மன்னார்குடி சம்ப்ரோக்ஷணம்



22nd August'2010: This is an important date in my lifetime. This is when I had been part of the samprokshanam festival in my lifetime. I never imagined in mylife that I will be so closely associated with the Rajagopala Swamy Temple and his beauty. But Anybody who visits him will never forget about him. For me staying away from him is a painful thing. If I don't get to see him in a month, it will create a guilty feeling within me.

Me & my Friend started from Chennai on the 20th Night. We reached Kumbakonam around 7 am in the morning of 21st. It was raining very badly and we reached Mannargudi around 8.30 am. Even at Mannargudi, it was raining heavily, we were afraid that this rain shouldn't be a problem for the festival in the temple. So we got ready by 9.30 am and went to the temple. Directly went to the Yagasalai and was blessed to have darshan of Sengamalavalli Thayar and Sri Rajagopala Swamy.  I am not sure If I am the right person to explain  the beauty of the Divya Thampathi's.

Hemambhja Nayaki - Sri Sengamala Thaayar

We had a good darshan of the Divine Parents and enjoyed the festivity around the area. The entire place was filled with joy. The rain was pouring heavily by now.  We also had an opprtunity to see great personalities like Sri M.A. Venkata Krishnan Swamy and Sri Velukuddi Swamy. I was blessed to have the Darshan of the Divya Thampathi's along with Velukkudi Swamy. After that me and my friend and had a plan of visiting Sri Ranga, Pavitrotsavam was going on and today was the famous "பூச்சாண்டி சேவை".Periya Perumal will be completly covered with Pavithrams. So we went out to have breakfast at Mannargudi and then returned back to the temple again.

Sri Velukudi Swamy was delivering a Course on Rajagopala Swamy. You need not explain the beauty of his speech. That too he is talking about the most Handsome person in the world. I never wanted to move out of the temple, but Periya Perumal was calling us. So we had to leave Mannargudi.

We reached Trichy around 2 pm and got into the temple. There was a Huge Crowd and we somehow managed to have his Darshan by getting Rs.250 ticket. We qucikly started back to Mannargudi and reached the temple again around 10 pm. Had Ekantha Darshanam of Sri Paravasudevar and returned back to our place. Since we had been to Srirangam, we didn't get the pass for entering the Terrace of the temple. We tried our best, but nothing worked out for us. I felt really sad that I won't be able to fulfill the purpose of the visit.

The next morning we started ar 6.20 am. Near the Uadayavar Sannathi, there was a stair case set up for reaching the terrace. We had requested the policeman over there to allow us to take some snaps of the Gopurams & Vimanams. He allowed us to go upstairs. This is the moment we were waiting for and we never came down from there.

We were standing at the Rohini Mandapam and were very close to the Moolasthana Vimanam. We had a complete Glimpse of the entire temple and enjoyed the Samprokshanam.  Also Garuda Bhagavan was there Since 6.45 am till 10.45 am to Witness the happenings and it was an unbelievable scene to watch both of them around the Moolasthana Vimanam during Samprokshanam of the Vimanam.

It was Rajagopala Swamy's Grace, that we were able to be there close to the moolasthanam and watch the happenings. More pictures on the samprokshanam can be viewed at my picasa webalbum. Pls find the link for the same.

https://picasaweb.google.com/kasankar13

அஹோபிலம் நவநரசிம்ம தரிசனம்

Ahobilam:

Srimad Ahobila Mahaa Kshetra Nivaasaaya Mahaatmane

Ahankaara Vinaasaaya Aadidevaaya Mangalam

Aho Viryam Aho Shouryam Aho Bahu Parakramaha

Narasimham Param Daivam Ahobalam Ahobalam

Jwala Ahobila Maalola Kroda Karanja Bhargavah

Yogananda Chatravata Pavanah Nava Moortayah

This was another long awaited trip of mine, I couldn't make it because I was not sure about the route and a proper company for the trip. I have always heard about the difficulties involved in the trip and somehow was too scared to make a trip. Also I wasn't that confident about making this trip. On one of the weekend me and another friend of mine were discussing about visiting Ahobilam. Immediately we prepared our itinerary and booked our tickets.

