Kodumudi – Thirumurthy Sthalam

Situated near swiftly flowing Cauvery waters, Kodumudi is a punya sthalam for doing all sorts of pariharas especially for marriages. It one of the few temples where all three Shiva (Magudeshwara), Brahma, and Vishnu (VeeraNarayana Perumal) preside. Kind of similar to Bangalore, Gavi Gangadhar temple, the sun rays fall on the Swayambu linga during first week of Aavani (around mid August) and first week of Panguni (mid March). There is a divine Vanni tree that is reported to be 3000 years old and still surviving. Agasthyar was supposed to have prayed here. Bathing in the river Cauvery is very pleasant here, the currents are not too swift, and the water is refreshing. There is also this legend of fight between Vayu and Aadhisesha and am still exploring the inner significance of this tale.

Our trip

I was still staying in office guest house and dad summoned me to come to kodumudi for a pooja. So I booked tickets, packed clothes for discarding. It was Anjan OC4, who escorted me that day from guest house till I boarded my cab. I reached station, boarded Mayiladuthurai. The next day our train to Kodumudi was at 6:45. Mom, bro and I boarded the 4 am bus and reached station in time, boarded the Tiruchirappalli-Erode passenger. We had slept off on the upper berths, little paying attention to the fact that the train stopped in kodumudi for hardly 2 mins. I came down from my upper berth only after the train stopped. Mom was still on the train when the train started moving. My brother physically lifted my mom and the train sped off, while I was still by the coach door. I was terribly upset and a silly smile spread on my face, the one that pops up when the situation is totally hopeless. My brother and mom were on the platform, our escort had come and I was still there on the fleeing train. Luckily, within next 10 minutes, there was again a 2 minutes stop in Unjalur. I alighted there, bought a ticket and thanks to Trichy return train arriving almost 1 hr late, I could peacefully reach my destination after waiting for around 10 minutes.

This time, I alighted well before the train started moving. We did our pooja first (thanks to my KSY/KSD), before having the darshan of the presiding deities. Thanks to my legs, my brother lifted the 21 kudams of water from the slippery steps leading to Cauvery and I just did the pradakshina around Vinayagar and Arasa maram. Mom literally slept off and the purohit was scratching his back and yawning between mantras. I participated with nonchalance, as the purohit bid me to tie a thaali myself with the south-west kalasam symbolizing Rahu. It was funny. However, the best part was in Cauvery, which was divinely soothing, in spite of the prevailing typical high temperatures of Karur.

After discarding the dress I wore and changing into dry clothes, and other puja rituals, we went and had a pleasant darshan. It was relatively big temple. It felt really good especially near the Shiva sannithi. We did our pradakshinas outside and took rest in silence for a while, gazing at the temple gopurams.
We returned by bus to Trichy, without hassles and dad was amused to hear our saga.

Trivia

Only yesterday evening, my yoga teacher Mrs. Kalavathi was telling about Ajna chakra concentration, kind of shambhavi mudhra but with eyes closed. She has done her MA in astrology from Madurai Kamarajar University and is a uterus cancer survivor. She was explaining about Varanasi, and how it meant gazing between eyebrows (vara-forehead and nasi-nose). She said people go physically to Varanasi instead of following the intended activity sitting at home.

I wish, instead of blindly following rituals and making all the holy places crowded, and polluted physically and spiritually, people practiced the intended inner meanings with a pure heart devoted to whatever god/holy soul they chose, treating their own body as a temple and a holy ksethra.