Wednesday, 9 April 2014

2014 yathirAja sampath kumAra vaibhavam

srI:
srImathE satagOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
srI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

thirunArAyaNapuram (mElkOte) has great significance in our sath sampradhAyam. It is hailed as gyAna maNdapam (the place of divine wisdom). yathirAja and yathirAja sampath kumAra are most affectionately taken care of in this dhivya kshEthram. It is also glorified as an abhimAna sthalam (the place which is dear to AchAryas - in this case emperumAnAr). sampath kumAra (selva piLLai/chella piLLai) is the presiding deity (uthsavar) of thirunArAyaNapuram. thirunArAyaNapuram was originally known as nArAyaNAdhri in krutha yugam, vEdhAdhri in thrEthA yugam, yadhavAdhri, yadhugiri, etc., in dhvApara yugam and yathisailam in kali yugam. The mUlavar thirunArAyaNan emperumAn was worshipped by yadhu dynasty kings (including balarAma and krishNa). The uthsavar sampath kumAra was originally known as rAma priyan (one who is dear to srI rAma) and was worshipped by srI rAma himself. Thus, this dhivya kshEthram is connected to both srI rAma and krishNa. In kali yugam, this dhivya kshEthram became deeply forested and covered with woods.

srI rAmAnuja was residing in srIrangam and nurturing srIvaishNava sath sampradhAyam and visishtAdhvaitha sidhdhAntham to great heights. But a saiva king wanted to establish the supremacy of siva. He wanted to establish this through the words of srI rAmAnuja. The king sends his soldiers to bring srI rAmAnuja. At that time, knowing the ill intentions of the king, kUrathAzhwAn dresses up like srI rAmAnuja and goes to the king's court along with periya nambi and his daughter aththuzhAi. There he firmly refutes siva's supremacy and establish srIman nArAyaNan's supremacy. The king tries to punish kUrathAzhwAn and periya nambi by ordering his soldiers to destroy their eyes. AzhwAn himself plucks his eyes after saying that the eyes are no longer worthy after seeing such cruel king. periya nambi's eyes were plucked and they were sent out of the court. On the way back, due to his old age and unable to bear the pain, periya nambi leaves his body and attains his AchAryan thiruvadi.

Here in srIrangam, srI rAmAnuja is advised to leave the place to avoid persecution from the king. srI rAmAnuja goes towards the western direction and eventually reaches thirunArAyaNapuram. When he rests there, thirunArAyaNan emperumAn appears in his dream and directs him towards the place where his archA vigraham is buried. emperumAnAr brings out the archA vigraham (mUlavar) and re-establishes the temple and the temple norms at this dhivya kshEthram. He also offers nammAzhwAr's thiruvAimozhi padhigam 4.1 "oru nAyagamAy" to this emperumAn as sthala pAsuram. It is indicated to him that the uthsavar vigraham is with the Delhi sultan. He then ventures into a long journey to the sultan's kingdom. The sultan welcomes srI rAmAnuja and enquires him about the purpose of his visit. Hearing the request of srI rAmAnuja, he tells emperumAnAr to take a look at where he keeps the various archA vigrahams (deities). When emperumAnAr looks at them, he does not find the rAma priyan uthsavar vigraham. The sultan then tells srI rAmAnuja that his daughter has a deity in her quarters and leads emperumAnAr to that place. The sultan's daughter developed great attachment towards rAma priyan and emperumAn was reciprocating her divine attachment too. In the absence of the sultan's daughter, emperumAnAr reaches her quarters. Seeing rAma priyan emperumAn, he becomes very pleased. He calls "chella piLLAy! ingE vArAy" (Dear son, please come here). Hearing emperumAnAr's sweet voice with fatherly affection, rAma priyan quickly walked over to him with his ankle bells making beautiful sound, climbed up on his lap and sat there. The sultan became astonished to see this sight and immediately honored emperumAnAr and let him carry emperumAn with him. emperumAnAr quickly left the place with rAma priyan emperumAn.


Eventually, the sultan's daughter (bIbI nAchiyAr) comes to know about this and starts her journey following emperumAnAr's path. Just before the entrance of the town, emperumAnAr notices her, marries her to rAma priyan emperumAn and asks emperumAn to let bIbI nAchiyAr reside at his lotus feet. emperumAn happily obliges and nAchiyAr enters the lotus feet of emperumAn.


Thus, rAma priyan emperumAn becomes yathirAja (king of saints) sampath kumAra (dear son). emperumAnAr then establishes rAma priyan (uthsavar) vigraham in thirunArAyaNapuram and reforms the dhivya kshEthram and many places around this place. These information (except bIbI nAchiyAr marriage) are seen in pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar's 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam.

It is on this day panguni pushyam, yathirAja sampath kumAra vaibhavam is celebrated in srIperumbUthUr. Here there is a small archA vigraham for sampath kumAran emperumAn (usually seen in Adhi kEsava perumAL sannidhi). Today, we had a series of wonderful events. Full set of pictures can be viewed at https://plus.google.com/photos/107723698299182214927/albums/6000317349489890865.
  • Afternoon
    • thiruppAvai gOshti and sARRumuRai

  • Evening
    • Grand puRappAdu in chandra prabhai for yathirAja and yathirAja sampath kumAran (on emperumAnAr's lap) with rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi gOshti. Note: chandhra prabhai is recently renovated and offered to emperumAn/emperumAnAr on this day.

It is our great fortune that we could witness yathirAja sampath kumAra vaibhavam right here at srIperumbUthUr.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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