adiyen's
father has been arranging divya desa trips to bhagavathas from USA,
Bahrain and India. He has also accompanied Smt Godha and her family to
more than 35 divya desams in Chozha nadu. Pls read the write up below.
We will be pleased to assist you for such yatras in the spirit of
bhagavatha kaimakaryam. Please send a note to rmvenkat@yahoo.com
This is a small write-up of our trip to some of the Divya Desams in Chozha naadu. This is my sixth trip with mama and I feel so grateful and indebted to him for his effort in taking me to Divya desams.
We (me, my husband Badri and mama) left by Kumbakonam Passenger on 23rd July. Reached Kuttralam in early morning and as always, Rajendran was waiting to pick us up. We reached the Bhattar’s home (Srinivasa Bhattar) at Therazundhur around 7 AM . It is a seven km ride from Kuttralam to Therazhundur.
After our morning refreshments, we first went to Therazundhur temple and had a good sevai of Perumal (Moolavar: Devadirajan, Utsavar : Aamaruviyappan) and Thaayar (Sengamala Valli Nachiyaar, Hemambuja Valli Naachiyar). We had our breakfast in Bhattar’s home and then left to ThiruIndalur to have the darshan of Parimala Rangan. Perumal is in veera sayanam with Sridevi and Bhudevi Naachiyars doing Paadha Sevai. We also had a good sevai of Thaayar (parimala Ranganayaki/Sugandha Vana nayaki) and were fortunate to receive prasadam (curd rice) too!
We had the bhagyam of visiting Srinivasa temple ( temple is in dilapidated condition in a pretty remote area and is not well known to people) at ChozhamPettai. Perumal’s thirumeni is from a single Athi maram. He stands so gigantic and marvelous with Bhudevi Nachiyar besides Him but it is our great misfortune that this temple is in such a bad state with all broken gopurams and there is no enough money even for daily Thiruvaradhanam. This Perumal gave darshan in an Athi maram to Pipla maharishi and on rishi’s request He resides there for ever to bless the devotees.
We returned to Therazundhur around 11 AM to participate in the thirumanjanam. Thirumanjanam was done in a very grand manner with recitation of Purusha suktham and Srisuktham. It started with the thaila kaapu for Moolavar and perumal had thirumanjanam from milk, curd, tender coconut, sandal paste etc. Earlier Bhattar did an elaborate poojai with the kalasam and Perumal had thirumanjanam from the kalasa theertham too..Then we had the bhagyam of witnessing utsavar thirumanjanam (Perumal and Thaayar in serthi sevai). Neerattal paasurams were recited and it was a feast to watch Perumal and Thaayar adorning the thulasi maalai and sandana kaapu. The Sathupadi was simply superb and beyond one’s capacity to describe. We were extremely fortunate to be with Perumal for such a long time and to see Him from such close quarters. Then we were served prasadams ( kesari, puliyodharai, panchamrutham and dhadhyonnam). We were also blessed with Perumal’s garlands and vasthram. Later we had lunch at Bhattar’s home and got ready for the evening visit.
In the evening, we first went to Thiruvelliangudi to have a darshan of Kollavilli Raman. Perumal’s thirumeni is made of sudhai and hence there is no thirumanjanam for this perumal. Garuda Bhagawan here is very special because He adorns the sankhu and charka of perumal and His posture looks like as though He is about to get up and take Perumal’s divya commands. We had a good sevai and left for Mannargudi.
Mannargudi RajaGopalan is beauty personified Himself and there are no words to describe His thirumeni sowndharyam. He has the peethambaram adorned just above His knees, a key chain in His hips,
“maadu meykkum kol” in His right thirukaram and His left thirukaram is seen as though he is embracing/touching someone (???). What to say of His wonderful smile?? On seeing this Perumal, one will feel like being with the kutti kannan in Brindavan. Moolavar is Vasudeva Perumal and is seen with Sridevi and bhudevi naachiyars. Thaayar is Sengamavalli Naachiyaar. We had a good sevai and left for Vaduvoor.
It was nearing 8 PM and we were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to reach Vaduvoor before the temple closes for the day. By Perumal’s abundant grace, the temple was open by the time we reached and we had a good sevai of Vaduvoor Ramar. Then we visited the veda paata saalai. Here around 50 children learn in the Gurukulam style and we felt happy to spend a few minutes with them. We had our dinner here and left for oppiliappan koil to retire for the day.
Next day morning, we were in time for the viswaroopa sevai of the Lord. There was much crowd in the temple and we got a glimpse of the viswaroopa darshan. Later we went inside and had a peaceful darshan of the Lord. When Thirumangai Azhwar enjoys ThiruNagai Perumal, he wonders at the beauty in which Perumal holds His Sankhu and Chakram. He cries out “ Azhi ondru endhi Or sankhu patri acho! Oruvar Azhagiyava!”. One is reminded of Azhwar’s paasuram on looking at the sankhu and chakram of our dear lord Oppiliappan. His gambheeram is matchless..How fortunate are those who stay in this divyadesam doing service to the Lord!! Then we visited Ramar, Ponappan and Maniappan sannidhis. Pushkarani of this temple is called “Ahorathra pushkarani” and one can take a holy dip even in the night..We all felt extremely happy to get Oppiliappan’s sevai and then left for ThiruSirupuliyur.
