'Modern' seer set to take over

He has been pursuing some of his hobbies even after being initiated into Sanyasa at the young age of seven in 1971. He is an ace swimmer and has surprised many by floating on in water in the Arabian Sea. Besides, he is a karateka and good in music, some of them include western instruments. Known for courting controversies, the seer has made many a people, more so devotees, raise many an eyebrow by opening a modern gym and music room in his mutt. The Shiroor mutt has now almost become synonym with modernity with the seer’s thinking reflected on the four walls of the mutt.

The seer is a multi-faceted personality and is admired for his alankara (decking up) of Lord Sri Krishna. In his two-stint as paryaya seer in the past, he had decked up the Lord in 300 types, which is considered a record of sorts in the 800-year-old history of Krishna temple. The seer has deep love for ornamental fishes and plans to set up an aquarium worth lakhs of rupees. The spaciously built aquariums are much more wider and larger than the usual aquariums. Speaking to Deccan Herald, the seer said the main reason behind setting up the aquariums was Lord Vishnu’s first incarnation was ‘Matsya Avathar’. The Seer has invested more than Rs 25 lakh to build these aquariums. ‘Arovan,’ a fish which is the major attraction for the visitors, is from Malaysia. There are more than 25 varieties of Arovans. The Arovan is silver colour and is 8-year-old. Usually, they have a life span of 25 years. ‘Flower horn’ is the favourite of Japanese and Chinese. It has attractive design on its body which is similar to that of Chinese alphabets. ‘Eligator’ is another variety which reflects with the colour of the water. There are more than 40 varieties of fishes of various sizes and colours in the Mutt.

 Sri Laxmivaratheertha Sripada had ascended the Paryaya Peetha in 1978 and 1994.
The seer, accompanied by the idol of Vittala, the presiding deity of Shiroor mutt, will move into the precincts of the shrine of Sri Krishna in a procession from Jodukattee, Ajjarkadu in the early hours of Monday (January 18). He will have the first darshan of Lord Krishna near ‘Kanakana Kindi’ and later ascend the Paryaya Peetha and worship the Lord.

The paryaya darbar will be held on  Monday and decide on the installation of the new office-bearers for the next two years. From Tuesday, the routine poojas and rituals to Lord Krishna are followed.