Having completed 11 readings of Narayaneeyam, I wanted to visit Guruvayoor and have the darshan of the Lord. Kannan therefore booked two months in advance the same hotel where we stayed last time 'Hotel Pushpanjali' for October 4 and 5, Friday and Saturday. Friday coincidentally was my birth star 'Chithira' and it was the second day of Navaratri and the first Friday. We reached the temple at around 12:30 pm, had a sumptuous lunch at brahmana samooham hall and got back to our hotel room. We freshened up and joined the queue at about 1:45 pm. The 2 pm darshan had already closed and so we prepared ourselves for a wait of 2 hours to see the 4:30 pm darshan. To our extreme fortune, though there seemed to be a crowd, at the time we came inside the Sanctorum, there was a very light crowd and by His divine grace, we could go right up to the front. It was brightly lit up ( which again is rare) so that we could have a very clear and wonderful look at the smiling child lord guruvayoorappa in koorma avatara alankaram. It was a mesmerizing sight and left an impression on my mind for a long time. By the time we bought the payasam prasadam and came back to our room, it must have been about 6 pm. Though I wanted to rest a bit in preparation for the Nirmalyam darshan at 3 Am, I couldn't sleep.
So leaving kannan, I went back at 7 pm to see the seeveli. I had no idea at that time that there are two seevelis every single day. One at 7 pm with just the main elephant 'Gopikannan' and the other at 9:30 pm with 5 elephants including the main elephant Gopikannan. I took part in the 3 circumambulations with loud chanting and singing of 'Hare Rama hare Krishna' mantra with the small golden statue of the Lord carried on the elephant by the keezhshanthi (devaswom staff). The wonderful part here was everytime we came to the front, I had another clear darshan of the lord. This was all three times for all three circumambulations. It was like the Lord was gracing me again and again and I was drinking and drinking again the divine ambrosia of his smiling grace bestowing face. This took about an hour and by 8 pm, I went back to the room highly excited and extremely happy.
By 8:45 pm both of us came to assess the situation of the crowd for the Nirmalyam and were shocked to see about 150 people already seated. I was wondering what to do when one 'miracle person' came to me from right in front of the queue and told us one of us could have a seat in his place. At that time, I was under the impression that for some reason,he had decided not to wait for the Nirmalyam and therefore was giving his place for me. But later on I realised that if it was not Lord Guruvayoorappan himself who had brought me there at the right time, none of the following events would have happened. But later, he said both kannan and myself could sit in that place. Having secured our place in the queue, kannan asked me to sit as he wanted to rest for a couple of hours and said he would come back by 11:45pm after bath and sit in my place after which I could go for my bath. I agreed and sat there. At around 9:15 pm, this miracle person came back and asked me and two other women if we would like to see the Seeveli. I was taken aback because I thought I had seen it and the Lord has had enough of me! But the dear compassionate lord had more in store for me. This person told us that it was the second Seeveli with 5 elephants and so we went with him. He showed us a spot where we could safely keep our footwear and then led us backwards into the temple. The five caprisoned elephants were a sight to behold and the difference this time was that there was both Krishna and guruvayoorappan on the main elephant and also 3-4 people atop each elephant with white chamarams and other paraphernalia. Again each time we went along with the elephants chanting and clapping and singing and taking the lords darshan when we came right at front all the 3 times and making prostration in front of the elephants some 4 times in each round when the conch was blown thrice in different designated points in every circumambulation. It was a divine experience that cannot be described in words. There were women and men from all sections of society and we were all one here in our love for the lord.
Once we completed the Seeveli, this person somehow made us stand right in front so that when the elephants crossed for one last time, the rope barricade was lifted and some 20 of us fortunate ones stood again right in front of the Lord and I was bang in the middle and the lord in front of me. Oh! it was like I wanted time to stand still there. Great experience though there was some jostling and pushing, I stood rooted to the spot enjoying what my eyes showed me.
Then this godsend person took us inside where the lamps around the Sanctum Sanctorum had to be lit. We were given lit tall torches and we had to light the oilfilled wickers of the numerous lamps to light the walls of the Lord. I could light about 40-50 lamps and again it was a lifetime blessing to do this on a Navaratri day Friday and I felt deeply blessed.
After the last darshan, some 100-150 of us got the trippuga ghee prasad, just drops of the divine ghee that is supposed to cure one of all ailments. We happily partook of the same and came to the backside and then I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing that the krishnanaattam was going to start with some 7-8 beautifully made up dance artists.
This was at about 10:30 pm and it was supposed to last for 3 hours or so. Our group of 3 women quickly decided among ourselves that we would go and have our baths, change and get ready for the Nirmalyam darshan and then come to witness the krishnanaattam for some time. We accordingly came back around 11:30 and then I sat and recited Lalitha Sahasranamam for the day and took darshan of lord Ganesha there and thus began another auspicious day. After recitation of the Lalitha Sahasranamam, the other younger lady Leela came along with me to watch the krishnanaattam. It was a graceful dance sequence where 2-3 men were singing and narrating the various stories of lord Krishna for the dance troupe along with traditional accompaniments. We watched this for almost an hour between 12 and 1 Am and here too there were about 100-150 people in the audience seated on the floor. I got a good partially standing and sitting spot near the steps where we get the free sandal prasad after regular darshan.
Around 1 Am, we returned back to our queue. At about 2 Am we reached the final maze . The next hour was a bit difficult as I was feeling terribly sleepy. I however managed to chant the Vishnu sahasranama in my mind.
Nirmalyam @ 3 Am was again a divine beautiful experience as we are allowed right in the front of the Lord for a slightly longer duration of few more holy seconds to enjoy his beauty and divinity. By 3:20 we had completed our darshan. We came out and had some sugarless hot coffee outside the temple entrance where I could see the new renovations of the roof and sculpture of the nine avatars and some other significant statues on either sides leading towards the entrance. We made few small purchases to gift and for my kitchen needs and came back to our room. Rested for 3 hours till 7 Am. Got up, freshened up and took an auto to mammiyoor Shiva temple and had a good darshan there also. Had breakfast at Aryas, checked out and left to the station at 9:15 to take the guruvayoor express to trissur and then the 10:40 vande Bharath from there to Kollam.
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