Ananthazhwan an ardent disciple of Swamy Ramanuja . As per Swamy Ramanuja’s directives he served the LORD few hundred years ago .
There are several pastimes of Swamy Anathazhwan with Lord Srinivasa . One divine pastime is memorable as Lord himself accepts to become Swamy Anathazhwans disciple .
Knowing about the initiatives taken by Swamy Anathazhwan in organising the temple rituals with religious fervor few devotees decided to trek the hills and have darshanam of Lord and seek the blessings of his dear devotee too . The Srivaishnavites were walking from Srirangam and it was a very long journey .
While ascending the Hills, coming fromthey were feeling tired and had to take some rest . Completely exhausted they were perplexed how could they complete their pilgrimage. All of a sudden a young lad appeared before them .
The boy was appearing with divine tejas . With srivaishna Urdhva pundram he was almost looking like vamana avatara brahmachari .
He offered his humble obeisances and said .Oh swamins ! Adiyen has brought some temple prasada for all of you .
Kindly honor the same and please feel comfortable .
The srivaishnavites being orthodox were initially impressed with the divine boy .However one Elder person among the group wanted him to introduce his lineage and his Acharyar whom he was initiated .
The divine lad he was , smiled at the simple question .
He proudly replied that his name was Madhurakavidasa and his Acharyar was Swamy Anathazhwan who is serving Lord in all ways .
It was his Acharyars instructions , he had walked down the sacred hills to handover the prasada coming to know about their visit .
He further expressed that the Prasada was coming directly from the temple which was handed over to him by Swamy Anathazhwan to be given to them .
A bit surprised , the elders said ..
Oh swamin
Its nice to know about your association to Swamy Anathazhwan . But we wish to hear from you about his glories .
Can we hear your swamys Thanian ? as this a custom for the srivaishnavas to recite their Acharyars glories in the form of Thanians .
The divine boy majestically recited the thanian about Swamy Anathazhwan in the seven hills which vibrated
Akhilatmagunavasam ajnanatimirpaham
Asritanam susaranam vande Anantharyadesikam”
(I bow to Acharya Ananthazhvan, who is the repository of knowledge, mercy and wisdom, the one Acharyar who removes ignorance and is eminently eligible for surrender by disciples)
They liked the divine lads confident answer . However the Srivaishnavas then questioned the youngster how his taniyan made no reference to Ananthazhvan’s relation to Swamy Ramanuja.
The divine boy smiled and replied Swamins ! Actually there are two Thaniyans in praise of adiyens Acharyar Swamy Ananthazhvan, one referring to the glory of his divine personality and another referring to his connection with Swamy Ramanuja.
And please listen to the second verse of the Thanian
‘Srimath Ramanujacharya Sripadamboruhadvayam
Sathutha manga sandaryam Anantharyamaham Bhaje..
( I prostrate before adiyens Acharyar Swamy Ananthalvan who is the lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja and who is worshipped by Srivaishnavas all over the earth )
The Srivaishnavas were convinced that the divine boy was a true disciple of Swamy Ananthalvan . They honoured the prasada with relish .
They thanked the boy for his affection and love and blessed him .
The divine boy took leave of them and ascended the Hills welcoming them to join him . Slowly, the Srivaishnavas ascended the Hills and walked into Swamy Anathazhwans ashram .
Swamy Anathazhwan was overjoyed to recive the guests from Srirangam . They offered their obeisances and thanked him for the kind courtesy in sending the maha prasada down to the Hills They appreciated the young boy for his kindness and hospitality .
They praised the boys intellect and kindness and expressed their gratefulness to Swamy Ananthazhvan for having sent prasada through one of his bright young disciples.
Swamy Ananthalvan was bewildered. Amazed to note the divine leela , he was in total dark . He realised that it was his LORD who took the pains to walk down with the mahaprasada to his devotees . With tears , he wished to know about the divine lad .The Srivaishnavas explained about the divine glow the boy exhibited . His majestic recitation of the Thanians was memorable ..
The boy was so down to earth serving the prasada They informed that the boy introduced himself as Madhurakavidasa and had recited two slokas in his praise and as they were just trekking behind him up to the hills safely . They said that the boy went inside the temple citing some pending works.
Swamy Anathazhwan pleaded them to recite the verses the boy had sung ..
They recited the two verses before Swamy Ananthazhvan.The entire assembly was wonder struck. Swamy Anathazhwan was in tears .
They realised that the Lord had declared himself as Ananthalvan’s disciple and had chosen the name Madhurakavidasa .
Even though there were so many other Acharyas the second verse showed that it was Ananthazhvan who could be fittingly considered equal to the Lotus feet of Swamy Ramanuja.
Since then the paduka (sathari) at the shrine of Swamy Ramanuja sanctorium up the Hills came to be known as Ananthazhvan since then the two verses became famous as the Thaniyans in praise of Swamy Ananthazhvan….
Pillai Uranga Villidasan was a powerful wrestler. Not just any ordinary wrestler but one of very high standing. Almost all the wrestlers in the Chola Kingdom used to pay him a ‘protection fee’.
A Famous Wrestler was majestic in his looks and a terror to his rivals naturally There was a beautiful lady in the village Ponnachi. (Pon in Tamil means gold.) Every one who saw her swore that she richly deserved her name.
Her complexion, came closest to the yellow metal. Her dance-like walk, her height and her dimpled cheeks made her the much-acclaimed beauty in her village. But the most prominent feature of her face was her eyes , very large, round and from which you cannot take your eyes off.
Ponnachi’s beauty was at least as well known as Villi’dasan s prowess. Villidasan was a very good man and had never abused his strength or position. And yes, he was the most eligible, most sought after bachelor in his town. As it would happen in love stories, he heard of Ponnachi’s beauty and set out to see her, more out of curiousity than anything else.
Once he saw her eyes, he could not think of anything else. As if possessed he sought her hand in marriage, something which Ponnachi was only too eager to give. Villidasan was virtually consumed by his love for the damsel.
He was just thinking of nothing else other than his lady love. Villidasan and Ponnachi got married on an auspicious day. Their married life was most blissful in karmic world , which never ended. They had been married for years.
Still to Villidasan Ponnachi was the most beautiful woman in the world with the most beautiful eyes.
It was spring time. Festival time at Capital town of Srivaishnavisim , Srirangam. ( Vasanthotsavam).
Ponnachi wanted to see the festival. To Villidasan her slightest whim was a Royal Command.
He made elaborate arrangements to ensure a comfortable travel for Ponnachi. She was borne in a palanquin till the main street of Srirangam where she had to get down and walk. Ponnachi got down from the palanquin.
Villidasan who was standing nearby was stunned by her beauty. She was dressed up in an exquisite silk saree. What captivated his attention even after years of marriage was her eyes.
Villidasan could not take his eyes away from hers.
As she started to walk towards the temple, Villidasan did the unthinkable. He was walking backwards facing her, unable to see anything else but her large eyes.
Those who saw this amusing sight giggled. Some even laughed out aloud. Villidasan gave a damn to what others thought. Ponnachi was half consumed by shyness and half by pride. She too loved her husband so much that she did not have the mind to object to his act, though she knew that it made people laugh behind their backs.
This strange procession – Ponnachi walking forward, Villidasan walking backwards, and the palanquin bearers and the retinue following Ponnachi – was nearing the temple gate. On the other side of the street, a very great saint was walking away from the temple followed by 1000 of his disciples.
The name of the great saint was Swamy Ramanujacharya.
Swamy Ramanujacharya was amused by the strange sight – Ponnachi walking towards the temple followed by her retinue and Villidasan walking backwards unable to take off his eyes from those of his beautiful wife! The great saint was moved on seeing this wonderful sight.
He inquired about the couple and then sent word to Villidasan asking him to come and meet him in his Ashram alone.
Swamy Ramanuja had decided to do something about that. Now why should Swamy Ramanuja do something about Villi’dasans love? As a spiritual Master of people he instinctively knew that Villi’s love was quite unique.
If only Swamy Ramanujacharya could make people love something as intensely as Villidasan did, yes, he would have made a difference in their lives.At the same time if he showed Villi’s love as an example to be followed,then ignorant people might mistakenly think that they also should love Ponnachi. In other words at the present level Villidasan’s love is not a copyable, replicable model.
So Swamy Ramanuja wanted to first shift Villi’dasans love to something else and then make people understand the greatness of love.
And in order to make so many people understand the meaning of love, there is no harm in shifting one person’s object of love.
So Villidasan was excited .He came running to see Acharya in his Ashram as soon as he got his call.It was late in the night. The Srirangam temple would be closed for the day in another half an hour. Swamy Ramanuja wanted to accomplish his mission within that time.
He asked Villidasan in a sarcastic tone,“Aren’t you shy , Villidasan ! to be seeing your wife’s eyes, when Lord’s festival is on?” Villidasans ’s reply was a correct blend of humility and the force of truth.
Acharya … But ……“Is there anything more beautiful than my wife’s eyes?” Swamy Ramanujacharya was waiting for this question.
“What …..will you do if I show something more beautiful than that?”
Now Villi knew for sure that there was nothing like that and so his words came with confidence.
Then …… “Then I will fall in love with those eyes.
Ponnachi and I will be your slaves for the rest of our lives.”
“Deal. Come with me.”
Swamy Ramanujar took Villidasan to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
The Lord of Love, Sri Ranganathar, Thiruvarangan, was sleeping in his comfortable snake-bed .
Then the great Acharya took hold of Villidasan’s hands. The Acharya’s touch sent waves of electric shock in his body. Swamy Ramanujar closed his eyes and prayed to the Lord.
“Oh, Lord, here’s is an example of perfect love. And the whole world is steeped in misery unaware of this kind of love.
I want the people to know that there is something like this love and that every one of us is capable of it. For that you need to give these two people to me.
“I know that these two people are as precious to you as your Devis and are holier than the holiest scriptures ever written on you.
I promise you my Lord, I’ll give them the reverence they deserve.
Now please, LORD Ranganatha show the beauty of your eyes to this man of love.”
A selfless prayer!
Two loving souls standing before Him!
Lord Ranganathar was helpless!
He had to grant the Acharya’s wish. And the great Lord, whose eyes are not to be seen even by the highest of Devas and the wisest of Rishis, whose Feet cannot even be touched by Vedas and all the knowledge in the world, opened his most beautiful eyes for Villidasan to see.
Villidasan was awe-struck; no he was love-struck. The sight lasted for a fraction of a second.
Villidasan instantly fell in love with those large, beautiful eyes, for which nothing in the world is even a pale comparison. Villi prostrated at Sri Ramanujar’s feet proclaiming his slavery to the saint.
Swamy Ramanuja lifted him as a loving father would lift his loving son.
Swamy Ramanujar’s eyes were so full with tears, his heart so full with love that for a few seconds he could not talk.
Villidasan continued to be in a state of ecstasy. If God decides to show His eyes even for a nanosecond, the effect will last for centuries, extending into millions of life –times, for ever, for eternity and even thereafter. When he went back to Ponnachi that night and told about his experience, she was also transformed.
She did not whine that her husband had found out another object of love.
She was ecstatic because she was the loving wife of a man to whom even the Great God had shown His eyes. The next morning Pillai Uranga Villidasan gives awayall his possessions, erects a small hut near Swamy Ramanuja’s Ashram and starts living there along with Ponnachi serving Swamy Ramanuja the entire life ….
.Let us seek our Acharyar to bestow devotion to Lord always ..
Another divine pastime is appended in the below link ..
Sri Vathsa Chinha Mishrebhyo Namah Ukthi Adheemahi
Yathukthaya: Thraiyee Kante Yaanthi Mangala Soothrathaam
( Meaning )
“I salute the great mahaan Sri Srivathsa Chinha Misra (Swamy Koorathazhwan)
whose sri sookthis became the thirumangalyam of the mother Veda (The 4 Vedas also named as Thrayee as mentioned in the above thaniyan)”
Swamy Koorath Azhwan the great sri vaishnava acharya , earned his daily bread by the traditional means prescribed for a Vedic “grahasta” (householder) viz. “unchavratti” ( the practice of going around one’s neighborhood for daily alms and sustaining oneself solely by such means)
Nothing was accumulated… be it food or clothes…nothing more was collected than what Kuresan considered as sufficient to satisfy the wants of his family in the space of a single day… that was kuresa the most advanced srivaishnava …
One day it rained heavily and the time for going around on his “unchavratti” came and passed. Kuresan and Andalamma his dear wife went without any food that day except for a sip of the holy water offered to the household deity. They skipped supper too. Kuresan was unmindful of his hunger since he kept reciting the hymns “tiruvoimozhi” ( Nammazhwars hymns on LORD ) throughout the rainy…
This incident took place in Srirangam .Swamy Nampillai was sick and recovering .
A srivaishnava came to swamy’s ashram and said , Oh Acharaya your respectable body has become lean and weak much to our concern .
Swamy replied While one wanes the other one waxes .
This is the universal rule . It means while knowledge of Lord ,devotion to HIM and detachment to material things increase the body of the person generally leans out owing to his devotion and love to the LORD as he is always immersed in LORD’s divine attributes .
His heart melts and slowly looses interests in food and looses the taste appetite etc .This results in the welcome weakness of the body , whereas for a worldly man who identifies his body with his soul, eats well and maintains a healthy body . Thus the physical stature waxes and the soul naturally wanes .
Another disciple came in the evening knowing about his ill health .He also enquired about his health for which swamy chucked .. Are we going to wage a war swamin ?? No !! The required fitness to serve the LORD is plentily available .
There is nothing in wanting .
Its LORDs wish as we are just under his custody ……
A srivaishnava will always consider disease to the body as a welcome guest and will strive to serve the LORD even in worst crisis come what way .
The disciples learnt a nice lesson .
True …
A srivaishnava will consider this body as a stumbling block for the enlightenment of soul .
Many years ago there was a severe drought in melnadu located near present coimbatore The drought continued for almost 12 long years . An old couple who were living there decided to leave to the banks of cauvery and reside near the holy Sri Ranga Kshetra .
They shifted their camp near to the Lord’s temple . Good or bad is Lords divine will .They surrendered to the Lordships and managed their daily lives .
One day they observed huge number of srivaishnavaites following Swamy Ramanuja to the banks of cauvery . Curious to know about the following , they followed Swamy Ramanuja and found the entire place were his followers . The elderly lady was charmed by the divine tejas of Swamy Ramanuja . She walked near the banks and asked the villagers ,Who the revered swami was and those followers .
The group replied that Swamy Ramanuja was the king of Ascetics and he moves along with 700 ascetics 74 Acharya Purushas , 1200 Ekangees and 300 kotti ammai .
Several kings and sattadars are his disciples . You are blessed to have his darshan remarked a old man .
She liked the place and the vibrations .She used to observe Swamy Ramanuja completing his temple duties and entering seven houses daily for alms . She tried her best to have an audience with the great seer but was unsuccessful .
One day as she waited she saw Swamy entering her house . She offered obeisance’s and with all humility spoke to him .
