A Kongu Nadu, Kaveri Karai Kumbabishekam – 4

Long time no blog….

Hands been tied, folks!

This post completes this series on Mohanur temple kumbabishekam…

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Crowds gather inside the temple…

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The folks who are  to perform the kumbabishekam climb onto the temple gopuram, and wait for the auspicious time to begin…

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Waiting…. (see kaveri river in the background)…

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The kumabishekam begins… See the vilva tree (the sthala vriksha of the temple)…

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Kumbabishekam complete… the crowds push to be blessed by the shower of abhishekam waters…

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At end, I leave you with a picture of Siva-Parvati, from the Gopuram of temple… Om Namo Achaladeepeshwara!

*** Concluded***

A Kongu Nadu, Kaveri Karai Kumbabishekam – 3

9th April, 2009, early morning…

Time is around 4:30 am. We go to the temple, and walk down the steps to the Kaveri river. The massive river bed of Aganda Kaveri, has a flow that probably covers less than one fourth of the breadth. But there is  a steady flow. The moon is up. There are people already in the river. We walk gingerly into the waters… Old, disused idols have been carelessly thrown here and there in the river. The river bed is all small rock and stone, and the walking is difficult. Somehow, we manage to walk across to a place towards the middle of the flow, near some rocks… And there, we have a bath. This is heavenly. The chants from the temple yagyas can be heard in the distance. The pre-dawn sky and breeze is something else. People are standing waistdeep in the waters, doing Japa. And there, towards the eastern direction, is the portal of the temple, with the idol of Achaladeepeshwarar looking directly at the river. namchivaaya vaazhga!

After the bath, we make our way to the temple yagya. The main altar of Achaladeepeshwar is ablaze with the Sivachariar offering ‘aahuti’, to the accompaniment of the chant of the Mantra.

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Another picture of the priests, carrying consecrated waters for the kumbabishekam

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The first signs of dawn is seen… Nature is at its beautiful best…

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Walking around the temple, one sees many shrines. Here is a shrine that says “Sadasiva Brahmendra Paduka” shrine.

I am told that the Padukas in this shrine are those of the Sri Sachidananda Siva Abhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamigal, who graced this world as the Jagadguru of Sringeri from 1879 to 1912.  (To know more about the Acharya, click here).

These Padukas were given by the Jagadguru to one his disciples of Mohanur, whose name was Sadasiva. This disciple had these Padukas installed in the shrine here, made arrangements for daily worship, and endowed the temple with some lands, the income of which was to be used for this shrine. This background about the Sadasiva Brahmendra shrine in the Achaladeepeshwara temple was told to me by Sri Natarajan, an elderly gentleman, native of Mohanur. He said that, somehow, in time, people have forgotten that the Padukas are of Narsimha Bharati swamigal…

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Time is around 8 am. The Sun is up. Here is a picture of the scene nearby the temple. Kaveri is seen in the background.

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The Shivacharyas have gathered inside the temple, and are waiting….The auspicious time for kumbabishekam is coming up.

 

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A Kongu Nadu, Kaveri Karai Kumbabishekam – 2

Stayed at a friends place in Mohanur. Old house, with a ‘thinnai’ outside, where anyone can sit or sleep. First room is a verendah, which leads to the drawing room, that has bedrooms on both sides. The drawing room leads to the dining room, that has an old swing – oh what joy! Kitchen on one side and stoor room on another. The dining room leads to the open backyard, that has a well, a tulasi maadam, and wash rooms. The back door of the backyard opens to steps that leads down to a ‘vaaykaal’, a canal of the Kaveri river. This is splendid! And along that canal, just a few houses away, there is a temple, with its own recent legend as well…

After a breakfast of uppuma, khichdi, sambar, chatni, a sweet, and some coffee, one is ready for the day.

First stop is the yaaga shaala in front of the temple. Under shamiyanas, ever so many yagya kundas are crackling with sacred fire. Five yagya altars each for the three presiding deities of the temple, one altar each for each of the 63 Naayanmars, and one kundam each for the other deities of the temples. Some 80 or 90 yagya altars! Sivachariars were busy chanting mantras and making offerings to the fire.

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Back in the main temple, an area is cordoned off, where some people are sorting out the items needed for the Poornahuti… A long queue of folks line up, to receive the ‘green’ plate of offerings for the Poornahuti. Here’s what the plate contained.

 

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Sometime around 1 pm or so, the time for the Poornahuti arrived. Here is a picture of the sivachariars getting ready to make the final offering of this session to their respective yagya fires.

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Lunch had been organized in one of the local community halls.

