Festival Services
The Srirangam Srimad Andavan Ashramam celebrates several festivals every year to mark divine birthdays of the Lord, the acharyas and to commemorate other religious occasions.
Festival celebrations are generally open to everyone, and include several rituals such as:
- Parayanams (recitation of sacred verses)
- Thirumanjanam (ritual bathing of the Deity)
- Aaradhanai (ritual worship of the temple deities and the padukas
- Sevakalam (congregational prayers)
- Teertham-shatari (ritual blessing with sacred water and placing of the holy shataari on the head)
- Anugraha-bhashanam (divine sermons)
- Thadiaradhanai (a feast).
Celebrations at the Ashramam
Some of the festivals celebrated at the Srimad Andavan Ashramam include:
- Birthdays of the Lord such as Sri Jayanti, Sri Rama Navami and Sri Narasimha Jayanti
- Birthdays or thirunakshatrams of nitya-suris and purvacharyas such as those of the twelve Azhvars, Ramanuja and Vedanta Desika
- Birthdays or thirunakshatrams of Andavan Ashramam acharyas
- Milestone Sri Vaishnava events such as Adhyayana Utsavam, Vaikuntha Ekadashi and others
- General festivals such as Pongal, Dipavali, Navaratri, Vijaya Dashami
- Traditional fasting or ritual days such as Ekadashi, Dvadashi and Amavasya
Ponnadi Service
One of the most exalted services offered by the Srimad Andava Ashramam is called Ponnadi Sattral, where the presiding acharya, Srimad Andavan Srivaraha Mahadesikan visits the houses of sishyas and abhimanis (disciples and well-wishers).
His Holiness Srimad Andavan usually stays between fifteen to thirty minutes, where he also delivers an anugraha bhashanam (divine discourse) and blesses the householders.
Devotees can make use of this rare opportunity to invite the acharya to their houses and seek blessings of the purvacharyas and the divya-dampati. Ponnadi Sattral services are only offered in the city that Srimad Andavan is currently visiting.
If you wish to arrange the service at your home, you will have to offer your prarthanais (prayers) for the request to Srimad Andavan by contacting the Ashramam office in Chennai or sending an email to: info@andavan.org clearly mentioning ‘Prarthanai for Ponnadi Sattral’ in the subject of the email.