Sri Chavali Subramania Sastri was an ardent devotee of Kanchi Paramacharya and he was wondering how to make use of his huge estate in RA Puram for a purposeful manner.
He asked Paramacharya’s as to what to do with a 10 Ground (24000 sqft) plot in the very thick Greenways Road where Ministers Bungalows are all located..Paramacharya ,after deep thinking asked Chavali Subramania Sastri,
” Yenda.. you have a unique murthi of Vinayaka given to you by Sri Ramana Mahrishi.. Don’t you?”
Sastri answered: “yes Periyavaa I am keeping it safe and worshipping the same every day..”
Periyavaa: “I feel you should create a Kamakshi amman Temple in that plot so that all those who wish to see Kamakshi at any time they need not come all the way here(Kanchipuram). Exact replica of this Amman..”
Sastri: “I will do as per Periyavaa’s wish..”
Periyavaa: “try to install the VInayaka inside the temple given to you by Bhagavan… Keep the temple as a private one and try to do the Puja Punashkaram very very sincerely ..”
*****
This is the address of the Kamakshi temple in Madras: Bhagirathy St, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai. (This is actually situated a lane from Kamaraj road). Please take left near the petrol bunk (after adyar and andhra mahila sabha). and then take the first right again to go to Kamaraj road, you can see a open Karumari Amman temple on your left within a 200 mts on Kamaraj road – just take the road opp to this temple. within about another 200 mts you can see the Kamakshi temple… It is walkable distance from Andhra mahila sabha… (thanks to Smt Swarna for the detailed directions)
All the residents of Madras should consider themselves very lucky to have Her Darshan in their area, plus the special Vinakaya’s idol given by Ramana Maharshi Himself! Huge blessings indeed!
Thanks a ton to Shri Erode Nagaraj, the Asthana Mridangist Vidwan of Kanchi Matam who had posted this in Sage of Kanchi group in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/Periyavaa/. Thanks a million to the original poster, to our own Shri Rajah Iyer who had posted this in sulekha.com!
Categories: Devotee Experiences
We are delighted to know about this temple and Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi giving SriGanapati idol. We kindly request to eloborate a bit on what occasion Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi gave the idol.
JayaJayaSankara HaraHaraSankara
Plz any 1 can tell temple timings in the morning
Now the temple is closed for public due to Corona. Very powerful Amman.
That young priest Balaji is doing puja extremely nice and it is a treat to our eyes. Only thing at the time of abhishekam they didt allow public inside the sannadhi. I was even asked to vacate though I didt wear shirt or anything. In fact there were only two or three people inside including that Saveli. The temple is a model temple and very well maintained,no doubt.
VERY NICE TEMPLE.ALL R REQUESTED TO VISIT-NAMASKARAM
Thanks Sri Mahesh & Sri Suresh for this information. I am based out of Bangalore and had shared this information with my close friend Sri Raghavan. Since then he has been a regular to this temple in R A Puram. Today through Guru’s grace my father and I have been fortunate to have darshan of Mother and Pillaiyar. We are devotees of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Mahaperiyava.
Thanks for this great forum.
Regards
Rama
I really wanted to visit this temple in my next visit. It is really a kripa to even get to know a Kamakshi temple is existing in very own Chennai .
Periyava Charanam
Swarna Kamakshi
I visit the temple daily…..I feel blessed to be able to live close by and seek the blessings of Sri
Lakshmi Kamakshi and Maha Periyava!
I visit the temple every week once . very happy to see laksmi Kamatchi and get the blessings . temple well maintained and good atmosphere for praying , very calm sankara raman
We moved to chennai (Thiru.Vi.Ka.Nagar, Perambur) in the year 1989 (end of August) and might be on month of September, I heard about pudhu periyavAL’s visit to a place near Myapore for a kumbAbishEkam. My brother borrowed a TVS 50 of our athimbEr’s and took me to Samskrutha college and we went to R A Puram to this lakshmi kAmAkshi temple.
Owing to the crowd, I could only see pudhu periyavA getting down from the van and we came back. By the end of September, I went to kAnchi and one pregnant woman (IIRC) had come for dharshan of mahA periyavA. She was introdced as the wife of one dynamic man, wh had built a temple for kAmAkshi near adayAr. When she asked for uththaravu, she said, ‘avarAla vara mudiyala.. periyavA avarukku edhAnum tharaNum’
mahA periyavA was standing and looked at her and HE took a spatika mAlai which HE was wearing and HE Himself dropped it in her hands and blessed.
That was the first time I saw a mAlai which stood for the term crystal clear, shaped square that too, having cuts like diamond.
periyavA kitta oru spatika mAlai kedaikkaNumnaa, kAmAkshikkuk kOvil kattaNum… appa dhAn kedaikkum-nu I was thinking.
