Paapam Punyam setoff

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురు ర్విష్ణుః గురు ర్దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ప రబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాంబరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతిస్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

It’s been a long while since I have posted something. The standard cliché “Been busy” doesn’t hold any water J

One day Sage Narada visits the Pandavas after their marriage to Draupadi. Vyaasa mahaamuni informs Pandavas to abide by what Narada maharshi says. So, after the Pandavas perform the arghya paadya and aachamanam, they make him sit on the highest possible throne.

Narada asks Draupadi to leave and ensures that only the Pandava brothers are around and told them, “There have been multiple instances in the past where close friends, brothers fought for the sake of women. This has led to the destruction of many great men. While I know that you brothers have the highest and best possible virtues, its important to ensure that you don’t fight amongst yourselves because of Draupadi.” He gives a full description of the story of two rakshasas by names Sunda, upasunda. They were close brothers who did great tapassu. The devatas and indra got scared and rushed to Lord Brahma. Brahma said that he will take care of it and shows up in front of the brothers.

Brahma asks them to seek boons. Of all their boons, Brahma rejects their boon of “no death” and grants them the rest of the boons. These rakshasas start carrying on heinous activities in the universe. The devatas once again reach out to Lord Brahma who asks viswakarma to create an extremely beautiful woman – Tilothama. She is instructed to get the asuras destroyed. She comes down to earth and starts going around in the forests where Sunda Upasunda live.

As soon as they see her, each of them grabs a hand of her.

Both of them said, “Be my wife.”

Tilothama said, “I can marry only one of you.”

“Who would you want to marry?”

Tilothama responded, “I want you to fight with each other and I would marry the winner.”

Both of them fought fiercely and killed each other.

Narrating the story, Narada wanted Pandavas to reach nd agreement with respect to Draupadi. That’s when they took an oath on the following lines.

Draupadi would spend a year with each of the Pandavas. During that one year, none of the other four brothers would visit the house where Draupadi stayed. If that’s violated, then the brother(s) violating that would have to go on a pilgrimage for one full year all alone. They have to spend that time like a sanyasi.

Narada leaves and the Pandavas spend time happily. At one time a Brahmin came running to the Pandavas saying that his cow had been stolen and that the Calf has been crying continuously. Hearing this, Arjuna becomes very angry and goes to the house where the arms are stationed. That’s where Dharmaraja was staying with Draupadi. While Arjuna was aware of that and importantly that would mean the violation of the oath, he still goes ahead and grabs his bow and arrows and runs after the thieves. He finds them and the thieves fight with Arjuna in which Arjuna kills the thieves and hands over the cow to the Brahmana.

After that Arjuna goes to his elder brother and seeks his permission to leave for Pilgrimage for having violated the oath they had taken collectively. Dharmaraja said, “Killing a thief, who has stolen a cow, is equivalent to performing Aswamedha yaaga. Removing the tears of a Brahmin is equivalent to performing multiple other yagnas. So you have gained lot of Punya and so you don’t need to go on this pilgrimage.”

Arjuna said, “Gaining punya doesn’t offset the sin that I have committed. Both have their own separate channels. I still have to do praayaschitam for the sin that I have committed. So, give me permission to go on my pilgrimage.”

Listening to this sound justification Dharmaraja could not contradict and gives him permission to go on the pilgrimage.

Some times humans end up doing poojas or visiting temples or offering donations in temples to offset the bad deeds that they do. But if we cause harm to some one the good deeds would not erase those.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Hanuma's Forgetfulness

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

When Sugreeva had sent armies towards the four directions in search of Sita,  Hanuma, Angada, Jaambavanta and others were chosen for the south side. After multiple hurdles they came to know of Sita’s presence in Lanka through Sampaati. Then they reached the banks of the Sea, not knowing the next steps. Everyone was asked about their capacity in terms of crossing the sea. Different people gave different opinions with regards to crossing 100 Yojanas. Some said they can jump 25 yojanas, some said 50, Angada said he can cross but can’t come back. At that time Hanuma was sitting in one corner without uttering a word. Jaambavanta approached him and made him realise his strengths. Then Hanuma realised his strength and after that, as they say its history.

