Karnataka Ministers Gali Karunakara Reddy and Gali Janardhan Reddy had a wish fulfilled and on the fulfillment of the wish, they went to the Sri Kala Hasthi temple last Saturday and presented to the Goddess Gnanaprasoonambika a golden Sari and jewels worth Rs.10 Cr ( in fact the value is unspecified) to keep their promise to the Goddess.
The offerings by the mining barons included a 12-piece set comprising diamond crown, golden Vakshasthala Kavacham, golden sari, a pair of Karna Pathras, Hasthams, Nagabharana Vaddanams, diamond-studded Jada with ornamental tufts at the end, a pair of holy feet, ear, and nose studs.
Though we don’t know their wish that was fulfilled by the powerful Goddess, the occasion gives us an opportunity to know the greatness of the temple and the goddess.
Sri Kala Hasthi and its greatness
The name Sri Kala Hasthi, also known as Dakshina Kailash, and famous for its centuries’ old temple of Lord Siva, is music to the ears of Saivites or devotees of Siva. Situated on the banks of Swarnamukhi River in Chittor district of AP, the temple has a Vaayu Lingam of Lord Siva and a famous Navagraha-statue set up.
The name Sri Kala Hasthi was derived from three beings-Sri, a spider, Kala, a serpent and Hasthi, an elephant which worshipped Lord Shiva and attained liberation. Bhakta Kannappa, a tribal devotee, offered his both eyes to the Lord here and attained liberation, according to Indian mythology.
Sivapuranam says that when Lord Brahma, the creator of this universe, started working on the creation of Kailasam, the abode of Lord Siva, a piece of the abode fell at Sri Kala Hasthi forcing the Lord to make it his abode in shape of Vaayu Lingam, made of thin air.
The exact timing of the Sri Kala Hasthi temple construction was not known to any one but the kings of the Chola and Vijayanagara dynasties looked after this temple welfare as its chief patrons throughout their periods and ensured the great temple was handed down to the present generations. By this implication, the temple must have been constructed even before BC.
Air is one of the five elements-air, water, fire, earth and ether with which the universe was created by Lord Brahma who pervades all the nine planets-Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu (dragon’s head) and Ketu (dragon’s tail), with the last two known as the shadowy planets in Indian Astrology.
While you can see all other planets with your naked eyes, no one can see the shadowy planets Rahu and Ketu as they are dark and brighter shadows respectively. The shadow of Rahu is formed when Moon passes over the north pole of the planet earth and the shadow of Ketu is formed when Moon passes over the south pole of the planet earth in its orbits.
There are reasons to believe that the central focal points of these shadows directly fall on the Vayu Lingam located in the temple due to its geographical reasons and longitude of Sri Kala Hasthi thereby making the temple and its deities very unique in the word. For this reason only, our Puranas say that that Rahu and Ketu once worshipped Lord Siva in this temple.
The point is that the direct touch of these shadows (which no one can see) over the Vaayu Lingam of the temple results in the concentration of abundant cosmic energy of our solar system in the temple itself there by making the deities highly powerful. To put it frankly, when you worship a deity in the Sri Kala Hasthi temple, you are worshipping the cosmic energy which you can never see or reach but which is there before you all the time.
This cosmic energy is present in the temple in shape of the deity of Goddess Gnana Prasunamba, the all powerful Shakti which even crated the creator Brahma. If you worship this deity, you are worshipping this entire universe which is said to be in the shape of Siva Lingam.
Because of this reason, if one worships the deities in this temple with concentration and seeks the blessings of the Lord, one’s wishes are fulfilled.
