On our way to Amma Karunamayi ashram

The road is beautiful for most part. But very rough for a few miles. I thought that the Indian car tires must be very strong. For a while I thought we were driving on large pebbles. We had darsans at Jonnawada Kamakshamma, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami first. Both were blissful, very nostalgic for me.  Kamakshamma's Temple is also very familiar to me. During summer months our relatives also used to join in providing food and thirst quenching water, light butter milk to the devotees free of charge. I think each family sponsored a few days. The pooja and prasadms were delicious.

For the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, I climbed the small hill in my younger days very easily. Now the car takes you almost to the top. Adilakshmi is the name of His consort here.

On the way, we needed to eat lunch and was tough getting a pure vegetarian place. But, luckily someone suggested a one man owned hotel in a small lane in a village (forgot the name). The driver got the directions and we had  wonderful homemade meal there. He was from Palghat area in Kerala and was knowledgeable about Machilipatnam which impressed Rao even more.

After visiting these two, we arrived at the quiet ashram. It is spacious and clean. Lot of security. At first I only saw white people. Then I found out that there was a retreat going on the next day or so. We tried to get accommodation in the foreign section. We were asked to sit and wait for someone to come and talk to us. Rao mentioned some familiar name from the USA and the staff told him that that person was there. Within an hour he got a room and a key. Paid the fee and was happy. When we came out, Amma in her car was returning from a visit to her school. We stopped along the side of the road and had a glimpse of her as her car entered her residence compound. Rao decided to stay for the Yoga retreat for 3 days and I returned to Nellore to spend 3 days with my sister. We went to the Rapur bus stand to check the bus timings for him to return to Tirupati directly from there.

I had wonderful time in Nellore with my sisters. I returned to Tirupati per my original schedule, but, Rao extended his stay at the Ashram for two more days (one day at a time). He would have stayed longer, but we had reservations on a train to Visakhapatnam on the 18th.

I copied and pasted the following information from her India website for those who are interested:

International Headquarters Penusila Ashram
Sri Penchalakona Kshetram
Nellore District
Andhra Pradesh
INDIA – 524 414
Tel: 08621-221615
Email : communications@karunamayi.org

Directions:
From Nellore town, Penchalakona is 70km. From Thirupathi, it's 100km.
Every 90 minutes there is bus service from Nellore RTC busstand. By taxi, it takes about 90 minutes.

More about my visit to the Shiva Temple and down the memory lane

The darsans at the Temples were great. The Mulathaneswara Temple was crowded. Big change from what it used to be in my childhood. Being the month of Karthikam many were doing homa poojas outside the main shrine. I recalled that there was an old well at that location. We would take a peak some bats flying around. Now all that is closed. The Temple, overall looks very modern with multicolored gopuram and all. It looks pretty, but I missed the ancient look. The huge Ganesha outside the compound facing the Temple looked the same. The big Nandi next to the Ganesha shrine, with broken mouth part was there in it's magnificent way !!! I went on my memory lane looking at the houses around, thinking of all my playmates that lived there and all the games we played in that area.
I felt it was a quick visit.
The Venugopala swami Temple also had changed. But not much. As usual, there was less crowd. The new addition for me was the Hanuman shrine. I still have some relatives living in that area. They may not know mw. But I remembered their ancestors (of my age and older)!!!
The Dattatreya swami Temple had always been less busy. and we did not go in too often to that shrine, then. Now I know about the Lord and was keenly interested. It is a very small Temple in size. I don't know the history of it.
The Taxi fellow was very patient and waited where ever I wanted to. There is one not so popular one, Dharmaraja/Draupadi Temple. The main deity is the shakti part of Draupadi. Lord Krishna's idol used to be on the side (which I minded even in my preteen days. But a lot of activity was going on there.  We did not visit this one. We drove by on the highway behind that Temple. The highway is really great going towards Jonnawada.

More later, folks!!!!

Temples in and around Nellore

Rao and I made our next yatra place as Nellore. He has not seen most of them. But this time his interest was on visiting Karunamayi Ashram near penusila. I was not too keen on staying there. So, we decided to hire a Taxi, have darsans at the Temples which interested both of us and then go to Jonnawada (Kamakshamma Temple), then to Penusila Lakshmi Narasimha swami Temple and then to Amma Karunamayi. The plan was to drop him off there and I return to my sister's place in Nellore by evening.And that worked out fine. It was the month of Kartika and visiting the Shiva Temple on a Monday was great. Will recollect the details and post them later. Everywhere, it was crowded. But we had blissful darsans !!!
I have collected a list - see below. But there are many more Temples in the Nellore area. 
Hanuman, Ayyappa, Dattatreya Temples and more. I have listed only some Temples.

