SrI
Srimathe ramanujaya namaha
Srimathe nigamanta mahadesikaya namaha

Dear bhagavathas,

namO nArAyaNaa. adiyen’s pranamams.

Click here to see the images of the Thirunakshatram.

adiyen is extremely glad to inform all of you that we had wonderful celebration of our acharya’s Thirunakshatram for the seventh year in row. Way back in 1997 on a Purattasi sravanam day bhagavathas Sri Madabushi Sudarshan and Sri IVK Chary swamin have started this satsangh in Bahrain and since then we are assembling once in a month on the sravanam day to recite the divine sookthis of Swami Desikan. Also every year the Thirunakshatram of Sri Desika is being celebrated in a grand manner. Now these two bhagavathas are living in Kuwait and you are aware of the various satsangh activities going on there thru thiruvenkatam group mails. adiyen understand that in Dubai also Thirunakshatram celebrations were planned. In short Swami desika is remembered very well in Gulf today.

This year we had three day celebration and adiyen will give a brief account of them.

Day 1 (26th Sep):

We had a children’s day with recitation competition of Desika stotras and Desika prabandham and divya prabandham followed by a quiz on the life history of our acharyas. adiyen has been sharing whatever little known to me with the children here  and they have been taught many stotras and prabandhams. So in order to encourage them we are conducting competitions around this time and prizes are being given to the winners along with certificates from Srimad Poundripuram andavan under Sri Seshadri swami’s “Orondru thaane amaiyadhO” scheme.

Sixteen children have participated in the competition and it was a treat to watch them performing in front of the parents and other goshti members. Although the booklet compiled by adiyen on the life history of acharyas was around 35 pages, the children were sharp and shooting the answer even before the question was completed. We were delighted at the enthusiasm of the children.

Day 2: (3rd Oct)

Being weekend here, our goshti members have assembled around 4 PM to recite the entire Sri Desika prabandham in one sitting. It was a great experience and every one of us enjoyed the seva kalam, which went for 3 hours. Once in year we are doing recitation of entire Desika prabandham although few of them are recited during every sravanam and during anadhyayana period. You may aware that our gosthi members Sri Ananth and Sri Narayanan have recited entire desika prabandham and this is available in a MP3 CD. For more details visit our web site http://srivaishnavam.com

Day 3 ( 5th Oct) Thirunakshatram day

Yesterday we have assembled at the residence of Sri V.Murali swamin around 7 PM and the recitation commenced with Pancha suktam followed by nityanusandhanam and Thiruvaymozhi. Sri Thiruvenkatamudaiyan’s pasurams Ozhivil kaalam and Ulagam unda peruvaayaa were recited from Thiruvaymozhi.

On desika stotrams, Hayagreeva stotram, Bhagavad dhyana sopanam , Daya shatakam (part), Dasavatara stotram, Sristuthi and part of Yatiraja saptathi were recited. Children’s goshti have recited Kamasikashtakam and Nyasa dasakam and adaikkalappaththu. The recitation session concluded with recitation of Pillai andhadhi. New stotra padam lesson was started for the children on this auspicious Vijaya dasami day.

Our goshti member Sri Ananth has been sharing the meaning of Sri stuthi slokas during every sravanam and yesterday this he has concluded this kaimkaryam. adiyen spoke briefly on the glories of Swami desika and why he is considered as an avataram of Lord Srinivasa.

Our ladies goshti then sang Sri Oppiliappan pasurmas and many desika prabandham pasurams set to traditional carnatic music. They have been putting lots of efforts in the past few weeks and it was a treat to listen to their presentation. adiyen will encode and upload them to our site and  send a note for the pleasure of your listening.

We had traditional thiruvaradanam and adiyen was blessed to perform this on this occasion. Slowly more and more Saligrama moorthys are blessing us here in Bahrain as every goshti member is inspired to do thiruvarandana  and they are bringing the moorthys from their home after their visit to India.

The perumal and acharya sambhavana collection of this evening will be sent to Thiupputkuzhi divya desam for various ongoing kaimkaryams, which are being
coordinated thru Sri V Murali swamin.

Then prizes were distributed to the winners of stotra padam, pranbandham and quiz competitions along with certificates. This time adiyen has printed the certificates in English so that the children can read them on their own. The children were thrilled and this competitive spirit has kindled their interest to learn more and more in the days to come, which was indeed the very purpose of this competition.

Not to miss out to mention the delicious prasadam that was served finally. Elaborating the menu in detail will make you feel more hunger on this upavasam (today is ekadasi) day. Many bhagavathas have put in great efforts to make a grand feast for the Lord Srinivasa and Swami desikan and our sincere thanks to all of them.

It was close to 11 PM and for about 4 hours we were in a different spiritual plane and the event was indeed memorable. adiyen will upload few of the images soon in our site and send a note to the e groups.

We are indeed blessed to have such a wonderful satsangh in a far away place where the local culture is totally different. We seek the blessings of Sriya:pathi and merciful acharyas to bless us to continue our humble efforts to observe and train our children about our sampradayam in a small way in this island.

Hope adiyen has not tested your patience.

regards,

adiyen ramanuja dasan,
VangIpuram R Venkataraghava dasan.