The Ecstatic World

MARUTHAMALAI TEMPLE - COIMBATORE

2008-05-14T08:45:00.006+05:30

MARUDHAJALA MOORTHI

PAMPPATTI SIDDHAR CAVE

The word "Marudhachalapathy" or "Maruthamalai Andavar" means Master of Hills, abounding in Marudha trees. The name has also a legendary origin. A Siddha, overcome by excessive thirst and tiredness, sought shelter under the shade of a Marudha tree and prayed to the mercy of the Lord Muruga for a shower of water, which sprang at once as though by a miracle from beneath the tree! As water gushed out from the roots of the marudha tree, the Siddha leaped in joy, glorifying Muruga as the Lord of "Marudha" and "Jalam" (water) with the passage of time, "Marudhajalapathi" became "Marudhachalapathy" or "Marudhachalamoorthy".

The "Pambatti Siddhar Cave" is another shrine attracting our attention. It is located on the slopes towards the South-east of the temple. It is reported that a snake charmer who became a Siddha used this cave as his abode for meditation on Lord Muruga and attained "Salvation" here. Here one can notice the image of the snake on the rock not carved but formed of its own accord.

The "Marudha Thirtam" and the"Pambatti Sunai" are springs on the hills with holy waters for ablution and a dip in them cures a number of diseases for they contain Medicinal Properties.

SIVA PURANAM - PANNIRU THIRUMURAIGAL

2008-05-13T15:21:00.004+05:30

LORD NATARAJA

SIVA PURANAM - PANNIRU THIRUMURAIGAL
Sung by one of the 63 Nayanmars - MANICKAVASASAGAR

"OM"
THIRUCHITRAMBALAM

" THOLLAI IRUM PIRAVI, SULUM THALI NEENGI... ALLAL ARUTHU ANANDHAM AAGIYADHE YELLAI MARUVA NERI ALLIKUM, VADHAVUR YEM KON, THIRUVASAGAM YENUM THEN"

Namashivaya valgha, nathan thaal valgha,
Imai polluthum en nenjil neegathan thaal valgha.

Kokali aanda gurumanithan thaal valgha,
agamam aagi nindra annippan thaal valgha,
yegan anegan iraivan adi valgha,
vegam keduthanda vendhan adi velgha,
pirapu arrukum pingyanthan peinkalalgal velga
puratharuku seyonthan poonkalalgal velga
karam kuvivar onguvikum seeron kalal velga

Isan addi potri, endhai addi potri.
Desan addi potri, sivan sevadi potri.
Neyethe nindra nimalan addi potri.
Mayapirapu arrukum manan addi potri.
Serrar perundurai nam devan addi potri.
Aaratha inbam arulum malai potri.

Sivan avan en sindhayul nindra athanal
Avan arulale avan thaal vanangi
Sindhai maghila, sivapuranam thannai
Mundahi vinay muludhum oya, uraipan yaan
kannudhalan than karunai, kan katta vandhe eidhi
yennudharku yetta ellilar kalal irangi
vin nirayindhu maan nirayindu, mikka vilangu oliyay!
en irandhu, ellai illadhane! nin perum seer,
Polla vinayen pugalum aaru ondru ariyen:
Pullaghi poodai, puluvagi maramagi,
paravayay pambuagi, kalai manidharai, peyay kanangalay,
vallasuragi munivarai thevaray, sella nindra i thavara sangamathul,
Ellaa pirapum pirandhu illaithen em perumane!

Meyye!un pon adigal kandu indru veedu utren:
Uyya, en ullathul, ongaramay nindra
Meyya!Vimala!Vidai paga! Vedhangal.
Ayya enna ongi allnthu agandra nuniyane.
Veyay!Thaniyay!Iyamanam vimala!
Poyay enna ellam poyagala , vanduaruli,
Meiganam aagi milirgindra mei chudare!
Eiganam illadhan inba perumane!
Anganam thani agalvikkum nal arive!
Aakam, allavu, irudi, illay,annaithu ullagam, aakuvai,
kappay, alippay, arultharuvay,pokkuvai, ennaipuguvippai
nin tholumpin. Natrathun neriyay!
Seyay!Naniyane!

Mattram manamkaliya
Nindra marayone!
Karandha paal, kannalode nei kalandhal polle, sirandu adiyar sindhanaiyul then oori nindru,
pirandha pirapu arrukum yengal peruman!
Nirangal or ayindhu udayay vinorgal yetha
marindhirundhai, emperuman vallvinayen thannai
marainthida moodiya maya irulai,
aram, pavam, ennum arum kayitral katti,
puranthol porthu, engum pulu aluku moodi,
malam sorum onbadhu vayil kudilai
malanga pulan aindhum vanjanai seyya
vilngum manathal vimala unnaku
kalanthu anbgi kasindhu
ul urugum, nalanthan illadhan siriyerku nalgi,

Nilanthan mel vantharuli nil kalalkal katti,
nayyir kidayay kidandha addiyerku,
thayichirantha thayavana thathuvane!

Mastra sodhi malarndha malrchudre!
Thesane! Thenaramuthe! Sivapurane!
Pasamam pattru arruthu parikum ariyane!
Nesa arul purindhu. Nenjil vanjam keda,
Peradhu nindra, perum karunai perare!
Ara amuthe! Alavu illa pemmane!
Orathar ullathu ollikum oliyane!
Neerai uruki, en aaruyiray nindrane!
Inbamum thunbamum illane! Ullane!
Yavvayumai, allaiyumam sodhiyane!
Thunirrule! Thondra perumayyane!

Adhiyane!andham naduvagi, allane!
Eerthu ennai, aatkonda endhai perumane!
Koortha meiganathal kondunarvartham karruthin
Nokku ariya nokke!Nunaku arriya nun unnarve!
Pokkum varavum punarvum illa punniyane!

Kakum em kavalane, kaanbariya per oliye!
Aatru inba vellame attha mikka nindra!
Thotra chudar oliyay, sollatha nun unannarvai!
Mattramam vaiyagathin vevera vandhu arivam.
Thetrane!Thetra thelive en sindhaniyul
uttrane unn aar amuthe! udayane!

Vetru vigara vidaku udampin utkidappe.
Attren 'Em ayya, arane O endrendru.
Potri pugal thirandhu, poikettu, meyyanar,
meetu ingu vandu vinay piravi sarame.

Kalla pulla kurumbai kattra allika vallane!
Nall irulil nattram payindradum nathane!
Thillayul koothane! Thenpaandi nattane!
Allalpiravi arrupane! O! - yendru, sollarku ariyaanai
sollin thiruvadikeel.. solliya pattin porun unardhu solluvar....

Selvar sivapurathin ullar sivan addi keel
pallorum ettra panindhu.

"THIRUCHITRAMBALAM"

Kavadi Temple...

2006-09-06T09:46:00.000+05:30

Lord Muruga with Valli & Theivanai

Kavadi

A Congregation of more than 150 Lord Muruga devotees in Peelamedu,Coimbatore takes a padayatra from Coimbatore to Palani Hills during Panguni Uthiram every year. In their activities KAVADI is the most important. They believe kavadi as a embodiment of Lord Muruga. They are having very strong faith on kavadi.

Lord Muruga & their faith on KAVADI inspired them to built a individual temple for KAVADI. They had built that temple in Peelamedu, Coimbatore. This is a most greatful thing. The temple kumbabishekam was sucessfully done by Sivaagama Sirorathna Sri G.C.Yogesha Ganapathi Sivam. He is a embodiment of Lord Shiva's Love.

will resume.........

Nalvar....

2006-06-01T17:30:00.000+05:30

NALVAR

The Tamil land that was excelling in the vaidhika path and shaiva tradition in the ancient times underwent a dark period during 4, 5,6th century ACE, with the invasions from the north that put the Buddhism and more specifically Jainism on the royal throne. The art, architecture and lifestyle of the people that kept them as example of civilization diminished because of the self-punishing and colorless religions. The festivals and worship of God full of love that nourished in the minds of people became like fire covered with ash.

At this time by the Grace of God came the resurgence of the shaivism in the land of God given Tamil happened with the four pillars rising up the glorious light of shaivism. This was a golden period between 7th and 12th centuries. These four traveled through the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu kindling the spiritual confidence that the God is not a difficult one and you all can live blissfully and also get supreme liberation, sing, and hail, worship our Lord Shiva’s fame - the truth of the four holy Vedas! By their tireless effort they brought back the light in the faces of the masses. For bringing about these changes they had to undergo many fatal threats given by the emperors of the land. They were undaunted and roared, "We are slaves only for the Supreme!" The Grace of God acting as the power behind them they won and also brought to their fold the kings who tried to liquidate them. The later two saints kept up the momentum created by the initial two and made the land a real glorious place. The songs of the four guru mar are very vitalizing and nurture the minds to be a mature loveful and wise abode of the Supreme Shiva.

The influence they created through their songs stay even now after a millennium and by the Grace of God should continue to inspire the minds of the generations to come. These beacons of shaivism are the guides the shaiva world looks up to and so they are called samayak kuravargal .

The order in which these four great saints are kept is on the account of the order in which they attained the abode of Lord Shiva. It may be recalled that day of attaining the abode of Lord Shiva is considered much glorious than the day of birth, for example the gurupoojai of the various nayanmar. (5). Though sambandhar was born few decades later than appar, he attained mukthi earlier than appar in his young age. So he is first in the order.

Perur...

2006-03-18T19:40:00.001+05:30

Perur Temple Gopuram

Pattieswarar Pachai Nayagiamman

The Garba graha of this temple was built by Karikala Chola in the early Christian era. It is a Shiva shrine with a Swayambumoorthy. The Sthalapuranam states that when the calf of Kamadhenu was playing in the forest of arasu trees its legs got plunged into a hard object from which blood gushed out. It was then discovered that the object was nothing but a sacred Siva Lingam. Later on a temple came to built over the Moolasthanam which attracted large concourse of people throughout the land. The place became a Vaipu Sthalam in Saivalore. Since it was sung by Saint Appar and by Saint Sundarar in their Devaram.

Spare its entry tower, the bulk of the temple ishidden by the multitude of small commercialestablishments that surround its presence. The towerpainted with modern paint stands out proclaiming theexistence of the temple, the very appearance of thetower conceals the antiquity of this temple datingback to the Sangam period of Tamill history.

For its historical and religious significance, thetemple is relatively moderate in size, especially whencompared to the Saivite temples of the Chola region. The five tiered gopuram mentioned above marks the entrance to the temple. The mandapam encountered as soon as one enters the temple, bears murals representing the life of the Saivaite saints on its ceiling. The Nataraja shrine itself is a work of art. In front of the shrine is a mandapam constructed bythe royal patron Alagadri Nayakar of Madurai, withseveral pillars with life sized images depicting thevarious manifestations of Shiva. Also painted on the ceiling of this mandapam are images depicting scenesfrom Saivite mythology.

Visitors to the temple are confronted with the grandeur of the Kanakasabha hall on their right as they enter the temple. Straight ahead is the main sanctum dedicated to Patteeswarar - Shiva.The sanctum enshrines Shiva in the form of a Shivalingam. Against the rear of the wall is an imageof Kamadhenu. The image of Kamadhenu is movable, anduntil a while ago, the traditional abhshekams to theShivalingam used to be performed with the Kamadhenu positioned above the Shivalingam. Kamadhenu's presenceis in conformity with the legend that Shiva here was worshipped by Patti the daughter of the celestial cow Kamadhenu. An image of Bhoga Shakti is also enshrined in the sanctum.Surrounding the sanctum is the inner circumambulatory passage, with images of the 63 Saivite saints, SahasraLingam, Bhairavar, Surya and Chandra. The nichesaround the sanctum bear shrines to Durga, Dakshinamurthy and other parivara devatas.The outer circumambulatory path leads one to the Ambalshrine, housing an image of Maragathaambaal or Pachainayagiamman. Proceeding further around the externalcircumambulatory path, one reaches the mandapamhousing the processional deities of the Pancha murthis(Ganesha, Subramanya, Somaskanda, Parvati,Chandikeswara) and others. Proceeding further down the circumambulatory path, onereaches the Kanakasabha mandapam, housing an ornate shrine to Nataraja & Sivagami. Keeping with the legend that Shiva here was worshipped by Bhrahma and Vishnu in the forms of the sages Gomuni and Patti muni, there are two additional temples to Shiva on the banks of the temple tank. One of these temples is known as the Arasambalavaanar temple, wherelegend has it that Shiva revealed a vision of his cosmic dance to the two sages. This is also a fullfledged Saivite temple with shrines toArasambalavaanar, Ambaal and others. There are alsoshrines to Bhairavar and Nataraja.

