Lord Chithragupthar Temple - Kanchipuram

Shri Chithragupthar Swamy seated in the temple which is located in the centre of Kanchipuram near the bus stand.

Location :

This is the only temple for Lord Chitraguptar and located in Kanchipuram. This is close to 75 KMs from Chennai and will take close to 1.5 - 2 hrs of drive either by car of public transportation. Temple is located very close to bus-stand and any people near the bus-stand can guide us to reach the temple.

Temple has a main deity as Lord Chitraguptar with his wife and poojas and archanas are done to the main deity. Temple also has a urchavar of Lord Chitraguptar with his wife and will used for other poojas

Temple is also mainly referred as Lord Ketu Parikara Sthalam

Address :


Arulmigu Lord Chitraguptar Swamy Temple 
No 74, Nellukara street, 
Kanchipuram - 2, 
Tamil Nadu, 
India

Temple timings:

Temple is open between 7 AM to 12 PM in the morning and 4 PM - 8.30 PM in the evening.

Sthala History :

‘Chith’ means inner conscience. ‘Aptham’ means hidden conscience. Whatever we hold back in our conscience is brought out by Shri Chithragupta and plans the life of a person. Hence the name Chithragutha.

Having to account the sins and goodness of crores of people Lord Yama Dharma felt it difficult doing it all alone so he prayed to God Shiva to give him an assistant. Immediately Lord Shiva instructed Brahma to give an assistant to Lord Yama. Brahma knew that this is possible only by Sun God(Surya Devan).
Chitragupatar was the son of Lord Sun and Beeladevi. He was born with a book in his left hand and a writing nail in the right. Since Chitraguptar was born of a rainbow, people workship with providing multi-color clothes.

Chitraguptar was born during the month of Chithirai. (tamil month)
Chithraguptar performed penance and prayed to Lord Shiva and in turn he received intelligence and all brilliance.
‘Sun God’ sent Chithraguptar to be responsible and help Lord Yama.
Chithraguptar who went along with his wives to Yama’s world is still accounting the goodness and evil activities of mankind from then on.

In 1907 when temple renovation was done under the earth a statue was found that of Chithraguptar with his wife. The period of the statue is not known. That statue is kept in the main sanctum.

Poojas:

There are shops outside temple who are selling the pooja items. Main offerings done here is lighting the 7 lamps with Ghee. This is also done in a special way. We need to place the horse gram on the floor and spread it , above which we need to place the the seven lamps and then light it. The lamps can be placing by facing any of the four directions but all the lamps should face in one direction. The reason for doing is will help to extend the life span and lead a good life.

Special days:

On Chithra Pournami (full moon day of the Chithrai month) special pooja and the marriage celebrations of Chithraguptar takes place and food is sponsored.

Off the nine planets Kethu’s Lord is Chithraguptar. Hence any offering made to Chithraguptar will relieve us from all trial and tribulation of Kethu planet.
The offering comprises of cereals, seven lamps, and multicolour clothes. Added to this an abhisheka is done.
Most importantly there is only one temple for Chithraguptar and that too in Kanchipuram.

Surutapalli - Lord Siva Temple

Surutapalli is a small village very close to oothukottai. Just half a mile from Oothukottai, we can find this temple. This is one of the old temples and it is located just in the Tamilnadu - Andhara border and belongs to Andhra pradesh state.

This is one of the unique temple where we can find Lord Shiva in human form in the moolavar. He is called as "Pallikondeswarar."

Location :
The temple is located in Chennai - Tirupathi border through Oothukottai - Thada route. This is exactly 57 kms away from Chennai and it takes less than a hour and a half to reach this place. We can find ample car parking space inside the temple.

Temple timings are : 
6 AM - 12 PM and then 4 PM to 8 PM in the evenings.

This temple is very famous for Pradoshams.

Sthala History :

As name suggests, Suruta means ' in tired state' and Palli means 'lying down'. This temple was built by Harihara Bhuga king from Vijayanagara dynasty.During the old days , when Devas requested Siva to have a life without death, Lord Siva adviced them to churn the ocean to get amritham (nectar) which will give Devas a life without death. All Devas churned the ocean and during the process, first it came a poison
before nector. When seeing the poison, Lord Siva went and took that to save the entire universe, while doing so, Lord Parvathi went and stopped Siva from swallowing the poison, if Lord Parvathi have not done that, the entire world would have been destroyed. Since the poison was stopped at the throat, Lord siva became drowsy and rested in the lap of Lord Parvathi and selected Srutapalli as the place.

