Dvayam / Trayam

 Slokadvayam

Grahagraste gajendre ruvati sarabhasam tarksyamaruhaya dhavan

Vyaghurnan malyabhusavasanaparikaro megha gambhiraghosah

Abibhrano rathangam saramasim abhayam sankhacapau sakhetau

Hastaih kaumodakimapyavatu harirasa vam hasam samhaternah....1

Nakrakrante karindre mukulitanayane mulamuleti khinne

Naham naham nacaham na ca bhavati punastadrso madrsesu 

Ityevam tyakta haste sapadi suragane bhavasunye  samaste 

Mulam yatpradurasit sa disatu bhagavan mangalam Santatam nah....2

Slokatrayam

Pratassmarami bhavabhitimahartisantyai

Narayanam Garudavahanamanjanabham

Grahabhibhutamadavaranamuktihetum

Cakrayudham tarunavarijapatranetram...1

Pratarnamami manasa vacasa ca murdhna

Padaravindayugalam paramasya pumsah 

Narayanasya narakaranavataranasya

Parayanapravanavipraparayanasya...2

Pratarbhajami bhajatamabhayankaram tam

Praksarvajanmakrtapapabhayapanutyai 

Yo grahavaktrapatitanghri gajendraghora

Sokapranasanakaro dhrtasankhacakrah...3

Slokatrayamidam punyam pratarutthaya yah pathet lokatraya gurustasmai dadyadat mapadam harih...4

Sri slokavayam slokatrayam ca samaptam.

Sanidhyam.

 

अनायासेन मरणं विनादैन्येन जीवनं ।

देहान्त तव सानिध्यम्, देहि मे परमेश्वरम्॥

Transliteration

anāyāsena maraṇaṁ vinādainyena jīvanaṁ।

dehānta tava sānidhyam, dehi me parameśvaram॥

English Transcript

anayasena maranam vinadainyena jivanam।

dehanta tava sanidhyam, dehi me paramesvaram॥

English Translation

Give me death without pain,

grant me a life where I’m not dependent on anyone,

give me your assistance in my last time,

please parmeshwar grant me these three wishes.

When you enter the temple fold your hands but keep your eyes open and let the mind capture the darshan then when you sit outside and close your eyes visualize the deity whom you just visited and then say this Anayasena Maranam Prathana which means “give me death without pain, grant me a life where I’m not dependent on anyone. Let nobody have to help me sit up or lie down or feed me and grant me your assistance in my last time. Prabhu, please grant me these three wishes.”

Wpd

 "World Poetry Day" 21st March 2022

On this day, presenting a painting by Raja Ravi Varma - an adaptation of of the Poem VEENA NU MRUG written by the Gujarati poet "Kalapi" (1874-1900). Kalapi was the pen name of Prince Sursingji, Lathi (a princely state near Bhavnagar in Gujarat).

The Poem is based on the promise that the true value of art is understood through its audience. In this poem, the protagonist plays the musical instrument VEENA and it attracts a MRUG (Deer) which became her faithful listener. When the hunter kills the deer, he advertently kills the music in her. 

In this painting, Raja Ravi Varma has replaced Deer with a Bird without devieting from the gist of the poem!! 

Dinachari

Swami Desikan has two Tamil Verses for each of these five divisions of the time of the day.

Thus there are 10 (5 x 2) verses in this Prabhandham dedicated to Atthigiri AruLALar of

Kaanchipuram presiding at Hasthigiri under PuNyakOti VimAnam along with PerumdEvi

ThAyAr.

Sri Vaishnava Dinasari prabhandham is dedicated to Swami Desikan’s nithya AarAdhana mUrthy, Sri Varadaraajan. At home or during his travels, Swami always performed AarAdhanam to Sri VaradarAjan and Sri HayagrIvan after his daily unchivruthti. Those AarAdhana mUrthys traveled on his head in his Madisanji (the bag made of special cloth for carrying Vasthrams, ThirumaNN petti and SaaLagramams and Aaradhana mUrthys without theettu by VaidhikAs).Like AchArya RaamAnujA, who left for us a Sanskrit Sri Sookthi (auspicious literary work) named nithyam to instruct us on the daily observances, Swami Desikan out of his infinite mercy for us created this work called Sri VaishNava Dinasari and placed it at the lotus feet of

Kanchi Sri VaradarAjan.

