Guruvayoor Festival 2010

The Arattu festival at Guruvayur is the annual Guruvayoor Temple Festival celebrated in the month of Kumbham (February – March). Guruvayur Sri Krishna Swamy Temple, famous as the Dakshina Dwaraka, is one of the most famous Lord Krishna Temples in India, located at Guruvayoor in Thrissur district of Kerala. Guruvayoor Festival Begins with Aanayottam, Gopi Kannan wins Elephant Race

Guruvayur Arattu Ulsavam is the 10 days annual festival, and 10th day is celebrated as the Arattu day (Arattu is the ritual bathing of the idol in the temple pond). On the Arattu day the temple will be opened late after 6:00 am (usually the temple opens at 3:00 am for Nirmalyam darshan) and all usual poojas, except the usha pooja, will be performed. At 6:30 pm the Arattu procession begins and the Lord Guruvayoorappan’s idol is taken to the Rudra Theertham (holy water tank) for Arattu. After Lord’s Arattu, the devotees will also take a holy dip to get rid of any sins. An interesting feature of Guruvayur festival is that, after the Arattu Lord’s idol is taken on elephants top and the elephant runs eleven times around the temple.

The opening of the 10-day festival at Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple festival was inaugurated by this elephant race . This is a unique event. The winning elephant is conferred with the honor of carrying the idol of the deity. 

 

The 10-day Guruvayur festival signifies the occasion of restoration of divine Chaitanya (conscious). The Guruvayur festival also showcases the cultural heritage of the region as the locals perform the traditional dances and music. The enticing dance dramas based on the myths and legends of Lord Krishnas life are regular proceedings during the festival days. 

How to reach Guruvayur?

By Road
Guruvayur is around 29 km Thrissur, Kerala. Guruvayoor being an important pilgrimage place for Hindus is well connected with other important towns/cities by road/bus transport. NH 17 (National Highway) passes through Kunnamkulam about 8 km away from Guruvayur Temple.

By Rail
Guruvayur Railway Station is the nearest railhead to reach Guruvayoor. Thrissur Railway Station (29 km) is the next nearest major railway station to reach Guruvayur.

By Flight
Nedumbassery Airport (Kochi International Airport), about 80 km, is the nearest airport to reach Guruvayur.

MAP

View Larger Map

Lord Kartikeya

Lord Kartikeya:



Kartikeya, the second son of Lord Shiva, and Goddess Parvati is also known as Subramaniam, Skanda, Guha, Shadannana or Sanmukha (because he has six faces).

He symbolizes an individual of perfection. He is the war God, the Hindu equal of Mars and Ares. He was shaped by all the Gods to lead the wonderful hosts and destroy the demons. He is the most masculine and fierce of all the Gods. He is as well fire, Agni and is very Pitta (fiery) in nature. Even as Ganesh removes all obstacles, Skanda bestows all religious powers, mainly the power of facts.

In one suggest he carries a spear called sakti which symbolizes the destruction of negative tendencies in humans. During his other hand he always blesses devotees.
The Lord's vehicle is a peacock which is able of destroying damaging serpents (symbolizing harmful ego and bad desires of people).
Lord Satyanarayana is another structure of Lord Vishnu who is naturally worshipped by Hindus in their homes near with family and friends.

The worship is performed naturally on a full moon (purnima) day of the month. People worship by reciting the genial story of the Lord which was once told by Lord Vishnu himself to the sage Narada for the profit of humankind.

The Lord's style is described in a Hindu book called Skanda Purana. He has four hands like Lord Vishnu, though, his fourth hand does not hold a lotus quite it is extensive upward to bless people.

Venkateshwara (Venkateshwer or Venkatachalapathi) is another form of Lord Vishnu who is as fine very popular as a Hindu deity. He is also known as Balaji or Bithala.

He has a dark complexion and four hands. In his two high hands he holds a discus (a symbol of power) and a conch s hell (a symbol of existence). During his inferior hands complete descending he asks devotees to have belief and give up to him for guard.

Gods Favorite Flower; the Lotus Flowers

Gods Favorite Flower; the Lotus Flowers:

The lotus is the chief symbol of beauty, success and fertility. According to Hinduism, inside every human inhabiting the earth is the spirit of the holy lotus. It symbolizes eternity, purity and religion and is usually used as a symbol of life, fertility, and ever-renewing youth and to explain feminine beauty, particularly the eyes.

One of the most general metaphysical analogies compares the lotus' perennial rise to faultless beauty from a miry situation to the development of man's consciousness--from instinctive impulses to religious liberation. In the Bhagavad Gita, man is adjured to be like the lotus--he should work without connection, dedicating his events to God--untouched by sin like water on a lotus leaf and the beautiful flower standing lofty above the mud and water.

In the postures of hatha yoga, the lotus location, padmasana, is adopted by those striving to achieve the chief level of awareness, which itself is found in the thousand-petalled lotus chakra at the top of the head. For Buddhists, lotus represent the most exalted state of man--his head held high, pure and undefiled in the sun, his feet rooted in the world of experience.

There is a story that it arose from the navel of God Vishnu, and at the center of the flower sat Brahma. Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Protector) and Siva (the Merger) are associated with this plant. There are also accounts of the world born throughout a "Golden Lotus" and
Padmakalpa, the Lotus Age in the Padmapurana (678 ce).

Trilok Chandra Majupuria of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, explains in Religious and Useful Plants of Nepal and India (1989, M. Gupta, Lashkar, India), "The Taittiriya Brahmana describes how Prajapati, desiring to progress the universe, which was then fluid, saw a lotus-leaf, pushkara parna, coming out of water. It is explain that when divine life-substance was about to put forth the universe, the cosmic waters grow a thousand-petalled lotus flower of pure gold, healthy like the sun. This was careful to be a doorway, or an opening of the mouth of the womb of the universe.

Hindu texts explain that water represents the procreative aspect of the Absolute, and the cosmic lotus, the generative. Thus, lotus is the first product of the inspired principle." The role of Lord Brahma was to re-create the universe behind the huge flood on this planet. In arrange to make the universe; He used the special parts of the lotus plant.

Goddess Lakshmi, patron of wealth and good fortune, sits on a completely bloomed pink lotus as her great seat and holds a lotus in her right hand. It is as well mentioned in the Mahabharata that Lakshmi emerged from a lotus which grow from the forehead of Lord Vishnu, and a garland of 108 lotus seeds is today used for the worship of Lakshmi.

The Goddess of Power, Durga, was formed by Lord Siva to fight demons and was decorated with a garland of lotus flowers by Varuna. Goddess of knowledge, Saraswati is connected with the white Lotus. And almost every God and Goddess of Hinduism--Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, Durga, Agni, Ganesha, Rama and Surya--are normally shown sitting on the lotus, often holding a lotus flower in their hand. The lotus which serves thus as the place of the Deity, suggesting their divinity and purity, is called padmasana or kamalasana.