With only his bow and arrow for company, King Parikshit was left all by himself, and he was hungry. Very hungry. He walked—as quickly as his fatigue allowed him—in search of some traces of human inhabitation. At last, the famished king stumbled upon a serene hermitage and spotted a sage seated in deep meditation. Parikshit’s dry…
Her mother-in-law rolled her eyes. “Oh, really? It’s scary, huh?” she asked, feigning sympathy. “Too bad, because who else do you expect to do it? Me?” She giggled as if the mere thought of it was outrageous. “Now, stop talking and get going to the lake. The water is not going to fetch itself, you know? If you hate household work so much, your poor old father should have sent a servant along when he married you off. Oh! I forgot! He can’t afford one, can he?”
It’s that time of the year. The time when the Lord of the universe was born as our dear Krishna, blessing us with thousands of names with which to call out to him and thousands of beautiful stories and pastimes for us to fondly remember. Our darling Krishna was born in the middle of a…
Stars glistened in the dark but clear sky and were positioned auspiciously. All the other planets and celestial objects steadily moved with tranquility. Mother Earth proudly continued adorning her ornaments of towns, villages, fields, and forests. Buoyant songbirds and susurrus bees buzzed and twittered with joy as they were caressed by an aromatic zephyr. Every lake was brimming with water, and every tree wore lush green leaves. All of nature was at its best.
Ramanuja’s intense desire to meet the blessed Goshti Purna was growing by the day.
“You know, I can quite confidently say that there is no other Srivaishnava equal to him,” Ramanuja’s acharya Maha Purna had told him. “He is the only one who knows the secret and powerful Vaishnava mantra. Seek him and serve him—if he is pleased, he may share it with you.”
One day, Parikshit was traveling back home in his chariot. As he approached the Sarasvati River, the king came across a disturbing scene that made his jaw drop in shock. He pulled the black horses drawing his chariot to a stop.
Andal (also known as Goda) is one of the most renowned Azhvars of the Srivaishnava Sampradayam, and an incarnation of Sri Mahalakshmi herself. Her vibrant and poetic pasurams, including Tiruppavai, are widely sung in temples and homes of devotees to this day. Andal was found by her father under a tulsi bush on the Purva…
Vishnuchitta was almost done stringing his garland. Making a beautiful flower garland for the Lord in the local Vatapatrashayi Temple in Srivilliputhur was his daily offering of love. All of a sudden, he heard the faint cry of a baby. He didn’t think much of it and simply headed toward the tulsi bush in his…
A little five-year-old boy silently walked by his mother on her way to her next gig. A group of traveling saints were staying in their village for the rainy season. and the boy’s mother had been employed to clean the hermitage.
Ramanuja couldn’t wait to get to Srirangam. Kanchi Purna—a great devotee of Lord Varadaraja—was blessed with the good fortune of having daily conversations with the Lord. During one such conversation, Sriman Narayana himself in the form of Varadaraja had told him to instruct Ramanuja to go to Srirangam and seek out Maha Purna as his acharya.
