Building Guru Raghavendra Mrithika Brindavanam: Experiences

Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Para Brahmane Namaha! Sri Hanumathe Namaha! Sri Gurubyo Namaha! Sincere apologies for the lack of progress updates for the last couple of months. It is not like Rayar has stopped his guidance but owing to a lot of factors beyond our control, have not been able to keep giving updates on the progress. The construction of Rayar mrithika brindavan near to Kanchipuram has been progressing albeit slowly. Currently, purely by HIS grace, the roofing and construction of the gho-shala, office and store rooms and temple madapalli has been completed. The small video shoot available at the following URL gives us an idea of how these parts looks like currently:       http://tinyurl.com/85oowr2 The signs of the first planting of banana tree has started sprouting finally has started to happen and the following URL gives an idea of the same:       http://tinyurl.com/d5fppcr The next plan is to start the construction of the main temple...

Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Para Brahmane Namaha! Yesterday, there was a news article that appeared in the newspaper 'THE HINDU' about the construction of the new mrithika brindavana project for Sri Guru Raghavendra: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/article2739611.ece Incidentally, do not think that the material for this article was given anytime recently. It was given a few months back itself - and out of the blue, this was taken up suddenly by the paper and then published yesterday in the printed and online versions. Again, all this should be only Rayar Kripa! Since this has not been coming for some time, I also didn't follow up closely to keep continously checking to see if it has appeared or not in the daily papers. When I was going for the early morning dhanur masa visit of the Rayar mutt, I got a message from my sister stating just that the news item has come out very well - I didn't realize what news item she was talking about and when...

Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Para Brahmane Namaha! Currently, the gho-shala, madapalli, office room portions of the project site is getting constructed. Some of the captured moments are highlighted in the below mentioned picassa web album. These photos also capture the growth of some of the plants on the different corners of the site - Rayaru has decided to make the place ready with the flowers and other items that he would be requiring once he comes and seats himself there! - These small things also give us a tremendous amount of joy! https://picasaweb.google.com/108088776324596254157/GoshalaConstruction Please spread the word around to like minded devotees who might be interested in participating in this project. Sarvam Sri Krishnarpanamastu

Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Para Brahmane Namaha! At the beginning of this week, I had been to Srirangam to do a gho-dhana since my father's 6 months masik was coming nearer at the end of this week. By HIS grace, the gho dhana went off successfully and the new cow and calf was named as vasuki and ranganayaki respectively in the gho-shala there. Since this was tula maasa and a dip in the cauvery river during this maasa is considered to be very special (more special even than a ganges river in this month), I also had the fortune for this in the early morning before performing the gho-dhana. Prior to this in the last week, had been to Vijayawada Uttaradi Mutt to donate for a gho-rakshane there on the banks of Krishna river. It is very strongly believed that the gho dhana or gho rakshane on the banks of this river especially for pitrus is highly special. I had gone there to perform this on 03-Nov (Thurs). Coincidentally(!) I didn't know that it was the special gho-ashtami day - in which ...

Hare Srinivasa!!! I Wanted to write this post for some time but could not get down to do it till now. We wanted to perform a Go-dhana in the name of our father before atleast 3 months passed after his demise! As some of the visitors to this blog would be aware, there is a very beautiful and serene Rayar mutt established and run in a place called Hanumantapuram (very close to Chidambaram in TN). There is a famous Sri Lakshmi Narayana temple which is supposed to be a very old temple visited by SriMadwacharya on his way back from Sri Mushnam. This is also the first swarna brindavanam for Rayar was installed and consecrated in the last week of December. You can visit http://hanumanthralaya.in/ for more details on this temple. We set off on the afternoon at around 1PM on Jul 9th to this place from Chennai since we wanted to do the gho dana on Sunday Jul 10th. On the drive down from Chennai, one of the temple trustees who was accompanying us from Chennai, mentioned that Bhuvanagiri - the...