Worship: Five worship services are carried out eachday and this temple resonates with the singing of the Tevaram hymns.

Particular significance is the Arudra Darisanam festival in the month of Maargazhi where thousands of people congregate to celebrate.

The annual festival is celebrated in the Tamil month ofPankuni.

Mondays in the tamil month of Kaartikai areconsidered special and are marked by Shankhabhishekam in the morning and by annabhishekam in the evening.

The Perur Natyanjali dance festival is celebrated inthe month of September where dance programs by leadingartistes are hosted within the precincts of thetemple.

Sri Raghavendrar...

2006-03-16T16:25:00.000+05:30

Sri Raghavendrar

Sri Raghavendra (1595 – 1671 A.D.) has a unique place in the lineage of Masters, because He is said to be still living in his ‘samAdhi’ at Mantralayam on the banks of the Tunga-bhadra river in South India. He voluntarily entered this samAdhi in 1671 A.D. and his disciples, on his orders built the structure of the samAdhi over his seated posture from which he left the mortal frame by his own will. He has declared that he will ‘live’ in this samAdhi’ for 700 years. It was God’s Will it seems that Sanku-karNa a close attendant-devotee of Lord Brahma the Creator Himself should be born repeatedly in this earthly world and be a great spiritual leader of humanity. Mantralaya was chosen by the Master as the right spot because the great devotee Prahlada had performed several ritual sacrifices here which makes the spot very auspicious. Also it was the same spot where Lord Rama once sat down in his historic wanderings through the forest .

The celestial Sanku-karNa was first born as Prahlada (in the very first manvantara), again as VibhIshaNa (Ravana's brother) in Rama’s time and again as vyAsa-tIrtha, the spiritual leader of the madhwa school in the 15th century A.D. This leader was the twelfth Pontiff of the Dvaita mutt known by his name. His contributions to the dvaita culture and philosophy and to the growth of the dvaita mutt were many. He establsihed 732 idols of Hanuman all over India. He was the guru of the Vijayanagara kings. He wrote valuable commentaries and propagated the madhwa philosophy very successfully. He initiated the gret devotee Purandara-dasa who was himself an Avatara of Narada the divine sage.

Then came the avatAra of Sri Raghavendra. Even as a youth Sri Raghavendra then known as Venkatanatha was not interested in worldly pursuits or a married life. The Goddess of Learning appeared before him in person and guided him to decide to throw away his worldly ties, his wife, his kith and kin, and adopt the ochre robe, which is what his own mind wanted. What followed was a long life of renunciation and dedication, ornamented by scores of miracles, several of which have been documented. He wrote more than forty works bearing on the teachings of Madhwa and the dvaita philosophy

In this avatAra Raghavendra captured the imagination of millions through his scholarship, devotion, spirituality, the divine qualities of infinite grace and compassion and his mystical powers of perception and action. It is said that his accumulated merit (= puNya) is so vast that as an enlightened soul he himself has no use for them. In his infinite compassion he lives still in his samAdhi and dispenses this vast store of puNya to those who care to visit his samAdhi or to worship Him and seek His grace. In fact this is the way he says he is helping his favourite God zri-Rama by relieving Him of His burden of removing the miseries of devotees, so that in the long run the devotees may ask from the Lord SrI Rama for the moksha that He alone can bestow. That is why He is thought of as the wish-yielding heavenly tree (= kalpa-vRkSa) or the divine Cow kAma-dhenu which both can bestow on you anything you want, just the moment it is wished. This thought is inbuilt into the following classical prayer traditionally addressed to Sri Raghavendra.

The words satya-dharma-ratAya ca are significant here. Truth (satya) and righteousness (dharma) are the two pillars on which the entire Hindu philosophy and religion stand. And of the two satya is more fundamental and is the one foundation for everything. satya has the top priority in Hindu dharma. It is independent of caste, creed, status of life, profession, tradition, lineage, race or sex. All other dharmas are dependent on satya. So the Ultimate is addressed as satya-dharma in the final prayer contained in verse 15 of ISopanishad: The face of Reality is hidden by the golden container. Reveal it, O Sun, so that I may visualise the Dharma of the Self as Truth. :

The Sun is the only physically visible representative of the Supreme Truth, Divine Light, brahman, in this earthly world - if we cannot see or visualise the whole universe as brahman itself. He is the One therefore, who illuminates us from within. Our limited consciousness has to open up to the Infinite Consciousness represented by the Sun. The allegory of the golden container in the above passage is full of meaning. The sanskrit word pAtra is derived from the definition: pIyate anena iti pAtram -- that by which we 'drink', i.e., experience. We experience the good and bad results of our past karma from this reservoir of our samskAra (store of cultural imprints in the mind) which brings forth our cycle of births and deaths.There are three seeds for this sprouting forth of our samskAras and vAsanAs. The three are: Light (cit), Existence (sat) and Love (Ananda). They respectively activate, our Intelligence from its state of ignorance and inertness, our Life (i.e., birth and death) from its state of formless subtlety and our Mind from its states of love and hate. These activations express themselves in our wish to know, our wish to live, and our wish to enjoy -- these three being in turn sustained by one's father through knowledge, one's mother through food, and one's spouse through pleasure and companionship. (For more on this go to Three fundamental urges ). This then is the whole cycle of our samsAra. The reervoir for all this is the golden container representing the reservoir of all our vAsanAs.The creator, BrahmA, through whom this blossoms in the world as Life, is called HiraNya-garbha (Golden Conception) in this charge of His. So the rays of the Sun which are golden in colour and which constitute the blinding factor for not allowing us to see the Sun, the Reality, constitute, as it were, the golden container of our vAsanAs. The only Seer is the HiraNya-garbha who sees it all through. Our individuality, our names and forms, our inner organ of mind with all its ramifications, its accessories in the form of our sense organs -- all these are created by this HiraNya-garbha, who gives the Light to all of them. He is therefore the savitA, the Sun. So we ask Him, plead with him and request him to remove the blinding rays from himself, because the seeds of our samskAras are with him, so that we can see Him as He really is. He is the One who can make us transcend our individuality and make us see the Oneness of Spirit within. This vision of the dharma of the Self as Truth is Sri Raghavendra.

Dasaavathar of LORD VISHNU

2006-03-02T19:01:00.000+05:30

Lord Vishnu

The preserver god of the Trinity has four hands. The first holds a conch shell (sankha) indicating spread of the divine sound "Om"; one holds a discus (chakra), a reminder of the wheel of time, and to lead a good life; one holds a lotus (Padma) which is an example of glorious existence and the fourth hands holds a mace (gada) indicating the power and the punishing capacity of the Lord if discipline in life is ignored. His vehicle is the swift-flying bird Garuda which can spread the Vedic knowledge with great courage. The dark color of the Lord represents the passive and formless ether, a great quality for a pervading god. He rests on the bed of the powerful, coiled serpent, Seshanag who represents the sleeping universe. Lord Vishnu is also known as Hari, the remover. Lord Vishnu's consort is Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth .

Lord Vishnu's preserving, protecting powers have been manifested to the world in a variety of forms, called Avatars, in which one or more of his divine attributes were embodied in the shape of a human being or an animal or a human-animal combined form, possessing great and sometimes supernatural powers. All these Avatars of Vishnu appeared in the world either to correct some great evil or to effect some great good on earth. These avatars are ten in number, however, the Bhag wad Purana increases them to twenty two and adds further that are innumerable.Of the ten universally recognized avatars, nine have already manifested whereas the tenth is yet to appear. It is important to note that the all the Avatars are earthly form of Lord Vishnu , who himself is eternal, unchangeable and immutable.

Matsa Avathar

Kurma Avathar

Varaha Avathar

Narashima Avathar

Vamana Avathar

Parasurama Avathar

Rama Avathar

Balarama Avathar

Krishna Avathar

Kalki Avathar

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa......

2006-02-18T16:33:00.000+05:30

Sri Ramakrishna, who was born in 1836 and passed away in 1886, represents the very core of the spiritual realizations of the seers and sages of India. His whole life was literally an uninterrupted contemplation of God. He reached a depth of God-consciousness that transcends all time and place and has a universal appeal. Seekers of God of all religions feel irresistibly drawn to his life and teachings. Sri Ramakrishna, as a silent force, influences the spiritual thought currents of our time. He is a figure of recent history and his life and teachings have not yet been obscured by loving legends and doubtful myths. Through his God-intoxicated life Sri Ramakrishna proved that the revelation of God takes place at all times and that God-realization is not the monopoly of any particular age, country, or people. In him, deepest spirituality and broadest catholicity stood side by side. The God-man of nineteenth-century India did not found any cult, nor did he show a new path to salvation. His message was his God-consciousness. When God-consciousness falls short, traditions become dogmatic and oppressive and religious teachings lose their transforming power. At a time when the very foundation of religion, faith in God, was crumbling under the relentless blows of materialism and skepticism, Sri Ramakrishna, through his burning spiritual realizations, demonstrated beyond doubt the reality of God and the validity of the time-honored teachings of all the prophets and saviors of the past, and thus restored the falling edifice of religion on a secure foundation. Drawn by the magnetism of Sri Ramakrishna's divine personality, people flocked to him from far and near -- men and women, young and old, philosophers and theologians, philanthropists and humanists, atheists and agnostics, Hindus and Brahmos, Christians and Muslims, seekers of truth of all races, creeds and castes. His small room in the Dakshineswar temple garden on the outskirts of the city of Calcutta became a veritable parliament of religions. Everyone who came to him felt uplifted by his profound God-consciousness, boundless love, and universal outlook. Each seeker saw in him the highest manifestation of his own ideal. By coming near him the impure became pure, the pure became purer, and the sinner was transformed into a saint. The greatest contribution of Sri Ramakrishna to the modern world is his message of the harmony of religions. To Sri Ramakrishna all religions are the revelation of God in His diverse aspects to satisfy the manifold demands of human minds. Like different photographs of a building taken from different angles, different religions give us the pictures of one truth from different standpoints. They are not contradictory but complementary. Sri Ramakrishna faithfully practiced the spiritual disciplines of different religions and came to the realization that all of them lead to the same goal. Thus he declared, "As many faiths, so many paths." The paths vary, but the goal remains the same. Harmony of religions is not uniformity; it is unity in diversity. It is not a fusion of religions, but a fellowship of religions based on their common goal -- communion with God. This harmony is to be realized by deepening our individual God-consciousness. In the present-day world, threatened by nuclear war and torn by religious intolerance, Sri Ramakrishna's message of harmony gives us hope and shows the way. May his life and teachings ever inspire us.

UNIVERSAL TEACHINGS OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

SEE GOD IN ALL

I have now come to a stage of realization in which I see that God is walking in every human form and manifesting Himself alike through the sage and the sinner, the virtuous and the vicious. Therefore when I meet different people I say to myself, "God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous."

GOD IS WITHIN YOU

Do you know what I see? I see Him as all. Men and other creatures appear to me only as hollow forms, moving their heads and hands and feet, but within is the Lord Himself.

PERSEVERE IN YOUR SEARCH FOR GOD

There are pearls in the deep sea, but one must hazard all to find them. If diving once does not bring you pearls, you need not therefore conclude that the sea is without them. Dive again and again. You are sure to be rewarded in the end. So is it with the finding of the Lord in this world. If your first attempt proves fruitless, do not lose heart. Persevere in your efforts. You are sure to realize Him at last.

