Journeying through the Ramayana - Day 1 & 2 - On the Way to Kanpur

To Warangal by bus

The trip began with excitement of beginning what I hoped was likely to be a beautiful spiritual journey. Hopefully, we would return from this trip with some ounce of saranagathi seeping in; with some love for perumal taking root in our hearts.

The whole night before the journey slipped away in preparation for leaving early at 4.30 am. We locked up and drove by cab to the pickup point. The whole gang was on the bus as it came in and there was excitement in the air of meeting old friends again.

As the bus moved on with us, I began an early japam – It was rejuvenating - wish I had done it more often. The early morning air brought freshness to the mind and soul. Nalini and Kalyani mami began with music straightaway at 5 am!

Sleep took over soon and we reached Warangal before we knew it . The tiredness vanished when we actually woke up & saw all our old friends. We hit the ground running for the yatra as we got into a discussion at the platform, on the play of karma. Kalyani mami spoke of a pravachanam where swamigal spoke of how what we have done is what we pay for. A beautiful example given was this : we write an exam on a given day. After a few months, we get the result. Our joy or sorrow on receiving our marks is experienced by us at that moment though what marks we will get is decided at the moment we write the exam itself. Then why the sorrow? Why do we question what is happening to us? The Lord keeps an account and connects all the right ones – a fabulous piece of accounting !! That was the deep thought with which we delved into a very tasty hot arisi upama breakfast brought by Prabha akka.

On the Train



Settling down to a long journey to Kanpur



The train arrived 10 mts late and we rushed into our compartment only to find an uncouth rough family occupying our 8 seats though they had reservation only for 2. It soon blew over into a full blown fight. It amazed me that even mild mannered bhagavathas could be pushed to anger and frustration when faced with an unfair lawless situation. The authorities were soon called in to sort out the problem.

Raynu akka and Swamy mama, my friends and spiritual mentors from Coimbatore, actually got down at the platform to meet and receive us. It was great to meet them. After quiet settled in the bogie, I went to spend some time with them. Meeting other bhagavthas like Raghuvir, Madhavan and his mother was a bonus. My heart filled up on meeting them – a hope in my heart that maybe with their satsangam, we would be able to take a few steps closer to the Lord.

Back at my seat, a co-passenger Lata mentioned about how the young boys at Nanganallur Hayagrivar Koil mirrored all the utsavams that the elders did including acting out the roles of all the presiding officiandos. It reminded me of how Swami Ramanuja took the “sand” prasadam from children who were acting out the periya perumal’s utsavam- only to prove that the Lord is in every form that you choose to see him in – the bhava is what is important.



Kalyani Mami - the heart of all the bhajan
singing in our group



Post lunch, zipped past singing to the reverberating music and pasurams sung to various ragas. From classical krithis to fast paced bhajans all filed our soul with the beautiful name of RAMA. Like a top up on a beautifully appetizing dessert, the music session ended and we soon had the benefit of the satsang of Swamy mama, followed by Raghuvir.



Koorathazhwan @ Kooram



Swamy mama spoke of the Acharya vaibhavam - Koorathalvan went to Thirumalirumcholai, after he became blind in the service to Ramanujar. There he did pushpa kainkaryam for perumal every day. Once on the 5th day of the Margazhi maasam, alwan on the way to the temple was reliving the paasuram of the day. After offering the garland he took sathari and came out of the temple with a sad disposition. As he sat outside his house, a young well built man emerged and asked him why he was sad. He further professed that whatever the problem, He would solve it. Despite repeated such assurances, Koorathalwan, insisted that there was no way his problem could be solved. At this the man got very angry and asked, “Do you know who I am?”. Koorathalwan replied with calmness, ”I know very well. You are the Lord himself”. Amazed at how the blind alwan could recognize him, Alwan mentioned, that he could smell the Lord and also the garland that he had offered for the day. Coming back to the question of what was troubling alwan, alwan still insisted that though he was the Lord himself, his trouble could not be resolved even by Him. “What is the problem - you have to tell me?” Alwan replied, “ The pasuram mentions your anubhavam with the yadava kulam. I’m sad that I couldnot be born in the yadava kulam. Now that I have ramanuja sambandham, I can only get moksham. Then how do I experience the joy of being part of your kulam?” The Lord truly had no answer to this problem!

Night on the train

After dinner, we went to spend some time with Raynu akka and Swamy mama again. As soon as I took out my Doddamallur Krishna the place transformed into a temple. In a jiffy, a dindi was put, and he was made to recline on it. Then Madhavan and his friend, recited all the pasurams enjoying Krishna avataram. As we were finishing, there was an announcement due to which we had to leave the Lord alone for a few minutes. It was as if He had created a few minutes to be in ekantham/ alone with Piratti. The session then ended with a Thallatu for both Krishna and Rama.

Day 2 – On the Train

The day started sedately but was energized by the arrival of Swami mama. He began by asking all of us what is the avatara rahasyam for Krishna’s birth. All of us gave many reasons. But he gave a beautiful explanation for it – Though the Lord had enjoyed the experience of sucking his toe during pralayam, He wanted to experience it again. Like how a good experience creates a greater desire to enjoy the whole thing again, so it was with the Lord. Since he could not do this in Vaikuntam, He came down to yadavakulam and did all the lilas. Apart from that He also fulfilled His desire of sucking his toe too!!

Then He spoke of the arul of acharyas. Of how all our acharyas were so simple and easily accessible to all of us. Of how they had so much karunyam for their sishyas. He gave examples from Ramanuja’s and Koorathalwan’s life. When Ramanuja returned to Srirangam after 12 years, he wrote on a leaf to Periya Perumal, requesting Him to ask Sundararaja Perumal to return Alwan. Sundararaja Perumal asked Alwan to sing for Him before leaving, which he did. Then as Alwan reached the outskirts of Srirangam, Ramanujar rushed to meet him and was shocked and pained to see that Alwan had given his eyes for him. To this Alwan replied that he must have looked at some Bhagavthas thiruman and thought that it was not straight and hence the punishment.



Ramanujar with sishyas- Mudaliaandan,
koorathazhwan & Embar



Mama also spoke of another Ramanuja sishya, Vaduga Nambi and how he carried Emberumanar’s paduka along with the Lord's vigraham, on his head. To Swami Ramanuja’s shocked & tearful questioning he boldly asked, “How is your Perumal greater than my Perumal?” Such was his acharya bhakthi! Ramanuja then  tearfully asked the Lord to forgive & take care of Vaduga Nambi.

Parasara Bhattar’s sishya, Nampillai gave kalakshepam on thiruvazhmozhi a 100 times. The Lord himself loved to listen to him and would come – but obviously with a lot of nzoise, which disturbed the bhagavathas as they listened to the Kalakshepam. Hence Nampillai gave him the name "Kalakshepa Shatru". His sishya Thiruvelakkaipiduchhan, was given the duty of holding the lamp for the Lord at night before he slept. As the Lord moved one night to go and listen to Nampillai, Thiruvelakkaipiduchhan saw him and ordered him to go back to bed as the service was not yet over. Such was the love that the Lord had for his devotees!!!

With so many anecdotes on the Lord and his devotees, time flew and we reached Kanpur in a hurry!!

( To see the photos of this click on
 http://picasaweb.google.co.in/devikavarad/RamaAnuYatraTravelToKanpur# )