STRUCTURE OF THIS PRABHANDHAM

A day in Sri VaishNavA’s life is split into five parts. Each of these five divisions in time from waking up in the morning to resting at night is allocated one observance. Thus there are five different observances for the five divisions of the time, when a Sri VaishNavan is awake. These are ordained by SaasthrAs. The other observances known as snAnam (bath), Vasthra DhAraNam, Wearing of the PuNdrams (ThirumaNN Kaappu), Sri ChoorNa DhyAanam, SandhyA vandhanam forming part of the Ushath Kaala dharmams (rites at Dawn) are not included in the Sri VaishNava Dinasari for the sake of brevity by Swami Desikan. The manthrAs for all of these and other procedures associated with them form the heart of Ahnikam. The Ahnikam (daily observances) is learned as formal KaalakshEpam at our AchAryan’s sacred feet prior to Grantha Chathushtaya KaalakshEpam (Learning of Sri BhAshyam, GithA BhAshyam, The AaRAyira PaDi of PiLLAn and Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram by Swami Desikan).

The ancient five observances described for our daily use are:

1. Abhigamanam: The Sanskrit route, “Abhigam” means going near or to approach. This is the approaching of the Lord for permission (anuj~nai) to start the day in the right frame of mind to celebrate Him. The Sri- VaishNavan prays to the Lord to remove all obstacles that might interfere with the daily observances ordained by the Lord and seeks His blessings to ward them off.

2. UpAdhAnam: This Sanskrit word means acquisition or obtaining. It has two subdivisions : a) The collection or acquisition of TuLasi, Flowers and other items needed for Bhagavath AarAdhanam. (b) Since one’s purity of mind is very important for Bhagavath- AarAdhanam, one recites the Sri Sookthis of AzhwArs and AchAryAs for the purification of one’s mind as one goes about collecting the SaamagriyAs (required materials) for the daily AarAdhanam.

3. Ijyai: This Sanskrit word arises from the root Yajj. Ijyai means worship. It has also other meanings such as the Supreme being and Union. For our purposes; we can translate Ijyai as aradhana for the Supreme Being in the Saasthraic manner ordained by Paancha rathra or vikanasa Aagamams .

4. SvAdhyAyam: This celebrated Vedic word (Taittiriya Upanishad: SikshA Valli: Section 9; “Rutham cha svAdhyAya PravachanE cha–”) means the study and preaching of VedAsand Upanishads (Sanskritic and Tamil VedAs).

5. Yogam: The meditation on the Lotus feet of the Lord and the prayer for the lord to accept our head at His sacred feet during our time of sleep as well.

in the Saasthraic manner ordained by Paancha rathra or vikanasa Aagamams 

Vari irul azi vazi manam  varum unarvodu

Kari giri maru  viya kariavan adi yinai, 

Pari vodu para vunal adiyavar paza urai 

Ari ari ari ari ari ari ariye....1.

Vinai vagai ozugiya veri nilai adaiyavum 

Ninaivudai nigazvidir nilai nalam anugida 

Manamurai kirisaigal magizmarai neri kodu

Tani mudal adiyinai adaibavar tamare..2

Malar magal maruviya maru udai iraiavan

Malar adi karudiya mana mudai adiyavar

Malar punal amududan vagaiyana adiyavum

Malar Madi emadala Ena aribavare...3

Narai udai malar magal nalam ura maruviya

Iraiyavan inidura inaiavai enum avar 

Araneri ilan ivan anugilum anugilar 

Turai aladenum oru turai padugiare..4

Oli madi Ena oru tiruvudan uyarbavan

Nalai madi muga nagai nala nila ugavugal

Teli punal amudana sezu madi adiyavar 

Kuli mudal kirisaigal kurai gilai valve.. 5

Varu vadoruravena valar ilavarasena

Maruvunan magan ena vana mada kariena

Aruvilai maNi ena adiyavar adaibavar

Aruganai iraivanai aru kanaiyudane...6

Virai kamaz alarmagal mia urum iraiavar

Kurai kazal kurugiya kulir madi madiyodu

Varainilai adiyavar maraigalin maraienum

Urainirai para vuvar ulam amudunave..7

Tudigalum arivaru surudiyin irudiyin

Idayam idena muni iraiyavar uraigalum

Maduraman udaviya maraigalum adiyavr

Vidivagai paravuvar migaulam ezave..8

Arivilar talaimisai Ayan adi ezudiya

Pori vagai ezuvador pori nalam ugavalar 

Uruvadum udaiyadum iduvena vauvadu

Narumalar magal padi nalam uru ninaive..9

Perugia Nala nilai perumaiyin migumayal

Uruguay nilai manam uyarmugiz enumudal 

Sorugiya vizitigaz sudarmadi pugumirai

Karugiya urutigaz karigiri ariye...10

Sri vaisnava dinasari mutritru..

Each to his own.