We had a good sevai of Arulmaakadal Amudhan (Krupa Samudhra Perumal) and Naachiyaar in Sirupuliyur. Perumal is in BalaSayanam here. From here we went to Ananthamangalam. This is a famous Anjaneyaswamy temple. He is DasaBuja Thrinethra Anjaneyaswamy. By the time we reached there, Thirumanjanam was going on and we had the bhagyam of seeing it. Bhattar told us the sthalapuranam and it goes like this..After Ravana Samharam, Rama was on His way to Ayodhya but there came an another Asura who had the potential to destroy the worlds. Since Perumal had to reach Nandigramam (to meet Bharatha) and cannot afford to have any delay in reaching Bharatha’s place, He sent Anjaneya to destroy the Asura and save the world. All the gods gave their divya ayudhams to Anjaneya swamy (He holds ten weapons) and on His victorious march after killing the Asura, He decided to reside in this beautiful place called AnanthaMangalam. Perumal is Rukmini Satyabhaama sahitha Venugopalaswamy. Utsavar murthy here looks like Mannargudi RajaGopalan. Bhattar blessed us with Perumal’s prasadams.
From AnanthaMangalam, we travelled to Thalaichangadu. This divyadesam is called ThiruthalaichangaNanmadhiyam and is popularly known as Thalaichangadu. We had a good sevai here and Mama had some time to discuss temple matters. Later we left for Thirunangoor divyadesams. We visited four divyadesams (ThiruParthanPalli, ThiruVann Purushottamam, Thirumanimaada Koil and Thiruvellakulam). Vedarajan who is a young lad (doing High school) did sevai for us in ThiruVann Purushottamam. His recitation of Azhwar’s paasurams is a treat for the ears. In ParthanPalli, though the bhattar is very aged, he gave a wonderful sevai for us. He gave a very long commentary on this Perumal’s vaibhavam. In Manimaada koil and Annan Koil, we met Alinaadan and were fortunate to hear how Azhwar enjoys Thirunaangoor Perumals. Though we got only a few minutes with him (as he was accompanying an another group of Bhaktas), it was enlightening for us. We hope Perumal will bless us soon with a trip to all Thirunangoor temples with Alinadan . One can enjoy perumal only through Azhwar’s paasurams and the glory of each temple will be known only when the bhattar or someone tells us. Later we had lunch at Alinadan’s home , thanked for their kindness and left for Thiruchitrakoodam.
At Chidambaram, Bhoovarahan swamy accompanied us to Thiruchitrakoodam and SriMushnam. Thiruchitrakoodam is a divyadesam which is inside the Chidambaram Sivan temple. Perumal’s thirunamam is Govindarajan and is in Bhoga Sayanam. Utsavar is Parthasarathy Perumal. There is also an another utsava Perumal called “Chitrakoodathullan”. Bhattar told us that some are of the opinion that Azhwar sang this Perumal only. Thaayar is Amrithavalli Naachiyar. Since Bhoovarahan swamy accompanied us, we got a good sevai inspite of the huge crowd. Then we left for SriMushnam.
SriMushnam is one of the eight Svayamvyaktha Kshetrams. Perumal’s thirunamam is Bhoovarahan. The swamy who accompanied us told us that this Perumal is in the exact center of the GarbaGraham which is called as the BhramaSthanam. Perumal’s thirumeni is small and He has His hands on His hips and is holding the Sankhu and Chakram near His hips. Bhattar told us that this is because Perumal wanted to kill Hiranyakshan and rescue Bhoomi Piratti. If Perumal had shown His viswaroopam or had shown His sankhu and chakram, Asura might have surrendered and Perumal would have no choice but to protect the Asura who surrendered. Perumal looks so beautiful. Utsavar is YajnaVarahan. Due to Thaayar’s request, Perumal came as YajnaVaraha murthy and married our thaayar. We had a good sevai at the Thaayar’s sannidhi also. With this our yatra ended., had dinner at Bhoovarahan swamy’s home and left to catch our train. We were indeed racing from Srimushnam and Rajendran managed it pretty well and made us reach the station on time. No amount of thanks can ever repay the hospitality shown by Bhoovarahan swamy, Alinadan and Srinivasa Bhattar. Ofcourse, we have to thank our driver friend Rajendran who made it possible to cover these many temples. In all, we had a wonderful, memorable trip and Badri and I look forward for many many more trips with our dear mama!!
Regards,
Godha.