We all know that Hanuma had a curse on him by the sages that he would be forgetful and would not know his strength unless reminded.

But there were multiple instances in Ramayanam, where Hanuma exhibited his forgetfulness. Many times in many lectures it is said that Hanuma’s curse got diffused when Jambavanta reminded him of his strength. But it is possible that Hanuma continued to be forgetful. Lets see some instances. Some of these are before the sea crossing and some are after.

Sugreeva sought Sri Rama’s help so that his wife and kingdom could be restored to him. But Vali was killed by Sri Rama and Tara was wailing profusely with Vali’s head on her lap, Hanuma went up to her and said that she should carry out the coronation of Angada as the king. Hanuma is not an ordinary person to speak randomly or irrationally or without sense. I would attribute this statement of Hanuma, which definitely would have shocked Sugreeva J, as an act of forgetfulness. Ofcourse, Tara rejected that opinion and saved Sugreeva.

When Lakshmana threatened Sugreeva with dire consequences, for having forgotten his promise to help his brother find his wife, Tara came to Sugreeva’s rescue. At that time Hanuma sided with Lakshmana as if Sugreeva did not do anything towards keeping his promise. At that time Sugreeva passed on the orders to Hanuma that he is reducing the time for the army to assemble from 15 days to 10 days. This also clearly indicates that Hanuma has actually forgotten the earlier orders. This also seems like an act of forgetfulness on the part of Hanuma.

During the war, when Lakshmana gets hit with Trishul of Raavana, he falls down unconscious. At that time Sushena asks Hanuma to get the same herb that was used earlier. Hanuma reaches the mountain and forgets which herbs to pick. And so he pulls out the entire mountain and gets it to the war field for sushena to treat Lakshmana. This also reminds us of Hanuma’s forgetfulness.

When Hanuma visited Sita in Lanka, he saw all the female raakshasas around Sita. At that time he saw Trijata, daughter of Vibhishana, telling Sita about a dream. She consoled Sita and assured her that everything would be fine. Importantly, she told all the raakshasis around Sita that they should immediately seek Sita’s pardon. At that time Sita told Trijata that they were just following the orders of their king. So, they do not deserve any punishment from her. Once the war ended and Hanuma was asked by Sri Rama to inform Sita and get her back, hanuma went to Sita. Seeing the Raakshasis Hanuma asked Sita’s permission to destroy all the Raakshasis. Hanuma doesn’t need to be told something twice and what else can this be attributed to, other than forgetfulness.

After the war on their way back to Ayodhya, Sri Rama asked Hanuma to reach Ayodhya before them. “Inform Bharatha about my Victory and check out the body language and feelings of Bharatha. In case Bharatha is attached to the kingdom, then I shall return to the forests directly from here.” Hearing this, Hanuma reaches Ayodhya and shares the details, of all the events that happened, to Bharatha. But after that there is no mention of Hanuma returning to Sri Rama and confirming the status to Sri Rama. This is not such an insignificant event for Valmiki to have missed it. Knowing the status of Bharatha, Hanuma must have been filled with so much happiness that he would have forgotten to return to Sri Rama to inform him the status.

The purpose of this post is not to doubt the ability of Hanuma or his greatness. His character is impeccable. If at all any negative points come out against him, those are because of his forgetfulness, which is a curse, rather than his character. Importantly, all my above statements could be wrong because of my inability to understand things in the right perspective.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Vibheeshana - Not a traitor

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Before Independence Gopalakrishna Gokhale started giving lectures to people in lot of areas stating that completely boycotting everything English is not good for the country. His intention was not to take sides with British though. On one of the days in a magazine called “Bande Maataram”, run by Aurobindo Ghosh, an article was published with the title, “Exit Vibheeshana”. This article was about Gokhale being a traitor. This had two problems. First the allegation that Gokhale was a traitor and second Vibheeshana.

