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.