Maha Kshetrams of Kerala-A brief Discussion on Guruvayoor Temple.

The GuruvayoorTemple , considered as the Dwaaka of South India, is one of the most sacredTemples of India.According to Hindu Belief the Temple is the creation of Guru,the preceptor of the Gods and Vayu ,the God of the wind. There are two main entrances for the Temple known as Eastern Nada&Western Nada. The Eastern Nada is the main Entrance to the Shrine.The Pilgrims usually enter through this entrance.One can observe long line of Devotes every day.On important religious holidays&Thursdays there would be Heavy Rush in the Temple. When one enters through this entrance he is in the Chuttambalam"the outer enclosure of the Temple there is one Kodimaram(Flag Post or Dhuaja Stambham) here 33.5m high which is Gold plated.One can see one 7m highn Deepastambham here,whose thirteen circular receptacles provide a magnificent andGorgeous view when lit. The Next Divine part of the Tempe to enter ,for which there are separate lines for Ladies&Gentlemen,is called the Sreekovil the Sanctum Sanctorum,housing the main diety \ of the sacred Temple. In order to enter the Chuttambalam &Sreekovil one will have to remove the Shirt & trousers&wear the Dhoti called Mundu in Kerala.However there are no such restrictions for Ladies.Hindus alone are supposed to enter the sacred Temple. Besides ,the main diety SreeKrishna(Vishnu),the Temple houses variety of other powerful Gods,Lord MahaGanapathy,Lord Ayyappa and Goddess Edathedathu Kavil Bhagavathy. The Dieties in this great Temple are renowned for Healing Powers. There are variety of astonishing ranges of offerings one devotee could offer in the Temple to enhance the power of Blessings from the Gods&Goddess. More importantly,they are in brief are THULABHARAM,Panchasara Payasam(Sugar Payasam) The Pachasara with Kadali Pazham(Sugar of a special variety with Kadali Banana). There are many more variety of offerings according to the choice of the devotee. Even a days Pooja known as UDAYASTHAMANA POOJA,can be performed here for which booking years in advance is necessaty, There are other sacred offerings like Sayana Pradakshinam(A peculiar type of Pradakshinam one could perform by lyinjg &rolling around rhe main diety inside the Chuttambalam .This is a hard offering of Pradakshinasm besides by walking one could do. A devotee's Darshan could be termed complete only if he/she visits the Parthasarathy Temple adjoining to Eastern Nada&Shiva Temple at Mammiyoor adjoining to Western Nada. The devotee is supposed go around both Eastern Nada&Western Nada to have a look at the treasure of attractive items like lockets,Garlands,Rings embossgods,Bangles,devotional books,toys,images of all theGods&Goddesses,Red Pattu pieces of cloth forChildren.These are available in plenty at different shops at reasonable prices. The offerings at the Temple incude the Manchadi&Kunni seeds ,alrupams(Different images of the parts of body like hand,leg,eye&many more. One can perform Marriage&Choroonu(The first feeding for a kid) also here. After Darshan the devotee need not leave the Temple empty stomach .On the other hand there is one Annadanam daily to feed the devotee which is known as Prasadauttu. The latest in the range of offering service is to become a subscriber to "Bhakthapriya" a religious magazine being published by the Guruvayoor Devaswam.But this does not come under the list of official offerings mentioned above.This is just a matter of choice to please the Lord at Guruvayoor. So have a nice Darshan at the sacred Temple next time. To make your Darshan worthy to get blessings from the Lord,kindly carry a big purse of money with you to spend liberally. But the responsibility to safeguard their Money &other personal belongings rests with the individuals . All the Best.Visit GTuruvayoor again&again&be the receipients of the Blessings and Prasadams from the Lord So have a nice Darshan at this Temple to come back soon. SreedharanMundanat 28th of July 2014 6-03AM(IST)