Sabarimala season is about to start and our temple here is having Ayyappa puja every other Saturday. Our Hindu Temple like all other Hindu temple in US is unique. (What? 'Unique' and 'same like others'?) What I meant when I said 'like other Hindu temples' was that the main god worshipped is 'Lord Balaji'. What I meant when I said 'unique' was nothing - I was wrong - there is nothing unique in this temple. It does exactly what all other temples here do. Same pujas, same festivals, same everything. (I know if it is a Hindu temple, everything has to be same).
Anyway, I liked going to the temples in Kerala, always felt divine and holy after coming out... though I used to look at girls while praying, that did not take the feeling of godliness. In fact, the girls too looked divine. Most of the girls wore a red pavadai (long skirt) and green top with golden shiny border. They would have a little sandal wood paste in the forehead and below it or over it red bindi - kunkumam. Eyes beautiful with the kajal (kan mashi), small golden ear rings, thick golden necklace on their chest, silver colored padaswaram (anklets)... black oily hair separated from the center... little mulla-poo (jasmine flower) ....their back (above the hips) wet with the water from the hair...a smile in the face... anyways... I miss that in the temples here.
In spite of missing all that here, I still go to the temple, at least every Saturday.... at 11:30 sharp..... Why? No! I don’t have 'shani dasha' (or Saturn problem). Its just that I like the food, the prasadam, that is served on those days. Though my wife is an excellent cook, there is nothing like food cooked by somebody else.... lot of ghee and cashews and grapes and etc... All the things that my wife thinks have cholesterol. I usually have the prasadam first before going to the temple... who knows if there would be any left when I return.... (Need to beat the college students/bachelors around...). Darshan of the big idol of Lord Venkateswara brings immense peace in me... it also helps me digest the food that I just had. I keep praying until... the pujari brings the 'dry-fruits tray'. Our temple is small and pujas are conducted every 30 minutes or so. If I time it wrong, I may have to sometimes wait for 30 minutes until the tray comes back. On such occasions, I go visit the smaller gods - Ganesha, Rama, Krishna and Shiva. If I see the pujari start the puja, I skip either Krishna or Shiva and go back to the main deity. I pray with all my heart and devotion for the puja to finish fast so that the pujari brings the tray. It takes more time if somebody has to do an aarthi. If it is a telgu family, it takes even more time.... long names and multi-gothras. My last stop is at the nava-grahas. Going around it makes me a bit giddy....and then I rest for sometime. That is when I think and compare of my kerala days to the US days. Though I miss the girls whom I used to see... this is better.... I have never got such fruits for prasadam in Kerala... wow... Cashews, almonds, raisins, walnuts, pista, sometimes real fruits like apples, bananas and grapes... mmmm... nobody can beat that. (Wish they had pizza and pasta too)
I asked the temple manager why they serve such things as prasadam? He gave me the common answer - 'That's what we get here....' I wonder..... Since they do not get 'ghee' here... will they use cheese instead for the nei (ghee) abhishegam for Ayyappa???
Swamiye saranam ayappa !!!!
Cheese(nei) abhisegham swamikyu,
kalpura deepam swamikyu....
do they get camphor here??? Is it not banned???
1 comment:
You get Camphor in Universal!
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