Adiyen will cover the tour experiences of Thirunangur divya desams and other divya desams.

Some bhagavathas have mentioned that adiyen can include the temple timings and contact person in that area who can arrange for a comfortable trip. Adiyen will try to provide this information whereever appropriate. You may refer to Travel info link under Divya desam menu of our site http://srivaishnavam.com

We left Chennai by a Fast Passenger, which is currently leaving Chennai-Tambaram at 11.15PM. Since Broad gauge conversion works in progress in most of the south, the train routes and timings are undergoing frequent change. The ideal journey would be to catch a night train and get down at Seerkazhi in the morning and cover Thirunangur based divya desams or alight at Mayiladuthurai to cover most of the divya desams around this town. You can get down at Chidambaram too to have darshan of Sri Govindaraja Perumal first and continue the journey to Thirunangur.

Our plan was to get down at Seerkazhi and we have arranged for a car for two days (1000 rupees per day for a coverage of maximum of 200 KM). The car driver is from Oppiliappan Koil and he has become very close to us due to our frequent trips to various divya desams in Chozha nadu. He is the same person who took us from Thanjai mamanikkoil to Thillaivilakam, Vaduvoor and Oppiliappan koil on the earlier trip.

The train left Chennai on time and my friend Sri Santhanam and my father were with me for this trip. Sri Santhanam is my close friend and we have lots of common interest to share. He goes on Pilgrimmage often with meticulous planning all over India and he is the one who has told us about the poor condition of Thalachchangadu divya desam after his visit.

Around 6.30AM the train reached Chidhambaram station and we should have reached Seerkazhi in another half an hour or so. As the train left the station and gaining speed, some one has pulled the emergency chain and the train was negotiating from loop line to main line and the sudden stop by pulling the chain has almost derailed the train. The connecting rod between the compartments broke and the train came to a grinding halt and it was every one’s guess about further journey of the train. We can’t afford to wait as the car will be waiting at Seerkazhi station and we had series of planned performances right from morning until night.

Quickly we got down and walked back to the station along the railway track
(thankfully the train did not travel much from station), and took an auto to go the bus stand. We took a bus and went to Seerkazhi and again took an auto to reach the station. This unexpected travel has consumed extra one hour and we have to leave out few divya desams due to this. It’s all HIS sankalpam.

Our original plan was to go to Thiruvali and than later come to Seerkazhi to have darshan of ThadaLan. But since some time has already been lost, the driver has suggested to have darshan at Seerkazhi first. We did not make any prior arrangement for bathing etc at Seerkazhi as our plan was to go to Sri Alinadan swami’s thirumaligai for our nityanushtanam. But since appa had been to the bhattar’s house earlier once, we thought of requesting him to have a shower at his home.

Adiyen found that the bhagavathas in these divya desams are very friendly and ever willing to help bhagavathas. The bhattar’s house was just close to the temple and he was kind enough to permit us to bathe and complete our sandhiyavandhanam etc. Then he took us to the temple and gave good darshan explaining the Periathirumozhi pasurams of Sri Thirumangai Azhvar. This temple is being maintained well and Thoddachchar family are mudhal thiirthakaras here.

Flower plants and tulasi plants are being grown around the prakaram. There is a separate Thayar sannidhi and a separate Ramar sannidhi. Being a town there are lots of shops around to buy garlands etc for the Perumal.

We then went to Thirunagari, the one of the twin temples (the other one is Thiruvali). Adiyongal are blessed to do nitya aradana kaimkaryam in these two temples. At this juncture, adiyen should introduce Sri Aalinadan swami who is actively involved in the kaimkaryams of Perumal in these divya desams. He is working as a schoolteacher in Seerkazhi and living in Thiruvali. He is Embar thirumaligai sishya and his knowledge in Divya prabandham is unbelievable. His father is serving the temple for more than 60 years and this swami is in late 80’s. Still he is active and accompanied us for the Thirumanjanam at Thiru Arimeya Vinnagaram for “Kudamadum koother”. Sri Aalinadan swami is also proficient in Divya prabandham and we have enjoyed his company so much for the entire day. His untiring efforts to serve Sri Thirumangai Azhvar and Perumal at Thirunagari and Thiruvali divya desam is to be mentioned and he is our coordinator for our kaimkaryams in Thirunangur divya desams.

