21st Century Meerabai - Azerbaijan to Andhra

I was fortunate to read this story in one of the magazine that made my eyes wet and hence thought of sharing the condensed version as part of my blog.

Before proceeding and to get an idea of this blog, would recommend to watch this short video of 6 mins that will help you to correlate the article.

This is an amazing love story from the land of Azerbaijan erstwhile part of USSR and now an independent country. The love story is between Lord Krishna and Ms.Sevanam a 70 year old lady from Azerbaijan.

Click the below picture for Video

I would request you to believe in destiny and rebirth, yes to me this lady was destined in her previous birth and this destiny brought a copy of a Russian translated version of Bhagavad Gita to her place. Someone was distributing this and she got a copy and started to read. In her first reading she got dissolved by the content. Curious to get more knowledge she followed the address in the book that lead her to a local ISKCON temple in Baku the capital of that country.

On her visit to the ISKON temple in Baku, she met a devotee who was giving lecture on Gita. There was an urgent call for the devotee and he excused the class and when returned he was astonished to see Ms Sevanam was providing the lecture on Gita with much more clarity and passion. Though this was the beginning she slowly got engaged into other activities like participating in Kirtana, Bhagavad Gita class etc.,

One fine day she decided to sell her property as her kids were grown and was able to sell in quick time. She requested the temple authorities to accept the proceeds from the property and provide her a small room in the temple premises till her end. After much deliberation it was accepted by temple authorities and from then on it was serving the temple, Chanting and Singing was the duties of Sevanam in the ISKON temple of Azerbaijan.

Some of the positive things I found in that book about this lady are

1. Not only the thoughts were positive but her action and words are full of love
2. Love was towards both god and fellow human being who visited the temple.
3. She used to give small gifts to selected people and would inform them that it was an order by Kirishna. That was her love.
4. She treated Lord Krishna as a kid, had a small cot for him in her room and even toys for him to play. Among them a significant toy was a battery operated toy car and she would seat Krishna in that car and operate the remote and enjoy the ride made by Krishna.
5. She used to feed Krishna similar to how we feed our kids

She had a personal relationship with Krishna and I would call her a Meerabai of Azerbaijan.

Now the turning point in her life was through the above video. She happened to watch this movie and in that an ancient temple of Lord Narashima will be shown, the deity in this temple can be approached if we pass through a chest deep water with bats hanging over your head.

Voice in that video will narrate that since the temple is situated midst of a jungle the priest would come weekly once to perform rituals due to the hardship in reaching the temple. As soon as she heard this in the video she wanted to be in this temple and perform daily rituals, her immediate shout was “Krishna My Krishna is suffering in his land”. Imagine is it feasible for a normal person, then how can it be for a 74 year old lady?

People around her gave terrified views about India and the ISKON people suggested to worship Radhe Krishna so that the 74 year old lady stays back and prevented from any adversity.

In spite of all these arguments she found her way to Andhra Pradesh, nothing stopped this lady in reaching the village. She approached the priest in that village for help to reach the temple that is 5 kms into the forest and the same was obliged by him. Sevanam told him that Lord Krishna wanted her to serve Narashima hence she travelled all the way to India.

Along with her she carried only the idols in her suitcases with couple of clothes, from a developed country she landed in a forest where there was no potable water and electricity. The priest who accompanied her thought she will return back on witnessing the reality but as soon as they reached the cave she lost in admiration.

She requested the priest to build a small tent so that she can live near the cave. Tent was built with temporary materials and she was left alone but the priest on reaching the village spread the news about this Grandma to the people. Curious to see her people started to visit the temple and our Sevanam transformed into a Saint.

The transformation happened to the entire place and she was invited for wedding and new born functions to bless. She also started to perform abhishega to the deity, news spread to far off places and people throng the temple to see this lady and hence priest started coming daily and daily rituals are back.

Now it is the turn of local newspaper to publish an article and then came Governer of Andhra Pradesh with his family to seek blessing of both Lord and Sevanam. On seeing the condition of the place he took personal responsibility of collecting money and built road, water connection, marble steps etc., now it is one of the celebrated temple of Lord Narashima in AP.

Years went and on a Dvadhishi morning people came in as usual to the temple and to the house of Sevanam where they witnessed that she was on her feet embracing Krishna in one hand and Gita under her arms. People thought she was sleeping and no movement for some time created doubts and when checked she had left the body and the Soul joined HIM. Readers might be aware of the significance of death on a Dvadhisi day and how sacred it is?

Earlier in the article I called her Meera of 21st century hope you too agree now…

Snippet - துணுக்குகள் 02 / 17

Varavu Ettana Pathanna Selavu Pathanna Ettana 

Made a small change to Kannadasan’s song from Bhama Vijayam that perfectly fits this situation. Income is Ten whereas expense is Eight annas.

On any given day I am for Namo’s Demo. But the major flaw was in its planning and too flexible in making amendments to combat those who found avenue to sneak through.

One such flexibility made during that period was suspension of toll collection on all national highways. The exemption was made to avoid inconvenience to commuters due to inadequate smaller denominations. By this act it was evident that the vision to foresee future issues was definitely missed.

Some of the following figures will raise our eyebrows

• Average daily toll collection is 70 to 75 crores per day on national highways
• Roughly there are around 320 toll plazas 

For both the operators in the public & private partnership, the Estimated Revenue leakage was Rs 1212 crores for the period Nov 9th to Dec 2nd 

To boost the confidence of these private investors so that in future they stay invested it has been proposed to pay Rs 922 crores to these institutions as a relief measure and balance Rs 290 crores will be borne by NHAI and ultimately written off.

