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Popular seer Jeeyar not invited for Yadadri temple inauguration
It was Jeeyar who had fixed the muhurtham for the consecration of the temple at 11.55 am on March 28, falling in Mithuna Lagnam, by performing Maha Kumbabhishekam (anointment of the deity with holy water), during the visit of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to his ashram in October 2021.
The seven-day Vedic rituals for the inauguration of the renovated ancient hill shrine of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Yadadri, about 60 km from Hyderabad, begin on Monday morning, but popular Vaishnavaite seer Srimannaryana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar, the spiritual force behind the temple works, will be missing the event.
The Telangana government has not extended any invitation to Chinna Jeeyar, who has been the agama advisor (who decides the temple construction and rituals as per the scriptures) for the temple right from the beginning.
In fact, it was Jeeyar who had fixed the muhurtham for the consecration of the temple at 11.55 am on March 28, falling in Mithuna Lagnam, by performing Maha Kumbabhishekam (anointment of the deity with holy water), during the visit of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to his ashram in October 2021.
As a precursor to the Maha Kumbhabhishekam, the seven-day pancha kundathmaka homam (a havan performed in five pyres) will be held on the premises of Balalayam (make shift temple of the god) from March 21 to 27. In all, 108 Rithwiks (pundits who perform the Yagam) will be participating in this homam.
As per the original plan, Jeeyar is supposed to oversee the entire programme of conducting homams and consecration of the temple, but now, he is nowhere in the picture. The endowments department has deputed Rithwiks and Vedic pandits of different temples for performing the event, an official of the department familiar with the development said.
Yadadri temple executive officer N Geetha Reddy, who released the programme schedule for the temple inauguration on Friday, said no special invitation had been extended to anybody, including Chinna Jeeyar.
“We shall welcome anyone whoever comes on his or her own for the temple consecration and other rituals,” the executive officer said.
Apparently realising that the Telangana government is avoiding him for the temple inauguration, Chinna Jeeyar quietly left for his ashram at Seethanagaram on the banks of Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada, a few days ago.
Speaking to reporters at his Vijaywada ashram on Friday, Jeeyar said he would go to Yadadri temple inauguration only if gets any invitation. “I haven’t got any invitation so far,” he said.
The way the Telangana government is avoiding Chinna Jeeyar for the inauguration of the renovated Yadadri temple indicates the strained relations between him and KCR, as the chief minister is known, in the last one month.
The last time KCR had visited Chinna Jeeyar ashram at Muchintal on the outskirts of Hyderabad was on February 3, two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 216-ft statue of 11th century Vaishnavaite saint Ramanujacharya.
After that, the chief minister has been avoiding Chinna Jeeyar and his programmes. He did not attend the Prime Minister’s programme at the Ramanuja statue inauguration nor did he turn up at the concluding ceremony on February 14 attended by President Ramnath Kovid.
The ashram authorities expected KCR to attend the Shanti Kalyanam, held four days later, but he skipped this event, too. There were reports that KCR was upset with Chinna Jeeyar for not including his name on the inaugural plaque of the Ramanujacharya statue, which had only Narendra Modi’s name.
Jeeyar later clarified that KCR’s name could not be included on the plaque as the CMO authorities had informed him a day before that the chief minister won’t be able to attend the event as he had some health issues.
Since then, the gap between the chief minister and the seer has been widening. When asked about the same, Chinna Jeeyar said: “I don’t have any gap with anybody, including the chief minister. But if the other side feels there is a gap, I am helpless.”
