Thiruvathira / Arudhra Darshan

Thiruvathirai / Arudra Dharisanam

'Thiruvathirai / Arudra' is the name of the nakshthra in vedic astrology. This festival falls on Dhanu / Margazhi month which is Mid December - mid January as per sidereal calendar, when the Sun enters into Sagittarius. On this month, when the full moon appears in the sky with 'Thiruvathirai' nakshthra (Ardra in Sanskrit), this festival is celebrated, it's the star of Lord Shiva. In English, this star is associated with Betelgeuse / Alpha orionis, which is the second brightest star in the Orion constellation. It is the important festival of Lord Shiva, where women of the house observe fasting and worship the Lord of universe for the longevity of their husband and unmarried women worship the Lord, to get good husband. It is predominately celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

 
In Kerala, women celebrates this festival for their husband, where as in Tamil Nadu, they celebrate it as Lord Shiva's birthday, it is also believed that on this day Lord Shiva incarnated in the form of Natarajar, king of dance (Nata - Dance, Raja - King). The Thillai Natarajar temple at Chidhambaram, Tamil Nadu is popularly acclaimed for this festival. 

Significance of Thiruvathira

• It is one of the oldest festival of Bharat (India), which we celebrate and worship Lord Shiva.
• This day's night is the longest night of the year.
• Lord Shiva's cosmic dance will be enacted at Thillai Natarajar Temple, Chidambaram. Below picture, the cosmic dance pose of Lord Shiva called as Aananda Thandavam , 'Natarajar' , the one who founded the graceful dance of bharat 'Bharatanatyam'. The one who learns Bharathnatyam, never missed to do a pose of Lord Natarajar.

 

Natarajar

Thillai Natarajar Temple, Chidambaram

        This place represents 'Aakash / sky', which is one of the five natural elements. Lord Shiva, represents this natural element in the form of 'Lingam', called as 'Aagaya / Aakash Lingam' (Ether). This temple is located in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, which is 16 kilometers west from the shore of Bay of Bengal. It's a ten day festival celebrated with much rigor and pomp at this temple. 'Chit' means True Awareness, 'Aum' means sacred pranav mantra, 'Param' means The Supreme being , together, 'Consciousness of Supreme Lord Shiva'. There is also another meaning to this, 'Chit' - wisdom and 'Ambaram' - Atmosphere, together it means 'Atmosphere of wisdom'.

        The deity Lord natarajar can be seen in hall called 'Chitsabha' (Garbha griha), behind this deity, there is a black screen, which is considered to cover the Akasha lingam, actually there is no lingam over there, it is a belief that it's an invincible lingam, usually covered with bilva (Indian Bael) garlands. Invisible ?? or Nothing ?? Or Vacuum ??

        It is Zero point field - ZPF. Zero-point energy (ZPE) is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. The matter and force fields have zero-point energy. A related term is zero-point field (ZPF), which is the lowest energy state of a particular field.

            The vacuum can be viewed not as empty space, but as the combination of all zero-point fields. It's Zero point Field (ZPE), energy filled in the vacuum (ether) also called as vacuum energy / Quantum energy. All space is filled with this (ZPF) quantum vacuum energy. It fills everything and in doing so changes what we think is a vacuum into a space absolutely full to the brim with energy, technically known as a “Plenum”.

        70 % of our universe contains this quantum vacuum energy and this ZPE works with space & time , it is the cause for the expansion of our universe. In Tamil, there is a very old famous term called 'Chidambara Rahasayam' (Secret in Chidambaram temple), actually what is the secret over there ?

Is the empty space, ether, ZPF. 'Aakasha' in sanskrit means ether / upper sky / atmosphere, which is associated with vacuum in this temple. Our vedas and siddhantic science influenced many westerners and Nicholas Tesla is one of them. Ether is Tesla's fascinating subject, many of his discoveries have been stolen and patented in other westerners name, Tesla secretly kept some his work related to ether which is not discovered till now, he understood our science of siddhis, Brahman, consciousness and energy, he used many sanskrit terms like 'Aakasha', 'Prana', 'Kalpa' in his works.

        Now, why this ether is related to this Thillai Natarajar temple ? As i said above, 'Chidambaram' means Consciousness of the Supreme. When you have the Consciousness, true meaning of Vacuum will be clearly understood, our soul first unites with ether (Aakash), then with the remaining elements of nature, in modern science, Quantum, vacuum, cosmos etc are neither completely explained nor understood, but it was penned down in our vedic science 5000 years ago. Chakras are energy centers of our body, there are 7 chakras in our body which resonates with different frequencies with rainbow colors, they are associated with physical, mental and emotional interactions. These chakras vitalises our physical body and brings about the development of self consciousness. Raising our Kundalini through these 7 chakras awake our consciousness, higher self.

