Month: August 2021

Garudalwar has been   affectionately  glorified as Peria Thiruvadi , Pakshiraja,  Vainateya, Suparna, Garuthman, Vinatasuta,  Vishnuvahana, Nagantaka and Kashyapeya by  devotees Garudalwar  is  always engaged in eternal service to Lord  Sriman Narayana .

As a result, of his SharaNagati to Lord Sriman Narayana (Narayana Sayujyam).  Garudalwar enjoys the benefit of  Sameepyam (constantly being beside the Lord), SarUpyam (Shuddha Satvam) and SalOkyam (residence in Vishnu Lokam).

Garudalwar  serves as the eternal chariot of Lord  Vishnu. Consequently, Garuda received the name Periya Tiruvadi as against the divine  role played by Hanumanjee as the Vahana for Lord Rama. Hence, Hanumanjee  received the title Siriya Tiruvadi.

Those who have  had the mercy  of the darsanam of the 11 Garuda seva at  ThirunAngUr dhivya desams  at ThirunAngUr are truly blessed . Their  fortune  is comparable to those who had  witnessed the  Garuda Sevai at Kanchi ( VaikAsi and Aadi ThiruvONam ), SrIrangam ( Thai , Maasi, Panguni and Chitthirai) , NaacchiyAr Koil , AzhwAr Thirunagari  and the famous  Nava Garuda seva ( “Nine Garuda  Sevais”) at  Thirukurungoor  with  Swamy NammAzhwAr vaibhavam enacted .

Garudaalwar  is  worshipped as Veda Moorthy . His  appearance star   is SvAthi , which is the same as for Lord Narasimhar. Garudalwar  incarnated as PeriyAzhwAr at SrI VilliputthUr and became the Father-in-Law of Lord RanganAthan and had the privilege of having his daughter and  son-in-law live at his home in SrI VilliputthUr, which is known today as NaacchiyAr ThirumALigai.

At TheruzhunDUr dhivya desam , Garudalwar  stands next to Aaamuruviyappan (GhOsakhan) awaiting His Lord’s  command .  At AhObilam, Garudalwar  performed penance for the darsanam of Lord Narasimhan as He appeared  before PrahlAdhan and the Lord responded to his tapas by giving darsanam to Garudalwart as “JwAlA Narasimhar”.  Hence one of the names for AhObilam is GarudAdhri.

At Vadanadu Divya desam ,  Badarikashramam  , Garudalwar  is blessing  the devotees  with his darsanam in the  assembly of  of Nara-NaarAyana.

At ThiruveLLiyangudi dhivya dEsam , Garudalwar  graces   in PerumAL Sannidhi with Sankham and Chakram as  a Nithya Soori.  At ThiruvallikkENi Garudalwar  gives the darsanam with  Lord  GajEndra Varadhan , in a separate Sannidhi.

 Nachiyar Koil is  a srivaishnava Divya desam is located in Tirunaraiyur en-route to Tanjavur from Kumbakonam. Since importance is given to Nachiyaar in this temple, it is called Nachiyaar Koyil.

The moola virat  Lord  Tirunaraiyur Nambi  worshipped  as Vasudevar graces us  in the Kalyana kolam with Vanchulavalli Thayar in the sanctum sanctorium . The Theertham is Manimuktha pushkarini and the Vimanam Srinivasa Hema Vimanam. Legend has it that Lakshmi appeared  as Vanchulavalli  and MahaVishnu  manifested himself in the Pancha Vyuha forms and married Vanchulavalli.

In the sanctum one finds the sculptures of the deities Sankarshana in the east, Pradyumna in the south, Anirudha in the west, Purushottaman in the north and Vasudeva in the center. There is no separate shrine for Thayar. There are shrines for Yoga Narasimhar, Ramar, Hanuman and Chakrapani.

Kal garudan  is of special significance at this temple.  The Garudalwar   gives darshan  with nine serpents and is believed to have the powers to remove the Navagraha dhosham. 

It is  understood from elders that a sculptor  was  making this  deity  of Garuda  with utmost devotion . On completion,  he suddenly found the  deity   flying after he had made  Garuda’s  wings.  

Excited and simultaneously  confused   at this sudden action, the sculptor prayed Garudalwar  for his mercy .

 Garudalwar   pleased with his dedication and  prayers  decided to settle here at this place and bless the devotees. ( Kal  in tamil means stone ).

 A huge and well built Garudalwar  gives darshan to all the devotees coming to this Srivaishnava Divya desam . During the Tamil month of Aadi,  the temple Lordships  Thiru Naraiyur Nambi makes a visit to  this Garuda’alwars Sannidhi.

