Anusham-28.3.16 – MahAperiavA- Memorable Experience

At the very outset, I prostrate before each and every “AnushA” pooja bhakthAs in Mylapore.  In front of them, I don’t even exist.  Their dedication in this pooja is unbelievable.

This article is written not to boast my bhakthi.  But one day my children will read this that would help uplift their spiritual life.  At this young age, they don’t appreciate this even if they read.

MS Amma sings a song on mahA periAva, written by PeriasAmy tooran.  “Ennaiyum kAnchi muni Atkondadhen solvEn”…. Beautiful kriti on sahAnA.  It was such an experience for me.

Guru KatAksham is supreme.  It is an experience.  Sometimes, I feel that reaching Sadhguru is very easy.  Sarva sulabhan. Sri.Subramanya Deekshitar always conveys in his spiritual discourse that “Vaikuntam pOvadhu mannavan veedhi” which means to reach vaikuntam is very easy like travelling in a free road sans traffic. . When a Raja or Chief Minister comes, the entire stretch of the road will be traffic free and police will be watching to see that happens.

I got a mail last month about Anusham day, being performed at Mylapore.  I knew that this has been performed every month as I had seen many times MahA periavA’s portrait was taken as procession around Mylapore mAda vEEdhis. 

I could not attend the programme as my office timings are erratic and I reach home at 9.30 PM every day. But the poojA was in back of my mind.

When I was working in Dubai, I attended many Anusha pooja functions at Deira.  It was so memorable and my wife prepared prasAdhams for the function.  Vishnu Sahasranamam, Guru Stotram, Rudram, chamakam and it was so spiritual and it was again PeriavA’s blessings I could get to attend that pooja.

Having come to Chennai, I confined to Nitya pooja and with my office timings, I don’t have a chance to attend outside programmes.. 

Yesterday also, I performed my usual shiva pooja followed by periavA astothram followed by swasthi vAchanam-guru vandhanam.….

I stored the number from my last month’s mail and promptly  called yesterday to know about the Pooja. Smt. Mangalam picked up the phone and answered that Anusham is being performed every month and asked me to join and gave the address too.

It was year end for me in my office and as a Finance head it was not easy for me to leave at 5 PM.  So, I thought of dropping the idea of going to the pooja and as usual left my office at 8 PM.

I purchased “malligai poo mAlai” at Broadway, near my office for my next day’s pooja and kept in my bag.  I reached Mylapore at about 8.45 PM.  When I crossed North Mada street, I could see the “Swami purappAdu” about to finish and the portrait was about to be taken inside after the procession. NAdhaswaram playing melodiously, I crossed further to buy “udhiri pushpam” for my next day’s pooja (opposite to ambika appalam)  I don’t get “udhiri”  in Broadway, near my office.  This, I kept below the seat of my two wheeler.

When I was about to go further, I thought for a while to see the “Karpoora Arthi”.  I was reluctant initially because of my dress code (pants,shirts, shocks & shoes) and felt bad to stand among “Pancha khachcham glad bhakthAs”.   Neverthless, I thought, at least, to have a darshan.

As I parked the two wheeler and went inside, the mahA aarthi was being performed with “getti mElam” marking the end of the programme.  I was so happy to see the arthi, at least.

After that, one person next to me gave a packet of “thoduttha poo” and some flowers it was promptly accepted and then that happened..

Someone looked at me and I immediately thought of the “thodutha poo” in my bag and  took it and gave it to him. It was so perfectly  put as a “mAlA” (over his head as a ^ shape) for Sri.JayEndra sarawathi swAmiji and bAla periaVa.  The middle portion  on the “pAdAravindham” of Sri. mahA periAva.

All of a sudden it happened. It was so beautiful and I could not control my tears. Why I purchased “thodutha poo” at Broadway and why I carried here ?   MahAperiAva, saranAgatha vatsalan, just like that acknowledged my small offerings…in a second.  As I felt bad, for not attending this pooja (in my office), was heard by Him and here He responded promptly !!!

I neither had proper clothes not had a state of mind to attend such a function full of vEdha purushAs. But still periAvA took my small offerings  which was amazing.

After the portrait was taken inside, all the ‘upachArams” were performed.  kapAli kriti in mOhanam made the atmosphere more serene.  All the  vEdha pandithAs chanting Chatur vEdhAs, dEvArams etc … It was so lively and no words would be enough to express the experience.

Today I called the number again and the person who took the phone was Shri.Ganesha Sharma. I narrated my experience yesterday and he confirmed that it was he who garlanded the periavA’s portrait with my “pushpa mAlai”.  He asked me to come home any time.

 Why I got this Anusha pooja mail last month ?

 Why I carried only the "pushpa mAlai" in my bag ? (to promptly give)

 Why I reached in time to see the mahA arthi ?

