Dear friend,
I attach a brief writeup of the Kasi yatra - by my Appa, Akka and Athymber
[FONT="]SREERAMA JAYAM[/FONT]
[FONT="]RAMESWARAM - KASI YATHRA[/FONT]
[FONT="]Prof V R Ramakrishnan - [/FONT]
[FONT="]Mrs. Kala Ramakrishnan [/FONT]
[FONT="]& [/FONT]
[FONT="]Sri K.V. Sivaramakrishnan.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Day- 1 [/FONT]
[FONT="]21-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT][FONT="]As a prelude to our Yathra, Ghritha Sraddham, Punyaha Vachanam and Yatra danam were performed in the forenoon, in the august presence of Vaideeka sreshthas, the learned Sathabhishiktha, Sivaramakrishna Vadhyar and the venerable Punkunnam Samooha Acharya Shri.Subrahmania Vadhyar- Started from Thrissur by Guruvayoor-Chennai Egmore Koodal Express at 9.20 PM. Sri EAdamana Vasudevan saw us off.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-2 [/FONT]
[FONT="] 22-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Reached Madurai junction at 12.30 PM. We reached Rameswaram by 5.30 PM. We met Purohit Sri Anantha Padmanabha Sarma. in the evening and planned the next day’s rituals and he arranged food for us in the night.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-3[/FONT]
[FONT="] 23-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]We were ready by 7 AM and Mr.Kumar took us to Sankara Madham, where we had the Mahasankalpam, and after that we had the holy bath in the Sea-Samudra Snanam- and we took the sand from there and came back to Sankara madham and did the Manal pooja. After that we went for the Theertha Snanam at the following 22 Theerthams-
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[FONT="]After the snanames we worshipped inside the temple getting special entrance ticket in the sannidhis of Sri Ramanatha Swamy and Parvatha Vardhini. We also worshipped Vighneswara, Viswanathar, Visalakshy and Dakshinamoorthy , Pallikonda Perumal and Anjaneyar. We returned back to our place of stay along with the holysand. Had our lunch .In the evening we boarded the sethu express bound for Chennai at 8.05 PM. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY – 4[/FONT]
[FONT="] 24-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Reached Chennai Egmore by 8.30 A.M. Rajamani and .Mala received us at the station and took us to their Ambadi apartments residence. Had our bath lunch etc. .Rajamani and.Mala saw us off at Egmore station at 1.05 PM when we got into Rameswaram-Varanasi Express. Our journey from Chennai to Varanasi took about 42 hours.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
DAY – 5[/FONT]
[FONT="] 25-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We continued our journey in the Train. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY – 6[/FONT]
[FONT="] 26-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]The train was before-time upto Allahabad. We reached Allahabad at 1.AM. The journey from Allahabad to Varanasi was dragging. The train was late by over 2 hrs. When we reached Varanasi by 7 am. Mr.Sanjay representataive of Kerala Madham received us at Varanasi junction and took us to Hanuman Ghat, Kerala Madham. The room arranged for us was quite spacious and all the basic amenities were there-Kerala Mutt chief called on us and chalked out the programme for ensuing four or five days of our stay. After that we had our lunch. In the afternoon we visited and had good darsan at the following temples. [/FONT][FONT="]Kala Bhairavar[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Dandapani Bhairavar temple[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Viswanathar temple[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Annapoorneswari temple[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Visalakshy temple[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Dundi Vinayakar temple and[/FONT]
- [FONT="]Saneeswarar temple. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-7[/FONT]
[FONT="] 27-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We had our Mahasankalpam at the residence of Sri Subramania Vadhyar, for Ganga snanam. As poorvangam we performed Vigneswara pooja, Anujna, Grahapreethi, Nandi sradham and Punyaha Vachanam. After Gangasnanam (Manikarnika snanam) we performed the Theertha Sradham and Pinda pradanam, Dasadanam, Phaladanam etc. in vadhayar’s residence. After the rituals we had our lunch. Thereafter in the night we had our usual tiffin.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-8[/FONT]
[FONT="] 28-6-2010 [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Pancha Theertham (by boat) snanam, Hiranya sraddham, Pinda pradanam, Tharpanam etc. were performed at the following theerthams[/FONT]
[FONT="]1.[/FONT][FONT="]Haridwara Theerham[/FONT]
