Author Archives: Sevak

Sri Rangam – Introduction

Sri Rangam

SRI RANGAM, or Sri Rangaksetra, is the largest temple in the world in which worship is still being performed. Situated on an island at the confluence of the Kav eri and Kollidam rivers in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sri Rangam is the main center of worship and culture for the Sri Vaisnavas.

Srirangam adi madhya antya

Historically, their main acarya, or spiritual teacher, was Sri Ramanujacharya. According to the temple’s website, Srirangam can be considered the biggest functioning temple in the world, as it covers an area of about 631,000 square metres (6,790,000 sq ft) with a perimeter of 4 km (10,710 ft). Angkor Wat is bigger but non-functioning. The temple complex is 156 acres (0.63 km2) in extent. The main temple is surrounded by seven walls, which represent the seven planetary systems described in Vedic cosmology. The seven walls have twenty-one towered entrances (gopurams), the highest of which is called the Rajagopuram and is 236 feet (72 m) tall, the tallest in Asia (by the late 44th Jeeyar of the Sri Ahobila Mutt and consecrated in 1987 ) and can be seen from at least ten miles away. Much of the town of Sri Rangam is within the three outer walls of the temple compound. After Tirupati, this is the second most visited Vaishnava temple in South India.

Sri Rangam

The Srirangam temple is one of the three temples of the god Ranganata that are situated in the natural islands formed in the Kaveri river. They are: Adi Ranga: the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangapattana Madhya Ranga: the Ranganathaswamy temple at Shivanasamudra Antya Ranga: the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam Above the main altar is the Sriranga-vimana (golden tower) fully made of gold, which is protected by electrical fence. On the four sides of the Ranga vimana are carvings of four forms of Lord Vishnu. On the south side is Para-Vasudeva, on the west is Acyuta, on the north Ananda, and on the east Govinda.

Srirangnath Rare picture

Inside the temple compound, there is a separate temple for the goddess Andal. Additionally, There is a museum, a library and a bookshop as well.

Sri Rangnatha

The Deity in the main temple is Sri Ranganatha Swami,(6.4 m ie21 feet long) a two-armed form of Lord Visnu reclining on the divine serpent Ananta Sesa. Near his feet are seated his two consorts, Sri Bhu and Sri Neela. In front of Lord Ranganatha is the utsava-murti of Lord Vishnu, called Sri Manavala Perumal. This deity is taken out of the temple for processions. Along side Lord Ranganatha is Deity Tiruvaranga, who was worshiped as a substitute during the Muslim period, when the original could not be found. At the feet of the Lord is Vibhi-shana, the brother of Ravana. The priests of Sri Rangam have worshiped Sri Ranganatha in much the same way since the eleventh century, when Sri Ramanuja set up strict standards of worship, with a meticulous schedule of songs, prayers, rituals, and offerings. Each morning at 6.45 am, a cow with her head facing away from Lord Ranganatha and an elephant facing the cow are brought before the altar. Thus when the deity’s doors are opened the first thing that Lord Ranganatha sees is the rear end of a cow and the head of an elephant, which are both considered very auspicious. I was told that instead of a conch-shell being blown, the elephant blows his trunk. This is the most auspicious time to see Lord Ranganatha. Since the time Sri Ranganatha decided to stay at Sri Rangam countless kings, queens, saints, sages, devotees, demigods, and goddesses have eagerly stood before the doors of His chamber awaiting His merciful glance. Millions of souls since ancient times have had that fortune, and many more will have it for many years to come.

Himalayas

himalayas

Introduction to Himalayas

The word ‘Char dham’ is very popular in India. Sripad Shankaracharya devised an intelligent plan to unite entire India under vedic tradition so that people can travel and see each other’s cultures with in vedic tradition.So he constituted four dhams in four corners of India. Badrinath in north of India, Rameshwaram in south of India Jagannath Puri in east of India and Dwaraka in west of India. Apart from this main char dham, there is also laghu (mini) char dham. It is present in Himalayan mountain ranges. In this, Himalayas talks about the laghu char dham or the Himalayan ranges.
Himalayas is called by various names. It is also called as Dev bhumi because great devatas reside. They often visit and return to their heavenly abode. It is also called as Shiva bhumi as he performs many pastimes here.
Himalayan ranges are spread from upper Kashmir area to north east Arunachal Pradesh including Nepal. Geographically, Himalayas is divided into five parts.
First part is Kashmir khanda which contains Kashmir valley and it includes Amarnath and Vaishnavi Devi temple.Second part is Jalandhar khanda which contains parts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Shimla, a well-known tourist spot, comes under Jalsaghar khand.Third is Khedar khand which primarily includes the entire Uttarakhand. All the four laghu char dhams (Badrinath, Kedarnath,Gangotri, Yamonotri) come under Khedar Khanda. Khedar means Lord Shiva. He is present everywhere here. Fourth part is called as Kamau, it is in northern part of Uttarakhand. The place Nainital comes under Kamau region. The name Nainital, a hill station, was originally derived from the word Naini and tal. Naini means eyes and tal refers to place. When Sati Devi’s body fell in different parts of India, her eyes fell at this place and hence this place is called as Nainital.Fifth part is in Nepal. It contains Muktinath and Pasupatinath.

Govardhan

GOVARDHAN

O Govardhana, O king of mountains, O hill whose nectarian name the best of Hari’s servants flows from the moonlike mouth of Sri Radha,O hill that the Vedas declare to be the tilaka marking of Vraja, please grant me a residence near to you.

Govardhana Hill is acknowledged throughout the Vedic scripture’s as the most sacred mountain not only in the whole of India, but in all the three worlds. It is therefore no wonder that when Govardhana Hill appeared, all the great mountains of the universe came and worshiped him as their king. They also declared that Govardhana had descended from Goloka Vrndavana in the spiritual world and is the crown jewel of Vraja.

The Vedas also inform us that Govardhana Hill is understood in two different ways. First, as the greatest devotee of Lord Krsna, and second as being non-different from Lord Krsna Himself.

Before the beautiful gopis of Vrndavana, Srimati Radharani praised Govardhana Hill as the very best servant (Haridasa-varya) of Lord Krsna in the following words:
Of all the devotees, this Govardhana Hill is the best! O my friends, this hill supplies Krsna and Balarama, along with their calves, cows and cowherd friends, with all kinds of necessities – water for drinking, very soft grass, caves, fruits, flowers and vegetables. In this way the hill offers respects to the Lord.Being touched by the lotus feet of Krsna and Balarama,Govardhana Hill appears very jubilant.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.21.18: As the best servant, Govardhana Hill provides Krsna, Balarama and the inhabitants of Vrndavana with all the necessities of life. Cool fragrant drinking water from its many waterfalls, pure honey, mango juice and pilu juice, wonderful varieties of herbs, roots, fruits, creepers and fresh flowers. Govardhana also provides various minerals and precious gems that the cowherd boys use to decorate Krsna, Balarama alongwith themselves.

This sacred hill also provides deep caves where Krsna and Balarama rest and take shelter against the rain and the scorching sun. Krsna also enjoys many intimate loving pastimes with Srimati Radharani in these same caves.

Govardhana Hill also provides a special kind of soft, fragrant grass that makes the cows strong and healthy. This grass also helps increase the cow’s milk production, which is used to make pure ghee for the sacrificial fire and cooking. The milk is also turned into butter, yogurt, cheese and an amazing variety of milksweets.

GOVARDHAN

Considering that milk is the economic backbone of the inhabitants of Vrndavana, it is no wonder that Lord Krsna advised the Vrajavasis to stop the sacrifice to Lord Indra and worship Govardhana Hill instead.

Govardhana Hill also provides Lord Krsna with a stage to perform His innumerable transcendental loving pastimes with the beautiful damsels of Vraja and with His many cowherd boyfriends.

The Vedas also say that Govardhana Hill is non-different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna Himself. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited Vraja in the year 1515, He refused to climb Govardhana Hill because He saw that Govardhana was non-different from Lord Krsna. At the time of the annakuta ceremony, Krsna declared that He was non-different from Govardhana Hill:

Krsna then assumed an unprecedented huge form to instill faith in the cowherd men declaring, `I am Govardhana Mountain!’ He ate the abundant offerings. Together with the people of Vraja, the Lord bowed down to Govardhana Hill, thus in effect offering obeisances to Himself Then He said, ” Just see how this hill has appeared in person and bestowed mercy upon us!

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.24.35-6 Because Govardhana Hill is non-different from Krsna Himself, the rocks from Govardhana are worshipable just like a Deity of Krsna, In fact, the stones known as Govardhana-silas do not even need to be installed as they are already considered to be worshipable. Many great devotees have worshiped these silas from Govardhana Hill. These devotees include Sanatana Gosvami and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, as well as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.

Govardhana Hill should be envisioned to be in the shape of a peacock resting with its head tucked into its side. The peacocks face is considered to be the beautiful Kusuma-sarovara, its neck is Manasi ganga, its mouth Mukharavinda. In Govinda lilamrita Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami says its two eyes are Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda it’s ears Gvala Pokhara, the beginning of its tail is Balarama Sthali, and the end of its tail is Punchari-kunda (Naval-kunda).

Appearance
Lord Krishna’s father Nanda Maharaja once enquired from his brother Upananda how Govardhana hill had appeared in the sacred land of Vrindavana. Upananda replied that King Pandu, father of the Pandavas, had asked this very question to Grandfather Bhishma, was had narrates the following story from the Garga Samhita:

One day in Goloka Vrindavana Lord Krishna informed Srimati Radharani that She should now appear on earth as it was time for Them to perform Their transcendental pastimes within the material world. Radharani replied that unless Vraja Dhama, the Yamuna and Govardhana Hill were present there, She would not be very happy. Krsna then told Radharani that She need not worry as Vraja Dhama, along with the Yamuna and Govardhana Hill had already appeared on earth.

Many years before this incident, in the land of Shalmali dvipa, the wife of the great mountain Dronacal gave birth to a son named Govardhana. At the time of Govardhana’s birth all the demigods appeared in the sky and showered flowers upon him. The great mountains, led by the Himalayas and Sumeru, came there to offer their respects. They then performed parikrama of Govardhana and accepted him as their king. They offered very nice prayers praising Govardhana for having descended from Goloka Vrindavana, describing him as the “crown jewel of Vraja.”

Some years later, at the beginning of Satya-yuga, the great sage Pulastya Muni paid a visit to Shalmali dvipa. Upon seeing the beautiful Govardhana Hill covered with many lovely creepers, flowers, rivers, caves and chirping birds, the sage felt that this hill was capable of giving liberation. He then went to meet Dronacal, who immediately offered his respects and inquired from the sage what service he could render.

Pulastya Muni informed Dronacal that he was from Kashi (Benares) and was on pilgrimage to all the Holy places. And he said that even though the sacred river Ganges flows through Kashi, there is no beautiful hill. He then asked Dronacal to give Govardhana to him so that he could perform his austerities sitting on top of the hill.

On hearing the sage’s request, Dronacal, who was not willing to part with his son, started to shed tears in thought of separation from his beloved Govardhana. Not wanting to see Pulastya Muni become angry and curse his father, Govardhana asked the sage how he would carry him all the way to Kashi. The sage replied that he would carry him in his right hand. Govardhana then agreed to go with the sage on one condition that if the sage put him down anywhere during the course of the journey, he would not be able to lift him again. Pulastya Muni agreed. Carrying Govardhana in his right hand he left for Kashi.

By the will of providence Pulastya Muni passed through Vraja on his way to Kashi. On arriving in Vraja, Govardhana thought that now he was here he should remain in the Holy dhama. By his mystic power he was able to influence Pulastya Muni to attend to the call of nature. Unmindful, the sage put Govardhana down and went off to answer the call. But when he returned he was unable to lift Govardhana again. Trying with all his might, using both hands, he could not lift Govardhana even slightly.

In great anger Pulastya Muni then became angry and cursed Govardhana to sink into the ground by the measurement of one mustard seed every day. When Govardhana first came to Vraja in the beginning of Satya-yuga, it is said that Govardhana at that time was 115 km (64 miles) long, 72 km (40 miles) wide and 29 km (16 miles) high. Now the hill is only 80 feet high at its highest point. It is said that after ten thousand years of the Kali-yuga Govardhana will have completely disappeared. It is said by Acaryas that Govardhana is decreasing in size because of separation from Lord Krishna.

After narrating the wonderful story of Govardhana’s appearance, Sunanda informed Nanda Maharaja that as long as Govardhana Hill and the river Yamuna remained manifest, Kali-yuga would not take its full effect. Sunanda also said that anyone who is fortunate enough to hear the description of the appearance of Govardhana Hill would be freed from all sins.

Another story about Govardhana dill is that the monkey army of Lord Rama was carrying different stones to construct a bridge to Lanka. This happened in Treta Yuga, when Lord Rama was getting ready to attack Lanka. Hanuman was carrying Govardhana from the Himalayas to help built the bridge. This was on the fifth day of construction. As Hanuman was carrying Govardhana over Braja, Nala and Neela, who were in charge of building the bridge declared that it was completed and no more stones were needed. When Hanuman heard this, he was in Braja Mandala and he placed Govardhana there. Govardhana then starting crying that he was lost in two ways. Now he was taken away from being close to Lord Siva, who lives in the Himalayas and he would not be able to be used in the service of Lord Rama and therefore, be able to see Him. Rama heard about Govardhana crying and said that in Dwapara Yuga he would be born as Sri Krishna and would hold Govardhana up for seven days and nights to save the residents of Braja.

GOVARDHAN