HARI SARVOTHAMA------------------------------------------------------------------------------VAAYU JEEVOTHAMA I am sharing my travel experiences to Manthralayam & Navabrindavana based on my recent trip (16-20th November, 2013) for the benefit of those traveling in the near future. We took the 12164-Chennai Dadar Superfast to Manthralayam Road on 16th from Chennai. The train leaves Chennai Egmore at 6:50 am every day. We reached Manthralayam Road railway station at 05:00 pm on the same day (late by over 30 minutes from the scheduled arrival time). We took an auto to Manthralayam for just two of us and paid Rs 150. The road to Manthralayam from the railway station is not very bad, but OK. It took me about 35 minutes to reach the hotel from Manthralayam Road railway station. I had booked for my accommodation at Sreekara Paradise (which is at walking distance from the SRS Matha, It is two streets behind the SBI ATM & Bank which is in front of the matha). They follow 24 hrs check-out and I paid Rs 600 for double room economy per day all inclusive (includes hot water) Contact numbers: Mr Narayana - 09440591611; Mr Venkat Raju - 09985812472 We had a good darshan of manchalamma, the presiding deity of the Manchale village before having darshan of prana devaru and Sri Raghavendra Swamy followed by Sri Vadeendra theertharu and brindavana of other yathigalu in the matha premises (near Ranga Bhavana). We also witnessed the kartheeka deepotsava, rathothsava (gaja vahana,wooden,silver and golden) and Unjal Seva of Sri Prahaladaru. After maha mangalarathi headed to ranga bhavana, to have teertha prasada (palahara). They also serve dinner for those who like to have rice (it was rasam and curd rice on that day) On 17th, we visited the matha at about 5:15 am to witness the pada pooje to Sri Prahaladaru, followed by abhisheka to Sri Rayaru brindavana. At about 7:00 am, we were blessed to witness the pooje to Moola Rama Devaru by H.H.Sri Subudhendra Teertharu - Jr. Pontiff 17th November being Poornima, I booked for Samoohika Satyanarayana Pooja (starts at 9:00 am)- Rs 50 for two persons (only on poornima day, other days I believe it is Rs 200 per head) We wanted to perform pada pooje to H.H.Sri Subudhendra Teertharu and requested for details from the seva counter. There is no ticket to be purchased in advance. You need to buy two coconuts (ask for phala theginakkayi (coconut) to offer to swamiji, you will not get the regular coconut without the outer husk intact but one with most of the outer husk in place), flower, fruits and dakshane (everything yatha sakthi) and be ready for the announcement for pada pooje, mudra dharane near to Swamiji visitors room. You need to preferably have head bath (in the holy tunga bhadra) and not take anything, even coffee/tea until you complete pada pooje, mudra dharane. We took Mudra Dharane from H.H.Sri Subudhendra Teertharu - Jr. Pontiff and performed pada pooje at about 09:30 am. Had teertha prasada in the matha at about 2:30 pm after maha mangalarathi. At 3:00 pm headed in an auto to have darshan of Bichale and Panchamukhi (Rs 500 including waiting at Bichale and Panchamukhi for just two of us). The stretch of road to Bichale, especially after Sri Appanacharya’s house to Eka Shila brindavana of Sri Rayaru, is very bad. Road work is in progress (black topping and laying of base) which is a good sign. I took us about an hour to reach Bichale. Nevertheless, all the trouble and pain just vanished on seeing the eka shila brindavana of Sri Rayaru at Bichale standing still as a solid evidence for the everlasting friendship & devotion between Sri appanacharya and Sri Rayaru. Sat down near to the flowing thungabhadra and closed my eyes to soak myself into the serene surroundings of the lovely thungabadra with the setting sun in the backdrop for few minutes. Also visited Sri appanacharya's house which has been reconstructed after the flood in 2009. Headed towards Panchamukhi and then back to Manthralayam. By the time we returned back, it was 6:30 pm and it was time to witness the TungArathi (Punya Nadhi Harati) at Manthralayam (second year celebration). A beautiful stage was set up near the banks of tunghabhadra river for both swamijis to perform arathi to thungabhadra river and for anugraha sandesha. TungArathi (Punya Nadhi Harati) at Mantralayam | Sri Raghavendra Matha On 18th, we started in a private cab to Nava Brindavana at about 6:30 am via. Raichur, Manvi,Sindhanur, Gangavathi and Anegundi. The roads are OK and not that great for the 200+200 Kms travel. The entire stretch of 200 kms in both directions is just manageable. The black topping is simply not to be seen with the loose gravel scattered all over the road, making the entire ride bumpy. We booked a cab from Sri Raghavendra Travels, near SBI ATM. Contact: Mr Narayana – 09440591611. He charged me Rs 3300 (all included, paid Rs 30 for parking at Nava Brindavana) We visited Kallur Sri Mahalakshmi to start with. It was indeed our blessing and the generosity of Sri Hari to see him with Sri Mahalakshmi in one place together. After our prayers at Kallur, we headed to Anegundi SRS Matha to visit Nava Brindavana. It was 11:40 am, by the time we reached Anegundi, since our cab had a flat tyre near Sindhanur, which had to be replaced with a