Recently, we had been to our family deity function near Thanjavur. The deity is on the walls of Lord Puspavananathar, Thirupoonthurithi. After completing the pooja, we headed straight to Kumbakonam for Lunch at Meenakshi Bhavan (the only place for good veg food). We had a quick lunch and headed straight to Thirumangalkudi (Prana natheswarar temple). My mom had told that before visiting Suryanar Kovil, one has to have the darshan of the Lord in Thirumangalakudi. I have a 8 months old son and we have to take care of him now and then. My son cooperates a lot. He cries only when he is hungry or feeling sleepy, otherwise a good nice little one. We had a quick darshan and left for Thirupunkur. It is my long time wish to visit Tirupunkur. I would have travelled umpteen times on the Mayavaram road but have never heard of this temple until I started reading about Nandanar. Nandanar or Thirunalaipovar is a shaivite saint born in a low caste during his times. But, he is an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. He had been visiting many shiva temples and one day he heard about Shivaloga nathan at Thirupunkur. Along with his friends, he decided to come to Thirupunkur and have the darshan of the Lord. He reached the place and since he was an untouchable, he remained at the entrance to have darshan. In Siva temples, the big bull or the Nandi would be sitting straight infront of the lord and the bull is really big here. Nandanar could not see the lord and he pleaded lord and also sang a hymn. Lord ordered Nandi to move a little and Nandanar had the darshan of the Lord. Even today one can see the Nandi slightly moved away. Thinking about Nandanar, I get goose bumps. What a faith? I wish I have that kind of faith, the unswerving faith. Just like Nandanar I have been telling myself that I will visit this temple one day and my wish got fulfilled. As I stepped in, I felt an amazing grace and happiness. May be I would have an iota of the bliss what Nandanar would have experienced. I had the darshan and also took the some pics of the Nandi. The evening breeze was soothing and so we decided to rest for a while enjoying the nature. it is also customary after namaskaram to sit in the temple. My wife was also thrilled seeing the temple. Earlier on the way to temple we had a good coffee (I am coffee lover) at Hotel Sadhabhishekam. This hotel is decent and has good cottages. It is next to green paddy field providing a scenic setup. We headed back to Chennai via Pondy to fill the tank and reached Chennai at midnight. Having the darshan of Tirupunkur inspired me to write this blog and I also had a wish that to have the darshan of all 274 temples and I am looking forward to steal a chance whenever I can. The grace of the Lord is certainly required !!!
