South India Tour

[Guest guest]

Report by Rasamandala Dasa

 

On 28th May 2002 the South India tour, consisting of 250 Maharastrian,

Congregational devotees, arrived at ISKCON Tirupati. The tour was headed by

HH Lokanath Swami Maharaja.

 

In 1985 about 200 devotees, commemorating the 500 years of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu's appearance, travelled to all the places where the Lord had

visited in South India. This year our devotees made a mini-tour by bus and

visited the main places where Mahaprabhu stayed.

 

TIRUPATI

We arrived at the ISKCON Tirupati temple and were nicely received by the

local devotees. Here in Tirupati two days are needed in a waiting list to

see Sri Balaji. All our devotees had to first go and purchase queuing

tickets and in this way make an appointment to see the Lord. Every day one

hundred thousand people are coming from all over India to get darshan of

Balaji. Many woman, men and children have their heads completely shaven as

an offering to the Lord.

 

The story of Balaji: Brighu Muni went to Vaikuntha to test Lord Visnu by

putting his foot on His chest. Laksmidevi was feeling very offended. There

was a quarrel between Visnu and Laksmi, and Laksmi left Vaikuntha. Without

Laksmi Visnu became very poor. Visnu wondered everywhere looking for Laksmi

but He could not find her. On His way, He met a very beautiful girl called

Padmavati and the Lord decided to marry her, but being very poor, He

approached a lady called Vakula and asked her to help by financing the

wedding. Vakula in her past life was Mother Yasoda. When Krsna wanted to

end His pastimes, Yasoda complained that she had not yet seen His marriage

lila. Krsna promised His Mother that she will incarnate as Vakula in Kali

yuga and she will perform His marriage with Padmavati.

 

It is said that in Jaganath Puri Lord performs bhojana lila, eating 56 times

a day, in Vrndavan it is rasa lila, dancing with the gopis, in Sri Rangam

the Lord rests and in Tirupati He makes business. This is one of the

richest temples of the world, every day they collect 1 crore rupees.

 

KANCHIPURNAM

Kanchipurnam is believed to give eternal happiness to one who goes there.

Ramanujacarya lived here during his youth. 'Ka' means Brahma and 'anchi'

means worship. Lord Brahma worshiped Visnu at this place by performing the

asvamedha yajna. Here is Sri VaradaRaja temple, varada means the bestower

of all benedictions. Lord Varada Raja is in a very huge form with four

hands.

 

SRI RANGAM

 

Here the principle deity is called Sri Ranganath and it is said to be the

oldest deity in this material universe. He was originally given to lord

Brahma by Lord Visnu. Lord Brahma gave it to King Ikshvaku who passed it on

to Lord Ramamchandra. When Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya, after defeating

Ravana, Vibhishana (brother of Ravana) asked that the deity of Ranganath be

given to him. Vibhishana carried the whole temple and deity to Sri Lanka.

Rama had agreed to give the deity to Vibhisana, but wherever the deity

rested, He must stay in that place. The demigods did not want Ranganath to

go to Lanka. As Vibishana passed over Sri Rangam, Vibhishna had to stop to

answer natures call. When he tried to lift the temple, he could not.

However, it was arranged that the deity would face towards Lanka.

 

In Sri Rangam there was a bramhana who would read the Gita daily. He was

not much of a pandit, not very learned but he was a Vaisnava. People used

to laugh at him because of his poor pronunciation of the slokas but he was

not bothered by their criticisms. Lord Caitanya was watching the bramhana

from a distance. As he read from the Gita his body was quivering and tears

were coming from his eyes. Mahaprabhu was very happy to witness the

devotional symptoms of the bramhana. One day, Mahaprabhu approached the

brahmana and asked, "you are reading Bhagavata daily, so what have you

understood from this gita?" The brahmana replied, "I am reading this gita

on the instructions of my spiritual master. As I read the verses, I get a

picture of Kuruksetra and I see how Shyamasundara, very beautiful and

blackish, is communicating with Arjuna. As I read the gita, that beautiful

picture is appearing before my eyes. I do not want to stop this reading."

 

Lord Caitanya said, "You are the only qualified brahmana in this Sri

Rangasetra. Only you can understand the secrets Bhagavata gita".

