The first
attractive thing in any temple is its Rajagopuram –at Thiruvallikkeni, we have
two of them – on the eastern side for Sri Parthasarathi and on the west that of
Sri Azhagiya Singar. While gleaning my
albums for today’s post stumbled upon this photo taken in 2016 (very attractive
to me) and then saw another of the same gopuram taken 2020 – and they look
pretty different !
Life has changed
a lot (over the years) is a pithy aphorism.
All living things change
over time. Of all the characteristics of life, this one requires the most
careful explanation ~ and there are changes in non-living things too. All living organisms grow and develop and respond to
changes in their environment.
More than a hundreds ago,
in 1909, an American scientist named Charles Doolittle Walcott finding fossils
at the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada changed man’s knowledge of
the past. He was a paleontologist, which is a scientist who studies past life
on Earth. He was searching for fossils. The fossils that Walcott found were of some of
the most bizarre organisms anyone had ever seen. Most of
the fossils were the remains of animals that do not live today. They are now
extinct, which means that nothing of their kind lives and that they are gone
forever.
This night at Dubai
International stadium, Delhi Capitals
will challenge Mumbai Indians for the 2020 IPL title – it has been a real
roller coaster ride for DC who seek to challenge the very strong looking
MI. who will win can be predicted by
form, individual capabilities and the way they have played thus far – yet in
the game of Cricket, it is the team that plays better and not the better team
that wins. In tune with the aphorism, I
have been following the Indian team’s fortunes – India first played ODI in 1974
and fared poorly in 1975 & 1979 editions of World Cup – when Kapil Devils
won the cup in 1983 – it was seen as an out of the World effort. Kapil Dev’s
175* at Trentbridge wells was the first ever century by an Indian. Now 37 years after that we have 9 Indians
whose no. of centuries are in double figures – Sachin Tendulkar (49); Virat
Kohli (43); Rohit Syharma (29); Sourav Ganguly (22) ; Shikhar Dhawan (17);
Virender Sehwag (15); Yuvraj Singh (14) ; Rahul Dravid (12)& Gautam Gambhir
(11)
Trudging back into
History, on 12th Nov 1920 [one hundred years ago!] – was signed the
treaty of Rapallo - between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes, to solve the dispute over some territories in the former
Austrian Littoral in the upper Adriatic, and in Dalmatia. Tension between Italy and Yugoslavia arose at
the end of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and Italy
claimed the territories assigned to it by the secret Treaty of London of 1915. How
much lives have changed for those territories.
Exactly a Century ago, in 1920
United States presidential election, the 34th quadrennial presidential
election, was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held
after the end of World War I and the first election after the ratification of
the Nineteenth Amendment, Republican Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated
Democratic Governor James M. Cox of Ohio. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow
Wilson privately hoped for a third term, but party leaders were unwilling to
re-nominate the ailing and unpopular incumbent. Former President Theodore
Roosevelt had been the front-runner for the Republican nomination, but he died
in 1919 without leaving an obvious heir to his progressive legacy. With both
Wilson and Roosevelt out of the running, the major parties turned to
little-known dark horse candidates from the state of Ohio, a swing state with a
large number of electoral votes. Cox won the 1920 Democratic National
Convention on the 44th ballot, defeating William Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's
son-in-law), A. Mitchell Palmer, and several other candidates. Harding emerged
as a compromise candidate between the conservative and progressive wings of the
party, and he clinched his nomination on the tenth ballot of the 1920
Republican National Convention. The election was dominated by the American
social and political environment in the aftermath of World War I, which was
marked by a hostile response to certain aspects of Wilson's foreign policy and
a massive reaction against the reformist zeal of the Progressive Era. The
wartime economic boom had collapsed and the country was deep in a recession.
