Akshara - The beginning, the indestructable

2008-08-08T22:30:00.003+05:30

Airavata

2008-07-27T10:40:00.000+05:30

In Hinduism, Airavata is a white elephant who carries Lord Indra.

According to the Ramayana, his mother was Iravati.

According to the Matangalila, Airavata was born when Brahma sang sacred hymns over the halves of the egg shell from which Garuda hatched, followed by seven more male and eight female elephants. Prithu made Airavata king of all elephants. One of his names means "the one who knits or binds the clouds" since myth has it that these elephants are capable of producing clouds.

The eight guardian deities who preside over the eight points of the compass each sits on an elephant. Each of these deities has an elephant that takes part in the defense and protection of its respective quarter. Chief among them is Airavata of Indra. He is also called 'Ardha-Matanga', meaning "elephant of the clouds"; 'Naga-malla', meaning "the fighting elephant"; and 'Arkasodara', meaning "brother of the sun". 'Abharamu' is the elephant wife of Airavata. Airavata has four tusks and seven trunks and is spotless white.

Detail of the Phra Prang, the central tower of the Wat Arun ("Temple of Dawn") in Bangkok, Thailand - showing god Indra on his three-headed elephant Erawan(Airavata).The connection of elephants with water and rain is emphasized in the mythology of Indra, who rides the elephant Airavata when he defeats Vritra. This mighty elephant reaches down his trunk into the watery underworld, sucks up its water, and then sprays it into the clouds, which Indra then causes to rain forth cool water, thereby linking the waters of the sky with those of the underworld. Airavata also stands at the entrance to Svarga, Indra's palace.

BHAGAVAD GITA

2008-03-28T17:49:00.000+05:30

The discourse on the Bhagavad Gita begins before the start of the climactic battle at Kurukshetra. It begins with the Pandava prince Arjuna, as he becomes filled with doubt on the battlefield. Realizing that his enemies are his own relatives, beloved friends and revered teachers, he turns to his charioteer and guide, Krishna, for advice.

In summary the main philosophical subject matter of the Bhagavad-gita is the explanation of five basic concepts or "truths":

Ishvara (The Supreme Controller)
Jiva (Living beings/the soul)
Prakrti (Matter)
Karma (Action)
Kala (Time)
Krishna counsels Arjuna on the greater idea of dharma or universal harmony and duty. He begins with the tenet that the soul is eternal and immortal. Any 'death' on the battlefield would involve only the shedding of the body, but the soul is permanent. Arjuna's hesitation stems from a lack of right understanding of the 'nature of things,' the privileging of the unreal over the real. His fear and reticence become impediments to the proper balancing of the universal dharmic order. Essentially, Arjuna wishes to abandon the battle, to abstain from action; Krishna warns, however, that without action, the cosmos would fall out of order and truth would be obscured.

In order to clarify his point, Krishna expounds the various Yoga processes and understanding of the true nature of the universe. Krishna describes the yogic paths of devotional service, action, meditation and knowledge. Fundamentally, the Bhagavad Gita proposes that true enlightenment comes from growing beyond identification with the temporal ego, the 'False Self', the ephemeral world, so that one identifies with the truth of the immortal self, the soul or Atman. Through detachment from the material sense of ego, the Yogi, or follower of a particular path of Yoga, is able to transcend his/her illusory mortality and attachment to the material world and enter the realm of the Supreme.

It should be noted, however, that Krishna does not propose that the physical world must be forgotten or neglected. Indeed, it is quite the opposite: one's life on earth must be lived in accordance with greater laws and truths, one must embrace one's temporal duties whilst remaining mindful of a more timeless reality, acting for the sake of action without consideration for the results thereof. Such a life would naturally lead towards stability, happiness and ultimately, enlightenment.

To demonstrate his divine nature, Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of cosmic vision (albeit temporary) and allows the prince to see his 'Universal Form' (this occurs in the eleventh chapter). He reveals that he is fundamentally both the ultimate essence of Being in the universe and also its material body, called the Vishvarupa ('World Form').

In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna refers to the war about to take place as 'Dharma Yuddha', meaning a righteous war for the purpose of justice. In Chapter 4, Krishna states that he incarnates in each age (yuga) to establish righteousness in the world.

