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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00081 Oct 2003

 
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Dear bhagavathas,

pranamams.

This series has appeared in few other cyber groups and Sri Anbil 
swamin has advised adiyen to forward these msgs to SrirangaSri 
also.Please pardon me for duplication,if you have already read them.

adiyen will be sharing my travel experiences to various divya desams 
during July,August of this year. adiyen has written about all the 
temples visited and elaborated the conditions of some temples in 
south that are in very bad condition.

Let me tell you at the outset that my writing skills are very limited 
esp in English. Many bhagavathas who read these postings have 
encouraged and that is the reason for sharing this in Thiruvenkatam 
group also.

Now please read on..

adiyen had an wonderful time visiting as many as 40 divya desams 
during June,July 2003 during my vacation. A brief note about my 
experiences has been described below.

Our divya desa yatra has commenced on 26th June four days after our 
landing at chennai. One thing to be noted here. We did not visit all 
the divya desams listed below in one round trip. We have planned many 
2 or 3 day trips covering few divya desams during each trip. Good 
amount of time was spent at each temple. Thirumanjanam was performed 
at many divya desams. Before that on 22nd itself we went to the newly 
renovated Srinivasa perumal koil at Medavakkam. This temple was 400 
years old it seems and recently it was renovated with the help of 
local public. There are sannidhis for Perumal, Thayar, Ramar, 
Krishnar, Sudarshanar, adhi varahar, lakshmi narasimhar and the 
temple is located away from the crowded town in a calm and quite 
surrounding. This is the first temple we have visited during this 
trip.

Fortunately on 26th morning our aaththu vadhdhiyar came home to 
discuss about the proposed sudarshana homam which was performed on 
5th July. Adiyen took the opportunity to do yatra danam with his help 
and then commenced our trip.

Our first trip was to Sholingur. Every year during the month of 
November we used to perform thirumanjanam to Narasimhar Thayar and 
Anjenya. This time we thought of doing it during our visit itself so 
that we can also see and enjoy the thirumanjanam. Thirumanjanam is 
performed at Periya malai for narasimha and thayar only on Fridays 
and for Anjeneyar at chinna malai on Sundays only. It may be noted 
that the peria malai is bit steep and only by foot devotees can go 
up. All the required materials for the thirumanjanam have to be taken 
from down including water. So the devastanam has fixed these days but 
in any one is desirous of doing it on any other day then additional 
money have to be paid for making arrangements.

Till last year, my parents-in laws were living in Sholingur at the 
foothill of the chinna malai, which used to be very convenient for 
having good darshan after to rest (after having good lunch) after our 
tiring walk to the hilltop. But now the things have been changed. 
There is severe water scarcity in Sholingar esp near the temples and 
my in laws were forced to move out after the only water source called 
sanjeevi thirtham is also dried up last summer. Making deep bore 
wells also did not help, as the area is fully rockey and no sign of 
water even after 100 meter it appears.

Anyway that is history. Sri Govindan (who is doing madappalli 
kaimkaryam at chinna malai) who has purchased our in law's home and 
converted it as a chaththiram for pilgrims to stay, (of course no 
guarntee for water) gave us a room with fan in the new chaththiram. 
Although the peak summer is gone, being a rocky place the house was 
like a furnace and the ceiling fan only makes it worse. Living there 
for two days eating only prasadam was a task by itself. The sad part 
is that there is no water in the thattan kulam, which never used to 
go dry. This year summer seems to be the worse on and the pilgrims 
are really struggling to bathe and drink without water.

On 27th we have started climbing the peria malai at about 5.30 AM and 
it was so nice to walk breathing fresh air in a calm atmosphere. The 
monkeys were still asleep so we could walk without any fear. They 
used to be a terror to me and every time they snatch my bag while 
climbing.

The thirumanjanam for Thayar has commenced around 7 AM and it was 
very pleasing to the eyes enjoyed it from very close quarters. Sri 
Raja swami who is the descendants of famous Sri Dhottachar swamy's 
family was there and adiyen joined the gosthi reciting pancha suktam 
etc. His rendering of Thirumanjana gadyam for Sri Yoga nrusimha was a 
treat to listen. It contained many Upanishad passages and divya 
prabandham lines. It was very different from the one, which is 
recited in Thiruallikkeni. We have also offered new vastrams to 
Perumal and Thayar and the alankaram (saththupadi) was simply superb. 
We finally left the temple around 10 AM after partaking prasadams 
offered after thirumanjanam. Sri Raja swami was talking to us freely 
and he was indeed surprised to hear about the satsangh activities 
overseas in Gulf and USA. Sadly there are only few adhyabhakas in 
Sholingur today. He also invited for the proposed samprokshanam of 
Sri Varadarajar sannidhi at the banks of Thattan kuLam.( adiyen could 
not make it since it was on 13th July and adiyen wanted to attend the 
chaturmasya sankalpa utsavam of Srimad Azhagiya singar).

There is an interesting story behind this varadarajar sannidhi. Every 
year Sri Dhottachchar swami used to go to Kanchipuram for Garuda 
sevai. During his old age, once he was bathing in the thattan kulam 
at Sholingur and lamenting for his inability to attend the garuda 
sevai at Kanchi. Lo and behold! The Kanchi Varada gave darshan to 
Swami at the banks of Thattan kulam itself and it seems that the 
devotees in Kanchi could not see perumal during that time. To 
remember this event, even today Dhottahchchar sevai is performed at 
kanchi. This swami is an ardent bhakta of Swami Desika and he has 
written a work called Chanda marutham on the basis of sri desika's 
Sata dhushani. Now there is a Varadarajar sannidhi at the banks of 
thattan kulam, where the Lord gave darshan to Sri Dhottachchar swami. 

In the evening, we went to the temple inside the town and being 
Friday, there was Andal purappadu. Since the Thayar is residing at 
Peria malai itself the utsavams are performed for Andal. The 
prabandham goshti (3 persons) sang Siriya thirumadal and it was a so 
melodious. Since we are only used to see the book at recite, we are 
unable to participate in goshtis where we are permitted to 
join.adiyen feels that atleast the important parts of Divya 
prabandham should be memorised.

Next day we went to chinna malai and thirumanjanam was performed for 
Anjeneya. Since there was little crowd at that time (around 11AM) we 
could have peaceful darshan there. But here the monkeys are freely 
wandering inside the sannidhi also. One has to be very watchful with 
our offerings like flower and fruits because in a minute, the monkeys 
snatch it. Finally we came down at 12 Noon and immediately left the 
place for chennai. The twoday trip was memorable indeed and although 
adiyen has visited this temple many times earlier, this time adiyen 
enjoyed it throughly.

If any one of you wants to visit this divya desam, adiyen can arrange 
for stay and good darshan. Although you could cover this divya desam 
in one day visiting both chinna and peria malai in the morning and 
the temple in side the town in the evening, it will be hectic.

adiyen will continue my experiences to other divya desams in my next 
posting.

regards

dasan venkat






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