Day 2

20/05/2011- Temples Covered : Guruvayur

We got up at 2 30 AM and took bath in Narayana Saras ( Pushkarini ) and stood in the huge queue to have a glimpse of the Divine Child , Sri Krishna. Sri Narayaneeyam rendered by P.Leela was played through the loudspeakers and it was a divine experience hearing the lovely and melodious recitation while waiting to have the darshanam of Bhagawan. After waiting for an hour , we slowly made our way to the Lord's Sanctum Sanctorium.

As we inched towards the Saanadhi , the glorious form of the Lord met my eyes. The Lord was dressed like Bala Krishnan. He was wearing small ornaments on His ears , necklaces and a red Kaupinam. The Tirumugham was annoited with Sandal Paste and He had a silver Thilakam on His Forehead ( Snikdath Swethorthwa Pundraam Sulalithaam Bala Baallendu Veedhim - Sri Narayaneeyam). The Lord was wearing a beautiful and a fragrant Thulasi garland and was having a Mayil Beeli over His Head. The swaroopam of Sri Guruvayoorappan just cannot be described in words.

Sri Narayana Bhaathadri's Verses came to my mind when I came close to Bhagawaan. " Sooryasprithi kireetha oordhwa thilakaam....". I cried to the Lord to give me Gyaana , Vairaghyam , Bhakthi and finally Moksham at the end of my life. I pleaded the Lord to give me a
heart full of compassion and also Prema Bhakthi to serve Him till my last breath. I surrendered to Him and unburdened all my worries at His Lotus Feet. After the glorious darshanam , we did a pradakshinam and collected some prasadhams from the Melshanthi Swmai. The Swami was kind enough to give some chandanam and also the kaupina vasthram of Guruvayooorapan which indeed is the rarest of prasadams. It is definately the most cherished and prized possession a devotee can get. I prostrated before the lord near the Dwajasthambham and recited a few Dasakams of Narayaneeyam.

We left the temple and went back to our room for taking rest. It was already 5 AM before we returned. We had a sound sleep and got up only at 11 AM. We had some coffee in a nearby eat out and took bath. We went to the temple by 12 30 after completing our Morning and Afternoon Anushthanams. The Ucchi Kaala Aradhana of Bhagawan was going. The crowd was minimal at this time. We had to wait for the Araadhanam to get over before proceeding to have the Darshana Sowbhagyam of Perumal. Thyagaraja Kritis were beautifully rendered by the Nadaswaram and the divine music took us to greater devotional heights. The temple bell was rung thrice before the Lord's Sannadhi Doors were thrown open to the Devotees who were anxiously waiting to see their beloved Krishna.

This time , Lord was dressed as Sri Rama with a bow in His Hand. Perumal was extremely majestic and Beautiful in that Thirukolam. I got a chance to stand for 10 minutes to completly adore His beauty from Head to toe. Hats off to the Namboodhri who performed this awe-spiring alankaram. We purchased the world famous paal payasam and also some abisheka thailam from the prasadam counter. We went to Ramakrishna Lunch home (a brahmin run hotel) near East Nada for partaking lunch. Lunch was very tasty .

We originally planned to visit Thirvittuvakode Divya Desam - near Paatambi in the evening but due to a bus strike , our plans got cancelled. We were disappointed as we couldnt visit this divya desam but we took it as Perumal's Sankalpam.

Once again , we went to the temple at 4 pm to see the evening Seeveli. The Lord was mounted on an elephant and was brought around the temple thrice. We joined the queue after Seeveli and had darshan of Perumal to our heart's content. It was around 6.30 pm after we completed sevai. Once again , we stood near the Dwajasthambham and had darshan of the Lord during Deeparadhanai. We prostrated before the Lord and requested Him to give us many more darshana bhagyams in the future.

We returned to our room and packed our things. We checked out of the Lodge and proceeded to Mamiyoor Temple. It is customary to visit Mamiyoor after the darshanam in Guruvayoor. After the sevai of Mamiyoorapppan , we left to the railway station to catch the 8 45 Pm train to Trichur. We reached Trichur at 9 30 pm and had a light dinner at Shanthi Bhavan outside the station. We took rest in the waiting room and waited for the 12 05 am train to Chenganur.

