Swami Thiru-kachchi Nambi occupies a very unique position, both as an Acharyar, and as an advanced  devotee in srivaishnava  guru parampara .

Swamy Nambi  is one of the very few devotees with whom the Lord Himself conversed regularly.

Swami Thirukkachchi nambi appeared  in a place called poo irunda valli (currently called poonamallee, near Chennai) happens to be today  Maasi Mrigasira Nakshatra.

Swamy moved to kAnchIpuram, and started performing  devotional service to LORD Varadaraja at Kancheepuram temple.

His unique  service was to fan the Lord of Kanchi, Swami Varadaraja, everyday in the late morning-early afternoon, and in the night before Lord takes rest .

While doing the service (called thiru-Ala-vatta Kainkaryam in tamil), Lord Varadaraja used to  converse  with  Swami thiru-k-kachchi nambi about the happenings around the  world.

The topics used to be anything from how the temple was being run, to the happenings in the city of Kanchipuram…

When one thinks of  the holy place Pandharpur , mind races to have darshan of Lord Vittala and when the quest  to know about  his devotees begin  ,  the  biography of the great saint Santh Tukaram  brings tears .

Santh Tukaram appeared  during  the year 1608 A.D in   a  small village  Dehu in Poone  district which is about 41 kms from Ahobila Mutt, Pune .     and  seven miles from another important place  Alandi—the place honored by the Samadhi of  another  great saint Jnaneshwar.

Tukaram  from his childhood  worshiped  Lord Vittala  of Pandharpur.  

His  Elders  constructed a  small temple of their own  and dedicated it  to  Lord Vittala .  His  family members, since many generations, had  participated in  the ‘Wari’ of Pandharpur, i.e., the annual pilgrimages to Pandharpur on the eleventh day of the month of Ashadh (June-July) and again on the eleventh day of the month…

Azhwars were the incarnations of of Lord Sriman Narayana’s divine weapons and ornaments (“Azhwar” in Tamil means ‘one who is immersed’).

Since the advanced saints were always immersed in the Lord and His qualities, they were glorified as Azhwars and the places which was glorified by Azhwars are earmarked as Divya desams .

Out of the 12 azhwars, 4 Azhwars appeared towards the end of Dwapara yuga and Eight Azhwars appeared during Kali yuga.

Thirumangai Azhwar appeared on the 397^th year after the advent of Kaliyuga as per “Guru Parampara prabhavam” composed by Sri.Pinbhagzhagiya Perumal Jeey.ar Neelan as he was called appeared on a bright Thursday in Nala varushey(year name), Karthigai maasey (karthigai month as per tamil calender[Nov-Dec])on Krithikai star on Pournami in Kallar kulam at Thirukuraiyalur – a small village near Thirunangoor about one hour drive from Sirkazhi.

The remote village of Thirunangoor near Sirkazhi reverberates with…

Pillai Uranga Villidasan  was  a favorite disciple to Swamy Ramanuja .He became very close to his Master so rare that was his piety  though belonged to a lower caste he had privileges conferred upon him .

Very often Swamy Ramanuja was seen returning from Kaveri leaning on the shoulders of Swamy MudaliAndaan and Villidasan  .

A brahmana is unclean before bath and clean after a bath and the disciples watching were curious with their Masters way why they had not changed places while accompanying Swamy Ramanuja .

They took courage to question their Master for an explanation.

Swamy condescended to them saying  , my children  !

Have you not heard that learning , riches and high birth swell a fool with pride , but adorn the wise man ?

 This  man our villidasan  is utterly destitute of this three fold vice but we are not .

Hence he is fit enough…

The reclusive Uttang Rishi stayed  in the forests for most of his life  and  had  little contact with the rest of the world.

It was during one such long stay away from civilization that the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas ripened to enmity and ended in the calamitous war at Kurukshetra  which  resulted in the decimation of all the Kauravas.

Always in penance the Rishi moved places .

Pleased with his sincere devotion , LORD appeared and  said,

My  dear    ….

“I wish to grant you a boon,

O most righteous sage!

What would you ask of me?”

Uttang  Rishi  replied , Oh Lord

  “I need nothing !

