Srirangam Moksha Sthalam Jayashree Srinivasan

So moved was Kulasekara Azhvaar with the devotion of the residents of Srirangam that when he visited the temple town after relinquishing his kingdom, he considered just meeting them as a great blessing. He says in his praise in the Perumal Thirumozhi that they sang and danced in devotion completely forgetting themselves, constantly uttering HIS names. “When our eyes come in contact with such people we become possessed with such sublime devotion gripped with good thoughts that we are likely to be stuck in their midst like a glue. Just one look at them is enough for our eyes to have served the purpose of this life such is their purity.”

தேட்டருந்திறல் தேனினைத், தென்னரங்கனை

திருமாதுவாழ் வாட்டமில் வனமாலை மார்வனை

வாழ்த்தி மால்கொள் சிந்தையராய்

Just anointing and bathing ourselves with the dust from the feet of such pious devotees is enough to fulfil one’s long cherished dreams of wanting to bathe in the Ganges – Such is the purity of the people of Srirangam. 

The devotees of Srirangam have printed the Lord in their thoughts as they display such irrefutable devotion. When they pray with folded hands before the Lord with tears rolling down their eyes like flood in times of heavy rains, one knows that they are truly experiencing the Lord. One cannot but adore such truly sincere devotees and their way of devotion will forever remain in our minds. 

காண்ணீர் களால் வார நிற்பவர்

தாளிணைக்கு ஒரு வாரமாகும் என் நெஞ்சமே

In line with Kulasekara Azhvaar’s description of the devotees of Srirangam in his Perumal Thirumozhi, an Octogenarian made her way to this historic Divya Desam eight years ago aged 85!!! Historically, those that visited Srirangam or stayed back in this ancient Divya Desam were ones who sought Moksham as their only goal in life. They invoked the blessings of Ranganathaswamy and Ranganayaki Thayar solely to provide them Moksham and with no other wants in life. 

Jayashree celebrated her 93rd birthday at the feet of Ranganayaki Thaayar this week on the first day of Navarathri in quite a devotional way. Her husband Srinivasan, an IT Commissioner by Profession, was a Sanskrit Scholar who recited the Sampoorna Ramayanam 36 times in his life. With his passing away almost 25years ago, Jayashree (Patti to everyone in the Srirangam circles) spent 15years with her sons and daughters.

Her elder S Srivathsan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/srivathsan-cricket-to-tvs-cfo.html) was a cricketer in his early days, played the PR Thevar Trophy in the 1970s and retired last decade as the CFO of Wheels India Ltd after almost three decades in the TVS Group firm, while her younger son, Sudarshan, is an ardent sishya of the Ahobilam Mutt. 

During this phase, her daily routine included listening to Muralidhara Swamy’s Upanyasam. She recounts as to how his presentation had a transformational impact on her life “Muralidhara Swamy’s description of every facet of the Srirangam temple, the mandapams, the sculptures and the features of Ranganathaswamy and his many different processions led me to the call to spend the rest of my life in Srirangam. Through my life, I had visited almost all the Divya Desams and wondered if I was blessed enough to have darshan of Ranganathaswamy and all his Utsavams at Srirangam.”

Her husband had been in a transferrable job and through the early stages in her life she had visited several hundreds of temples around Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Chozha region and the rest of TN. After his death in 1997, beginning at Aathi  Jagannatha Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Pullani (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/11/thiru-pullani-divya-desam.html), she went up to Kathmandu visiting one Divya Desam and Purana Sthalam after another for a decade. During this phase, she stayed with her two sons and three daughters. 

As she turned 80, following the impact of Muralidharan Swamy’s upanyasam, she wanted to move to Srirangam but her sons and daughters would not have any of it. She bided her time for a few years staying in Madras in the first floor of her daughter’s house. Finally, she raised the question with her sons and daughters if fulfilling their amma’s wishes was not their duty!!! She was 85 and had become too devotionally attached to Ranganathaswamy. They finally relented.

