Pesaa Paechu

Theists, pseudo-theists and unsure & confused theists often wonder if God actually communicates with us. In scriptures and history (some prefer calling it, legends), five ways with which He communicates with us are cited and discussed, especially from being in archavataram; The five being - Kurippu Paechu (showing signs in the body, which are noticeable only to the target person), Urakka Paechu (as a dream in deep sleep or while half-asleep), Pesaa Paechu (illusory talk while one is with conciousness), Velippaadu (talking through priest or any other in aavesa) and Purappaadu (actual physical exposition, usually in ekaantham).

Apart from these direct communication with the devotee from being in archavatara, some of us may observe some unexplainable cues which are realised only after their effects are felt. One example I would like to cite was from our trip around Kumbakkonam area, where my mom's wish to go to Nachiyarkoil was fulfilled because of a traffic diversion, after we had turned her down in the first place when she saw the signboard. That indeed was Bhagawadsankalpam; But the one I intend to talk about in the post is a far deeper one.

In my last vacation (Margazhi 08-09), I had a number of temples on my list to visit, and one of the best planned trips was to Pazhayaseevaram, Chettipunyam and Singaperumalkoil. I came across a website for the Pazhayaseevaram and Thirumukkoodal temples, and along with them was a special mention about a Vaikuntanathar temple which was recently recovered (2002-2003), and rebuilt with the anugraham of HH SriMushnam Andavan. At the Padmagiri temple we were directed to go to Thirumukkoodal before going to the Vaikuntanathar temple as the bhattar would arrive late. The temple was in heart of the village. My atthai's chinna maamiyaar lives in the village, but we weren't sure if she was still there. After reaching the temple, my dad threw a long shot enquiring about her, and to our surprise, she lived right opposite to the temple, and it was her cousin, who took up the reconstruction of the temple.

We had to wait quite long for the bhattar to come, and till then, the treasurer opened the temple for me to go around the praakaram. I read from the website (now expired!) that many inscriptions were seen in the recovered portion of the temple, which had information about the old name of the village - Sripuram, which later became Seevaram, and it was Paranthaka Chozan (the second one, the Ponniyin Selvan fame Parantaka Sundara Chozhan) who sponsored the stone structures to the temple and also some information about the local democratic practises in the kingdom at that time. Though I couldn't read any, I did manage to find some writings, and the sculptures in the lower walls, which were lifted up from underground were close to those at Perumal Koil and Maamallapuram stone work.

It was almost 5:30 when the Bhattar came and we had the sevai. While waiting, a Gurukkal from a nearby Sivan temple came visiting the treasurer and gave us the Tiruvathirai prasadam. My parents were so pleased with the temple and everyone around there. We found the temple all complete except for the pathway in the pradakshanam. Dad wrote a cheque with a small contribution to complete the construction. We left Him with some worries that it may be too late when we would reach Chettipunyam. To our fortune, Devanathaperumal Koil in Chettipunyam is open till 8pm only on saturdays, and we managed to get sevai as the last round of devotees for the day. So blissful too was the sevai at Paatalaadri, and the day ended really well, despite brief tensions in the middle.

A week or ten days later, I was to come back to Lansing, and the day before I left was my pay day here. I checked the bank account and found that the dec-jan pay was only half of what it used to be. On my return, I found that my appointment extension did go through for the Spring semester, but there was some mix up with the payroll office that my salary for half of december alone was processed and the appointment from January went missing in their records. The hassle went on into the first week of February.

In the mean time, my dad got a call from Susi paatti, that his cheque was not accepted at the bank for some handwriting conflict, because the payee's name was written by the treasurer and Dad had filled the rest. He asked them to discard that cheque and he will mail a fresh one. It was with the scheduled pay date for February when I got everything resolved and got my paycheque for both Jan and Feb together; and the next day Dad got a call from Susi paatti that the treasurer went to the bank with the old cheque and for no special reason, it was accepted the second time!

(Ref: The five modes of communication was from Sri UVe. Chaturvedi Swamin's lecture)

Enthralling Archa - I

Last winter, I was blessed with an opportunity of visiting 20 divyadesams, with pleasing sevai in a some places, mere through-the-grill peeps in a few, half closed sevai in a couple of places because of pagal-patthu eNNai kaappu and just gopuradarsanam outside closed doors elsewhere. Most unforgettable thing was being "alaya-vittufied" all around by Swami Desikan without offering his sevai in all important places.

The most pleasing Sevai in a divya desam was at Koviladi.

My biggest plan for the last vacation was to visit my native village, Konerirajapuram, and do something for our temple. After having had a wonderful sevai of PeriyaperumaL on 23rd Dec night, was eager to go to the Koil again the next morning. My chittappa, who still lives in Koneri, missed the last night sevai as he joined us late after finding a parking spot. Me, my dad, Chittappa and chitti left to Srirangam after breakfast, and dropped chitti in her brothers' place and went to the temple through Vadakku vaasal, Thayar Sannidhi. We had a wonderful run around many sannidhis, and most memorable were Kothandaramar, Pattabiramar, Emperumaanar, Chakkarathazhwar and Andal Kannadi arai. I so wanted to go to Dasavathara sannidhi, but was too late by then, and so was the reason to leave disappointed against closed doors at Desikan Sannidhi. After sevai, we went to a textile store in therkku vaasal, and bought vasthram for our village temple perumal and azhwar-acharyas.

