Your House Problems will be solved at this temple
Over the last 15 years, Giridharan Gurukal has successfully created a 'faith' model among devotees to relieve them from their house related issues
As with most remote temples in TN, the Bhoominathar temple in Manachanallur, that dates back to Agastyar period, went through a challenging phase in the 1970s and 80s. Original inhabitants had left this town in search of jobs. Ramani Gurukal did not have money to even pay the son’s education fees. There was no oil to light the lamp, only minimal devotees. Thattu kaasu was non-existent.
Against this background, he asked his son Giridharan to focus on academics. He was also a sportsman and came third in the state athletics tournament in Avadi in the 400 meters in the early 1990s. He has a Masters degree and also pursued a M. Phil. He is now a school teacher in Pettavaithalai.
While he went this way, all along, there was a fire burning inside him that the temple had remained deserted and was keen to bring back devotees to the temple. Like in Nachiyar Koil, where the then bhattars created a Thursday prarthana model for Kal Garuda in the 1990s, Giridharan Gurukal created a prarthana model two decades ago, when he was just 30 years old, that promised to solve house related problems.
A Namboodari from Kongu Nadu recommended the installation of a Vaastu Yanthram in the Moolavar Sannidhi. And Giridharan Gurukal actively marketed this with devotees.
Devotees throng Bhoominathar
It is just after 9am on Saturday and devotees are thronging the temple in large numbers, contrasted with the scenario a decade ago. Almost all the devotee are there presenting their house related issues to Giridharan Gurukal. He is vocal about the solution and the impact of the prayer in front of Bhoominathar.
An hour later, another set of families arrive at the temple. These are devotee families whose problems have been solved and there is a certain delight in their faces. They are to perform an abhisekam and present annadhanam as promised earlier when they had come to the Sannidhi with their house related issues. Each of these families are grateful to the Gurukal for solving their problems.
Creates a Vaastu Yanthram Solution Model
Giridharan Gurukal later tells this writer that there was anger building up inside him a couple of decades ago having watched his appa struggle at the temple with no archanai, no money and no devotees. Ramani Gurukal had served till he was 78 “My appa never displayed any anger at the state of his life and spoke very little. He would go from home to home to collect money for the special pooja every Krithigai. That was about the only day when there was some activity in the temple in those decades. Amma asked me to go to the temple but I told her that there was no income at all at the temple.”
This scenario at the temple and the silent struggles of his appa saw his blood boil “I thought long and hard as to what could be done to revive the temple’s fortunes and came up with this idea of Bhoomi pooja. The Vaastu Yanthram that I installed two decades ago is very powerful. On the first Sunday of Margazhi, I do an abhisekam and Rudra Yaagam for 14 hours. That provides results to devotees through the year.”
His brother Manikandan Sivan is the officially appointed Gurukal at the temple. Interestingly, HRCE manages the morning session while Thiruvavaduthurai Atheenam takes care of the remaining three pooja kaalams each day at the temple. Giridharan Gurukal has received an order from the Mutt to perform special pooja at this temple as a Kainkaryam.
In a dramatic turnaround, there has been at least 5 abhisekams every day in recent years. The scenario is so positive in terms of devotee turnout that Giridharan Gurukal now engages another priest to support him. There is also a person that he engages at the madapalli for neivedyam and anna dhanam. He happily shares his earnings with the service personnel at the temple as he is conscious of the life his appa led and wants those in the temple space to live a financially stable life.
He is also happy that he has been able to solve the problems of several thousands of devotees each of whom back him ever so strongly. “We were so down with issues relating to our house and did not foresee an end to the problem. The way Giridharan Gurukal gave us confidence that Bhoominathan and Dharma Samvardhani Ambal will take care of us made us believe. And that real faith has helped solve the issue in no time”, a young devotee who is at the temple with his wife and two children told this writer on Saturday just after noon at the temple complex.
No oil to now 'only ghee lit lamps'
Giridharan Gurukal proudly remarks that during his appa’s time, there was no oil to light the lamp. And now ‘we use only ghee to light the lamp’. Driven by his appa’s financial struggles in the final decades of the previous century, Giridharan Gurukal, with creative thinking and a mind that focused on ‘revival’, has fashioned a remarkable turnaround much like the one at Nachiyar Koil Divya Desam. Giridharan Gurukal is vocal and open in the way he communicates with the devotees. He asks them to express their concerns and suggests the solution loudly and clearly. From minimal crowd and no thattu kaasu, he has brought in crowds into the temple in large numbers instilling confidence and faith in the devotees and a belief that all their problems will be solved. And they seem to trust him completely.
The annual ten-day Vaikasi Utsavam is also now celebrated in a grand way at the temple.
The temple is open from 7am to 12noon and 5pm to 8pm. Contact Giridharan Gurukal@ 9344769294
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