Namo Narayana
Srimathe Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane Nama:
Srimathe Sri Lakshminrusimha Divya Paduka Sevaka Srivansatakopa Sri
Narayanayathindra Mahadesikaya Nama:
Sri Ahobila Matam USA celebrated its annual Acharya Day function during the
Labor Day Weekend at Sri Ranganatha Temple in Pomona New York. Sri Ranganatha
Temple invited Sri Ahobila Matam USA to hold the Acharya Day celebration at
their temple and as per the niyamanam of the current Srimad Azhgiyasingar, the
two-day event was held there. The event was conducted in the true tradition of
the Sri Ahobila Matam with many sishyas and abhimanis getting together for the
event to pay their reverence to the great Acharya Sampradayam. All this was
possible due to the anugraham of our Acharyas.
The first day began with a ceremonious welcome to Sri Dolai Kannan of Sri
Ahobila Matam. Sri Dolai Kannan was welcomed inside the temple with
poornakumbham maryadhai and by the vigrahas of Sri Adi Vansatakopan, Sri Mukkur
Azhagiyasingar and the prakrutham Srimad Azhagiyasingar. Sri Kannan was then
taken around the temple praakaaram in a procession and was later taken inside
the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Ranganatha's shrine.
Navakalasa Thirumanjanam was performed for Sri Dolai Kannan, Sri Ranganathar
and Thayar along with the goshti reciting Vedam and Divyaprabandham. This was
followed by Satrumurai as per the tradition of Sri Ahobila Matam reciting the
thaniyans of the entire lineage of our 45 Acharyas.
After a sumptuous lunch, the cultural events focusing on Srivaishnava
Sampradayam began with the anugrahabashanam (audio recording) of Srimad
Azhagiyasingar. Srimad Azhagiyasingar wished the event a success and blessed
all the devotees who attended the function. A multimedia presentation
highlighting the greatness of Sri Ahobila Mata Acharya Sampradaym was
presented. Sri Oragadam Lakshmi Nrusimhan of the Selaiyur patasala of Sri
Ahobila Matam gave a scintillating account of the life of the Acharyas, history
of the matam and its institutions in the presentation. This provided a good
start to the cultural events and the audience was thrilled to witness photo and
video excerpts from various past functions at the Srimatam in India.
Later, the essence of Srimad Bagavad Gita was very well presented by Sri
S.M.S.Chari, a Srimatam sishya and an acknowledged authority on sampradayic
philosophy. This was followed by a drama on the life of Azhvars by a group of
children from Boston. The audience was enthused to witness the re-enactment of
the life of Azhvars. RPI raga group, a music group from Boston made up young
adults, all born and brought up in the US, presented a carnatic music concert,
which was well appreciated.
After the drama and music, it was time for some debate. The debate titled "Is
Bagavath Anubhavam greater from Sanskrit or Tamil works?" was entertaining and
informative. The team debating for the Sanskrit works, quoted texts from Vedam,
Upanishad and other great Sanskrit works and brought out beautifully the
significance of the language while the team for Tamil, highlighted the
language's ability to bring out the inherent anubavams in the works. The
argumentative debate, deeply engrossed the audience. Though the majority of the
audience voted for Tamil, the chair for the debate, Sri S.M.S Chari, summed up
the significance of the two languages and brought out beautifully, the
importance of both the languages.
The engaging debate was followed by a mellifluous veena rectial by Sri.
Swaminathan Natarajan as Dolothsavam for Sri Kannan was performed. Evening
aradhanam and satrumurai was followed by an elaborate sayanotsavam for Dolai
Kannan. It was a sight that will be etched in the minds of everyone present to
see our small Dolai Kannan lying down majestically in this large Dolai (swing)
with many singing lullabies for Perumal.
The next morning started with Navakalasa Thirumanjanam for Sri Dolai Kannan,
Sri Ranganathar, Andal and the 1 st, 44th and 45th Azhagiyasingars. Sri Dolai
Kannan showered the moorthies of the three acharyas with sahasradharai
abishekam. Sri Kannan was placed in the sahsradharai. While holding the
sahsradharai, thirumanjanam was performed for Sri Dolai Kannan with the water
flowing from Kannan, showering the Acharya moorthies. The elaborate
thirumanjanam was performed with Vedam, Divyaprabhandha parayanam and kattiyam
recital.
Day two of the cultural events began again with the replaying of the
anugrahabashanam by Srimad Azhagiyasingar for the benefit of those who missed
the first day event. A play on the life of Sri Alavandhar was enacted by a
group of sishyas and abhimanis from Washington D C. The audience enjoyed it
very much. The play was followed by a display of talent by small children born
and brought up in the United States, Tiny tots and young children recited
slokas, sang songs and it was heartening to see them perform and look forward
with hope about the future of our sampradayam in the United States. The
excitement continued with the return of the favorite game "Jeopardy". The game
quizzed the participants and audience on Divyadesams, Vedantham, Acharya's
Tirunakshtrams, Prabhandams and Azhvars. This game was followed by yet another
popular game, Anthakshari on Prabandhams.
Shri. Prasanna, a disciple of Shri.TN.Seshagopalan presented a soul- stirring
concert. The bava-laden concert was filled with prabandha pasurams and
kirthanams on Perumal and Thayar. This was followed by a brief concert by Shri
Ravi Srinivasan who treated the audience to some lilting kirthanams.
The two-day event's yet another highlight was purapadu inside the temple for
Sri.Dolai Kannan to the recitation of madal. Arthi was performed to Sri. Kannan
in all the shrines of the temple to the recitation of Gopala Vimsathi. The
audience's joy knew no bounds on witnessing this divine event. As usual, this
was followed by evening aradhanam and sayanotsavam for Perumal
As is the tradition at Srimatam, delectable food was served for both days for
breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. The quality and quantity of the food served
was grand. Sri Ahobila matam sincerely thanks all the volunteers at Sri
Ranganatha Temple, who performed an excellent kainkaryam in preparing and
serving food. Every devotee's need was taken care of. True to the tradition of
our Sampradayam, the volunteer's witheld their desire to take part in the
religious activity and witness the cultural events to prepare the food and take
care of the needs of the devotees.
This concluded the annual event with every devotee that attended the
celebrations leaving with great memories and a token gift from Sri Ahobila
Matam. As the event ended, Sri Ranganatha Temple invited Sri Kannan and Sri
Ahobila Matam to hold their annual Acharya day events every year from now on at
the temple.
-srimath azhagiyasingar thiruvadigale saranam
adiyEn Rajaji
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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