Visiting Temples

Visiting Wayanad, I was sitting under a tree at Manikavu Temple and admiring the beauty of the surrounding, when I overheard a conversation of a kid and his mother, he asked an innocent question, “why do we have to visit temples?” She tried giving a Philosophical answer, which she was aware was not convincing One genuine reason could be is that she also doesn’t know…. It has been in our tradition for thousands of years and she has been following it.

Before getting to my understanding, let me just tell you a bit Manikavu Temple…

Manikavu Temple is one of the most visited temples in Kerala and also one of the popular places of pilgrimage in Wayanad. First and foremost, we don’t find any huge structure there, In between a very Sarine place, surrounded by tree we find a small temple, the presiding deity of this temple is Lord Shiva in the form of Shiva Linga. The Shiva Linga at this temple is believed to be Swayambu (formed by its own accord). The special feature of this temple is that stream pierces the temple from behind and pours over the idol. The amount of water remains the same even in monsoon season.

Oral history among villagers say Lord Siva formed it thousands of years ago to protect the Kavu (sacred grove) and the source spring behind the temple standing testimony to the mythological legend that Lord Shiva carries River Ganges on his head.

Coming back to the Question of the child, I being an Atheist I would like to put the answer it more pragmatically. I am sure there would be question in your mind if you are an Atheist, what are you doing in a Temple, maybe I will answer this some other day….

I would be talking on temple which are build on old Vedic Architecture not the Morden once, not all temples are built as described in Vedic literature.

Temples are found deliberately at a place where the positive energy is available abundantly from the magnetic and electric wave conveyances of north/south post push. The idol of God is set in the core center of the temple, known as “Garbhagriha” or “Moolasthanam”. Ideally, the structure of the temple is built after the idol has been placed in a high positive wave centric place.

This *moolasthanam* is the place where earth’s magnetic waves are discovered to be most extreme (The place of the deity is where earth’s magnetic waves are found to be maximum!). An example which I can think of which I visited few years back is Chidambaram Temple located at the Center Point of world 's Magnetic Equator.

That is the reason why the men are not allowed to wear shirts inside the temple and ladies have to wear more ornaments while their visit to temple, it is through these jewels (metal) the positive energy passes through to their body.

Depending on the Place you will find the size of Deity and the size of entrance to Garbhagriha will change, and it will be covered at Three sides.

Some other important points while visiting the temple is not to wear footwear is because in olden days, temples were built in such a way that the floor at the centre of the temple were good conductors of these positive vibrations allowing them to pass through our feet to the body. Hence it is necessary to walk barefoot while you enter the core centre of the temple.

Five Senses of Human Body Are Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, And Smell. These Are Activated by The Following Actions in The Temple: The positive energy in the temple is absorbed properly only if you ensure that all five senses are activated in your body while you are in the temple.

People who are visiting the temple should and will Ring the bell before entering the inner temple (Garbhagudi, Garbhagriha, Moolasthanam or womb-chamber) where the main idol is placed. These bells are made in such a way that when they produce a sound it creates a unity in the Left and Right parts of our brains. The moment we ring the bell, it produces a sharp and enduring sound which lasts for minimum of 7 seconds in echo mode. The duration of echo is good enough to activate all the seven healing centres in our body. This results in emptying our brain from all negative thoughts. This bell sound is also absorbed by the idol and vibrated within the Garbhagudi for a certain period of time.

The inner core of the temple is usually dark where the idol is placed. You usually close your eyes to pray and when you open your eyes you should see the camphor which was lit to do the Aarthi in front of the idol. This light seen inside the dark activates your sight sense.

Once the camphor is brought to you after offering the prayer, you usually put your hands over the camphor to make your hands warm and then you touch your eyes with your warm hands. This action assures your touch sense is active.

Flower, is good to see, spreads good fragrance, very soft to touch, the nectar given by flower pleases the tongue, and this combination is perfect for using at the temple. Only specific flowers are used for offering to God like rose petals, jasmine, marigold based on different factors, amongst them fragrance is most important. The fragrance of the flower, camphor and instance sticks all together have the strong essence to keep your smell sense active and pleasant giving calmness to the mind.

The next part of your act would be to drink theertham ideally from a silver or a copper vessel. The water used for theertham usually would contain Thulasi leaves dipped in water and must be stored at least for eight hours in the copper vessel. According to Ayurveda, water stored in a copper vessel has the ability to balance all the three doshas in your body, (vata, kapha and pitta) and it does so by positively charging the water. By drinking this Thulasi water you activate the taste sense.

Finally, after performing all the above rituals you have to walk around the idol inside the Garbhagirha, the inner most chamber of temple in clockwise direction for nine times. Pradakshina literary means right side in Sanskrit. The idol inside the Garbhagriha absorbs all the energy from the bell sound, camphor heat and vibrates the positive energy within the Garbhagriha for a certain duration of time. When you do the pradakshina at this point of time, you tend to absorb all these positive vibrations once your five senses are activated.

This vibration inside the Garbhagriha is considerably less and hence it is advised to visit the temple very often and follow the same rituals again.

On the forehead, between the two eyebrows, is a spot that is considered as a major nerve point in human body since ancient times. The Tilak is believed to prevent the loss of “energy”, the red ‘kumkum’ between the eyebrows is said to retain energy in the human body and control the various levels of concentration. While applying kumkum the points on the mid-brow region and Adnya-chakra are automatically pressed. This also facilitates the blood supply to the face muscles.

With so many new temples being built in every colony, still you will find many people saying “That temple is very powerful” and they are the old ones and most of us prefer to visit the old ancient temple…