We started our journey on the 24th of July'10. We took the Chennai Express, got down at Cuddapah Station. From there we took an auto to reach the Bus stand and had our Lunch at Cuddapah itself. It was a rainy day at Cuddapah and we expected the same at Ahobilam. From Cuddapah we got into the bus going to Allagada and the journey was a little long. It took about 2 hours for us to reach Allagada. It was again raining there and we went to an ATM to pickup cash as there are no ATMS available at Ahobilam. We were informed by the locals that the last bus to Ahobilam had already left and we have to hire an auto. We had no options and went to a roadside shop and were having Tender Coconut. To our Surprise the bus to Ahobilam stopped near the shop. We got into the bus and reached lower ahobilam around 4.30 pm.

Before our trip I had called the Manager of the Ahobila Mutt. His name is Badri.Unfortunately the moment we reached Ahobilam, it started raining heaviliy and there crowd was huge. He informed us to wait as there are no rooms available. Within 30 minutes of time he had arranged a room for us with a nominal rent. also arranged for a Guide and a Share Auto.

We quickly checked into the room, took bath were ready by 6 pm for the Visit. In 30 minutes time we covered Chatravada Narasimhar Temple and Yogananda Narasimhar Temple. It had stopped raining by then. Then we came down to visit Bhargava Narasimhar Temple. A surprise ride was waiting for us. There was no proper route to the temple. The entire road was muddy and full of water. It reminded me of my trip to Malaimel Nambi Temple at Thirukurungudi. It was even more thrilling than that trip. There was no one on the way to temple. We saw another family returning back from the temple and they had hired a Jeep. The Share Auto was stopped at a point and we had to walk for about 5 minutes from there to reach the Bhargava Narasimhar Sannathi. We had to climb about 50 steps and there is a Theertham named Bhargava Theertham next to the Steps. Lord Parasurama is said to have done penance here at this Kshetra. Hence he is called Bhargava Narasimhar and the Theertham is called as Bhargava Theertham.

Chatravada Narasimhar is seen in seated posture and is seen laughing and playing Athithala to the dance of two gandharva's. Yogananda Narasimhar is seen in meditating posture with the Yogapattam tied on his legs.
On the way back from Bhargava Narasimha temple, the Auto's headlight didn't work. It has again started raining and it was pitch dark. Once the auto got stuck on the road and myself and the guide had to get down to push the auto.

Later we saw another auto coming on the way and actually it has come in search of us. Immediately within few seconds the Auto got stuck in a muddy place and the soil was so lose as we could see frogs and other insects in the route. The folks who came in the second auto helped us move out of the place.

We reached the Ahobila Mutt and had nice chappathi's. There is a person who brings food to the mutt. The food was delicious and we enjoyed eating it. Later we went to the Prahalada Varadan Temple at the Lower Ahobilam. It was time for Evening Satrumurai. We had Theertha, Panakam and Satari. Had a Very Good Darshan of Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy and Thaayar at a Seperate Sannathi. We reached our room and had a good sleep. The Guide had instructed us to be ready by 6 am and wanted us to come to mutt.
We were ready by 6 am. Our Guide was waiting for us in the mutt. We took a local bus from Lower Ahobilam to upper Ahobilam. We reached Upper Ahobilam by 6.30 am and we started our walk towards Pavana Narasimha Temple. It took us 2 hours to reach the temple. We had to start from Ahobila Narasimha Temple and initially have to Climb a steep steps. Had to climb around 1000 steps and the walk from there was interesting and was less difficult compared to the climb. During the climb we could see the Malola Narasima temple and Kroda Narasimha Temple. After having Darshan of Pavana Narasimha we came back to Ahobila Narasimha Swamy Temple around 10.30 am. After Darshan, we had our breakfast at Ahobila Narasimha Swamy madapalli. It was tasting like amrutham for us after the hectic journey to Pavana Narasimha Swamy temple. We took rest for a while and by 11:15 am we again started our trek. From Ahobila Narasima temple we can reach Kroda Narasimha Swamy temple in 10 minutes and Malola Narasimha Swamy temple is another 20 minutes walk from there. But our Guide took us to Jwala Narasimha Swamy temple through a beautiful and thrilling route. This trek till the steps to Jwala Narasimha Swamy temple seem to be easy and after one point we have climb steps. We had around600-700 steps. While climbing the stairs I asked one of the person about the temple. He poined out the middle of the hills which was seen in the opposite side and informed that is the sannathi of Jwala Narasimhar. I lost my hopes of visiting Jwala Narasimha Swamy. But we saw elderly people making it happen. I gathered some courage and energy and started walking towards the Jwala Narasimha temple. When we get closer to the temple, the route becomes narrower and we had to go beneath the waterfall to reach the temple. This is the place, where the river papanasini raises.
I had no hopes of returning back and was so damn scared to comeback. Our Guide informed us that we don't go to Ugrasthambam as it was raining. We saw one of the priest at Jwala Narasimhar Sannathi for performing Thiruvaradhanam. It was great, those priests at Ahobilam are self less and we should really appreciate the fact that they come here every day for performing Thiruvaradhanam to perumal. We saw arathi and left the Jwala Narasimhar Sannathi. On the way back we saw few people coming back from Ugrasthambam and they informed us that it just takes 45 minutes to go there and it's very easy. I was tired and had no hopes, so I informed my friends that I am not coming, But they wanted to give it a try. So I informed them that I would be waiting down for them Our Guide didn't join us for the Jwala Narasimhar Sannathi. So I went down carefully and was sitting with him. He informed that it would take minimum of 3 hours for them to comedown. It was boring and I was tired and lost patience. To my surprise within 20 minutes the other two came down and they were also scared to go to Ugrasthambam.

