Bali peedam

[Guest guest]

At 08:47 PM 5/27/03 -0700, you wrote:

>Pranams

>

>I request the bhagavathals to kindly tell me more

>about " bali peedam " . Does this have any connection

>with " Mahabali " ? I heard that perumal in srirangam

>is called dasa perumal and before namperumal

>purappadu, this perumal goes for bali.

>

>pranams once again

>rajalakshmi

 

 

Dear SrImathi Rajalakshmi:

 

Bali Peetam has nothing to do with MahA Bali.

 

Yes, there is a PerumAL known as Selvar , who

goes around for supervising Bali (Offering of

cooked rice and curd) at the Bali Peetam and

other specific areas of the temple. There is

a percussion instrument known as DavaNDai

that is beaten to accompany Selvar on this procession.

In GuruvAyUr , the SeevALI ( icon of Lord

GuruvAyUrappan on the temple elephant ) accomplishes

this function in addition to offering the darsanam

to the devotees.

 

At Bali Peetam , the offerings are made and

the food is deposited in the Nirruddhi direction .

The offerings are to the deities that guard

the temple of the Lord . Bali Peetam is adjascent

to the Dhvajasthambham (Garuda Sthambham) in

the VishNu Temples.Some believe that the Bali is

offered to the divinities of the temple to counter

the negativities that many bring in to the temple.

 

For VaishNavAs, ShAshtAnga NamaskAram in front

of the Bali Peetam must be done for two reasons:

 

1) Guru ParamparA vandhanam rites are

observed thru the ShAshtAnga NamaskAram

( Bali Peeta sameepE thu namEth Guru paramparAm).

Guru ParamparA( all the way from the Lord

to the current AchAryan ) dhyAnam is vital

for all of us inview of the MahOpakAram

that the AchAryans bless us with . Therefore ,

such a Vandhanam at Bali Peetam is an act of

immensely grateful acknowledgement of

their help by us , which can never be repaid.

 

2) ShaasthAnga NamaskAram at the Bali Peetam also

symbolizes the total and unconditional surrender of

the JeevAthma before the ParamAthmA . Prayer is made to

the ParamAthmA to remove all dhOshams of ahankAram

and MamakAram before proceeding to have the darsanam

of the Lord .

 

V.Sadagopan