Our Holy Land of India is blessed with many wonderful and beautiful temples where the Lord rejoices by having His pastimes with His sweet devotees even today. One such divine place is in Guruvayur. Guruvayur is located 29 kms from Thrissur, Kerala. Kerala is described as "God's own country" since it's rich in beauty with perfectly lined trees, geographical and bio diversity. As we travel through Kerala, we will find rows and rows of coconut trees, dense forests and stretches of backwaters. Anyone visiting this place for the first time will be immediately enticed by the lush greenery, spectacular landscape and the cool weather.
In this post, I will be sharing some anecdotes of the Lord Guruvayurappan as narrated by my Gurunatha in "Gurvayurappan Vaibhavam". The story of how Guruvayurappa's deity was installed at Guruvayur is very interesting and has a long history.
Lord Guruvayurappa's deity was worshipped by Maha Vishnu at Vaikuntha. Then Maha Vishnu handed it to Brahma. King Sutapa and his wife Prishni, were given this deity by Brahma with Maha Vishnu's consent. The King and Queen worshipped this deity for a child and the Lord pleased with their worship appeared in front of them. He then granted a boon that He will be born to them as their child in their next 3 births. So, they were blessed to worship the same deity in their subsequent births. First time, Lord was born to Sutapa and Prishni as "Prishnigarbha". He preached and taught "Brahmacharya" principle to the world. On their second birth, this couple were Kashyapa and Adithi. Their son was "Vamana". On their third birth, they were called Vasudeva and Devaki. And their eighth son is "Lord Krishna". Krishna himself worshiped this deity at Dwaraka after getting it from his father, Vasudeva.
Later at the time when the Lord ascended to Vaikuntha, he asked his dear friend, Uddhava to entrust installing this deity to Guru (Brahma - the Guru of all Devas) at a proper place for people to worship in the Kali Yuga. During the PraLayam or engulfment of Dwaraka (deluge), Guru and Vayu (his disciple) saved this deity and were searching for the perfect place for the deity installation. One such place where they were searching was Kerala and here they met, Parasurama (another avatar of Maha Vishnu). He in turn showed them a lush green spot with a beautiful lotus tank where Lord Shiva was doing penance. Lord Shiva welcomed them and informed that this was the location that He imparted "Rudra Geetham" to Prachetas. And he also permitted them to install the deity at that perfect location. Guru and Vayu installed the deity here and from then the place is known as "Guruvayur". Lord Shiva and Parvathi left to the opposite bank of the tank and this place is called "Mammiyur". At Guruvayurappan temple, there is a place near Bhagavathi Sannidhi where devotees can face the Mammiyur temple and pray to Lord Shiva.
Vishwakarma, the divine architect then built this majestic temple after being requested by Guru and Vayu. The temple is built in such a way that on the day of Vishu Punya Kaalam (Beginning of New Year), the Sun himself pays his obeisances, salutations to the Lord. His first rays on that day fall straight on the Lord's feet.
Guruvayur is always filled with presence of the Lord's devotees, Srimad Bhagavatham, festivals and Bhajans. The Lord always listens to Bhagavatham here at this temple and this can be seen even now. Programs are held everyday where there are innumerable devotees reciting and listening to the Lord's pastimes. Hence this place is called "Bhooloka Vaikuntham (Heaven on Earth)" as His divine presence is felt every minute.
More information on Guruvayurappan temple and how to get there:
http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/home.shtml
Photos courtesy: Google search(To be continued...)
Sri, Good post.
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