 Each person creates an image which he worships.

https://youtu.be/nrnovn2DEFQ

Chitti

 Ghazal = a form of Urdu poetry (shayari) in which the poem contains a series of couplets one after the other. Each of the couplets, or sher, has a separate idea that is generally related to the central theme. The couplets rhyme with each other, i.e. the last lines of all couplets rhyme with one another. The topics generally covered include love, longing, heartbreak, etc. and are often addressed to or refer to a beloved, generally male, form. The general rhyming patterm is AABACADA

Nazm - Practically the second most prominent genre of Urdu poetry, nazms are poems that are similar to English and Hindi poems. They often have couplets one after the other, but it is not necessary as nazms may also have paragraphs of four sentences or more (typically referred to by other names, like musaddas). Couplets are generally a part of a larger paragraph, and the size of paragraphs is not necessarily constant. Nazms are more often than not a single story or idea and every couplet or paragraph serves that central theme. The rhyming pattern is different from a ghazal, since even though couplets following each other rhyme within a paragraph, they may vary across paragraphs. Most nazm writers use their own preferred rhyming patterns.

The differences between nazms and ghazals are because nazms are typically read out or recited, whereas ghazals are sung. One will find a large number of great ghazal writers (Ghalib, Mir, Zauq), but nazm was adopted by fewer greats, prominently Iqbal and Faiz.

Sher - a two line couplet; part of a ghzal or a sher. In fact, the building block of both.

Rekhti - A form of poetry in which the poet writes from a women's perspective, adopting her voice, on topics that are generally promiscuous in nature. A historical form perhaps dead by now, it was mostly composed by male poets and patronised by nautch girls mostly in Lucknow.

Marsiya - a special form of poetry generally popular among Shia muslims with poems that depict incidents of the battle of Karbala and eulogise Imam Hussain (RaDHiiAllaahuAnhu), his family and his companions (RaDHiiAllaahuAnhumAjmaiin). The topics are diverse, ranging from literal depictions to the praise of the Imam's horse to the state of the waters of Euphrates that were denied to his family. Dabeer and Anis are the most famous exponents. It is very often read during Muharram.

Rubaai - Hardly found in Urdu poetry, this is more popular in Persian. A quatrain (four liner) is a rubai, generally composed of a single idea. They often follow each other and may compose a broader theme or story. However, rubais can also be standalones. The rhyming pattern is AAAA or AABA. Ghalib's deewan has a few rubais, but the most popular ones I can think of right now are all Persian. Omar Khayyam's Persian rubaiyat (plural of rubai) is very famous.

Doha - a couplet (two lines) complete in itself and not related to anything else; so basically a two-line poem very popular is braj or apabhramsa. Urdu and Hindi don't have many dohas as I think these languages are not simple enough for Dohas. Generally used as a moral lesson, these were popularised by Kabir, Rahim, Raskhan, and other bhakti kaal poets.

https://youtu.be/fr2cECwq054

Holi

Lord Krishna plays his flute

Holi is a celebration of love, color and spring

With winter finally coming to an end, millions of people in India and other parts of the world home to Hindus are gearing up for one of the most joyous celebrations of the year.

That celebration is Holi, the Hindu festival of love, color and spring. It's a time when Indians don simple, inexpensive clothes and take to the streets to drench each other in clouds of colored powder and buckets of water. There's singing, dancing, and of course, food.

The bonfires are a nod to one of the most well-known legends associated with the festival.

The demon king Hiranyakashayap, who wanted to be worshipped as a god, became angry that his son Prahlad was a devotee of the deity Vishnu, the preserver and protector of the universe. In turn, Hiranyakashayap conspired with his sister Holika to kill his son.

As part of the plan, Holika would lure Prahlad onto her lap and into a bonfire, while her enchanted shawl protected her from the wrath of the flames. But Vishnu thwarted the duo's plan and rescued Prahlad. In the end, Holika died in the fire and Hiranyakashayap died at the hands of Vishnu. Prahlad eventually replaced his father as king.

The story is about the triumph of good over evil. The morning after, when the bonfires have gone out, some Hindus gather the ashes and smear them on their bodies as a purifying act.

In Hindu mythology, the deity Krishna was left with blue skin after drinking milk poisoned by a demon. Worried that Radha would be turned off by his unnatural appearance, Krishna vented to his mother, who playfully suggested that he smear colored powder on Radha's face, Upon doing so, Radha fell in love with Krishna.

Despite being a Hindu festival, Holi now transcends the boundaries of religion and is celebrated by people across the Indian subcontinent. People young and old come together to douse loved ones and strangers alike in hues of red, yellow, pink, purple and more for a day of laughter and fun.