Satya Kalam in Karnataka. - Nov 2016

A delightful trip with a very special niece

   We were very happy when our niece informed us that she was interested in attending the Apavritha Snanam at Satyakalam, a small village in Mandya district ,Karnataka.This is about 2 1/2hours (137kms) from Bangalore and an hour from Mysore.(70Kms)

   To stay at Satyakalam one has to inform ahead so that food can be prepared.Mr SelvaNarayanan is the person in charge .he can be contacted at 09880417514. He is the Managing Trustee.

       At  Satyakalam SriVedantaDesikan lived for about 13years and the Abeethisthavam was composed here among his many works. It is said that an old Tortoise showed him the way to the temple where Kotte Varadarajar resided in bushes.The old tortoise followed him everyday as he went to the temple after his daily ablutions in the Cauvery, till its last day and now it lays there as a stone in front of Sri desikan vigraham.

   The Cauvery here is very smooth flowing and gentle.

Mr Sellvanarayanan has taken it upon himself to renovate and propagate the information about SVDesikas utsavams here. The main being this Apavrutha Snanam ....the idol of Desikan is immersed in Cauvery as a Snanam held by the main priest.The Parakala mutt has taken upon itself to conduct this utsavam in a grand scale.

The jeer Himself presides over and a Dolai of the Hayagreevan is done here.

The crowd that assembles here is  a very inspired one ...as I found out from talking to various people here.Everyone of them is in awe of Sri Vedanta Desikan works ,his talents , and his proficiency in  languages, the ease with which he composed in Tamil and Sanskrit simultaneously. I found a few of them in tears when speaking of this great Seer and  many youngsters who acknowledged his prowess in every field of life.The young people who volunteered to do physical help were many and was very heartwarming sight.

The entire utsavam was very well managed ,with no pushing pulling grabbing or overruling by any.
Everyone behaved themselves with utmost courtesy .There were busloads of people who came from Coimbatore,Bangalore,,Chennai ,Mumbai and even from Singapore  .There was breakfast organised ....hot Pongal,gothsu, Upma and rawa Keshri with coffee.

   We attended the aradhanai  at the mutt premises, next door and proceeded to Cauvery with Desikan with melathalam, as there were instructions given over a Mike constantly it was very orderly.We were requested to wait patiently,until the Swami Desikan was taken in to have a Snanam. HH the jeer also came to the river banks,The main archanai said the Sankalpam over a Mike and everyone dipped into the Cauvery and returned to the temple to change .Thereafter we saw a small dolothsavam of the Hayagreevar and then had lunch.

Unbelievably a thousand people were fed simultaneously, neatly with no commotion.When everyone was seated accommodated all  around the temple halls , eco friendly Pakku Mattai plates were given and paper cups for water.As two people held the huge gundans,  pathrams ,,,,,,one man doled out Kadamba  Saddam while another served moru moru mixture,and along came another man with the yummiest sakkarai pongal, which had kobare,(dried coconut) and tons of cashews  and raisins in it.

Everyone was requested to take their plates and paper cups and throw it in a dump made for this purpose. Immediately we could see women cleaning up the place.

 Well that was a sort of tempting invite to all youngsters out there to come and experience this divine but very delightful function and as followers of Sri Vedanta Desikan we have to keep it going

   Now for the gyan about the Hero himself. When the Muslims invaded India and plundered our treasures they also plundered our temples taking away most idols. Foreseeing  an imminent attack by muslims  on Srirangam Desikan had a wall built in front of moolavar Ranganathar and moolavar Thayar.Pillai Lokacahariyar took away Namperumal to Jothiskudi near Madurai and hence Namperumal was in sancaharam for 48 odd years. This great seer went away to Karnataka  to Satyakale and lived there , where he. composed many Stotrams, commentaries etc. He worshiped Lord Varadarajan here along with PerunDevi ThAyar.

        This small village is about 70 kms  from Mysore,   11 kms  away from Kollegal,the nearest big town, and aabout 130 kms from Bengaluru, .There is no facility to stay in Satyakalam.  Unless of course one doesn't mind basic facilities .There are no fancy rooms or beds,but something can be arranged I'm sure.

       This festival is normally celebrated on any Sunday aipasi,month, to facilitate many devotees to attend thia unique festival  called theerthavari.

  The idol of Desikan has been made by his son Nainachariar in the pose of holding the holy book Srutha Prakasikai. This book was an only copy and as such Desikan's Acharia requested him to save this book and his grandsons during the Muslim invasion .where 12000 Brahmins laid down their lives in order to save the Srirangam temple and its deities.Swami Desikan lay down amidst the dead bodies along with the book held close to his chest and held his Acharya's grandsons as he pretended to be dead.After the dreaded Mulims had left He got up and went away to Satyakale.

     This is how our Sampradaya has been saved and it is now in our hands to further cherish and nourish it further.