We saw the following Temples only.

Mulasthaneswara, Ranganatha Swami, Jonnawada Kamakshamma and Lakshmi Narasimha Swami in Penchalakona (actually, there were two Temples of Narasimha that we visited !!!).

As I was growing up in Nellore, we lived close to Mulasthaneswara Temple in Mulapeta. It is an ancient one. The consort is Bhuvaneswari. After school, in the evening everyday I remember going out to play with my friends in and around that Temple, do the pradakshinams and reach home with kumkum and vibhuti as prasadams. Sweet memories.

Mulasthaneswara Temple:

Mulasthaneswara temple is also famous as Mulapet Shivalayam which is said to be 1400 years old, located in the heart of the Nellore city dedicated to one of the variations of Lord Shiva. Shivaratri festival is celebrated with great pomp and exuberance over here. The temple is believed to be powerful and devotees give away generous offerings to the residing deity.

Legend goes that the poet Tikkana Somayaji translated Mahabhratam into Telugu only after making his obeisance to the deity. 

Ranganathaswami Temple:

Approximately 500 years old temple, located on the bank of Pennar river.A 29m tall gopuram with gold kalasam.

The Sri Ranganthaswami Temple in Nellore is dedicated to Lord Ranganatha a resting form of Lord Vishnu. Also called Talpagiri Ranganathaswami temple is one of the oldest temples in Nellore. It is located on the banks of the Penna River and is believed to have been constructed in the 12th century. The Gaaligopuram is approximately 70 feet high and has 10 feet of gold plated vessels on top of it, called kalisams. Every year during the month of March–April based on the Lunar calendar, Brahmotsavam is celebrated.

Jonnawada Kamakshamma: 

Jonnawada is a pilgrimage centre in Nellore. It is around 12 km from the city centre. Located on the bank of Pennar.

This temple was constructed in the year 1150 (Tretayuga??????). There is bus service from Nellore to Jonnawada. For the convenience of the pilgrims there are choultries of the Devastanam and TTD and also private choultries. Every year, during the celebration of Brahmstsavam in the month of Vaisakha, devotees visit the holy centre to worship the goddess to attain salvation and Friday is the day very dear to Kamakshiamma. A bathing ghat has been built on the bank of the Penna. 


Narasimha Konda: 

A hill near to Jonnawada. A pilgrimage place where Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple is situated.

Vedagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple is nearly 500 years ago, on the summit of Narasimhakonda. This temple was built by the Pallava king Narsimha Varma in the 9th century. Legend goes that the sage Kasyapa established the temple on the bank of Penna. And according to the vedic scripture Brahma Puranam the Saptarishis performed yagnam on the top of Narasimhakonda. The Temple is about 15 km away from Nellore, on the southern bank of the river Pinakini (Pennar). Every year “Brahmotsavams” are celebrated here in the month of May.

Penchalakona: 

Sri Penusila Narasimha Swamy temple is situated at Penchalakona , which is approximately 70 km away from Nellore.It is believed that Kanva Maharshi did his penance here. A waterfalls is also there at Penchalakona.

Kadiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple

 The Lord here is believed to have emerged out from the roots of this tree Called Khadri in Samskrit and also called as "Maddi" tree in Telugu. His consort Sri Maha Lakshmi  is called Sri Amrutha Valli Ammavaru and is in the adjacent Sanctorum. The construction of this temple is said to have been commenced during the regime of Paschima Chalukyas and completed during the time of Vijayanagar rulers.

Kadiri is in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. The Thimmappa marrimaanu (World's Biggest Banyan tree spread over 11 acres of land. It got entry in the Guinness Book of world records 1989). It is located just 25 km away from Kadiri. Kadiri is famous for jasmine flowers, Kumkuma, and Silk thread (Pattu Daaram).

The temple of popular poet Sri Yogi Vemana is at Katarupalle is only 15 kilometres from this town.

We sponsored Annadanam here and also had free prasadam meals. There we met a lady from Anatapur, A Sathya Sai devotee and we shared a lot of experiences. Her name was Adilakshmi and her sister's name was Padmavathi. What a coincidence we thought. My full name is Padmavathi and my eldest sister's name is Adilakshmi. Swami makes the travel a pleasure!!!!