            Now, coming back to Thillai Natarajar temple, Chidambaram, there are only couple of temples, where Lord Shiva is represented by anthropomorphic form rather than Lingam. It is also said that Chidambaram is at the center of World's Magnetic Equator. This is the only one temple in all over India, dedicated to Lord Shiva as Natarajar, the lord of dance. 'Natyanjali' festival devoted to Lord Natarajar is celebrated every year at this temple, which is the opportunity for all classical dancers to perform and pay tribute to the Creator of the Dance. His dance of anger is called 'Rudra Thandavam' and his dance of joy is called as 'Aananda Thandavam'. 

Temple Gopuram with Teppakulam (water storage)

        The cosmic dance of Lord Natarajar symbolizes five acts.
1. The small drum that he holds in his upper right hand symbolizes creation (Srishti)
2. the lower right hand raised in blessing refers protection and symbolizes preservation - Abhaya mudra meaning 'Fear not'
3. the upper left hand that holds the cosmic flame stands for destruction - posing Ardhachandra mudra (Half moon)
4. the foot over the asura (demon) denotes ignorance - obs curation
5. Anugraha - Granting grace. The raised left foot refuges the soul and the left hand pointing down to the foot in Gajahasta pose (Elephant trunk) reveals grace.

During early morning of the full moon night, Maha Abhishekam will be performed to Lord Natarajar and his consort Sivakama Sundari at Raja Sabhai hall, this will happen for about 3 - 4 hours. Then the deities will be decorated with sacred jewels, scented fresh flowers, gems, silk clothes, garlands etc, followed by special poojas. The devotees will stand in a crowded queue to get blessings of the Lord Shiva and Goddess Sivakama Sundari on this festive day, all the people in a single tone loudly chant Lord Shiva's name and slokas.

Spatika Lingam

Spatika means Quartz crystal. Quartz in the shape of Lingam, . There are only few temples, where spatika lingam is present. This Spatika Lingam represented as Lord Chandramauleeshwara is one one of the most ancient spatika linga, was installed by Shri Adi Sankaracharya at this Chitsabha and daily six times pooja will be performed here. Getting the Darshan (View) of this Spatika linga is very blissful, spatika removes negativity, strengthens postivity within a person, liberates from all causes of fear, anger and ignorance. That's the reason this is also called as 'Mukthi Lingam', indeed it is believed that visit to this temple will lead to liberation from cycle of birth and death.

Pooja Procedure at home

A day before Thiruvathirai, we clean the pooja room, pooja utensils and apply turmeric, kumkum on all the utensils. On the day of this festival, women and girls wake up early in the morning, takes oil bath and wear new clothes, will keep fasting on this day (not taking rice, but can eat fruits). First, will decorate pooja room with flowers, will pour oil in all the lamps followed by cotton wicks, Dasangam and Agarbathi's (Scented cones and sticks) will be kept ready. In the early morning, will start preparing neivedhyam (Special food offered to God), on this day the special foods are 'Thiruvathira Kali', 'Ezhukari Kootu', the preparations of these foods are explained below.

     On a small low height platform (Manai in Tamil), we place Lord Shiva's photo and keep the table on the floor. On the 2 sides of the photo, place 2 diyas, Agarbathi, decorate the photo with flowers and garlands. As per our family practice, we use plates for placing neivedhyam , we use banana leaf only on Pongal and Kula devatha Pooja. So, on a plate, will keep betel leaves, betel nuts, bunch of bananas, turmeric sticks, a coconut and prepared neivedhyam. Then, will light all the diyas / lamps , light Agarbathi and will do aradhana (Worshiping by taking rounds around the God) ,then break the coconut into two pieces and keep it back on the plate. Then, will take Deeparadhana (Worshiping using deepam fire and taking rounds around God) and everyone will take blessings from the fire and will put Viboothi, Kumkum on their forehead, married women will apply kumkum on their forehead and mangalsutra. Before sharing prashadham (Neivedhyam) with neighbours, we have to eat it first.

            In my mother's place, we place 'Ammi Kal' in pooja room, 'Ammi Kal' is a traditional grinding stone that is used for grinding cooking paste, chutneys, masalas etc. We were using this method of grinding for ages, it's good exercise for hands and strengthens the hips. On this festival day, we assume the cylindrical roller stone as Lord Shiva and decorate this ammi kal in the pooja room, by drawing eyes with turmeric powder and kumkum, covering the stone with new piece of cloth, adorn the stone with jewels and apply Viboothi (Ash) at last. 

Ammi Kal (Grinding Stone)

Special Prasadham offered

Thiruvathira Kali 

             Kali means cereal cooked like thick paste form using rice, moong dal and jaggery. First, will coarsely grind raw rice , mix moong dal and cook with excess water so that it will be in a paste consistency, to that paste mixture, sufficient jaggery and cardamon powder will be added, will cook till the jaggery blends with the rice paste and then kali is ready.

