Saptaaha (2021) at Papparapatti

Time: Mar 19-20, 2021

Place: Papparapatti

Company: Wife, daughter, mother and MIL

Highlights: 

Day 0: Saptaaha was organized at Papparapatti in 2021 and it was from Sunday March 14th to Saturday March 20th. The grand Srinivasa Kalyanam was on Friday 19th. Until 19th morning, we were still debating whether to go or not considering rising infection rate of Covid-19. But upon hearing that certain arrangements were already made for our arrival on Friday night by the organizing committee, we thought we need to respect that and hence decided to leave on Friday noon itself. The other option was to leave on Saturday morning but then we would have missed the Friday evening + Saturday morning programs.

We left at 3:30 pm and at 6 pm we were in Papparapatti. We refreshed ourselves with some coffee and shortly the Srinivasa Kalyanam program started. It was a grand celebration of the wedding between Srinivasa and Padmavathi - complete with bathing rituals up until the tying of the knot, filled with devotional songs and discourses. A full three hour ritual. It was great ambience, filled with devotion.

With that done, we had dinner at about 11 pm, went to our room which was arranged in PKS Mahal almost 3 kms from the venue and retired for the night at about midnight.

Day 1: Just three hours sleep. Got up at 3:30 am, had bath, did little bit of kriya and once all family members were done refreshing, left at 5:30 am to Saptaaha venue. Right at 6 am, Suprabhatham started and it was more like a guided meditation. Very pleasant. And then a short discourse.

Meanwhile inside the Mutt premises, the pontiffs of Phalimaru and Vyasaraja were conducting the daily morning deity pooja, a 2-3 hr ritual, surrounded by Vedic chanting. Very soulful. That got done by 8 am. Then we went around the town bare foot along with the procession of the Deity, carrying the palanquin-kind on the shoulders, chanting bhajans and some were even dancing. All nice experiences for Paavani!

Got back by 9 am and the main highlight of the day was Sahasra Ksheera Kalashabhisheka, literally translating to 1000 Kalashas of Milk Abhisheka to Sri Raghavendra Swamy (this day being his birthday). This was again conducted by the two main Pontiffs. This went on for 2 hours.

As soon as this was done, the Dhanvanthri homa (which was going on in the side) came to an end, and the entire audience turned towards the final rituals. After this, Vyasaraja Pontiff did Mudradhaarane. And then it was time for Pushpa Abhisheka to Sri Raghavendra Swamy, once again with sacred chants. By the time, everything was done, it was about half past noon. 

I took a nap in one of the choultry rooms while the family stayed in the Mutt where more Pooja was going on by the Pontiffs. Finally, had lunch at 3 pm and it was time to bid adieu. Went around the Mutt one last time, said bye to all the extended family members and left at 4:30 pm. It was an eventless journey back home and we reached about 9ish (had to drop off relative too).

Overview: I guess this was my fourth visit to Papparapatti. First one as a bachelor, second one with wife, third with infant daughter. And this was the grandest of all, with so much of festive happenings everywhere around. Even in terms of Saptaaha - I guess this was my fourth: first being Kushtagi (2011), second being Hosur (2017) and third Udupi (2018) (there might have been more but I dont recall!) - and this had my maximum participation, not just with time but even with involvement!