Dear Sri Raama BhakthAs :
It is my pleasure to send you the iinformative
write up on the recently concluded Sri Raama AnuyAthraa by Sri Velukkudi KrishNan Swamy
With a group of 350 Raama
BhakthAs following the foot steps of Sri Ramachandra ,
Jankai PirAtti & Sri Soumithri .
This is an extraordinary experience for the
organizers and the participants in this anuyAthraa . We are all very happy that all of them returned home safe
and are enrcihced with experiences of a life time .
Sri RaamArpaNam asthu !
Daasan , Oppiliappan
Koil VaradachAri SaThakOpan
Sri Rama Anuyatra
By
Sri Velukkudi
KrishNan Swamy
Dear Bhaktas,
Sri Rama anuyatra, a pilgrimage following the trail
of Sri Rama, was conducted between 20th Aug and 8th September. The yatra fructified with Sri Rama Pattabhishekam
at Srirangam temple with over 1000 bhaktas attending.Adiyen thought
of briefly sharing the experience with all of you.
Why this Anuyatra?
Sri Rama being an Emperor, imposed exile through the boon of Kaikeyi, and chose to travel the length and breadth of Bharata Desa. He undertook two
journeys,
One for the sake of Vishwamitra
yaga samrakshana and His
marriage and
The other to fulfill the words of His father
A deeper study would reveal that
the objectives of the second yatra, such as dushkrita vinasa
(rakshasa vadha) would have
been possible by easier means considering the power of Sri Rama. However, Rama
chose to travel experiencing agony as per the saying
rAjyAt
bhramsa:
vanE vAsa: sItA nashtA hatO
dvija:
(Denied of kingdom, forced to
forest, lost Sita, Jatayu a
great friend got killed >etc). In spite of all these, Rama wanted to set His
lotus feet on the entire stretch of this desam to reinforce
it as a punya bhUmi and to
shower His katAksham on the needy souls.
If we name His jouney as Yatra,
then any journey following Him would be anuyAtra.
Given the absolute servitude nature of the atman, anuyatra
is a pleasurable duty for every one of us. Thus we decided to conduct this
pilgrimage and announced it a year ago.
Integration
in many ways .This yatra took us
through 8 states and 2 countries, necessitating to
mingling with Rama bhaktas of different culture and
languages. The yatrikas, 350 in number, were
themselves from Srirangam,Chennai,Madurai, Coimbatore,
Bangalore, Mumbai, hyderabad, Dubai
and USA.
They had a great opportunity to exchange their varied experiences. Food of
different tastes, such as UP,Bihari, nepali, marathi, mysori etc was served
(cooked by our team of Srivaishnava cooks and offered
to Perumal). As a humble contribution towards integration of rivers,
we took bath in as many as 9 holy rivers integrating their significance in our
body. To name them - Ganga, Sarayu,
Gandaki, Sona,Yamuna, Mandakini, Godavari, Tungabhadra, Kaveri
(lakshmana tIrtha). To our
astonishment, we found one thread weaving this multi coloured
fabric -- Rama Bhakti.
Mountains of difficulties turned to dust by Sri Rama 350 yatrikas
at an average age of above
60 and highest age of 88,traveling 8500 kms, in
19 days, in 6 different
trains and 45 different buses, carrying
around 1550 baggage,
looked an uphill task when we began. But every one of
these hurdles added spices to the already tasty food.
None of the trains were delayed which is unusual in North
India.
No passengers were left behind even in any electricity areas.
None of the baggage was lost in spite of them being handled in separate
vans.
After we returned from Sitamarhi the bridges were broken and there was no traffic
for 12 days. There was an attack in Nepal highway the day before we
went.
But there was no curfew all through our stay there.
There was no case of health problem although we bathed in 9 different
rivers and consumed water at times in unhygienic conditions.
Over 100 people having blood pressure and diabetes and no>medical
facility in many areas, but yet, there was no complaint. 350 people for 19 days
were almost 7000 man days.
There were only two injuries, which were immediately treated, and those yatrikas happily continued journey. In the entire route we
had to climb 4 mountains to have darsan. At chennai
during the briefing session 250 yatrikas opted to
stay back in the buses, as they cannot climb. Finally during the yatra only 8 stayed back. It was a great sight to watch all
the aged climbing the mountains.
Their lip
movement revealed a secret. The only medicine we had was "Rama Namam".
{Sri Parasa
Bhattar in his commentary to Vishnu Sahasranama hails Rama Namam as
"mrta
sanjIvanam".}
All the yatrikas were requested to chant
"ApadAm apa hartAram... “and Sri Rama Rama RamEti..." each 108 times daily for 32 days starting
from 8th August totaling to 2.4 million Rama nama.
Places and significance
1. Bittoor (near Kanpur)
UP. - Valmiki asrama, birth place of Sri Ramayana and Lava Kusa. We began the yatra from
here seeking the blessings of Bhagavatottama Sage Valmiki. Sri Vaishnavism
recommends worship of bhagavata before bhagavan. This is also the place of Druva.
We had snanam in Ganges.
2. Ayodhya - the birthplace of Rama and the capital of Kosala kingdom, on the banks of River Sarayu.
Members of Janma bhoomi Ram
mandir voluntarily came and greeted us and gave us a
spirited insight on the happenings.
3. Kamasram - Following the first
journey of Rama we reached this place.This was where Manmatha was burnt by Siva. Visvamitra, Rama and Lakshmanastayed here for a night.
4. Tataka vana - where Tataka
was killed by Rama and stayed for a night
5. Siddhasrama
- where Visvamitra performed yagna for 6 days- Rama stayed here for 7 nights. (4 and 5
are in Buxar - Bihar)
6. Chapra - the confluence of River
Ganges and Sarayu as explained by Visvamitra
to Rama
7. Sonepur - the place of gajendra moksha and confluence of River Ganges and Gandaki
8. Visala nagara (hajipur near patna) -
where Rama was greeted by a King and hosted for a night
9. Sitamarhi (in dharbhanga district
Bihar) - birthplace of
Mata Sita. From here starts Mithila
desam.
10. Janakpuri in Nepal
- the place of Sita Rama kalyanam - 7 members of bhajanai
goshti came from Delhi and conducted a grand Sita kalyanam. The whole town was
awe struck watching the programme. On our return to ayodhya, the entire Nepal route was studded with scenic
beauty which we thought was nature's gift to the newly married.
11. Ayodhya again
12. Nandigram - we visited this place out of order. This is where Bharata stayed and ruled as a representative of Rama Paduka for 14 years. After Ravana
vadha Hanuman and Rama met Bharata
here
13. Srigiverpur - on the banks of river Ganga - the place of Guha sakhyam. All 350 of us took
a boat ride remembering that of Rama and Guha.
14. Bharadwaja asrama (in allahabad)
- confluence of River Ganga,
Yamuna and Sarasvati. This sage showed Rama the way
to Chitrakoot.
15. Chitrakoot - any urban citizen would envy this
place on the banks of River mandakini. Rama and Sita spent happy days here. Bharata
met Rama and got blessed with paduka here.
16. Atri anasuya asrama
- The first place of visit after Rama left Chitrakoot
17. Viradha kunda
- where Rama killed viradha
18. Sarabhanga
asrama
19. Suteekshna Asrama
20. Agastya asrama - 18, 19, and 20 are places of
unadulterated natural beauty but very difficult to visit. Many of us were
holding our breath till we came out. (All these are near Satna
MP)
21. Ramtek - Another agastya
asrama near which Rama killed sambooka
(uttara kanda)
22. Nasik pancavati -
where Lakshmana built a beautiful parnasala
on the banks of river Godavari. Place where Surpanakha was severed of her nose and ears. Battlefield where Rama killed 14000 demons resulting in Sita's abduction by Ravana.
23. Taket - jatayu moksha sthala
- a place to remember where nature has granted all its treasures. There were
anxious moments in reaching and coming out of this place (65 kms from nasik on igatpuri road)
24. Kishkindha (hampi)
- on the banks of river Tungabhadra - the monkey kingdom, sabari
asram, the spot where Rama killed vali,
rishyamuka parvatam, malyavan where Rama waited for 4 months during rainy days.
25. Lakshmana tirtha - valmiki
gives the route of the large monkey contingent as Sahya,
malaya and mahendra giri. Many research
publications and official gazette of Mysore
confirm this place in Nagerhole national park (120 kms from Mysore)
as the mountain range where the army crossed. Lakshmana
shooting an arrow to quench the thirst of the army created today’s
iruppu falls.
26. Tirukkurungudi - This is in mahendragiri,
which was the last mountain in the journey after which the army sighted the
ocean.
27. Tiruppullani - the place where Rama surrendered to
Samudra Raja in vain and then on went to build the
famous bridge.
28. Srirangam - The eventual abode of Sri Ranganatha.
Initially, this deity along with pranavakara vimana was in ayodhya and it was Vibheeshana who consecrated in Srirangam.
Sri Rama pattabhishekam was conducted here by our goshti. All the 350 yatrikas
along with lot more Srirangam bhaktas
took a chittirai veedi pradakshinam chanting Rama nama in the morning.
Parayanam and upanyasam
2 vidvans did parayanam of
the whole Ramayanam in 18 days. Besides this,about 800 slokas
were chosen by Sri U Ve Tiruppullani
Sundara raja Iyengar Swamy relevant to the places of visit, and all the 350 in respective places
chanted them. Sri U Ve Parasara
Badri Narayana Bhattar Swamy, Sri U Ve Kanchi Srinidhi
Swamy and Sri U Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy
conducted Upanyasams about the significance of every
place and happenings as per Ramayana. It was a great experience for the upanyasaka and the listeners due to the importance of the
place. We could see tears rolling down many cheeks on listening to the
difficulties faced by Sita and Rama. Everyone was
proud of Lakshmana, which made them plead to be
blessed with a trace of his kainkaryam. Sattumurai was done at Srirangam Ranga Vilasa mandapam.
Srimad Parahamsetyadi Sriranga Narayana Jeer Swamy delivered anugraha bhashanam. The function was held in the presence of The
Joint Commissioner, Sthalathar
and hundreds of Srirangam bhaktas.
Objectives of this yatra
1. To remind Sri Ramayana and
live with Sri Rama
2. Getting
stuck to our homes, we become rigid and selfish. This got relieved.
3. None
watched TV or read newspapers for 19 days. Sri Rama, purifying our senses,
absorbed all of us.
4. A
practice session to reduce our urban comforts and live close to nature.
5. To try yAdum UrE yAvarum kElIr - every place is my
hometown and every atman is bhagavat bandhu.
Volunteers
All these were possible by the grace of Rama and the relentless efforts of
about 25 volunteers of our Kinchitkaram Trust, who
hardly slept for 19 days.
Prayer
Every Rama bhakta around the globe gets an
opportunity to visit these places. More importantly along
with their children, to see Sri Rama and Sita come
live, and to realise the richness and validity of the
great epic Sri Ramayana. Anybody wanting to know about the route or stay
facilities may contact our center and we would be too happy to help.
We have videographed the whole yatra
that would be released as a 6-hour story (2 DVDs). This would be available in 2
months.All the upanyasams
are available as mp3 cds in the information centre Ph
044 -24992728.