It has been a long time since I have written something on my blog spot. I am here to express the experience that I had in Melkote on the 24th of November. I was blessed to be there and definitely it was his Wish that made this trip so auspicious one.I had been to Mysore on a Official trip and had plans of Visiting melkote. Saturday & Sunday we spent time in Coorg and on Monday morning around 8 am we started from Mysore and reached Melkote around 9.30 AM. Took a Holy Bath in Kalyani Pushkarani and then had breakfast near the temple.
Around 10.30 AM we entered the Temple. I have bought Vasthram for both Perumal & Thaayar, they had asked me to handover the same to the Temple Office. Then we were blessed to see the Arathi and then we had asked them for the Sadari, they had asked us to wait for Satrumurai and then we went to the Anjaneya Sannathi, then to Thaayar Sannathi. It was getting ready for the Arathi & Satrumurai, meanwhile one of the priest took us to the Udayavar Sannathi and to Pillailokacharyar Sannathi. We came back to Thaayar Sannathi for the Arathi, then Satrumurai started first in Thaayar's Sannathi and then they moved on to Udayar, Acharyar and then to Thirunarayanan. I found a new practice being followed here. I am not sure if this is correct but just wanted to share this info. During Satrumurai one of the beram is carried in Pallaku and taken around the moolasthanam, they go to each and every bali beetam and then move into the main Sanctum. I found the same happening in Sri Ranga Patnam in the evening.
We were lucky enough to get inside the main sanctum for Satrumurai, after few of us entered they stopped entry for others. First it started with the Arati to the moolavar and then we were standing facing the Chella Pillai Utsavar. It was an memorable event in my life, I haven't experienced such a vibration getting into me so Far. It all started when they started Andal's Thiruppavai and then with "Sri Sailesha Dayapatram". The moment the satrumurai was over we could feel the vibrations surrounding us. Then we got the Theertham and Thiruthulaai. The Sadari was carried by the priest and accompanied by two of them one carrying Thandam on his hand and the other person was carrying the Thee Pandham. It was a Majestic scene to be seen.
Pls note that in Melkote Sadari will be given only during the Satrumurai and not during the other times.
After this we had prasadam from the temple and came out of the temple to continue our trip. It was around 12.00 pm and we had a tight schedule on that day so we were running out of time. We decided to skip the Narasimha temple on the hillock. So started directly to Thondanur. We also had a plan of taking bath in Thondanur but time was a constraint. Unfortunately the Narasimha temple was closed. We went to Nambi Narayana Temple. It was such a beautiful temple , but sad to see that it is being neglected by people. By the time we entered the temple satrumurai was going on. We were glad to see Satrumurai happening everywhere we went. I had been there early this year during Bhramotsavam and it was a sad scene that no one was seen around. Then we went to Venugopala Swamy temple which is infront of Nambi Narayana's Temple, but it was Closed too :(.
We started from Thondanur to Srirangapatnam, our plan was to Visit the Mysore palace and come back to Ranganatha Swamy's temple. On the way we paid visit to Ananthalwar's Avathara Sthalam. It should never be missed. This is very close to Srirangapatnam, from Melkote to Srirangapatna we can see this towards the left of the Road with a Small tank. We were so lucky that the priest here was performing Satrumurai in the temple. He gave us the prasadam and from there we went to Mysore palace and then came back to Sri Ranga Patna in the evening.
Even in Srirangapatnam Satrumurai was happening and Ranganatha Swami was astonishing as always. Got the blessings from him and reached mysore station for our train back to Chennai. It was a memorable trip to Melkote and now it has made me think of visiting the place very often.
Kind Request: Pls spread the news about Nambi Naryana Temple to your Circle. I am not sure whether every one visiting Melkote makes a trip to Nambi Narayana Temple or not. But Pls encourage your friends and others to make a visit there. It's Such a beautiful temple and only 3 of us were there inside the temple apart from the Priest. No lights were on. I could hardly see Deepam inside the main sanctum. It was disheartening to see our God in such situation.
