Sabrimala

View the enlarged picture by clicking on the Ayyappa picture below.

Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Temple is one of the most ancient and prominent Sastha temples in the country. Located in the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Pathanamthitta district in Kerala, Sabarimala Sri Dharmasastha Temple is one of the few Hindu temples in India that is open to all faiths. The shrine of Sabarimala is one of the most remote shrines in southern India yet it still draws three to four million pilgrims each year. Surrounded by mountains and dense forest Sabarimala is believed to be the place where Ayyappan meditated. Perhaps the best known pilgrimage destination in Kerala is Sabarimala. Sabarimala Sri Dharmasastha Temple is the most famous and prominent among all the Sastha Temples. It is believed that "Parasurama Maharshi" who retrieved Kerala from the sea by throwing his axe, installed the idol of Ayyappa at Sabarimala to worship Lord Ayyappa.

The pilgrimage begins in the month of November and ends in January. The temple attracts pilgrims not only from the southern states of India, but also from other parts of the country and abroad. The shrine gets thronged with devotees especially during the main pilgrim season from November to January. Mandala pooja (November16,2009) and Makaravilakku(Jan.14th) are the two main events of the pilgrim season. The temple stays closed during the rest of the year except for the first five days of every Malayalam month and during Vishu (April).

Certain customs are to be strictly observed if one has to undertake a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. A pilgrim attending the Mandalapooja should observe austerities for 41 days. During this period, the pilgrim should abstain himself from non vegetarian food and carnal pleasures. Pilgrims set out in groups under a leader, and each carry a cloth bundle called Irumudi kettu containing traditional offerings. Unlike certain Hindu temples, Sabarimala temple has no restrictions of caste or creed. The temple is open to males of all age groups and to women who have either passed their fertility age and those before reaching the stage of puberty. The easiest route is via Chalakkayam, by which one can reach the banks of the river Pamba by vehicle. Pamba is the main halting point on the way to Sabarimala. From here one has to trek 4 to 5 kms to reach the temple.

Please visit the website by copy pasting the same to your browser a panorama of Sabrimala.
http://www.p4panorama.com/panos/sabarimala/index.html

Spiritual Relatives

Please visit the following you tube site and listen to Sri TT.Rangarajan on spiritual relatives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-3CQmT0EHk

Don’t look in to what you don’t have. Look how much you can do with what we have & out of that what can be done.
In a platform with Kapil Dev before sharing he expressed that he will not be able to share more than 5 minutes, but that 5 minutes what he shared was the content discussed over all.
Sachin Tendulkar & Bradman never felt that they are short, instead they made the world to talk every thing bigger about them by their achievements in life.
To do business if you require 2 crores & you don’t have today, think with what the Rs.2 lakhs what you have today how to make that in to 10 lakhs, then 1 crore then 2 crores eventually you will get your own ways to achieve what you want. So just need to focus with what we have & out of that how much we can achieve. Once we start focusing with what we have automatically things will unfold to reach where we have to,
You will ask ok, how to know how much I have & how to find out this. Simple Count your blessings not your curses.
Always ask yourself Why Me God for all these blessings & not Why me God for all the sufferings.
My Blessings in my life so far, What I feel is

Spouse = I got the BEST one. Today I am what ever I am because of her without her sacrifice & understanding me I could have not made.
Children = Beautiful Kids, Very understanding, upcoming Legendry people.

Father = In his 45 years of life he has created a name for himself in the world. Today we are recognised in the social community all because of his efforts. My r Grandma will always say it is easy to make money with money. Your dad has made money without money in hand. The way you people are doing business today even a lady sitting will earn that use to be her quote whenever we come late for the lunch or dinner or we come home late from the office. That kind of hard work my father worked & not only created wealth for us but even he created good name for him in the social so that for us it was easy to walk his path.

