Stroke

I will  definitely not be  alive  Today if it were not for my husband

. He looks after me  lìke a baby. I Like the pampering .

Before I move  to  other topics  .

The  main takeaway  from  these  2  years  ìs that

1) No one gives an  award for doing everything fast and first.

2)no one   even appreciate  the efforts.

Many friends  have  told me  to slow down a bit .  A stroke is needed to bring me   to a slow down. And enlightenment  Whatever my  mother  in Law did slowly, softly and silently was a life lesson to  be    emulated.

 I  remember telling  my niece.

I was racing ahead like a a tsunamy. It took a 

  stroke  to slow me down  and to   be  me.

These nurses were

Only a tad better Than the  old ayahmas   and with an attitude  that is  incorrigible to Us.

Advice to  all  stroke patients .

Never  let  your sugars or BP 

go high .

That's  what I  was told .

I seriously believe that it was because of my vaccine. Again  My THANks to my 

Daughters and   husband .

Re the nurses  I m bound to  say   that   They've   no idea In the least about diabetes or bp

They  think eating sugar   will  increase    

Diabetes. 

They  know how to Give insulin, take blood samples for sugar, measure BP etc.,

That's all. They come  from a  very 

Poor background. I feel very sorry for   them .

Re  the  nurses  and about my life with them.

I  live with   then all day. They give  me a bath daily. I beg  them  for extra  water  to  bathe.

I  also  beg  for a cup of   black coffee. I also beg for biscuits sometimes.

They are rude and don't respect me at all.

But  they care for me so much that all these    small shortcomings are   neglible.

 

,

I ll definitely not be  alive  Today if it wrr not for my husband

.he looks after me  lìkea baby.i Like the pamlperig 

Before I move  to  other topics  .

The  main takeaway  from  these  2  years  ìs that1) Noone gives an  award for doing everything fastn and first.

2)no one   even appreciate  the efforts

Many friends  have  toldme  to sleow diwnbutit needed.  A stroke  to bring m   e   to a stop. And enlightenment  whatever my  .mother  in 

    Law did slowly,softly  silently was a life lesion to  be    enulated. I  rem  ember telling  my niece.

I was racing aghead like a a tsunamjy". It toook a 

  srteoke  to slow me

Down  and to   be  me. 

"

These nurses were

Only a tad better Than thre  old ayahmas   with  attitude  that is  incorrigible to

Us.

Advice to  all  stroke patients .

Never  let  your sugars or BP go high

Thafs  what I.  was told .

I seriously believe that it wax ecause of my vaccine. Again  M y THANks to my 

Daughter

Re  the  nutrses  mire about my life with them.

I  live with   then all day. Tglhbmeyv give  me a bath..daily. I beg  them  forvextra  water  to  bathe.

I  aldo  beg  for sla xup of   black coffee.i also beg for biscuitag sometimes.

They are rude a d don't respect me at all.

 But they care for me so much that all these    small shortcomings are   neglible.

 

Bhadrachalam-SriKoormam-NrisimhaKshetram-Dec2021

This was a tour that we had waited for !

Srikoormam was very elusive and we tried to combine it with Puri-Jagannath but alas it was not to be. Hence when Tirthayatra announced this tour, we booked early.

Day 1- 23rd Dec ( Srikoormam & Arasavalli)

Various Yatris reached Vizag from Madurai, Mumbai, Trichy, Chennai and Bengaluru and we arrived in Vishakapatnam around 7:45am by flight from Chennai.

We were all moved to Hotel Dwaraka Inn in a luxury bus from airport.

    

We were  picked up rom the airport and taken to the hotel,very comfortably and in the hotel we were welcomed with hot Vennpongal and sakkarai pongal, which was very soothing to out tummies.

                                                                                                                  https://youtu.be/YMPS3NB7_J0 

We left the hotel by the AC bus to Srikoormam, after lunch around 2:00pm. It was a pleasant evening and the temple was empty ,with only our tour yatris. 

