GM all I Pray Parameshwar to bless our soldiers gaurding border & nationalist fighting internal enemies with success and strength. I pray for @narendramodi ji @AmitShah ji @nsitharaman ji @myogiadityanath ji & other leaders to lead the nation towards vibrant economy.

During the 7th century, the South Indian Pallava kingdom was ruled by King Narsimhavarman II, known as Rajasimha. Though Rajasimha was a great soldier and aggressive conqueror, he was also a poet and dramatist who loved art. The king was also a very ardent devotee of Lord Shiva,

and his greatest wish was to build a grand temple for his beloved god in his capital city Kanchi, likes of which the world had never seen before. Rajasimha decided that this temple would be so exquisitely beautiful that it would not only satisfy his spiritual and artistic taste,

but would show the world what a mighty king he was. Rajasimha then began to acquire the finest sandstone, and hire the best artists, sculptors and stone cutters to build this fine temple.
Now, it so happened that in the same Pallava kingdom, in the city of Tiruninravur,

there lived a pious brahmin named Poosalar who was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Poosalar was called thus by the local people because his body was always covered with sacred ash (‘poosal’ means ‘to apply’ in Tamil) However, Poosalar was so poor that he did not even have a

hut to call home. He lived under a large mahwa tree in the village, and spent most of his day meditating on Lord Shiva. The local people took pity on him, & sometimes left him some scraps of food, and this was what Poosalar survived on. But despite his utter poverty, Poosalar

devotion and love for Lord Shiva only deepened as the days passed. Finally, he too was filled with a burning desire to build a temple for his precious lord in Tiruninravur which did not have a Shiva temple. The more he thought about this idea, the more it appealed to Poosalar.

So, he decided to ask the villagers for help to collect funds to build the temple. But alas! When Poosalar spoke about this desire to people, he was greeted with hoots of derisive laughter. He was ridiculed, and asked rudely how he dared to think about building a temple when he

did not have enough money to buy himself a square meal! People only chased Poosalar away, & of course, no one gave him any money. After this had gone on for several weeks, a disappointed Poosalar had to finally accept that he was never going to be able to gather the money needed

to build a temple for Lord Shiva. But Poosalar was not ready to give up something that he so ardently desired. After much thought, he finally came up with a solution since he had no money, he would build a splendid temple for Lord Shiva with his mind, in his heart!
Once he had

decided on this agenda, Poosalar wasted no time – he set to work immediately. First, he carefully read the Agamas or Sanskrit scriptures that laid down the rules about how temples were to be constructed. Then, when he had mastered these rules, he began to collect, in his mind,

donations from wealthy people for the temple construction. After this was accomplished, he bought stone, metal, and wood from far and near. With his own bare hands he carried bricks to the temple site – all in his mind. He engaged skillful masons and sculptors, and instructed

them through his thoughts about what they were to do. And then, at an auspicious hour, Poosalar mentally dug the land where he wanted the temple to come up, and laid the foundation stone. This continued for weeks, and then months. Poosalar became totally absorbed, and devoted to

the building of his temple. He spent the whole day, sitting under Mahwa tree with his eyes shut, chanting the name of Lord Shiva, and visualizing his temple in the minutest detail. He ate little, and slept even less, as he watched his temple grow stone by stone, layer by layer.

Poosalar sat motionless under his tree every day, oblivious to the fact that scornful passersby were staring at him, looking puzzled. Everyone thought that Poosalar had taken leave of his senses. Poosalar mentally fashioned beautiful pillars, and made a gateway, tower, and

central shrine. As the temple neared completion, he installed a shimmering gold cube over the main dome. He dug a well and a tank for his temple, and even filled up the chinks in walls. In the meanwhile, King Rajasimha’s temple was also taking shape. With his untold wealth and

resources, the artistic Pallava ruler employed only the finest and most skilled craftsmen, painters, and sculptors in South India to work on his temple. In two short years, they created a glorious shrine of unsurpassed beauty – a stunning example of Pallava architecture that took

one’s breath away with its magnificence and splendour. The king was full of pride that he had built a temple for Lord Shiva that had no parallel anywhere in the world. Then Rajasimha summoned his court astrologers and asked them to select an auspicious day on which the temple,

called the Kailasanatha temple, would be consecrated. A day was chosen, and king ordered that preparations be made for the ceremonies connected to the sacred consecration. Poosalar’s temple, built in his heart, was also complete by this time, and the poor brahmin also decided to

choose an auspicious day to consecrate his temple to Lord Shiva. He chose the same day as the one chosen by King Rajasimha, but of course, he had no idea about this at all. He was busy imploring Lord Shiva to grace the temple he had raised for him with his mind and heart.

When the date of the consecration of Kailasanatha Temple was just a day away, King Rajasimha had a dream in which Lord Shiva appeared to him. The king was ecstatic to see his beloved Lord, and he invited him to come and live in temple he had built. But Lord Shiva shook his head,

and expressed his inability to be present during the consecration of Rajasimha’s splendid temple. I have to go and be present at consecration of a temple that another very great devotee, Poosalar, has built for me,” he said. Then Lord Shiva told Rajasimha to put off date of the

consecration of his temple for another day. When he awoke, a startled Rajasimha immediately ordered the preparations being made for his temple’s consecration to be stopped. There was no question of disregarding his dream – he was a completely faithful devotee of Shiva, ready to

do whatever his beloved lord commanded. Then, mystified king immediately set out with his entourage to Tiruninravur to find out more about Poosalar and the temple he had built for Lord Shiva. The proud king was a little piqued too – he could not understand how Lord Shiva would

prefer to go first to a temple built in an obscure hamlet, choosing it over the massive and exquisitely beautiful Kailasanatha temple that he, a supreme emperor had erected. Rajasimha was also determined to find out how an unknown and humble brahmin’s devotion to Lord Shiva was

greater than his own. When the royal party arrived at Tiruninravur, they were surprised to find the common people going about their work as usual. There was no sign that any festivities or celebrations were going on.
“Where is the new Shiva temple in this village located?”

the king’s nobles asked the villagers. The puzzled villagers replied that no temple had been built, or was coming up in their vicinity. Then the king asked the villagers if they knew about a great devotee of Lord Shiva called Poosalar. This query raised much laughter, and the

people explained that there was one Poosalar in their village, but he was so poor that he was homeless, and lived under a mahwa tree. The people led the king to Poosalar. When he got there, the king found Poosalar sitting in deep meditation with his eyes shut. He was oblivious

to what was going on in the world around him, as he was so busy with the arrangements for consecration of his temple. The king stood by patiently till Poosalar opened his eyes. Then he introduced himself and said, I have built a temple for Shiva in Kanchi. But last night, the

himself appeared to me in a dream and he told me that he had already decided to attend the consecration of another temple, built by a great devotee called Poosalar. He asked me to put off the consecration of my temple. I have done so, and I came here so that I could meet you,