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| Koothanur Maha saraswathi |
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Koothanur
Mahaa saraswathi Amman Temple Saraswathi
photos Saraswathi , the goddess of learning and Arts has always been the one i love the most.Her vehicle swan itself makes us understand that a human being must learn to seperate between good and bad things as the swan has ability to drink milk alone from a vessel mixed with pure milk and water. It also represents that though many good and bad thoughts gets into our heart from the external world, we must learn to keep our charecter pure. Many perceive saraswathi only as Goddess of learning .The true devotees of saraswathi alone can feel her powers to alter ones life to gain fame and fortune by here mere grace. Its my long time wish to go Koothanur as it is the only historic temple dedicated for saraswathi in south india.( india too, i hope ) My saraswathi experience : From march 14th 2005 , i had been thinking about Goddess saraswathi and came around the dhuni in saibaba temple reciting a saraswathi mantram for hours. I had felt sarswathi deep in me as a friend with whom i can talk.Its my usual habit to perceive goddess as my friend .It made me realize the powers of super natural being. The way i prayed saraswathi : Every day i lit 8 lamps at home ,recited mantra and came around dhuni in saibaba temple for hours thinking about saraswathi. The act of thinking about saraswathi itself makes ones mind calm & pure which will help in controlling our unwanted desires and work productively to serve oneself and others. Travelling to koothanur : After about 138 days of prayers , i decided to place my offerings to goddess saraswathi. I took the train to Tajavur and from there took the bus to thiruvaarur. It was about 10.30 pm when i finally got a lodge in thiruvaarur, the staff there were very friendly who helped me know the route to reach koothanur. It is situated on the highway between thiruvaarur - miyilaadudhurai , a kilometer from a village called poonthotam. Journey to koothanur Saraswathi Temple: Bus to poonthottam : I woke up early in the morning, recited all mantra almost with a feeling of a saint as i dint had a second thoughts other than having a look at goddess saraswathi and doing all what i love to do like offering white lotus garland, lighting lamps and giving beautiful saraswathi photographs to all the people who come to temple on that day. I took the mayiladuthurai bus at 6.15 am,along with me were many villagers who bought vegetables and fruits from thiruvaarur to sell those in the markets of villages far from town. Trying hard to catch the window seat was worth it as i had a beautiful senenary of the villages covered with vast agricultural land.The sun already was shining giving a twinkle on the water that was flowing to the crops from pump set. two old men helped me by saying that poonthottam has arrived where i got down. Temple will be open at 7.30 Am : There were little shops on wooden stands selling note books, pen, pencils,White lotus, lamps , saraswathi photographs and beautiful saraswathi statues.One can feel the atmosphere of village with a feeling of divinity as soon as they reach koothanur.I felt really happy as i was the first devotee of that day to enter the temple along with few women who went in to sweep and clean the temple. Giving habit : I have a habit of giving photographs , money and food to people i feel like giving. I had about 100 photos of saraswathi, murugan,laxmi and shirdi saibaba. The inside door which leads to the main saraswathi statue was still closed, coming around the small hall ,i saw a women sweeping the temple and gave her Rs.20 along with a baba photo.She is a teacher in a near by school who had come there to sweep the temple as a service. I gave money to few other old men and women who were sweeping and cleaning the temple along with photographs of saraswathi and murugan. I came outside and decided to purchase all items for offerings in the first shop close to temple. There was a boy working there who asked me if i wish to do the abishekam for that day.He took me to the main priest sankaran who said all the offerings like sandal,honey,milk and few other wil be made for 300 rupees .I saw a little kid in his house , smiled at her came back to shop. I asked them to prepare 150 ghee lamps ,bought few pens to give to the kids who were living in that village . The best thing was when i heared the cost of one white lotus is
only Rs 2 ,with which they can also make a garland. I asked them
to make a garland with 108 white Lotus, Never had a idea how a lotus
Eternal Love for saraswathi : Old , poor, torn dress and a beautiful heart : walking through the side muddy road, i saw a very very old man
who must be above 80 years old. I went to toilet , came out and
saw him standing with a long sweeper , the one used to clean muddy
streets.He asked me stritly RS.2 When he was about to turn , i asked him to wait , took a saraswathi photo from my bag to gave him. As soon as i gave the photo,the old man kissed goddess saraswathi as if he were in love with her. Immediately he said in tamil that you will get all that you wish by grace of saraswathi. The reason i wanna mention this incident is that it made me understand love towards goddess must not come based on the benefits we derive from prayers. Love of god is eternal ,It must come from the deepest feeling that araises in heart no matter what one gains from prayers. The old man was wearing just a piece of cloth around his hip , he is so poor , he would have not learnt much.He might have worked in saraswathi temple, always cleaning the places , streets around the temple. Though he was just making a living serving in the temple, he still showed his over affection on Goddess saraswathi by kissing the photo as soon as i gave it to him , just by grabbing it with a force that almost could tear the poster. All which made me feel a real representation of Love towards Goddess saraswathi. I really felt satisfied for meeting such human being in a world seeking benefits and profits for every bit of offering and prayers they do. Pure thoughts and actions gets you saraswathis grace : The old man might be poor and wearing torn dress but he had a beautiful heart and saraswathi in herself blesses her true devotees not just with the ability to learn and excel in studies and arts but also to have a heart that has pure thoughts and acts accordingly. My first view of Goddess saraswathi : I stood near a small statue of swan , the bird of saraswathi and was so happy internally to have my first glimpse of goddess saraswathi. I went once inside the main door to keep flowers , lamps to a pillayaar and murugan statue as it was kaarthigai day( 30th july 2005 ). I felt so good for standing in same place where lengendry Tamil poets of past would have offered their prayers to saraswathi.
Lighting lamps is all i love to do when ever i go to a new temple.I do it contineously , lit so many lamps ,enjoy the twinkle , glow that happens after i lit hundreds of lamps. The boy from the shop was helpful in bringing me the ghee lamps , i arranged it in the place kept especially for lighting lamps . It took hours for me to light all the 150 lamps. By this time few devotees started coming in to temple in cars and jeep.All were looking at the lamps as it was so beautiful to see hundreds of lamps togather.I gave saraswathi photo to many kids from near by villages.Some kids went out running with such a happiness in their face as they got a photo. soon i was surrounded by many many kids who had come to temple learning that someone is giving pen and photos. I had to purchase more pens to give to these kids and make sure i had enough cash to get back home. I remember one old lady who asked me to give a pen to her grandchild , it was such a happiest day in my life as i got opportunity to give pens to kids in saraswathi temple. Abishekam for saraswathi - "Saraswathi Pooja at temple" By the time i finished lighting lamps , the priest called me to sit close to the main karpagraham. He did all abishekam which really was such a wonderful experience to see and feel. The smell,beauty of the sandal and honey flowing over saraswathi, the arathi ,everything made me feel that i am offering all that i can to show my love on saraswathi. soon it was getting crowded in the temple.The priest pulled in the screen for dressing saraswathi with saree and flowers. The boy from shop came with a huge plate over which he had placed the Garland of 108 white lotus.It was a wonder to see how they had made lotus garland. I gave a hero pen to a little boy sitting near me along with his mom.I was reciting mantra in my heart with a feeling that i alone know as it was my dream to offer all that i could to goddess saraswathi.I used to do Pooja for Goddess Saraswathi at home but the pooja which i saw in temple was really beautiful. Saraswathi pooja always brings a warm feeling of divinity in our heart and Goddess saraswathi will surely bless us with Wisdom, knowledge and skills in Arts we love. Etched in my heart forever : As the screen opened , i saw goddess saraswathi with a beautiful white saree ,a big orange border, sandal paste over her face with red lips ( kungumam ) and dark eyes.The long 108 white lotus garland was decorating like a arch around the statue. The priest sang a song and showed arathi with many lamps in it.It was a sight that had enough force to bring tears in my eyes.I closed my eyes and said saraswathi many times as if i could feel her presence in real.It was a moment and sight that will be etched in my heart forever. A White lotus from saraswathi's holy feet : The priest kept my small Mini Dv camera and note book under saraswathi's sacred legs and gave it to me along with a beatel leaves inside which there was some thing which i ate and kungumam.He also gave me a white lotus which made me feel as if i got the blessings i had been waiting years to get.A single white lotus from goddess saraswathis feet made me feel so happy which i alone knew. More lamps and Food for few : I asked the boy from shop if i can give annadhaanam .We arranged to give food to about 20 people and mean while i asked them to make another 70 ghee lamps which i was lighting contineously. I asked permission from the priest to light a lamp near the brahma statue as he is saraswathis husband.I gave lemon rice and curd rice to few people ,Took my Dv cam and shoot few clips behind the temple along with the shop boy. I thanked the girl working in temple and another guy who was doing service there.The priest blessed me with good words and i moved after spending more than 6 hours with my lovely goddess saraswathi . - Venkat Raman ( July 30th 2005 ) On september 28th 2007 , by grace of shirdi saibaba, i launched new site for devotees to gain blessings of Goddess saraswathi . Have a look at SaiSaraswathi.com |
| Copyrights
for few articles, photos in starsai network of sites belongs to author
and starsai.com by the blessings of sri sai saibaba .Written
permission is required for using & translating contents.Please
understand all the words of this site came from years of over affection
i had on my sweet saint shirdi saibaba. so i treasure it a lot. Other websites of starsai network : Starsai.com , Starsai.net , Shirdisaiheals.com, Shirdisailight.com, Shirdisaichant.com , Saisaraswathi.com, Saimahalakshmi.com |