Mother = Very Loving, If there is any difference of opinion(or arguments) with in our 3 brothers her heart will cry still we become normalcy. She will always tell I don’t want any thing other than you people or together and live a long Happy life. In todays world more than this what we want from our mother such a lovely person from the heart.

Brothers = When I matured enough my 2 brothers are in the roll of my father and today I am what I am all because of their love, they never said no to me for any thing. 10 years when I was striving to get back in to the automobile industry I have applied each & every company and had spent money in lakhs only for application, Presentations all these things. But for not even a single time they have stopped me what ever I was doing. They where so co-operative & the BEST they gave me in my life.

Friends, Relatives = WOW, I can say I have got the best of all as without their love & wishes we could have not been any where.

Business = Today I am running SKODA dealership in bangalore but for me 10 years of striving I got in to a business where my heart was, but that 10 years of in explainable experience I got out of it now I am feeling that is required for me to work on my vision & mission today. Yes I have got the BEST business opportunity and today with this platform I am going to create a new world in near future.

Teachers & Mentors = Till today I have come acrossed only with the BEST teachers, I am in the best of best in hands and be sharpened by every one. I am really proud that all my achievements in my life is their hard work on me to make my self what I am today.

GURU = Yes without HIS blessings even I cannot move my fingure. He is the one who plays his role through me. I am just a instrument of HIM & I know very well HE will take me HIGHER, give me DEEPER & Lead me Beyond. Through me he will make that the surroundings of me to TAKE them HIGHER, Give them Deeper & Lead them Beyond. All this will not happen if HIS blessings are not their.

After today’s 52 Thoughts program it took more than 45 minutes to come out of the impact from the program. Yes. I am sure that I know how much blessings I have in my life & with what I have and I will make the BEST of it.

To conclude if I don’t express my gratitude to all of my blessings I feel I will be incomplete. Thank you so Much.

Loving you so much,

Thanks & Regards,

Suresh Bafna.

Good Morning

GOOD MORNING ...

Relationship is like an onion
Which has many layers of TRUST AND CARE .
If You will try to Cut it
you will find nothing except
TEARS in your Eyes . . . .
HAVE A NICE DAY
AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK END TOO ...

BE GOOD IN THE WEEK END . .
GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Reward For Humility

Lord Krishna enters Hastinapura as a messenger of the Pandavas. Knowing the purpose of His visit, the Kauravas are not ready to welcome Him. But Bhishma, Drona and others go to welcome Him.

As Krishna passes through the streets, He points to each palace and asks as to whom it belongs. One is Bhishma's, one is Drona's, and so they tell Him . When He nears Vidura's palace, He asks whose it is and Vidura says it belongs to Krishna's.

Best reply

That indeed, is the best reply. For, does not everything in the world belong to the Lord? Everything comes from Him and it is our ignorance that makes us claim possession over everything. It is our pride that sees us as owners, when in fact it is the Lord who is the owner of everything.

Vidura's reply shows his humility and devotion and it is not surprising that the Lord chooses to stay with him. The Lord's presence in his palace is the reward he gets for his humility, said C.V. Seshadri in a lecture.

Vidura welcomes Krishna. He has appointed many cooks to cater to those who had accompanied the Lord.

An overjoyed Vidura wonders if his house had once been the milky ocean. Is that why the Lord is so comfortable here? Or had this house once been Adisesha, the Lord's serpent bed? Or had it been it once the leaf of a banyan tree on which the Lord Krishna reposed?

One who has bhakti towards the Lord also is respectful to His devotees. Such bhaktas refer to their own houses as huts, even if they live in mansions. But if a learned scholar and devotee of the Lord lives in a hut, bhaktas refer to it as a palace. Such is the respect that is shown to great men.

One has to be humble and remember that everything that we enjoy in this life has come from the Lord. We cannot claim anything as our own.

Vidura knows this truth, which we tend to forget. So he refers to his palace as one that belongs to the Lord. His humility is rewarded by the Lord's decision to spend the night in his palace, than in the palace of Duryodhana, whose heart is filled with pride.

