Born as Chandrashkehar Sharma on the 11th December 1951 .
Also affectionately called as V.R.Raja .
Born in Tamil Brahmin family in the Udithya Gothram .
Served as Manager of Spare parts at Tafe , India for 32 years.
Completed education in M.A.Economics , B.Ed worked as professor and later joined Tafe and also continued pursuing PG Diploma in Marketing , Production , Foreign Trade and Materials. My passion for education made me continue above courses while working and attending evening college to secure credentials that helped my career and work.
I was given the name of VIDHYA PUTHRAN towards the end of 2002 at Prathyangra Dvi temple , OMR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prathyangira_Devi_Temple,_Shollinganallur) in the presence of 500 people in an totally unexpected way.
After attending a family wedding in a chance arrival at the temple happened with no planning , but Ambaal had plans for me , waiting there with 500 people , the Swamiji performing pooja called out for a person who resides in Sowbhagya Graham (the name of my Home ) he said Ambaal herself resides in this house and asked the person to come forward , I was in total dismay and did not get up , a lady in the gathering got up and the Swamiji asked her to sit down ,he again called out saying the person residing in Sowbhagya illam please come forward , I was still hesitant but this time the Swamiji asked me to get up and come forward where I was given the name “ Vidhya Puthran “ . It was a honor given to me by Ambaal.
There are many more miracles and great people whom I came to meet in the past 35 years giving me profound knowledge, experience and miracles.
My mother has been my pillar of strength and great support of my Wife and 2 daughters. I reside in Korattur and take joy in sharing the divine knowledge and complete bliss in performing pooja for the Ambaal.
Guru Lineage
In the Year 1990 , I came to know about My Guru Ma Champagamba.
A colleague of mine Mr.Sundaresan spoke about Guru (whom at first I did not know was going to have a profound impact on my life) .He told his Guru is Mrs. Lakshmi Chandramouli (Champagamba) My interest to meet her was expressed by me to my colleague , he said he will need to check with Guru if I can come and visit her.
In the meantime , I kept doing Pooja to Lalithambiga. I went to Bhuvaneswari Swamigal to get Dheeksha but heard as voice that told me my Guru is a Lady and hence came back . Later after the September 1990 , I was called by my Colleague Sundaresan who said Guru ma has called me to visit her. I rejoiced and was ready to meet her.
The day around 25 people were starting early in the morning to go to Korattur to meet Guru Ma Champagamba . I boarded the van that was going to leave and sat in the first seat , the driver played a cassette which was supposed to play Lalitha Sahasranama Stotra but I started hearing the voice of Guru ma.
Later we reached her residence , where she met us all and came out of her room and asked who is Tafe Raja and I came forward she asked me to come a month later to get Ganapathy Initiation , She made all the arrangements and asked me to arrive at 4 am , the prasadam had Kozhakattai , Appam , Idli ,Poori. I could not believe and was in complete surrender to her affection towards me. I went there with my Father in law.
My 6th video about linga vadivangal #spirituality #lingam #6thvideo #deivavazhipaadu
This is the sixth video I’m releasing today, coming straight from Kolathur. In this one, I’ll be sharing some knowledge about Lord Shiva forms and idols..My neighbour Vinod who suggested I talk about Shiva Idols. I thought, why not? So today, let’s dive into the topic of Shiva idols!
Today is Pradosham so sharing about Shiva Idols is a good topic to explore. When I say Shiva idol, mostly we see in Linga form that Lord shiva is worshipped. Linga swaroopa -the Lingam can be made of stone, could be made of wood, could be in clay too , copper , brass ,silver ,gold . When it comes to Lord Vishnu (perumal) he is mostly seen in temples standing ,sitting , lying down.Even in the ten avatars, the Vaman avatar doesn’t have a specific form, it’s often told as Trivikrama. Coming to Lord Shiva there is 64 forms of Shiva
In the Chidambaram temple, you can see many of the sculptures . If you look at that thousand-pillar hall, they’ve got everything right there on display. You can see all the different types of dance, and it’s all happening in Chidambaram because of the presence of the deity. The sculptures on the pillars are amazing too. You can check out the Madurai temple as well. Just a request to everyone: if you visit a temple, make sure to go see the RajaGopuram at the Mylapore temple, where you’ll find all sorts of intricate carvings and artwork.
When visiting the temple next, do take a look at the idol. Don’t just rush in and glance at the sculptures – take a moment to appreciate the pillars and towers. Each tower has its own legends and stories.
