GURUVAYURPURA

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Hari-OM

 

You must be curious to know about the origin of the shrine at

Guruvayur. The " Narada Purana " in the chapter related to

Gurupavanapura Mahatmya alludes to this story: King Janamejaya, in

order to avenge the death of his father Pareekshit, brought about by

the Naga chief Takshaka, performed the " Sarpayajna " (snake sacrifice)

in which thousands of innocent reptiles perished. As a result of

their curse that befell him, he was afflicted with leprosy, which

left him in utter despair. Sensing this, sage Dattatreya appeared

before him with a remedy - Propitiation of Lord Krishna at Guruvayur.

 

The sage recounted, how the holy idol was blessed because

Narayana Himself was the first to worship it. At the beginning of the

Padma Kalpa, he gave the deity to Brahma (the Lord of Creation) who

could execute his task of Creation only by its grace.

 

At the beginning of the Varaha Kalpa, the childless couple,

Sutepa & Prisna prayed in earnest to Brahma for the gift of a son.

Brahma gave them this deity assuring them of their wish if they

worshipped the deity with sincere devotion. This they did with

excellence, so much so that the Lord Mahavishnu himself appeared

before them and they prayed for His blessings for a son. He pacified

them that he himself would be born to them as their son in three

successive births. Moreover, they would also have the good fortune of

worshipping the divine image in all the three janmas (births) and

so.. as the Lord wished, in the 1st janma, to Sutepa and Prisna was

born as their son, Prisigarbha. In their 2nd janma, as Kasyapa &

Adita, the couple worshipped the same image and got their son Vamana.

In their 3rd and most auspicious janma as Vasudeva and Devaki, Sri

Krishna was born to them.

 

After slaying Kamsa , Krishna moved to Dwaraka where he built

a temple, installed that image the supreme himself and worshipped it

after the death of his parents. When the time come of

his 'Swargarohana'( ascent to Vaikundha), Lord Krishna entrusted his

devoted disciple Uddhava, to take good care of the idol. When the

latter voived his fears regarding the fate that would befall mankind

in Kaliyuga during His absence, Krishna pacified Udhava that he would

manifest Himself in and infuse His glory into the idol; He would also

shield His devotees from the ill-effects of Kaliyuga and bless the

mankind. He appraised Udhava that a subsequence of Dwaraka was

impending and that he should install the image in an equally holy

spot in consultation with Brihaspati (Guru), the preceptor of the

Gods . Accordingly Guru along with Vayu (the God of Winds) set forth

to Dwaraka where they in tensed the image being tossed about in the

sea by the surging waves. The God of winds (Vayu) carried the image

of his lead and both set part in search of a sacred place for its

installation. In their quest, they came upon a lake of lotuses., none

other than the Rudratheertha where Lord Siva & Parvathi were waiting

to receive them. Siva told them that that spot was etched out for

Narayana long ago; hence he and Parvathi would move to Mammiyur, the

opposite bank. It is for this reason that a visit to Guruvayur is

considered incomplete without visiting mammiyoor temple. Guru and

Vayu installed the image in the temple built by Viswakarma, the

architect of the Gods. As Guru and Vayu together founded the temple,

the place came to be known as Guruvayurpura in accordance with

Shiva's wish. The name was later shortened to Guruvayur.

 

Moved by this story, Janamejaya proceeded to Guruvayur temple

where he observed austere devotion for four months. In the night he

would go to Mammiyur and bow before Shiva. One night while asleep he

felt the lord's healing touch over his body and his pain was no more!

He returned to his kingdom elated singing praises for the Lord.

 

 

 

Jai Shree Krishna !

In the devotional service of Bhagavan Shree Krishna !