It has been a while since I blogged. I get busy all the time and forget that I used to blog. I will crib about it later.
On my parents anniversary I had been to this beautiful place called Vitalapuram, just few kms from Mahaballipuram. Many people have told numerous stories about this temple, hence we started our journey.
I kept gazing at the Lord, thinking why this place is oh so quiet?
The priest took the Chapala kattai (musical instrument which Lord Naradha has) and began to sing. I was shocked. Itseems in this temple Lord Panduranga is worshiped through ‘Nama sangeerthanam’(worshiping God through singing and not just mear slokas which is usually recited in any temple). The energy the priest had was amazing, he yelled Panduranga..Panduranga.. Panduranga.. to his fullest energy and made us join his hymns . This energy gushed my memories backwards.
Because I have been to the real ‘Panduranga’ temple situated at Pandharpur, Sholapur district. A person who had visited this temple will never accept any other Panduranga temple as the best one. Like I said in my previous blog, there is only one thrirupathi and likewise there is only one Pandurangan temple which is at Pandharpur.
We took a cab and reached Sholapur city via Pune. We chose a wrong season, the heat was tremendous. We started our journey from Bombay; the driver said that he will figure out the place on his way. We were thinking it’s just an easy drive. Well we were terribly wrong.
The highways were trolling in massive heat. After a point the driver did not know how to reach the temple. We were surrounded by nothing. Hunger is killing us. Mobile navigations stopped helping us because of poor signal.
We kept asking any local people we find for the route. Somehow by late afternoon we reached the city and decided to stay in a hotel and go to the temple the next day.
Morning we got all ready for the darshan. We had planned the entire day before even reaching the temple ( I am sure God must be laughing at our thoughts). I vividly remember mom telling us that if time permits we will see visit the temple again by evening. (I laugh thinking about it now…)
When we stood in the line, my mother was telling us stories about this temple and how Lord Pandurangan was very dear to all the people of this town, the chandrabhaga river, dhukaram the massive devotee, Goddess Kanobhatra etc… She was thinking that it is just a matter of few minutes to see the Lord, and she had to tell all that she knew before we reached the main Lord.
The path leading to the temple is built in a unique psycho way. Yeah, serious a big crook must have built the temple to torture the devotees. A devotee must climb up seven storey and climb down the same seven storey building and then entre the temple. OMG, seriously the path is annoyingly filthy, stinks endlessly; a 6 foot tall person cannot stand for more than a minute, that’s how each and every level was built.
We did not realize that we are climbing up and down the same direction until we saw the same set of people who went before us standing in the opposite direction. OMG, it took so long for us to figure that out.
A slight breeze kissed my face after a very long time of congestion; it was like a blind man getting his sight for the first time. The breeze was never lovely before. I knew I am out of that tedious path and I am approaching the temple. All stories which mom narrated at the beginning of the que came to my mind and was looking for all that she told me.
The best part of the darshan was, every devotee irrespective of their caste, gender, creed, colour, social status etc is allowed to hug the Lord Panduranga. Yes, every devotee can touch the main Lord. Every devotee can feel the God in their own bear hands. Every devotee can pour his feeling to Lord Vishnu in that one hug. It is a new thing for us. When I hugged the Lord, I definitely forgot the pain I underwent to reach him. And I got to know one more thing. Those who gave huge sums of money for a quick darshan are allowed to see the lord only from a distance and not hug the Lord as we did. It is called ‘dhoor darshan’… huh... I felt so happy knowing that.
The temple is very beautiful, completely ancient, very chilling, has a lot of history. A person who visits this temple cannot accept any other temple as Pandurangan temple. To see the God keeping his hands in his hips looks so classy and charming. One cannot stop adorning the Lord. He looked radiant, ravishing, pleased, smiling, looks like he would come for a walk with us and talk. This temple gave a new dimension for worshiping. Since then I could not stop adoring him. I even printed the Lord and the Goddess in my wedding invite.
The only sad thing about the temple is that, the priests around the Lord Pandurangan and Goddess Rukmani are very much money minded and demand 700 to 1000 rupees easily for a prasadam. Such things really annoy.