Ezhu Kari kootu (7 vegetables dish) / Thallagam

              It is side dish filled with 7 fresh vegetables without onion and garlic. Usually, will use Ash gourd, Yellow Pumpkin, Field beans (Mochai), Broad beans (Avarakkai), Brinjal, Chow Chow (Chayote) and sweet potato (Yam and Raw banana can also be used if some veggies are not available), will cook these veggies with more water and to make it thick, will grind freshly grated coconut, with green chilli, coriander , rice flour to a paste consistency and then mix with the cooked vegetables. Will cook this dish till the raw smell goes off (around 5 mins) and turn off the stove. At last, add tempering to this dish using coconut oil, mustard, asafoetida and few curry leaves.

--Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Vaikunta Ekadasi

Vaikunta Ekadasi

           

              Vaikunta Ekadasi is a festival, widely celebrated in all Lord Vishnu Temples on 11th day of Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of the moon) during Dhanu / Margazhi month, it is also called as 'Mukkoti Ekadasi'. People observe fasting and enters into the 'Vaikunta Dwar/ SwargaVaasal', meaning Vaikunta / Vishnuloka gate, in the Vishnu temple, to lessen their sins and to get liberation from birth and death. Vaikunta - Celestial Abode of Lord Vishnu, Ekadasi - 11th day of waxing phase of moon. Dhanu / Margazhi month is Mid December - Mid January, when the sun enters into Sagittarius.

Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal

            Hindus consider this as very auspicious day and observe fasting on this day and pass through the 'Swarga Vaasal / Vaikunta Dwar' , the northern gate of the temple will be opened only on 'Vaikunta Ekadasi' around 4 A.M morning and it will remain closed for rest of the year. 
         Also, on this special day, Lord Krishna gave 'Bhagawad Gita' discourse to Arjuna, at the beginning of Mahabharata War. 
This festival is popularly celebrated in Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, Srirangam,Tamil Nadu and gloriously celebrated for 20 days. In this year 2017, Vaikunta Ekadasi falls on 29th December / Margazhi 14th, Friday.

Parama padha Vaasal at Srirangam

                     

Significance of Dhanu / Margazhi month

• Lord Vishnu is prominently worshiped in this month.
• Daily early morning before 5 A.M unmarried women go to Lord Vishnu temple, sings 'Thiruppavai' , recite glories of Lord Vishnu , perform Vrat (fasting) and worship gods, to get good husband. 
• In this month Vaikunta Ekadasi is celebrated by all the Hindus, fervor devotees stands in crowded queue to pass through the 'Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal', to get salvation.
• Also, there is another festival called 'Thiruvathira / Arudhra Darshan', celebrated on this month for Lord Shiva, when 'Thiruvathirai / Arudra' nakshthra appears in the sky during full moon day. This festival is widely celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Though there are many festivals celebrated in this month, it is considered as an inauspicious month for good events / functions at home. Because, the big destructive Mahabharat War happened on this month, also respected Bhisma Pithamaha was on his death bed during this month, until sun enters into Makar / Capricorn. So, marriages, Griha pravesh like good events will not be performed in this month.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam

            It is famous Hindu temple situated between Kaveri and Kollidam river, mentioned in many history and puranas. In this temple, Lord Vishnu will be in a sleeping position over the Vasuki serpent facing south.

           In Ramayana, Vibhishana, brother of Ravana fled to India, to attend Rama's Pattabhishekam (coronation ceremony) and received golden idol of Lord Vishnu as a return gift, he was told that once the idol placed on the ground, it can not be moved. So, he wants to place the idol at his land, Sri Lanka and to build a temple for Lord Vishnu, worshiping Vishnu will remove their sins, and brings prosperity to his people. So, he took the idol and flying back to Sri lanka, on the way he saw beautiful Kaveri river from the top and wanted to do 'Sandhyavandanam' (religious practice performed thrice a day) there, as it was near sunset. So, he stopped near Kaveri river and worried as nobody was around, to hold the idol. On seeing this, Lord Ganesha tricked him by appearing as small village boy. Vibhishana requested the boy to hold the idol till he finishes Sandhyavandanam. But, the boy said that he has to hurry to home and asked him to finish it fast, also the boy said that he will wait only for 3 counts. Agreed Vibhishana went into the river and performed the ritual, while he was about to complete, the boy started his first count, Vibhishana asked him to hold on for few minutes, but the boy didn't accept, he continued  his second count, in a hurry vibhishana completed the ritual and returned, before he reaches the shore side, the boy counted for the third time, kept the idol on the ground and left the place. 

                 Offended Vibhishana shouted, for spoiling his plan of bringing bright future to his people. Lord Ganesha revealed his original form and pacified Vibhishana that it is happened as per dharma, yet Lord Vishnu's idol lies facing south direction, Sri Lanka, his holiness vision will bring righteousness and prosperity to your people. Only in this temple, Lord Vishnu will be facing south, his head resting in the west and legs towards east direction.