When heard about this, all the Devas, other GODs and Saptharishi's rushed to see Lord Siva.
When Siva got up, he saw everyone and started to dance in happy mood, all the GODs, rishis and devas watched Siva dancing through the horns of Nandhi and hence Pradosham started.This temple is very famous for Pradoshams.

About temple :

While entering the temple, you will be welcomed by a huge size Nandi even before the Gopuram. Though Siva is the main deity, first we need to visit and get the blessings of Lord Maragadambikai. Since Lord Parvathi stopped Siva from drinking the poison, Lord Maragadambikai needs to be visited first. Usually in Siva temples the Goddess will be on the left side, however in this temple Goddess Maragadambikai will be on the right side.

Also this is the only temple where we will not find any balipeedam before the Goddess. Lord Vinayakar and Lord Murugar will be on the outside of Goddess Maragadambikai

Behind this, we can find Kala Bairavar. On the right side of Valmikeshwarar , we can find Lord Dampathi sametha Dhakshanamurthy. Clearly seen are sages, Patanjali and Vyagrapthar. The Lord, mounted on His bull mount is in a seated posture with one foot on Apasmasura and the other leg folded on a Yoga Pattai and embracing his Consort Gowri on a Rishaba Vahana.

                                                      For the above pic ( Courtesy : Hindu)

We can also find, Valmikeshwar, which is a suyambu lingam. History goes like, after Lord Rama defeated Ravanana and before going to Ayodhya , Lord Rama and Saint Valmiki prayed to Lord Siva who appeared as Suyambu lingam and hence the lingam has been named as Valmikeswarar.

The temple Pallikondeshwarar has been situated on the right side. Lord Siva can seen in a huge reclining position with Goddess parvathi. Also we can see Devas, Lord Brahma, Saptharishis, Vishnu and Indra waiting.

Since it is very close to Chennai, do plan to visit this unique temple and get the blessings

Kanchipuram - Mrithika Brindavanam of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy

Couple of days back, I had to visit the temple town Kanchipuram which is close to Chennai.
I visited lot of temples and will start posting them in the blog in next couple of weeks

Before my visit to Kanchipuram, I made sure to check if there is any Mrithika Brindavanam
to our beloved Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy. I found the address in the net and planned
to go there to visit our Mutt.

The Mutt is managed by Sri Uttaradi Mutt and it has Mrithika Brindavanam to our beloved
Guru Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy and Sri Satya poorna Swamy of Uttaradi Mutt.

The address of the Mutt is at 
Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt
Veghavathi Street,
Vishnu Kanchee
Kanchipuram - 603 501

The Mutt is very close to Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple in Vishnu Kanchee. Once you come out
of Varadharaja Swamy temple go towards left side and take 2nd left. In few metres we can
find the Mrithika Brindavanam of Sri Guru Raghavendra Swamy.

In the temple, there is a old Archarya who was very plesent and explained about the temple.
As per Acharya, this Mutt is almost 250 years old. I was not able to gather much details on history, however based on the details shared by Acharya, this is very old temple and currently maintained by "Sri Uttaradi Mutt"

The main sanctum has the Mrithika Brindavanam of our Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy and
Sri Sathya poorna Swamy.

See the below picture. It has Lord Rama on the top, Lord Anajeneya, Lord Prahalada and then
Mrithika brindavanam.

The Mutt is also well maintained and clean. The Mutt also has the large painting of
Panjamukhi Anjeneyar.

At the backside of the Mutt, we have Panchamukhi Anjeneyar Statue,
There is pillar close to Panchamukhi Anjeneyar status and on the three sides of the pillar
we Lord Narashimhar in sitting pose, Lord Krishna in standing pose and Lord Krishna in
dancing pose.

The Mutt also has a Tulasi Madam well maintained.

Whenever you plan to visit Kanchipuram and Vardharaja swamy temple, please plan to visit Mrithika Brindavanam of Guru Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy and get his abundance blessings for this entire janma

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Sri Krishna & Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt - T.Nagar

Today I had the blessings of Baghavan Sri Raghavendra Swamy to visit T.Nagar Mutt.
I had been going around that area several times, but only today I was destined to go to the
T.Nagar Mutt.

