The perfect combination of Yoga and Bhoga-Devarayana Durga

                       Last Sunday(8/5/2011), my husband's research took us to 2 great temples of Lord Narasimha swami. The location is called Devarayana Durga which is around 60 KM from Malleswaram and the route goes via Peenya, Nelmangala and Dobbaspet.

                                                                                                         
                                      We comfortably followed the direction boards to reach the temple on the hill -Yoga narasimha swami temple. We went certain distance on car and then our legs took the responsibility to land us on the top of the hill.  The steps were not so steep so one can easily reach there. Since the temple closes by 1 PM and we were at the foot of the hill at 12.45, we reached up hurriedly not to miss the glance of the god.

                                                The views from  the top of the hill were fantastic and we captured many angles. We went there along with my brother's family and his brother's family who came to bangalore for a short trip. Since the batch was big we had great fun all the way. While coming down, we had the darshan of Bhoga narasima swami too and then started towards our sweet home after having a light tiffin at Kamat on the way.

                                             

Under the weight of white falls-Shivana samudra

           The whole week, my partner keeps searching in mind (and team bhp) what should be the next weekend gate way. Last saturday(14th of may, 2011), after good research, we actually started with Somnathpura in mind , but at the end we were under the cool and heavy waters of barah chukki.         
                       We both started at around 10 in the morning. For safe side, we had our boxes carrying Pulihara(puliyogare) with us and even an extra pair of dress. On the Mysore road, we diverted left when we saw Maddur following the boards of shivana Samudra. Actually we had with us the route to reach Somnathpura but strangely we kept driving in the direction of Shivana samudra. The road between maddur and Malavalli is a bit bad stretch but manageable. To reach Somnathpura one should divert right after malavalli which we didn't do. so we were at last at the gagan chukki water fall which we earlier thought would be out next trip.  
         Gagan chukki fall was good but not as amazing as Barahchukki,may be because of the less rains these days. We felt it would definitely deserve a visit during heavy rains time.

                                                                
                               Then we turned towards Barah chukki-The place where you reach very easily but tough to get out-this has got 2 way meaning:the beauty of the falls may not let you go or the steps to come back are a bit steep and more in number too. Old people may feel a bit tired to come back.
But, after we reach the foot of the fall, just stare at the falling water and I'm sure one will forget the world around. Its awesome.

                                            

                                        

                                                          
                          Our next destination was again still not decided, but we were at Talakadu, since my partner didn't want to miss the pious river cauvery and our judgement proved worthy. By the time we reached there, it was getting dark but we took a guide with us who managed to make us understand the history of the temple with his manageable English.(all other guides are Kannada guys and we don't understand that) Though he charged 150/- it was felt deserved. There is a story that people believe happened many years ago regarding the history of Talakadu:
                              The beautiful queen of Bangalore(or some other near by kingdom couldn't understand completely) had great possessions of jewellery and beauty. After the king died, the king of Mysore wanted to take the authority on them and sent his army to fight. but the queen, being a great Pativrata, gave 3 curses: Talakadu must be dumped under sand
a whirlpool should come (the point of its origination was not understood)
The king of Mysore should never have offspring.(even now all the heirs of Mysore king are adopted ones)
                             As per the 1st curse, Talakadu was covered under sand and many years later the department of Archeology got it out .Even now we can see the total area having sand and even the temples were on the same location. there are very good temples and great history behind them. without that guide, we're sure that we could not at all do the darshan of the temples since it was dark and even the route seemed mysterious.
We strongly felt, we should have a 2nd visit during day time since the story was quite interesting. The pious river Cauvery was beautiful at the sunset time with reddish shade covering the calm water surface and cool breeze touching the depths of the heart.
                                 One more attraction on the route was the temple of Sri Ranganatha Swami which is called Madhya ranga
Adi ranga being-Sriranga patnam(near Mysore)
and antya ranga -Srirangam(Tamilnadu)
Some devotees believe that it is good if one can finish the darshan of these 3 temples in a single day and many people do that.

                                    

Deep into the falls-Chunchi falls

                      Last week end(30th April,2011), we both and my brother's family along with a forced bachelor friend started out on a trip to see the Mekedatu where the kaveri river flows so thin that a goat can cross over that. We travelled on the Kanakapura road till we reached a board showing direction towards Chunche falls.  So we were tempted to go in that direction since it was heavily raining at that time, we were left with no hopes to be carried till the Mekedatu.Before this, we had our lunch at the Pyramid Dhyana kendra which served a great Andhra style food and was a great place to spend time in meditation.
                                             

                                         
From a distance, the falls seemed so simple and quite normal but my great brother and his friend walked a bit further to find out a way which took us very near to the falls. The way went on rocks and between the trees which left us with a feeling as if we were on an adventurous journey. We were lucky to be lead by a villager present there till the actual point. the view from there was too good but we had to be very careful while walking on the rocks.

                                         

                                          

                                              
                                              At last, after enjoying a considerable time there, we left with an aim to reach Sangam where the Rivers Cauvary and Arkavathy meet. The place was not so neat which pulled my husband back from taking a bath there despite carrying an extra pair of dress. My brother and his friend enjoyed the force of flowing waters and were left with great content to be able to take bath in a sangam in the evening time(Sandhya kalam). By the way that day was my brother's b'day according to thithi.
                                         

                                           
                                Since the time was late in the evening, we were left with no hopes to reach the Mekedatu. So we started towards our homes with great enjoyment of scenic beauty and great drive in a great whether saved as great memories in our hearts.