Vishnu related - Origin of Rameswar Jyothir Ling temple

After killing Ravan and installing his brother Vibhishan as the King of Lanka, Sriram was returning to Ayodhya with Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman and Vibhishan in the 'Pushpak Viman (plane). When the flight was above the ocean, Lord Sriram had sudden vision of Ravan. He explained this to others. Then Vibhishan informed the Lord that he is suffering from the 'Bramhahatya paap' of killing Ravan who was Brahmin because of his knowledge and the Lord should offer worship. As soon as the Pushpak Viman crossed the ocean the Lord made the plane to descend on the on the land. He invoked Lord Brahman by his meditation and wanted his suggestion to get rid of the 'Brahmahatya paap'. Lord Brahman suggested him to instal (consecrate) Lord Siva. Lord Sriram requested Hanuman to bring the 'Jyothir Ling' from Kasi (Varanasi - Benares). Hanuman went and when the 'Muhurt' was about to be over and Hanuman did not come, the Lord thought not to miss the Muhurt time and made a Siva Ling with the help of Sitadevi and was abut offer the pooja. This Ling made by Lord and his consort is known as 'Saikatha Ling'. Just at that time Hanuman came with the Siv Ling from Kasi.Seeing his lord about to perform the worship and felt disheartened that the Ling he brought with so much of trouble is not going to be used. Lord Sriram understood the disappointment of Hanuman. He installed the Ling brought by Hanuman and offered pooja first to that and after that the one made by him and Sitadevi and instructed that the first pooja in the temple should be offered to the Ling brought by Hanuman. That practice of the worship is followed even now.  Later the temple was built at this place. This temple is the famous Rameswar Temple. This is one of the 12 'Jyothir Ling' Siva temples of India.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Vishnu related - Thirupathi Prasad and Thomas Monroe British GovernorThomas Monroe

This article is an incident which happened with the Thirupathi Prasad to Thomas Monroe, the British Governor for South India during the British regime. Thirupathi Balaji - Srinivasa - Venkatesha temple was/is one of teh richest temples of India. The Governor Monroe used to visited the temple to oversee the collections there. Since he was a Christian and the temple is of Hindu deity, he never used to visit the shrine in normal course. Once he went near the shrine and found the devotees partaking the 'Venpongal' prasad (food item offered to deity and distributed as prasad to devotees) with their hands.  They had also had their head shaved. All these created revulsion in the Governor's mind and he ordered his followers to throw the prasad from the devotees' hands and ordered them to dash the heads of the devotees with each others. He was  enjoying the disappointment and pain of the devotees. He was also teasing the devotees that if they eat this dirty prasad they will suffer from diarrhea and vomiting. The helpless hapless devotees could not anything except to pray to the Lord to make Monroe considerate and humane. Just at the time itself the Governor started having terrific stomach pain and no medicines gave any relief. He could not sleep in the night due to the pain. All the doctors from all over the country tried and could not help him. At that time one of his Hindu followers suggested that the problem may be due to his actions at the Thirupathi temple of harassing and teasing of the devotees and defiling the prasad. If this is the case he will be cured if he takes the prasad once. Since Monroe had tried all other things and failed without any relief, he agreed to try the prasad. He asked for the prasad and started eating the same. On putting the first portion in mouth itself he started feeling relief. By the time he took the prasad fully his stomach pain was cured. The Governor was so relived and happy he ordered that the prasad be given to the devotees without any restriction. He decreed to set apart the revenue collections form the Village 'kodapaayal' exclusively for the Venpongal Prasad to be offered to the deity Balaji. This Venpongal prasad in later days is known as the 'Monroe Prabhu Kangalam'. After the incident the Governor Thomas Monroe and his family members became devotees of Lord Balaji of Thirupathi.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Siva related - Why Garud do not fly and Lizard do not make noise in Kasi (Varanasi)

The Garud - golden eagle (the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) do not fly over Kasi (Varanasi - Banaras) around a radius of about 50 km. Similarly the house lizards do not make their noises in Kasi. There is a reference abut the reason for this peculiarity in the scriptures. 

