Othuvar Bhargavi Dy CFO to Othuvar Thiru Valleeswarar Padi

This section had featured a story in 2020 on how finance sector professional Harini Yogalakshmi came all the way from Erode to have darshan of Adikaara Nandi and Rishabham during the Panguni Utsavam at the Kapaleeeswarar temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/kapali-panguni-utsavam.html) and last year a story on college student Aparna Sai staying through the night for the Rishabham procession (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/03/kapali-devotee-aparna-panguni-utsavam.html). This story is of another staunch Kapali devotee who has taken her devotion to a completely different level. She just quit a high paying corporate job at a top notch logistics company to don the role of an Othuvar at a Paadal Petra Sthalam. Here’s the story.

Struck by financial poverty, Bhargavi could only go to a Corporation school in Perambur. She took to the Commerce group at the Kandakottai Govt school in Doveton and was keen on pursuing CA. But the needs at home meant that she had get on to a job quickly and start earning even as a teenager. On many days, she ate the ‘amman temple koozh’ for lunch and that was the only food she had on those days. But she was blessed with extreme devotion. Her patti Dakshayini initiated her into devotional songs when she was two years old. Even before she was into her teens, she walked a mindboggling 75 kms every year in Puratasi to have darshan of Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal in Thirumalai Vaiyavoor (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/01/thirumalai-vaiyavoor-prasanna-venkatesa.html). All through that long walk from Chennai, she would recite Bhajans along with her Patti. During the Chariot Festival of Venkatesa Perumal, she would sing the sacred verses walking behind  the Chariot.

There was little else she did in her childhood with almost all her time outside of school being spent in spiritual activities and temple visits.

On a highly crowded Pournami Sunday morning at the Thiru Valleeswaram temple in Thiru Valithayam, Padi, Othuvar Bhargavi rolls out with great devotion sacred verses on Pillayar and then in front of Murugan adorned in a Grand Santhana Kappu. Surprisingly there is pin drop silence as the 100 odd devotees around the Sannidhi listen to her presentation of Thiruppugazh. A few minutes later two young girls come up to her with devotional tears rolling down their cheek “Madam, your devotion was extraordinary. We were spell bound with your devotional voice and your presentation” they tell her in the South Prakara.

Long queue stacked up at the temple to have darshan on the Karthigai Deepam day. Many other devotees come up to her to praise her presentation. “No amount of money in the corporate world can match the opportunity to present the sacred verses in front of the Lord every day” she tells this writer even as more devotees turn to her with a word of praise for her presentation.

“Thirumalai Vaiyavoor temple was my first big initiation into the spiritual world and that will always stand etched in my memory. Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal meant everything to me in my teenage phase "My Patti was my first Gurunathar and she initiated into me songs on Pillayar, Murugar as well as Vishnu Sahasranamam in addition to taking me on Paathai Yathirai. My Patti even let go of her jewels to meet some of my expenses in that phase such was her contribution in my  life. ”

Scholarship from Bhoomika trust helped her graduate in Commerce at Ethiraj College and she went on to do MBA in Finance. For over a decade, she worked in top notch tier 1 IT companies such as Wipro and TCS in the finance vertical and then as a DY CFO at CMA CGA, a logistics player with presence in over 150 countries. While the family situation warranted this, she continued to be highly spiritual. Even at the office she sported the big sacred white ash much to everyone’s surprise. She has always been seen at the Kapali temple with Rudraksham Maalai.

Alongside her corporate work, she did the Saiva Siddhantham course at the Thiruvaduthurai Atheenam. She had always been interested in Thirumurai and she did a course in Thevaram /Thiruvachakam as well. She credits Nagappan Othuvar and Murugappan, with over three decades experience in Thirumurai, as the two who motivated and encouraged her to go deep into this.

But working well over 12 hours every day was taking a toll on her health and there were issues on work life balance as well especially after the birth of her daughter. It was then that she visited the Kapaleeswarar temple and it immediately brought about a transformation in her way of life “Kapali showed me the way and has been a guiding force every minute of my since then. I felt a certain peace there. I involved myself in long conversations with him and would just stand in front of Somaskandar and talk to him. My life changed dramatically since the time I visited Kapali. Now, there is no decision I take without approval from Kapali.”

During her weekend trips to Kapali over the last many years, she would sit near the Kapaleeswarar Sannidhi and sing the sacred verses. And many times, she would roll into tears of bhakthi as she rendered the sacred verses. She says that her inspiration has always been Othuvar Sathgurunathan  (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/othuvar-sargunathan-kapali-temple.html?m=1) . 

In that phase, she also visited Paadal Petra Sthalams across TN and recited the sacred verses in those temples.

"Once you start looking at Him, it's difficult to take your eyes off", she says with her thoughts ever on Kapali and his handsome image. 

She has also led many corporate workers facing challenges in life to the Kapali temple and found peaceful solutions for them.  She sees herself continuing to don that role of leading devotees on the dharmic path.

Only last Sunday, this section featured a story on Station Vigilance Committee and its role at Kapali Utsavams (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/11/sankar-ks-kapali-festival-crowd.html). It was during the Arubathumoovar utsavam last year that Elango, a senior member of the SVC team, impressed with her devotional recitals suggested to her to take Deekshai which she did from the Thiruvaduthurai Atheenam.

Through the years, she had been to the Thiru Valleeswarar temple in Padi “Singing the thevaram verses in front of the Lord gave a great deal of happiness. And I once asked him if I could sing in front of him everyday.”

In June this year, as she was browsing her phone, she found the HRCE advertising for an opening for Othuvars. "I applied and was interviewed in July by a panel of seven members that was video recorded as well. I was delighted to receive the appointment order to serve at a temple praised by Thiru Gnana Sambandar and one visited by the Great Raja Raja Chozhan." 

While it was a great opportunity  to be rendering the sacred verses at the Thiru  Valleeswarar temple as an Othuvar, the salary was just one fifth of what she had been earning at the corporate work place. She credits her husband for endorsing her decision "Most of the colleagues at the work place thought I was mad to be quitting a high paying job. My appa, who had encountered financial challenges in his life, too did not approve of this. It is only because of the great support from my husband (Kamalakannan) that I was able to quit the high paying corporate job. Without him agreeing to a big cut in my salary, this transformation would not have been possible."

Othuvar Bhargavi is just two months old at the Thiru Valleeswarar temple in Thiru Valithaayam but already she has been able to find great devotional vibes. The priests have been very supporting of her and she has been able to render the verses for a bit longer.  

Having gone through a chequered childhood, she is keen to support the education of Shiva Adiyars. She says that her patti always stressed the importance of getting the blessings of elders. At the Thiru Valleeswarar temple, she says she has been getting them in plenty in the last two months and she is grateful to God for that. 

Just before she quit her corporate job a few months back, she had been earning close to six digit salary. Both in that high flying  phase and now as the Othuvar in a Paadal Petra Sthalam, she counts two qualities as the most important ones “I want to stay grounded at all times in my life and to be humble, especially when I am on a high.” And of course she is keen to be a lifelong devotee of Kapali, a temple that she rushes off too for a darshan of her favorite Somaskandar on this Sunday afternoon after she has performed her role as an Othuvar at the Thiru Valleeswarar temple in Padi.