I usually visit Triplicane Mutt at T.P.Koil Street.

Though this Mutt is located in prime area, the locality is very peaceful and this Mutt is
very close Mahalingapuram flyover. The exact address iss

Shri Krishna Shri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt(A unit of Pejavar Swami Mutt - UDIPI)

New No.17, Raghavaih Road,
T.Nagar,Chennai-17.
Ph:(044)28156268,28157982

While entering the Mutt, on the right side we can notice Sri Vadirajar Mutt. You can read
my other blog to get more details on Sri Vadiraja Theertharu

Sri Vadiraja Teertharu

While entering Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, we can see the Mutt Office. Crossing the Mutt
Office we can see Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy brindavanam.

This brindavanam is very special because in moolar area, we can see Lord Sri Krishna and
Sri Lord Anjeneyar Swamy and then Baghavan Sri Raghavendra Swamy.
Picture is attached below.

Usually they do Aarthi around 7.30 PM, and luckily today with Guru's blessing I was able to visit around the same time and had the karuna to see the Aarthi.

While coming round the temple, we can see Madhawa Saint pictures like Sri Puranadasaru ( sishya of Sri Madhavacharyar ), Sri Madhavacharyar and other key Madhawa Saints

There is also a shop located at the entrance of Sri Vadirajar temple where we can get all the books on Sri Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy, Sri Sundarakandam, Sri Vadiraja teertharu etc

If you come across T.nagar plan to visit this mutt.

Below are the picture from Sri Vadiraja Teerthar Mutt which is adjacent to Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt.
In Moolavar , we have Lord Panchamukhi Anjeneyar, Lord Hayagreevar, Sri Bhotharaja and Sri Vadiraja Teerthar.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Sri Veeraraghava Perumal koil - Thiruvallur

This is one of the 108 divya sethrams and had been visited alwars ( Thirumangai alwar, thirumazhisai alwar )

This temple has been constructed by Pallavas and we can see several writtings on the walls of the temple and hope archaeological groups have did their work on these writings.

Temple is located in Thiruvallor which is 50 kms from Chennai and on the way towards Thirupathi.

Temple is open from morning to 12 PM and will be re-opened by 4 PM in the evening.

Temple has the following deities.

Sri Veeraraghava Perumal
Sri Kanagavalli Thayar
Sri Kothandaramar
Sri Venugopala krishnan
Sri Ramanujar
Sri Lakshmi narashimar
Sri Chakarathazwar

This temple is very famous during amavasya days and will be fully crowed. People who has sickness and other health related issues were adviced to take bath in the Hrittapanasini  pond (picture below) and submit salt to Sri Veeraraghavar and their health issues will be cured. Luckily when I went there the pond had waters ( see picture below ).

Usually people are advised to visit 3 to 6 amavasyas by then their problems will be solved. Also the main deity is called as "Sri Vaithya VeeraRaghava perumal".

The main deity Sri Veeraraghava Perumal is in reclining position on Nagarajar which is similar to Srirangam Perumal position. Lords right hand is in blessing position towards "Salihothra Munivar" and left hand has a symbol indicating that he is teaching the vedas to Lord Brahma.

Tulasi is offered to Perumal and on most of the days , archakas are performing Archanas to the main deity.

Sthala History

In Krita Yuga, a sage by name Purupunyar lived with his wife Satyavathi in Badarikashram. They had no children. Purupanyar performed a Sali Yajna with great devotion. On the last day, Lord Narayana was pleased and appeared in the sacrificial fire to offer boons. The Sage prayed for a noble son.The boon was granted with the condition that he should be named after the name of the Yajna as Salihotran.

The child was named Salihotran. With the growth of years, the child showed signs of precocity and started on a pilgrimage-visiting temple after temple. On Thai Amavasya day (New Moon day in January-February), he reached Tiruvallur where he found that Lord Brahma, other Devas and great sages like Vasishtha, were engaged in taking bath in the Hrittapanasini pond.

Next year, on the same Pushya Amavasya day ( Thai amavasya ), he completed one year of penance and took a holy bath in the Hrittapanasini tank and observed his morning prayers. As he was fasting for one year without food or drink, he collected on that day some paddy and prepared prasadam out of that. He divided it into three parts; the first part was offered to Lord Narayana.The second part was kept for offering as charity and the third for his own consumption. At this juncture, Lord Narayana took the form of an old Brahmin and came the way where Salihotran was waiting to offer the share to a guest. When Salihotran saw the old Brahmin, he immediately requested him to grace his hermitage. He respectfully offered to the Brahmin the prasadam meant for the guest. Quickly the Brahmin ate up the offering and Salihotran felt from his facial appearance that he was not satisfied.

