Teenager to dedicate himself to a lifetime at the feet of Veera Raghava Perumal
Just under a decade ago, Sudarsan, son of Sowmiyan Bhattar, the then priest at Vedantha Desikar temple in Mylapore (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/01/vedantha-desikar-srinivasa-perumal.html), was a student at Sivaswamy Kalalaya but his mind was away from academic and one would often see him getting actively involved during the Brahmotsavam. Very soon his appa pulled him out of academics and sent him to Mysore for Patshala education.
On the Garuda Sevai morning this Thursday, he was at the Veera Raghava Perumal temple in Thiru Evvul on a short ‘medical’ break from Mysore and fanned the Lord at the start of the three hour long procession to Eekkadu.
Soon he will head back to Mysore to continue his Vedic and Agamic education but his devotional attachment to Veera Raghava Perumal at Thiru Evvul has increased further on this trip after he watched the Thai Brahmotsavam engagement at this Divya Desam on the first few days.
His forefathers had performed service at this temple in the century gone by. His appa, who earlier served at Ahobilam and the Srinivasa Perumal temple in Mylapore, moved to Divya Desam Kainkaryam at Evvul years ago. The moment he arrived here Veera Raghava Perumal bound him devotionally and he has settled down happily in daily service at this temple.
16 year old Sudarsan, who walked through the procession to Eekkadu (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/01/thiru-evvul-veera-raghava-perumal-thai.html), told this writer that his aim in life is to serve Veera Raghava Perumal “As a child, my mind was always on Srinivasa Perumal in Mylapore. I did not quite enjoy the school life as I wanted to be with the Lord even though I was only in class IV and V. Once I complete my Vedic and Agamic studies, I want to serve Veera Raghava Perumal for the rest of my life, while I am also attached to Mylapore's Srinivasa Perumal and Vedantha Desikar because of my early childhood memories.”
A P hd in Agamas
Sudarsan has completed over five years of Krishna Yajur Veda initiation at the Parasura Gurukulam in Mysore. He is also being initiated into the Pancharatra Agama there. In addition, he has also begun to learn the Prabhandham verses as well as the Bhagavad Gita. He is also taking to academics through the NIOS route. After his Vedic studies, he is looking to do P. hd in Agamas before moving into temple service.
Sowmiyan Bhattar is happy at the devotional attachment of his son "I am happy to see him become so closely engaged with devotional kainkaryam. Our conversations center around service to the Lord and to him mastering the agamas. He has also been inquisitive to know about the specifics of the utsavams here in Thiru Evvul and even at this early age has come to understand the significance of each of the utsavams and the processes at this Divya Desam."
Committing himself to archaka service
Sudarsan is only in his mid-teens now but already he has spent a majority of his time in traditional activities and has his mind solely fixed on Kainkaryam as an archaka. At a time, when many in the next gen are moving away from temple service (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/bhattars-gurukals-move-away-from-temples.html), the clarity of teenager Sudarsan to dedicate himself to a lifetime of archaka service is refreshing and him looking forward to a long devotional engagement with Veera Raghava Perumal augurs well for this historical Divya Desam.