TRUST COMPLETELY IN GOD

What are you to do when you are placed in the world? Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no more trouble for you. Then you will come to know that everything is done by His will.

LOVE OF GOD IS ESSENTIAL

Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal.

Vivekanandha...

2006-02-15T15:42:00.000+05:30

Swami Vivekanandha

Do you known how much energy, how many powers, how many forces are still lurking behind that frame of yours? What scientist has known all that is in man? Millions of years have passed since man first came here, and yet but one infinitesimal part of his powers has been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind that degradation on the surface? You know but little of that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean of infinite power and blessedness.

Men are taught from childhood that they are weak and sinners. Teach them that they are glorious children of immortality, even those who are the weakest in manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their brains from the very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralyzing ones. Say to your own minds, "I am He [pure, free, immortal spirit]," "I am He [pure, free, immortal spirit]."

What makes a man stand up and work? Strength. Strength is goodness; weakness is sin. If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word fearlessness. And the only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness. Either in this world or in the world of religion, it is true that fear is the sure cause of degradation and sin. It is fear that brings evil. And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.

Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death. There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready and predisposed to receive them. There may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us. Never mind! They dare not approach us; they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened. This is the great fact; strength is life; weakness is death; strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness is death.

We reap what we sow. We are makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise.

Religion is the greatest motive power for realizing that infinite energy which is the birthright and nature of every man. In building up character, in making for everything that is good and great, in bringing peace to others, and peace to one's own self, religion is the highest motive power, and therefore, ought to be studied from that standpoint. Religion must be studied on a broader basis than formerly. ...

As the human mind broadens, its spiritual steps broaden too. The time has already come when a man cannot record a thought without its reaching to all corners of the earth; by merely physical means, we have come into touch with the whole world; so the future religions of the world have to become as universal, as wide.

The religious ideals of the future must embrace all that exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the same time, have infinite scope for future development. ...
The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life. So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen few, or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches, books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms and rituals. But when we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then, and then alone, religion will become real and living; it will come into our very nature, live in our every movement, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.

Aye, let every man and woman and child, without respect of caste or birth, weakness or strength, hear and learn that behind the strong and the weak, behind the high and the low, behind every one, there is that Infinite Soul, insuring the infinite possibility and the infinite capacity of all to become great and good. Let us proclaim to every soul “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached."

Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.
The infinite power of the Spirit, brought to bear upon matter evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves intellectuality, and made to act upon Itself makes of man a God. ... Manifest the divinity within you, and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it.

Our watchword, then, will be acceptance, and not exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy, and I do not believe in it. I believe in acceptance. Why should I tolerate? Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you to live. Is it not a blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live? I accept all religions that were in the past, and worship with them all; I worship God with every one of them, in whatever form they worship Him. ...

The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran, and all other sacred books are but so many pages, and an infinite number of pages remain yet to be unfolded. I would leave it open for all of them. We stand in the present, but open ourselves to the infinite future. We take in all that has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present, and open every window of the heart for all that will come in the future. Salutation to all the prophets of the past, to all the great ones of the present, and to all that are to come in the future.

One atom in this universe cannot move without dragging the whole world along with it. There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming every day clearer that the solution of any problem can never be attained on racial, or national, or narrow grounds. Every idea has to become broad till it covers the whole of this world, every aspiration must go on increasing till it has engulfed the whole of humanity, nay, the whole of life, within its scope.

The infinite oneness of the Soul is the eternal sanction of all morality, that you and I are not only brothers --every literature voicing man's struggle towards freedom has preached that for you --but that you and I are really one. This is the dictate of Indian philosophy. This oneness is the rationale of all ethics and all spirituality.

We want today that bright sun of intellectuality, joined with the heart of Buddha, the wonderful, infinite heart of love and mercy. This union will give us the highest philosophy. Science and religion will meet and shake hands. Poetry and philosophy will become friends. This will be the religion of the future, and if we can work it out, we may be sure that it will be for all times and peoples.

Just as a physicist, when he has pushed his knowledge to its limits, finds it melting away into metaphysics, so a metaphysician will find what he calls mind and matter are but apparent distinctions, the reality being One.

The more advanced a society or nation is in spirituality, the more is that society or nation civilized. No nation can be said to have become civilized, only because it has succeeded in increasing the comforts of material life by bringing into use lots of machinery and things of that sort. ... In this age as on the one hand people have to be intensely practical, so on the other they have to acquire deep spiritual knowledge.

No civilization can grow, unless fanaticism, bloodshed, and brutality stop. No civilization can begin to lift up its head until we look charitably upon one another, and the first step towards that much-needed charity is to look charitably and kindly upon the religious convictions of others. Nay more, to understand that not only should we be charitable, but positively helpful, to each other, however different our religious ideas and convictions may be.

Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone; you can only serve; serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege. If the Lord grants that you can help anyone of His Children, blessed you are; do not think too much of yourselves. Blessed you are that that privilege was given to you, when others had it not. Do it only as a worship.

You may invent an image through which to worship God, but a better image already exists, the living man. You may build a temple in which to worship God, and that may be good, but a better one, a much higher one, already exists, the human body.

We have always heard it preached, "Love one another." What for? That doctrine was preached, but the explanation is here. Why should I love everyone? Because they and I are one. Why should I love my brother? Because he and I are one. There is this oneness, this solidarity of the whole universe. From the lowest worm that crawls under our feet to the highest beings that ever lived --all have various bodies, but are the one Soul. Through all mouths you eat; through all hands you work; through all eyes you see. You enjoy health in millions of bodies, you are suffering from disease in millions of bodies. When this idea comes and we realize it, see it, feel it, then will misery cease, and fear with it. How can I die? There is nothing beyond me. Fear ceases, and then alone come perfect happiness and perfect love. That universal sympathy, universal love, universal bliss that never changes, raises man above everything.

We have to cover everything with the Lord Himself, not by a false sort of optimism, not by blinding our eyes to the evil, but by really seeing God in everything. Thus we have to give up the world, and when the world is given up, what remains? God. What is meant? You can have your wife; it does not mean that you are to abandon her, but you are to see God in the wife. Give up your children; what does that mean? To turn them out-of-doors as some human brutes do in every country? Certainly not. That is diabolism; it is not religion. But see God in your children. So, in everything. In life and in death, in happiness and in misery, the Lord is equally present. The whole world is full of the Lord. Open your eyes and see Him. This is what Vedanta teaches.
India has to learn from Europe the conquest of external nature, and Europe has to learn from India the conquest of internal nature. Then there will be neither Hindus [Indians] nor Europeans --there will be the ideal humanity which has conquered both the natures, the external and the internal. We have developed one phase of humanity, and they another. It is the union of the two that is wanted. The word freedom which is the watchword of our religion means freedom physically, mentally, and spiritually.

It is a change of the soul itself for the better I that alone will cure the evils of life. No amount of force, or government, or legislative cruelty will change the conditions of a race, but it is spiritual
culture and ethical culture alone that can change wrong racial tendencies for the better.
But the basis of all systems, social or political, rests upon the goodness of men. No nation is great or good because Parliament enacts this or that, but because its men are great and good. ... Religion goes to the root of the matter. If it is right, all is right.

Great indeed are the manifestations of muscular power, and marvelous the manifestations of intellect expressing themselves through machines by the appliances of science; yet, none of these are more potent than the influence which spirit exerts upon the world.
I direct my attention to the individual, to make him strong, to teach him that he himself is divine, and I call upon men to make themselves conscious of this divinity within. That is really the ideal --conscious or unconscious --of every religion.

It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. And here is the test of truth --anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison, there is no life in it, it cannot be true. Truth is strengthening. Truth is purity, truth is all knowledge; truth must be strengthening, must be enlightening, must be invigorating.

The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve the individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted
character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of their resistance: "Help and not Fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

PrabuPada...

2006-02-14T20:33:00.000+05:30

PrabuPada

He is known as a great scholar, philosopher, cultural ambassador, prolific author, genuine spiritual teacher, religious leader and holy man.

He translated over sixty volumes of India's great spiritual classics ( Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrita, etc). Complete sets of these books with original Sanskrit and Bengali texts have been purchased by thousands of university libraries around the world and greatly praised by scholars.

Writing these books and making these ancient teachings available to the general public was his gift to the world. He was not only a writer - he was a living example of these teachings, who showed how one should live in this world to achieve the ultimate success of life.

Whoever came in contact with him was amazed at the genuine care and love that he showed for everyone. His desire was to relieve the suffering of everyone who has forgotten his real spiritual identity. Although he was perfectly happy in India, he took the trouble to cross the ocean. Even the suffering of three heart attacks on the journey could not stop his mission of revealing this ancient knowledge to all of humanity.

After arriving in the United States, he established ISKCON and later opened more than one hundred spiritual ashrams all over the world . Thousands of followers were inspired by his association to elevate themselves to pure, spiritual onsciousness and experience the happiness that is everyone's rightful claim. Even today, more than twenty years after he passed away, thousands more are experiencing relief of material distress and awakening of pure spiritual life as a result of practicing his teachings.

All glories to His Divine Grace!

Sri Sai Baba...

2006-02-14T20:00:00.000+05:30

HUMAN VALUES

What is the main reason for the well being of the society? Our actions are the very cause. What is the reason for our actions? Actions result from our thoughts. What is the reason for action? The mind. What is the cause of the mind? Sankalpa - thought is the cause of the mind. If the thoughts are pure, the country will also become pure. We have to inculcate ideas, which are pure and good. These are human values.

What are these values? These are "Truth(sathya), Right Action (dharma), Peace (shanti), Love (prema) and Non-violence (ahimsa)". These five human values should be deemed as the fivefold life breaths or Pancha Pranas (Prana, Apana, Udhana, Samana, Vyaana - the incoming, outgoing, upward flow, even and circulating breaths). Since the values constitute the life breath, one who does not radiate the values in his actions is deemed to be lifeless!
What is this truth? Those words, which you speak with love, are truth. That which comes from the heart filled with love is truth. All that you do from a heart filled with love is dharma - righteousness. The heart, which is full of love in whatever it thinks, is peace. Then whatever actions you do with a heart filled with love is ahimsa - non-violence. So love is the foundation for all these. There is no life whatsoever without love. So one has to foster this love.
Start the Day with Love;Spend the Day with Love;Fill the Day with Love;End the Day with Love;This is the way to God

When the impulses arising from the heart are expressed in words, that is Truth (Sathya). To put into action your words is Right Action (Dharma). For all these Love is primary. Love in action is righteousness. Love in speech is truth. Love in thought is peace. Love in understanding is non-violence. When you realize that God is in everyone, you will practice non-violence.
Love in Thought is Truth.Love in Action is Right Conduct.Love in Understanding is Peace.Love in Feeling is Non-violence.

Truth is man's nature; to be untrue is to be false to one's nature. Dharma is the practical application in real life of the ideal of Truth. Shanthi is the result of Dharma and Prema is the effulgence of Shanthi. Truth in words and truth and love in the heart is Dharma.
Prema is the manner of speaking; Truth is the substance; Dharma is the language; Santhi is the result aimed at.

Sathya is what I teach;Dharma is the way I live;Shanti is the mark of My personality;Prema is my very Nature.
Sadhana leads to TruthSatkarma leads to DharmaBhakti leads to PeaceUpasana leads to Love.
-Bhagavan Baba

I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster.

I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own faith - so that the Christian becomes a better Christian, the Muslim, a better Muslim, and the Hindu, a better Hindu.

There is only one religion, the religion of Love;There is only one language, the language of the Heart;There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity; There is only one law, the law of Karma;There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.

Start the Day with Love;Spend the Day with Love;Fill the Day with Love;End the Day with Love;This is the way to God.

Love in thought is Truth;Love in action is Right Conduct;Love in understanding is Peace;Love in feeling is Non-Violence.