ARDHANARISHVARA

2008-03-17T16:22:00.001+05:30

Ardhanarishvara is one of the most prevalent forms of the Divine in Indian art since around the beginning of the Christian era or a little before. The earliest Ardhanarishvara images are reported from the period of Kushanas (circa 35–60 AD).

The term 'Ardhanarishvara' is a combination of three words- 'ardha', 'nari' and 'ishvara', meaning respectively, 'half', 'woman' and 'Lord' or 'God', that is, Ardhanarishvara is the Lord whose half is woman, or who is half woman. Some scholars interpret the term as meaning 'the half male' who is Shiva and 'the half female' who is Parvati. Such interpretations are suggestive of dvaita, the duality of existence, and thus contradict the Advaita Vedic stand in the matter. Such contentions also contradict the Shaiva philosophy of advaita, which is very emphatic in its assertion that He alone is the cause of the entire existence, as it is by His will and out of Him that the cosmos came into being.

In the Shaivite hymn 'Ekohum bahusyami' (Shiva Purana), that is, I am One, but wishes to be many, there echoes the Rigvedic perception of the single egg splitting into bhuta and prana. Otherwise also, most interpretations of the Vedas widely favor the principle of monogenic existence. Besides its emphasis on the unity of the outward duality, the Rigveda acclaims, 'He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it'. The Rigvedic assertion is explicitly defined. The male is only so much male as much he is female and vice versa the female is only as much female as much she is male. The maleness and femaleness are the attributes contained in one frame.

The Rigvedic assertion was taken literally by the founder of the Integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, who claimed that the new, superhuman race, will have "unisex" bodies that are totally different from animals and free from the duality of male and female.

GODDESS DURGA - MAHA MAYA, THE OTHER PART OF MAHA VISHNU.

2008-03-13T20:09:00.002+05:30

The first story of the Devi Mahatmya depicts Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi is central and key to the creation myth; she is the power that induces Vishnu's deep slumber on the waters of the cosmic ocean prior to the manifestation of the Universe which is a continuous cycle of manifestation, destruction and re-manifestation. Vishnu reclines on the nāga shesha during yoganidra. Two demons arise as thoughtforms from Vishnu's sleeping body and endeavour to vanquish Brahma who is preparing to create the next cycle of the Universe. Brahma sings to the Great Goddess, asking her to withdraw from Vishnu so he may awaken and slay the demons. Devi agrees to withdraw and Vishnu awakens and vanquishes the demons. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

"Durga, the great Warrior Goddess, represents the lethal energy of divine anger when turned against evil. The world was under attack by Mahishasura, the most evil demon in the world, who took many different forms, including that of a buffalo. The male gods, fearing total annihilation endowed Durga with their powers. Riding a lion into battle, Durga slew the buffalo by cutting off its head and then she destroyed the spirit of the demon as it emerged from the buffalo's severed neck. It is through this act that order was established in the world.

Kali may be understood to represent or "aspect" the darker, chthonic, transformative qualites of Devi's power or Shakti. Kali's emergence is chronicled in the third story of the Devi Mahatmya. Kali emerges from Devi's third eye as a burst of psychic energy. Kali overpowers and beheads Chanda and Munda, and when she delivers their severed heads to Devi, she is dubbed Chamunda.

During a fierce battle in which the Great Goddess demonstrates her omnipotence by defeating powerful demons who terrify the devas, she encounters the fierce Raktabija. Every drop of blood Raktabija sheds transforms into another demon as it touches the earth. A unique strategy has to be devised to vanquish him. A fiery burst of energy emerging from Devi's third eye takes the dark skeletal form of goddess Kali. With her huge mouth and enormous tongue she ferociously laps up Raktabija's blood, thus preventing the uprising of further demons.

The story continues in which Devi, Kali and a group of Matrikas destroy the demonic brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha. In the final battle against Shumbha, Devi absorbs Kali and the matrikas and stands alone for the final battle.