Sri Ranganathar at Sri rangam

            Sri Rangam temple also called as 'Thiruvarangam', it is the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world, with 50 shrines and 21 towers. It is also called as 'Boolaka Vaikuntam', meaning Earth's heaven.

Gopurams of Sri Rangam temple

Fasting
              On Dasami day (one day before Ekadasi) people fast on the whole day, takes one meal without rice and doesn't sleep in the night. They spend the whole night in meditation and chanting Vishnu's name, singing bhajans and saying stories of Lord Vishnu, visiting temples etc. The next day early morning around 3 A.M, people takes bath and goes to Lord Vishnu's temple to get his darshan and pass through the 'Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal'. It is believed that fasting on this Ekadasi day is equivalent to fasting on rest of 23 Ekadasi's of the year.

Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal

              The northern direction gate is called 'Paramapadha Vaasal / Swarga Vaasal' (Heavens gate), which will be opened only on this day.  In Sri rangam, it is celebrated for 20 days as 'Pagal pathu' (10 days, day festival), 'Ira pathu' (10 days, night festival), in all these 20 days, Lord Sri Ranganathar, 'Moolavar' (God in the sanctum, who is fixed) will bless devotees in 'Muthangi Sevai', means he will be covered completely in pearls.

Moolavar decorated in pearls (Muthangi Sevai)

                     On Vaikunta Ekadasi day, Namperumal, lord Sri Ranganathar cladded in a gem studded armour called 'Ratnagi Sevai', will be brought from sanctum in a palanquin followed by thousands of devotees to 'Vradha Nadi Mandapam' (hall), which is few meters before Paramapadha Vaasal. Krishna Yajur vedas will be hymned by pandits in that mandapam (Hall) for 30 minutes before proceeding towards the 'Swarga Vaasal'.

                  Opening of 'Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal' is the most important ritual of this 20 days festival. In South India, as per vedic astrology, all religious festivals and functions will be carried out in accordance with the 'lagna' (Sunrise time at that place). Around 4 A.M - 4.30 A.M, on Vrischika lagnam (Scorpio), Swarga Vaasal will be opened with the crowded devotees chanting together in a loud voice as 'Govinda Govinda' and 'Renga' rushing behind the 'Namperumal' deity and passing through the 'Vaikunta Dwar / Swarga Vaasal'.

Namperumal passing through Swarga Vaasal, Sri Rangam

           After that the deity will be placed in thousand pillared hall for the whole day. Thousands of devotees from all over India, will stand in a big queue for several hours to worship Lord Vishnu and get his blessings. On this day, this temple attracts millions of visitors, so thousands of police will be deployed every year around the temple complex and its vicinity. Announcements will be constantly given by the police and regulates vehicular movements in the Sri Rangam town, special buses will be operated during this season. 

        From Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) city, Sri Rangam is 10 kilometers on road. Nearest railway station is Sri Rangam railway station, which is 1 kilometer away from Sri Ranganathaswamy temple.

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Karthigai Deepam - Part 2

Karthigai Deepam / Thirukarthigai / Karthika Pournami

Continued from Karthigai Deepam - Part 1
https://divinediyaas.blogspot.in/2017/11/karthigai-deepam-part-1.html


             In this year 2017, Karthigai month starts on November 17th, Friday. Every day in this month, by 6 in the evening, a pair of earthenware diyaas will be lighted in front of every house. Karthigai - 8th month of the year, when sun enters into Scorpio / Vrishchika sign. The importance of this month are

• Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are equally worshiped on this month. 
• Lord Vishnu is worshiped with Tulasi and perform Satyanaryana pooja 
• Every Monday (Somavaram), special pooja and Abhishekam will be performed at Lord Shiva's temple. 

Sangu Abhishegam (Conch Shower) at Shivan Temple for Karthigai Somavaram

• During this month, many devotees take Ayyappa Deeksha, workship Lord Ayyappa and continue vrat till Makar sankrati (Makara vilakku) 
• Lord Murugan (Subramanya Swamy) is worshiped on this month and on this day Goddess Parvati joined her six babies into one and hence called as "Aaru (meaning 6) Murugan" 

              Karthigai Deepam is also called as South Diwali, as we lit more lights during this festival than Diwali. As a tradition, earthenware diyaas are lighted with oil and cotton wicks. Colorful designer diyaas in various sizes , different rangolis with big lamps (Aanai Vilaku, Kuthu Vilaku, Annapakshi Vilaku) and diyas decorated on it, flower decoration and delicious sweets are prepared for this festival. At our home, we celebrate this festival for 3 days, starting from Bharani Deepam, the day before the Karthigai Deepam. In this year 2017, Karthigai deepam falls on December 2, 2017.

        Below are some of the practices that we follow during this month.

