Guruvayoor - Swaami SaraNam

December 30, 2009

Hari OM!Thank you uncle for sharing your experience as well. I am not pretending that the 15 hour queue was easy, but it was worth the wait. The Melsanthi Brahmasri Vishnu Namboodiri gave me prasadam and personally assured me about the neyyabhishekam! For the 18 steps, I wrote the following poem considering the10 indriyas (5 jnanedriyas and 5 kamendriyas; then 5 elements; chittam, budhi, ahamkaram- thus the total of18 steps. The last step ahamkaram is for surrender and then the holy darsanam. This is part of a poem available in Mathrubhumi's harivarasanam website (akatthirunnaarO SaraNam viLikkunnu...)http://www.harivarasanam.in/Ml/ayappa.asp?ID=31 & FM=P"à´ªà´¤àµà´¤à´¿à´¨àµà´¦àµà´°à´¿à´¯à´™àµà´™à´³àµà´‚ à´ªà´žàµà´šà´àµ‚à´¤à´™àµà´™à´³àµà´‚à´šà´¿à´¤àµà´¤à´µàµà´‚ à´¬àµà´¦àµà´§àµà´¯à´¹à´™àµà´•à´¾à´°à´™àµà´™à´³àµà´‚à´¹à´°à´¿à´¹à´°à´¤à´¨à´¯à´¨àµà´±àµ† à´¤à´¿à´°àµà´®àµà´¨àµà´¨à´¿à´²àµâ€ à´žà´¾à´¨àµâ€ à´•àµ‡à´±àµà´‚à´ªà´¤à´¿à´¨àµ†à´Ÿàµà´Ÿàµ à´ªà´Ÿà´¿à´•à´³à´¾à´£à´²àµà´²àµ‹à´®à´²à´•àµ‡à´±à´¿ à´ªà´Ÿà´¿ à´•àµ‡à´±à´¿ à´ªà´Ÿà´¿ à´ªà´¿à´±à´•àµ‹à´Ÿàµà´Ÿà´¿à´±à´™àµà´™à´¿à´®à´Ÿà´™àµà´™àµà´®àµà´ªàµ‹à´³àµâ€ à´žà´¾à´¨àµâ€ à´§à´¨àµà´¯à´§à´¨àµà´¯à´¨àµâ€à´…à´¹à´®àµŠà´Ÿàµà´™àµà´™àµà´®àµà´ªàµ‹à´³àµâ€ à´žà´¾à´¨àµâ€ à´¸àµà´µà´¾à´®à´¿ à´à´•àµà´¤à´¨àµâ€"(the above is in malayalam unicode. hope it is readable)hari OM!SukumarChandra Menon <chandrasmenon2002guruvayur Sent: Tue, December 29, 2009 11:27:22 AM[Guruvayur]

Guruvayoor

Om Namo Narayanaya

Dear Dr. Sukumar

You are definitely one in a "hundred" or "thousand" out of millions visiting "holy" places to realize this important lesson of waiting "long 15 hours" for Swamy Dharshanam and think that it was "worth". But many forget this on returning back to "normal" life, as waiting in a "Q" at post office or at Airport, cursing the person who is doing his/her job on the other side. When one goes to "Holy" places, one is expected to discard the ego and all other attachments, but I doubt how many do that.

I was told that the 18 steps at Sabhari mala,1 to 5 represent our (5) panchendriams (smell, hearing, sight, taste and touch), 6 to 13 represent our (8) ashtaraagas (kaamam, krodham, lobha, moham, madam, matsaryam, Dhambha and Asooya) 14 to 16 represent 3 Gunas (thamas, Rajas and Satwa) step 17 is for Vidya and 18 is for saayoojyam or saameepyam to Lord Ayyappa. But on return most indulge the same old "habits" that should have been left at HIS holy feet.

This Mandala pooja day on 26 Dec 2009 was a special day to me also. We were blessed to be at DFW temple for the celebration as this temple had an important role and attachment to my life. During 1995-1999 I was blessed to be a participant during the Mandala seasons. In 1995 Sabari Mala Melsanthi Shree Kandararu Maheshwararu and his nephew came to do a special pooja at this temple when they came for the installation (praanaprathishta) of Ayyappa Vigraha at Shiva Vishnu Temple near Washington DC and also at Meenakshi temple in Houston. He had lunch at our apartment in Euless TX and blessed us.

This year we reached the temple late, but the priest did a wonderful butter "alankaaram" that took little extra time. Then after the mangala aarathi had enjoyed the "prasadam" that was prepared by KHS (Kerala Hindu Society - I am still a member) for that we had to stand in line "patiently" but that was worth. More than seeing Lord Ayyappa, I could see many "Ayyappans" and HIS smiling faces in the temple. That was a wonderful experience.

I am glad that you were lucky to see our Sundara Narayana (VPN) and Dr. Sreedevi Menon and could spent some time with them at "Bhooloka Vaikuntam" and that is also another blessings from HIM.

Om Namo Narayanaya

Chandrasekharan

"live and let live"

"They alone live who live for others, rest are more dead than alive"