When we went to Thirunagari, Sri Aalinadan swami was in the temple along with another group of devotees (our trust members Smt Subhashini and her sister and father etc.) who had different tour on the earlier day to Therazhundhur, Thiruvelliyangudi and other divya desams and joined us for Thirunangur trip. In all we had wonderful company enjoying the Lord in many temples in a goshti as Sri Andal puts it “ Kutiyirundhu KulirndhElOr empavaay”.

We had very good darshan of Sri Kalyana ranganathar and the specicality of this divya desam is that there is big sannidhi for Sri Thirumangai azhvar and he sports like a hunter man. His aradana moorthy “Sindhanaikku iniyan” is also kept along with Azhvar. Sri Manavala mamuni has composed a beautiful pasuram on the beauty of Sri Thirumangai azhvar.adiyen has the image of Sri Thirumangai azhvar and soon scan and put it in our site.

Sri Aalinadan swami has explained the history of the temple and throughout our trip in each temple he has explained the meaning of the main pasuram of Peria thirumozhi which glorifies that particular divya desam. His majestic recitation of the divya prabandham was a treat to listen.

Later we left to Thiruvali the another temple attahced to this twin divya desam. En route we wanted to visit the place where Sri Thirumangai azhvar has robbed the Lord, who came along with Thayar as newly wed couples. This place is called Thirumanangkollai. Every year Vedupari utsavam is being performed. Sri Aalinadan narrated the utsavam and we felt blessed to walk on this place where Sriman Naryanana has done Ashtakshara mantra upadesam to Azhvar.

We came to Thirunagari temple and the narasimhar here is special. HE is holding Mahalakshmi on the right hand side unlike the other temples where she sits on the left lap. Our trust is doing nitya aradana kaimkaryam in this temple too.

Since we have arranged for Thirumanjanam at Arimeya vinnagaram temple for Kudamadum koothar we rushed over there as we were getting late for this.

Adiyen will continue the tour in the next post.

Regards,

Visit to Divya desams Part IX.

At this juncture, adiyen would like to share one more important information and introduce one bhagavatha who is silently doing many kaimkaryams in the Thirunangur based divya desams. He is Sri Muralidhar guruji swami. He lives in a ashramam near Sri Perumbhuthur and he is a charted accountant by profession. He preaches to sing the glories of Lord Krishna and Radharani,but he is NOT attached to ISKCON. He wears urdva pundram with gopi chandan like Sri Krishna premi swami and he too have lots of followers it seems.

Sri Muralidhar guruji swami’s interview came in the recent English edition of Sri Nrusimhapriya also and he is firm in committing his resources for maintenance of divya desams rather than making new temples or even sannidhis. He has done lots of kaimkaryam to Thirunangur temples and if you drive from Seerkazhi, you can spot well written direction boards leading you to the Thirunangur temples, which has been arranged by this group. He has been involved in renovating and doing samprokshanam for Arimeya vinnagaram and other few temples and Thiruththevanar thogai ( known as Keezhachchalai) temple’s Samprokshanam will be performed on 8th Sep 2003. He runs a veda patashala in Thirunangur and the local bhagavathas have great respect for him, which is natural. Adiyen feels that our Srivaishnava scholars should take him as an example to serve divya desams rather than concentrating to make new temples. This is my humble opinion. In our sampradayam we lack concerted effort in any kaimkaryam. Every group feels that their kaimkaryam is superior to others and so on.

Let us get back to our Kudamadum koothar who has been waiting for us to bless us while undergoing thirumanjanam. Due to water shortage we were told that the kainkaryaparas were arranging water from 4 AM and what a pity. It seems that other materials like milk, curd etc can easily be arranged but not water.

