G8-A TEMPLE IN A SERENE RURAL AREA-THE VENKATAPURAM TEMPLE

A MOST BEAUTIFUL TEMPLE IN A RURAL AREA NEAR YADADRI

In the vicinity Yadadri there are other temples for Lord Narasimha one of the great earthly incarnation of Lord Vishnu the god almighty of the universe of billion galaxies .The temples may be small but are as holy as the great  Yadadri . The same lord of billion galaxies lives in the small temples also. I now write about the temple on a hill at  Venkatapuram village which is about ten kilometers from Yadadri town. I had not the fortune of visiting this most picturesque temple on a hill with scores of caves formed by giant sized boulders and where lions might roam if it was in deep forest. We do not know but tens of thousands years ago when there were real dense forests all over the area lions might have actually lived in the caves .

But in present days it is an agricultural area with bald boulder-ridden hills without any dense forest cover. It is very picturesque agricultural area with calm agricultural villages .It is in an area of plateau land without  big rivers but a land of many man-made lakes and follows dry land agriculture. The temple is in a picturesque hilly place in a low plane area on a side of the hill.  It is very secure to visit the temple in day light and this most picturesque temple in rural surroundings is much revered by people of the area.

Lord Narasimha legend is very popular in this part of the state just as the Lord Rama legend is very popular in Bhadrachalam area.  The Venkatapuram hill is part of a small line of boulder- ridden hills in the area. The hill looks from the air like rounded wheat bun of colossal size. It is broken from top to bottom into a few dozen colossal rounded vertically standing boulders of awe- inspiring size .Some of the huge vertically standing boulders may be of the size of a ten-storeyed building! The colossal vertical boulders form one entire side of the hill.

Geologists would say that this creation of boulders on this and other hills might have occurred millions of years ago during big geological changes and not a few thousand years ago! In rainy season the temple area surely becomes a most beautiful place with thick greenery, flowers and bird song. The incline of the stairway is very less and the stairway path is long and pleasant and people can easily reach the temple walking on these steps under the shade of the trees. A few generations ago the temple might have been simply a cave temple and might have had a kind of magical attraction even then for the devotees from many neighboring villages. A friend told me all this. I saw in videos too. I could not visit the temple.

The most beautiful photos created a great impression in my mind for days .Though I could not visit I imagined rituals inside that temple in this beautiful rural place. It must be a most beautiful place. So I imagined I was there inside the temple praying to the god. I just can imagine and see before my eyes the rituals going on in the morning hours. The priest comes daily in the morning and many family groups visit the temple during the pleasant morning hours. There are many strict, systematic and spiritually satisfying rituals. The priest   in the morning washes the statues of gods with water scented with “Tulsi” leaves, then with milk and curd and then again with water.

 The priest decorates the god’s statues with flower garlands and worships with flowers and lights the holy oil lamp. The  devotees break coconuts at the feet of the Lord ,burn incense and  bring  small  packets of turmeric powder and  vermilion   “kumkum” powder (considered extremely holy by traditional Hindus all over India ) for decorating  the statues of Lord Narasimha and Goddess Laxmi. All devotees put the red  kumkum mark on their foreheads.

 The priest chants holy hymns aloud as the holy lamp burns and incense is lighted. At the end of rituals the priests lights a few crystals of camphor in a silver plate and shows the small bright flame to god to receive his smiles and blessings. They bow before the holy lamp as the symbol of divine knowledge and divine illumination of the mind. The priest also rings a small brass bell which he holds in his raised hand. The devotees watch the ceremonies spell bound and bow to the light when shown towards them. The priest gives a spoon of holy consecrated water to each devotee from a silver cup, which was kept at god's side since early morning. He distributes a few flowers from the plate of flowers which lay at god's feet since early morning. He sprinkles holy turmeric rice  on the head of devotees. Finally he touches the head of devotee delicately with  the shining metal   "shatagopam" --considered equal to the gold and diamond  crown worn by god almighty  in heaven. Touching the head of devotee with shatagopam is equivalent to touching of devotee’s head by the holy hand of god almighty himself. Such are the wonderful rituals performed every morning.

At the end of all rituals and prayers the priest then distributes "prasadam" to all devotees. The “prasadam” is the small but holy food/fruit items distributed to every devotee after consecration by god. It consists of pieces of fruit, pieces of coconut kernel and other sweet preparation. The prasadam is first kept near god in the sanctum sanctorum for some time and then it is treated as having been tasted by the god almighty himself! It is only then distributed to the devotees. The priest also addresses prayers to the god on behalf of some devotees who wanted such special prayers. There are sometimes "bhajans" i.e. group prayers with loud singing of prayers before god's statue accompanied by clapping of hands. All these rituals and prayers fill the minds of devotees with great spiritual joy. In my case also my imagination created a great spiritual joy in me and I felt as if I really visited the temple . I prayed in my heart to the great god and felt very happy.