Ennamo Vagaiyay Varuguthu Maane

We overslept a bit. We were supposed to be up at 4:30am and to watch the day's first sunlight from inside the temple. By the time I came to, it was 5:30 already and my friends were all fast asleep. We woke up one by one and got ready by around 6:45. The huge Rajagopuram is visible in this picture I took. Hurrying to the temple, we saw the magnificent icon of Garuda first, flanked by murtis of Angada and Sugreeva. This huge Garuda is in a sitting position with his palms anjalibandham . The idol is always wrapped in a white dhoti from the waist down. We then proceeded inwards to receive Namperumal's darshanam. Passing through the many prakarams of the temple, we finally saw Namperumal in the company of his consorts, Lakshmi Devi and Bhumi Devi. They are a sight to behold. The legend of Srirangam Stepping outside the Gayatri Mandapam, we worshipped the vimanam , itself called the 'Ikshvaku Kula Dhanam'. The Rangavimanam  was the vehicle in which Narayana appeared to Brahm...

The train that we were on, the Tiruchendur-Chennai Superfast, pulled into Chidambaram station at the break of dawn. Our second-class compartment was mostly empty by then. Walking around the town of Chidambaram, we asked a shop about a place where we could freshen up. The man directed us to a lodge. The place he recommended declined us, but empathetically directed us to another. We booked a room there for around two hours to shower and get ready. Sannidhis in the Nataraja Temple  From there we headed straight to the south gopuram of the grand temple. Adorning the inner walls of this gate were reliefs depicting Indian dance. Thillai Chidambaram is Natarajar, the lord of the dance. We left our bags and footwear outside and walked in. Seeing the vimanas of the grand sabhas as soon as we walked in was a profoundly spiritual experience. We first worshipped Dakshinamurti , whose sannidhi is immediately in front of the south gopuram. Dakshinamurti is a bhāvam of Shiva representing wisdom a...

My friends Neeraj Menon, Siddharth S Jayan, Ashwin Pavithran and Basil Joshua Reji began a tour of various temples in Tamil Nadu today. Our journey began at Thiruvananthapuram North station, where we boarded the Kollam-Kanyakumari MEMU to Kanyakumari Terminus. The railway line south of Thiruvananthapuram is incredibly scenic.  The fields where Kalliyankattu Neeli once roamed. Taken around Nagercoil town station. The beach in Kanyakumari is a mere fifteen minute walk from the railway station. We successfully evaded auto drivers and walked to the beach. There, we changed into our bathing suits and went swimming in the meeting of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The water in Kanyakumari is always a bright blue colour. The high tide today made for great swimming. No pictures, sadly, as all of us were in the sea together. Kanyakumari This bath was a purification ritual for us before our worship at the temple of Kanyakumari Amman on the seashore. This is an ancient temple in the Ta...

Why go if you know what lies beyond? Come, come, come to the shade of the white sky and the canopy. Come, for beside us, rivers run from the mountains into the sea. The water sees us, it wishes us well.  Not a sound does the river make that we do not hear. The canopy is quiet, fear not, it does not have a single secret. Why must you hear everything? I ask. He simply must. To not hear is to go. To go though he knows what lies beyond. To not hear is to leave the shade of the white sky and the canopy, he scoffs. Stay, I say, and hear. These boughs have no stories to tell. The river only wishes and wails. The birds are quiet; They would speak any other day. Only I speak today. And only you hear. ---- I have spoken. You have heard and have solemnly ignored the canopy, the rivers, and the birds. What have you learned? The windows have opened, he says. The windows have opened, and beauty has itself incarnated in your words. Crossing these banks, innumerable sparrows have come and perched ...

सर्वोपनिषदो गावो दोग्धा गोपाल नन्दनः ।  पार्थो वत्सः सुधीर्भोक्ता दुग्धं गीतामृतं महत् ॥   All the Upanishads are cows, and Gopala is the cowherd boy milking them. Arjuna is a calf. Wise men drink the exalted milk, the nectar of the Gita. There are hardly any Hindus in the world who have never been asked, or even pleaded, to read the Bhagavad Gita. The "Divine Song", as it is literally, is an extract of 700-odd verses from the Mahabharata , one of the two great Indian epic poems. Attributed to the divine author Veda Vyasa, the Gita touches on a lot of topics, all centred around the disillusionment of a prince when he was asked to fight his cousins. But once you read the Gita, you will realise why all those people told you to read it. I experienced this myself. Believe me when I say this, the Gita is no different from what our babas and purohits  claim it to be. It is pure nectar, and to know it for real, you've got to read it! I wouldn't probably have said...