Honor all religions. Each is a pathway to God
You cannot see Me, but I am the Light you see by.You cannot hear Me, but I am the Sound you hear by.You cannot know Me, but I am the Truth by which you live.
The Lord will be watching with a thousand eyes the least activity of man to discover any slight trace of selfless love sweetening it.

Bear all and do nothing;Hear all and say nothing;Give all and take nothing;Serve all and be nothing.

Make your life a rose that speaks silently in the language of the heart.
Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.
Learn to give, not to take. Learn to serve, not to rule.
The Grace of God is like insurance. It will help you in your time of need without any limit.
Action with Love is Right Conduct.Speak with Love and it becomes Truth.Thinking with Love results in Peace.Understanding with Love leads to non-violence.
Yesterday has deceived you and gone, tomorrow is a doubtful visitor. Today is a fast friend, hold fast to it.

Wealth that you hoard is not yours, wealth that you have given is really yours.
Your virtue is your shield, your vice is the weapon that inflicts wounds on you.
If there is righteousness in the heart,There will be beauty in the character.If there is beauty in the character,There will be harmony in the home.When there is harmony in the home,There will be order in the nation.When there is order in the nation,There will be peace in the world.
Children of Immortality! Remember that You are created in My Image and Likeness. Perfect. Live up to this Image in all planes. Live like Masters! Walk this Earth with Your Heads held high, Your Spirits soaring, Your Hearts open to Love, and believe in Yourself and GOD with You. Then all will go well. See Me everywhere, talk to Me and Love Me who is in Each. Then from Each I will respond and bring You into Glory.

- Baba

Sri Ramana Maharshi...

2006-02-13T19:26:00.000+05:30

Sri Ramana Maharishi

Sri Ramana Maharshi, named Venkataraman at birth, was born on the 30th of December, 1879. It was an auspicious day for the Hindus, the Ardra-darsanam day. On this day every year the image of the Dancing Siva, Nataraja, is taken out of the temples in procession in order to celebrate the divine grace of the Lord that made Him appear before such saints as Gautama, Patanjali, Vyaghrapada, and Manikkavacaka. In the year 1879 on the Ardra day the Nataraja Image of the temple at Tirucculi was taken out with all the attendant ceremonies, and just as it was about to re-enter, Venkataraman was born. There was nothing markedly distinctive about Venkataraman's early years. He grew up just as an average boy. He was sent to an elementary school in Tirucculi, and then for a year's education to a school in Dindigul. When he was twelve his father died. This necessitated his going to Madurai along with the family and living with his paternal uncle Subbaiyar. There he was sent to Scott's Middle School and then to the American Mission High School. He was an indifferent student, not at all serious about his studies. But he was a healthy and strong lad. His school mates and other companions were afraid of his strength. If some of them had any grievance against him at any time, they would dare play pranks with him, only when he was asleep. In this he was rather unusual : he would not know of anything that happened to him during sleep. He would be carried away or even beaten without his waking up in the process.

It was apparently by accident that Venkataraman heard about Arunachala when he was sixteen years of age. One day an elderly relative of his called on the family in Madurai. The boy asked him where he had come from. The relative replied "From Arunachala". The very name 'Arunachala' acted as a magic spell on Venkataraman, and with an evident excitement he put his next question to the elderly gentleman, "What! From Arunachala! Where is it?" And he got the reply that Tiruvannamalai was Arunachala.

Referring to this incident the Sage says later on in one of his hymns to Arunachala : 'Oh, great wonder! As an insentient hill it stands. Its action is difficult for anyone to understand. From my childhood it appeared to my intelligence that Arunachala was something very great. But even when I came to know through another that it was the same as Tiruvannamalai I did not understand its meaning. When, stilling my mind, it drew me up to it, and I came close, I found that it was the Immovable.'

Quickly following the incident which attracted Venkataraman's attention to Arunachala, there was another happening which also contributed to the turning of the boy's mind to the deeper values of spirituality. He chanced to lay his hands, on a copy of Sekkilar's Periyapuranam which relates the lives of the Saiva saints. He read the book and was enthralled by it. This was the first piece of religious literature that he read. The example of the saints fascinated him; and in the inner recesses of his heart he found something responding favourably. Without any apparent earlier preparation, a longing arose in him to emulate the spirit of renunciation and devotion that constituted the essence of saintly life.

The spiritual experience that Venkataraman was now wishing devoutly to have came to him soon, and quite unexpectedly. It was about the middle of the year 1896; Venkataraman was seventeen then. One day he was sitting up alone on the first floor of his uncle's house. He was in his usual health. There was nothing wrong with it. But a sudden and unmistakable Fear of Death took hold of him. He felt he was going to die. Why this feeling should have come to him he did not know. The feeling of impending death, however, did not unnerve him. He calmly thought about what he should do. He said to himself, "Now, death has come. What does it mean? What is it that is dying? This body dies." Immediately thereafter he lay down stretching his limbs out and holding them stiff as though rigor mortis had set in. He held his breath and kept his lips tightly closed, so that to all outward appearance his body resembled a corpse. Now, what would happen? This was what he thought : "Well, this body is now dead. It will be carried to the burning ground and in the tradition of Sarira burnt and reduced to ashes. But with the death, of this body am I dead? Is the body I? This body is silent and inert. But I feel the full force of my personality and even the voice of the 'I' within me, apart from it. So I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the Spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. That means I am the deathless Spirit". As Bhagavan Sri Ramana narrated this experience later on for the benefit of his devotees it looked as though this was a process of reasoning. But he took care to explain that this was not so. The realization came to him in a flash. He perceived the truth directly. 'I' was something very real, the only real thing. Fear of death had vanished once and for all. From then on, 'I' continued like the fundamental sruti note that underlies and blends with all the other notes. Thus young Venkataraman found himself on the peak of spirituality without any arduous or prolonged sadhana. The Death of the Ego invoked a flood of Self-awareness. All on a sudden the boy that used to be called Venkataraman had flowered into a sage and saint.
There was noticed a complete change in the young sage's life. The things that he had valued earlier now lost their value. The spiritual values which he had ignored till then became the only objects of attention. School-studies, friends, relations - none of these had now any significance for him. He grew utterly indifferent to his surroundings. Humility, meekness, non-resistance and other virtues became his adornment. Avoiding company he preferred to sit alone, all-absorbed in concentration on the Self. He went to the Minaksi temple every day and experienced an exaltation every time he stood before the images of the gods and the saints. Tears flowed from his eyes profusely. The new vision was constantly with him. His was the transfigured life.

Venkataraman's elder brother observed the great change that had come upon him. On several occasions he rebuked the boy for his indifferent and yogi-like behaviour. About six weeks after the great experience the crisis came. It was the 29th of August, 1896. Venkataraman's English teacher had asked him, as a punishment for indifference in studies, to copy out a lesson from Bain's Grammar three times. The boy copied it out twice, but stopped there, realizing the utter futility of that task. Throwing aside the book and the papers, he sat up, closed his eyes, and turned inward in meditation. The elder brother who was watching Venkataraman's behaviour all the while went up to him and said : "What use is all this to one who is like this?" This was obviously meant as a rebuke for Venkataraman's unworldly ways including neglect of studies. Venkataraman did not give any reply. He admitted to himself that there was no use pretending to study and be his old self. He decided to leave his home; and he remembered that there was a place to go to, viz. Tiruvannamalai. But if he expressed his intention to his elders, they would not let him go. So he had to use guile. He told his brother that he was going to school to attend a special class that noon. The brother thereupon asked him to take five rupees from the box below and pay it as his fee at the college where he was studying. Venkataraman went downstairs; his aunt served him a meal and gave him the five rupees. He took out an atlas which was in the house and noted that the nearest railway station to Tiruvannamalai mentioned there was Tindivanam. Actually, however, a branch line had been laid to Tiruvannamalai itself. The atlas was an old one, and so this was not marked there. Calculating that three rupees would be enough for the journey, Venkataraman took that much and left the balance with a letter at a place in the house where his brother could easily find them, and made his departure for Tiruvannamalai. This was what he wrote in that letter : "I have set out in quest of my Father in accordance with his command. This (meaning his person) has only embarked on a virtuous enterprise. Therefore, no one need grieve over this act. And no money need be spent in search of this. Your college fee has not been paid. Herewith rupees two."

There was a curse on Venkataraman's family - in truth, it was a blessing - that one out of every generation should turn out to be a mendicant. This curse was administered by a wanderling, an ascetic who, it is said, begged alms at the house of one of Venkataraman's forbears, and was refused. A paternal uncle of Sundaram Aiyar's became a sannyasin; so did Sundaram Aiyar's elder brother. Now, it was the turn of Venkataraman, although no one could have foreseen that the curse would work out in this manner. Dispassion found lodgement in Venkataraman's heart, and he became a parivrajaka.

It was an epic journey that Venkataraman made from Madurai to Tiruvannamalai. About noon he left his uncle's house. He walked to the railway station which was half a mile way. The train was running fortunately late that day; otherwise he would have missed it. He looked up the table of fares and came to know that the third-class fare to Tindivanam was two rupees and thirteen annas. He bought a ticket, and kept with him the balance of three annas. Had he known that there was a rail-track to Tiruvannamalai itself, and had he consulted the table of fares, he would have found that the fare was exactly three rupees. When the train arrived, he boarded it quietly and took his seat. A Maulvi who was also travelling entered into conversation with Venkataraman. From him Venkataraman learnt that there was train-service to Tiruvannamalai and that one need not go to Tindivanam but could change trains at Viluppuram. This was a piece of useful information. It was dusk when the train reached Tiruccirappalli. Venkataraman was hungry; he bought two country pears for half an anna; and strangely enough even with the first bite his hunger was appeased. About three o'clock in the morning the train arrived at Viluppuram. Venkataraman got off the train there with the intention of completing the rest, of the journey to Tiruvannamalai by walk.

At daybreak he went into the town, and was looking out for the sign-post to Tiruvannamalai. He saw a sign-board reading 'Mambalappattu' but did not know then that Mambalappattu was a place en route to Tiruvannamalai. Before making further efforts to find out which road he was to take, he wanted to refresh himself as he was tired and hungry. He went up to a hotel and asked for food. He had to wait till noon for the food to be ready. After eating his meal, he proffered two annas in payment. The hotel proprietor asked him how much money he had. When told by Venkataraman that he had only two and a half annas, he declined to accept payment. It was from him that Venkataraman came to know that Mambalappattu was a place, on the way to Tiruvannamalai. Venkataraman went back to Viluppuram station and bought a ticket to Mambalappattu for which the money he had was just enough.

It was sometime in the afternoon when Venkataraman arrived at Mambalappattu by train. From there he set out on foot for Tiruvannamalai. About ten miles he walked, and it was late in the evening. There was the temple of Arayaninallur nearby, built on a large rock. He went there waited for the doors to be opened, entered and sat down in the pillared hall. He had a vision there - a vision of brilliant light enveloping the entire place. It was no physical light. It shone for some time and then disappeared. Venkataraman continued sitting in a mood of deep meditation, till he was roused by the temple priests who were wanting to lock the doors and go to another temple three quarters of a mile away at Kilur for service. Venkataraman followed them, and while inside the temple he got lost in Samadhi. After finishing their duties the priests woke him up, but would not give him any food. The temple drummer who had been watching the rude behaviour of the priests implored them to hand over his share of the temple food to the strange youth. When Venkataraman asked for some drinking water, he was directed to a Sastri's house which was at some distance. While in that house he fainted and fell down. A few minutes later he rallied round and saw a small crowd looking at him curiously. He drank the water, ate some food, and lay down and slept.

