LORD AYYAPPA SONG

Lord Ayyappa song

Villoondi theertham (Thrayambakeshwarar Temple)

Villoondi theertham is a famous tourist attraction in Rameshwaram . It is one of the beaches  and also one of the 64 theerthas (sacred water body) in Rameswaram. It is situated 6 Km far from Rameswaram main bus stand. Villoondi theertham beach is a calm place with the silent  tides. There is a good water spring situated inside the sea ,it is the main attraction of this place. (Sometimes sea water mixed with that spring water and makes it saline).

There is a small  Shiva shrine near to the Villoondi theertham . The shiva lingam here is named as Thrayambakeshvarar.

Mythical story of Villoondi Theertham

There may be some scientific reasons for the existence of pure water spring inside the saline water body, but there is a mythical story from Ramayana which states the existence and the reason for the good water spring inside the sea in this place.

After rescuing his wife Sita from Ravana, Rama and his crew flew from Sri lanka to the Rameshwaram, at Rameswaram they perform rituals and poojas  by installing a shiva linga.

After performing the rituals and took  bath in the theerthas (Sacred baths)  Rama with his crew flew to his birth place Ayodhya by means of pushpaka vimana (A flying machine acquired from ravana) . On the way  to his abode,   the crew asks for water in thirst.Rama suddenly took his arrow and shot it into the sea  , the place where his arrow pierced in the sea,  emerged a spring. By that spring,  the crew quenched their thirst and thank Rama.

The word “villoondi “ literally means “the place pierced by arrow “ and Theertham means sacred water  in Tamil language.

A video on Villondi Theertham:

-myrameswaram.com

Miracle happening from past 1600 years! (all Info, Proof & Geg location included in video)

Ghee to Butter

Vadakkumnathan Temple (VIDEO)

Vadakkumnathan Temple (VIDEO)

A tour through Sripuram, The Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple, near Vellore, Tamil Nadu, South India.

A tour through Sripuram, The Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple, near Vellore, Tamil Nadu, South India.

KAILASA TEMPLE - A MARVEL ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY AND LEGENDS

KAILASA TEMPLE - A MARVEL ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY AND LEGENDS. 

PEOPLE BELIEVE IT WOULD TAKE MORE THAN 100 YEARS TO BUILD, BUT IT WAS BUILT IN 18 YEARS.

Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Sri Meenakshi Amman Temple

Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Tamil Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city , Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Parvati, known as Meenakshi, and her consort, Shiva, here named Sundareswarar. The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2,500-year-old city of Madurai. It is said that the temple was originally built in the 6th century BC by survivors of the Kumari Kandam. The original temple was built by Kulasekara Pandya, but the entire credit for making the temple as splendid as it is today goes to the Nayaks. The Nayaks ruled Madurai from the 16th to the 18th century and left a majestic imprint of their rule in the Meenakshi - Sundareswarar Temple.

Temple Towers

There are 12 temple  gateway towers(Gopurams). The outer towers are the landmarks of Madurai. They are:

East Tower (Nine Storeys). Height 161'3". This Gopura has 1011 sudhai figures
South Tower (Nine Storeys). Height 170'6". This Tower has 1511 sudhai figures
West Tower (Nine Storeys). Height 163'3". This Tower has 1124 sudhai figures
North Tower (Nine Storeys). Height 160'6". This Tower has lesser figures of sudhai than other outer towers

Worship Procedures

Worshipping Arulmighu Meenakshi Amman at first had been the manner of prayer traditionally.

Devotees should enter the temple through East Gopuram, pass along Ashtasakthi Mandapam, Meenakshi Nayakar Mandapam and Mudali Mandapam, take a bath in the Golden Lotus pond and wear clean clothes. Foremost, they must worship the Viboothi Vinayakar on the south of the sacred pond. From the southern bank, devotees could worship the golden pinnacles of Swamy and Amman temples. They can see the 64 miracles of Lord Shiva on the walls surrounding the pond.

