An
article by
Sri
S.A.R. Prasanna Venkatachariar Chaturvedi Swami
Founder
/ Managing Trustee, Sri Bhashyakara Charitable Trust, Chennai
Sri Bhashyakara Charitable Trust concentrates on rendering devotional services at the temples and for the devotees in the major divya desams. This Trust focuses on undertaking and sponsoring the celebrations of certain discontinued Utsavams, organizing preparation and offering of jewels and vahanams for the Perumal temples, undertaking renovation and civil construction activities at selected Sannidhis in different temples etc.
Srivaishnava Ashram proudly boasts the possession of Vigrahams (Aradhana Murthis) of Perumals of many Divyadesams along with the entire bandwagon of all the Alwars and Acharya Purushas. Regular Poojas are performed at the Ashram for all these Vigrahams on all days in the morning and in the evening and the Theertha Prasadams are distributed to the assembled devotees.
Click here to view all the Aradhana Murthis:
On special occasions such as the annual birthdays of Alwars and Acharyas, Thiru Adippooram, Sri Rama Navami, Sri Krishna Jayanthi, Deepavali, Thirukkarthigai, Pongal etc. and on the monthly sacred days such as Ekadasis, Dvadasis etc., the recitation of Tamil Prabhandhams and Veda Parayanams would organized on a grand scale. The Vidwans, Vedic scholars and the learned Sri Vaishnavas hailing from Triplicane, Kanchipuram, Kooram and Kanchipuram would participate in each of these functions in sizable numbers.Aradhanams to all the Perumals in all these functions were always entrusted to the competent and qualified priests.The objectives and prayers while commencement of all these Poojas, the Sankalpa, would be for the welfare of the entire humanity, Loka Kshemam, only. Never were they organized for the personal welfare or benefit of any individual or their family.The first major Kainkaryam of the Trust at the temples was offering golden Varadha and Abhaya Hasthams, as offerings to Goddess Sri Perundevi Thayar at the Varadaraja Swamy Temple, Kanchipuram .It had weighed around 650 grams. Many of Swamy’s devotees came forward to undertake the entire costs of this expense themselves. But Swamy insisted that the expenses for this devotional service must be distributed amongst 650 families, each contributing for the cost of one gram of gold and further advised that if such wide sharing of costs and their collections involved some delay, it would still be worth it.
This service was completed in the above manner and all the members of the 650 families attended the function at Kanchipuram on 1st January, 2000, when the golden Hasthams were offered for adorning the Divya Mangala Vigraham of Sri Thayar, who felt delighted to be the recipients of Her divine grace and blessings.
Subsequent to this devotional service activity, the other major activities of the Trust were offering golden chair (Parangi Narkali) to Sri Andal at Srivilliputhur and golden base table (Mangalagiri) to Sri Ramanuja at Sriperumbudur, worth several lakhs of rupees, all on the basis of the voluntary donations and contributions made by the ardent devotes of Swamy from different parts of the country. This was followed by offerings of silver Sataris to several temples and offering Vahanams for temple celebrations such as to Ulagalandha Perumal temple, Kanchipuram etc. To know about the various services and offerings click here.
The Trust has been organizing the annual functions of Davanothsavam at Thiruneermalai, Pavithrothsavam at Nachiar Koil, Sri Mushnam and Azhagar Koil and Theppothsavam at Thirukkannapuram. The renovation of the shrines of Siriya Thiruvadi and Ananthazhvan at Kanchipuram and the civil reconstruction activities of the temple Sannidhis at Sri Mushnam, Kattu Mannarkoil and Thirukkannangudi are the other major completed activities of the Trust.
Whenever he is not traveling, Sri Chaturvedi Swamy delivers very fascinating lectures and stimulating religious and spiritual discourses at the Ashram premises. On account of his exhaustive erudition and in depth knowledge on a wide range of subjects such as Vedas, music, drama etc., Swamiji would be always surrounded by scores his ardent devotees as well as many scholars and artistes, in the Ashram premises. On any subject under the Sun, such as Vedic contents and interpretations, current worldly affairs and developments and on the Vaisahnavic Sampradhayas, Swamy’s devotees would eagerly raise questions and record all the lectures. The collection of such lectures by some devotees runs into thousands of audio cassettes. Many others would take detailed notes of the major points from these lectures.
The subjects not only cover the traditional subjects on ancient wisdoms but also medicinal sciences, cybernetics, astrology, sculpture, yoga shastram, architecture, pranic healing, earthquakes, volcanic studies, music, unheard of anecdotes in the histories and stories of the Lords in the various temples etc. Click here to checkout the various lectures of Sri Chaturvedi Swamy.
