Karnataka Yatra - Day 3 (part 2)

Sringeri Gopuram

The distance to Sringeri from Kolur is about 110 kms which we covered in about 2.5 hours. The drive was through forest areas with little human population / villages on the way. The weather became distinctly cooler as we neared Sringeri which is located about 2200 feet above sea level. A friend had arranged for our stay within the temple complex. We first went to their office and, after registration formalities, were given keys to our room in a building called Shankar Bhavan. This is less than 200 feet from the temple. Simply awesome !! They even provided a decent room for our driver to stay.

Vidya Shankara Temple

Our room was decent with aircon (not really required due to the pleasant weather), a large bathroom and a small foyer. We rested for some time, and I also used the opportunity to wash a few clothes and hang them in the back of our lodging. In the evening after our bath and prayers, we proceeded to the temple.

The story goes that when Sankara Acharya came to Sringeri, he happened to see an unusual sight on the banks of the river Tunga. A cobra was spreading out its hood over a frog in labour pains, thus providing shade from the scorching sun. What stuck Sankara was that this was the place that could infuse love even among natural adversaries, such as snake and a frog. Therefore, it thought that this was the fittest spot to establish the temple he wanted to. The Acharya chose this very place to establish his first Mutt.

Sharada Devi Temple

The main temples in Sringeri Mutt are the Sarada temple (dedicated to Saraswati Devi), the Vidya Shankara temple (dedicated to Shiva) and a temple dedicated to Adi Sankara. There is also a unique temple of Ganesh ji, where the deity is placed above the door – there is no sanctum. There are also many smaller temples within the complex for some of the previous Acharyas. We were fortunate to witness the golden car procession ritual within the Sarada temple as it was a Friday. Our darshan was leisurely and comfortable – no pressure from anyone to move as there were very few devotees at that time. We also had darshan in the other temples leisurely and enjoyed the cool weather in the large compound of the temple complex.

Later in the evening, we broke our fast at the Annadanam hall by eating Upma served with sambhar & chutney. It was delicious. At around 8 pm, we went to witness the Chandramouleshwar pooja being conducted by the senior pontiff, HH Sri Bharati Teerth Mahaswami also known as Mahasannidanam, in a large hall situated across the Tunga river which flows alongside the temple. The pooja was attended by a couple of hundred people and telecast live over YouTube and some TV channels. The pooja was conducted in a very nice manner with the chanting of Sri Rudram etc. by the devotees assembled there. Later a couple of devotees sang some songs from the Tirupughal which was very pleasing to the ears.

Tunga River

We were fortunate to get a good darshan of Mahasannidanam and witness the detailed manner in which he did the Chandramouleeshwar puja. It was really a grand ceremony. We could not have darshan of HH Sri Vidhusekhara Bharati (Sannidanam) as he was away on a Vijaya yatra to Andhra Pradesh at that time.

After this, we walked back to our room. The air was crisp & cool and the ground was clean and comfortable to walk barefoot. The whole place was very well maintained and sufficient lighting was available. We were quite exhausted by this time and hit the bed for a sound sleep.