Now, let’s focus on these Shiva Idols that I am going to show . I’m starting to explore them, and I’ll share the link for that Aashalingam.Mostly in temples that Rajas built , there will be a circular form of the Lingam.
For worship at home, Spatika Lingam is what we mostly see. This one’s a small Spatika Lingam, and we need to handle it carefully; if it falls, it could break. The wooden one can be kept in shelf as display as pouring water will not be good idea in case of a wooden made Linga.Bana Lingam are best , Narmada and Ganges river the Bana comes ,it comes in form of Egg and a wooden base can be made so that the Banalingam can rest in a base ,later i can show it as it is placed in the pooja room . I will show it later.
Next up is the Lord Nataraja form, which we see in Chidambaram. You know, he stands with his left leg lifted and right leg down, dancing.The Shakthi counterpart of Natarajar is Shivagami.
Now the Idol i am showing has the left hand raised up which can be called as Kali form as Shivagami has 2 hands where Shivagamihas left hand down and right hand has flowers or a Mudra as though holding Mudra and right hand will be closer to the body .While Meenakshi’s Idol the left hand is kind of pulled away from her body, and it seems like it’s almost pushing away from everything. But then Sivakami comes in and keeps everything in check, with the divine power of Eeswaran. So, regarding the Ananda Tandavam, we’ve seen that all Shiva temples are facing south — that’s the direction where his shrine is set up. We definitely need to check this out. During important days, Arudra, the special pooja, is performed four times in a year at a few places, and if you look at the Thondai Mandalam area
In the village of Tiruppalaivanam, there’s a grand Natarajar temple. You can see some amazing towers there too. Just like that, there’s another temple in Tiruppasur near Tiruvallur, dedicated to Vaaseeswara and Mohanambikai, who is considered the goddess there. That temple has a really big Natarajar statue, and there are only a few big shrines for Natarajar, like the one in Tiruvannamalai. If you look around Tamil Nadu, the older Natarajars, like the one in Koneri Rajapuram, are famous for being one of the biggest in the world. And now, in Vellore’s Porgovil, there’s also a magnificent Natarajar.
A long time ago, the Nataraja temple was established during the reign of Rajaraja Chola, about a thousand years back. It’s located in Koneari Rajapuram. The special thing about it is that Parameswarar and Parvati would visit there, and every time they did, they’d pray to Lord Nataraja. If the offerings didn’t go well, the king would say he’d go for their heads, or he’d make sure something would happen the next day. This guy was scared and didn’t know what to do. Then one day, during a weird time, an old couple came by saying they needed some water.
Where’s the water? It’s just this boiling broth, right? That metal thing is what’s cooking it. We’re drinking the same stuff he gave us. Both of them just hug it straight from the pot. That’s probably why it’s getting weird. They say it’s like the Konneri Rajar Natarajar – he’s got all those rituals. Inside it’s all kind of dark and messy. You can tell how a person’s body and nerves are just packed. That’s why I went to check it out, a couple of years ago .
The amazing Nataraja is built like a champion, and we just have to appreciate it. Every Nataraja statue is a bit different. If you go to Madurai, you’ll see him dancing with his right leg up instead of the left. But if you visit Tiruvahankottai, he’s got his leg up too, but without four arms—he has eight arms instead! Each one is unique. So, in different places, the Nataraja looks different. In some spots, he even has features like an elephant’s tusk! So, that’s about the elephant part of it.
It looks like Lord Nataraja’s idol varies from temple to temple, kind of like how you see different styles in different places. We definitely need to check it out because seeing it gives us some knowledge about it. Now, we just looked at the form of Nataraja, and next we’re moving on to the Somaskanda form, which is closely related to Lord Shiva. This has the bull, which symbolizes a connection—you can’t have Somaskanda without the bull in the middle. So, it shows that Uma and Skanda are part of this, particularly the Somaskanda aspect, which is all linked to the bull.
That guru was sitting there, and back in 2020, he did something surprising. He mentioned it as a reminder to everyone. Then there’s the Pradosha Murthy, which we got for this purpose. The first one we got was Vikraga, from a rare sect related to the Pradosha Murthy. Now, what’s the difference between Pradoshamurthi and Misha Murthi? They both should be on the same altar; the deity and the goddess cannot be separate. You can’t just place them apart. It’s about having both figures on the same seat together. That’s the key difference.