Just to refresh the memory – Vibheeshana is that Raavana’s brother from Raamayanam. He tried his best convincing his brother Raavana to return Sita to Sri Rama. Despite all his attempts, Raavana not only ignored him, but also insulted him. With adharma growing in Lanka, Vibheeshana did not have a choice but to take side with Dharma.

So he approached Sri Rama and sought refuge. Sri Rama being Sri Rama sought the advice of all his colleagues. Except Hanuman, everyone advised against the acceptance of Vibheeshana. Their justification was, “If some one can desert his brother, he is definitely not trust worthy.” After listening to all opinions, Sri Rama made a very simple statement, “Any one who comes to me seeking refuge, I wont refuse. Even if Raavana comes and seeks refuge, I will pardon him and protect him.”

Anyway, let me not digress to Sri Rama’s character discussion here. That’s a never ending topic. So, Vibheeshana took the side of dharma and joined Sri Rama. Now multiple questions arise by this act.

Instead of joining Sri Rama, he could have been neutral and left Lanka and gone somewhere.

A human being has to be good or bad. Being Neutral is not a good choice. If you know that something is bad, then you have to take the side of good. You cant sit on the fence.

Ok fine. Taking sides is ok. But why does he have to share all the secrets with Sri Rama and his army?

Once you have taken a side, you have to be committed. You have to do full justice to your relationship and commitment. You cant make half hearted attempts.

Maybe by taking sides with Sri Rama, he wanted the kingdom?

Vibheeshana is not only a Dharma seeking guy, he is a very wise guy. Vibheeshana would get the kingdom only if Raavana loses the war. If Raavana loses the war, there would be nothing left in Lanka. So, who would be interested in ruling a grave yard?

So, finally, is Vibheeshana a traitor? To answer that lets define who a traitor is. A traitor is the one who takes sides with the enemy to make his/her country a slave to the enemy.

From the above definition, Vibheeshana never wanted/made Lanka a slave country of Sri Rama. In fact, he ruled it as a king. He took it up at a stage when there was nothing left in Lanka after the war.

So, before we call anyone a traitor, lets think.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Feeling of getting cheated

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

During our childhood all of us would have heard this story of a child and a tiger. It goes like this.

Once a father and a son go to the forest for cutting the wood. The father leaves the child in a safe place and asks him to shout for him if he encounters any danger. Saying this the father goes into the woods to cut some trees.

The child being naughty starts playing with his father. He starts shouting, “Father! There is a tiger here. Please come and help me.” Hearing this, the father goes running to his son and sees that there is no tiger. The child laughs and the father realizes that the child was playing a prank and goes back to his work.

Second time the child does the same. The father runs back to his son once more and realizes that the child has played the prank again. Father goes back angrily.

Third time the child does the same. The father assumes that the child is playing the prank again and doesn’t go to him. But this time the tiger actually is there and despite the child shouting multiple times, father doesn’t go to him. The tiger kills the child.

Whenever we hear this story, we remember only one moral - You should not lie. But honestly, there is one more. If you recall the story once more, the father doesn’t go to the child because he did not want to get cheated once more. This is a big problem that all of us face. All of us hate this feeling of getting cheated. That is despite the magnitude of loss, material or otherwise. We never want to get cheated. Rather we never want to get the feeling of getting cheated, irrespective of whether we actually get cheated or not.

If only the father did not have that feeling, he would have gone again to his son and maybe he would have saved his son. So, it’s better to get cheated than a lack of reaction to that, which might end up in a loss. It’s better to be left with a feeling of getting cheated.

