Sri Swamiji in Datta Kshetra Yatra, Nam Dattanatha, Nellore, 27 - 30 Jan 2003
Datta Kshetra Yatra - Nellore, Andhra Pradesh
NAM Dattanatha Kshetra - Krishna Dhyana Mandira
Sri Swamiji arrived in Madras on the 27th January (Monday) from Vizag at 3.45 PM and was received enthusiastically by devotees in Chennai Airport. Sri Swamiji drove straight to Nellore. En route, Sri Swamiji stopped in Venkatachalam near Nellore. Here in this small village, a cyber revolution is happening and the same has been called as CYBER GRAMEEN. This one stop solution center offers the villagers and farmers of the surrounding areas with computerised land records, payment of taxes, banking, store to purchase agricultural requirements, medical facility with distance diagnostic tools and the like. This is a pilot project. Sri Swamiji was received by Sri Tripuraneni Krishna Prasad, chief promoter of this project and was shown around. Sri Swamiji was deeply impressed with this great idea and felt that when properly understood and used, the actual benefits of cyber culture would make inroads in to rural India. That night Sri Swamiji camped in Sri Venkatrama Reddy's house who is the executive Trustee of the local nellore Ashrama Trust.
On 28th January, Sri Swamiji visited the houses of a few devotees and arrived in Nellore Ashrama at 10 AM and had Darshan of Lord Krishna, Ganapati, Dattatreya, Karya Siddhi Hanuman and Ashtha Lakshmi. All the shrines were beautifully decorated. Sri Chakra Puja was performed and Sri Swamiji spoke briefly. In the evening, there was a brief Satsang.
Nellore is situated on the banks of Pennar river .Nellore was earlier called as Simhapuri. There are several important temples around the city. Narasimha Konda is a important Narasimha Swamy shrine. Penchila Konda Narasimha Temple is popular. In Jonnavada there is a Kamaakshi Temple. In the city centre is Sri Ranga Naayaki and Ranganath Swamy in reclining position. It was built in the 10th century during the reign of Chola kings. There is a temple of Dharma Raja, the eldest of the Pandavas from Mahabharata. This is indeed unique as there are no mention of such shrine any where else in India. The bustling town is primarily engaged in prawn and aqua culture activities. The rice grown in this area is long grain and is called as Nellore Sanna Akki and is very famous in South India.
Potti Sri Ramulu one of the giants of Andhra state, unification hails form the area.
Sri Swamiji first visited Nellore area in 1982 and since then the devotee base steadily grew. When Sri Swamiji visited the city in 1982, the Datta Kankana (copper Datta bracelet) had been newly introduced and the Nellorites found it very interesting and bought them.
In 1994 Rebala Sujathamma donated 2 acres of land to Datta Peetham in the city area and she also built a Krishna temple for practice of Yoga and meditation. Sri Swamiji gave the marble Krishna statue that had been in Mysore Ashrama since 1970s. While giving Sri Swamiji had mentioned several times that a very important and dear idol was being given away. The central and main shrine of Lord Krishna is flanked on the right by Ganapathy Shrine and to the left by Dattatreya Shrine. Sri Swamiji had named the Datta as NAM Dattanatha Temple.
On 29th and 30th, the regular Pujas and Homas were conducted. Evening Satsangs were held.
On 31st, Sri Swamiji performed Milk Abhishekam to Ashtha Lakshmi and left for Vijayawada.