To her shock, though, she found that the residents of Srirangam were unwilling to let a house on rent to an Octogenarian wanting to stay all alone in a house. Her second son Sudarshan was an active committee member of the Ahobila Mutt and he found a ground floor flat for her in North Adayavalanjan Street in Srirangam. And she moved to the Moksha Sthalam in Chitrai of 2013 to watch the grand Garuda Sevai of Namperumal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/04/srirangam-chitrai-garuda-sevai.html).

For 7years, she watched every single utsavam in Srirangam without a break with the Garuda Sevai during the four Brahmotsavams being her favourite alongside the Vasantha Utsavam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/06/vasanthotsavam-srirangam-june-2009.html), which she says provides a very devotional feel in the evenings.

During this period, she has followed a devotional routine that is mindboggling. She wakes up at 5.30am every morning and does not enter the kitchen without a bath. Her first processes every day includes lighting the lamp at the Sannidhi and presenting fruits to the Lord. She then recites Thiruppavai and Thondaradi Podi Azhvaar's Thirupalli Yezhuchi (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/02/thiru-mandangudi-thondaradipodi-azhvaar.html) followed by Desikar Stotram and Desikar Prabhandham. And then she moves into a Dhyanam mode for half an hour.

In the evenings, she starts for the temple at 4pm and stays there for as long as she can visiting Ranganatha, Ranganayaki and Desikar Sannidhis.

Four decades ago, Jayashree Patti, who hails from Vaduvur, renowned for the handsome Kothandaramar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/vaduvur-rama-navami-utsavam.html), was initiated into Bhagavad Gita Parayanam by Lakshmi Narasimhan Swamy of Vaduvur at the Ahobilam Mutt in Tiruvallikeni. Soon after, she was initiated into Nammazhvaar’s Tiruvoimozhi at the Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal temple in Mylapore. She recites one chapter from the Bhagavad Gita every day and five Cantos of the Tiruvoimozhi and this has become an ongoing cycle for her in Srirangam.

With the striking of the Pandemic, she moved back briefly to Madras. But she could not stay back for long and sought to return to Srirangam.  Her children were worried about leaving their amma, now into her 90s, all alone in Srirangam but she wanted them to fulfill her wishes – that of seeking Moksham at Srirangam invoking the blessings of the Lord and Thayar.

One of her long standing philosophies has been to remain silent inside the temple “I do not use the cell phone inside the temple. I do not talk with anyone as our mind should be in conversation with the Lord and the chanting of his name should be our only action.”

Her one other favourite at the Srirangam temple is the Thiruvadi Sevai of Ranganayaki Thayar on the 7th day of the Navarathri Utsavam. She finds it challenging to walk these days but is hoping to have another darshan of Thayar’s feet on Tuesday (Oct 12) and invoke her blessings yet another time to provide Moksham.

She says that while she had visited Srirangam during her earlier years in life, she never visualized a phase of spending such a long period at the Moksham Sthalam. When people ask her as to how she manages to stay all alone at this age in her life, she has the same answer to each one of them “I tell everyone who asks me this question that I am not alone and stay at the feet of Ranganathaswamy and Ranganayaki Thayar and that it is my greatest blessing to be with them seeking Moksham in Srirangam. I have never had the lonely feel during my stay at Srirangam.”

During the last eight years, Jayashree Patti has made significant contributions to the Ranganathaswamy Temple, the Kattu Azhagiya Singar Temple and the Go Shalas. “We came into this world without anything, earned because of HIM and it is our duty to contribute.”

Much to his surprise, Kulasekaara Azhvaar finds the residents of Srirangam revelling in such devotional delight and enjoying the process day in day out. And when one sees people with such devotion, e says that one is instantly elevated. Standing in their midst we too sense a feeling of a never before experienced devotion. He finds it astonishing that the residents of Srirangam have so firmly held Lord Ranganatha in their thoughts. What amazes him even more is the ability and strength of their devotion to pull others instantly towards them. These devotees serve as a guiding light to others. For them the only thoughts are of complete surrender to Lord.

ஆடிபாடி அரங்கவோ என்றழைக்கும் தொண்டரடிப்பொடி

ஆட நாம் பெறில் கங்கை நீர்

குடைந்தாடும் வேட்கை என்னாவதே