Tuesday 28 May 2013

Srimadh Bagawatham - Varaha Avataram




 Nithya Kalyana Perumal


Lord Brahma instructed Swayambhuva Manu to live on Earth and create life forms on earth. As Swayambhuva Manu looked in the direction of Earth, he noticed that Earth was not present. He complained to Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma found out that Hiranyakshan had hid Earth under the deluge waters. Lord Brahma meditated upon Lord Vishnu.
Since Earth is responsible for the quality of smell and smell is perceived with the help of nose Lord Varaha appeared from the nostril of Lord Brahma as the purpose of His incarnation is to help find Earth. He appeared in the form of a small boar and within a few seconds turned into a large form. He was so large that He was larger even than Trivikrama!
Lord Varaha killed Hiranyakashipu and brought the submerged Earth above the deluge waters.
Bhumi Devi was very pleased with Lord Varaha as He had rescued the object for which she is the deity. Thus she appeared on top of the Earth and she was supported by Lord Varaha on His divine shoulders. The Lord supported Bhumi Devi on His shoulders and placed one hand to support her feet to show us that we must first do prapatti at her feet and reach the Lord through her.

Goddess Bhumi Devi was very happy that Lord Varaha rescued Earth but she also requested Him to save all the creatures that would be created on Earth.  She felt worried that the creatures influenced by their past karmas would take birth and experience the “tapa trayam”.

The three types of tapa trayam are

1.     Adhyadhmikam: Sufferings experienced by us because of our association with people, work, society etc. These problems are created because of our interaction with others.
2.     Adhiboudhikam: Sufferings which are beyond our control like troubles we face due to pest damage, pathogens etc.
3.     Adhideivikam: Sufferings caused by natural calamities like storms and Earthquakes.

She requested the Lord to show us the way to escape the three types of tapa trayam. She knew that the three troubles could be escaped only when we reach Sri Vaikuntham. Therefore she asked the Lord to tell her about the way by which every single jeevatma can escape Samsara.

Lord Varaha's Instructions to Esacpe Samsara:

The Lord mentioned that by singing His praise we can escape Samsara. For every letter in the song, the Lord grants us one thousand years in heaven. Even when the jeevatma is in heaven, the jeevatma will continue to sing the praise of the Lord and is not distracted by heavenly pleasures. This jeevatma is saluted by Devendra every single day. After the jeevatma’s time in heaven, it is automatically elevated to Sri Vaikuntham.

The second method is by offering beautiful flower garlands to the Lord.  Only fragrant flowers are to be offered to our Lord. Fragrance represents pleasant smell and is therefore a symbol of Goddess Bhumi Devi as well. 


Nam Perumal - Poo Sathi Utsavam srirangarajan.blogspot.com


Goddess Bhumi Devi gives us everything we need to worship the Lord. She gives us fruits, flowers, incense, sandal and so on. She wanted to demonstrate the proper way to worship Lord Vishnu. She made a note of the Lord’s instruction and waited for 27 chatur yugams to pass by before incarnating as Andal. 



Andal Nachiar

She chose the time of her incarnation carefully as she wanted to incarnate as the daughter of Periazhwar. She gave us the Thirupavai Pasurams which are the musical garland while also showing us how to worship the Lord with flower garlands.
Lord Srinivasa Thomala Seva.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Srimadh Bagawatham - The Curse of Jaya and Vijaya




