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Showing posts from May 30, 2018


Twelve Places on Body to Wear Tilak – After Remembering These Twelve Forms of Vishnu Residing In the Body

Staunch Vaishnava devotees wear tilak on twelve parts of the body. It is believed that Vishnu in twelve forms resides in these twelve parts of the body. Twelve forms of Vishnu residing in the twelve parts of the body are: Keshav resides on forehead Narayana in belly region Madhava in heart (chest) Govinda in throat (hollow of the throat) Vishnu on right side of belly Madhusudan right upper arm Trivikram in right shoulder (in some texts it is ears) Vaman in the left belly region Shridhar in left arm Hrishikesh in left shoulder (if Trivikram is for ears then both shoulders are believed to for Hrishikesh) Padmanabha on upper back Damodar on lower back. Thirteenth Spot - Note some people also put a tilak on the tuft (hair) and it is dedicated to Vasudeva. The twelve mantras to be chanted while applying Tilak are Om Keshavaya Namah Om Narayanaya Namah Om Madhavaya Namah Om Govindaya Namah Om Vishnuve Namah Om Madhusudanaya Namah Om Trivikramaya Namah

Story of the Birth of Shikhandi in the Mahabharata

Shikhandi, the transgender in the Mahabharata, was the cause of Bhishma’s death. The reason for birth of Amba as Shikhandi was to defeat the invincible warrior, Bhishma. The story of Shikhandi’s half-woman, half-man persona is found in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata. Amba was the eldest daughter of the King of Kashi. She along with two of her sisters were forcibly be taken away by Bhishma from the Swayamvara to be the wives of King Vichitravirya. But on the day when the marriage was to be performed Amba informed Bhishma that she had given her mind to King of Shalva and she be sent to him. On realizing the mistake, Bhishma sent her to the King of Salwa. But the King of Shalva was not ready to accept a woman who had entered the home of another person. Amba had now nowhere to go. Bhishma would not marry her as he had taken the vow of celibacy. King Vichitravirya would not accept her as he was in love with someone else. Determined to avenge her humiliation, she searched

Nalkheda Temple – Baglamukhi Mata Ji Mandir at Nalkheda in Madhya Pradesh

Baglamukhi Mata Ji Temple at Nalkheda in Madhya Pradesh is a temple whose legend is associated with the Mahabharata. The temple is located in a graveyard and it is believed that the Yudhishtira, the eldest of the Pandavas, installed the murti of Baglamukhi Mata Ji on the 12th day of the Kurukshetra battle. This was done on the advice of Sri Krishna to attain victory in the Great War in the Mahabharata. The temple is around 105 km northeast of Ujjain. This is an important Siddh Peeth. The popular belief is that there is only three ancient temples dedicated to Baglamukhi Mata and the Nalkheda Temple is one among the three. The other two temples are located at Datia in Madhya Pradesh and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. The murti of Goddess Baglamukhi at Nalkheda Temple is Swayambhu – divine appearance. The deity worshiped here has three faces. Thus, she is also known Trishakti Mata. An important center of Tantric worship, the shrine is on the banks of Lakhundar River. The sub

Four Kinds of Worshippers – Bhagavad Gita

Man’s attitude towards God depends on his attitude towards himself and towards the world. According to the Gita, four kinds of people worship God: (1) the afflicted who pray for a cure; (2) those after worldly prosperity: wealth, power, position, name, fame and so on; (3) jijnasus, seekers of spiritual Knowledge; and  (4) the jnani, the man of spiritual Knowledge. While Sri Krishna considers all of them noble, he reserves the pride of place to the jnani and considers him His very Self. A spiritual aspirant needs to be clear that the first two kinds of worshippers are still worldly, using God for their worldly ends; only their worldliness has a spiritual veneer. He needs to consciously belong to the third group. To such a seeker of knowledge every problem, every experience, is grist to his mill: he understands the evanescence of the world and uses his experiences to turn to God all the more. He does not give up his devotion because his prayers remain unans