The current contract with these private players has clearly laid out such calculation in case of decisions like these by Government, but NHAI is not venturing into those since it is cumbersome process and might lead to litigation. Hence this onetime compensation.

NHAI has already requested finance ministry seeking funds for the compensation and we all know from where the money will be funded by finance ministry.

• Indirectly net revenue from this Demo operation gets reduced by this amount or
• Additional Tax or Cess for Income tax payers.

Unfortunately people and Government think that tolls are taxes but they are charges for those users who use the roads. Millions of people like me who have not used the exemption during that period will also contribute is the mocking truth and alas can laugh at this situation, nothing else can be done.

ReNEWable Energy

Any Innovation in the energy sector is a blessing to our natural resources and paves way for this world to be a better place to live.

In that context in 2016 a phenomenal breakthrough was made by a French Company Newwind, generating energy from wind. I could understand the perplexity about what is new in wind energy, yes this is brand new.

There is no need for monstrous and noisy turbines that require good amount of wind to generate energy. In this new one we can use a turbine at our backyard and it resembles like a tree with tiny silent blades that could produce energy from breeze, yes I meant breeze that can be as low as 7Km/h speed.

The base frame is made of steel and the turbine sheet called “Aeroleaf” is made of Plastic and 72 such turbines will be placed in a tree. The story of this invention is quiet interesting, When Jerome was relaxing in his Garden on a windless day he observed the leaves on the trees are moving in-spite of the stillness around. He exclaimed there is energy and wanted to harvest it and came this wind tree.

France has already built 2000 such farms and planning to build another 8000 since it believes this as a clean alternative to the current sources.

Initial investment will be around $20,000 and will be able to recoup in one year if the average speed of the wind is 12Kmh. More than recouping the cost it should be considered as natural resources saver.

Energy savings from one tree is equivalent to 1905 Lbs of coal or 3.2 tons of carbon di oxide for the same amount of energy output. One tree can supply power to 15 street lamps of 50W or 1000 sq ft low consumption office or 83% of one household consumption.

Message to Minister of Urban development Mr Venkaiah Naidu to spend some time on these developments that is happening in conjunction with Mr Piyush Goyal instead spending a day near a coffin.

Actually these should be made mandatory to the IT parks and to huge residential apartments to generate power for lighting the common area. Another advantage is that in case if there is no power these people will use Diesel to generate power to light the common areas which could be saved.

Mere having the target as a banner in your webpage will not help Mr Goyal, we need to keep our eyes and ears open and always explore.

Snippet - துணுக்குகள் 01 / 17

I have been persuading myself to include snippet as part of my Blog, with this started my first edition for 2017 though not as part of my 2017 resolution whereas the resolution is to find a suitable Tamil name for each header hence the name "துணுக்குகள்". 

Actually Snippet implies small and interesting news or information, I will try to pick some major that gets unnoticed by most of us since we are tied down with our routine busy schedule. 

X replaces E

Last year it was NEET (National eligibility & Entrance test) for medical college aspirants and now it is NEXT (National Exit Test) for those who leave medical colleges.

After a hard tussle of 5 1/2 years irrespective of further education or practice medical students need to finish NEXT. The logical reason quoted by Indian Medical council is that NEXT will standardize and improve the quality of medical education and help to benchmark which means this will equate a student from X university to that of Y university.

Personally I am not able to understand the logic, IMC (Indian Medical Council) accepts that there is no standardization in the education. Ideal solution should be

• Standardize  the syllabus across the nation
• Ensure  that quality faculty and infrastructure  are available in all colleges

Instead of IMC taking responsibility it is shedding and transferring it to students in the name of standardization.I could foresee only one result, student’s NEXT score will be used by medical colleges to attract more ignorant people and become billionaires from millionaires by these business tycoons.

CESS follows Insurance Premium

Railways want to create a safety fund of 1 lakh crore and requested Finance ministry to sponsor 93% from its budget. However it has been agreed at 25% so for the deficit a cess will be levied from passengers.  I believe this is an outcome of the recent derailments that happened. Normally in our CAPA (Corrective Action & Preventive Action) we quote negligence as the reason for most of the transaction errors. Similarly these people have a common reason for the safety failure “Inadequate Fund”.

We have to wait and watch how this fund creation impacts on the number of accidents. We need to THANK the person who mooted this proposal, reason being this is not part of another CESS in Income tax. It would have been if Finance Ministry accepted the 93% proposal.

Recently the Insurance premium was included as part of the ticket and we all know who gets benefited. Soon we can expect water charges considering the scarcity of water or these educated brats will find an avenue to increase revenue.

IOC Vs IOA Vs Sports Ministry

Like the 5 circles that represent Olympics,Politics and Sports are always tangled together and the intrusion of former is inevitable. But in this country alone we can witness the filthy part due to the invasion of politicians. 

Currency not only plays a pivotal role in electing the General Sectary of a Political party but also in electing President of IOA (Indian Olympic Association).

Suresh Kalmadi’s and Abhay Chautala’s election as life president of IOA clearly indicates how money plays its role in sports. This subject was brought into the agenda of IOA AGM as a last item to maintain its secrecy and got elected. As per the norms a person convicted cannot be elected but in this case how an exception was taken is unclear. 