Moving away from all
these, we have to start believing that the present woes of the globe would soon
become a thing of the past and 2021 in a couple of months would present a
bright and better future. In that
process, we need to fall at the feet of Sriman Narayana and look to Him for
salvation. Keep praising the glorious
deeds of Sriman Narayana, keep singing His paeans, keep calling the glorious
names of Achutha, Anantha, Govindha, Madhava, Madusudhana, Gopala, Vasudeva,
Pundariksha, Paranthama – Sriman Narayana.
Swami Nammalwar in his Periya Thiruvanthathi shows us the way.
நாம்
தவறுகள் செய்வதனால் தாழ்ந்து போகிறோம். எம்பெருமான்
ஸ்ரீமன் நாராயணன் மட்டுமே மிக உயர்ந்தவன். உயர்ந்தோருடைய குணங்களைத் தாழ்ந்தோர் பேசினால்
உயர்ந்தோருடைய உயர்த்திற்கு அழிவு உண்டாகுமோவென்று சங்கிக்கவேண்டிய பிரஸக்தியில்லை. எம்பெருமானுடைய புகழ்களை சிந்தித்து, அவன் பேரும்
திருநாமமும் சிந்தித்து வாழ்வதே சிறப்பு. .
மனிதகுலம் எத்தனையோ பேரழிவுகளை சந்தித்துள்ளது. கொரோனா எனும் தீநுண்மி இப்போது உலகத்தை கலக்கி அச்சுறுத்தியுள்ளது. விரைவில் கடினங்கள் நீங்கி, லோகம் நல்லவை பெற நாம்
ஸ்ரீஅழகியசிங்கனை பிரார்த்திப்போமாக ! இதோ
இங்கே ஸ்வாமி நம்மாழ்வாரின் பெரிய திருவந்தாதி பாசுரம். :-
பார்த்தோர் எதிரிதா நெஞ்சே !, படுதுயரம்
பேர்த்தோதப் பீடழிவாம் பேச்சில்லை,-ஆர்த்தோதம்
தம்மேனி தாள்தடவத் தாங்கிடந்து, தம்முடைய
செம்மேனிக் கண்வளர்வார் சீர்.
ஓ மனமே! எனது தனது நெஞ்சத்தை விளித்து ஆழ்வார் கூறுகிறார். பெருங்கடலானது, ஆர்பரித்துக்கொண்டு, தம்முடைய திருமேனியையும் திருவடியையும், தனது கைகளாகிய
அலைகளாலே தடவும்படியாக, அக்கடலிலே பள்ளி கொண்டருளி தம்முடைய செந்நிறமான திருக்கண்கள்
வளரப்பெறுகின்றவரான பாற்கடல் வண்ணனான கல்யாண
திருக்குணங்களை, நம் கொடிய துக்கங்கள் தீரும்படி நாம் பேசுவதனால் அவனுடைய பெருமைக்கு
அழிவு உண்டாய்விடுமென்பதில்லை; பல குறைகள் உள்ள நாம், அவனுடைய விலக்ஷணமாய் போக்யமான
திருக்குணங்களை நோக்குமிடத்து ‘நம் வாயாலும் இக்குணங்களைச் சிறிது பேசி ஆநந்திப்போம். எம்பெருமான் திருக்குணங்களை பேசுவதே, அவ்விஷயமே,
கண்ணெதிரே நிற்பதாகக் கண்டு தெரிந்துகொள்.
We pray to our most
beautiful Lord Sri Azhagiya Singar to save us all from Corona and every evil
effect and guide us to the good path. To
those who surrender at His feet, there need not be any worry at all. Here are
some photos of the majestic gopuram of Sri Azhagiya Singar at Thiruvallikkeni
divyadesam and some photos of Swathi purappadu of 28.02.2016
adiyen
Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur
Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
10.11.2020
நன்றி: கட்டற்ற அற்புத சம்பிரதாய களஞ்சியம் : திராவிட வேதா இணையம் ; கச்சி ஸ்வாமிகள் - திரு உ.வே. பிரதிவாதி பயங்கரம் அண்ணங்கராச்சார் சுவாமி விளக்க உரை.
Nice.
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