PATHANAMTHITTA: The lush greenery surrounding the serene hermitage and temple that accepts no donation mirrors their glorious past. Founded by Advaitha Vedanta exponent Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati, the Vidyanikethan Gurukulam and the Sharada temple at Mlanthadam, a small hamlet near Konni in Pathanamthitta district, is preserved well by the Varkala-headquartered Narayana Gurukula.
The rituals there are also different from other temples. While others offer nivedyam, food to the deity, or abhishekam -- pouring oil, ghee and such on the idol, the Sharada temple is devoid of all such rituals. The devotees are free to worship the goddess, reciting hymns.
“A board saying no donations and offerings is installed near the Sharada temple. It conveys everything about the place. There are no specific rituals, offerings, or festivals. Here, in this temple, money is not the value system,” said Rajendra Swami, known as Thyageeswaran, a senior monk.
He said Guru Nitya installed the deity “Sharada Devi”, a symbolic representation of education.
Many great teachers including Nataraja Guru, the disciple of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, have visited the place, he added. Nataraja Guru, who founded the Narayana Gurukula in 1923, was also the Guru Nitya.
On April 14, 1997, Guru Nitya installed the deity Sharada, similar to the Sharada temple in Sivagiri.
The land for the monastery was part of his ancestral property donated by his mother. Guru Nitya’s room, along with his collection of books, is well-preserved.
As Saturday marks Guru Nitya’s birth centenary, several programmes have been arranged by disciples at the monastery.
The disciples gather there mainly during Vishu and Guru Nitya’s birth anniversary. Yati was born K R Jayachandra Panicker on November 2, 1924, at Vakayar, near the Mlanthadam Ashram in the erstwhile Travancore kingdom to Pandalam Raghava Panicker, a poet and teacher, and Vamakshi Amma. He passed away on May 14, 1999.