The story is like this: After killing Ravan, Sri Ram wanted to offer special pooja to Lord Siva to get rid of the 'Brahma Hatya sin' (the sin of killing Brahmin). He suggested to Hanuman to go to Kasi and bring a 'swayamboo Ling' (a Siva Ling of self originated) from there. When he went there the place was full of Siv Lings. He could not identify a Swayamboo Ling. Garud, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu shown a swayamboo one by flying in a  circle over. At that time the lizard made its sound to confirm the selection of Garud. Hanuman removed the Ling and started flying out of Kasi towards Rameswaram. 

Kasi is believed to be guarded by Lord Bhairav. When Hanuman reached the border of Kasi, Bhairav stopped Hanuman and asked him as to how dare he (Hanuman) is to take Siv Ling without his (Bhairav's) permission. Hanuman replied that he need no permission from any body as it is as per by the request of his lord Sri Ram. A fierce battle went on between Bhairav and Hanuman with neither of them getting defeated or winning. All the gods numbering around 33 crores were watching this with sorrow. After some time some of them took initiative to stop the fight. They requested Bhairav to allow Hanuman to take the Ling so that Lord Sri Ram can offer the worship. Bhairav agreed to this request. Since Garud and Lizard helped Hanuman to identify the Swayamboo Ling, Bhairav  made a condition that Garud should not fly within 45 miles of Kasi and Lizards should be silent in Kasi. 

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Siva relatd - Offer Mandai vilakku at Kasyapeswar temple for religious relief from head diseases

In Kancheepuram of Tamilnad there is a Siva temple dedicated to Kasyapeswar temple. In this temple there is a strange system of worship done during the Sundays of Tamil month of Karthikai (November - December). On these Sundays the devotees carry a 'Maavilakku' (a lamp made of baked flour with depressions made for oil to burn the lamp) in mud pans. This lamp will be filled with oil and wicks and then lighted. The devotees carry the mud pans with the flour lamps on their head and do pradikshan (circumlocution) around the temple. This worship or offering is known as 'Mandiavilakku' (Mandai means head and vilakku means lamp) prarthana. The devotees with head problems, if offer this mandaivilakku worship can expect cure of their problems related to the head.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Vishnu related - Remedy for Kaliyug evils

The Kaliyug is a period where the human beings will be subjected to several temptations and evil effects. At the start of the Kaliyug Sage (Maharishi) Narad was very much upset and sad. Sage Narad went to Naimisharanya, a forest where Sage Vyasa was meditating. Sage Narad stated to Sage Vyasa that the Kaliyug has started. He said further that he is worried that the people will be weak in mind and body and will have to suffer from poverty, different kinds of diseases and the people will forget their duties. How the people can get relief from these and other evil effects of the Kaliyug? Sage Vyas said that there is still hope. Chanting of the sacred name of Kesav (Lord Vishnu), reading of Sreemad Bhagavatham, Bhagavath Geetha etc will give relief from the evil effects of Kaliyug. 

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Goddess related - Rare or wonderfula idol of goddess Mriamma

 Normally the temple idols are made out of granites or tree trunks of sturdy trees like Rose wood, Teak wood, Jack fruit wood etc. Brittle and easily spoiled/damaged tree trunks are never used for making temple idols which are supposed to last for centuries.

But there is a temple in Tamilnad (a State in India with hundreds of famous and gigantic temples with many of them specialty temples) which is having a rare or a wonderful idol of Mariamman made out of the 'Muringa maram' (drumstick tree). This idol of the drumstick tree of this temple is believed to be of more than 600 years old. Though the drumstick tree idol is supposed to get damaged very fast, this wonderful idol is still in good condition in the temple worshiped by millions of devotees annually.

The Mariyamman temple is as mentioned earlier, in Tamilnad. It is in a village called Chatrapetti about 6 km from a town by name Rajapalayam, famous for a special breed of dogs.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Siva related - Bhagavat Geetha from Sri Krishna devotee by Siva

