Night sky draws

 And winds up in the morning to yet another scenario. 

Sammohana

 Lord Krishna in a very unique form- Sammohana Krishna- half male / half female

Interesting note:

Sammohana Krishnan  is the deity at the  PerumaL temple in Mohanur (near Namakkal). Sammohana Krishnan worship is very beneficial to marital bliss and to beget children.

Srinivasa

 

Srinivasa Kalyanam

Vedhavati was born as Padmavati. She was brought up by her parents. She became the very reservoir of all attractive qualities. Soon the time was ripe for her marriage. In those days when the girl was about 14 years old and still unmarried, the parents would consider themselves to be failures. Dharini devi and Akaash Raj were thus looking all around for a wonderful husband. They sent many messengers to different kingdoms of the world. But they could find no one who could match her. They didn’t know what to do.

At that time Narada Muni came to the kingdom disguised as an old brahmana and upon looking at the palm of Padmavati, he told her, “You are the goddess of fortune Laxmi and very soon you would be married to Lord Vishnu.” She really did not take it very seriously. The name of her kingdom was Narayanpur.

One day she was playing in a very pleasing garden with her friends. On the same day Lord Srinivas told His mother Vakuladevi that He desired to go to the wild forest to scare away the wild animals, on a hunt. Vakuladevi tried to dissuade him saying that it would be very dangerous but He convinced his mother of no danger for Him. She made nice prasad and then He very happily went into the forest. While He was in the forest, He saw a wild elephant and began to chase after the wild elephant. The wild elephant ran straight into the garden where Padmavati and her friends played. The wild elephant caused great fear to them. Srinivas immediately chased the elephant away. And then He saw Padmavati. The natural love between the Supreme lord and His consort was awakened. They looked upon each other. Srinivas then approached her, introduced Himself and said, “I want to marry you. I think that you must have descended from heaven.”While Srinivas and Padmavati were talking, the maidservants of the princesses happened to notice and they thought it to be improper. They criticized, “But You are a hunter. What right does a hunter have to propose marriage to the princesses?” Saying thus, they asked Him to leave the place and even began to throw stones at Him. Being harassed by the stones, He got on His horse and went away.

When He reached home, Vakula saw that He was very depressed, and he had sores all over His body. She asked Him to tell her what had happened? He explained that He had seen a beautiful young princess, and that He wanted to marry her. But as He spoke to her, all her maidservants threw stones at him. He requested his mother to help him marry the princess. Vakuladevi told him that she would go and will try to make a proposal to girl’s parents. It was during that conversation the Supreme Lord explained to Vakuladevi who He was. He explained that He was Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the girl was Vedhavati in past life and He had appeared just to marry her. Vakuladevi then promised Him that she would make a proposal to her parents which can result in Srinivasa Kalyanam.

On her way to meet the parents of Padmavati, Vakuladevi came to a temple, where she found the maidservants of Padmavati worshipping and intensely praying to Lord Siva. Vakuladevi enquired of the reason for their intense prayers. They told her that they were praying because their princess, Padmavati was sick. Nobody knew how to cure her. She had not eaten, and not even drunk anything. She has even not been able to sleep, ever since she saw a hunter in the forest. Her parents brought the best doctors and they gave all types of medications but nothing seems to help. Many rishis and sages have also been consulted but nobody could cure her. They all consider it to be some mental anxiety. After hearing of the condition of Padmavati, Vakuladevi said that even she would pray along with them. Meanwhile Lord Srinivas thought of ways to help Vakuladevi make this arrangement. He disguised Himself as a gypsy fortuneteller woman and came to the town of Narayanpur and started calling out, “I am a gypsy fortune-teller woman and I can tell the future to anyone who wants to know.”The people of the town told the queen, that maybe this gypsy woman could tell about what will happen to Padmavati. The queen immediately called for the gypsy fortune teller.

Srinivas in the disguise of a gypsy woman came into the palace. She demanded the queen for all types of articles for puja, to be brought to her along with Padmavati. When Padmavati sat before the gypsy woman, she immediately felt attracted to the gypsy woman and in the hearts of hearts she understood that the gypsy woman was but Her Lord.

