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Sri Bharadwaja Ashram fosters compassion, cow care

The nearly 40 cows get a special treatment at the gohsala with good ceiling fans
Chennai: Full moon nights often pulsates with activity here and men and women come in large numbers to take part in the special “moonlight” pooja of Sri Rajarajeshwari at Sri Yoha Maya Sri Bhuvaneswari Peetam and Sri Bharadwaja Ashram at Ambattur here. This unique ashram, which has been actively involved in fostering women empowerment through religion, and completing quarter century, is struggling to maintain over 40 cows in its Gohasala.
Located at Kallikuppam in Ambattur, amidst a serene background, the ashram houses a temple for Goddess Bhuvaneswari who graces the devotees with a most dazzling visage. During pournami, abhishekas are performed to the deity with 64 different articles collected from special herbs and the pujas are performed to the reflection of the moon brought from a mirror with the deity. Ashtami day, (which falls twice a month) is another attractive puja performed here.
Conspicuously, women are given greater importance in participating in the pujas and Paramahamsa Srimath Bhuvaneswari Swamigal who established the Yoha Maya Bhuvaneswari Peetam and Bharadwaj Ashram in 1990 was instrumental in initiating Sri Chakra puja to women.
“He did not even have enough money to buy a blouse for his wife. But he took great pains to feed the poor and also the cows. He wanted women to be enlightened and empowered to guide the family so that the entire society prospered,” says Paramahamsa Sri Bharadwaj Swamy who has been taking forward the good work of his guru and father.
The nearly 40 cows get a special treatment at the gohsala with good ceiling fans to keep them cool during summer. The milk procured from the cows are used for abhishekam and its byproduct – curd is used to prepare curd rice and given for free to the devotees. The milk is not commercialised. The present 58-year-old pontiff took up Brahmacharya to propagate his guru’s social cause of feeding the poor, initiating women in Sri Chakra puja and in maintaining the cows.
Though Sri Bharadwaj Swamy is an excellent orator and author of about 130 books, mostly on Goddess worship, had speech problems at a tender age. His anxious father wrote the ‘seed letters’ of Goddess Saraswathy on his tongue with a miniature spear and thereafter constantly encouraged him to write crores of mantras. This celibate Bharadwaj Swamy or Bala Amma as he is also called by his devotees has astonishingly mastered over 7,000 hymns including Tamil devotional songs. He is instrumental in conducting 700 kumbhabhishekams.
“People ask me how much money and properties I have. I tell them the Goddess is with me.... My father led me to Goddess Bhuvaneswari and Tamil took me closer to the Goddess,” says the Swamy who is a Telugu Brahmin.
Those keen on donating to protect the cows can contact: Sri Yohamaya Bhuvaneswari Peetam, Sri Bharadwaj Ashram, Gangai Nagar, Kallikuppam, Redhills Road, Ambattur, Phone: 044 2686 0777. One can meet the Swamyji between 10 am and 12 noon.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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