 Why I the Garland perfectly fit for all the three seers ?

 Why He is prompting me to write this ?

Any one knows ?!!!!

 

I credit this to my parents and my Kula deivam “Varagoor perumAl”.  My parents imbibed bhakthi in me and my PerumAl is in my life system.

mahAperiAvA  saraNam.. saraNam….Anandha kOti namaskArangal.  to shOwer his blessings to me also.

SahAna kriti pallavi goes like this….

“enna perum tavam yAn seidhadhariyEnE…

Enniyum kAnchi muni Atkondathen solvEn”

                                                              

                                           

Kum.Varshini’s first concert at Mahalingapuram Iyappan Temple

Not all dreams come true in our life.  I did not aspire to become a superstar in my professional career nor in my personal life.  I had toughest times in my life and happiest moments too.  Just turned back and see the “takeaways”, it was God’s grace and my parents blessings; I overcome these situations with minimum loss.   

I need to thank my wife for whatever Iam today.  My kids are so lucky to have her as their mother.

When I felt  my daughter had an interest in music, I thought to put her under  a proper guru.  It all culminated when In dubai, I took  her to “Abhirami Andhadhi” class where she was taught the whole AA in different rAgAs.  Each and every 5 verses were tuned in a rAgA and she could learn it quickly and recite it without referring the book. 

Sanjay subramaniam, in his MA speech last year, had mentioned that students who learn music should not be thinking of singing in Music Academy immediately.  So, I knew this well before when my daughter was young and was very clear about the process for my daughter’s music career !!!.  I slowly build my dreams and I don’t want this to fade away !!!!

Those days, she was also interested in Bharathanatyam class and Dubai was abuzz with those classes, I also allowed her to learn this.

After moving to Chennai, I made it a point to give her proper training in music and she got Smt.Saraswathy, a disciple and relative of Sri.Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.  She underwent training for 2-3 years.  She was able to bag many awards like SIMA (Smt Sudha ragunathan presented the award), schools and colleges etc and also tried all the leading sabhAs.  Though unsuccessful, I always remembered Sanjay’s quote above.

As the teacher was ill and hospitalized and could not take classes for sometime, I put her under Smt.Padma Narayanaswamy, wife and disciple of Shri.Palakkad K.V.Narayanaswamy.

I should say a few words about her Guru.  She is so devoted to music. She imbibed the bhakthi part from Shri KVN and music automatically came free to her.  She makes it a point to go to Thyagaraja samAdhi once in a year and also Orirukkai, mahA periavA’s place at Kanchipuram as a reciprocal promise to her music career.

She is very serious customer and takes the best out of every student.

Varshini has been learning still under her and I could see her improvement in each and every class.  As I know little Carnatic music because of may be, my birth place, Semmangudi, I have been closely monitoring her improvement.

My kula deivam-is varagoor perumAl.  We conduct Tarangini utsavam every year, where the kritis of Shri.Narayan Teerthar were sung by eminent personalities.  I made it a point to put my daughter to give half and hour slot to sing Tarangams.

It was the most memorable and the first step for her to swim the ocean of Carnatic music.  In 2016 january month Tarangini function, she could sing a keeravani ragam followed by “Damodhara tavaga”.. a famous kriti of Saint Teerthar.

So, I thought of taking her to a concert level and the day came.

Smt.Padma Narayanaswamy arranged an hour concert in Mahalingapuram Iyappan temple on 26^th March 2016.

It was my dream to see daughter to give a programme. Her training, under her Guru. Smt.Padma Narayanswamy shaped her well as she was ready to give an hour programme in Mahalingapuram Iyappan temple.

I have written so many review. It is a thrill to write my daughter’s review !!

Violin-Smt Balam                                                                         

Mridhangam-Smt. Rajam (sister of Flute maestro Ramani)

sarajinAbhA- Nattai- Patnam Subramanya Iyer

Sriranjani raga for 2 minutes- Gajavadhana karunA-papanasam Sivan-Swaram in Gajavadhana

ThyAgarAjAya namastE-bEgadA-MD

kalyAni-Main-Nidi chAla sukhama-Thyagarajar-neraval in mamata bandan yuga followed by swaram.

ungal puzhakkadai-anandha bhairavi-AndAl

mAdhava mAmava-NT

Sri Ramachanukku-mangalam

Nice to see Rajam mami congratulated her after finishing the kalyAni ragam.

I don’t see any problem in her concert. Her throw and attitude were good. No fear was one attitude for the new singers. Fortunately, she did not have that on that day.  KalyAni swaram had few hiccups, but it was nothing compared to her stage presence and presentation.

God bless her. I was immensely happy and it was my lucky day to be there at the venue to take the blessings of Lord Guruvayarooppan and Lord Iyappan and listen to the KVN bhAni.

