Our Own Sri Guruvayurappan

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Our Own Sri Guruvayurappan

Swami

Vivekanand had said, “If there is a country which we can call the holy

land; where humans have achieved maximum development of kindness,

compassion, perseverance, mercy, and purity; where maximum development

of spirituality and introspection has taken place, it is the land of

India.” From ancient times, Bharat or India (so called after

Indus/Sindhu River) has been attracting the interests of the

foreigners. Some of them came to win over us, some to spread their own

religion, and some others only to get lost in the mystery and concept

called India. After reading an article in Saturday’s HT about Ms.

Pepita Seth’s new book ‘Heaven on Earth: The Universe of Kerala’s

Guruvayur Temple’, I couldn’t stop researching and sharing some pieces

of the peace which is spread from Jammu to Kerala… The Guruvayur Temple Every day of the year, thousands of pilgrims swarm into the sacred precincts of Kerala's Guruvayur temple. They come to seek the blessing of Lord Krishna,

known locally as Guruvayurappan, a deity whose precious idol was,

according to myth, originally worshipped by Lord Vishnu. Another belief

states that the idol was eventually inherited by Lord Krishna and

enshrined in Dwarka and that, just before His death, he declared that

it was to be re-installed in India's most sacred place. The task was

carried out by Brihaspathy, the Guru of the Gods, and Vayu, the Wind

God, whose combined names gave the temple its name. After travelling

all over India, they eventually arrived at the place where the present

temple now stands, and were welcomed by Siva and told that the purpose

of their journey was fulfilled. From these mythical beginnings, Guruvayur became one of India's most important temples, the small shrine that the Lord once occupied, now a mahakshetram, a great temple. It

is a temple whose elaborate poojas have survived the many vicissitudes

of history, of wars and changing times, always adhering to the rules

that Adi Sankaracharya is said to have laid down a thousand years ago.

That the temple has not only preserved this remarkable link with its

divine origins, but has also continued to respect and honour its unique

customs is largely due to the presence of the hereditary families,

priestly and otherwise, who continue to fulfil the duties assigned to

their ancestors many centuries ago. It is also a temple where devotion

to Guruvayurappan has remained undiminished by the passing centuries,

where the thousands of devotees who seek His compassionate blessing

still uphold the mystery of His divine presence. [ref] Pepita Seth Born in London in 1942, and married to actor Roshan Seth (Roshan Seth is popularly remembered for his role as Jawaharlal Nehru in Attenborough’s Gandhi), Pepita Seth is an internationally renowned writer-photographer. Pepita has been doing research on Malayali culture and traditions since 1972. Her book ‘Reflections of the Spirit: The Theyyams of Malabar’ had

come out of this research. She has lived in Kerala with locals for more

than 20 years. Natives of Kerala showered her with the same atithi-devo-bhawah culture

for which India has been known. "Does a daughter have to ask if she can

stay in her own home?” is what a local family responded when she asked

if she could stay with them. She stayed with this family from 1979-85. Her research centered on the temple's myth, its history, its rituals, its traditions and the beliefs of the worshipers. Theyyam is one of the most ancient ritual dance forms of Kerala. It is a form of hero-worship; people consider Theyyam as God and it involves unique head-dresses, costumes, and trance like performance. Priya Malhotra in her article about the writer

says: “The myths of the deities, spanning every aspect of the human

condition from rage and violence to repentance and forgiveness, have a

powerful cosmic spirituality, which is very different from the

Christian vision.” And Ms. Seth says, “Christ is

always compassionate, you never see another aspect of him. But there is

violence in life, there is terror in life and you can't tidy it up by

separating the good from the bad. Early Christianity tried to clean up

the act and pretend you had to be one or the other. So much in the

Western urbanized world of today, it's all nice-nice. With Theyyam,

you're dealing with a primal power. Nobody's fudging it.” This is where

understanding matters, not if one is a born Hindu or not. You can see some photographs taken by her on the Asianart.com site. Sri Guruvayurappan Here

is an excerpt from her recent book “Heaven on Earth: The Universe of

Kerala’s Guruvayur Temple” (Niyogi Books, 2008). You can find more

about the book at Amazon, or at Eastern Book Corp. “I

am English and grew up in Suffolk. My parents were neither churchgoers

nor in the slightest bit interested in any aspect of religion. They

did, however, adhere to the premise that God was an Englishman - a

concept that seemed to absolve them from any further involvement in the

matter. In any case, their generation considered that religion, like

money and politics, was never to be discussed. Devoid of any outside

stimulus that might arouse interest or curiosity, I should, I suppose,

have adopted their attitude and followed their example. Ironically,

things began to change in 1970 when I chanced upon a diary chronicling

my soldier-great grandfather’s participation in the 1857 march from

Calcutta to Lucknow, and his experiences in the subsequent fighting. Of

course, though the diary never mentioned religion in general or

Hinduism in particular, its effect was subtly subversive, for by

arousing my curiosity, it inspired me to make my first visit to India

to retrace the journey it described. Years later, an Indian friend

observed that my place of birth had been a postal mistake: “You were

addressed to India,” he said, “but wrongly delivered to England.” The

diary ensured that I was redirected. Yet though it certainly started my

relationship with India, it was my second visit that led me to

something deeper and more personal — a relationship with Kerala. Kerala

reached right inside me and rearranged how I looked at life, forcing me

to form my own opinion of the divine, the soul, the spirit and the very

nature of God. In many ways I was like a traveller who only discovers

the depths of his thirst when he arrives at a well. I drank deep and

experienced profound satisfaction. The

real miracle was Kerala’s willingness to allow me access to her sacred

spaces: her temples. Once I was officially permitted to enter Kerala’s

temples, a right I received in 1981, I was absorbed into a world that

never ceased to amaze and satisfy me. It is fitting (in the context of

my book on Guruvayur) that the first picture I took in Kerala was of

the temple’s legendary elephant, the great tusker Guruvayur Kesavan

(right). But when I began work on this book in 2001, I was terrified.

On my first day, I did nothing but sit on the steps of the

koothambalam, the temple’s theatre, convinced I could not do this.

Then, someone smiled at me in a way that made me feel enveloped and

comforted. I’m not alone here, I thought. When

all is said and done, everything that happened to me — all the support,

encouragement and help that I received — was always channelled through

Lord Guruvayurappan, given by his servants and devotees. Such emotions

are difficult to put into words but one day when I was talking to a

former Head Priest, I said, “Guruvayurappan is everything.” There was a

slight pause before he smiled and said, “He is everything. That’s it.”This is taken from the bloghttp://rahulwrites.rediffiland.com He is everything.