www.maransdog.net
Kashyapa Prajapathi was originally called as Pashyakar since he had knowledge of the past present and future and there was nothing he couldn’t see. His name was reversed to Kashyapar to hide his capabilities from others. Kashyapar was approached by his wife Diti in the evening as she wished to have a son. Kaskyapar asked Diti to wait for one muhurtham as that particular time was dedicated to Lord Siva. Lord Siva dances during the evening (Sandhya) time and everyone is required to stay disciplined during this period. Diti refused to wait any longer thus Diti conceived during the evening time. When she realized her error, she approached Kashyapar once again to find out the nature of her child. Kashyapar, the one who has the ability to see even in to the future, informed her that she would give birth to twin boys with evil nature who would torment everyone. She asked Kashyapar to pardon her and to bless her with good progeny. Kashyapar replied that even though her sons would be evil, her grandson would stay devoted to the Lord and will see Perumal.
In the meantime, the mind born sons of Lord Brahma known as Sanakathi munivars (Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara) went to Karya Vaikuntham to see the Lord. Each of the four gates of Vaikuntham is guarded by two door keepers. TheEastern Gate by Chandan and Prashnadan
The West by Jaya and Vijaya
The South by Badran and Subadhran
The munivars entered via the Western Gate and they were stopped by Jaya and Vijaya from proceeding inside. Since they were stopped from visiting the Lord, the munivars cursed that Jaya and Vijaya should leave Vaikuntham and take birth on Earth. At this moment, Lord Narayana arrived. The munivars felt bad that they had cursed the Lord’s door keepers. 
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The Lord replied that He was not upset with the munivars. He offered two choices to Jaya and Vijaya. They could take 100 births on earth as the Lord’s friend or just three births as the Lord’s enemy; the three births would be ended when the Lord Himself would kill them thus releasing them from their births. Jaya and Vijaya couldn’t bear to be away from the Lord for 100 births; thus they chose to take three births as the Lord’s enemies. Jaya and Vijaya were the door keepers of Karya Vaikuntha. The main vaikuntham is outside the prakruthi mandalam whereas the Karya Vaikuntham is inside each Brahmandam. The Universe as we know is Brahmandam and there are many such Universes. To explain this concept of Karya Vaikuntham compared to the main Vaikuntham, think about the main Thirumala temple versus the many satellite TTD Devasthan temples in every city around the world. Just like the way in which the satelite TTD temples are a replica of the main temple at Tirumala, the Karya Vaikunthams are a replica of the main Vaikuntham. The sages, devas cannot travel to the main Vaikuntham but to help them visit the Lord with ease in their Universe, the Karya Vaikuntham exists similar to the TTD satelite temples. This is why sages are able to visit Karya Vaikuntham and leave Karya Vaikuntham as well with ease. Incarnation is the process of “coming down” to uplift the jeevatmas. Often the Lord makes the Nithya Suris (the jeevatmas who are eternally liberated and who exist to serve the Lord) to incarnate in order to teach the Badha atmas (the bonded jeevatmas suffering in Samsara) about the way by which they can be liberated. The coming down of Jaya and Vijaya could also be thought as an incarnation as even though they played in negative roles, they taught us how not to live our life.
Jaya and Vijaya took birth as Diti’s sons Hiranyakshan and Hiranyakashipu.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Srimadh Bagawatham - Creation




The Lord begins the process of creation by producing Mahat from Prakruthi. From Mahat, ahankaram is created. Ahankaram is divided in to three types; satvika ahamkaram, rajasik ahamkaram and tamasik ahamkaram. The five gnana and karma indriyams along with manas come from satvika ahamkaram. The tamasik ahamkaram give rise to the five elements and pancha tan mathram.
The five elements are sky (ether), air, fire, water, and Earth. From ether air was created. Air is responsible for the sense of touch.  Since air was transformed from ether, it retained the sound as a characteristic that was remembered from ether along with its property of touch. Air was transformed in to fire; it inherited touch and sound along with its own quality of seeing shapes. Fire transformed into water. Thus water inherited touch, sound and form along with its individual quality of taste. From water came Earth with the inherited qualities of touch, sound, shape, taste and its individual quality of smell. Each of the five elements is associated with a form of perception which is known as pancha tan mathram. Fire is associated with shapes, sky with sound, water with taste, air with touch and Earth with smell. These perceptions are perceived with the help of our sense organs.

