Akshardham Temple , New Jersey

BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) have built their largest Swaminarayan temple at Robbinsville .New Jersey, USA
The construction of this temple has created a number of records. When one approaches the temple area, neither the typical tower nor the flags can be seen. This is because the entire temple is encased inside a square structure. On entering this, you will be wonder struck with the beauty.The entire temple is constructed with marble. We were told by the volunteers that the marble slabs quarried at Italy, were sculpted by the artisans of Rajastan. 15339 sculpted marble pieces were shipped to Robbinsville. This temple is very much similar, in many aspects, to Dilwara temples at Mount Abu. All the pieces have been put together by skilled artisans at the site with the help of local engineers and BAPS volunteers.

It is interesting to note that no two pillars are identical. The rectangular ceiling above the four pillars are intricately carved. None of the rectangular ceiling are similar. The temple has two hemispherical domes packed with fine bracket figures, chandelier type carving in the centre, and innumerable motifs. The whole temple is lit with concealed LED type spot lights to enhance the beauty of the carvings.

The flooring is covered with different designs created with various coloured stones. The flooring has been done with underground heating so that the marble will not be too cold. The entire space within the encasement building is temperature controlled.

In this temple complex, there is a huge convention hall ( Maharaj Pramukh Swami Sabha hall), which has a seating for about 2000 people. This hall is flanked on either side by full size indoor basket ball courts.
More details about the temple can be had from
HTTP://www.baps.org/Global-Network/North-America/Robbinsville/News.aspx

Adventure at Muktinath

We,a group of ten people went to Nepal to have the darshan of Muktinath. This is one of the Divyadesams outside India.

Our travel to Muktinath was full of adventure, even though our travel agent arranged everything. I like to share my experience with the people who are interested in visiting Muktinath. Going to Pokhara from Kathmandu by road is very interesting. On the way , we visited Manokamna Devi temple. The ride by cable car to the shrine is breath-taking. One should avoid going to Manokamna temple on Saturdays, as there will be heavy rush and one may have to wait for hours to get the cable car ride.

From Pokhara, one has to take a flight to Jomsom, the base for going to Muktinath. The flight to Jomsom by small planes is operated only in the morning between 7 AM and 10-00 AM. The plane has to fly between the mountains and if the wind in the gorge is high, the flights are not permitted. One has to count his luck to have the flight on the day. We met many people in the hotel, who could not have the flight.

We were lucky to get the flight to Jomsom. The hotels here display the menu board in Tamil. The hotels offer idli, dosai, sambar, rasam etc. We were supposed to go to Muktinath temple , which is at an altitude of 12000' by jeep. Here our adventure started. The jeep operators were on a strike. Our hotel owner suggested that we could go on motorbike.The distance from the hotel to Muktinath temple is 25 kms. Only we got on the bike, we started to realise the adventure in this ride.Literally there is no road and the path is full of stones and pebbles.The path crosses Gantaki river bed and continually winding and rising.With the chill wind blowing on our faces, we at last reached Muktinath with our hearts in our mouth. The eldest member of our group is 75 years and no one believed that we traveled to Muktinath by bike.

The temple is managed by some Nepali women. There is no puja or archana in the temple. There are 108 theerthams ( only spouts) in which devotees take bath, Then they dip themselves in the two ponds in front of the temple. After the darshan,we were lucky to get the jeep, which had started plying.

We had an wonderful and awesome experience and all felt the Viswa roopam of the Almighty in this trip.

Kailashanathar Temple at Kanchipuram

Last week I had been to Kanchipuram and visited some temples which I had not visited in my earlier visits.

The most interesting one was Kailashanathar temple. This temple complex is under Archaeological Survey of India. It is situated slightly outside the town. The temple opens at 9 A.M like an office. All temples under the control of ASI ( Darasuram temple near Kumbhakonam, Avinashi temple near Erode) have the same timings.

When I saw the temple first, I felt as though the Mahabalipuram temple had been lifted and placed there. The difference is that the entire temple is made of sand stone. So one can see the heavy wear and tear of all sculptures due to the weather. ASI are patching those damages with some lime mortar mixtures. In spite of all, one can never miss the beauty of this Pallava architecture.

There are two Shiva lingams in this temple. The mythological story is that these were worshiped by Lord Vishnu and Muni Naradha. The lingams are unique . They have sixteen faces,each representing one kala and not circular. The lingam with Avudai is made of pure black granite. It is shining without a drop of oil and looks grand. There is a belief that doing parikrama inside the temple is equivalent to doing parkrama of mount Kailash. For doing this, one has to crawl through a small hole in the wall and come out through another hole.