Watched a movie couple of years back. One of the characters in that movie would be waiting at a road junction along with his friend in a car. A ragged woman approaches him and shows him a medical prescription and says that she is suffering from cancer and needs money for buying medicines.

Out of sympathy, he gives good sum of money to that lady. The friend says, “You should not trust these kinds of people. They are not trust worthy.”

The following day the same friend goes back to this guy and says, “Do you remember the lady to whom you gave the money for purchasing the medicines? She doesn’t have any cancer. That’s her way of begging. I told you not to give those alms to her. This is how you get cheated. Be careful next time.”

To that the guy responds, “Thank God! She doesn’t have cancer. I was worried about that. Now that she doesn’t have cancer, I am relieved.”

That’s very inspiring. This is again a very simple philosophy. The guy was more bothered about the problem the lady was facing than he getting cheated.

When we give donations, especially the small ones, many a time we think if the party taking the donation would use it wisely or not. Even if 9 out of the 10 people misuse it, and if that money gets utilized properly by even 1 person, we should be happy about it. If we have that kind of a perspective, we can be very happy in our lives. If we end up with the feeling of getting cheated, we will left with sadness.

So, let’s leave the feeling of getting cheated and stay happy.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Results and Credits

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

One day towards the late evening a fully crowded bus was about to start from the bus station to its destination. The bus was pretty overcrowded and quite a number of people were standing in the bus as well. The conductor gave a green signal and the bus started moving.

After crossing the town limits, the bus moved into a forest area with lots of trees on both sides of the road. These trees were pretty wide and tall trees. Suddenly there was lightning in the sky and then started the thunders. Within few minutes it started raining. It rained so heavily that driving the vehicle became very tough for the driver. It became pretty dark suddenly and so the driver was dependant on the front lights and wipers completely. He reduced the speed of the vehicle and started driving slowly. People inside the bus started getting scared with the sudden change in the weather.

The conductor and the driver assured everyone that they are in safe hands as they are used to this kind of inclement weather pretty frequently. While that gave some comfort to the passengers but they were still worried as the raining increased and there were more thunders in the sky.

As the bus moved a little further, suddenly a lightning struck a tree, 50 meters away, and the tree fell on the road. This shocked all the passengers. While they were very happy that it did not strike the bus, they were more scared now. The driver manoeuvred skillfully and went past the tree and resumed the journey.

After another 15 mins, another lightning struck another big tree, this time 40 meters away, and the tree fell on the road. The passengers were dumb stuck. They did not know what to do. The bus driver once again skillfully drove past the tree on the road and resumed the journey.

After another 10 mins, another lightning struck another big tree, this time 20 meters away, and the tree fell on the road. The passengers started screaming out of fear. Almost everyone started saying that next time the lightning is going to strike the bus and that everyone is going to die. The driver was about to start the engine and take the bus past that tree, one gentleman got up. He asked the driver not to start the bus. He said to everyone, “There is someone in this bus whose time has come to die. But obviously we don’t know who that is. But we can definitely find out who that is. We all see that tree in front of us right? This is what we will do. Each one of us will go all alone to that tree, touch it and come back. The person, who is supposed to die, will be struck with lightning once he/she touches the tree. The rest of us can continue our journey once that happens. There is no reason for all of us to die for the sake of one one. What do you all say?”

Everyone accepted that proposal instantaneously. Humans never think that the time has come to depart from this world.

The gentleman who proposed the above, volunteered to be the first person. He slowly walked towards the tree thinking if he is that unfortunate person. He went near the tree, touched it and slowly walked back with a great relief. One after the other, all the passengers in the bus got out of the bus, walked towards the tree, touched it and came back. Even the bus conductor and the driver went to the tree touched and came back without getting hurt.

Finally, it was the turn of the last man. Everyone looked at him as if he was a convict. Everyone was convinced that he was the person because of whom all the passengers in the bus were put to risk. Everyone started making unnecessary comments too. The man got up and walked slowly towards the tree. As soon as he touched the tree, the lightning struck again. But this time, the lightning struck the bus and not the tree. All the people in the bus died and this man survived.

