A 23 year old priest’s LIFE TIME COMMITMENT to his favourite Divya Desam
After a high quality Vedic and Agama Education at the Ahobilam Mutt College, Madurantakam, this youngster refused a lucrative move to the city and headed back to his hereditary location to join the Thenthiruperai Divya Desam as a priest at a Three Digit Salary
With a Long Term Vision to serve the Lord at Thenthiruperai, he has just reconstructed his dilapidated ancestral home and delighted his parents with his deep sense of responsibility at such a young age
Surely you cannot find another like Venkata Srinivasan Bhattar (Rahul Bhattar in the temple circles). He had gone through a financially challenging phase in his childhood with his appa serving as an archaka in a remote temple near Thenthiruperai that offered very little financial returns. His interest in temple service began at a very early age. Even as a school boy, he had supported Ananthu Bhattar, the lead priest at the Makara Nedung Kuzhai Kathan temple by carrying the torch during the street processions at the big utsavams. Pleased with the devotional conduct of the young boy, Ananthu Bhattar encouraged and motivated him into temple service through his teenage years. That constant motivation inspired Rahul and created the devotional spirit in him to serve the Lord of Thenthiruperai.
Sanskrit, Vedic and Agama Initiation at Madurantakam
After completing his early schooling in Thenthiruperai, he moved to the Oriental School in Madurantakam aged 11 and then did his graduation and Post Graduation in Sanskrit at the Ahobilam Mutt Sanskrit College there. In addition to becoming proficient in Yajur Veda, he also learned the Pancharatra Agamas tutored by Annadhur Rajagopalachariar. During his teenage years, he also showed interest in Divya Prabhandham, the sacred verses of the Azhvaars and learnt those as well. In his late teens, he was initiated into the Sama Veda by Kalpakkam Kannan, who hailed from Thenthiruperai. During a period of 10 years, he also performed kainkaryam at the madapalli in the Patshala.
Early days at the Madurantakam Patshala
A Life Time Message from Agama Guru
The message from his Patshala Guru Annadhur Rajagopalachariar through this phase was clear “The learning should fructify into developing our Sampradayam, spreading Sanskrit and most importantly taking care of your parents at their old age. Do not succumb to financial temptations and the lures of a city life.”
He has remembered that message each day over the last many years.
The current generation is clearly not bullish on the prospects of an archaka and that too in a remote location and as expected, on completion of his education at Madurantakam, almost all his classmates made their way to the city to pursue a non temple career. But Rahul was very clear even when he had left Thenthiruperai a decade earlier that he would return to the Divya Desam after his eduaction.
Follows the Guru's message - Heads back to Thenthiruperai
While all friends pushed him to join them in Madras and get into Vedic related work, one that they said would fetch him big financial returns given the high demand for Vathyars, 20 year old Rahul did not fall prey to the financial lure and took one of the boldest steps seen in recent years in Divya Desams in Tamil Nadu. As one looks around all the remote Divya Desams in the state, there are not too many in the next gen that have chosen the path of becoming a temple priest given the many challenges that priests in the earlier generation had faced and the current turbulent scenario that exists.
S Ramani Bhattar - Krishnan Garudan Sannidhi
Rahul Bhattar was undeterred for he had been very clear even as a teenager that his future was at the Makara Nedung Kuzhai Kathan Divya Desam and not away from this temple even if other lucrative financial offers came his way. His friends did not appreciate his decision and many warned him early on the challenges that lay ahead of him but Rahul remained firm. His appa, S Ramani, has been an archaka in a Krishnan-Garudan Sannidhi, a temple in a village near Thenthiruperai for the last three decades or so with minimal financial returns and life continued to be financially challenging even as Rahul came out of his teens.
Given the first two decades of his life and the way he has seen the fortunes of his appa, it would have been acceptable for him to have taken the Northern direction to Madras from Madurantakam. But aged 20, he headed South to Nava Tirupathi to join his mentor Ananthu Thiruvenkatam Bhattar at Thenthiruperai. Soon after, Ajit, one of the most well respected EOs in the HR & CE, handed him the archaka post, albeit a temporary one at Thenthiruperai. Of course, the salary, that was handed based on voucher signature, was only in the three digits. And not a rupee has increased in the last three years. But that does not matter to the devotionally inclined Rahul Bhattar.
Venu Srinivasan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/venu-srinivasan-historical-temples.html), who restored all the Nava Tirupathi temples in the 1990s and who has been handing monthly Sambhavanai to all the service personnel in these temples, organised a monthly Sambhavanai for Rahul Bhattar that was four times his salary. And that has really helped him sustain this early phase at Thenthiruperai as an archaka.
And as luck would have it, within two years of his joining Thenthiruperai Divya Desam as an archaka, he had to face the wrath of the Pandemic that kept devotees away for a large part of 2020. It was once again Venu Srinivasan who offered multiple rounds of ‘emergency’ Sambhavanai that kept Rahul Bhattar (and others in Nava Tirupathi) afloat last year.
Financial Institutions refuse Home Loan
While the Pandemic hit his finances hard, there was more trouble brewing for Rahul Bhattar, this time on the physical infrastructure front. The close to a century old ancestral home, a few hundred yards from the Divya Desam temple, was in a dilapidated state with the roof falling off. His parents have been a great source of strength in supporting his decision to lead his life in temple service as against leading one in the city. Committed to taking care of his parents, Rahul Bhattar went around banks and home finance companies late last year but the absence of a salary certificate and one with a three digit voucher based salary meant that these institutions refused a home loan. Earlier this year, he sought the help of likeminded devotees who reached out to lend him the necessary finances for the reconstruction. However hard his financial challenges, he was to keen to hand them a decent house to live and hence took it upon himself at such an early age to reconstructe the dilapidated house against all odds.
A house reconstruction is not something that a youngster would do in his early 20s but just a month ago, Rahul Bhattar completed the entire reconstruction of his house from scratch, an exercise that delighted his parents. He has his eyes set on serving the Lord at this Divya Desam till the end of his life and that devotional conviction gave him a lot of clarity to have a ‘permanent’ roof over his head.
15 years ago, he was the 'Torch' bearer during utsavams at Thenthiruperai, now he has become an integral part of everyday life at this temple. Over the last three years, he has been initiated into the temple pooja processes by Ananthu Bhattar, from whom he continues to learn the art of alankaram of the Lord and Thayar.
Life Time Commitment to Thenthiruperai
His friends continue to frown on his decision to move to a remote location at such a young age instead of leveraging financially his Vedic learning. One might have thought that the challenges of the Pandemic would have forced him to rethink. But those high on devotion are taken on a different path that is not easy to understand. Financial challenges do not concern this youngster. In a world that is clearly moving towards materialistic pursuits, this youngster has bucked the trend and taken the bold devotional step of moving back to the ancient temple town despite knowing that this may not be financially remunerative, at least in the near term. However, he sees richness in a lifetime service to the Lord of a Divya Desam and not the financial growth. He is also keen to spread Sanskrit among the villagers over the next decade by educating them during his free time.
It is devotionally inspiring to find a youngster refusing such luring financial opportunities and staying back at his hereditary location as a priest. At 23, he has promised to Makara Nedung Kuzhai Kaathan that he would serve him with devotion for the rest of his life for that has been and continues to be his only motto in life. He has the fullest faith in the Lord that he would take care of his Kainkaryapaka.