The only thing that I, perhaps, may seek is that I may not lack for water wherever I am, since I travel in wild and inaccessible places.”…

Lord replied ..“Granted!”

Later , once , Uttang Rishi was traveling  through…

The absolute sense of surrender echoes the feeling that we have none other to protect us  other than our divine parents and seek their lotus feet .Our karmic parents , husband , wife friends even the demi gods will not be able to rescue us  and it is LORD SRIMAN NARAYANA alone who can take care of  us all the time .The divine feet constitute the ultimate solace for all sorrows.

Peria Azwar expresses his musings about Lord Krishna’s  stay at Gokulam , Mathura and Vrindavan in his divine out pourings Naalayira Divya Prabhandam ( Appended link below about the divine pastimes )

https://kmkvaradhan.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/chinni-krishna-and-peria-azhwar/

The holy feet which walked on the ground had impressions they called it as  samrajya lakshanam .

All those divine marks on the soles of his lotus feet , those lovely impressions were visible on the ground in gokulam .

Azhwars and Acharyas have expressed…

….Sri Vishnusahsranama ..………a divine gift from Bhishmacharya ………………..

After the great Mahabharata war, as per destiny , Bhismacharya was lying on the bed of arrows . He was letting the world know that he was waiting for the auspicious time [punya kala] for the sun orienting its direction northwards [Uttarayan] for leaving his mortal body.

Deep inside his heart he was praying Lord Krishna to bless him with his darshan during his last moments of his life . Bhismacharya was patiently bearing the pain and being a nice devotee had the firmness not to ask the lord for relief and instead waited for the Lord to grace him .

The lord also acted in the same way as his devotee. Since Bhismacharya did not directly call upon Lord , the Lord also decided that he will not use that as a direct reason for giving him his darshan.

It…

Few hundred years ago at Srirangam the capital of SriVaishnavam , the King of Ascetics , Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja showered his mercy on several citizens . Far away from the Srirangam temple there was a poor peasant named Pattini Perumal born in the fourth varna . An ardent devotee of LORD Ranganathar he used to sing the Azhwars pasurams with devotion and was always immersed in the depth of his emotions .

Swamy Ramanuja used to take the route to the kaveri river bank daily along the side of his hut . One day listening to the divine outpourings from the poor man , he stopped and went inside the hut to see the great devotee . Pattini perumal was shocked to see Jagath Acharyar entering his hut .

He offered his obeisances and seeked blessings .Both of them were immersed in the sweet ecstasy of Azhwar hymns not…

 The  holy hill Goverdhanagiri , more popularly addressed as “GIRIRAJ GOVERDHAN” is located in the middle of the town Goverdhan which is 24 kms from Vrindavan and approximately 26 kms west of Mathura. The routes to Vrindavan and Goverdhan from Mathura are different . Many buses and share autos ply to Goverdhanagiri from Mathura and Vrindavan round the clock. Radha Kund, Shyam Kund and Manasi Ganga are in the precints of the hill.

This  HOLY DHAAM  is considered as the most sacred place in  Vrindavan and  performing Pradhikshana is most auspicious .Few lacs  number of devotees perform Pradhakshina during Karthik maas and few thousands every day ….

Goverdhana hill is formed in the shape of a peacock. Radha Kund and Shyam Kund are the eyes. Dan Ghati is its long neck. Mukharavinda is the mouth and punchari is its back and tail feathers. As the hill is very sacred…

SRIMATHEY RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

Srimad Ramayana, the great Indian scripture (Ithihasam) composed by Sage Valmiki, narrates the incidents in the lives of Lord Rama and Mother Sita who were the incarnations of Sriman Narayana (Perumal) and Mahalakshmi (Thayar) elaborately. This epic comprising of 24000 slokas has been divided into seven kaandams-Balakandam, Ayodhya Kaandam, Aaranya kaandam, Kishkindha kaandam, Sundara kaandam, Yuddha kaandam and Uttara kaandam.

The purpose of Lord Sriman Narayana incarnating as a human being was to annihilate RAvana- and Kumbakarna –the fierce demons who had acquired invincible powers from Brahma that they would not be killed by any God/demon etc., neglecting humans and monkeys (vanaras) as the egoistic Ravana felt that human beings and vanaras were too insignificant for him.Having thus obtained boons, RAvana became so powerful and invincible that he started tormenting the sages (rishis), misbehaved with women and killed innumerable beings and finally committed the gravest sin of…

 The most sacred shrine of Lord Narasimhar  at Ahobilam is located in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in the hills of the eastern ghat. 