spare one (which the driver had carried in the car, need to appreciate the travels for being prepared for such eventuality due to bad roads). Had darshana of Sri Rayaru at Anegundi SRS Matha and the manager suggested that we have teertha prasada before heading to nava brindavana as it would take atleast 1.5-2 hours to visit Nava Brindavana and return back to Anegundi. One of the achars informed us that he will accompany us since the achar already there might return back for lunch by the time we start. I think the achars stay at Nava Brindavana until 5pm on a rotation basis. Around 10 rooms are available for stay in the SRS Matha in Anegundi at a nominal cost. The Manager of SRS matha, Anegundi (Phone: 08533 267733). There is also a Uttaradhi matha close to SRS matha. We took a motor boat to Nava Brindavana at about 2pm (since the boat after returning from the previous trip had run out of fuel, we had to wait for 30 minutes). Nevertheless, it was worth the wait. It took 5 minutes to reach the island in the middle of river thungabhadra by boat and few hundred meters around a small hillock to reach the holy place, the nine great madhwa saints have rendered still more sacred by their eternal presence. After getting down from the boat, a refreshing wetting of our feet and head in the icy cold waters of the river thungabadra (which is a little wild here compared to bichale or mantralayam) gave us a perfect start to the visit. One needs to be careful while getting near the river, since the rocks are very slippery. We lit ghee lamps (11 nos.) in the shrines of Lord Ranganatha and Prana devaru (Jagrathai Hanuman). The achar who accompanied us performed sankalpa and we offered yatha shakthi dakshine. Note: You need to get ghee lamps, match box, wick etc. from Anegundi or elsewhere with you before visiting Nava Brindavana if you plan to light ghee lamps there. We feel very blessed to have visited this holy place where the divine steps of the madhwa tradition have treaded! On my return back to Manthralayam we visited the home town of Sri jaganatha dasaru in Manvi. We returned back to Manthralayam at about 7 pm and headed to matha for rathothsava followed by teertha prasada (palahara). On 19th, we got up early to watch the ksheera abhisheka for Sri Rayaru and then moola ramaru pooje. We then visited Sri Lakshmi-Venkateshwara Temple or Sri Venkateshwara Temple and offered our prayers Sri Lakshmi-Venkateshwara, which is believed to have been consecrated by Sri Rayaru. We then inquired about the paduke of Sri Rayaru and were directed to Sri madhesh achar’s house, which is as a few 100 meters away from Sri Lakshmi-Venkateshwara temple. We offered our prayers to the paduke of Sri Rayaru and were offered mantrakshathe. It was a divine experience to get to atleast watch the paduke worn by Sri Rayaru, inspite of all the papa committed knowingly and unknowingly in this birth. We then headed to matha to seek the blessings from H.H. Shri Suyateendra Teertharu - Present Pontiff of SRS matha. Also had Mudra Dharane from H.H. Shri Suyateendra Teertharu. Had darshan of other yatigalu brindavana one last time during maha mangalarathi. Had our teertha prasada by 2pm in the matha (ranga bhavana) and returned back to Sreekara Paradise. Packed up our things to head to Manthralayam Road station to catch the 1102 Mumbai CST-Chennai Mail Express at 15:25 hours. Reasons apart, we were in no mood to leave this holy place and return back to mundane life in the city. Our hearts felt heavy as if it was time to take leave of a very close member in the family. Eyes were filled with tears and we were almost crying. As it is rightly said, worldly pain and sufferings start the moment one is outside his/her mother’s womb. It was the same feeling for us. A feeling of moving away from the comforting embrace of one’s mother. Can there be a doubt if Sri Rayaru is a Kalpavriksha (the divine tree, which fulfills all our good wishes) and Kamadhenu (a wish fulfilling divine cow, mother of all cows)? Sri Rayaru fulfills the desires of all the devotees who sincerely pray to him without any bias towards any caste, color or creed. Exactly like the Kalpavriksha and Kamadhenu. A cow doesn’t ask who the milk is for? Irrespective of whether a child or a 100 year old consumes milk? The cow just gives milk without even asking if the milk is going to be consumed by a Hindu, a Madhwa or anyone else. The same way Rayaru fulfills the wishes of all his devotees who pray to him sincerely, without expecting anything in return. But still our hearts were insanely trying to thank Sri Hari, Sri Mukhyaprana and Sri Rayaru for their generosity in blessing us with a wonderful and peaceful darshan (Monday and Tuesday the devotee crowd was very lean, which allowed us to simply stay put in front of Sri Rayaru brindavana without being a nuisance to other bhaktas). We returned back with a heavy heart to Chennai on 20th November, morning at 4:00 am all the while wondering what pain it would have been to those noble souls, who had the blessings to be in the same time period as Sri Rayaru; see him in person, seek his blessings every day, but finally be a witness to his sa shareera brindavana pravesha. NAMBI KETTAVARILLAVO EE GURUGALA NAMBADE KEDUVARUNTO - Sri Guru Jagannatha Dasaru
