Sri Chakra The Source of the Cosmos The Journal of the Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam, Rush, NY Blossom 23 Petal 2 June 2018 Blossom 23, Petal 2 I Temple Bulletin 3 N Past Temple Events 4 T Upcoming Temple H Events 5 I Sri Amma: You are S forever with us! 6 Pujya Shri Mathioli I Saraswathy 8 S Steps Towards Our S Granite Temple 10 U Shata to Sahasra Chandi 11 E Kailash Yatra 13 “I love the Devi, and I see Her in the Earth.” 17 Ganaamritam 21 Gurus, Saints & Sages 25 Naivēdyam Nivēdayāmi 29 Kids Korner! 32 2 Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam • 6980 East River Road • Rush, NY 14543 • Phone: (585) 533 - 1970 Sri Chakra ● June 2018 TEMPLETEMPLETEMPLE BULLETINBULLETINBULLETIN Rajagopuram Project As many of you know, Aiya has been speaking about the need for a more permanent sacred home for Devi for a number of years. Over the past 40 years, the Temple has evolved into an import- ant center for the worship of the Divine Mother Rajarajeswari, Temple Links attracting thousands of visitors each year from around the world. Private Homa/Puja Booking: It is now time to take the next step in fulfilling Aiya’s vision of srividya.org/puja constructing an Agamic temple in granite complete with a tradi- tional Rajagopuram. With the grace of the Guru lineage and the Rajagopuram Project (Granite loving blessings of our Divine Mother, now is the right time to Temple): actively participate and contribute to make this vision a reality. srividya.org/rajagopuram The new Temple will be larger and will be built according to Email Subscriptions: the Kashyapa Shilpa Shastra. By following the holy Agamas, srividya.org/email more divine energy than ever will be attracted into the Tem- ple, and the granite will hold that energy for 10,000 years, bring- Temple Timings: ing powerful blessings to countless generations into the future. srividya.org/calendar As Maha Periyava has beautifully explained: “Temple Renovation, Reconstruction, Kumbabhishekam, etc. are all considered ex- Event Livestream: tremely noble deeds. We all should do whatever we can towards srividya.org/live these and earn Punya Karma. Whatever we offer, it may be a brick, but as long as that brick is there in that temple, we will spend Summer Youth Camp (VSI): that much time (thousands of years) in Kailash or Vaikuntham.” srividya.org/camp To learn more, please visit srividya.org/rajagopuram. To contrib- Online Donation: ute or set up monthly donations, please visit srividya.org/donate srividya.org/donate and select “Rajagopuram Building Fund” from the menu. If you would like to offer your time or expertise towards this noble en- Learning at SVTS: deavour, please contact Natarajan Mama at (585) 533 - 1970. srividya.org/learn Connect With Us (585) 533 - 1970 www.srividya.org (416) 628 - 3786 [email protected] Sri Vidya Temple Sri Vidya Temple Sri Vidya Temple 3 Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam • 6980 East River Road • Rush, NY 14543 • Phone: (585) 533 - 1970 Blossom 23, Petal 2 PAST EVENTS ... March 2018 to June 2018 Apr Tamil New Year (Vilambi) As the new year began on an early Saturday morning, the 14 temple was filled with over 250 devotees to mark the beginning of the ‘Vilambi’ year. A pot of sweet pongal was prepared and beautifully decorated with vibhuti, kumkumam and mango leaves. In front of this, there was a beautiful fruit and vegetable display filling up a large brass vessel. In addition, being a Saturday, all devotees participated in the weekly Saturday puja sequence including performing abhishekam to Ganapathi, Devi, Shiva and the Meru by themselves, and received Maha Prasadam and sweet pongal prasadam after the festivities. Apr Pratyangira Homam Typically performed on the first Sunday after Tamil New 15 Year, the temple was filled with devotees who were present to witness this powerful homam for Maha Pratyangira Devi. Aiya offered copious amounts of red chillies into the fire over the span of the three hour homam. All devotees were given the opportunity to prepare bhakshanam beforehand and everyone present was able to offer the bhakshanam into the homam. After the conclusion of the homam with Digdevata Bali, a beautiful youth violin duet concert was offered to Devi. Apr Chitra Purnima Similar to Adi Amavasya, the puja and rituals performed 29 on this day are to honour the soul of one’s departed mother. The devotees do a simple puja for their mothers and offer pindams, small balls made of white rice flour, banana, ghee, jaggery and black sesame seeds. Approximately 150 devotees, led by Aiya, performed tarpanam and offered pindams to pray for their deceased ancestors. Several extra pindams were also made and offered to residing spirits in the area. Following this, all present received the opportunity to do offer their pindams in the stream. May Special Homam/Puja for Sri Amma As Sri Amma was ill for some time, the Sri Vidya Temple 13 Society arranged to have a special prayer session to pray for her speedy recovery. Unfortunately, due to her sudden demise, the temple had to evolve the service into a Shanthi puja. On this day, a grand altar was set up for our Divine Mother, which was witnessed by approximately 125 devotees. Kalasasthapanam took place as well as Archana with Soundarya Lahari in front of the altar. This was followed by a Ganapathi Homam. Upon conclusion of all the puja services, testimonies of Sri Amma were shared by devotees, which was followed by Annadhanam. 