Coburn says: "The sage's three tales are allegories of outer and inner experience, symbolized by the fierce battles the all-powerful Devi wages against throngs of demonic foes. Her adversaries represent the all-too-human impulses arising from the pursuit of power, possessions and pleasure, and from illusions of self-importance. Like the battlefield of the Bhagavad Gita, the Devi Mahatmya's killing grounds represent the field of human consciousness ... The Devi, personified as one supreme Goddess and many goddesses, confronts the demons of ego and dispels our mistaken idea of who we are, for – paradoxically – it is she who creates the misunderstanding in the first place, and she alone who awakens us to our true being.

AGASTYA

2008-02-13T21:15:00.000+05:30

A Rishi, the reputed author of several hymns in the Rigveda, and a very celebrated personage in Hindu story.

He and Vasishtha are said in the Rigveda to be the offspring of Mitra and Varuna, whose seed fell from them at the sight of Urvasi; and the commentator Sayana adds that Agastya was born in a waterjar as a fish of great lustre, whence he was called Kalasisuta, Kumbhasambhava, and Ghatodbhava. From his parentage he was called Maitravaruni and Aurvasiya; and as he was very small when he was born, not more than a span in length, he was called Mina.

Though he is thus associated in his birth with Vasishtha, he is evidently later in date, and he is not one of the Prajapatis.

His name, Agastya, is derived by a forced etymology from a fable, which represents him as having commanded the Vindhya mountains to prostrate themselves before him, through which they lost their primeval altitude; or rather, perhaps, the fable has been invented to account for his name. This miracle has obtained for him the epithet Vindhyakuta; and he acquired another name, Pitabdhi, or Samudrachuluka, "Ocean drinker,' from another fable, according to which he drank up the ocean because it had offended him, and because he wished to help the gods in their wars with the Daityas when the latter had hidden themselves in the waters.

He was afterwards made regent of the star Canopus, which bears his name. The Puranas represent him as being the son of Pulastya, the sage from whom the Rakshasas sprang. He was one of the narrators of "the Brahma Purana and also a writer on medicine

2007-12-10T14:02:00.000+05:30

A sight of the connubial endearments of King Chitraratha and his wife inspired her with impure thoughts, and her husband, perceiving that she had "fallen from perfection," desired her sons to kill her. Rumanwat, Sushena, and Vasu, the three seniors, declined, and their father cursed them so that they became idiots. Parasurama, the fourth son, cut off her head, which act so gratifited his father that Jamadagni promised him whatever blessings he desired. Among other things, Parasurama asked that his mother might be brought back to life in ignorance of her death and in perfect purity. He also desired that his brothers might be restored to their senses. All this Jamadagni bestowed.

She was also called Konkana.

SAGE BRIGU

2007-12-04T15:28:00.000+05:30

In the Padma Purana it is related that the Rishis, assembled at a sacrifice, disputed as to which deity was best entitled to the homage of a Brahman. Being unable to agree, they resolved to send Bhrigu to test the characters of the various gods, and he accordingly went. He could not obtain access to Siva because that deity was engaged with his wife finding him, therefore, to consist of the property of darkness, Bhrigu sentenced him to take the form of the Linga, and pronounced that he should have no offerings presented to him, nor receive the worship of the pious and respectable.

His next visit was to Brahma, whom he beheld surrounded by sages, and so much inflated with his own importance as to treat Bhrigu with great inattention, betraying his being made up of foulness. The Muni therefore excluded him from the worship of the Brahmans. Appearing next to Vishnu, he found the deity asleep, and, indignant at his seeming sloth, Bhrigu stamped upon his breast with his left foot and awoke him; instead of being offended, Vishnu gently pressed the Brahman's foot and expressed himself honoured and made happy by its contact; and Bhrigu, highly pleased by his humility, and satisfied of his being impersonated goodness, proclaimed Vishnu as the only being to be worshipped by men or gods, in which decision the Munis, upon Bhrigu's report, concurred.