Oh Revered Swamin … please listen to my prayer …. You are a sanyasi who had given up everything in life and there are no possibility for having wealth , gold , jewels , mansions or any other worldly prosperity. You just have a saffron cloth , a Tridanda and Bikshu .When that is the case how was that so many people are following you all the time ? and landlords , kings fall at your lotus feet ,and whereas you are living on biksha only. what is that you can give to so many followers who are with you . What is the secret behind all these disciples as I don’t find any difference between a King and you . You are truly YathiRaja..
Swamy Ramanuja with abundant compassion told the old lady , Mother ! I don not have any wealth to share but I give them bits of information about Lordships and have a mantra that will cut the bonds of samsara which is full of worldly cares and that as a result of this they would get grace of the LORD which would confer eternal bliss in the form of their attaining to the presence of Lord Vaikuntanatha .
The lady was quick to request Acharyar for the mantra for her upliftment as she was in a pitiable condition . She fell at Swamys feet and shed copious tears , in great distress crying all the while that Swamy must grace her . Swamy Ramanuja looking at her supreme devotion informed the disciples to help her in her endeavor . They guided her to be at ashram for the initiation ceremony and succeeded in becoming Swamy Ramanujas disciple .With great mercy he asked her to repeat the Guruparampara verses and later initiated her with the sacred ashtakshari mantra .
Swamy Ramanuja performed Panchasanksaram, did Mantra Upadesam and the lady got a Dasya Name as “Kongil Periya Piraattiyaar”. The old lady was overjoyed and offered her obeisances to the revered saint with all humility .
After few months , the situation in Karnataka was better and the old day decided it was time to leave Srirangam . Kongil Piratti went to Swamy Ramanuja’s mutt and seeking Swamys blessings informed about her leaving Srirangam . She longed to have something special to remember her Acharyar forever and hence pleaded Swamy Ramanujar to bless her with Swamys Padukas . Swamy Ramanuja gave his pair of divine sandals (Padhukas) on the request of his disciple . With much relief and joy, she returned back to her native place.
Years rolled by, By divine will Swamy Ramanuja had to leave Srirangam for some time . After few days of trekking though the Nilagiri hills and the dense forests , Swamy along with his disciples saw few tribal people nearby . Looking at the srivaishnava marks and the aura they came near them and inquired about their well being .
On knowing they were from Srirangam , they inquired about Swamy Ramanuja well being . They could not identify Swamy Ramanuja among them due to the white dress worn by the Holy seer . The tribals lead them to the heart of Nilagiris with utmost caution as it was dark and the weather was too chilly . Trekking almost for many hours they reached the Chiefs house . The Chief had gone on hunting rounds .
They requested the chiefs wife to take care of the sri vaishnavas with due respects as they were disciples of Swamy Ramanuja and their Guru Nallan Chakravarthy had commanded them to accept Swamy Ramanuja as their Maha guru .Touched by the august presence of almost 50 disciples the Chief offered fruits and honey .
He knew the brahmanas will not eat at their place .He commanded his men to go to the neighboring village to the house of a brahmana by name Kattalai vari along with abundant provisions to honor the revered guests with food without any delay . The wife of Kattalai Vari was our KONGIL PIRATTI also called as Chelanchalamba .
Now , the disciples along with Swamy Ramanuja reached Kongil Pirattis hut . She was overjoyed to have darshan of so many sri vaishnavas in the remote forest . She offered her humble obeisance and prostrated them . She pleaded them to honor the food at her place . The disciples were keen to know her discipleship for entertaining her in cooking for them . She politely replied she was a disciple of Swamy Ramanuja and requested them to reveal their Acharyars name . When the disciples echoed it was Swamy Ramanuja she happily said that It was a great honor to cook for them and hence allow her to cook food for them .
Swamy Ramanuja who was in white dress was overhearing the discussion between the disciples and Kongil Piratti . He called one of the disciple and asked him to observe Kongil Piratti while cooking . Kongil Piratti in turn went to her hut , cleaned the entire place with cow dung and water . She had a bath , brought new pots and entered the kitchen chanting
Srimathey Ramanujaya namah :
Srimathey Ramanujaya namah :
All the time ,while she was cooking , the chanting of her Acharyar Thirunamam was going on . She also recited few Prabhandam pasurams . After completing her cooking , she took all the dishes in a clean basket into the chapel . She offered her obeisances to the sandals that was given by Swamy Ramanuja .
She offered the dishes to the Padukas and mentally chanted few slokas . Once done , she went to the srivaishnavas and asked them to honor the maha prasada. The diciple who was observing the scene went to Swamy Ramanuja and informed how exactly Kongil Pirattis was cooking in the kitchen . The disciple said as it was dark in the chapel and he couldn’t really see whom the dishes were being offered .
Though Swamy Ramanuja knew whose sandals they were , he called Kongil Piratti and said , my mother ! can we see the sandals whom you are worshipping . Kongil Piratti without any inhibition brought the sandals among the disciples . The disciples informed her Swamy Ramanuja was amongst them .Immediately she offered the sandals and when Swamy decorated himself with the sandals , her joy touched new heights .She was ecstatic and felt overjoyed . Offering obeisances and washing the lotus feet she apologized that she couldn’t recognize as Swamy Ramanujar was wearing white dress .
Out of abundant mercy Swamy Ramanuja said , Lord Krishna dined with Vidura , Lord Rama had fruits from Sabari and all of you shall honor the prasada served by our Kongil Piratti .
( Swamy Ramanuja did not partake the food as it was offered to his sandals)
Kongil Piratti humbly submitted , Acharya please have some fruits from us . Acharyar with compassion partook few fruits and blessed her . Kongil piratti served the prasada to all the disciples and took the remnants along with the Sripada water to her husband . She woke him up and said , My dear please have this nectar which we are so fortunate to have . The husband looking at her Acharyar bhakthee asked her why she was fasting ?
She replied , My Acharyar had just fruits and remember he is on a fast since one week .What is store for me .. But !!! Promise me you will surrender to asmath Acharyar for initiation tomorrow . The husband readily agreed .The next day Kongil Piratti humbly surrendered to Acharyar along with her husband . She requested Swamy to initiate him into Srivaishnava fold . Swamy Ramanujar initiated him with Panchasamskara and blessed him . After this, memorable incident , Swamy Ramanuja proceeded towards Melkote where he lived for about 20 years.
In SrimadRamayana, Bharatha got the divine sandals of Lord Rama and as a servant to Sri Rama’s Padhukas, he ruled Ayodhya for nearly 14 years. In the second instance, Kongu Piraatti got the Padukas of her Acharya Swamy Ramanuja, worshipped them and was performing Poojas daily .
Kongu Piraatti’s husband Sri Kongilachan was also one among the 74 Simhasanadhipathis who propagated Srivaishnavism.
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pics credits: Sri Koyil Kongilaachaan Thirumaaligai and google images .
NAMO NARAYANAYA
SRIMAN NARAYANAYA CHARANAU SARANAM PRAPATHYE
SRIMATHE NARAYANAYA NAMAH
SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH
SRI MUDALIAANDAN SWAMY THIRUVADIGALEY SARANAM
SRI AMRITHAVALLI NAYIKA SAMETHA SRI LAKSHMI NARASIMHA PARABRAHMANE NAMAH
Prostrating at LORD LAKSHMI NARASIMHARS LOTUS FEET , Adiyen feels honoured to share the divine experiences of adiyens yaathirai to Ahobilam Divya desam. Ahobila Mutt authorities has taken the holy initiative to develop this kshetram on war footing and made it convenient for the piligrims to have darshanam of LORD in the temple.We offer humble obesiances to Jeeyar and the Mutt followers as this holy intiative from HIS HOLINESS has really made piligrims journey more simple compared few years ago . Presently nine archakas ( priests ) have been appointed who perform Nityathiruvaaradhanai ( worship) to all the Nava Narasimhars .They travel by Cycles to the temples and are very cooperative with the piligrims. Adiyens sincere acknowledgements to Ms.Ramesh , the author of…
Vaduga Nambi was a very close disciple of Swami Ramanuja.
He appeared in a place called Saligramam in Karnataka.
As Kulasekhara Azhvar, who had been known for his devotion to Lord Rama ,
. Vaduga Nambi, likewise, was known for his Acharya Ramanuja bhakti,. He worshipped the Tiruvadi Nilai (sandals) of Swami Ramanuja daily. There are many instances where he was concerned about his Acharyar more than the LORD himself.
Once after reaching Thirukurungudi a srivaishnava divyadesam , Swamy Ramanuja had just finished his bath and called out, for his disciple Vaduga Nambi to get ready with Urdhwa Pundram (Thiruman and Sreechoornam) (Tilak) as a daily practice .
However, Vaduga Nambi had not reached the place Kurungudi by then .
Something very rare happened .
On hearing Swamy Ramanuja repeatedly calling Vaduga …Vaduga …Vaduga…Vaduga….
.. LORD Thirukurungudi Nambi, the Perumal of Thirukurungudi Divya Desam, took the form of Vaduga Nambi, came before Swamy Ramanuja, prepared the paste of Thiruman and gave it to Swamy Ramanuja for application .
After applying the Thiruman Kaapu, Swamy Ramanuja left the remaining Thiruman and Sreechoornam, as usual, for Vaduga Nambi.
Later when Swamy Ramanuja went to the Koil ( temple) for Lords darshan….something rare was seen ..
To the surprise of all, on the forehead of Thirkurungudi Nambi was seen with freshly applied Thiruman Kaapu!
Swamy Ramanuja was emotionally overwhelmed with Lords abundant mercy . Later in the day, Vaduga Nambi came and apologized Swamy Ramanuja about his delay in reporting . From that day onward, Thirukurungudi Nambi came to be glorified as Sri Vaishnava Nambi.
Many instances are cited to show Vaduga Nambi’s single pointed devotion towards Swamy Ramanuja.
During another occasion, a devotee came to pay his respects to Swami Ramanuja. The visitor recited the Narayana mantra. Vaduga Nambi wondered why the man did so. After all, Lord was far away, and Swamy Ramanuja was close by. What was the use of praising a distant God, when a merciful Acharya was present close to him, Nambi wondered. To Vaduga Nambi, even Lord ranked next to his Acharya.
One more divine pastime speaks about Nambi’s Acharya bhakthi .
Nambi used to worship the padukas ( sandals ) of Swamy Ramanuja every day. Once while travelling to a nearby divya desam , he had to make arrangements in taking Swamy Ramanujars deities who were being worshipped by Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja .Vaduga nambi carried his worshippable sr padukas (sandals of Swamy Ramanujar in the same package.
Swamy Ramanujar was shocked to observe the same . He corrected vaduga nambi for his offence but vaduga nambi spontaneously replied “My worshipable deities are equally glorious to your deities, so there is nothing wrong in carrying them along with your deities .
At Srirangam , once the processional deity Lord Namperumal was being glorified by Srivaishnavas . Swamy Ramanuja sent for his disciple vaduga nambee . Vaduga nambi was warming milk for Swamy Ramanuja . Vaduga nambi hearing the disciple calling politely replies….
Swamin !! “If adiyen comes out to worship your Lordships , my Acharyar milk will get burnt. So I shall wait ” finish this service and then join ……
He has left for posterity, “Sri Yathiraja Vaibhavam”, a Sanskrit work in 114 verses, which gives the entire life history of Swamy Ramanuja.
His devotion for Swamy Ramanuja was boundless . Swamy spent his last days at Saligramam near Mysore , Karnataka ,where Lord Narasimha and swami Ramanuja’s holy feet are enshrined and worshiped even now.
Ananthazhvan the great devotee of LORD VENKATESHWARA was preparing to come down to the south in order to attend a festival in lower Tirumala along with his disciples there. He took leave of the Lord of the seven Hills. He was accompanied by many devotees .
Walking down the seven hills amidst the devotees was time consuming due to the forest terrains path those days .
Swamy could see his disciples were tired and feeling hungry . He looked for a rivulet en route for distributing and honouring the prasadam When the vessel was opened , much to the surprise of everyone ,. they found the prasad was swarming with ants.
Swamy Ananthazhwan recollected Sri Kulasekhara Azhwars pasuram on the sanctity of the Thiruvengadam hills . ( Azhwar pleads Lord to get association of the LORD in any animate or inanimate form in the Holy hills .
He begins with Oh Lord , amongst the devotees here in this sacred hills may adiyen be blessed to become a bird near to the pond , else a fish in the pond , else a golden vessel of the aradhana which is constantly serving you , else a flower at your lotus feet , a tree and finally a stepping stone near your sanctorum .
Swamy Ananthazhvan advised his disciples they should not deprive those ants of the enviable distinction they had of their being eternally on the seven Hills. Swamy said each of the animate and inanimate being in the sacred Tirumala hills were Nityasooris who are constantly in service of the LORD .
It will be an offence to disturb their satsangha . With due respects to the little ants all of them trekked back to Tirumala hills and left the ants .The next day they once gain came down to Tirupathi to attend the festival .
For the great devotee even ants were Nityasoorees serving the Lord .
Kuleshekara zhwars pasuram
chediyAyavalvinaigaLthIrkkumthirumAlE NediyAnE vEnGkatavA! Nin kOyilin vAchal adiyArum vAnavarum arambaiyarum kidaNthiyanGgum padiyAyk kidaNthu un pavaLa vAyk kAnNbEnE
Oh LORD SRI VENKATESHA!
You are the only one who can eradicate my karmAs. Adiyen want to be like the stepping stone at the entrance of your sannidhi where your great devotees, dhevas , gandharvas and humans long to seek your darshan. . Adiyen wish to lie as your door step where devotees,celestials and heavenly dancers wait in order to see your coral lips constantly……………………………..
The month of ( March – April ) in tamil (Panguni ) is sacred as it is the appearance month of – Lord Ranganatha on Panguni Revathi and Goddess Sri Ranganayaki Thayar on Panguni Uthiram both occur during this month.
. This is the only day on which the Divya Dampatis of Srirangam are seen together in Utsavam. The Utsavam takes place at the royal court located at the western entrance of the great Temple of Lord Ranganatha. Interestingly, this is the only entrance which does not have a Rajagopuram. Incredibly Swamy Ramanuja chose this blessed day for reciting the wonderful hymns the Gadya Trayam- Saranagathi gadyam,Sriranga gadyam and Vaikunta gadyam, unambiguously outlining the doctrine of Surrender .(SharaNagati-which is atma Vivaham) wedding of the jivAtma to the paramAtma.
On this day Panguni Uttaram , Swamy Ramanuja gathered his disciples and approached the great Temple of Lord Ranganatha. Our Paramacharya was greatly moved by the majestic sight of the Divya Dampatis beautifully decorated in Utsavam at the Royal Court of Lord…
Swamy Nampillai was the disciple of Sri Nanjeeyar and the acharya of Sri Vadakku Thiruveethipillai and Sri Periyavaccan Pillai. Once , Swamy Nampillai went to Thiruvellarai for Lord Pundarikakshan darshanam .
