This is mainly a compilation of the visits to various holy places that we have been to recently. This blog started as a result of my wish to document these visits and help other like minded people to reach there easily, prepare them with some information about the place so that the experience will be enriched .
Monday, August 14, 2023
Sri Mruthyunjayeshwarar temple Kanchipuram
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Adhishtanams of the Kanchi seers- Keezhambi-Adhishtanam of shri Advaitatma Prakasendra Saraswati the 60 th pontiff
How to reach:
Keezhambi is a small village west of Kanchipuram on the bangalore highway. The place is about 10 kms from the present Sri matam. Take the road towards Ekambranathaswamy temple and proceed straight for 8 kms.till you reach the engineering college and just after this take left turn. You will see lush green Verdant fields amidst which rests the adhishtanam seen below .
The easier way now is that a new kanchipuram bypass has been built called Vellore bangalore bypass on google maps you can enter this road from vellore side before Kanchi or from chennai cross kanchipuram and after Kanchi College of arts and sciences take a left . (THERE IS ROAD WIDENING AND OVER BRIDGE WORK TAKING PLACE HERE SO ASK FOR kEEZHAMBI ELSE YOU CAN MISS IT. IN FUTURE IT WILL BE AN UNDERPASS ON THE BANGALORE HIGHWAY) and then take the first right road . It will take you to the village and will end at a Rama bhajanai koil take a right there and next left you will land at the great banyan tree after crossing Vinayakar. Locals are friendly ask for Kanchi mutt temple and not as adhishtanam or samadhi
There is a small Sivan koil nearby which adds to the serenity as well as a large banyan grove by which name the place is identified.
Cars will travel up to the banyan trees after which we have to walk in the open field
The keys to the adhisntanam are with a farm hand Vijayaraghavan who lives nearby and is seen in the photo below pointing to the adhishtanam.He appeared from nowhere and guided me inside which by itself was a divine intervention at 11 AM
The Mutt has built a structure for the adhishtanam.Recently a mahrudram was performed here.
Sri Advaitatma Prakasendra Saraswati : He was also known as Govinda. He was the son of Parasurama, a native of a village adjoining the river Vasistha. His former name was Sruti-Pandita. For some time, he lived in Govindapuram where his predecessor had attained mukti. He was held in very great veneration by Sahaji, , the King of Tanjore. He attained mukti at the village Ambi, near Kanchi on Krishna Dwitiya in the month of Chaitra of the cyclic year Svabhanu (1704 AD). His brindavan at Ambi is in daily worship.
(weblink:history of the kanchi mutt)
It was very difficult to tear myself away from such verdant surroundings.
Ganapathy enroute to the adhishtanam
from the Kanchi calender 2018
60. Sri Advaitatma Prakasendra Saraswati
1692 - 1704 A.D.
आचाय - 60 - अयाकाशेः
अथ ··· पिरतोऽटनम ्॥ १२१ ॥
आकाशे ··· िसिमापत ्॥ १२२ ॥
अयमेव··· भम ्॥
Then, son of Paraśurāma on the banks of river
Vaśiṣṭha, well-versed in scriptures, touring all
around bore the burden (or preceptor) on him.
This sage by name Govinda with the appellation
Ātmaprakāśendra carried out the responsibilities of
preceptor for twelve years. He attained siddhi on
the second day of Kṛṣṇapakṣa in the month Caitra
of the year Svabhānu.
This preceptor remained in Shahajipuram for a long
period hailed as Govindajagadguru by Śrădhara
Veṅkateśa and other learned men.
(as in Kāmakoṭi Kośasthāna edition)
॥ अथ पुयोकमरी पिरिशम् ॥
पोलेकामाजन-शाराकर-ीरामशिणीतः ितीय भागः
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Adhishtanam of Shri Thotakacharya in Kamakshi temple Kanchipuram
One of the other prominent Sishyas of Adi Shankara was Shri Giri
Sri Sankara, with
his three principle disciples, namely, Padmapadar, Sureshwarar (Mandana
Mishra) and Hastaamalaka, went from place to place, and preached Advaita. Sri
Sankara gave intense training to his disciples. He was made the first Jagadguru (head) of the Jyotirmaṭha Pīthaṃ, the original northern maṭha founded by Ādi Śaṅkara in Uttrakhand. He founded a maṭha by name Vadakke modam in
Thrissur, Kerala.(from wikipedia) On learning that his Guru took samadhi at Kamakshi Temple at Kanchipuram, he took decided to return back to Kanchipuram and took samadhi near to his Guru's samadhi. |
Thotakacharya's adhistanam can be seen within the Kamakshi temple near to the theertham next to the Durga sannidhi below the Neem tree.
Adhishtanam of Shri Padma padacharya seen inShri Ekambareshwarar temple Kanchipuram
Shri AdiSankara had many disciples and prominent among them were
Sureshwaracharya, Padmapadacharya,Hastamala, Thotakacharya. These disciples
were giants in their own stead but drew strength from the guidance of their
guru and travelled with Adishankara . At appropriate times they were
given charge of his various mutts established by him and contiinued the legacy.
I recently came to know from the Kanchi mutt that the samadhis of Padmapada and
Thotakacharya are also in kanchi where they came on hearing that their
guru had left his earthly form wished to be interned near his samadhi (as per
Kanchi mutt belief and records) . We can find the Adhishtanam of Sri
Sureshwaracharya inside the Kanchi mutt( click to see my blog on this acharya)
Shri Padmapadacharya
Sri Sankara went to Kasi and by that time, he had a
lot of disciples. One of them, Sanandhyaya, was drying the clothes of his Guru
and suddenly Sri Sankara called him to the other bank of the river as he needed
the clothes urgently. Sanandhyaya, little realising that he would drown, starts
walking into the river. However, the Grace of his Guru resulted in a lotus
materialising wherever he was keeping his foot. When asked as to how did he
cross the river, he says that when his Guru calls, he is not to worry about
anything. Sri Sankara named him as Padma Padar (lotus feet).
( above from Kamakoti.org Kanchi mutt website)
Padmapada was the first head
of Puri Govardhana matha. He is believed to have founded a math by
name Thekke Matham in Thrissur, Kerala. Keralites
believe that he was a Nambuthiri belonging to Vemannillom, though according to
textual sources he was from the Chola region in South India.
Padmapāda, together
with Sureśvara, developed ideas that led to the founding of the Vivarana school
of commentators. The only surviving work of Padmapāda known to be authentic is
the Pañcapādikā. According to tradition, this was written in
response to Shankara's request for a commentary on his own Brahmasūtrabhāsya,
and once written was destroyed by a jealous uncle. The surviving text is
supposed to be what Shankara could recall of the commentary; certainly, all
that survives of the work is an extended gloss on the first
four aphorisms.
(above detail from wikipedia)
Padmapadacharya's Guru bhakti was exemplary.
Once he came to know of his Guru's samadhi in Kanchipuram,
he too rushed back to Kanchipuram and took samadhi at Ekambareshwar
temple.
The samadhi temple is known as "Vishnu-eswarar"
and just outside the south gopuram of
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Thiru Kolanjiappar temple Vriddhachalam -a rare swayumbhu Murugan Temple
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Shri Maikanteshwara Manikyavalli temple at Dadapuram near Tindivanam
Nandi in front |
main door of the temple |
kostha vigrahas on the north |
Dakshinamurthy |
vinayaka in his north west sannidhi |
Vishnu behind the sanctum |
Brahma on the south west side |
stand alone lingam behind |
Vishnu Durga |
Ambal Manikyavalli (@ Kamakshi) sannidhi on the north west side of the temple |
Bhairavar standing alone |
Suryanar |
Priest Kumaraswamy at the main door the legends are inscribed on either side |
Better view of the Nandi |