GANESHA

2007-12-03T17:38:00.000+05:30

Parvati wanted to take a bath, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created an image of a boy out of turmeric paste which she prepared to cleanse her body (turmeric was used for its antiseptic and cooling properties), and infused life into it, and thus Ganesha was born. Parvati ordered Ganesha not to allow anyone to enter the house, and Ganesha obediently followed his mother's orders. After a while Shiva returned from outside, and as he tried to enter the house, Ganesha stopped him. Shiva was infuriated at this strange little boy who dared to challenge him. He told Ganesha that he was Parvati's husband, and demanded that Ganesha let him go in. But Ganesha would not hear any person's word other than his dear mother's. Shiva lost his patience and had a fierce battle with Ganesha. At last he severed Ganesha's head with his trishula. When Parvati came out and saw her son's lifeless body, she was very angry and sad. She demanded that Shiva restore Ganesha's life at once.
Unfortunately, Shiva's trishula was so powerful that it had hurled Ganesha's head very far off. All attempts to find the head were in vain. As a last resort, Shiva approached Brahma who suggested that he replace Ganesha's head with the first living being that came his way which lay with its head facing north. Shiva then sent his celestial armies (Gana) to find and take the head of whatever creature they happened to find asleep with its head facing north. They found a dying elephant which slept in this manner, and after its death took its head, attaching the elephant's head to Ganesha's body and bringing him back to life. From then on, he was called Ganapathi, head of the celestial armies, and was to be worshipped by everyone before beginning any activity.

VERSES OF BHAGAVAD GITA

2007-11-29T20:31:00.000+05:30

To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction

Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga

With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace...

In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this

When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger

From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes

LORD VISHNU`S DASHAAVATAARA

2007-11-29T20:17:00.000+05:30

"And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me -- he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion."

Ashwattama

2007-11-28T20:06:00.000+05:30

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Ashwatthama or Ashwatthaman was the son of guru Dronacharya. He is one of the seven Chiranjeevins. Dronacharya loved him dearly. Rumours about his death in the Kurukshetra war led to the death of his father at the hands of Prince Dhrishtadyumna. A vengeful Ashwatthama obtained permission from the dying Duryodhana to brutally murder Dhrishtadhyumna after the war had officially ended. Ashwatthama at the end of the war promised Duryodhana that he would kill the Pandavas.
Ashwatthama was observing on the last day of the war, how owl was attacked by crows in the day and the owls attack back in the night. So he told that under the nature, a person can fight when he is strong. He, Kritavarma and Kripacharya tries to attack the camp of pandavas and they were stopped by a demon kept by krishna. However krishna took the precaution of taking the pandavas along with satyaki to the river side of gangas.
Ashwatthama worshipped shiva and offered his body as offering to shiva. Shiva gave him the boon that whatever which comes against his face that night shall die. Ashwatthama attacked the Pandava camp in the middle of the night, but by error ended up murdering the 5 sons of Pandavas by Draupadi.
The Pandavas, incensed by this act, chased him resulting in his fight with Arjuna. During the fight, Ashwatthama invoked the extremely powerful 'Brahmashira' weapon, which incidentally he had once tried to exchange with Krishna's discus without success, against Arjuna. Arjuna in response invoked the same weapon. Fearing the destruction of the world, the sages advised both to take back their weapons. While Arjuna could do so, Ashwatthama (presumably having less skill) could not and was given the option of choosing any single target to destroy. Out of spite, Ashwatthama directed the weapon to the wombs of Pandava women. Among them was Uttara, Arjuna's daughter-in-law.
At this time, Uttara was carrying the unborn Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu, who upon birth would be the future heir to all the Pandava brothers. The Brahmastra weapon was successful in fatally burning the foetus, but Krishna revived the stillborn child and cursed Ashwatthama with leprosy and to roam the world for 6,000 years as an unloved castaway. In another version, it is believed that he is cursed to remain alive till the end of the Kaliyuga. It is believed that Ashwatthama migrated to the land currently known as Arabian peninsula. Another version goes to say that he is still on earth but in the form of cyclones and typhoons. An old fort near Burhanpur, India called Asirgarh has a Lord Shiva temple on top where it is believed that Ashwatthama offers a red rose everyday to Lord Shiva early in the morning. One more saying is that Ashwatthama is still roaming in the forest of Gir, Junagadh in Gujarat state of India.
Ashwatthama also had to surrender a valuable gem, Mani, set on his forehead, the wearer of which ceases to have any fear from weapons or disease or hunger, and ceases to have any fear of gods and danavas and nagas.
Ashwatthama was one of the three survivors of the Kaurava army with Kritavarma and Kripacharya.

