poosalar nayanar

63 Nayanmargal:

                  This is the life history of one of the 63 nayanmars. It may seem unbelievable to know that  at what extent each of the Naayanmars had gone to sacrifice anything and everything  for the Lord In the olden. And this is the life history of poosalar nayanar.

History of Poosalar Nayanar:

                 In the Thondai region (Thondai Nadu) there was a small town named “Thiruninravur”. Thiruninravur is a suburb in the north west of Chennai near Avadi (meaning dwelling of cows). 

“Poosalaar” was born and bred in the Vedic Chanting tradition of the village. Poosalaar had mastered the Vedas and excelled in devotion and wisdom. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva.

Dream to build a temple:

               He had an intense ambition to build a temple to the Lord Shiva. Though he could not muster funds, he had a deep and overwhelming desire in his heart. Engulfed with the overpowering craving, Poosalaar reconciled to himself that he would not get any help from any quarters for building the temple OUTSIDE. 

Undaunted, he finally decided to build a temple for the Lord, WITHIN. Presto, within the confines of his HEART!.

Constructing the temple:

                     He knew all the agama shastras, i.e. scriptural rules to build a temple. So he sat under a tree and started contemplating about the construction of the temple within his heart. The temple gradually started growing up in his mind. The intensely sincere and well thought out work continued without any hitch and he gradually completed the inner and outer praharams, artha, vasantha and bhoga mandapams. He also erected a big tower and adorned it with various clay forms; Also dug a sumptuous pond for providing water for the daily anointments and raised gigantic walls all around the shrine.

                     Thus, the Lord’s abode was as complete like the completeness of his love for the Lord. Bear it in mind that he built the temple step by step, stone by stone and executed his masterly odyssey meticulously and with great reverential detail, all within his Heart!. Pooslaar thus built a grand temple for the Lord of Kailash with such micro level details by meditating on the Lord from within his heart, where the God was verily seated. Having consummated the sublime construction, he fixed an auspicious date for the consecration ceremony (Kumbhabishegam). He then implored the Lord of Kailash, to grace the consecration and offer His blessings.

 Kailasanathar temple at Kancheepuram:

                 The Pallava King Rajasimhan or Narasimhavarman II who ruled over South India during 6th Century was a great devotee of Lord Shiva besides being a connoisseur and patron of arts.Rajasimhan desired to bequeath a befitting legacy to the posterity in the name of the Lord of Kailash and commenced the construction of the famous Kailasanathar temple at Kancheepuram.

                Upon completion of the temple after years of hard work, he decided to have the consecration (Kumbabishekam) and fixed an auspicious date after consulting erudite Shivacha.The Kumabhishekam day was nearing and the attendant arrangements were under progress.

Lord's Divine play:

                A day prior to the  Day, the King personally supervised the arrangements for the grand function and went to bed thoroughly satisfied. However the Lord of Kailash started His divine play (Thiruvilayadal) as usual and appeared in the dream of Rajasimhan and said  Poosalar has conceived for a long time and built a big, fine temple which I will enter tomorrow; post­pone your program to a later date, so said the Lord.

               The King got woken up from his reverie and realized that in his dream, the Lord had ordered him to postpone the consecration as He had to attend a similar function slated for the same day at Tiruninravur. The king felt that if the Lord Himself had chosen then it should really be a bigger temple and decided to see the great devotee and the great temple himself.

Proceeding towards Tiruninravur:

                  The King started proceeding towards Tiruninravur along with his retinue. Upon reaching Thiruninravur the King enquired the local people about the new Shiva Temple.Nobody happened to know anything about the temple but however informed him that there is a person by name “Poosalaar” sitting under a tree in meditation. The King’s retinue said they will bring Pooslaar but the King stopped them and said he would himself will go to his place and meet him.

              Later when Pooslaar came out of meditation, the King revealed his dream to Poosalaar. The King of the region was standing in front of a poor a rare sight to see indeed. With folded hands, the King then requested Pooslaar that he wanted to see the TEMPLE built by him as revealed by the Lord Himself. Tears of love and joy started flowing in torrents from the eyes of Poosalaar as he could not believe that the Lord whose form could not be seen even by Brahma and Vishnu had decided to sanctify the consecration of the temple which he had built in his HEART.

Consecration ceremony:

                   Poosalaar then told the King that he had been constructing the temple in his heart and had fixed the consecration ceremony on that very day and that he had reached there just before the consecration. Saying so, he gently drew the Kings hands and placed them on his heart. The King felt the divine chanting of Vedas and Mangala Vadyam (Divine Musical instruments) and witnessed the consecration ceremony which was taking place inside the heart of Poosalaar!

               The great devotee that he was, King Rajasimhan was astounded to see the devotion and sincerity of Poosalaar. The king himself took all the specifications of the temple which Poosalaar had in mind and physically constructed a temple for the Lord at Thiruninravur. 

Lord Hridhayaaleeswarar:

              Since Poosalaar originally built the temple for the Lord in his Heart (Hridayam) the Lord here is known as Hridhayaaleeswarar.

 It is the belief of many that the heart related ailments will get cured by simply having the darshan of the Lord Hridhayaaleeswarar at Thiruninravur.

 

      நெஞ்சகமே கோவில்
   நினைவே சுகந்தம்
    அன்பே மஞ்சன நீர்
                           பூசை கொள்ள வாராய் பராபரமே

 Encryption at kailasanathar temple:           

                    The above incident is encrypted in the Kailasanathar Temple at Kanchipuram by Rajasimhan himself is the proof that the King did realized what he dreamt was real.

                                               ANBE SIVAM