The temple consists of nine shrines to Lord Narisimha located around a 5 KM circle. The shtala Purana states that  PakshiRajar Garuda prayed  for a vision of Lord Narisimha .  Garuda commended his penance near to Srisaila Kshetra .

After long years of penance  Lord manifested Himself in the cave of a mountain. 

Few miles to the north east of the holy mountains where Garuda was performing penance  a vision of HIS manifestation was granted to Garuda………………..

who  after obtaining as sign of  location of the mountain cave gladly traveled to the holy spot and was blessed to be graced by Satswaroopa , Mahapurusha , Lord Jwala Narasimhar not easy accessible to common people those days

Garuda worshipped the Lord and glorified LORD as Ahobilam  is…

The great  devotee of Lord Vittala , Namadeva  used  to go to a  nearby village Gopalapur  to pen  his  emotional filled   divine abhangs on Lord without any disturbance.  

One day ,  it was  getting delayed and he did not turn home for lunch.

Namadev’s  wife who was concerned  for the delay ,  walked along with the  lunch to Gopalapur.  She requested her husband  Namadeva that he should have his lunch as it was getting late . But Namadevar was in a different mood completely .His thoughts were filled with Lord Vittala .

He advised her to leave the lunch in the basket and  carry on with her daily works

Rajayi his wife   with respect   kept  Namadeva’s lunch in a bag near him and left the place .   A dog  quickly  got hold of the chapathis  in the lunch bag and ran away with…

” TIRUMALA is most holy shrine and Lord Vaikuntanathan out of abundant mercy has appeared as Lord Venkateshwara in this yuga for our upliftment . The sacred TIRUMALA Hills consists of seven peaks considered to be seven-hooded Adhisesha

 . Before  seeking to  have  darsanam of LORD ,  the devotees  are  supposed to shed  the    inherent tamasic  qualities and approach with  sattva gunam for  HIS darshanam .

 Elders advise us to  reach the foot of the  Tirumala Hills and have a holy dip at Azhwar Theertham presently called as Kapila Theertham  before ascending the Hills.

This divine place is located enroute to Tirumala .  Out of the   1008 theerthams  located in and around  TIRUMALA  HILLS , Azhwar  Theertham ( Kapila Theertham)   is the only  natural spring  located  at the foot of the Hills.  

On the shores of Alwar theertham is  enshrined Sri Lakshmi Narayana Perumal gracing the devotees . Lord  is gracing…

Jai Jai Ramakrishna Hari

Pilgrimage to Pandharpur near   Sholapur in Maharashtra  and  having  darshan of Lord Vittal  is incomplete without mentioning  the great devotee Pundalikan. 

Pundalaikan who hailed from southern part of  India  undertook a pilgrimage to kasi along with his parents and family .  As his old  parents couldn’t withstand the long journey they camped  on the banks of Bhima river in the present Pandharpur.

   As there was no improvement in their fitness and due to their old  age , they decided to  stay there forever serving LORD and his devotees .

 Pundalikan  was  a caring and obedient son .

Always in the service of his parents chanting the holy name he continued to start a fresh life being at this new place. 

The Divine Name of ‘ Jai Jai Ramakrishna Hari Jai Jai  Vasudeva Hari’  ever reverberating in this holy town made him swoon into transcendental…

Once  , the  great  Thirumisai Azhwar came to have a darsanam  of Lord  Aaraamudha perumal   near Kumbakonam at Tamilnadu.    Azhwar  was very much impressed by  Lord’s  beauty .

He instantaneously recited ..

Nadanda kalgal nondhavo nadunga gnala menamai

Idanthamei kulungavo vilangumaal varaichuram

Kadanda kaal parandha kavirikarai kudanthaiul

Kidanthava yezhundirundu pesu vazhi kesane

Meaning O lord !  your lotus  feet must be  feeling the pain walking  the worlds  covered  with  mountains,   thorns etc  .

