A quick guide to visit and worship in Temple

 

1. Going through the history of that temple, which are the devotees visited them (shaivite or vaishnavite devotees of ancient times), importance, name of the god & goddess, the architectural work related etc and connect those info while you take darshan and admire the sculptural work. Take time and visit them so that you get the complete benefit of visiting a temple. History is carved beautifully in many temples. Tgis will also save you from ignorant and fradulent guides.
2. Buy what you can offer to the deity as one shouldn't go empty handed when go to see God, Elders, Newborn, Sick people and Guru.
3. Seeing the Gopura with folded hands before entering the temple, taking the name of that god is how one should enter temple.
4. Never step on the small single step like stone or wooden at the entrance at temple and at home. (Devatas live there and in case of home, pitrus live there along with devatas to protect the family residing in that home. That's why pooja is done to the entrance fixture before any work. Many of us forgot to continue that worship on daily basis.)
5. Do namaskaram only near the flagpost (kodimaram) and not near the garbha gruha, if you happen to see some ignorant people doing it). This is because in ancient South Indian temples, poojas conducted as per the agama shastras. To get the complete benefit, it is good to follow what our ancestors had advised as they knew it better than us.
6. Visiting Shiva temple - first take darshan of Ganapati, take permission from Nandi for entering the main shrine and to take darshan. Of devi and then shiva. While returning, should thank him for the good darshan we haf. Vishnu temple - take permission from dwara palakas. Take darshan of devathas in prakara, then devi and then vishnu. (first visit the goddess sannidhi and then go for taking darshan of god (like reaching mother, winning her love & kindness to get attention of father).
7. Never stand or cross by coming in between shivaling or amba and nandeeshwar in any temple whether ancient of new one. Priests may be doing it while performing their duties but they know the prayer & rituals to ask for pardon to rectify that ill effect as they have to do so as part of their duty. It is believed that nandi blows air through his breath to swing them gently.
8. Never whisper anything on Nandi’s ears as it is an ignorant practise. What we pray through our mind will reach god through him.
9. Never clap hands etc to any bhagawan (some do for shivling and chandikeshwar) which is wrong as both of them sit in meditation and whatever noise we make only will disturb them. We should understand these basic things while we visit any temple. (Ignorantly some people clap hands or making sound using their thumb and middle finger at some deities which is wrong).
10. If you visit any navagraha temple, the main god (shiva) of that temple is the one to whom one should pray because all tgose navagrahas prayed and performed pooja to shiva to get rid of their problem. So we should pray to the main deity shiva for getting actual benefit and should never go to the navagraha sannadhi directly (e.g. many go directly to shanaishwar’s sannidhi in Thirunallaru temple instead of first visiting the goddess and god shiva which is wrong as Shanaishwar prayed to god shiva in that place and got rid of his problems. It is like giving our address and inviting him like ‘aa bail muje maar 😄). Approaching the right way should be the practice of wise people.
11. Don't encourage vendors by buying butter to throw at ancient carvings in ancient temples.
12. Never waste the bhasma or kumkum given as prashad in temples by priests. Never put them on idols around that temple even when you see a ignorant localite doing it. If you go as family, let one person take it and distribute among others or collect and save in containers or paper packets and take home the prashad.
13. Don't put any money in hundi. There are different sannadhis (sanctum sanctorum) in an ancient temple. The deity for whom there is less devotees (not crowded at all), offer dakshina on the plate to those priests.
14. Don't buy anything sold in the name of Prashad in any temples. A prashad should be offered to the main deity as Neivedhya which later on takes form of a prashad. A prashad can never be sold but freely distributed.
15. Try going to less famous ancient temples or interior village temples where you can have an one to one exclusive darshan of the main deity (god resides there where you see & feel him / her ). [Some may argue then why visit temple then, why not worship at home. But the importance of visiting temple is it is constructed in a particular measurement, balancing the positive waves and the deity in the sanctum sanctorum is invoked through Mantras using vedic chants. In a scultor’s workshop many stone carved deities may stand there. They are not worshipped. But the same idol after doing pooja, invoking the deity’s power in that stone Murti through vedic rituals, people worship it with folded hands. That peace and bliss we get after visiting a temple is because of this. Hence the entrance to sanctum sanctorum is kept less wide to regulate and channel it to devotees positioned in both sides. The power of the waves are strong hence devotees were made to stand on the sides. So we shouldn't never atand in front of the deity in any temple where we will also be obstructing the view for another devotee) Every good practise, only if observe carefully we will understand the logic behind it.]
16. Don't encourage special darshan queue money collection. (The HR&CE of temples in Southindia is trying to commercialise).
17. The local economy should be supported wisely.
18. other than this, whatever general practises that one follow for temple visits should be followed.