TRADITIONS AND CULTURES

2007-11-27T15:41:00.000+05:30

HI guys !!!

The other day I was chatting up with my friend and she told me that she has fallen in love with a gowda boy and that her parents are opposing this. The funny part is I cant imagine her overriding her parents wishes but now she is ready to give up the idea of marraige completely if she doesn`t marry this guy. Well that is really nice to see that she is sticking to her commitment made to this guy.

At the same time I`m just wondering about the parents stand against the boy because of the caste. Does all this really make sense? What is caste, community or Jath? In olden days the society was divided into 4 sects based on their occupation but as time progressed it got diversified and all people with half knowledge started assuming that their caste was higher than the others.

Well I am a pure Brahmin and married to a Gowda. I am still leading the same lifestyle that I led before. I am still happy and still living the same way I lived all my life. I still celebrate the festivals same way and teach my daughter all the tradition. My husband and I still do the morning prayers and pooja with the same rules and regulations.

What I dont understand is why we cannot marry somebody from a different caste? By the way who made these rules? what are traditions and customs? They are certain ways of worshipping and celebrating all good things in life. Traditions and cultures are followed to teach humility, humbleness in people and not arrogance. What exactly are we doing opposite?

Well anyways, see ya for now and shall keep you posted as soon as possible on her marraige. Bye for now. Take care.

DEEPAVALI - THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

2007-11-19T20:04:00.000+05:30

Well Happy Diwali folks and very sorry, I know I`m very late in wishing you guys. Anyways this is the festival of lights where it is believed and worshipped that Lord Vishnu took the Vamana Avataar to crush King Mahabali and that he was granted a boon to come to the earth for a period of three days and its these days that we celebrate as Deepavali or Diwali.

The other also interesting day is Naraka Chaturdashi during Diwali which also is celebrated in honour of Lord Krishna in freeing Satya Bama and all 16000 gopis from Narakaasura.

Also another day is the Danteras celebrated by worshipping Goddess Lakshmi. So lets all enjoy and celebrate Diwali.

Bye Bye... loads of love and take care.

Perseverance

2007-10-05T15:35:00.000+05:30

Hi folks! Well it has definitely been a very long long time since I wrote anything. I really need to kick myself. My internet connection has still not been set up and well I haven`t done anything about it either. they say that genius is 99% hard work and 1% luck. Well! looks like i`m working other way round.

Karmanye Vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana. It means, 'u do your work and dont expect the results. It automatically gives you result in proportion to the work done.' Well i am supposed to do atleast something about it, but I haven`t done it. But by the way what am I supposed to do. Anyways when I told this to my husband, he retorted, "why dont you ask your Ganesha?" Well I can but then again its also said Self Help is the Best Help.

So I go ahead and call just dial and finally get it organised and then I tell my husband in the evening about it. He gives me an exasperated look and says, "listen you spoke to just dial and organised it and whats Ganesha got to do with it?" Well who put the idea to call justdial into my sweet little brains, Huh?

See you till next time. Bye.

VIGNAHARTHA - THE DESTROYER OF ALL OBSTACLES.

2007-09-24T15:36:00.000+05:30

Hiya! I am so sorry for not writing any earlier as promised. I know I deserve to be really kicked. Hey! But you know what? If it were not for my Ganesha I dont think I would have not been able to write this as well. Yes and I`m telling you guys the truth. Let me tell you everything from the beginning.

I shifted to this new house on the 31st of Aug. On Friday the 31st we were supposed to leave the old house at 5.30 and reach the new residence by 6.00a.m and do the house warming ceremony. As usual I could not wake up at 4 in the morning to get dressed and woke up only at 5.30 (Read woken up by my Husband). As usual he started to rave and rant that I was irresponsible and Blah Blah... I got up dressed, got my darling daughter dressed and finally managed to get out of the house by 6.45. The good time or the Shubh Muhurath was between 6.00 to 7.30 according to my MIL. As we sat in the car and took off to the new place, the traffic was unusually heavy and to my luck my husband started screaming at me.

Did that bother me? No way! why? Because I just completely switched off to my surroundings and sought my Ganesha and told him to take care of things for me. And guess what? No brownie points there for guessing. With all the fasting day for me and everything he did more than taking care of things for me.