Obliviously Sports Ministry headed by rival party of Kalmadi will react and they have taken a resolution not to fund IOA until the decision is reversed. Out of the two one is defiant that he will step down if IOC( International Olympic Committee) asks him to whereas Kalmadi refused the position  till he is cleared from CWG games issue.

Let us keep our fingers crossed on IOC decision.Undeniably this impacts our next Olympic preparation if this is stretched beyond some months.

2016 நினைவலைகள் (Ninaivalaigal)

The word Ninaivalaigal means recollection of memories, yes would like to recollect 2016 on the verge of its culmination. During one of my recent long travel a thought came to me on how can I be grateful to 2016, it will be if I gracefully accept the nostalgic moments and travel into 2017.

Let me start this from my blogging experience. When I observe the statistics it shows an interesting number, I have been blogging since 2009 but unlike previous this year the count not only stroked to double digits(22 excluding this) but it is highest. This establishes that the year 2016 was either with

• Lot of interesting events happened that warranted a sharing, though predominately the events were engulfed around travel and sports.I tried my best to share my other experiences too like updates about android apps and short write-ups on other events. OR 
• I had enough free time available at my disposal that contributed to write as many, could be true to some extent. Yes from start of 2016 reduced my TV viewing time and by the end of the year it is almost vanished that helps in channeling my resources towards my more passionate activities. OR 
• Finally could be less occupied (officially) and hence lot of reading and learning. Frequently shared the learning/ reading this year could be another factor. Will try and carry this habit to 2017

Being a sports fanatic, 2016 did not let me down either. The entire year was full of events in all sports and the major ones are

• Euro where a well-deserved maiden title to Portugal / Ronaldo that was eluding this guy for a long time.
• Olympics, though it was not a favorable one for India but enjoyed both Bolt and Phelps moments and of course Sindhu’s silver medal journey.
  

Yet another year where Roger did not carry home a GS cup is the only hitch apart from that an IPL without CSK was another. In tennis no new player erupted for this year too with same oldies like Djoker, Serena lifting the GS cup.

Politics too had its interesting moments this year, but for me the interesting pieces are those failed pre-poll surveys not only in Tamil Nadu but in US public elections too. The predictions made by the pundits were deposed by the public. Another prominent one is the attack on militants by Indian Military termed as “Surgical Attack”.

While in the field of Art and Entertainment, the remarkable moment for me was DiCaprio’s first Academy award for the film "The Revenant" though he got nominated for first time 1994, this leap year brought glory to this actor after several nominations.

In science and advancements, ISRO’s satellite launch was a commendable one. They launched record 20 satellites through a single rocket. Apple Inc foray into Wind power in partnership with Goldwind is its largest clean energy project to date, on the other side the new release of Iphone balances this project by its own way of polluting the atmosphere.

Finally the major one that appeared at the end of 2016 and will make its journey to 2017 is the demonetization by Indian Government. This one word has created estrangements in the societies which I will not penetrate into, to me personally this particular phase reiterated that any tough situations in our life could be conquered by the relationship we embrace with others. This particular trait was imparted by my father without my knowledge and would like to share my learning and experience.

During this period as a common man we would have faced 2 situations among many, one getting money from ATM and the other is to convert the Rs2000 into smaller denominations. First let me share my dad's principle with respect to relationship building that will throw some light on how I surmounted these situations with ease using those principles

Some of my Dad’s shopping habits that acted as a tool for relationship management are  

• A particular object will be bought from a specific vendor, for example he had one for coconut, one for Beetle leaves and similarly vegetables, flowers, fruits and he never invades supermarkets for his purchase. The entire shopping will be made from the road side vendor but each one will be at a considerable distance from other.
• If we misjudge the above to be a cost saving exercise then the following one will astonish, for groceries too he had Bombay Stores in T.Nagar and Jain Stores considered to be premium due to the quality/price. The monthly groceries will be personally picked from these stores and for rice we had a Andhra guy who visit our house to replenish.
• My dad had access to ATM and online banking but will personally visit the bank and have seldom used the ATM, only in case of emergency the services of ATM was received.

Though I have criticized and made fun of these habits, slowly these habits got infused into me since I used to accompany him during those days. After his departure and on my return from Hyderabad I used to shop from the same vendor and made attempt to follow him and was successful to some extent.

Since these have become habits and habits are not easy to get rid-off, these continued in Bangalore too. In the first week of the demonetization, I got Rs20/- bundle from the bank over the counter and getting smaller denominations was never a tough task since in the past I frequently visited the branch and maintained the relationship with each of them. Would like to remind you that I am not a current account holder and in case if I get Rs 2000 then my regular vendors played a pivotal role in getting smaller denomination.

Similarly the same shopping method of my dad was also practiced in Bangalore too. Would like to state 2 incidents that will stand as a testimony.

1. One of the Bangalore vegetable vendor identified me in Guruvayur temple crowd and took efforts to reach me and had a brief discussion, this definitely surprised my family.

2. Normally I use public transport to office, though options are plenty would restrict myself to selected few buses. On a particular day pooled a car and for the remaining distance boarded the bus and that happened to be my regular bus. Friend who accompanied me was astonished with the questions probed by the conductor of the bus on whether I changed my office etc., and the conversation we had.

This demonetization not only diverted the funds but the intent of my final blog of the year where I want to share my nostalgic moments of 2016 however I feel even the diversion was memorable.

