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The Fourth Day of Journey : Sri Ranganathan's sevai , Feb 8, 2000

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Sadagopan • February 26, 2000 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahamNE Nama:

Dear BhakthAs :

With the sipArsu from Aakaaratraya Sampannai ,
Sri RanganAyaki , adiyEn arrived at the Dhvijasthambham
/Bali Peetam , where " Oppiliappan "( SravaNa DhIpam Swamy ) 
was waiting to take us in to enjoy the sEvai of 
the Siddhi-mOkshAnrUpa perumAL ,Sri RanganAthan . 
This Lord recognized as "asmadh asava:" ( our very life ) 
by ParAsara Bhattar and saluted by him as Sriranga-
SrungAran ( the very embodiment of charm and Beauty 
enshrined at Srirangam ) is nEthrAndan (a bliss to the eye ).

The immensity of Sri Ranganatha Tattvam has been 
covered by Sri ParAsara Bhattar in His magnum
opus , Sri RangarAja Sthavam . Towards the end of 
the second part of this Sri kOsam , Bhattar focuses 
on the anantha kalyANa guNam of the Lord ,
anukampA (Compassion for the suffering Jeevan ),
when that Jeevan approaches Him with KaarpaNyam
( the state of Utter helplessnes ) . As adiyEn
enjoyed the Sarvaanga Soundharyam of the Lord
reclining on His bed of AdhisEshan , ThiruppANar's
AmalanAdhipirAn paasura vaakhyams flashed across
the mind: "nimalan ninmalan neethi vaanavan 
neeL mathiL arangetthammAn " . Swamy Desikan's
beautiful summary of ThiruppANar's aanandha anubhavam 
of the matchless beauty of the Lord through
his Bhagavadh DhyAna SOpAnam helps us all 
to enjoy His dhivya soundharyam :

"paadhAmbhOjam sprusathi bhajathE Ranganaathasya JanghAm 
 UrudhvandhE vilagathi sanairUrdhvamabhyEthi naabhim
 VakshasyAsthE valathi bhujayOrmaamikEyam maneeshA
 vakthrAbhikhyAm piBathi vahathE vaasanAm mouLiBhandhE "

---Sri Bhagavath DhyAna sOpAnam : SlOkam 10 

(meaning): AdiyEn's buddhi (intellect) takes the form 
of a young woman in love with the Lord and gently 
touches His lotus soft thiruvadi ;then her gaze moves on to 
worship His ankles; next she gets absorbed in the beauty of
His powerful thighs; as her gaze shifts upward , she 
approaches with affection His naabhi kamalam and her 
gaze rests now on the broad and beautiful chest of 
Sri RanganAthan . She reluctantly leaves from enjoying
the beauty of the chest adorned by Vyjayanthi maalai and 
gets absorbed now in the mighty shoulders that engaged
RaavaNA in battle . She arrives next at the most
endearing countenance of the Lord and drinks with
great gusto the beauty of the Lord without satiety ;
her (mind's) final focus is on the bejeweled crown 
tied with the ever green TuLasi garland . Thus adiyEn's
mind becomes rooted in the dhivyAnga soundharyam
of the RaajAthi Raajan , Sri RangarAjan . 

Swamy Desikan was overwhelmed by the beauty of
the KasthUri Tilakam adorning th Lord's forehead 
which  reflects the beauty of the Lord's Thirumukham .
Swamy named one of his important NyAsa granthams ,
"NyAsa Tilakam " and performed his SaraNAgathi in it
to Sri RanganAthan ( mumukshu :dEvEsam tamm aham 
saraNam adhigacchAmi).After performing SaraNAgathi
at the holy  feet of Sri RangarAjan , Swamy Desikan
declared : " SaraNa VaraNa VaaNee Sarva hEthu:"
( The utterance of SaraNAgathi words /ukthi nishtai 
directed at You the are the most powerful ones to bless 
the prapannan with every soubhAgyam ).Swamy Desikan 
pointed out that even the blessing of sadhAchArya 
katAksham originates from the Lord's grace alone :

( manyE bhalam praBala dhushkrutha sAlinO mE
  thvann moola Desika KatAksha nipAtham aadhyam ) 

AdiyEn is thrilled to repeat this slOkam passage 
since , adiyEn is convinced that it was EmperumAn's
compassion brought adiyEn to the sacred feet of my 
SadAchAryan to receive the blessings of prapatthi 
without anymore postponement during this historic 
journey to our PuNya bhUmi .

Standing in front of the majestic Lord reclining on
His serpent bed , One by one , the scenes of the AzhwArs
and AchAryAs offering worship to Him from time immemorial
crossed adiyEn's mind .