From there we went to Malola Narasimhar Sannathi. Had darshan of the perumal and completed visiting 8 Narasimhar and we started walking down to Ahobila Narsimhar's Sannathi. The feeling was great when we reached the Ahobila Narasimhar Sannathi. We had lunch in one of the Mutt there and the food was great and helped us fulfil our hunger. We then started to Karanja Narasimhar Sannthi on the way to the Lower Ahobilam.

We reached Lower Ahobilam, took rest for an hour and then started our Journey back to Cuddapah to catch our train back to chennai.

Overall this was an Enthralling experience for us.I couldn't believe myself completing this Yatra within 2 days..This was only possible because of the blessings of Narasimha Swamy.

Visit to Thirukostiyur

On the 24th of May'2010, I had an opportunity to visit Thirukostiyur. I had been to Ponamaravathi, which is part of Pudukkotai District for a Wedding. I immediately thought of going to Thirumeyyam or Thirukostiyur. I wasn't sure as which one I would be visiting. I was suppose to go to Karaikudi to visit one of my friends place. I got down at Karaikudi and tried calling him and his phone was switched off. Then I took a Bus to tirupattur and checked in a lodge. Took bath and got ready around 6.30 am. When inquired they informed that Thirukostiyur is very close by, so I took an Auto and reached Thirukosityur by 7 am. Unfortunately the temple wasn't open. I just visited the temple from outside and started back to Tirupattur. Waited for my friend and he picked me up for our trip to the Wedding.

Once the function was over, we started our trip to Thirukostiyur and it was around 11:30 am when we started off. We reached the temple exactly around 12 pm. There wasn't much crowd and we had a good darshan. This is the 70th Divya Desam I am visiting and that too on a Ekadasi Day. First we saw Sowmya Narayanan. It was a pleasant experience and they asked us to rush to the Thaayar temple as they were about to close the temple. Also since it was Ekadasi, they were performing Ekantha Thirumanjanam to Utsavar. After having the darshan of Thaayar, we went to the Astanga Vimanam. It was a pleasant experience.  Once we were back to the Thaayar sannathi , i remembered about the Kaarya Sitthi Vilaaku prarthanai at Thirukostiyur. I was lucky to see the moolavar again after the Thirumanjanam. Was fortunate to have the Ekantha Darshanam of him.

Also got prasadam's from the Bhattar.

Quick Facts:

Moolavar: Uraga Mellanayaan

Thaayar: Thirumagal Natchiyar

Utsavar: Sowmya Narayanan, Madhavan

Prathyaksham to Kadambha Maharishi and Indiran

Vimanam is Astanga Vimanam

Pushkarani : Deva Pushkarani & Thiruparkadal

On the Ground Floor, we can have the Darshanam of Sri Krishna in dancing posture along with Rukmani & Sathyabama Thaayars. On the First floor is our Sowmya Narayana Perumal on the Sleeping Posture. The Second Floor you would see Upendra Narayanan in Standing Posture and on the last floor we can have the darshanam of Paramapadha Nathan with Thaayars.