My advice to those who are willing to go to this temple would be to have a lot of patience, never give money anywhere specially those who offer you darshan quickly. They loot 1000s of money.
I went inside that temple in a bright day light and entered the exit gate when the sky was covered with darkness. On our way back home, myself and my brother recalled our mom’s innocent thoughts of visiting the temple for the second time in the evening on the same day. (haha the look on her face was priceless)
I have still got plans to visit the temple. I am only scared how I am going to survive the que. Fingers crossed. Hope the God will have mercy on me.
The crowd, the devotees, the chants, the hauling of mantras, pillars depicting the story of Lord Panduranga, and lots more are missing in Vitalapuram. I just could not digest the fact that the place is completely quiet. This is what I missed.
I still wonder how people say that Vitalapuram is exactly same as Pandharpur. I doubt whether those people even visited the real temple. Vitalapuram is not even 5% equal to Pandharpur. The main Lord itself looks different. Well I went with too many expectations. Of course on the other hand, knowing Vitalapuram will not disappoint you, whereas knowing Pandharpur and then coming to Vitalapuram will surely disappoint you.
I say leave certain places to the pros. There cannot be a replica for such ancient temples. If you want to visit Lord Panduranga, reach Pandharpur, fight your patience and hunger and see HIM. That’s the only true way.
On my parents anniversary I had been to this beautiful place called Vitalapuram, just few kms from Mahaballipuram. Many people have told numerous stories about this temple, hence we started our journey.
Vitalpuram’s main God is Lord Pandurangan (Lord Vishnu). The temple looks very neat, beautiful locality, surrounded by many trees and flowers. Yet, something was missing (why I felt something was missing is the story I am going to unfold) I kept asking my mind ‘what...what… what’
I kept gazing at the Lord, thinking why this place is oh so quiet?
The priest came in a jiffy and started the morning rituals for the deity. He adorned many garlands to the Lord, walked here and there for agarbatthi. I was still not impressed. Mind Voice: what is so special about this place, I don’t know. If I say this to my mom she would give a fiery look, so I kept quiet and kept gazing at the priest’s activities.
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| Vitalapuram - Pandurangan Temple, Chennai |
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| Lord Panduranga - Vitalapuram, Chennai |
Why I felt something was missing at the beginning?
Because I have been to the real ‘Panduranga’ temple situated at Pandharpur, Sholapur district. A person who had visited this temple will never accept any other Panduranga temple as the best one. Like I said in my previous blog, there is only one thrirupathi and likewise there is only one Pandurangan temple which is at Pandharpur.
We took a cab and reached Sholapur city via Pune. We chose a wrong season, the heat was tremendous. We started our journey from Bombay; the driver said that he will figure out the place on his way. We were thinking it’s just an easy drive. Well we were terribly wrong.
The highways were trolling in massive heat. After a point the driver did not know how to reach the temple. We were surrounded by nothing. Hunger is killing us. Mobile navigations stopped helping us because of poor signal.
We kept asking any local people we find for the route. Somehow by late afternoon we reached the city and decided to stay in a hotel and go to the temple the next day.
Morning we got all ready for the darshan. We had planned the entire day before even reaching the temple ( I am sure God must be laughing at our thoughts). I vividly remember mom telling us that if time permits we will see visit the temple again by evening. (I laugh thinking about it now…)
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| Pandharpur - Vithoba Temple, Sholapur |
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| Lord Panduranga and Goddess Rukmani - Pandharpur, Sholapur |
There were many people trying to make money by saying, they will help us in getting a very quick darshan. We never believe such people and decided to see the God via que. We took half hour to find the que(that’s a different story)
When we stood in the line, my mother was telling us stories about this temple and how Lord Pandurangan was very dear to all the people of this town, the chandrabhaga river, dhukaram the massive devotee, Goddess Kanobhatra etc… She was thinking that it is just a matter of few minutes to see the Lord, and she had to tell all that she knew before we reached the main Lord.
