Chithirai Shukla paksha Ekadasi 2022 - Thiruvallikkeni purappadu

எம்பெருமானை ஆச்ரயிக்கப்பெற்றவர்களில் ஆரேனும் துன்பப்படுவாருண்டோ?   இன்று சிறப்பு நாள் -  ஏகாதசி - 12-05-2022, வியாழன் (சித்திரை மாதம் 29, சுக்ல பக்ஷ , ஏகாதசி).  திருவல்லிக்கேணியில் ஸ்ரீ பார்த்தசாரதி பெருமாள் பெரிய மாட வீதி புறப்பட்டு கண்டருளினார். 

Over the past couple of weeks, Chennai has been experiencing very hot weather and there were fears of mercury shooting up further with onset of ‘agni nakshathiram’ – however there were doubts over today’s evening Ekadasi purappadu at Thiruvallikkeni for it was drizzling !– rains in such a hot summer ? 

Heavy rainfall lashed Chennai and its suburbs on Tuesday with the severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' nearing the Andhra Pradesh coast. Globally, Tropical cyclones are one of the biggest threats to life and property even in the formative stages of their development. They include a number of different hazards that can individually cause significant impacts on life and property.    Newspaper headlines on tropical cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons and the widespread devastation they leave behind have led many people to question whether climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of such phenomena. 

Over the past 50 years, more than thousand disasters have been attributed to tropical cyclones, which killed 779 324 people and caused US$ 1 407.6 billion in economic losses – an average of 43 deaths and US$ 78 million in damages every day.   Way back in 1970 – a cyclone (named Bhola !)  struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on November 11, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world's deadliest natural disasters. At least 300,000 people lost their lives in the storm, as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. It was very poorly handled by Pakistan.   A week after the cyclone's landfall, President Yahya Khan conceded that his government had made "slips" and "mistakes" in its handling of the relief efforts. He said there was a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.  

Cyclone Asani in  Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclone – latest reports suggest that it has fizzled out without making a landfall. Whenever we hear about the name of any cyclone, one gets curious to know – what it would mean.   Tauktae hit the western coast of India; it had been  named by Myanmar, meaning a  “gecko” — a highly vocal lizard — in Burmese dialect. Similarly, Cyclone Asani,   was named by Sri Lanka and means  “wrath” in Sinhalese. 

Cyclone Asani lost strength rapidly; on Wednesday afternoon, it was tipped to dissipate over the sea in the next 24 hours, before even coming near the Odisha coast, Met officials said.   The system was  likely to move north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts…. It weakened but provided heavy rains to many places across Andhra Pradesh -   Anantpur, Bapatla, Kavali, Kurnool, Nellore, Ongole, Tirupathi and Tuni registered maximum temperatures at least 10-14°C below their average for this time of the year! In Odisha, the highest rainfall on Wednesday was recorded in its northern city of Baripada at 50 mm.  It rained in and around the city of Chennai too, though not heavily but the temperatures over the past 2 days have been pleasant. 

ஆரே துயருழந்தார் துன்புற்றார் ஆண்டையார்,

காரே மலிந்த கருங் கடலை,- நேரே

கடைந்தானைக் காரணனை, நீரணைமேல் பள்ளி

அடைந்தானை நாளும் அடைந்து. 

மேகங்கள் நிறைந்த பெரிய கடலை தானே முன்னின்று கடைந்தவனும் ஸகல ஜகத்காரண பூதனுமானவனும், திருப்பாற்கடலில்  ஆதிசேஷனாகிற அனந்தன் மேல்  பள்ளிக்கொண்டிருப்பவனுமான எம்பெருமானை நாடோறும் பணிபவர்கள்  ஒருபோதும் ஒருவிதமான துக்கங்களையும் அனுபவிக்கமாட்டார்கள்  - - அவ்வாறு துயருற்றோர் எங்குமில்லை ! யாருமில்லை!!

In this World, there exists sufferings and sorrow ~ are there people bereft of sorrow and are eternally blissful – our Peyalwar shows us the way in his Moonram thiruvanthathi.    Peyazhwar’s advice to the Universe is simple – to those who offer worship everyday to the Lord who reclines in Sesha sayanam,  who churned the ocean, who is the cause of all  - there would seldom by any misery .  

At Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, we are fortunate to have darshan of Emperuman on most days and today being Shukla paksha  Ekadasi in the month of Chithirai (despite sharp drizzles) there was periya mada veethi purappadu of Sri Parthasarathi perumal in the evening. 

~ adiyen Srinivasadhasan.
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
12^th  May 2022