Search:
Bhakti List Archives

My favorite Divya Desam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Bharadwaj, Jaganath • August 12, 1998 


adiyen wishes to thank Sri Anbil Ramaswami for having broadened this
discussion outside the pale of Azhwar aruLicheyyalgal.  This gives the
rest of us, not so familiar with chaste Sanskrit and Tamil to join in
this discussion.

adiyen votes for Dasavataara Sannidhi in Srirangam, for the following
reasons:-
*	They appeared upon the request of Thirumangai Azhwar.  He did
not do penance for years like the Rishi in Thiruvellore.  He just called
them and they came.
*	Their arrival did not result in any pain to anybody.  They were
not carried on the back all the way from Ayodhya thinking that the
ultimate destination was going to be Lanka, only to be disappointed in
Srirangam.  Padmavati did marry someone talking, laughing and moving
about only to find Him a motionless vigraha the next instant.
*	They are there in whatever forms they did leelas as vibhava
avataras.  One does not have to look at one type of Vigraha and imagine
another type of Perumal.
*	The Matsya avataaram protected the Vedas as well as the devotees
during Pralayam.
*	The Kurma avataaram fulfilled the material desires of the devas
and asuras.  Both wanted the nectar and they went to Sriman Narayana.
He asked them to churn the ocean.  The mountain collapsed.  He came as
Kurma avataaram and supported the mountain on His back.  They still
together did not have the strength to churn the ocean.  He then entered
their bodies and personally churned the ocean.  Finally when Thaayaar
came with the amritam, both the devas and asuras forgot about any
gratitude to Perumal and all of them chased lustily after thaayaar and
tried to snatch the amritam from her.  She ran to Perumal and the asuras
snatched the amritam.  Then Perumal took Mohini avataaram and made sure
that only the devas got the amritam.
*	If it was not for Varaaha Perumal, we would not be on this lokam
writing all this today.  He was the first Perumal to make the concept of
Prapatti known to this world.
*	While men and gods had to wait a long time during Rama and
Krishna avataarams before the primary Rakshasaas were destroyed, in
Nrsimha avataaram, this was accomplished in an instant.  The entire
avataaram was over in 1 hour and 48 minutes.
*	It was Vaamana avatara that made Ganga river holy, giving
millions an opportunity to get closer to moksham.  For Ganga is the
water that Brahma used to wash Trivikrama's feet when it reached
Satyaloka.
*	Parasurama got rid of sinful kings from the earth 21 times.
*	It was Sri Rama who actually made us see that Utopia is possible
on earth.  He alone ensured that everybody followed Dharma.
*	No other avataaram has had as many leelas as Sri Krishna.  In no
other avataaram is Sri Vaikuntham portrayed in its entirety as it was
during the Krishna avataaram.  While the Azhwars endured His separation
during His absence, the Gopis had to endure it even when He was present.
In no other avataaram did the 5 principal weapons of the Lord come in
their original form.  The Panchajanya Shankhu alone was used during the
Mahabharata war, and it alone finished off the war before it even
started.  The rest was simply a formality.  The Sudarshana Chakram was
used a number of times, notably to kill Sisupala and Dantavakra.  The
nandaka sword was used to humiliate Rukmi who tried to prevent the
marriage of Rukmini with Krishna.  The Saranga bow was used in this
battle and many others.  It was also used by Krishna win a bride where
He had to pierce a fish in an instrument twice as complicated as what
Arjuna did to marry Draupadi.  The Kaumadaki mace was used in battle
against a king who attacked Dwaraka.  He married 16,000 princesses who
were kept as slaves by Jarasandha and whom nobody else would marry.  He
Himself, never actually became a king.  This is why dharma did not
prevail as well as it did during the Rama avataaram.  Finally, in the
words of adiyen's Acharya, no other avataaram has explained Saastras so
completely as Sri Krishna did in the Bhagavad Geeta, bringing out hidden
concepts of the Upanishads into the open.
*	The future Kalki avataaram will restore Dharma and bring Sat
yuga back.  Thus the Karuna of these Perumals cannot match those of any
other. 
*	While the other divya desas were enjoyed by Azhwars and other
realized souls, these Perumals got Swami Desikan to compose the
dasavatara stotram.  The phalam of this stotram is that it will negate
the negative effects of malefic planets.  While the rest of the divya
desams can be enjoyed by realized souls, people who consider vigrahas to
be stones, images and symbols etc. can chant the dasavataara stotram,
get rid of their immediate material suffering and also attain self
realization as the unseen result of chanting of this stotram.
*	It was these Perumals that played host Srimate SrivaN SaThakopa
Sri VedAnta dESika Yateendra Mahaadesikan, when He built the Raja
Gopuram for Sri Ranganatha.  They did not ask for one for themselves.
*	It was from here that the idea of Sri Ranganatha Temple of New
York, the only temple in America apart from Iskcon temples, subscribing
to a single philosophy free from contradictions, took root.  While in
other divya desas, Sowlabhyam is seen after we take the trouble to go
there, these Perumals have made sure that Sri Ranganatha Himself comes
here so that we can worship Him, simply by going to New York and not
have to worry about seeing Him only when we go India.
*	On a personal note, it was in the Dasavataara Sannidhi that
Malolan accepted adiyen's Prapatti at the feet of the great Srmad Mukkur
Azhagiya Singar.
*	Finally in honor of this Mahaan, nitya Prasadam is being
distributed at this Sannidhi every day since His departure to Sri
Vaikuntham in August 1992.

Therefore in terms of Karuna, Sowlabhyam, dayaa and all other gunas,
this Dasaavataara Sannidhi beats all other divya desas hands down.

adiyen
jaganath.