Two Trips to India in 2019

Two short trips were taken to India in the year 2019. This article, albeit late, is posted so that the beautiful pictures and associated events are recorded and shared. The first trip was taken in April 2019 with only myself, my wife Srimathy and my daughter Sapna who  joined us from her semester study abroad program from Italy. Son Ajay could not take time off from work.

The April 2019 trip started off with miraculous experiences right from the air transit in Frankfurt, Germany, wherein standing at a coffee shop line, I bumped into a stranger Sri Balasubramaniam who is a businessman from Chennai, India, and we started talking about Dasa Mahavidyas, my love for Them, etc. He ended up taking me to a Swamiji, Sri Narayana Teertha Swamigal, in Chennai, who gave me Moola Mantra Upadesham for Sri Tara Devi ! Sri Balasubramaniam’s photo is below:

Sri Narayana Teertha Swamigal’s photo is below:

Brother-in-law Sri Kishore and my father-in-law Sri Krshna met us and took us to Anichchampaalayam where we had darshan of Sri Keshava Teertha Swamigal’s Brindaavanam. He was the Guru of Sri Raghavendra Swamigal. There we had darshan of Gyaani Sri Krishnarav Swamigal, who “hears” answers to devotees’ questions directly from Sri Keshava Teertha Swamy Himself and conveys to the devotees. Below is a photo of the Brindavanam with Srimathy in the foreground .

Below is a photo of Sri Krishnarav Swamigal.



As though this nectar was not enough, Kishore took us to Oonjaloor, where the real adhistaanam of Sri Seshadri Swamigal is there. What a peaceful place that was ! Below is a photo of the adhistaanam of Sri Seshadri Swamigal and a photo of myself with the old gentleman who is the caretaker of the place.

 To add to the beauty, we ended up in Kancheepuram, where Sri Bhuvananadar Swamy, who conducts the daily Poojas for Sri Kamakshi Amman at the famous Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kancheepuram gave both me and my wife Moola Mantra Upadesham of Ganapathy and Bala Tripura Sundari and gave me the Navakshari Mantra Upadesham of Sri Chandika Devi !!! We were in cloud nine ! Below is a photo of our Guru Sri Bhuvananada Swamy.

Amidst all this, there was some business to be conducted in Coimbatore and we took care of it. And I had to get some significant dental work done ( 3 extractions and 7 dental implants in ONE sitting !). The dental work was done at Dentistree opposite SIET College in Chennai and the Implantalogist was Dr. Deepa Lakshmi. She said “Amongst all the patients I have had you were the most cooperative; you did not even move a bit !” And I said, “Doc, as you were doing your task, I was doing japa of The Great Gayatri Mantram !” Such is the POWER of the Gayatri Mantram ! Below is a photo of Dr. Deepa Lakshmi, Dr. Anupama, Myself, Srimathy and my daughter Sapna, after the procedure.

And now for the super short trip to India taken in November 2019:

This time it was only Srimathy and myself that could go. Ajay had to be working and Sapna had college. This time also, significant dental work had to be done in the sense of 3 root-canals in one sitting, mold-development for subsequent cap and crowns (10 of them !) The procedure went nicely; again, it was 4 hours long in one sitting and two additional visits – The Great Gayatri Mantram came to the rescue again !! It is never failing !

Some business had to be conducted in Coimbatore, which went off well. We were ordered by Sri Krishnarav from the last trip to offer our salutations to Sri SivaKaamaSundari Devi and so we visited Her Abode in Thirukaameshwaram which is near Musiri near Trichy. Below is a photo of that temple.

And we visited Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram, a photo of which is below.

The pinnacle joy of our trip was the visit to Panappalli Maariamman Devi Temple in Panappalli, near Coimbatore. I have been wanting to get Her Darshan for two years now. Somehow, our driver Gopi discovered the route ! It is in the hills of Western Ghats and there is no pathway – no roads – not even walkways ! One has to trek by foot and finally there SHE IS in HER magnificent Glory !! You know, there is no formal temple there ….. just a shed in the high hills. There Sri Selvi Amma who gets Maariamman Devi’s powers speaks to us in our language so we can understand. The entire area is populated very sparsely by aboriginal tribal folks – so simple they live – nice !! A close-up photo of Sri Maariamman Devi from Panappalli is at the top of this post ! Below are two short video clips just a few seconds long.

And this post concludes with Sri Panappalli Maariamman Devi with the garland we took and offered Her!

Sri Panappalli Maariamman Devi Namo Namaha !