We somehow managed to reach the place by 7.30 and in all the hurry I forgot to take the Gas pipes, vessels and also the most important ingredient, MILK. Well, what to do next? My sweet Landlady gave me all that I required and I managed to finish everything by 8.00. Do I call it a miracle or do I call it faith? Whatever the name will be, it doesn`t matter as long as it can be a blessed thing. After the ceremony we had a nice chat with our new landlady and went back to the old house and packed and by the time we finally shifted out it was 2.30 in the middle of the night. Everything went off smoothly and my husband was finally very happy and commented on how hard we worked to make it happen.

Was it Hard work or Luck? I guess both because If my Ganesha had not helped me no matter how hard I would have tried it would not have happened. Well it was bound to be a success and why not? Not only was it a Friday it was also SANKASHTA CHATURTHI that day. Truly He is my Destroyer of all the Obstacles. Untill next time. see you. Take care.

Festival Of Lord Ganesha - The destroyer of All Obstacles

2007-09-18T15:30:00.000+05:30

Hello everyone! I know I have been away for too long and not in touch and am very sorry. I shifted and moved to a new residence and also the festivals have managed to keep me away for too long.

September 15th was ganesha festival. Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi. He is the elephant headed God and my favourite of all. With all the shifting expenses and mounting time constraints, I told Ganesha I dont have time to purchase His Idol and asked Him to come home. Friday night at 11.30p.m. after work my husband purchased his Idol and all the flowers and fruits and came home and we celebrated Ganesha`s festival with all the vigor.

The best part was my hubby landing up home and telling me that he was very lucky to find the Idol in the middle of the night considering we living in suburbs. Was I to be surprised? No way! I knew that Ganesha will definitely come home because I asked him to. When I said that to my Husband, he said that I am over confident and that he picked up the Idol and all the stuff. But the question is how on earth did he get it. It was by the will of Lord himself.

Anyways shall write to you tomorrow. Bye untill then. Take care.

The other Eras - Rest of the Avatars

2007-08-26T17:50:00.000+05:30

Hello there! I`m back with the Dasha avatars and next in the line is Vamana – The Dwarf. The story goes thus. Once upon a time King Mahabali ruled the earth. He was a very arrogant man so to kill his EGO it is believed that Lord Vishnu himself disguised as Vamana came to ask for a boon from the King. Though the King was vain, he was very generous and proud of the fact that he was generous. Then Vamana asks him to lend him three feet land in his Kingdom. The King agrees and Vamana grows into a giant and covers the entire Earth and Netherlands with one footstep and covers the Sky and the entire Universe with the second. He then looks at Mahabali and the king then realizes who it is and offers his head in Humility. So Vamana crushes him but grants him a boon to visit the Earth once every year to look at his subjects and that day is called Bali Padyami – the first day of the cycle of the Moon during Deepavali or Diwali. This took place in the Treta Yuga.

The next in line is Parashurama – the angry Sage. It is believed that He was the Son of Jamadagni and Renuka. Apparently Jamadagni had a cow named Kamadhenu who gave milk incessantly. Kamadhenu in fact means Fulfiller of all desires. Kama stands for desires and Dhenu means Giver. Jamadagni invited all the people over for a ritual at his place and served food to all of them. After eating the food a King or a Kshatriya named Kartavirya stole the cow for his own selfish reasons. So Jamadagni kills him and brings back the cow. Kartavirya`s son kills Jamadagni for revenge. Angered by this it is believed that Parashurama killed all the Kshatriyas in 21 battles to establish the supremacy of Brahmins over the Kshatriyas. What I have understood from this story is not the fact that higher caste wins and that lower caste looses but if you look at it from my point you will understand that the ultimate Triumph was for spirituality. He proved us that spirituality is higher than our materialistic desires of this world. I`ll write more about Indian caste system later. This also took place in Treta Yuga.

Then the next is Sri Rama of the Ramayana fame. Oops! I guess I just need pages and pages to write about him and about Krishna. Ok let me try to keep it short. Lord Rama`s advent in this world was to destroy Ravana who captured Sita (Rama`s wife) and kept her captive. If we look at this again it stands for the same thing Ravana`s destruction because of his Ego and pride. It also stands to tell us that all of us have to be spiritually inclined and not materialistic. This also took place in Treta Yuga.