The gypsy woman then went into a trance and started speaking, “Padmavati is actually the goddess of fortune Laxmi. Some time ago, while she was playing in a garden along with her friends, she was attacked by a wild elephant and she became very afraid. Just then a noble hunter came and saved her. That hunter is the Supreme Lord Vishnu, and Padmavati has found the love of that hunter. But Padmavati thinks that the hunter has gone forever. She does not know that the hunter is crying and lamenting in separation from Padmavati. And she will only feel happiness when both of them are united again in marriage, and I think that marriage will take place very soon. In fact the mother of the Lord is about to come to propose the marriage.” As she listened to the gypsy woman, the queen was bewildered. Immediately after the gypsy woman had left, Vakuladevi arrived. She was very beautiful and stately woman, so the queen honored her, brought in her palace as a guest.

Vakuladevi then spoke to the queen saying, “I come with a proposal. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Krishna has descended in this world and is living on the banks of Venkatadri Mountains. He is living in an anthill. But even though He is living in the anthill and doesn’t have anything, He is the proprietor of the entire universe. He desires to have your daughter Padmavati’s hand in marriage. Please accept this proposal.” Dharini devi replied, “Please let me discuss this with my husband, the king.” Later the queen asked the King, “Does it make sense to you that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living in these Seshadari Mountains? We never heard about that.”

The King then asked his ministers and they advised him to enquire from a great sage named Suka Maharishi. The king went to Suka Maharishi and enquired of the descend of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Suka Maharishi said “Srinivas is the Lord of Vaikuntha. He has descended into this world. He is living in an anthill. You should immediately arrange for the marriage of your daughter to Him.” The king Akaash Raj, his wife Dharini devi and everybody rejoiced that Padmavati had finally found the proper match in marriage. Suka himself gave a palm leaf to Srinivas with the king’s written desire that He marry his daughter. Suka first brought the letter to Vakula, and then the two of them went to the anthill. They called Srinivas out of the anthill. When He came out, Suka read the letter. Immediately upon hearing the letter, Vakuladevi started beaming with transcendental happiness. It was the fulfilment of her incarnation.

Srinivas then wrote a letter back, accepting the proposal. Lord Srinivas called Garuda and Ananta Sesa and asked them to invite all the demigods and rishis all over the universe. They all came to this hill to decide how to help the Lord in this marriage ceremony. As they were dividing up the responsibilities very nicely, Lord Brahma saw, Lord Srinivas sitting on the side of the anthill looking very unhappy. Brahma asked “What is the problem?” Srinivas said, “I have no wealth. How am I supposed to feed millions of people who are going to come? What to speak of offering them garlands and nice arrangements and things like that.”Brahma then suggested that He could take a loan from Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods who was also present.

Lord Brahma then called for Kubera, and asked him to give Lord Srinivas a loan. Kubera replied, “He is the Lord of my life, He is the proprietor of everything. On this very day I will take all the riches of heaven and send them to your feet my Lord, please accept it.”

Lord Srinivas said, “No, I have entrusted all this wealth to you, it is not mine. And while living in this world I must live according to the customs of this world. So kindly give Me a loan and I promise to pay it back to you, with suitable interest. Until the end of Kaliyuga, I will pay you the interest of this loan and the balance of the principle as well.” Lord Brahma then drew out the contract, Srinivas signed it and several witnesses also signed it.

One of the reasons why this temple is so wealthy is, it is understood that the Lord requests all devotees to come for His darshan to help Him to repay this loan to Kubera by putting their wealth in the Hundi. So people give a lot of money to the hundi. And every day at a certain time there is a hall that is where they count all the collections of the day. There are piles and piles and mountains of jewels, rings, and big piles of money and they count it publicly. That is one of the traditions of the temple.

Stri.

 In Vedic times men and women were equal in terms of education and religion. Women held a sacred place and they were deeply revered. The reason why the entire clan of Ravana got wiped out was because he abducted Sita and same fate followed for Kauravas for humiliating Draupadi in public.

Whilst on his literal death bed of arrows, he shared three very important secrets about women with Yudhisthir which were life changing advice coming from the end of a wise man finally going back to his abode. In fact, his own life ended at the hands of a woman named Shikhandi. You will be surprised at his advice.

A dying Bhishma surrounded by seven rishis, Krishna, Yudhisthira, Pandavas and Duryodhana, told his audience - A woman is like a gentle breeze. She is caring and through her life makes sacrifices silently. However, it is to one's own benefit to never take her for granted, for when emotionally hurt she can curse you to the fiery pit of hades and most often than not, their curse manifests. A family's financial luck is directly related to a woman.

