The importance of Guruvayur Kshetra and the idol of Lord Guruvayurappan
Monday, 9 November 2009
One of the oldest idols in worship is that of Lord Guruvayurappan. Prasni and Sutapas were a childless couple, who prayed to Lord Narayana for progeny. The Lord appeared before them and Prasni said that she wanted the Lord Himself to be born as her child. The Lord promised that since she had repeated her request three times, He would be Prasni’s child for three births of hers.
Prasni then prayed that she must have an idol of the Lord to worship. The Lord gave her the idol that is now being worshipped in the Guruvayur temple. In all the three births that Prasni took, she worshipped the idol given to her by the Lord.
As promised, the Lord was born as Prasni’s son, and took the name Prasnigarbha. In her next birth, she was known as Aditi and was the wife of Kasyapa. As Aditi, she was privileged to be the mother of Vamana. In her next birth, Prasni was born as Devaki. She married Vasudeva, and the Lord was born to her as Krishna. The idol that was worshipped by Prasni in her three births, was worshipped by Krishna Himself, said Damal Ramakrishnan in a discourse.
At the end of the Krishna avatara, when the Lord brought on the deluge, He kept the whole world inside Himself, and reclined on a leaf. He entrusted the idol to Uddhava, and wanted it to be saved until the start of Kaliyuga. Uddhava passed on the idol to Guru and Vayu. They kept it safe, and then when Kaliyuga began, they wondered where to install it. Siva and Parvathi in the kshetra called Mammiyur, told them to install in it a place nearby. So Guru and Vayu installed the idol there.
Thus the Krishna idol came to be known as Guruvayurappan. Varuna built the tank in the temple.
When devotees enter the temple, they must worship Him by reciting the nama ‘Narayana.’ Then they must recite ‘Guruvayurappan.’ And then finally they must worship by saying the name ‘Krishna.’ Guruvayur also has the distinction of Narayana Bhattathiri having composed his Narayaneeyam there.
The greatness of this work lies in the fact that Guruvayurappan Himself heard Bhattathiri’s verses. The essence of Narayaneeyam is the presence of Narayana during its composition.
