The Month of Karthigai Rekindles the Light of Hope in the Devotees at MTS

By Chittoor K. Ramachandran

PEARLAND: Maha Sathyanarayana Pooja  (Dec 6)

Worshipping Sriman Narayana (Sri Venkateswara) in  Sathyanarayana  pooja  in an easily understandable   format  is a time honored tradition created  for the families  in several  regions of India.  Sri Meenakshi Temple conducts   Sathyanarayana pooja at regular intervals throughout the year or  on special request  for those who have the desire to continue their family tradition.  In addition, annually,  MTS organizes this pooja for the welfare of the community at large. Maha Sathyanarayana Pooja  was an  event organized to accommodate the participation of  large number of people.  The priests Sri Pawankumar Sribhashyam and Sri  Sriman Narayana Charylu conducted the ritual to the full satisfaction of all the participants.  Their familiarity and experience in the pooja vidhi in Vaishnava  sampradayam  could be noticed in every aspect of the event.

The unique characteristic of this pooja is reading and listening to the set stories. The stories involve the origin of the pooja, the benefits of it, and the potential mishaps that may occur with the careless performance of the pooja. Sri Sathyanarayana katha (narrative) are extracted from Skandha Purana, Reva kAnda.  Innumerable families left the temple after sharing the prasadam with full satisfaction.

Ekadasha Rudra Japam and homam  (Dec 7)
Ancient Acharyas like Adi Sankara, Bhatta Bhaskara, Vishnu Suri  -to name a few – have written elaborate comments on Sri Rudram.  This remarkable Vedic homage to Sri Rudra (Sri Shiva) appears in the  4th KAnDa , within the seven KAnDas of  Yajurveda samhitha.  The significance of Sri Rudram has been mentioned by the Hindu seers who emphatically encourage perseverance   in prayers throughout our lives as a solution to counteract all the ill effects we may face.  Based on its importance, reciting Sri Rudram is commonly applied in many rituals since each mantra in it has deep spiritual significance.

Among the sources of learning , Vedas are considered supreme;  in the Vedas,  Sri  Rudram is the supreme; and the most important Panchakshari  mantra ( Namashivaya) is located at the center of Sri Rudram  which is the core essence describing the eternal truth ( paramatma swaroopam).  Scholars honor  Rudra Adhyaya (reading Sri Rudram) as one of the primary instruments for attaining liberation from mundane cycle of rebirths.

Ekadasha Rudram chanting that was followed by homam (havan) conducted at the sannidhi of Sri Sundareswarar  (Sri Shiva)  was a blissful experience.  Many trained individuals from Sringeri Vidya Bharathi foundation joined the priests Sri Manicka Bhattar, Sri Kalyana Sundaram and Sri R.K. E. Parameswaran in the recitation in proper phonetic intonation (swaram)  that  was maintained  throughout the 4 hour long ritual.

All the events listed above were coordinated by ROC of MTS.