Maths Award For A Monk

Mahan Maharaj
A mathematician exploring rubber-sheet geometry at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur, and a cryptologist at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, have won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes, often dubbed the nation’s highest science awards, for 2011.

Both win the annual award from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for their contributions to the mathematical sciences. The CSIR on Monday also announced the names of nine other scientists who will get the prizes for biological sciences, chemical sciences, earth sciences, engineering sciences, medical sciences and physical sciences.

Mahan Maharaj, who studied at IIT Kanpur and the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the Vivekananda University in 1998, has made fundamental contributions to the study of curved geometry in three-dimensions, his associates said.

Palash Sarkar, at the ISI’s applied statistics unit, has been involved in the design of mathematical rules that allow information to be exchanged securely between distant geographic sites over an insecure network. One of his research initiatives has led to a set of rules to enhance the security and speed of data accessible through laptops.

“Maharaj has been exploring properties of geometrical spaces that do not change when they are stretched or pulled or twisted,” said Harish Seshadri, a mathematician at IISc, Bangalore, who has collaborated with the monk in a forthcoming research paper on multi-dimensional geometrical spaces.

Mahan Maharaj, who teaches MSc students and takes course work for PhD students, joined the RK Mission institution in 1998 after a PhD from the UCB. “This is a joyful day for us,” said the university’s vice-chancellor, Swami Atmapriyananda.

Sarkar’s research on encryption techniques — mathematical rules for coding and decoding information — has led to a new algorithm (a set of rules) that can improve the speeds of existing algorithms, some of which are used in commercial laptops to encrypt data while maintaining speed of accessing data.

“In a short span of time, Sarkar has also guided four PhD students,” said Rana Barua, a professor at the ISI’s statistics and mathematics unit, who also works on cryptology.

Swami Atamapriyananda said the award to Mahan Maharaj should also be seen as a tribute to the vision of Swami Vivekananda who had more than a century ago thought of an institution that could maintain ancient Indian wisdom and pursue research in the natural and humanistic sciences.
The 45-year-old is fluent in English, Hindi and Bengali. Born Mahan Mitra, he studied in St Xavier's Collegiate School till Class XII and cracked IITJEE to enter the prestigious IIT Kanpur to study electrical engineering. Soon, he realized that he was not enjoying this field of study and changed to mathematics. After completing his MSc, he went to University of California, Berkeley. After coming back from US, he renounced the world and became a monk.

In communion with God

By Padma Narayanan
The Hindu devotee's God is endowed with all beauty. He is a paragon of all qualities ever conceived by the imperfect human mind and yet He is in some special way part of the devotee's psyche. If a devotee occasionally forgets all mores of propriety and sees the divine form as someone dearer than anyone or anything else, that very closeness making all apparent inequalities disappear; and if all kinds of liberties are taken with that God, can that familiarity be faulted? Would it amount to sacrilege or blasphemy to bless God Himself or take Him to task for not coming to the devotee in his/her time of need?

Our poetry is rich with any number of songs that, under the veil of ridicule adore our Gods and Goddesses, display a unique intimacy. Do we not have a Vaishnavite saint losing himself in the beauty of the Lord that he breaks out spontaneously with verses blessing the Lord that He may live for many years?

WE HAVE AN ENTIRE TREASURE OF SONGS AND POEMS BELONGING TO THIS UNIQUE GENRE. WE HAVE DEVOTEES WHO CHIDE THEIR GODS FOR BEING INDIFFERENT TO THEIR NEEDS, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY ASK FOR THE INTERVENTION OF THE LORD'S CONSORT TO ADVOCATE THEIR CASES BEFORE HER HUSBAND. ‘WHEN HE IS ALONE WITH YOU, HAPPY IN YOUR COMPANY, WILL YOU REMIND HIM OF HIS OBLIGATION TO PROTECT ME?' SINGS RAMADAS (‘NANNU BROVAMANI CHEPPAVE').

