The one thing that we do without being aware of?

What is that one thing we do right from our Birth without even being aware of?

Of course, we breathe...:);):).

 We may or may not brush, we may or may not bath, we may or may not even eat. But we keep learning all days through our entire life, either we do it knowingly or unknowingly.

The never ending Learning Process.

Browsing internet, surfing, looking at a movie, jogging and watching people move, meeting new people, what is that we do? we learn.

There are usually 4 kinds of people.
1. People who learn looking at others (how to be and how not to be)
2. People who have the common sense to discriminate things on their own, Think and analyse what is right and what is wrong.
3. Few people listen to advice of the elders who have undergone such issues and incorporate the same in their lives.
4. There is this category. Who learn from their own experience. Of all the four Categories, no one will deny that "EXPERIENCE is the best teacher"
5. 6,7... many be many more

"Never Stop learning. Because, Life never stops teaching." is another famous quote.
Every story we hear, every happening, every biography, auto biography, every text (we call as message), every movie tells us a lot of messages. Watching the famous movie Avatar today, i learned a lot of things. Children learn a lot from day one, learn everything as it is as their power of discrimination is not yet functioning. The environment has a greater impact on them.

If they are brought up in good environment, they grow in to good individuals. If kids are brought up in stressful environment or see their parents quarrel, they get a wrong opinion about life. Watching every movie leaves an impact, watching movies with good messages will leave a positive impact, watching horror, tragedy,( I have even seen people cry watching the characters suffer in the move) leaves the impact.

Nothing teaches the lesson greater than PAIN. PAIN does lot of things. Few people fear the pain that will be caused and stop trying. The words PAIN, FEAR and TRY have lots of effect on people's life.
The other side of FEAR is our Success. We need to TRY to overcome FEAR to succeed and the first step that pulls us involuntarily to Succeed is PAIN.

No one wants Pain in life. But everybody encounter pain in sometime of our life which pulls our life and makes it meaningful. So, we have no choice but Experience everything!.

Let me know your thoughts on this leaving a comment please!

Guru Pooja / The devotion towards Mentor

Guru Pooja / The devotion towards Mentor

Guru Bhakthi is one of  the basic quality seen in Indians. We people have this attitude of gratitude. and our culture and traditions are so rich that we respect, devote ourselves to the Guru or Mentor.

We still remember our teachers of our schools. We remember that one teacher who left an impact in us. They have been the building blocks of our characters. They in fact build a society.

"Acharya Devo Bhava"- Let us worship Teacher as God, says Veda.

Especially with respect to the carnatic music world, I am thrilled to see this devotion to the Guru very interesting. It is told that in earlier days students would go to the Gurus' ashram, stay with them, help them with their daily activities and learn the knowledge. Though that is not still in existence, we can still see students who strictly stick to their Gurus, who follow the tradition and sampradaya of Music that has come down through their School of Music. They call it Guru-shishya Parampara, the  Musical family, bringing down the knowledge down the generations.

I am writing this post after visiting the Guru Pooja of  Mirdhangam Vidwan Palani Sri. M.Subramania Pillai.

The event begun with Isaianjali where the Vidwans and their students sang various Classical and devotional songs.

Nanogenarian Mridangam Vidwan Madras Sri. Kannan ( aged 97 years) shared his musical experience with great stalwarts and also presented a wonderful Lecture demonstration. His guru Bakthi and humbleness was very clear in the way he presented the lecture. He mentioned to will have to take more births to learn more and it is because of His Guru's blessings he is sitting among the scholars.

The Special note of thanks to all the students who organize such events that inspire the current generation to take this Guru bhakthi and discipline forward.

The Window seat

The Window seat

Sitting by the window seat, in the bus I enjoyed my journey along the hills of Uttar khand. It was like I was swirling around with hills everywhere. Where ever I turn, I could see mountain clad with little snow, clad with passing clouds , clad with greenery, few mountains with trees grown huge making unable to track how big it actually was.

The ride early in the morning made it even more beautiful with the sun shining through the window glass.

