Aadi Amavasya Sethu Snanam

Aadi Amavasya Sethu Snanam

The month of Aadi is around the corner. The most significant things of Aadi month are both from climate and from religious perspectives.

The climate, at least in Tamil Nadu, witnesses large scale and full speed winds, if not gales. There is a tamil proverb also based on this called Aadik Kathukku Ammiyum Parakkum (the meaning is: "The power of winds in the month of Aadi is such enormous that even grinding stones fly off").

The other significant aspects of Aadi month, from the religious perspective are:

1. Shakthi temples are crowded since for them, Aadi month is very important.
2. The New Moon Day (Amavasya) in the month of Aadi is enormously important and very significant is a holy dip in the Sea at Rameshwaram. This is also known as Sethu Snanam. Besides the holy dip, the sacred propitiation processes on the seashore of Rameshwaram to satisfy the dead ancestors is very significant. Check out this URL on Sethu Snanam from Ahobilam.com

Temple Discovered in KaveripPakkam

Temple Discovered in KaveripPakkam

I was casually surfing Orkut Iyengars Community and came across this discussion on a Sundara Varadarajar temple near KaveripPakkam. It seems the temple is currently in a situation demanding attention towards its renovation. A brief extract of the message from Orkut Discussion Board is as follows:

******************
Kaveripakkam Temple Samprokshanam – Donations Requested
A group of Sri Vaishnavites from Chennai visited their hometown, Kaveripakkam , and decided to re-establish the temple to its full function. A trust “Sri Sundaravalli Sametha Sri Sundara Varadha Perumal Trust” Regd.2/2001, Kaveripakkam – 632 508, was thus formed in the year 2001. The trust has reconstructed certain portions of the temple with contributions from the trustees and certain philanthropists. The trust also has been celebrating annual functions (Utsavams) of the temple every year, since it was established.

Some more works are pending with respect to the reconstruction of the temple. The temple compound wall (which originally existed is nowhere to be seen) and has to be re-constructed. The Rajagopuram of the temple is yet to be repaired. The Dwajasthambam has to be replaced with a new one since the old Dwajasthambam has worn out.A temple tank (which originally existed and which is filled with mud, bushes and stones) also has to be dug and maintained. The flooring around the temple is a very big task as the temple is on a large area, nevertheless this is one of the objectives of the Trust.
The 2nd of July 2006 is going to be an important day at Kaveripakkam as the Trust has decided to perform the Samprokshanam (Kumbhabhishekham) of the temple.The estimate for the same is around 3 lakhs, which is a very humungous amount for the Trust.
Hence the trust requests devotees and philanthropists to contribute/donate generously for this noble and divine cause.
All are requested to help the Trust by spreading this message and in generation of funds for the above said works and Samprokshanam.
All donations can be (collected and) sent to Srikanth Srinivasan, ICICI account No. 000101221901, Cenotaph Road Branch, Chennai.
For SSSV Trust,
Srikanth Srinivasan (Senior Software Engineer, Infosys, Chennai),
C/o Shri Kaveripakkam D. Srinivasan,
No.60/2, Singarachaary Street,
Triplicane,Chennai 600 005
Phone:044 28442082,044 28444858,09444270069
******************

I would try gathering more info and try to update this page. For your quick reference, here are the other Varadaraja temples:  Varadaraja Temples In and Around Chennai

---

Inbox.com Photos - Share your photos with your friends and family!
Visit http://www.inbox.com/photosharing to find out more!

Sri Vaishnava Temples Around Chennai

Sri Vaishnava Temples Around Chennai

It is not Sri Vaishnava Divyadesams are only located very far off. Right within the city and around it, there are plethora of Sri Vaishnava temples that make you to spend your weekends and holidays with more holiness. This way, you can constructively transform and/or upgrade your holiday into a holi-day.

This blog post is a humble attempt to serve as a list of Sri Vaishnava temples (including those in the 108 divyadesams) in and around Chennai for pilgrims quick reference.

1. Sri Parthasarathy Temple, Tiruvallikeni
2. Thirumalai Vaiyavoor (near Tambaram)
3. Uthirameroor (near Tambaram)
4. Padalatri Singaperumal Koil (near Tambaram)
5. Thiruvidhanthai Nithya Kalyana Perumal (near Mahabalipuram)
6. Sthala Syana Perumal (Mahabalipuram)
7. Bhakthavatsala Perumal (Thirunindravoor)
8. Thirmazhisai
9. Thiru Evvul

Pancha Badri

Pancha Badri

The Himalayan mountain range has always been revered and looked up with greatest devotion. This has been the practice since time immemorial. The life-line river of India (Ganges or sacredly known as Ganga Matha) has Her origin near Manasa Gangotri. The most two sacred shrines respectively dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva are Badrinath and Kedarnath.

In a discussion forum, I came to know about that there are actually five Badri Shrines, known as Pancha Badri. I would like to cover in brief about Pancha Badri here for the benefit of other pilgrims.

Introduction

Badrinath is located about 10248 feet high above the sea level in the Himalayan range in Tehri-Garwal hill tracks (Uttarakhand). While you can have a visual feast of the beautiful greenery all along the tour, in general, due to rocky hill terrain, the route is an ardous ordeal.

In Badrinath, the Lord is flanked by Kuber and Garuda on either of His sides also accompanied by Nar, Narayan and Narad. There are also shrines dedicated to Adi Sankara, Lordess Mahalakshmi in the temple. The image of Badrinarayan is fashioned out of Saligramam.

The five Badri's are:

1. Adhi Badri
2. Buda Badri
3. Yoga Badri
4. Badri Vishal
5. Bhavishya Badri

Adhi Badri

This is the first and foremost place, where Sri Badrikasharama Emperuman gave His vision to the Pandavas when they were strangled amidst thunderstorm, even doubting whether they would be in a position to reach the Badrinath shrine. These temples have been traced to the Gupta dynasty. Currently these temples are covered and protected under the Archaelogical Survey of India.

Buda Badri

This is near Pipal Kote where Sri Badrikasharama Empuraman is supposed to have blessed Sri Narada Muni. Sri Adhi Shankara is also said to have worshipped Him at Vradha Badri near Pipal Kote.

Yoga Badri

This Badri is located at about 20 Kms from Joshi Mutt and 24 Kms down from Badrinath. This is the place where the King Pandu is supposed to have worshipped the Emperuman and got His blessings.

Badri Vishal

It is said that Vishal Maharaja had worshipped the Lord here and therefore this place is known as 'Badri vishal'. However, as per our tradition this is the place where the Lord gave us the sacred 'Thirumandhram' as both human and God form (Nara Narayanan).

Bhavisya Badri

This small place is about 40 kms from joshimutt and has to be reached by trekking/pony for 10kms. It is said that the Emperuman's Thirumeni here is Svayambu (self-created) and is slowly showing out inch by inch and is half visible now. By 2020 it is said that this is the future badri.

Travel Assistance

1. I have been knowing one Travel Pilgrim Service Provider in New Delhi by Name (Kala Rajan), who undertake pilgrimages often.
2. Through DivyaDesamOnline YahooGroups, I came across one another Travel Pilgrim Service Provider in New Delhi, whose contact addresses are below:
   
   M R K Narasimhan or M R Karunagaran,
   +91 09810786366 - Narasimhan
   +91 09868899986 - Narasimhan
   +91 120 2607752 - Narasimhan
   +91 120 2815325 - Karunagaran
   +91 120 2815394 - Narasimhan
   
3. Current Tour URL: 2006 September.
   

Neighboring Pilgrimage Centers:

1. Deva Prayag
2. Rudra Prayag
3. Karna Prayag
4. Nanda Prayag
5. Vishnu Prayag
6. Pandukeshwar
1. This is the place, where the Pandu sons were supposed to have born.
2. This place is also of significance where Bhima and Vayu Bhagavan have met each other.
3. Lord Vishnu has done penance in this place. On seeing this, Lordess Mahalakshmi took the form of Neem Tree (Badri) to provide him shelter and hence the place was started to be called as Badrinath.
7. Lakshmi Narasimha Mandir (with shrines for Desikacharya and Ramanujacharya)

The most significant in Badrinath is the hot water spring (Tapta Gund). While the normal temperature in the region is about 9 to 10 degree celsius, the hot water spring gives a temperature of 55 degree celsius. Pilgrims take a holy dip in the hot water spring before entering the shrine.

Badri Photographs

• 


• 


• 


• 

Source Courtesy

1. DivyadesamOnline YahooGroups
2. Badrinath Kedarnath Website

Nanganallur Viswaroopa Hanuman Temple on the Web

Nanganallur Viswaroopa Hanuman Temple on the Web

The Viswaroopa Hanuman temple of Nanganallur is world-famous for its tallest Hanuman (Lord Anjaneya). For those, who are far away from Nanganallur and/or Chennai, now Lord Hanuman is blessing them right from thier desktop. Click online to Sri Maruthi Baktha Samajam's visit corporate website.

Let us pray Lord Hanuman to invoke His divine showers of blessings for world peace and prosperity.