Next morning he woke up. It was the 31st of August, 1896, the Gokulastami day, the day of Sri Krishna's birth. Venkataraman resumed his journey and walked for quite a while. He felt tired and hungry. So he wished for some food first, and then he would go to Tiruvannamalai, by train if that was possible. The thought occurred to him that he could dispose of the pair of gold ear-rings he was wearing and raise the money that was required. But how was this to be accomplished? He went and stood outside a house which happened to belong to one Muthukrishna Bhagavatar. He asked the Bhagavatar for food and was directed to the housewife. The good lady was pleased to receive the young sadhu and feed him on the auspicious day of Sri Krisna's birth. After the meal, Venkataraman went to the Bhagavatar again and told him that he wanted to pledge his ear-rings for four rupees in order that he may complete his pilgrimage. The rings were worth about twenty rupees, but Venkataraman had no need for that much money. The Bhagavatar examined the ear-rings, gave Venkataraman the money he had asked for, took down the youth's address, wrote out his own on a piece of paper for him, and told him that he could redeem the rings at any time. Venkataraman had his lunch at the Bhagavatar's house. The pious lady gave him a packet of sweets that she had prepared for Gokulastami. Venkataraman took leave, of the couple, tore up the address the Bhagavatar had given him - for he had no intention of redeeming the ear-rings - and went to the railway station. As there was no train till the next morning, he spent the night there. On the morning of the 1st of September, 1896, he boarded the train to Tiruvannamalai. The travel took, only a short time. Alighting from the train, he hastened to the great temple of Arunachaleswarar. All the gates stood open - even the doors of the inner shrine. The temple was then empty of all people - even the priests. As Venkataraman entered the sanctum sanctorum he experienced great ecstasy and unspeakable joy. The journey had ended.

The rest of what is regarded as Ramana's life - this is how he shall be called hereafter - was spent in Tiruvannamalai. Ramana was not formally initiated into sannyasa (see). As he came out of the temple and was walking along the streets of the town, someone called out and asked whether he wanted his tuft removed. He consented readily, and was conducted to the Ayyankulam tank where a barber shaved his head. Then he stood on the steps of the tank and threw away into the water his remaining money. He also discarded the packet of sweets given by the Bhagavatar's wife. The next to go was the sacred thread he was wearing. As he was returning to the temple he was just wondering why he should give his body the luxury of a bath, when there was a downpour which drenched him.

The first place of Ramana's residence in Tiruvannamalai was the great temple. For a few weeks he remained in the Thousand-pillared Hall. But he was troubled by urchins who pelted stones at him as he sat in meditation. He shifted himself to obscure corners and even to an underground vault known as Patala Lingam. Undisturbed he used to spend several days in deep absorption. Without moving he sat in samadhi, not being aware of even the bites of vermin and pests. But the mischievous boys soon discovered the retreat and indulged in their pastime of throwing potsherds at the young Svami. There was at the time in Tiruvannamalai a senior Swami by name Sri Seshadri Swamigal. Those who did not know him took him for a madman. He sometimes stood guard over the young Swami, and drove away the urchins. At long last he was removed from the pit by devotees without his being aware of it and deposited in the vicinity of a shrine of Subrahmanya. From then on there was some one or other to take care of Ramana. The seat of residence was changed frequently. Gardens, groves, shrines - all were chosen to keep the Swami. The Swami himself never spoke. Not that he took any vow of silence; he had no inclination to talk. At times the texts like Vasistham and Kaivalyanavanitam used to be read out to him

A little less than six months after his arrival at Tiruvannamalai Ramana shifted his residence to a shrine called Gurumurtam at the earnest request of its keeper. Shortly after that a Malayalee named Palaniswami (sometimes spelled Palani Swami) joined him as his permanent attendant. Anyone who is familiar with the life story of Sri Ramana would feel nothing but indebtedness toward Palaniswami for the lifetime of care and protection he provided Ramana. As days passed and as Ramana's fame spread, increasing numbers of pilgrims and sight-seers came to visit him. After about a year's stay at Gurumurtam, the Swami - locally he was known as Brahmana-swami - moved to a neighbouring mango orchard. It was here that one of his uncles, Nelliyappa Aiyar traced him out. Nelliyappa Aiyar was a second-grade pleader at Manamadurai. Having learnt from a friend that Venkataraman was then a revered Sadhu at Tiruvannamalai, he went there to see him. He tried his best to take Ramana along with him to Manamadurai. But the young sage would not respond. He did not show any sign of interest in the visitor. So, Nelliyappa Aiyar went back disappointed to Manamadurai. However, he conveyed the news to Alagammal, Ramana's mother.

The mother went to Tiruvannamalai accompanied by her eldest son. Ramana was then living at Pavalakkunru, one of the eastern spurs of Arunachala. With tears in her eyes Alagammal entreated Ramana to go back with her. But, for the sage there was no going back. Nothing moved him -- not even the wailings and weepings of his mother. He kept silent giving no reply. A devotee who had been observing the struggle of the mother for several days requested Ramana to write out at least what he had to say. The sage wrote on a piece of paper quite in an impersonal way thus : "In accordance with the prarabdha of each, the One whose function it is to ordain makes each to act. What will not happen will never happen, whatever effort one may put forth. And what will happen will not fail to happen, however much one may seek to prevent it. This is certain. The part of wisdom therefore is to stay quiet."

Disappointed and with a heavy heart, the mother went back to Manamadurai. Sometime after this event Ramana went up the hill Arunachala, and started living in Virupaksa Cave after a saint who dwelt and was buried there. Ramana stayed in Virupaksa Cave sixteen years (1899-1916), then moved from Virupaksa Cave to Skandasramam Cave, a little higher up the hill (1916-1922). Here also the crowds came, and among them were a few earnest seekers. These latter used to put him questions regarding spiritual experience or bring sacred books for having some points explained. Ramana sometimes wrote out his answers and explanations. One of the books that was brought to him during this period was Sankara's Vivekacudamani which later on he rendered into Tamil prose. There were also some simple unlettered folk that came to him for solace and spiritual guidance. One of them was Echammal who having lost her husband, son, and daughter, was disconsolate till the Fates guided her to Ramana's presence. She made it a point to visit the Swami every day and took upon herself the task of bringing food for him as well as for those who lived with him.

In 1903 there came to Tiruvannamalai a great Sanskrit scholar and savant, Ganapati Sastri, who became famous as Ganapathi Muni because of the austerities he had been observing. He had the title Kavya-kantha (one who had poetry at his throat), and his disciples addressed him as nayana (father). He was a specialist in the worship of the Divine Mother. He visited Ramana in the Virupaksa Cave quite a few times. Once in 1907 he was assailed by doubts regarding his own spiritual practices. He went up the hill, saw Ramana sitting alone in the cave, and expressed himself thus : "All that has to be read I have read; even Vedanta sastra I have fully understood; I have done japa to my heart's content; yet I have not up to this time understood what tapas is. Therefore I have sought refuge at your feet. Pray enlighten me as to the nature of tapas." Ramana replied, now speaking, "If one watches whence the notion 'I' arises, the mind gets absorbed there; that is tapas. When a mantra is repeated, if one watches whence that mantra sound arises, the mind gets absorbed there; that is tapas." To the scholar this came as a revelation; he felt the grace of the sage enveloping him. It was he that proclaimed Ramana to be Maharshi and Bhagavan. He composed hymns in Sanskrit in praise of the sage, and also wrote the Ramana-Gita explaining his teachings.

Ramana's mother, Alagammal, after her return to Manamadurai, lost her eldest son. Two years later, her youngest son, Nagasundaram paid a brief visit to Tiruvannamalai. She herself went there once on her return from a pilgrimage to Varanasi (Benares), and again during a visit to Tirupati. On this occasion she fell ill and suffered for several weeks with symptoms of typhoid. Ramana showed great solicitude in nursing her and restoring her to health. He even composed a hymn in Tamil beseeching Lord Arunachala to cure her of her disease. The first verse of the hymn runs as follows : 'Oh Medicine in the form of a Hill that arose to cure the disease of all the births that come in succession like waves! Oh Lord! It is Thy duty to save my mother who regards Thy feet alone as her refuge, by curing her fever.' He also prayed that his mother should be granted the vision divine and be weaned from worldliness. It is needless to say that both the prayers were answered. Alagammal recovered, and returned home to Manamadurai. Not long after she returned, her youngest son, Nagasundaram, wife died, and a mutual decision was made between he and his mother to both join Ramana in Tiruvannamalai. That was in the beginning of 1916, and she resolved to spend the rest of her life with Ramana. The mother received training in intense spiritual life. She donned the ochre robe, and took charge of the Ashrama kitchen. Ramana's younger brother, Nagasundaram, then became a sannyasin, assuming the name Niranjanananda. Among Ramana's devotees he came to be popularly known as Chinnaswami (the Younger Swami). In 1920 the mother grew weak in health and ailments incidental to old age came to her. Ramana tended her with care and affection, and spent even sleepless nights sitting up with her. The end came on May 19, 1922, which was the Bahulanavami day, in the month of Vaisakha. The mother's body was taken down the hill to be interred. While the ceremonies were being performed, Ramana himself stood silently looking on. Niranjanananda Swami took up residence near the tomb and Ramana, who continued to remain at Skandasramam, visited the tomb daily. After about six months he came to stay at the tomb, and as he put it, not out of his own volition but in obedience to the Divine Will. Thus was founded the Ramana Ashram, which has continually grown expanded since the early days and presently located between two of the Eight Cardinal Point Lingams, Angi Lingham and Yama Lingham, southeast and due south respectively, on the holy hill's circumabulation route known as Giri Valam. In 1928 a young man, age 22, became the Maharshi's personal attendant and given the name Annamalai Swami (Annamalai is another name for Arunachala). Swami Annamalai's duties, after being directed to do so by Sri Ramana, was to oversee the ongoing construction at the ashram, including the goshala (cow shed), dining hall, dispensary and other projects. A temple was raised over the tomb and was consecrated in 1949. As the years rolled by the Asramam grew steadily, and people not only from India but from every continent of the world came to see the sage and receive help from him in their spiritual pursuits. In 1938, ten years after his arrival, under the grace and light of the Maharshi, Swami Annamali Awakened to the Absolute.

Ramana's first Western devotee was Frank H. Humphrys. He came to India in 1911 to take up a post in the Police service at Vellore. Given to the practice of occultism, he was in search of a Mahatma. He was introduced to Ganapati Sastri by his Telugu tutor; and Sastri took him to Ramana. The Englishman was greatly impressed. Writing about his first visit to the sage in the International Psychic Gazette, he said : 'On reaching the cave we sat before him, at his feet, and said nothing. We sat thus for a long time and I felt lifted out of myself. For half an hour I looked into the Maharshi's eyes, which never changed their expression of deep contemplation.... The Maharshi is a man beyond description in his expression of dignity, gentleness, self-control and calm strength of conviction.' Humphry's ideas of spirituality changed for the better as a result of the contact with Ramana. He repeated his visits to the sage. He recorded his impressions in his letters to a friend in England which were published in the Gazette mentioned above. In one of them he wrote, 'You can imagine nothing more beautiful than his smile.' And again, 'It is strange what a change it makes in one to have been in his Presence!'

Ramana had only just moved from the caves on the side of the mountain to it's base and taken up residency at his newly constructed ashram, which was not much more than a thatched hut in those days, when he was visited by Swami Ramdas, a person on the cusp of great spiritual renown. About his experience Ramdas has said:

"The Maharshi, turning his beautiful eyes towards Ramdas, and looking intently for a few minutes into his eyes as though he was pouring into Ramdas his blessings through those orbs, nodded his head to say he had blessed. A thrill of inexpressible joy coursed through the frame of Ramdas, his whole body quivering like a leaf in the breeze."