This is an incident reported to have happened in  Kottiyoor Sri Mahadeva temple in Kannur District of Kerala. In the Kizhattoor village of  Perinthalmanna taluk of Malappuram District of Kerala, there is an ancient Namboodiri family by name Poonthanm Illam (Poonthanam house - illam means house of Namboodiris). In the 15th century, there was a Namboodiri popularly called Poonthanath Namboodiri. He was devotee of Lord Krishna and is believed to have the power to see the lord at his will. and the Lord used to play in the form of a boy and help the Namboodiri in his worships. This Poonthanath Namboodiri used to wander from temple to temple in Kerala and make his visit to the famous Guruvayoor Temple in Thrissur District. He was a simpleton with the Guruvayoorappan (Lord Sri Krishna) in his mind. He used to read Bhagavatham in temples wherever he goes. Once he came to the Kottiyoor Sri Mahadeva temple in Kannur District of Kerala. Wherever he goes people of the place will pester him to read the Bhagavatham. He read the verses of Bhagavatham. When he came to the tenth verse of (10th) chapter which is a verse on devotion to the lord his reading was so impressive that the listeners were taken to the feeling of devotion to the god at  its peak. Whenever Poonthanam stops reading for the day he makes a mark from where he is to start the reading on the next day. On this particular day he kept the marker as usual in the book and retired for the night. Next day when he opened the place marked for his reading he found that the marker is in the same place where he started reading on the previous day. He though that he might have made a mistake and on this day also read the same passage and marked for the next day. On the next day also the same incident of his marker in the same place where he started on the previous day. When this happened on the third day also, he wanted to investigate as to what is happening. He lied down  in front of the temple door and was getting sleep. At that time he heard someone reading the same passage he read on the last 3 days. He slightly opened the door and saw that the Lord Mahadev (Siva) was reading the passage to his consort Goddess Parvathy, the sister of Lord Vishnu. After reading the passage, Lord Siva asked his consort as to  how his reading today was? The goddess told him that it was better, but was not as touching as that of Poonthanam's reading.On hearing this Poonthanam prostrated the divine couple chanting the name of god.

The Lord said to Poonthanam that he (the lord) himself was changing the marking made by Poonthanam so as to hear again the verse from him (Poonthanam) as both he and his consort were very much impressed and moved by his reading. The Lord Mahadev of Kottiyoor temple became a fan of Poonthanam for the deep and selfless devotion to his Lord (Lord Krishna). 

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Ganapathi related - Worships of Lord Ganapati and the boons available

Various types of worships of Lord Ganesh and the expectations

Lord Ganapathi is 'Agra Poojya' meaning the first one to be offered pooja for any functions or festivals or Poojas to any deity according to Hindu Religious customs. He is the remover of then obstacles in the path.

Besides Lord Ganesh, Ganapathi, Vinayak or Vighneswar (he has several names) is also worshiped for realization of various desires. Let us see some of them.

The most favorite offering to the lord Ganesh is Modak (a preparation out of rice flour, jaggery, coconut shavings etc). The rice flour is made into batter and small portions are flattened. In this flattened flour is placed a small quantity of a filling made out of the coconut shavings and jaggery cooked. The rice flour flat piece with the filling is closed to make it in the shape of a ball (not perfect round). This ball is either steamed in water steam or deep fried in oil. This is offered to the lord. This is supposed to fulfill whatever is desired by the devotee.

Offering sugar cane is expected relive the bone related illnesses.

Offering Jambul (Syzygium cumini) will bring wisdom to the devotees.

Offering Guava/Koyya Pazham/Amrood will remove Anger

Jack fruit offering will bring energy to the body.

Banana offering is expected  help in family progression. (Vamsa vridhdhi). 

Offering coconut to the Lord will remove fear and remove the 'dhrishti dosha'  (evil eye effect removal)

Offering Ghee will increase longevity; Milk will remove poverty; curd mixed with jaggery will give children and will improve wit; Jaggery pongal or jaggery gheer (paayasa) will result in harmony between couples; Vada will result in bodily health and chickpeas will help in unity.

If pooja is done with white Calatropis Gigantia (Erukku) will bring all round prosperity;  Leucas plant (Thumba) flower will result in recognition; jasmine flower will bring family bliss; lotus flower - wealth; Crepe jasmine (carnation - nandhyarvattom) will bring wisdom; bilva (bael) leaves will increase religious feelligs and the mos proffered Bermuda grass (bahama or kweek grass) will remove the fear of death.

Lord Ganapathi the symbol of simplicity 

The Hindu philosophy teaches to love and appreciate everything in the nature. Even in the idols of the gods and worship this aspect of love and appreciation towards nature is reflected. We can find several animals and birds as the vehicles of various gods and goddesses. Coming to the lord Ganapathi who is the first deity to be worshiped and appeased to remove all obstacles in the path and at the start of any function.

