Building Guru Raghavendra Mrithika Brindavanam: Experiences

The site pictures that has been taken after the plants has been planted are available at the following location: http://picasaweb.google.com/vasan.vs/200912091#

It was ordained that today was the D day where I would get to meet up the learned person from Srirangam who will offer his consultation on the pancharatra agama sastra to be used for the construction of the temple. The material on this agama sastra is very difficult to get for the common man as there are not much of resources available on the net on this topic. For some details on this agama sastra, you can visit the wikipedia site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa%C3%B1caratra By HIS grace, it looked like this meeting with the learned pandit also should happen only in front of Sri Pandurangar in the usual temple that I frequent very much. It served as another lesson and reiteration of the facts that he is continously blessing us on the success of this endeavour!!!! Sarvam Sri Krishnarpanamastu

Today was Sunday, December 06, 2009 (Karthiga month, Ravivar) - a very auspicious day for Sri Lakshmi Narasimmar. It looks like that the initial seeds in this property has to be planted on this auspicious day. In the morning today, we went to the place with all the small plants and seedlings to plant the various trees - cocunut, mango and various flower plants - in the proposed property which once grown can be potentially used for the various requirements in the brindavanam temple. These have been planted in various locations of the property in a distributed manner throughout. Let Lord Lakshmi Narasimmar shower his blessings and ensure that these plants blossom into bigger plants/trees producing different items that could be offered back to HIM itself on a daily basis!!! Sarvam krishnar panamastu

Yesterday, I had taken one of my close relatives to the location where the rayar brindavanam is proposed to come up. Like all of the people before who were taken for the first time, the immediate comment from the relative was that 'it was a very far off place' and 'people will not come to the temple at this remote place'. Immediately on hearing these comments (although this comment is not the first time coming from somebody seeing the place for the first time!!!), my heart skipped some beats thinking of whether have we made any wrong decision.... Immediately, I realized that this was not MY decision to go in for the temple in this location but it was HIS decision. This also started my thinking bells.... Why do people go and visit temple? Why do I visit any temple? Is it because like a hotel or a cinema hall we visit the temple for recreation purposes? If so, yes it has got to be in a place that is very close to residences or easily accessible if they are far off from a ...

A couple of weeks back, my wife broached up the topic of what are the next steps that we should be doing in this project and how we are going to handle the finances since it was a pretty big project. All that we had earmarked for this brindavanam to come up we had pretty much spent for all the tasks currently, and she was pretty worried about the fact that we need to somehow have remaining funds for this brindavanam to be constructed. I just told her that this is something that Rayar should be taking care of since this is HIS place that is being planned currently. After this discussion that happened between me and my wife, in just 2 days, the first contribution of Rs.2000 started coming in from an unknown Rayar devotee. Taking into account the recent discussion that my wife and I had, this message from Rayar was interpreted by both of us as Rayar's response to our worry on the finances.... Subsequently after this incident, every weekend, Rayar is making sure that the contributions...

Saturday, Nov 07, 2009 was my birthday as per my birth star. As always, on this occasion, I had contributed a small amount for the abhisheka of the Rayar brindavanam near Warren Road on that day. The abhisheka was scheduled on that day for the morning at around 900 hours. Unfortunately because of some other work commitment that I had and also partly because of the incessant rains in Chennai during the week end, I was not able to visit the brindavanam for seeking his darshan. I felt bad that on this significant day for me this year, I was not able to visit rayar for his darshan at the right time for the abhisheka. It was really pricking my heart but I did not have a possible option left with me and slowly realized that if it is not ordained for me to see his abhisheka on that day, so be it!!! I however went to the temple on that day evening and took Rayars blessings along with my family. Yesterday, Monday, Nov 09 again I was not in a position to go to the temple owing to other commitmen...

It was about a week back when again I had an exciting experience - of how Rayar is watching me and answering to my thoughts. I just wanted to share these experiences here in this post.... I do visit the oldest Rayar brindavan in Chennai - close to Warren Road in Alwarpet - on a regular basis, take his darshan and then start attending the office work. HE has been allowing this to happen for the last two-odd years and it also gives me a lot of peace of mind. Last week, I was just trying to get in touch with someone in Mantralayam for quite a few days to enquire about a specific item for the new upcoming Rayar brindavana temple and I was continuously on a daily basis unsuccessful in getting in touch with him. On a particular day, after doing the usual pradakshina, I was just sitting in front of the brindavan and pleading with HIM asking him the reasons behind why I was unsuccessful till now in this task and should I be coming to Mantralayam for this clarification since this would help me ...

