Wednesday, June 20, 2007

We Need to Nnow

1. Importance of Maha Pradosham

Evening is the time of day when the hot Sun is on the wane. A pleasant twilight envelops everything creating a reddish-golden color all around. The wind picks up the fragrance of flowers. That is the time when the chirping and tweeting birds return to their nests for a reunion with their little ones after a day in search of food. The Evening, therefore, appears to be the best part of the day, providing a great time for peace and tranquility for every one.
 
Peace and tranquility can occur only when human beings could observe silence. If Speech is silver, silence in golden, says the adage. The value of silence need not be over-emphasised. Generally, our tongues are continually engaged in vocalisation of some thought or the other, with scarce consideration for whether or not the listener really wants to hear it all. Sometimes, words unpalatable to others, invective, innuendos and worthless gossip also comes out of speaking. What better atonement could there be for such offences, than to refrain absolutely from talking. at least for some time? And the beneficial effects of absolute silence, if observed in all sincerity, could result in a rejuvenation of the spirit and even a communion with the God.

It is with this in view that the Shrutis enjoin upon us to devote the glorious Evening to absolute silence, to contemplation of God in blissful quiet. The Vedas tell us to practice silence daily with devotion, at sundown. Thus the Evening represents a welcome change from the constant sounds of the day to be spent in blissful contemplation of the Almighty, with all faculties focusing on Him, with the silence prescribed by the Shruti. And in these Shrutis every evening is called ‘Pradosham”.

As far as we, the Sri Vaishnavas are concerned, the Evenings have special significance. While every evening is a Pradosham, the time for silence, devotion and worship as aforesaid, there are Great Evenings that occur every fortnight, viz. “Maha Pradosham” on Thrayodasi Evening. This was the time chosen by the Lord to manifest Himself as the man-lion Nrisimha. Every evening is a glorious reminder to us of this spontaneous avatara that the Lord assumed. It was to confirm Sri Prahlada’s golden words that Hari was present everywhere, be it a blade of grass or a pillar of stone, that Sri Nrsimha popped out of a column in Hiranyakasipu’s palace, on this evening. It is to commemorate this Great Event that evenings in general [Pradosham] and Thrayadasi Evenings in particular [Maha Pradosham] are prescribed as an ideal period for the worship of our Adhbuta KesarI, Lord Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha.

All the Bhaktas are requested not to miss the Evening Worship in our Temple and more particularly, make it a point to have the Evening Darshan of Lord Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha on every Maha Pradosham Day.
 

2. What is Adhyayanotsavam?

We all know that we have many Sri Vaishnava temples in India. All these temples are called “Koil” in Tamil. Among all these “Koil”s, we have one “Peria Koil”, the Temple of Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangam, the Srivaishnavite Capital. The Lord Sri Ranganatha, the “Peria Perumal is the most sung “Perumal” by almost all Alwars and the procedures adopted in this Temple serve as the Temple Guide for all Srivaishnava Temples in the country.

Moved by the Great Kritis made by the earlier Alwars, Tirumanagai Alwar initiated the recital of the Pasurams of All Alwars then known, which convey their great Bhavad Anubhavams. He commenced this festival on Vaikunta Ekadasi and had the rendition of Pasurams of all Alwars for ten days. In his days, he made arrangements for bringing the Moorthy of Swamy Nammalwar from Alwar Thirunagari to Srirangam for rendering the Divya Prabandhams in the presence of both Swamy Nammalwar and Lord Sri Ranganatha. He concluded this festival with the “Thiruvadi Thozhudal” by Nammalwar when Emperumal would bless Alwar with Moksham.

Centuries later, Swami Alavandar made this festival to last for 20 days and called the first ten days as ‘Pagal Pattu’ and the next days as ‘Rappattu’ and included the Great Pasurams of Thirumangai Alwar also. In the later years, Acharya Sri Ramanuja codified the Peria Koil temple systems, rituals and festivals and gave special importance for conduct of this festival.

The Mogul invasion in the south in later years disturbed the Temple activities and caused the discontinuance of this festival. But after the year 1360, when the Mugal invaders were driven away, Sri Vedanta Desika re-established the Adyayanotsavam in the Temples. From then on, the Adhyayanotsavam is being celebrated in all our Sri Vaishnava Temples where all the 4000 Divya Prabandhams, Alwar’s Anubhava Grantham, is sung in the Presence of Presiding Deities.