The utsavar along with Sri and Bhu devi thayars were brought to the front mandapam and the arrangements were elaborate. Despite the water shortage the thirumanjanam was performed in a grand manner. With the recitation of pancha suktam and Taitiriiyopanishad the thirumanjanam was performed at a slow pace giving plenty of time to the devotees to enjoy HIS divya thirumeni from every angle and after each abhishekam harati was performed. Sri Aalinadan swami and his aged father, Sri Kannan swami (He is the dharmakartha for few temples in Thirunangur) and his sons Chi Vedarajan and another (sorry for not getting his name) were there and the Veda gosham was simply superb. Adiyen could recite Pancha suktam at that pace and felt very happy about that. Smt Subhashini has brought new vastrams for perumal and the utsavar was all in smiles after his thirumanjanam and in new vastrams and flowers. We were drinking his beauty with our eyes and knowing that we can’t do it enough we tried to take as many as 10 snaps from various angles to hold this moment of joy in our heart for the years to come. Instead of running to crowded temples one must go to these temples and perform thirumanjanam and be with HIM from morning to evening.

It was already nearing 12 O’clock and the divya prabandham recitation was done in short style. One has to be thorough with the pasurams even for this. After reciting the shorter version of pallandu, thiruppalliyezhuchchi, thiruppavai and kanninun siruththambu and first decad of Peria thirumozhi, they have recited the Peria thirumozhi decad dedicated to Arimeya vinnagar in a pleasing style with good rhythm and it was a treat to the ears. You may be aware that the periathirumozhi pasurams of these divya desams were long and and reciting it in a slow pace in musical tone is indeed difficult. First we had the treat for the eyes witnessing the thirumanjanam. Now the treat for ears. After this bhojyasanam was done and followed by grand sarrumurai. Adiyen would like to mention here about our trust member Smt Subhashini Narasimhan who is doing lots of kaimkaryams to divya desams. She was keen in arranging this thirumanjanam and she did good sambhavana to all the bhagavathas over there. After treating our eyes and ears now it was time to treat the stomach with prasadam. Adiyongal did not even have a cup of water since morning during our long trip from Chidambaram. We were exhausted but enjoyed the visit to various temples and totally engrossed into the thirumanjanam. Only after partaking the prasadam we felt tired but the long list of temples to be seen came to our mind and we have no time to relax. Praying to Kudamadum koother to give us strength to complete our yatra as scheduled, we left to other temples around.

Have you been to Thirunangur? Adiyen don’t know how it looks during the utsavam of garuda seva or vedupari utsavam. During this visit, we could not believe the calmness of the village and despite many temples are around you can hardly locate a flower shop or a shop selling pooja materials. The village is surrounded by green fields and the transport facilities are limited it appears. One would love to live here enjoying the nature and of course visiting the divya desams, which are at a walking distance.

From here we went to the following temples in the same order. You may wonder how adiyen remember the sequence. It is because of my friend Sri Santhanam. He keeps a notepad and keeps writing immediately after the visit. After coming to chennai, adiyen have to seek his help to organise my photo album too.

Thiruththerriyambalam
Thiru vaN purushottamam
Thiru Vaikuntha vinnagaram
Thiru semponsey koil
Thiru manimadakkoil
Thiru thevanor thogai
Thirukkavalam padi
Thiru parthan palli
Thiru manikkodam

All these temples are grouped under Thirunangur based divya desams. The perumal here is so beautiful and one must visit these temples and feel for them selves. There is no Dwajasthambam in any of these temples. Similarly there is no separate thayar sannidhi. With the efforts of Sri Muralidhar guruji, some temples are looking good after samprokshanam. Sri Thirukkoshtiyur madhavan swami has also done some kaimkaryams in renovating these temples. Chi Vedarajan and Sri Aalinadan were with us throughout our trip explaining the background of these temples and Vedarajan needs a special mention here.