Lord Ganapathi, Ganesha, Vinayaka, Vigghneswara, there are several names and cannot be mentioned here as the names itself will occupy pages and pages of the article. The Lord is the symbol of simplicity. The form of the lord itself is a symbol of simplicity. It is a combination of a human and an animal. This is to reflect the relation in nature to the human beings and the animals. The lord accepted the body of a man with the head of an elephant for his form. The man is proud of his head – brain which is in the head which is not taken by the lord. The elephant has the body the strongest amongst the animals and that also is not taken by the lord. Instead he had opted for the frail body of the human and frail head of the elephant leaving out the strong parts of both. Now let us see his vehicle or carrier. It is the mice. An animal of the most ordinary level and normally despised by all. What is the most preferred offering in place of flowers to Lord Ganapathi? It is the ordinary Dhurva (Berumuda, doob, karuka, garge etc in different languages) grass, a kind of commonest among the common grass. He will be pleased by the offer of the Dhurva grass. Now coming to the neivedya (food offering) the preferred items are the sugar cane, coconut and jaggery (bella, vellam - unrefined sugar in molded form) which are also the most common items. Thus the lord is pointing out that even the common and ordinary things of the nature are valuable. He is considered as the most helpful god for all and removes the obstacles if pleased and at the same time he can create obstacles which cannot be solved by anything or anybody if he is displeased. Even the ultimate of the gods the thrimurhtyees offer worship to Lord Ganesh before starting any task. 

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

Goddess related - Akshaya Tritiya its significance and the legends

Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya is a Hindu annual festival. Akshaya means non diminishing, non exhausting, non decreasing, non reducing etc. Kshaya means one that is reducing, diminishing re decreasing etc. Akshaya is opposite of it. Tritiya means 3^rd day. In the case of Akshaya Tritiya, the 3^rd day is of the lunar month Vaisakh which normally falls during the period between April 15 and May 15. Since English calendar is based on solar system the date of Akshaya Tritiya will not fall on the same date of English calendar every year. Lunar month starts on the next day of Amavasya or the full moon day. Tritiya will be the 3^rd day after Amavasya in normal months but Akshaya Tritiya is on the 3^rd day of Vaisakh lunar month. As the name suggests this is a day with no Kshaya or no diminish, decrease or non reducing. It is supposed to mean that the wealth of this day will not diminish during the year till next Akshaya Tritiya day if the Poojas and rituals etc are observed to please the concerned deities.

Worship on Akshaya Tritiya day

On this day Hindus are supposed to do Poojas for Lord Ganapathi (since all auspicious things are to start with the pooja of Lord Ganapathi (for his removal of the vignas or obstacles), Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and prosperity), Kubera (the keeper of wealth in heaven) and the Gaja (elephant). On this day if we meditate on these gods and imagine that we acquire and keep wealth the effect is to realize these objectives. Every year repeating this procedure will enable to get wealthier and maintain the wealth.

It is believed as per the holy scriptures of Hindus that Akshaya Tritiya was observed from Krithayuga (the origin of the universe) itself. It is the belief that the best day to offer charity is the Akshaya Tritiya day. It is expected to bring salvation to the giver of charity.

Significance of Akshaya Tritiya

 

The planetary combination especially the positions of the Sun and Moon, on April 24th of this year, i e the Akshaya Tritiya day, is such that all that is lost can be expected to co me back to us. Try to recollect the losses suffered such as the wastage happened, the loss in 9jvestments and the loans that was/were not received back etc. The Kubera banker of the gods has the full records of the transactions and the loss is clearly recorded by him hence pleasing him so that he does the necessary steps to see that our losses are recouped through the blessings of the goddess of wealth Sri Lakshmi.

Akshaya Tritiya day is the best day to give charity or gift etc. Charity is help to the needy and gift is the expression of one’s love to the other. A suitable gift is the symbol of the expression of the emotion of love and care for the living ones. Similarly for the dead but loved ones’ or the ancestors doing ‘tharpanam’ or obeisance is like expressing the veneration we have for them. It is a good day for investments too. 

Legends about the significance of Akshaya Tritiya day

Lord Brahman created the world on this day. 

According to one legend Akshaya Tritiya is the day used to calculate the start of the various Yuga namely Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and the Kali Yuga. 

It is the starting day of Krita (Satya) Yuga – that means the starting of the universe itself. 

