welcoming Deepavali 2020 and praying Emperuman for safety of the World

Deepavali, the festival,  is all about happiness .. .. the way to celebrate is a simple routine.  The purpose of the festival is to be happy and  make others happy by sharing – sweets, food, crackers and more – simply spread the happiness.   Deepavali brings cheers and happiness.  Right from our childhood days, we have enjoyed this festival.  The expectation would start a month or so, earlier.  Those days, getting the new cloth in time stitched from Tailor was a task – then a week or so earlier, father would come home with a bagful of crackers.  More than bursting them, taking them out of bags, placing them on the verandah and seeing them gave so much of happiness.  Deepavali Eve would provide opportunity for some testing ! ~ night would be full of expectations.  In the morning, would have oil bath (Ganga snanam), wear new clothes, pray to God, pay obeisance to elders at home – rush out with ‘oothuvathi’ and bagful of crackers.  Lakshmi vedis, kuruvi vedis and bijili gave us unbounded happiness.  Those days taught us of having little, remaining contented and happy and above all sharing whatever we had with near and dear.

India’s main holiday season — culminating Saturday with Diwali, the festival of lights — appears to be giving a much needed boost to demand, with online retail sales to business activity indicators signaling Asia’s third-largest economy is recovering. In the run-up to the festival, retailers including Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart saw a 55% jump in online sales from a year ago to $4.1 billion, according to estimates from consultant RedSeer for the period Oct. 15-21. Data compiled by Bloomberg showed an increase in new vehicle registrations during October, while a separate gauge pointed to a rise in credit card transactions much ahead of the holidays. That follows improving tax-receipts and activity in manufacturing and services, the primary drivers for employment growth. The gains reflect a gradual revival in consumption, which makes up some 60% of an economy that shrank a record 24% in the April-June quarter and is headed for its worst annual contraction. The festive spirit of Deepavali is already bringing cheers into the lives of people. 

World has changed .. . prior to mid-March 2020, people were travelling for enjoyment, vacation, fun, vacation, vocation, official trips and more .. ..not any longer.  Screening passengers for coronavirus symptoms at U.S. airports proved woefully ineffective and identified only nine coronavirus cases among more than 766,000 travelers, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. European nations are warning that it’s too soon to make travel plans for Christmas, given the distinct likelihood that travel bans and lockdown restrictions will still be in place by then.

The coronavirus pandemic has acted as a complicating factor in a world that was already reeling under stress and a new balance of power is set to emerge from the ongoing situation. Before the coronavirus, a decades-long aviation boom spawned a network of nearly 50,000 air routes that traversed the world. In less than a year, the pandemic has wiped almost a third of them off the map. Border closures, nationwide lockdowns and the fear of catching Covid-19 from fellow passengers have crippled commercial travel. As thousands of domestic and international connections disappear completely from airline timetables, the world has suddenly stopped travelling.

The crisis is unwinding a vast social and industrial overhaul that took place during half a century of air-travel proliferation. In years to come, overseas business trips and holidays will likely mean more airport stopovers, longer journey times, and perhaps an additional mode of transport. Even when an effective vaccine is found, the economic reality of the recovery may mean some non-stop flights are gone for good.

Corona is challenging lives and life-style of people globally.  The United States again shattered pandemic records, reporting more than 153,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as some 66,000 people were hospitalized nationwide. It was the seventh time in nine days that reported U.S. infections reached new heights. The alarming increases in nearly every state are primarily the result of small social gatherings that take place behind closed doors, experts say, including dinner parties, game nights, sleepovers and carpools. Meantime, India’s daily cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) remained below 50,000 for the sixth consecutive day on Friday with the 44,879 cases and 547 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours. According to latest figures released by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, the nation’s infection tally has reached 8,728,795, the active caseload however, remained below 4.9 lakh.

Mankind has faced worser crises and Corona is shattering early records – during such troubled days, only solace is to pray Emperuman, ponder about Him and do more kainkaryam unto Him. 

இந்த உலகில் மக்கள் சொல்லணொத் துயரங்களை சந்தித்துள்ளனர்.   எத்தகைய கடின காலத்திலும், எம்பெருமான் ஸ்ரீமன் நாராயணனே நமக்கு சிறந்த ரக்ஷகன் என தெளிவாக உரைக்கின்றார் திருமங்கை மன்னன் தம் திருமொழி பாசுரத்தில்  11-4-2.