4 Sri Chakra • [email protected] Sri Chakra ● June 2018 IN THREE UPCOMING EVENTS MONTHS ... Annual Alankara Utsavam Devi willing, the next issue Sri Chakra 29 Sri Maha Ganapathi Utsavam of the will be up June on the temple’s website at the Annual Alankara Utsavam beginning of September 2018. 30 Sri Raja Rajeswari Utsavam, This magazine cannot Chandi Homam, Chapparam keep publishing without Annual Alankara Utsavam contributions! Articles, poems, stories and photos about any 1 Sri Dattatreya Utsavam spiritual topic are welcomed. Annual Alankara Utsavam The next deadline for article July submission is August 1, 2018. 2 Sri Bhairavar Madai Please e-mail us with your contributions or feedback about Guru Purnima this issue at srichakra@srividya. 26 org or talk to Virroshi at the temple. 4-11 Vibhiti Saivaite Immersion (Annual Summer Camp) Sri Gurubhyo Namaha! 10 Adi Amavasya August 13 Adi Puram Varalakshmi Vratam 24 Our special thanks and gratitude to this issue’s *All events will occur at the Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam, Rush, NY, unless otherwise stated above. volunteers: Aiya, Adheesh Ankolekar, Veena Ganeshan, Aparna Hasling, Muralee Mahathevan, Ramesh Natarajan, Kamya Ramaswamy, Gayathri Ramesh, Temple Administration and the Thulasi Kitchen. Sri Chakra • [email protected] 5 Blossom 23, Petal 2 Sri Amma you are forever with us! Written by Aiya Sri-la-Sri Mathioli Saraswathy, affectionately known as Sri Amma or Sri Akka, shed her mortal coils on the 9th of May at 9:18am IST in Chennai, India. Her cremation was performed on the same day in the evening. Sri Amma was instrumental in the manifestation of the Rajarajeswari temple in Rochester, NY. She graciously performed the Bhoomi Puja for the temple and made certain that the necessary finances made their way to the temple without any outward show. Sri Amma has been a rock for all the devotees in our temple. Although we were not a branch of her famous Nandalala Mission, she considered this temple to be Hers and we also considered Her to be the presiding deity here. It is because of her guidance that I did 1000 ahuthis of Chandi Navakshari and spread turmeric around the property when we had initial difficulty in securing special permits to build the temple on this location. Sri Amma did not stop with just that. At every point, and at every juncture, she has given us invaluable advice, supplemented with material help in many ways. She has been instrumental in stocking the temple with traditional vessels that are typically used only in ancient Shiva or Devi temples. She has very generously given these vessels to the temple, some of which were directly purchased by Her. There are many projects that were initiated at the temple because of her initiative and love for the temple. To name a few: • the diamond Thirumangalyam project was initiated and executed by her • the kitchen, Tulasi, Annadhana Koodam, was initiated by her and she was completely instrumental in providing the temple and the temple kitchen with all the equipment that we use to this day Sri Amma not only provided the kitchen with equipment, she cooked the first rice after having had an Uttama Adhikaari to do japam over the very first pot of rice that was cooked in this temple. Sri Amma has made periodic visits to the temple and her nurturing, selfless loving, humorous, jovial, affectionate interactions with the devotees, whether they were 8 or 80 years old can never be forgotten by anyone in the temple. 6 Sri Chakra ● June 2018 Her Love and Knowledge When she was in hospital in Chennai being treated for her physical illness, on 3 or 4 occasions when she came out of intensive care, her first inquiry was about the devotees in Rochester, and how I (Aiya) was doing. It shows that she came to this Earth with the purpose of serving Her children, something that she did until her last breath. Her talents were put to very good use by writing more than 70 books in her own brilliant, simple but penetrating style, in Tamil. She has left behind a treasure chest of information for all her devotees to benefit from.