Epilogue Part 1 - Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - 2013
I was brought up by my grandparents at Sivaganga (I realise now that there are so many "Siva" connection to me - my birthplace being "Sivaganga", name being "Uma Maheswari" and husband's name "Shankar"!!!). In the house of my maternal grandparents, a Lingam is being worshipped as Sambamoorthy for so many generations - easily 600 years old! Myself, my sister and my 3 cousins were brought up by my grandparents where SivaPooja was a daily routine for my grandfather. He used to bring flowers from the garden, especially Kondrai Poo.
This flower is mentioned in Thevaram, "Ponnar Meniyaney Pulith tholai araikisaithu Minnar Ponsadiyil Milir KONDRAI anindhavaney" and also as "Poovar KONDRAI". Wherever I see this flower, my thoughts go back to my childhood days.
Grandfather used to do abhishekam to Lingam with chanting of Rudram and Chamakam. When I was crossing the tough terrains of Himalayas on my Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, my thoughts invariably went back to my grandparents.
Hence, I wanted to go to Sivaganga and do Abhishekam to this Sambamoorthy Lingam with Kailash Chran Sparsh Theerth, Mansarovar Theerth and Gowri Kund Theerth.
Similarly, my Guru Kanchi MahaSwami was (is) also constantly on my thoughts during this yatra. So, I wanted to go to Kanchipuram where His Brindavanam is there and give the Theerth for His abhishekam.
A very big temple of Kanchi MahaSwami is in Orikkai. I wanted to give this Theerth here as well for abhishekam.
I considered that completion of visit to these 3 places would actually conclude my KM Yatra. I was waiting for an opportune time to go on this trip.
24th August is our wedding anniversary. Hence my husband wanted to go to Tirupati on this day. We flew to Chennai from Mumbai on 23rd night.
My sister and her husband joined us enthusiastically on this trip. 24th morning we left Chennai by car and reached Kanchi Varadaraja Perumal Temple around 8:30 am with a light breakfast on our way.
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A grand Veda Parayanam was going on there by nearly 30 Vedic Pundits. We had very good darshan of Perundevi Thayar and Devaraja Perumal. We proceeded to Orikkai as it was already 10 am.
Orikkai is a beautiful temple constructed very recently combining the Pallava, Pandya and Chola styles of architecture.
The moolamoorthy here is MahaSwami. His Paduka with golden cover donated by renowned musician Bharat Ratana M S Subbulakshmi is kept in the sanctum sanctorum. Kamakshi Devi is also kept in pooja. Utsavar is MahaSwami in Rudraksha Mandapam.
One should personally visit this beautiful temple to know about this temple and to feel the sanctity of the whole place. This is one temple where one can peacefully sit and pray, meditate, sing and read. No rush for darshan. Koti Archana to MahaSwami's Paduka is going on now. The temple-in-charge is a nice amicable gentleman with right values and spent time with us explaining many things. We got nice tasty prasad and left Orikkai.
Our next destination was Pradosham Venkatramaiyer's house in Kanchipuram. This gentleman who is no more, has converted his house into a temple of MahaSwami. In fact, Orikkai Mani Mandapam is his brainchild, though he never lived to see the completion of this Manimandapam. His house is called as "Sri Sri Sri MahaSwami Gruham" and houses a Vrushabharooda MahaSwami with his Dhandam and Kamandalam. The place is always reverberating with Vedamantras, shlokas, songs and music... and smell of pooja and food.
We reached just when the pooja was getting over. We did our simple pooja and pradakshan, when the lady of the house invited us for lunch... it was not just a lunch - but a grand feast with all items and sweet payasam. As it was our wedding anniversary, we had the satisfaction of getting "kalyana Chappadu" that too in the sanctum of MahaSwami in His greatest devotee's house.. we felt very happy and blessed.
As it was 2 pm, we rushed to Srimatam and reached the place with flowers and fruits just when Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamiji was concluding the pooja with a grand harathi. We participated in the harathi and got theertham. We went to MahaSwami Brindavanam.... just the thought of this sacred place brings goosebumps to me. We did pradakshina namaskaram and gave Kailash theertham to the Punditji for use in next day's abhisheka pooja.
I bought some books for my mother's reading and left Kanchipuram. Thus we left Kanchi with our stomach and heart full! My sister had a good collection of CDs of Velukudi Krishnan Swami. We were listening to his lectures throughout our trip. As the basic theme of all his lectures is MahaVishnu and MahaLakshmi, we got to discuss on spiritual topics.
Our drive to Thirupathi from Kanchipuram had some surprise element as Telengana agitation was going on in that region. We left the burden of taking us safely to Tirumala to that Govinda Himself and left Chennai. We reached Thiruchanoor around 6 pm just when the temple bells of Padmavathy Thayar were ringing for evening Harathi.
Vaishnavites believe that one must go to Thayar Sannidhi first and praise Her Lord in front of Her and request Her that She recommend our case to Her Lord in Tirumala. This alone will make us get His darshan and His grace as well. Just like a child runs to mother first whenever any mistake is done, a devotee should first surrender to Thayar. She would then request Srinivasa to forgive our sins and grant our wishes and bestow boons.
We got a very nice darshan for Rs.100/- ticket. We were allowed to go inside the sanctum sanctorum and do pradakshina to the Goddess. With our heart filled with the beautiful darshan and our hands filled with the laddu and pulihora prasadam, we left Thiruchanoor and reached Tirumala hills around 9:30 pm. Our friend Prasad helped us get room in one of the cottages for a nominal charge of Rs.500/-. By the time we could go to sleep it was beyond 11 pm and we decided that we will go to join the queue for Rs.300/- ticket darshan by 6 am the next day morning.