By the divine grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and Guru Rayar, the construction of the compound wall for the complete complex has been completed. Currently, trying to enquire about who are authority / experts in Pancharatra agama sastra for giving opinions on the layout that can be there for this mrithika brindavanam. Sarvam Krishnapanarmastu Sri Lakshmi Nrsimhar Guru Raghavendra trust

By the divine grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and Guru Rayar, I had an opportunity to be part of a 3000-yatrika team visting places on this country which had the fortune of where Sri Krishna had been born/played/performed leelas/ruled and finally left for Sri Vaikunta. Some of the places I had recorded using my cell phone camera and I should admit that I am a novice beginner in video photography. In order to give you a glimpse of some of these places that we had visited, I am mentoning their significance and their associated video link in youtube. Sarvam Krishnarpanarmastu. Kusum Sarovar – Goverdan This is a beautiful lake that is well maintained even till date. Sri Krishna used to pluck the flowers from plants here and place it on Gopikas’ hairs. This was the starting point for our Goverdan giri parikrama walk. There is a small temple for Uddhavar here. When Uddhavar saw the experience that Sri Krishna was giving to all the gopikas, Uddhavar wished and longed for a birth as a plant in Goverda...

Construction of the compound wall is in progress. It got slightly delayed as compared to the previous estimate owing to the rocky nature of the soil it is taking more time for the construction to progress.... Apart from the Lakshmi Nrsimmar, Vayu putra and Mrithika Brindavanam within a single enclosure, if HE so wishes, we are also planning to have the following different sannidis in the temple: Rama, Lakshmana and Sita in a single sannidhi, Pandurangar and Rukhmini, Chakkarath Azhwar, Lakshmi Hayagrivar and Danvanthri. It is also decided that among the different agama sastras for constructing this Rayar Brindavanam in kanchipuram, we will go in for Pancharatra Agama Sastra. Sri Lakshmi Nrsimhar Guru Raghavendra Trust

By the grace of Hari, Vayu and Rayar, the compound wall construction has started and the foundation work for the compound wall will be completed most possibly by tomorrow. Before this work commenced, a small hut (for the watchman to stay), borewell and hand pump was completely installed. I expect that this initial work of the compound wall will be getting completed around Oct 10th

By the grace of Hari, Vayu and Rayar, we have decided to start off the construction initially of the compound wall for the brindavanam area tomorrow - Sep 07. Coincidentally, when I went to the TNagar Rayar mutt today to place the photos of Lakshmi Nrsimmar, Anjaneya and Rayar in the sannidhi and then take these to the consturction site tomorrow, without any mention, the archaka took a big mala and gave it to me and my wife. I take this as an approval from Rayar to start the activity - since in my hearts before reaching the temple I was praying to him that he should bless us and give his seal of approval in a unique different way today.

By the grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and Guru Rayar, I was blessed to undertake the trip to Mantralayam leaving on Sep 1st from Chennai. It was a comfortable trip to Mantralayam by HIS grace and once I landed in MALM Road station, I quickly took an auto, checked in to my usual lodge and hurried to have the darshan of rayar. I have captured the moments here in the following links using my mobile camera: (Mangalarthi to the Moola brindavana on 02-Sep afternoon): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtDJm3Mcpzo (Rathothsava clippings on 02-Sep night – The image clarity is not that good since I had taken it from my mobile camera) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PucSpxSLnc4 (Maha mangalarthi to the moola brindavana on 02-Sep night after the rathothsava) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hzhYR-GAgY Overall, it was a great experience as always any visit to moola brindavanam is, with only a sad point of rayar not blessing with tirta prasada on 3-Sep - since it was getting very late in the afternoon and I had...

After getting the sale deed documents from the seller, it was now our turn to see how we can get the other documents from the other governmental agencies to ensure that the property has been successfully transferred to the name of the Trust (Sri Lakshmi Nrsimmar Guru Raghavendra Trust). After getting an appointment with the sub-registrar office of the Vembakkam sub-registrar, I had driven down today and applied for the EC (Encumberance Certificate) for the last 20 years. On the way to the sub-registrar office, on sustained pleading from my parents, I had also gone and visited the Ulagalandaperumal temple in kanchipuram. I had excellent darshan of the Trivikramar and it was a solo audience in the temple at that time. The darshan itself indicated that the activities are going to go smoothly today. After filling in the forms for the application in the sub-registrar office, I was told that that since this specific office was closed down in the middle for some years, I should also go to the...

