Thiruporur Sri Kanthaswami Temple..

On the Old Mahabalipuram Road, around 40 kilometers away from Chennai is the famous temple of Lord Muruga… it is Sree Kanthaswamy Temple at Thiruporur.

It is an ancient temple – the Lord capable of granting us boons, Sri Kandaswamy here graces with Valli and Deivanai. The moorthi here is believed to be ‘suyambu’ – self made.  According to legend, this place is hailed as ‘yuthapuri’.  Just as Lord Muruga fought and defeated demons at Thiruchendur and Thiruparankundram, here to the destroyed the evils.

According to temple records, Muruga fought "Thalayaya Asuran"  on air and this connotes the vanquishing of "arrogance or pride". Thiruporur as the very name suggests, is the venue of war ("Por" in Tamil means war).  There is also the century old Adhinam known as Thiruporur Adhinam Srimad Chidambara Swamy here.   

For sure a holy place does need a reference to cinema to be famous – yet this is place associated with the hit movie   ‘Kanthaswamy’ …. Super hero, unearthing of black money, doing good to depraved in the name of God, super computing, hacking – many of the Hollywood ideas were put inside the entertaining film of  Vikram in lead role – a movie of hero reaching out to poor and needy people who still crave for a square meal from out of enormous riches of super rich a la Robinhood was ‘Kanthasamy’…………. the film takes reference to the famous Murugan Temple at Thiruporur  where thousands of people tie piece of paper containing their wish – on the tree (sthalavriksham), a tradition followed in many villages. 

On 11^th Sept. 2014, Kumbabishekam was performed here – thousands of devotees visited the Temple and had darshan of Lord Muruga.

Visit the temple and get the  blessings of  Kumaraswamy.

Sad, Rawalpindi may fall to designs of Pak army

Hindu temples are under attack – in our own beautiful Country, some puranic temples are not so well cared for – centuries ago, they had pristine place.  Now some of them are lying uncared for – for there are many living in the precincts and taking care – in many cases, the Temples own many assets – but they have falled into the hands of sinners who do not pay revenue property.  The administration is lackadaisical and temple funds are exploited and used for various other purposes by Govts who have no right to administer in such a way.  Those donations are for that Temple only and how they can they be used for any other purpose

Sad is the state of affairs .......

Here is something from Daily Mail reported on 28^th Aug 2014  on yet another temple that could become a casualty ... it is not in India – but in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Pakistan's most tumultuous fortnight threw up another, albeit sly and covert, cause for concern and strident outrage. An old Hindu temple in the garrison town of Rawalpindi may be poised to become a quiet casualty to development designs initiated by the army in the name of an educational complex.  The 82-year-old Maharishi Valmik Swamiji Mandir in Chaklala Cantonment, better known as Balaknash Temple, has long served as a shelter for the homeless, a social welfare institution and a centre of unity.

The Pakistan Army wants to bulldoze the temple in favour of a new project.  The impact of such a heinous move will resonate well beyond this place of worship - an ancient settlement of a vast Hindu populace. Muslims and Christians too will be dislodged and scattered to subsist on makeshift options or even under the open sky. Although community representatives maintain they have not received any written orders, fear pervades the neighbourhood. Hence, the anxious inhabitants have filed a civil petition against the demolition strategy and managed a stay order that sadly, offers short-term comfort, whereby they can live here till mid-September.

This is a novel scenario where the plan is not being hatched by regular land mafia but by the army, which begs for a larger debate: Are such strategies not in direct conflict with the war being waged on terrorists in the same country?  Secondly, in times where a deeply strengthened civil society has held the same province hostage for two weeks, it is clear that the days when aspects of Pakistan's diverse citizenry stood undermined are bygone.

Where Pakistan adheres to Islam, its present-day social currents convey a categorical message – pluralism enshrined in the faith demands a celebration of humanity, the greatest manifestation of divinity.

Read the original article Rawalpindi Temple : 

Read more: 

Sri Vinayakar idols at Thiruvateeswaranpet

Ganesh Chathurthi - celebrating Lord Vinayaka at Triplicane

Tomorrow 29^th Aug 2014  is Ganesh Chaturthi…. Vinayaka Chathurthi would be grandly celebrated in Tamilnadu as also in the rest of the country with gay and gaiety.  Lord Ganesha is widely worshipped as the God of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel.

In mid 1980s, installing huge Vinayaka idols in many public places, religious worship for ten days and visarjanam were being conducted in a big manner ~ after a couple of incidents, the then rulers banned passing of procession in the Triplicane High Road citing law and order issues and now a days, the procession has shrunk ……. Those days, there would be hundreds of Vinayakas big and small installed at each street and the idol procession would unwind through narrow lanes of triplicane, with enthusiastic crowds singing bajans and songs extolling Ganesha.

Now there is so much of pressure on Hindu devotees – they are made to run for obtaining permission as Police, Corporaation and every authority does their mite to dampen the spirit.

This evening a bunch of sprightly youngsters organised a grand procession taking big Vinayaka statues to be installed for Pooja at Ponnappa Mudali Street………… Hail the Lord Ganesha

Vinayakane vinai theerppavane… !!!  Jai Ganapathi Maharaj ki…. !!!!!

Temple funds ...administration and buying of Toyota Innovas....

Only the Devout who regularly visits the temple  know the anguish…. It is not unique to any village temple… the malady affects almost all temples – more so, when thousands of devotees come to the temple …. More so when they contribute lakhs and crores of rupees in the Temple hundis.

For a Hindu, devotion and worship is way of life… their life revolves round the Temples ~ more around those great temples of which Alwars and Nayanmars have sung hymns… doing service at the temple, and donating their property were all for propitiation ~ and many rich people donated part of their wealth, their lands and more for Temples – constructing them and maintaining them…. People who died without progeny used to donate their property to temple – as when the temple flourished – all the neighbourhood prospered…. ‘people lived happily in places where culture and religion co-existed’…..

All tales of the past…. Now there are some temples where even daily rituals are not properly conducted… not all of them are in villages, neither – all of them not having property …. They have huge estates – only the administrators are not properly managing to derive revenue out of them.  We have HR&CE which will take over temples when revenue exceeds a set limit [the same rule does not apply to religious institutions of others !!!!] – and with the temple money – they will conduct political functions – in memory of leaders who preached atheism … why at a temple premises …. If feeding the poor is the aim – do it in the name of God – why in the name of political persons ?  have we asked this ??

Sadly, the temple precincts are poorly maintained – hygiene is not at all cared …. Temple festivities are planned, mentioned in agamas and puranas – Brahmothsavam in Vaishnavaite temples were ordained by Brahma himself; later by many Acharyas including Ramanuja Charya… in some places, the annual festivities do not take place … the Car festival is the most majestic and most attended by one and all… 

in some temples, where the ‘Temple rath (car)’ is damaged mainly due to improper (read NO) maintenance – repairs / reconstruction will take decades – that too, only when some private donors willingly take the initiative…………. 

But the officials come in Airconditioned cars – Innovas, Scorpios  - why SUVs and luxury sedans from temple funds – when nothing is done for the Lord = for whom those funds were intended. Why no action against officials who fail time and again to realize the revenue from assets and sometimes even do not maintain proper record of the assets/////////

Sad, sad, tragic … anguish and pain… today, there is a good article of Mr TR Ramesh in Dinamalar which is reproduced below.

Thanks to Dinamalar for publishing this and many thanks to the ilks of TR Ramesh who take up the cudgels, when ordinary mortals feel that there is nothing one can do….

Here is what appeared in Dinamalar supplement - chennai edition dt 8.3.14