Your lotus feet are very soft that even Mother Lakshmee  feels her  service may hurt  LORD if she touches them. 

AzhwAr then realizes that  as LORD  went to the pAtALa lOka to rescue Mother during varAha avatAra, perhaps  due to this   LORD  should be relaxing in this pose .

While Azhwar was enquiring ,  Lord casually  lifted up His head to get up and reply to  AzhwAr  as he said said ‘pESu’ in…

A French sailor  was coming to  Pondichery   from Calcutta by his ship  through the  eastern coast of India  and was bringing a big bell from a port of France to the church of Pondicherry  .

The ship was moving parallel from the shore of the Bay of Bengal and proceeding through the parts of Chandipur, Paradip in Odisha .

People belonging to France and England were in that ship.

   His assistant suddenly  saw  a  giant whale  big enough to swallow the whole ship.  He was scared and could not speak  . 

His voice was choked as he  saw that the ship was heading directly towards the creature.

He dared and shrieked  “ Captain! All alert!”

The  sailor  was taking a reading of the ship’s course from the chart in the control room.

Hearing the call, he rushed out, a little perplexed.

“What is…

Millions of devotees throng the Tirumala Hills practically round the clock throughout the year for having darshanam of Lord Venkateshwara .

It is always the darshan what he gives us than what we seek .

                                   Many will share their experiences having darshanam with moist eyes . However , Very few are aware that when we walk inside the temple , to the right side of the Main entrance we can see a crowbar tied to the wall which has a glorious past .

As we move towards the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Venkateswara , how many will remember that there was a time , just a thousand years back, when the Hills were deserted with not much of human habitation in sight .Swamy Ramanuja had visited the Hills thrice. His maternal uncle , Peria Thirumalai Nambi gave him discourses on Srimad Ramayana for several months at the Hills.

The…

Once a new  disciple  approached   Acharyar Bhattar  and asked him………..

… Swamin ..

Please  clear my  doubt . What qualifications are needed to recite the Lord’s names ?

Bhattar smiled and replied ,

My dear child  ,

When you stumble on the road  OR  unknowingly face a danger .., what do you say instantly ..the disciple said I will scream AMMA …. …

Now tell me what qualifications  were needed to call AMMA ….

The disciple did not have any answer ….

My child !!  continued Bhattar ….

One who goes to bathe in the Holy ganges indeed need not cleanse himself beforehand by dipping in a  salt water pool  .

When we wish to be saved what more qualifications do we need than simply to desire it and forthwith fly to our savior LORD who saves us and also make us fit for salvation too .

When we go…

Swamy Nampillai just finished his daily worship and was about to conduct a discourse .

His ardent disciple  Pinbalagaram Perumal Jeeyar  had a doubt to be clarified. 

He approached Swamy Nampillai and submitted his question

.. Acharya !!  

Please tell me , whenever a person is in difficulty  we approach our Acharya and seek his blessings to ward off the problems .

Acharyar also blesses by abundant compassion ” shubena manasa dhyaatam ”  adding Thathasthu …and the problem is solved .

Such incidents have happened several times in the past and continue to happen .

Adiyen wants to know whether this is because of Acharya or the Lord ?

Swamy Nampillai  in a   composed  mood , clarifies his disciple that all the good that was happening was because of Lord himself .

 Pinbalagam Jeeyar   again  once again submits  ,  Acharya !!  in that case   can we approach LORD directly…

Srirangam Venkatadrischa   SrimushNam Totaparvatam

Salagramam Pushkaramcha NaranarayaNAshramamNaimisham

Cheti ME SthananyasoU  Mukthi PradhAnivai

YetusvashtAksharaIkAka:  VarNamUrthir VasAmyaham

TishtAmi KrishNa KshEtrE  puNya SapthakOgatha:

AshtAksharasya Mantrasya   SarvAkshara Maya SadA

 The above  verse   points out that the eight Swayam Vyakta Kshetrams ,  Srirangam, Tirupathi, SrimushNam, Vanamamalai, Salagramam, Badri,  NaimisharaNyam and Pushkar grant liberation to those who visit the place and seek Lord’s grace . Elders say  the Lord as the Archa Murthy at each of these  holy Kshetrams signify  one Aksharam of  the  Ashtakshara Mantram .