We had good lunch at Padma chitti's brothers' place, and left towards Koneri, picking chitti's mother from Srirangam. Chittappa was keen to take me to Appakudathaan sannidhi on the way. We took diversion at KallaNai and reached Koviladi. Temple was closed then, and we had to wait for half an hour more for the afternoon nadai thirappu. In the meantime, we went for a brief stroll across Kudamurutti, and came back to wait at the Gopuravasal. Appa and Chittappa went around looking for the Bhattar, and braught him. The temple was similar to Sri Ranganathar sanidhi atop of Thiruneermalai. The shrine was on a small hillock (like Hastigiri) and the Dwajasthambam was half way up the stairs.

It was pitch dark inside the mahamandapam, and Bhattar came out with a small ghee-lamp in hand, telling that there was a routine powercut. We were lead in with the light of the lamp and reached the sanctum, and got to see Him -

definitely the most blissful sevai ever, lit only by the oil lamps inside the sanctum and His thirumeni sevai through the light of bhattar's hand lamp. The bhattar was in height of his enthusiasm in showing us each and every detail in the sannidhi, right from the appa-kudam to the dasavathara oddiyanam that Appakudathaan wears, each of the panchaberams, Bhoomi piratti and Markandeyar. Chitti, who intially was disappointed with the powercut, was picked on by the bhattar and in the end convinced that this traditional way of Sevai carried the real bliss and not with artifical lightings. After Theertham and Satari, the power came back and I thanked Appalarangan for having delayed it till then! :)

After going to Thayar sannidhi and visiting the vahana mandapam, we left Koviladi to reach Koneri. Chitti was very much pleased with the sevai but for her take that Bhattar did talk a little too much ;-).

Titbits -

1) Many divyadesam guides say that Bhagawan embraces an appakudam with his right hand, but there is atleast a yard distance from his right arm to the pot. Appam is the special offering just like Tirupathi Laddu, Srirangam Adirasam and Hasthigiri Idly. Appam is offered on a silverplate that covers the pot and the pot is filled with milk.

2) Markandeya Maharishi stayed in this Kshetram before he went to Thiru Vinnagaram.

3) This temple is located in a "adi-kall" distance from Srirangam and hence called "Koviladi"

4) Among the many Sri Ranganatha kshetrams, this is the closest to Koil and hence the presiding diety is called "Appaalarangal", the first Rangan after Periyaperumal.

Avathaarikai

This blog is dedicated to Sri Pranathaarthihara, popularly known as KidAmbi AchAn or madapaLLi AchAn, the personal cook to EmperumAnAr and one of the 74 simhAsanAdhipathis appointed by Him as a Rahasya simhAsanadhipathi.

AchAn was EmperumAnAr's second cousin, in the sense, he was Periya Tirumalai Nambi's wife's nephew, and hence was PiLLAn's maternal cousin. It was after the (in)famous poisoning incident, witnessing AchAn's acharya bakthi, TirukOshtiyur Nambi ordered(blessed) him to take charge of EmperumAnAr's bikshai. From then on he was revered as madapaLLi AchAn. He had the bhagyam of having vedanta kAlakshepam under EmperumAnAr 12 times, and he was honoured by Swami as "veDAnta dyana Acharyan". Though none of his works are available today, he is fondly remembered for his closeness and service to EmperumAnAr, and for being the kootasthar for the KidAmbi family, the lineage in which were born illustrious stalwarts like Atreya RAmAnuja PillAn, KidAmbi AppullAr (KidAmbi RAmAnuja, the maternal uncle of Swami Desikan), Kidambi Srinivasachar(popularly known in his SanyAsashrama name AdivaN Satagopa Yatindra MahAdesikan, the founding Jeeyar of Sri Ahobila Mutt) and Gopala Desikan (15th descendant of AppuLLar, Munitraya Pravarthakar).

I have seen in a couple of places on the web that AchAn's pages were attributed as cook-blogs, I do not have any authority in cooking to write a full-fledged cook-blog, though I am regarded as a person with a good cooking-sense. But, definitely, one day, I would like to identify myself with madapaLLi kaimkaryam to Him.

I have been a jack of all trades since childhood, right from music, sports, art, speaking, and many more and almost of all them, I have shed with just a couple of years of interest and involvement. In the last few years of living away from home, some force (Sri:) has braught me to the fold I originally belong to.