Swamy along with his disciples were returning to Srirangam .
It was raining heavily past few days . Once they reached river Kaveri , they were shocked to see the flow of the river. The uprooted trees and the fury of the floods created confusion in the disciples mind .
To cross the river they had to board into a strong boat but were worried about the dangerous water flow . It was getting darker and the disciples were perplexed . They managed to get a small boat quickly for crossing the small stretch of the river .
Swamy Nampillai also joined the disciples and was contemplating on Lord’s kalyana gunas mentally . They boarded the small boat and the moment they came at the middle of the river ,the scene changed . Suddenly there were dark clouds all of all over .They were confused which direction the boat should be navigated.
. The small boat due to the torrent breeze was shaking terribly .Due to the excess weight of the crew the boat was about to sink. The boat man with the sudden turn of events , screamed loudly , holy sires !! the boat would sink due to its weight.
…..Please .. can some of you jump out from the boat so that our revered seer Swami Nampillai can be safely taken to srirangam .
No one took a chance to speak due to the fear of drowning . A religious old woman also a disciple of Swamy Nampillai got up and submitted ,
my dear son… …………………………………
Please ensure our Acharyar Swami nampillai our very life of humanity reaches srirangam safely ,saying this she jumps into the river ..
.Due to this act the boats weight reduces and manages to reach the shore .
Swamy Nampillai became very distressed for the sudden happenings . The sacrifice of the old woman touched him deeply and he was at loss of words for her . He was lamenting and moaning internally about her loss . All of a sudden he heard the old woman’s voice..
Oh ! My respected Acharyaa , I am alive and safe very near to the bank .Please do not lament about my act .
Swamy Nampillai immediately advised the boatman to go and fetch his disciple who was waiting on a sandy mold very near to the shore .She returned back in the boat and prostrated at the lotus feet of Swamy Nampillai . As she was not aware of any other protector except her Acharyar Swamy Nampillai , she submitted …………..
Oh swamy…. I suppose that you have appeared there in the river bed as a huge sandy mound in order to save me from the grave danger .
Swamy Nampillai replied ,If that is your strong faith I have nothing to say .
.Let it be so ….
If a man wishes sincerely to save his Acharyar by sacrificing his body , wealth and life , he will be saved by LORD SRIMANNARAYANA himself ……………………..
At Tirumala, Ananthalvan, disciples were planning to return to their native place in view of rainy season as per gurukulam curriculum.
Swamy Anathazhwan blessed them and spoke to them about the need for Satsanga.
As their Acharya , he hinted them about satsangha .
He said , Evil company takes you away from Satsanga, as explained by the sruthi” sada pasyanti will produce the experience of Para Brahman.
Evil company will produce disaster .
One disciple was eager to know
How that would be possible ?
Ananthazhvan gave the disciples a small pep talk.
Swamy quoted the story of Saunaka and other sages.
Once , due to unexpected rains ,the ascetics who were on a pilgrimage had to spend a rainy night amidst a forest in a hunters hamlet.
The hunters were away from the place. A parrot who was on a branch , spoke to them harshly thus insulting the seven ascetics .
The Parrot questioned how they could dare to enter the hamlet when there was nobody in. The parrot admonished them and asked them to get out.
The repeated abuses made the saints leave the hamlet and due to rain they took shelter under a banyan tree.
The parrot followed them and again insulted them asking them to leave that place too .
It called them by name and abused them as thieves….
Unable to bear the insult, the seven mystics walked at dead of night in the rain and reached the hermitage of another Rishi. Here too , the hamlet was without any one inside .
The Rishis had gone out for a bath, since it was about to dawn.
Here they could hear another parrot with a pleasing voice .
The parrot spoke to them with kindness and inquired about their welfare. It directed them to have fruits, sacred water and place to rest comfortably,
It also received them with Vedic honours by chanting the Vedic hymns .
Amazed with the brought up of the Parrot by the saints , Saunaka told the parrot about their miserable experience at the hunter’s hamlet last night in comparison to the treatment given just now .
They wondered how two parrots belonging to the same kind, behaved in a totally diametrical fashion. The parrot told him that both were born to the same parents.
But some how , I grew among these revered saints and my brother preferred to stay with the hunters . The parrot brought up by the Rishis knew how to receive guests and was always listening to the Vedas and Upanisads and the debates about their inner meaning. The parrot in the hunter’s hamlet knew only about killing, dividing and eating.
It is the association that cultivates the good or bad qualities in the character.
Saunaka was supremely happy and blessed the Parrot. Ananthazhvan narrated the story from the Upanisads to know the need for Satsanga.
Association with elders, scholars and pious people will result in brahmanubhava.
It is Satsangha that we should aspire for in our life.
The disciples took his word as gospel and pledged to abide by his command.
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pictures : Courtesy Google images uploaded by several devotees in social media
An interesting episode took place during Swamy Ramanuja’s time at Srirangam . One day a kainkaryapara ( temple servant) was murmuring in front of the thirumadapalli (temple kitchen) of Srirangam temple in a strange way .
Amused by his speech many onlookers and devotees assembled there . Acharya Swamy Ramanujar was proceeding to temple from his Ashram .
Looking at the huge gathering near the kitchen , Swamy enquired what was the reason for this gathering . A disciple came forward and replied that a kainkaryapara ( servant ) was dejected for some reason and hence he was murmuring . Swamy Ramanuja instructed his disciple to call him .
Pleased with Acharyar’s invitation the kainkaryaparar introduced himself as a servant of the temple and offered his humble obeisances .
Swamy Ramanuja asked him why was he dejected ??
He submitted , Swamy !! adiyen was content with Lords prasadam which was taking care of him and his family past few years .
However , now that his family has increased in size the prasAdam was insufficient to feed his family members . This was due to addition of few relations who joined him forever . Unable to cater their needs adiyen was upset . It was my small request to enhance the prasadam share for my family too .
Swamy Ramanuja patiently heard his petition looked at him with compassion and asked him if he believed in Lord Namperumal. The servant politely replied , Swamin !!! Adiyen has trust in Acharyan Swamy Ramanuja more than Perumal ( Lord himself ) .
Swamy advised him to stay in his place as he was residing and continue with his work . He said that the prasad shall reach him for sure .
This was told by Acharyar very casually . After some days he met the same temple servant on the banks of river kAveri in front of a small hut. The temple servant rushed amongst the onlookers and offered humble obeisances to Swamy Ramanuja. Acharya recognised him when he offered obeisances .
Out of love he asked him
My child !!! how are you and your family members .
The temple servant pleased with Acharyar speaking to him directly was overjoyed . He replied with enthusiasm that It was Acharyars mercy he and his family members are very happy , and by the grace of the Acharyan and Lord he was content with the prasAdam being delivered daily by his disciple .
Swamy Ramanuja surprised to hear this , enquired with the disciples as he was not aware of appointing someone for the same .
With confidence the servant said Acharya !!
It is Rangan the smart boy who was prompt to serve us the prasadam daily and your disciple was kind to brave even the rain to serve us the Prasad many many times .
Swamy Ramanuja , after enquiring in detail realized that the person Rangan who was doing this job was none other than Lord ( Periya perumal) himself.
Lord had come to keep up the words of his devotee (as Swamy Ramanujar told the temple servant that he will get his prasAdam without fail directly at his residence )
This is how LORD also keeps up his words
“Yogakshemam vahanmyaham”.
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
credits : Google images and pictures posted by several advanced devotees in social media
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”.
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.
This is one of a real incident happened in the life of His Holiness the 33rd Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt .One day , His Holiness Jeeyar was passing through the dense forest from Ahobilam to Mysore accompanied by his disciples, journeying to the next destination . It was a very tough task travelling those old days . Enroute , His Holiness Jeeyar decided to halt at a spot near a small rivulet to perform his evening puja to Lord Narasimha . As he was settling down to offer prayers, there was a commotion. His disciples rushed to him informing about the bandits who had come to loot the baggage they were carrying which had Lords Jewelry and paraphernalia offered by several kings and devotees .
The unperturbed Jeeyar went boldly to meet the bandit leader of the gang, and told…
The palace of Dasaratha remained closed for a period of fourteen years after he died .
The place became abandoned as no one ever moved into it .
Lord Rama on his return from exile after a period of fourteen years , had to enter into the house after HIS coronation .
Since the palace was abandoned for almost fourteen long years , it was necessary to perform few purificatory ceremonies lie Udaka santhee , Punyaakavaacham and other homas etc .
There were enquiries from the Royal court to get the Royal priests to take up the same .
Lord Rama observing the arrangements being made , advised the devotees Sugriva, Hanuman and Vibhishina to visit the palace where his father resided .
They were quick to enter the abandoned palace as per Lords directives . After thoroughly inspecting the palace they came out informing the same .
The Lord immediately entered the palace . The Royal Priests were confused with Lords entry without any purificatory rites being conducted . Lord Rama addressed the gathering saying No purificatory ceremony was needed because the dust from the feet of the great devotees had already fallen inside the palace .
Lord confirms the supreme truth about the holiness attached to the dust of the feet of the devotees .
A similar incident took place in Swamy Alavandars life . Mareneri Nambee was a disciple of Swamy Alavandar . He was very obedient to his Acharyar . He used to worship his Acharyar for his abundant mercy in taking him a s a disciple . He used to serve his Acharyar in all the ashram requirements .
It so happened , that a muhurtha was to be fixed for Gruhapravesham to the new ashram Swamy Alavandar was to about to shift .
Overhearing the news , Mareneri Nambi thought being a non Brahmin , attending the Gruhapravesham among the elite Vedic seers is improper , so It was fine having a glimpse of the new ashram unnoticed . He managed to see the new ashram by entering the same . This was noticed by another disciple who informed Swamy Alavandar .
Swamy Alavandar was overjoyed and announced the gruhapravesham ceremony of the ashram is completed with his disciple entry . Now its time we all shift to the new ashram .
On inquiring Swamy Alavandar informed that as Mareneri Nambi an advanced devotee had entered the ashram there was no need for a better purification or an auspicious time to decide .
The scene near the ocean was very different . Few squirrels suddenly noticed an army of vanaras marching near the mountains and lifting boulders and handing it over to the chain of vanaras who were carrying them to put in the ocean with valour .
Few vanaras were uprooting the trees and a few making way for collecting the boulders .
All squirrels residing near to the mountains were wondering what was going around .
They could hear all the vanaras doing the work with enthusiasm and were chanting . The sweetest name RAMA reverberated the entire area . Slowly they came out and found the vanaras were in fact constructing a bridge over the ocean ,
They understood that the bridge is being constructed for them to march to the other end of the ocean . Inquisitively few squirrels moved further to see the mammoth work being undertaken along with the Nama sankirtana .
To their utter surprise they had darshana bhagyam of Lord Sriramachandra . Overjoyed with the feeling all of them decided that they must assist in this big work no matter the quantity of contribution .
The squirrels wished that when LORD with his tender feet walked over the rocks and mountains which had been dumped to form the bridge , HIS feet would get hurt by the rough surface .
All of them decided to rush into the ocean , wet themselves come back to the shore , roll the sand and shake themselves so that the sand particles which were clinging to their body would fall on the rocks put by the vanaras .
Few squirrels carried bits of wood ,pebbles and sand out of devotion.They were in the opinion that the pathway on which Lord Rama would walk would be soft due to the sand .
The joy derived by the squirrels in Lord Ramas kainkaryam was multifold . Soon there were many squirrels jumping in the seashore and leaping near the rocks to contribute their might in squeezing as much as sand possible. This they were doing watching the divine beauty of Lord Rama under ecstasy . They some how managed to draw the attention of Lord Rama in their endeavours .
Lord Rama noticed this supreme devotion which had been exhibited by the tiny squirrels in a selfless manner . He gathered all the squirrels close to him and stroked them . The general belief is that is the reason why we see the three marks on the back of the squirrels .
The squirrels had rendered their life worthwhile and noticing a squirrel we can relate this incident .
How fortunate were they ?
Though this sweet incident is not seen in the Valmiki Ramayana , this incident is quoted in other languages of Srimad Ramayana including Kamba Ramayana .
Swamy Thondaradippodi Azhwar in his Tirumalai has mentioned this incident briefly in his (27) pasuram
kuranguhaL malaiyai nookka kuLittu tAm puraNDiTTu ODi taranga neer aDaikkaluTTra SalamilA aNilum pOlEn | marangaL pOl valiya nenjam vanjanEn nenju tannAl aranganArkku ATcheyyAdE aLiyattEn ayarkinrEnE
The meaning of the pasuram in brief reveals Oh Lord ! i did not perform any service that an ordinary man can do. i did not even attempt as little as an animal does. When Lord RAma wanted to cross the sea to go to Lanka, the mighty vAnarAs lifted huge boulders and dropped them in sea.
A little squirrel also dipped in the sea and rolled his wet body on sand and shook the sand particles stuck on his body into the sea.
Oh! Lord A big sinner I am !! i don’t even do such small service to serve your Lotus feet .
Not only I do any physical service but neither have any devotional feelings too. Alas! My human birth is a waste. What else can i do but cry and cry?
This incident also finds place in Thirukolur Pen pillai rahasyam (14) truth .
King Veerasikhamani was one of the disciple of Swamy Parasara bhattar . He used to personally come to Srirangam and have darshan of Lord Ranganathar and his Acharyar Swamy Parasara Bhattar . Due to preoccupation with the state matters , he arrived to Srirangam after few months .
He was feeling guilty and sad for he could not progress in his spiritual endeavors like listening to discourses , worshiping the Lord , seeking satsangh etc .
He humbly submitted to Acharyar about his poor commitment in spiritual progress . The King pleaded Acharyar to advise him a simple method for Lord realisation .
Swamy parasara bhattar out of abundant compassion , advised him to carry the image of LORD RAMACHANDRA always with him in his heart and cherish the divine pastimes . The King was curious to know that incident of Lord Rama which swamy cherished .
Swamy Bhattar replied about that time when Lord Ramachandra and the army of vanaras camped on Suvela mountains the sun was about to set .
The army of vanaras assembled and were discussing about their next plan .
One leader announced , dear friends !!!
You know we are very near to Lanka and as the night approaches the Rakshasas become stronger and possess enormous strength to attack our Lord Rama .
Hearing the leaders words ,the vanaras were very confused and upset as they knew that the Rakshasas will somehow create illusions and may create problems to Lord Rama and Lakshamana .
The leader suggested that they will take all measures to protect Lord Rama and Lakshamana . For this they had to be awake shielding Lord Rama and Lakshmana . The vanaras decided that they shall take turns and be on the sentry duty thus protecting Lord Rama and lakshmana whole night .
They alloted the time and were guarding Lord and Lakshamana. However due to the gentle cool breeze from the ocean and their tiredness all the vanaras fell asleep .
As soon as all the vanaras fell asleep, Lord Rama and Lakshmana got up , took over the duties and ever on alert with their bow and arrows .
