Guruvayoor Improvement Plan and a request to Sajeev

[Guest guest]

Dear Pravin Balan,

Very good suggestions. I am impressed with your practicality and

suggestions backed up by ways to implement it. Good.

 

What we lack now is a way to convey our suggestions to the devaswom

and make some arrangements for devaswom to adopt our suggestions.

 

Sanjeeve, You have mentioned that you will be visitng Guruvayoor

soon, will you be able to take an appointment with the Devaswom

Administrator and temple manager etc ? Convey them about the Devotee

forum from around the world and what we like to do. It is not just

suggesting a few changes but participating and helping in whatever

way we can to improve Guruvayoor.

 

Many of us can help with our experiences from around the world to

improve facilities and functions in guruvayoor, like the way Pravin

has suggested from his experiences.

 

Sanjeeve, Please let me know if you can meet some officials on behalf

of our 'World Guruvayoor devotees forum'

 

Thanks and God bless you all.

 

Om Namo Narayanaya:

 

Sunil Menon.

 

 

 

guruvayur , " hba9331 " <pravin9@e...> wrote:

> Om Namo Narayanaya!

>

> Lord Guruvayoorappans temple in Guruvayur is among the oldest

temples

> in Kerala. I must thank the Devasom authorities and everybody else

> for maintaining the sanctity of this temple to the best possible

> standards. Some of the points given below are related to the

Guruvayur

> Improvement plan and which kept coming to my mind again and again

> since Sunil came up with the Improvement Plan.

>

> 1. Sankalpa : People who have visited Sri Mookambika Devi temple in

> Kolur (Karnataka) would be familiar with this ritual I would like

> Devasom to start a similar service in Guruvayoor temple, whereby

> devotees could perform this Sankalpa near the Sreekovil and get

> Darshanam of the lord without having to wait in the queue.

>

> Benefits

> Get Darshanam and blessing of the Lord for the full family

> More priests would get employed. (one priest to handle one family

at a

> time)

> More income for Devasom

>

> 2 12 Darshanams: It is considered very auspicious if we could get

all

> the 12 Darshanams of Lord Guruvayoorappan on a single date.

Currently

> every devotee would have to queue up 12 or more times to get this

> done, if Guruvayoor Devasom could start a special facility which

could

> guarantee all 12 darshanams to any willing devotee, this would be

very

> helpful, especially during peak rush seasons.

>

> Benefits

> Get Darshanams and blessing of the Lord

> Get Prasadams, including special prasadam from the Sree Kovil

> Employment for kavalkaran who would be responsible for his team

> More income for Devasom

>

> 3 Long Queue: Lord Guruvayoorappan has his own ways of allowing

> devotees to have Darshanam at the temple, sometimes he allows us to

> get quick darshan and sometimes we have to queue up for long time.

> Currently we find serpentine queue inside the temple, often

extending

> to outside the temple. It would be very beneficial if Devasom,

could

> convert the area above the Prasadam Ticket counter area to allow

> devotees to queue where benches and fans can be provided, this

could

> be modeled like the facility at Tirupathi. This would be very

helpful

> for the aged, children and women. Devasom to work out the

modalities

> and logistics for this facility.

>

> Benefits

> Less Noise and din inside the temple.

> Allow for a calm and tranquil atmosphere in the waiting hall,

> Allow devotees to chant 'Om Namo Narayana' till they get Lords

> Darshanam.

>

> 4 Clean-up the Chituvelaku: The chituvelaku is one of the

beauty

> spot of Guruvayur temple, especially when it is lit up in the

night.

> It would be very beautiful even during day time if the brass

covering

> and the area around the same could be cleaned on a regular basis.

One

> idea I would like to suggest in this respect is to use pressure

water

> (kind of one used in Car service station) may be mixed with a

chemical

> compound (not smelly like WD40) to remove the oil spill and the

green

> coating on the same with little trouble. The wall behind this

> chituvelaku too can be cleaned using the same process allowing the

> beautiful stone work to be revealed. People tend to keep away from

the

> foundation wall since there are often oil spills on them and they

try

> avoid get those stuck on their dress.

>

> 5 Kitchen inside the temple: The big kitchen used to prepare

> prasadam located to the left of West Nada, should be fully secured

or

> shifted to a place outside the temple. The unfortunate inside in a

> Tamil Nada school recently should not be forgotten. In any case

> marking of fire exit and Fire Drills are a must for not only

Devasom

> staff, but also for the staff manning shop and establishments

around

> the temple. I am sure Devasom must be taking the necessary

precautions

> in the respect.

>

> 6 Posters and Music: Devotional music cassettes have become big

> business in India and it seems every music company churns out

numerous

> cassettes in a year to deal with each season. We do not mind the

> business part of this, but playing these cassettes in top volume

> around the temples in Kerala has to be stopped. Areas in and around

> the temples are supposed to be quiet and tranquil and the blaring

of

> such music does not help in this respect. I am sure just by

reducing

> the volume would not affect the business of these vendors. Another

> issue related to this issue is the posters released by the music

> companies, these posters contain the picture of various Gods and

> Goddesses and they are stuck on every nook and corner, some of them

> get torn and mutilated after some time. Devasom should take up the

> matter with the concerned authorities to stop the above two

practices.

> Educating and requesting the music companies and the vendors around

> the temple too could give positive results.

>

>

> Please excuse me for any grammatical errors. I look forward to your

> views and comments on the above points. Thanks

>

> Om Namo Narayanaya!

>

>

> Pravin Balan