After worshipping Sithi Vinayakar, Kumaran and other deities in the parrot cage mandapam, must go round the altar at the Amman Sannidhi, and then enter the sanctum through the main entrance. Men and women should stand in separate rows and worship the deity. Devotees should meditate the five holy alphabets, recite the sacred names of the Lord, sing divine songs and go round the shrine..

Under the auspices of the Temple administration, a girls higher secondary school called Arulmighu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Girls Higher Secondary School is being run near Teppakulam, Madurai.

While going round the first corridor, Airavatha Vinayakar on the south east, Valla Vinayakar on the south west, Nirutha Ganapathy and Muthukumaraswamy and Chandikeswarar on the northwest must be worshipped. While going round the second corridor, the devotees could see a statue of Thirumalai Naicker in the east, kolu mandapam and Koodalkumarar sannidhi in the west.After worshipping Kumarar, the devotees should proceed to the second corridor of Swamy shrine. It is the normal practice toseek the permission of Nandiam Perumal to grant permission to enter the temple.

After that the Anukgnai Vinayakar and the Nandi at the main entrance to the Swamy temple. After that the devotees should proceed along the six pillared pedestal and worship Chandrasekarar and other deities and the Natarajar who danced changing his legs at the Velliyambalam and then worship the Lord at the sanctum. While going round the first corridor of the Swamy temple, Vandhiyammai, Sivalingam, Sun, Kalaimagal, the Saints, Somaskander, various Lingams, Pitchadanar, Kasiviswanathar, Ellam Valla Siddhar, Durgai Amman, Kadamba tree, Kanagasabai Natarajar, Chandikeswarar, Atcharalingam, Mahalakshmi, Rathnasabai Natarajar, Vanniyum well, Lingam and Bhairavar should be worshipped in that order before coming out.

On the north of the main entrance is the shrine of Arulmighu Palani Andavar. Having worshipped the deities including Sadayappar between the Nandhi Mandapam and coming round the hundred pillar hall, Agni Veeraputhirar, Ahora Veerapathirar, Ooothuva Thandava Moorthy and Badrakali, devotees should proceed to the Thirugnanasambandar mandapam and there offer worship to the four deities, Mangayarkarasiyar, Kulachirayar and Nedumaranayar and then after paying obeisance to the flag pole, they should sit down for a while. Later the idols of Hanumar, Krishnar and other deities on the pillars at the back and then enter the middle way and leave through Amman Sannidhi.

Devotees proceeding the temple should bathe and wear Saiva symbols such as holy ash, Uthiraksham, and carry with them coconut, fruits, incense and other items of offering to the extent possible. It is the practice to meditate the holy scriptures, and recite the saced names of the deities while in the sacred premises.

On the first day of every Tamil month, special prayers with abhishekarm are offered at the shrine of Sangam poets on the second corridor of the Swami Sannidhi. Special prayers are also conducted on the birth star days of the temple Adiyars and 63 Saints.

Ashta Shakthi Mandapam

A visitor who enters the temple through the eastern gateway, first enters this Mandapam(Hall). It was built by Thirumalai Nayakar's wives Rudrapathi Ammal and Tholimamai. In this hall food was once distributed to the devotees who came from far off places. The sculptures on the pillars here relate some of Lord Shiva's Thiruvilayadals (miracles) and also the story of Meenakshi's birth and her life as the princess of Madurai.

Meenakshi Nayakkar Mandapam

This big hall is adjacent to Ashta Shakthi Mandapam, consisting of 110 pillars carrying the figures of a peculiar animal with a lion's body , and an elephant's head called Yalli.

Potramaraikulam (golden lotus tank)

This temple tank is an ancient tank where devotees take bath in the holy water. The area around this tank was the meeting place of the Tamil Sangam - the ancient academy of poets. The history of the sangam goes back to the days when gods dallied with men. This academy judged the worth of any work of literature presented before it by throwing it into the tank. Only those that did not sink were considered worthy of attention. The tank is surrounded by a pillared corridor. Steps lead down to the tank, enabling worshippers to take bathe in it.
Oonjal Mandapam
The Oonjal (swing) Mandapam and Killikoontu (parrot cage) Mandapam are on the western side of the tank. Every Friday, the golden idols of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar are seated on the swing in the Oonjal Mandapam and hymns are sung as the deities gaily swing to and fro. The parrots in the Kilikoontu Mandapam have been trained to repeat Meenakshi's name. But more interesting are the 28 pillars of the mandapam which exhibit some excellent Sculptures of figures from Hindu mythology.

Swami Sundareswarar Shrine

Lord Sundareswarar (Shiva) the consort of Goddess Meenakshi is to the north of Kilikoontu Mandapam. On your way you can worship a gigantic idol of Sri Ganesh called Mukkurini Pillaiyar. When the king Thirumalai Nayakar excavated a temple tank 3 km from Meenakshi temple he unearthed this idol of Vinayaka and erected the same here.
In the outer pragaram (corridor outside the main shrine) there is stump of the kadamba tree, which is said to be a part of the same tree under which Indra worshipped Shiva linga. Also in the outer corridor there are the Kadambathadi Mandapam and big hall called 'Velli Ambalam'. Here, An idol of Nataraja (Shiva as the Lord of Dance) is seen. This idol of Nataraja is covered with silver leaves. Hence this hall is named as Velli Ambalam (Silver Hall).

The Thousand Pillar Mandapam

It is the 'wonder of the place', Actually the number of pillars count to 985. Each pillar is sculptured and is a monument of the Dravidan sculpture. There is a Temple Art Museum in this 1000 pillars hall where you can see icons, photographs, drawings, etc., exhibiting the 1200 years old history. There are so many other smaller and bigger mandapams in the temple. Just outside this mandapam ,towards the west, are the Musical Pillars. Each pillar when stuck, Produces a different musical notes.

Vasantha Mandapam
This mandapam was built by Thirumalai Nayakkar. Vasanthosavam - the Spring festival-is celebrated in this mandapam in Vaikasi (April / May). Its pillars contain elaborate sculptures of Shiva, Meenakshi, scenes from their wedding as well as the figures of ten of the Nayak Kings and their consorts. This is also called Pudhu Mandapam.

-madurairesidency.com

Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, Thrissur, Kerala

Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god Guruvayurappan (a four-armed affiliation of the Hindus god Vishnu), located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. It is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus of Kerala and is often referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta, which translates to as Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth.

The presiding deity of the Guruvayur Temple is Vishnu, worshipped in the form of his avatar Krishna. The central icon is a four-armed standing Vishnu carrying the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki and a lotus with a Holy basil garland. This image represents the majestic form of Vishnu as revealed to Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki around the time of Krishna's birth; this is the reason why Lord is worshipped in his baby form. Also, the temple is called "Dwarka of South India" due to Krishna's widespread presence. He is currently worshipped according to routines laid down by Adi Shankara and later written formally in the Tantric way, the inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, by Chennas Narayanan Nambudiri (born in 1427). The Chennas Nambudiris are the hereditary tantris (high priest) of the Guruvayur Temple.

The temple (puja) routines are strictly followed. The Thanthri is available full-time at the Temple to ensure this. The Melsanthi (Chief Priest) enters the sanctum sanctorum in the morning and does not drink anything up to the completion of "noon worships" at 12:30 PM. The temple is managed by a special Devaswom (Guruvayur Devaswom) under the control of the Government of Kerala. The main festivals of this temple are the 10-day festival in the Malayalam month of Kumbham starting with flag hoisting on Pooyam star, Sri Krishna Janmashtami (Birthday of Lord Krishna) in the month of Chingam, Ekadasi (11th day) in the shukla paksha (bright fortnight) in the month of Vrischikam, popularly called as Guruvayur Ekadasi and Vishu on the first day of the month of Medam, once a harvest festival. The sub-deities of this temple are Ganapathi, Ayyappan and Bhagavathi, and there are two sub-temples each, one for Ganapathi and the other for Nagadevata nearby the temple. - en.wikipedia.org

SIVA SAMBOO SONG

SIVA SAMBOO SONG

from : Sandhya Kurup, Perth, Australia