I let the imagination out. The trees moving backwards and it was lovely to watch the sun hide and seek between the branches. This reminded me of my college days , the journey to college in the morning. Close to my college were very huge trees on either side of the highway. It was very beautiful sight to look at the sun play hide and seek between its branches.

We had to stop at several places as people were working clearing the slides which are very common in the hilly Uttar khand, India.

Also one cannot stop wondering how people lived there. Rarely we could find people walking along the road. Few localities. Here is a picture of one of the localities I captured using my mobile phone.

She must have been busy collecting wood..!

The journey of life is beautiful. It depends on how we enjoy it!

Bhavani - Mukkoodal

Bhavani- பவானி மூக்கூடல் 

Mukkoodal- another Prayag that I visited by the end of this year is Bhavani, where the rivers Kauvery and Bhavani merge. It is said that the river amudha Nadhi also flows invisible in this region, making it as Mukkoodal (Merge of 3 rivers). This city is also called the carpet city, the leading business of the city is carpet industry.

Wonderful sculptures on the pillars of the temple

Southern Triveni Sangamam or Mukkoodal

We booked a cab from Erode railway junction, and we reached the temple at the junction of this prayag, Lord shiva seated as Sangameshwarar and Goddess Parvathi as Vedha Nayagi.  We reached the temple at 4 PM and had the darshan of the God & Goddess offering Bilva & Arali for them respectively. God Shiva is in his usual form- Linga and Devi is cute tiny little girl with a glowing Mookuthi, an ornament worn in the nose, hence she is also called “NasikaBhushani”.

Temple Gopuram

The temple is simple & beautiful. The sculptures in the Mandapam before entering the sanctum of goddess stands proof of yet another sample for Vijayanagar art & architecture. There are sculptures of soldiers on Horse and Yazhi, it may be portrayed as part lion, part elephant and part horse, and in similar shapes in many temples. It is a mythical creature seen in many temples, might have become extinct, who knows?? These soldiers on every pillar are at the entrance of the mandapam. There are girls in the side. One among who is named “Smiling damsel” (Sirikkum Paavai). From wherever you look at this statue, she will smile at you.  

The tails and the ropes of the horses are beautifully carved and are evidence of the ancient architecture & cultural back ground and the meticulous work of the artists. The ceiling of the mandapam is yet another thing that will attract the attention of the art lovers. Me & my uncle couldn’t take our eyes of it for a long time. It is a square structure with Gods or the devathas playing Indian classical instruments like veena, Mirdhangam, Tambura & few dancing. Goddess with several hands, a women giving dance poses are seen carved in the ceiling.

The ceiling of the Mandapam leading to Ambal Sannadhi

The sanctum of Goddess vedha nayagi is simple & the praharam has the pictures of Parvathi in various forms  in tamil nadu– Akilandeswari, raja rajeshwari, Bhuvaneshwari, Abirami, lalithambal, Meenakshi, kamakshi, brahan nayaki, and many more.

The Palli arai or the bed room of the God & goddess have a cradle made of Ivory. This Ivory cradle had been signed & donated to the temple by then British collector of the Coimbatore district, William Garrow in 1804. It is said that he was staying in the inspection bungalow near the temple. It was raining heavily. The collector was sleeping in the hall.Lord vedha nayagi came in the form of young girl and woke up the collector at mid night and brought him out of the bungalow.As soon as the collector came out the bungalow, the roof of the bungalow fell down. The girl ran in to the temple & disappeared. The temple aacharya told the collector that the girl who saved his life was actually Lord Vedhanayagi ambal.The collector wished to see the ambal deity. Hence three holes were made in the eastern side compound wall viewing the sanctum sanctorium.The collector offered his prayer to Ambal through the holes. On seeing the Ambal, collector confirmed that the girl who saved his life was none but vedha nayagi herself and presented a cradle made of ivory as his gift to the temple on 11-01-1804 as a mark of his respect with his official signature engraved on it. The ivory cradle is kept in tact in the Palli arai or sayana Alayam. The three holes through which the collector worshipped the goddess are seen still in the compound wall of the temple. This is the greatness of the Goddess Lord vedhanayagi Amman who is also called Bhavani Amman.

