Seeker’s Sojourn
At the Greatest Cremation Grounds
Being in Chennai and not visiting any of the beaches will be a sin. As my weekend trip is about to over in a day, I want to visit nearby Elliot’s beach. Witnessing the sunrise or sunsets will be a pleasant experience.
There lies an Ashtalakshmi temple on this shorelines. I fascinated to witness both. This temple was built when Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami had wished for it. He was affectionately called as “The Walking God”. The Divinity that walked on earth in the 20th century 😇.
Tears of Ecstasy
29th September: I reached the beach early morning and enjoyed the sunrise. Then I went to the Ashtalakshmi temple. Here the eight forms of goddess Lakshmi are present in four levels in nine separate sanctums. View from the third floor is spectacular. The roaring of tides and the cool breeze of the ocean will make anyone utterly pleasant.
I sat there in front of Vidyalakshmi (associated with learning & wisdom) in a meditative posture and started singing Sri Rajarajeshwari ashtakam. The environment is so supportive, I’m consciously aware that I’m losing my senses and slipping into the transcendence state of meditation. My eyes remain closed and continue to sing in a voice trembling with emotion.
Someone came to me, I don’t know what divinity he has found by seeing me like that. He gently blessed in my forehead. I only felt the sensation of his fingertips on my forehead. For a while, I felt he is Shiva himself. Tears of ecstasy had washed my cheeks 😭.
I couldn’t open my eyes until I completed the Rajarajeshwari Ashtakam. No one is around by the time I open my eyes. I simply bow down to Devi and offered my pranams 🙏.
You might be wonder, because I am at Lakshmi temple and singing Devi’s chant then how come Shiva would appear? Well, Devotion is like that. No matter where and what one is doing, the heart of a devotee always hankers the lotus feet of his chosen God 🤗.
As I promised you before, let me reveal my engagement with Shiva.
Kashi
It was June 2014, I’m like any other teenager and just accompanying my mother to visit Varanasi. Varanasi or Kashi is also known as Maha-Smashana or the greatest cremation grounds. This is because the fire used to light the pyre is never allowed to go out. There will be at least one dead body burning in the banks of Ganga. This city humbles anyone by bringing the balance of Life and Death face to face.
I neither have any materialistic wishes nor a strong devotion for shiva by that time. I went to Kashi Vishwanath temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. When I saw him, he is radiating in pitch black. Black generally absorbs everything, here he absorbs everything of me 😍. He became my world from first sight itself. My soul filled with love and devotion.
Purpose of my eyes are fulfilled by seeing You
Purpose of my hands are fulfilled by touching You
Purpose of my legs are fulfilled by walking towards You
Purpose of my life is fulfilled by being in presence of You 🙇♂️
I heard the above verse inside me as if someone had implanted a radio there.
The two weeks I spent in Kashi are the most valuable days in my Life.
Even today for most people, their only dream is to go to Kashi. People believe that whoever enters the city will break the cycle of rebirth and attain salvation for sure because it was such a powerful space. Above all, the heart of the city was Vishwanath Temple 🖤
Much later when I thought of my crush Krishna, I came to know that
शिवस्य हृदयं विष्णुं विष्णोश्च हृदयं शिवः |
Vishnu is Shiva’s heart and vice versa. It’s such a wonderful feeling that nature offered me this as an experience.
My crush is the heart of my partner 😜
Let’s come back to Chennai, after visiting the Ashtalakshmi temple I came back and gave the send-offs to all my friends in my own way.
You are the first one I said hi & the last one I said bye in Chennai 😉.
I bow down to all the forces and people for dragging me here 🙇♂️ — signing off
In case, if you miss you miss my previous journey have a look here 😊.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ||