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Fifth Day of the trip: Following AchArya RaamAnujA's sacred steps : Trips to SriperumbhUdhUr and Kanchipuram, Feb 9 ,2000

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Sadagopan • February 29, 2000 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE Nama:


Dear BhakthAs : Today was the day adiyEn's original
plans were to travel to Azhagar Koil for Akkara Vadisil
SamarpaNam for Sri SundararAjan and from there on to 
Sri VilliputtUr to attend the SamprOkshaNam . 
After Srirangam , due to the pressure of time , 
adiyen concluded that ANDAL would understand 
a shift in plan to reroute the trip to AchArya
RaamAnujA's birth place and Kanchipuram , where 
He received SanyAsa DhIkshai in front of Lord VaradarAjan,
His AaarAdhana Moorthy .The memories of October 1998 
visit to SrivilliputthUr to present the RaaNi KoNdai
and Vasthram are still green in adiyEn's memory .

SriperumbhUdhUr 
***************

here , We had the sevai of AdhikEsavapperumAL and 
His divine consort , YathirAjavalli ThAyAr . 
There was SaatthumuRai at Udayavar Sannidhi 
in which adiyEn participated .Among the two 
Jeeyars (HH EmbAr Jeeyar and HH Varada Yathiraja Jeeyar )
adorning this abhimAna sthalam , HH EmbAr Jeeyar 
attended the SaatthumuRai and Theertham . He
blessed the SatAri for Udayavar . 

At Udayavar Sannidhi , where the archai is known as 
"Thaamm uhantha ThirumEni " because of AchArya
RaamAnujA's personal approval of the likeness of
the archA vigraham with His own ThirumEni.AchAryan
is said to have embraced it and performed 
anupravEsam of His sakthi into that sacred 
image that we worship today. At  the conclusion of
His stay at ThirunArAyaNapuram ,Udayavar acceded
to the request of His sishyAs (tamars) , who were 
grief stricken over the prospect of Udayavar leaving
ThirunArAyaNapuram for Srirangam at the end of the twelve
year long stay .The most merciful Udayavar had an archA
vigraham created and let His sakthi enter that 
vigraham as well ;that archai is being worshipped even today
at ThirunArAyaNapuram .This ArchA moorthy of Udayavar
is revered as Tamar uhantha ThirumEni . Thus we have
ThAmE aana ThirumEni at Srirangam ,Thaam uhantha ThirumEni
at SriperumbhUthUr and Tamar uhantha ThirumEni
at ThirunArAyaNapuram .

At SriperumbhUthur, the temple according to
sthala purANam was built by Bhoothams overnight .
Here was born our great AchAryan in the year 1017 A.D .
His parents were Bhumi PirAtti and Aasuri Kesava SomayAji.
BhUmi PirAtti was the sister of Thirumalai
Nampi (sishyar of ALavandhAr) , who named the child of 
his sister as "RaamAnujan ", who is considerd as
the avathAram of the nithyasoori AdhisEshan :

Anantha: Prathamam roopam LakshmaNasthu tatha: param
Bhalabhadra: ThrithIyasthu kalou kascchidh bhavishyathi

(please see the recently released AchArya RaamAnujaa
CD ROM for a wonderful graphics on this theme ) 

(meaning): The primordial form is AadhisEshan .
Later AdhisEshan incarnated as LakshManan .
The next avathAram (second) was that of BalarAman.
The third avathAram of AdhisEsahn is RaamAnujA 
in Kali Yugam . 

This great AchAryan received SanyAsa aasramam 
from Lord VaradarAjaa ( archithArtha ParidhAna
Dheekshithan) and was made Udayavar ( possessor 
of the Ubhaya VibhUthi Vaibhavam ) by Lord
RanganAthA later. It is this AchAryan's ThirumEni
that all of us worship at SriperumbhUthUr .

At Udayavar's sannidhi , the Aaradhakar consecrated
the SatAri and pointed out to adiyEn that the proper
way of carrying the RaamAnuja SatAri to ThirunArAyaNapuram ,
its final destination , is not by carrying it in 
a box . The most kind Archakar inspired by years of
aarAdhanam to Sri RaamAnujA went inside the sannidhi and 
took the upper garment ( KaashAyam ) worn by AchArya 
RaamAnujA and wrapped the SatAri in that blessed vasthram 
and gave it back to adiyEn .It was the most moving experience
and subha soochakam in that it was considered as a command
by udayavar during the final leg of the journey of His SatAri.

The archakar also mentioned that Udayavar vigraham at
SriperumbhUdhUr has a bejewelled ThridhNdam that is used
only during the uthsavams .During every day alankAram , a silver
thridhaNdam adorns the hand of Udayavar . The archakar mentioned
that this thridhaNdam used daily needs to be replaced 
since , it shows the signs of age . AdiyEn agreed 
to replace this ThridhaNDam with a new one approved by
the Koil AdhikAris and the Bhattar during this year . 

The blessing of having a ThridhaNdam in the hands of 
Udayavar at SriperumbhUdhur the year around except
on Uthsavam days is one of the greatest blessings
as SamarpaNam in one's life time . AdiyEn will 
keep you posted on developments . Some of you might wish
to join adiyEn in this kaimkaryam . AdiyEn is debating 
whether nine gems representing the nine Sri Sookthis 
of AchArya RaamAnujA (as illustrated in
the recently released AchArya RaamAnujA CD ROM )
can be enmeshed (Izhaippu) in the body 
or the flag portion of the ThridhaNdam .

The thridhaNdam and the SatAri of AchArya RaamAnujA
have been described by the AchAryan Himself in His life time
as Mudali AaNDAn . Our AchAryan's pavithram is
recognized as KurEsan . Hence, adiyEn considered it
as our Bhaagyam to be asked to replace the TridhaNdam
in the hands of our Udayavar , who has both the VibhUthis .

Getting slightly ahead of the narration of this journey ,
adiyEn is thrilled to share with You another blessing 
that happened two days later at ThirunArAyaNapuram .
During the occasion of SatAri SamarpaNam there ,
the Bhattars mentioned that Two of the silver 
Pancha paathrams used in the daily AarAdhanam 
for ThirunArAyaNan (SnAnIya and Arghya Paathram )
had become khilam ( worn out ) and had developed cracks .
The Archakars mentioned that adiyEn should help
replace those ancient silver AarAdhana Paathrams 
used in daily worship of the Lord at ThirunArAyaNapuram .
AdiyEn accepted this archaka muka niyamanam
(Command of the Lord through His senior Archakar)
immediately . Two of these vessels that were presented 
earlier by the Mysore MaharAjAs will be replaced by
a new set that are being prepared at Chennai now.
These two vattils (AarAdhana Paathrams) will
be presented as samarpaNam to ThirunArAyaNan
on the coming Vairamudi day (March 16 )or the day before 
as samarpaNams to commemorate my Parama Padha Vaasi parents
( Srimathi PerughavaazhunthAn Alamelumangai and 
Sri Poundarikapuram Bruhaspathi VaradAchAr Swamy ).
My eldest nephew , Sri Mukundha Mani will hand carry
those two silver vattils on our behalf on March 15
to ThirunArAyaNapuram . 

After the worship of Udayavar at His birth place,
adiyEn left for Kaanchipuram to have the sevai of
DevarAja PerumAl standing on top of Hasthigiri,
who blessed AchArya RaamAnujA in every way .

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradachAri SadagOpan