Afternoon 4 pm saw us leaving for Namakkal. The idea is to visit the Namakkal Narsimha temple and the Anjaneyar temple. The Narsimha temple is real old, and is built right against the Namagiri hill. The Anjaneya temple has the idol of Hanuman standing in the open ( to see picture, click here to see an earlier post), and is so designed that the Hanuman looks directly at the sanctum of Narsimha.

Here is a picture from inside the main courtyard of the Narsimha temple.

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It was by the blessings of the Goddess of this temple that, Srinivasa Ramanujam, the great mathematician, got his great inspirations. Ramanujam used to say that the Goddess gave him the formulae in his dream visions, and so profound were these formulae that the British mathematician GH Hardy said that Ramanujan’s theorems “must be true, because, if they were not true, no one would have the imagination to invent them”. And Hardy’s colleague, Neville said later that “”not one [theorem] could have been set in the most advanced mathematical examination in the world”.  Ramanujam himself is reported to have said that “An equation for me has no meaning, unless it expresses a thought of God”.  This temple at Namakkal, the temple of Narsimha and his consort, is the one that gave him those math equations that were expressions of the divine…

As we sat in the Namakkal temple, the priest told us about the temple lore. The main sanctum was not yet open. Preparations were on for the chariot festival in the evening. That day was Panguni Uttiram, which was the one day of the year when the utsava idols of Narsimha and his consort would be seen together. Even as we were sitting and listening to the priest, some of the temple priests brought the utsava idol of Lord Narsimha out into the area where were sitting. The idea was to decorate the idol for the chariot festival later in the evening. The idol looked beautiful.

Here, you can see it too.

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The Darshan of Narsimha in the sanctum sanctorum was awesome. Huge idol, tearing the entrails of Hiranyakashipu. On one of the side walls, there was a carving of Trivikrama that was quite awesome as well. We then had darshan of the Goddess, and then went on to the temple of Anjaneyar nearby.

A picture of the chariot… The Utsavar (seen above) would be going on a tour riding this chariot a little later this evening…

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Returning to Mohanur, we went to the temple of Murugan at Kaantamalai. Peacocks could be seen outside. Panguni Uttiram is sacred to Murugan, and a steady stream of devotees were visiting the temple.

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After Darshan of Murukan, we came back to the Achaladeepeshwara temple for the evening/night Yagyams…

                                  ** To be continued **

A Kongu Nadu, Kaveri Karai Kumbabishekam – 1

There is a place called Mohanur, on the banks of Kaveri, in Namakkal district. On 9th April, the day of the full moon in the month of Panguni, the town was to celebrate the Kumbabishekam of the ancient Siva temple – the temple of Achaladeepeshwarar and Madukaraveni. 

I am on the way there…

Morning 6 am, 8th April…

Just landed in Salem by one of the summer special trains… An old Ambassador taxi waits for me at the station. We take off from Salem towards Namakkal. We take the highway that connects Kashi and Kanyakumari… The way is pretty scenic. Fields, and hills…

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After an hour or so, we reach Namakkal. The heart of this town is a rock-hill, Namagiri, with a fort on top.

Some say that this fort was built by Tippu Sultan, and others say that it was built much earlier. Namagiri itself is has references back to 9th century. Suffice to say, the hill andthe fort have seen much history… 

Here’s another picture.

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Going past Namakkal, some half an hour so later, we reach Mohanur…

This is  primarily an agricultural town, and still retains an old world charm and green… The temple of Achaladeepeshwarar is right by the banks of the Kaveri, with the idol of the Lord facing the river… The western gate of the temple leads to a bathing ghat in the river… The river here is really wide, and is called Aganda Kaveri… Not much water flows now, but the river bed is very wide… Nerur, the samadhi place of the great sage Sadasiva Brahmendra is on the other side of the Kaveri, a few kms from here…

To see a wikimap location link of the temple, click here…

The temple of Achaladeepeshwarar is one of the Vaippu sthalams. These refer to temples that have been referenced in the songs of Nayanmar saints… This temple has been referred to by Appar… Real ancient temple… This is in the ancient region of Kongu Naadu, and Mohanur is referred to in Tevaram as Kongu Kumari…

To know more of the Tevaram reference click here…

The temple kumbabishekam is being performed after a long time. I am told that the previous one was conducted more than a hundred years before. This is one special occasion all right…

The temple has been renovated, and has a nice and bright look…

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Rahul Out-thought!

Wellington test, 3rd day (today)…

That catch by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, off the bowling of Vettori was a classic. Obviously they had thought through the plan…

Vettori would bowl slightly short of length on the off stump. If they see Dravid shaping for the scoop-glance shot, then the wicketkeeper would jump to the leg side beforehand and be ready for taking the catch. The first slip too would run to the leg, just in case the ball bobs up higher than what the wicketkeeper can reach. Good plan… And it worked like a dream.

