Chidambara Rahasayam

Rahasayam means a mystery. Being born in Mrig Nakshatra I’m found of studying mysterious subjects. As a child I had tremendous desire to know about Chidambara Rahasayam. I tried to search information about it but I wasn’t content with what I understood about it. My curiosity made me visit Chidambaram Temple in Tamil Nadu. In the temple I asked some saints about Chidambara Rahasayam.

The saints told that in some people’s opinion GOD can only be accessed after death i.e. posthumously but in reality one can even access GOD when he/she is alive.

They added that everything is a creation of GOD & GOD is immanent, omnipresent & transcendent.

In simple words people following Hinduism believe that GOD is the creator of everything & GOD is everywhere (sky, earth & underground) i.e. GOD is ‘here & now’ & ‘here & beyond.’

To understand how everything is divinity’s creation we first need to understand that to create anything 5 elements are required i.e. Space, Fire, Earth, Air, & Water. We all know that without space any creation is impossible, thus space has to be created first. We all even know that space is divinity’s creation as creating space requires time & time is not in any human’s control, it’s only controlled by almighty.

Chidambara is made up of 2 words. Chit & Ambar. Chit means consciousness & Ambaram means sky or covering. Thus Chidambara means one who is conscious & covers space.

Many people following Hinduism worship Fire, Earth, Air & Water, but forget to worship space. We may have seen many times that after performing Pooja or Aarti a priest looks above in the sky (space) & even points essence sticks & Aarti lamp towards sky (space).

Many times sports players look at the sky (space) after giving their best performance. Some soccer players point their finger towards sky (space) after scoring a goal or after winning a match, some cricket players especially Mr. Tendulkar points his cricket bat towards sky (space) after scoring a century.

Many spectators don’t know much about these gestures. They wonder why priests, sports players do this act. This is the Rahasyam, thus it’s known as Chidambara Rahasayam.