Today (25th June, 2026 in India), my mother's first maasikams got over. A lot of good things happened today by God's grace, particularly Lord Hanuman's. Vidya and I recited the shloka "अपराजित पिंगाक्ष नमस्ते रामपूजित" which Triplicane Periyava has advised for daily recitation (336 times daily).
Before my mother passed away, I had started reciting Sundara Kandam with a plan to complete it in 9 days, but that didn't happen. So, by His grace, I hope to restart the parayanam and complete it as soon as possible. Amma was very fond of Sundara Kandam, and had several parayanam books, all of which she read regularly. The one I plan to read (in addition to the Valmiki Ramayanam [samskritam] version) while I am here, and Sriram wants to keep is the one below
I also found the beautiful book below titled "ஸ்ரீ ராம புஜங்க அஷ்டக ஸ்தோத்திரமும் ஸ்ரீ ஹநுமதஷ்டகமும்" which I liked very much, and scanned, because I think it should go to Sriram. I post the scans and a compiled PDF below
दूरीकृत-सीतार्तिः प्रकटीकृत-रामवैभव-स्फूर्तिः।दारित-दशमुख-कीर्तिः पुरतो मम भातु हनुमतो मूर्तिः ॥
I had planned to complete posting multiple sets of photos from my mother's marriage all the way until last year, but as usual, procrastinated, and only 2 sets are complete. I will post the remaining photos I have soon, starting in Part 4.
With today being our wedding anniversary (June 21, both in India as well as the US), Father's Day, and tomorrow being the start of 4 days of the maasikams etc, I decided to start a new post (this one) that I hope to continue/complete shortly.
It was a great blessing to have been a son to such a mother. For now, I will simply post the immortal lines of Tyagaraja Svaamigal, who sang on His Mother at Thiruvaiyaaru as
No other words can capture that blessing more succinctly. I will post some more memories of my mother, as told be several relatives hopefully in a few days.
I start with some photos from her wedding (1958) followed by some photos from the early 1960s, right after her wedding, and when my parents were in K3-52, Jamshedpur.
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| Immediately after Appa's return from USA 1961 |
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| Paati, Manimma, Amma, BabyAthai - K3-52 Jamshedpur |
My mother Mrs. V. Jayalakshmi attained the lotus feet of Ambal earlier today (Shukla Paksha Padmini Ekadashi) May 27, 2026, at home in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai.
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| Amma (Oct 14 1938 to May 27 2026) |
