SRIRANGAM TRIP

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See your lord for 50 rupees. But you are on for a sight which is priceless!!

I got down from the bus and asked an old man who was sitting in the bus stop.” Sir ,Srirangam temple enge iruke”(where is Srirangam temple).”munnadiye iruke nera poo”.(it’s there in front go straight).I turned right and the sight I saw was awesome. The temple gopuram .It was magnificient and was a skyscraper.Its shape was tapering as it went high. All the idols in the tall structure was wonderfully sculpted .Little did I know about the temple just as I was entering the premises.

The temple is the biggest functioning HINDU TEMPLE in the world. It covers an area of 156 acres (Yes it maybe true because I was very tired after walking inside the temple, I came back to my room and had a sound sleep.).Situated in the banks of Cauvery across the city of Trichy, the Srirangam temple complex is composed of 7 concentric walls which has a total length of over 6 miles and is composed of 21 gopurams.The main gopuram called the Rajagopuram is 236 feet tall and the tallest in Asia. Myth has it that the coast of Srilanka can be seen from the top of the gopuram.

I kept walking amazing myself with the sights. There were shops on both sides on the road leading to the temple complex. Each of the shops were selling one thing or the other. I reached the entrance of the temple and was looking around where to keep my shoes safely. Just then I saw a granny who was selling flowers and I saw people leaving their precious footwear in her custody. I too did the same with my shoes which I needed for next day’s interview.

Inside, the wonderful architecture was captivating. The idols were huge. So were the queues .There was two queues .One for 20 rupees and the other for 50 rupees. So if you don’t have 20 rupees you can walk your way back home. Commercialization of spirituality at its best. It was more like taking a balcony in your favorite movie theatre or taking a front seat if you can sacrifice the comfort factor. I did not want to get quashed in the 20 rupee queue so I took the other one with both my hands in my pockets. I would have been in deep shit if I was pocketed. I don’t know anyone in this part of the country. The 50 rupees queue was fast moving. I paid my offerings to the deity and went out of the sanctorum without even me knowing, thanks to the crowd.

More about the temple, the presiding deity Ranganathaswamy is Maha Vishnu .The ancient citadel temple complex of Sri Ranganathar dates back more than 2000 years. Legend has it that BHRAMA was in a state of deep meditation and in his supreme trance received the gift of Lord Vishnu’s idol. The idol was subsequently passed to Viraja, Vaiswatha, Manu, Iswaku and finally to Lord Rama.Lord Rama himself an avatar of Vishnu worshipped the idol for a long time and and when he returned victoriously from Srilanka after defeating Ravana he gave it to Vibhishana and then further it came into the hands of Lord Vinayaka. As per the Vaishnava philosophy, Sri Ranganathar Kovil is one amongst the eight Svayam Vyakta Kshetras (Self-manifested shrines) of Lord Vishnu.

Talking about the festivals here in the temple, Vaikunta Ekadesi is the most important festival in Sri Rangam. ThiruKalyana festival is also celebrated with pomp and glory.

According to historians, most dynasties that ruled the South -- Cholas, Paydays, Hoysalas, Nayakkas -- assisted with renovation and assisted in the observance of the traditional customs. Even during periods of internal conflicts amongst these dynasties, utter importance was given to the safety and maintenance of the temple. I doubt the present government is doing anything great for the maintenance, but of course the 50 or 20 rupees entrance fee is levied without fail as if it is a movie or a circus show.

Among the other marvels of the temple is the hall of 1000 pillars. I managed to take a snap of one or two pillars using my dilapidated 2 megapixel mobile camera. The carved horses sculpted in the pillars is gorgeous, but hardly I could find any Indian taking snaps or even having a second look at these marvels. On the contrary I could see several foreign tourists carrying large cameras and taking photos. As usual this shows our utter disdain for our monuments and culture. I was still walking through and accepting theerta from whichever priest standing in front of innumerable deities over here. You don’t need to carry a mineral water bottle.