Lord Sri Krishna is the next in line and well, I shall not need pages but years to write about him. It is who gave us the knowledge of Gita called the Bhagavad Gita. It is also called Panchama Veda. It is for Hindus like what bible is for Christians or Koran for the Muslims. The other four Vedas are the Rig Veda, Yagur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharvana Veda. He came to destroy the Kauravas and to help Pandavas rule justly.

The next is Balarama – Brother of Lord Krishna. Here there is an interesting factor to be noted that some people say that Balarama was the Serpent (the one Lord Vishnu sleeps on) in Human form. Some believe that Lord Gautama Buddha is the ninth Incarnation. This let me do some more research and get back to you.
The tenth is Kalki who will come on a horse carrying a Sword in his hand to destroy the evil. This estimated to be at the end of Kali Yuga. I don’t know when but you guys can definitely check it out in Wikipedia. They do have some interesting things up there. Until next time see you and take care.

Era of Truth - Satya Yuga`s Avatars

2007-08-25T17:13:00.000+05:30

Let me begin with an apology, one of my readers has written to me tell me about the order of the Dasha avatars. As I promised, I will be writing about this today. Ok the order goes this way:
1) Matsya
2) Koorma
3) Varaha
4) Ugra Narasimha
5) Vamana
6) Parashurama
7) Sri Rama
8) Bala Rama
9) Sri Krishna
10) Kalki.

The Matsya Avatar as mentioned earlier is Lord Vishnu taking the form of Fish. He does it so that he can save the Vedas, Plants and the oceanic life. This appeared in the Satya Yuga. If we notice the Avatars denotes the end of each era and the beginning of the new one. This is also mentioned in the Rig Veda, one of the four Vedas (shall write more when I write about Sri Krishna). The Koorma or the Tortoise was taken by Lord Vishnu to help the other deities to churn the ocean of milk (called Samudra Manthana) to find the treasures of heaven and also the nectar of everlasting life (Amruth). This also appeared in the Satya Yuga. Varaha the Boar was taken to protect and to lift the earth from the bottom of the sea. This also appeared in Satya Yuga. Ugra Narasimha appeared as were lion to destroy Hiranyakaship and to teach humans that the faith of the God cannot be taught but comes naturally and to defy it is the ultimate road to destruction. This also appeared in the Satya Yuga.

You know this just made me recall a story that I studied in Moral Science class during my school days. Let me tell you this. A nun once wanted to test if there really existed God in this universe, so takes a new born child and keeps it in a lonely house where there is nobody and nothing that talks about God or Religion. No magazines, story books, rosary, idols, or even photos of God. She brings up the child with a lot of love and care but never once mentions anything about God and never once teaches the kid to pray or even lets the kid go outside. As the kid grows older, one day she finds him kneeling in his room and praying, “God, can you please send someone so that I can play.” She is shocked to find out that though the child never had any influence of religion or God whatsoever still could pray to the Almighty.

Lord Ugra Narasimha`s story is very similar. Hiranyakaship wanted the entire world to worship him and no other deities. But his own son who had never heard of Sri Hari worships Vishnu and refuses to be bullied into worshipping his father. So Vishnu comes as Narasimha to kill Hiranyakaship and to teach us that there is none powerful than the Lord himself and that Pride (Ahankar) leads to destruction. He again teaches or reinforces the need for humility.

Take care and look forward to my next mail with the rest of the Avatars. Also please check out the link to this post for more detailed Avatars. Bye Bye.

SPIRIT OF CELEBRATION

2007-08-24T14:37:00.000+05:30

Let me begin with an apology as I had promised to write about Dasha avatars of Lord Vishnu but that will have to wait, for today is the Vara MahaLakshmi festival which means it is the time for celebrating the Goddess of wealth. Today also being Friday is the day of my fasting in celebration of Santhoshi Mata (goddess of Happiness and Prosperity). Like everybody else I was cleaning up the house and decorating it with the flowers and redesigning the interiors to make it more spacious and colorful. My toddler woke up and walked up to me enquiring as to why was I putting up flowers all over the entrance of the house. I told her that today being a festival I was just brightening up the house.

She dutifully followed me watching everything I was doing and I promptly shooed her off to the bathroom to brush and to wash up. Finishing it, she came back to me to watch me in my shrine room. She saw the room decorated with flowers and also saw milk, ghee, sugar, honey, fruits, and fried gram all arranged and kept in the shrine. She said, “Mama, can I eat them?” I replied,” sure honey, but you have to first have a shower, do pooja, offer it to the god first and then you can eat.” Pat came the reply, “If I give it to God then he`ll finish everything and there`ll be nothing left for me, so please mama let me eat it and then I’ll have my shower.”

I just laughed and told her that by offering it all to the god doesn’t mean he really eats it like the way we do but it is just our belief that he takes it. It is so easy and beautiful for a kid to think that offering anything to God means that He will take it like they do. It’s like our Santa Claus belief. Every kid believes that there exists Santa Claus who will reward the kids if they are good during the Christmas time. But when they grow older they just know that there is no Santa Claus. But still do not forget to celebrate the spirit of Christmas. And still fill the stockings with gifts for the loved ones and more so for the kids.

This entire conversation just made my Faith that much stronger in God. It does not matter what name you choose to call Him as. It does not matter to Him what you offer but it definitely matters to Him if you can offer yourself to Him humbly. Is there anything in this universe that does not belong to Him? No there isn`t. It is just like offering the flowers or the incensed sticks for everything belongs to Him and in offering these you offer your Self to Him with great humiliation for nothing misses His Eyes.
So till I write more the next time you take care. Have a great FESTIVAL, CELEBRATIONS and A HOLIDAY.

Dashavataras - the 10 different forms of LORD VISHU

2007-08-23T12:43:00.000+05:30

According to the hindu mythology Lord Vishnu of the trinity has taken nine different forms to save the earth from the evil and the tenth one is yet to come. It is said that everytime the earth is plunged into the darkness and the evil forces take over and everytime the wrong wins then the Lord Vishnu will take birth to set the balance straight. To qoute in his words,

" yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavathi bharatha, Abhyuthanamadharmasya tadaatmanam srujamya ham, paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkrutham sambhavami yuge yuge."

So there we go the ten avataars are as follows:
1) Matsya - the Fish
2) Kuurma - the Turtle
3) Varaha - the Boar
4) Ugra narasimha - were lion(lion and man)
5) Vamana - the Dwarf(first complete man)
6)Parashurama - the ascetic
7) Balarama
8) Sri Rama
9) Si Krishna
10) Kalki

Each avataar denoted the triumph of good over evil. If we read the stories they have a very different tale to tell. Lets explore the tales in our next blog untill then cheerio and keeping writing and reading.

Akshara - the aphabet

2007-08-21T14:50:00.000+05:30

Akshara - a sanskrit word for letters also symbolises the beginning, the base or the foundation for everything. Just as the alphabets are the foundation or the beginning of any language so the word also denotes the beginning of the universe, the beginning of life itself and everything associated with it.

According to the Hindu mythology it is believed that a lotus that grew out of Lord Vishnu`s(one of the trinity Gods) navel and bloomed and out of it came Lord Brahma(one of the other trinity) created this world with the living and no living things with his passion. Then came the last of the trinity Lord Maheshwara or Shiva as we mostly know him with his Tamas guna as the destroyer.

Talking about gunas - there are three types of gunas in all of us. They are Sattva, Rajas and Tamo guna. Rajas(Brahma) is the one that brings out the passion in us. Sattva(Vishnu) is the one that gives us the balance and Tamas(Shiva) is the one that puts us on thinking mode. Tamas literally means destruction or death. But if you really think hard upon it means the destruction of all that is negative in us to bring about a balance, peace and serenity within us.

It is always best to have passion, balance and detachment spirit in us to lead a very spiritually fulfilling life. This is what is called GOD for he is the Generator, Organiser and Destroyer all in one. The saying that there is God within all of us(aham brahmasmi) means that there is the power within us to generate things, organise it and destroy it at the same time. Let it be anything, even our lives.

Have a great day ahead all of you and there we go untill later. Ta ta... take care.