              Wish You all a Wonderful & Great 2017

தொடரும் பயணம்

As mentioned in my previous post, travel has become synonymous with long weekends and holidays, for this Xmas vacation planned a short one considering my leave balance. Hence decided Kumbakonam and due consideration was given to the physical strength of Amma, Prathiba and Ananya during planning.

Want to visit this place again not because some places were left out in my last trip in early 2016 but the attraction it has endured on me is colossal. If you observe the list of places some are repeated purely due to the above mentioned reason.

Personally to me, this place Kumbakonam is like a bee hive. Typical to a hive where it is packed with dense cells in its structure and bees lives in that cell. Similarly this city consist of numerous temples densely packed around the city and HE resides in each of them. Another similarity that strikes me is that though the bees are different physically but the intent is similar for all them, which is to collect nectar from flower and help in pollination. Similarly though the name of the Lord who resides in each of the temple is different but the intent is to love and protect all living beings.

Initially during this travel I thought of not to blog this travel but could not resist in sharing. I will not share all that is there in the below list but pick a few whereas for the others will provide the link to my earlier post as some are repeated in this travel too and the rest is left out considering space and time.

The list got appended with the places when I hear or read about these places hence born the below list and planned according to the vicinity of one another.

Day 1	Nachiyar Koil, Thirucherai, Srivanchiyam, Thiruvavur, Swamimalai, Thirvalanchuzi, Patteswaram, Tirukarugavur
Day 2	Thirunageswaram, Oppiliappan, Alangudi, Mannargudi,Thirukolikadu, All local temples in Kumbakonam
Day 3 (half day)	Tirubhuvanam, Thiruvidaimaruthur, Govindapuram, Tirumangalakudi

For Previous Blog click the below links

Previous 1                              Previous 2                                  Previous 3

Thirucherai

This town has both Perumal and Sivan temple both are renowned in their own. Saranatha perumal and Sara Nayaki temple should be 1000 years old and one of Divyadesham.

River Cauveri wanted her status to be equal to river Ganges and performed hard penance. She laid 3 wishes before the god. (a) O! Lord you should stay in this place for ever and ever (b) all the Jeevans in this place should attain your lotus feet (c) I should be treated as pious as river Ganges. Lord Vishnu granted all her wishes and to improvise her status further among all the other river he accepted her as his mother and crawled as a child in her hands. You could see a crawling perumal and Cauveri inside the main sanctum.

Also according to scriptures, during the Pralaya the devasting floods, Lord Brahmma took the soil of this place, made a pot and placed the Vedas in for safety. Since this placed gave the magical mud which held a lead role this place became the reason for all living things to live even after the Maha pralaya so this place is called "Sara Kshetram".

Kadan Nivartheeswarar

Ganavalli sametha Sara Parameshwar koil is known as temple for debt relief, is at a stone throw away distance from peruml temple. Sage Markandya installed and worshipped the siva lingam. The Rinavimochana Eswaran is in the outer pragaram, the general belief is that worshipping Lord Shiva here helps to improve financial status and be debt free. However there is a deeper meaning to it, debt includes financial but not limited only to it. Every human being is born with debts like Deva rina( debt to god), Rishi rina(debt to sages), Pitru rina( debt to our ancestors). If a human is not able to repay these debts in their life they will have another birth to repay.

Before we preform archanai the gurukal distributes the flower and we were asked to take sankalpam and the flowers are taken back and poured over Lord to signify that the debts are paid back to signify that there is no rebirth.

Thirukollikadu

Lord Shiva is praised as Agneeswarar as Agni Bhagwan worshipped Lord in this temple. It is said that Lord Sani was very upset for he was being held responsible for all the woes of human being. He prayed Agneeswarar at Thirukollikadu after bathing in Agnitheertham. Lord Shiva gave him the Dharsan in the form of Agni the Fire and made him Pongu Sani or Prosperous Sani. In this temple Sani Bhagavan is placed in Kubera corner where normally Mahalakshmi will be placed.

The temple has three sacred trees Vanni, Oomathai and Kondrai representing wealth, removal of mental agony and unity in family respectively.  Generally the wealthy people are praised that they attained LAKSHMI KADATCHAM. In one’s life this Lakshmi kadatcham will come and go and may not be stable. But there is an another type of wealth called “ KUBERASAMBATH” which means attaining great wealth along with a complete life which prolongs for generations. Doing poojas with “vanni leaves” (Sthala Virutcham of this temple) to Lord Saneeswara bagavan will provide us with the Kubera sambath.

But travelling to this place will be bone wrecking by our own transport but I saw people thronging this place using public transport. Since my visit was on a Saturday noon this place was full of people. Actually this place was planned for Friday but Driver adjusted and made this on a Saturday.

Tirumangalakudi

Lord Siva is called Sree Prananadeswarar, Traditionally the Linga-Bana is shorter in height when compared to the Avudayar or the seat.The Linga part is taller than the Avudayar part in this temple. Also against the tradition of celebrating the wedding festival during day time, it is celebrated during night in this temple. Married woman receive the Mangal Sutra thread from Ambica directly for a long marital life. Worship of Mother Mangalambica for five consecutive Mondays ensure safety to the Mangal Sutra blessing, relief from the adverse aspects of the serpent planets Rahu and Ketu and of Sani Bhagwan. Lord Shiva of the temple cured the disease of the planets, who have a control over the lives of humans. It is believed that the Navagrahas offered Curd Rice Nivedhana without salt on a Vellerukku leaf to Lord to get cured of diseases and similarly even today Devotees hold curd rice on Vellerukku leaves between 12-12.30 midday time, offer it as nivedhana to Lord and take part in the pujas in the prakara continuously for 11 Sundays for relief from planetary problems and remedy from all diseases.