For us at Thiruvallikkeni divaydesam and elsewhere, Deepavali would be  double bonanza ~ as it would couple  with Sri Manavala Mamunigal Uthsavam.  This year Mamunigal uthsavam has already concluded and there would be no purappadu of Sri Parthasarathi for Deepavali.     

Diwali symbolises the spiritual ‘victory of light over darkness and good over evil’. During the celebrations every house gets  decorated by lighting díyas and drawing rangolis. It starts early in the morning ~ ‘the pureficatory bath prior to Sun rise – is known as Ganga snanam’ – bathing in the holy Ganges.  Life would start with lighting colour matches before bathing – then children  rush to burst crackers – Deepavali would start a fortnight or so in advance, siblings would share the booty of crackers bought – look at them everyday, speak fondly of their valuable purchase, dry them in heat – and in the morning – there would be din .. .. in fact, in my house, my great grand ma, into her nineties would be the first to get up and in the oven using firewood, she would light one cracker (cheena pattasu) and throw in the backyard, it would explode with a big bang .. .. crackers, new clothes, sweets, elders, cinema, cricket, Perumal purappadu  - life just rolled on .. .. ..

As Emperuman Sri Parthasarathi purappadu occurs,   thousands of crackers would be  burst, rockets, flower pots and many other items light the sky – one could see  skyline with hued colours .. .. .. as crackers are burst – the road gets hotter, there could be remnants which could suddenly burst and it is difficult to walk on – at Thiruvallikkeni – a group  of volunteers, who without of thinking of anything else would get   involved in cleaning the road to enable it being  good for the goshti, sripadham thangi and others to walk on -  more specifically for the Perumal to continue His purappadu. We would be missing all this this year – 2020. 

செருமிகு வாளெயிற்ற அரவொன்று சுற்றித் திசைமண்ணும் விண்ணுமுடனே

வெருவர வெள்ளை வெள்ளம் முழுதும் குழம்ப இமையோர்கள் நின்று கடைய,

பருவரையொன்று நின்று முதுகிற் பரந்து சுழலக் கிடந்து துயிலும்,

அருவரையன்ன தன்மை அடலாமையான திருமால் நமக்கோர்   அரணே. 

இந்த உலகில் மக்கள் சொல்லணொத் துயரங்களை சந்தித்துள்ளனர்.  எம்பெருமான் பல அவதாரங்கள் எடுத்து மானிட குலத்தை காப்பாற்றியுள்ளான்.    மிகுந்த வலமிக்கதாய் ஒளி பொருந்தியதான பற்களையுடைய வாஸூகி நாகத்தை கடைகயிறாகச்  சுற்றி எண் திக்குக்களிலுள்ளாரும்  இந்த பூமியிலுள்ளாரும், மேலுலகங்களிலுள்ளாரும்  ஏகரூபமாக,  அஞ்சி நடுங்கும்படியாகவும்  திருப்பாற்கடலடங்கலும்  குழம்பாகும்படியாகவும்  தேவர்கள் முதலானார்  நின்று கடைவதற்குப் பாங்காக  பெரியதொரு மலையானது தனது முதுகிலே  பரந்து  நின்று சுழலும்படியாக  அந்தமலையின் கீழே கிடந்து சாய்ந்துகிடவா நின்ற பெரியதொரு மலை சாய்ந்து கிடக்கிறாய் போன்றுள்ள வலிமைகொண்ட ஆமை ஆன  கூர்மரூபியான திருமால் ஸ்ரீமன் நாரணன்  நமக்கு  அரண் போன்று ஒப்பற்ற ரக்ஷகன். 

Here are some beautiful photos of  Swami Manavala Mamunigal and some photos of Sri Parthasarathi taken on an earlier occasion ie., Vaikasi Ekadasi 10062018.Fall at the feet of all Sri Vaishnavas, especially those doing kainkaryam  and pray our Emperuman to give the intellect of mind in being humble and never criticize or speak ill of those involved in every type of kainkaryam

Azhwar Emperumanar Jeeyar thiruvadigale saranam 

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
13.11.2020.

நன்றி:  திவ்யப் பிரபந்த பாசுர விளக்கம்:  கட்டற்ற அற்புத சம்பிரதாய களஞ்சியம் : திராவிட வேதா இணையம் ; கச்சி ஸ்வாமிகள் - திரு உ.வே. பிரதிவாதி பயங்கரம் அண்ணங்கராச்சார் சுவாமி விளக்க உரை.