In each and every temple where a pooja is being performed, this is done following a specific procedure and this procedure is called "Agamam". As dictated by the Agama sastras, all the uthsavams, samprOkshanams, poojas as well as all nithyathiruvArAdanams are happening in each and every temple. For such thiruvArAdanams, uthsavams and prathistai, the basis is the Agama sastras. If, as per the Agama sastras, the thiruvArAdanams are being performed to the perumal exactly as prescribed, then the sannidhyam of the perumal will never come down in the temple. Sannidhyam means the mahimai. Because of this sannidhyam, all our prayers bear fruit. Once this happens lots of people come to this temple.
One says he went to this temple and his marriage got fixed, the other says a child was born to him, yet another says he got a job like this one starts to wonder whether he would also likewise get his desires fulfilled. That is how the temple becomes crowded and popular. Perumal never tires of giving to his devotees, even after 10 people, if the 16th person comes he never says no. Is there a measure for his kripa? Perumal is always pouring his kripa.
In such a Agama vidhi, when not performing the nithyaAradhanam or uthsavams correctly or due to some of the doshams with the devotees like for example not taking a bath or coming during the non permitted periods or coming to temple after performing a wrong act, the sannidhyam of the perumal in the temple starts to come down slowly. In order to make everyone understand what is sannidhyam, it is usually meant to be a sakthi or a mahimai. Will this sakthi or mahimai come down? Take a battery or a cell for example. When a battery is new and inserted into a torchlight it shines the light very brightly. If it is put inside a radio to listen songs, due to the battery power the songs come out loud and clear. As days go by, the density of the acid level keeps changing and goes up, the torch light now blinks with the dimmed light. Also when put inside the radio, the sound is not coming now. The reason is that the density of the acid inside the cell has become more now. But if we recharge it, the power comes back again. This is an example meant purely for an understanding. So in the sannidhyam of the perumal, one cannot guarantee that all the activities performed will be perfect at all times, we are all humans after all, mistakes could have happened unknowingly and due to this the sannidhyam of the perumal will start to come down.
In order for this sannidhyam to not come down, once in every 12 years, a samprOkshanam will be done. First the tiruppani for the outside walls and the inner mantapam walls will be done. In the yagashAla, water will be kept in the kalasams uttering mantras, the sannidhyam of the perumal inside the garbha graham will be welcomed or attracted into the water in the kalasams and after the tiruppani is being performed, with the theertham inside the kalasam powered by the mantras, the sannidhyam of the perumal is saved. The sannidhyam of the perumal is thus preserved and not let to go down. If these samprOkshanams are being done without fail every 12 years, in the temples the activities will be performed correctly. That is why once in 12 years this samprOkshanam has to be performed which is a procedure every temple follows as a norm. This is indeed sannidhyam. Just like the way of mantras in which the sannidhyam of the perumal was being attracted to the theertham in the kalasam and being washed again in the temple, I had told you earlier about the sanyasi who performed a similar activity in the sannidhanam of the perumal. This person looking at the perumal continuously is attracting the sannidhyam of the perumal in the theertham of his kalasam. Because of the anjanam he has smeared over his eyes, he remains invisible.
Some bhakthas come daily to the temple, they are determined never to miss even one day without seeing the perumal. Some bhakthas lives are centered around the temple daily. Starting from the viswaroopam in the morning, up until night they will be roaming around the temple all the time. Like this there are certain devotees. I have seen certain bhakthas who would never miss even one uthsavam and they will always attend each and everyone of them. If the perumal porappAdu happened and if it goes to a certain place, they will go there too. If perumal is going to jeeyapuram, they will accompany perumal there too. If perumal is going to cauvery, they will follow. For Gajendra moksham on chitra pournami, wherever perumal goes they will follow behind. Even today there are bhakthars who will not leave the perumal even for a minute. Srirangam bhakthars who have any function outside of srirangam with their relatives such as ear piercing, sreemantham or marriage they will not go. They will not go as they will miss the darshanam of Sri Ranganathar on that day. Their relatives knowing the depth of the bhakthi of these devotees will not ask about why they did not attend. Like that with the shobhai or beauty of the periyaperumal, many bhakthas are there to not miss it even for a day. Such bhakthars, when they visit the temple can quickly find out that on such a such day, the face of Sri Ranganathar is slightly down easily, the beauty of the perumal is slightly less etc. Some people can feel that and they can find out that there is something missing. They are not able to pinpoint that. Some feel that the Perumal in the sleeping posture, ananthAzhwar is slowly stepping down. Then they would question their own thought, it must be our dream how can perumal step down. Some change, some loss of beauty in the garbha graham will be felt by these devotees and each such devotee is feeling like that. They then start to speak and share their thoughts about this now.
One says he went to this temple and his marriage got fixed, the other says a child was born to him, yet another says he got a job like this one starts to wonder whether he would also likewise get his desires fulfilled. That is how the temple becomes crowded and popular. Perumal never tires of giving to his devotees, even after 10 people, if the 16th person comes he never says no. Is there a measure for his kripa? Perumal is always pouring his kripa.
In such a Agama vidhi, when not performing the nithyaAradhanam or uthsavams correctly or due to some of the doshams with the devotees like for example not taking a bath or coming during the non permitted periods or coming to temple after performing a wrong act, the sannidhyam of the perumal in the temple starts to come down slowly. In order to make everyone understand what is sannidhyam, it is usually meant to be a sakthi or a mahimai. Will this sakthi or mahimai come down? Take a battery or a cell for example. When a battery is new and inserted into a torchlight it shines the light very brightly. If it is put inside a radio to listen songs, due to the battery power the songs come out loud and clear. As days go by, the density of the acid level keeps changing and goes up, the torch light now blinks with the dimmed light. Also when put inside the radio, the sound is not coming now. The reason is that the density of the acid inside the cell has become more now. But if we recharge it, the power comes back again. This is an example meant purely for an understanding. So in the sannidhyam of the perumal, one cannot guarantee that all the activities performed will be perfect at all times, we are all humans after all, mistakes could have happened unknowingly and due to this the sannidhyam of the perumal will start to come down.
In order for this sannidhyam to not come down, once in every 12 years, a samprOkshanam will be done. First the tiruppani for the outside walls and the inner mantapam walls will be done. In the yagashAla, water will be kept in the kalasams uttering mantras, the sannidhyam of the perumal inside the garbha graham will be welcomed or attracted into the water in the kalasams and after the tiruppani is being performed, with the theertham inside the kalasam powered by the mantras, the sannidhyam of the perumal is saved. The sannidhyam of the perumal is thus preserved and not let to go down. If these samprOkshanams are being done without fail every 12 years, in the temples the activities will be performed correctly. That is why once in 12 years this samprOkshanam has to be performed which is a procedure every temple follows as a norm. This is indeed sannidhyam. Just like the way of mantras in which the sannidhyam of the perumal was being attracted to the theertham in the kalasam and being washed again in the temple, I had told you earlier about the sanyasi who performed a similar activity in the sannidhanam of the perumal. This person looking at the perumal continuously is attracting the sannidhyam of the perumal in the theertham of his kalasam. Because of the anjanam he has smeared over his eyes, he remains invisible.
Some bhakthas come daily to the temple, they are determined never to miss even one day without seeing the perumal. Some bhakthas lives are centered around the temple daily. Starting from the viswaroopam in the morning, up until night they will be roaming around the temple all the time. Like this there are certain devotees. I have seen certain bhakthas who would never miss even one uthsavam and they will always attend each and everyone of them. If the perumal porappAdu happened and if it goes to a certain place, they will go there too. If perumal is going to jeeyapuram, they will accompany perumal there too. If perumal is going to cauvery, they will follow. For Gajendra moksham on chitra pournami, wherever perumal goes they will follow behind. Even today there are bhakthars who will not leave the perumal even for a minute. Srirangam bhakthars who have any function outside of srirangam with their relatives such as ear piercing, sreemantham or marriage they will not go. They will not go as they will miss the darshanam of Sri Ranganathar on that day. Their relatives knowing the depth of the bhakthi of these devotees will not ask about why they did not attend. Like that with the shobhai or beauty of the periyaperumal, many bhakthas are there to not miss it even for a day. Such bhakthars, when they visit the temple can quickly find out that on such a such day, the face of Sri Ranganathar is slightly down easily, the beauty of the perumal is slightly less etc. Some people can feel that and they can find out that there is something missing. They are not able to pinpoint that. Some feel that the Perumal in the sleeping posture, ananthAzhwar is slowly stepping down. Then they would question their own thought, it must be our dream how can perumal step down. Some change, some loss of beauty in the garbha graham will be felt by these devotees and each such devotee is feeling like that. They then start to speak and share their thoughts about this now.
Everyone starts to wonder and talk about the loss of sobhai with Sri Ranganathar and they tell each other that they seem to feel that there is some change with the perumal and describe this feeling openly to others. The others also reiterate the same and they are saying that they initially thought it was just their imagination and therefore refrained from mentioning it. Another devotee came across to the group and getting to know what they were talking about shared the same opinion that he felt too there is some loss of sobhai with the perumal. Another said that when the archakar was lighting the deepam yesterday, he could see that on two subsequent occasions the deepam flickered and went out. So they all think that they need to do something quickly about it and ponder where to go and what should they do for achieving this.
There was a mahatma called kooranarayanajeeyar living in Srirangam and he was a sudarsana chakra upAsakar of Sri ChakrathAzhwar. Having performed the japam of the sudarsana mantram, he had attained some siddhis. By and large, Srivaishnavars will usually be proponents of bhakti and will not engage in acts of siddhi and executing or using the mantras for the kAmyArtha benefit and this is not something that would appeal to them. So why did they still perform japam and get this siddhis, the reason being was that they purely wished that if in any manner they could aid or perform seva to the devotees or for the bhagavan it could be helpful in a good cause. Kooranarayanjeeyar did this type of seva on one instance. When the perumal was taken to the River Cauvery, when noticing that the flood of water from the river was about to flow directly upon the perumal, Kooranarayanjeeyar simply by changing the pavithram in his hand altered the direction of the flow of water. He had such a prabhAvam.
Since he was knowledgeable about the mantrams and sastrams and having performed the japam of the sudarsana chakram and attained the powers, the devotees sought and approached him for help. Kooranarayanjeeyar also came to the temple and found the same loss of sobhai with the perumal and described that someone could be performing mantras and taking away the sobhai of the perumal. He then tried to search who could it be by looking around the temple and observing carefully all around. He checked to find out if someone is regularly coming to the temple, standing in front of the perumal or performing japam constantly, but he could not find anyone like that. He could only see that the usual sevarthakars were coming and going as usual. The goshtis were performing the usual thiruvArAdanams, uthsavams well and this was happening correctly, yet there was a vattam in the face of the periyaperumal. Kooranarayanjeeyar thinking deeply then comes to the understanding and conclusion that there is definitely someone who is invisible and standing in front of the perumal and with his mantra sakthi is attracting the beauty and greatness of the perumal. Then he also comes to know that in order for being invisible to the others eyes, he has a dye applied on the eye called anjanam. So Kooranarayanjeeyar thinks as to what can be done now. He thinks who this person might be, what could be the reason behind this and how could he stop it. This can be done by mantram but would also need yukthi as well (that is logic).
Whilst coming around the temple, he sees a wonder. Inside the temple, at the balipeetam there is this usual practice of offering the annam (cooked rice), which as part of putting the bali, this annam will be offered at a designated spot. For the perumal anything can be offered - ghee appam, puliyodharai, chithra annam (lemon rice) etc., but the food that has to be offered as the bali samarpanam has to be pure cooked rice only, that is sAdam. Even if chitra annam has been offered to the perumal in the sannidhAnam, yet this should not be offered at the balipeetam. Only just the cooked rice, unmixed with anything should be offered and this is the "Agama" vidhi. After offering the suddha annam, the remaining sesham should not be taken into the garbha graham, all this is are as per the rules defined in the "Agama" vidhi. If this Agama vidhi is not violated at any cost, then only the sAnnidhyam of the perumal will be protected inside the temple. Kooranarayanjeeyar coming around the temple observes something in the balipeetam. If the balipeetam was outside the temple, then the suddha annam kept there would have been taken by a crow. Observing carefully he now finds that the balipeetam being very much inside the temple, after a short time the food kept in the balipeetam disappears and that too in full. One day, several days, he just keeps on observing and finds that somebody is eating the food from this balipeetam, yet he cannot see the person who is taking it nor his hand, both are remaining invisible. Then he thinks that this could be a mantravadi who is doing something. This person who is remaining invisible is staying inside the temple and remaining invisible and performing mantras and for his hunger he is taking the food from the bali peetam. Then he thinks that the dye from the eye of this mantravadi must be removed, then only kooranarayanajeeyar can see and find out who the person is, what is his reason for doing this and where is he going etc. Then he needs to also get the akarshanam that the mantravadi has collected and redeem that back into the perumal here and all this he thinks carefully that he cannot do it in a hurry. So he strategizes as to what he needs to do about this.
When will the dye from the eye of the mantravadi disappear? Kunti says in the Kunti Stuti "Hey Partha! on that day you drove the chariot, you saved our parikshit from the destruction of the pandava vamsa when in the womb of uttara all this is fine, but when you were a small child after stealing the butter and get caught with yasodha, who would come to beat you with a stick, when you will feign fear, oh Krishna! and rub your eyes, then the tears of Yashoda will make the dye from the eyes of your mother flow over the face and my mind only stays with the beautiful krishna always". When one cries and if the water of the tears flow from their eyes, the dye will slowly disappear. So he instructs that for the annam to be placed in the bali peetam, it has to be mixed lots of black pepper (melaghu) within it and be offered. Next day after this annam is offered, the bali peetam is empty after a little while and the melaghu annam has disappeared from the bali peetam. Now for the mantravadi after eating it, the eyes are irritating and as he rubs his eyes, the water flow down his eyes and the dye now starts to disappear. Kooranarayanjeeyar now catches sight of the sanyasi and his kalasam. In that kalasam the mahimai and sobhai of the periyaperumal is being attracted (Akarshanam) and kept.
When asked about this, the sanyasi says the king felt that he did not have the beauty and splendour of Sri Ranganathar in the temple at Srirangapattanam and the king wanted the same mahimai and sobhai for the Ranganathar there also. When the king asked who could do such a feat, the sanyasi said that he promised the king that he could do and save the sobhai and mahimai and bring that over to the Ranganathar there in Srirangapattanam. The king promised to give him whatever the sanyasi desired in terms of gold and things and that was the reason why he had come here and applying a dye over his eyes he had been attracting the power.
Now Kooranarayanjeeyar performs hitOpadEsha to him and advises him that he should not do these things which is very wrong, that we should surrender at the feet of the perumal and under his protection find the way to attain mukthi. This mantram and tantram should not be used for bad activities. In Srirangam, as per the promise the perumal gave to VibhishanAzhwar and the promise given to King Dharmaverma, Sri Ranganathar is present here. "You should not being doing wrong things like this", Kooranarayanjeeyar advises the mantravadi. "As you are doing things like this only for gold and things, and whatever the king has promised, we will give you. You are doing this only for money, isnt it and we will give you this". So he instructs the mantra vadi to apply the same mantra sakthi that he had used originally to attract the sobhai of the perumal to return the sobhai back to the perumal, Sri Ranganathar here. That mantravadi sanyasi had indeed no desire to take Sri Ranganathar to his home and do pooja there and attain moksha. If he possessed such good thought, he would instead performed NAMASANKEERTHANAM and not do such ordinary mantravadi acts. His only idea was to perform these mantras and satisfy the kings needs and obtain money out of that. As he did the act only for the sake of money and when he was now promised that he will be given this money and much more, he accepted it. After that, he executed the same mantras and returned the sobhai and perumai back to the Sri Ranganathar.
The greatness of this virtuous deed of restoring the sobhai back to the Sri Ranganathar here in Srirangam can only be attributed to Kooranarayanjeeyar. We see the greatness of this act of Kooranarayanjeeyar when we study and read through the charithram of the Sri Ranganathar in Srirangam.
Subham
Radhe Radhe
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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