57th Birthday Celebrations of Sri Swamiji, Sri Venkateshwara Temple Consecration, 23 Jun 1999
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Avadhoota Datta Peetham, Mysore
1988: Manginapodi, A tiny beachside hamlet near Masulipatnam. His Holiness was bathing in the sea along with a large group of devotees. Suddenly a black object was lifted by His Holiness. It was a two feet high black granite statue of Lord Venkateswara. Sri Swamiji then exclaimed ! Lord venkateswara is entereing Datta Peetham. In Manginapodi, Datta Peetham has a branch, wherein is built an ancient Shiva temple and a Datta temple recently consecrated by His Holiness. The Manginapodi is popularly known as’ Datta Rameswaram"due to the consecration of 9 wells to bath, as in Rameswaram.
In 1995: His Holiness announced that a Temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara would be built in the Mysore Datta Peetham premises. His Holiness further announced that the facility , when completed, should serve as an institute for training priests in the formal and proper way of offering services to the deity. Various rituals that have to be performed from dawn to dusk in a temple. "This is urgently needed in our country" declared His Holiness. As the temple building involved several departments of skilled artisans, a committee called "Sri Venkateswara Agama Shikshana Kendra" was constituted . This commiittee is in overall incharge of the development of the temple complex. Devotees took this announcement as a Blessing. His Holiness envisaged a temple complex consisting of the Maha Sannidhanam of Lord Venkateswara along with separate shrines fo Goddess Padmavathy Devi, Ganapati, Dhanvanthari (the God of Ayurveda, God of health), Navagraha ( full sized Navagraha idols with each planet god having separate Pradakshina Marga), These temples would be accessable from a huge Sabha Mantapa. The complex would also contain Yaga Shala, Asthana Mantapa (to conduct temple ceremonies), kitchen to prepare prasadam, quarters for the priest, cook and manager.
With this master plan in hand, we approached Vidwan Sri. Ananta Padmanabha Acharya, an octegenerian pundit, reknowned for his mastery in Vaikhanasa Agama ( the Agama scripture, that deals in the science of building, maintaining and services for a Vishnu or Vishnu related temple). An ardent devotee of His Holiness for over a decade, he readily accepted and prepared the dimension, selected the appropriate site for the temple complex in Mysore Peetham.
As instructed by His Holiness, two sets of Venkateswara and Padmavathy idols were ordered. One set has been sculpted and supplied by Allagadda Sthapathy of Andhra Pradesh . The sthapathy has won President’s award for art. The second set has been sculpted by Kanakarathinam Sthapathy of Thiru Murugan Poondi. His Holiness decided that a Ganapati idol presented by a devotee from Orissa state in 1993, be used for the Ganapati temple. A well known Ayurvedic doctor from Mysore had gifted to the Peetham, a Dhanvantari idol a few years ago. That will be used for the Dhanvanthari temple.
Sri. Muttu Kannan, a venerated stone sculptor from Shiva Ganga region in Tamil Nadu state was appointed as the chief stone sculptor. He visited several stone quarries in Karnataka state to check the quality and the sculpt worthiness of the stone. He selected a quarry in Avala Halli, a tiny village near Kanakapura.
As the stone supply commenced, Sri. Muttu Kannan brought a band of stone sculptors from his native village, Shiva Ganga. Numbering about forty, they have constructed their working shed, their own smeltry to prepare the chisels, hammers, etc. (Mind that a sharp chisel lasts only sixty sconds of sculpting).
The plans of architectural features of the temple , as designed by Sri. Padmanabhacharya, were effected in brick and mortar by renowned Sthapathy, Sri. John Babu of Andhra Pradesh. His task also involved the construction of Gopurams of the temples and the Raja Gopuram towering sixty feet in the air.
The Dhwaja Sthambham, needed a teak wood tree, measuring not less then sixty feet in length and not less than 100 cms in circumference at the base. A tree was located in a remote forest in Kerala and was shifted to the temple premises. A band of carpenters seasoned the tree and shaped it in to a Dhwaja Sthambham.
All the constructions have been professionally designed and executed by a reputed civil construction company under the watchful supervision of devotee engineers. The temple is slated to be ready for Prana Pratishthapanam and Kumbhabhishekan 23rd June, 1999.
