TEMPLES

For the last few years I have been staying in Muscat and only visit India only once in every 11-12 months. And every one of these times I spend most of my time between Tripunithura and Irinjalakuda. Without any doubt – I love going to these places and spending time with my parents, in-laws and meeting a lot of relatives.

Between visiting relatives, shopping, going this way and that – one thing that I and my family do not forget to do is going to temples – both in and around our houses and a few ones that are a little away from our place of stay.

Before I came over to Muscat, I used to stay in Chennai. There were a couple of temples that I used to frequently go to – the Mahalingapuram Ayappan temple, the Anna Nagar Ayappan temple and a very small temple tucked away in one of the by lanes in Adyar. This temple also had Lord Ayappan has the presiding deity and all the temple “poojas” were performed by priests in the style that is usually performed in Kerala. This temple is a very small temple compared to the other 2 temples I mentioned. This temple is quiet close the main road leading to Besant Nagar.

I used to find this place very serene, peaceful and very devotional. I mean the hustle and bustle of the main road would be completely lost once you enter this temple premises. I happened to discover this temple one day by chance and after that I used to be a regular this temple. The evenings in this temple used to be so beautiful – with diya’s lit around the temple. The “payasam” that you get as Prasad after the pooja used to taste out of the world. My wife and I would sit there for a long time especially during the weekends. I hope to go and pray in the temple the next time I visit Chennai.

Another temple that I fell in love with the first time I went there is a Shiva temple, about 10-15 kms from the centre of Thrissur. This temple is situated in the place called Neythilakavu. This temple is also very beautiful and serene. It is not a very big temple, but definitely quiet popular. This temple actually is the “kula prathistha” (deity belonging to your family) for my wife. Once you are inside this temple, you would feel that you are in some isolated land that has just the temple in the middle. Especially when you look out from inside the temple campus, there is hardly any building that is visible – you can see trees all around!

In Bombay, I happened to go to the “Siddhi Vinayak” temple just once. The approach to this temple is crowded with shops, people, devotees, taxis and cars all jostling with each other for space and attention. The temple is generally crowded on most days and times, but once you are in front of Lord, you are drawn in by an unknown magnetic force.

Similarly at the Udipi temple, in the state of Karnataka, Lord Krishna is the presiding deity. The temple is one of the most famous of temples dedicated to Lord Krishna. When you have darshan inside this temple, you are drawn towards in by the power of the “vigraham”. You feel blessed by just having a darshan of the lord in this temple.

Some of the temples that I have visited at various times are Shabarimala, Guruvayoor, Mamiyur, Chottanikaara, Kodalmanikam, Thirupathi, Suchedaram, Ananthapadmanam temple and various other temples.

There must be thousands of temples all around the world where you feel blessed by just having visited these temples.