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Showing posts from August 10, 2019


Washing The Feet Of Guru – Swami Chinmayananda On The Symbolic Meaning

Washing the feet of Guru - Symbolic meaning explained by Swami Chinmayananda Just as a Shivling represents Shiva, a Saligrama represents Vishnu, in the same way, the feet of the teacher represent to the student not the feet, but the concept behind. What we are invoking is Brahman the Lord. But we cannot directly go to Him. We want a symbol. At this time, there is no symbol more sacred than the feet of the Teacher. Therefore, we borrow the feet of the Teacher for some time, and the Teacher allows us to play with them! We wash the feet and worship them, as though they are the Lord Himself. We clean them with love, put sacred ash, adorn with sandal paste and do all that we do in a puja at the temple; we worship the feet as though they are that Shiva Linga or a Saligrama, invoking Him, the Ideal. Swami Chinmayananda Related Different Meanings of Guru from Guru Gita The letter ‘Gu’ denotes that He is beyond the three Gunas and ‘Ru’ denotes that He is beyond forms. B

Story of Siddhashram in the Ramayana

Young Sri Ram and Lakshman hear about Siddhashram from Sage Vishwamitra in the Balakanda of the Ramayana. The two young princes were then on their journey along with Sage Vishwamitra to Siddhashram. Sri Ram and Lakshman were on a mission to protect the yajna of the sage from Rakshasas.                                                   After killing Tadaka in the Tataka Vana, Sage Vishwamitra led the two young princes towards the holy place. Srihari Vishnu had performed Tapas at Siddhashrama. Vamana incarnation of Vishnu also happened at the holy place. Sage Vishwamitra had built his ashram at Siddhashram. He was planning for a yajna for very long time. But it was constantly interrupted by Rakshasas. Sri Ram and Lakshman vanquished Demons Maricha and Subahu and protected the yajna and sanctity of the place. 

Gangai Amman Temple Gudiyatham in Tamil Nadu

Gangai Amman Temple at Gudiyatham is a very popular shrine dedicated to Goddess Gangai Amman. The temple is located on the Koundinya Mahanadi River , which is believed to be River Ganga itself. Even though the temple has the name Gangai Amman, the temple is more popularly associated with Goddess Renuka Devi. Gangai Amman Thiruvizha observed on the first day of Vaikasi month attracts thousands of devotees. Legend has it that Sage Koundinya performed austerities at the temple spot to cleanse all his sins. Please with his austerities River Ganga flowed through the place cleansing all the sins of the sage. The temple has shrines dedicated to Goddess Renuka Devi, Sage Koundinya, Ganga Devi and Ganesha. Gudiyatham Gangai Amman Temple is today famous for the Sirasu festival associated with the Renuka Devi legend which is observed on the first day of Vaigasi Month (May 15/16). A freshly prepare head of the murti is carried on to the temple from around 3 km away by a w

Speak the Truth and Never Get Angry – Sathyam Vad Krodham Maakuroo – Story told by J P Vaswani

Speak The Truth And Never Get Angry – Sathyam Vad Krodham Maakuroo – Story told by J P Vaswani An incident in the life of the eldest of the Pandava brothers explains the true meaning of Sathyam Vad Krodham Maakuroo. As boys, Pandavas went to an ashram and the very first teaching passed on to them by their guru was – “Sathyam Vad Krodham maakuroo!” which means “speak the truth and never get angry!” The next day the teacher asked the Pandava brothers if they had learnt the lesson. All of them, expect Yudhishtira, the eldest, said they had remembered the lesson. Yudhisthira said, “Sir, I have learnt only the first half of the lesson. The latter half I have not yet been able to learn!” So, the teacher very patiently made him repeat the words, “Krodham maakuroo! Krodham maakuroo!” But again, on the following, day when the teacher asked his students if they had remembered the teaching, Yudhisthira said he had not been able to memorize the second half of the lesson. So the G

Shiva And Blue Throat – How Lord Shiva Got The Blue Throat?

One of names of Lord Shiva is Neelkantha – he who has a blue neck. Lord Shiva got the blue neck after drinking the lethal poison, Halahala, during the Churning of Ocean (Samudra Manthan) to get Amrita (elixir of life). While the ocean of milk was being churned by the Devas - Demigods) and Asuras (Demons) using Snake Vasuki as rope, the first thing to appear was a dark sticky foam. It was the dreaded poison Halahala, which had the power to destroy the universe. The poison started emitting fumes and soon started to spread in water and air. Lord Shiva soon realized that the poison had the power to destroy the cosmos and immediately gathered the poisonous foam in his hands and drank it to save the world. Goddess Parvathi, got alarmed about the safety of her husband Lord Shiva, caught hold of his neck to avoid poison from entering His body. The poison remained in the throat of Shiva making it blue colored.

Koliyak Fair in Gujarat – Koliyak Shivling and Temple in Arabian Sea

Koliyak Village , 28 km from Bhavnagar in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, is famous for Nishkalank Mahadev Shiv Temple which is located in the sea. The temple is visible only when the waves subside. Every year during the last week of Shravan and during the Bhadrapad month (August – September) a special fair is held here which is visited by more than 200,000 people. The temple is dedicated to Shiva and the Pandavas established it on a no moon night in Bhadra Month. The Shivling becomes visible only when the waves subside. Desh Gujarat reports It is said that Pandavas established Nishkalank or Nakalank Mahadev on a new moon night of the Indian calendar month of Bhadarva. Shivlinga of God Shankar was established on an island, over the sea about 3 km to the east of Koliyak. This temple can be reached only at specific day and time. It has to be noted that the place gets inundated under the tide so the visitors should leave the place before 1:00 pm. The event als