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Swami Desikan's Birth Day : 1996

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • September 28, 1996 


Dear Friends : 

I want to share with you the wonderful experience
of celebrating this year's birth day of our illustrious 
Acharya .Earlier , Mrs.Nagu Satyan was kind enough to invite me to
Denver to celebrate this important day . I could not make it
due to a business commitment at Cambridge , Mass . 

It so happened that the business appointment got fixed 
for the day after Swami Desikan's Thirunakshatram . As a 
result of this fortutious development , I was able to be at
the  Mahalakshmi Temple at Ashland , Mass . Lord 
Venkateswara is the presidng deity of this temple .
Sri Murali Rangaswami had extended the invitation to join
the celebrations at the temple for the dual occasion of
the birthday celebratons of Lord Srinivasa and Swami
Desikan (Purattasi SravaNam ). 

On a beautiful autumn day of New England , I joined 
Sri Murali Rengaswamy ,  Sri Kannapiran and the two
devout and learned Bhattars ( Balaji Bhattar and 
Krishna Bhattar ) to offer our salutatons to the Lord of 
Thirumalai and his Ghantaavatharam (Pranava Naatha Svaroopi ).

The Bhattars had done magnificient Alankaaram to the 
Utsava Murhty and had seated Him on a swing  in the company of 
Maha Lakshmi and the Ubhaya Naacchiyaars . We gently 
moved the Unjal . The scene was reminiscent of 
the occasion ,when Sri Ramanuja saw the Divya Dampathis 
at Sri Rangam temple seated on a Unjal on a Panguni Uttaram day and
offered his saranagathi through the Saranagathi Gadyam 
and was blessed with the vision of SrivaikunTam  and 
described it in the magnificient Sri Vaikunta Gadhyam .

In this context , the Bhattar suggested that we recite the three Gadyams of 
Ramanuja infront of the Divya Dampathis . We were seated
two feet away from the Divine couple and recited the three 
Gadhyams with reverence and humility  . Earlier we had  recited Vishnu 
Sahasra Namam , Raguveera Gadhyam , Godha Sthuthi
and Nyasa Tilakam . After Nyasa Tilakm , which was Swami
Desikan's  moving Saranagathi to SRI Ranganatha , it seemed 
fitting to conclude with the recitation of the three gadhyams 
of Sri Ramanuja . 

It so happened that the Purattasi Sravanam day was the last day 
of Pavithrotsavam . Balaji Bhatar explained the significance 
of Pavithrothsavam to the assembled devotees
and had a moving Satthumurai and Deepaaradhanam to
the Divya Dampathis to conclude the activities of this sacred day . 

Thanks to Sri Rangaswamy  and Sri Kannapiraan of 
Ashland temple , who are very  knowledgable and devout , 
the Bhattars feel uplifted in their efforts to serve the Lord . I am glad that 
I was blessed to be with them on this day and share with them
this wonderful experience this year. Usually , I am at 
the Sri Ranganatha temple at Pomona , NY for this occasion.

In a separate posting , I will attempt to summarize the extraordinary
work of Nyasa Tilakam of Swami Desikan.

Swami Desikan Thiruvadigaleh SaraNam,

V.Sadagopan