The temple is built in Kalinga architecture type . The main deity is in tortoise ( Koorma) shape. This moola Moorthy is covered in sandal paste. Mahalakshmi thayar sits in a Thani kovil. The huge Pushkarani is known as Swetha Pushkarani.

    

There are 108 "eka-sila" pillars, with none resembling the other. This temple has two Dwajasthambams , to bless Sri Ramanujacharya. ( original facing east and 2nd facing west).

Then we visited the Suryanarayana koil in Arasavalli.

Suryanarayana stands majestic with his three wives (Usha, Chaya and Padmini standing at his feet.)

The Putras of Brahma stand above forming an umbrella. Sanath, Sanaka, Sanathana and Sanathkumara.

 

We slept in the Hotel after a nice dinner.

Day 2 , 24th Dec ( Simhachalama & Annavaram)

Morning of 24th saw us all in the bus at 7 and on our way to Simhachalam, where Lord Nrisimha is seen as Varaha Nrisimha fully covered in sandal paste , as he is believed to be very ugra. Only on Akshaya Tritheeya day , the sandal paste is removed, Abisheka is performed ( one can see the third eye) and again sandal paste is applied.It is called nija Roopa darisanam.

Simhachalam is on a hill and the temple is very well maintained. Smaller vehicles go up the small hill, there are government run busses just as in Tirumala and we took that bus.

Thayar is Simhavalli .

Prasadam is laddu.

                https://youtu.be/vLDDWQ7CKcE

            https://youtu.be/zfYqMEn3eU8

After that we left for Annavaram where the presiding  deity is Satyanarayana perumal ,Shiva with a snake ,and mahalakshmi thayar all on the same pedestal.

There is a separate sannidhi for Brahma here.

        

https://youtu.be/OLi5E4_pxqw

Day 3, 25th Dec ( Ryali & Dwaraka-Thirumala)

We left early and enroute had breakfast and reached Ryali, situated between the rivers Vasishta and Gauthami, tributaries of River Godavari.

        https://youtu.be/_0ZeAp1-1Mo

The exquisite idol is made of black stone depicting Mahavishnu in the front and Mohini in the rear side,

This  word in Telugu means 'drop' and the story goes that after Samudra mathana, Vishnu took Mohini avatar. And taken by the beauty of  Mohini Shiva walks behind Mohini. They reached this place and Mohini (Vishnu) turning back , makes Shiva realise that (s)he is only Vishnu and drops ( Ryali)  a flower .

The moolavar is called Jagan Mohini Keshava perumal. And there is a figure of Mohini behind the moolavar which can be seen only in a mirror because the mohini is

carved in the backside of the moolavar keshava.

The feet of Keshava are always wet with Ganges water .

There is a clean toilet here, for use by public.

At the other end of the street opposite the Keshava temple is a Shiva temple and the Abhisheka water just goes inside the ground and no one knows where. Brahmma installed this Linga .

                https://youtu.be/lQLkuts9ZYM

        

Then we visited a temple known as Dwaraka- Thirumala ( which is also known as "Chinna Tirupathy) which was as crowded and as well maintained as Tirupati. This kshetram also has Srinivasa as the presiding deity.  

Sage Dwaraka prayed to the Lord and HE appeared from the ground.  As the sage opened his eyes as The Lord was appearing , HE stopped appearing halfway through. HE is standing with his feet under the ground and is believed to be touching MahaBali's head in Patallok.

In the 11th century the great seer Sri Ramanujacharya installed full vigraha of Srinivasa behind the half Srinivasa and one can see two Srinivasa vigraha in this temple, one behind other.

After a wait we were taken in through a special request as all of us were senior citizens.

Thayar is Alamelu Manga

                    

And after lunch , we were on our way to Badrachalam.

Lunch was mysorepak , Bisbelehoolianna, Thayir Sadam, Mixture

                            

                            https://youtu.be/HSgpnpTEtVM

We were on our way to Badrachalam and the cooks who were traveling with us had prepared 'uppitu' for dinner.