We can still find the ivory cradle in the praharam of the Ambal sannadhi.

Another speciality of this temple is you can also see special Sannadhi for Lord Vishnu in the form of Adhi varaha perumal, Lakshmi narasimhar, Santhana Gopala krishnar and Bama Rukmini samaetha Krishnar within the temple. This is the second place nect to Chidambaram where I saw special sannadhi for Lord Vishnu within the temple premises of Lord Shiva. 

To enjoy the architecture one must definitely visit this temple. The outer Mandapam of Vishnu sannadhi has satatues of Dasavatharam, the 10 avatharas of lord Vishnu, Gaja Lakshmi, The Naalvar (Appar, Sundarar, Manikkavasagar, Thirunavukkarasar), The statue of Kannapa nayanar piercing his eyes to place on the shiva linga which is bleeding on which he has placed his leg, Chidambaram Natarajar

There is special sannadhi for Kala Bhairavar in the outer premesis of the temple.

Going to bhavani during the tamil month of Aadi will be a visual treat as one can also enjoy the beauty of the river full of water. The time we went was off the season & there was little water stagnant in few places.

Visitors & devotees of the temple are requested to keep the temple clean.Temples of tamilnadu are the evidence of the greatness of our ancestors and tamil people who have been versatile and had a rich cultural taste. Every pillar and statute tell us the time spent and skill  of the artists of those days. It also tells us the interest of the people and the more religious alignment of the people. When we understand the scientific reason behind the engineering & architecture, it really makes me open my mouth with awe. How great our ancestors have been  and we can proudly state that we are one among the richest civilization. So, may be in the years that follow, where our growth is more technology driven, we must at least take some time and effort saving all these treasures our ancestors have left us making us wonder after several centuries.

For more details refer the links below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavani,_Tamil_Nadu

Karumbayiram konda Pillayar, Kumbakonam

Karumbayiram Pillayar temple

This is a very famous and very old Vinayagar/ Pillayar temple in Kumbakonam. This temple is situated in the region surrounding the Adhi Kumbeswarar temple. People in Kumbakonam pray this God offering sugarcane and Coconuts.

Karumbu means sugarcane and Ayiram means 1000 (Thousand). The main deity of the temple Vinayagar named Karumbayiram pillayar. Has a story behind this naming.

A trader was travelling through the place with a cart full of sugarcane.  While passing through the border of this place, he was tired, parked his cart near the temple tank, washed his face and continued the journey.  A little boy asked for a piece of sugarcane.  The cart man refused and continued the journey.  The boy chased demanding a piece of cane.  Some people advised the man to give the boy a piece of cane and that he won’t lose anything.  The boy also looked fat as a Pillayar, they said. But the trader had no heart to give him one.

The trader simply said that the sugarcane he was carrying was something as a grass stick and it would not be sweet but salty.  He also said that unless it is crushed in the mill, it would not be sweet.   The boy said that he was lying and they would become simply grass sticks and disappeared.

The trader reached the mill and asked for crushing.  The mill man laughed at him and said that grass sticks are not crushed.  The trader realized his folly.  Returning home, the trader fell asleep.  The boy appeared in his dream and said that he was rewarded for speaking a lie.  The trader understood that the boy was but Lord Vinayaka, went to the temple and begged Lord’s pardon.   Merciful Lord changed the grass sticks into sugarcanes.  Since then He is praised as Karumbayiram Pillayar

Outside wall of the temple

The temple  has few steps at the entrance  to be climbed and has the fat Vinayagar well seated  in his usual form. The temple also has other Gods and Navagraham. The temple is simple and beautiful. The priests offer Vibhoothi prasadham. We visited this temple as family and prayed the lord to keep our lives as sweet as the sugar cane.

Maha Ganapathiye Namah!!