The Lord then blends the five elements. He takes an element and divides it into two halves. He then takes one half and proceeds to divide it into quarters. He mixes one quarter of an element with the other elements. This process is known as panchi Karnam. We know that we cannot make ornaments out of pure gold. Gold has to be mixed with either copper or silver to be able to fashion ornaments. Similarly, in order to fashion this Universe and the various life forms, the Lord blends the five elements. When we cook, we blend the five elemenst to make food. If we have to make semolina porridge, we need raw semolina, add water to it in a pot, place the pot on top of fire and then cook. The fire also needs air to burn efficiently. Thus all five elements are required to be blended even while cooking. The elements by themselves do not spoil but when mixed they undergo spoilage. The raw semolina has a longer shelf life compared to the cooked porridge.

The Lord then creates a body and places the atma of Lord Brahma inside this body. He then assigns the task of creating the rest of the Universe and life forms to Lord Brahma.
Lord Brahma then created Swayambhuva Manu, Prajapathis, the Rudras and so on. 
Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/05/srimadh-bagawatham-curse-of-jaya-and.html

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Srimadh Bagawatham - Esoteric Meaning Of Parikshit's Curse




harekrishnaquotes.com
 


Parikshit:

 
Parikshit sees Lord Krishna while still in his mother's womb. Pic From: www.maransdog.net
The procedure to read/listen to Srimadh bagawatham in seven days was started by Parikhit Maharaja.  Parikshit was the grandson of the Pandavas. He was protected in his mother’s womb from Ashwatama’s weapon by Lord Krishna. Thus immediately after taking birth, Parikshit looked around trying to find Lord Krishna. A person who obtains the Supreme knowledge while still at mother’s womb is known as Garbha Sriman. Parikshit was a Garbha Sriman.
In order to develop devotion toward the Lord, a person has to be blessed either by the Lord at time of birth, or by a Bagawatha, or be a Avatara Purushan or be a Yoga Brshtan i.e a person who retains of memory of Bakthi/Gnana yogam carried out in previous birth.
Prahaladan was blessed by Sage Naradar who was a Bagawathan, Lord Lakshmana was an incarnation, and Jata Bharathar was a Yoga Brshtar while Parikshit was blessed by the Lord. As soon as Parikshit was born, the Brahmins prophesized that he will be a devotee like Prahladan, an able ruler like Ishwaku, a protector of everyone like Lord Rama, will become easily pleased like Lord Shiva, will know about all dharmic practices like Bhishmacharyar, will be calm and composed like Yudhishtirar. They said that he will win over even Kali in the begioning but Kali will trick him because of which he will be cursed to die. He will die only after obtaining the Supreme Knowledge by listening to Srimadh Bagawatham from sukacharyar and therefore attain mukthi.
King Yudhishtirar felt very happy as anyone who takes birth has to die; he wasn’t worried that Parikshit will die from the curse. He felt happy that Parikshit will fulfill his life’s purpose by attaining the grace of an Acharyan like Sukacharyar and thereby will attain Moksham.

 Parikshit was a great devotee and his kingdom could not be affected by the evils of Kali Yugam.
 One day Parikshit Maharaja went to the forest for target practice. He went very far into the forest and soon was tired from hunger and thirst. He came upon the ashramam of a sage (Samika) who was meditating with his eyes open. Parikshit Maharaja asked the sage for some water but the sage did not hear him as he was deep in meditation. As the king was suffering from hunger, he felt annoyed that the sage did not reply. Under the influence of hunger, the king took a dead snake lying nearby with the end of his arrow and draped it around the sage’s neck. As the king traveled back to Hastinapuram, he felt sorry that he had behaved badly.
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The sage’s young son (Sringin) found the dead snake around his father’s neck. As his friends made fun of his father, the child took some water in his hands and cursed that the man who had placed the dead snake on his father’s shoulder would be bitten by the snake Takshakan at the end of seven days.
As soon as the curse was proclaimed, the sage came out of his meditation. He felt worried for Parikshit. He sent his disciple to inform Parikshit that he had only a week to live.
Hearing about the curse, a Brahmana called as Kasyapa proceeded to Hastinapuram as he had the ability to cure poisonous bites. Takshaka in the form of a Brahman met Kashyapa along the way. Takshaka revealed himself to the Brahman and to test his powers at producing an antidote, Takshaka bit a nearby Nyagrodha tree. The tree caught on fire and became charred. Kashyapa revived the tree with his skill. Takshaka bribed Kashyapa with plenty of gold and asked him to not proceed to Parikshit’s place. The Brahman accepted the bribe and left without trying to save Parikshit from Takshaka.
As soon as Parikshit heard about the curse proclaimed on him, he crowned his son Janamejayan as the king and left to the banks of river Ganges. He sat down facing the North direction and decided to end his life by performing Prayopravesham. He gathered a group of sages and asked them to lecture him about the way to attain the Lord’s divine feet. At that moment, sage Veda Vyasar’s son SukaBrahmam himself arrived at the spot and to the delight of everyone gathered there, narrated Srimadh Bagawatham. At the end of seven days, Parikshit Maharaja was bitten by Takshakan but attained the divine feet of Lord Narayana.

Esoteric Meaning:

The narration about Parikshit Maharaja contains hidden esoteric meaning. The name Parikshit could have two meanings. If the name is pronounced as Pariikshit, it means the seer or knower. The same name if split into two syllables as Pari + kshata means the one who is cut or bitten.
Parikshit’s pursuit of the deer shows his quest for worldly desires which only distress him. In order to obtain freedom from samsara as he is tired of pursuing worldly matters, Parikshit arrived at the ashram of the sage Samika. The name Samika means peaceful. The sage is at peace because he is a realized soul who is always meditating upon the Supreme Brahmam thus staying close to him. As the sage is also a learned Brahman he is the perfect Acharyan. It is said that one must always approach an Acharyan with a gift like fuel wood. The dead snake is the fuel wood and it also represents that Parikshit’s ego and selfish desires have been killed. Once the dead snake is offered by Parikshit, the sage’s spiritual son (the Supreme Being in the sage’s heart) blessed Parikshit which is shown as a curse in our story. The name Shringin refers to Lord Agni as Agni Bagawan is described with four horns in the Vedic Manthrams. The Agni residing in a person’s heart is none other than Paramatma Himself. Thus Paramatma cursed Parikshit to be bitten by Takshaka. This in reality is not a curse but the Supreme Blessing. The name Takshaka means the one who cuts. Thus the curse is actually a blessing to cut off the samsaric life. The Brakmin Kasyapa who comes to revive Parikshit is karma. Karma has the capacity to throw the soul back into samsara as shown by the Brahmin who is able to revive the Nyagrodha (banyan) tree after it had been bitten by Takshaka. The Nyagrodha tree is a type of tree which even when it is cut can send of new shoots from its roots to show that even when we die, it is not a permanent death as we end up with a new body.
Finally Takshaka bit Parikshit at the end of seven days and it is said that Parikshit was seated in a one pillared hall. The hall refers to the human body and the one pillar is the heart. A pillar is a supporting structure for a room similarly the heart supports the body and hence is compared to a pillar.  Parikshit was in deep meditation and he the soul was seated in the heart lotus with mind fixed on Paramatma. At this state, Takshaka as the permanent death bit Parikshit and freed him from samsara. Takshaka arrived only after Parikshit Maharaja had listened attentively to Srimadh Bagawatham with devotion. Thus Takshakan as permanent death is Mukthi. Parikshit obtained the grace of Lord Krishna even when he was in his mother’s womb. Only those who are blessed at birth by the Lord’s compassionate grace get the opportunity to obtain knowledge from a sadacharyan like Sukacharyar and are eligible to obtain Moksham.

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