A trip to Melkote and Srirangapattanam
A Spiritual Trip to Melkote and Srirangapattanam by devotees of Shvetadweepa Bhakti Vriksha Vrinda On 9th May 2009
Kindly Click here for some Pictures of the trip.
On 9th May 09, it was around 6am when we all met at Sudhanshu Prabhuji’s house. We were all excited about our spiritual trip to Melkote and Srirangapattinam.We waited for all devotees to arrive. Bhaskar Pr had arranged for a 18 seater bus. All devotees boarded the bus by 6:30 am and were ready to start the spiritual journey. Sandesh Pr and Manish Pr. started separately by car and went to pick up some more devotees from different places and meet with the bus devotees at Ramanagaram. Park.
The journey started with an ecstatic Keertan lead by Brahma Pr. and there after lead by many other devotees
Sudanshu Pr then announced that the next thing in our agenda is chanting to finish our rounds. Everyone including younger devotees started chanting.
While the elders were busy chanting the youngest devotees Shesadri and Aryan as usual were running around the bus enjoying the bus ride .
Few devotees were planning for Krishna Conscious games, quizzes and other events that could be conducted during the day disturbing Sudanshu Pr once in while.
We reached Ramnagaram Park by around 9am and we had Prasadam there. After sometime Sandesh Pr along with senior devotees Srivas Prji, Bhakthi Vinod Prji and others arrived at the Park. All had prasadam followed by quick introduction of some people who did not know each other.
After having Prasadam, we all headed towards Melkote. Once again devotees started glorifying Krishna with lot of Bhajans and Kirtans taking turns. Later Manish Prji read out some pastimes of Mayapur Narasimha Dev and everyone enjoyed it. For few of the devotees it was like a lullaby story and went to sleep . As Melkote was nearing Sudanshu Pr devised a game to wakeup everyone. He asked one of half of the group to loudly chant beginning of Narasimha Aarti and other half of devotees to chant the last para of the Aarti. And whoever is the loudest wins. This way both teams chanted as loud as possible. It was fun and also woke up everyone . Everyone woke up with eyes wide open with no more sleep or drowsiness . Thus chanting the Narasmiha Aarti we reached Melkote by around 12:00 noon. First we went to take the Darshan of Lord Cheluvanarayana. In the queue few devotees Bramha Pr, Sandesh Pr and Ajay Pr did a short Kirtan and then went inside to take darshan of the Lord.
A little history behind the deities here: After the actual deity was established, Ramanuja felt the need for a utsava vigraha in the temple. Ramanuja dreamt Lord Cheluvanarayana and he was informed that he could bring the utsava vigraha from king’s palace in Delhi. Ramanuja travelled to Delhi and requested the king for the return of the idol of his dreams. The muslim king, who was highly impressed by Ramanuja’s power and devotion agreed to return the idol. The idol however was in possession of the young princess who was deeply attached to the beauty of Cheluvanarayana. The princess agreed to hand over the murthy to Ramanuja with great difficulty. Ramanuja accepted the idol and started on his return journey to Melkote. The princess who could not bear the separation followed the murthy with Ramanuja to Melkote. Even today, there is a small idol of the princess in her memory and is identified as "Bibi Nacchiar" (Muslim Angel).
After that, we went to visit Melkote Yoga Nrsimha temple. Temple of Lord Nrsimha on top of the hill is one of the oldest temples in the area.
It was a walkable distance from the Cheluva Narayana Temple. There were many huge steps leading to the temple and it was quite sunny and hot. Still the devotees were very enthusiastic to go by walk.
On the path of steps there were many vendors selling buttermilk, and flowers(even lotuses) and other pooja paraphernalia..Few devotees bought the lotus flowers and other pooja iteams to offer to Lord Narasimha.
There is a nice story behind how Sri Yoga Narsimha appeared in Melkote. Prahlad Maharaj had installed a shalagram shila. He was worshipping with great devotion. Pleased by the devotion of His great devotee, the Lord manifested Himself from the shila into a form of Yoga Narasimha ( swayambhu/self manifested) .
The steps led to an entrance where there were small shops selling devotional music cds. Then came the final entrance of the temple.
Once inside the temple Sudanshu Prji led an ecstatic Kirtan of Narsimha Aarti. Devotees took the beautiful darshan of the Lord and attended to Krishna Katha and an ecstatic Kirtan by Bhakti Vinod Prji.
Once out of the temple devotees started walking back to a place near the Cheluva Narayan temple to a local devotees house where the lunch Prasadam was arranged. I believe it was a Iyengar’s house, who was the regular contact of Iskcon devotees. He cooks and offers the prasadam as per the requirement of the devotees.
While few devotees were honouring Prasadam, others were relaxing outside the Iyengar house. Then we headed towards Gosai Ghat at SriRangaPattana. We stopped at Kaveri Sangam thinking it to be Gosai Ghat. After spending couple of minutes there we started to Gosai Ghat and reached there in 10 mins. As soon as we reached Gosai Ghat, while few devotees prepared for their skit, remaining devotees not losing the opportunity started Kirtans led by BhaktiVinod Pr. After the Kirtan the devotees watched a skit on the pastimes of Ramanujacharya. Without much rehearsal the devotees presented the skit very well. Ramanujacharya of the skit made everyone onstage and offstage to chant loudly “OM NAMO NARAYANA” !! All enjoyed the skit. Followed by this, there was a skit of Dhruv maharaj by the enthusiast young devotee Jaydev.
After those two skits, we all decided to take a holy dip in the river of Kauveri. The Prabhujis were taking holy dips in a circle in the river chanting “Radhe Shyam”.
With all the fun and still keeping Krsna in the centre, it was really blissful.
The matajis offered obeisances to Kaveri Ma and took few drops of holy waters and sprinkled on their heads. It was very pleasant and refreshing to watch the holy waters flowing incessantly towards the downstream. As if Kaveri Ma was reminding us that our devotion towards Krishna be similarly be naturally and incessantly draw our minds towards Lotus feet of Krishna.
By this time it was getting dark and everyone got ready to proceed towards Sri Ranganath Swamy temple. We reached the temple by 7:30 pm and took the darshan of the most beautiful and munificient Lord Sri Ranganatha Swamy lying on the magnificient Ananth Shesha. It was very difficult to move away from the Lord. Coming outside the main temple devotees then took darshan of Sri Tulsi devi nearby and sat down next to Her on the green grass. It was dark by this time and the weather was cool and pleasing. Devotees relaxed for a while and then everyone started back towards the bus. Once everyone boarded the bus and the car they started back to Bangalore. It was around 9PM then.
In the bus, the ecstatic Keerthans began again. Some devotees were tired and went asleep. Funniest thing is, after a full day of total spiritual experiences and keerthans, and at around 11pm Sudhanshu Pr says that we did not do anything much on that day and we should start dancing to please Krsna . We reached Sudhanshu pr’s house by around 12 midnight, honoured prasadam again and headed towards our respective homes. It was a very spiritual day all together, most of it spent in remembering Krsna. I am sure each of us are looking forward for the next one.
Participants :
Bhakti Vinod Pr
Srivas Pr
Sudanshu Pr and Family
Manish Pr and Family
Brahma Pr and Family
Jitendra Pr and Family
Sibun Pr and sisters
Bhaskar Pr
Shobna Mataji
Manish Pr’s neighbors
Ajay Pr
Sandesh Pr and Family
Ram Pr
Gurappa Pr
Bhakti Vinod Pr
Srivas Pr
Sudanshu Pr and Family
Manish Pr and Family
Brahma Pr and Family
Jitendra Pr and Family
Sibun Pr and sisters
Bhaskar Pr
Shobna Mataji
Manish Pr’s neighbors
Ajay Pr
Sandesh Pr and Family
Ram Pr
Gurappa Pr
Kindly Click here for some Pictures of the trip.
On 9th May 09, it was around 6am when we all met at Sudhanshu Prabhuji’s house. We were all excited about our spiritual trip to Melkote and Srirangapattinam.We waited for all devotees to arrive. Bhaskar Pr had arranged for a 18 seater bus. All devotees boarded the bus by 6:30 am and were ready to start the spiritual journey. Sandesh Pr and Manish Pr. started separately by car and went to pick up some more devotees from different places and meet with the bus devotees at Ramanagaram. Park.
The journey started with an ecstatic Keertan lead by Brahma Pr. and there after lead by many other devotees
Sudanshu Pr then announced that the next thing in our agenda is chanting to finish our rounds. Everyone including younger devotees started chanting.
While the elders were busy chanting the youngest devotees Shesadri and Aryan as usual were running around the bus enjoying the bus ride .
Few devotees were planning for Krishna Conscious games, quizzes and other events that could be conducted during the day disturbing Sudanshu Pr once in while.
We reached Ramnagaram Park by around 9am and we had Prasadam there. After sometime Sandesh Pr along with senior devotees Srivas Prji, Bhakthi Vinod Prji and others arrived at the Park. All had prasadam followed by quick introduction of some people who did not know each other.
After having Prasadam, we all headed towards Melkote. Once again devotees started glorifying Krishna with lot of Bhajans and Kirtans taking turns. Later Manish Prji read out some pastimes of Mayapur Narasimha Dev and everyone enjoyed it. For few of the devotees it was like a lullaby story and went to sleep . As Melkote was nearing Sudanshu Pr devised a game to wakeup everyone. He asked one of half of the group to loudly chant beginning of Narasimha Aarti and other half of devotees to chant the last para of the Aarti. And whoever is the loudest wins. This way both teams chanted as loud as possible. It was fun and also woke up everyone . Everyone woke up with eyes wide open with no more sleep or drowsiness . Thus chanting the Narasmiha Aarti we reached Melkote by around 12:00 noon. First we went to take the Darshan of Lord Cheluvanarayana. In the queue few devotees Bramha Pr, Sandesh Pr and Ajay Pr did a short Kirtan and then went inside to take darshan of the Lord.
A little history behind the deities here: After the actual deity was established, Ramanuja felt the need for a utsava vigraha in the temple. Ramanuja dreamt Lord Cheluvanarayana and he was informed that he could bring the utsava vigraha from king’s palace in Delhi. Ramanuja travelled to Delhi and requested the king for the return of the idol of his dreams. The muslim king, who was highly impressed by Ramanuja’s power and devotion agreed to return the idol. The idol however was in possession of the young princess who was deeply attached to the beauty of Cheluvanarayana. The princess agreed to hand over the murthy to Ramanuja with great difficulty. Ramanuja accepted the idol and started on his return journey to Melkote. The princess who could not bear the separation followed the murthy with Ramanuja to Melkote. Even today, there is a small idol of the princess in her memory and is identified as "Bibi Nacchiar" (Muslim Angel).
After that, we went to visit Melkote Yoga Nrsimha temple. Temple of Lord Nrsimha on top of the hill is one of the oldest temples in the area.
It was a walkable distance from the Cheluva Narayana Temple. There were many huge steps leading to the temple and it was quite sunny and hot. Still the devotees were very enthusiastic to go by walk.
On the path of steps there were many vendors selling buttermilk, and flowers(even lotuses) and other pooja paraphernalia..Few devotees bought the lotus flowers and other pooja iteams to offer to Lord Narasimha.
There is a nice story behind how Sri Yoga Narsimha appeared in Melkote. Prahlad Maharaj had installed a shalagram shila. He was worshipping with great devotion. Pleased by the devotion of His great devotee, the Lord manifested Himself from the shila into a form of Yoga Narasimha ( swayambhu/self manifested) .
The steps led to an entrance where there were small shops selling devotional music cds. Then came the final entrance of the temple.
Once inside the temple Sudanshu Prji led an ecstatic Kirtan of Narsimha Aarti. Devotees took the beautiful darshan of the Lord and attended to Krishna Katha and an ecstatic Kirtan by Bhakti Vinod Prji.
Once out of the temple devotees started walking back to a place near the Cheluva Narayan temple to a local devotees house where the lunch Prasadam was arranged. I believe it was a Iyengar’s house, who was the regular contact of Iskcon devotees. He cooks and offers the prasadam as per the requirement of the devotees.
While few devotees were honouring Prasadam, others were relaxing outside the Iyengar house. Then we headed towards Gosai Ghat at SriRangaPattana. We stopped at Kaveri Sangam thinking it to be Gosai Ghat. After spending couple of minutes there we started to Gosai Ghat and reached there in 10 mins. As soon as we reached Gosai Ghat, while few devotees prepared for their skit, remaining devotees not losing the opportunity started Kirtans led by BhaktiVinod Pr. After the Kirtan the devotees watched a skit on the pastimes of Ramanujacharya. Without much rehearsal the devotees presented the skit very well. Ramanujacharya of the skit made everyone onstage and offstage to chant loudly “OM NAMO NARAYANA” !! All enjoyed the skit. Followed by this, there was a skit of Dhruv maharaj by the enthusiast young devotee Jaydev.
After those two skits, we all decided to take a holy dip in the river of Kauveri. The Prabhujis were taking holy dips in a circle in the river chanting “Radhe Shyam”.
With all the fun and still keeping Krsna in the centre, it was really blissful.
The matajis offered obeisances to Kaveri Ma and took few drops of holy waters and sprinkled on their heads. It was very pleasant and refreshing to watch the holy waters flowing incessantly towards the downstream. As if Kaveri Ma was reminding us that our devotion towards Krishna be similarly be naturally and incessantly draw our minds towards Lotus feet of Krishna.
By this time it was getting dark and everyone got ready to proceed towards Sri Ranganath Swamy temple. We reached the temple by 7:30 pm and took the darshan of the most beautiful and munificient Lord Sri Ranganatha Swamy lying on the magnificient Ananth Shesha. It was very difficult to move away from the Lord. Coming outside the main temple devotees then took darshan of Sri Tulsi devi nearby and sat down next to Her on the green grass. It was dark by this time and the weather was cool and pleasing. Devotees relaxed for a while and then everyone started back towards the bus. Once everyone boarded the bus and the car they started back to Bangalore. It was around 9PM then.
In the bus, the ecstatic Keerthans began again. Some devotees were tired and went asleep. Funniest thing is, after a full day of total spiritual experiences and keerthans, and at around 11pm Sudhanshu Pr says that we did not do anything much on that day and we should start dancing to please Krsna . We reached Sudhanshu pr’s house by around 12 midnight, honoured prasadam again and headed towards our respective homes. It was a very spiritual day all together, most of it spent in remembering Krsna. I am sure each of us are looking forward for the next one.
Labels: Hare Krsna, Melkote, Srirangapattanam
posted by Ramchander at 2:09 PM
1 Comments:
Ram P,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you very much for putting it so nicely.
Once again I would like to thank all the devotees for enthusiastically participating in our Spiritual Retreat. Special thanks to Bhaskar P/Sandesh P for making our journey so comfortable, Brahma P for leading nice Kirtans, Ajay P for organizing quiz, Manish P for narrating pastimes of Lord Narasimha Dev, Premalata Mataji and her team for the Skit on Sri Ramanuja acharya’s pastime, our young devotees Jaidev and Ayush for the skit on Dhruv Maharaj, Lali Mataji and Subhra for delicious breakfast prasadam, and above all HG Bhaktivinod P and HG Srivas Krishna Chaitanya P for inspiring us through out the program.
Looking forward to have more and more Krishna Katha, Krishna Nama, Krishna Seva, Krishna Peetha Yatra, and Krishna Prasadam...:-)
YS, Sudhansu
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