By Sau. Vasuda Mukundan
Namo Narayana!
For Adiyen, holding the three-day Andal Thirukalyanam at Thirumaligai was both a labour of love and a steady unfolding of grace. We welcomed more than 150 guests over the weekend and the holiday. From the very first hour, there was so much quiet coordination amongst various groups of our ghoshti, which was very heartwarming to witness – the Andal goshti and volunteers arranging seating and prasadam, the rockers and Andal ghoshti members in swaroopam rehearsing their gopi and kummi dances respectively (which were taught by Smt. Chitra mami, who had graciously arrived from Chennai just for this event). The core team quietly attends to every aspect of kainkaryam. As hosts, Adiyen and Parivar strived to maintain shraddha in every detail (e.g., where a child would sit, when the homam materials needed replenishing) because we saw no distinction between logistics and puja and considered everything part of our sthoola kainkaryam.
Day one began with the Pondugal, where Adiyen remembers the sight of our little Andal utsavar leading the ghoshti into the hall, and how naturally the children made the occasion feel like home. On day two, the Thirumanjanam, the Divya Dampati were dressed simply in white vastram for the abhishekam, and the Veda parayanam made even ordinary movements seem reverent. Adiyen remembers singing Enna Kuraiyo and seeing some openly weep and others folding their hands and bowing to Perumal-Thayar. Moments such as these remind Adiyen of the immense bhagyam of this Kainkaryam. When the music and the mantrams come together, they create a sacred Satsangam where our Ghoshti can find total Atmanivedanam at the lotus feet of the Divya Dampati.
The alankaram of Perumal-Thayar, from the choice of flowers to the careful draping of vastram, was done with such collective care by the ghoshti members and bhattars that all of us were in a state of bhakti-paravasham; to the point it was almost a moment of viraha and karuna-rasa to perform the nirmalya-shodhana so soon afterwards when we had to transition to the next service.
On the final day, the Thirukalyanam arrived like the culmination of everything we had set in motion. Adiyen was blessed with the Bhagyam to carry the bhakshanam in a large basket, which Adiyen then placed at the feet of Andal-Rangamannar alongside the other Andal goshti members and rockers of the Andal ghoshti. Additionally, Adiyen felt a deep sense of kritajnata during Adiyen’s amma and appa’s satkar; a quiet but memorable pranama to their decades of selfless seva. Afterwards, we partook in thadiyaradhana prepared by the Andal goshti, where the simple act of sharing prasadam felt incredibly fulfilling, given our proximity to our Divya Dampati.
Throughout the three days, the members of NAMA stood by us with unwavering support. As opposed to a host-and-guest event, this year’s Andal Thirukalyanam served to be a single satsangam, a family bound by samyoga, sustaining our sampradayam together.
Acharya Tiruvadigale Sharanam.
Dhanyaasmi Adiyen.
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