SrI: NamO VenkatEsAya Dear Devotees of the Lord of Saptha Giri : Two weeks ago , I had the good fortune of attending a Multimedia Presentation by the outstanding linguist , Scholar on Saint AnnamayyA Krithis and Musicolgist on the Vaibhavam of Lord SrinivAsa . The Scholar's name is Dr. Pappu Venugopala Rao . He is so blessed by Lord VenkatEsa and Saint AnnamayyA's sankeerthanam that inspires him to drench one with the intense and life giving showers of Bhagavath anubhavam . Dr.P.V. Rao is a student of Padma Shree , Padma VibhUshaNa Dr. M.Balamurali Krishna . DR. Balamurali KrishnA's Tribute to Dr.P.V.Rao *********************************************************** Let us enjoy what a Guru says about his sishya :" Dr.PV. Rao is one of my dear disciples , is a scholar of great repute , in Sanskrit , Telegu and in Musicology.... We need scholars like Dr.P.V.Rao to help musicians understand the nuances and the intricacies of Annamayya lyics ...His book , " Flowers at His feet " is a solid comntribution to the field of literature , Music and spiritualism in general and AnnamAchArya's Compositions in particular.....His analysis , his intrepretations and his innumerable quotations from various texts in support of the intrepretations make this book indispensable ( to Sri VenkatEsa BhakthAs around the world). " Dr. NedunEri KrishNa Moorthy's Tribute to Dr.P.V.Rao ******************************************************************** Sangitha KalAnidhi Nedunuri Krishna Murthy has tuned more than 108 krithis of Annamayya in his role as the Principal of Sri Venkateswara Music college in Thiruppathy . Let us hear what Sri NedunEri says about Dr.P.V.Rao: (Background: Dr.P.V.Rao gave a series of 12 lectures on the Sankeerthanams of Annamayya in Chennai from June 2003 to May 2004 before standing room only crowd of Sri VenkatEsa BhakthAs at the TTD Information Center . A portion of these lectures were released in the form of the book , " Flowers at His feet and 4 delightful Audio CD ROMs containing excerpts from his lectures and some of the songs as rendered by the Musicians during this Lec-Dem sessions I will provide additional information on the content of this book and CD ROMs in the subsequent postings ). Now coming back to Sri NedunEri's observations: " Dr.P.V.Rao is not an ordinary scholar and Musicologist , but one who has an evolved mind and soul in propagating , popularizing and promoting AnnamAchAryA's works ....In his 12 lectures , 100 songs were demonstrated . Each lecture had a different singer . (Dr . P.V.Rao introduced the krithis and commented on their uniqueness ). His soul-stirring lectures show the involvement and earnestness of the speaker and the pulse of the speaker can be felt in all these lectures .What strikes me the most about his book is the freshness and spontaniety so characterestric to Dr.P.V.Rao's lectures ...The book will be a great treat not only for the connoisseurs of Music but also the lay public. ... Some of the facts and figures that he gives in this book are mind boggling. Some of the information he gives in this book is a revelation to even felow musicologists and scholars...More than a scholar and Musicologist , I know Dr.P.V.Rao as an ardent devotee of Lord VenkatEswara . May the Lord of the Seven Hills bless Pappu and May Pappu offer more flowers at His feet ". The introductions by two of the greatest living Musical stalwarts set the stage for me to say a few words about Annamayya's life and sankeerthanams and attempt an advocacy as to why this extraordinary book and the accompanying set of audio CDs should be at every Sri VenkatEsa BhakthA's home . Please invite Sri VenkatEsa to Your homes and enjoy the wealth of information provided in this book of Dr.P.V.Rao and the 4 Audio CDs . At the end of this posting, I will provide information on how to acquire this precious material. Sankeerthanams of AnnamAchArya *********************************************** Saint AnnamAchArya (1408-1503 C.E) , who after a