Hnduism not authered by man[APAURESHAYAM]

Each  religion has a founder and his writings and preachings are authentic to the followers.in some religions even the book is worshiped and enshrined in temple, like Sikhism wherein holy book is worshiped as "granthsahib". almost all religions does have their own         particular text showing the path  to salvation. so there is an authoritative book on which one's religion is based.hence it's very easy for many people from other religions' except Hinduism.The Christians follow Bible,Muslims the Koran Buddhists  follow Dhammapada and the par sees "Avesta"but Hindus  do not have a similar ready answer.This is due to the fact it's not authored by a single man[APAURESHEYAM].some of the Hindus consider Ramayana as sacred text,others 'bagavath geeta"yet others follow Vedanta as sacred text.thus  for a Hindu  a confusion can arise as others have only one sacred text.HENCE we call this as apaureshyam which means not authored  by an individual.Hinduism does'nt talk about only rituals' it also talks about Dharma. to study dharma we have to refer dharma pramana.[that which gives true knowledge of dharma]. there is a verse  which goes thus; [Angami vedas chatvaro, meemsa, nyaya vistaraha, puranam dharma shastram cha, vidya tahe chaturdasha." there are 14 sacred texts, which explains our Hinduism. These are four vedas, six vedangas or auxillaries to Vedas like "SHIKSHA" which is euphony and pronounciation,vyakarana or grammar,chandas or metre,Niruktham or etymolgy, jyotisha or astronomy,kalpa or procedure,meemamsa or interpretation  of vedic texts, nyaya or logic, purana or mythology, dharma sahstras containing code of conduct. these are available in the above sacred texts. hence these are called "vidyasthanas"

a good vegetarian fruit salad

dear guys, i recently tried  fruit salad[i  name it as fruit chat], which came out  very successfully. you may try the same and enjoy with your family.[1] take one apple, peel the skin,remove the seeds and cut the apple into small pieces[2] take one banana, peel the skin, and cut the banana into small pieces.[3] take one peer remove seeds, and cut it into small pieces.[4] take orange, peel the skin, remove seeds and cut it into small pieces.[5] take  quarter piece of pineapple, remove outer skin,and cut it into pieces.[6]take some 20 to 30 grapes.[7] take four dates cut it into small pieces.[8] take one lemon ,squeeze the liquid into a vessel.[9] take  20 to 30 pomegranate seeds.[10] take  one spoon of chat masala [11] take half spoon salt , add the same to the fruits .Now mix the entire contents in a big bowl. keep the bowl in fridge for two hours for chilling.[not necessary for cold U.S climate]. enjoy the same. the process of cutting the fruits takes only half an hour, and you can avoid drudgery of cooking in the kitchen for a change.

Dakshina moorthi stotram----[verse meaning of nana chidra gadodara]

dakhina moorthi stotram  is a tribute to the great teacher[guru] who unfolds the supreme truth. one of the shloka is "Nana chidra gadodara sthitha maha, deepa prabha baswaram, jnyanam yasyathu chakshuradhi karanam dwara bahi spandase, janameethi tameva bandamanuvad yethath samastam jagath, thasme shree guru moorthaye namayidham, shree dakshinamoorthaye!-----well imagine a lamp is inside a big pot, wherein lot's of small holes are there, we can see as many rays  as possible. now there is only one lamp, that has been lightened up, but  for us it appears as if there are number of rays Adi shankara says  we are seeing this phenomenon of plural entities due to our senses like  eyes,ears etc which  reports to our mind the external world. then i say i know  this and i do not this  both the phenomenons are objectified  by one entity called atman or supreme truth. . it's like one sun  and several pots of water. and in each pot  we see the sun. in reality there is only one sun, but it appears as if there are many suns. this is due to the power of maya  that plays a part, it covers the satyam, and when this covering or ignorance is removed the supreme truth prevails. to the supreme truth called Dakshina moothy [adi guru] i pay my obeisance.