It is on the Akshaya Tritiya day that goddess Lakshmi got her position in the heart of Lord Mahavishnu and the incarnations of Aiswarya Lakshmi and Dhaanya Lakshmi out of the Ashta Lakshmis. 

It is on this day that the Kubera keeper of the heavenly wealth and prosperity got the pots of wealth (Nidhi Kumbamgal).

It is on this day goddess Annapoorna's incarnation took place.

It is on Akshaya Tritiya day that Lord Siva went to goddess Annapoorna and received food as charity (Anna Dan).  

It is believed that it is on the Akshaya Tritiya day the goddess Sakambari (a partial incarnation of goddess Parasakti)  created the vegetable and medicinal plants. 

It is supposed to be the day on which Maharishi Veda Vyasa started composing the epic Mahabharata. 

This is the day on which Lord Krishna gave the ‘Akshaya Patra’ (a cooking vessel which produces food items without diminishing even after taking from it) to Draupadi (Panchali) during the start of the Pandavas’ ‘vanavaas’ (Living in forests as a punishment for the failure in the dice game with the Kauravaas, their cousins. 

Akshaya Tritiya day is the Parasurama (the 6^th incarnation of Lord Vishnu) Jayanthi (birth day). Incidentally Parasurama is supposed to have brought out the land forming part of the entire Kerala State and the land from border of Kerala up to Gokarna within the state of Karnataka. 

It is on this day that Kuchela or Sudhama went to meet Sri Krishna and gave pounded rice (poha – avil) and got wealth from the lord. 

What are the beneficial rituals to be followed on Akshaya Tritiya Day?

It is a day to offer worship to Goddess Lakshmi and Kubera along with Lord Ganapathi, Lord Vishnu and his incarnations.

It is a good day for giving gifts and charity especially Anna daan (food offering to needy).

It is a good day to initiate children for ‘Vidyaramba’ (initiation to education). 

A good day for chanting Sanjeevani Mantra for reducing the intensity of diseases.

 It is a good day to do Satru Samhara pooja to remove enmity feelings. 

Writing Mrityunjaya Mantra and keeping it below the pillow of children is a good practice to ward of the Dhrishti Dosha (relief from evil eye effects). 

The most popular legend about Kuchela, poha and Sri Krishna

Sudhama or more widely known as Kuchela was a Brahmin who was a co-student with Lord Srikrishna in the then Gurukul. He was a very poor one but was a favorite friend of Lord Srikrishna. Lord Srikrishna never allowed anyone to tease Sudhama. After the studies each went on his own pursuits of life in different places. While Lord Srikrishna became the ruler of Dwaraka, Sudhama or Kuchela continued his life of Brahmin of worshiping and offering Poojas to the gods and to his childhood friend (Chaddi dosth) Lord Srikrishna as the Lord was an extra ordinary power. Kuchela was in perpetual poverty with no food on many days. His wife persuaded him to go to his childhood friend Lord Srikrishna who surely will help them in the difficulties.  Finally one day with reluctance (as Kuchela does not believe in taking others help) He went to his friend’s palace with small quantity of pounded (flattened) rice packed in a old worn out cloth (he could not afford anything else). As soon as Kuchela entered the gate of Lord Krishna’s palace, the Lord got up and went up to Kuchela and embraced him and brought him to his own seat and washed the feet of Sudhama. Seeing the prosperity all around, Kuchela was ashamed of the gift he has taken to give to the lord and hid the same from view of others. The lord however found the same and snatched and ate 2 hands full of the same. They chatted for some hours and finally Kuchela started back to his home without asking anything from his friend. 

When Sudhama reached the place of his old hut in his village he could not find the same but found in its place a palatial home with all the splendor and wealth. On inquiry he came to know this to be his own home converted by the lord though his friend Kuchela did not say anything about his condition and seek any help. This incident happened on an Akshaya Tritiya day and as the lord made the Kuchela very rich, the belief is that on this day offering worship will bring splendor and prosperity to the devotees. 

Gold dealers opportunism  

The jewelry shops and dealers have started taking full advantage if this festival by trying to indicate that buying gold on this day will bring prosperity. If one has to buy some jewelry in the near future it may be O K for waiting till Akshaya Tritiya. Similarly if one want to invest in gold as gold investment is good as of now, investing in gold on Akshaya Tritiya day may also be good. But there is no necessity to buy any gold or precious items only for buying during Akshaya Tritiya day.