They created a magical illusion around vanaras thus the Rakshasas were able to see only Lord Rama and Lakshmana and the vanaras were invisible .
The Rakshasa seeing Lord Rama tejas were terrified and fled away without any trace . Thus the army of vanaras were protected by the Karunamoorthy .
Lord Rama is an ocean of mercy when protecting his devotees in distress . Lord Rama saved the very army which had formed only to save Rama .
One must never loose direction even in his thought about the abundant mercy of Lord always protecting us and ever to be with us as Antaryaamee .
So the best way is to hold him in our thoughts and deed always .
Tirumala Temple is a famous Srivaishnava Temple of Lord Venkateswara located in the hill town Tirumala of Andhra Pradesh. The temple is built on the Venkatadri hill, one of the seven hills of Tirumala, and hence is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills .
The temple is the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world.The temple is visited by almost 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims daily .
The Tirumala temple was not the salubrious and convenient place we know as it is today. Tirumala was a forest laden ,rough and rocky terrain and the upkeep of the temple in those days must have been a terribly daunting and unwelcome task. During those hard days there lived a great devotee Swami Tirumala Nambi in Tirumala Hills at Tirupathi . Swamy Tirumala Nambi was a great religious scholar in his own right but out…
Those were the days when Swami Nampillai the distinguished Acharyar was delivering religious discourses at Srirangam temple attended by many devotees . As Swamys discourses were absolutely soul stirring due its sweetness in delivery devotees used to throng in thousands inside the temple . Many occasions there was a confusion about the crowds pouring inside the temple whether some festival was going on there , as the numbers used to match with the number of devotees in Utsavams .
His reputation was increasing and consequently the reputation of other Acharyas was being overlooked.
A contempory of Swamy Nampillai was Sri Kandadai Thozappar , grandson of Swamy Mudali Andaan the foremost disciple of Swamy Ramanuja . Swamy Thozhappar was very knowledgeable . Somehow he became increasingly jealous about the fame and reputation of Swamy Nampillai which was going up day by day.
One evening while he was returning from the temple shrine , by divine will he noticed Swamy Nampillai proceeding into the shrine with few hundreds of disciples . Because of the unbearable envy Thozhappar instantly abused Swamy Nampillai in strong words inside the shrine itself amongst the disciples . Swamy Nampillai was calm and polite accepting the pungent words . Inspite of the humiliating abuses heaped on him , Swamy Nampillai unshaken approached LORD and offered his worship seeking forgivance wondering whether inadvertently he had committed any transgression to the great devotee Thozhappar . Upset , he reached home and was seeking pardon repeatedly mentally to the great Acharya .
Swamy Kandadai Thozhappar reached home relaxed , after insulting the great seer . Thozappars wife was an advanced devotee with deep insight and divine knowledge . She was through her fathers side disciple of Swamy Nampillai . She came to know about the misconduct of her husband which pained her deeply. True to her Acharya bhakthi , she abandoned all the household work as she was convinced that because of the arrogant behavior of her husband both would be doomed for the bhagavatha apachara.
She was grief stricken and ignored her husband. Thozhappar who was casual wondered with her sudden change in behaviour . He was used to see his wife welcoming him with affection and attended on him with love and praise . Amazed , He was forced to question her unusual way of behavior especially for the very first time he experienced with her conduct . With uncontrollable grief she replied ,
Swamin .. Do you know what type of bhagavtha apachara you have committed ? Swamy Nampillai is reincarnation of Swamy Nammazhwar. You have dared to abuse a noble soul who is enlightening many many bhagavathas day in and out by his lucid divine commenteries on Lords vaibhavam. And you dared to insult him in the shrine itself without any remorse. What privilege do you think you will have when one abuses his own Acharya.
You have committed a great sin and you are also aware of it . Since I am your wife , you may have right over my body and can punish me but remember I am alive because of my Acharya , who is Swamy Nampillai. I cannot forgive any one who abuses the devotees of the LORD .You are also aware of the aphorisms . The sin you have committed is grave and you pretend to be ignorant . Hence forth there can not be any connection between us . And I do not wish to continue to live with you and never wish to destroy myself ( soul ) .Let me seek my path of life which takes me to Acharyans Lotus feet .
Thozhapar was shaken with the turn of events . He deeply introspected himself and belonging to a distunguised srivaishnava family was disturbed with his behaviour. He understood that this rude behaviour was because of his envy and jealousy. He appreciated his wife for revealing the truth and enlightening him . He found solace in her words and seeked a solution to bridge his unruly behaviour by seeking forgivance and amend the same. His wife said if anything is lost in river , we must seek the same in river and not in a pond . Similarly , she said , Swamy Nampillai is a great Acharya with a kind heart . You need to just fall at his feet and plead forgivance . If he forgives , you will be saved and seeking forgivance from the LORD also will not save you .
Thozhappar politely replied , that he was too harsh on Swamy and was afraid to face him. Insulting the revered Acharyar in the temple amongst many people makes him shiver in meeting him. Ashamed with this conduct , my feet tremble to meet the seer . With humility he requests his wife to accompany him so that Swamy will be appeased and being his disciple he may pardon for her association . As it was too late in the night , both of them agree that the first thing they will do the next morning was to seek Acharyars forgivance .
At the other end , Swamy Nampillai was greatly upset . He sent all his disciples away . He gave up his food for the night and was questioning his own flaws that could disturb Thozhappar which resulted in his outbursts. He felt strongly that he must have somehow misbehaved with the distinguished vaishnava .
He decided that he will seek his forgivance as the sin accredited in misbehaving with a vaishnava shall be severe . His mind was wavering . He decided he will not waste time till the next day . He immediately left to Thozhappars residence covering himself with a white blanket . As the doors were closed , he did not wanted to disturb them . He decided he will rest near the pial at the entrance of the house the whole night and the next day when Thozhappar opens the door he will fall at his feet to seek pardon .The next day , in the early hours , both Thozhappar opens the door
To the surprise they find some person with a white blanket covered standing . As the lighting was poor they enquire about him . Swamy Nampillai replies ..Swami !!! I am a great sinner . Thozhappar was shocked .. Unexpected of his approach He asked him , What was the need to rest on the pial before his house the same night . Have you come to quarrel with me early in this day for the abuses hurled by me yesterday ??
Nampillai with all humility submitted to Thozhappar . Swamin !!! Please forgive me !! Adiyen had just come here to ascertain that any misconduct of mine should not disturb your peace of mind . Having born in a distinguished family of Swamy MudaliAndaan , adiyen requests your kindness to please let me know the misconduct to earn abuse by a revered Acharyar like you .Please forgive me for any misconduct either in words or deeds . Swamin !! If not you , who will be kind enough to forgive me ..
Thozhappar was astounded at the humble appeal of Swamy Nampillai. He was at loss of words and at the unexpected turn of events , especially when he himself was proceeding to seek forgiveness from Nampillai . With tears he pleaded Swamin ” True to my wife’s words what a big heart you possess . It is very difficult to see people with such humility . I was under an illusion that you are Acharyar for a few disciples . I know realise that you are a teacher ( Acharyar ) of the whole world. Henceforth I shall propagate devareer as Lokacharyar . Thozhappar welcomed Nampillai and washed his feet and accepted him as his Acharyar .
Swamy Manavalamaamuni mentions this incident one of his pasuram in the great work Upadesarathinaimala saying..
Thunnu pukazh KanthAdai ThOzappar
tamm uhappAl Yenna UlahAriyanO yenRu uraikka —
pinnai UlahAriyan yenum pEr NampiLLaikku
Ongi vilahAmal ninRathu yenrum mEl.. verse .(51)
Translated in English ..
ThOzhappar of wide fame belonging to the KanthAdai vamsam with joyful respect asked o NampiLLai once ” Are You THE teacher of the Universe (LOkAchAryan)? ” out of respect for his extraordinary scholarship and humility . From that day onwards , that name of LokAcchAryan stayed with NampiLLai as a mark of his srivaishnava guNa visEsham .Later, NampiLLai’s sishyar, Vadakku- Thiruveedhi PiLLai gave the name of LokaachAryan to his son out of his own deep reverence for his AchAryan . This son – who became a very famous AchAryan later – came to be revered as PiLLai Lokam Jeeyar .
Later , Thozhappar had to leave to Kancheepuram and serve the Lordships there .He conducted the Thirukalyana utsavam for Kanchi Devaperumal with Andal Naachiyaar. In turn, Varadar as a measure of showing his love towards Thozhappar, arrived in Thozhappar’s thirumaaligai. He revealed in Thozhappar’s dream that the deity being worshipped was the Shatberam in Thozhappar’s thirumaaligai. Thozhappar, on seeing the grace of the Lord became very happy and named him ‘Aahuya Rakshaka Hari’ (Azhaithu Vaazhvitha Perumal). This deity darshan can be had in MudaliAndaans Thirumaligai ( Ashram )
Swamy Nam pillai became Lokacharyar because he did not loose his temper with even the ones who abused him , instead showed the qualities of patience and mercy of sri vaishnava which converted others too.
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pictures : Courtesy Google pics uploaded by devotees
SRI MUDALIANDAN SWAMY VAIBHAVAM Glory of swami Sri Mudaliandan Swamy the first disciple of Jagath Guru Swamy Ramanujar ( to whose Thirumaligai adiyongal belong to). LORD Sri Rama incarnated HIMSELF as Dasarathi, nephew of Swamy Ramanujar at Purusha mangalam (presently known as Nazrath Pettai in Chennai). Lakshmana’s servitude was incomprehensible and to repay this gratitude, So Lord SriRama appeared as as Dasarathi and served Swamy Ramanujar in Kaliyugam.
Swamy Ramanujar appointed 74 simhadipatis (disciples) to propagate Srivaishnavam and our Dasarathi was their leader. Hence Dasarathi came to be known as “Mudali “”Andan”. ( The foremost) Sri Mudaliandan Swamy was entrusted with the job of managing Srirangam temple affairs.
Swami Mudaliandan is also glorified as the “paaduka” and “Tridandi” of Swamy Ramanujar. When Swamy Ramanujar embraced Sanyasasramam, he did not leave Mudaliandan and Kooratazhwan whom he considered as his Tridandam and Pavitram respectively.
When Thirugoshtiyur nambi instructed Swamy Ramanujar to come alone to…
It was a practice of Swamy Ramanuja as a Yati to visit seven houses daily and collect biksha for the day’s offering and consume it as prasada . This act is enjoined on the divine principle that the ascetic has nothing to call or ought to own any worldly goods as belongings to him as such owning begets a series of attachments necessarily and weds him again to worldly interests .
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Swamy Ramanuja’s main en devour was to establish the UNITY OF GODHEAD in the world .
It is said once when Swamy Ramanujar was so engaged in the throughfares of srirangam a few boys form mere frolic waylaid him and pointing to a figure which by their toes they drew on the dust. They said innocently !
Swamy Look Here is our Perumal . Swamy Ramanuja was delighted to hear the little boys sermon to him .He immediately prostrated himself before the figure and blessing the boys proceeded on his way.
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Swamy Ramanuja’s stewardship in the temple necessarily gave rise to bickering on the part of the local priests . They were jealous of his large number of disciples and the growing power . The administration of the Srirangam temple was done by sthanikar a local group .
They decided …
Why not eliminate him !!
to continue our own dictum’s .
To one of the seven houses where Swamy Ramanuja used to frequently approach for biksha , they reached and traced a greedy person . They gave him some money and command him to offer poisoned bikshai when Ramanuja comes .
The person’s wife being a religious lady out rightly refuses to carry out the atrocious deed . The husband somehow forces her to obey his order for their own survival .
The pious lady is confused . She devises a plan to overcome their arrangements . Sincerely praying Lord , slightly altering her general practice of offering directly into the bowl she keeps the biksha near a corner at the entrance .
When Swamy Ramanuja arrives , she with somewhat trembling hands and tears , prostrates at his lotus feet and moves away . Her mannerisms was peculiar . Swamy Ramanuja understands the reason for her tears . He moves way politely without seeking the bikshai and fasts the whole day .
Soon the news reaches his Acharyar Nambi at Thirukoshtiyur . Upset ,the Acharyar rushes to Srirangam . It was mid afternoon and a hot day .
The banks of cauvery was too hot to walk . Swamy Ramanuja knowing about Acharyar’s coming rushes to welcome him at the banks of cauvery with his disciples at the dry river bed . Due to the scorching heat the sand was very hot . Swamy Ramanuja looking at his Acharyar just falls at his lotus feet like an uprooted tree unmindful even in the burning sand . The Acharyar does not respond asking him to raise up The scene is watched by all his disciples
.
Suddenly , a disciple takes courage and comes before Acharyar Nambi . Finding the suspense in supportable and provoked by impatience he raises his voice and submits ! Acharya Is this the way to treat a disciple ?
Won’t your holiness ask him to get up ?
Are these exactions of civilians between teachers and disciples ?
Is this a code of submission without any humanity I will not care for this absurd regulations ,
He swiftly raises his guru Swamy Ramanuja and hugs him to his body to take away the heat from the body which was lying in the burning sand .
The disciple was none other than Kidaambee Acchaan (Pranatharthiharan)
Nambi feels glad that the sheer moment of the most painful anxiety and suspense to look for a confidant had arrived .
He looks at the deep devotion of the disciple to Swamy Ramanuja and replies ,
My child !!
I was searching for such a person who would look after Ramanuja with this dedication .
Looking now at KidaambiAcchaan ! With eyes beaming with approbation , Nambi declares …
My son !!
Now I appoint you as Swamy Ramanuj’s body gaurd and no one but yourself shall cook for Swamy Ramanuja and serve him all times .
.Nambi blesses Ramanuja and advises him not to go for bikshai from that day.
Kidaambhi Acchaan, thenceforth was called Madappalli Acchaan and learnt all the esoteric truths along with the thaligai preparations for Swamy Ramanuja and his disciples.
Kidaambhi Acchaan used to get many of his queries answered due to his close association . Swamy Ramanuja blesses KidaambiAcchaan with the rahasya meanings and initiates him with Hayagreeva upasana.
Knowing the series of events , the shocked sthanikar rushes to Swamy Ramanuja’s ashram .
He understands the greatness of Acharyar and feels ashamed for his cruel act.
He falls at his feet and asked for pardon. Swamy Ramanuja , magnanimous in his heart forgives him .
The Taittiriya Upanishad forms the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of the Taittiriya Aranyaka of the Krishna Yajur Veda.
The above verse is taken from Taitriya Upanishad .
Swamy Mudali Andaan ( SriDasarathy ) being an intimate disciple of Swamy Ramanuja and a keen interpreter of Vedanta , used to extract Vedanta in simple terms for a common man to understand mostly in roopa alankara style . Since what follows has a very subtle meaning it has to be patiently understood .
This verse links a jeevatma to the final stage of Liberation . And , Liberation does not mean the union of Jivatma and Paramatma . It is the co living or being together in great happiness like a couple / father / son .