As we drove on bad , thick forest roads there were many who had churning stomachs.

We finally stopped at 8pm in a small wayside shop to have dinner.

It is worth mentioning that our young tour director and CEO of Tirthayatra gave a wonderful upanyasa on Aranya kandam and kishkinda Kandam .

We reached Badrachalam at around 10pm and  checked onto our allotted rooms.

We fell asleep immediately and woke up early next morning to go into the Temple for thirumanjana seva.

Day 4 , 26th Dec (Bhadracahalam & Parnasala)

            https://youtu.be/qmHPnu1c5XI

Our Director had arranged Abisheka tickets for some of the yatris who were interested  and we were seated inside the Sanctum for the Thirumanjanam of the moolava deity, which is performed only on Sundays. 

The Deity here is short in height but is very attractive ,holding his wife Sita on his left lap and his brother Lakshmana stands a little away .

           

The Thirumanjana took few minutes and then  after alankara was done, we had a beautiful Darshan of Sri Ramachandramoorthy in all glory, pattu veshti, Sita in a pattu saree and Lakshmana in a pattu veshti as well.

If anyone wants to offer vastram here it has to be silk only and none other for the King Ramachandra, his consort and his brother.

The sannidhi for Garuda and Hanuman is opposite the

 main sannidhi.

        

We came out feeling very satisfied, but there was more to come, as our hotel was very near the temple it was easy for us to keep going in and out. 

To go in one has to buy tickets for any sevas.

A group of us went in for Sayana Aarti seva and one pujari sang the Lord to sleep with Echariga ga ga. We were given milk as prasadam.

From Badrachalam we drove to Parnasala ,where Rama and Sita are said to have stayed enjoying the Godavari river ,with Lakshmanan in attendance. Here there is a beautiful temple complex with many sculptures of Ravana  and Rama ,Sita and lakshman.

Back to the hotel to sleep.

        

Day 5- 27th Dec. ( Bhadrachalam)

Early morning at 3.30 a few people went in for suprabatham sevai.

 

       

At 6.30 we went in again to have a very good Darshan and also joined the thiruppavai goshti.

The yatris also visited the Ahobilamutt temple near the temple.

        https://youtu.be/ZPYigTp95fI

Few yatris also had Godavari snanam after sankalpam by the Sri Agrani Krishna Dasa (CEO).

The Ramachandramoorthy is very enchanting here , inviting us again and again for Darshan. We also partook of a Kalyan utsava of Rama and Sita. 

            https://youtu.be/dYBhdvmiEaQ 

That evening Ms Deepthi Mohan, the youmgest yatri in her teens, sang a soothing "Pandureethi" brilliantly.

        https://youtu.be/7I59ClIRaMc

It was followed by the yatra's young CEO honouring the head priest of the the temple.

        

    https://youtu.be/YLYWMey6YVU

In the evenings Rama comes out to take his position  as king , this is called Durbar Seva. He sits in durbar instyle  and listens to the days income and expenses and also the days happenings .

There is also a regular discourse for dhanur masya. This year it was by Choodamani mam from Khammam.

Day 6 , 28th Dec ( Vedathri, Mattapalli & Vadapalli)

We left Badrachalam early morning at 5am and it was thick fog in Bhadrachalam on that day and we had a long drive to Vedadri, Nrisimha kshetram, Chenchulakshmi thayar, on the banks of river krishna(veni).

From there we went to Mattapalli, another temple on the banks of river Krishna(veni) again a very popular Nrisimha kshetram. The Nrisimhar here  stands  out with his two resorts Rajyalakshmi and Chenchulakshmi. We had lunch here ,tomato rice and Curd rice.

            https://youtu.be/DFA3FqJEoyc

From Mattapalli to Vadapalli an hour and a half journey.  The Nrisimhar here breathes . There is a lamp with two tiers. The lower lamp wick doesn't even flicker, but the lamp that is near the Nrisimha's face wavers as if He is breathing.