I had never been inside that temple because of the steps that prevent wheel chair access and, yes, I heard about the decline in shraddhA too.
I have visited this temple whe it was newly built!
very beautiful temple!
I visited this temple once in Dhanur Maasam(Maarkazhi). The Temple would be closed one hour early in the morning, as Dhanur Maasa Vazhipaadu starts one hour earlier in the morning.. All males will have to remove shirt and baniyan before entering the sanctum. Ambal gives such a great Dharshan that I was spellbound and stood and prayed silently. As i was moving slowly due to arthritis of legs, the Maami who possibly belonged to the family running the Temple waited patiently till I finished my Dharshan and PradhikshiNam and then only closed the Temple gates. Thanks to her kindness. I feel all Poojaas are being done with Sraddha. May Godess Kamakshi Bless us all! Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara!
The address is given in the web post itself:
Bhagirathy St, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai. (This is actually situated a lane from Kamaraj road). Chavali Sastri was a very great devotee who took immense pleasure in Periva’s accepting the garlands offered by him and blessed him further by standing for a photo as requested and that photo is very famous.
I visit this temple regularly since 2009. To add to what Mahesh has posted, Mahaperiyava worshiped the Moola Kamakshi for one mandalam before it was installed. When the time came for him to part with the idol he has stated ” I have given all my powers to Lakshmi Kamakshi and I have nothing left with me now. You take care of Kamakshi and she will take care of you”. He has also given a katkamala as his seedanam to kamakshii empty. The katkamala has been reworked and adorning Kamakshi now. The uniqueness of this temple is that they adhere to strict Niyama. Daily Neivedyams are done in “Manadupu” (no gas or electric stove), special flower garlands are ordered as flowers with threads are not allowed. In particular during Navarathri they do chandi homam, Sumagali and kanya pooja (9 sumangali’s daily and 16 (Chodasi) last day) daily. It is a treat to watch. Indeed blessed family. They follow Mahaperiava’s guidelines till date. This is one of the well maintained temple in Chennai given the size and magnitude of the work required to maintain the temple. Another boon to this temple it priest Balaji is so dedicated, he does the poojas and abhsihekams with utmost care and sincerity, its a treat to watch him perform archanas and abhishekams. This template is indeed a blessing from Mahaperiyava and kamakshi resides here to protect her devotees.
With the blessings of Maha Periyava I would like to visit this temple..Can anyone tell me where exactly it is located?
Our family members have visited the temple several times in 2005. That was the time when Sri Bala Periyaval had to remain in Chennai as per Court order after the false Nov 2004 incidents. We have taken Sri Bala Periyaval’s blessings almost everyday.
Last year when we went again a few times, we somehow found a lack of sradhdha in the performance of the daily pujas at the temple. Maybe we are wrong!
Well Madam. The address is very much there in the article itself. I reproduce it alongside for your ready reference: “Bhagirathy St, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai. (This is actually situated on a side-lane of Kamaraj road)”
near to andhra mahila saba.one high court complex junction-one vadivudaiaman temple-this is in raja annamalai puram-bagirati street-wonderful temple-fortunately i visited this temple 2 weeks back.inside the temple gents should remove shirts-very nice
I visited this temple very recently after I was told by my brother about this temple. I could not forget the first darshan of the moolasthanam ambal and specially her captivating eyes. Not only the ambal is replica of kamakshi temple but also the sri chakram before the ambal and the deities in the inner prakaram including Aroopa Lakshmi;
However, I did not realise that the vinayaka in the prakaram is given by Ramana Maharishi at the time of my visit
Many who are regular visitors to this temple themselves donot know about this unique Vinayakar.hats why I wanted to write about
Thanks a million to you Shri Rajah Iyer!
மகாபெரியவா அனுக்ராஹதாள I should be able to visit the temple. – Thanks for the Posting —
I humbly request to replace the word ‘idol’ with ‘murthi’. Idol is a derogatory word that we inherited from the british. Idol is normally equated to meaningless or hype. Here is the meaning of the word ‘Idol’ from Websters Dictionary online .
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idol
“A representation or symbol of an object of worship; broadly : a false god”
“A form or appearance visible but without substance ”
Swami Chinmayananda and many other swamiji’s have talked about this.
Though I have visited this temple long ago, now I feel i must visit this temple again as soon as possible to get the blessings of Sri Kamakshi Amman and Lord Ganesha.
We used to vusit v this temple literally every week vin sundays or fridsys between 1994 till 1998 ir so. Then we mived out if chennsi.it used to be very very calm, lonely without a soul visiting tgis temple as its private property. We, me , my husband our little son abd daug g ter … they v were 10 and 8 years resoectively used to go there. We never went there after that. Thanjs for givibgbthis info. We will go next time when we are in chennai.