By Shobha Rao Smilemaker
Mangaluru, Mar 31: It was time again for a long drive out of Mangalore, into the unexplored nature that surrounds us.
Our first stop was at a natural water body called Guruvayanakere which literally means the 'Pond of the Master'. This is one of the 12 sacred natural ponds that have been formed by the Kumaradhara river that flows in thus Beltangady district. We stopped nearby at a very basic place called Shenoys for some amazing breakfast with the company of a very curious cow!
We had to take a deviation off the main highway to the Ujjire - Dharmastala raod and I was surprised at the change of scenery. The well manicured landscape on either side of the road were part of many well known educational institutions of this area.
We finally reached Shree Ramaksetra at Kanyadi which is considered as Southern Ayodhya. It is one of the rare temples dedicated to Shree Rams in the Dakshina Kannada district. The first sight of its majestic architecture is sure to catch the attention of every passerby.
There are a variety of sculpted images of Gods and Goddesses in red and gold colours on the outer walls of this huge three storeys structure. Two sculpted elephants on either side of the steps beckoned us. We washed our feet in the water and climbed the steps upto the incriticately carved wooden main doors of the temple of the second floor.
We started this temple visit from the third floor with the majestic idols of Rama with his family after his coronation. Exactly opposite were seperate shrines for Hanuman, Krishna and Dattatreya.
This was one of the rare temples where I saw individual shrines in a row for each of the Nava Grahas and the Nava Durgas too, on the right and left side of the main Rama sanctum.
We then walked down to the second floor where sculpted image of Shiva with his family beckoned us from above. On the left sides I noticed shrines dedicated to Kshetrapala Ganapathi on the third floor and Varasiddhivinaya on the second floor. Similarly on the right sides of the main sanctum I noticed shrines dedicated to Annapoorneshwari on the third floor and Durgaparmeshwari on the second floor.
I wondered why the main sanctum of the second floor had images of Gurus instead of Gods. Later I leant that the first image was of Sri Nityananda who first got a vision in 1927 to build a temple here as it was a holy spot where Shree Rama had halted for a day during his search for Seetha.
After his demise it was Sri Atmananda Swami who came here in 1969 who initially built a small Rama Temple with huge devotion in this place. After a lot of planning and team work, the Brahmakalasha of the present temple was held in 2007 with the installation of 36 idols in seperate shrines within this main temple structure.
The second and third idol in the main sanctum on second floor were that of Narayanguru and Saibaba, who stood for the removal of caste distinctions
During festivals, we can also see the five majestic chariots within the temple complex, dedicated to Rama, Hanuman and even a beautiful carved silver chariot. We saw the almost lifelike 5 horses that were part of the chariot during processions.
We came out of the temple, back to reality, feeling blessed with the grace of so many Gods and Goddesses in one place.
Do visit the Sri Rama kshetra at Nityaanda Nagar, do feel the spiritual energy for yourself and Smile.
Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.