T NGOs colony is a beautiful colony in Hyderabad with 352 families. They all invited Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji to the newly constructed Venkateswara Swami temple in their neighbourhood. The temple was sanctified with rituals defined in agama scriptures. After the event, Swamiji addressed the devotees and audience. The address started off with a question, ‘Do you reach God or does God reach you?’ Here’s the excerpt of Swamiji’s beautiful message for all our online readers!
Similarly, God reaches us. We don’t walk to God. He makes Himself available through the Deity form. He listens to us and support us as Deity. Although God exists all the time and everywhere, that omnipresent form is not the form through which we can perceive His grace.
Generally, God is perceivable to us in two types of forms:
| Vibhava Form | Archa Form |
| This is the form where God chooses a specific time and place; takes a body such as a human being, a fish, a tortoise etc – Sri Rama Chandra, Matsya, Kurma etc. | This is the form where God accepts to be accessible through a sculpture made of any material available in nature – ex: A Deity in temple, a paper drawing, a photograph etc. |
| There is a date of departure for this form | There is no date of departure for this form |
| He chooses his parents to be of the same species | Mantra is God’s mother, guru is God’s father. Upanishad says, ‘మంత్రో మాత: గురు: పితా’ |
Venkateswara Swami is a special avatar. He appeared in vibhava form in the beginning of kali Yuga and promised to be available as archa form atop Thirumala hills till the end of this Yuga!
Temples hosts God in such archa form! When such a great soul (Parama atma, Parama purusha) chooses to be with us through the Deity form, what is our duty!?
Example: When someone visits our house, do we take care of the guest? Certainly Yes! Now, we have the most important guest in our mandirs and at the community temple, like the Venkateswara Swami temple at this T NGOs colony. How do you want to take care of this special “guest” who is powerful, compassionate, knowledgeable and lot more…? We should make Him feel home, feel comfortable, feel loved, feel happy so that we experience eternal happiness in His company, right?
A 365-day plan!
Each resident can pick a date (or more) in this calendar year and take part in serving God. Be available and do your part during all the services being offered at the temple from early morning till the last activity at the temple. Can you dedicate one day to this most important and powerful guest who has come by to listen to you and support you!!?
This kind of involvement will develop your attitude that is not only good for yourself but also the entire community. Because you are now equipped with energy that is very positive and powerful!
You may wonder, if He is so powerful – why does He need the fruits or rice that we prepare everyday?
When we buy something for ourselves, we find it difficult to give away, because there is a sense of ‘mine’ attached to it. When we offer the same to God, we call it prasadam and share it with everyone. We share it with everyone because it is an offering that now carries God’s grace and not the sense of ‘mine or possessiveness’ with it. God takes in the love and sincerity that you used during the offering, and not the actual object itself. The actual object, fruit or flowers or rice are all returned to us filled with His grace. This is called prasadam because it pacifies our mind with right thoughts.
Cleanse yourself through such prasadam. Allow yourself to respectfully and lovingly serve God. He eradicates the evil thoughts that put us in this bonded bodies! Let God clean you and give you bodies to serve Him uninterruptedly and with unlimited scope and abilities! Let God help you help everyone around you. Approach your area temple with your friends and draw out a plan where each one of you become part of the temple and together make a difference to the way we think, act and work!
– From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
– 23 rd May 2019
– T NGOs colony, Near My Home Vihanga
Swamiji also appreciated Srimathi Srikumari Ji, w/o J. Rameshwar Rao garu who heads the My Home group of companies. They funded the temple construction and were happy to do it as a service to the fellow community.