Finally ended the travel with visit to Govindapuram on Mahaperiva Aradhanai day.

For Photos Click Here

Bhoologa Vaikuntam - 2

The travel we undertake should encapsulate your feelings and vitalize from inner and should never drain your energies, in that aspect this was refreshing due to the magnitude of these ancient temples. At the same time, attention should be provided to all in the group so that the travel is made interesting. I want Ananya to enjoy the holidays so the story of Adi Shankara and the significance of these temples were shared during our journey. Also promises like bathing in the same river where Shankara faced the crocidle and Athirappilly falls excited her and kept her in high energy.

Soon after our Nirmalaya darshan checked out and started for a long day travel to cover the places as per the plan. 

Nalaambalam

Nalambalam pilgrimage is gaining more and more popularity. Nalambalam, means four temples, which are in different locations of Thrissur district.

Nalambala Darsanam involves offering prayers at the shrines of Lord Rama (Triprayar), Bharatha (Koodalmanikyam at Irinjalakuda), Lakshmana (Moozhikulam) and Shatrugana (Payammal), the celebrated quartet of the epic Ramayana respectively, on a single day. In India you will find temples for the brothers of Ram only at these places.

It is believed that the idols of Rama, Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shathrughna were the pooja idols of Lord Krishna. He worshipped these 4 idols in Dwaraka. At the end of Dwapara Yuga, Dwaraka was swallowed by the sea. These four idols floated over the sea water all together and at last reached the Cheetuva region of Kerala shore. They were duly installed in four temples at these places by Vakkayil Kaimal as directed in his dream by HIM.

It is believed, Bharata , second amongst them, is the avatar of the Panchajanya (Conch held by Vishnu) .Lakshmana is the avatar of the Adisesha, Satrughna is the avatar of the Sudarshana chakra held by Lord Vishnu.

Triprayar Temple(Temple for Ram) houses a 6 ft tall idol of the Lord, holding Shankha, Sudarsanachakra, Stick and Garland, in a very ferocious form in standing posture. When we entered we saw a grand ceremony where the Utsavar is being taken around on a Gajaraja, we followed the procession till the Garbagrha.

Koodalmanikyam Temple( Bharatha's) houses another 6 ft tall idol of the Lord,seen in ferocious form in standing posture holding the same things as seen at Triprayar. This is one of the rare temples where only one idol is there in the entire temple complex which is huge.

Moozhikkulam is the only one among the four temples which belong to the 108 Divya Desams. The temple houses another 6 ft tall idol, similar to the idol at Guruvayoor, holding Shankha, Sudarsana chakra, Mace and Lotus, in standing posture.

Payammal is the smallest temple of the four, having the smallest idol, also similar to that at Guruvayoor.

We were fortunate enough to cover all these before noon but not in the prescribed order due to the proximity of Satrughna and Bhartha, so Lakshmana was the last one we visited(Refer the map in my first part). Probably they are closer since the other two left for forest.

When we refer Adi Shankara and Lord Ram, there should be a mention about "Sri Rama Bhujanga" the great work by Shankara on Lord Ram. I love the 15th Verse for its absolute eloquence.

Shilapi thwadamgrikshama sangirenu,

Prsadhadhi chaithanya madhatha Rama,

Namasthwath pada dwandwa seva vidhanath,

                                       Suchathanya metheethi kim chithramathra?

Adi Sankara says he offers his salutations at the feet of Rama, His feet are the ones that brought Ahalya back to life. In fact, Adi Sankara says it is the dust on Rama’s feet which rid Ahalya of her curse.If even the dust on His feet can do this, is it any surprise that worshipping His feet grants salvationn?

Kalady

Kalady is the birthplace of the man responsible for the resurgence of Hindusim, AdiSankaracharya, the great Indian Philosopher who is considered responsible for rescuing Hinduism from its deteriorated state. 

There are couple of stories which I would like share before providing the details of the temple. One such story is, Little Shankara’s mother found great difficulty in walking towards the river for her daily bath, this made Shankara to request Lord Krishna to help his mother. Krishna blessed Shankara that the river will follow his footmarks thus Shankara marked a place in the soil from the main river. You can find the river bends at this place as a tributary and flows near this place.

Another story that is worth mentioning is how Sankara got his mother’s permission for Sanyasa. While bathing in the river Poorna one day, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Shankara appealed to his mother for permission to become a sanyasi. His mother finally gave consent, only to have the crocodile let go of young Shankara.

There are two main temples on the banks of the river, one is Sringeri Mutt and another one is Sri Krishna Temple.

In the Sringeri Mutt temple premises you will find the Samadhi of Sri Shankara's mother, Aryamba. Also there is a small shrine to Lord Ganesha where Shankara used to pray daily and a shrine dedicated to Sri Shankaracharya and the other to Goddess Saradamba. The pooja rituals in these temples are done by Tamil or Kannada Smartha Brahmins, and not by Namboothiris as is the custom in Kerala.

