108 Divya Desams

Srirangam

For a long time, I wanted to start on a trip to visit the 108 divya desams - holy shrines of Lord Narayanan. I have visited a few temples in Kanchipuram, in and around chennai but wanted to start on the yatra. The Journey in search of the ultimate truth.

Finally, it happened in July 2004. I was in bangalore then and my mother wanted to go to Srirangam for a weekend. We left bangalore on a friday and reached trichy on saturday morning.

After getting a room in a hotel opposite the main bus stand, we hired a taxi for the day. The plan was to visit all the 6 divya desams around trichy. We left for Srirangam at around 8am. Srirangam - aptly called "bhoologa vaikuntam", was a busy town. The last time I had visited Srirangam was in 1997. What a change it was. The town was bustling with activity, everything was seemed to move at a hectic pace. Lot of tourists, visitors and the local folk moving in one direction - towards the Raja Gopurum.

We got out of the taxi outside the Raja Gopurum. What a site - Kaana Kan Kodi Vendum - I never felt that I would realise the meaning of the phrase. We went to the Chakrathazhwar sannithi first. Then as we entered the main temple, the huge Garudan welcomed us. The phrase again hit me. Since there was a long queue, we got a special ticket and went to have dhashan of Sriranganathar. The Lord's majestic reclining posture had me in awe. We then went to have a dharshan of Sri Ranganayaki thayar.

By the time we had dharshan of Lord Ramar, Krishnar, Yathothakari and Udayavar, I realised the meaning of the phrase - Kaana Kan Kodi Vendum was lost. The huge mathil suvar, the beautiful tank, the prakarams all made me realise how small we were. For some time, time had come to a stand still. What a beautiful feeling. manasu panchu pol anathu...