Do not move your lips - Prabhandham Members to this Devotee on the East Uthira Street on the Eight Street Procession of Namperumal on Panguni Uthiram
In the several hundreds of Brahmotsavams attended by this devotee (writer), this is the first time he has been asked not to move the lips during a street procession. It saddened me for I was reciting within myself and could not be heard even by the person standing next to me.
Interestingly after almost three hours near the Vellai Gopuram, one of the Prabhandham members tried to monitor my lip movement (or at least that's when I noticed that they were monitoring my lips!!!) to confirm that I was indeed reciting the same sacred verses that they were reciting.
This section had featured the group clash at Pazhaya Seevaram between Thenkalai and Vadakalai during Varadar’s trip to Mukoodal in January 2019 (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/01/pazhaya-seevaram-battle-for-vaishnavite.html). But that was between two real large groups that evening.
Here I was reciting all alone (as a devotee) all to myself for over three hours since the start of the procession on Wednesday morning and finally the movement of my lips and the synching with their recital was spotted well past 9am. And they took objection to a single devotee’s quiet recital.
The message is clear: No devotee can utter the sacred verses even quietly, even far behind the Ghosti or on the pavement of the Uthira and Chitra Streets of Srirangam.
Thankfully over the last decade, MAV led Prabhandham Ghosti (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html) has not objected to me coming far behind or using the pavement of the Thiruvallikeni streets reciting quietly the sacred verses during the Parthasarathy or Narasimha Brahmotsavam (I take this opportunity to thank Shri. MAV Swamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/05/ma-venkatakrishnan-thiruvallikeni-divya_16.html) for not having objected over the last 10 years - there too my recitals are not 'heard'- Its his Prabhandham Ghosti that has been my greatest inspiration)
If this is all about Thenkalai vs Vadakalai fight in various Divya Desams in TN, then that is for the two sects to sort out may be with Mutt Chiefs. But what did sadden me on the morning of the Panguni Uthiram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2008/03/panguni-uthiram-festival-2008-at.html) was for the Ghosti to pull up a single devotee’s silent recital and lock his lips!!!
Even more saddening was for the prabhandham members to focus on my lips than on their own devotional recital. Keeping my lips tied was of paramount importance to them than their own recital.
I wondered today as to where we are headed with devotion.
Surprisingly, the HR & CE (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/12/kapali-temple-eo-kaveri-passes-away.html) - late EO Kaveri specifically handed me permission to recite there - and the Kapali devotees have thus far allowed me to recite the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham loudly inside their temple complex over the last year and a half. Till they object, that’s where my future lies!!!