[FONT="]2.[/FONT][FONT="]Rudra Sarovara Theertham[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.[/FONT][FONT="]Varauna-Vishnupada Theertham[/FONT]
[FONT="]4.[/FONT][FONT="]Panchaganga Theertham(Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathy, Kirana & Dhootapada Theertham[/FONT]
[FONT="]5.[/FONT][FONT="]Manikaarnika-Chakra Theertham worshipped at Bindu Madhavar temple which was on hill lock treading 124 steps- [/FONT]
[FONT="]Started for Gaya in the evening 7 PM. Boarded the train bound for Patna (via Gaya) from Varanasi at 8.45 PM- Budha Pournima Express.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sri Chandrasekhar was the attendant for us deputed by the Kerala Mutt[/FONT]
[FONT="]Train was late by about 90 minutes.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-9[/FONT]
[FONT="] 29-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We had reached GAYA by 3 AM. we had our stay at Karnataka Bhavan of Raghavendra Samsthanam- After bath at Karnataka Bhavan we went to Phalguni River-bed[/FONT]
[FONT="]After prokshana snanam we proceeded to Sri Rama Temple. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Did Theertha Sraddham and Pinda Pradanam there and Pinda Visarajanam at Vishnu Padam and performed GAYA-‘SRADDHAM’ Parvana Vidhanam- [/FONT]
[FONT="]Sri Ramakrishnasastry was the Chief Purohit. [/FONT]
[FONT="] After Gaya Sraddham we did Pinda Pradanam at the shade of Akshya Vata- the holy Bannyan tree-also renounced one leaf one fruit & one vegetable at this place. [/FONT]
[FONT="]After lunch at Mutt 3 PM, we started to Varanasi by 4.30 PM. As five trains were cancelled we had to catch the Niranjan express-Kolkatta to Amrithasar at 7.30 PM and got down at Mugalsarai by 10 PM. Boarded an auto at Mugalsarai and reached our place of stay by 11.15 PM and had a good sleep at our place of residence Sri.Chandrasekhar was very helpful throughout our sojourn at Gaya.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-10[/FONT]
[FONT="] 30-6-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT][FONT="]It was a rest day for us. The rest during the day was indeed compensated by a very interesting event at dusk-Ganga-Arathi. We started from sivalaghat at Varanasi by boat and passed through various ghats-Harichandra ghat, Rajenbabu ghat etc. and reached the prayaga ghat where the Aarathi event was celebrated with all the paraphernalia set to very fine music with all the Thalam instruments like Mridanga, Thabalal, Ganjira etc and all the instrumental music of Veena, Venu and Violin etc. The chorus music and slokas recited during Bhajans touch our heart. The Deepalankarams were very nice. In the Ganga, several Deepams were floated by the pilgrims during the performance of Aarathi by the Poojaris. Several poojas were performed at the site by a large number of purohtts. It was indeed on the whole a very soul sterring experience and turned to be a very memorable event-we returned back to Sivalaghat and to our place of stay by 8.30 PM.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-11[/FONT]
[FONT="] 1-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Had bath at Varanasi-we started by car to Allahabad and reached there at 9.45 AM performed vigneswaara pooja and Sankalpam at Siva Madham and also VeniDana Pooja. After these rites the Mangala Dravyams like, blouse piece, comp mirror, kumkulmachoppu, turmeric etc.were offered to the wife of Sri.Venkitasubramania Iyer Chief priest of Shiva Madham proceeded to Thriveni Sangamam ie the place where Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswathy rivers meet. Hereditary Panda who performed a pooja in the boat was given Dakshina and donation for Annadanam- After Mundanam shaving by the hereditary authorized barbour, we had a holy dip in the Thriveni sangam and collected the holy Gangajalam for Ganga pooja and abishekam at Rameswaram-immerced the holy sand brought from Rameswaram in the Thriveni sangam along the mangaladrabyams and the hair of kala cut (veni) were also dropped along with coins in the Thriveni sangamam. We returned to Sivamadham and performed theertha sraddham (hiranyam) and Tharpanam wearing wet cloths-we discarded the wet clothings in the sivamutt probably for being distributed to the poor needy by the mutt authorities. On our way back to siva madham we saw venumadhavar temple panchumukha anjaneyar temple etc. After lunch at 2pm we started back to varanasi and reached there by about 6 PM.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-12[/FONT]