A home where a woman is disrespected can never be happy or flourish. A home where there is no respect for a woman, bad luck strikes them often and family members suffer a bad fate. In contrast, a home where a woman is respected flourish with health, love, wealth and happiness as lady luck shines bright on such families.

 According to Bhishma Pitamah, a home where a woman's needs are not tended to on priority like your own. Or there exists chauvinistic thought process - there can never be abundance. However, where a woman is treated like an equal, her needs treated like your own and there are love and respect for, there should be no fear for Lady Luck will smile on such families. Such a family will have the blessings of Goddess Laxmi too.

Whether it be the mighty King of Lanka, Ravana or the entire force of 100 Kauru Putras, they couldn't survive disrespecting a woman. Ravana abducted Lady Sita, whatever said and done he was the most learned man of his time, however it does not entail being courteous. Similarly, Kauravas humiliated their own Sister-in-law on a public forum. Today, there is no descendant from Ravana or Kauravas to continue the family name.

You read that right, Draupadi in her own right was responsible for the tyrannical war, Mahabharata. She had vowed to not tie her hair until her humiliation was avenged. Her 5 husbands, the Pandavas vowed along with her to take revenge and after 13 years of exile and one additional year of 'agyatvas' the war was waged against the Kauravas.

The war was destructive, to say the least, many were left mourning deaths of their family members. The loss of life and wealth was such, it felt there was no coming back. The Kauravas lost everything in this war. Bhishma pitamah met his fate too. Draupadi's vow was fulfilled, however, at a painful cost. Righteous eventually came out victorious.

Hidimba was a Rakshasi and sister to Demon Hidimb. She fell in love with Bhima and wanted to marry him, however, Bhima wanted to combat Hidimb and kill him. Hidimba tricked his own brother for Bhima. In the age where women were self-sacrificing, Hidimba was a true example of a woman standing up for her want and right. Hidimba proved there was nothing wrong in wanting things for self.

Draupadi or Panchali was an exemplary woman of her time. She defied the norms of the society and dared to question Dushhasan who was stripping her off of her 'dhoti'. She dared to question men in a patriarchal society and rather than accepting her fate of being a common wife to five, succumbing to ritualistic wifely duties, she befriended her husbands and became their strongest ally and advisor.

9 ways.

 Nava vidhi bhakti.

From another's blog.

Supreme attachment to God is Bhakti. The bhakta has selfless Love for God. This Supreme Love for God is expressed in nine different ways. The bhakta’s love for God is intense and exclusive. Such love is manifested in all the methods of devotion to God. Bhakti automatically indicates a person of morals and ethics. We cannot develop love for God if we are crooked at heart or if we are full of desires and tempted by worldly things, or if we are overly attached to our family and to food or to the body and are egoistic or earn for sake of wealth, name, power and position. Where one is lured by the things of the world, pure love of God cannot exist. Where there is the right knowledge and detachment from worldly things, pure bhakti can exist.  “Where there is Rama, there is no Kama” meaning where there is Love for Ram or God there is no Kama or Desires. Kama has to be renounced for attaining Rama. This renunciation or detachment is attained through the Nava Vidhi Bhakti or Nine Forms of Bhakti.

 

The Holy scriptures of Srimad Bhagvad and the Vishnu Purana describe the nine forms of bhakti. We follow the path as per our inner inclination. Any of the nine paths will ultimately lead to Divine Illumination or Self Realisation.

 

Sravana means hearing the stories of God’s glories and stories connected with His Divine Name and Form. When we hear the stories of God, our mind merges in the divine love of God and we remember God even in our sleep. King Parikshit attained salvation through sravana.

 

Kirtana is singing the glories of God. The bhakta is filled with divine emotion and love. He loses himself in the love of God. Meerabai did kirtana or sang about God at all times.

 

Smaran is remembering God at all times.  The mind of the bhakta is always engrossed in the memory of God and meditates all times about the glories of God alone. God is to be remembered at all times. Prahlada and Druva did smaran of God at all times. 

 

Padaseva is serving the feet of the Lord. It is done by Lakshmi Devi or Parvati Devi. Understanding that the Universe is the body of God, we can serve the sick and needy as service to God.

 

Archana is worship of God. It can be done through an image or picture or even the mental form of God within yourself. Flowers, fruits, incense etc are used in archana. The advanced bhakta leaves the external form and worships the form of God within himself. The purpose of worship is to please God and to purify self through surrender of ego and love of God.

 

Vandana is prayer and prostration to God. Prostration to God helps overcome ego.

 

Dasya Bhakti is service to God means the bhakta sees himself as servant of God and loves and serves God. He carries out the wishes of God seeing God as the Supreme Master. Hanuman is the example of Dasya Bhakti. Serving  the saints, sages and other bhaktas , serving poor and sick as forms of God is also dasya bhakti. 

 

Sakhya bhava is seeing God as ones best friend. Arjun had this love for SriKrishna. Love at human level is full of expectations and give and take. When God is loved this way it is transformation of mundane love to the Divine. 

 

Atma Nivedana is self surrender. The bhakta offers everything to God – body, mind and soul. He has no personal existence. He is a part and parcel of God and God takes care of him. He becomes the perfect instrument in the hands of God. 

 

Bhakti is supreme Love for God.  A bhakta loves God in different ways. Bhakti helps a bhakta to attain the Supreme State of Self Realisation. The nine modes of bhakti are ways in which a bhakta attains the supreme state of life. We can take up any of these modes and reach the highest state. The path of bhakti is easiest and follows the natural inclination of human nature to love God in familiar ways.  Bhakti takes us slowly and gradually to God without demanding any extreme behaviour or drastic changes in way of life. It is a progressive realisation of God. 

The pull.

 The Ramayana has a pull, which has remained undiminished over centuries, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. It is perhaps one of the few stories where the hero Himself enjoyed hearing the story. Bhavabhuti, in his Uttara Rama charita, says that in Rama’s palace in Ayodhya, scenes from the Ramayana were painted on the walls, and Rama, Sita and Lakshmana enjoyed looking at the paintings. Lava and Kusa had been trained by Valmiki to narrate all the verses of the Ramayana. Their speech itself was sweet, and when they sang the verses before Rama people listened, their attention unwavering. Rama too left His throne and sat among the people. The story continued to be a big draw even after the Rama avatara ended.

While it is common knowledge that Srimad Bhagavatam contains many exploits of Krishna, significantly, it also has Suka talking about Rama’s story. When Kulasekara Azhvar heard about Rama preparing to fight Ravana, he forgot that it was a story about the past. He ordered his army to go to the aid of Rama!

Parasara Bhatta, wrote a commentary for the Vishnu Sahasranama, called Bhagavadguna Darpana. Here, before he talks about names referring to Rama, he says that he is going to talk about the name which is like nectar to the dying. The name ‘Rama’ offers consolation when we are unhappy. It is evident from Nammazhvar’s works that Krishna was his favourite deity. And yet, even he remarked in a verse that if at all one wanted to learn something, it should be the story of Rama, for by His very presence, Rama granted moksha even to blades of grass in Ayodhya. Nampillai explained Nammazhvar’s Thiruvaimozhi in his discourses. In these explanations, Nampillai gave references from Valmiki Ramayana.

kshama

 Kshama is a Sanskrit word that relates to the acts of patience, releasing time and functioning in the now. Macdonell defines it as: "patience, forbearance, indulgence". Kshama also indicates extreme patience and a capacity to forgive and forget. 

Kshama is a Sanskrit word with various layers of meaning. It relates to releasing time and living in the present, and can be thought of as a kind of extreme patience. Kshama also means forbearance and forgiveness, and can refer to the capacity to forgive others and forget the past.

Kshama is a concept commonly found in Yogic or Hindu scriptures, such as the Shandilya and Varaha Upanishads and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Gorakshanatha.

Kshama forms one of the 10 yamas (restraints), which make up the code of proper conduct as prescribed by the Upanishads, an ancient Vedic text. The 10 yamas are:

1. Ahimsa or Non-injury
2. Satya or Truthfulness
3. Asteya or Nonstealing
4. Brahmacharya or Sexual Purity
5. Kshama or Patience
6. Dhriti or Steadfastness
7. Daya or Compassion
8. Arjava or Honesty
9. Mitahara or Moderate Diet
10. Saucha or Purity.