Whereas the other temple is dedicated to Sri Krishna. This temple is known as the ancestral deity (Kula deivam)of Sri Shankaracharya, you can find this being mentioned in one of his verse in Prabodha Sudhakaram. This idol of Lord Krishna is made of Anjana stone that has high properties of iron and copper. Only Guruvayur and Kaladi temple have this idol of Krishna made of this stone.
The temple is under two Namboothiri families who had close associations with the life of Shankara. It is also the only surviving structure from the time of Shankara. The pooja rituals in this temple are conducted by Namboothiris as is the custom of Kerala. Other significant is the Crocodile Ghat.

Athirappilly falls

As mentioned earlier to make the travel a memorable picked this place and Ananya was not willing to come out even after 1 hour.   CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Finally some observations I made during the travel which will pave way for a good debate

1. Though the people of Kerala should have some lineage to either Aryan or Dravidian races similar to other southern states of India, but the discipline I saw was awesome especially the self-managed queue system.
   
2. Couple of years ago when I visited Ananthapadmanabaswamy temple in Trivandrum, I was not pleased when I was asked to surrender my shirt in the locker cabin even though I was not wearing. I was not able to get the reason, whereas in this visit I observed most of the men especially Keralite were wearing shirt with one hand inside the sleeve (Please refer the attached photo).When the instruction was not to wear why this innovation? Now I got the reason why in Trivandrum they practice that policy.

While we do utmost planning there might be some slip due to time constraint, we also had some like Vadakkunnathan temple, Annakotta Elephant Sanctuary and Chavakkad Beach. Probably this could be the reason to visit again this wonderful place.

Bhoologa Vaikuntam

In the current scenario, Long weekend without travel will be hard to find in any family, if you spend long weekend at home then you will be g(R)azed down by your own family and friends as if you are an Alien.

To elude from these controversies, planned a short trip during one of the long weekends that followed Diwali, Nov1st being a local holiday in Karnataka. These kind of short travels helps to de-stress your mind since more time is spent with family when compared with routine day. If we are able to pick right place then it also rejuvenates you mentally and physically.

Picked a place so that it can be removed from our pending list which has occupied top of the list for a decade. When I suggested this place it was readily accepted by all and as usual planning and preparation completed. During the planning process thought of accomplishing yet another promise made to Prathiba some couple of years ago. The vow was to take her to Kaladay, where me and Ananya went to that place few years back and on that occasion both Prathiba and Amma were not able to join us. Finally the itinerary was finalized with Guruvayur and Kalady and was able to include Nalaambalam.

Guruvayoor

The Krishna temple in the town of Guruvayoor in Kerala is one of the famous Vishnu temples in India. Even though the idol in Guruvayoor is that of Vishnu it is still known as a Krishna temple since the boy Krishna is always said to be running around in the temple premises. The presiding deity is MahaVishnu, in standing posture with four hands carrying Sankhu Panchajanya, Sudarshana chakram,lotus and gada.

The presiding deity in the Garbhagraha is Mahavishnu, worshipped according to the pooja routines laid down by Adhi Sankaracharya.

Guruvayur has its own glory and greatness, mainly because of the divinity enshrined in the Sanctum - Sanctorum of the temple and the unique charm of the idol installed in it.

The idol of Guruvayur temple is unique and considered to be extremely sacred since it is carved out of "Paathalanjana” stone. This idol was once worshipped by Mahavishnu in Vaikunta and finally reached Krishna himself where he worshipped this idol in Dwaraka. At the time of Krishna's ascension to Vaikunta, he instructed Udhava to entrust Brahaspathi (the Guru of Devas) with the task of taking the idol to a suitable place where people could worship it, so as to get salvation in Kaliyuga. A deluge had closed in on Dwaraka, but Guru salvaged the idol with the help of his prime disciple Vayu. Guru and Vayu went around in search of an ideal place. They came to this place of lush green spot with a beautiful lotus tank where they felt the presence of Lord Siva. This is the place where Lord Shiva imparted the Rudrageetham and allowed to install the idol and HE left to the opposite bank, at Mammiyur. Since Guru and Vayu consecrated the idol in this place henceforth it was known as GURUVAYUR.

As the idol was once worshiped by the Lord Mahavishnu himself in Vaikunta, Guruvayur is considered to be "Bhooloka Vaikunta" - the heaven on earth.

The day of the lord begins with Vakacharthu and it is the preparation for his holy bath. The garlands, the flowers of the previous night are removed after the Nirmalyadarsanam and gingelly oil is poured over the idol. This oil collected thereafter, is considered to be very sacred.It is believe that it acquires medicinal and spiritual value.

Crowds throng the temple at 3 A.M in order to see this charming sight. Then water from the temple, consecrated with mantras is poured over the idol for his ritual bath. This holy water is then eagerly drunk by the devotees since it is said to contain a little of the miraculous properties of the stone of which the idol is made.

We landed early morning at Thrissur station and took a bus to Guruvayur, reached the home stay that was booked. Will share more details about the place of stay later.As soon as we checked in we all got refreshed and proceeded towards the temple, Mr Gopinath the owner of the property offered us to drop near the temple since we are new to the place, even though it was less than 500 mts from temple.

Being holiday the crowd was mammoth and unique to this temple we do not have any special darshan and everyone has to follow the queue to enter the temple. I asked the other 3 to wait near the gate and I stood close to 4 hours in queue where they joined me. We had a blissful darshan and after getting the Milk Kheer and butter the prasadam that was offered we headed towards the Mammiyur Shivan temple on the opposite side of the tank.

Around noon returned to our place of stay and all of us rested till evening.