DEVOTEE NONPAREIL

Saint Tyagaraja's language is always direct and conversational. His identification with the Lord is so complete that now and then the dividing line between the master and the servant disappears. This servant of Rama has known his master so well and for so long that he indulges in certain leniencies in the way he communicates with Him.

Very often, there is a tone of impatient mockery in Tyagaraja's voice that is so endearing. The saint-poet wonders in one of his songs if Rama is indifferent towards him heeding the advice of someone. “Who did you listen to and so will not come to my help? Or are you not here?” (‘Evarimata' - Khambodi). In another song the saint makes a bold attempt to ask the Lord, “Have you not yet considered coming to my protection? At this time of my agony, how can you bring yourself to sport merrily with your wife?'” (‘Mathilo Yochan' - Kolahalam). The devotee-divinity relationship is so personal and intimate that the devotee is able to question the implied indifference that the Lord displays towards His bhakta. Wondering what could have caused such indifference, Tyagaraja questions, “Are you scared you'll lose your wealth if you appear before me?” (‘Ethita Nilachite,' - Sankarabharanam) and “Perhaps your grace will fall on me only if I own elephants and wealth?” (‘Tharithapu Lekha' - Saveri).

“REMEMBER YOU OWE ALL YOUR GRANDEUR TO HAVING MARRIED OUR JANAKI.” (‘MAA JANAKI' - KHAMBODI) REMINDS TYAGARAJA. IN ANOTHER SONG HE EVEN DOUBTS IF RAMA HAS LOST ALL CONTROL OVER HIS SUBORDINATES: HE ASKS, “HAS YOUR MOUNT, THE BIRD-KING GARUDA, REFUSED TO BRING YOU TO MY SIDE SAYING THAT THE EARTH IS TOO FAR FROM THE CELESTIAL SKIES?” (‘NAGUMOMU' - ABHERI.) “RAMA! HAS ANYONE WHO ASKED YOU FOR HAPPINESS EVER GOT IT? … SURPANAKA EXPRESSED HER DESIRE FOR YOU AND HAD HER NOSE CHOPPED OFF. DURVASA CAME EXPECTING A SUMPTUOUS MEAL AND FELT FULL EVEN BEFORE HE HAD EATEN,” CRIES THE POET IN DESPAIR.

SRI RAMA IS EVEN ACCUSED OF BEING A CHEAT! “O, YES! HE PREACHES WELL. BUT HIS FAME AS ONE WHO GRANTS BOONS AND PROTECTS HIS DEVOTEES ARE ALL EMPTY WORDS.” (‘VARIJANAYANUDA' - KEDARAGOWLA). AND MORE DIRECTLY, “YOU SAY SO MANY CONTRADICTORY THINGS. WHAT CAN I DO? YOU ARE LIKE THE ONE WHO ROCKS THE BABY AND PINCHES IT AS WELL!” (‘ATLA PALUKUTHU' – ATANA). THERE ARE MANY MORE SUCH GEMS IN THE OCEAN OF TYAGARAJA'S SONGS THAT BRING A SMILE TO ONE'S LIPS.

THE DEVOTEE IS IN SUCH TOTAL COMMUNION WITH HIS CHOSEN LORD AND LIKE A FOND MOTHER, LOVING WIFE AND INTIMATE FRIEND DOES NOT SEE THE NEED TO HAVE ANY RESERVATION IN EXPRESSING HIS EMOTIONS OF THE MOMENT. THE DEVOTEE-GOD RELATIONSHIP IS AS MUCH SACRED AS IT IS PERSONAL. SUCH IS THE TEXTURE OF A HINDU DEVOTEE'S LOVE FOR HIS PERSONAL GOD THAT THEY ARE ALMOST ONE.