Thus our 27th wedding anniversary was spent in the company of my sister and uncle with darshan of Kanchi Perundevi Thayar, Devaraja Perumal, MahaSwami of Orikkai, MahaSwami at Pradosham Mama's house, Chandramouleeswara and TripuraSundari at Srimatam Kanchi, MahaSwami Adishtanam, Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swami and Padmavathi Thayar. Blessed day! How lucky to sleep on the Tirumala hills that night! Om Namo Venkatesaya!
Grandfather used to do abhishekam to Lingam with chanting of Rudram and Chamakam. When I was crossing the tough terrains of Himalayas on my Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, my thoughts invariably went back to my grandparents.
Hence, I wanted to go to Sivaganga and do Abhishekam to this Sambamoorthy Lingam with Kailash Chran Sparsh Theerth, Mansarovar Theerth and Gowri Kund Theerth.
Similarly, my Guru Kanchi MahaSwami was (is) also constantly on my thoughts during this yatra. So, I wanted to go to Kanchipuram where His Brindavanam is there and give the Theerth for His abhishekam.
A very big temple of Kanchi MahaSwami is in Orikkai. I wanted to give this Theerth here as well for abhishekam.
I considered that completion of visit to these 3 places would actually conclude my KM Yatra. I was waiting for an opportune time to go on this trip.
24th August is our wedding anniversary. Hence my husband wanted to go to Tirupati on this day. We flew to Chennai from Mumbai on 23rd night.
My sister and her husband joined us enthusiastically on this trip. 24th morning we left Chennai by car and reached Kanchi Varadaraja Perumal Temple around 8:30 am with a light breakfast on our way.
A grand Veda Parayanam was going on there by nearly 30 Vedic Pundits. We had very good darshan of Perundevi Thayar and Devaraja Perumal. We proceeded to Orikkai as it was already 10 am.
Orikkai is a beautiful temple constructed very recently combining the Pallava, Pandya and Chola styles of architecture.
The moolamoorthy here is MahaSwami. His Paduka with golden cover donated by renowned musician Bharat Ratana M S Subbulakshmi is kept in the sanctum sanctorum. Kamakshi Devi is also kept in pooja. Utsavar is MahaSwami in Rudraksha Mandapam.
One should personally visit this beautiful temple to know about this temple and to feel the sanctity of the whole place. This is one temple where one can peacefully sit and pray, meditate, sing and read. No rush for darshan. Koti Archana to MahaSwami's Paduka is going on now. The temple-in-charge is a nice amicable gentleman with right values and spent time with us explaining many things. We got nice tasty prasad and left Orikkai.
Our next destination was Pradosham Venkatramaiyer's house in Kanchipuram. This gentleman who is no more, has converted his house into a temple of MahaSwami. In fact, Orikkai Mani Mandapam is his brainchild, though he never lived to see the completion of this Manimandapam. His house is called as "Sri Sri Sri MahaSwami Gruham" and houses a Vrushabharooda MahaSwami with his Dhandam and Kamandalam. The place is always reverberating with Vedamantras, shlokas, songs and music... and smell of pooja and food.
We reached just when the pooja was getting over. We did our simple pooja and pradakshan, when the lady of the house invited us for lunch... it was not just a lunch - but a grand feast with all items and sweet payasam. As it was our wedding anniversary, we had the satisfaction of getting "kalyana Chappadu" that too in the sanctum of MahaSwami in His greatest devotee's house.. we felt very happy and blessed.As it was 2 pm, we rushed to Srimatam and reached the place with flowers and fruits just when Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamiji was concluding the pooja with a grand harathi. We participated in the harathi and got theertham. We went to MahaSwami Brindavanam.... just the thought of this sacred place brings goosebumps to me. We did pradakshina namaskaram and gave Kailash theertham to the Punditji for use in next day's abhisheka pooja.
I bought some books for my mother's reading and left Kanchipuram. Thus we left Kanchi with our stomach and heart full! My sister had a good collection of CDs of Velukudi Krishnan Swami. We were listening to his lectures throughout our trip. As the basic theme of all his lectures is MahaVishnu and MahaLakshmi, we got to discuss on spiritual topics.
Our drive to Thirupathi from Kanchipuram had some surprise element as Telengana agitation was going on in that region. We left the burden of taking us safely to Tirumala to that Govinda Himself and left Chennai. We reached Thiruchanoor around 6 pm just when the temple bells of Padmavathy Thayar were ringing for evening Harathi.
Vaishnavites believe that one must go to Thayar Sannidhi first and praise Her Lord in front of Her and request Her that She recommend our case to Her Lord in Tirumala. This alone will make us get His darshan and His grace as well. Just like a child runs to mother first whenever any mistake is done, a devotee should first surrender to Thayar. She would then request Srinivasa to forgive our sins and grant our wishes and bestow boons.
We got a very nice darshan for Rs.100/- ticket. We were allowed to go inside the sanctum sanctorum and do pradakshina to the Goddess. With our heart filled with the beautiful darshan and our hands filled with the laddu and pulihora prasadam, we left Thiruchanoor and reached Tirumala hills around 9:30 pm. Our friend Prasad helped us get room in one of the cottages for a nominal charge of Rs.500/-. By the time we could go to sleep it was beyond 11 pm and we decided that we will go to join the queue for Rs.300/- ticket darshan by 6 am the next day morning.Thus our 27th wedding anniversary was spent in the company of my sister and uncle with darshan of Kanchi Perundevi Thayar, Devaraja Perumal, MahaSwami of Orikkai, MahaSwami at Pradosham Mama's house, Chandramouleeswara and TripuraSundari at Srimatam Kanchi, MahaSwami Adishtanam, Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi Swami and Padmavathi Thayar. Blessed day! How lucky to sleep on the Tirumala hills that night! Om Namo Venkatesaya!
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