[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] In service of Guruvayurappan

January 31, 2008

Om Namo Narayanaya. Dear Savitriji, Thank you for sharing with us your experiences. Truly you are blessed to have the inclination to do these activities. Houston is also blessed to have both you and your husband engage in spiritual sadhana. Attending Bhagavatha sapthaham and participating in nama japam is something I have missed since coming to the US. I am in Columbia, South Carolina. We do have a nice Hindu temple with regular activities, such as Saturday mornings Venkatesha suprabhatam and Vishnu Sahasranamam recital followed by deeparadhana and evening Hanuman chalisa recital. Upcoming Feb 10th is Saraswati pooja. [members who have difficulty with some terminology - pl. Note - Deepaaradhana is the traditional closing of the temple door for 15-20 minutes followed by extended pooja with lamps/villakku; if some terms are not understood, pl. feel free to ask. We have many senior members such as Dr. Sarojaji, KVGji, and other

devotees who are fluent in multiple languages and can guide us; maybe if there is a requirement and Sunilji agrees, we can prepare a glossary of commonly used terms and upload to the files section for ready reference]. In Adi Shankara's Vivekachudamani, he says - "durlabham trayam evai-taddeva anugraha hetukam manushyatwam mumukshatwam mahapurusha samshrayaha" || 3 || Sankara says to be born as a human is a rare thing (manushyatwam) and is a sign of God's grace. Then is 'mumukshatwam' - the understanding that the ordinary pursuits in life are futile and to have an enthusiasm to seek a nobler path in life - is rarer still. Finally, the craving for the company of the wise (mahapurushasamshraya) is the rarest. Sankara attributes all these virtues to the grace of Bhagwan. [From Swami Chinmayananda's English translation]. Indeed Guruvayurappan

brought you to this group so that we can all benefit from your experiences. I request you to continue sharing them with us. Om Namo Narayanaya. Veena. Savitri Puram <savitriopuram wrote: Dear Guruvayurappa dasaas ad dasees,I had written to one of the members about what we had in the Meenakshitemple in Houston last Sunday. So she suggested to write about it tothe group. These are some of the activities we do in the temple by thegrace of Guruvayurappan.Absolutely by the grace of

Guruvayurappan, for the last 53 months myhusband Mr. Chitrabhanu have been telling Bhagavatha Katha once amonth based on the Bhagavatham moolam. We had finished up to dashamaskandham by Krishnasthami. So we had a grand Krishnaavathaarampresentation on the Krishnaashtami day.

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February 2, 2008

Dear Savitriji,

Om Namo Narayanaya

Really blessed your family to conduct successfully these activities in USA and please continue sharing which may also be an inspiration to people staying outside our country.

May HIS blessings be always upon you and your family.

Regards

Arun Sasi

On 1/30/08, Savitri Puram <savitriopuram wrote:

Dear Guruvayurappa dasaas ad dasees,I had written to one of the members about what we had in the Meenakshitemple in Houston last Sunday. So she suggested to write about it tothe group. These are some of the activities we do in the temple by the

grace of Guruvayurappan.Absolutely by the grace of Guruvayurappan, for the last 53 months myhusband Mr. Chitrabhanu have been telling Bhagavatha Katha once amonth based on the Bhagavatham moolam. We had finished up to dashama

skandham by Krishnasthami. So we had a grand Krishnaavathaarampresentation on the Krishnaashtami day. We had several children readGeetha and Naaraayaneeyam and small Krishna statues were distributedto the children. Also a credit card size plasticized Guruvyurappan

with brass sudarshana chakram on the side was given to each familyattended. These were brought from Guruvayur during one of our trips.Another devotee family sponsored the lunch after Krishnaavathaaram.Now after that he finished the story of Vatsaasura and Bakkasure last

Sunday. Also after the Bhagavatham, as an annadaanam offering, weinvite all the attendees to our home for a simple lunch of Saambar,morukoottan, mulakushyam or muthirakkoottan, kaaya mezhukkupuratti,thyre, pickle and the paal paayasam after offering to Guruvayurappan.

Usually between 15-20 people will be there and often we have more.Also with a lot of help from other devotees we were blessed toorganize Akhanda naama japam twice. Last one was the Saturday beforethe Vaikundha Ekadashi. We started at 6.30 AM with Vishnu sahasra

naamam and finished at 6.30 PM with Vishu sahasra naamam. Lot ofpeople attended and we took turns of 15 minutes each. Often more thanone people were chanting, but at least one person was chanting without break all the 12 hours. Also we got some books printed for

Likhitha japam with squares in each page to write the Narayana namam.We sold it for what ever money they were ready to contribute and gavethat to the temple.We often do Narrayaneeya paaraayanam also. Twice we did the whole

Naraayaneeyam in one day starting at about 8.30 AM and finishing atabout 7.30 PM. We took break after every 25 chapters. Usually I readthe chapter and my husband tells the story in brief. We did 25chapters in one day several times. It will be about 4 hours and then

we get to tell stories a little bit more elaborate and this gave timefor audience participation for intermittent bhajans. We did naivaedyamfor each avathaaram, Kaaliya mardanam, (everybody didGovindaabhishekam after Govardhana uddhaaranam,), Rukmini Swayamvaram,

Avil naivedyam during Kuchelavrittham and after Agre Pashyaami, we haddeepaaraadhana and prassadam distribution. In between we haddiscussion and sharing of anubhavakathakal by some people.Also we had the good fortune to do Krishnaavathaaram in Minneapolis in

connection with an 84th birthday. If any one of you in U.S is planningto visit Houston, please let us know. May be we can plan somethingduring that time.Please let us know what are your activities so that we can share some

of the ideas to spread the word about Guruvayurappan. For theNaarayaneeyam and Bhagavatham some non-malayalees also come and hencewe tell the story in English. Once we did for Kerala Hindu Society (only 10 chapters) in Malayaalam.

One thing we have to share with you. When we make one step,Guruvayurappan makes us take 10 steps holding our hands. I am leavingfor Guruvayur on 6th with my devotee friend Dr. Pankajam who is also amember of this group now. Guruvayurappan willing, we will be blessed

to do 12 days bhajan in Guruvayur during the Utsavam season. Last yearwe were fortunate enough to be there and it was a blissful experience.When we come back we will write about it.May Guruvayurappan be with all of us to motivate each other and think

of Him continuously.Regards and prayersSavitri -- AS