Jai Srimannarayana..!

The entire JIVA premises of Sriramnagar reverberated with the divine names of Lord Srimannarayana. The echoing sound of the vedic hymns chanted in the Ya:gasa:las filled the air. Today, Venkateswara Ashto:tthara puja was conducted under the guidance of Sri Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji. Sri Ahobila Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamiji and Sri Vrathadhara Jeeyar Swamiji and Narayanaghat Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamiji from Nepal were on the dais with HH Swamiji. Hundreds of assembled devotees participated in the pu:ja along with the Jeeyar Swamijis.

HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji gave a brief description on Sri Ramanujacharya and Kaliyuga Vaikunt’ana:tha Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Few hundred years back, there were different notions regarding the identity of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Sri Ramanujacharya resolved this crisis of Venkateswara Swamy by placing

different types of weapons belonging to Lord Siva, Sakthi and Lord Narayana in the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord overnight. Sri Ramanujacharya along with other scholars present there, agreed to declare the Lord according to the weapons the Lord shall accept next day morning. The Lord, next morning, was sporting the conch and discus of Lord Srimannarayana thereby clarifying that He is none other than Srimannarayana Himself.

At another occasion, when Sri Ramanujacharya was observing the abhishekam (sacred bath ceremony) to Venkateswara Swamy, who was clad in a small white loin cloth and a thin line of thirukka:ppu, Sri Ramanujacharya very strongly developed the desire to decorate the Lord in the same fashion. Immediately, Lord Venkateswara Swamy expressed His acceptance through the priest.

Accordingly, starting from Monday, the day he appeared on this earth, till Wednesday, he is decorated as Mohini, a bewitching form to enthrall and captivate the hearts of people. He is dressed up in a big sari with big thirumani ka:ppu. He is bedecked with beautiful ornaments from his head to toe. On Thursday, His gold ornaments are removed and is completely dressed up in clothes and ornaments made of flowers. He wears a thin thirumani ka:ppu, while on Friday, Saturday and Sunday he is dressed up normally with black eyes and a dot on his cheek and regular ornaments. All these arrangements were ordained by Sri Ramanujacharya and are being followed till today.

HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji also explained why the Lord is called as Balaji. In the 18th century, the temple was administered by Ha:thiram mutt. They got enchanted with the mesmerizing childish looks of the Lord and thereby called him ‘Ba:la’ meaning a child. Later, added the suffix – ji, to show their honor. Thus the term ‘Balaji’ came into vogue.

Lord is celebrated as Jagada:cha:rya (Master of the whole universe). But, such Lord accepted Ramanuja as his acharya because Lord got the divine conch and discus from him. Therefore, Sri Ramanujacharya is ‘the Jagada:cha:rya’ in true sense, because he is the acharya for us as well as the Lord.

Today in the Ishtis section ‘vainathe:ya Ishti’ was performed. This Ishti grants the performers and participants with righteous sons. In the Thre:tha:yuga, King Dasaratha performed this Ishti and was blessed with four sons, the personified forms of Dharma itself.

Brahma put forward a question to the Lord asking him how can the people get rid of the curse of ‘aputhrasya gathihi na:sthi’. The Lord’s answer to this question of Brahma is ‘Vainathe:ya Ishti’. This is also called Puthraka:meshti. It grants good results to the performers, to the participants and also to the people who help them.

Today a good number of people took part in the Ishti. It was very systematically conducted under the guidance of Nambi Venugopalacharyaswamy.

Sri D. Srinivasa Reddy, PCC President, Justice Sri. Chandrayya, Sri. Rathnakara Rao, and the Vijaya Dairy Chairman who attended the pu:rnahuti of the Ishti were given mangala:sa:sanams by HH Swamiji.

HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji released the palm leaf booklet of HH Sri Pedda Jeeyar Swamiji’s divine inspirational sayings. He gave mangala:sa:sanams to Avatharam garu who prepared these booklets. Also, a third pamphlet was released by HH Swamiji on the significance of cow with the name “Ka:ma Dugha:”

In the afternoon, HH Vrathadhara Jeeyar Swami and Phalahara Swamy conducted the program in Hindi, Sri Vasudevacharyulu sang Hindi bhajans that stirred the spirits of devotion of all those present there and they all lent their voices. Later, Prapanna Vaisaradi conducted a spiritual version of Bingo game that entertained the assembled devotees, using names from Go:da ashto:ttharam. The winners were later given prizes and mangala:sa:sanams by HH Swamij. He also gave blessings to those who performed go:puja in the morning.

In the evening the mass VSN pa:ra:yan was conducted by Sri Ahobila Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamiji. Many of the devotees directly associated with HH Sri Pedda Jeeyar Swamiji were felicitated by HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji. Later they all shared their touching experiences with the audience.

Expanding on their narrations, Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji in his pravachan said the acharya’s responsibility is double fold. His is the tender loving care of both the parents. We observe while a father scolds his child to discipline him, his mother pacifies him with loving words. Acharya has to put his disciples in the correct track by being stern to them at times like a caring father. Later he alone has to pacify them like a loving mother. He has to take care that what ever he did to control or correct the disciples does not get lost in the process. It is a very complicated and difficult procedure demanding a lot of acharya’s time and perseverance and observation.

JIVA started conducting exams in Veda and HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji awarded certificates to the successful candidates.
After that the vedic students gave a ‘Burra katha’ recital under the tutelage of Smt. Chuda:man’i which was followed by a Ko:la:tam by the vedic students.

In the temple the vigraha:s are mounted on the pedestal and the ‘Sho:dasa Kalasa Snapanam’ is done. The beautiful idols of Sri Rama, Lakshmana, Sitha and Hanuman looked stunning standing straight in the places.
Many attended the purna:huthi in the ya:gasa:las and were blessed with the ya:ga prasa:dam.
HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji did mangala:sa:sanam to Lord.

Let us say
‘Srimannarayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Divya Thiruvadigale Saranam!