He is a +2 student but spends his time only in learning divya prabandham and other temple kaimkaryams. He says that if he pass the exam that is good enough. He was explaining the mercy of Perumal who made him to pass the 10th exam esp in Tamil, as he did not perform well due to ongoing utsavams there. Somehow Perumal has made him to score the needed marks and he is happy about that. You may wonder why adiyen is writing this. The innocence with which he explained this incident made me to mention it. He is not wasting his days. He has learnt Suktams and first prashnam of T.Upanishad plus 500 pasurams of divya prabandham. He is actively involved in temple kaimkaryams helping his father and he is doing it with lots of interest. Like the Sriram of Vaduvoor, Chi Vedarajan is another gem of a youth, willing to dedicate him for bhagavath kaimkaryam. He wants to continue his education only by correspondence and probably he will opt for B.Com or B.A and try to do by studying at home only. He is very open and free in expressing his ideas and the innocence is pretty clear on his face. But once he gets in to the temple and goes to perumal for harathi, you can see a different Vedarajan there. Like a seasoned archaka, he will loudly recite the key verse from the decad of Peria thirumozhi, and explain the importance and speciality of that particular temple. Adiyen wonder how this is possible. Each temple has its own uniqueness and when it is told we feel it.

Since there are no regular sevarthis, only dry turmeric powder is given as prasadam in these temples unlike the turmeric paste (manjal kappu) which is common in Srirangam or Srivilliputtur temples. Only during weekends devotees are coming in an arranged tour. Otherwise these temples are mostly deserted. Adiyen has images of utsavars of all these temples and after this write up adiyen will scan them and include it in the web.

At Kavalampadi the perumal is Gopalakrishna and he is seen with a calf behind like in Raja mannargudi. It seems that Sri Muralidhar swamji has arranged for a pancha loka calf as the earlier one was made of wood, which was also huge in size. Similarly renovation was going on at Thiru thevanar thogai and still we could have the darshan of moolavar and utsavar as the sannidhi was shifted to a temporary place.

The experiences at Parthanpalli needs to be mentioned. Here the bhattar is staying close to the temple and he is old too. He came to temple and gave us very good darshan. He explained how srimad Azhagiya singar and Srimad Andavam enjoyed their mangalasasanams and he felt very happy about their visits. This temple is also in need of support and interested bhagavathas can extend their help either thru our trust or directly to him (Sri V S Lakshmana Deekshithar tel 04364 2275478). He is requesting help for maintenance of nandavanam for tulasi and flowers and for nitya aradanai.

After completing our trip of all Thirunangur divya desams, Sri Aalinadan swami and Chi Vedarajan left us to their respective places to get ready for evening pooja. Sri Aalinadan wanted to be in Thirunagari as his father is old and can’t go to temple after a long trip to Arimeya vinnagaram. No words can express our gratitude for all their kindness and help. We thanked them and left for annan koil. Smt Subha and others who has already visited Annan koil went to Mangaimadam and Thirukkuraiyalur temples.

Adiyen will continue the experiences at Annankoil and Thalachchangadu in the next posting.

Visit to Divya desams part X

adiyen is extremely sorry for leaving the series in between. adiyen was briefly ill and now slowly recovering. adiyen will cover the experiences of three divya desams in this posting.

After visiting Thirunangur based divya desams, Sri Aalinadan and Sri Veda rajan left for their respective places and myself, my father and my friend santhanam continued our trip to Thiruvellakkulam and then to Thalachchangadu divya desams. The other group with Smt Subashini and her sister etc went to Mangaimadam and Kuraiyalur and came to Thalachchangadu.

In divya prabandham the Azhvars do mangalasasanam for not only perumal in that particular divya desam but also to the sacred tank and sthala vruksham etc. Sri Nammazhvar is doing mangalasasanam to the sacred tank at Thirumogur, at the begining of the last decad in Thiruvaymozhi, stating “Thala thaamarai thadavayal thirumookur..” Similarly, the tank in this divya desam has been sung by Sri Kaliyan (thirumangai azhvar). The another beauty is that the name of the divya desam itself Thiruvellakkulam.

It is believed that the dharma patni of Sri Thirumangai azhvar Sri Kumudhavalli nachchiyar was incarnated in this tank. You all must be aware of the story of Sri Thirumangai azhvar and adiyen is not going to dwell into the story here for the sake of brevity. The pity thing is there is not a single drop of water in the temple tank now. The surrounding of the temple is so peaceful and calm.