Apart from the hall of 1000 pillars there is also the shesha mandap with its wonderful sculptures. There are inscriptions on the walls of the temple which I can’t read. It is written in Tamil. Probably it could be some hymns or something else that the rulers of olden times felt should be shared with the public. There is an amazing sense of serenity and calmness inside the complex.

I came out of the complex worrying about my precious footwear. Thank god my shoes were intact and the granny charged me 7 rupees for taking care of my shoes. Injustice right in front of the temple.

As I was walking back to the bus stop I felt happy at the fag end of a tiring day.

I was still thinking about the architecture and the amount of effort that would have been put in for this magnificent structure. You can probably replicate a world trade center if destroyed, but this temple, forget it!!

Little things do make biiig differences :)

Little things do make BIG differences

 

A thanks will make you feel much bigger.

A sorry will make anyone feel much better.

A please can get things done much faster.

A losing battle is won by a silent prayer.

 

A failure should make you aim much higher.

An appreciation will make anyone feel happier.

A pat will make any loser much tougher.

A “I can” will take you miles further.

 

A child will make you feel much smaller.

A smile will make you few pounds lighter  .

Sharing will make you feel much fuller.

Helping will make you feel much greater.

 

A pause will make you act much smarter.

A Silence will make you feel much calmer.

A yes at the right time will augur a good future.

A no at the right time will save you thereafter.

 

A joke timed well will turn grimace into laughter.

A handshake will bring people together.

A hug can bring buddies nearer.

Love can bring souls closer forever.

 

 

 

 

FOLLOWING THE POSITIVE CALLS OF YOUR HEART!

I was writing my physics exam. As usual I had just studied half the portion. The other half will be taken care by Mathews who used to sit in front of me in the exams.

 

We both met just before the exam started.

“Hey matt. Have you prepared your half?”I asked.

“Yep” replied Mathews.

 

We both smiled with a sense of heroism that we would be going to carry out in the exam hall. The invigilator was standing beside the chair all prepared to distribute the answer sheets. Mathews turned back and gave me thumbs up with a grin that did not suit his chubby cheeks.

 

The exam started. I completed my half in no time. I then nudged matt to give me his sheets so that I could complete the rest. Matt turned around. I gave him my completed sheets and I took from matt his completed ones.

 

As soon as I took his sheets a sense of shock passed through my hands which was holding matt’s sheets. I was paralyzed and could not write any more. I was feeling pain all over my body and suddenly I became unconscious. It was followed by a complete blackout for the next 5 minutes.

 

Suddenly two people came to me while I was in the unconscious state. One was wearing a black dress and the other white. The white one was smiling eternally and was looking pleasant and confident.

The black one was giving wicked smiles all around and had an air of arrogance surrounding him.

 

The black person introduced himself to me obstructing the white person.

“Hi Karthik”, I’m Negative. You already know me well as you cheat in your day today life like you are doing right now at this exam. I will help you cheat in all walks of life and will give you encouragement to do all the bad things in life. By being bad you will gain instant recognition, instant happiness, instant fame, and everything you want then and there.

 

I could see the white person who was standing in the left of the black person and was still smiling. He was waiting for the black person to stop so that he could start talking to me.

 

“Hi karthik”I’m Positive. You don’t know me well. But I will help you to do all the good things in life. By doing good you will have everlasting happiness, everlasting fame and everything you want but only after you put a bit of hard work which is very much easy once you start with the habit.

 

I was in a dilemma.Everytime I did something wrong in my life I always knew what was right and what had to be done, but I usually did the wrong thing either due to peer pressure or to fit into the group or due to compulsion or because I dreaded taking the long route and in the process get lost. I decided to follow the white man for the moment.

I told him “Hi positive, I would want to try out your policy even though I may end up failing but I wont try out as I have seldom have experienced doing something right.”

 

“Okay Karthie take your pen and start writing the exam, but caution all by yourself”, positive said

“But I don’t know anything”, I moaned.

 

“Hey,do as I say don’t follow the words of the idiot” negative shouted pushing Positive aside.