[FONT="] 2-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]At varanasi after bath started for Ganga pooja and Dampathi pooja at 8.30 AM to Subramania Vadhyar’s residence. We witnessed the Ganapathi Homam performed by Subramania Vadhyar himself at his residence. Thereafter Ganga pooja was performed. After the Ganga pooja, Dampathi pooja for Smt. & Sri. Subramania vadhyar was performed while the lady was offered the mangala dravyams along with gold Thirumangalyam and Padanguleeyakam-silver metty and silk saree Subramania Vadhyar was offered specially designed Vasthrams (somanuthareeyam). The couples were very happy and blessed us heartly. We returned to our place of stay at 11 am and after that we had our lunch. The GangaJalam brought from prayaga was entrusted to a chettiar shop for being filled and sealed in 20 kashichombus and on copper chombus-1 litre. The holy water in the copper is intended for abhishekam at Rameswaram during our return visit and twenty chombus are intended for distributions to close relatives and friends along with Vishnupadam, Annapoorneswary idol and Kasi thread..[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the afternoon we went for local sight-seeing. We covered the Benaras Hindu University Complex which was situated in a vast expanse of land of extent about 1360 Acres consisting of various departments of Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, Arts & crafts, law, languages oriental languages psychometric, Nursing etc. We also went to the Birla Mandir in the campus where the idols of Kasi Viswanathar, Parvathi Devi, Ganesh, Saraswathy, Hanuman & Lakshmi Narayana etc.have been installed. We visited and woshipped also Sankatamochana Hanumanji Temple, Thulasimanasa Mandir ,Thridev Temple,Durgadevi Temple and Koudi matha temple. The eighteen cantos of Geetha in the marble walls of the Birla Mandir, so also the entire slokas of the Ramacharit Manas of Thulasidas is engraved in the Thulasimanas Mandir. We returned after a peaceful time in the above mentioned temples at about 8 PM.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-13[/FONT]
[FONT="] 3-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Started to Ayodhya early morning by about 5.15 AM by taxi car and reached there at 11.15 AM. Had bath in the Holy Sarayu river. Did ‘Gopooja’ . We visited the Ramajanmabhoomi the disputed site and the place where Sri Rama temple is going to be constructed. We went to Rama pattabhishekam temple, Hanuman temple, puthrakameshti yagasthala, the site whole the original Sri Rama temple Hanuman temple was situated(Dimolished by Muslims in 1992). There was very tight security check in all the above places-we had our lunch at Ramachandra hotel at Ayodhya. We also visited other temples in and around Ayodhya. We returned back to our place of stay at Varanasi by 9.PM. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-14[/FONT]
[FONT="] 4-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Had a pleasant dip in holy Ganga. Thereafter worshipped at several Temples ie Kasi Viswanatahar, Annapoorneswary, Visalakshy and Dundi Vinayakar collected various articles for distribution. Viz kasahichombu Annapoorneswary vigraha, Kasi-thread, sticker, photos of all deities etc. After lunch completed the packing for our return journey. Came to Varanasi junction Railway station by auto. Boarded the train at 9.15 PM Varanasi-Rameswaram Express. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-15[/FONT]
[FONT="] 5-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]In train All India Bandh –day sponsored by opposition parties. However the Bandh did not affect our journey.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-16[/FONT]
[FONT="] 6-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We reached Chennai Egmore on time at about 10.30 AM. and halted at Chennai. We recommenced our journey to Rameswaram at 5 PM by Sethu express.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-17[/FONT]
[FONT="] 7-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We reached Rameswaram by 4.30 M and halted at Milan lodge. Had our lunch in the room itself. The Abhishekam to Sri.Ramanatha swamy wasperformed in the evening about 5 PM. Mr.Kumar guided us. The Holi Ganga Jalam brought from Kashi. Kalasam was poured-Archanas were also performed for the main deities in the temple. We had our usual tiffin at night and stayed at Milan lodge. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-18[/FONT]
[FONT="] 8-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]After bath the Theertha Sraddham, Tharapanam and Balipradanam were performed in the forenoon under the priesthood of Anantha Padmanabha Sarma at his residence. After that we had our lunch in the room itself. In the evening at 8.45 P.M. we boarded the train for Kanyakumari and reached there next day early morning by 4.30 AM. [/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-19[/FONT]