Liberation is both Jivatma and Paramatma are enjoying each other . This is the established quality of Liberation in Visishtaadwaitha . Liberation of the soul means bringing the being to him and experiencing the happiness with him . Lord has made up his mind to relish the jiva . This jiva is in the form of a grain containing chaff called a body . The Acharya secures the grain places it in the pounding stone called Vedanta , powders it with SRAVANA with the pounding stick UPADESA . He patiently removes the chaff thereby creating the knowledge to differentiate between the jiva and atma. He then makes use of a chaff remover called Nidhidhyasanamand removes the chaff called selfishness and ego . Feelings of independence and being apart from the Lord which are in the nature of foreign matter like mud and sand are also removed .
For removing the remnants of sin and vasanas which are sticking to one like bran to the rice , the grain is again pounded in the pounding stone . By this not only is the bran removed , the rice becomes polished with the help of knowledge of SHESHTVA . Now Acharya puts the polished grains in a vessel called SHRADDHA and washed them with the water called PRAPATTI . With the help of the water small sand particles and dirt which are still clinging are filtered and removed .
This filtered grain is poured into a vessel called DEVOTION TO THE LORD , covered with a lid called KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD and kept over a stove called ” EXPERIENCING THE LOVE OF GOD ” after which the fire of VISHLESHA is lit . For this purpose the firewood called sins committed and yet to be committed is put in the fire which is fanned by a fan called EXPEDITE .
The spillage due to the boil is ANXIETY or EAGERNESS . The love of the Lord is the boil that is achieved . Jiva is now in the form of boiled rice ( Annam ) takes the subtle form and taken through the sushma naadi entrance through the steps of Archiradi which leads to SriVaikuntam where the being is served in a gold plate called the divine body . Lord now joyously partakes the muktaatma called Ahamannam .
The muktaatma when he leaves the world greets the LORD in Srivaikuntam I am becoming Annam to LORD .I am becoming Annam , I am becoming Annam ..In great happiness he says Aham Annam thrice ..in the same way .. and in happiness he also says thrice I am taking food .( Aham Annadaha ) Here Annam means an item which can be enjoyed and satisfaction obtained . Since the purusha is in the form of a son comes to his father and renders service at his shrine , he has enjoyed them the purusha is called Annam and Paramatma is enjoyer and muktha is the Annam . After all the entire effect of creation by the paramatma and his drawing to himself of all the beings is only for the purpose of enjoying them .
Swamy MudaliAndaans Thiru adigale sharanam
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Adapted from a discourse shared by an advanced srivaishnavan
Swami AmudhanAr was known as Peria Koil Nambee earlier . Swami appeared at a place called ThirumUngirkkudi on ( March ) Panguni Hastham day near to Srirangam. He was one of the dear disciple of Swamy Ramanuja . However , before becoming a devotee of Swamy Ramanuja , being the the Priest for Lord SriRanganAthA Temple he was filled with rajO guNam and had ill feelings towards AchArya RaamAnujA for the boons granted to him by Lord RanganAthA. He used to get upset with Swamys popularity and placed many obstacles in the way of Swamy during the temple administration, This caused deep pain to Swami RaamAnujA. Swami RaamAnujA wanted to somehow relocate him in other service which will help in continuing the service to LORD and thus achieve the smooth running of the affairs of the temple.
Lord RanganAtha appeared in Swami RaamAnujA’s dream and commanded that the temple priest Periya…
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sriman Narayana out of abundant compassion appeared as LORD Krishna to save the good and destroy the evil.
As per divine plan, Lord Mahavishnu appeared as the eighth child of Devaki and Vasudevar in Mathura, the holiest of all cities during midnight on krishna paksha Asthami thithi in the tamil month of Aavani (Sravanam) in the closed jail which was fully guarded on a rainy night.
The Lord appeared as a child with chathurbhujam holding the divine weapons Sankhu, Chakram, Gada, Padmam to Devaki and Vasudevar to reaffirm that HE had fulfilled their early wish. Vasudeva out of vatsalyam prayed the Lord to assume the form of a child and immediately the Lord who is the controller of the Universe obeyed him as an dutiful son .
Our poorvacharyars point out that Lord Sri Rama obeyed HIS father’s words at the age of 12 whereas Lord Krishna obeyed as soon as HE appeared . The Lord instructed Vasudevar to leave HIM at Gokula where a devotee couple, Mother Yasodha and Nandagopalan nurtured the desire to have Lord’s association.
Due to Yogamaya’s power-the inner potency of the Lord, Vasudevar’s shackles fell down, he placed the divine child in a basket and unmindful of the obstacles and the weather simply obeyed the divine orders like Bharathazhwar.
The prison gates opened, the guards were fast asleep, Adisesha, the eternal servant of the Lord who takes the position of couch while the Lord rests, as Simhasanam when the Lord relaxes , as padhukas when the Lord walks , continued with his kainkaryam of serving the Lord.
The divine serpent protected the Lord by spreading its hoods over the Lord to protect HIM from pouring rain ,River Yamuna which was in full spat paved way and utilized the opportunity to purify herself by touching the Lotus feet of the Lord and Vasudevar safely reached Gokulam where Mother Yasodha had just delivered Yogamaya and was in deep sleep and exchanged the child without anyone’s knowledge. Andal glorifies this in Tiruppavai as
The divine child was brought up in Gokulam where right from HIS appearance, the Lord displayed HIS extraordinary qualities in killing the demons who were sent by Kamsa without using any weapon. The Lord spent first 10 years of HIS childhood in Gokulam, Nandagaon, Vrindavan and left for Mathura along with his elder brother Balaramji at the age of 10, killed Kamsa and other demonic friends and restored peace in Mathura.
The Lord released HIS parents from prison, granted their wish of seeing their dead children, made HIS grandfather, Ugrasena the king of Mathura, went to Sandipani rishi to study 64 arts in 64 days, gave life to the dead son of the rishi as “Gurudakshina” and returned to Mathura. Jarasandha, the father-in-law of Kamsa wanted to avenge Kamsa’s death and attacked Mathura many times even after repeated defeats. Lord Krishna to protect the residents of Mathura from these attacks, summoned Viswakarma-the divine architect to construct a palace in the sea and transported all of them overnight.
This golden city is vividly described in Srimad Bhagavatam. When Lord Krishna’s childhood friend, Kuselan (Sudama) came to meet the Lord, he was bewildered to see the beautiful golden palace and was enquiring as to where the entrance is -“Dwaar Kahan” which later got corrupted as Dwarakaa. There are nine Dwarakas known as “Nava Dwarakas” out of which five (Pancha Dwaraka) are very famous holy dhams visited by all vaishnavas .
The “Nava Dwarakas” are listed below
1) Mukti Dwarka (Gomti Dwarka)-main temple located in Dwarka in Gujarat
2) Rukmini Dwarka (4 kms from Dwarka)
3) Bhet Dwarka ( in an island 8 kms from Dwarka)
4) Moola Dwaraka (Rajkot-Dwarka route)
5) Sudama Dwarka (Porbandhar)
6) Nathdwara (near Udaipur in Rajasthan)
7) Kankroli Dwarka (near Nathdwara)
8) Prabhasa Theertha (Veravel near Somnath)
9) Dakore Dwarka (near Ahmedabad)
Dwaraka is one of the four important dhams(holy places). The other three dhams are Puri, Badrinath and Rameswaram.
Dwaraka is counted as one of the seven “MUKTHI THARUM KSHETRAMS” ( MOKSHA STHAL ). The other six are Mathura, Ayodhya, Kasi, Gaya, Kanchi, Ujjain.
Sri Adisankaracharyar established mutts at 4 places- at Dwaraka, Puri, Sringeri and Joshimutt. As long as Lord Krishna was there, the sea could not exceed its limits. But soon after the departure of Lord Sri Krishna and due to Gandhari and Saptha rishis’ curse (which was nothing but LORD’s divine play (Thiruvullam), the city got submerged into the sea and the whole Yadu vamsam perished.
In the Srimad Bhagavatham it is mentioned that even as Arjuna (who had come to escort the women who were alive to Hastinapura) was seeing, the sea entered the city and swayed the whole city. Within seconds, the beautiful palaces of Lord Sri Krishna collapsed and got drowned in the sea.
Before this incident could take place, Lord Sri Krishna summoned Vayu and Guru to carry away from Dwaraka the deity which was worshipped by Lord Himself . This deity is our famous GURUVAYOORAPPAN in Kerala as told by elders .
Latest excavations also have revealed about the city of Dwaraka. In fact, the Central Govt. has plans to construct a underwater Museum (the first of its kind and I believe this work has already been started.
As part of our Sri Krishna Anu Yatirai ( piligrimage )which we had undertaken , after having darshan of the important places in Mathura, Gokulam, Vrindavanam, we proceeded to Dwaraka for having NAVA DWARAKA DARSHANAM .
This was our second visit to Dwaraka . Way back in 2000 during our pilgrimage to Dwaraka, we visited only 4 Dwarakas -Gomti Dwaraka(the main temple), Bhet Dwaraka, Rukmini Dwaraka (all these are around Dwaraka) and Dakore Dwaraka near Ahmedabad. This pilgrimage was very special to us as we were able to have darshan of all the important places which had association of LORD KRISHNA .
The experiences at Mathura , Vrindavan and Nandagaon ( gokulam ) shall be posted separately as Sri Krishna Anubhava yatra )
NATHDWARA
Nathdwara is a small town in Mavli-Udiapur route. WE had taken a train from Mathura to Udaipur to visit Nathdwara. The co-passengers however advised us to get down at Mauvli as it is nearer to Nathdwara. A 40 minutes drive took us to Nathdwara from Mauvli . We refreshed ourselves in a nearby rest house Lakshmi Lodge, one of the hotels opposite car parking(a big open ground) on the way to temple. For one hour, we paid nominal amount of Rs.100/- for the same. It was 10 A.M. by the time we finished and proceeded to the temple .
A five minute walk along the narrow streets led to the temple. This reminded us of Pandirpur Divya Kshetram in Maharashtra .
STHALAPURANAM
Here LORD gives darshan with HIS left hand raised upwards with little finger pointing upwards, HIS right hand closed in a fist rests on HIS hip. HIS eyes glance downward affectionately at HIS devotees. Lord Shrinathji is very special and attractive diety. There is a diamond stone on the chin of the Lord. This deity is swayambhu (self manifested and not carved by anyone). As the Lord is the combined form of Radharani and Gopala, HE is known as “SHRI SHRINATHJI”.( “SHRI” indicates Thayar ).
The Lord is also affectionately called as “Banke Bhihari”. The LORD was earlier in Vrindavan near Goverdhana giri and is related to one of Sri Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan lifting Goverdhana hill. To briefly recapitulate, Nanda Maharaja after consulting the other elderly gopas, decided to do pooja and give offerings to Indra, the king of devas , as they thought that Indra was responsible for timely rains and good yield of their crops.
When the discussion was thus going on, child Sri Krishna , who was only 7 years old , intervened saying that Indra was not responsible for the cattle prosperity and it was Goverdhana giri which was responsible for the same as it provides the necessary grass to cattle, and crops to the gopas. Krishna suggested that they should therefore give their offerings to Goverdhana giri and all the gopas including Nanda Maharaj accepted to this proposal. An auspicious day was selected and all the gopas assembled in front of Goverdhana giri with heaps of offerings. Krishna advised them to close their eyes and everyone obeyed.
Then Krishna assumed a huge form and with wide opened mouth, He consumed the entire offering without leaving anything for others. (Our poorvacharyars point out that Lord Krishna consumed the entire offering which was given to Goverdhana giri because HE didn’t want HIS devotees to partake the offering made to demi gods. We are supposed to consume only what is offered to Lord Krishna). When it was finished, Krishna resumed HIS original child form and joined the gopis. The gopis were pleased to see that their offerings were accepted and happily returned home. Indra was naturally upset that no offering was made and decided to punish the gopis by sending torrential rains accompanied by thunder storms. Not knowing what to do, all the vraj vasis( gopis) approached Sri Krishna for help with their cattle and children.
The child Krishna assured them and to their astonishment, lifted the Goverdhana giri with HIS left hand little finger and all the residents of Vrindavan along with their cattle took shelter under the hill .
(recollected Nammazhwar’s pasuram”
” KUNDRAM ENDHI KULIR MAZHAI KAATHAVAN”
LORD Krishna thus stood braving for 7 days. Indra thus humbled realized HIS folly and surrendered at Lord Krishna’s Lotus feet for forgiveness. Repenting for not realizing who Krishna was, he prayed to Krishna for forgiveness which is known as Govinda Stuthi. Krishna came to be known as “GOVINDA”- the protector of cows.
Indra did Govinda pattabhishekam to Krishna with Kamadhenu , the divine cow and left the place. The devotees of Lord Krishna recite this Govinda stuti while offering abhishekam to the Lord.
To mark this incident, King Vajranabha constructed a temple at the foot of the hill. Due to passage of time, this deity disappeared and the whereabouts remained unknown for many years.
After many years, LORD appeared as Gopala in Madhavendra Puri’s dream, informed him about HIS whereabouts and subsequently, a temple was constructed in Goverdhanagiri
When Aurangzeb invaded Mathura and Vrindavan, the deity disappeared into the hill and could not be traced out.
One night, the all compassionate Lord appeared in Vallabhacharyar’s dream who was a great devotee and ordered him to take HIM away from Goverdhan to Mewar.
When Sri Vallabacharyar reached Goverdhanagiri, the idol emerged out by itself . (This reminds me the of the incident connected to Melkote Selva Narayana Perumal. Melkote is a small village near Mysore on the banks of Kalyani Pushkarini .
When Swamy Ramanujar arrived here, there was no temple. The Lord of the Universe chose to be hidden under sand dunes awaiting Swamy Ramanujar’s arrival. Perumal appeared in his dream and informed HIS whereabouts .
With the help of the local king and devotees, Swamy Ramanujar dug the place and traced out Perumal. The pathway to the hill which was filled with bushes and thorns were cleared and a temple was constructed in which the moolavar Thirunarayanan was placed in the sanctum sanctorum according to vedic rituals. As there was no utsavar, Udayavar prayed to Perumal for disclosing HIS whereabouts .
The utsava murthi appeared in Sri Ramanujar’s dream informing that HE was presently with Sultan of Delhi. At the ripe age , Swamy Ramanujar undertook the journey to Delhi and requested the king to return the idol. As there were many such idols which the king brought by looting various temples, he asked our acharyar to locate the idol. Ramanujar was taken to a storeroom where many idols were heaped. But as none matched with his divine vision of the Lord, acharyar was disheartened.
Then he heard that there was an idol with the princess with whom she played with. With the king’s permission, Ramanujar went to the palace to see the vigraham and LO , the vigraham jumped up from the place and suddenly moved towards Sri Ramanujar and sat on his lap. Hence the Lord is known a “CHELLA PILLAI” and also as “Yathiraja Sampath Kumaran (son of the king of ascetics).