I was really in a dilemma what to do.? I decided to give deaf ears to Mr. Negative for the time being.

 

I glanced through the question paper. Most of the portions that I had not studied were alien to me as I had bunked classes for those.

 

Still I decided to follow Mr. Positive for the promise he had given me of everlasting happiness.

 

“I’m sorry positive I will have to disappoint you today? I don’t know answers to most questions that I had entrusted matt to study” I said.

 

“Just use your potential to maximum and try to do them instead of cheating lets start a new life from now onwards”, positive said.

Out of the 5 questions, I could answer just 2 from the section that I was unfamiliar with. Still I had the satisfaction that I had done them all by myself.

 

 

The results came and I had scored just the pass marks. I felt bad with myself that I had matt’s paper and still I did not copy from it. But Mr. Positive promised me that in the long run I would be rewarded, but when? That he did not tell.

 

Soon everywhere I was following Mr.Positive.Everytime Mr. positive came to lecture me Mr. Negative came running from behind to coax me into doing something negative and also promise me of instant gratification and happiness. Initially it was very difficult to keep away from the lure of Mr. Negative. Whatever he suggested seemed to be crooked but seemed to produce instant success and I faltered on quite a few occasions also.

 

But something inside me was guiding me and telling me to follow Mr. Positive for my well being. Soon I started to ardently follow the path that Mr. Positive laid for me. I was completely avoiding Mr. Negative. Soon in my mind the Negative figure was fading day by day and the positive figure gained prominence. At last it was just positive things that I ended up doing.

 

All of a sudden a white light with an aura of sanctity was descending above my forehead. It grew brighter and brighter. I was not afraid but was indeed curious.

 

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m god” A voice came from behind the white lights.

 

I have been an atheist all my life. I paid little respect and asked with indifference

“Oh god! What do you want”? I asked

 

“I came down to congratulate you” he said.

 

“Congratulate me? For what” I said.

Slowly my indifference was disappearing I was all the more inquisitive now.

 

“Because you had followed the right messages of your heart and not the wrong ones.” He said

 

“I can’t understand what you mean” I said.

“I have been watching you for some days now.Im quite impressed by the way you are taking suggestions of Mr. Positive and ignoring negative however tempting he was and in whatever situation you had to confront”. God said.

 

“Oh”, I said with smiles lighting up my face as an acceptance of his accolades.

 

“I just wanted to give you a secret that I want you to spread.”

I remained silent as an approval for him to continue.

“It was I who sent the positive and negative hunches to you in all the situations.” he said.

 

“Whatever situation you face in life there is always a positive and a negative option that you can choose. The negative ones are tempting and quick in rewards. The positive ones seem to be difficult and less traversed. Usually people fall in the prey of negative and ignore the positive which is the reason why many people fail in life in whatever areas it may be.” The voice said

 

The words that I was hearing were making a profound impression on my mind. I was all ears.

 

“Now I will give you the secret for succeeding in life. Listen carefully” he said

 

“In life you always have two options as I have already mentioned. If you follow the positive even though it may be a little difficult to start with in the beginning you are bound to be successful in life .But if you follow negative you are doomed to be a failure at the end of your life. So always follow the positive messages that your heart gives you whenever you face different and difficult situations in life if you want to attain glory.”

 

I completely approved of what I heard. As soon as the message was delivered the light that had descended above my forehead slowly started fading. It soon was engulfed into darkness. I was woken up by the sound of my alarm.I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. It was 4:00 ‘o’ clock in the morning and I was dreaming all the while. I soon realized that today I was having my physics exam. I had two options. Either to snooze the alarm that was ringing loud and again go back to sleep as I always did or start studying. I sat on my bed at thought for a while. I switched on my lights and started studying the portion that I had entrusted matt to do.

 

I made up my mind that I was going to follow the positive calls of my mind from today onwards and I would spread the message that dawned in my sleep as a dream. I said to myself that I would not be concerned of results and just concentrate of what was in my hand and leave the results to god. I was confident that I would be successful in my life.