In case you didn’t see it, you can see it in this link…

There was some discussion on the legality of the catch. Can the wicketkeeper move before the batsman has hit the shot…. All that has been resolved. It was quite legal…

Here is what Cricinfo says :

When Brendon McCullum nimbly moved down the leg side to catch Rahul Dravid’s attempted paddle-sweep, there was some debate about the legality of the catch, since McCullum moved after the ball was bowled but before Dravid played the stroke. According to the relevant rules, it was a fair catch.

McCullum moved sideway, not forward, which as per law, is legit.

If you want to know the details of the above, check out box “Rahul Dravid’s Dismissal” in this Cricinfo link..

Great gambit. Kudos to Vettori!

Money, money, money

Looks like you can get away with anything in India.

A friend of mine in Bengaluru was complaining that the school that his child goes to has a rule that all students should wear black leather shoes – and here comes the pinch – and the shoes should be Reebok and Reebok alone. What my friend could have bought for a hundred and fifty rupees from Bata or some other store, he ends up spending seven or eight hundred now. Can a school actually dictate the brand of shoe that a child should wear? I dont know, but this school does. Business as usual.

And then when I arrived at the Bengaluru airport, I encountered a new pinch. All passengers have to cough up a new tax – called ‘user development fee’ or something like that. Each passenger has to pay Rs 260/- as airport usage fee. I saw some mighty angry users that day! (btw: i think they really need the money, if the airport PA system is anything to go by. I nearly missed my flight, as the departure announcement could not be heard in one side of the departure lounge). More business as usual.

The Madras Chamber of Commerce had an interesting talk by Arun Shourie, a few days ago, as a part of the election jamboree. Vittal, the former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, also spoke. In his speech Vittal mentioned about the over trillion dollars stashed away by Indians in Swiss Banks – which is the highest among all nations. Now that the Swiss have agreed to divulge the names of the depositors in case the national government requests for it – he wondered, why Indian Government has not. In his talk, Shourie said that the leaders of opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had both written to the Prime Minister, asking him to do just that, and that the letter was not even acknowledged. Ah yes, politics…Business as usual.

Jai Ho!

Nano

The Nano was launched yesterday.

And that was the meat for the day for the media. They tore into it like a pack of wolves shredding a little lamb. They gushed, applauded, test-drove, speculated, complained…A nice day in office.

Ah yes, the complaints…

There were TV Channels that highlighted a whole set of negatives. Stuff life “Nano has top speed of only 105 kmph… Motor cycle machos will pass you with a smirk on their faces. Nano has only 15 litres fuel capacity, so dont take it on a longish drive. Nano has only one wiper, whereas the world knows you need two. Nano’s body is aluminium, and may collapse like a matchbox if hit… Nano’s seats are rexine, not leather. Nano has no handbrake. etc etc”.

It almost looked as if some forces were out to spoil the party!

Lame complaints these. You dont buy a one lakh car, asking for three lakhs car features. The features in the Nano fill a certain need. I guess it would be used for in-city driving, where one doesnt want to whiz around at 120 kph (so the speed limit is quite ok)…Let the motor bikers smirk (as if they have nothing else to do… Bikers overtake most cars on the road anyway)… 15 liters should enable one to do 300 kms or so… Which is fine… One should find a fuel station within that distance, I am sure. One wiper is ok too. The driver’s vision is what matters… The car body being weak – well thats a concern. But the car is being built with European safety standards in mind, so thats something to remember. Rexine seats? Is that a problem? Not for me. No handbrake – well, that should not be a car-stopper!

I would like to have a nano like car for sure. Good for short hops, easy to park – a no fuss car. My only worry is the quality of the first set of cars. Having been an early user of Indica and Indigo, I am apprehensive that I may be buying myself a position of a beta-tester. So, as for me, I am tempted to wait for just a bit, before I buy my little nano.

Natesan – The great disciple of Kavyakantha passes on

Just got the news that Sri K Natesan, one of the oldest disciples of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni, was absorbed in the lotus feet of Arunachala, today, 21-March-2009, sometime around 2 pm.

Here is a picture of his that I took, when I visited him in Dec 2007, during the Samadhi ceremony of Swami Ramanananda. (For an account of that visit click here).

Sri Natesan was born on 26th November 1913 in Mandakalathur, a town in North Arcot district, some 40 kms from Tiruvannamalai. His father Sri Krishna Ghanapathi was a Vedic scholar, and a teacher at the Yajur Veda Paathashaala at Tiruvannamalai.

Sri Natesan first came to Bhagavan Ramana in 1922. After that time, he has never been far away from Tiruvannamalai and the Ashram. He was encouraged by Bhagavan to write down Sanskrit works, especially those of Nayana (Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni), which he did all through his life. In fact, the world owes him a great debt, for it is Sri Natesan who has preserved for the world, and brought to publication the collected works of Kavyakantha, in twelve volumes.