Since we had not mentioned the property location and the details of the promoter and seller before, here they are: a) The property is located at around 9-10 kms from Kanchipuram on the outskirts. As we go in Kanchipuram - Vandavasi road, after crossing the Palar bridge, you have to take a right to a place called IyangarKulam. There is a famous Anjaneyar temple here by the name of Sanjeevi Rayar. After crossing this place and going still straight at a distance of around 4 - 5 kms, this property is located. The address of this property is Rajeswari Nagar, Namandi Village, Tiruvannamalai District. b) The benevolent souls involved in this property dealing as promoters are: R. Suresh and Palani, proprietors of Classic World City, based out of Chennai dealing with real-estate broking and also in IT industry!!! c) The seller who was the official owner of this property is Keerthinathan, a real-estate businessman based out of Kanchipuram We pray to the Almighty and Guru Rayar that they keep the...

Its been some time that I had updated my blog - but that was more because of the fact that I had been raking my head to come to a final decision on how I should succeed in getting the property documents from the seller and promoter than being lazy.... A lot of incidents had happened during this time from the last blog post - events which indicated the presence of Guru Rayar's continued watch on us to ensure that we are successful in this project... During this time, I had the opportunity to come across the website of a priviliged soul with a codename of chiraan ( http://chiraan.wordpress.com ) who had advised me to recite the Hari Vayu Stuthi sloka - especially Sloka #26 - which was pertaining to getting the complete guru anugraha. It so happened that on last Tuesday - 14-Jul-09 - I was at the height of the frustration on not getting the documents till that time and I was venting out my feelings in desperation at the Rayar brindavanam in TNagar in Chennai. I was internally conversi...

We started off to Mantralayam on the Friday night - 26th June. Although the train started from Chennai on time, the train reached slightly late to Mantralayam Road station at around 11:30AM. We were slightly worried that we might miss out on the morning darshan. We immediately hired the auto in the railway station and went directly to mutt office. For the last many years in which I have been travelling to Mantralayam almost twice an year, I have not been successful in getting a room in the mutt choultries. But this time fortunately, owing to Rayar's grace, we were successful in getting the choultry from the mutt itself as one of the rooms were vacant. We felt happy that our contributions are going back in some way to Rayar itself. After checking into the room and having a quick nap, we rushed to the temple to have the darshan. Fortunately, it was not late and neither was there so much crowd in front of the Brindavanam. This meant that we had more time at our disposal to have darsha...

I was supposed to be getting the property documents today from the registrar office. Not willing to take chances especially taking into account that I am travelling tonight to Mantralayam, I personally went to kanchipuram and reached the sub-registrar office at around 11:00AM in the morning. I was told that the papers were already collected by the seller's agent yesterday (Thurs). I called up the promoter from Kanchipuram and enquired with him to see if I had to collect the papers from someone in Kanchipuram itself or it would reach me in Chennai. I was made to wait in the hot sun till around 3:00PM since even after trying different people continuously on the promoter side, I was not given confirmation of where the property papers were. After 3:00PM, I was told to start from Kanchipuram with the assurance that the property papers will reach me before I leave for Mantralayam - since this was the full purpose of hurrying through with things so that I can keep these papers in front of...

Today was the Ekadeshi day - auspicious day of fasting.... We were asked to come in the early morning to the sub-registrar office at around 7:30AM in the morning. Surprisingly, we felt that the sub-registrar office being a government office, the staff would not turn up so early in the morning. But, we were in for a pleasant surprise.... After the staff including the sub-registrar all appeared by around 8:30AM in the morning, the entire process of the registration including the affixing of thumb impressions were all over within an hours time... The property registration expenses sky rocketed as compared to the original estimate given - but the promoter had successfully pushed us to limits of patience that we were not winking even for shelling out the extra amount here to get the transaction completed.... Finally, at around noon today, we were back at home. Maybe, today was considered as a better day by Guru Ragavendra today being Ekadeshi - But what ever was his reason, after seeing thi...

Today, on the hope that all issues are going to be getting removed by Raghavendra, and also today being a Thursday, myself and my Brother-in-law set out to Kancheepuram to be in the land site by around 11:30AM in the morning. But the promoter and the seller of the land were nowhere to be seen till around 1:00PM. Since we were particular that we should not be having lunch without the land registration getting completed, we also skipped the lunch.... Continuous phone calls to the promoter only elicited the response that we are very close to the property.... However, the seller failed to appear till around 4:30PM in the evening by which time the sub-registrar being a part of the government formation had already closed shop for the day. The heavens had opened up on that day in Kancheepuram with some decent rains and I was hoping that this could be taken as a blessing for us from the heavens - since this is considered as one of the auspicious signs generally. But apart from my verification ...