 

Also in Sri Rangam is the samadhi of Ramanujacarya, who was an incarnation

of Laksman. The body of Ramanujacarya is still preserved in his original

form. A huge and beautiful deity of Garuda was also there, Garuda was

wearing a beautiful white dhoti. After getting darshan of Sri Rangam all the

200 devotees took bath in the sacred Kaveri river.

 

Caitanya Mahaprabhu during His pilgrimage to South India stayed in Sri

Rangam during the months of Caturmasya. Today, a Jaganath Math marks the

place where the Lord stayed, the house of Venkatta Bhatta. Here, there are

small deities of Jaganath, Baldeva and Subhadra which Caitanya Mahaprabhu

used to worship. The generation of Venkatta Bhatta is still taking care of

this small temple.

 

MADURAI

 

Madhurai is the second largest city in Tamal Nadu. The center of this old

town, and it's main temple, the Meenakshi mandir, goes back to the 14th

century and was built by the Pandyan king, Kulasekhara. Specifically, it is

a place of worship for devotees of lord Siva. The Meenakshi temple is

dedicated to Lord Siva (known here as Sundareswara, "lord of beauty") and

his wife, Meenakshi. The temple has a hall with 985 stone pillars, each

hand carved.

 

Meenakshi was born with three breasts and was told that one of the breasts

would disappear when she met the man she would marry. This happened when

she met lord Siva on Mount Kailash. Lord Siva told her to return to

Madurai, and eight days later he arrived in the form of lord Sundareswara to

marry her.

 

Meenakshi means "one who has eyes like a fish." Just as a mother fish has

to just glance on her spawn to develop life in them, so in the same way her

worshiper's spiritual life comes alive when goddess Meenakshi glances at

them.

 

RAMESVARAM

 

Ramesvaram, situated on the ocean, is one of the four main Dhamas of India

(the other three being: Jaganath Puri, Badrinath and Dwarka). The main

temple here was built in the 12th century and it houses a Sivalingum, named

Ramanathswami, which was installed by Lord Rama when He returned to the

mainland after killing Ravana in Lanka. Here, also is a floating rock, from

the days when the floating rock-bridge was built to cross into Lanka and

Rama tirtham and Laxman tirtham, places where Rama and Laxman bathed.

 

KANYA KUMARI

 

There is a temple of Kanya Kumari devi, Caitanya Mahaprabhu came here to

give darshan to this deity. When Kamadeva came here Lord shiva with his

eyes turned him to ashes.

 

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Our tour ended with Ratha yatra in Bangalore which was attended by HH

Jayapataka Swami, HH Banu Swami and HH Vrajanandan Swami and HH Lokanath

Swami.

 

In a class near the end of the tour, HH Lokanath Swami said:

 

"When we are seeing these big, big temples of South India, we are

overwhelmed. But what you miss....this is my realization for the last

week.......something is missing, incomplete in these big, big temples. Some

have a thousand pillars and are hundreds of feet high but there is no

chanting of the holy name of the Lord going on. I get more happiness in the

ISKCON temples from this chanting of Hare Krsna. These big temples, and

chanting of mantras was the religious process for the previous age, Dwarpa

yuga. What you see going on in South India...they are one age, one yuga

behind. Sukadeva Goswami says that in Kali yuga, Lord is realized by Hari

kirtana. Sukadeva Goswami is not part of the Hare Krsna, ISKCON camp. He

is the topmost authority.

 

The heritage of India is being preserved here in South India and we are

grateful. But there is some lesson that they have to learn. They are one

age behind. People are running after the darshan, "if I do not get darshan,

my life is spoiled". No, what is going on right here is the real dharma, to

sit here and hear Krsna Katha. When Lord Caitanya met Ramanda Ray, He asked

him what is the topmost religious practice?" Finally, Ramanada Raya said,

"hearing and chanting about Krsna, together in the association of devotees.

Lord Caitanya said, "Yes! this is the topmost." People have to understand

this. It is very important.

 

As followers of Srila Prabhuapda and Caitanya Mahaprabhu we have to

understand our sidhanta. Srila Prabhupada was very kind, empowered to

present the teachings of Mahaprabhu. He understood the mind of the Lord."

 

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We would like to give a big thanks to the devotees of ISKCON Tirupati, Sri

Rangam, Madurai and Bangalore for their very kind help and support.

 

Your Servant

Rasamandala dasa