A MOST BEAUTIFUL TEMPLE IN A RURAL AREA NEAR YADADRI
In the vicinity Yadadri there are other temples for Lord
Narasimha one of the great earthly incarnation of Lord Vishnu the
god almighty of the universe of billion galaxies .The temples may be small
but are as holy as the great Yadadri . The same lord of billion
galaxies lives in the small temples also. I now write about the temple on a
hill at Venkatapuram village which is about ten kilometers from Yadadri
town. I had not the fortune of visiting this most picturesque temple on a hill
with scores of caves formed by giant sized boulders and where lions might roam
if it was in deep forest. We do not know but tens of thousands years ago when
there were real dense forests all over the area lions might have actually lived
in the caves .
But in present days it is an agricultural area with bald
boulder-ridden hills without any dense forest cover. It is very picturesque
agricultural area with calm agricultural villages .It is in an area of plateau
land without big rivers but a land of many man-made lakes and follows dry
land agriculture. The temple is in a picturesque hilly place in a low plane
area on a side of the hill. It is very secure to visit the temple in day
light and this most picturesque temple in rural surroundings is much revered by
people of the area.
Lord Narasimha legend is very popular in this part of the state
just as the Lord Rama legend is very popular in Bhadrachalam area. The
Venkatapuram hill is part of a small line of boulder- ridden
hills in the area. The hill looks from the air like
rounded wheat bun of colossal size. It is broken from top to
bottom into a few dozen colossal rounded vertically standing boulders
of awe- inspiring size .Some of the huge vertically
standing boulders may be of the size of a ten-storeyed building!
The colossal vertical boulders form one entire side of the hill.
Geologists would say that this creation of boulders on this and
other hills might have occurred millions of years ago during big
geological changes and not a few thousand years ago! In rainy season the temple
area surely becomes a most beautiful place with thick greenery, flowers
and bird song. The incline of the stairway is very less and the stairway path
is long and pleasant and people can easily reach the temple walking on these
steps under the shade of the trees. A few
generations ago the temple might have been simply a cave temple and might have
had a kind of magical attraction even then for the devotees from many
neighboring villages. A friend told me all this. I saw in videos too. I could
not visit the temple.
The most beautiful photos created a great impression in my mind
for days .Though I could not visit I imagined rituals inside that temple in
this beautiful rural place. It must be a most beautiful place. So I imagined I
was there inside the temple praying to the god. I just
can imagine and see before my eyes the rituals going on in the morning hours.
The priest comes daily in the morning and many family groups visit
the temple during the pleasant morning hours. There are many strict, systematic
and spiritually satisfying rituals. The priest in the morning
washes the statues of gods with water scented with “Tulsi” leaves, then with
milk and curd and then again with water.
The priest decorates the god’s statues with flower garlands
and worships with flowers and lights the holy oil lamp. The devotees
break coconuts at the feet of the Lord ,burn incense and bring
small packets of turmeric powder and vermilion “kumkum”
powder (considered extremely holy by traditional Hindus all over India ) for
decorating the statues of Lord Narasimha and Goddess Laxmi. All devotees
put the red kumkum mark on their foreheads.
The priest chants holy hymns aloud as the holy lamp burns
and incense is lighted. At the end of rituals the priests lights a few crystals
of camphor in a silver plate and shows the small bright flame to god to receive
his smiles and blessings. They bow before the holy lamp as the symbol of
divine knowledge and divine illumination of the mind. The priest also rings a
small brass bell which he holds in his raised hand. The devotees watch the
ceremonies spell bound and bow to the light when shown towards them. The priest
gives a spoon of holy consecrated water to each devotee from a silver cup,
which was kept at god's side since early morning. He distributes a few flowers
from the plate of flowers which lay at god's feet since early morning. He
sprinkles holy turmeric rice on the head of devotees. Finally
he touches the head of devotee delicately with the shining
metal "shatagopam" --considered equal to the gold and
diamond crown worn by god almighty in heaven. Touching the head of
devotee with shatagopam is equivalent to touching of devotee’s head by the holy
hand of god almighty himself. Such are the wonderful rituals performed every
morning.
At the end of all rituals and prayers the priest then distributes
"prasadam" to all devotees. The “prasadam” is the small but holy
food/fruit items distributed to every devotee after consecration by god. It
consists of pieces of fruit, pieces of coconut kernel and other sweet
preparation. The prasadam is first kept near god in the sanctum sanctorum for
some time and then it is treated as having been tasted by the god almighty
himself! It is only then distributed to the devotees. The priest also
addresses prayers to the god on behalf of some devotees who wanted such special
prayers. There are sometimes "bhajans" i.e. group prayers with loud
singing of prayers before god's statue accompanied by clapping of hands. All
these rituals and prayers fill the minds of devotees with great spiritual joy.
In my case also my imagination created a great spiritual joy in me and I felt
as if I really visited the temple . I prayed in my heart to the great god and
felt very happy.
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