The Divya Prabandhams composed by Alwars are the emotional outpourings, meant to be sung, not merely recited. If we refer to books on Divya Prabandham published in olden days, one would see that they were set to tunes and beats appropriate to the emotional content of each pasuram. Sri Nathamuni, our Great Acharya appears to have set the prabandas to evocative music and popularized their recital through his disciples. Swami Desikan confirms this-“Talam vazhangi Tamizh marai innisai tanda vallal”. The Lord’s preference to songs vis-à-vis prose is evident in Lord Krishna’s declaration “Vedanam Sama Vedosmi”, conveying his preference to the musical Sama Veda, to the other Vedas.

Keeping this in view, in the Peria Koil, the decendents of Sriman Nathamuni, called Araiyars, even today, “Sing” the Pasurams of Divya Prabandhams and re-enact the personal Divya Anubhavams of Alwars during this 20 day festival and the Peria Perumal sits there to attentively listen and enjoy the “Anubhavams” of Alwars. Thus this is the festival, when Emperuman takes time to sit and attentively listen to the rendering of the Alwar Pasurams.

The Vedas are like the Government Gazette. They are couched in the language of commandments, such as “Satyam vada” ; “Dharmam chara” etc., and demand implicit obedience. Divya Prabandams, on the other hand, reflect the same ideas in much softer terminology, as the Azhwars, many of them having gone through the reformation process themselves, understand our constraints and compulsions much better and speak to us in the language of love, as a mother would, to her errant child.

The Divya Prabandhams are the divine material gifted to us by God Himself. The Azhwars are the Lord’s own avataras, “Abhinava Dasavataram” in the words of Swami Desikan, coming down to the earth to reform the errant humanity. Possibly, the Lord found that His own ten Avataras had failed to have the desired impact on the defiant mortals and therefore tried next to transform the human beings by taking birth as Alwars who were apparently part of the errant humanity. Thus the Divya Prabandhams being recited during Adyayanotsavam have the Divine content written by the Divine composers to make the errant humans into Divine personalities. The Adhyayanotsavam thus is a festival essentially meant for spreading the message of Alwars.


3. What is Kaisika Ekadasi?

The significance of Kaisika Ekadasi arises out of Kaisikapuranam consisting of 82 slokas, which is a story told by Sri Varaha Perumal to Bhoodevi. The story told by Emperuman to Bhoodevi is as under:

On every Kaisika Ekadasi day, Nampaduvan, an ardent devotee of the Lord used to do Namasankeerthanam for Emperuman at Thirukurungudi. One year while on the way to Thirukurungudi, Nampaduvan was confronted by a Rakshas. This Rakshas told Nampaaduvaan that he is going to eat him. But Nampaduvan humbly said that he has to finish his duty of nama sankeerthanam and he will finish that and then come back to the Rakshas for whatever he wanted to do with him. Though initially the Rakshas did not agree, later he let Nampaduvan go. And Nampaduvan, after doing Namasankeerthanam, came back and surrendered himself to the Rakshas. Impressed by this honesty the Rakshas requested Nampaduvan to give the fruits of his Nama Sankeerthanam to the Rakshas so that he can get rid of his Rakshasa Janma and attain Heaven. Nampaduvan agreed to give the Rakshas the fruits of Namasankeerthanam as requested. Because of this, Emperuman told Bhudevi that the Rakshas attained the Heaven.

[The moral of the story is that Nama Sankeerthanam of Lord alone can help us attain Heaven].

After many thousands of years, on the Kaisika Dwadasi day Sri Parasara Bhattar who lived about 900 yrs ago chanted the Kaisika Puranam before Lord Ranganatha and the Lord was immensely pleased. To this day the descendants of Sri Parasara Bhattar chant Kaisika Puranam on Kaisika Dwadasi day to the Lord at Srirangam.

Though similar rendition is done in every temple on Kaisika Dwadasi Day, it is always a special day in the Temple at Thirukkurungudi where only the whole incident of Nampaduvan took place.

The prescribed way to celebrate Kaisika Ekadasi is to observe Fast on this day and to do Nama sankeerthanam [in Kaisika Raga which we call today as Bhairavi Raga] and read Kaisika Puraanam on the Kaisika Dwadasi day. This Puranam is the 48th chapter in Sri Varaha Puranam.



4. What is Karthigai Festival?

Karthigai Festival is also called as "the Festival of Lights". This falls in the Tamil month of Karthigai when the star Krithigai is on the ascendant which usually occurs on full moon day.

