OLD COUPLES MINI MAGHA MASA YATRA (1)


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March 3rd 2011
Published: March 3rd 2011
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OLD COUPLES MINI MAGHA MASA YATRA (1)

I had a desire to perform Samudra Snanam (bath in sea waters) in Magha Masam and visit the temples of Trinities Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, in the same trip. Earlier when we were at Vijayawada in the year 2000 we made it a point to have Samudra Snanam in Ashadha, Karthika, Magha and Vaisakha Masams and accordingly visited the beaches of Manginapudi (Masulipatam), Surya Lanka (Bapatla), Hamsala Deevi (Avanigadda) and Vadarevu (Chirala). Our great Sages have ordained that one should perform Samudra Snanam in Magha Masam, taking into account the benefit it confers healthwise.

ADVANTAGES OF MAGHA SNANAM IN SEA WATERS

In the earlier months to Magha Masam, on account of cold and snow, the body becomes weak because of lack proper sunshine, etc. In Magha Masam the Sun rays provide more heat and they energize the Sea and River Waters destroying the bacteria in the waters. Common salt also acts as an antibiotic and necessary for our body to cleanse the skin. Taking these factors into consideration, our Sages prescribed that one should perform Samudra Snanam and spend in Sea waters for a period of one Ghadiya (48 minutes) in Magha Masam. By this the energy of sun rays embedded in the water spreads into our body. Taking a bath in sea waters for about 48 minutes refreshes us by cleansing our external body opening the roma coupams and a lot of significance has been added from spiritual point of view in the daily routine of an Individual. The benefits are multiple when sea bath is taken in Magha Masam.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MAGHA MASAM :

Magha Masam is mainly dedicated to Lord Sun, Lord Shiva, and Goddess Saraswati Devi. Saraswati Pooja is performed on Magha Sukla Panchami on a very large scale in Bengal; Magha Sukla Saptmi is known as Radha Saptami and Surya Bhgavan is worshipped on this day. It is customary that one should have river bath keeping leaves of Jilledu on the head by Gents and leaves of Chikkudu by Ladies. Bhishma Ekadasi and Maha Sivaratri also fall in this month. Magha Masam is the month which is very auspicious and worshipping Lord Shiva, Lord Surya Bhagavan, Maha Vishnu and Goddess Saraswati Devi remove the sins and sufferings of the devotees. It is said that reciting Aditya Hrudayam or Aruna patham or Maha Souram in this month invoking the blessings of Lord Surya Bhagavan confers good health.

In our earlier pilgrimage to Jyotirlinga temples, we visited Pushkar in Rajasthan and performed Hiranyam to ancestors and worshipped Chaturmukha Brahma, said to be the only ancient temple of Brahma in India. My friend Mr.GVSR (Dharmadhikari of Sringeri Sankara Matham in Hyderabad) is of the firm opinion that whenever one visits punya kshetras, one should offer Hiranya Sraddham to ancestors (Pitru Devathas) who would be anxiously awaiting of the same from their heirs. We also came to know that there is a unique Chaturmukha Brahma Temple in Andhra Pradesh in a village called Chebrole near Guntur (15 kms from Guntur on Guntur-Bapatla Road). As I am planning to visit this temple also, an opportunity in the form of an invitation from my wife’s cousin came handy, to grace his son’s Upanayanam function being performed at Dwaraka Tirumala temple. Taking this as an opportunity, I intended to combine my Magha Masa Yatra to perform Samudra Snanam and worship of Trinities.

Dt.19th February, 2011 – Saturday.