IS THIS KIND OF UNINHIBITED LOVE, A PREREQUISITE FOR THE ULTIMATE REALISATION OF ONE BEING DIVINITY ITSELF, AFFIRMING AN ADVAITIC STATE?

Knowledge Sheet From Art Of Living

At this time of the year people around the world are getting ready to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights. One of the biggest festivals of the East, Diwali symbolizes the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

For an oil lamp to burn, the wick has to be partially immersed in the oil. If the wick is completely drowned in oil, it cannot bring light. Life is like the wick of the lamp, you have to be in the world and yet remain untouched by it. If you are drowned in the materialism of the world, you cannot bring joy and knowledge in your life. By being in the world, yet not drowning in the worldly aspect of it, we can be the light of joy and knowledge.

Diwali is the commemoration of the light of wisdom in our lives. Lamps are lit on this day not just to decorate homes, but also to communicate this profound truth of life. Light the lamp of wisdom and love in every heart and bring a radiant smile on every face.

Diwali is also called Deepavali, which literally means rows of lights. Life has many facets and stages to it and it is important that you throw light on each of them, for life to be fully expressed. The rows of lights remind you that every aspect of life needs your attention and the light of knowledge.

Every human being has some good qualities. And every lamp that you light is symbolic of this. Some people have forbearance, some have love, strength, generosity, while others have the ability to unite people. The latent values in you are like a lamp. Don't be satisfied with lighting just one lamp; light a thousand! You need to light many lights to dispel the darkness of ignorance. By lighting the lamp of wisdom in yourself and acquiring knowledge, you awaken all facets of your being. When they are lit and awakened, it is Diwali.

Another profound symbolism is in the firecrackers that are burnt on this day. In life, you often become like a firecracker, waiting to explode with your pent-up emotions, frustration and anger. When you keep suppressing your emotions, cravings and aversions, they are bound to reach a bursting point. Bursting crackers is a psychological exercise created by the ancient people to release bottled-up emotions. When you see an explosion outside, you feel similar sensations within you as well. Along with the explosion, there is so much light. When you let go of these emotions, serenity dawns.

There is also symbolism in the exchange of gifts and the distribution of sweets during Diwali. Sweets and gift exchanges symbolize the dispelling of the bitterness of the past, and renewal of friendship for the times to come.

Any celebration is incomplete without the spirit of service. Whatever we have received from the Divine, we should share it with others because it is in giving that we receive -- that is true celebration. Happiness and wisdom have to spread and it can happen when people come together in knowledge.

Diwali means to be in the present, so drop the regrets of the past and the worries of the future and live in the moment. It is a time to forget the bickering and negativities that have happened through the year. It is a time when you throw light on the wisdom you have gained and welcome a new beginning. When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration.

Celebration is the nature of the spirit. The ancient sages brought sacredness in every celebration, so that you don't lose the focus in the hustle-bustle of the activity. Observing rituals and religious practices (called Puja) is simply showing one's gratitude to the Divine. This brings depth to the celebration. The tradition is to put all the wealth you have earned in front of you and feel the abundance. When you feel lack, the lack grows but when you put your attention on abundance, then the abundance grows. In the Arthashastra, Chanakya says, "Dharmasya Moolam Arthah," which means, "prosperity is the root of righteousness."

For the one who does not have spiritual knowledge, Diwali comes only once a year, but for the wise, Diwali is every moment and every day. Wisdom is needed everywhere. Even if one member of the family is shrouded in darkness, we cannot be happy. We need to ignite the light of wisdom in every member of your family, extend it to every member of society and every person on the planet. When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration.

The Yajurveda says, "Tanme Manaha Shivasankalpam astu" -- let noble intentions flow from this mind of ours. This Diwali, celebrate with knowledge and take an intention to serve humanity. Light the lamp of love in your heart; the lamp of abundance in your home; the lamp of compassion to serve others; the lamp of Knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance; and the lamp of gratitude for the abundance that the Divine has bestowed on us.


|| Jai Guru Dev ||