The path leading to the temple is built in a unique psycho way. Yeah, serious a big crook must have built the temple to torture the devotees. A devotee must climb up seven storey and climb down the same seven storey building and then entre the temple. OMG, seriously the path is annoyingly filthy, stinks endlessly; a 6 foot tall person cannot stand for more than a minute, that’s how each and every level was built.
If you are not a localite nor does not know hindi or Marathi(majorly) you are in for a terrible trouble. The people around you will be the natives of Pandharpur and all they know is Panduranga. I am from south and I have not seen such a bakthi even in my side of the temples. Their bakthi cannot be matched at all. They were stewing in their own filth and stink and sweat and whatnot. They never shrink their face nor do they complain about it unlike me.
We did not realize that we are climbing up and down the same direction until we saw the same set of people who went before us standing in the opposite direction. OMG, it took so long for us to figure that out.
It took SEVEN hours for us to reach the temple. In-between there were fights as to who will go first and who will follow (I was thinking, really these people want to fight at the very end of the darshan? Oh plz just be sane and proceed. I lost the energy to yell, fight, scream nor even see the God… totally lost it.) No good drink for 7 hours took all out of me.
A slight breeze kissed my face after a very long time of congestion; it was like a blind man getting his sight for the first time. The breeze was never lovely before. I knew I am out of that tedious path and I am approaching the temple. All stories which mom narrated at the beginning of the que came to my mind and was looking for all that she told me.
The best part of the darshan was, every devotee irrespective of their caste, gender, creed, colour, social status etc is allowed to hug the Lord Panduranga. Yes, every devotee can touch the main Lord. Every devotee can feel the God in their own bear hands. Every devotee can pour his feeling to Lord Vishnu in that one hug. It is a new thing for us. When I hugged the Lord, I definitely forgot the pain I underwent to reach him. And I got to know one more thing. Those who gave huge sums of money for a quick darshan are allowed to see the lord only from a distance and not hug the Lord as we did. It is called ‘dhoor darshan’… huh... I felt so happy knowing that.
The temple is very beautiful, completely ancient, very chilling, has a lot of history. A person who visits this temple cannot accept any other temple as Pandurangan temple. To see the God keeping his hands in his hips looks so classy and charming. One cannot stop adorning the Lord. He looked radiant, ravishing, pleased, smiling, looks like he would come for a walk with us and talk. This temple gave a new dimension for worshiping. Since then I could not stop adoring him. I even printed the Lord and the Goddess in my wedding invite.
The only sad thing about the temple is that, the priests around the Lord Pandurangan and Goddess Rukmani are very much money minded and demand 700 to 1000 rupees easily for a prasadam. Such things really annoy.
My advice to those who are willing to go to this temple would be to have a lot of patience, never give money anywhere specially those who offer you darshan quickly. They loot 1000s of money.
I went inside that temple in a bright day light and entered the exit gate when the sky was covered with darkness. On our way back home, myself and my brother recalled our mom’s innocent thoughts of visiting the temple for the second time in the evening on the same day. (haha the look on her face was priceless)
When I reached Bombay and crashed in my bed, I could not believe what I just underwent and dozed off with flashing images of the journey.
I have still got plans to visit the temple. I am only scared how I am going to survive the que. Fingers crossed. Hope the God will have mercy on me.
The crowd, the devotees, the chants, the hauling of mantras, pillars depicting the story of Lord Panduranga, and lots more are missing in Vitalapuram. I just could not digest the fact that the place is completely quiet. This is what I missed.
I still wonder how people say that Vitalapuram is exactly same as Pandharpur. I doubt whether those people even visited the real temple. Vitalapuram is not even 5% equal to Pandharpur. The main Lord itself looks different. Well I went with too many expectations. Of course on the other hand, knowing Vitalapuram will not disappoint you, whereas knowing Pandharpur and then coming to Vitalapuram will surely disappoint you.
I say leave certain places to the pros. There cannot be a replica for such ancient temples. If you want to visit Lord Panduranga, reach Pandharpur, fight your patience and hunger and see HIM. That’s the only true way.
2 comments:
Lovely narration of your experience!
I hope to visit it too !
thank u madhu :) have a great darshan :)
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