We see the tall Dwajasthambam. Near it are the Dwarapalakas, keeping guard of the entrance, to see the Lord! Entire temple is built as a granite fort! As we enter further, we see the beautiful sculptures. We
will just see some of them.
An exact replica of the Lord in garbhagruha is carved as a sculpture. The Lord is reclining with left arm stretched below and right arm lifted up. The statue is 22 Feet long! He is reclining on Adisesha, and we see 'thiru namam [திரு நாமம்]' on the hoods. The Lord is surrounded by Devas, Siddhas, Rishis, etc. Just at the entrance to the garbhagruha, we see statues of Manmadha and his consort Rati. Manmada is standing with a bow of sugar cane and flower arrows! Though the pair is famous for mesmerizing others with their beauty, after worshiping the Lord, they seem to feel shy as to how they could be called beauty gods! A great Yali [யாளி], an extinct animal, welcomes us. We also see Sri Parasurama, with His weapon parasu [axe]. He was here for a long time meditating on the Lord. We find lord Rudra dancing with one foot raised and beating udukkai [உடுக்கை], a tiny percussion instrument. Near him is Nandikeswara, playing on mridangam, another percussion instrument! We see Lord Sri Venugopala, playing on the flute, standing with legs crossed and displaying peacock feather on His head! We find cows and calves attentively listening to the sweet music! There is a prakaram [பிராகாரம்], corridor, inside which the Lord is gracing. The Lord is Adi Kesava, because, even before creating lord Brahma, the Lord has been gracing here and so Adi [ancient]! This is a difference between Thiruvanantapuram and this Kshetram. There, in the lotus sprouting from the Lord's navel, lord Brahma is sitting; but here we can neither see the lotus nor Brahma. The Lord is gracing reclining on the serpent and part of the crown is hidden in the hoods of Adisesha! Here also, there are Three gates to view the Lord - one to view His divine feet, another His navel and the Third to view His face. In Thiruvanantapuram, the Lord is facing East, while in Thiruvattaru, the Lord faces West! In front of the garbhagruha is Muka mandapam, formed by a single stone. No one is allowed inside that easily. There is a large Sri Utsavar, though He is not taken on procession; but in the morning He arrives at Muka mandapam and gets a holy bath [thirumanjanam] and returns to His place. Thus if we want to worship from Muka mandapam, it is only after 8:30 A.M. As in all Kerala temples, there is a smaller Sri Utsavar, Who is taken on procession during Sriveli. Inside garbhagruha, is sage Hapalopa. There was one Somayaji, who performed Yagna, with his wife, for begetting a child. The sage appeared in that Yagna. One Devakumara, Chitivrata, playfully asked the child, who were his parents! The child not knowing what to reply showed a banana tree! But the Lord appeared from that tree and preached Ashtakshara mantra to the child and retained the child [sage] in the garbhagruha! Vimanam is Ashtanga vimanam. There are many good qualities, which the Lord desires that we follow and nurture in us. Though atman is single in a good person, many gems of good qualities are there, like in a ocean there are many jewels and precious stones!
In fact, the idol of Sri Moolavar Sri Adikesava, is made of 16,008 salagrama stones, bonded with mustard, molasses and mortar, by a process called kadisarkkarai, similar to the one at Thiruvanantapuram. Therefore, Sri Moolavar is not bathed in water [thirumanjanam]. Now we will see sloka 6. In sloka 5, the Lord asked Arjuna not to be worried. Now sloka 6:
dvau bhūtasargau lokesmin daiva āsura eva ca
daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṃ pārtha me śṛṇu 16.6
Partha = Arjuna [son of Pruthu, aunt of Sri Krishna] me srunu = listen to Me [Sri Krishna]. By telling Arjuna to listen to the Lord, Who was Purushottama and friend of Arjuna, the Lord conveys that He cared for Arjuna's welfare. Other than the Lord, who else was there to preach him right things! Asmin loke = in this Universe. Loke does not mean only our world, but every Karma bhoomi at all places, starting from Satya loka to Patala loka! That is wherever Karma has a role to play. Because, Devas and Asuras are also born out of Karma. Dvau = Two, bhuta = living beings, sargau = creations. That is, all living beings created out of individual's past Karma, are in Two categories - Devas and Asuras. If one had punya Karma, he was born as Deva and if he had papa Karma, he was born as Asura. Again it is reminded that Deva and Asura mentioned here are not the Devas and Asuras class we normally come across; but those, by sheer behaviour and character. Thus all the Billions of creations are grouped into just Two. Daivo = [about] such divine persons, vistarasa = in a detailed way, prokta = [Sri Krishna had] explained. The Lord tells Arjuna that He had already explained in detail, about Devas or people with divine qualities. Asuram = about Asuras [persona with Asura qualities], srunu = listen [now]. When did the Lord tell about Deva natured people? In Chapters 7, 8 and 9, the Lord explained in detail about those in Bhakti Yoga. All those persons are with divine qualities. In sloka 7.16, the Lord mentioned about the Four class of devotees. All these persons are noble ones. But the Lord did not mention about those who never worshiped Him. Such persons possessed Asura qualities and the Lord wanted to tell Arjuna about them. Arjuna had a doubt. What is the necessity to know about such people? Is it not sufficient to be content with who good people were? It is possible, when the Lord describes about bad people, Arjuna [also us] might get new ideas and drift away from the Lord. But the Lord feels that only if we know the other side, we could avoid bad practices. It is also possible that we might be doing some things, not knowing they were Asura behaviour; by knowing in detail from the Lord, we could avoid such actions, if any.
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