In that ecstatic state he left Maharshi's presence to spend nearly a month in a cave on the slopes of Arunachala. It was his first occasion to go into solitude. After twenty-one days, when he came out of the cave he saw a strange, all-pervasive light: everything was Ram and only Ram (God).
A nearly disguised young American traveller that gained fame anonymously in the novel titled The Razor's Edge (written by the famous British playwright W. Somerset Maugham) travelled to India in the mid 1920s, and after meeting Swami Ramdas in a temple one night in Madura, following his advice, went to the ashram of Sri Ramana.(see) It has been written that from his experience with Sri Ramana the anonymous American, called Larry Darrell by Maugham in the novel, also Awakened to the Absolute. (source)
Scores of people poured into the Maharshi's ashram as his fame spread, fueled by word of mouth and publicity generated by books and articles of various supporters and authors. Paul Brunton was a writer, mystic, and philosopher. Through his books and writings about Sri Ramana and others, he is credited with almost singlehandedly opening up to the west to the experience and knowledge of Enlightenment, Awakening, the Absolute, and things Zen. Another equally important "early-on" chronicler was Julian P. Johnson. There was W. Somerset Maugham, of course, and Mercedes De Acosta.

Besides authors and writers of varying degrees there were legions of just plain folk as well as teacher after teacher, gurus, mystics and sadhus of every religious stripe and persuasion that paid homage. Besides the ones mentioned previously, some of the more notable included Sri Yoga Ramsuratkuman, Shunyata (Alfred Sorensen), and Wei Wu Wei (Terence Gray).
It was not all good people that went to the Asrama. Sometimes bad ones turned up also - even bad sadhus. Twice in the year 1924 thieves broke into the Asrama in quest of loot. On the second of these occasions they even beat the Maharshi, finding that there was very little for them to take. When one of the devotees sought the sage's permission to punish the thieves, the sage forbade him, saying : "They have their dharma, we have ours. It is for us to bear and forbear. Let us not interfere with them." When one of the thieves gave him a blow on the left thigh, he told him : "If you are not satisfied you can strike the other leg also." After the thieves had left, a devotee enquired about the beating. The sage remarked, "I also have received some puja," punning on the word which means 'worship' but is also used to mean 'blows'.
The spirit of harmlessness that permeated the sage and his environs made even animals and birds make friends with him. He showed them the same consideration that he did to the humans that went to him. When he referred to any of them, he used the form 'he' or 'she' and not 'it'. Birds and squirrels built their nests around him. Cows, dogs and monkeys found asylum in the Asrama. All of them behaved intelligently - especially the cow Laksmi. He knew their ways quite intimately. He would see to it that they were fed properly and well. And, when any of them died, the body would be buried with due ceremony. The life in the Asrama flowed on smoothly. With the passage of time more and more of visitors came - some of them for a short stay and others for longer periods. The dimensions of the Asrama increased, and new features and departments were added - a home for the cattle, a school for the study of the Vedas, a department for publication, and the Mother's temple with regular worship, etc. Ramana sat most of the time in the hall that had been constructed for the purpose as the witness to all that happened around him. It was not that he was not active. He used to stitch leaf-plates, dress vegetables, read proofs received from the press, look into newspapers and books, suggest lines of reply to letters received, etc. yet it was quite evident that he was apart from everything. There were numerous invitations for him to undertake tours. But, except for a few possible and not always recorded Siddhi experiences, similar to the highly unusual case related to Ganapathi Muni for example, he never left Tiruvannamalai, and in the later years, the Ashrama. Most of the time, every day, people sat before him. They sat mostly in silence. Sometimes some of them asked questions; and sometimes he answered them. It was a great experience to sit before him and to look at his beaming eyes. Many did experience time coming to a stop and a stillness and peace beyond description.(see)

The golden jubilee of Ramana's coming to stay at Tiruvannamalai was celebrated in 1946. In 1947 his health began to fail. He was not yet seventy, but looked much older. Towards the end of 1948 a small nodule appeared below the elbow of his left arm. As it grew in size, the doctor in charge of the Asrama dispensary cut it out. But in a month's time it reappeared. Surgeons from Madras were called, and they operated. The wound did not heal, and the tumour came again. On further examination it was diagnosed that the affection was a case of sarcoma. The doctors suggested amputating the arm above the affected part. Ramana replied with a smile : "There is no need for alarm. The body is itself a disease. Let it have its natural end. Why mutilate it? Simple dressing of the affected part will do." Two more operations had to be performed, but the tumour appeared again. Indigenous systems of medicine were tried; and homeopathy too. The disease did not yield itself to treatment. The sage was quite unconcerned, and was supremely indifferent to suffering. He sat as a spectator watching the disease waste the body. But his eyes shone as bright as ever; and his grace flowed towards all beings. Crowds came in large numbers. Ramana insisted that they should be allowed to have his darsana. Devotees profoundly wished that the sage should cure his body through an exercise of supernormal powers, but even though there were several instances of bilocation experiences by the Maharshi for example, mostly throughout his life the he never exhibited even the slightest interest in Siddhis, so it is not out of character that he would elect to continue to do so even at the end. He is on record as saying that a Realized person may not necessarily have Siddhis initially, but may later seek or acquire them after realization (i.e., Queen Chudala in Yoga Vasishtha). He also said that some Realized persons need not have any siddhis. Some of them imagined that they themselves had had the benefit of these powers which they attributed to Ramana. Ramana had compassion for those who grieved over the suffering, and he sought to comfort them by reminding them of the truth that Bhagavan was not the body : "They take this body for Bhagavan and attribute suffering to him. What a pity! They are despondent the Bhagavan is going to leave them and go away - where can he go, and how?"

The end came on the 14th of April, 1950. That evening the sage gave darsana to the devotees that came. All that were present in the Asrama knew that the end was nearing. They sat singing Ramana's hymn to Arunachala with the refrain Arunachala-Siva. The sage asked his attendants to make him sit up. He opened his luminous and gracious eyes for a brief while; there was a smile; a tear of bliss trickled down from the outer corner of his eyes; and at 8-47 the breathing stopped. There was no struggle, no spasm, none of the signs of death. At that very moment, a comet moved slowly across the sky, reached the summit, of the holy hill, Arunachala, and disappeared behind it.

Dhyanalingam....

2006-02-07T08:18:00.000+05:30

Isha Yoga developed by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev promises a new dimension to meditation and flourishes today as a spiritual science for people all over the world.

"The Dhyanalingam (meditation seat) at our Yoga Centre near Coimbatore is believed to be biggest lingam (13 feet 9 inches) in the world. Scientifically built by an architect Karthikeyan, following a vision by Sadhguru, the lingam has the power to make even those unaware of meditation to experience a state of deep meditativeness and feel the divine energy and vibrations that overflow from this glorious form," she continues.

Adding that Sadhguru has stored the energy of his three lives inside the lingam thereby energising it to the peak and then locked it so that it becomes a primordial source of energy to trigger spiritual liberation for all its followers, Sreedevi says, "effectively it has taken about 2000 years for Sadhguru to build the Dhyanalingam."

Mother (Mira Alfassa)

2006-02-07T07:53:00.000+05:30

Mira Alfassa (Mother) was born on 21st February 1878 in Paris. From childhood on she had mystical experiences which showed her the possibility of manifesting a New Consciousness uniting spiritual and material life leading to a further evolution of man. It is this New Consciousness which Sri Aurobindo later defined as the Supramental Consciousenss.

Mira Alfassa studied art and became an accomplished artist and musician. 1897 she married Henri Morisset and gave birth to her son André. In 1905 she began to study parapsychology and occult sciences in Algeria together with Max Theon and his wife. After her divorce from Henri Morisset she founded a group of spiritual seekers which was named l'Idée Nouvelle.

In 1911 she married Paul Richard and travelled with him to India where she met Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914 and started together with Sri Aurobindo and Paul Richard the journal 'Arya', which became the birth place for most of the writings of Sri Aurobindo which later appeared in book-form: The Life Divine, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Essays On The Gita, The Secret Of The Veda, Hymns To The Mystic Fire, The Upanishads, The Foundations Of Indian Culture, War And Selfdetermination, The Human Cycle, The Ideal Of Human Unity, The Future Poetry.
Till 1920 Mira Alfassa stayed in Japan and then came back to India to live with Sri Aurobindo and, together with him, further develop the Integral Yoga.Sri Aurobindo and Mira Alfassa founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926 to accommodate the growing number of people who became interested in the Integral Yoga.After 1926 Mira Alfassa became known as The Mother, the individual expression of the power of spiritual consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo continued his work of Consciousness Evolution and Spiritual and Supramental Transformation till 1950 when he left his body. During the years 1926-1950 Sri Aurobindo wrote innumerable letters, answering questions about the Integral Yoga, a multitude of poems describing his spiritual experiences and far reaching essays on the Supramental Manifestation on earth. In 1950 he completed his major work 'Savitri' which presents the complete vision and realization of the Integral Yoga of himself and The Mother in the form of a deeply touching epic poem of nearly 24000 lines.Mira Alfassa - The Mother continued the work of Consciousness Evolution till 1973, leaving a stunning legacy of wisdom, knowledge, realization and impulses for making physically effective the Integral Yoga in a life where Spirit and Matter are one: Shortly before 1950 The Mother envisaged the foundation of an Ideal City in Hyderabad where she would live together with Sri Aurobindo, an idea which was dropped after Sri Aurobindo left his body. In 1951 she founded instead the Sri Aurobindo International University to modernize and expand the scope of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry.

This endeavour she further strengthened when she established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch together with Surendranath Jauhar in 1956 and The Mother's International School which is also located in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch and has since then grown into one of the biggest and most important schools of its kind in India. Throughout her life she wanted to create a new type of city for all those who want to develop their consciousness for a further, spiritually inspired evolution.

In 1957 ideas for such a township again were in the air but did not materialize. In 1967 plans were made and some land acquired to found a city in the Indian state Gujarat, which she named Ompuri. This project did not move further and The Mother started in 1968, together with the architect Roger Anger, near Pondicherry the Auroville project which she saw as a 'more external extension' of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.

In 1973 The Mother gave her blessings to Michel Montecrossa to establish a cultural center and guest house for the Friends of Mirapuri in Auroville. It is named 'New Community' and is located in the Auroville settlement 'Certitude' opposite the building called 'Auroson's Home'. New Community fullfilled its purpose as a Mirapuri Center for promoting international understanding and cultural exchange at Auroville from 1973 till 1982.

After that Mirapuri suspended the work at New Community because Auroville, with the active support of the Indian government and the passive acceptance of the nearby Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry, was overthrown by an organized, violent and sectarian movement which disrobed Auroville of its original aim of becoming a place of peace and pratical world unity as envisaged by Mira Alfassa – The Mother and as confirmed by the UNESCO.
As a result of the changes in Auroville the Mirapuri people working at New Community were threatend with murder, put under constant and heavy psycological stress and were confronted with all kinds of physical harassment making it impossible to lead a free and civilized life in dignity, dedicated to a nobel ideal.

Therefore Mirapuri would resume work at New Community only on condition that human rights are restored and protectet at Auroville and Mira Alfassa's original plan of creating in India a place of peace, freedom and practical world unity would be activated again. From 1970 till 1973 Mira Alfassa – The Mother together with Michel Montecrossa prepared the initial planning for Mirapuri and Miravillage which led to the foundation of Mirapuri - the City of Peace and Future Man in Europ (Italy) on 15th August 1978 and the establishment of Miravillage in Germany, as the first satellite of Mirapuri, which now are the two biggest independnet and selfsupporting centers of activity based on Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in Europe, providing an effective and humane living and working environment for all those who want to realize the Ideals of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and practise their Integral Yoga as a way of consciousness development.

Skanda Puranaa...

2006-01-21T19:46:00.000+05:30

Maya is born to Asurendran and Mangala Kesi.

Maya maries sage Kasyapa

The birth of Churapatuman

Maya and sage Kasyapa take the form of lions and give birth to Singhamukhan , the lion-faced brother of Churapatuman.

Maya and sage Kasyapa take the form of elephants and give birth to Tarakasuran , the elephant-faced brother of Churapatuman.

Maya and sage Kasyapa take the form of goats and give birth to Ajamukhi, the goat-headed sister of Churapatuman.

The birth of another two lakh (200,000) asuras. They pay respects to their parents.

Churapatuman seeks the grace of Lord Siva by performing tapas (austerities).

Churapatuman receives the boon to rule 1008 worlds and 108 ages (yugas) of the world.