Naimisaaranyam is 120 kms away from Lucknow between Sitapur and Balmau in the state of Uttar Pradesh .

Naimisaraanyam is 42 kms away from Shidoli . 

Naimisharanya is situated on the left bank of the river Gomathi, which is a tributary of the river Ganges  .

At   ” NAIMISAARANYAM”  Lord ( Perumal )  is in Aaranya     ( Forest) swaroopam. This is a swayam vyaktha  kshethram…

srIshailEsha dayApAtram dhIbhaktyAdi guNArNavam |
yatIndra pravaNam vandE ramya jAmAtaram munim ||

lakshmI nAtha samArambhAm nAthayAmuna madhyamAm |
asmadAchArya paryantAm vandE guru paramparAm ||

The above sloka …. reverberates in all srivaishnava temples and homes glorifying the rich sampradaya we have inherited from our poorvacharyas ….Swamy  Nathamunigal and Swamy  Alavandar, the two great acharyas  have been pillars to Srivaishnava sampradayam, took their avatara at  the holy place Kattumannar koil, which is 25 kms from Chidambaram in Cuddalore district of Tamil nadu, South India.

Kattumannarkoil (situated on the banks of the vast Veeranam Lake) hallowed by the birth of these Acharyas is the only place with magnificent temples dedicated to Swamy Nathamunigal and Swamy  Alavandar.

Swamy Nathamunigal  was the  foremost Acharya  of Srivaishnava sampradaya .

Nathamuni mastered himself in Vedas at a  very young age.

He was devoted to Lord  Veera Narayana Perumal and spent most of his time performing…

Ghushyate yasyanagarey Rangayaatraa dhiney dhiney

tamaham sirasaa vandey Rajaanam Kulasekharam..

The above sloka speaks about the Azhwar who was an Emperor seeking Lord Ranganatha’s darshan every breath ……..

Sri Kulasekhara Azhwar was the sixth among the illustrious  Srivaishnava  Azhwars. He appeared at a place in Kerala  at Thiruvanjikalam and was a great devotee of LORD . He became more effulgent because of his total immersion in rendering service to the devotees Our Elders advise in a verse  that …..

Nyagrodhabeeje vatavat pranave sabdajaalavat

sidde tadeeya seshatve sarvaarthaah sambavantih

means

only when we have the feeling of being a servant in the presence of the devotees of the LORD then only we can have the realization of the  LORD. 

As  this is the only way one gets  great strength that this quality only can confer  us by giving us the objective of realizing the LORD amongs’t the devotees  .If one…

More sweet than all other sweet things; more auspicious than all other auspicious things;

the greatest purifier of all purifying things—————-

———————-The holy name of Sri Hari alone is everything…………..

There was a  temple of Lord Krishna in a village . The temple was always flooded with several devotees. The mood in the temple used to be festive always . Continuous Hari naama sankirtan made the place vibrating with devotion .The  devotional  Hari nama tunes took one into  a serene mood asking for more . It was a continuous flow of elixir .

The continuous chants made the mind swoon into devotional fervor and nothing else was remembered .There was no hunger or thirst .No desire except for just being there and feeding the soul through these ears the elixir that was abundantly poured . It was sheer bliss .

 A young man  lived near the temple  who had no…

The journey for a  devotee of Lord Rama  from Ayodhya to Lanka takes us through many places in India. One such place is Kishkindha  …..

Proceeding ahead with our pilgrimage to LORD RAMAs Holy abodes few years back ,  we reached  Hampi in the state of  Karnataka where the KISHKINDA charitram happened .

RISHIMUKHA PARVATAM  is  the place where Hanumanji  met  Lord  Rama and Lakshman for the first time.  Sugreeva  had sent Hanumanji  to meet  them in order to make sure that they were not spies of his brother and arch  enemy Bali.

It is said  Hanumanji  carried   Lord Shri Ram and Lakshman on his shoulders and took Lordships   to  Rishimukh Parvat to meet  Sugreev. The capital city of Sugreev “Kishkinda” is also near by..

This kingdom is identified to be the regions around the Tungabhadra river (then known as Pampa Saras) near Hampi in Karnataka.

There is…