GORAVANA HALLI MAHALAKSHMI

 T
emple Goravanahalli is located in Koratagere Taluk of Tumkur district. It is said that Abbayya, a poor man was blessed to get the idol of Mahalakshmi. After worshipping Mahalakshmi at his home, Abbayya became rich. He started doing charity work and his home earned the tag ‘Lakshmi Nivasa’. Later Abbayya’s brother Thotadappa joined Abbayya in his charity work. After the death of Abbayya, Thotadappa was performing poojas to the Goddess. One day in his dreams, Mahalakshmi asked him to build a shrine for Her. So, Thotadappa built a shrine for Mahalakshmi. After Thotadappa, Chowdayya was performing poojas. But from the year 1910 the temple was in a neglected state. 

      Goravanahalli Shree Mahalakshmi Temple Main Entrance, In the year 1925, Kamalamma on arriving at Goravanahalli, saw the neglected state of the temple. She started performing the poojas for the Goddess. Then again after a year temple was in a neglected state, when she left the place. But then in 1952, Kamalamma was back in Goravanahalli and settled there. After this regular poojas were performed by Kamalamma. People wait in queue for the darshana of Shree Mahalakshmi. In due time, temple attained fame by word of mouth. Tuesdays and Fridays are considered very auspicious here and lot of people visit the temple in these days of the week. Lakshadeepotsava is one of the revered religious programmes here in Karthika maasa.
On Sunday 10th November 2013, we went for trip to Siddara Betta and on our way back at 7 pm, visited the Mahalakshmi Temple at Goravanahalli. The place was quiet, not much of crowd, darshan was quick and also we had the chance to have prasada in form of food (anna sambar), without much hassle.
It was a pleasant surprise and blessings from the Goddess. The place has lots of shops for buying festival items.
15th Nov 2013 

TULSI POOJA

Tulsi is a consecrated plant that holds lot of importance for the traditional Hindus. In most of the Hindu homes, people worship Tulsi plant on a daily basis. Many people keep a plant of Tulsi in front of their house, since Tulsi has a lot of reverence for them. On the festive occasion of 'Kartik Shukla Dwadashi' that usually falls two weeks after the celebration of Diwali, tulsi plants are adorned with varied artistic things made from sugarcane, flowers and mango leaves. After decorating Tulsi Vrindavana, people offer prayers to Tulsi. Clay lamps are lit all around the tulsi plant. The event is usually celebrated as tulsi vivah, in which tulsi is married to Lord Vishnu.

Today, Thursday 14th November 2013, also being children's day, Tulsi pooja was celebrated at Birthi Mane. Tulsi Brindavan was decorated and nellikai plant branch was planted with tulsi plant, as a symbol of Lord Vishnu marrying Tulsi,  light the lamp on nelli kai, and bless the family. 

SIDDARA BETTA

Siddara Betta is one of the visited places near Madhugiri and  is a rocky hill situated in Tumkur district. The place lies at a distance of about 100 kms from Bangalore. The place is mainly known for a temple and a few caves located at the top of the hill.

Nalini at the foot of the Betta

There is a shrine of Lord Siddalingeshwara (Shiva) inside one of the caves. That is why the placeholds an attraction equally for the pilgrims and trekkers and nature lovers.

appa loosing steam.....

Siddara Betta, a wonderful tourist place near  Madhugiri, has historic significance attached to it. Siddara Betta is a Kannada expression to describe Hill of Saints. The naturally beautiful place was once home to countless Hindu Saints who preferred the place to perform sacred meditation and to obtain Nirvana. But with time, this practice gradually diminished.

Well on the top

We were five, Mom, Ravi, Vidya and Rishi, in the car started a bit late that is 10.45 in the morning, reached Tumkur at 1.30pm after having some food at Kamath on the way. We spent some time serching for the road to Siddara Betta, and eventually reached the foot of the hill at 3.00pm after passing through some villages. Climbing the steps started immediately and it was steep and I could manage three fourths of the hill and I was exhausted and I gave up. The rest continued the trek and reached the top and spent some time getting explanation about the place from a guide. It had a small Udbhava Linga temple and caves and a well in the rocks 5ft deep. 

Vidya, Ravi & Rishi....

The group came down safely at 6 pm and we started our journey back via Koratagere. We stopped over at the famous Mahalakshmi temple, Guravana Halli, had darshan and also prasada in form food (anna sambar) which was good. Thank God, there was not much crowd,,,,, otherwise, we would have spent lot of time standing in the queue.
We lost our way near Dabaspet but we were back at home at 10.30pm.
It was a pleasant trip and enjoyed.
Tueday 12 Nov 2013

DEEPAVALI 2013

Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning behind it is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy (primarily the Yoga, Vedanta, and Samkhya schools of Hindu philosophy) is the belief that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Diwali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings ananda(joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light.

The thirteenth day of the Krishna Paksha is celebrated as "neeru tumbo habba" when the house is cleaned, painted afresh and the vessels are washed, bedecked and filled with fresh water for the festival. The next day is Naraka Chaturdashi, considered very auspicious. People wake up before dawn and apply oil on their scalp and body before taking bath, a ritual known asTailabhyanjana. In parts of North Karnataka, this is followed by the women of the house performing Aarti on the men. The bursting of the crackers ensues. The next day is Lakshmi mahaapooje on Amavaasye (new-moon day) 

We (Ravi, mom, Rishi and Vidya) also got up early, applied oil to head and the body and had a wonderful hot water bath, and then with new clothes burst few crackers. Mom made some nice panchakajjaya, dose and we all had stomachful breakfast.
Late in the evening also we burst some crackers and patakis.
Monday November 4, 2013

ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ೨೦೧೩ (KANNADA RAJYOTSAVA)

The state of Mysore was created taking into fold various parts of the region, which were ruled by kings. Several districts in, now called North Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka were dissolved in the new state. The new state was named after Mysore, which by itself was a princely state. After prolonged debate the name of the state was changed to Karnataka on November 1, 1973.

Officially the new state was born on Nov. 1 and on this day every year birthday of the state is celebrated. This is popularly called as Kannada Rajyotsava or Karnataka Rajyotsava. Rajyotsava means “birth of a state”.
Bangalore, State capital, has people from all over India, coming and settling down with the result, it has less than 35% people speaking Kannada.  Tamil, Teugu, Malayalam,Marathi, Hindi are spoken and kannadiga is a kind hearted person, who will learn the other language rather than teach Kannada. In the process Kannada is not getting importance.
People is power and position talk about encouraging kannada but send their children to English medium schools and other tha kannada films are thriving in the city.
Kannadigas continue to say....

ಕನ್ನಡ ಉಳಿಸಿ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಳಸಿ, ಕನ್ನಡ ಬೆಳೆಸಿ.....

ಎಲ್ಲಾದರು ಇರು, ಎಂತಾದರು ಇರು, ನೀ ಕನ್ನಡವಾಗಿರು....

Monday, November 4, 2013