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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00044 Jan 2003

 
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I have followed the narration of Sri Satakopa Iyengar of Coimbatore and of 
others on this subject with great interest and enthusiasm. I claim with pride 
my maternal lineage with Maduranthakam where I spent my childhood and boyhood 
of impressionable years. Every child of Maduranthakam has been fed with the 
story of Eri Katha Ramar along with mother?s milk. 

I just want to reiterate that the act of Prapatthi rose out of the soul of 
people of Maduranthakam at that time and Lord Rama chose to appear in the dream 
of the Englishman as the custodian of British Raj to assure him that HE is in 
charge of protecting His subjects who surrendered to him for 
DivineIntervention. The Englishman became a beneficiary of the Divine 
Perceptionas only a tool of the administration and was awe-stricken by the 
sight he experienced in the dream on that wild night. He had no idea as who 
were those two mighty towering warriors holding huge bow and arrow striding 
along the top of the bank of the swelling lake threatening to break open and 
submerge the adjoining temple and the town of Maduranthakam. 

Except for the few diehards holding the front line along with holy temple 
pundits guarding the temple chanting Vedam and Stothram expecting a 
miracle,most of the people had evacuated the town under the British order. As 
the Englishman in charge of the operation woke up from his mystical dream on 
the early morning sweating all over his body, the incessant rain had stopped to 
his amazement. 

As he rushed out and narrated his dream episode to his subordinates, the holy 
men at the temple were enthralled with ecstasy and invited the Englishman to 
the temple sanctum for Morning Prayer. As the sanctum doors opened, the 
Englishman had the glorious vision of the same two mighty warriors of his dream 
holding bow and arrow in the Stone form. He was completely shaken and trembling 
as tears rolled over his eyes. 

Despite being a Christian, he was a spiritual person to be awakened by the 
Supreme Being of Hindu faith. The chief priest of the temple lamented thathow 
come the Lord never appeared in his dream even though he has been faithfully 
performing Bhagawath kainkaryam all along while the Englishman who never ever 
prayed to Lord Rama had the Bhagyam of His Vision in the dream. This is the 
paradox. 

People of Maduranthakam performed Prapatthi in their state of desperation and 
Lord Rama came as their Savior. Regrettably, Satakopa Iyengar labels 
itEnglishman?s Prapatthi which in my opinion is not true. Let us not downplay 
the Prapatthi of the people of Maduranthakamt at that time in an attempt to 
elevate the Englishman as Prapanna to our Lord. 

I will never, ever take away the credits of the Englishnan for his outstanding 
contributions to Maduranthakam temple with rewards of construction and Manyam 
for successful operation. He was a pious man. His inscription in stone 
documenting the episode of Eri Katha Ramar is a standing testimony in modern 
contemporary history. However, he remains a Christian and master of British 
Raj. Our Lord has appeared before Christians and Moslems several times when 
they were in Power to rule only to save HIS devotees from punishment, slavery 
and exploitation. That is why we regard Him as Universal Lord.



Maduranthakam is a great ktesthram to visit and experience immense 
Spirituality. When you stand before Ramar sannadhi, close your eyes and reflect 
onEri Katha Ramar episode, you will quiver with Bakthi. It is automatic as 
electric current sweeps through your body. Janakavalli thayar?s grace will 
amaze you. I have nothing new to add as many people have provided descriptive 
specialty of this temple. The town is a pastoral, agricultural landscape 
surrounded by many villages whose irrigation is served by the famous lake with 
several canals. The water is holy as it has been sanctified and protected by 
Lord Rama at the bank, which makes it equivalent to Ganga and Cauvery. Above 
all, Ramanuja Acharya was initialized to Vaishnavism as Grahastha under Vakula 
tree inside this temple before setting out to SriRangamto be transformed as 
Bhagawat Ramanuja illuminating the torch of Vishistadwaitham The Sanskrit 
college of Ahobila Matam next to the temple tank paves the path of Vaishnavite 
think-tank. 

My fellow Maduranthakam brothers! Do not feel bad because we are left out of 
Divya desam We are a part of unique, unparallel Divine association in several 
other respects that can breed us as great vaishnavites.

I am probably a senior citizen of Maduranthakam heritage settled in the US for 
a long time. However, I cannot match the knowledge and Pandityam of Sriman 
Satakopa Iyengar of Coimbatore. Sriman Anbil Ramaswamy as our mentor in the US, 
keeps us all well educated in Vaishnavism with his electronic journal, 
"SriRangaSri". I have learnt a lot more from him and his journal in the US than 
I ever did in my youth in India. 

Let us not be judgmental and critical of each other based on narrow focus and 
interpretation of Vaishnavism. We have to evolve with time to adapt and 
encompass other view as well. Closed minded dogmatism will not help us to grow 
with others. We need to reform, refine and blend in our attitudes and practices 
without sacrificing core virtues of our philosophy. 

Adiyen

Srinivasa Raghavan







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