•  During this Karthika month, every day after sunset, we light a pair of earthenware diyas in front of the house. Note: Not to light the diyas inside in your house and take it out. My mom says,  the diyas should be taken out and then lighted, it is our tradition. Symbolically, we should not let the goddess lakshmi from our house to go out. So, we lit diyas only after taking it out of the entrance door.

• Every year, we will buy at least one pair of new earthenware diyaas, that needs to be lighted on the day of Karthigai deeepam festival. 

• Yearly once, for this festival we will take out diyas from the store room. So, will wash it and apply turmeric and kumkum on the sides of the diya and will arrange it in a big tray. Then will pour oil first, followed by cotton wicks. Generally, we take two cotton wicks, roll in it together as one wick and immerse it into the oil filled diya. 

• On the day of karthigai deepam, we place diyas on all the sides of our house, not necessary to cover the entire sides, placing one diya on each side will suffice. Not to lit the diya facing south directions.

•  It's a practice that there should be at least one diya lighted in each room of the house, including bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, balcony. Not even one place / room in house should not be without diya. 

           India is not only colorful and diversified country, it is rich in culture and tradition. When westerns were roaming in the forest without any language, Indians were mastered in Vedas, astronomy, astrology, architectures, Business, Arthashastra (Statecraft, economic policy), Vimanika Shastra (Aerospace technology) and enriched with knowledge, people were civilised, wore silk clothes with precious ornaments, Kings ruled the country on a golden throne (Sinhasan / Simhasanam) with the guidance of Chief Advisor. There are many ignorant people out there in WESTERN MAYAA !!! (Illusion), making fun out of India's Culture, traditions and praising western food, culture and thinking. Listen !!! this so called western is just 1500 years old, there is no way to compare our ancient rich Indian culture with the western. 
          Before many thousand years, Indians calculated that there are 9 planets (Navagraha, we worship Navagraha and thats the reason in all dravidian style hindu temple, Navagraha is placed), also accurately figured stars (constellation) in the space, we have 27 constellations in Indian vedic astrology occupying 360º in the zodiac, 27 nakshthras are ruled by 9 planets 'Navagraha'.

         Each star is having 4 quarters / pada (Exact position of the planet), each pada is 3º 20' (3 degrees, 20 minutes), 4 * 3º 20' = 13º 20' for each star. In other terms, it takes moon about one day to pass one constellation, you can see today's star in our Indian calendar. So, for one rotation (one day), moon moves 13 degrees and 20 minutes in its orbit.
           

         Now, 27 stars * 4 padas = 108 pada / padams divided by 9 planets= 12 Rasi. The first 3 stars in our system are Ashwini, Bharani and Kirtika 1st padam (total: 4+4+1 = 9 padams) into one zodiac sign (Rasi) called Aries. 

Ashwini  - 4 pada    - 13º 20'
Bharani   - 4 pada    - 13º 20'
Kirtika    - 1 pada   - 3º 20' 
------------------------------------------------------
Total       - 9 Pada    - 30º  --> One Rasi / Zodiac occupies 30 degrees, 30*12 = 360 degrees. Hence, Moon takes 27.3 days to complete one rotation around Earth, but due to earth's rotation around the sun, moon takes 2 more days to patch up with the starting point in it's orbit. For each day when the moon rotates, its position changes with stars, the change in position is 13º 20'. In India, we don't have fixed dates for festivals, we celebrate festival in accordance with stars and solar months. That is the reason why stars, moon dates (Tithi) plays important role in finding dates for festivals, special occasions etc.  

               

Bharani Deepam 

            Karthigai Deepam is preceded by Bharani Deepam. When Bharani Nakshthra appears in the sky, a small ghee diya will be lighted inside the main deity of Lord Shiva temple, using this ghee diya 5 big lamps will be lighted which represents five aspects of Lord Shiva (five natural elements). People go to Lord Shiva's temple and lit diyas.

Karthigai Deepam day

Pooja Procedure at home

            Before pooja, we clean the swami room, neatly wipe the gods photos, idols and wash the pooja utensils. After wiping the pooja room shelf / slab, rangoli with rice flour will be drawn and will apply turmeric, kum kum on gods photos and arrange it back to the shelf. Also, will draw rangoli using rice flour in front of the house main door, will beautify the main door by placing flowers / garlands and also will apply turmeric and Kum Kum dots on the sides of the main door. As per tradition, only after watching Thiruvannamalai Deepam on the Arunachala Hills in the evening, we light diyas at home. 

Rangoli near the main door, picture taken after Maha Deepam Darshan.

           On Karthigai Deepam day, as per my family tradition, we do pooja in the morning. But, in my mother's place we do pooja in the evening,  it depends upon one's family tradition. Elderly women in our house will place Lord Shiva's photo and Lord Murugan's photo on a pooja stand, then decorate the god's photo with flower garlands and place diyas on two sides of the palagai manai (small low height stool used to sit during pooja). Also will keep new earthenware diyas in front of the pooja stand.  We prepare neivedhyam (food offered to god) for pooja, the neivedhyam / Prasadhams are explained below. 

