Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Calamitous rains in Chennai - சென்னையில் ஊழி.


Chennai and Tamilnadu are in the grip of unprecedented rainfall which has intensified since yesterday night. It is as though an Oozhi  (ஊழி) or Pralaya had set in. There is no one who has not been affected by these rains in some way or the other. With more rains predicted for the coming days, it appears that things are going beyond human efforts to bring some succor to the suffering people. I can only think of Govardhan Krishna to protect us from the wrath of Varuna Bhagawan as he once did to protect the yadhavas from the wrath of Indra. This year being "VaaruNa Megha", Varuna is dominating the skies bringing heavy rainfall. (Read here)





Let us all pray to Govardhan Krishna to bring an end to the currently escalating calamity. The 10 Pasurams of Nammazhwar starting as ‘Aazhiyezhach sangum villum ezha’ are fit to be recited now, praying Lord Krishna to offer protection to the crores of people of Tamilnadu from the incessant downpour.



11 comments:

Sheela said...

Dear Mam,

thanks for referring exact pasurams in this needy hour

this cleared my doubts as we do varuna homam for rain n meditating on
govardhan is the only solution to protect from rains n floods.


regards
sheela

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Yes Ms Sheela, these 10 pasurams are very powerful in a calamity, particularly that of rains and floods as in Pralaya. Though I know these pasurams myself and can recite, I am running this audio continuously for the chandas, the intonation that is important for creating the intended result. Meditating on Krishna lifting Govardhana giri and Krishna lying on peepal leaf (aalilai) are also needed to mitigate the calamity that is staring at us in Chennai.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Similar calamity occurred in Chennai 30 years ago, in 1985 Nov- Dec. That was the first time (perhaps) in Chennai's memory incessant rains followed by breaching of lakes resulted in floods in Adyar river that subsequently inundated many parts of Chennai. That was the first time some Chennaites experienced water entering the houses. In 30 years, urbanization had grown mindlessly such that there is no place of Chennai that is not affected by the current floods today.

Hariharan Parasuraman said...

Thank you for the pasuram mam.

Krishna said...

Hope things are slowly being restored.

Krishna said...

I am trying to reach you since 2nd dec. I am expecting you and everyone in your locality is safe. As soon as you are connected, please respond.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Thanks for all the concerned readers. I am fine. Mobile and Internet service were restored only now.

Few words on this Pralaya times in Chennai.

The heroes are the conservancy workers of the Govt, Corporation officials, EB officials and the police who were at our call and helped us to restore to normal life. They did and are doing their job very well. Hats off to Amma who mobilized them.

Super heroes are the unknown guys who, heeding the FB requests of my kids swam through the dirty waters of my locality to reach me to enquire about my well being. Not to be left behind were the volunteers who went around the city offering food packets and other requirements.

The villain is the AIRTEL which deliberately switched off all the communication services on the pretext that their cables and network are costly and they can not afford to risk a huge loss by keeping them on. From the afternoon of 1st December onwards, Airtel's phone services were off. If only people could have got the timely warnings on the opening of the lakes, many could have saved their belongings. Someone should take up this matter about AIRTEL's failure to rise to the occasion in this rarest of the rare kind of calamity.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

We kept doing group chanting of the Pasurams. I also suggest the pasuram "indiranukkendru aayargal eduttha.. " which is the 4th pasuram in the Triplicane pasurams of Thirumangai azhwar. It is Periya Thirumozhi -2-3- 4. This pasuram is about how Perumal saved the yadhavas by lifting the mountain. I along with my neighbours kept chanting this pasuram and found relief by the time we completed. We chanted for 27 times at a stretch each time.

For easy concentration and chanting, I suggest to chant the 10th pasuram of "Aazhiyezha" that I uploaded in the article above.

More rains are predicted in the coming days. Lets us keep chanting these pasurams to invoke the blessing of Govardhan giri Krishna and Parthasarathu of Triplicane.

Sheela said...

Dear Mam,

glad u r safe. except BSNL all Private operators have exposed their attitude. still happy that casualties were comparitively less for scale of disaster., and Government haa done fairly well though there may be some problems here & there. I also enjoyed snub given to kamalahassan for his nuisance as usual. Many good hearted Chennaites were out in streets to do their bit. there may be many to help in form of aids, but the way Govt mobilised garbage clearance team & free transport which brought autofares down was very much appreciable. Ofcourse neutrality in media can never be expected. Hope Amma does some concrete plan for water body maintenance. Our army & navy were also silent performers in those crisis hours.

thanks again for pasurams which was repeated

Sheela

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Ms Sheela,

Glad that you are also safe and back into my blog to read and comment.

Yes, the govt machinery was in work all the time. The EB workers did commendable job in checking and restoring electricity. All the main roads were immediately cleared of flood waters. The free bus service is also a thoughtful one to safeguard general public from fleecing auto drivers. The only hitch was that the info on opening up of the lakes did not reach the people in time as the communication channels were off. The Govt did issue prior warnings but we didn't receive them. But we must have anticipated that before hand and be prepared.

This floods gave some insights on the route of water. The old records on disappeared lakes and connecting canals must be interfaced with this route and the water-flow direction must be cleared for smooth flow of water. People must cooperate in this endeavour. Politicians and the media must shut their mouths up. It is also necessary that a satellite town is developed (downtown)with good town planning to support Chennai's commercial activities.

The quotable quote from an army man that there were more volunteers than victims showed two things - (1) the good nature of Chennaiites and (2) that not many were actually affected by the floods. The affected areas were low lying areas as made out from the names of those localities such as "Choolai pallam" (the pit of kiln), all Paakkams (flood plains) and Eris (lakes). The shocking sight is the flash floods on Madley subway that devastated T nagar and West Mambalam, but Mambalam was built on horse shoe lake (check my blog on Lost lakes of Chennai). How are we going to clear these places of habitations?

The idea of building habitation on water ways and flood plains was introduced by the British and picked up thoughtlessly in post Independence period. Heard that the similar trend is going on in Bangalore. Chennai floods must sound a warning to all people on town planning.

On pasurams, I think that from now onwards, our focus must be on Rama who built a bund (setu) across the ocean and who safe guarded the lake in Madhuranthakam (Eri Kaattha Ramar). As there are no Alwar pasuram on Madhuranthakam Rama, I would suggest Thiruvegga perumal (Yathotthakari) in the nearby region of Madhuranthakam. The very name Thiruvegga means Vegavanai - a dam across Vegavathi river. He is also known as "Sonna vannam seyyum perumal" as he obliged the words of his devotee Thirumazhisai Azhwar.

Therefore I thought the pasuram on this Lord by Peyaazhwar is ideal for praying him to protect us from floods or the overflowing lakes and Adayar river.

The pasuram is as follows:

பொருப்பிடையே நின்றும், புனல் குளித்தும், ஐந்து
நெருப்பிடையே நிற்கவும் நீர் வேண்டா, - விருப்புடைய
வெஃ காவே சேர்ந்தானை மெய்ம்மலர் தூய்க் கை தொழுதால்
அஃ காவே தீவினைகள் ஆய்ந்து.

(IyaR paa – 3 –aam Thiruvanthaathi )

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Read this link from Dinamalar on how flood distribution system existed in Tamilnadu as made out from the names of the places.

http://www.dinamalar.com/news_detail.asp?id=1405288