As the princess was obsessed with the idol, she secretely followed our acharyar and finally Lord accepted her at HIS thiruvadi. At melkote, the utsava vigraham of Sri Ramanujar has Chella Pillai on his shoulders with the princess near the Lord’s thiruvadi )
Vallabacharyar arranged a cart for Perumal and left for Mewar. Rana Raja Singh of Mewar helped Vallabhacharyar . After 2 months, the cart reached the present Nathdwara enroute to Mewar in the 17th century.
But on the way to Mewar, the cart stopped suddenly at this place and did not move an inch. Vallabacharyar heard a divine voice say that Perumal wished to stay in this place itself as it was the place where HIS dear devotee, Meera bhai stayed. ( The story of Meera bhai is well known to all of us. To briefly recapitulate, Mira bhai was fondly attached to Krishna’s idol given by her father. As a child, she always used to play with the , dress Him up and sing songs in praise of the and considered Krishna to be her spouse. She exhibited bhakti like the gopis of Vrindavan.
The king of Mewar impressed with her bhakti married her despite having many queens. Though she was the queen of Mewar, she was totally disinterested in material comforts and always used to be in service of the Lord. In fact with every passing day, her bhakti enhanced and she was totally immersed in Krishna Bhakti. She was unmindful of all the hardships and tortures implicated on her by the annoyed king and her co-sisters.
They tried to kill her in many ways by even giving her poisoned milk. Mira offered the milk to her Lord and drank it. Krishna’s Thirumeni turned blue as HE consumed the poison but nothing happened to her. The king realized HIS folly and begged for forgiveness . Mira felt that it was not fit for her to remain there and left the palace and stayed in this place. )
Swamy Vallabhacharyar with the help of Mewar king constructed a beautiful temple for the Lord . Vallabhacharyar used to please the Lord with his kirtans which was later followed by his disciples. (Similarly, the original Dwarkadeesh idol left Dwaraka out of HIS own free will to stay at his devotee’s place in Dakore near Ahmedabad -this incident would be mentioned while narrating about Dakore Dwaraka)
OUR TRAVEL DETAILS
Situated in the heart of the town, SHRINATHJI temple is the main attraction with thousands of devotees thronging to the temple daily. This is the second richest temple in India, first being Tirumala temple. Opposite to the temple is the information centre who guide the pilgrims for prashad, timings etc. Near the entrance of the temple, we can find many vendors selling varieties of vegetables and fruits. .
There is a unique practice followed in this temple. Usually we find vendors selling coconuts,tulasi and flowers in front of the temple. But here vendors sell varieties of fruits,vegetables,milk etc which would be used for Lords (Perumal’s) bhog (neivedyam-food offering). Devotees can offer milk, varieties of fruits,vegetables which would be used for Perumal’s bhog (neivedyam-food offering).
Milk is to be given at a different place and vegetables , fruits in another place. It is customary for the local devotees to pray to the Lord for fulfilling their wish and when it gets fulfilled, people offer to change the flag on Gopuram ( Temple top )
.
The temple has 5 kainkaryapaars( serve the Lord) who are authorized to change the flag which is a hereditary right for them. While the flag is being changed, the assembled devotees continuously sing in praise of the Lord .
As we were waiting near the entrance, an elderly person came forward and offered to guide us . He gave us information about the temple which we could not get any where . He took us to the first floor of the temple where kirtan was going on while the temple flag was being changed. He informed that it was customary for the local devotees to pray to the Lord for fulfilling their wish and when it was fulfilled, people offer to change the flag. The temple has 5 persons who are authorized to change the flag.
This is hereditary right for them. While the flag is being changed, the assembled devotees continuously sing in praise of the Lord . He then took us to a room where a big photograph of Perumal “SHRI SHRINATHJI” was hung and pointed out to the nose ring worn by Perumal and a diamond stone studded on Perumal’s chin.
It was for taking this diamond that Aurangzeb invaded Mathura but HIS attempts became futile because disappeared from that place. He said that in the garbagriham, Perumal gives darshan as Krishna-Radha rani together and hence is known as “SHRI SHRINATHJI”.
The pandit ushered us to a room where the cart in which the Lord arrived is kept. This event is commemorated every year. A new cart is made and is rested on the cart. In the adjacent room, there are 2 mortars- one made of gold and the other made of silver. Once in eight days, chandan(sandal paste ) for the LORD is ground using these mortars. Aurangzeb who invaded Vrindavan for taking away the precious diamond from the Lord returned empty handed. We offered our obeisances and reached the entrance of the main sannidhi. In front of the sannidhi, the guide showed us a place where sets of 5 coconuts were tied to a string and hung.
In east of the temple, the photographs of Sri Vallabhacharyar along with his descendants are displayed. Bhog is offered to Perumal on behalf of Sri Vallabhacharyar.
It was a typical Gokulam scene –serene atmosphere with vendors doing their business as god’s seva without any competition and cows moving around freely inside and outside the temple. Like in Puri dhaam , the pandas have hereditary right for their share in temple prashad daily and they in turn sell it to the devotees . Another similarity is like in Jagannath Puri, here many varieties of food are offered to the Lord…..
To have the next darshan at 11.30 A.M. , devotees had already gathered in large numbers in front of the big closed doors. WE handed over the 11 varieties of fruits and 11 varieties of vegetables and 2 pots of milk which we had purchased earlier at the respective kitchens ( we wished we could have bought some rice , cereals, sugar , jaggery, dry fruits for the offering.) and started reciting Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam while waiting outside. When we completed , the doors sprang open and the devotees thronged inside to have darshan of the LORD .
There is a separate queue for ladies and gents. It is a common practice in North India to have darshan of the Lord when the doors are opened and aarthi is given . Hence the hall in front of the sannidhi is constructed in such a way so as to accommodate few hundreds of devotees at a time. All the devotees can have darshan of the Lord during haarthi and the devotees themselves can offer prasadam- sweets/dry fruits to the Lord. As they consider the “Lord of Universe” as a small “child”- the Lord is “NANDHA LAALA”- the darling of Nanda maharaja, the darshan is allowed only for fifteen minutes because the child has to take rest.
Again after an hour, the altar is opened for darshan. EVerytime, neivedyam is offered to the Lord. AFter darshan, the devotees who are immersed in the beautiful form of the Lord leave the place half-heartedly continuously gazing at the divya mangala swaroopam of the most enchanting CHILD of the Universe until they are gently ushered out. The LORD is dressed like a small cowherd boy of 7 years . The haarthi had just begun and shodasa upacharams (16 types of upacharam) were offered to the Lord while chanting slokas and singing songs. Lord was dressed in “Parrot green coloured “cloth round HIS waist like a typical cowherd boy and was adorned with varieties of flowers. Adiyen recollected Periazwar’s pasurams describing the Lord’s return to HIS home after gazing the cows.
Amidst loudly uttering “KANNAIYA LAL KI JAI” and singing of haarthi songs, we could experience the unalloyed vatsalya bhaavam of the devotees present. Like the gopis of Vrindavan , the devotees were unaware of their surroundings with their whole concentration on the LORD alone.
The enchanting beautiful divya mangala swaroopam of the LORD can only be described by sages ,pure devotees like azhwars and acharyars. WE mortals can only satisfy ourselves that our eyesight has been put to correct use only now. As Tiruppanzhwar says in Amalanadhipiran, “Unn Kangalai kanda kangal mattru ondraiyum kaanome “(The eyes which has seen the Lotus eyes of the Lord should not see anything else in this world!) The LORD is very very attractive with HIS left hand raised up with HIS little finger lifted up and HIS right hand closed in a fist and placed on HIS waist.
A small stick is placed in front of Him which is used while gazing cows. We were being squeezed out in the rush but were unmindful of the pushing . The devotees were competing with each other to have a very close darshan. Fortunately, we had darshan to our heart’s content. We just couldn’t take our eyes off from the Lords Thirumeni. Every part is so attractive that we felt that one darshan is not enough. A person standing on a higher platform in the hall was touching the devotees head with a stick which is considered to be a blessing.
As they say, it is
NOT THE DARSHAN WHAT WE SEEK, IT IS THE DARSHAN WHAT HE GIVES”.
After darshan, we had to come out through another door in front of which there is a small sannidhi where charanamruth (theertham/ holy water) is distributed. Beside this, there is a counter from which the devotees can purchase sweets, laddus etc by paying money. This counter also would be open only for limited time. As instructed by the panda who offered us prashad, we were sitting in front of the main door recollecting Perumal’s divya mangala swaroopam. After some time, my wife went in search of the Panda, and brought the prashad in two plates which was carried by panda’s attendant..
As having prashad in the temple premises is strictly prohibited, the attendant showed us a dharmashaala where we could have the prashad. Like in Jagannath Puri, many varieties of prasadam are offered to the Lord and are distributed to all the pandas. So it is better to purchase prasadam through two or three pandas because we would be able to partake the various prasadams. After having prashad, we proceeded to another Dwaraka glorified as Kankroli Dwarka which is about 12 kms from Nathdwara.
KANKROLI DWARAKA
is one of the 9 Dwarakas located in Kankroli ( the leading exporter of marbles ) and just 12 kms away from Nathdwara on Mavli-Udaipur route- 30 kms from Mavli and 65 kms from Udaipur. One can visit the Rajsamund Lake near Kankroli- famous for its dam and architecture ,Chathur Bhuj temple of Maha Vishnu and Ekaling temple ( A huge lingam made from a single rock) All the above places can be visited within a day. We can straight away drive to Nathdwara, check in in any hotel or ashram for refreshing and finish visiting the above places and go back to Udaipur for boarding train/ flight. Udaipur is well connected to major cities and hence it is advisable to go back to Udaipur. Nathdwara is considered to be one of the Nava dwarakas and the presiding diety here is SHRI SHRINATHJI .
6 sevas are performed daily. A flight of steps led us to the main shrine. We participated in the the afternoon aarthi known as “Uthappana seva” .Perumal’s thirunaamam is Dwarakadeesh. Lordships are with full of compassion and is very attractive. Perumal is seen with chathurbhuj(4 hands) holding the divya ayudhangal. (weapons).
Two pujaris were offering 16 types of upacharams to the Lord . We had darshan to our heart’s content. Offered the dry fruits which we had brought with us as neivedyam to the Lord. On the left side of the main sannidhi, there is a separate sannidhi where child Krishna is placed on a cradle and the pujaris were performing jhoola seva. In a small vessel filled with water, varieties of scented flowers were kept. Varieties of flowers and fruits were placed in front of the Lord.
We reached Udaipur from Kankroli at 9.00 P.M and boarded Udaipur-Gwalior express . The schedule departure of the train was at 2220 hours but the train started at 0000 hours. Though it was the starting point, as no clearance was given, the train was delayed which is very common in the northern region . Thanking profusely LORD for HIS darshan we proceeded to the remaining Dwarakas in Gujarat state .
MOOL DWARKA
It is well known that Jarasandha, the father-in-law of the wicked Kamsa wanted to avenge his son-in-law’s death in the hands of Sri Krishna . To pacify his 2 widowed daughters, he marched with his army on Mathura many times where Krishna was residing with his parents. Every time Jarasandha attacked Mathura, Krishna and Balarama used to defeat his army but let him go without killing as Krishna wanted to reduce the earth’s burden by killing wicked people and Jarasandha was destined to be killed later by Bhima .On one such occasion, Krishna escaped from the battlefield with Balarama and started running away. Jarasandha chased them but could not catch hold of them as they climbed on a mountain top and disappeared from his sight.
Jarasandha presumed that they had died and returned to his kingdom. In order to protect His citizens from the frequent enemy attacks, Krishna arrived at this place and summoned Viswakarma, the deva-loka architect to construct a palace in the sea. The sea –God offered land to Krishna for construction of city. Thus Dwaraka was constructed overnight and all the yadavas were transported safely to this place. With His divine powers, ensured that the sea never crossed its limits and Dwarka was well protected thus ensuring that His people were safe whenever He went for battle. As this was the place where put His foot first, this is known as
“MOOLA DWARAKA”.
When arrived here, ParamaShivan, Brahma and other devas offered prayers to the LORD here. There is a very old well near to the temple where Lord Krishna had His holy bath. Even during severe drought, this well doesn’t get dried up.
We reached the temple at 7.00 P.M.-20 minutes before evening aarthi. We recited Vishnu Sahasranamam thanking LORD . The temple is maintained hereditarily by priests who reside with their families near the temple.
This place was very calm and serene and best place for meditation. The main diety is Dwarakadeesh and there are small sannidhis for Sri Radha- Krishna, Sri Sita-Rama , Lakshmi-Narayan and few more small temples of Saraswathi,Gayatri, Ganapathi, Subramanya Swami, Dakshinamurthy, Shiva-Parvathi. We participated in the aarthi, offered the prasadam which we took with us . The car driver whom we affectionately called Kaka took us to a nearby well saying that Krishna had His holy bath here. A board is displayed describing this incident. A steep flight of steps leads us to the well. As it was dark, we did not get down the steps. There was another sannidhi for Shiva’s family. Cows keep moving about freely. After praying to the Lord, we left the place. As per our plan, we decided to stay one day in Veraval and reach Dwaraka the next day . But as finished visiting all the places in and around Veravel and were near Dwarka, we decided to reach Dwaraka on same day itself. We tried to contact ISKCON , Dwarka about our preponement but could not do so as there was no response when we called them over phone. We later learnt that their phone was out of order. Kaka said that it would take 90 mintues for us to reach Dwarka. So, relaxing in the car , we started our evening bhajans and kaka also joined us.
On the way, he took us to a temple dedicated to Bhavani (Harsiddhi maatha) and narrated the incidents connected with King Krishnadevaraya. As the king’s name is famous for “Vikram-Bhetal stories”(how he used to carry ghost on his back, ghost narrating a story, asking him to reply and used to leave him once he gave the correct answer…… -the stories which we used to read in our childhood days) , out of inquisitiveness, decided to visit this temple. Near the entrance, there are sannidhis for Bhaktha Hanuman and Ganapathi. Few steps led us to the main shrine. Beside the main sannidhi, on the left, there is a jhoola with the diety’ s photo. Kaka said that King Krishnadevaraya meditated at this place on Ambal for 12 years and when Goddess appeared before him and conferred a boon, he asked her to accompany him to Ujjain . Goddess consented to his request and left the place. A replica of the goddess was kept here. Kaka told us that every evening when aarthi is given to the goddess at Ujjain, this jhoola would automatically move to and fro and after this movement stops, aarthi is given to this goddess. Such is the power of this diety. He showed us the place where King Krishnadevaraya did penance. The roads were dark with no street lights but somehow managed to reach Dwaraka at 10.30 P.M. Locating ISKCON was easy. Luckily, the prabhus were awake and a room was allotted in the first floor.