Also just after the Dwajasthambam, we could see a separate sannathi for Lord Shiva and towards the left of the main entrance we have separate shrines for Sri Ramanuja Acharya and Sri Kosti Purnar , Thirukostiyur Nambigal. This is the place our Udayavar was named as Emperumanar. I felt so blessed after seeing the lord here.

I am more attracted towards to our god in sleeping posture. He is just awesome and no one explain his beauty.

Sri Vidhya Rajagopala Swamy Temple

Sri Rajagopala Swamy at Rajamannargudi of Thiruvarur District

Rajagopala Swamy is one of my favourite form of the Almighty. I have never heard of this place in my life before I made a visit to Mannargudi 2 years back. Thanks to Jaya TV for showcasting a program on the temple.

Location:

Mannargudi is 34 Kms away from Thanjavur; 37 kms away from Kumbakonam and around 40 kms away from Thiruvarur.

The place is well connected by buses and there are lot of buses from Thannjavur to Mannargudi.

Temple Deities:

Moolavar: Sri Paravasudeva Perumal with Sri & Bhu Devi Thaayars

Utsavar : Sri Vidya Rajagopala Swamy  with Rukmani, Sathyabama

Thaayar: Sri Senbagavalli Thaayar, Hemabhuja Nayaki, Sengamala Thaayar

One requires 1000 eyes to enjoy the beauty of the Moolavar and Utsavar of this temple. You will start feeling him the moment you start seeing him. He is so Beautiful and gives darshan as a child. He is seen with Cows and he gives darshan as the Cow Herd with the bow on his hand.

One should agree that he is most beautiful and handsome Archa form of Maha Vishnu and is not seen anywhere in this Universe. I can't think of anything while I am infront of Sri Vidya Rajagopalan. It would require a complete day to describe his beauty, I would prefer to have a seperate posting for explaining his beauty.

There are sannathi's for Andal, Alwars & Acharyars, Sri Kodanda Rama Sannathi is seen inside the prakaram. Ramar Padham is also found behind the Moolavar Sannathi in the Prakaram. There are seperate sannathis for Koorathalwan, Sri Ramanujar and Vedantha Desikar. Every one should appreciate that there is no difference between Thengalai and Vadagalai Sampradhayam. My first visit was Desikacharyar's Avathara Utsavam. It was celebrated with no discretion. He is also an important person during the adhyayana Utsavam.

பூந்தமல்லி, நாசரேத்பேட்டை, திருமழிசை

This morning, we didn't have any plans. People at home were busy cleaning the house and they wanted me to get the kids out for a while., Immediately I decided to go to Poonthamalli, Nazarethpet and Thirumlisai.

Immediately made arrangements for a cab. The cab reached home sharp at 9.30 am, we started our journey towards Poonthamalli.

Around 10.15 am we reached Sri Varadaraja Perumal & Thirukachi Nambigal Temple. This is the first time i saw someone in the Venkatesa Perumal Sannathi. We had his blessings and directly moved to the main sanctum. Acharyars Sannathi was closed and the priest was at Varadaraja Perumals Sannathi. We had his Darshan and I was rushing towards Ranganthars Sannathi. He is my favourite: Got his blessings and then we moved to Thayaars Sannathi. Had her blessings too.

மூன்று கருட சேவை : Dear Friends on the 28th of March 2010 around 8 am all three perumals will be coming out in Garuda Vahanam along with Thirukachi Nambigal. This is on a Sunday and pls pass this information to everyone.

Then moved to Nazareth Pettai. This is the avathara sthalam of Sri Mudaliyandan Swamigal. Though this is my 3rd Visit to this place, this is the first time I could enjoy the beauty of the Divine Glory. The moolavar of this Sthalam is Pachai Varana Perumal (or) Sri Haritha Varana Perumal. He is form of Krishna with Sathyabama and Rukmani Devi. He took the form of an Elephant to kill one of the Asura , hence Pachai ( Green- he took form of a Green Elephant) Varana - Elephant Perumal.

Moolavar is seen in Amarntha Thirukolam facing East. One cannot explain the beauty of him. He is seated with the Sengol, with both Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi Thaayars seated by his Side.