First was Brahma, then Manu chakravathys , who in turn 
was followed by Sri Ramachandran Himself in Vibhava avathAram .
The images of AzhwArs performing MangaLAsAsanam to
this timeless Lord flashed through adiyEn's mind.

PeriyAzhwAr sums it up for us about the ancient goings on 
at Thiruvarangan's MuRRam :

" pattarkaLum BhagavarkaLum Pazhamozhivaai 
  munivarkaLum  parantha naadum , siddharkaLum 
  thozhuthu iRainjat thisai viLakkAi niRkinra " 
  ThiruvarangA

periyAzhwAr is moved by the sight of the assembly of
BhakthAs , DevAs and Maharishis known for their 
Vedic scholarship and the entire world along with 
its siddhars worshipping  with utter devotion 
this apramEya jyOthi (lamp) at Thiruvarangam .

Andal lost Herself in the beauty of Her Lord
and declared :" Yennarangatthin amuthar,
Kuzhal Azhagar Vaai Azhagar KaNNazhagar ,
KooppUzhil yezukamalap poovazhagar " . 
Here , She stepped up on the Naaga paryankam 
and took Her original place after a brief
sojourn in SrivilliputthUr to teach us 
our inseperable relationship to Her Lord .

KulasEkarar considered himself as one of
the adiyArs assembled in the Thiru MuRRam 
of the Lord at Srirangam and described himself 
as driven to madness over his love for the Lord
( pEyaai ozhinthEn EmpirAnukkE ).

Thirumazhisai pointed out that Srirangam is
dense with Paramahamsa ParivrAjaka Thridhandi
SanyAsis eager for the darsana soubhAgyam of
Sri RanganAthan:

" siRReyiRRu muRRal moonkil moonRu dhaNdonRinar
  aRRapaRRar suRRi VaazhumanthaNeerarangamE "

ThoNdardipodi woke up the Lord of Sri Rangam with
his ThiruppaLLiyezucchi and stood in front of Him 
at His ThirumuRRam daily to present the fresh TuLasi
and flower garlands from his nandavanam .

Thirumangai built  the ramparts , brought 
NammAzhwAr from AzhwAr Thirunahari and started
the Adhyayana Uthsavam for His Rangan .AzhwAr 
saluted the Lord of Srirangam as the quintessence of 
the four Vedams : " chandhOgan  Pouzhian einthazhalOmpu
Taittiriyan Saama Vedhi ".

>From under the ThiruppuLi AzhwAr, VaNN KuruhUr 
SatakOpan performed MangaLaasaasanam for Sri
RanganAthan as DasAvathAran .

Swami Desikan composed 1008 slOkams in less than 
three hours at Srirangam about the Paadhukais
of Lord RanganathAn and during that occasion 
saluted Him with many beautiful naamams. 

We were not rushed at Sri RanganAthan 
because of "Oppiliappan " accompanying us 
and we had a memorable , unrushed sEvai. AchArya 
RaamAnujA's satAri was then placed at the feet
of Moolavar , which receives daily Thirumanjanam 
with 108 moolikais and vairappodi .Swamy NammazhwAr 
( Lord's SatAri) ,who predicted about the avathAram of 
the BhavishyathAchAryan ( Future AchAryan,RaamAnujA ) 
in his dhivya prabhandham imparted his sakthi into 
the RaamAnuja SatAri traveling to ThirunArAyaNapuram .

AdiyEn would have stayed in front of the Lord all
day and night . adiyEn left His sannidhi once again 
reluctantly and offered our salutation to the HanumAr on 
a sthambham facing Moolavar outside His sannidhi.
SravaNa dhIpam Swami told us that this HanumAr is at 
the same height as AaadhsEshan (Naaga paryangam of 
the Lord ) and that He receives also daily Thirumanjanam .

When we walked out towards Sri Ranga VilAsa Manntapam ,
a great surprise was waiting for us there . Uthsavar KasthUri
Rangan was rsting there in EkAntham (without Ubhaya
NaacchiyArs) . He was asking as it were , "where are 
you rushing without my sEvai ?". He was adorning
the Sri Ranga VilAsa Mantapam because of PuRappAdu
later for the Teppam Festival . In our tradition , 
Uthsavar is Raaman and the Moolavar is DhAmOdara 
KrishNan at Srirangam . We had the most memorable 
sEvai from a distance of two feet from Him . The last time,
adiyEn had a similar ekAntha sEvai of Uthsavar at a sOlai
outside Srirangam , where He was resting in connection
with His VasanthOthsavam . Thus this day was blessed fully . 

We left for Chennai in the late afternoon and 
arived safely around 10 PM to rest prior to
our trip next day (Fifth Day of the trip)to 
SriperumbhUthUr and Kaanchipuram to complete 
the rest of the journey related to AchArya 
RaamAnujA's life .

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan