LEAD STORY FOR VAIKUNDA EKADASI SUPPLEMENT - CAN BE CONTINUED IN INSIDE PAGE IF SPACE IS A CONSTRAINT ON PAGE 1
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The quest for salvation is as old as aware mankind. Scriptures aver that the very purpose of human birth is treading the proper path to realisation. The acme of life is to be born a human, which is essential for understanding one’s real, inner self which is variously called as salvation, realization, liberation, mukti or moksha. There are numerous paths, as there are rivers in the world, to attain salvation. Bhakti (devotion) and Jnana (knowledge) are the most popular among them. Incidentally, they complement each other too to facilitate the highest and noblest aspiration of the seeker.
While jnana marga requires more than just a undemanding reading to understand the intrinsic meaning of the spiritual texts and their contents to be seen as elitist in a sense, the bhakti marga requires the seeker to eschew ego and surrender one’s self wholly to the Lord, who will act as the friend, philosopher and spiritual guide to seeker in his or quest for salvation.
Quixotic it might seem. To know the Lord one must develop jnana but to understand or attain Him, one essentially needs to display sublime bhakti.
The path of bhakti is paved with acts of purification _ of both intrinsic and external elements. While bathing might wash away external impurities and organs, the endeavour to cleanse the internal elements require sustained and single minded effort that might take the forms of chanting His name, praying to Him and reflecting on His attributes. Fasting would intensify those acts by enormous proportions.
For the devotees of Lord Vishu, fasting on the Ekadasi day multiplies that effort. And if the day happens to be the sanctified Vaikunta Ekadasi, occurring on the Sukla Paksha Ekadasi in the Tamil month of Margazhi, then it is akin to undertaking the sacred fast on all the 23 other Ekadasi days in the calendar year.
Also, on that auspicious day, the sacred doors of Lord Mahavishnu’s spiritual abode, Vaikuntam, are thrown open to the deserving devotees for entering and enjoying eternal bliss with everlasting peace. No wonder, the Vaikuta Ekadasi day enjoys a unique and exalted place in the annals of the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Sriragam, hailed verily as the Bhoologa Vaikuntam.
Fasting on the auspicious Ekadasi day bestows internal and external purification besides grating the desired boons of the person who undertakes the fast, assures the famous Vishu Puranam. The five Karmendriyas and the five Jnanendriyas could be brought under one’s control by resorting to fasting prayer on the Ekadasi day. If they are channelized towards realizing the Lord, then what else is there in the universe to prevent us from enjoying eternal bliss?, scriptures wonder.
However, being the benign granter of all that is good, Lord Vishnu desires that His divinity is to be savoured by all the beings _ literate or the lay. That is the prime reason for He manifesting Himself in Archavataram, the perceptible form. To understand the Lord, the devotee need not undertake strenuous penance, perform arduous upasanas or indulge in painstaking offerings. A small step towards Him by fasting and reflecting on Him on the Vaikunta Ekadasi day would suffice to appreciate Him.
The Alwars and Srivaishnava Acharyas have sung, enjoyed and elucidated the glorious attributes of Lord Mahavishnu, especially His Archavataram in the form of Sri Ranganathar, reclining on His Sesha in ``Arithuyil’’ at Srirangam. The Archavataram icon might be of any material element _ wood, metal or stone. But the effect is the same, omnipresent and omnipotent. In fact, Srirangam is first among the Swayam Vykta Kshetrams and also occupies the pride of place of place in the 108 divyadesams exalted by the alwars.
While completing their daily chore of invocation and pooja at their homes, the Srivishnavas would render the ``Vaazhi Thirunamam’’. They sign off praying
``Adiyargal Vaazha, Aranga Nagar Vaazha Kadal soozhntha Mannulagam Vaazha’’ testifying to the importance of the devout and the dwelling abode of Lord Ranganatha.
Srirangam is the most hallowed and sanctified spot in this world or the other for the Sri Vaishnavites for numerous reasons. The Lord here is referred to as the Periya Perumal, the shrine as Periya Koil, the goddess is Periya Pirattiyar. The Cauvery and the Kollidam are as sacred as the Srirangam temple itself, as vouched by the scriptures.
Srirangam is the place where Sri Andal, Sri Kulasekara Alwar, Sri Thondaradipodi Alwar, Sri Thiruppaan Alwar, Sri Ramanujar attained their eternal merger with the Lord. Alwars, except Sri Madura Kavi Alwar who sang only about his guru Sri Nammalwar, have rendered 247 hymns in the Naalayira Divya Prabhandam about the Lord of Srirangam.
If that is about the saints and savants, then royals including the Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagar emperors, Chalukyas and the Hoysalas have enriched the architectural, cultural and spiritual greatness of the sacred island temple over the Centuries bestowing bounty and riches beyond imagination.
All that glory Lord Ranganathar accepted neither for Himself nor for self aggrandizement but for the happiness and enlightenment of His devotee. In that, the Vaikunta Ekadasi day is not essentially a celebration of Lord Ranganathar but in truth a felicitation of His devotee, because in the Srivaishnava tradition the devotee always takes precedence over the Lord who he adores. And Srirangam’s Vaikunta Ekadasi best exemplifies that.
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