Vaikunda
Ekadasi, is a day of supreme significance for all Sri Vaishnavaites.
Today 30th Dec 2025 is the all
important day.
At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam sung by 3 Alwars,
early in the morning at around 430 am, Uthsavar Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman enters
through the Paramapada vassal and in the evenings in the subsequent nine
days. As HE enters, Swami Nammalwar welcomes Him. The
10 days starting from Vaikunda Ekadasi are celebrated as “Iraapathu
uthsavam”
Today, thousands of people throng the Thirukkovil to have darshan of Sri Venkata Krishnar
(Moolavar) and Sri Parthasarathi (Uthsavar). Devotees feel enlightened
and blessed, when they cross the -
Vaikunda door ~ the paramapada vasal.
It indeed is a divine occasion and devotees
gathered in big numbers in the morning – there is steady inflow throughout and
devotees can have darshan till midnight. When there are people, there is
SYMA. Prominent members of Srinivas Young Mens Association in
service to society since 1977 (spearheaded
by TJ Ramani & SR Parthasarathi) have
arranged distribution of quality food
(Prasad) to devotees – in rotation it is Pongal, Puliyogaree, tamarind rice,
Curd rice .. .. right from the morning : https://youtu.be/6tDjp8h-cPk
Sakthi Hospitals, Triplicane too has joined in this and
stationed their nursing staff ready to provide first aid for any medical
exigency. .. .. .. and SYMA being an Organisation founded on the
principles of civic and environment cleanliness, Urbaser Sumeet staff are
present in good numbers ensuring cleanliness.We urge people not to throw garbage on the streets but cooperate and put
them only in waste bins.
Deepavali is a
festival of happiness – Gangasnanam, New dresses, Sweets and .. .. of course
Crackers ! (pattasu!)
All pyrotechnic
compositions evolve heat upon ignition, and this release of energy can be used
to produce colour, motion, smoke, and noise. There are applications as well for
the chemically- produced heat itself. The use of incendiary mixtures in warfare
can be traced back to ancient times, when it provided an effective means of
assaulting well-fortified castles. A
Firecracker is a diminutive explosive
device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the
form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment. They have fuses,
and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound.
Firecrackers, are very
popular and the town of Sivakasi, down South is very famous for manufacturing
quality fire crackers. For Deepavli,
people light up fireworks near their homes
and in streets.
For us at
Thiruvallikkeni divaydesam and elsewhere, Deepavali is double bonanza ~ it
couples with Sri Manavala Mamunigal Uthsavam – this year Deepavali 20.10.2025 was day 3 of
the Uthsavam – Deepavali was
celebrated with fervour. 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 starts
with lighting colour matches before
bathing – then children rush to burst crackers – in earlier years, 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 timber oven, 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 .. .. ..
At Thiruvallikkeni
divyadesam, Deepavali evenings are extravagant – the purappadu of Swami
Manavala Mamunigal with Sri Parthasarathi would take close to 4 hours even ..
.. hundreds of 10000wallahs and special firework would light the air –
thousands would walk along with Perumal enjoying the celebrations. This year too, the celebrations were very
very grand.
Acaryan Manavala
Mamunigal Uthsavam – Deepavali purappadu with Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman –
Triplicane exploded ! so
many many crackers and more than them beautiful fireworks. So many houses burst big winding electric
sarams - thousands of crackers, rockets, flower pots and many other items lit
the sky.
As so much is burnt, one
sees the skyline with hued colours .. .. .. 10000
wallah leaves so much of heat and pile of rubbish – and the road itself gets
hotter – Mamunigal (Sripadhamthangis), arulicheyal goshti and Emperuman, various kainkaryabarars including
Battachars walk on the road bare-footed
! – even as the cinders remain partly
extinguished, road red hot. The unburnt
crackers, remnants of fire all cause injuries too.
Sri
Thirucherai Sarathy (fondly Lamba Sarathi to us) – is a Vadhyar, Swayamsevak,
kudaikarar, Sripathamthangi – has been
sweeping the deepvali rubbish regularly
for Perumal purapadu over the past few years. Srinivas Youngmens Association
[SYMA] had organized equipments and people for cleaning. SYMA stands for social
service and back in 1977 – it started
with civic activities of cleaning the mada veethis and kairavini
thirukkulam. This year for this cleaning
- Me (S. Sampathkumar), AMR Sundar, VP
Manivannan, Aravind, T.P. Srikanth, M.A. Sadagopan, D. Sudarsan, Boopalan, G
Parthasarathy, Durai @ R Seshadry and many other volunteers took to the streets engaging
themselves in cleaning with broomsticks and placing the debris at corners,
making the streets safe for walking.
It took hours, it was
difficult, strenuous considering the heat, fire and the smoke – yet it was
service to Emperuman and to his devotees.
Fall at the feet of all Sri Vaishnavas and pray our Emperuman to give
the intelligence of mind in being humble and never criticize or speak ill of
those involved in every type of kainkaryam