So, many a times we give credit to ourselves for whatever good happens to us. But in reality the good that happens to us could be because of multiple good people around us. These could be your parents, your own family members (Spouse, children etc), your friends, some elderly people who have blessed you, some well wishers etc. But we rarely recognize that or attempt to recognize that. But whenever a bad thing happens to us, we immediately attempt at finding out the reason or the scapegoat for that.

Whenever any good happens to us, we should thank God for providing us well wishers because of whom that good thing has happened to us. Whenever we experience bad things, we should thank god for punishing less than what we actually deserve.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Deities at home

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Once upon a time there lived a person in a village. He was a pious person and used to perform his Daiva pooja every day. He used to have the small deities’ moorthis from his fore fathers, which he kept in his pooja room. He would perform Abhisheka every day at home and do the special poojas to the appropriate deities on the festival days. Rama pooja on Sri Rama Navami, Vinayaka pooja on Vinayaka Chathurthi etc.

His life was pretty normal and smooth without any major problems and he was contented in life.

One day his wife made Vadas and those were offered to the lord as part of the regular pooja. One guy used to come to help this family in certain works (servant maid). So after finishing the Nivedana, the wife gave two vadas to the servant. The guy ate those happily.

After some time the servant came back to the owner’s wife and asked her for one more Vada. She refused saying that they done have any more vadas in their house to offer him. The servant insisted and the woman went on refusing with the same reason. After sometime the servant said, “You still have 23 vadas in your house. Why are you saying that you don’t have any vadas? Please give me one more.”

The woman went inside the kitchen and counted and there were exactly 23 vadas. The woman brought one outside and offered it to the servant and asked him, “How did you know the count of vadas present inside the kitchen?”

The servant said, “Don’t bother. Just ignore it.” Saying that he left the house.

Later the woman told her husband about the incident. The husband was surprised. He called the servant later in the evening and asked him again.

The servant did not give any specific response and left.

The man could not sleep the whole night. He wanted to get to the bottom of this incident.

Next morning when the servant came for doing his regular work, the man raised the same question. After insisting for quite some time, the servant responded.

“From my forefathers I got one mantram. I keep reciting that every day, certain number of times. With that, I have this ability of talking to the adhishtaana devatha of that mantram. In fact it’s a raakshasi and not a devatha. I can ask some questions and I get answers whispered in my ears.

So, I asked it about the number of vadas present when your wife said that there are no more vadas.

That’s when I got an answer of 23.”

The man was shocked. He felt, “I have been doing these poojas every day and that too for more time than this servant. But so far, I don’t have any powers. No mantra Shakthi.”

He told the servant, “Please teach me that mantram. I will also recite.”

The Servant told him the mantram and the man started reciting that mantram every day. After some 8-10 days, someone knocked on his door. The man opened the door and there was a raakshasi outside the door. The man was shocked and asked her who she was.

“I am the one for whom you have been reciting the mantra all these days. I want to come in and stay with you. But you have to throw all the deities you have in your pooja room outside. I can’t come in if they are present in this house.”

At this juncture, there are two ways in which one can think. Lets look at the way which the man did not think.

“I have been praying god for such a long time. So far I could not see god. Forget about seeing god, I did not get any powers so far. What is the point praying God every day like this without any output? I recited this mantra just for 10 days and I am about to get special powers.”

With the above thought one can discard the deities inside and destroy oneself.

Now look at what the pious man thought.

“So far I have been thinking that the deities in my house have been doing nothing to me. There are so many raakshasis and evil spirits around who can come inside with or without our efforts. But they are not able to get inside my house because of the presence of the gods inside my house. These gods have been protecting me all along without my knowledge. What more special powers do I need?”

With that thought process, he asked that Raakshasi to leave and shut the door. From then onwards, he continued his poojas normally.