Thanks to all of the visitors who had sent emails asking for the lack of any new posts for the last few months in this blog... Happy to note that this blog detailing our mystical experiences with Rayar is being followed actively... The main reason behind the inactivity of the last few months has been owing to the sad demise of our father, a man of 86 years old. He was suffering very much for his last few months with the advanced stage of Parkinson's disease in which slowly one by one his organs refused to continue working. While he was struggling in the last few months and with the slow degradation of his memory, one of the questions that he used to frequently ask was "What is the name of the place where Raghavendra is there", "What is the name of the railway station that we have to get down for going to see Raghavendra" etc. During the time when we were deeply saddened and worried what to do next at those excruciating days, suddenly out of blue, I receive a c...

@03-Mar-2011: A lot of people has been sending communication either in person or on phone mentioning the reasons behind why the blog is not getting updated frequently now... It got to show how many people had been following this blog and are well wishers for this project. It is nothing but HIS grace... The main reason behind not being able to update the blog has been simply because of the fact that we were all extremely busy to make the fund raising concert by Sangeetha Kalanidhis Smt Saroja and Smt Lalitha a success.... As every reader to this blog knows, this concert was planned to raise funds towards the construction activities of this temple. Smt. Saroja and Smt. Lalitha, veteran musicians not needing any specific introduction - No awards in this field has eluded them till date possibly. They are ardent devotees of Sri Guru Rayar and this devotion showed when they instantaneously volunteered to give this fund raising concert on a request by us. It was one of our other experienc...

@15-Jan-2011: Hope the Sankaranthi (Pongal) festivities had gone off well for all the blog visitors!!! I just wanted to narrate an incident that I came to know of today evening. One month back, when I was meditating in front of Rayar brindavanam, I got frantic calls on my cell from a landline number but didn't attend to the call since I was sitting in front of Rayar. After finishing the darshan and coming out of the temple, I had just wanted to check out who had called and returned the call. There was a lady who was on the other side who said that she is calling after seeing the advertisement about the brindavanam construction in TV. She wanted to know if she can get the prasad and I told her that you can come and collect the prasad since I had recently returned back from Mantralayam. But after a couple of tries, she could not come and collect it. Yesterday, suddenly, I felt that I should be giving them a call and ask them to collect the prasad since I just returned back fro...

@01-Jan-2011: By the grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and our Guru Rayar, the work of the stapathi has started. Here are the first set of videos on this. The following youtube video shows the side view of the level to which the temple is going to be raised from the current ground level - it is expected that the basement of the temple will be around 6.5 feet above the current ground level - to take into account the future raise of road levels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLaTy2eLnvI The following youtube video shows the aerial view of the maha mandapam, followed by the artha mandapam and the main sannidanam (in which the mud has been kept inside for doing the leveling work). This then zooms in on the current development work of drainage sump that is currently in progress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkOOZieuMn8 Devotees are requested to contribute their mite in what ever way they can towards this noble cause. Please spread the word around and have contributions in kind/cash sent ...

11-Dec-2010: Yesterday, Friday, the 10-Dec-2010 was an auspicious day - Shravana, panchami thithi, Thiruvonam Nakshatra, Sukhla Paksha - was the earmarked date by Sri Guru Rayar for doing an auspicious minimal pooja for Sthapathi to start his work on the site. A small puja was done on the site by Sthapathi himself before the Rahu Kalam started at 10:30AM. The initial work will start off on having the Moola sthanam done after which the artha mandapam will be constructed. Once these are completed, then finally the maha mandapam construction will be taken up. All the plans for each of these have already been posted in earlier blog posts. As mentioned before, this place will be one of the very few mrithika brindavanams for Sri Guru Rayar following the pancharatra agama sastra. As a major support initiative towards the fund raising for the construction of this divine project, the famous Carnatic musicians - Bombay Sisters (Smt. Saroja and Smt. Lalitha) were very kind enough and spontane...