Shiva unveils the secrets of PAsupatAstrA to Arjuna

Rarely heard story from mahAbharatha- Sadhguru Jakki..

Sadhguru’s speech…….

During the kurukshetra war, after the tragic and brutal death of his son Abhimanyu, Arjuna is utterly grief sticken. The king jayadratha was the one who was indirectly but absolutely responsible for this murder. As enraged, Arjuna vows to avenge her son’s death by killing jayadratha before the next sunset or immolate himself if he fails.

Krishna knows that Arjuna must use the invincible pashupatashtra on Jayadratha in order to fulfill his view. Long ago, Arjuna had earned this fearsome weapon from Shiva himself after doing pain-staking tapasya.  But he never learned how to access it.

That night krishna visits Arjuna in his dream and tells him they must visit Shiva and learn the secrets of the astra. They sit in meditation and find themselves leave their bodies and soar north, across snowy mountains, thick forests and pristine lakes. A blazing mountain comes into view,  as they approach it they see Shiva sitting atop the peak.

He shines with a fire of thousand suns, a radiance that is the result of his intense ascetic austerities. Draped in animal hides and tree bark, he is smeared in white ash and adored with matted locks.

Parvathi, the daughter of the mountains sits by his side while the ganAs, his strange companions, dance about singing shouting and playing musical instruments.

Shiva welcomes Krishna and Arjuna and the warrior due eulogize the maha yogi and request for the phenomenal pasupadashtra. Shiva smiles and tells them to retrieve his bow and arrow from a lake of amrita. With the ganas leading the way, the two arrive at the celestial lake from which two colossal serpents rise. They tower with a thousand hoods and spit fierce flames. As Krishna and Arjuna chant hymns in praise of Rudra, the serpents hissing quietens and they transform into a bow and arrow. Clasping these weapons, Krishna and Arjuna return to Shiva, setting them before him.

From Shiva’s body emerges a lustrous being a ferocious brahmachari with orange eyes and flowing red hair. He demonstrates to Arjuna how to mount the arrow and string the bow while Shiva utters the sacred mantra to invoke the weapon. Arjuna commits it all to memory. Then the brahmachari shoots the arrow back to the lake from where it came and with a cry hurls bow back as well.

Arjuna bows down to Shiva, who blesses them. Filled with joy, Arjuna and krishna travel back to the war camp with the certainty that with the Grace of Mahadeva, victory would be theirs.

Mahamagam- 2016- Part II

It was the d-day.   MahAmagam day.   We got up early at 4 AM and wanted to have a holy dip in mahAmagam tank.  We were afraid of crowd during the peak hours  (9 AM to 2 PM)  so wanted to finish it off early.

The previous day experience, wherein we walked all the way from  Soliappan street to mahAmagam tank, was expected today also,  but fortunately, we got an auto to go somewhere nearer to tank.

Myself, my wife and few relatives had a holy dip on that day.  This was what I yearned for in my life.  When one gets older, he repents the important functions, he missed during his early days.  In my life, I missed two mahAmagams, first one being one month after my marriage, the second one being the day when I was in dubai.

Also, the same way, I missed so many uRiyadi’s in our varagUr.

Coming back, after that I could not go to tank as it was heavily crowded.  We were glued to TV to see the programme Live.

We also planned to visit Bhakthapuri Street to get blessed from those Vedic Dikshitars, who is conducting Isti/AupAsanam.  

Sadhguru katAksham, again, favoured us.  When we went to meet the vEda pandithAs, they had left for mahAmagam tank.  We were bit upset that we could not get the blessings of the vEda purushAs.

Near bhakta puri street, we heard “sArangapAni”- tEErthavAri.    Bringing the idol into cauvEri for bathing.  It was an even to be seen.   Myself and my wife rushed to see that event.  Again, heavy crowd and  you have to stand in the cauveri  (middle of Cauvery) to have the darshan of “hold bath of God”.  As we were not in the “bathing dress”, bit reluctant to go in to the river.

When we took a turn and decided to return our house, there is a bit of confusion and suddenly one van halted near the ashram. We could see “bAla periavAl” coming out of the van and on the way to witness the ‘Abhishekam” he stood for sometime and give darshan to bhaktAs.

How fortunate are we ? as we wanted to see the vEdha pandithAs, we could see the vEdha personified, Holiness BALA periavAl.

We returned to Trichy in the evening en route to Chennai.

Another interesting thing, myself and my wife could get confirmed reservation.  Normally, this does not happen and I need to face the wrath of my wife to make her sleepless in train.

Thank God. 

One of my holy mission in my life was to have the holy dip in mahAmagam 2016.  I could make it possible because of Sadhguru, my parents, my in laws.   Above all, my wife.  She was adamant to go at any cost to have the holy dip.

Thanks to her.

SadhgurubhyO Namaha….