The archa form of Lord Narayana is lauded because it shows His saulabhya, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. One day, Ramanujacharya was going for his bhiksha when he saw some boys playing on the street in Srirangam. They had drawn a figure on the sand and said to Ramaunja, “Look! We have drawn a figure of the God you worship.” Ramanuja worshipped the figure they had drawn. Periavachan Pillai in his commentary for a pasuram in Mudal Thiruvandhadi, narrates this incident. Whatever form you imagine Him to have, He assumes that form for your sake. Being in a divya desam must have influenced even the games the children of Srirangam played.
Periavachan Pillai, in an explanation of a pasuram in Tondaradippodi Azhvar’s Thirumaalai, says a man should live only in a sacred town. When he marries and has children, he will want to take his children to the temple, because he has seen other parents do so. Soon his children begin to take an interest in the temple festivals, and when they play with their friends, they enact what they have observed in the temple. So, even when they are at play, their minds are on the Lord. Whatever utsava they have witnessed in the temple on a particular day becomes a part of the games they play.
One day, the children in Srirangam picked up a coconut shell, put some sand in it and pretended it was the Lord. They even offered sand as a food offering to this God! Ramanuja was passing by and the children said, “Come and get the prasada which we have offered to the Lord!” And so saying, they gave him a handful of sand, which he accepted, as if it were indeed temple prasada. This shows the importance the Acharya gave to the archa form.