Kerala Divya Desams - Day 1- Thirunavai

19/05/2011 - Thursday

Temples covered : Thirunavai and Guruvayur.

We boarded the 4 10 pm train from Calicut and reached Kuttipuram at 5.10 pm. Kuttipuram is a big town with many facilities. There are many lodges and eatries. We had a cup of coffee and boarded the bus to Thirunaavai. Thirunaavai is locally known as Thiru Naavaya. It is only 7 Kms from Kuttipuram. We reached the bus stop at 5 40 pm. It took us 10 Minutes to reach the temple. This Divya Desam is on the banks of Bharatha Puzha. It is said that this river is holier than Ganga!. Many Keralites come to this Kshetram for performing Pitru Kaaryams. It is also known as Dakshina Kaasi as there are temples of Sri Vishnu , Siva and Bramha.

STHALA PURANAM :

Goddess Mahalakshmi and Gajendra used to offer lotus flowers for worshipping Perumal. As

Thayar would pluck the flowers for aaradhana daily before Gajendran, the

elephant got dejected and approached Perumal and told that henceforth it

had to go elsewhere to get lotuses for Perumal. As Perumal did not want

his devotee to get dejected, He appeared before Goddess Mahalakshmi

and Gajendran and said that Thayar could be with Him and accept the

offerings made by Gajendran. Hence, only in this Malai Naadu divya

desam, there is a separate shrine for Thayar.

2) NAVAYOGIS : There were 9 siddha yogis who would always be together

and offer worship and meditate on Lord. In due course, 8 yogis attained

moksha and the vigrahams worshipped by them also disappeared and as

a result of this, the ninth yogi got dejected and stopped offering worship to

Perumal. When questioned by Perumal, he said that he was missing his

companions and Perumal with his maya showed the 8 yogis. The 8 yogis

agreed to stay there but said that they would be invisible to human eyes

and the 9 th yogi could feel their presence In due course, the 9

the yogi requested Perumal to make him also invisible. But Perumal insisted that

the vigraham worshipped by the 9 th yogi must be kept there itself and

Perumal blessed the 9 yogis saying that they could offer worship to Him at

that place forever. Hence, what we see now is the vigraham worshipped

by the 9th yogi.

OUR EXPERIENCE :

We had a refreshing bath in the river and we performed the evening anushthanams. It is really such a wonderful experience to do Sandhyavandhanam along the banks of a holy river in a serene atmosphere. We went to the temple at 6 15 pm. The Evening Aradhana for the Lord was going on. The temple is medium in size. There is a huge Gold plated dwajashthambham with the emblem of Sri Garudaalwar on top of it. Pancha Vaadhyam was being played. After waiting for 10 minutes , the Doors of the Sri Kovil ( Garbhagruham ) was opened , enabling all of us to have the darshan of our Dear Lord Mukundhan. Deeparadhana with Nakshatra Haarathi was performed and we had Darshan to our heart's content. Sri Mukundhan was wearing a beautiful silver Kavacham. His Thirumugham was annoited with Sandal Paste and He was wearing lots of Vasthrams and Fresh Smelling Garlands.

The Melshanthi gave us Chandanam and some flowers on a banana leaf. We did a pradakshinam around Perumal's Sannadhi. There is a seperate Sannadhi for Thaayar who is known as Sri Malar Mangai Naachiyaar. She was beautifully dressed in a red Paavadai and Lotus Garland. Thaayar is in a unique standing posture in this Divya Kshetram. After Pradakshinam , we sat near the Dwajasthambham and recited the Paasurams on Thirunaavai. After doing Mangalasasanams , we once again had Perumal's Darshan to our heart's content and left the temple with a heavy heart. We caught a bus to Kuttipuram and then another bus to Guruvayur.

After an hour's travel , we reached Guruvayur at around 8 45 pm. We checked into Lakshmi Lodge - Rs 400 for a Double Room. My friends were feeling tired and i decided to go to the temple for watching the evening Seeveli and the Kathakali performance.

