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YagnaValkar Sethanipuram, a Shukla Yajur Veda village, is located on the banks of river Mudikondan. Per Krishna Premi Anna’s citation in his book "South India and Brahmin's History", Sethani puram is one among the four villages where the Shukla Yajur Vedis are living for ages.

The temples in and around the Agraharam themselves are a proof to the sanctity of the village. Located on the west is the Lakshmi Narayana Swamy temple which houses the renowned Kothanda Ramaswamy Sannadhi. On the eastern side stands Lord Meenakshi Sundareshwarar showering his divine blessings on the village. On the banks of river Mudikondan is the Sri Sakthi Ganapathy temple.

The patron deities Sri Sastha, Sri Kaliamman, Sri Peetapahari Amman and Sri Maha Mariamman (a.k.a Velural) compassionately guard the village on all the four corners.

Temples are the first thing that the Kings used to construct to spread Vedas and Sastras. It is believed that Meenakshi Sundareswar Swami temple, a very ancient and sanctified temple, was constructed during that time. The temple was constructed with utmost devotion and the activities were personally overseen by the Kings and it turned out to be a great monument of worship for ardent devotees of Lord Shiva.

Krishnapremi While Lord Sri Sundareswar and Goddess Meenakshi are worshipped as principal deities, the temple comprises of other sannadhis where other patron deities (Parivara Devata) deities are adored. Starting with Vinayagar Sannadhi, the temple has the divine presence of Sri Subramanian Sannadhi, Gajalakshmi Sannadhi, Maha Mariamman Sannadhi, Sri Guru Bahawan Sannadhi, Sri Durga Sannadhi, Chandikeshwarar Sannadhi, Sri Meenakshi Amman Sannadhi, Sri Sivan Sannadhi, Navagraha Sannadhi, Bhairavar, Soorya & Chandran Sannadhi. The Maha Mandapam and the outer Mandapam depict the true tradition, architecture and values of Chola culture.

It is believed, from the village elders, that the temple was renovated 250-300 years back by a Deekshidar whose Samadhi is located between the Kulam (Pond) and the temple. During our trip to Thiruvannamalai in early 90’s, we met Sri Yogi Ram Suratkumar and he informed us that there is a Samadhi of a Sadhu located at our village. Sri Ramalingam of SBI tried locating this Samadhi after spending couple of years, he was stopped by Yogi saying that this task has been assigned by the almighty for somebody else.

There are also printed reports from Kalyana Kalpatharu (edition 1945) , published from Varanasi, stating that Sri Venkatrama Iyer, belonging to this village, was the first to spread Panduranga Nama in South India. (TP Kodandarama) . From hearsay, Godess Meenakshi is known for miracles and we have even witnessed some of them. Papanasam Sivan, the great Tamil composer is said tohave got special powers after seeing Meenakshi.

The fact that Maha Periyava has visited this temple twice during his Vijay Yathras and has stayed here is a testimony to the piousness of the temple.

What's special about Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple?

  • Godess ‘Meenakshi’ is widely revered as a benevolent deity who bestows boons upon her devotees.
  • The temple is very special as far as the Sthala, Moorthi and Theertham are concerned. It is a prominent Manokarakha Sthalam. (Manokaraka also means ‘Ruler of the Mind’)
  • Worshipping this deity will wipe away all agony, problems and diseases of the mind. The deity would also vanquish fears, hatred, sorrow and anxiety; and bestow the devotee with a tranquil mind.
  • Many Yogis, Gnanis and Siddha Purushas have benefitted from worshipping Perumal and Ammai. Amongst them, is the well-known Sri Rama Nama Yatheendral, who recited the Rama Nama with utmost devoutness, attained Siddhi in the Sannadhi and has performed exceptional miracles.
  • Sri Rama Nama Yatheendral’s Athistanam is situated at this very place. (Adhishtanam is the sub-stratum. In Advaita Vedanta, the real entity located in which the unreal thing is perceived).

About Trust

This trust has formed in 2006 with the following objectives:

Founders

  • Dr.S.Ramadoss - President
  • R.Varadharajan - Secretary
  • V.Baskaran - Treasurer

Active committee Members

  1. K.S.Venkataramanan - Manager, Cognizant
  2. S.Sridhar - Manager, Mainimail
  3. N.Narayanan - Sr Manager, Infosys, US
  4. S.Ramalingam - Sr Manager, SBI
  5. P.Venkatraman - Entrepreneur / Auditor - Mumbai
  6. S.Sundaresan - Rtd Teacher
  7. Natraj Krishnamoorthy - Sr Manager, Cognizant
  8. Vedamoorthy - Sr Manager, Caterpillar
  9. R.Aravindan - Entrepreneur, Sethanipuram

If you want to be part of this group
Join us:

About Guru (Yajnavalkya)

Yagnavalkya was a brahmanised rishi and an unbeatable scholar. His name itself means ‘knower of the Vedas.’ He became such a wise and great scholar by studying under three gurus : Uddalak rishi, Vaishampayan rishi and Hiranyanabh Kaushalya rishi.

