Saturday, December 14, 2019

Vadavambalam Adhishtanam of Shri VISWATHIKENDRA Atmabodhendra Saraswati the 58 th Acharya of the Kanchi mutt

Among the many wonders brought to light by the Paramacharya of Kanchi many years ago this Adhishtanam of his parama guru was brought to light by this Mahan in a very desolate area .Thankfully with the blessings of the present acharyas the place is being re built and is a very popular pilgrimage spot for the followers of the Kanchi muttVadavambalam Adhishtanam Vizhupuram district
From the  NH 45  from Chennai side  you can take  the road to panrutti/Neyveli/Kumbakonam/Tanjore    at the 15 th Km you will come across the four road junction it is known as the Koliyanur Koot road. You can reach this junction from Vizhupuram also by taking the left road at the old hospital inside Vizhupuram  or from Pondy from the Thavalakuppam to Vizhupuram road  . Proceed towards Panrutti and after 4 kms once you cross the bridge you can see the road to Vadavambalam on the left this is after the road to Poovarasankuppam, there are a lot of signboards put up now(This was taken when I visited again today on 14/8/16).
You can reach it from Panrutti also.DSC06049 it is a small village road likely to be missed if you are not careful. Turn left there and in less than a  kilometer you will see the Kanchi mutt Adhishtanam.( These are the pics of the old structure It has been re built on 20/10/16)
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This is the Adhishtanam of Shri Atma Bodendra the 58 th Acharya (who was  the guru of Shri Bodhendra of Govindapuram).    

58.Sri Atma Bodhendra Saraswati : He was a native of Vriddhachalam, and son of one Viswamakhi. His pre-sanyasa name was Visvesvara. He toured extensively and stayed at Benares for a long time. He wrote a Bhasya on the Sri Rudram. It was Atma Bodha that directed Sadasiva Brahmendra to write the Gururatna Malika. He attained mukti on the banks of the river South Pinakini, known in Tamil as Then Pennai on Krishna Ashtami in the month of Tula of the cyclic year Eswara (1638 AD).His pontificate was for 52 years
(above courtesy the Kanchimutt website Kamakoti.org)
The Adhishtanam is looked after by Shri Rajashekara Sharma  a young graduate of the mutts patashalai and can be contacted on phone correct.9445229081 and 9952328339. 
( you can see him doing pooja in the photo above)


(The Aradhanai of this periva falls on 30/10/10 to be held at the Adhishtanam premises itself)
I visited the place on 31-10-10 and saw that there was a gala celebration on the previous day

29/08/15

I have since my last visit been to this adhishtanams many times over the last 5 years and been blessed. Here is a video of the nithya puja on 9/8/15.The young priest at work can be seen here





Today  14/08/2016 my wife and I visited this Adhishtanam and were blessed .DSC06050
Today 25/09/16 I had the opportunity to visit again. There is re construction of the place in full swing. Full kudos to the people who are carrying out this great task
14/10/16
Today I received the following message
VADAVAMBALAM VISWATHIKENDRA ATHMA BODENDRA SARASWATHI SWAMIGAL
KUMBABISEKAM ON 21.10.2016 AND
ARADHANAI ON 22.10.2016
I received the following pictures from the organisers on 22/10/16 when the kumbabishekam and aradhanai were performed. If you watch the homam closely you can see Mahaperiyava himself is blessing the event,Please do visit and get his blessings
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I had darshan on 20/11/2016  here are a few pics of the adhishtanam
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from the Kanchi calender 2018

58. Sri Atma Bhodhendra Saraswati
1586 - 1638 A.D.
आचाय - 58 - िवािधकाबोधेः
वृाचल ··· आसीत ्॥ ११५ ॥
िवािध ··· िकममेयम ्॥ ११६ ॥
ापाशत ··· चूडामिणम ्॥ ११७ ॥
अयं च ··· वेिदतम ्॥
Viśveśvara was the son of Viśvamakhindra;
resorting to the fact of Paraśivārya, known as
Navaśaṅkara from the first preceptor toured all
places successfully, from Setu (Rāmeśvaram) to
Sătāgiri (Himalayas).
Since he possessed intellect more than anyone in
the Universe, men of wisdom call him Viśvādhika
and Navaśaṅkara. His erudition in composing
works such as Rudra bhāṣya is beyond words -
immeasurable.
The preceptor Viśvādhikendra carrying out
the responsibilities of preceptor for fifty-two
years, (later) handing over the responsibilities
to Bodhendrārya, and proceeding in southern
direction reached eternal abode, meditating on
Lord Śiva with the crescent moon in the crown, on
the banks of river Garuḍa
on the eighth day of the black fortnight in the
month of Tulā of the year Ăśvara.
This preceptor Śră Navaśaṅkara residing on the
banks of river Tridaśa was revered by eminent
men, departed in the southern direction and
attained siddhi on the banks of river Garuḍa after
handing over the responsibilities to the disciple Śră
Bhagavannāma Bodhendra.

last Wednesday 23/05/2018 I was traveling in the area and came to  vadavambalam by about 1 pm  after visiting Thiruvahindipuram. I expected the door to be closed and mentally was prepared to do a pradakshinam and hand over some money to the old man sitting outside. I was traveling with full family including my inlays. It was nothing short of a miracle that as we parked our car Sri. Rajashekara Sharma the priest parked his bike and welcomed us. It seems he was going out of town and wanted to do an early pooja before leaving and it was our divine fortune that the vadavambalam Periyava graced us with his great mercy and gave us darshanam and we were all thrilled.

Update on 22/08/19
Enroute to Kumbakonam I travelled on this road and since the road is being coverted into a 4 lane highway familiar landmarks including the sign boards are lost. The road to Vadavambalam is the road after the culvert after the 4 road junction from vizhupuram It is after the road to Poovarasan kuppam temple when you are travelling from Vizhupuram side. It is before the bridge on the Gadilam river So ask for vadavambalam around the river bridge