Accordingly, we started at 9 am from my home in our new car Swift Dzire (specially purchased keeping in view of our pilgrimages in self-driving). It is seen that there is a rasta roko in Telangana Districts between 10 am and 1 pm. So we have decided to travel to Guntur via Nagarjunasagar, Dachepalli, Piduguralla and Sattenapalli, as the route is through small villages and no major rasta roko programmes are expected. I requested my colleague and friend Mr.Bhaskara Sastry in Guntur to reserve a room in Aditya Hotel, Brodipet, Guntur (where we have stayed earlier) which he kindly obliged. On the way we finished lunch consisting of Pulihora and sweets brought from my house and reached the Lodge in Guntur by 3 pm (travelling a distance of 300 kms in this route). After comfortably settling in the Hotel Room and spending the evening in the busy shopping centre of Brodipet, Guntur, we took rest for the day.

Dt.20th February, 2011 – Sunday:

Today we have programmed to visit the Chaturmukha Brahma Temple in Chebrole and then Samudra Snanam in Surya Lanka Beach of Bapatla. We started from our Hotel at 6-30 am towards Chebrole.

BRAHMA IN HINDU MYTHOLOGY

According to Hindu Mythology Lord Brahma is the creator of this universe and he was born from a Lotus emerging from the naval of Lord Vishnu. According to another account, the self-existent Lord Brahma created waters and deposited a seed that became a Golden Egg from which He was born and He divided the Golden Egg into two parts consisting of Heaven and Earth and later created Prajapatis who created the mankind. As per Valmiki Ramayanam, Lord Brahma separated himself into male and female after dividing the Golden Egg and from them sprang the Sages Kasyapa, Marichi, Manu, etc., and Brahma Manasaputras who created the rest of the mankind.

Mythology describes that Brahma had originally five heads and one of them was cut down by Lord Shiva in his anger. Later Brahma had four heads facing the four sides representing the four Vedas, the four Yugas and the four Varnas. Lord Brahma is visualised as sitting on a Swan (Hamsa) and the Swan stands for wisdom and discrimination. He is also shown riding a chariot drawn by seven Swans, representing seven worlds. The temple dedicated to Lord Brahma in Ajmere and the icons here and there in other temples show his viswakarma aspect with four heads, the four arms holding rosary, the book, the kush and a kamandal and riding on a Swan.

NO WORSHIP-CONCEPT OF LORD BRAHMA

Inspite of the fact that Lord Brahma is one of the Trimurtis and creator of Mankind, there are no temples dedicated to Lord Brahma and there is no daily worship, except the temple at Pushkar in Rajasthan. According to Puranas, Lord Brahma lied to Lord Shiva that he had seen the top portion of the JWALA JYOTIRLINGAM and for this spoken untruth Lord Shiva cursed that Lord Brahma is unfit to be worshipped in Bhoolokam and since then worship of Brahma ceased to exist. It is believed that Brahma cult existed in prevedic Sanathana Dharma period and later the Shiva-Vishnu-Sakti cult spread making the Brahma cult redundant.

Our Puranas describe that Sages, Devotees, Devathas and Rakshasas are worshipping first Lord Brahma and performing penace to obtain boons from him. It is believed that pleasing Lord Brahma with penace is easier and he blesses quickly. Most of the Demon Kings worshipped Lord Brahma and obtained very Great Boons and became stronger than Devathas and other demigods. It is unfortunate that the worship of such easily pleased God of Lord Brahma was prohibited in Bhoolokam.

With these thoughts roaming in the mind, we reached the temple premises of Lord Chaturmukha Brahma in Chebrole by 7 am. Besides the temple of Chaturmukha Brahma, there is also another ancient Shiva temple known as Brahma Lingeswara Temple in Chebrole which was on an elevated place compared to the temple of Lord Brahma. Unfortunately, it is seen that on account of heavy rains this year, the temple of Lord Chaturmukha Brahma was surrounded by waters on all sides and the temple is partly submerged in the pushkarini. There is no way of approaching the sanctum sanctorium as the same was also partly submerged in water.



CHATURMUKHA BRAHMA TEMPLE SUBMERGED IN PUSHKARINI WATERS
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RAGHAVARAO U.V.G.V. DUGGIRALA,
HYDERABAD, Dt.1st MARCH, 2011.


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