A magical event happens during Garuda Sevai .  Garudalwar  increases  his  weight manifold .  Science has not been able to explain the mystery underlying the fact that when the Salagrama deity  of Garudalwan  is taken out for procession, he is  so light that he is carried  by just 4 persons.  

As the  palanquin bearers (Srimaan taangigaL) , cross the outer enclosures one by one,  Garudalwar  becomes progressively heavier and  needs 8, 16 and 32 men to carry the palanquin  after each enclosure. Finally, when the Lord is taken outside the temple, Garudalwar  increases in weight so much that 128  devotees assemble  to carry the Lordships .

Similarly, after the  outing  procession (PurappaaDu), when Garudalwan  enters the sanctum, he keeps loosing  weight so that it need progressively lesser number of men to hold it  from 32 to 16 to 8 and finally just 4 and in that order. 

Another unique feature of this grand festival  is that one can see  Garudalwar  sweating profusely as he makes his way out for the procession.

Thirumangai Azhwar, Periya Azhwar, Poigai Azhwar etc have done their Mangalasasanams to Garudalwar.

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan..

 Photos credits : google images

video credits  : ramyagiri , mighty garuda and advanced devotees

To reaffirm the faith of HIS devotees,  LORD conversed with  HIS devotees  time to time .

There are three incidents which our Elders keep saying about the compassion of OUR Supreme LORD in temples .Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil and Tirumala

At  Tirumala – Tirupathi, Lord Venkateshwara  used to converse with the King Thondaman Chakravarthy .  In Kancheepuram, Lord Vardarajar used to converse with his  dear devotee  Swamy Tirukachi Nambigal who used to fan him daily .

Similarly at Srirangam  Lord Ranganathar used to converse with  “Tiruvilakku pichan”the temple servant who used to light the lamps in the temple .

It is a general practice all the devotees surrender to LORD and express their gratitude pain and love for the LORD in this material world.

  Few devotees develop extremely intimate relationship with the Lord conversing   freely  and interact almost daily  treating him as a  human friend.

At Srirangam ,  there lived a man who was serving at temple .    His job was to light all the lamps at the huge temple of Srirangam  .

He used to  keep the lamps topped with oil  and ensure they were maintained in perfect condition . Under constant vigilance he had to ensure the lamps are lighted effectively without any flaws.

He had free access to enter the temple and light all the temple lamps being the temple servant . He had a peculiar habit of addressing the LORD  daily about how his day was and was he treated well .

It was almost routine especially during  festivals when LORD had to be amongst HIS devotees . For his behaviour he earned a title Pichan ( mad person ) . Unmindful of whatever people spoke of him he continued to  greet the LORD and converse  with utmost sincerity and faith .

Lord  Ranganathar also got used to HIS devotee’s greeting .    Days became months .Months turned to years .Lord out of abundant mercy wanted to reply to HIS dear devotee .

https://videopress.com/v/3FNaChdJ?preloadContent=metadata

It so happened one day Lord spoke from his Archa thirumeni ,and this also happened regularly .Lord was answering his dear devotees queries .It was more of vatsalya bhavam inquiring the well being of each other . There was no  barrier in the divine exchange of speech .A lowly employee  of the temple speaking to the LORD who was replying too .To the devotees who were witnessing this man standing before the LORD  and apparently talking to himself appeared to be a mad person conversing with himself  and they called him  “Picchan” ( a mad man). Combining his job title and popularity  of remaining , he came to be known as “ThiruviLakku Picchan”. 

One day, while carrying out his daily  chores , Picchan  conversed  with  the Lord  about the  great people and the  huge crowd attending the festival in the temple . 

There is another pastime which installs absolute surrender to LORD in Archathirumeni . The great Acharyar Swamy  Nampillai was delivering  a lecture in the mandapam inside the temple and as usual our Thiruvilakku Picchan was standing in front of the sanctorum with a lamp in his hand. Lord  was so impressed hearing  Swamy Nampillai’s  divine discourse which made him get up and  wished to be among the august gathering hearing the divine discourse

Suddenly , Thiruvilakku Picchan saw a huge personality near him and realizing that it was LORD himself , he requested LORD to relax  and not do this and  remain  in his original Archa Swaroopam .  LORD politely obeyed his devotees concern……………

All glories to this great devotee  who had the  fortune to enjoy such intimate relationship with the Lord  himself  who listened to  Him .

Sri Venkatadri shikaralaya kalamegam

Sri Hasthisaila sikarojwala parijatham

Srisannamami sirasa Yadhusaila deepam

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

Photos credits : Google

Video credits  :  Tamil gold channel