This festival is considered as the extension of the Deepavali festival. In the olden days, the people used to double the number of lamps every day from the day of Deepavali and this way, they end up with a number of lamps on the day of Karthigai Deepam.

Karthigai Deepam is the oldest festival celebrated by Tamils. Evidence from Tamil literature lets us know that this festival is one of the oldest. The oldest available Tamil Literature is Tolkappiyam dating back to 2500 BC and this Tholkappiyam gives a concise account of Karthigai festival.

Other Tamil Literatures like “Agananuuru”, "Jeevakachintamani" , 'Karnarpadu', 'Kalavazhi Narpadu' etc. of the Sangam period also carry vivid description of this festival. In "Karnarpadu", the poet describes how in the Tamil month of Karthigai, the lamps lit by people blossomed on earth, bringing rain in its wake.

On this day, people clean their houses and draw 'Kolams' (Rangoli) in front of the house and also place some lamps on it. First, they place the lamps in the puja room and light them. After the 'Deeparadhana' the lamps are moved to the different locations in the house including on the streets. Thus the lamps lit by all houses glow all over the streets.

In commemoration of this festival, at the sunset time, there would be Deeparadhana and Maha Aarti in all Temples followed by Bonfire in front of the Temple.



5. Significance of Vaikunta Ekadasi?

Vaikunta Ekadasi is a great day for Srivaishnavas who desire to reach Paramapadam. On this day, in all Srivaishnava Temples, the Paramapadavaasal is opened for the Bhaktas to enter. The most important aspect to be taken note of is that the Lord Himself leads the way through Paramapada Vasal to enter Sri Vaikuntam and the Bhaktas have to merely follow the Lord and enter the Paramapada Vaasal.

The meaning of the above is that the Lord Himself takes the role of Mumukshu, i.e. the one who desires to enter Sri Vaikuntam and leads the way to Bhaktas to follow Him.

At one time, two Rakshasas named Lokan and Kantan were rewarded for their obeying the Lord by making them Nitya Suris in Sri Vaikuntam. At that time, Lokan and Kantan pleaded to the Lord and said :

" Oh Sriman Naarayana! We have had Your blessings that made it possible for us to reside in Sri Vaikuntam and to perform nithya kaimkaryam to You. You let us in to Sri Vaikuntam by opening the northern gates of Your divine citadel on this Dhanur maasa sukla Paksha Ekadasi day. We beg you to give us another boon. Please make it possible for all the people who enter the Northern gates at all of Your consecrated temples on Earth to reach Sri Vaikuntam , at the end of their sojourn on Your earth. After reaching Your Kingdom of Sri Vaikuntam, they should also be blessed with Nithya seva Kaimkaryam like us and all other Nithya suris. ”

"Uttara Dwara Margena pravisanthi cha ye hare:
The vaikuntam imam prapya modantaam nityasoorivath"

Bhagavan Sriman Naarayana offered them this boon and also decided to show the way to Bhaktas. From that day onward , Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi Uthsavam is celebrated to help Bhakthas to enter northern gate of His temples to have the Blessings to reach Srivaikuntam at the end of one’s earthly residence.



6. Understanding Mahalayam

It is said that there are three debts to be liquidated by each one of us. They are our debts to Rishis, Devas and Pithrus.

Our debt to Rishis is to be discharged by us during Bramhacharya when one is required to study Vedas. The second debt to the Devas is discharged in Grahastha Ashrama by performing Agni Karyams through Homams prescribed for various Samskaras.

Regarding Pitru Runam, debt to Pithrus, the same gets discharged by doing Sraadham and Tarpanam. One whose parents are no more, is required to perform such rituals every year. They are: Pratyabdika Shradham, Shradhanga Parehani Tarpanam, Amavasya Tarpanam, Sankramana [Masa Pirappu] Tarpanam, Upakarma Tharpanam, Grahana Tarpanam as may occur, and Mahalaya Tarpanam, Ashtaka and Anvashtaka.

As we all know, in the current month Purattasi, we have the Mahalaya Paksham. During the Mahalaya Paksham, our Pitrus are said to descend on earth to receive the Pindam and Tilodakam being given by their descendents. When our Pitrus are here on the earth, our earth becomes a Maha Aalayam, a Great Temple for us. Hence the name Mahalayam. Our Pitrus are said to arrive here with great expectations that their children would perform the Shradhas and they could receive Tilodakas.

