Thursday, March 11, 2010

SREE VADAKKUNATHAN TEMPLE AT THRISSUR KERALA.

Thrissur is about 80 kms from Kochi airport.  On one of my official duties, I was in NPOL Cochin during 7 March 010 upto 11 March 2010. On Monday, 8thMarch 2010, I went to C-MET Thrissur to hear to the lecture of one of the world renouned Professor R Rao Tummala.  Professor is Packaging GURU who has developed the first packages for Personal Computers and is leading the world till date. The lecture was arranged in LuLu International convertion cenre and it is very useful and Memorable lecture.
Thrissur Pooram
In the afternoon 3PM to 6PM i have spend visiting the C-MET lab. and discussing the things of importance for my work.  This is the fruitful trip as I have found the necessary inputs for my immediate needs in the subject field.  At 6PM, I started back to Cochin Guest House.  On the way, we visited the SREE VADAKKUNATHAN temple.  POORAM  festival is one of the main  attractions in Thrisuur.  This is a huge temple.  Temples in Kerala have special bunglow type strucutres and are different from the huge sotne carved structures of Andhra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.  


Before the entry into the main temple area that is after crossing the first Prakaram I have removed my shirt and banian and went inside.  There are more temples inside the main temple Vadakkunathan Shiva linga with a tall half moon shaped golden petals one on top of the other around 21 nos. and at the top Nagabharam Hood of Naga.  The main diety has to be worshipped from a long distance of atleast 10 meters so, it is seen from a distance.  Worshippers are not permitted inside the main diety and garbha gudi.  Only one book is available without photos  (27 pages) from the temple side. that describes the stala purana.  Parasurama has created this temple at the Moola stana the tree outside the temple where we were not supposed to sit.  


The deity Shiva is in the form of a big ‘mahalingam’. Here the main offering is ghee. The devotees brought ghee pours on the ‘lingam’ The years’ offerings has concealed the lingam. At present the devotees can see only a mound of ghee. As a miracle, the ghee does not melt or emit any smell, though in summer the temperature rises upto 35 degree C. It is said, part of the ghee is more than 1000 years old. The ghee will not be removed. If and when any portion of the mount is collapsed, the same will be sold. If a collapse is taken place, it is believed as a sign of some evil about to happen inThrissur. Seven years back there was a partial collapse of ghee prior to the Pooram and during the Pooram a fireworks accident snatched the life of three.



VADAKKUNATHAN SHIVA TEMPLE AT THRISSUR, KERALA

On Monday 8th March 2010 I went to Thrissur to hear to the lecture of Tummala R. Rao of Georgia Tech University on Packaging challenges for 3-D ICs and SOP, a lecture that Profesor is delivering at the Foundation celebrations of C-MET Thrissur.  This is a rare and valuable lecture and the contents are very useful in relation o our MEMS packaging as well.  I met him after the lecture for a short while.  In the afternoon at 3 PM we reached Thrissur C-MET lab. and I have visited the place for 3 Hrs. Then we started back to Cochin.  On the way, we have seen, SREE VADAKKUNATHAN TEMPLE. The construction and outer strucutre of the temples in Kerala are special in its own way.  Unlike, the huge stone carved structures and Gali Gopurams in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu areas, in  Kerala the temples are construcuted with Buglow type strucutres.  But, worshippers remove the shirt and banian as well and hang the shirt to the right hand shoulder.  While worshipping Pradakshina around the temple is allowed  only if the the Ganga carrying the Abhisheka Jalam from the diety to the outside is not on the way.  If it is on the way of Pradakshina cicle, one has to stopfull round but, to go back in the reverse direction.  For me it was confusing for a while.  This happened in the Cochin Shiva temple.

VAMANA TEMPLE COCHIN


On 10  March 2010 Wednesday morning 7 am I visited the Vamana temple at Cochin.  This temple is famous for the Vamana Avatar of Sri Maha Vishnu and the great grand celebrations of the Cochin ONUM festival is organised by this  temple committee.  It is about 2 kms from NPOL Guest House where I stayed during my visit 7 to 10 March 2010.


 Some interesting rituals related to Onam at Thrikkakara temple in Ernakulam are famous. This temple, is dedicated to Vamanamoorthy, one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Vamana has a prominent role in the legends associated with Onam. It was he who requested Mahabali, the generous king who ruled Kerala for three steps of land. On receiving the nod, The festival spirit of Onam is in the air, 







According to myths, Mahabali or Maveli was a generous and virtuous ruler, who had once ruled Kerala. Under him, the state attained remarkable property that excelled even the heavens. The Devas (gods) could not agree to it since King Mahabali was by birth an Asura (demon), who were the enemies of the Devas. So, they sent Lord Vishnu in the guise of Vamana, a dwarf to Mahabali. Vamana requested Mahabali for three steps of land. On receiving the nod, Vamana grew so huge that he covered all the worlds in two steps. Since he had no space to place the third step, Mahabali offered his head for the third step.  Vamana blessed Bali before he was sent to the Pathala Loka and granted him boon to visit his rajya and praja once in every year. This occasion is celebrated as Onam. This temple dedicated to Vamana and is one of those rare temples in the state where Onam festival is celebrated in a grand scale.

