Sairam friends . I am writing this using mobile.so apologies for alignment issues. I started from Coimbatore last morning and enjoyed the drive. My parents had contributed for vadalur vallalar temple for yearly food contribution back in 2003. I just wanted to see how vadalur looks like. It was dry. The huge hall leading to temple was occupied by few men resting after meals. A Dog was walking in and a man beat badly with his hand. It screamed and ran away. A place where a saint lived is for every life. You can drive out a Dog but please don’t beat it. I saw the lamp lit by Vallalar over 150 years ago and his hand written book
A priest there spoke well about vallalars way of life. He said one must remember God through meditation. One must do their duty without ego and never get entangled in wordly miseries. We had lunch too late at 3 in the afternoon parking car under a tree shade. I kept telling my father that these people could have maintained more hygenic dining hall because I found it too old. There should be more trees and probably the dining hall must be more spacious. Anyway, my only connection with vallalar is that in 2007 I had a site dedicated for him called vast grace light. Later, I realized I can respect all saints but can love only one saint and that’s my Shirdi Saibaba. We reached Chidambaram at 4.30 in the evening, rested a while and walked to temple. My Dad insists that my Mom should walk everyday and hence we walked. I loved the temple for its majestic gopuram. After worshiping lord Nataraja, we saw other sannidhi. There was a Mahalakshmi mandir but only one garland offered to her. Even that garland was not clean. They had not decorated her. I felt painful because in most ancient temples apart from the main Gods, other sannidhi is not taking care. I would be nice if priests show personal interested and give a fresh and beautiful look to all gods and Goddess in temple. Anyway, I myself dont take care of my pooja place at home with devotion. So I can’t complain others. We reached the temple of Sivakami in chidambaram. I enjoyed her darshan. We stood too far from the mother but she was life size and really beautiful. For the past 2 month, my mom was telling that she had a dream in which she saw a goddess with mangalyam. So we bought 2 little gold mangalyam to offer in our local temple goddess Thaiyalnayagi and Garbarakshambigai as a way of thanking her for my Sister’s daughter. Surprisingly, Goddess Sivakami of Chidambaram had a huge mangalyam on her which we can see even if we stand too far. So my mom said this is the Goddess she saw in dream.I also felt happy because I have experince of Goddess showing me in dream of their form before I visit any temple. The roads in Chidambaram were bad but I felt happy for one reason. Madisar is still an everyday dress. I saw few women wearing Madisar and it was cute. It was nice to see such traditional women wearing saree while we walked to temple. When I was in Temple, some priests were dedicated. Some were reading holy book. But as we sat in the varanda, I saw a priest having jardha tobacco. He had chilled water. Used his mobile and speaking to someone. I dint like someone in the status of priest having such banned tobacco inside temple premises. While walking inside Sivakami temple inside found 20 men who seem to be locals speaking politics. I told my father, Kings built temples for speaking about purpose of life and not everyday happening in society. Try your max atleast not to speak loudly on it her topic inside temple premises because ancient temples are a gift of our culture. We will live today and pass away. These temples will liveforever. Later, we went to cousins wedding. I was there less than 10 minutes and walked out simply to roam in the roads of Chidambaram. I like the people here. I enjoyed every bit of stay. I spoke to my Sai friend at night standing in parking space of hotel. I am excited because today, I will be going to Koothanur Saraswathi temple today. I love her. She’s my sweet heart. Will edit this article with photos after I reach coimbatore. Prayed for all of you. Venkat