Such was his training at the hands of Bhagavan, that it would be near impossible to find a typographical error slipping past Sri Natesan’s proof-reading eye. For the last few years, he has not been keeping well, and has been holding on to his body only so as to see that works of his guru came out in print.

About his association with his guru, Sri Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, Sri Natesan has said: “My contact with Ganapati Muni started when I was studying in Tiruvannamalai, during the 1920s. His son, Sri Mahadeva Sastri, was my Sanskrit teacher at my High School. On many subjects, the Muni addressed our school Sanskrit Association. I had the fortune of listening to his valuable talks. Later the Muni initiated me into certain mantras. Once when I requested him to advise me on how to get a good knowledge of Sanskrit, he immediately instructed me to go on reading and writing his works as often as possible. I took this to heart and have been reciting, writing, compiling and collecting his works throughout my long life. I have gone to Sirsi a number of times to collect these works from Sri D. S. Viswamitra, who was one of the favorite disciples of the Muni. During his physical presence, Bhagavan Ramana blessed and encouraged me in this sacred task, and even now, long after his Mahasamadhi, I still feel his blessings and guidance.”

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The last I saw Sri Natesan was a few months ago. He was in his brother’s house near the Arunachaleshwara temple. Every year, during the great festival of Kartigai Deepam, a group of Vedic scholars, assemble here, and chant the whole of Yajur Veda. This has been a tradition in this house for nearly a hundred years. It is in the first floor of that holy place that Sri Natesan lived these last few years, with a direct view of the Arunachala mountain.

Today, when he was feeling particularly unwell, he was being taken to Rangamma hospital, which is past the Ashram on the Giripradakshina path. Just as the ambulance van crossed the gates of Sri Ramanashramam, Sri K Natesan breathed his last.

Needless to say, he has now become one with the holy radiance of the hill that is Siva.

The young boy and the sea

The seacoast, Bay of Bengal…

Its been pretty cool and cloudy in Chennai these last few months. Contrast that with the once “look no ceiling fans” city of Bengaluru, where air-conditioning has come to stay. Is it climate-change, wonders the young boy….

The boy loves the sea and the sands… He is fascinated by the constant battles, the run-ins, ups and downs..

Every once in a while, a stormy sea may spit a whole lot of refuse back on to the sands… Tree trunks, roots, and a whole lot of footwear. He wonders how there is so much footwear floating in the sea… Ah yes, the sea has no patience with the muck thrown in by the sand… It just waits for a while, and then upchucks them right back into the mouth of the sand…

The sands then have to clean their teeth by burning the muck…

And then there are these nice, peaceful days as well… The sands are shining, the Sun is high, the sea is in joy, and even birds come down and watch the waves…

The sea and the sands… they need each other all right… Every year, from January to March, the sea sends in some very special turtles to nest in these sands… The Oliver Ridley turtles… In Tamizh, they are called ‘panguni aamais’ – (aamai is turtle / tortoise, and panguni is the month that they usually clamber on to the coast… It is the month of Panguni now…)

These turtles are in the ‘endangered list’, and the turtles and their eggs are often prey to animals, birds, and humans…

In Chennai, some nice young people have formed an association that helps protect these special guests. Groups of passionate folks go on long ‘turtle walks’ – starting around midnight and walking along the coast, looking for eggs, picking them up and shifting then to safe places… They have little fenced in areas where the turtle eggs can hatch…

Here is one…

The “Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation Network”, reads the board… They have their website too, which you can see here.

After around 45 days or so, the eggs hatch…

The boy puts his little hand into the hole in the basket, and gently picks out one little ridley….

Ah, this one is very active, he yelps, as the little aamai tries to shake loose, and he dunks it right back in to the basket nest…

He waits a while, and peers inside the basket, and speaks softly to the little one… Just one picture, he says… And then he gently lifts it, and places it in his little left hand, for this nice little picture…

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, a new guest to the world, a little panguni aamai, soon to be let free, to swim all over the sea…

The great Master of Yoga

I came across this old b/w video clip in youtube, that showed one of the greatest masters of Yoga. Have a look.

For those of you who don’t know of him…

He was a great Yogi, who can well be credited as the one who brought Yoga to the modern world. He was such a great yogi that he could even stop his own heart beat. He was a student who found his own Master in the Himalayas. Spending many years with him in the region of Mount Kailas, he learnt the great science of Yoga. He is a man who taught Yoga to the Viceroy, Kings and common man, alike. He was the teacher of such great teachers of yoga as Desikachar, Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar and Indra Devi. He was also a great Ayurvedic physician, Vedic scholar, and a Mystic. He was the great Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who lived a hundred years (1888 – 1989)… (To know more about him, click here , or here)