VAMANA TEMPLE, COCHIN,KERALA


Monday, February 15, 2010

PEDAKAKANI GUNTUR, Bramaramba Malleswara swamy temple

On the day following the Mahasivaratri ie on Saturday 13 Feb 2010, I have visited the Kakani temple.  This is reasonably developed as it is on the main highway and only 6 kms from the Guntur Centre.  I took ordinary RTC  Bus and got down near the temple on the main road.  Then, I started walking towards the temple as it was lunch time and no auto rikshwas are seen around.  On the way to the temple  I could found one of the autos going with just a few passengers and boarded the same.  He took only Rs.3/- as I got down near temple.  I saw the temple will reopen at 4 PM and the ANNADANAM is going on.  I joined the que and got Prasadam (Bhojanam) and spend another hour r so till I got the darshan of Lord Shivalinga.  The Siva lingam at Peda Kakani temple is of small size and the entire shiva lingam is covered with the ornamental nagabharam as there is no abhishekam in the afternoon. The Bramarambha devi is adjacent to the main garbha gudi on the left side and appearance is just like Durga devi of Viajayawada with face decorated with  Pasupu and with ornaments.

On the right side of the main Garbha gudi is the temple of Bhadra Kali sametha Veerabhadra swamy is giving the darshan at the first instance.  For Astotharam purpose, I could enter into the diety nearest premises and I got the opportunity to view the diety from the near. I prayed severally to give health, wealth and propserity to my daughter and her family, to my two sons Ail and Venkat.  For myself I have prayed for Mukthi and torelieve me from this life just like my father passed away without the neccessicity of any serious help from third party.  


Ticket for Astothram is available at s.35/- and a book on stalapuranam at Rs 20/-.  Astotharam pooja is performed with the names of all my family, all three children and for ista kamyarda siddi aseervachanam I received.  Prayed to the Lord for the blessings to all my family and especially to bless my daughter with good health and a intelligent Baby girl.  I have prayed for myself to give me Mukthi.

GOVADA BALAKOTESWARA SWAMY TEMPLE, CHERUKUPALLI, GUNTUR

MUKTHI AND MOKSHA : 


I STARTED REALIZING THAT IN MY SUBTLE MIND THERE IS A GROWING FEELING TOWARDS THE ULTIMATE MUKTHI AND MOKSHA.
I HAVE IMMENSE FAITH THAT IT IS THE GOD WHO WILL TAKE ACTION ON THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR DISTURBING MY LOVING FAMILY.  IN ORDER TO REDUCE MY INNER TENSIONS, 
I STARTED PACIFYING MY INNER SELF WITH THE AGE OLD PHILOSOPHY OF KARMA IN THE PREVIOUS LIFE AS MY FATHER TAUGHT ME SINCE MY CHILDHOOD DAYS. 


I CONTINUE TO PRAY TO THE GODS TO GIVE ME INNER PEACE, MUKTHI  AND MOKSHA.  

On Maha Shiva Ratri day Friday 12th Feb. 2010, God blessed me with an opportunity to visit GOVADA. The day before Shiva Ratri thast is on Thursday night 11th Feb. 2010, I reached Epurupalem after my Guntur trip.  I got delayed in Guntur due to heavy rush at RTC bus stand because of the coming up Maha Shiva Ratrip festival next day.   On Mahashiva raqtri day, early morning, I  went to see my sister and there I have taken bath (headbath), then we discussed and proposed a trip to Govada and Kakani Shiva temples.  My brother-in-law was well aware of the route to Kakani temple just adjacent to Guntur on the highway to Vijayawada.  But, route to Govada temple is not clear to us.  We proposed to take lunch and start together.  Then, I firwst visited shivalayam of my village, and have darshan along with Pragada   Kishore's brother-in-law family who met me on my way to Shivalayam.  After that I went to seemy sister where we had lunch.  My brother-inlaw was not feeling well so do my sister thus, they have proposed to postponed the visits and avoid travel at that day. I went to my home and took an hour rest till 2:40 PM.
After that I went to railway station and narrowly missed the Passenger train that was going to Tenali.  Then, I proceeded to bus stand of Epurupalem and boarded Repalle bus.  Took ticket upto Bapatla.  On enquiry the conductor told me the easiest way to go to GOVADA temple is to cotinue in the same bus, up to Cherukupalli. where the buses to Govada temple are queing up for Mahashvaratri festival and it is just a mere 3 km from Cherukupalli busstand.  True.  As I got down from this bus, I boarded the next bus to Govada temple.  After one km run in the midst of Cherukupalli houses and street, I saw temple farway but, visble clearly in the fields.  The Govada temple the bus haqs taken a left turn.  Later I came to know that the right side of the road goes to the Govada village.  I reached the temple nearby temporary bus stand by 4PM.  I proceeded through the crowds for half a km and reached the ques of devotees.  There are four ques, (1) free darshan, (2) Rs.10/- fee, (3) Rs.20/- fee and (4) Rs.50/- fee.  With a view to spend more time to see the temple area and around, I took the Rs.50/- ticket and in an hours time, I was blessed with the devine darshan of Lord Shiva  Lingam.  The shiva Lingam is about 1 or 2 feet high.

I saw more than a dozen big size "Prabhalu"  of 5 meters height or more arriving towards the temple through the fields as I was in the que for almost an hour.  At the temple while having the daqrshan I prayed to the Lord to bless my son-in-law, my daughter and safe guard the health of the wood be mother.  I prayed to the Lord to turn the minds of my children to realize my love and affecrtion, my thoughts, my  feelings towards them (Anil, Venkat, Rohini).  Also, prayed to the Lord to bless me with Moksha as I got deprived of the love of my children in this life, may be because of the Karma of my past lives.

Locally this temple is quite famous, however, I could not find any book describing the stala puranam of this one of the anicent  temples.