It was shocking yet refreshing for them to see a band of people from the West so respectful of and so involved in the rituals. The priests were stunned as they looked around at the multicultural and multi-racial crowd and asked Aiya, Where have you people come from? For localized wedding parties, they were used to having people sit there and chat on the kalyanam mantapam even as the pujas were going on, not paying attention and mindlessly letting the priests run the show. Aiya later proudly told the story of how, as soon as the priests started chanting the Ganapathi Atharvashirsam, about 30 of his students in attendance jumped in and started chanting along. This was the case at Aiya s shashti-abhapurthi (60th birthday) celebrations in August 2003 in the temple town of Thirukadavoor, famous for its Abhirami temple. It can build an instant rapport wherever you go or make a very shocking statement. chant) when you attend a new temple it s the most universal but most secret language. Knowing the pujas or texts doesn t simply give you something to do (i.e. Most obviously, it shows they have dedicated a significant amount of their own time and effort to learning these texts, and they re not just in the habit of attending temples to sit for a few minutes, look around like it s a museum, get some prasadam and go home.
That simple act tells a lot about a person, she said, if they can walk into any temple for the first time and jump right into chanting difficult texts out loud such as the Rudram or Lalita Sahasranamam. 2 2 Our Thoughts A friend of the Sri Chakra once said she finds it especially intriguing when she notices a new person at the temple who joins in with the chanting along with all the devotees who regularly attend.
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