So, it is very necessary for every son whose parents are not alive, to perform the Mahalaya Shradham without fail. A Father performs various Samskaras for his child after he is born. At the time a son is born, the Father does the Jatakarma, etc. saying the Sankalpam as “Mama Kumaarasya…” Even when the son is getting married, at the Vratam, Fathers do the Sankalpam by saying “Mama Maanavakasya…” A son becomes eligible to be called as “Putra” only when he does the Pitru Karyam sincerely. Therefore, it is the duty of every son whose parents had left this earth, to perform all the Shraddhas, and more particularly the Mahalaya Shradham without fail because the parents are said to arrive at his Home to receive the oblations.

Those who are at places where there are no Bruhaspatis to help performance of Mahalaya Tarpanam and who want to know the procedure of performing the same are advised to look up to http://www.geocities.com/trchari/tmaha.html for detailed Mantras and Procedures.


7. Thada Festival

Margazhi is the month of Sri Andal. Sri Andal composed two works in her short life. Both are unique in their literary, philosophical, religious, and artistic content. Her contribution is even more remarkable considering that she was a teenage girl when she composed these poems, at a time when there is no other record of Tamil women composing poetry. Far from being the writings of a youngster, Sri Andal's verses display a literary and religious maturity far beyond her years.

In the month of Margazhi, Sri Andal is more remembered for her first work Thiruppavai and every day of Margazhi is identified by one of Thiruppavai Pasurams. On the 27th day of Margazhi, which is identified as the day “Koodarai”, her second work Nachiar Thirumozhi is also remembered. In her Nachiar Thirumozhi, Sri Andal said:

“Nooru Thada Nirainda Akkaravadisal sonnen
Eru Thiruvudaiyan inru vandu ivai kollumkolo!!”

This Poem of Nachiar Thirumozhi reflects the same sentiments in “Koodarai” Pasuram of Thiruppavai where Sri Andal says:

“Paal soru, Mooda Nei peidu muzhangai vazhivaara…”

In both the poems, Sri Andal presents Emperuman with Sweet rice Pongal, made from Milk, i.e. Ksheerannam. In the Poem of Nachiar Thirumozhi, above cited, Sri Andal was dreaming of presenting Ksheerannam in 100 silver vessels to the Lord of Thirumal Irum Solai i.e. to the Lord of Madurai Azhagar Koil.

Later in the year 1097, at the age of 80, Sri Ramanuja decided the fulfill the dreams of Sri Andal and he visited Azhagar Koil with Kuresar to present 100 vessels of Akkara Vadisil.

Keeping this tradition in view, the Akkaravadisil Utsavam is celebrated in a grand manner even today in Sri Alagar Koil at Thirumal Irum Solai near Madurai. At Srivilliputtur, Sri Andal comes out of Garbhagraham to Ardha Mantapam to greet Sri Ramanuja to let him know how very much she appreciated his Kainkaryam at Azhagar Koil.

What Sri Ramanuja did on this day at AlagarKoil, Madurai was a message to all Sri Vaishnavas that it is our duty to fulfill the dreams of Sri Andal and on the day of “Koodarai”, we must all present 100 Vessels of Akkara Vadisil to Emperuman in all our Temples.

Following the footsteps of Sri Ramanuja, our Acharys have also been offering 100 Thadas of Akkaravadisil on this day. Thus this Festival is known as Thada Festival.



8. Understanding Gadya Thrayam

We know already that Acharya Sri Ramanuja had made his prayer in the form of three Gadyas, i.e. composed in Prose form. These three Gadyas are popularly called Gadya Thrayam. These Three Gadyas are:

Sriranga Gadyam;
Saranagathi Gadyam and
Vaikunta Gadyam.

1. When we recite the Sriranga Gadyam:

We first adore the qualities of Sriman Narayana, such as Gyanam, Balam, Aiswaryam, Veeryam, Shakti, Tejas, Souseelyam, Maardavam, Vaatsalyam, Souhardam, Kaarunyam, Gaambheeryam, Audaaryam, Chaaturyam, Dhairyam, Souryam, Parakramam, Sathyasankalpam, etc. and convey the tremendous happiness, bliss and Peraanandam we experience in offering our services to the Lord.

We then submit that we are in deep ocean of sins and bound by the rope of Karma accumulated over so many births and we do not know how to overcome this bondage of Samsara.