I forget the other small details of our visit.
The roads were very bad and all I remember is the Bus trip to Tirupati was ' taxing' !!!

The following is a copy and paste from another source:
Bhagwaan Nrsimha or Narasimha at Kadiri is Svaymabhu, meaning, self emenating, from the roots of Khadri tree. The Moolavirat is that of AshtaBaahu Sri Nrsimha (having eight hands) cleaving Hiranyakasipu and transforming into a more protecting persona with Bhakta Prahlada standing beside him, with folded hands, paying obeisances.

Speciality of the deity at this temple: Astonishingly, after the daily Abishekam is performed, the Archa-Vigraha or Deity of Bhagwaan Nrsimha orNarasimha is seen sweating, despite being repeatedly wiped off by the Archakas here.

Tiruchanur, Tirumalai, Puttaparthi

It was Nov 28th, 2012 that we arrived in Tirupati. It was a Wednesday. We rested the next day. Nirmala arranged anAuto rickshaw to take us to Tiruchanur to have Padmavati devi's darsan. We are supposed to see her first before we go up the hills. We had a quick glimpse of the Idol adorned with beautiful flower garlands. Since we sponsored the 'kumkum archana' we were allowed to sit briefly in the front of the shrine. It felt very good. We paid 100 rupees to the Auto towards 'to and fro' charges. Nirmala goes in the same auto every Friday. On Saturdays, she goes to Tirumalai in a Taxi with her friends very early (4 a.m.) in the morning. We went for a 300 rupees ticket darsan around 8 a.m. on that  Saturday, Dec 1st. We were in the line for a very long time, but had great darsan.

We were very happy. We start our Yatra by first going to Balaji darsan, every time.

On Dec 3rd, we started off to Puttaparti by bus. I was looking forward to this trip since I could not visit Swami's samadhi during my previous visit. We stayed in Parthi for 2 nights. Nothing changed, But Swami's physical presence was missed by me. I sobbed at the Samadhi. We attended Nagara Sankeertan, Suprabhatam and bhajans. As we boarded the bus for our return trip to Tirupati, Rao suggested that we get off at Kadiri and visit the Lakshmi Narasimha swami's Temple. I will write those details in my next post.

From Cleveland Hopkins to EWR to Brussels to Mumbai to Chennai

Finally, the suitcases were ready - from two each to one each. Our tickets said two allowed. The travel agent assured that there should not be any problem taking two. But the United Airlines customer service was very firm on their rule that I pay $100.00 for the second one, even though Jetair allowed two from EWR. I did not want to take the risk. United Air customer service was not that polite either over the phone or at the Airport. End of complaints !!!!!!!!!
A loving soul presented me with a maroon colored sweater the day before on Nov 25th (to withstand Allahabad winter weather?????????). I wore it on the flight from Cleveland. The upholstery on the plane was all maroon. I fitted perfectly!! We had a few hours' wait at the NJ airport. Got on the Jetair on time. They are wonderful. Great service, tasty meals and happy faces. Reached Brussels on time and another wait of a couple of hours. Then to Mumbai. This was the longest wait. Changing from the International to the Domestic was a breeze!! Immigration and customs was smooth. They not only have clean airports, but also polite staff these days at Mumbai.The domestic airport is very glamorous and comfortable. Very clean. But Coffee was 100 rupees per cup. Tea was 90 rupees. I did not want either one!!!
Finally reached Chennai airport, got our luggage, came out and after some search got hold of the Taxi driver that Nirmala sent from Tirupati. He took us to Nandanam (he knows the house) where my daughter's in-laws live. Had wonderful few hours there and by evening, we were off to Tirupati.

I thought that this introductory post of the yatra was going to be brief. Sorry folks!!! I had to write this.

Return after an AwesomeTrip

There is a lot to write this time. I just returned from our latest yatra. Maha Kumbh Mela was the goal this time. But before and after that, we visited many holy places and Temples in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and around Varanasi. In addition to having great darsans, we met wonderful people through out the travel. They were like an extended and loving family.

This post is to let my blog fans know that I am in 'business' again. I had limited access to the Internet while in India. Hence did not attempt to post. Now I have plenty of time and opportunity to continue writing. Please do not hesitate to comment. Help me in improving my writing skills.