Sri Venkateshwara Temple Consecration
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji, a Mahatma in the Dattatreya Tradition has been spreading the message of peace, harmony, righteousness and religious tolerance to the world since more than three decades. Sri Swamiji is a Yoga Siddhi Purusha, a great messiah of Bhakti Yoga and an extraordinary Nada Yogi. Sri Swamiji, who respects all faiths, has travelled extensively throughout the world and has established Dattatreya Temples in many countries and has kindled spiritual awareness in the hearts of millions of devotees.
Sri Swamiji, who urges everyone to lead a sublime life with the help of the innate spiritual energy and wisdom often encourages His devotees to recharge their spiritual batteries by worshipping the Almighty God. He emphasizes the fact that the best way to do it is to go to places of worship as often as one can.
There is a highly symbolic history to the Venkateshwara Temple Complex, which is going to be consecrated on 23rd June in Datta Peetham in Mysore.
Sri Swamiji established this Ashram in the scenic foothills of the Chamundi Hill in Mysore way back in 1966. Since then Sri Datta Peetham has been a hub of various spiritual, religious, social and cultural activities. Navaratri, Shivaratri, Datta Jayanti and many other festivals are being celebrated with great religious splendor and fervor. The recently inaugurated Nada Mantapa is viewed as a crowing glory in the history of Datta Peetham.
Sri Swamiji, has been like a great magnetic force ever since His childhood days. His biography reveals as to how people were attracted to Him while He was helping his uncle as an assistant priest in the temple in the Chamundi Vana gardens. Mr. Tiruvengada Mudaliar and his family members were among the first people who were greatly influenced by Sri Swamiji’s spiritual aura. Mr. Mudaliar had once told about his dream to Sri Swamiji, in which Lord Venkateshwara appeared one day and told him to donate a piece of land to the Ashrama. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Mudaliar, his sons came to Sri Swamiji and offered to fulfill their father’s promise. But there were many hurdles and the government had to permit the gift of the land. It must be mentioned here that at that time, Sri Swamiji did not have any plans of building a temple. But it must be the divine Sankalpa of Lord Venkateshwara Himself to have Datta Peetham as his abode! An astonishing chain of extraordinary events took place and it is in this piece of land that the present Temple complex is coming up.
Many persons were involved in the long process which was to take place for the temple to come up. When we enlist the names of people who were involved, we find a striking coincidence, nay, a perfect divine plan. There was one common denominator in their names – that was, each name was somehow related to Lord Venkateshwara’s name! Saptagiri, Venkatasubbaiah, Srinivas Achar, Govinda .. the list goes on. It was now clear to everyone that the entire process was going on as per a divine plan.
When the process was going on, a devotee in Manginapudi(near Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh) offered an idol of Lord Venkateshwara which he had found in the sea beach. It was as though Lord Venkateshwara was reminding Sri Swamiji of His divine Sankalpa to make Datta Peetham one of His holy abodes.
Around the same period, Rama Mohan (Govinda), a devotee from Madras came to Sri Swamiji and expressed his wish to contribute for a small Venkateshwara Temple in Datta Peetham. What started then as a small temple gradually turned out to be a huge project consuming several millions of rupees.
The temple architecture is much similar to the one in the holy Tirumala. It is the firm belief of Datta devotees that the Lord of the seven hills of Tirumala has Himself come to Datta Peetham.
The temple complex includes separate sancta sanctorum for Goddess Padmavati, (the divine consort of Venkateshwara) Lord Ganapati, Lord Dhanvantari and the Navagrahas. It is a beautifully aesthetic structure in front of which is a huge Dhwaja Stambha(sacred flag post) made out of a 150 year old teak tree, specially brought from the deep forests of Kerala.
The week long consecration is going to be performed in the divine presence of Sri Swamiji. Sri Anantapadmanabha Acharya, a renowned Vaikhanasa Agama Pundit, assisted by scholarly Agamikas along with the main priests and Vedic Scholars of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams have been placed in charge of the consecration rituals. The event coincides with the 57th Birthday Celebrations of Poojya Sri Swamiji and thus promises to be a memorable occasion.
We invite one and all to take part in this historic sacred event and obtain the blessings of the Almighty God and Poojya Sri Swamiji.
Jaya Guru Datta.