            In the decorated pooja room, will place the prepared prasadhams in front of god, along with a tray of fruits, betel leaves, betel nuts and a coconut. In a separate tray will place Maa vilkau (Sweet made out of rice flour) at the center and fill it with ghee with a cotton wick to lit. At the time of pooja, we lit maa vilaku, light Dashagam (scented cones), agarbathis (scented sticks) and  take aaradhana with agarbathis. Then, break a coconut into 2 pieces and keep it back in the prasasham tray. As per my family tradition, we do pooja in the morning.

Say it loudly 
'Annamalaiyaruku Arogara, Annamalaiyaruku Arogara, Annamalaiyaruku Arogara',

 'Thennatudaya Shivanea potri, en natavarkum iraiva potri potri', 
then sing any Lord Shiva's songs, Lord Murugan's songs (Kandha Shasti Kavasam)
           
         In the evening, after watching Thiruvannamalai Deepam, we watch it in live a program,  then light diya in pooja room first and then start lighting the lamps everywhere in the house. The entire house will be filled with brightness of oil earthenware diyaas, also place diyas on the rangoli.

Prasasham preparations

Pori urundai, nel pori urundai, sweet appam and maa vilaku.

Maa vilaku:

     It is one of the important mandatory sweet for this festival. Maa - rice flour, vilaku - lamp, a lamp made out of rice flour. Placing this maa vilaku during pooja and lighting fire on this maa vilaku using ghee is considered as auspicous and brings prosperity to the house.

Maa vilaku preparation:

            Mix fine rice flour, powdered jaggery, cardamon powder with little bit of ghee. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly with bare hand. Jaggery will start to  melt due to hand's heat and start to combine with the mixture. No need to add water for this, if you add water shelf life of Maa vilaku will be less, traditionally will use only ghee as a binding agent. After forming it as dough, shape like a diya and pour ghee and then place cotton wicks.


Pori Urundai :

Sweet Appam:

Kuppa Karthigai (Third Day of the festival)
           
               On this day we place diyas in washrooms, near Garbage area and utility areas. The vapor from the oil diyas kill bacterias due to the moist formed in this winter season.
             

Some of the pictures of Karthigai Deepam at my house

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Karthigai Deepam - Part 1

Karthigai Deepam / Thirukarthigai / Karthika Pournami

             Karthigai Deepam is one of the famous festivals of Hindus, mostly celebrated in South India. This festival comes in Karthigai month (mid November - mid December) of sidereal solar calendar, on full moon day / pournami where the moon is in line with kirthika nakshathra / Pleiades (six star constellation) in the sky. In Tamil, Karthigai Deepam means 'Festival of lights' and it is celebrated for thousands of years in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as South Indian Diwali and it is virtually unknown to other parts of India.

              On this Karthigai month, rows of earthenware diyaas will be lighted in front of every house, the light from the diyas elude evil forces and usher in prosperity and happiness.              
              Lord Shiva is worshiped on this day in the form of Holy Fire. The holy fire will be lighted on this day Karthigai Deepam, on top of Arunachala Hills in Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. At the base of the hill, there is a temple for Lord Shiva called as 'Arunachaleshwara temple', which is famous for this festival. Because, in this temple, Lord Shiva, the lord of universe can be seen in the form of Lingam called as Agni / Tejo lingam, which is the sacred place for the natural element "Fire". It is ten days festival celebrated in Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwara Temple (Tamil Nadu) in a very grandeur way, millions of people gather in this temple, loudly chant the name of Lord Shiva and rejoice the lighting ceremony.
          

              Arunachaleshwarar / Annamalaiyar temple in Thiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu, India) is renowned for this Karthigai Deepam festival and this place is one of the Pancha bootha sthalam where the Shiva linga in this temple represents the natural element "Fire". Pancha bootha sthalam here refers to 5 sacred places (temples) for nature elements Land, Air, Water, Fire and Sky where Lord Shiva, himself represent these in the form of Lingams. The Agni (Fire) lingam in this temple is second biggest lingam in this world.

Pancha bootha Sthalangal :

1. Ekambareswarar Temple - Land (Prithivi Lingam)
Located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

2. Jambukeswarar Temple - Water (Appu Lingam)
Located in Thiruvanaikaval, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India

3. Srikalahasteeswara temple - Air (Vayu Lingam)
Located in SriKalahasti, Andhra Pradesh , India

4. Annamalaiyar Temple - Fire (Agni / Tejo Lingam)
Located in Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India.

5. Thillai Nataraja Temple - Sky (Aagaya / Aaksha Lingam)
Located in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.

    Elaborate information about these temples will be covered in a separate post.

