68th  THIRUNAKSHATRAM CELEBRATIONS OF H.H. SRIMATH ANDAVAN AT CHENNAI ON 26^TH MAY 2002.

The Srikaryam Swami has already filed his report on these in the Aani & Aadi issues of Paduka:

i) There were large gatherings of sevarthis to have a darshan of H.H. right from 12th May onwards when He arrived in Chennai after completing His Mangalasasanams of Alarmelmangai Thayar, Sri Govindaraja Perumal & His Consort and finally Sri Balaji at Thiruchanur, Thirupathi and Thirumala respectively on the 9th and 11th May 2002. A very large contingent of Sishyas and Abhimanis had the Bhagyam of having the Darshan of the Divya Dhampathis along with H.H. during these days. In particular the sevarthis had the unique privilege of the seva of Friday Thirumanjanam performed for Alarmelmangai Thayar in the presence of H.H on Friday the 10th May 2002.  

ii) Hundreds of sevarthis, many of them new faces particularly the young ones, thronged the Asramam daily during the 4 - 5 weeks that H.H. camped at the Chennai Asramam. On Sundays the 19th, 26th May and 2nd June we had literally hundreds of sevarthis, these were just Sundays, not Thirunakshatram days, nothing special, but still the crowds were so large giving us great hope for the future continuity. Many were new faces – new period – never seen before in a gathering at our Asramam or any Mutt during the past 30 years that the writer has been visiting such institutions. The most encouraging fact was that we found so many new and young faces – in the 25 to 35 age group; obviously the reputation of H.H., His Sowlabyam & Sowseelyam has spread far and wide attracting these youngsters to come in to find out more about H.H. and the Asramam. Then they keep coming and coming, as there is no demand from anyone unless the sevarthis offer to give something on their own! 

iii) The Thirunakshatram celebrations commenced on the 8th June. After H.H. performed the Perumal and Paduka Aradhanams, the Veda and Grantha Parayanams were taken up, nearly 200 Rikwiks were present on the opening session; this grew in numbers till it reached almost 270 by the 12th June. According to H.H. this entire hullabaloo was uncalled for; we disagreed with Him totally on this, as it is our rare privilege to celebrate this joyous occasion though H.H. rightly maintains that this is not some milestone like the 61st or the 71st or the 81st Thirunakshatram. The point is that so many Rikwiks turned up without much of a mobilization, which will be there for those milestones for we have to plan from now on. It was indeed a very pleasant sight to see this eminent group of Vedic Scholars being organized and handled with utmost courtesy by the Srikaryam Swami with the spontaneous and voluntary assistance of Sarvashrimans V.K.Sarangarajan, R.Vasudevan, S.Rangarajan and (last but not the least) R.Srinivasan and A.Venkatavaradhan. The Vidwath Sambavanai was settled at the end of each session to ensure equity and to avoid dissatisfaction amongst the participants. ‘Latecomers’ and ‘part timers’ demanding ‘full’ Sambavanai were handled with commendable tact and firmness. One unruly Senior Rikwik was advised firmly by the Chairman that he was most unwelcome for future Thirunakshatrams and shown the door. It was an unpleasant thing to do, he had to do it, he did it (this did create some small ripples) but the Honourable members have a right to know what happened.

iv) Accepting our humble prayers, H.H. Sri Abhinava Vageesa Swami, the 36th Jeer of Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Sri Parakalaswami Mutt of Mysore, came over to Chennai to participate in the celebrations on the evening of the 10 th June. The Srikaryam Swami and the Chairman received Him with reverential honours (& with Poornakumbams) at the main road junction and at the entrance of the Asramam. A very large gathering was privileged to have the Darshan of the two Yatheeswarars and they were blessed to have a repeat of these blessings through till the 15th June.

v) It was a heavenly sight to see hundreds and thousands of sevarthis attending the Sevakalam of the Lakshmi Hayagriva Aradhanams performed by H.H. Sri Parakala Swami & the Perumal – Paduka Aradhanams performed by H.H. Srimad Andavan from the same premises at the same time. Even more thrilling were the sights of H.H Sri Parakala Swami being served with the Theertha Prasadams by our H.H. (and Sri Satari by our Aradhakar) & our H.H. receiving these Prasadams from H.H. Sri Parakala Swami (& their Aradhakar) and thereafter both the Yatheeswarars serving the Theertha Prasadams simultaneously to the huge Goshtis everyday till the 15th June.

 In my long years I have never witnessed such a glorious sight at any Asramam or Mutt (though we have seen the Senior and the Junior Yathis of the same Institution performing the Aradhanams together). We can attribute this great Bhagyam to the Punyams of our ancestors and feel a sense of great pride that we are indeed fortunate to be living in the Era of these noble Yathis & great souls!  

vi) There were music performances every evening from the 8th to the 12th June by eminent artists, on the 9th evening H.H. honoured the great flute maestro Shri N.Ramani with the title ‘Venugana Kaladhara’ to commemorate the artist’s 60 years of service to Carnatic music. A citation and a cash award were given to the maestro on the occasion and he reciprocated this by stating that though he had received many awards in the past, he will value this award the most as it has come from an eminent Yathi who was himself a great connoisseur and exponent of Carnatic music.

vii) The large gatherings of sevarthis during the run up to the D–Day should have served a warning to the Trustees and other committee members. Nothing prepared them for the huge multitude of Sishyas and Abhimanis who thronged the Asramam on the 12th June from 6.30 a.m onwards. By the time the sevakalam was nearing completion there were thousands of sevarthis milling around the two buildings and overflowing into the main roads. Outsiders with no sentimental baggage estimate the gathering at over 5,000 in the morning session itself and the total number through the day at over 7,000. Fortunately this was a working day week! Special mention must be made of Shrimans V.S.Narasimhan, V.Srinivasan,   K.Ravi,   S.Parthasarathi,  N.Kasturi Rangan,  V.Sridhar A.Venkatavaradhan, V.Chakravarthi and many many others who regulated the milling crowds of sevarthis with utmost courtesy (and compassion particularly towards the elderly persons) throughout the day and made sure that the whole affair was handled in a neat and orderly manner.

viii) The Theertha Prasadams, Sri Satari of both Parakala Mutt and Andavan Asramam took nearly till 10.00 am to be served in spite of the fact that many senior Rikwiks, competent and authorized to do so, served the Theertha Prasadams, then a novel method of blessing the sevarthis was adopted, the usual method was that the sevarthis used to queue up and receive the Blessings of H.H. but this time the huge gathering meant that this itself would have taken another 3-4 hours, so H.H. advised everyone to stay put in their respective places. He went all round the two buildings, all the sevarthis were calmly seated, H.H. blessed everyone by sprinkling the Mantrakshadai on all of them without leaving out anyone & the whole affair was over in 30 minutes.

ix) The Peria Sathumarai was taken up around 10.45 a.m, this went on till 11.30 a.m. and the Theertha Prasadams to the Goshtis were duly completed. Thereafter both the Yatheeswarars were brought to the dais, the Malai Mariyadai from around 90 Divya Desams and other Abhimana Kshetrams were offered to their Holinesses. H.H. thereafter honoured this year’s President’s Awardees in Sanskrit, our own Asthana Ganapati Sri Veeravalli Srinivasa Desikachariar and Maha Vidwan Sri U.Ve. SriVatsankachariar with a shawl and cash award each.  

x) H.H. then released five Granthams and books, namely ‘Chatus Sloki’ – (Bhashyam & Vyakyanam by H.H. himself), ‘Sri Bashyam – an English treatise’ – a reprint of the late Shri V.K.Ramanujachariar’s works, ‘Archaka Thunaivan’ a treatise on Agamas by our Patasala Professor Sri Koothapakkam Raghavachar Swami (Kannamachar Swami - a contemporary of our Srikaryam Swami) & “Stotravali” a compilation of the Sri Sookthis - 63 hymns composed by (Wait – this is an interesting revelation!) H.H. Srimad Andavan Himself in His Poorvasrama. A young Computer Science Engineer, Sri C.G. Balaji (grandson of one of the great scholars of our times, Sri N.S. Anantha Rangachar Swami), has done this compilation. H.H. also honoured i) Sri S.N.Srirama Desikachar (a former President’s Awardee in Sanskrit) for his book on ‘Susrutha Samhitha” a treatise on Ayurvedic Surgery sponsored by H.H. Srimad Andavan and released during this Thirunakshatram day & ii) Sri N.Krishnan, an eminent Music Scholar and the disciple of the late Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar with the title ‘Gayaka Kalanidhi’ and a cash award. This award to eminent musicologists has now become an annual feature of H.H.’s Thirunakshatram.

xi) Then, wonder of wonders, 10 great Sanskrit Scholars – all of them having known H.H. for quite sometime – spoke eloquently for just 2-3 minutes each (brevity at the request of H.H!!) and the Vidvan’s Upanyasams were also over in less than 30 minutes!! H.H. Sri Parakala Swami and H.H. Srimad Andavan thereafter delivered scintillating Anugraha Bashanams in their inimitable style listened to with rapt attention by the huge audience. The last item on the program was of course the delicious Thadeearadhanam – both quality and delivery.  It must be admitted that the Asramam Kainkaryaparas excelled themselves on this occasion, they flatly refused our offer of engaging outside cooks for this purpose, no doubt they do create an occasional wrong impression with their ‘noise and voice levels’ but when it comes down to the cinch they deliver and how well they have done so this time around is a matter that the Chairman wishes to place on record.  We have also received reports from all other centers in India and from 16 centers in U.S.A about the celebrations and feel so humble and privileged to be a part of all this.