Upon receiving the boons, the arrogant Cūrapatuman imprisons the devas.

The devas tell their grievance to Lord Siva.

Lord Siva promises to produce a son who will end the devas' sufferings

Six sparks appear from Lord Siva's third eye and land in Saravana Poykai (a marshy lake in Himalaya).

The six sparks transform into six baby boys in six lotus flowers.

The six charming baby boys are brought up by the six Krttika nymphs (the Pleiades).

Mother Uma Devi lovingly gathers all six babies and transforms them into the six-faced Arumukhan.

Lord Murugan receives the Vel (divine lance) from His Father Lord Siva

Lord Murugan sets out for battle with Cūrapatuman to end the suffering of the devas

Tarakasuran turns himself into the Kraunca Mountain, but is felled by Lord Murugan's Vel.

Lord Murugan sends Virabahu Devar as envoy to Curapatuman.

Churapatuman speaks arrogantly with Virabahu Devar.

Churapatuman being advised by his younger brother, Singhamukhan, to avoid war with Lord Murugan.

Churapatuman rebukes Singhamukhan

Singhamukhan dies while fighting Lord Murugan.

Churapatuman transforms into a monstrous upside-down mango tree in the ocean

Churapatuman transforms into a monstrous upside-down mango tree in the ocean

Lord Murugan, using His mighty Vel, splits the tree and one half transforms as a peacock and the other as a cock

Lord Murugan takes the cock as His victory flag and the peacock as His vehicle

Lord Murugan performs Siva puja (prayers) at Tiruchendūr and sheds His Divine Grace upon the people

Lord Indra presents the hand of His daughter Devasenu (Teyvanai) in marriage to Lord Murugan, who ended the sufferings of the devas. The marriage takes place at Tirupparankundram

Lord Murugan sheds His divine grace upon Sri Lakshmi, Kamadhenu (the fabled cow which supplies every want in the world of Gods), Surya (Lord Sun), Bhumi Devi (Mother Earth), and Agni (Lord of fire), at Tiruvavinankudi.

Lord Murugan explains the meaning of the pranava mantra ('OM'), to His Father, Lord Siva, at Tiruverakam (Swamimalai

Lord Murugan in His universal form (Viswarupam) at Palamutircholai

Lord Murugan, assuming the form of a Vedar (hunter), seeks Valli's love.

Lord Murugan returns in the form of an old man to seek Valli's love.

The marriage of Sri Valli and Lord Murugan

Lord Murugan with Valli & Theivaanai

Saint Arunagirinathar

2006-01-21T19:21:00.000+05:30

The holy land of India had given to the world many great saints and sages who have shown to humanity the correct way of leading a peaceful, happy and divine life. Among them Saint Arunagirinathar, who lived in the fifteenth century, had given to us nine most valuable gems of his works: Kandar Anubuthi, Kandar Alankaram, Kandar Andhathi, Thiruezhukuttrirukkai, Vel, Mayil, Cheval viruthangal and Thiru Vaguppugal. Aurunagiri's philosophy can easily be understood from these works.

It is a marvel that Arunagiri is able to express lofty thoughts in felicitous phrases which, so to say, sing and dance in a dazzling variety of ways. As we read his songs, we see the scenes flash before our mind's eye. It may be a description, one-half of which we see the picture of an old man, grey haired and pot bellied, walking unsteadily supported by the staff, and the other, a delightful picture of Rama as a child crawling along as Kausalya stretches forth her hands to receive Him. It may be a picture drawn with a few strokes describing the life of a person from the pre-natal to the post-mortal state or a tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing unless the Lord is pleased to rescue him.

We may see another dimension of Arunagiri's personality - being free from egoism. His prayer to the Lord to be cleansed of this impurity is answered. He considers himself as a person of no significance at all. We hear of "suicide squads", members of which volunteer for work, which may be fatal. Emancipated souls, likewise, are prepared to forgo the bliss they enjoy in meditation in order to labour and suffer for others. On occasions chosen by the Lord, emancipated souls may enlist themselves as members of a mission seeking redemption, forgoing their enjoyment of bliss. May we not understand in this sense Arunagirinathar's identification with all those who have lapses, spiritual and moral ? Arunagiri never forgets that it is due to Murugan's Grace that he could overcome the temptation of the world and defy death also. His insight and experiences recorded in his works do give us his philosophy of life - life in its fullest sense in all its abundance. His work would also help us to have life and have it in abundance.

Among the Tamil knowing people, Saint Arunagirinthar's name is greatly cherished, not only for the notable events in his life, but also for the excellence of his literary compositions, his profound knowledge and the eminence of his spiritual status.Even though no authenic records are available regarding the biography of Saint, traditions and the facts gleaned from his own writings point to the conclusion that he was born in Tamil Nadu six centuries ago.He lived a life of sin in his very early days but the divine spark that was ever present in him got the better of his base instinct, and Arunagirinathar eventually turned into a great devotee of Lord Muruga. His songs were born of divine inspiration and are collectively known as tiruppugazh Out of 16,000 songs believed to have been sung, about 1,300 are extant. The songs which are in Tamil are remarkable for their captivating rhythmic patterns and high philosophic content. The abstruse concepts of Advaita philosophy are conveyed in his songs in such simple terms that even a layman can comprehend the same. The synthesis of Bhakti and Gnana can be seen in all his innumerable groups of devotees in homes, temples and congregations.In the galaxy of Saints of Bhakti cult, Saint Arunagirinathar occupies a place along with Tulsidas, Nanak, Tukaram, Meera and Chaitanya.

Thirumuruga Kirupananda Variyar

2006-01-21T19:17:00.000+05:30

ST. ARUNAGIRINATHAR flourished during a period when religious minded people were quarrelling among themselves regarding the supremacy of their personal Gods like Siva and Vishnu, the grandeur of their religion like Saivism and Vaishnavism and the greatness of the religious scriptures and the languages in which they have been composed like Sanskrit and Tamil.

To alleviate such apparent contradictions and to infuse new vigour into the understanding of the Puranic lore, religious dogmas, ritualistic elements, philosophical doctrines and spiritual expositions, the saint composed many devotional hymns especially attributed to highlight the grace of Lord Muruga, his personal and propitious deity, through his mellifluous and unique styles of composition with "santham" and "virutham" as the melodies endeavoured to reconcile these peripheral differences among the devotees.

As he got enlightenment at the Tiruvannamalai Siva temple by the grace of Lord Murugan, it was but natural for him to incorporate these two major Gods in the Hindu pantheon wherever possible as father and son. Similarly Saivism and Vaishnavism received equal treatment from the saint since he has hailed Muruga as the son-in-law of Mahavishnu at various places.

In his Tiruppugazh, Kandaralankaram, Kandaranubhuti, Vel Virutham and Mayil Virutham, the saint had copiously used Sanskrit terms in Tamil alphabets to describe the glory of Lord Muruga to show that language is a prelude to experience and not to proclaim its inferior or superior nature.

Thirumuruga Kirupananda Variyar has done yeoman service to Hindu faith by way of popularising its religious doctrines and philosophical ideologies. He had undertaken the arduous task of commenting upon the works of Saint Arunagirinathar in his own unique style so that even a common man can study them.

Through his excellent elucidations, elegant expressions, humorous illustrations, apt analogies, appropriate allegories, thought provoking statements both in writing and oratory, the scholarly saint had made more complicated texts simple and gave a new orientation to religious discourses. Variar Swamigal has rendered a commendable job of commenting upon the hymns of Thiruppugazh pertaining to Tiruvannamalai and Tirukkalathi temples. He has uniformly given the meaning, general gist of the verse, explanatory notes and essential truths for all the verses. The songs of Arunagirinathar are really difficult to read and tough to comprehend the contents and reflect upon. It is highly remarkable that the commentator has made them understandable in a more lucid way. He also culls out the implicit meanings of the terse verses.

The commitment, dedication and involvement of both the saintly author and the commentator to bring ashore the drowning masses in the whirlpool of worldliness, by invoking the ever-abiding abundant grace of Lord Muruga are revealed throughout this work. All Tamil lovers, especially in the religious moorings, must read this book.

Foot Steps.....

2006-01-21T18:35:00.000+05:30

Now Muruga devotees everywhere can see, worship, and participate in the development of the unique hill shrine of Lord Muruga Jñanamalai, the only place where one can find the foot prints of Lord Muruga, revealed only recently in a stone inscription on a hill near Vallimalai / Tiruttani Malai. Jñanamalai is 15 kilometres off the National Highway from Chennai to Bangalore at about 97 km from Chennai.

Lord Muruga after the wedding with Valli at the Vallimalai and on his way to Tiruttani, spent time on this hill as per the oral history of the village and as a proof of this story we can see His Foot Prints on the rock. Jnanamalai is also where Saint Arunagirinathar was blessed with Yogaanubhooti and darshan of the lotus feet of Lord Muruga.
This Hill temple of Lord Muruga is situated in the village Govindaseri and is surrounded by lake and fertile plains. The temple is dated about more than 1300 years ago, with the moola vigraha dating back to Pallava era. He is seen in the Brahma Sasta form along with his consorts Valli and Teyvayanai.
From all evidence it appears that there must have been a big Murugan temple and over years of neglect and nature’s fury got reduced to a very small temple occasionally visited by the villagers. No regular pujas were being conducted. There was no proper way or steps to the hill temple.

On the west side there is a very small Siva shrine. Behind this shrine one can see the unique divine Footsteps on the solid rock. This is a volcanic hill and who can put his foot in this molten rock (temperature of 1800 degrees C) to leave a mark on solidification except Lord Muruga who was carried by none other than Agni (Lord of Fire)!
About 600 years ago Saint Arunagirinathar worshipped this temple and the Lord has revealed his Lotus Feet. The one and only internal evidence about the saint’s life where he says he was dejected with this life and when he tried to end his life by jumping from the gopuram (tower) Lord Muruga saved him by showing his Feet. Arunagiri himself reveals this information in his Tiruppugazh “manaiyaval nagaikka…” It is also unique that Vallimalai, Tiruttani Malai and Jnanamalai form a triangle within 40 km. distance.

Adhi Sankara....

2006-01-20T16:58:00.000+05:30

Lord Shiva, also known as Dhakshinamurthy, who spreads the Universal Truth not by words but by his silence and by his sign of his hand which is held in the form of "Chin Mudra". About 2500 years ago, when the spiritualisation of the people greatly reduced, all the Gods and the Rishis went to Kailash and pleaded with Lord Shiva to revive the world. Lord Shiva agreed with their request and informed that he will be born in this world. Lord Brahma, Indra and others also agreed to be born in this world to help Lord Shiva.

In Kaladi, Kerala, a learned brahmin, by the name of Sivaguru, and his wife, Aryambal, spent their life in pooja and in giving alms to poor and in other good deeds. This childless couple went to Trichur and performed puja for 48 days to Lord Vadakkunathan (Lord Shiva) and prayed for a son. Lord Shiva melted in their devotion and appeared before them and told them "I am extremely happy with your devotion and you will get what you want. But tell me whether you want a number of dull children or a son who is extremely intelligent, who will live for a short period only." The couple replied the decision could not be theirs as the Lord knows what is good for them.

Lord Dakshinamurthy, pleased with the reply, was born to Aryambal under the star "Thiruvaithhirai". As the Lord had already promised that he will be born to do good to this world, the child was named Sankara. Sam means prosperity and Karathi means te giver. All the visitors stood in awe at the divinity of the child and said "This is not an ordinary child".

As Shankara grew up, he attraced everybody with his intelligence and kindness. At the age of three, he was given "Aksharabyas", i.e., the learning of writing and reading. At the age of four, he lost his father. At the age of five, he was initiated in Brahmacharyam i.e., the holy thread ceremony was conducted and he was sent to Gurukul for learning of scriptures. As per the practice the brahmachari has to go from house to house and take alms and submit this to his guru. On a Dwadasi day Sankara happened to go to the house of a very poor lady jand asked for the alms. The lady did not have a single grain of rice in her house to give. However she had kept a single Amla fruit for herself as it was a Dwadasi day. She unhesitatingly gave this Amla fruit to Sankara as she could not send a Brahmachari empty handed. Sankara was moved by her selflessness and the poverty of the lady and prayed to Goddess Lakshmi in a beautiful sloka which is called "Kanaka Dhara Stotram". On completion of this stotram, Goddess Lakshmi appeared in person and showered a rain of golden coins on the poor lady's house.