I have tried to remember and shared what I have learnt from elders. Hope it helps in future temple visits.

Have a blissful & fruitful darshan.

The Root & the Big Family Tree

 The Root & the Big Family Tree🌳

If a tree has to be nourished the root has to be taken care. The fertilizers & the water are fed through the root.

Our Sanathana Dharma indirectly was teaching us that and the family system of ancient India before any foreign rule, realized that and practiced it by nurturing the girl child and women in the family.

Education was nothing but art of living then. Ladies were educated, humble and brave. Ladies taught their children & girls their younger siblings, the epics , puranas in the story form which taught us art of living (the dos & dont's). Chatrapati Shivaji Raje learnt a lot from those stories listening to jijabai and followed the same when imprisoned by Aurangazeb. (Hiding in thevfruit basket).  This is just a sample! There were many heroes and heroins in our land had who were nutured by their roots in the name of mothers & grandmothers. Our history instead of being made, if was dug properly, it would have been a great Treasure Hunt.

Ladies were respected thus they were kept under protection of the family, like a root.

If a man had to observe a good life the woman he married became his support system. Together they carried forward their journey by man being the bread earner and the woman an able administrator  of internal & sometimes external affairs too & as a supervisor as well.  

Woman was worshipped as a roopam of Shakti. When the girl was married, she was considered to be the Mahalakshmi of the house hence the practise of giving gold and other things to the bride's family by the bridegroom was practiced in the ancient India. Bhagavan Srinivasa marrying Padmavati is the proof from our ancient History. This changed when our Focus was disturbed by foreign invasions.

Because woman had to undergo a threat during invasion by some ruthless foreign rulers, who and their men abducted girls & women whether they were married or unmarried, women were kept inside home for their own safety. Safe keeping of roots.

At a later stage this took a bad shape. The very purpose of that act was forgotten and misunderstood, resulting in some men folk following things blindly by making woman uneducated, never allowed them to go out of house, etc.... they changed their focus from the dharma and considered woman inferior and weak. All these because of a generation or two had forgotten to pass on the correct knowledge to the next generation of boys & girls that a woman is a 'root of the family tree'.  

If we ladies know how to carry ourselves physically and mentally like our ancestors we can build a better nation. Rani Laxmi Bai, Rani Mangamma are few known examples from our History.

A root is always under the earth, but it is important for the survival of the tree throughout its life. It keeps the tree up and tall. The importance is not felt until the root is affected. The leaves may prepare food, the trunk and branches may help transporting various things, but all these cannot happen smoothly without the proper function of a root.

It is important that every boy and girl is taught the art of living (right from this toddler phase) which is part of the life cycle of a human being. Girls should be humble but brave. We need to shift our focus from the west to the roots of sanathana dharma. If the girl child is brought up in the right way, she can become a good root to nurture a big tree - 🌳 A Big Family Tree! 

Hare Krishna 🌸🙏🏻🌸

🟠May our dharma flourish and nurture every mind and thus our land. 

🟠May our History be digged instead of made.

- Mira Murli

Thenkuzhal | Chakli | Murukku | தேன்குழல்

 A easy southindian savoury recipe using store bought rice flour.

Link to the video recipe is here :-

Kaashi Halwa | Ashgourd Halwa | Vellai Poosanikai Halwa

 This is a traditional sweet made using Ashgourd | Ilavan | Vellai Poosanikai | Safed Bopla | Petha. This sweet is served in Palakkad Iyer Marriage on the Muhurtam day for breakfast.

Video Recipe is here :-