Arunachaleshwara Temple (Agni Lingam)

               Thiruvannamalai - Earlier this region is also known as 'Thondai Mandalam', now it is popularly called as 'Thiruvannamalai'. This Temple is located on the base of Arunachala Hills, it's also called as Arunagiri malai, Anna malai, sonagiri malai, Jyothirlingam, Tejolingam etc. It means 'Red Mountain' in tamil.
                The main deity in the temple is Shiva, the Lord of universe, the cosmic force, worshiped as 'Annamalaiyar' in the form of lingam, with his consort Goddess Parvati worshiped as 'Unnamulai Amman'.

               This temple has four gateways and four gopurams (towers) on each side, there is a high stone wall surrounding the temple. The temple is spreads around 25 acres of land, which is one of the largest temples of India. The east side gopuram (tower) is called 'Rajagopuram' (the main tower), which is the highest tower with 11 stories and 216 feet high, the west side gopuram is called 'Peygopuram', the southern tower is called 'Thirumanjana Gopuram' and the norther tower is called 'Ammaniammal gopuram'.

           This temple is built during 9th century CE, one of the oldest temples of India. Many kings Pallavas, Cholas, Tipu sultan took over this temple during their rule, Cholas renovated the temple during their reign. As per the inscription in the temple before Cholas Thiruvannamalai was under Pallava kings. It was built in dravidian style.

              The tejo lingam is in a small sanctum of this temple, which is a Suyambu lingam on the eastern foot side of the hill (Self formed natural one from the earth), it was a small temple before Pallavas and Cholas comes to the temple. Though westerns say different dates about our Indian sages, Shri Adi Shankaracharya was born in 2000 BCE in Kerala, he was well versed in vedas, completely understood the concept of Advainta Vedanta in his early age. During his yatra, he visited Annamalai hills and the felt positive aura over there, he sensed presence of the almighty and discovered the deity from the hidden bushes. He worshiped the Lingam and elaborated the story about this holy Agni Lingam to the King and requested him to construct a big temple for the Lord Shiva, he referred this Arunachala mountain as 'Meru'. Some Sages says that this mountain represents first half of Sri Chakra, the emblem of cosmos.

              The holy Arunachala hill was formed millions of years ago. When there was a volcanic activity deep beneath the earth, this mountain was thrown up during the formation of the earth's crust. It is prehistoric mountain, it is marked as an Epoch in the history, its a huge extrusive solid rocks covered with herbs, bushes and grass. On this hill, there are many caves, hermitages near fresh water offspring, many sanyasis, yogis visit the temple and perform meditation in the caves on the hill.

        "by merely thinking about Arunachala, one can attain Mukthi", so there are many Jivan Mukts in the hill even today, residing in caves. Ramana Maharishi came to this temple and never left the place, many devotees visited him and received blessings from him. He resided in many caves in the hill and preached about enlightenment, his main principle is to realise 'Who am I?', remove the ignorance, ego 'I' and surrender yourself to the almighty.

              It is believed that still some siddha purushas are living in the peak of the hill under the banyan tree and that place is said to be inaccessible. This hill evokes tremendous power, people receives energetic vibes while doing Girivalam (taking rounds around the hill on a bare foot with deep concentration and prayer) on the hill and it emits incandescent aura during moon less nights.

Story behind Karthigai Deepam

             Once Lord Brahma the creator and Lord Vishnu, the preserver both claimed superiority over the other. Celestial Gods forgot their powers and started fighting with each other, in order to elude their ego, Lord Siva, the Lord of the Universe, appeared before them as a pillar of fire, known as sthanu or lingodbhavamurti. Lord Siva challenged to both the gods that, "Who ever finds either the beginning or the end of this light of mine shall be considered, now and forever more, the superior of you two."
               Brahma and Vishnu agreed to this challenge and wanted to show the supremacy over the other, Lord Vishnu took the form of a boar and dug into the depths of the Earth, seeking the end of the fiery fire pillar. Brahma became a swan and flew upwards, seeking the starting point of light. They searched for thousands of miles and couldn't find neither the beginning nor the end. Lord Vishnu returned and accepted his failure, while exhausted Brahma was about to return in failure, a Thazhampoo (Ketaki flower) fell on him, this flower used to be on Lord Shiva's hair, Brahma put a plan.
               The Thazhampoo flower in Tamil, in english its name is screw pine (pandanus odoratissimus), started conversing with Brahma. Eventually the god convinced the flower to support him to tell lie to Shiva that Brahma found the origin of the cosmic column.
                Upon hearing this lie, column of fire busted and Lord Shiva revealed himself in full glory and cursed Brahma that from henceforth Lord Brahma, would not be worshiped in temples, also the Ketaki flower would not be used in his worship. This has indeed come to pass as there are only two Brahma temples (one in Pushkar in Rajasthan and the other in Idar State in Rajaputana) and the screw pine is only allowed in the worship of Shiva only one time a year during Mahashivaratri.
                Lord Brahma and Vishnu realised their mistake, bowed before Lord Shiva and accepted his supremacy. Upon the request of the gods Vishnu and Brahma, Shiva established Himself as the Arunachala Hill and also as a small Lingam at the eastern foot of the hill so that all could worship both as emblems of Siva.