                    

                    https://youtu.be/91FucEeKu0o

We noticed standing vahanas of Garuda and Hanumantha in this temple.

There is a river sangamam here, of rivers Moosi(musukunda river) and krishna. It is considered very important as a sthalam for pinda pradanam.

               https://youtu.be/3YHwGKi4MkY https://youtu.be/wH0FDh4ZGbQ

From Vadapalli,we went to Vijayawada,and checked into a hotel- The Park Iris. This hotel is in the middle of the

busy city ,with markets on either side. It is barely 20 minutes to Mangalagiri from here.

Day 7 , 29th Dec (  Mangalgiri & Kethavaram)

Today the star was Swathi, Nrismha's star and we were on our way to Mangalgiri Nrisimha kshetram. The nrisimha here is offered  only panagam (sweetened jaggery water). 

 

The  panagam pots are given upon producing a ticket and the archakar takes it and pours it down Nrisimhars throat,  believe me when I say that half only goes down! The rest is given as prasadam. People say that many years ago the gurgling noise could be heard from the Nrisimhars throat, but now with so much noise only the archakar can hear it .

Amazingly there are no flies or ants in this temple , for the quantity of jaggery water ( panagam) !!

At the foothills of Mangalagiri, there is one more Nrisimha temple. The Moorthys here were decorated with flowers beautifully, being Swathi.

From the fascinating Mangalagiri, we went on an adventurous trip to Kethavaram. It was a long drive through Guntur where  one could smell the spicy chillies in the fields and we saw many  cement factories enroute. 

We arrived at the Banks of krishna river . The Krishna runs wide, peacefully and serene through AndraPradesh. 

Our tour director made  arrangements for us all to

be transported to the other bank of the river by boat.  

We took three boats and at the other end  an open mini tempo took us uphill through a rough hewn path. 

The temple sits precariously atop a hill. The priest waited for us and it was an exercise in adventure for all of us at that age. 

We even had lunch there at the temple, and came down, eagerly looking forward to the boat ride across the ever peaceful river.

    

            https://youtu.be/3YHwGKi4MkY

Back to the hotel at around 10pm , a hot dinner awaited us. 

Day 8 , 30th Dec ( Mangalgirir & Undavalli)

Early next morning, we took taxis and went to Mangalgiri temple in batches as it was also ekadeshi day and had darshan of Panga Nrismha once more.

From there we went to see the Undavalli caves , a smaller version of  the Ellora caves, dated between 4th and 6th Century AD. A huge Ranganatha lies here , beautifully carved  and many other sculptures intricately carved  also adorn these caves. The Ranganatha is as smooth as marble.

After a heavy lunch, we rested for a while and made a quick dash to have a dip in Krishna, near the Kanaka Durga temple. As there was heavy crowd at that temple, we did not have darshan.

                

 

       

Evening saw all yatris ready to leave to their homes, all bursting with news and information to share . We saw off many yatris to the airport and made our leisurely.

way to the station to catch our train.

It must be mentioned here that our yatra director and CEO of Tirthyatra.org Sri. Krishna Agrani Dasa is very dynamic and well versed in puranas and Ramayana, and gave us wonderful discourses on Aranya kanda and Kishkinda kandam, with so much ease and fluency that none of us felt sleepy on our long bus rides.

Every day began with a Nrisimha stuti, and Vishnu saharanama chanting by everyone. There was also a prabanda goshti that was formed  by the Mumbai ladies.

The highlight of the tour was that no one fell sick majorly because food was cooked and served hot after it was offered to the Lord and served as prasad .

Kudos to the cooks who did a wonderful job ,by making hot food even at odd hours.

To the yatra co-ordinators a big thank you for the help and service.

Thanks to Sri  PrasannaVenkatesh for his excellant videos.

Thanks to Sri Agrani Krishna Dasa for taking such good care of all Senior citizens.

Thanks to my husband Sri Rangarajan for helping me organize this blog.

My wish is that more young people take part in such tours,learning to serve,help elders,and be polite ,