@4-Dec-10 By the grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and Sri Guru Raghavendra, the foundation portion of the temple office, madapalli (kitchen), go shala and the residential places for priests and office bearers have been completed. A small video footage of the completed part taken on the project site is available at the following URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m97AxwBJCxU NOTE ON THE VIDEO: This footage starts off with the foundation part for the temple madapalli, office and the gho- shala and then moves towards the left a little where you see the foundation for the residential areas that is being constructed for the temple priests and office bearers. Taking into account the location of the place where this divine project is coming up, it would be not possible for archakas to come in from some place like Kanchipuram and then do the nithya kainkaryas. So, it has been decided that some basic accommodations are made available to the archakas which will emable them to stay there itself a...

@21-Nov-2010 By the grace of Sri Hari, Vayu and our Guru Rayar, another small but very important milestone has been reached - the construction of the pile foundation for the temple sanctum sanctorum is complete and a small video footage is available at the below mentioned URL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn80sMKzKso NOTE ON THE VIDEO FOOTAGE: This video footage starts with the pile foundation portion of the main sanctum sanctorum, then takes you towards the foundation portion for the artha mandapam and the maha mandapam - all as per the pancharatra agama sastra. After the side view of the foundation is presented, you see the current foundation structure being built (This is currently ongoing) for the residential area of the archakas and the office bearers at the rear side. After this portion, you see the front view in close quarters the pile foundation structure of the temple area (including the separate foundation structure for Garudar sannidhi in the front) Braving the ...

We had reserved for leaving for Mantralayam on the night of Deepavali (Nov 05). The original thought was that it would not be too much crowded for darshan owing to Deepavali and hence we can have a good darshan the weekend. Unfortunately, all the tickets didnt get confirmed and since there was only one berth that got confirmed, I left alone for the trip. This trip was a very memorable experience in the kind of darshan that I had in MALM since the grace was more to pin me very close to vayu putra sannidi. Events and a lot of people in the temple were giving me directions to be closer to Vayu putra sannidhi for a maximum amount of time during this trip. On the Saturday afternoon had been to bichalaya. Since the roads were in a bad condition, we took a parisal to cross the Tungabadra river and then took an auto to visit the brindavanam there. Felt a little sad to see that Appanacharya's house was in a demolition mode currently. Because of the road conditions for the entire stretch...

@3-Nov-10: Happy Deepavali wishes to all visitors to this blog! Let Sri Guru Raghavendra antargata Mukya Prana antargata Sri Lakshmi Nrsimhar bless us and lead us the right path in the coming days ahead! During the last week, in spite of the monsoon rains picking up momentum in Tamil Nadu, major amount of work in laying the pile foundation for the temple sanctum sanctorum and the mandapam were constructed. The remaining small portion of this foundation work is expected to get completed in the early part of the coming week. Also parallely, the column laying work of the priest residences have been completed in the past week. The following small video footage captures the view of the project site as it is existing currently. This amateurish footage starts with the recording of the column work done for the priests residence portion, moves over to the right and shows the column work done for the temple office, madapalli and go shala(which was already shown in the last video update in ...

@20-Oct-2010: The last few weeks progress has been a little slow owing to the frequent rains that we were experiencing as well as owing to the Ayudha Pooja holidays that was there. The issue that we were facing earlier about the trucks carrying the materials getting stuck in the slushy roads seems to have been resolved now by having around 15 loads of a specific type of mud (with stones) laid on the mud road. This has helped us to mitigate the problem of materials not being able to reach the site. This is another of the issues that rose its head which got solved by the grace of Sri Guru Raghavendrar. This became a very critical roadblock - the materials were not able to be delivered in the site which led to more delays in the work to get completed in phases.... At the same time that this was happening on the site, a lot of personal hardships came in one after the other only to for each of them to get resolved automatically in a few days.... We took all these events as a test of our r...