On confirming in the next day that we can have the registration on 11th, we were hoping that it is all going to get over on 11-Jun and after the registration, we will also be getting the registered papers by 25-Jun as committed by the promoter. But, alas, as it turned out like all the previous commitments, this also turned out to be a FALSE hope. On making a casual call to the promoter today evening to just confirm whether things are going on as per the plan, I was informed that registration is not going to be possible on 11th but will happen on 18-Jun. At the same time, I was also told that I will be still getting the papers out by 25-June as per the earlier commitment by him. I was also asked to hand over the remaining money for the land on the date of the registration when the registration is complete which I refused to accept and told him that I can pay the balance amount only on the date of getting all the papers on my hand.... Again, I am left clueless on why Rayar is continuing ...

What looks like a never ending story of the land promoter going back on his commitments sees to be continuing. Today in the afternoon, I got a call from the land promoter saying that the land registration is not going to be possible because the owner is expecting more money as compared to the previously agreed upon price. I blasted the promoter and gave him a piece of my mind telling him that there are no other options other than the following two options: a) To repay the money back pending for 2 months with him that I had paid or b) To get the registration done ASAP and get me the property papers on hand by 25th June since I was scheduled to leave for Manthralayam on that day. I wanted to take the papers to the mutt there and start discussions with them on establishing the brindavanam on that property. Finally the promoter agreed to call up in the evening at 8:00PM to confirm. At the evening, I went to the TNagar Raghaviah Road Raghavendra Brindavanam temple in Chennai, I pleaded and ...

Yesterday, turned out to be a mix of frustration and satisfaction with different turn of events. By afternoon, the property promoter was supposed to give a call to me which never happened. In a desperate and a frustrated attempt, I tried to reach him only to be told that the registration date of the rayar's selected property has not been still finalized. I banged the phone down after giving him a piece of my mind. The pressure and frustration rose to such an extent that I had started interacting with HIM in a subconscious level asking him to decide of whether he is still interested in me going ahead with a Brindavanam for him or if he is not interested to let me know through some means. With this frustration, when I went to one of HIS brindavanams yesterday evening, I was blessed with a vision to see his nithya aradhana closure for the day yesterday. I was conversing with HIM telling him that these blessings are accepted but was questioning HIM of what use are these for if answers ...

Now that the seal of approval has come from Rayar, negotiations started in right earnest with the promoter for arriving at the final price for the property. The whole property was for around little bit more than an acre.... After arriving at the final price, the first set of installments were paid off by April 1st, 2009 after which a communication issue happened with the promoter. The promoter started saying the rate as something that was never discussed and at a higher rate that was accepted by him. After a prolonged discussion in which both parties refused to accept the others standpoint, today we arrived at an intermediate price point between the two prices. This entire episode which lasted for 3 weeks approximately left a lot of bitterness in our mouths.... We are not sure of the reasons behind this leela by Guru Raghavendra... Was this because of any abacharam that was commited by us in this project till now? Was this delay and torture a test of our strongness in this project to b...

There are a lot of confusions going around in my mind - The property owner had repeatedly called and followed up with me and most of the times I was in front of the Mylapore raghavendra mutt or in front of the Triplicane raghavendra mutt temple. While I could take these as 'invisible' seals of approval from Rayar, there were enough confusions going in my mind that the distance and accessibility to this selected property is not conducive for this to be selected. I was losing sleep over this decision to be taken and after a prolonged time, as always, I was given a flash of thought by rayar to get a formal seal of approval (what we call - uttharuvu - in Tamil). So, today being the day in which Guru Raghavendra attained the peedathipathi post after taking sanyasam, I was adviced by a very well known elderly person to get Rayar's seal of approval in the Mylapore Brindavanam. The process was started. Both HIS holy manthraksadai and flower were covered, kept in a plate in front of...

With a serious hunt started for looking at various properties, on this date, it turned out the property promoter in Kanchipuram was also equally interested in ensuring that I get to see the place. It so happened that the promoter was already travelling around 20 kms away from the city when I called him up on the phone on looking at the advertisement in the paper. He stopped in the middle of the route, sent a person to pick me up from the residence and dropped at the place where he was temporarily waiting. On reaching the property, my first impression on the positive side was that this place looked very similar to the place of IrayaMangalam - place where there is mrithika brindavanam near to Tiruvallur in Chennai. Apart from the looks of the place, there were other similarities as compared to IrayaMangalam that were pointed out by my BIL - Like the Irayamangalam place is very close to Hindustan Motors factory in Tiruvallur, this place was very close to a very similar factory of the same...