[FONT="] 9-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Kanyakumari-After taking bath in the waiting room at Railway station we witnessed the sun-rise and thereafter proceeded to Kanyakumaari Temple, worshipped the Devi and after that proceeded to Sucheendram-We worshipped Brahma, Vishnu & Maheswarar all in the same shrine. We could also worship the imposing Anjaneyar in the temple and several other deities. There was a calm atmosphere in and around the temple. We returned back to Kanyakumari by about 9 AM. We were in time to catch the Kanyakumari-Bangalore island express starting from there at 10.30 AM. to Trivandrum. We reached Trivandrum by 12.45 PM. After lunch we stayed at Rajadhani Tourist home [/FONT]
[FONT="]We could worship Sri.Ananthapadmanabha swamy in the evening, after spending some time in the temple we returned to our place of stay. After taking food at night we started to Trivandrum Central Railway station for catching the Amritha Express bound for Palakkad Town. We boarded the train at 11.PM.[/FONT]
[FONT="] DAY-20[/FONT]
[FONT="] 10-7-2010[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]We reached Trichur by 5.AM. Edamana Vasudevan was there to receive us in the Railway station. We reached home by 5.30 AM.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Our trip to Rameswaram, Varanasi etc. was indeed a wonderful experience.[/FONT]
[FONT="]As a fitting finale to the Yathra just completed Ganga Pooja has been performed on Sunday 18th July 2010 under the guidance and direction of our Kula Acharya..Sree Ram Divya & children could also be present on the solemn occasion – so also. Sreela , Krishnan and children attended the function. After the pooja prasadams with kasi chombu KalaBhairavar-blessedKasi-thread vishnupadam and the idol of Annapoorneswari has been distributed to those near & dear to us. Thamboolams were distributed to suvasinis. [/FONT]
[FONT="]We feel this resume will be incomplete if we do not narrate a wonderful experience we had before undertaking this trip.[/FONT]
[FONT="]On Sunday, the day previous to the date of the proposed trip, Kala met with an accident whenshe was going to the residence of their erst while neighbour at the Agraharam. [/FONT]
[FONT="]An auto rickshaw dashed against Kala while crossing the junction. Kala fell down and was almost in a dazed condition. A big crowd gathered there and advocated taking her to the nearest hospital. She preferred to be taken to home. [/FONT]
[FONT="]We frantically tried to get in touch with the orthopedic surgeon. But we were not successful as his telephones were switched off.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Friends, well wishers, neighbours were all advocating postponement of the trip. [/FONT]
[FONT="]But Ramakrishnan had very firm and ardent belief that nothing untoward would happen by the grace of the Almighty [/FONT]
[FONT="]Kala was also strongly against consultation of any doctor and was firmly in favour of making the trip according to the schedule proposed. [/FONT]
[FONT="] She was not able to tread even a few steps and it was difficult for her even to speak cough or laugh as her ribs in the left lateral region were all jammed. The left hip and thigh regions turned bluish excruciating pain was felt all over the body. She was administered a wonderful drug, painkiller and by evening there was slight improvement. The drug was continued for four or five days more.[/FONT]
[FONT="]As per astral advice pariharams were done to Lord Guruvayurappan and Sankarankulangara Bhagavathi. By late night Kala experienced good relief and felt she was almost alright. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Next morning, she was active to under take preparations for the rites proposed Ghritha Sraddham etc., She could board the train in the evening with our help. She stood the journey upto Rameswaram without much strain.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Even though we advocated her not to take sea bath and Theertha snanams in the 22 Theerthams. She was strongly for making the snanams and after the theertha snanams she felt she was completely alright. It was all due to the intense prayer she was making. She chanted the Apadodharana Stotram 1008 times and prayer made her ok. The 22 theerthams had also wonderful power for giving her the necessary strength to bear, the pain.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Prayer puts into force an active principle of doings. It is a first step towards action. Prayer gives us a sense of sharing our burdens. Any psychiatrist will tell us that when we are pest up and tensed and in agony of spirit it is therapeutically good to tell some one our problems. When we can’t tell any one else we can always tell God. It is indeed prayer and prayer alone and intense faith in God that has made the trip a grand success.[/FONT]