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From SOKA To SLOKA

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Dear Readers/Seekers, I am glad to present the article “From Soka (Sorrow) to Sloka (Divine Hymn)”. It is about a poet named Poonthanam. The soka i.e. sorrow which attended him changed him to become a great devotee and by corollary a great poet composing Sloka (divine hymn). The poet hailed from Kerala, the God’s Own Country. Outside Kerala, many people may not be aware of this great poet whose poems have inspired scores in to the realm of Bhakti towards Lord Guruvayurappan, the presiding deity of Guruvayur. In modern parlance, it is a romance of love between the Lord and his devout Bhaktha. Guruvayur is an abode with scores of devotees experienced miracles like Poonthanam, Bhattathiri, Kruramma, Manjula, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Sengalipuram Anantharama Deekshitar etc., even an elephant (Guruvayur Kesavan) expressed bhakti towards the Lord. Such is the greatness of Guruvayur. The offering to the Lord of this temple is unique which you cannot find elsewhere and yes that is the

BUILT TO LAST or BUILT TO HEART

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From Editor’s Desk Dear Readers/Seekers, I am glad to present the life history of the second among the 63 devout Naayanmars ( Devotees of Lord Shiva) as part of a Sacred Sixty Three Series of articles spanning Sixty Three divine lives of Shaivite Naayanmar. The life history of the Nayanmars, seen from our mundane blinkers, may appear unbelievable at worst or highly imaginary at best. If we read the Chola Minister Sekkizhar’s Periyapuranam, we will know to what extent each of the Naayanmars had gone to sacrifice anything and everything they had for the Lord - be it be their own life or even that of their family members. Sometimes I used to wonder the reason they had gone to such an extreme level. Is it that God will respond only to those who are ready to sacrifice everything ? Being a skeptic, I was reluctant to write articles on incidents which seemed to be on the fringes of imagination exaggeration. However only after seeing the bottom line of the any Naayanmar, I realized that they h