DWARAKADEESH STHALAPURANAM
In order to protect His people from the frequent enemy attacks, Krishna summoned Viswakarma and ordered him to construct Dwarka in the Arabian Sea. The Sea God was instructed to give land in the middle of the sea which was always protected by Krishna’s divine power. This is known as Gomti Dwaraka as it is on the banks of River Gomti.
Due to divine will, the city was constructed overnight and all the Yadavas were transported from Mathura to Dwarka and lived happily. The palaces were made of gold. It was the wealthiest city as the Goddess of Fortune Herself resided here.
As mentioned earlier, the place where LORD first placed His foot is Moola Dwaraka. Lord Krishna with His 16,108 consorts lived here like a typical Gruhasta and in many occasions showed how a Gruhasta should live . Perumal ruled over the Universe from this place. Lord Krishna married Rukmini, Satyabhama, Nappinai, Jambavathi, and so on and all of them are glorified as Astha Mahishis. By killing Narakasura, Krishna rescued 16,000 captivated girls at whose request HE married all of them. He took 16000 forms and married all the girls at the same time.When Draupadi surrendered to Krishna for protection, she addressed Krishna as “Dwarakanilai achyuta”-one who resides in Dwaraka.When Sage Narada was curious to know how Krishna managed with so many consorts, he was astonished to see the Lord with each of His consort performing various activities at the same time. Everyday, all the forms of Krishna used to leave the respective palaces but while entering the court, all the forms used to get merged with Him.It was in Dwarka that the exhibited his fondness to Sudama ( Kuchelan ) It was here that Lord exhibited that the gopis attachment to the LORD was much superior than even His consorts’ devotion.
Thus there are innumerable incidents connected with Sri Krishna’s life here. Dwarka was to be submerged into the sea within 7 days of Krishna’s departure . Before leaving for Prayag, Krishna ordered the sea to leave 12 yojnas of land from drowning.The original temple was constructed by Krishna’s great grandson, Vajranabha (son of Aniruddha) with the help of Viswakarma as per Vaastu Shastra . The structure of the temple is like that of Sri Chakram. The height of the temple known as “Jagat Mandir” is 150 feet.There are 2 entrances to the temple-Swarg Dwar and Mukti Dwar. The flag on the spire of the temple declares that Dwarkadeesh is the ruler.
The flag measures 40 feet -52 gaj (a unit of measurement) .The number 52 signifes the 27 stars, 12 rashis, 9 Navagrahas and the 4 main directions-north, south, east, west. The flag is stitched in a specific design. As part of their offering , devotees usually undertake a vow to change the flag when their wish is fulfilled.The holy flag is changed thrice daily. Morning between 8 A.M. and 11 A.M., second time between 11A.M. AND 12.30 P.M. and in the evening between 5 P.M. and 6.30 P.M.
Booking for this has to be done atleast 3 months in advance. The flag would be taken round the temple streets ceremoniously before offering in the temple. Only authorized persons can go to the top of the temple and change the flag.This is hereditary. Being on the sea shore, heavy winds keep blowing but these persons do not wear any safety belt. Lord Dwarkadeesh saves them for this unbelievable feat .From the cloth used as a flag, the priests and other service providers of the temple stitch shirts. A must have darshan .
Lord Dwarkadeesh gives darshan holding Sankhu, Chakram, Gadam and Padmam with an enchanting bewitching smile.
The temple priest informed that Lord wears wresting belt , has a black snake round HIS waist, Bhakti and Mukti are at HIS feet, wears Kaustabham and Vanamaala. The Lord holds a stick and a flute .
The Lord is dressed in various forms-like a child, like a ruler as per the legendry customs etc.During summer, in the nights, the LORD is dressed with jasmine flowers (like Pulangi seva in Tirumala. Usually in South Indian temples, the Lord is adorned with various types of flower maalas(strung with the thread) and placed round Lord’s shoulder. But here, the dress itself is stitched with flowers artistically. It is difficult to make out that it is a floral dress. It resembles like dress made of pearls.
The Chappan bhog (56 items of varieties of food) are offered as Raj Bhog to the Lord daily . Every day 6 aarthis are performed to the Lord . On Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the Lord is given special aarthi at the stroke of 12 in midnight. Thousands of devotees throng to the temple to have HIS darshan.
Inside the garbagriham, we find the utsava murthis of Rukmini and Krishna, Radha and Krishna. The colours of clothes adorned by the Lord are also pre-determined as per the days. On Sunday, the Lord wears Red colour, Monday-Pink, Tuesday-Yellow,Wednesday-Green, Thursday-orange, Frinday-white and Saturday-Blue. All the temple kainkarya kaarars(service providers) including the priests wear the same colour dress. We can have a advance notice of LORD attire observing the service devotees ..
Exactly opposite to the shrine of Dwarkadeesh is Devaki’s shrine. Near the entrance on the right side, we find a small shrine for Lord Balaraman. Lord Balaraman is in the form of Adiseshan. There are separate shrines for the Ashta mahishis of Lord Krishna, Radha- Krishna, Satyanarayana Swamy, Madhavji .. 25 years ago, it was in front of Madhavji temple, Prana prathistha for the deities of Radha-Dwarkadeesh at ISKCON was conducted and Srila Prabhupada officiated for 5 days. The deities were earlier taken around Dwarka temple before this ritual. The deities were later shifted to ISKCON Dwarka. On the seventh day after the departure of the Lord to His heavenly abode, Dwarka was submerged into the sea. In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is stated that Sri Krishna propounded Udhava Gita and ordered Uddhava to take the elderly, children and women from Dwarka to Hastinapur as the city would be submerged into the sea. The idol form of Narayana which was worshipped by Krishna Himself was carried by Guru and Vayu and placed at present Guruvayur in Kerala. Archeological Department of India have found out that few thousands of precious metals lie submerged in the sea. Even today the remains of the palaces can be found in the adjoining Gomti river known as “Gomti Chakram”. This is considered as Lakshmi swaroopam and is treated at par with our Saalagrama shilas.We can also find vendors selling different types of stones (nava rathinams) here.
The temple was first constructed by Krishna’s grandson and later by other kings. Devotees were lined up in a queue to have darshan of the Lord. Perumal was beautifully dressed up like a typical cowherd boy holding Sankhu, Chakram, Gadam,Lotus. A small stick used for grazing cows and a flute are also placed. The idol is beautifully carved as it was done by GOD HIMSELF. Opposite to Perumal’s sannidhi, is the sannidhi of Devaki, mother of Krishna. The sannidhis for the 8 chief consorts of the Lord , sannidhi for Radha- Krishna, Satyanarayana Swamy , Balaram sannidhi are in the outer precincts of the garbagriham. Pilgrims were singing some Gujarati songs .The devotees were exhibiting their unalloyed bhakti in many ways – by singing, by raising slogans”Ranchor Raya Ki jai” etc. as for our turn, we were reciting few divya prabhandha pasurams which we knew by heart and singing the bhajans……………………..
“GOVINDA MADHAVA GOPALA KESAVA,…,
GOVINDA HARI HARI GOPALA HARI HARI RADHA RAMANA HARI HARI…..,
we had darshan to our heart’s content. Resolved to visit the temple in the evening along with children and participate in night aarthi too. After doing a pradakshinam, we left the temple and reached ISKCON. On the way back to our guest house, we passed by Gomti river which was already crowded with devotees for having bath and passed by Prema bhikshu Prahbu’s bhajan kutir where 24 hours non-stop kirtan of the holy mantra ” SRI RAM JAI RAM JAI JAI RAM ” is being sung continously for the past 40 years. We recollected having seen this ashram at Verval near Gita Mandir. We proceeded to Rukmini Dwarka which is about 7-10 kms from the main temple.
RUKMINI DWARAKA
This happens to be the place where Krishna wedded Rukmini . Rukmini, the chief of 16,108 consorts of Krishna was very devoted to the Lord. Born as a Vidarbha princess , she used to listen to various pastimes of Krishna and developed an intense love for Krishna and decided to marry HIM or else end her life.Though her parents were interested in getting her married to Krishna, her brother, Rukmi was against it and wanted her to marry Sisupalan, Krishna’s cousin and made all arrangements for the same.
She communicated Her desire thru a Brahmin to be conveyed to the Lord and requested to be kidnapped from her palace and also mentioned that she would be visiting ambal’s temple before marriage ceremony and it would be easy for Krishna to kidnap her from that place. Krishna also expressed HIS desire to the Brahmin and left for Vidarbha immediately and reached the next morning. When the Brahmin informed Rukmini about Lord’s arrival, she thanked the Brahmin and prostrated at his feet as SHE , the Lokamatha thought that prostration was the only befitting gift to the Brahmin.
When Rukmini was returning from Ambal temple, Krishnaappeared like a lightning and effortlessly kidnapped Rukmini Devi like a lion which snatches its food amonst wolves. When the assembled kings including Jarasandhan and Sisupalan fought with Krishna, Krishna and Balarama defeated the entire army. Rukmi was humbled by Krishna but was saved due to Balaraman’s intervention. The celestial wedding of Krishna and Rukmini took place grandly at Dwarka. She was very dedicated and derived immense pleasure in performing all types of services to the Lord like massaging His Holy feet and personally offering various kainkaryams to the Lord . She demonstrated how a devotee irrespective of his/her position should serve the Lord.
Gradually, She nurtured a feeling that She was more dearer to the Lord than other consorts. Whenever a devotee entertains the thought that he is dearer to the Lord and becomes possessive, Perumal immediately enacts some drama and make them realize their folly. (In Vrindavan during Rasakreedai, when the Gopis including Radha Rani, thought that they were dearer to Krishna as He was dancing with them, the immediately disappeared. The gopikas were crying piteously and their outpour for the union with the is the famous “Gopika Geetham”. They were so captivated with the form of Krishna that even when Krishna appeared as Narayana with 4 arms, they were not content. They only wanted their form of Krishna.
Krishna appeared and pacified them that they were very dear to them and He disappeared only to increase their Bhakti ) does this out of pure compassion towards the devotee. In this case, Lord wanted to correct Rukmini and hence created an opportunity to enact His Leela. Krishna accompanied by Rukmini went to sage Durvasar’s hermitage and invited him for lunch.
A chariot was brought forth for the sage to be seated. However the sage said that he could not sit in a chariot driven by horses and if it was driven by them ,he was prepared to visit them. The Lord of the Universe unhesitatingly agreed for the same. The Lord along with Rukmini Thayar drove the chariot. Due to the scorching heat and tiresomeness, Rukmini felt thirsty and expressed the desire to quench Her thirst. Krishna pressed HIS toe on the ground and water sprouted out.
As she was desperately thirsty, Rukmini forgot the decorum to take the rishi’s permission for quenching HER thirst and drank the water. This infuriated the rishi who cursed Her to live separately from HER Lord Krishna as the pride that She was more dearer to Krishna made her behave in this way. He also cursed that the entire area would be bereft of drinking water. Rukmini realized HER mistake and fell prostrate at the sage’s feet and asked for forgiveness. The rishi said that She has to live separately for 12 years and then join the Lord. (Mother Sita had to live in Rama’s separation for 12 months and Rukmini Devi had to live alone for 12 years).
Thus Rukmini’s pride was subdued . However, Krishna assured her that He would visit her daily. As She stayed here for 12 years, this place came to be known as “Rukmini Dwaraka”. (Some say that Rukmini got married to Krishna at this place.) One gets only half the punyam if he visits only Gomti (Main) Dwaraka. Dwaraka yaatrai is deemed to be complete only after visiting Rukmini Dwaraka . Even today , there is no drinkable water around this area and the residents have to get water from far off places . Hence, in this place “jhala dhaanam” (water dhanam) done gives 1000 times benefit.
When we reached the temple, curtains were drawn as bhog(neivedyam) was being offered to the Lordship . The assembled devotees were asked to sit in front of the garbagriham and a panda narrated the above incident. Pointing to a big picture on the right side, the panda started narrating the above incident that it gives 1000 times benefit. We then proceeded to BHET DWARAKA
BHET DWARKA
This holy dhaam is located 15-20 KMS from main Dwarka temple and situated near Okha Port- the last tip of the west coast The presiding deity Lord Dwarakadeesh gives darshan here . There are separate sannidhis for His consorts and mother Devaki. There are separate sannidhis for Perumal,HIS mother Devaki, His 8 chief consorts, Purushotham, Lakshmi Narayan, Dhauji(Balaraman),Radha_ Krishna, Satyanarayana Swamy ,Madhava Perumal, Garuda.
“Bhet” in Gujarati means island. As this is situated in an island, it is named so. This was the pleasure spot for the Lord with HIS consorts. Legend says that Lord Krishna used to spend time with HIS consorts in this place. There is a temple situated on top of a hillock. This is considered as one of the 9 Dwarakas.
As per the locals devotees, this place was part of Krishna’s palace and when the original Dwarka was submerged into the sea, this holy place remained intact. Thus they claim this to be the original Dwarka.
From Rukmini Dwaraka, we proceeded to Bhet Dwarka which is situated on an island. Reached Okha port and after parking our vehicle in a nearby place, we proceeded to take a boat.
The boat in which we travelled was over crowded as it was 11 .A.M. and probably the last trip to the temple for morning darshan. It took nearly 15 minutes for us to reach the other shore. Alighted from the boat and took the narrow path towards the temple. Chanting Mahamantra, we had good darshan of Dwarkadeesh. Opposite to Perumal’s sannidhi is Mother Devaki’s sannidhi. In Perumal temples, opposite to the garbagriham, we usually find Peria Thiruvadi(Garudan)’s sannidhi but in Dwaraka, we find Devaki’s sannidhi. After offering neivedyam and circumbulating the temple , we left the temple at 12 noon to take the return boat to the mainland.
Offering dakshina in Dwarka is very important. Donated some money for”Go Samrakshana” protection of cows. From this point, we can clearly see Pakistan border across the sea and the Pakistani navy posted there. Kaka was referring to the recent 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks adding that from the Pakistan border, the terrorists took a boat to Porbandhar which is also a sea coast and then shifted to an Indian ship. He also pointed out to some wrecks stating that it was due to the earthquake which occurred in 2001(Khuj earthquake). We recollected having seen the structures before the quake in 2000. Luckily, we got place to sit in the boat in our return journey. From Bhet Dwarka, we went to Gopi Talab, a very sacred place to Krishna’s devotees.
GOPI TALAB , a holy tank and an adjacent temple was the sacred well from where Gopi Chandan is collected (used by ISKCON, Gaudiya and madhava Sampradhaya Vaishnavas), and a small temple dedicated to Radha- Krishna temple
There are 2 incidents which may be recollected in connection with Gopis. This refers to one of the pastimes of the Lord when He wanted to prove that the gopika bhakti was superior to that of His consorts. The consorts of Lord Krishna developed superiority complex that they were very dear to the Lord and the best devotees of the Lord . In order to check their ego, Lord enacted a drama. He pretended as HE was suffering from severe headache. The best of physicians were called and best treatment was given to the but the headache would not subside.