xii) On the 13th June, H.H. addressed the students of Ahobila Mutt Oriental School along with H.H. the Jeer of Sri Parakala Mutt and thereafter performed the Mangalasasanam at Sri Sathyanarayana Perumal Temple in West Mambalam. H.H. camped at Chennai till Saturday the 15th June and left for Thiruvahindrapuram. H.H. Sri Parakala Swami continued to stay at our Asramam till the 27th June, performed the Aradhanams for Sri Lakshmi Hayagreeva and the other Deities and blessed the sevarthis who came in their hundreds to receive His Anugrahams.

xiii) H.H. performed Mangalasasanam at Sri Devanatha Perumal Temple on Sunday the 16th June. There was a huge crowd of sevarthis present for the Sevakalam and the Mangalasasanam and the enthusiasm of the youngsters was simply infectious. H.H thereafter proceeded to Vaduvur on the 18th June via Cuddalore, Neyveli (H.H. visited the  Thermal Station of the N.L.C.) and Mannargudi after performing Mangalasasanam to Sri Rajagopalaswami at Mannargudi on the 18th. At Vaduvur He performed Mangalasasanam at Sri Kothandaramaswami temple on the 19th, blessed the Vidyarthis at our Veda Patasala – student strength now 26 – before proceeding to Kumbakonam on the evening of the 19th when He performed His Mangalasasanam at Sri Sarangapani Temple with full Temple Honours. At Kumbakonam, H.H. camped for three days to inaugurate and grace the annual Tamizh Marai Innisai and Thiruppavai Festivals (an important annual event in our Asramam’s calendar) being conducted by our Asthana Vidwan Sri Kalyanapuram NathaMuni Aravamudhachariar. As usual many eminent Vidwans delivered their scintillating Upanyasams.  

xiv) H.H. performed the Mangalasasanams on the 22nd and 24th June respectively at Thiruvelliangudi and Sri Oppiliappankoil and at Vazhuthur Perumal temple on the 25th June. The Vazhuthur Asramam is coming along nicely due to the committed and sincere Kainkaryam of Sri R.K. Chari and his associates. The administration of this Asramam is to be institutionalised now. After camping in Vazhuthur for two days H.H. proceeded to Srirangam where He rested for 12 days. On the 28th June, the new block at our Srimad Andavan Arts & Science College was formally inaugurated in the presence of H.H. Srimad Andavan after our Asthana Ganapati Sri Srinivasa Desikachariar and a group of eminent Rikwiks performed Vaastu Homam, Sri Purusha Sooktha Homam etc., The Minister for Information and Public Relations (of the T.N. Government) Sri K.K. Balasubramaniam and some local VIP’s attended this rather private ceremony.

xv) Thereafter H.H. addressed all the students and gave them a soul filling Bashanam listing their ambitions and goals and emphasized that they should aim to become model citizens before attempting to be brightest and the best students and somehow, what would have been a cliché ridden oft repeated concept became a live tool in the words of H.H. – Himself a teacher in His Poorvasrama. Nearly 1000 students and members of the faculty heard him out in pin drop silence and with rapt attention. Thereafter H.H. in repetition of the 12th June system went around the assemblage and blessed them with Mantrakshadai.

xvi) H.H. was in Srirangam Periasramam till the 12th July, had some well earned rest after His hectic schedule over the past several months and traveled to Thiruppullani for the annual Sethu Snanam. He was accompanied by a large contingent of sevarthis as usual. H.H performed Mangalasasanams of Sri Jagannatha Perumal at Thiruppullani and later on at the AdhiNathar Temple at Azhwar Thirunagari. We have an Asramam at Thiruppullani and are renovating the Desikan Sannathi therein. In Azhwar Thirunagari we are setting up an Asramam with a Veda Patasala – this one is for Rig Veda, a private Patasala is being taken over, the Kartha is inclined to hand over the same to H.H. – with the Padukas’ Blessings this will become a reality very soon.

xvii) H.H. thereafter camped in Madurai for a couple of days, performed Mangalasasanam at the Koodalazhagar Temple, thereafter camped in Dindigul, Salem, Hosur en route to Bangalore – Sripuram Asramam – where He was scheduled to observe His 14th Chatur Maasya Sankalpam from the 24th July till the 21st September 2002. H.H. eventually reached Bangalore on the evening of Sunday the 21st July and was accorded a warm and reverential welcome by a large gathering – this has become such a routine affair now that in future we are not going to mention this again!!