Its important that we pray the gods who have been coming to us from our forefathers, in the form of the small moorthies, as they have been prayed all along. They will fulfill your wishes as long as you take care of them. One need not fear the Gods as they won’t cause any harm. Worst case, they might not cause good if we don’t take care of them continuously. But they are not sadistic to take revenge on us J So one should not be God fearing. Instead one should be God loving.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Godavari Trip

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

So, this was an extremely long overdue trip to the East and West Godavari districts of AP - the green pastures with multiple pilgrimage shrines.

We went by Narasapur express from Secunderabad and landed in Narasapuram in the morning around 8.30.

Day 1

Checked into the Hotel and were ready to head out by 10 am.

Paalakollu - Ksheeraaraamam

Paalakollu is around 10 kms from Narasapuram. One of the Panchaaraamams, Ksheeraaraamam is there in Paalakollu.

Quick info on Panchaaraamams.

There are 5 of them.

S. No	Location	Installed by	Name	Siva’s Face	Bhoota
1	Bheemavaram	Chandra	Someswara Swamy	Sadyojaata	Prudhivi
2	Saamalkot	Kumara Swamy	Kumara Bheemeswara Swamy	Vaama	Jala
3	Daksharamam	Surya	Bheemeswara Swamy	Tatpurusha	Vaayu
4	Amaraavati	Indra	Amaralingeswara Swamy	Aghora	Agni
5	Paalakollu	Vishnu	Ramalingeswara Swamy	Eesaanya	Aakaasa

This is a nice temple with a nice Siva Lingam in white color. Looks like that Milky Chocolate with some nodes on it... Relatively smaller temple when compared to Kumaaraaraamam or Daksharamam. This is in the middle of the town and so parking is a problem. This temple closes by 1 pm.

Someswaram - Bheemavaram

After that we headed to Bheemavaram, which is around 22 kms away. This is also a Panchaaraama Kshetra. By the time we reached this, it was 12.30 and the temple was already closed. We revisited this temple on the last day. The Siva lingam here is also white in color and has been covered with some transparent plastic container as the Abhishekams are affecting the Siva lingam. This is a pretty big temple with a small kalyana mandapam within the temple premises. There is a navagraha temple in the premises, where the Bruhaspati graham faces East. Normally Budha and Bruhaspati grahas face North. When I asked the Purohit about that, he did not have an answer and said “It’s an old temple and so it’s like that.” The other famous temple where I saw Bruhaspati facing east instead of North is Mattapalli temple near Kodad.

Maavoollamma Temple - Bheemavaram

We went to the famous Maavoollamma temple in Bheemavaram. Every town has a local deity and this local deity is very famous because its supported and sponsored by the business community of the town. The goddess is a huge figure with extremely big eyes and body. Difficult to take your eyes off the deity. The Prasad sold there is Bandar laddu, which tastes very good J

Antarvedi

This place is about 22 odd kms from Narasapuram, but would take a little more than an hour easily. This is a very famous temple of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. This is close to the place where Godavari merges into Bay of Bengal. The temple Aavarana is very nice and there is a Gosaala right across the temple. Couple of interesting things about the temple.

1.      The God faces west. Normally the deities face east in all the temples. The temple in Gokarna, Karnataka is the other temple that I have seen where the God faces west.

2.      There is a stair case to climb onto the temple, which I have not seen anywhere.

The beach is very close by, though the sangamam point is a bit far off.

Lot of cultivable lands being converted to breed sea food L

Appanapalli

Went to Appanapalli which is about 30 kms from Antarvedi. This is the temple of Lord Venkateswara. There is one old temple and one new temple. There is just a big framed Photo of Lord Venkateswara in the old temple and the new temple is pretty big. There is a big Kalyana Mandapam along with rooms for staying there. Annadaanam is done every day here.

Returned to Narasapuram from there and rested in the AC rooms after a nice day.

