Mysuru: It was indeed a festive atmosphere across city with devotees chanting Govinda… Govinda… on Vaikunta Ekadashi Day today. Considered to be an auspicious day, all the temples saw huge rush today compared to New Year Day yesterday.
Devotees lined up at the temples since early morning, especially the ones dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Narayana to have divine darshan of their Lordships in various temples across city where rituals and pujas began early morning.
Vaikunta Ekadashi is an important festival dedicated to Lord Vishnu and it occurs in Dhanur Masa (December-January). It is one of the most significant days, especially for the followers of the Vaishnava cult. The day is also marked by fasting and meditation apart from visiting temples. According to the scriptures, Vaikunta Ekadashi is the only day when Lord Vishnu opens the gateway to his celestial abode, Vaikuntam, his inner sanctum where He resides with his consort, Supreme Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi.
The rituals at Sri Lakshmivenkataramanaswamy Temple in V.V. Mohalla (Vontikoppal), began as early as 5 am. A ‘Swarga Mantapa’ was created in the temple. Thousands of devotees were waiting in queue to enter the ‘Swarga Mantapa’ and have darshan of the presiding deity. VV Puram Police and Traffic Police are monitoring the devotees at the temple. The Lord was adorned with diamond crown amidst tight Police security.
The temple will be open till midnight without any break and even beyond so that even the last devotee gets darshan of the Lord, according to Temple Trust President K.R. Mohan Kumar, who also said that uppittu, puliyogare and curd rice will be distributed to the devotees by the temple staff throughout the day. Over 25,000 devotees visited the temple yesterday, on the first day of New Year, who were distributed with ladoos.
Several devotees and VIPs including Mysuru Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayanagowda, Industrialist Pothraj and family visited ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Temple in Jayanagar where the rituals began early in the morning.
There was a huge rush at several Eshwara Temples across city including Chandramouleshwara Temples near Mathru Mandali Circle and near Saraswathi Theatre and Sri Amrutheshwara Temple in Devaraja Mohalla, where special pujas and rituals were offered to Lord Shiva. However, marking the auspicious day, devotees thronged Sri Yoganarasimhaswamy Temple in Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Sri Venkateswara Temple near Jayanagar Railway Gate and several other temples across the city.
At Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashram on Ooty Road too, the rituals began as early as 5 am, with the performance of special pujas and Mahamangalarati, following which the temple was opened for devotees. The devotees entered the temple through ‘Vaikunta Dwara’ (Northern entrance of the Temple which will be opened only on Vaikunta Ekadashi Day) and had darshan of Sri Venkateshwaraswamy and other deities. Junior Pontiff Sri Datta Vijayananda Theertha Swamiji led the rituals at the temple including Narayana Havana, special archane to Danvanthri Devi, Sahasranama for Goddess Padmavathi etc.
This post was published on January 2, 2023 8:41 pm