On inquiry, he learnt that the old Brahmin had had no food for the last 4 or 5 days and his hunger was not fully satisfied. 2nd portion kept for himself was offered to the guest. The guest was satisfied and asked Salihotran, "Where is the place for me to lie (Evvul)?" (where to stay), the Sage had replied pointing to his hut as "Ivvul" (inside the hut). Hence the name is called "ThiruEvvul". It is also said that Lord Shiva got rid of his Brahmahatti Dosha on account of killing Daksha by worshiping Lord Vishnu here. There is a small temple for Lord Shiva near the temple tank.

Nearest airport in Chennai
Nearest railway station is Thiruvallore
Nearest bus stop is Thiruvallore.

It takes close to 2 hrs from Chennai to visit this temple by road or train.

There is also Sri Raghavendra Swamy Madam close to this temple.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Pattinathar Temple - Thiruvottiyur , Chennai

Recently few weeks back I had the blessings of God to visit Pattinathar Temple in Thiruvotiyur. Most of the chennai people might not be aware of this place but this is so powerful. Infact I was informed that this temple is powerful and a water mixed with Vibhudi is so powerful and by sprinkling that it will vanish all the bad omens at home.

This temple is very close the the beach and they are re-constructing this temple along with Dyana mandapam. New rennovated temple should be ready by 2013 quarter.

Patinathar was one of the 63 nayanmar. He was born in rich family and followed his father's footstep. Once his father sent him with merchandise and he returned back with the dried coconut leaves. His father got angry and put him in the room and when he tried to throw the dried leaves, it all turned gold and priceless gems. When his father returned back to see Patinathar, he was handed over with a box which said

      "Not even an eyeless needle will accompany you in the final journey of life."

Pattinathar realized the philosophy and renounced everything his wife, wealth, kith and kin and all materialistic attachments in life. He sang many songs in the name of god and adviced not to attach to body pleasures as body perishes and become food for animals and worms. Think of God and surrender to his feet.

This temple has the samadhi of Patinathar. Usually Pattinathar plays with kids and one day he requested kids to cover him with a vessel and kids did that and expected him to come out in a different way, however it did not happen. When the kids open the vessel they found the siva lingam. Pattinathar attained mukthi in this way and this "Lingam" is still seen in Thiruvotiyur temple which is 500+ years old.

The below 2 poems are very interesting and should be an eye opener to few of them

Some updated pictures from recent visit which is after the kumbabishekam

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Panchamukhi Temple

Panchamukhi - Divine place where Guru Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy did Tapasya for 12 years

The rocky hill of Gaanadhaal village a sacred vicinity. This place is currently called as Gaanadhaal Panchamukhi. Panchamukhi is around 10 Kms from Mantralayam. Devotees have to cross Tungabadra river through parisal and look for local auto / van to reach Panchamukhi from Mantralayam.

Sri PraanaDevaru who is the propagator of  HARISARVOTTAMATVA is the famous PANCHAMUKHI.  Rayaru did Tapasya there.PraanaDevaru became Pratyaksha to Rayaru and saw the five faces

PraanaDevaru - Sri Hanuman
Sri Varaahamurthy - to the right of the PraanaDevaru
Sri GarudaDevaru - to the right of the PraanaDevaru
Sri NarasimhaDevaru - to the right of the PraanaDevaru
Sri HayagreevaDwevaru - to the left of the PraanaDevaru, holding the weapons in their hands.

Sri PranaDevaru ( Sri Hanuman) towards East direction



This face removes all blemishes of sin and confers purity of mind.

Sri Narasimha Devaru towards South direction



Removes fear of enemies and confers victory. Narasimha is the Lion-Man avatar of Lord Vishnu,
who took the form to protect his devotee from evil. Hanuman may have had this face during the
burning of Lanka and fighting in the war.

Sri Garuda Devaru towards West direction

Drives away evil spells, black magic influences, negative spirits and removes all poisonous
effects in one's body. Garuda is Lord Vishnu's vehcile, this bird knows the secrets of death
and the beyond. The Garuda Purana is a Hindu text based on this knowledge.