Day 2

Pattisam – Near Rajahmundry

This is popularly known as Patti Seema. This is an awesome temple in the middle of river Godavari. Around 20 kms from Kovvur with the road all along the River Godavari. Once you reach the Pattisam village, you need to cross the river by boat and reach midway of Godavari. Walk in the sand for half a km or little more and reach the temple. Once the Polavaram Project is complete, there would be any water in Godavari and the boat trip might not be there at all L

The main deity of the temple is Veerabhadra Swamy. After the Daksha Yagna Dhvamsam, Agasthya Mahaamuni pacified Lord Veerabhadra and tied his hair knot here and so the Siva lingam here has a knot on top of the Lingam. Very peaceful place and go there prepared to have a dip in the river Godavari.

Datta Temple – Pithapuram

This is one of 18 Shakthi peethas and is about 60 kms from Rajahmundry. The Main god here is Lord Kukkuteswara Swamy. The Siva Linga has a carving of a Cock, barely visible. This place is also called Paada Gaya, where pitru poojas are done. The Kolanu here is just awesome and extremely well maintained. This also has a Dattaatreya Swamy temple within the premises.

In Pithapuram there is another temple of Sree Paada Sri Vallabha, an avatar of Dattaatreya. Annadaanam is done here too and the food is pretty tasty as well.

Kumaararaamam – Saamalkot

From pithapuram we headed to Saamalkot, which is some 14, 15 kms away. Kumaararaamam is pretty close to the Saamalkot railway station. This is a pretty big temple with a very tall Siva lingam. There is a ground floor where the Siva lingam starts and ends in the first floor of the temple. The poojari there was pretty good and was quite elaborate in conducting the pooja. That was a bit late in the evening, but we still decided to go to Bikkavolu, which is on the way to Narasapuram.

Bikkavolu – Vinaayaka temple

This is some 40 kms from Rajahmundry and around 18 kms from Saamalkot.

It was around 7.30 by the time we went and the temple was closed. Actual closure time is 8 pm though.

This was a very small temple way back in 2006, when I visited it for the first time, and it was in the middle of a paddy field. Now they have constructed a pretty nice temple with a good praanganam and mukha dvaaram. It is said that if you have a wish to make, you just need to whisper that in the right ear of Ganapathi and it will get fulfilled. This temple has become famous for this.

Bikkavolu – Subrahmanyeswara Swamy temple

This is in the same town of Bikkavolu and probably half a km away from Vinayaka temple. This is a pretty old temple as well. It has a Golingeswara Swamy (Siva lingam) and Subrahmanyeswara Swamy. There is a big putta (ant hill) within the Subrahmanyeswara Swamy temple and the Archakas leave a bowl of milk every night and the bowl becomes empty by the time they return to the temple in the morning. Putta mannu, if applied to the ears, will prevent Snake bites and if applied to the eye lids will arrest snake related dreams. Women with no issues perform puja to the Subrahmanyeswara swamy here and sleep in the temple in the night to become pregnant.

Day 3

Ainavilli – Vinayaka Temple

We went past Amalapuram. This is the most famous kona seema town, popular for veda agraahaarams and coconut gardens and paddy fields. Ainavilli is pretty close to Amalapuram, around 12 kms away. Its a swayambhu Vinayaka temple with the deity slightly below the normal level of the ground. There are multiple other temples in the praanganam. Pilgrims perform Ganapathi homam here in multiple batches. Many people break 100s of coconuts, probably once their wish gets fulfilled. So, there is a separate counter for breaking the coconuts and offering them to the God.

The prasaadam here is Ravva Laddu (probably only telugu people would know) and its extremely delicious. Full of pure ghee and very sweet, you just can’t stop with one J You can finish your breakfast with the Ravva laddu and the pulihora here.

