The second day of Bramhosthavams started today with the grace and blessings of Varuna devatha. It was as if Lord instructed him to cool the earth and the atmosphere giving respite to the devotees from the scorching heat.  Today’s program started with seva kalam and thirtha gosti by HH Swamiji.

Then, thirumanjanam was performed to the Uthsava murthis and ashtotthara puja was performed concluding the morning program.

In the afternoon, Ramachary along with his team entertained the devotees followed by a dance program. In the evening, after the purna:huthi in yajnasala,  thiruveedhi uthsavam started.  Lord Rama majestically sat on his beloved devotee Hanuman. Sita devi was also brought out for the procession. Hanuman and Lakshmana first led the procession clearing the way for Sita devi and Sri Rama. It was a feast to watch three separate vahanas. All the devotees drank in the beauty of Rama while singing his glory and following the procession.

After the procession ended, ‘edurkolu’ ceremony was conducted grandly. Details about this program will be posted soon.

While giving mangalasasams to devotees, HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji gave the following message –

Yesterday evening, ‘devatha a:vahana’ was done to invite the devathas. There are 33 crore devathas  i.e 330 million devathas. They were invited to preside over the uthsavams. We cannot see them. But can feel them through their energy.  Fire is Agni devatha, water is Varuna devatha, air is Vayu devatha and so on. Each devatha blesses us with a different kind of energy.

For example, Varuna devatha blesses us with energy through water. Also the energy derived from the different sources of water varies. Impact of water a river can give is different from the water drawn from the lake. The energy obtained from the water in the falls is different from water in the ponds. Each water is different in its own way and the impact of water also varies from one river bank to another.

What we need to understand here is that a particular energy in each one of them makes us call it with a particular name. So, devathas have different names. For the uthsavams, we invite all the devathas. We invite them along with their subjects, vehicles, ammunition and ornaments – ‘sava:hana parikararaya <devatha name> a:gaccha’. “You come and be here, participate in the Lord’s mahothsava, receive the offerings and grace this place and also the people living in these areas”. That is how our yajna acharyas chanted the manthras, while they performing the invitation activity.

While inviting the devathas, they are invited individually but on the last day the  yajnacharyas offer farewell very fast. They mention their names collectively on the last day.

Few devathas are inside the temple, few in the compound wall while others are consecrated around the temple. If it is a village or town, those devathas are invited in different locations of the town.

As Sriram Nagar is a town by itself, the devathas are invited in different locations. Yajnachary went round  offering prasadam to the devathas. It is called gra:ma vi:dhi bali. They offer and please the devathas so that in turn they bless us.

Lord Krushna in Chapter 3 of Gita very clearly explained about the yajnas.

“de:van bhavayatha:ne:na  the: de:va bhavayanthu vaha

parasparam bha:vayanthaha sreyah paramava:psyada”

“You are receiving many things from devathas. You in turn should offer something to them. It is a mutual exchange and all must flourish ultimately. That is how I created this entire universe” said the Lord.

Earth has given something to us and we have to contribute something to earth. The same applies to air and water too. But unfortunately we pollute them rather than protecting them. These yajnas, uthsavas help to purify the region. Whatever is polluted will be purified to some extent.  That is how all our rituals were instructed by our elders. Keeping these things in view, our yajnacharys offered the gram bali,  veedhi bali and dik devatha bali.

 

In front of the dwaja sthamba, there is a bali peetam  and there are a few devathas called ganadhipathis – Kumuda and Kumudaksha etc. On the sanctum santorum – there are a few small bali peetas with dik devathas on them. And there are devathas outside the temple wall. For all of them, Kumuda and Kumuda:ksha are the ganadhipatis, leaders. They are all offered with bali – a small preparation with pure rice, added with little black gram and yoghurt. They are offered where ever they are invited and seated to receive our prayers.

Also, today is a very pious day. Srinivasa Kalyanam was performed on this day – Vaisakha sukla dasami, purva phalguni is the day on which the Padmavathi kalyanam took place as per Venkatachala mahathmyam. In Divya Saketham too, Lord  Rama and Sita devi’s kalyanam is going to be performed tomorrow as part of the uthsavams. In agamas, Lord has given us permission to perform all services to him whatever are performed to human beings. Kalyanam is performed on the third day of the uthsavam. We are going to do the edurkolu function today and perform the kalyanam tomorrow evening.

Our mangalasasanams to All!

Jai Srimannarayana