Trip to Tiruvannamalai (Thejosthalam - Fire one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalam)

It is said that Thiruvannamalai is one of the most sacred place (Ninaithale Mukthi Tharum Thiruthalam) for Salvation. 

Have visited Tiruvannamalai a couple of years ago, I chose to revisit the temple on a auspicious full moon night (Chitra Powrnami night) to pray for my dear one(s).

Thanks to KSRTC  online reservations have made our life easy. Bangalore to Pondicherry via Tiruvannamalai  through Volvo  at 8.30 am takes about 4 hours. The road till Krishnagiri is great, after which I not the best.

Since it was a crowded day, I had booked a room at Hotel Arunachala, which is just opposite the main temple which was clean and comfortable. 

 

  

  Lord Arunachaleswarar and Unnamalai Amman

 The main deity is Lord Shiva or Arunachaleswarar and Goddess Parvathi or Unnamalai Amman.  Thanks to Sri Shankar Guru, I was blessed to spent some time to watch the pooja near the sanctum sanctorum  which is indeed  magnificent.

Poojas are conducted six times a day. Moreover the special poojas to be carried out in Lord Siva’s Temple are also performed regularly.

 The structure of the temple well planned and built with many pillars and sculptures. The temple has seven prakaras and nine gopurams. The tallest gopuram was built by king Krishnadevaraya in the fifteenth century and it is believed to be the second tallest gopuram in the world. This tower is called as Rajagopuram located on the eastern side.

 

It the entrance

GIRIVALAM
Girivalam or ‘circumambulating’ the ‘the mountain of fire’ is walking barefoot around the hill on this day in a distance of 14 Kms which takes about close to 5 hours and visiting eight shiva lingams around the hill.

It is followed that the pradakshina around the girivalam makes a person healthy and the mind attains the peace.
Girivalam is an extraordinary sadhana.

 

Walking for the hill

 Around the Girivanam

  Lamps are lit on the tank

 

BAGAVAN SHRI RAMANA

He was born on Dec 30, 1879 at Thiruchuzhi near Sivakasi, south of Madurai; he was fascinated by Arunachala from an young age; reached Thiruvannamalai temple on Sept 1, 1896 when he was 16; he realised that when one dies, only the body vanishes and not the spirit; he sat near one of the lingams (now called the Paathala Lingam situated near the huge Nandi in the temple) in bliss for three continuous years, prayed Shiva without food or water; ants and rodents bit his body all over, termites built a huge mount around him and finally he was recovered by Sri Seshadri Swamigal who put him up in Virupaksha caves on the eastern slope of the Arunachala hills; he gave mukthi to his mother Alagammal in 1922, buried her in the hills and built his Ramana Ashramam; he finally gave up his body on April 14, 1950 when he was 71 years. He has a big group of devotees including many foreigners who congregate in his Ramanashramam today.

Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram

There are accommodation facilities for the devotees of the ashram. 

Trip to Sri kalahasti 15 April 2013

Sri Kalahasteeswara Temple at Sri kalahasti

Pancha Bhoota Stalam or Pancha Bhoota Stala refers to the five Shiva temples, dedicated to Lord Shiva representing five basic elements.  

Tiruvannamalai (Thejosthalam - Fire)  

Kanchipuram (Prithvi sthalam - Earth) 

Tiruvanaikaval (Appu sthalam - Water)  

Chidambaram (Akasa sthalam - Space)

Sri Kalahasthi ( Vayu Lingam - Air)

 

Having visited Tiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram, decided to see the  third  of the Pancha Bhoota Stalam. Daring the peak summer, along with my family chose to travel our KSRTC - Volvo early morning at 6.00 am. En-route, a heavy breakfast at Kamat Upahara , we reached Tirupati by 12.00 noon. The temperature was about 40 degree, we decided to boarded a local bus to Sri Kalahasti to reach on time for lunch. Just a distance of 38 Kms ahead, it took an hour to reach our destination. We stayed at Hotel Shannkur Residency - A clean and decent accommodation with a/c (and a 24 hrs generator) just across the temple .    Sri Kalahasti Temple one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalams, enshrining one of the elemental Lingas, the Vayu (Air) Linga.   The spider is call "Sri," the snake "Kala," and the elephant "Hasti." The three names are combined together in the name Srikalahasti. The spider is said to have a web above the linga to protect it from the sun and rain. The main sanctum was magnificent illuminated with lamps.  When seen from the top, the Shiva Linga looks like that of a snake with five hoods. The lamp inside the inner sanctum continuously sparkles, even without the air movement inside.It is said that the shiva linga is not touched by human hands, even by the priests. The skillful architecture of the temple is such that the flame flickers continuously in the sanctum sanctorum, indicating the presence of wind near the deity.  There are hundreds of lingas in the temple, spatika linga was just amazing. Sri Kalahasteeswara Temple is also linked with Lord Rahu , Lord Kethu and Sarpadosha Nivarana with a long queue to perform the pooja with various prices starting from Rs.300, Rs.600 and Rs.1500 respectively. The statue of Goddess Gnana Prasunambika Devi- the flower of divine knowledge, assumes great importance here, as this is considered one the 108 Shakti Peethas of Goddess Shakti.   Other dieties in the temple like 'Sri Pathala Vinayaka',  'Lord Subrahmanya',  'Sri Kasi Visweswara',  'Sri Ramalingeswara'are a few I noticed.    Exploring the surroundings of the temple in a task itself as it is a huge place adding to the summer heat.  Many stalls in the temple entrance. Buttermilk vendors selling thirsty pilgrims in summer.

Food in Srikalahasthi is just about edible. 

 

I was excited to see "Chennai Sharavana Bhavan" across, but i was disappointed. 

The food was unsatisfactory as much as the high price. We had Ganesh Bhavan 

for breakfast with yummy chutney and Dinner at MGM Grand was tasty with 

North Indian Ala Carte. 

Next morning we decided to have a darshanam again and boarded a bus to 

Tirupati bus stop. 

I was very happy to see Smt. M.S.Subbalakshmi statue at Tirupati temple town.

Having booked the Tirupati - Yeshwanpur express, at 2.50 pm,

Hmmmmmm!!

3 hours' 

time to spent was the right answer through lunch at

Hotel Udayee International Hotel, just opposite the bus stop. 

  Yummmy !!.... Andra Meals was just perfect!

Having visited Tiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram, decided to see the  third  of the Pancha Bhoota Stalam. Daring the peak summer, along with my family chose to travel our KSRTC - Volvo early morning at 6.00 am. En-route, a heavy breakfast at Kamat Upahara , we reached Tirupati by 12.00 noon. The temperature was about 40 degree, we decided to boarded a local bus to Sri Kalahasti to reach on time for lunch. Just a distance of 38 Kms ahead, it took an hour to reach our destination.

We stayed at Hotel Shannkur Residency - A clean and decent accommodation with a/c (and a 24 hrs generator) just across the temple .

 

 Sri Kalahasti Temple one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalams, enshrining one of the elemental Lingas, the Vayu (Air) Linga. 

 The spider is call "Sri," the snake "Kala," and the elephant "Hasti." The three names are combined together in the name Srikalahasti. The spider is said to have a web above the linga to protect it from the sun and rain.

The main sanctum was magnificent illuminated with lamps.  When seen from the top, the Shiva Linga looks like that of a snake with five hoods. The lamp inside the inner sanctum continuously sparkles, even without the air movement inside.It is said that the shiva linga is not touched by human hands, even by the priests. The skillful architecture of the temple is such that the flame flickers continuously in the sanctum sanctorum, indicating the presence of wind near the deity. 

There are hundreds of lingas in the temple, spatika linga was just amazing.

Sri Kalahasteeswara Temple is also linked with Lord Rahu , Lord Kethu and Sarpadosha Nivarana with a long queue to perform the pooja with various prices starting from Rs.300, Rs.600 and Rs.1500 respectively.

The statue of Goddess Gnana Prasunambika Devi- the flower of divine knowledge, assumes great importance here, as this is considered one the 108 Shakti Peethas of Goddess Shakti.  

Other dieties in the temple like 'Sri Pathala Vinayaka',  'Lord Subrahmanya',  'Sri Kasi Visweswara',  'Sri Ramalingeswara'are a few I noticed.

 

 Exploring the surroundings of the temple in a task itself as it is a huge place adding to the summer heat. 

Many stalls in the temple entrance.

Buttermilk vendors selling thirsty pilgrims in summer.