Guruvayur means Nirmalaya Darshan, later on realized why it is so? We all want to experience the Nirmalaya darshan so checked with some people about the process and we were told that we need to do join the queue around 10.00 pm for a darshan at 03.00 am next day. We marked a plan, come what may, we will go to the place around 02.30 am and let us take it from there and if HE wishes we will have one. Ananya resisted for getting up early for second day consecutively, so we advised she can stay back and we will lock from outside and will be back ASAP, this was agreed.

As per the plan Me, Amma and Prathiba were ready by 2.30 am and again this time there was an offer from Mr Gopinath to drop us which was seized since it was drizzling and this will save time.

We were among the first 100 and had a heavenly darshan, even while writing this after couple days able to recollect the darshan in front of me. Since the crowd was less Amma and Prathiba want to have another whereas I headed towards the place of stay to take care of Ananya. We were able to see Nirmalya darshan and after that Abhishegam and the Gingely oil was offered as Prasadam.

I was able to return around 4.00 am whereas they returned around 4,30 and we checked out around 6.00 am with immense fulfillment of a long pending desire. 

Sri Anandan Residency

This one is a home stay and you will get top rating in almost all travel related portal like Tripadvisor etc., Mr and Mrs Gopinath are very friendly in their services, though the property is huge they have built only 4 units. Both of them were working in Middle East and returned in the year 2014 and ventured to make use of their ancestral property. The rates are highly competitive with breakfast as part of the deal and flexible check in time. Our first home-stay too was a pleasant one.

Will share about Kalady and Nalaambalam along with pictures in my final edition that will follow soon.....

TNEPDS

This is in continuation to my earlier article on the App TNEPDS, which you can download from Google play store. This is going to be used for Public Distribution System in TN.

As I shared earlier using this App you can update the Aadhaar card details to link your card and no need to visit the shop.

Now let us get a glimpse of some features on this App.

You will get a password to your registered mobile and in Tamil it is called (உள்நுழைவு), I like the Tamil word for password.

Using the password we need to login and the landing screen looks like the one on the left.

The first is your eligibility for a month and it is called உரிமம் and it list down the articles you are eligible.

It has a place to register a compliant through this App and also the working time of the shop with holiday list.

I found a particular option useful and that is the stock list of the shop, this brings in transparency.

The transactions for the month and previous months are available under the head பரிவர்த்தனைகள்

The profile page has got all the details and this is similar to your first page of your erstwhile Card.

Finally lot of questions are to be answered 

1. Do everyone is expected to have a smart phone.

2. Does this really arrest the bogus cards

Definitely this is a welcome move but this can be improved by bringing in additional controls.

One thing I would love to bring as part of an enhancement is to pick the age of the head of the family and if they are senior citizens then deliver the goods at their address. 

Currently in the profile page we are not able to upload our photo, this should be enabled that too a family picture has to be there in place and a rule that the distribution of articles will be made only to those in the picture. These small things will save lot of resources to Goverment and the ROI on this feature will be high and recoup of investment will be in lesser time.

It is still in the nascent stage and hope all the feedback are taken into account to make this more user friendly and also use control measures to prevent fraud. 

Hope for the best!!!!

God's Particle

Recently the term CERN has been ringing in my ears very frequently which I have never heard of before and that created some interest in learning about CERN. The term CERN came into me when I was reading about Nataraja (Lord Shiva at Chidambaram). Later when googled came to know that the term CERN is associated with Physics and this subject is several light years ahead from me as I always treated that subject like an alien. 

Are you interested in finding the link between CERN and Tillainathar? Similar to me, you will get plenty when you google it, will try to consolidate my reading here.

My association with the subject “Physics” concluded with my graduation where I took this as an ancillary subject. Similar to Thirukural, I was keen on reading from the perspective of scoring marks and the intent was never to do a deep dive to understand the related intricacies. Off-late realizing the importance of Kural and now after comprehending the relation between Physics and Hinduism and the significance provided by western scientist make me feel crestfallen.

Will share my findings and learning, also make sure that less of deep physics is imparted as part of this article and people interested can further google to find out more elaborate sections.

Understanding 4 major fragment and the linkage of each on other will help and hence the flow is….

CERN 

The acronym CERN originally represented the French words for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research), established at Geneva (France and Swiss border) by 12 European governments in 1952. The laboratory was originally devoted to study of atomic nuclei, but was soon applied to higher-energy physics, concerned mainly with the study of interactions between subatomic particles.

On June 18th 2004, a 2 meter tall statue of Lord Natarajar was installed in the premises of this organization, the plaque alongside the statue states
“In the Hindu religion, this form of the dancing Lord Shiva is known as the Nataraja and symbolises Shakti, the belief is that Lord Shiva danced the Universe into existence, motivates it, and will eventually extinguish it. It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.”

Nataraja 

Several thousand years ago this form of dancing Shiva was conceptualized by us, now the modern scientist says "every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end” 

The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology and modern physics.

God’s particle ( Sub Atomic particle)

Before this study, I have never heard of this term too. I never knew that for the year 2013 the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded for the invention of God’s particle. Yes, it was awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert for invention of ‘Higgs Boson’ particle that was nick named as God’s Particle. Why only Higgs name is being associated with this and why not the other and what is Boson? The same set of questions came to my mind and further study revealed interesting facts and association of an Indian to this invention.