Yesterday, had been on a visit to the site since the construction was started around a week back with the initial steps getting done for laying the foundations of the rear portion of the temple area - temple goshala, office, store room, madapalli etc. as well as the workers sheds... Last week was a little ominous one with too much of negative signs - since the fields were agricultural fields, one of the workers when cleaning was bitten by a scorpion and had to be rushed to the hospital for immediate first aid treatment, another worker had to kill a snake since it came dangerously close to him and he then cremated the killed snake, the engineer who was kind enough to volunteer his services on a honarary basis fell down from a bus unfortunately with bruises on his leg and was advised rest by doctors .... and it went on and on .... Added to all this, the continous unseasonal rains which Tamil Nadu was subjected throughout last week introduced its own problems where rework had to be done...

It was Aug 22 2010 (Sunday). Heavy rains were forecasted in the entire state of Tamil Nadu during that day as well as the next 2 days owing to a formation of a low pressure area in Bay of Bengal. True to the forecast, it was raining very heavily on that day since morning without any stops. Aug 22 was also a very auspicious day. It was the first muhurat day in the Tamil month of Avani after one full dry month of Aadi that is considered as inauspicious. It was also a 'vastu day' - a day in which it is very strongly believed that vastu wakes up by opening his eyes and Vastu is strongly associated with that of any land property. Taking into account all these, it was decided that the initial bhoomi puja for this auspicious project also should be done on that day. Owing to the heavy rains, the start from Chennai that was scheduled for around 12:00PM got delayed by more than an hour. Also the travel time increased and the convoy of vehicles reached the site only at around 3:30PM. ...

18-Jul-2010: As mentioned previously, the problem of the existing borewell not working with the electric motor installed for drawing the water was taking too much time to be solved. We were always thinking that the reasons for such a long delay in getting this resolved will be known only best to HIM. Today, HE possibly wanted to highlight those reasons to us!!! Firstly, the initial bore well that was dug out in the site last year around Sep time frame was for around 250ft. on the fear that even though water was available at around 30-35 ft. what will happen if the water table receeded much below? However, after doing this digging to around 250 feet and laying the pipe, we just thought that the filter for the bore can be just dropped to just 50 feet and not to be dropped for the entire 250 ft. This proved to be the problem (?) now since the loose mud which was prevailing in that area had gone under to a height of 250 ft from around 50 ft. below the ground level. This made the pipe...

Finally, after a long wait, by HIS grace, the site of the project has been electrified with supply coming into the site today. This has been a long drawn process but would NOT be without any reason. It was a good sight to watch the electric bulb glow in the site after dark. It was also a gratifying site to see that the plants planted a few months back have started showing signs of slowly growing up with some of them also starting to yield the flowers. while this might be a very small step in the final completion of the project, it was very satisfying to see that by HIS grace, this place is showing signs of the fertility that is required for this to complete successfully. Some of the pictures of these has been captured below: http://picasaweb.google.com/vasan.vs/SiteUpdate01Jul10# As one milestone gets completed, it is the start of the next challenge that has to be overcome by HIS grace. The bore well pump that was installed and getting used ran into problems when it was needed ...

@20-May-10 Last Thursday (13-May-10) was the amavasya day and the start of the new month - end of adhi masa as per the kannadiga calendar and start of the vaikasi masa. It was also an auspicious day being the Thursday. We were told that the construction plans that were submitted to the local panchayat body a few days back were approved and can be collected! Since was a major milestone, we were thrilled with reaching this critical phase of this project. Also, the start of the construction activity required soil testing to be done on the site to determine what kind of foundation has to be laid. Coincidentally, after multiple weeks of follow up for that activity, it looked like it was destined to happen on the same day. By late evening on that date, the soil testing was also completed and the test reports are awaited by the end of the week. Since this was an activity being undertaken for a social cause, the owner of the firm that did the soil testing - a good samaritan - offered to do...