STHALAPURANAM OF GURUVAYOOR :

GURUVAYOOR, the sacred shrine of Lord Krishna attracts lakhs of devotees

every year. This is one of the most famous piligrimage centers like Sri rangam,

Tirupati , Puri etc. Like Puri, this is also not a divya desam but it is an

ABHIMANA STHALAM”. The idol of the Lord Guruvayurappan was worshipped

by Lord Krishna Himself. To set an example to everyone, Lord Krishna used to

perform nitya thiruvaaradhanai to His own image and preached the world to

perform pooja to their ishta devata. When Dwapara yugam was coming to an

end, Krishna asked Udhava, one of his greatest devotees to take care of the

vigraham when He left this mortal world. He also advised Udhava to take the

help of Guru in locating a suitable place for worship. As Dwaraka was to

submerge, the idol had to be removed from that place. . As ordered, Guru and

Vayu took the idol and after a long search, they reached the present Guruvayur

and placed the idol for worship. They were guided by Parasurama in locating a

suitable place for worship. Lord Parasurama took them to a tank full of lotus

flowers. It may be mentioned here that at that time, the place was occupied by

Lord Shiva and His consort. Originally there was a temple dedicated to Lord

Shiva. Lord Shiva, out of his abundant devotion to Perumal moved from that

place to Maamiyur and a temple was constructed for Perumal by Viswakarma,

the divine architect. As Perumal was brought by Guru and Vayu, He came to be

known as GURUVAYOORAPPAN and the place came to be known as

GURUVAYOOR.

After the Evening Pooja , Sri Guruvayoorappan comes out in a grand procession riding an elephant. The Lord personally supervises the Bali offered to the Attendant Dieties. This is known as Seeveli. During Seeveli , Pancha Vadhyams and Nadaswaram are played. The Temple is fully lit up in oil lamps and it is a grand feast to the eyes. The Lord goes around the temple three times before returning to the Garbha Gruham. I had a good darshan of the Utsavar. While the Seeveli is going on , the Garbha Gruham Doors are closed. We cannot have Sevai of the Moolavar. The Garbha Gruham Door is temperorily opened for 5 minutes for placing the Utsavar back. I was standing near the Dwajasthambham and i had a nice darshan of the Moolavar who was dressed as Kalinga Narthana Krishna. Everyday , the Moolavar is deccorated in a different alankaram with chandanam during the Ucchi Kaala Aradhanam. The Main Vigraham of Sri Guruvayoorappan is very attractive and there are no words that can describe His Divine beauty!!. After that , the Lord is put to sleep and Ghee is distributed as Prasadham to the devotees. I received the prasadham and went to the Seeveli Mandapam where Kathakakali is performed everyday. Kathakali is known as Krishnattam. A section of Srimad Bhagavatham is potrayed thru Dance. I watched for a while and then went back to the Lodge. All of us had dinner and retired for the night !!

Kerala Divya Desams

With the grace of the Lord and the Acharyas , Adiyen was able to visit 8 Malai Nadu Divya Desams and Guruvayur.The following write up will contain the Sthala puranam , our experience and travelling directions. Adiyen hopes it will be useful to those who are planning to make a visit.

General points about Malai Nadu Divya Desams

1. The temples usually open at 4.30 AM and close at 11 AM. It reopens again at 5.30 pm and closes by around 7.30 pm.

2. There is no seperate sannadhi for Thayaar except in Thiru Naavai.

3. All the temples have a sannadhi for Bhagavathi and Ganesha.

4. Kerala Temples follow Tantrikam for the worship of the Lord. Sri Vaikhanasa or Sri Pancharathra Agamam are not followed here. It is very interesting to watch the Aradhana procedure. The priest will show many mudhras to the deity during the worship.

5. The chief priest is known as Melshanthi and the asssistant priests are called Thanthris. They follow a very high level of Achaaram and are very sincere in their worship. Even while giving prasadham to devotees , they drop the prasadam from a distance to avoid physical contact !!.

6. The Male devotees are not allowed to wear any upper garment and should come in veshti.

7. The temples are maintained very neatly.

8. No electrical lights are used in the Garbhagriham. It is fully lit with oil lamps. It is a beautiful sight to see Emberuman glowing among the Lights.

9. There is quite a distance between the Main Diety and the place where the Devotees are allowed to have Darshan. Therefore , we have to really look carefully and closely to have a good sevai of Perumal.

10. Generally , Keralites are very friendly people and most of them can understand Tamil. They are more than happy to guide if you need any assistance.