This perumal, who is known as Annan perumal is considered as the elder brother of Sri Thiruvenkatamudaiyan of Thiruppathi. Although, the Oppili appan and Sri Devanathan of Thiruvahendrapuram are also considerd as elder brothers of Lord Balaji, there is strong reason for calling Annan perumal as the elder brother of Thiruvenkatamudaiyan. Consider this pasruam of Peria thirumozhi, which is glorifying Thiruppathi,

kaNNaar kadalsoozh* ilangkaikku iRaivanthan*
thiNNaagam piLakkach* chalam sela uytthaay!*
viNNOr thozhum* vEngkada maamalai mEya*
aNNaa! adiyEn* idaraik kaLaiyaayE.    1.10.1

Now let us how Kaliyan is doing mangalasasanam to Annan perumal.

1308:##
kaNNaar kadalpOl* thirumEni kariyaay*
naNNaarmunai* venRiKoLvaar mannu naangoor*
thiNNaar mathiLchoozh* thiruveLLak kuLaththuL_aNNaa*
adiyEn idaraik kaLaiyaayE       (4.7.1)

adiyen can keep on giving references, quoting all the ten pasurams of Thiruvellakulam and Thiruppathi to emphasise  the similarity of both divya desams. Let us leave this for a later detailed discussion and move on. Sri Kaliyan has addressed only the Thirupathi Srinivasar and Annan perumal as aNNaa in his pasurams. This is the uniqueness of this divya desam.

Here Sri Madhava bhattar is doing kaimkaryam to Perumal and this temple is in better shape compared to other Thirunangur divya desams. When we have visted the temple, the upanyasam of Sri Krisha premi on Thiruvaymozhi was being played thru the audio system of the temple. In that evening, it was no nice to listen to the mesmorising voice of Sri Krishna premi swami. We had good darshan of the Perumal and Thayar and Sri Madhava bhattar has made good booklets for guidance to visit the divya desams around Thirunangur.

The nandavanam of this divya desam requires special mention. It was huge and various types of flowers and tulasi are being grown. We are blessed to participate in the maintenance of the nandavana kaimkaryam. As we came back from our short visit the nandavanam, lots of small children were marching to the temple and Sri Madhava bhattar has explained that on every sunday around 6 PM all the local children are invited for nama sankeerthan for an hour. He leads the goshti and the children are encouraged with small gifts etc. They sing the famous Hare rama sloka for an hour. We thanked Sri Madhava bhattar and left for Thalachchangadu.

It was around 6.30PM and it has become dark by then. The roads are poorly lit and one has to be very careful in driving, as the roads are very narrow too. Thalachchangadu temple is in an isolated location. But once you reach there you will love the surrounding. The temple is in a groove, which is full of tall coconut trees and mango trees. There are green paddy fields around the temple and one special note about the water well in the temple. adiyen has never tasted water which is as sweet as this well. Since the approach is bit difficult this temple do not receive lots of devotees.

We are blessed to do nitya aradanam in this temple for quite some time now. It was my friend Santhanam, who has visited the temple four years back and he came by public transport and after a long walk he reached the temple it seems. Seeing his camera, the village people mistook him as a magazine reporter and took pains to go to the house of the aged bhattar (age 80+) and called him.  The bhattar came and gave a good darshan to him and then enquired which magazine he is attached to. My friend told that he is just an ordinary devotee and not a reporter. This made him angry and murmured that had I known this, I wouldn’t have come. Hoping that if the temple gets good exposure, the renovation can take place I came. My friend did not get angry. Given his age and condition of the temple, they must be really looking for some publicity to improve the condition.

Santhanam mentioned it to me and he felt bad about the condition of the temples. adiyen then asked my father to visit this temple. In the meantime, the temple got a facelift with renovation with the help of various asthikas and when my father has visited the temple the local bhagavathas have requested him for help for doing nitya aradanam. By bhagavath sankalpam, we could take up the nitya aradana kaimkaryam in this temple.

Parakalan kainkarya sabha is co ordinating the temple activities. Sri Thiruvenkatam who is working in Neyveli commutes on every weekend to oversee the temple matters. Sri Narayanan, who is the dharmakartha and he is also actively interested in doing kaimkaryam for the perumal. They were all waiting for us for a long time. We aplogosied for the delay and they have even brought different kinds of fruits for offering to Perumal. The bhattar is very old and his eyesight is very poor due to his age. Still with great enthusiasm, he explained the puranic background of the temple and even shown the artha chandra on the head of the Utsavar. Since the Lord is keeping the chandra on his head, he is called Thalachchanga naaN madhiyapperumal. The andal vigraham in this temple is so beautiful and even the Lifco book on 108 divya desam has mentioned about this.