Ten days festival in the temple / Karthigai Deepam

             Karthigai Deepam festival begins with flag hosting on the day where Uthradam Nakshthra appears in the sky called Dwajarohanam. The flag will be hoisted amid vedic chanting on top of Dwajasthambham, a tall flag pole of the temple (picture below)

            On each day Pancha Murthigal (Lord Ganapathi, Lord Murugan, Lord Sandeswar, Lord Arunachaleswara and goddess Parvati) will be taken out for procession in different vahanas.

            On Ninth day, Pancha Murthigal goes on Kailash Vahanam. This day is called as 'Bharani Deepam', Bharani Nakshthra falls on this day and five lamps are lighted in Shiva temple.

Tenth Day of the Festival

            On tenth day, in the early morning hours, fire will be lit in five big vessels and it will be kept burning till evening.

            A big cauldron about 5 feet in diameter is placed on top of Arunachala's five peaks, hundreds of gallons of ghee are carried up to the steep stony hill on bare foot, kilos of camphor are mixed in it for a continuous bright flame, a thick cotton cloth about 40 meters are used to make a wick to lit the light.
           In evening when Karthigai nakshthra appears in the sky with the full moon, after the sunset, when the moon raises in the east, the beautifully decorated deities in a golden palanquin are placed in mandapa facing the holy mountain, five holy fires are brought out from the temple and placed in a big cauldron near dwajasthambham.

            At that time around 6 in the evening, Maha Deepam will be lighted on the top of the mountain with the crowd roaring "Annamalaiyaruku Arogara". In the same time, 'Ardhanarishwara' deity will be brought out and placed near the big deepam. The excited pilgrim crowd pushes to touch the deity and the holy fire.

           After witnessing the bright light from the top of hill, all the people will start to lit the diyaas in their homes and chant Lord Shiva's name.

           Lord Shiva will be seen in the form of Holy Fire, on top of Annamalai Hills. Millions of people will gather to witness this holy fire and to get blessings from Arunachaleswara, its a belief that Lord Shiva as a divine fire elude the darkness from this world and remove our ignorance, symbol of lighting the inner fire. Devotees go around the hill on the bare feet as Pradhikshana, the whole place is filled with high spirits, pushing to worship the holy fire, all the devotees shouts Shiva's name in one tone and it can be heard from the bottom of the hill. This divine light will continuously fire for 3 days and it will be visible from several kilometers.

              This festival also reflects the union of Shiva and Parvati devi. Goddess Parvati did hard penance on Arunachala Hill, taken pradhikshana slowly around the hill with the deep concentration and chanting Lord Shiva's name. Lord Shiva pleased with goddess penance and appeared as a fierce light on top of the hill on karthigai, he asked the goddess to go one round, around the hill.      When the goddess going around the western side of the hill, Lord Shiva appeared on his white bull and blessed her. When the goddess going around the north western side of the hill, Lord Shiva absorbed the goddess into his left half of the body called 'Ardhanarishwara', meaning half male and half female. Due to this, on this Karthigai Deepam day, special poojas are performed for the deity 'Ardhanarishwara' and devotees receive blessings from the Gods. In Sanskrit, 'Ardha' meaning half, 'Nari' meaning female, 'Ishwara' - Lord Shiva.

             Also, Lord Karthikeya / Murugan, son of Lord Shiva is worshiped on this day with 6 pointed star. He was born on Kirthigai nakshthra (Six star constellation) and from Shiva's third eye six babies are born. On this day, six children are merged into one son by Goddess Parvati called Arumurugan (6 Murugans). The six pointed star represents Sa, Ra, Va, Na, Bha, Va and OM at the center of the star.
         The six pointed star is one of the sacred symbol of Hinduism, can be seen in many dravidian temples , also in many places like Goddess Lakshmi's Sriyantra, Lord Nataraj dance position, Meru yantra etc. Ancient symbols, mystery architectures, sacred places deals with triangle and this star symbol is one of them. 

               The devotees do girivalam around the hill to get the blessings from the Lord Arunachaleswara. Girivalam means, by chanting the lords name, one should take small steps to go around the mountain and looking at the fire from the top of the hill. By doing Girivalam, one will be free from all the sins and freedom from their future births.
              After this ten days festival, one worships and leaves this holy place will be purified, cleansed from their sin, raises the spiritual energy within them and a step towards the enlightenment.

---- The Karthigai deepam celebrations and preparations will be explained in Part 2

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan