Guruvayur The Abode of the Lord in Kerala

Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

Earlier, I have spoken about my Lord’s story, the story of Guruvayur and some devotees. I am continuing the story.

Poonthanam was a devotee of the Lord who used to walk about 100 kilometers to take darshan of Guruvayurappan every month. Once on his way, he was attacked by some robbers. Sensing the danger, he closed his eyes and requested for Lord's help. After some time, he could smell the sweet scent of Vanamala (the garland worn by the Lord), and he opened his eyes to see Mangattachan who the Minister of the Zamorin standing before him with his drawn sword drenched in blood and also the dead bodies of the robbers around him. Quite relieved, Poonthanam cried out “Krishna!, your leelas are wonderful!”. He then took the ring off his finger and presented to Mangattachan.

The head priest of the Temple, the same night, dreamt about an Unni Namboodiri telling him "You will find a ring on the idol, give it to Poonthanam, who will come tomorrow". He was surprised when he saw a ring on the idol when he opened the temple the next day. Shortly Poonthanam came for darshan and started his prayers. The priest came out from temple and gave Poonthanam the ring and told him what had happened. Poonthanam was flabbergasted to see that the ring was his own, which he had presented to Mangattachan, the day before!. It was Lord Guruvayurappan himself, who came to the rescue of Poonthanam as Mangattachan.

The Jnanapana written in simple Malayalam is Poonthanam's greatest work. There was another devotee called Melpathur who was the most knowledgeable and learned man of that time. Poonthanam showed the draft of his Jnanapana to Melpathur. Malayalam was not accepted in the learned circle those days and Melpathur had contempt for Malayalam, which was not considered equal to Sanskrit. He refused to see Poonthanam's work and told him blatantly to learn Sanskrit and then start writing. This act of Melpathur hurt Poonthanam very much. Melpathur was composing Narayaneeyam in those days and when he came next day to offer dasaka of ten slokas before the Lord, he could not utter a single word. A small boy in his teens, never seen before presented himself and pointed out mistakes after mistakes in the slokas composed by Melpathur. After ten mistakes in ten slokas Melpathur realized the divinity of the boy. He felt at the feet of the boy but the boy disappeared and then a  celestial voice said “Poonthanam's Bhakthi is more pleasing to me than Melpathur's Vibhakthi”. Melpathur realized his mistake and asked Poonthanam to pardon him and amended his arrogance by reading the works of Poonthanam.

There was another devotee by name Villwamangalam's whose devotion and dedication towards the Lord was such that he could have visions of the Lord, independent of the image. Wherever he went, he had visions. Whenever he came to Guruvayur for darshan, the Lord granted him vision from the sanctum sanctorum. One day however, he could not get the Lord's vision from the Temple. He went around the Temple in search of the Lord. The sound of tinkling of bells from the northern part aroused his curiosity. He saw the Lord Krishna dancing there. From that day onwards this place came to be known as Nritham.

A second time, also, he could not see the Lord's vision in the central shrine. Later he found the Lord sitting amidst the drummer's boys and sharing a feast with them, as the Lord was fond of  the food. It later became an important offering with the devotees. A third time also, he failed to have the Lord's vision in the central shrine. It was night time and the Krishnanattam was being staged in a courtyard. The saint ultimately found him on the stage with the 'gopikas'. Since then, Krishnanattam came to be staged in the northern bahyankana (outer courtyard) instead of the eastern bahyankana and, it began only when the central shrine is closed after the last pooja at night.

Kururamma was a childless widow. She adopted Unni Krishna as her son and gave him a lot of motherly love. Villwamangalam also saw the Lord in the form of Unni Krishna but the Lord always preferred Kururamma for her devotion.

Once an old Brahmin with severe stomach ache approached Villwamangalam for relief. Villwamangalam could not cure him and told that the pain is the result of his past karma. Dispirited and dejected he unknowingly reached Kururamma's house. Kururamma thought he was hungry and offered him some food. The Brahmin said that he could not eat any food because of his stomach ache, which even Villwamangalam could not cure. After listening to his grievances, she told the Brahmin to have a bath in the name of Lord. After his bath, he was served food. He realized that his stomach ache had disappeared. He ate the food and expressed his gratitude to Kururamma

One day when Kururamma was washing her clothes, a few drops of water unintentionally fell upon Chemmangatt Amma, another lady of the locality who had finished her bath. She felt polluted and took a second plunge in water to purify herself. She sarcastically told Kururamma that now she was doubly clean and stated that today Villwamangalam would be coming to her house for bhiksha. Kururamma sent a member of her family to invite the saint, but he apologetically refused since he had promised Chemmangatt Amma earlier.

After his daily worship, Villwamangalam started for Chemmangatt's house for the bhiksha. But the pilot who was to lead his way by blowing conch to announce his presence could not produce any sound from his conch. It was a bad omen and Villwamangalam was bewildered. Then he realized that it was the Lord's wish that he should go to Kururamma's house. When he thought, this the conch started functioning and filled the air with its resonant sound. The saint then turned his steps towards Kururamma's house. The Lord thus reveled his love to Kururamma.

What we need to remember, that my Lord said “patraṁ puṣhpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayachchhati tadahaṁ bhaktyupahṛitam aśhnāmi prayatātmanaḥ” which meant “if one offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even water, I delightfully partake of that article offered with love by My devotee in pure consciousness”. This is all I understand and believe.

At the outset, it was Sri Ganesha, Mata Saraswati, my Guru  who inspired me to write this article. I am only an instrument and it was my Giridhar Gopala who came as thoughts in my mind, which got converted into words. Dedicated to Late Uncle Pai for Amar Chitra Katha and the late B.R Chopra for the serial Mahabharat).

(To be continued…)