{"id":2230,"date":"2015-11-20T12:58:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T07:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2015-11-20T12:58:39","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T07:28:39","slug":"taking-darsana-of-lord-rama-in-vontimitta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/taking-darsana-of-lord-rama-in-vontimitta\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking darsana of Lord Rama in Vontimitta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Acarya Dasa, assisted by Jayabhadra Dasi and Lila Suka Dasi<\/p>\n<p>We arrived in Vontimitta on the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> of October. Vontimitta is one of the mandal headquarters<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> of the Kadapa district. It is a small town situated about 28 kilometers from the Kadapa Chennai main road. Here our party visited the Kodanda Rama Temple (Sri Kodanandaramaswamy Temple). This temple is renowned for its architecture and art and is dedicated to the worship of Lord Rama<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> , His consort Sita Devi and His brother Lakshmana. It is one of the most famous temples after the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati. The Kodanda Rama Temple is also known as <em>Ekasilanagaram<\/em> and is so named because \u2018<em>ek sila\u2019 <\/em>means \u2018a single stone\u2019 and the presiding deities Rama, Sita and Lakhsman (without Anjaneya<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a>) are carved from a single stone and have a common pedestal. It is recorded that Caitanya Mahaprabhu also visited this temple 500 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The great poet Vavilikolanu Subba Rao was a great devotee of Lord Rama in Vontimitta. Once he was re-writing the Ramayana in poetry form when he got to one point where he couldn\u2019t describe a certain pastime. He became saddened by this and wept due to his inability to do so \u2013praying intensely to Lord Rama he begged for His help. Lord Rama having heard his prayers appeared before Vavilikolanu along with Sita and Lakhsman, and He then wrote the pastime Himself. Thus, the Lord is also known as <em>Bhakta Vatsala<\/em>, which means He is always compassionate to His devotees and listens to their prayers.<\/p>\n<p>After taking <em>darsana <\/em>of Sri Ram, Lakhsman and Sita that evening we all went on <em>sankirtana<\/em> and book distribution. The people of the village happily received us and participated in all the programs we held. We explained to them the importance of reading the <em>Bhagavad-Gita<\/em>, and how the Lord becomes very pleased if we do so.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-2230 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Padayatris-at-Kodanda-Rama-temple.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Padayatris-at-Kodanda-Rama-temple-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Padayatris-at-Kodanda-Rama-temple-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Padayatris-at-Kodanda-Rama-temple.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sri-Rama-Laksman-and-Sita-at-ekashilagram.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sri-Rama-Laksman-and-Sita-at-ekashilagram-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sri-Rama-Laksman-Sita-Ekashilagram.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sri-Rama-Laksman-Sita-Ekashilagram-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Templ-3.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Templ-3-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Temple-1.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Temple-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Temple-2.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Kodanda-Rama-Temple-2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/In-front-of-the-Kodanda-Rama-temple.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/In-front-of-the-Kodanda-Rama-temple-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Mandal or mandal headquarters refers to an administrative division<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Lord Rama or Ramacandra is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Refers to Lord Hanuman who is usually also present with Ram, Sita and Lakhsman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Acarya Dasa, assisted by Jayabhadra Dasi and Lila Suka Dasi We arrived in Vontimitta on the 2nd of October. Vontimitta is one of the mandal headquarters[1] of the Kadapa district. It is a small town situated about 28 kilometers from the Kadapa Chennai main road. Here our party visited the Kodanda Rama Temple (Sri [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}