Rameswaram

Rameswaram is an important pilgrimage center for Hindus. It is considered important because of the belief that it is here that Lord Rama built the bridge to Sri Lanka with the help of Lord Hanuman to defeat Ravan. Lord Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, built a Shiva temple named Sri Ramanatha Swamy. It is important shrine for both Shaivites and Vaishnavites. India’s most sacred temples in four directions are four viz. Badrinath ( North),Puri Jaggannath( East), Dwaraka ( West),and Rameswaram

( South). It is to be noted that except, Rameswaram, the rest are Vishnu temples.

The Hindu customs say that one should go to Rameswaram, take bath in the sea near Danushkodi( 15kms away,if the sand road is open), take bath in 22 tirthas, take sand from here, put it in Sangamam at Allahabad, take Ganges water from there, bring it to Rameswaram, do abhisheka with it to Sri Ramanatha Swamy, and thus complete your life cycle.

It is believed that if one does this action, it washes of all past and future janma karmas, pithru runas, so that one has no rebirth.

Myself and my wife Nirmala plan to visit Varanasi, Allahabad, Gaya in July 2008.We decided to go to Rameswaram before going to Varanasi. The travel details are given below to help anyone who wants to visit Rameswaram.

The best option is to take a train from Chennai.Egmore- Rameswaram express (train no 7613) leaves Egmore at 17.00.hrs and reaches Rameswaram next day at 05.15hrs. It leaves Rameswaram( train no. 7614) at 16.45 hrs and reaches Chennai the next day at 07.15 hrs.

However we were going from Bangalore. So, we went by Mysore –Tuticorin express on 22nd June to reach Madurai at 7 a.m.and took a taxi from there( Rs 1800/-.to Rameswaram and back- Royal tours-Babu-cell 09791392717).

The 3-hour drive from Madurai is very pleasant through Manamdurai,Paramakudi( actor Kamala Hassan’s birth place),Ramanathapuram. We reached at 11 A.M. and straightaway went to Kanchi Ashram and met Sri S. Sivarama Sastry ( cell 09443685075),who organized a room for us to change. He did a pooja for us in the ashram and led us to the sea called Agni Teertham. We had three holy dips in the very salty sea water. There were hundreds of pilgrims doing the same thing, including new born children. We prayed to cleanse ourselves of all our past and future janma papams while taking the dips.With the wet clothes, we were guided by his assistant to the not far temple premises. Here there are 22 tirthas in the form of springs. Each tirtha is of different type of water, very pure, hot/cold/salty/sweet etc. His assistant guided us from tirtha to tirtha and poured water from each tirtha on our heads by drawing water with a rope/bucket. There were many devotees going through this procedure. After this ritual, we dried ourselves, and went for Darshan of Sri Ramanatha Swamy. Goddess is Sri Parvatha Varshini Amman. There many small temples within the complex for various gods. The huge bull Nandi is special here made up of Lime stone. The temple itself is an architect marvel with the world’s longest corridor. After temple visit, we came back to Kashi Ashram, did Shrardham for ancestors, gave dhanams to five Brahmins, collected sea sand in plastic containers to be put in Allahabad sangamam. They had organised a lovely home meal next to ashram in a house. As we ate the nice meal, it was a great sight , like in a time warp, to see an old grandmother( 80+) with her two grand children playing games with dice on a chalk drawn checks on the floor of the house. It was a unforgettable scene with the old patti rolling the dice with passion and fighting with grand children over movement of shells pieces. We gave Sivarama Sastry, a dakshina of Rs 1500/-.( package deal including a new dhoti for me, poojas,Shrardham, gifts to brahmins, meal etc). I felt that it was quiet reasonable for his services. We visited other temples in Rameswaram on our way back to Madurai. The interesting ones were Rama Padams on a hill, Hanuman temple( where heavy stones supposedly touched and used by Hanuman to build the bridge to Srilanka float in water). We reached Madurai back by 6 P.M. to catch the train to Bangalore.

It is the faith which makes one do these rituals. The peace of mind one gets is worth the effort. It prepares one for the journey beyond this present life into the unknown.

Jay