His father, Brahmarath and mother Sunanda lived in Chamatkarpur, known today as Vadnagar, in north Gujarat. Yagnavalkya was brilliant from childhood. During childhood he studied the Rig Veda under Shakalya rishi. Everyday Shakalya would send one of his pupils to the local king’s palace to perform a yagna. Once it was Yagnavalkya’s turn. While sprinkling rice grains in the yagna, some grains fell on wooden logs nearby. After Yagnavalkya left, the king was startled to see green leaves sprout on the dry wooden logs! So he requested Shakalya to send Yagnavalkya again the next day. The young scholar refused because the king was big-headed. The guru became angry and ordered Yagnavalkya to give back all the knowledge he had obtained from him. Yagnavalkya obeyed without arguing. He vomited the knowledge and left Shakalya. The other pupils, eager for this knowledge, turned themselves into tetar birds and licked up the ‘knowledge’. Hence this branch of knowledge came to be known as Taittiriya – from tetar.

Once the local king performed a yagna. After it ended he wished to gift one thousand cows, with five gold coins hanging on each horn of every cow! This was an astonishing amount of treasure then. However, he put a condition that he would gift the cows only to whoever was declared as the greatest brahmanisth rishi among those present. Yagnavalkya got up calmly and instructed one of his pupils to take the cows! This caused a great uproar among the other rishis. “How dare he?” “Who does he think he is?” “What a cheek!” The rishis cried out aloud to each other. One of them, named Ashwal, challenged Yagnavalkya, “Do you think you are the greatest brahmanishth?”

“I am the dust at the feet of the greatest brahmanishth,” replied Yagnavalkya humbly. “However, I want these cows so I have taken them!”

Ashwal then fired off a long series of difficult questions. Yagnavalkya answered them correctly. Ashwal sat down, accepting defeat. Other rishis also debated with Yagnavalkya. He defeated them as well. Everybody remained silent. “Nobody can beat him,” they thought. “He’ll get all the cows and the gold.” Finally a female rishi named Gargi challenged him. She fired off very difficult questions, which Yagnavalkya answered easily. When she asked a question about what was above Brahmalok, Yagnavalkya warned her not to meddle about that. She then asked about Aksharbrahma and he answered. Gargi then declared, “I proclaim Yagnavalkya as the greatest brahmanishth!” All those present now agreed wholeheartedly. And so Yagnavalkya rightfully took all the cows!

Yagnyavalkya performed tapas and worshipped Surya deva by the grace of whom, he obtained the wisdom of Shukla Yajur Veda. One of the most famous and important texts that Yagnavalkya wrote was the Yagnavalkya Smruti. Bhagwan Swaminarayan has considered this as one of the eight important texts in the Shikshapatri (93-95).

About Veda: (Shukla Yajurveda)


Shukla Yajur Veda was revealed to the sage Yagnavalkya directly by Lord Surya. Sri Shukla Yajur Veda originally had 15 Sakhas out of which only two Sakhas or branches, called Madyandina and Kanva Sakhas are available at present. Madyandina Saha is more prevalent in North India whereas Kanva Sakha is found mostly in South India. The book Charana Vuyha Tantram lists all the 15 Sakhas.

In both the Sakhas, the ‘Brahmana’ is called Sathapatha Brahmana. The name Sathapatha literally means hundred paths. In the Indian tradition the word “sata” does not indicate the exact number of one hundred, sometimes it means anything near about one hundred. The Brahmanas are the earliest annotations of the hymns of Samhita and serve as manuals for the performance of Vedic Sacrifices involving the usage of hymns. In addition they also have some narratives and anecdotes to explain the significance of the statements in Samhita and their usages in particular contexts. Brahmanas thus enumerate the mental and physical activities in consonance with the righteousness to reveal the nature of dharma which will lead to other realizations by man like wealth (artha), enjoyment (kama) and attainment of self (moksha). The Samhitas and Brahmanas are considered as apaurusheya meaning not created by man but revealed to him by God. The Brahmanas elaborate the procedure to construct altars which involve very detailed geometry and also mentions a system of remembering the number of times a sacrifice is to be made. The numbers some time run to thousand and millions and hundred millions. It shows the highly evolved system of arithmetic and geometry during the Vedic period! This arithmetic and geometry has come handy in constructing the temples of gigantic proportions without any fault!

 
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