After having a good darshan, we sat down and Sri Thiruvenkatam and Sri Narayanan have mentioned in detail about the various expenses associated with the nitya aradana kaimkaryam and they were so thankful for our humle help. adiyen was really wondering whether such a small help and little financial assistance could make great difference to these temples. The bhattar in the mean time brought hot milk and requested us to help ourselves to add sugar as he can’t do a proper job due to his poor eyesight. adiyen was in tears to see his affection and they felt sorry for not providing anyother prasadam due to the present conditon. We were indeed moved by their love and gesture.

After a while, Smt Subha and others reached the temple and the bhattar was once again busy. Smt Subha has provided vastrams and vessels to this temple and during this trip she had agreed to provide vessels worth Rs 5000/ to Thirunangur temples. If every one of us start visiting these temples and extending our little assistance for vastrams and inexpensive ornaments (no need to be in pure gold) and other needs these temples will look far better than they are today. It is the intention with which adiyen is writing in detail about our trip.

We contiuned our yatra to Mayiladuthurai to have darshan of Sri Parimala rangan at Thiruindhalur while Subha and others went to Thirukkannapuram.

It is not easy to have darshan of Sri Parimala rangan at Thiruindhalur. When Sri Thirumangai azhvar came to this divya desam, it was late in the night and the temple was closed for the day. Sri Thirumangai azhvar was upset and he was desparate to have darshan of the Lord. The perumal gave HIS darshan as he appeared in kretha yuga and thretha yuga but Azhvar was insisting that he want to see HIM as he is inside the temple in archavatara. Perumal was helpless in this case, as only the bhattar or archaka have to come to give darshan of HIM in archavatara. This made Azhvar angry and he was prepared to even leave the place without having darshan of Perumal. Now Perumal is worried and quickly made the archaka to come back to the temple to satisfy the Azhvar. Please read the wonderful ten pasurams of Peria thirumozhi associated with this divya desam.

The above is the history but my friend santhanam told me that he has come twice to this divya desam at differnt timings and on both the occasions he has to return without darshan of the Perumal. He could not stay back due to other commitments and he was very eager to see the perumal atleast this time.

By 8 PM, we have reached the temple and straight went to main sannidhi for darshan. For a moment we were very happy as there was not much crowd also at that time. Believe me, we were asked to come out of the sannidhi by a group of bhagavathas who were standing over there. We were surprised and worried too. Is that mean that we can’t have darshan now?

We understood that some one in the agraharam has passed away that day and due to the theetu the temple was closed for some time. Now the proceedings are being resumed with all the poojas starting from the morning after punyavachanam etc. All the rituals starting from the morning till the evening was done at 8PM as a shorter version and then we had darshan of the Lord. Then we went to Thayar sannidhi and Sudarshana azhvar sannidhi and came out around 9 PM. We were glad to come at the right time. Even if we had come earlier in the day, we couldn’t have had darshan. It was HE who brought us in the correct time and it reminded me the pasuram of Sri Thirumazhisai azhvar in Thiruchchandha vruththam “ ninna padham ninaippadhathaka nee ninaikka vendume” meaning YOU should resolve that I should be able to think about your lotus feet”.  What a brilliant expression!

After a tiring day we finally travelled to Oppiliappankoil as our next day yatra was commencing from there after visvaroopa darshan of Lord Oppiliappan. We have made arrangements for stay at Sri Andavan ashramam and by 10 PM we have reached there. appa told that we  have to get us early to bathe in the Pushkarani and for visvaroopa darshan. We were exhausted after a long journey visiting 17 divya desams starting Seerkazhi and ending with Thiruindhalur. We prayed to Oppiliappan to wake us early enough for his morning darshan as we did not bring any alarm clock with us.

Our trip to Nathan koil, Adhanur, Pullambhuthangudi, Thirumandangudi etc will be in the next posting.