Though I do belong to a sampradaically 'significant' lineage, I wasn't braught up in an agraharam or a temple atmosphere; I was so ignorant that I did not even know the meaning of the words "mandahapadi" or "rA-patthu"! until I was 22. Thanks to the likitha-kaimkaryam of Oppiliappan Koil Dr. Sadagopa Iyengar and his group, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn about Sampradayam, allied history, philosophy, theism, discipline, more advanced topics like aagama, and above all, I fell in love with Perumal Koil without having ever been there. Last vacation, I was almost branded crazy by many dear ones around, for the spree I was in, throughout, visiting temples. Despite enjoying the bliss that I am being subjected to, I do have a fear that this too should not pass like those childhood 'one-year-passions'. Sriman U.Ve. VeLukkudi Krishnan often says "spiritualism is best enriched by sharing thoughts with the like-minded and members of the family must get together atleast once a week and talk bhagawadvishayam". I can do that only with my mom during the long phone calls in the weekends. Other than mom, I wish to share it with the medium thorugh which I learnt most of whatever I know today - The Interent, to keep me going.

நன்றும் திருவுடையோம் நானிலத்தில் எவ்வுயிர்க்கும்*

ஒன்றும் குறை இல்லை ஓதினோம்* - குன்றம்

எடுத்தான் அடி சேர் இராமானுசன் தாள் *

பிடித்தார் பிடித்தாரைப் பற்றி

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பிள்ளை உறங்காவில்லி தாசர்

Acharya Vandanam

Swami Desikan - Tiruvahindrapuram

உன்னருள் அன்றி எனக்கொரு நற்றுணை இன்மையினால்*

என்னிரு வல்வினை நீயே விலக்கி இதம் கருதி*

மன்னிய நல் திருமந்திரம் ஓதும் பொருள் நிலையே*

பொன் அருளால் அருளாய் புகழ் தூப்புல் குலவிளக்கே 

- குமார வரதாசார் (பிள்ளை அந்தாதி - 15 ) 

unnaruL anRi enakkoru naRRuNai inmaiyinAl

enniru valvinai neeYe vilakki idham karudhi

manniyanal thirumanthiram Oadhum poruL nilaiYe

pon aruLAl aruLAi pugazh thoopul kulaviLakke

-  Kumara Varadachar (Pillai andhAdhi - 15 )

It is a privelage to begin this blog with a pasuram by Kumara Varadachar (popularly called Nainachariar), on his Father, Acharyan and God - 'Sarvatantraswatantra' Swami Thoopul Vedanta Desikan.

It is fitting to quote Kumara Varadaaryan here, since he is one of the iconic examples for Acharya nishtai after Madurakavigal and Kidambi Aachaan (his great-great-grandfather), for he mostly sang about his Father, his preceptor as God Himself. He even performed prapatti(saranagathi) under the sacred feet of his dad, which is one of the three methods for saranagathi falling under Swami's Prapatti doctrine(sva-, ukthi- and acharya-nishtai). Incidentally it is the method practised by the MuniTraya Sampradaya, for which one of the descendants of the Kidambi family(Swami Tirukkudandai Desikan) was the pravarthakar.

[We shall see more about Kidambi Aachaan and the Kidambi Family shortly ]

Our Swami was a preceptor-peerless leaping beyond all mortal superlatives, next only to Sri Emperumaanaar. Within the limitations of my reading, I am still to find a topic that Swami has left untouched. It is questionable whether someone could match his literary compositions and Baghwat kaimkaryam, even if blessed with a life ten times longer than what he has done (Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan's words in many of his mentions about Swami). Works ranging from Kavya-Nataka to Mimamsa Granta to Nyaya Granta to Ubaya Vedanta Bashya to Gita Bashya (Tatparya Chandrika) to Rahasya Granta to Stotra granta to Tamil Prabandha to physical kaimkaryam of saving PramaNas during foreign invasion to Sri Bashya Kalakshepam made over 30 times (still unmatched) to Debating in defense of Emperumaanaar Darshanam when faced with serious challenges to upholding Dramidopanishad and adhayayana utsavam in Srirangam and Tiruvahindrapuram to bridging the gap between two primary Agamas in Vaishnavam to holding the disctinction of being the only acharyan to have sung in nAyika Bhavam to a lot more to uphold Emperumanaar Darshanam in firm footing.

Acknowledging all the above, Sri Pillai Ulagaaryan, his senior contemporary, has rendered a thaniyan summing his value up as 

சீரொன்று தூப்புல் திருவேங்கடம் உடையான் 

பாரொன்றச் சொன்ன பழமொழியுள் - ஓரொன்று

தானே அமையாதோ தாரணியில் வாழ்வார்க்கு

வானேறப் போமளவும் வாழ்வு 

which is rendered before recitation('sevithal') of his Tamil Prabandhams.

For a lot more un-expressable and non-existant reasons, Swami is my most favourite Acharyan after Emperumaanaar, and all the above crap, which are my expositions, are no better than a Zero watt bulb stating "Sun is a real bright source of light"

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SarvatantraswatantrObayaVedantachaarya dAsAnudAsan

Konerirajapuram Asuri Sudarsanan