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SaraNAgathi NavAham : Day 1

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • February 19, 2000 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

adiyEn had landed at Chennai around 10 PM on Feb 4 .
Earlier in the day, adiyEn had the sathsangam of 
Singapore BhagavathAs ( Srimans Sampathkumar Anand ,
Achutharaman , Parthasarathy , Haresh Balasubramaniyan )
at Sri Anand's house at Singapore . The devotion and 
the commitment to the SathsampradhAyam of Singapore 
Sri VaishNavAs is exemplary . Sri MadhavakkaNNan was 
away at Kulalampur and called in twice . We met later 
during my return trip (Feb 15)at Singapore.

First Travel day in India : Feb 5 AM 
**************************************

5.1 **The morning started with a visit with Dr.Venkatakrishnan ,
the Editor of GitAchAryan at his home in ThiruvallikkENi .
His help in referral to Ummidi Jewellers for the creation 
of the SatAri for AchArya RaamAnujA is very much appreciated .
Dr.Venkatakriashnan had presented the Lord of ThiruvallikkENi
with a golden satari few weeks back and those design concepts 
were incorporated in the SatAri for Udayavar .

5.2 5.3 **Feb 5 was the day of Thai AmAvasyai and Thai SravaNam .
Hence , the next stop was at Sri Parthasaarathy PerumAL's
sannidhi , where the Thirumanjanam for the Uthsava Moorthy 
was in progress . AdiyEn was invited to join the Bhaagavatha
GhOshti to recite Purusha Sooktham and NeerAttam paasurams .
It was  a great BhAgyam to join the GhOshti serving
the Lord , who revealed to us the charama slOkam in
the battle field of Kuru KshEthram using ArjunA as a VyAjam .
The Thirumnajanam with the recitation of Thirumanjana
Kattiyam for Him was a great treat for the eyes and the ears .

** The celebrations of PeyALwAr , " Yenthai- 
oruvallit thAmarayAL onRiya ThirumArvan " 
rang in adiyEn's ears. Here Thirumazhisai 
met with the Mudhal AzhwArs and chose Pey AzhwAr
as His Acharyan and saluted the Sri Vallabhan here
as " nILOtham vanthalaikkum Maa Mayilai MaavallikkENiyAn " . 
Here, Kaliyan had the sevai of the Lord as GeethAchAryan
( PaRRalar veeyak kOl kayyil koNDu PaarthanRan
  thEr munn ninRAnai--ThiruvallikkENi KandEnE ). 

5.4 **AdiyEn's  next stop was before Sri Vedavalli ThAyAr . 
The prayer to Her , who pleads with Her Lord to overlook 
our bundles of sins and trespasses through Her PurushakAram
is : 

"BhagavannArAyaNa abhimathAanurupa , svarUpa-rUpa ,GuNa-vibhava ,
Isvarya , seelAdhyanavadhikAsaya asankyEya KalyANa guNa 
gaNAm PadhmAvanAlayAm BHAGAVATHEEM  Sriyam Devim 
nithyAnapAyinIm niravadhyAm Devadeva dhivya MahishIm 
akhila Jagan Maatharam (asman maatharam ) asaraNyasaraNyAm
ANANYASARANA: SaraNamaham PrapathyE ".

5.5 ** After salutations at Sri Gajendra Varadar's sannidhi 
and the rememberance of Kaliyan's Paasura Vaakyams : 
" aanayin thuyaram theerap PuLLUrnthu senRu ninRAZhi-
thottAnai, thenamar sOlai maadamayilai ThiruvallikkENi
KanDEnE ". The Lord responded to the SaraNAgathi
of the troubled elephant king was recalled here .

5.6 ** The Next sevai was at TheLLiya Singham's 
sannidhi .Sri RamachandrA's PanchAmrutha 
Sthothra Vaakhyam came to adiyEn's mind:

dEvA: SamasthA: kalu yOgi MukyA :
Gandharva VidhyAdhara KinnarAsccha 
Yath Paadhamoolam sathatham namanthi
TAMM NARASIMHAM SARANAM GATHOSMI

Here, Lord RaamachandrA seeks refuge at 
the lotus feet of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan ,
while on His way to LankA to battle with RaavaNA .

This remeniscence was followed by Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha 
KarAvalampana SthOthra slOkam of HH the 44th Jeeyar of
AhObila Matam , Sri VedAntha Desika YathIndhra
MahA Desikan :

Bhakthasya dhAnava sisOr vachanam cha satyam
karthum tadhA munigaNasya samakshamEva
sthambhAvatheerna Dhithi puthra vinAsa kaarin
Lakshmi Nrusimha ! mama dEhi karAvalamBam 

Here , HH the 44th Jeeyar refers to the Lord who
jumped out of the stone pillar in HiraNyakasipu's 
dharbhAr and made true the statement of His Bhakthan,
PrahlAdhan that He is everywhere including that 
sthambham . The revered Jeeyar pleads for the Lord
to give His hand and lift him up . 

Kaliyan salutes the Lord here as " PiRayeRanal 
vizhippEzhvaai , TheLLiyasingamAhiya thEvait
ThiruvallikkENi KaNDEnE " 

5.7 ** The final stop was at Lord VenkatakrishNan's 
sannidhi , where ThiruvenkatamudayAn gave His sevai 
to King ThondaimAn as KrishNan with His family 
of RukmiNi ThAyAr, Aniruddhan, Pradhyumnan and
BalarAman . On the baks of KairaviNi saras , the Lord
stands under Aanana VimAnam to accept our SaraNAgathi . 

Feb 5: The Afternoon Journey to ThiruviNNagar/Oppilappan Koil
**************************************************************

After securing the Udayavar SatAri with the nava rathnams 
enmeshed in the foot hold ( Kumizhi) from the gold
smith and lunch , the travel by car was to my birth
place .Today was Thai SravaNam , which happens to be 
the birthday of Our Dear Sri Sampath Rengarajan . 
The Lord was resplendent with four nila maalais
presented by the parents of Sri RengarAjan .ThuLasi
garlands were making the air fragrant with their 
splendid aroma . It was also TheppOthsavam day 
at Oppiliappan Koil ;the teppam festival was started by
my late father  after few years of lapse . Uthsavar Ponnappan 
had descended from the Theppam by the time we got there
(8.30 PM ) and we had the darsanam of the Uthsavar 
dhivya dampathis inside the sanctum . SaraNAgathi
Paasuram of Swamy NammAzhwAr was very much on adiyEn's
mind :

" Thenn SaraNN disaikkut ThiruviNNagar SernthaPirAn
  yenn SaraNN yenn KaNNan YennaiaaLudai YennappanE "

" Minnap ponn mathiL soozh ThiruviNNagar sErnthavappan
  TANNOPPAARILLAPPAN Tanthanan tann ThALL NizhalE " 
(Meanings): He is my dear father . He is my sole refuge.
He is the refuge for the entire Southern region . He is
my Lord KaNNan , who taught us the SaraNAgathi Saasthram 
and gave us the message of " MaamEkam SaraNam vraja". 
He is my ruler .

" The Lord of ThiruviNNagar , who has no equal,
gave me the shelter of His feet , cool , soothing
in the sweltering heat of and even more in the tormenting
world life here .Who did this favor out of His
condesending grace ? The Lord of ThiruviNNagar ,
in His infinite grace , assures me of all This " .
So said Swamy NammAzhwar . With these thoughts ,
adiyEn retired for the night at my birth place 
under the shade of His protecting Thiruvadi 
on this first of nine day trip.  

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE saraNam ,
RaamAnuja Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan