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puNyasthalaNGaL - addition

From the Bhakti List Archives

vv • March 8, 1995 


Sri Vedantha Desikan is supposed to have been blessed by Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevar, the Supreme deity for all wisdom and guru of Sri sarasvathi, at this hill
in Thiruppath I am sorry ThiruvEnthipuram near Cuddalore.  At the foot of the
hills is also the abode of Sri Devanatha Perumal an d is introduced during
Harathi as the elder brother of Sri Venkateswara.  A very small town and a
serene atmosphere and I heard has a dedicated group of "veda parayana goshti"
that will ( many of them hold regular govt jobs) not give up Kainkarya of
Perumal at any cost and take pride an dturns in doing all the saththumurai etc,
themselves.  Our Azhagiyasinger has designated this to be a schooling place for
youngsters wishing to go to Vedic school.  ( apparently he has started a project
with enormous futire implications for our philosophy of thought in years to
come and with no doubt foresight- children willing to go through vedic school
will be taught the traditional scriptures as an on the spot training in some
temples and a stipend will be paid to them every month.  After finishing this
school, they are guaranteed a monthly return from a deposit he makes for each child to the tune of some 3000 rupees after say they attain age 20 or so that they
will not have to seek out employment to earn a livelihood aside from temple/
and or vedic related duties)  I saw a young boy in this temple- probably 10 or
11 and thought to myself he must be a very lucky guy whether he realizes it or not to be in a temple setup day in and day out and enjoy the darshan of
emperumaan all the time.  Enough digression there.  Coming back to the temple,
from the top of the hillock you have a very peaceful and beautiful view of the
town - gadilam the river that was once enormous and gushing in now a tricle, but
the bed is still safe an.  At the top of the hill there is just this Lakshmi
Hayagreevar Sannidhi in the center.  They go up twice everyday to offer
"thaLigai" and you have to be there at that time to be able to have his darshan.
To my knowledge, only perumal I have seen having "thaayar" on his lap - no I 
take that back , Nithyakalyana Perumal is also depicted like that.  The murthy
has the face of a horse and a human-like body. Having his blessing is supposed to bring you a desire for wisdom and ultimate truth and in current parlanec of
schools, etc., supposed to be very good for students.  Devanatha perumal moolavar is huge and so serene looking.  The temple has a spacious prakaram and has
the smell of bats at some places. Toeards the west end is a series of steps
that lead down to the expansive kadilam bed.  Very few people visit and at any
given time is peaceful.  Connected from Cuddalore by bus/auto about 15 min.
The hill was full of smaal  small pebbles., but is vastly receding in quantity-
I don't know why.  Semma  Sengamalath thaayaar is very beautiful.  My sister
lived in Cuddalore for sometime and we were introduced to this marvelous temple
since then and it is a pleasure to visit this place and well worth the pains to
go there.  Hope you all can enjoy this sometime.

I have some more places to talk about, but later.  For various raesons I am not
right now in a position to spend a lot of time learning and assimilating all the
material that comes through, but in the hope I will I still continue to be a
passive member.  In a way I am jealous of the active members, no doubt benefitting by their exchanges.

naarayanan pugazhpada naaLonru vEndumo?
nalaNgal pala thanthidum nayagan avanai
nithamum padi maghizha naan enna thavamseithaal
nithyavannan enninaivil ennaalum uRainthiduvaan?

Vaidehi V. Raja