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purataasi sravanam celebrations in Bahrain

From the Bhakti List Archives

MSCEB MEP • October 3, 1998 


sriman venkata natharya kavitharkika kesaree I
vedanthacharya varyome sannidhaththam sadha hrudhi II


Dear bhakthi group members,

namo narayana. please accept adiyen's prAnamams.

adiyen, r.venkatarAghavan from Bahrain would like to share with all of you
regarding our purattasi sravanam celebrations held at Sri.IVK chary's
residence on october 1,1998.It was indeed a memorable event.Here are the
brief details.

All of us know that purattasi sravanam is an important day for all
srivaishnavas as this day being special day for our Lord
"Thiruvenkatamudaiyan" and thirunakshatram for our great acharya Sri
Vedanta desikan. For the vaishnavaites in Bahrain there is a third reason
to consider this month's sravanam as special because this is the first
anniversery for our desikan club (as sri.sudershan describes).Last year a
group of desikan admirers assembled at sri.sudershan's residence and
celebrated purattasi sravanam and decided to continue this kaimkaryam by
holding monthly gatherings on every sravanam and recite Swami Desikan's
stotras.This kaimkaryam has been continuing although sri sudershan left
bahrain in Feb of this year,and finally today is the anniversary.

Sri chary is the source of inspiration for the vaishnavites in this tiny
islamic island and he took the charge from sri.sudershan and kept this
monthly gatherings lively.His pronounciation and rhythemic rendering  of
both sanskrit and tamil stotras/prabandhams are excellent.Sri.Chary has
been telling that we must celebrate purattasi sravanam  in a grand manner
and finally the evening came.

The program started with recitation of pancha suktham at about 6.45
pm,followed by Hayagreeva stotram (being vijaya dasami) and  then one of
the swami desikan's marvellous composition "Daya sathakam".After these
sanskrit stotras we moved on to Divya prabantham.

on 4000 we have started with pallandu then kanninun siruththambu, joining
madurakavi alvar saluting our nammalvar then we recited select verses of
"Thiruvaymozhi".Muthal patthu "uyarvara uyar nalam " then last ten in the
aaram patthu "ulaham unda peruvayya" and concluding ten of thiruvoymozhi
"muniyE! nanmuhanE.."

Then we moved on to desika prabantham starting with adaikkalappathu and
continued with  prabandha saram where in swami desikan beautifully brings
the total count of 4000 with the details of the author,their
thirunakshatram and brief details of their compositions using the same
words used by alvars.Finally we have recited pillayanthathi composed by our
swami's dear son saluting Swami desikan.In the meanwhile thirumanjanam for
saligrama perumal has commeced.

The sattumurai of the evening requires special mention. It was elaborate
with recitation from samhita,ashtakam, thaiththerEyANyakam, sama
,vedam,thaithhtarEyOpanishad, Sri Bhashyam, Sri bhagavath vishayam etc..
and plus the usual prabandha sattrumurai. Sri.Chary's recitation of vedams
and sri bhashyam were  excellent and all of us were spellbound and this
pleasent  experience can't be described in words. We all forget that we are
in an islamic country far away from our mother land and adiyEn felt as if
we are in thiruvenkatam when  we were reciting "iruppidam vaikundham
venkatam". Dear bhagavathas, this is not an exaggeration. It is our true
experience. In short it was a memorable evening.

The programme came to an end with recitation of sri desika mangalam and sri
venkatesa mangalam.

By then the time was quarter to ten and the small group assembled at the
starting of the programme has grown into a very big gathering and every one
participated felt  extremely fortunate to be present and receive HIS
blessings.

Finally,a sumptous dinner was served and many devotees shared this
responsibility. The menu included traditional piliyotharai and dhithyonam
among other varied items.The most tasteful item was akkara vadisal prepared
by sri chary himself. " I have another job in hand" quipped sri.chary when
we all complemented him for his excellent preparation.

Dear friends, most of you might have celebrated this special day in a grand
manner but celebrating here in a gulf country where such religious
activities are rare requires special mention and we feel extremely happy
for HIS grace and daya for making this event a memorable one. We all seek
Divya dhambathi's blessings to continue this kaimkaryam in the years to
come.

Thanks for your patient reading.

Kavitharkika simhaya kalyana gunasalenee I
srimathe venkatesaya vedantha kurave namah II

adiyEn dasan,

R.VenkatarAghavan.