divine intervention pledged to compose at a minimum of one Krithi during every day of his life about the Lord . He fulfilled that vow by creating 32,000 Krithis out of which 14,000 are available today thanks to his family's efforts to have them inscribed in Copper plates and safely stored in Sankeerthana BhandAram inside the Lord's temple at Thirumala . These compositions rested there for more than 400 years without anyone knowing about them and in 1922 , TTD took out these copper plates on which Annamayya's krithis were etched for preservation . TTD established the Annamacharya project in 1978 to study the Sankeerthanams , their musical content , Saahithyam and philosophy of VaisishtAdhvaitham learnt from the First Jeeyar of Ahobila Matam , the great Aadhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar , who was initiated into SanyAsAsramam by Lord Narasimhan Himself. Annamayya composed Krithis about every VaikAnasa ritual relating to nithya and Uthsava SevAs of the Lord at His scared temple at Thirumala from SuprabhAtham to SayanOthsavam . Annamayya composed krithis about BrahmOthsavam , VasanthOthsavam , Pushpa Yaagam , Thirumanjanam , ShOdasOpachArams , ThirukkalyANothsavams . Annamayya composed Krithis about His Mother , Alamelu Manga , about His AchAryan , Adhi VaNN SathakOpa Jeeyar and about Ahobila Narasimhan and other dhivya dEsa EmperumAns . Some of These compositions were in Sanskrit (~100 ) and Sundara Telungu( the rest) . They dealt with AdhyAthmikam or SrungAram aspects relating to the dhivya dampathis. The 12 Chapters of the Monograph ******************************************* The monograph of Dr. P.V.Rao has 12 chapters modelled after the themes of his Chennai lectures: 1. Introduction to Annamayya's sankeerthanam 2. AadhyAthma Sankeerthanams 3. Devotional compositions on VenaktEswara 4. Devotional Compositions on Other deities 5. Nithya Seva and Uthsava SevAs 6. Madhura Bhakthi 7. Sanskrit Compositions: I 8.Sanskrit Compositions : II 9. Folk Compositions 10. Social Compositions 11. Annamayyaaa-AlamElumanga 12. Literature & Music of AnnamAcchArya How to acquire a copy of this Book & the 4 CD ROMs ****************************************************************** Te Book and the set of 4 CD ROMs are priced modestly at 30$ without postal expenses . You can add an additional 5 $ for shipping . The funds generated by these distributions are going to be used to bring out the next edition . Right now 1000 copies were printed and are being avidly acquired by devotees and raskikAs .Soon , Dr.Rao will run out of copies . Please send e-mail to Dr. K.V.Rao and Dr. Jyothi Rao to acquire Your copies . They are at Queens, NY : devi0114@xxxxxxxxx Some Facts from this Monograph & extended observations *************************************************************************** Let me conclude this First Posting by including a few facts that many of us may not know even if we have visited the Famous temple of the Lord more than once : 1) The Svayambhu(Self-Manifest) dhruva BhEra ( the 8 feet tall Lord VenkatEsa ) is NOT the object of daily formal worship at Thirumala . 2) The formal worship is done only to a Kauthuka Bhera ( 8 inches tall ) installed right next to the Dhruva bhEra. The power of the Dhruva bhEra is invoked (AavAhanam) in the Kauthuka bhEra since latter can be worshipped (approachable) by both Worldly and spiritual aspirants . The Dhruva bhEram can be worshipped only by Tapasvis (Maharishis) and Brahma DevA & the like. 3) The Kauthuka bhEram is a small silver replica of VenkatEswara and bears the name of BhOga SrinivAsan . A Pallava princess with the name of Samavayi created and consecrated BhOga SrinivAsan in the year 966 C.E. That is 1040 years ago . All the AarAdhanams are for BhOga SrinivAsan and the decorations (AabharaNams , Flowers , Vasthrams) are for Lord VenkatEsa in His dhruva bhEram form even today . 