Mukteswaram

This is in Ainavilli and is pretty close to the Godavari river. This has a Siva temple and a Raja Rajeswari Temple within and another temple opposite to this. It is said that if you visit this temple, a human being will get Mukti. I am not a great believer of such things. How can a human being who does all bad things visit this temple once and get mukti? Let me not get into that topic now. Anyways, the idea is that its very good to visit this temple. From here one can reach the Godavari river and more importantly can cross the river along with the vehicles in the ferry to reach Kotipalli on the other side. Kotipalli again has another famous Siva temple. Crossing the river through the ferry saves lot of time and effort and money for the people as reaching the other side would mean lot of travelling by road otherwise. Strange that the govt could not construct a small bridge here so far. There is a small bridge before reaching the main Goadavari river, which is pretty beautiful and you cant resist getting into the water J

Daksharaamam

This is called Draakshaaraamam, but the correct pronunciation should be Dakshaaraamam. This is just 5 kms from Ramachandrapuram and has a huge Bheemeswara Swamy temple. The praanganam is very big and lot of marriages are performed in this temple. The Siva lingam here is also white in color and is present in ground and first floors of the garbhaalayam. So, you first visit the ground floor and then climb up the stairs and have a darshan of Lord Bheemeswara. There is a silver face of Lord Shiva (Bheemeswara) which is placed on the Siva lingam. Very enchanting temple. Apparently in the vicinity of Dakshaaraamam, there are some 100 odd Siva lingas (I guess within some 10 kms radius or something like that, don’t remember exactly) and this whole thing is called Bheema Sabha. Infact in the Sankalpam recited by the people there, they use the word Bheema Sabha as well to specify the location coordinates.

This is one of the Ashta Dasa Shakthi peethas as well.

There are lot of other deities in the temple praanganam and generally there will be one guide who would accompany you as soon as you enter the temple, who would show you around. You need to pay some money at the end of it, around 500, though not insisted by them on the magnitude of the money.

Muramalla

This is another Veerabhadra swamy temple. You have to cross the Godavari river once again to reach this temple either via kotipalli through the boat or go over the Godavari bridge at Yanam. Yanam is a tax free zone bcos its part of the Union Territory Pondicherry. The ferry service at Kotipalli stops once it gets a bit dark.

Apparently after the Daksha Yagna dhwamsam, Veerabhadra swamy could not be pacified by anybody. Different Devathas and Gods tried, but could not and he was still under rage. Even Lord narasimha Swamy tried his luck, but could not. So, at that point of time the Ammavaru was prayed for. Now, this ammavaru is not the Parvathi. It is the greatest Shakthi. Thats when she created Bhadrakaali in the form of a young lady, seeing whom Veerabhadra swamy got pacified and married her. Lots of munis got together and performed their marriage. Hence this place was actually called Muni Mandali which got changed to Muramalla. (Not sure why Veerabhadra Swamy went to Pattisam to get pacified by Agasthya Maha muni. I am genuinely looking for an answer than being sarcastic).

Every day kalyaanam (NItya Kalyaanam) is performed here and annadaanam is done. Parents with unmarried sons and daughters come here in plenty to perform this Kalyaanam to get their sons and daughters married.

From Muramalla we went to Dindi, the village on the bank of Godavari. AP tourism development has constructed a resort on the Godavari bank with boarding and lodging facilities. There is also a Sterling Holidays resort just beside that and these two places are really nice. Stay there is definitely worth it. One can go on a boat ride in the Godavari river and importantly, there is a boat house where one can stay in the river for 12 or 24 hours too.

The other important thing is the greenery and the locations themselves. They (water and trees) are so pleasing to the eye that its difficult to take your eyes off them. Journey to these places is definitely a very important aspect and its thoroughly enjoyable.

There are few more important places that still need to be covered

Mandapalli (Saneeswara Aalayam)

Maamidaada (Sri Ramuni Aalayam)

Ryaali (Jaganmohana Swamy Aalayam)

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.