Mudaliyandan was also looking beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn't get darshan of thaayar as the sannathi was closed. we saw her through the door and returned back.

We headed towards Thirumazhisai Alwars Avathara Sthlam. Sri Jegannatha Perumal Temple

I have been to this Divya Kshtrem many a times. It was a day before Maasi Magam and the preist informed that they use to celebrate Massi Magam with Theppa Utsavam and due to in sufficient funds they have stopped celebrating the Theppa Utsavams. However he informed that there will be purappadu on the day of Maasi Magam.

Finally we had a very good Darshanam of Alwars and Acharyas.

My Wedding at Thiruvananthapuram

Friends-

One of the most memorable event of my life took place at Trivandrum, Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple. I have been blessed to tie the knot infront of him. The interesting part is that normally marriages doesn't take place inside the temple and they don't give permission. However Padmanabhaswamy decided to see my marriage and we got permission. I also received blessings from Sri Rajagopala Swamy, Mannargudi and we started the function with the Sandal Paste we received from Srirangam. I have only once thought about getting married in front of Ranganatha Swamy, but that was just a dream and I never thought this would become true. I have never asked anything to the Lord. It was a Pleasant Surprise to me to get married at Anandapadmanabha Swamy temple.

This is the first malainaadu divya desam that I am visiting. The temple has beautiful architecture with both Dravidians and Chera Style construction.

One Day Trip to SingriKoil, ThiruvaheendraPuram, Sri Mushnam, Thirukovalur and Vilianoor - 9th August 2009

Visiting Thirukovalur was my long time plan and thought of Visiting SriMushnam along. Myself along with my friend started on Saturday and it was getting delayed, so we stayed at Pondycherry. The following day we arranged for a Cab and started our trip at 07:30 AM Sharp. I have heard about Singrikoil and wanted to visit the teample. Our Driver was not aware of the place.
We asked people on the way and found the temple. It was a Big Temple and is located in a small and beautiful village called Abshisekapakkam. ( Refer to Abhishekapakkam, people know this place than SingriKoil). One has to travel from Pondy to Cuddalore and on the way we need to take right towards Abhishekapakkam.

The temple has a huge and majestic car, which invites you from a distance. As soon as you enter the Rajagopuram you will see a Vinayakar in a small sanctum. Then you enter the second prakaram , you will see the majestic dwjasthambam and then you can see the moolavar from Distance. Here Swami is Ugra Narasimhar with 16 hands fiercefully piercing the evil hiranyakashipu. It was an amazing sight to see him. We had very good Dharshan and went to Thayaars Sannathi. After this we started towards Cuddalore. We wanted to Visit Chidambaram and Srimushnam. But it was getting late, so decided to drop out Chidambaram from the plan.

After having breakfast in Cuddalore, we directly reached Sri Deivanayaka Perumal's Sannathi. Directly went to Perumals sannathi and He was standing in a majestic posture. This is my second trip to Thiruvaheendrapuram. I visited the temple during last october. Then we had the Darshan of Thaayar and Vedanda Desikar. Also went to Swami Manavalamamunigal Sannathi. The priest was asking us to start immediately to Sri Mushnam, else we might not be able to see the lord.

Immediately after this we started to Srimushnam and we reached Srimushnam exactly around 12:00 PM. Had a wonderful darshan of Varaha Swami. It was a very hot day. Then we visited Thaayars sannathi. Started back from Srimushnam. We had plans of visiting Kattu Mannarkudi, however the car got punctured and it was getting delayed, so we started off to Thirukovalur.

We reached Thirukovalur around 3 pm and were enjoying the beauty of the Rajagopuram and around 3.30 pm we heard that they have opened the temple, we got inside. The temple is not being maintained properly, which was a sad thing to notice. The crowd was ok and we had to wait in the queue for about 10 minutes. From the Main entrance we could see the gracious hands of Thiruvikraman. He was wearing a beautiful Kappu and my heart was eager to see his lotus feets and beautiful face. we recahed the garbagraham and had good darshan. Got the prasadams and then went to Thaayars sannathi, which was being opened that time. We got the blessings of thayaar and started towards Viliyanoor.

In Vliiyanoor we visited Vardharaja perumal temple, the Idols were beautiful and were real treat to our eyes. After this we started back to Pondicherry to return back to Chennai.