Greatness of Guruvayoor Temple !!!!... ( By KVG)

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THE GREATNESS OF GURUVAYOOR TEMPLE .

HANTHA BHAGYAM JANANAAM!

The concluding words *HANTHA BHAGYAM JANANAAM* ! (Wonderful indeed, is the fortune of mankind !) of the first sloka of this great work, NARAYANEEYAM, have become the watch-word of Guruvayoor, because NARAYANEEYAM, an epitome of Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam is identical to the Lord. Devotees consider themselves extremely fortunate and blessed even to have a Darsanam of the Lord, who is the same as Brahman, the Supreme Consciousness..One can find these words inscribed right at the entrance of the shrine.

The idol of the Lord at Guruvayoor, supposed to be of divine origin, is said to have been worshipped by Vasudeva and then by Lord Krishna Himself at Dwaraka. Before the divine ascent of Lord Krishna back to His abode in Vaikunta-loka at the conclusion of His incarnation, He had instructed Uddhava, His devotee and minister that this image would come floating when Dwaraka would be engulfed by the sea, after His departure. At Uddhava's behest, Guru (Brihaspati, the Deva-guru) along with Vayu (the Wind-god) looked for a suitable spot, and as instructed by Lord Siva, installed the same at the present location, which later came to be known as GURU-VAYU-OORâ€, meaning the place of Guru and Vayu, the sanskritised name being GURU-PAVANA-PURAM. As the Divine ascent was at the beginning of Kali-yuga, the temple is supposed to be about 5,100 years old. As the image had its origin at Vaikuntam, devotees consider this shrine as Vaikuntam on earth, or Bhooloka-Vaikuntam.

The following story stands testimony to the antiquity of the image, as narrated in the Guruvayoor Mahatmyam.

[Long time ago, in the period Swayambhuva Manvantharam, King Suthapas, along with his spouse Prisni, desirous of begetting a child, did penance for twelve thousand divine years before the idol of Lord Vishnu, given to them by Lord Brahma. Immensely pleased by their devotion, the Lord appeared before them in the form of Lord Vishnu and asked them to seek any desired boon. Filled with great joy and ecstasy on seeing the comely divine form that appeared, Suthapas prayed thrice with considerable desire: "It would be good if a son equal to Thee is born". The Lord, lover of devotees that He is, stated: "Only I am equal to Me. Therefore, I shall Myself incarnate as your son, in order to fulfil your desire. Since you have repeated your prayer thrice, I shall be assuming the aspect of your son in three births. Saying thus, the Lord disappeared. Not long afterwards, the Lord manifested Himself under the name," Prisnigarbha", as the son of Prisni and Suthapas.

It is the same couple who were born as Kasyapa and Adithi in the next birth. They also worshipped and prayed to the same idol of the Lord as in their previous birth.Thereafter, Adithi, who was very sad at the plight of their sons, the Devas, who were being tormented by the Asuras, observed the austerity known as "Payovratha" (details of Payovratha are given under the commentary of Sloka 2, Dasakam 30 which deals with the Vamana Incarnation.) and as a result of that, the Lord manifested Himself as their son, Vamana.

Later, the self-same couple, in their third birth, were born as Vasudeva and Devaki in the city of Mathura. Sage Dhoumya presented them with the same idol of the Lord which was worshipped by them in the earlier births. Owing to the force of habit or "Vasana", Devaki and Vasudeva worshipped that idol again with unstinted devotion. The Lord manifested Himself as their son, in this, their third birth also, as Sri Krishna. It was to remind them of the story of the two earlier births, that the Lord manifested Himself with the signs and symbols of Lord Vishnu at the time of His birth.

After slaying Kamsa, the Lord Himself installed and consecrated at Dwaraka, His own idol, the very same divine idol, which, in times gone by was given by the Lord to Brahma, by Brahma to Prisni-Suthapas, then to Adithi-Kasyapa and then to Devaki-Vasudeva. That idol became the object of worship by all, including the Lord. Later, at the time of the Ascent of the Lord, at His own behest, the idol was recovered and reinstalled at the present location at Guruvayoor by Guru (Bruhaspati or Jupiter) and Pavana (Wind-god) for worship by those born in Kali- yuga ! Fortunate indeed is mankind! HANTHA BHAGYAM JANANAAM ]

There are numerous instances which have happened even in the recent past showing the affection of the Lord of Guruvayur to His devotees. Though many a common man has experienced these, one or two incidents which occurred in the life of the great devotee, Sengalipuram Brahmasri Anantharama Dikshitar, whose erudite discourses earned him the title of Upanyasa Chakravartiâ and whose Tamil commentary on NARAYANEEYAM made this hymn very popular outside Kerala, are worth mentioning here.

In his book titled SrimanNARAYANEEYAM in Tamil (First edition, 1960, reprint 1989), at the beginning of his commentary covering each dasakam, he has narrated his own experiences and various anecdotes in order to bring out the greatness of the Lord of Guruvayoor and the efficacy of prayers focused on Him, some of which are shared below:

During his discourse at Alatur (Palakad Dt., Kerala) during the fifties, Dikshitar expressed his desire to visit the temple at Guruvayoor, and his host, banker Sri. M.N. Ramaswami Iyer readily agreed to take him. He reached Guruvayoor around 7 P.M. As he reached the temple, a member of the Cochin royal family, who was conducting Bhajanas there, and who had not even seen Dikshitar earlier, came running and conveyed to Sri. Dikshitar that he had told the devotees present, of his impending Bhagavatam discourses, and they have been awaiting his arrival since 4 P.M. As no advance information was given about his going to Guruvayoor, Dikshitar was very much surprised at this and on enquiry was told by the member of the Cochin Royal Family with tears of joy that Guruvayoorappan Himself was flashing such a thought along with Sri. Dikshitar's image to him from 4 PM. Needless to say, Dikshitar stayed there for a week and conducted discourses on Srimad Bhagavatam and NARAYANEEYAM.

It was on 4th August 1957, when Sri Dikshitar found himself without a suitable anecdote for inclusion at the beginning of a particular dasakam while writing his Tamil commentary on NARAYANEEYAM. Suddenly, the popular Ghatam Vidwan Alangudi Ramachandran entered and shared his own experience: Ramachandran's wife had been ailing for a long time, when a devotee came and told him that if he vowed to offer ' Pattu Koupeenam (Silken Loin cloth) for bracing the Lord for 7 days, his wife would be cured. He also said that the Lord might come even as a messenger. Ramachandran made a vow on the same lines and also gave Ayurvedic treatment for his wife in Kerala. She got completely cured.