Sage Narada arrived in Dwarka to have Perumal’s darshan. The perplexed mahishis (wives) of the Lord informed the rishi about Lord’s illness. Narada who understood Perumal’s play suggested that if some dust from devotee’s feet is rubbed on Perumal’s forehead , the headache would subside. The shocked wives backed out because they felt that it was not proper to place their dust on Perumal’s forehead. The news spread about everywhere. When the gopis of Vrindavan heard this, they immediately rushed to see the Lord and filled up carts full of their paadha dhooli (dust from their feet) to be applied on ’s forehead. They did not even think that they would be committing a serious offence by this petty act. They were only concerned about their Krishna’s well being and so were prepared to even go to hell for the sin they were committing. The moment the paadah dhooli of the gopikas were applied on HIS head, the Lord was relieved from the pain.. Thus the Lord showed that the gopis unalloyed prema bhakti was the best among all. After spending few days with Krishna , the gopis had to leave for Vrindavan. Unable to bear the pangs of separation from Krishna , on the way, they jumped into a well at this place to end up their lives. They were turned into chandan by Krishna’s grace. Krishna pleased with their devotion declared that the place has become very sacred and Himself would smear the chandan from that place.
Hence, this place is considered to be very sacred and whoever visits this place would be bestowed with unalloyed bhakti towards the Lord . Even after thousands of years, we are able to get chandan from this inexhaustible well. While ascending to Sree Vaikuntam, Lord Krishna ordered Arjuna to take care of all the women folk and children and leave them at Hastinapur. On the way, unable to bear the pangs of separation from Sri Krishna, the gopis jumped into this well and ended their lives. The fact that the gopis out of separation jumped into this well and thinking of the Lord attained the Highest Bliss –moksham in this place is common in both the incidents. Gopi chandan collected from this place is considered to be very sacred. We decided to have samudra snaanam the next day . We recollected Sowmyanarayanan mama’s words that the sea at Dwarka is known as “Arasethu “ and bath can be had at any time here which is an exception. Usually, samudra snanam has to be done only on specific days but samudra snanam at Sethukarai- Thirupullani(Rameswaram) and Dwarka can be had at any time. So, we had bath in the sea and also at the confluence of the Gomti river with the sea .
DAKORE DWARAKA
is located near Ahmedabad .The archa-vigraha as described in Naalayira Divya prabhandam is not to be found. There is an interesting story about the present Lordships . There lived a Brahmin near Ahmedabad who was a staunch devotee of Lord Sri Krishna. Every year , he used to visit Dwaraka and it used to take 6 months for him to reach Dwaraka. He would plant a small Tulasi plant and water it daily and used to carry the same along with other offerings in his bullock cart. Lord was very much impressed with the sincere devotion of the Brahmin. As the Brahmin was getting old, it was becoming very difficult for him to go the Dwaraka. Once when the Brahmin reached Dwaraka and offered neivedyam to the Lord, the Lord ordered the Brahmin to take Him to his house saying that as there was no sincere bhakta, He did not wish to stay there. Due to God’s will, the temple doors opened in the midnight and the Lord got Himself placed in the bullock cart and drove the cart. Within a span of 3 to 4 hours, the Lord along with the Brahmin reached the present DAKORE DWARAKA.(As already mentioned, it used to take 6 months to reach the place but due to Perumal’s sankalpam, the Brahmin reached his town within 3 hours. The people at Dwaraka were shocked to see the archa-vigraha missing. They suspected the poor Brahmin whom they had heard speaking to the archa-vigraha previously. Accordingly, all of them went in search of the old man and it took months for them to reach the place. They turned violent when they saw their archa-vigraha with the old Brahmin. They did not pay heed to the words of the Brahmin and started abusing the Brahmin. At that time, an aseeriri was heard by everyone which clearly said that whoever offers gold equal to the weight of the Lord, could take the vigraham. The residents of Dwaraka accumulated all their wealth and placed it in the thulabhaaram but the weight was not equal. At that time, the Brahmin and his wife offered prayers to Perumal and the lady placed her “nose ring” and the balance was equal. As Perumal was not interested to stay where there was no sincere bhakti, Perumal had moved to this place out of His own will.. This place came to be known as Dakore Dwaraka as the archa-vigraha was brought by the old man whom they considered to be a Daaku (thief). [ In Gujarat, Perumal is lovingly called as RANCHOR RAYA ( Even today we can see the TULABHARAM inside the temple premises.
The people of Dwaraka repented for their folly and pleaded with Perumal to forgive their mistake. Perumal ordered them to make another archa-vigraha and said that they should not open the room in which the archa-vigraha was kept for 6 months. The people made an archa-vigraha and kept in a room and locked it . But out of curiosity, even before the specified time was over, they opened the doors of the room. They found to their dismay that the eyes of the Lord were closed. An asareeri was once again heard which said that as they did not obey Lord’s command, the eyes were closed. The people realized their blunder and apologized for their unpardonable mistake. Hence, the present archa-vigraha in Dwaraka is seen with closed eyes. Unless we are told about this, we cannot make out as the vigraham is well decorated. Lord Dwarakadeesan is seen holding Sankhu, Chakram, Padmam. He is dressed 4 times daily. Every day, like in Guruvayoor, Perumal is dressed lika a child, boy, youth, old man We were told that during winter, Perumal would be dressed in woolen clothes and in summer, He is dressed in light clothes. Every day, aarthi is given 4 times.and bhogam is offered 17 times. Different eatables like Misri Bhog, chakarai pongal, milk, curd, fruits etc are continuously offered to Perumal.
SUDAMA DWARAKA
The story of Sudama , also known as Kuchelan is well known even to children .Elders narrate this bedtime story to children and inculcate the habit of offering to Lord right from childhood. Kuchelan (Sudama) and Sri Krishna were childhood friends and studied under the same guru, Sandipani.
Once when Krishna and Sudama went into the forest for collecting wood, it started raining and they had to take shelter under a tree. At that time , both of them were hungry. Sudama , without offering to Krishna munched puffed rice (Avul in tamil) without sharing with Krishna and when Krishna asked him he denied. When Krishna punched his stomach, he spit the avul. This was a childish prank played at that time. After completion of their studies, both of them parted their ways. Since Sudama did not offer to , in due course, he became poor and having married, was overburdened with 27 children. There was no food to eat.
Being a Brahmin he did not even know any other profession and did not make any effort to earn his livelihood. Being a matured devotee, he was only seeking salvation and was not interested in material pursuits. He was constantly thinking of the and was nurturing the desire to see Krishna . His wife, Susheela suggested that he should meet his friend, Krishna who was now the king of Dwarka for financial help as she could no longer see their children starving. Sudama was delighted at the proposal because he could meet his friend after many years but was not interested in asking for material benefits. As stated in scriptures that something has to be offered while meeting a king/elderly/sick person, he wanted to take something with him to be offered to the .
Susheela borrowed some puffed rice from the neighbours, tied it in a worn out cloth and gave it to Sudama. It took 2 months for Sudama to reach Dwarka from Porbandhar and 4 months to locate Sri Krishna’s palace. Sudama informed the dwarapalakas that he was Krishna’s friend and wanted to meet him. The dwarapalakas did not believe him and asked him to move out of the place. At that time, Sri Krishna came running and affectionately hugged Sudama and took him to His palace. Sri Krishna along with His eight principal consorts served Sudama with the best of everything.
The of the Universe along with Thayar Rukmini did paada puja(pooja to his feet) to Sudama while the other consorts were helping in offering shodasa upacharams to the great bhakta. After sumptuously feeding Sudama with varieties of food, Krishna asked what he brought for HIM.. Sudama was feeling very shy to offer the avul and was trying to hide the bundle but Sri Krishna snatched it from him and put a fistful of it in His mouth with great relish. When the Lord was trying to take it for the second time, Rukmini Devi refrained Him saying that one fistful was more than sufficient. Sudama did not understand this and returned home. All the way, he was constantly thinking about his friend and contemplating on HIM . When he reached his village, he could not locate his thatched hut and in that place, he found a palatial building. While he was worrying about the whereabouts of his family, a lady bedecked with jewellery and dressed like a queen appeared before him and fell prostrate at his feet. Sudama could not recognize his wife. Susheela narrated how overnight the hut turned into a palace and about the wealth bestowed on them due to Sri Krishna’s grace. He could not recognize his own children who were looking like royal princes. Sudama understood that Krishna showered HIS mercy by eating a handful of puffed rice and bestowed all the riches on him. This incident only enhanced Sudama’s bhakti and with detachment and pure devotion , he attained the Lotus feet of the Lord..
Near to Porbhandar , the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi , this holy place is located . SUDAMAPURI” written on an arc in the entrance welcomed us . With trees and plants abundantly planted, it was more like a garden. On the way to the temple, Kaka our sarathy ( car driver ) who accompanied us , showed us a small stone layout with narrow paths and many twisting lanes saying that the way to Dwarka was similar to this . He said that when Sudama set out for Dwarka to meet Sri Krishna, he wandered thru the streets and took 4 months to meet Sri Krishna. He was searching for the entrance and asked DWAAR KAHAN .. which now got corrupted as DWARAKA .An old devotee who was sitting there was doing some kirtan and suggested to pass through the layout. It is customary for visitors to go thru the layout and if they successfully come out , they would achieve their goal of meeting the and their bhakti would be enhanced. Only one foot can be placed in the narrow pathway . Holding the prashad (Dry fruits) above our head and amidst chanting of Hare Krishna Maha mantra (kaka was encouraging us ), all four of us successfully completed the task and came out. The devotee was pleased when we gave some dakshinai to him. He blessed and advised us never ever ignore your Parents and Elders . We then went inside the temple. In the sannidhi, there are small vigrahams of Krishna, Rukmini, Sudama and Susheela.
MUKTI DWARAKA
is located at Main Dwaraka itself . It may be recalled that when Lord Sri Krishna decided to complete His incarnation, He relaxed under a tree.
PRABHASA THEERTHA AT VERAVAL
Lord Sri Krishna after satisfying Himself that He had annihilated most of the demons in human form after Mahabharata war, decided to ascend to His eternal abode, Sri Vaikuntam. Due to His presence, the Yadus (people belonging to His clan) became proud and arrogant. Sri Krishna who wanted to reduce the burden of Mother Earth decided to put an end to the Yadavas too and masterminded a plan . As it was Lord’s will, he made Gandhari and the sapta rishis utter the curse of annihilation of Yadavas.
It so happened that Krishna’s son was dressed up like a pregnant woman and along with his friends approached some rishis to find out the gender of the child which would be born to the pregnant woman. The infuriated rishis cursed that the disguised lady would give an iron pestel which would destroy the entire Yadava race which came true. The shocked Yadus ran to Balarama for a solution. Balarama ordered them to powder it into pieces and throw them away in the sea at Dwarka . The yadus acted accordingly and returned to their palace. A big iron piece which could not be powdered was thrown away into the sea which was swallowed by a fish.
When this fish was caught and cut open by hunter, Jara, he found a big iron piece which he fixed to his arrow with which he hit Krishna later. Over a period of time, the powder got deposited near the shore of the sea at Prabhasa Theertha and sharp blade type grass grew there. When the Yadus who were fully intoxicated came to this place arguing with each other, they totally lost their mental balance and started hitting each other with the grass and got themselves killed. Balarama , noticing that it was Lord ’s will decided to leave this earthly residence, assumed his original form as Adisesha and walked into the sea and disappeared. The place where he disappeared can be seen even today. Over a period of time, this place has turned into mass of land due to reduction in the water level. LORD Sri Krishna was resting under a banyan tree with right leg placed on left lap.
A hunter named Jara (who was Vaali in his previous birth when Krishna incarnated as SriRama) , mistook Perumal’s thiruvadi to be a deer and shot an arrow from a distance of 1 kilometre. The hunter who came in search of his prey was shocked to see the Lord and begged for forgiveness. The Lord convinced that it was as per His plan and narrated his past birth as Vaali when Perumal hit him from behind and thus fulfilled Vali’s desire for revenge. He bestowed moksham to the hunter. This shows Lord’s compassion to persons who try to kill him. In this avatar, he first killed Putana who had come to kill him and gave her moksham and at the end of the incarnation, he blessed Jara by giving him moksham.
At that time, a hunter , Jara, who was Vali in his previous birth, hit the Lord with an arrow. The repentant hunter apologized for his folly and at that time Lord enlightened him about his previous birth.
At that time, Lord Brahma, Shiva and other Devas came to offer prayers to the Lord . Lord Sri Krishna exhibited His divine form with 4 hands and Thayar seated on His right breast. At that time, Lord Brahma and others addressed the Lord as the one bearing the bow, indicating Sri Ramaavataaram.
The Divine spirit ascended to the Heavens piercing the Solar Orb. Then the spirit appeared to Brahma and the others as a stone image and simultaneously a voice from the Heavens proclaimed that He would appear on earth in that shape , which while appearing to be stony and lifeless would possess considerable spiritual power, that He would remain on earth thereafter till the end of Kaliyugam and that Brahma and the Devas should continue their worship there.
This incident happened at the end of Dwapara Yuga. ( This story is depicted in Chapter V of Mausala Parva of Sri Mahabharatha ) In the beginning of Kaliyuga, Lord manifested Himself at Thiruvengadam ..
This Lord is our Thiruvengadamudayan and our Tirumala is Kaliyuga Vaikuntam. Even today, all the devas headed by Lord Brahma come to Thiruvengadam and offer worship to the Lord. Hence, every night after EKANTA SEVA, the archakars in the Tirumalai temple fill all the pancha paatrams with water for the devas to perform pooja and leave the place.
This sripadatheertham is offered to devotees who participate in the next day “SUPRABHATA SEVA”.
Jai Jai Dwarakadeesh
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pics credits : Google images
videos :
Credits SVBC channel and many advanced devotees who have uploaded in social media
Looking at the holy hills Swamy immediately falls like an uprooted tree offering obeisances . 
He takes one Mango fruit and buries the seeds there. In course of time, a big mango tree grew out of these seeds.
There was a yogi who was staying near the northern bank of the same river along with his dog . The dog used to daily leave the northern bank of the river and reach southern bank .It would eat the remnants of the food honored by the srivaishnavas near the temple . It would return daily by sun set back to wait near the tree along with the Yogi .This became a routine for the dog .
Nanjeeyar looked at him and said Child ! “Why do you recommend the chanting to me? Do you not want it?” Is the holy mantra be chanted only by a bedridden man and not by a wandering soul?” The disciple on hearing this became dumb founded and felt ashamed of himself. Nanjeeyar continued
Swamy Ramanuja calmed them and advised them to accept the same as Lords providence . Alternate arrangements were made .
Swamin .. Do you know what type of bhagavtha apachara you have committed ? Swamy Nampillai is reincarnation of Swamy Nammazhwar. You have dared to abuse a noble soul who is enlightening many many bhagavathas day in and out by his lucid divine commenteries on Lords vaibhavam. And you dared to insult him in the shrine itself without any remorse. What privilege do you think you will have when one abuses his own Acharya. 
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