One day, the rishis came to him and reminded him of his duty to the land in spreading spiritualism. Sankara agreed it was time to become a Sanyasi and go all over the country to kindle religious ferver.
One day when Sankara was taking bath, a crocodile caught hold of his leg. Sankara called out to his mother. Aryambal came running and to her horror she found her son in the grip of the crocodile and she cried that se did not know how to help her son. Sri Sankara informed his mother that his life was nearing to an end, but if he became a Sanyasi, he could start a new life as a sannyasi. Thus Sri Sankara obtained permission from his mother to become a sannyasi.

Sri Sankara went in the search of a Guru to be formally initiated as a Sannyasi. At the banks of the river Narmada, he found the river gushing forth into floods. By using his powers, he encapsulated the river in his Kamandal (a vessel sannyasi's carry) and released it in the banks of the river. Sri Govinda Bagawathpathar, an ascetic who saw this, marvelled at Sri Sankara dn took him on as a Shishya.

Sri Govinda Bagawathpadar taught various vedas to Sri Sankara. He also taught about Advaita, the principle that every one in this world is the manifestation of God and that God and Atram are one and the same. He advises Sri Sankara to go out in the world and spread this truth throughout the country.

Sri Sankara went to Kasi and by that time, he had a lot of disciples. One of them, Sanandhyaya, was drying the clothes of his Guru and suddenly Sri Sankara called him to the other bank of the river as he needed the clothes urgently. Sanandhyaya, little realising that he would drown, starts walking into the river. However, the Grace of his Guru resulted in a lotus materialising wherever he was keeping his foot. When asked as to how did he cross the river, he says that when his Guru calls, he is not to worry about anything. Sri Sankara named him as Padma Paolar (lotus feet).

Once, in Kasi, when Sri Sankara was going to the Vishwanath Temple, his path was blocked by an "untouchable" who was accompanied by his wife and 4 dogs. The disciples of Sri Sankara shouted at him to make way, and to keep a distance. The untouchable smiled and said, ""According to your principle of Advaita, which you practice, all the Jivatma are same as God. How do you ask me to go? How am I different from your Paramacharya? What you say is unreasonable. How can I go away from myself?" Sri Sankara realised that it was not an ordinary person and understood that it was Lord Shiva himself who had come along with His escort and the four Vedas. He prostrated before the Lord and sang five slokas called "Manisha Panchakam". Lord Shiva presented himself along with Visalakshi and blessed Sri Sankara.

When Shri Sankara was 16, a very old Brahmin of ill health started arguments with him about Brahmasutra bashyam which Shri Sankara had written. Shri Sankara was astounded by his intelligence and arguments but they continued their discussion. The arguments continued for days together and the more Shri Sankara argued, his ideas crystallised more and more and he understood that the old man was none other than Vyasa Rishi, who was the creator of Brahmasutra. Sri Sankara said that he has done a great disrespect to the sage by entering into an argument. Vyasa Rishi said "I fully agree with your bashyam and I wanted to establish that yours is correct. I bless that you should live another 16 years and you should spread this Advaita throughout the country."

Sri Sankara learnt that there was a great learned person by the name Mandana Mishra who lived in Mahishmati and who followed the Karma Mimaamsa method of devotion. Sri Sankara arrived at his house and found his house was closed and Mandala Mishra was carrying out some rituals inside his house. Sri Sankara entered the house by using his powers and entered the house. Mandala Mishra became very angry and shouted at Sri Sankara. But Sri Sankara smiled and explained the uselessness of such rituals. However, Mandala Mishra admired the intelligence of Sri Sankara and started discussions with him after completing the rituals. Sri Sankara said that there should be a judge to decide the winner and suggested that Sarasawani, the wife of Mandala Mishra, to be the judge. Sarasawani, who was extremely intelligent and learned, realised that Sri Sankara was none other than Lord Shiva, did not want to declare her husband as the loser. She suggested that both of them should wear a garland of flowers and whichever garland fades first, that person would be the loser. Naturally, Sri Sankara won.

As per the original condition, Mandala Mishra became an ascetic and started to leave the house. Unable to bear the separation, Sarasawani stood transfixed and told Sri Sankara that according to our faith, the husband and wife, even though have two bodies, are spiritually one and she would be incomplete without her husband. Sri Sankara accepted this and started discussion with this lady. Saraswani showered questions like rain and Sri Sankara gave very beautiful answers and Sarasawani acknowledged him, and followed Sri Sankara and her husband's footsteps.

In their travels, they reached Sringeri in Karnataka, which is on the banks of Tungabadra. While Sri Sankara and Mandala Mishra were walking, Sarasawani did not move and stood fixed in the sands of Tungabadra. Sri Sankara turned back and realised by his divine powers that Sarasawani did not want to proceed any further and created a seat for her for spreading the Advaita. This seat is today called the Sharada Peetham or the Seat of Sharada. This was the first Mutt installed by Sri Sankara, with the direction that all the heads of the Mutts will be called Sankaracharayas and they will have a lineage of Shishyas or disciples.

When Sri Sankara was in Sringeri, he divined by his superior powers that his mother was in her deathbed, and as per his promise while taking Sanyas that he would be by her side while she breathes her last, he reached Kaladi and paid his last respects to the old lady. Aryambal was happy that her son had come back. Sri Sankara prayed to Lord Venkateswara who appeared in person and blessed Aryambal. Sri Sankara did the last rites for his mother but the people of Kaladi said that a Sanyasi does not have the right to do the last rites, but he did not hear that and carried the body of Aryambal and put her in the pyre himself and lit it himself.

After the death of his mother, he went all over the country and converted the people of other faith to Advaita. He revived a number of temples and using his powers, he established a number of Yentras in these temples to spread the blessings of Parasakthi. During his travels, he arrived at Mukambi, a religious place in Karnataka. A poor brahmin came to Sri Sankara with his deaf and dumb son and After the death of his mother, he went all over the country and converted the people of other faith to Advaita. He revived a number of temples and using his powers, he established a number of Yentras in these temples to spread the blessings of Parasakthi. During his travels, he arrived at Mukambi, a religious place in Karnataka. A poor brahmin came to Sri Sankara with his deaf and dumb son and prostrated before Sri Sankara. Sri Sankara asked the boy, "who are you?". The dumb and deaf child, for the first time, opened his mouth and explained, "The body is not me, it is the Paramatma who is my body." Sri Sankara was pleased with his answer and he gave an amla fruit and named this boy as Hastaaamalakan. (Hastaa means hand and Amalakan means amala). Hastaamalaka became one of the principle disciples of Sri Sankara.

Sri Sankara, with his three principle disciples, namely, Padmapadar, Sureshwarar (Mandala Mishra) and Hastaamalaka, went from place to place, and preached Advaita. Sri Sankara gave intense training to his disciples. One of the other disciples, Giri, while listening to the discourses, would not ask any doubts, would not open his mouth, and would be silent all the time. Some of the other disciples thought that this Giri was a dumb idiot and did not know anything. One day, all the disciples were ready to listen to Sri Sankara's discourses. Sri Sankara waited for Giri to arrive. Ultimately, Giri turned up but instead of keeping silent on that day, burst forth into eight slokas which had never been heard by the disciples earlier. These were the creation of Giri. On hearing this, all the disciples felt ashamed and praised Giri. These slokas are called "Thotaka ashtakam". Giri was named as Thotakar by Sri Sankara.

Sri Sankara visited Thiruvidaimarudur in Tanjore district of Tamilnadu, which is a great religious place, and the ruling deity in the temple was Lord Shiva. The learned Saivites of the temple informed Sri Sankara that Lord Shiva is the creator and that they are all merely lowly life created by Lord Shiva, and if that was so, how does Sri Sankara say that they were one with the Lord ? They did not agree with the Advaita principle. Sri Sankara asked them to enter the temple. As they reached the Sanctum Santorum of the temple, their was a thunderous statement "Satyam is Advaita". This was repeated thrice and it was also followed by a hand which came out of the Linga which conformed the truth. All the learned persons acknowledged the principle of Advaita and accepted Sri Sankara as their Guru. Even today, there is a Sankara Mutt at Thiruvaimarudur and there is a linga with a hand materialising out of it.

Sri Sankara visited Thiruvanaikar, near Trichy in Tamilnadu. In this temple, the Goddess Akhilandeswari was having a feirce power and people who went to have her darshan could not stand the fierceness of this Goddess. Sri Sankara created two sets of earrings which are called Tatankam and he presented these to the Goddess. The fierceness of the deity reduced. This tatankam, the earrings, has been maintained over time by the Acharyas of the Kanchi Mutt

Sri Sankara visited Tirupathi and recited the Sloka "Vishnu pathathi keshanta stotra" which describes the Lord from his foot to the head. He wanted the people to visit the Lord in great numbers and get his blessings, he established an yantra. From that day the number of followers of the temple increased and is increasing day by day.

Arjuna tree is the tree of "Marutha" and the place where Lord Shiva appears as a Linga under this "Martha" tree is called Arjuna Kshetra. The Thiruvadaimaruthur which Sri Sankara visited earlier is called Madhyaarjunam. Srisaila, in Andhra, is called Mallikarjunam as Lord Shiva resides under a Marutha Tree which has also got Jasmine creepers on this tree. Sri Sankara visited this tree and became ecstastic on seeing the linga at the foot of this tree. His happiness flowed like the waves of a flood and became a sloka called Sivanandalahiri.

Near Srisailam, there is a forest called Hatakeshwaram, that no man enters. Sri Sankara entered this place and did penance for many days. During this time, a Kabalika, by name Kirakashan appeared before him. Kapalikas are a set of people who live in the burial grounds and pray to God by giving human and animal sacrifice. They were against Advaita which preaches love and affection and shuns violence. He asked Sri Sankara that he should give his body as a human sacrifice to Lord Shiva. Sri Sankara was happy to hear this request and agreed. Kirakashan was about to cut off Sri Sankara's head when Lord Narasimha appeared in the form of a lion and killed Kirakashan.

Sri Sankara completed his travels and went to Badrinath. Lord Vishnu appeared before him and told that his sculpture in Alaknanda river should be taken out and a temple should be built for it. This temple is called Badrinarayan temple and is one of the important religious places for Hindus.

I welcome you to the ecstatic world....

2006-01-19T15:25:00.000+05:30

I Welcome you all to the ECSTATIC WORLD.

A Small Prayer:

Aum shuklambaradharam vishnum

Shashivarnam chaturbhujam

Prasanna vadanam dhyayet

Sarva vighnopa shantaye

Lord Vinayaka

Four Vedas

Rig Veda
Yajur Veda
Sama Veda
Atharwana Veda

The Puranas..............

There are 18 Puranas

Vishnu Purana
Naradiya Purana
Padma Purana
Garuda Purana
Varaha Purana
Bahagavata Purana
Brahmanda Purana
Brahmavaivarta Purana
Markandeya Purana
Bhavishya Purana
Vamana Purana
Brahma Purana
Matsya Purana
Kurma Purana
Linga Purana
Shiva Purana
Skanda Purana
Agni Purana

Ten Avatars of Lord Vishnu

Matsaya
Kurma
Varaha
Narashima
Vamana
Parasurama
Rama
Balarama
Krishna
Kalki

Aaru Padai Veedu of Lord Muruga

Thiruparamkundram
Thiruchendur
Palani
Swamimalai
Thiruthani
Pazamudhircholai

Panchaboota Stalams of Lord Shiva:

Kalahasti
Jambukeshwaram
ThiruAnnamalai
Kancheepuram
Chidambaram