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Having assumed that the magical power of the deity had killed his daughter, there was a more severe second invasion to Srirangam in 1323 AD. The presiding deity was taken away before the malikaapoor’s troops reached Srirangam by a group led by the vaishnavite Acharaya (Guru), Pillai Lokacharyar, who died en route to thirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. The Goddess Renganayaki was taken in another separate procession. Swami Vedanta Desika, instrumental in planning the operations during the siege of the temple, closed the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with bricks, after the processions of the presiding deities had left, thereby protected the temple for generations to come. 13,000 Sri Vaishnavas, the people of Srirangam, laid down their lives in the fierce battle to ensure that the institution was protected. In the end, devadaasies the danseuse of Srirangam, seduced the army chief, to save the temple.
After nearly six decades, the presiding deity returned to Srirangam and the same Swami Vedanta Desika, who had built a brick wall in front of the sanctum sanctorum, broke it open. The deity and the priestly wardens wandered southwards towards madurai then northeast towards kerala, mysore, Tirunarayanapuram, and finally in the hills of thirumala thirupathi where they remained until their reinstatement in 1371.
The temple is considered to be one of the eight swayambhu kshetrams of of Ranganatha and the remaining seven are bhoo varahaswaamy temple, thirumala venkateswara swamy, vaanamaamalai perumal temple all in South India and saligrama, naimisaranya, pushkar and Badrikasrama in badrinath situated in north.
Apart from above we have pancha ranganatha kshetrams like pancha badri and pancha kedar in north India, dedicated to ranganatha, they are Sri rangapatnam near Mysore(adhya rangam), appalarangam or koviladi thirupperam nagar, parimala ranganatha swamy temple in maayavaram, vatarangam in Seerkazhi. But people also have some belief that the Kumbakonam sarangapani temple is also mentioned as Vatarangam in some references.
Let us pray to ranganatha and obtain his blessings tomorrow. Please visit to temple and obtain the grace with family and children.
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VAIKUNTA
EKADASI FALLS ON 1.1.2015
Normally we
have two ekadasies on every month but the pushya sudda ekadasi (chaandra manam)
and dhanur masa sudda ekadasi (soura mana) is special one because it falls
during the bramhi muhurta of deva mana and early morning for all devas. This
ekadasi is also called as mukkoti ekadasi i.e. prime for all 33 crore
devaas. This day lord maha vishnu
appears to all devotees through northern door entrance and bless them vaikunta
and hence it is also called as vaikunta ekadasi.
This
festival is being observed in all the maha vishnu temples but very very sacred
in Sri Ranganatha swami temple in Trichyrappalli. Why, according to puranas,
bramha the creator is worshing the ranganatha swamy more fondly told in tamil
as pallikonda perumal in bramha loka.
The king of sun dynasty sri Ikwaaku observed severe penance against
Bramha and Bramha appeared before his and ready to give boon. But the king ikshwaaku requested the Bramha
to give the ranganaatha swamy idol i.e. Pallikonda perumal being worshipped by
him to him and Bramha readily gave the same to Ikshwaaku. From that day onwards the Ranganaatha swaamy
is the kula deiva for sun dynasty. That
is also one of the reason Sri rama also
chosed to have his avataara in ikshwaaku dynaasty.
The same
diety was given to Vibheeshana, by Sri Rama in affection and faith shown to him
in getting Seeta from Srilanka after his pattabhishekam at Ayodhya. The diety was taken in pratyeka vimana by
Vibheeshana from ayodhya to Sri lanka. It is the wish or the sanctity of the
cavery river praantam, lord chose to stay in there itself and played a
trick. He made laghysanka, (urination
temptation) to vibheeshana and vibheeshana stopped the vimana in cavery river
basin and gone to fulfil his desire and came back after the snanam in cavery,
i.e. observing suchi (cleanliness) and want to lift the diety but the same
could not be lifted. He has no other
hope, so left the diety there and went to sri lanka.
One more
puranic story is also there that all Gods wanted to worship the diety in
Bharata desa itself and requested the Lord vinaya to fulfil their wish and
vinayaka readily agreed being the metarnal uncle to him, and appeared at cavery
basin where vibheeshana want to get rid of his desire of urination. It is told that vibheeshana requsted the
brahmin boy appeared before him by vinayaka, to keep the diety on his lap and
will come soon after finishing his shanka and snana in cavery. The brahmin boy readily agreed and told
vibheeshana that he will not stay long here and when he want to leave the place
he will call vibheeshana thrice and then go.
But when the brahmin boy called the vibheeshana the same is not heard to
him due to his concentration in observing the sandhya after snana incavery but
the brahmin boy kept the diety on earth and disappeared. When vibheeshana returned he could not able
to find out the brahmin boy and he could not also lift the diety from the earth
with all his force. He then realised
that that it is the will and wish of maha vishnu to stay in srirangam irself
and left the place.
The tamil
king of chozha dynaasty Dharma varma
heard about this and he built a temple there and worshipped. But during the
days, the path of cavery is changed and the temple is totally submerged. The
future king KILLIVALAVAN, of Dharmavarman later when he came to cavery prantam
to have archery excersice, he was taking rest in the amma mantamap, the present
place on cavery basin in trichy. During
that time, the parrots were discussing
among themselves sitting on the tree about the submergeof sri Ranganaatha swaamy temply constructed by the
kings dynasty and location of temples also.
This is was heard by the king and immediately he started to find out the
place and able to take out the moola virat from cavery basin and constructed a
big temle, i.e. the present day Sri rangam Sri Ranganathaswaamy temle.
According
to vishnu purana, fasting on ekadasi is more holier than any other religious
observations. This particular ekadasi fasting will beget the phalitham of
observing fast on all remaining ekadasies in the year. The visnu ordered to open the door of
vaikunta to two demons, (normally vishnu will kill the demons for their
wrongful act) This kind of grace made the demons to obtain the vaikunta dwaara
pravesa and obtained the salvation.
Now we can
see what is the ekadasi thithi and why so importance. According to padma purana, a fierful demon
called Mura approached lord parameswara for fight but parameswara directed him
to aproach maha vishnu. A fierful fight between the vishnu and Mura is going
gone and in the final stage mahavishnu came to know that a special weapon is
required to eliminate the demon Mura. In order to have a new weapon, both have
stopped the fight for sometime and gone for rest. Mahavishnu, rested in a cave and prayed to
hymavathy, the maya mahashakti in Badarikashtrama. When the demon Mura was approached to kill
the vishnu who was in rest (nidra) the maya, the prime sakti of mahavishnu
appeared through his body and reminded the Mura to ashes through her
glance. The very same is being called as
EKADASI by Maha vishnu and requested her to have boon. The maya instead of
asking for the boon told that those observe fast on this day will destroy all
their sins and obtain moksha. This happens on Dhanurmasa sukla paksha
ekadasi(soura mana) and poushya masa sukla paksha ekadasi (chandra mana). The mura, the demon represents the rajasic
and tamasic qualities among us which will destroy our peace and by observing
fast and praying to vishnu he will turn to satvic and obtain the benefits and
reach the salvation. That is why the consumption of rice is being forbidden on this day since the
rice is give you nidra, the tamasic guna.
The demon Muran stands for the Rajasic and Tamasic
qualities in people, attributed to lust, passion, inertia, arrogance etc. When
one conquers these tendencies, one attains the purity of mind, Satva,
indispensable for attaining of moksha, the liberation or realization of the
self.
For realizing the self as pure awareness, purity of mind
is required. Fasting helps to keep at bay tendencies which could be triggered
by intake of certain foods. Keeping vigil in the night is symbolic of
awareness, or being watchful of the contents of the mind. When the mind is
looked at, it becomes still. To abide in the stillness is to attain freedom or
peace, acquired through merging of the mind with the self. This is symbolic of
the mind automatically being absorbed at the sight of Vishnu after the arduous
fast and vigil.
The
Ranganatha temple, situated at Sri Rangam is the foremost of the 108 divya
desams of Mahavishnu. The temple follows
tenglai aagama tradition in the performing the pujas. The location of temple is
in an island in cavery basin vulnerable to natural disasters as well as
rampaging of invading muslim and european armies. The main entrance of Rajagopuram rises from
the base areaof 13 cents ( 5720 square feet) to a height of 237 feet or 72
metres with 11 tiers. It is one of the largest functiong biggest temples in the
world occupying in 156 aceres of land with a perimeter of 4116 metres making it
the largest temple in in India and one of the largest religious conmplexus in
the world.
The temple
is enclosed by 7 praakaarams (sapta praakaaraa madhye) having total length of
walls to 6 miles length. The temple has
21 gopurams and 39 pavilions fifty shrines(devata murthies) 1000 pillar
mangapam and several small water bodies inside the temple. The first two prakaraams are occupied by
vendors, restaurants and flower shops.
The moola
sthana vimana is in the shape of Omkara called Ranga vimana and is plaated with
gold. The moola sthana is laying on Aadhishesha and the images of Vibheeshana,
bramha, hanumaan and garuda with sankha and chakra in ranganatha hands.
Ranganayaki moolasthana is in the second
prakara. The ranganaayaki is called as padi thaanda pathni i.e. the lady does not cross the boundaries
of ethics. The utsava vigraha will never
come from the moolasthana but the ranganayaka will visit the ranganayaki. There
is a separate moolasthana for Dhanvantari in this temple.
The thousand pillar hall
like theatre structure is constructed by Vijayanagar kings. The temple is
having 21 gopurams including the main gopuram of 236 feet height is the second
tallest temple tower in the Asia. During the period of invasion by Malikaapoor
and his forces in 1310–1311, the idol of the deity was stolen and taken to Delhi In a daring exploit, devotees of Srirangam ventured
to Delhi and enthralled the emperor with their histrionics. Moved by their
talent, the emperor was pleased to gift them the presiding deity of Srirangam,
which was requested by the performers. Things took a drastic turn immediately.
Surathani, his daughter, had fallen in love with the deity and followed him to
Srirangam. She prostrated herself to the God in front of the sanctum sanctorum
and is believed to have attained the heavenly abode immediately. Even today, a
painting of "Surathani" (known as Thulukha Nachiyar in Tamil)
can be seen in her shrine near the Arjuna Mandap adjacent to the sanctum
sanctorum for whom, chhapaaties (wheat
bread) are made daily. The kalyana
utsavam or wedding of Lord ranganathar with Surathani is performed with great
pomp every year.
Having assumed that the magical power of the deity had killed his daughter, there was a more severe second invasion to Srirangam in 1323 AD. The presiding deity was taken away before the malikaapoor’s troops reached Srirangam by a group led by the vaishnavite Acharaya (Guru), Pillai Lokacharyar, who died en route to thirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. The Goddess Renganayaki was taken in another separate procession. Swami Vedanta Desika, instrumental in planning the operations during the siege of the temple, closed the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with bricks, after the processions of the presiding deities had left, thereby protected the temple for generations to come. 13,000 Sri Vaishnavas, the people of Srirangam, laid down their lives in the fierce battle to ensure that the institution was protected. In the end, devadaasies the danseuse of Srirangam, seduced the army chief, to save the temple.
After nearly six decades, the presiding deity returned to Srirangam and the same Swami Vedanta Desika, who had built a brick wall in front of the sanctum sanctorum, broke it open. The deity and the priestly wardens wandered southwards towards madurai then northeast towards kerala, mysore, Tirunarayanapuram, and finally in the hills of thirumala thirupathi where they remained until their reinstatement in 1371.
The temple is considered to be one of the eight swayambhu kshetrams of of Ranganatha and the remaining seven are bhoo varahaswaamy temple, thirumala venkateswara swamy, vaanamaamalai perumal temple all in South India and saligrama, naimisaranya, pushkar and Badrikasrama in badrinath situated in north.
Apart from above we have pancha ranganatha kshetrams like pancha badri and pancha kedar in north India, dedicated to ranganatha, they are Sri rangapatnam near Mysore(adhya rangam), appalarangam or koviladi thirupperam nagar, parimala ranganatha swamy temple in maayavaram, vatarangam in Seerkazhi. But people also have some belief that the Kumbakonam sarangapani temple is also mentioned as Vatarangam in some references.
Let us pray to ranganatha and obtain his blessings tomorrow. Please visit to temple and obtain the grace with family and children.
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