The outer prakaram is full of beautiful sculptures.  People visiting Kanchi should include this temple also.

America on wheels museum,

On our way to Vraj , we visited the America on Wheels museum at Allentown, PA. There is good collection of various cars produced in USA. They are all old and older models, giving us the idea of evolution of automobiles. The oldest model exhibited, had been manufactured in1904!. The head lamps are oil wick lamps made of brass. It was interesting to note that electric car was made in 1917, as the people were not liking petrol cars. There were single seat cars, that look like Go-carting vehicles. The designers of those days had toyed with the idea of strong wooden axles.









Car with wooden axle

Another interesting exhibit is a complete railway station along with a park and buildings. The entire thing is constructed with LEGO bits. This exhibit was displayed by a group of LEGO enthusiasts. The interiors of the building and the rail-coach were full of details.


 

 

 

Temples near New Jersey

Recently I had the opportunity of visiting two temples in the New Jersey area. The first one is Sri Ranganatha temple at Pamona, New York. I got the nice feeling when I had the darshan of Sri Ranganatha Perumal. Inside the temple , I felt as though I was in a Tamilnadu temple. All idols (moola murthis) are of black granite and look very grand.It being the markazhi month, there was chanting of Thiruppavai. Another unique thing in this temple is that there is no ticket for anything, whether it is an archanai or kalyana utsavam. Everything is donation  as one likes (yatha sakti). The temple gives typical prasadams of Venpongal, akkaravatisal and curd rice. There is no cafeteria food, as in most of the N.American temples. Of course you can have more details in their website http://www.ranganatha.org/ .

 

 

 The second one is Srinathji temple at Vraj, Schuylkill Haven, PA. The temple is managed by Pushti Margiya Vaishnav Samaj Of North America. This temple replicates the traditions followed by the temple at Srinathdwara. The idol of Srinathji is small but the temple provides binoculars to the devotees to have a close look of the idol.Again this temple does not have cafeteria but all are provided with Maha Prasad - conventional Gujarati food with puri, shak, bath, kadi and sweet. They entertain second helping. If you are going as a big group ,they want advance information for providing you the Prasad! More details can be had http://vraj.org/ .

 

 

 

Avudaiyar Koil

I went to Avudaiyar koil some months ago and I am sharing the impressions.

 

This temple is unique, as the lingam( Athmanathar) does not have the top portion and only the base (avudai) is there. The lingam at sanctum sanctorum is shown with a metallic cylinder which is hollow, This represents the all prevading Atma , hence the presiding deity is known as Atmanathar.This top cylinder is removed once in a year, when the public can see the formless.

The temple was built by Manickavasakar, who was the minister of  Arimardhana Pandyan.

 

The temple is renowned for its special architecture and sculptures. The temple is famous for its stone canopies, which appears to be made of timber, with its tie-bars and nails. One can see the damage caused by the Englishman , who did not believe that the canopy is carved out of granite. There are two holes caused by the bullets.

 

 

 

 

In one of the mandapams, there are sculptures of horsemen, each of them attired in different costumes, including an Arab dress. One should know the story behind the temple to appreciate this feature. Manikavasakar was asked to get high breed horses by the king . But being devotee of Shiva,   he  built the  temple with the money given for the purchase of horses.

               

All the temple festivals are mainly for Manikavasakar and Atmanathar is included. The temple is near Aranthangi, in Pudukottai district of Tamilnadu.

Sadhana chatushya Sampati- Pramanam

All spiritual persons know that to get the Jnanam, one should be a sadhaka. Just wishing to become a Jnani, one cannot get the Jnanam. He should have the requisite qualifications, to be a sadhaka. These qualifications are listed by various Acharyas, which is known as Sadhana chatushtaya sampati. The four qualifications for a sadhaka are 1) viveka 2) Vairagyam 3) shamadi shatka Sampati 4) Mumukshutvam.

These are given very clearly in Tattva Bodha.  What is the base reference (pramanam) in sruti?  These are referred in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad. This Upanishad occurs in Yajur Veda at two places 1) in Kaanva Shaka and 2) in Maadyaandika Shaka. There are small differences in slokas of the Upanishad in the two shakas. The sloka, which refers to the Sadhana chatushtaya sampati, gives only five of the shatka sampati (3^rd qualification). In one shaka it refers to shama, dama, uparati, titiksha, and sraddha. In the other shaka, the reference is made to shama, dama, uparati, titiksha and samadhanam. The acharyas have taken both sraddha and samadhanam and given six sadhanas