4) The Dhruva bhEram and the Kauthuka bhEram are intimately connected thru a Sambhandha Kurcham ( a bunch of 32 blades of dharbham gold link and silk cord. 5) The Uthsava Moorthy , whom we offer worship during BrahmOthsavam , ThiukkalyANam , Sahasra dheepa AarAdhanam in the evenings is named Malayappa Swamy with Sri Devi AND BhU Devi . He is the processional deity whom we enjoy today in BrahmOthsavams , Dolai et al. Malayappa Swamy was conserated only in 1330 C.E. That was 646 Years ago . From 966 C.E to 1330 C.E, for a period of 364 Years , BhOga SrinivAsan was the processional (Utsava) Murty . 4) Malayappa Swamy was consecrated ( 1330 C.E) 78 Years before Annamayya was born (1408 C.E). At the time of AzhwArs , there was only the Dhruva BhEram ; at the time of Swamy Naatha Muni ( 824-924 C.E) , There was only ThiruvengadamudayAn , the Dhruva BhEram for worship by the VaikAnasa priests. YaamynAchArya ( 916-1041 C.E) , the grandson of Swamy Naatha Muni , the Pallava Princess , Samavayi had BhOga SrinivAsan consecrated . YaamunAchArya was 52 yers old , when formal worship of Kauthuka bhEram commenced . 5)Thirumalai Nambi ( 973-1073 C.E) , the maternal uncle of AchArya RaamAnuja was 7 years old , when BhOga SrinivAsan was consecrated by Samavayi . There was no Malayappa Swamy then in the Garbha Graham , only BhOga SrinivAsan. 6)Being a Pallava Princess , Samavayi must have left the Lion's statues on the VimAnam . Some assume that the Dhruva BhEram of Lord VenkatEsa is Sakthi roopam based on the presence of lions in the corners of the Aanandha Nilaya VimAnam . 6) AchArya Ramanuja was born in 1017 C.E and that was 51 years after the BhOga SrinivAsan's consecration . By the time Ramaanuja was born , Thirumalai Nambi had established himself well in Thirumala and was peforming Kaimkaryams there . RaamAnuja Visited Thirumala thrice in his life time. 7)Ramanuja sent ANDAn PiLLai (AnanthAhwAn ) to Thiruppathy to perform Nandhavana Kaimkaryam in 1056 C.E . There was no Malayappa Swamy then . Only BhOga Srinivasan ruled supreme as Uthsava Moorthy . 8) First visit of Ramanuja to Thirumalai : 1057-58 C.E. Srimath RaamAyaNa KaalakshEpam & avathAram of VedArtha Sangraham before the Dhruva BhEram of ThiruvEngadamudayaan .Sri Ramanuja was 40 year old then . 9) Ramanuja returned to Thirumala in 1060 C.E on his second visit and settled the issues of Moorthy at Thirumala being the archa of Sriman NarayaNan . One overlooked fact is that Bhoga Srinivasan archa is that of Sriman Narayanan as consecrated in 966 C.E. By inferrence , one can conclude that the original model for Bhoga SrinivAsan must be Sriman NarayaNan with Conch and Chakram . 10) During His second trip to Thirumala in 1060 C.E , Ramanuja created the MangaLa slOkam for Sri BhAshyam and commenced the commentary on Brahma Soothrams . He was 43 years old then. Six yers later, Sri BhAshyam is completed ( 1066 C.E) . 11) Ramanuja arrives at Thirumala for the third and final time , when he was 73 years old ( 1091C.E ). Prathishtai of Govinda Raja takes place at Keezha Thiruppathy . Four years after the above visit to Thirumala , Sri BhAshyam is expanded by 150% . RaamAnuja was 77 now. KurEsar (1010-1116 C.E) , EmbAr ( 1026-1131 C.E) , Mudali AaNDAn were with RaamAnuja during this visit. 12) Swamy Desikan ( 1268-1369 C.E) was 62 when Malayappa Swamy was consecrated . He was born as the avathAram of the GhaNDA (Bell) of ThiruvEngadamudayAn . He created Dayaa Sathakam during his visit to Thirumala earlier . (To Be continued ) NamO Sri VenkatEsAya , Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan P.S : Please send your checks for $35 to acquire the Book , "Flowers at His Footstep " and the 4 Audio CDs to Dr.K.V.Rao , 47-07 Burling St, Flushing , NY 11355-3528 or send e-mail to : devi0114@xxxxxxxxx [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Protect your PC from spy ware with award winning anti spy technology. It's free. http://us.click.yahoo.com/97bhrC/LGxNAA/yQLSAA/VkWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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