Swami Vivekananda Ratha Yatra

As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda, Rathayatras have been organised throughout the country since last year. The main objective of this Ratha Yatra is to instill in the people, especially the youth, noble ideas from the life and messages of Swami Vivekananda and thereby awaken and rejuvenate their spirit.  

In Tamilnadu too, the Ratha Yatra commenced its journey from Coimbatore in April 2013. After touring all the districts of Tamilnadu, the Ratha Yatra reached Chennai on 29-dec-2013 and various parts of Chennai were covered for the next eight days.  Totally a distance of more than 10,500 km was covered during the 280 days journey of Swamiji's Ratham to spread the message of Swamiji in Tamilnadu.

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama coordinated the entire Chennai city tour of the Ratham, in a very well planned and elaborate manner.

A dozen volunteers of our group accompanied the Rathams on 05-jan-2014, when the areas of Guindy, Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Kilakattalai and Velachery were covered.  The day's yatra was flagged off by Shri Sairam of G R N Builders at Guindy. 

To spread the messgaes of Swamiji, our volunteers distributed pamphlets, booklets and pocket calenders containing the noble ideas of Swamiji.  The reception was very good at all the places and the young and old participated enthusiastically to receive the Ratham and garland Swamiji. 

In Nanganallur area, the students of Modern School welcomed the Swamiji with vedic chants and they performed a skit depicting some of the events from Swamiji's life, interspersed with various songs in praise of Swami Vivekananda.

Vedic Chanting by students of Modern School

Students of Modern School, Nanganallur

A ceremonial Poorna Kumbha reception was give at Sri Ardhaneeswarar Temple at Nanganallur followed  by the chanting of Rudram, Chamakam and Sookthams from the Vedas by the local pandit.  

Shri Sairam addresses the public at Nanganallur

Thereafter a public meeting was held near the temple as a culmination of the days programme, which was well attended by the local residents.

Our Volunteers

Last Sunday (19-jan-2014), Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, T Nagar,  arranged for a small function to thank the organisers of the various localities and mementos were distributed to the participants.

அருள்மிகு குழந்தைவல்லி அம்மன் சமேத ஸ்ரீ கும்பேஸ்வரர் ஆலயம்

அருள்மிகு குழந்தைவல்லி அம்மன் சமேத ஸ்ரீ கும்பேஸ்வரர் ஆலயம்

அமைவிடம்:  சிற்றம்பாக்கம், கடம்பத்தூர் தாலுக்கா , திருவள்ளூர் மாவட்டம்

சென்னையில் இருந்து செல்லும் வழி : பூந்தமல்லியிலிருந்து பேரம்பாக்கம் வரை மாநகர பேருந்துகள் செல்கின்றன.  அங்கிருந்து சுமார் மூன்று கி.மீ தொலைவில் இத்திருக்கோவில் அமைந்துள்ளது.

உழவாரப்பணி நாள்: 22.12.2013.  

We had  written about this seventh century  temple in our  earlier  post of March 17, 2013 HERE   The local villagers, with great efforts,  have been able to complete a major portion of the renovation work and the Kumbabishegam is to be held within the next two months. 

We had offered our services for doing the painting and white washing work.  The first batch of volunteers reached Perambakkam on the previous night itself along with all the requisite materials.  The owners of Meenakshi Ramakrishnan Kalyana Mandapam at Peramabakkam were kind enough to accommodate  our team for the overnight stay there.  Other team members  came directly to the temple next morning to join the uzhavarappani.

The work of our volunteers is better depicted by the photos uploaded here.  Incidentally, a young and energetic lady reporter from the Tamil Spiritual Magazine--Sakthi Vikatan joined us to have a first hand account of our group's activities.  After interacting with various members of our team and taking photographs, she happily joined us in our painting work.

 What we have done is only the primary coat of painting.  We will again visit this temple a week before the Kumbabishegam to give a final  finishing touch.

The temple tank in need of renovation

An Appeal:  This temple has a beautiful tank, which is in a bad shape. For de-silting the tank and building strong bunds on all the four sides, the renovation committee is on the look out for donors.  Those who wish to participate in this Holy Kaingaryam are requested to contact any of the following renovation committee members:

1.  Shri Chengalvaraya Naidu - 94451 52916 
2. Shir Gajendra Naidu - 98845 41609
3. Shri Murugaiyan Mudaliar  - 044-2765 5233 
4. Shri Krishnan Mudaliar - 98435 25398  
5. Shri Udayakumar Mudaliar - 95781 40502

Contributions can also be directly sent to:
UCO Bank, Perambakkam 
SB Account No. 05170110021941 in the name of
SK SK Alaya Maiyam
IFSC Code: UCBA0000517

Additional Photos @ Chitrambakkam Uzhavarappani