We then declare that Lord Sriman Narayana and Sri Maha
lakshmi are the only means of emancipation and we surrender ourselves before Them seeking Their protection.

We then affirm that we shall always be eager to render all forms and all kinds of service under all conditions and pray: "Sriman Narayana, please grant me the service to You.”

2. When we recite Saranagathi Gadyam:

We surrender at the lotus feet of Sriman Narayana explaining our deficiencies and seeking pardon. There we do Prapatti, the total surrender declaring

“From time immemorial I have committed so many mistakes, blunders and apachaarams to the Lord and to the Bhaagavathaas which are unforgivable and unpardonable. O Lord, Please show mercy on me and forgive me for my such mistakes.

Many times, I had been attracted by worldly things and misconceptions. Please forgive me for them also and request You to remove the "maya" from my mind.

Please make me a Real Gyani, that I always think of you and be dearest to you. With that Gyana alone I will get Bhagavad anubhavam and will get ‘Nitya Kainkaryam’ to You.

You are my mother; my father; my relative; my Guru; my knowledge; my matter; my every thing”

and prostrate at the Lotus feet of Sriman Narayana.

In the Gadyam, Emperuman responds by saying

“Keep this attitude. Keep reciting Dwaya Mantra and its meaning to get over all the hurdles. Live like that till your body is worn out.

When your body falls down, you will see my Darshan; you will shine bright by My Grace and you will reach Me to serve Me. Have No Doubts about this.”

3. When we recite Vaikunta Gadyam, we are helped to visualise Srivaikuntam before our eyes and experience the Anubhavam of Sri Vaikuntam, the abode of Sriman Narayana, in all its splendour .



9. Understanding Holi Festival

Do you know that killing Hiranykashyapu by Lord Sri Narasimha is related with Holi Festival ?

You know Hiranyakashipu tried to kill Prahlada in many ways. Having not succeeded, Hiranyakasipu called upon his sister Holika for help. Holika had a special gift that prevented her from being harmed by fire. She suggested that let Prahlad sit on her lap and they both be put on fire. As she might come out unharmed and Prahlad may die, people would believe that Prahlada was evil. This plan was carried out. Sitting on the pyre, Prahlada chanted Vishnu's name and in the battle of good against evil, Holika was burnt down but nothing happened to Prahlada. The burning of Holika is celebrated as the Holi festival. And since Hiranya Kasipu was killed by the Lord sometime later, the festival of Sri Nrisimha Jayanthi, always comes after the Holi festival.



10. Understanding the Panchang

The New Year has arrived. Now it is time we start consulting the New Panchang for our day to day religious activities.

When we talk of Panchangam, we need know that there are two type of Panchangams, viz. Vakya Panchangam or Thiru Kanitha Panchangam.

The Vakya Panchangams are computed based on Slokas or Vakyas known to those who compose the Panchang. Beyond the Slokas, there are also Sutras which help to make simple additions and subtractions. Thus the Slokas and Sutras together provide the formulas required for the preparation of the Vakya Panchangam. Vakya Panchangams are Shastra based and accordingly have provisions to decide a ritual according to shastraas. Thus, to check on Ekadasi, Dwadasi and such other things for Anushtanam, Vakya Panchangams are sufficient.

On the contrary, the Thirukkanita Panjangam are prepared with complex calculations of cosmic positions of various Planets. These calculations are made with two to eight decimals to get the value of fractions. Thus they are more exact in comparison to Vakya Panchangams. Astrologers who need to work on cosmic position based astrological predictions, would always consult Thiru Kanitha Panchangam.

Since the two Panchangams are prepared through different routes as above, there could be minor differences in Nazhigai of certain Thithis or Stars. But that should not matter much for day to day rituals.

Panchangam represents Pancha Angam of the day, i.e. Thithi, Vaaram, Nakshatram, Yogam and Karanam.

Thithi, we all know. Prathama to Amavasya or Pournami are Thithis.
Vaaram are Sunday to Saturday
Nakshatrams are Aswini to Revathi
Yogams are Siddha Yogam, Subha Yogam, Marana Yogam, etc. [Star + Day]
Karanams are combination of Thithi + Day - not in observance.

The Thithis, Nakshatrams and Yogams are indicated in Nazhigais in the Panchang. When you convert the number of Nazhigais indicated against a particular Thithi etc into hours and minutes you would know how long [from sun rise] the particular Thithi etc. is present on the day. For converting Nazhigai into time, consider one Nazhigai is 24 minutes.

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