It was yet another random days when I was struck with the idea of visting a temple.
Typically I am not the temple kind of a person although I do like to visit the same sometimes. It was just one of those times, I decided on a Sunday to visit a Lakshmi Venkateswara temple nearby.
It was almost the end of the month when that Sunday did come. As expected my purse was thin and I was reminded solely of god. There is a saying "Sankata Bandaga VenkataRamana" which translates to "The abode of God during distress".After a spending spree on hotels, treats and cinemas I sought the abode of the Almighty for help with my finances and "in general well being of the masses".
I entered the temple with my head bowed low and was struck in awe at the tall Gopura and the amazingly detailed intricate designs that adorned it all along. It truly is a sight to behold.
The Garbha Gudi or the Sanctum Sanctorium houses the main diety of the temple. There is also a single structure of rock that stands on the ground strecthing up to the sky called the Garudagamba which also comes with intricate designs and the images of gods neatly sculputured. The Dwarapalakas Jaya and Vijaya welcomed me into the humble abode of the Laksmi Venkateswara temple.
The large serene atmosphere takes you on a spiritual quest, suddenly you are in a place of calm, the Aum resonting in the background, the mantras and the pujaris and the Aarathis take you on a celestial journey.
Sure enough I too went into a deeply contemplative mood, the faint ringing sound of Aum seemed to be everywhere. The temple bells had begun to ring and I was too engrossed to notice much more.
But out of the corner of my eye I could see people clicking photos in the main GarbhaGudi , a fact that seemed to surprise me entirely and this seemed to break me free from a trance. I now tried to recollect the sign boards near the entrance , near the chappal stand , but I couldn't place any sign that read, "Photography and Videography prohibited inside the temple premises ". This was somewhat different to the conventional "Typical temple".
There is a lot of empty space around this big Temple and the stone benches around the temple had attracted my attention when I had made my way in. There was a strange square structure that was etched on the GarudaGamba that seemed to be done in fine detail. Although the temple is quite an old one it has had some renovations and still maintains an old school charm about it. The people were keen on photographing the same weird sculpture that had been done even inside the temple at various places.
' Nowadays people are more concerned with photos and selfies than pretty much everything else' I thought to myself.
I wanted to relish the calmness of this place to its entirety and so had conveniently kept my cellular phone at home. I proceeded to do the 'Darshana' of the god and the goddess, decked in jewels and shining in divine glory, the light from the 'Aarthi' falling on the idols was a treat to watch. And soon the temple priest came in with his Tab, to collect some donation for the new 'Bhojanalaya' that would feed all the needy everyday. I was here in the premises of the Godesss of wealth to pray for a little more dosage of wealth, and soon enough , after the 'teerthaprasada' was given; I made my way to the silent temple surroundings. There was a faint sound of temple bells that could be heard from where I sat. But surprisingly this temple had no bells that I had observed. Before I could dwell on this further, I saw a Bharatnathyam performance in full flow in one of the Pranganas of the temple. I proceeded to spend my time immersed in the artform when the temple bells rang again.
Here too the same square structure had been etched.I had expected the Shanka Chakra etching everywhere but this was somewhat different. The Typical temple had a few more surprises.
I walked along and found this 'Aachar' seated next to a board that read "Prasadam". There was no queue and I approached him with reverence and asked him,
"swamy, where do I find the place to recieve the prasadam ?"
He smiled at me and retorted "Son , you have come to the right place".
I enquired, " But I do not see any prasadam here except the small bag of coloured sheets here next to you".
He then went on to explain. "Off late most pilgrims here come to offer their prayers to God but they have a problem with donations, the new 2000 notes have proven to be a problem, we are always running for the right change to give back. Hence we have introduced the Tab where we ask for donations, the symbol you see on most place, the square structure is a QR code of the temple Hundi account. Everyone can donate their offerings to God there itself, and they can do so at anytime. It saves us a lot of hassle. We can concentrate on our spiritual journey."
Frankly I was taken aback by this and I asked him about my prime concern "How about the prasadam then ?".
"Well, my son the prasadam was being wasted by a lot of them, most times dirtying the sanctity of the temple and it was difficult to carry it home. So we give you this Prasadam voucher for you to encash at the Hotel nearby. We only prepare little that we use for the "Neividya" and the rest is given to hotels and this can be taken by the devotees anytime just by submitting this voucher.
Interesting is it not ?".
His answer struck me in the very elements, there was no Hundi here to put my humble offerings to God , no prasadam too , the symbolism of the Almighty's blessings. The Bhojanalaya was under construction , I had nowhere to go except home. Happy to have had the pleasure of the having the Darshan with utmost peace.
The typical temple bells rang once again, even before I could ask this man about the mystery my mom woke me up.
"It's Monday , the time is seven, wake up and stop sleeping. You have office today. Remember.
Your alarm is on snooze."
And thus the typical temple experience came to an end.
I was happy that I did atleast have a great Darshana in my dream.
But the question remained, what if our Typical temples, would become like this one day...
Read the original piece here :
https://sampada.net/%E0%B2%9F%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D-%E0%B2%9F%E0%B3%86%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D/47346
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