Term Boson was derived from Satyendra Nath Bose (1894 to 1974), from a tiny village in west Bengal he reached pinnacle in Physics. His article on quantum physics to Albert Einstein in 1920s paved way for Bose-Einstein partnership and that resulted in famous Bose-Einstein condensate, there was immense contribution by this theory towards this invention. Initially I was surprised that in those era of pre-independence with limited availability of resources how someone could contribute to quantum physics. Later on realized that we have contributed to the same subject several thousand years ago by creating a form of Shiva called Nataraja.

Currently CERN’s infrastructure is being used to prove the existence of this subatomic particle. As with any scientific discovery, God’s amazing creation of universe becomes more and more impressive as we learn more about it.

String Theory 

String theory is one of the most famous ideas in modern physics, but it is also one of the most confusing. Recently lot of studies on this theory is undertaken and CERN plays vital role in these studies. 

 This theory in lay man term defines that every single particle in universe is connected to other particle through a string which cannot be seen through instruments. Simple example could be, We see earth rotating around sun, both celestial body are connected to each other and are joined by strings that hold them together.

Though the first study on this subject erupted in 1960s, still this theory is evolving and the research on this subject is being greeted by scientist and have already been applied to variety of problems in black hole physics, nuclear physics etc., The attached relationship diagram of this theory depicts our findings several thousand years ago and close resemblance to the statue.

The intent of this article is to share my learning and astonishment and not to impart any ideologies. The astonishment is several here and the foremost is that every matter consist of atoms which cannot be either seen or felt but these atomic particles are governed by subatomic particles that has been christened as God’s particle.

Karuvelli - Navarathri Festival

During and after independence there were exodus of people from villages to cities in search of government jobs or in quest for upgrading their life style. This continuous migration of previous generation lead to huge vacuum in small villages and in turn it impacted the temples that prevailed for centuries before.

Even now the impact is being felt in several villages where we can see lot of temples in dilapidated and ruined condition. This according to me is no different from the ruins created by Moghuls and British during their reign where they demolished lot of Hindu temples and ransacked the available treasure.

The Current generation have realized the loss and started tracing the history of ancestors and their association with temples. Few of them have joined as part of the village team that reconstruct those temples which are good signs that will save and restore our culture and lost inheritance.

One such village is Karuveli near Kumbakonam and the temple is called “Sarguneswar Temple”. The presiding deity is Lord Shiva in the form of Sarguneswaran and his consort is Sarvanga Nayagi.

Similar to other temples this one too was in a neglected and was in ruined condition till 1990, then with efforts from Shri V Krishnamurthy former chairman of BHEL, Maruthi and SAIL and his brother Shri Vaidhyanathan president of Kalki group of publications took efforts to reconstruct this temple, whose forefathers hailed from this village. Mahakumbabishegam was performed in 1997 and slowly the temple is being restored to its past glory.

Recently got an invitation(refer the above picture) through a common friend of them asking to participate in the Navarathri festival where they perform LAKSHARCHANA for Goddess Sarvanga Sundari. Thought of sharing the invitation to a bigger group and help in mobilizing some fund that will help their efforts that are planned for ongoing temple maintenance. I would suggest not only to contribute but personally participate and get the blessing during festival.(Tap on the invitation to get enlarged picture and bank/contact details)

About temple – The temple is believed to be 1300 years old and according to the sthalapurana it is one among the 51 Shakthi Peedams. After the humiliation incident of King Daksha, the Goddess has to take rebirth and got united with Shiva in her next birth. During the time of separation Lord Shiva did severe penance and saw Parvathi here and they both danced in ecstasy. After marriage both stayed in this village and the story further states that whoever comes and offers prayers at this temple will not be subjected to next birth and get only Motcham. Worshipping in this temple will have the eternal happiness of total salvation. 

Hence the place came to be known as Karu Illai meaning that there would be no entering into a womb (Karu) again. In other words an unseen fence (VELI) will be installed to prevent one to become a fetus (KARU) again. Thus, the village got the name Karuveli. Even the divine Mother had to be born again to get back Her Lord so that she would not have to be born again.

The place is believed to help one to retain all his/her noble traits for ever and also reform him/her completely from previous wicked qualities. The Lord therefore is praised as Sarguna Nather. Sargunam-noble traits.

Lord Siva with the best of his known soft behaviors resides at the temple as Sarguneswarar (self-manifested lingam) and the most beautiful Parvathi as Sarvanga Sundhari. Mother Sarvanga Sundari, as the names suggests looks superlatively beautiful with four hands. 

The idol is 5.5 feet tall. The face of the Amman reflects only peace and a disposition to free you from all the stress or emotion. The mental status and inner feelings of any one who stand before the deity cannot be explained in a few words and it is to be felt in person to know it.

Sri Sarvanga Sundari, consecrated on Yogagni peeta, blesses all devotees.When Goddess Parvathi came to know that Lord Shiva is in penance at the forest on the banks of river Harisruta (Arasalaru) appeared before Lord Shiva in penance with all her beauty only in order to make Her Lord return to family life. She danced before Lord Shiva, married Him and at the request of all Devas and Rishis the divine couple stayed permanently at Karuveli where the present temple stands.Devas and Rishis prayed that whoever comes and offers prayers at this temple will not be subjected to the tangle of birth & death.

Yama Raja constructed a temple tank opposite to the temple and offered prayer to Lord Shiva after taking a dip in the tank to get solace and overcome a curse. The tank is still called as Yama Theertham.

The amount that has been fixed for this event is less than the cost we will incur if a family of 3 go out for a movie.Would request people to come forward and join hands in uplifting the old temples to regain its glory.