Sri Varaha Devaru towards North direction

   Wards off the troubles caused by bad influences of the planets and confers all eight types
   prosperity (Ashta Aishwarya). Varaha is another Lord Vishnu avatar, he took this form and dug
upland, Hanuman may have had this face whilst collecting the Sanjeev mountain.

Sri Hayagriva devaru Upwards(Urdhva Mukha) face towards sky.

confers knowledge, victory, good wife and progeny.

LORD VENKATESHWARA gave darshana to our Guru Raghavendra Swamyon that rocky hill only.It is heartening to know that what an amount of intense of Bhakti Sri Rayaru is having towards SRIHARI.

As a mark of all these signs of sanctity today we can see along with Panchamukhi PraanaDevaru Lord Venkataramana and Rayara Brindavana where Rayaru sat for Tapasya.No one has carved,they are all naturally formed and famed.

There is also a history on this Panchamuka face of Pranadevaru ( Lord Hanuman )

Rama and Lakshmana are captured by the rakshasa Mahiravana (or Ahiravan), brother of Ravana, who held them captive in their palace in Patala,the netherworld. Mahiravana keeps them as offerings to his deity. Searching for them, Hanuman reaches Patala, the gates of which are guarded by a young creature called Makardhwaja (known also as Makar-Dhwaja or Magar Dhwaja), who is part reptile and part Vanara.
The story of Makardhwaja's birth is said to be that when Hanuman extinguished his burning tail in the ocean, a drop of his sweat fell into the waters, eventually becoming Makardhwaja, who perceives Hanuman as his father. When Hanuman introduces himself to Makardhwaja, the latter asks his blessings, but fights him to fulfill the task of guarding the gate. Hanuman defeats and imprisons him to gain entry.

Upon entering Patala, Hanuman discovers that to kill Mahiravana, he must simultaneously extinguish five lamps burning in different directions. Hanuman assumes the Panchamukha or five-faced form of Sri Varaha facing north, Sri Narasimha facing south, Sri Garuda facing west, Sri Hayagriva facing the sky and his own facing the east, and blows out the lamps. Hanuman then rescues Rama and Lakshmana. Afterwards, Rama asks Hanuman to crown Makardhwaja king of Patala. Hanuman then instructs Makardhwaja to rule Patala with justice and wisdom.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Mantralayam

I wanted to start a new blog on my temple visits.

Being a devotee of my Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy, wanted to start my blog with Mantralayam temple town.

I had been blessed by  Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy to visit Mantralayam for the first time in Feb 2011. I became a devote of Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy 3 years back and when I visited India , I made sure to go to Mantralayam. It has been a very good experience and I had a great Darshan of Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy.
This is a sure place to visit at least once in a life time to feel the experience of the vibration in this area.

If you have plan to visit in near future, please spend sometime there in the Mutt with meditation as there are very good vibes. In this blog, I am posting few pictures of my Mantralayam visit.

This is the Tungabadra river and parisal to cross the river to visit Bichali and Panchamuki Anjeneyar. Earlier we had a bridge to cross the river, but due to severe floods in 2009, the bridge was complete gone and this is the only mode of commutation. They charge 40 Rs per person for a round trip.

Main entrance of Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy mutt... All are newly painted after the flood situation

Other side of the Tungabadra river. We need to cross the river to visit Panchamukhi Anjeneyar temple and Bichali. There is not much water in the river and it is not much deep. Only risk of walking across the river is the rocks. It takes 20 Min's to cross the river with Parisal. Once you crossed it, you can get an auto to visit these 2 places. However after the flood situation, the roads are very very bad. Govt should do something to reconstruct the roads. It will be very difficult for old people to travel in auto. Generally you can rent auto separately or share the auto. They charge Rs 50 per person for round trip. If you rent it separately for your family it will be expense but a better journey

Main entrance of Panchamukhi Anjeneyar temple.

Below description informs the devotees that Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy spent 12 years in Penance in this cave. Below picture also shows the foot print of Anjeneyar swamy. You can also see lots of monkeys in this area but they as always they are not harmful.

Naturally formed rock close to Panchamukhi Anjeneyar temple.

Main entrance of Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy Mutt.

Newly renovated Machali Amman temple. Please make sure to visit this temple before entering Bagavan Raghavendra Swamy Mutt

Mantralyam Mutt Administrative office to pay and buy tickets for sevas, donations etc

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]