yoga and it's importance

yoga is derived from it's root yujir in Sanskrit' which means to merge or join or unite.it's the union of individual soul with eternal reality or supreme truth. this was practiced in India nearly for ten thousand years. Yoga frees our life's sorrows and prevents diseases and fluctuations of the mind..it gives us composure and inward unity in various life struggles.it's the art of knowing one self and knowing the eternal truth.it's also the study of body,mind and intellect. it's  a way of life,wherein arts and science meet.Sage Patanjali attributed eight limbs to yoga[Ashtanga Yoga] that are inter dependant but all leads to  one goal.THESE ARE [1]Yama----conduct towards others (social discipline)---[2]Niyama---conduct towards oneself or individual discipline.[3]Asana---practice of poses(physical discipline)---[4]pranayama---the breath control (mental discipline)--[5] prathyahara--withdrawal of senses(discipline of senses)-[6] Dharana---concentration of particular object. [7]DHYANA----MEDITATION [8] SAMADHI----SELF REALIZATION-----the absence or sickness of any one limb leads to health problems.

THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

king janaka offered the competitors a prize of thousand cows with 10 pieces of gold hanging from each cow to ascertain vedic truths .thousandsake the cattle participated,specially from kuru-panchala, the strong hold of vedic learning.those who were ready for answers were grilled with intense questioning. the failure to answer would result in the explotion of pretender's head., so naturally many scholars were afraid.surprisingly one local was Yajnavalkya, who was with his assistant to take the cattle home.very little was known about him  at janaka's contest.he was to retire to forest  to meditate along with his wife Maitreyi. Priests wanted to test him. Hotri the chief told yajnavalkya" tell me-when this whole world is caught in the grip of death,how can the patron of the sacrifice free from it's grip? Yajnavalkya replied "by means of the hotri priest- that is by means of fire., by means of speech. so this speech- it is this fire here. it is the hotri priest' it is freedom' and it is complete freedom"ashvala  the hotri was the connection between his role at sacrifice, fire he controlled, and speech which he knew best' it had to be good to hear specially the king being present,that complete freedom from death{for the sacrificer-the king]' would be gained through hotri's own ritual work . The  questions like verses,oblations, songs and gods involved in the sacrifice,and their meanings etc were  answered by yajnavalkya who culd perform the yajna single handedly.. THE display of yajnavalkya's knowledge was so autoritative that Ashwala king's priest fell silent and sat down defeated . ARTHABAGA another priest asked yajnavalkya" tell me when  a man dies his speech disappears into fire, his breath into the wind, his sight into the sun,his mind into the moon, his hearing into the quarters,his physical body to the earth, his atman into space, hair into the plants,blood into the water. Yajnavalkya replied i cannot reply in public.take my hand follow me to discuss in Private. what they talked about was  karma.the sage told him "A man turns into something good by good action and into something bad by bad action--[Brihadaranyaka upanishad 3.2.13]

Gaya stands an impressive temple

queen  Ahilya Bai of Indore built this temple in 1787 following her visit to gaya.this temple is known as vishnu pad temple.the foot print of Vishnu attracts thousands, and many Hindus offer rice balls[pinda] on the first anniversary of the deceased , for their happy afterlife.why do they do? in vayu purana, king of demons Bali controlled many world .. Vishnu incarnated as Vamana asked Mahabali, on behalf other gods as much space  as he would cover in three strides. mahabali was glad enough to give the same. the first covered the entire earth, the second atmosphere,the third covered heaven.Revealing himself as Vishnu, then sent the demons to hell, and he himself became master of three worlds. one of the steps has been traced on the ground in Gaya.  in one of the Upanishads there  is a mention of Vishnu's strides.[thretha nidhate padam]

feb-15-- a day that i can't forget[2010]

it is with a deep sorrow that i remember feb-15th last year that my wife  parvathi  expired due to cancer.. well i remember those days, when we began our wedded life during nov74. we were extremely happy and were on the top of the world. every year we took opportunity to enjoy the holidays away from the hurry-berry  city to  either hill stations or to temples of south India. our two darlings were born during 77 and 79. our concern was educating them. my wife always wanted the best education for them and i can say confidently that she was a driving force to my children for their higher studies, incidentally my role was very small.but for her efforts, they would not be what they are today. then came their marriages again we were blessed with right daughter-in-laws. then it was in august 2008 that she was struck with 4thstage cancer.i was inwardly very much worried,but she never was weak. she became more courageous[ it was her habit to rise and face any situation boldly] she fought her disease for nearly 2 years, along with her i was also running after doctors,nurses,hospitals etc. very often she was worried about me , as i was always detached from my family rumblings, except for last two years. she always used to say  that i do not know anything  about our family, which was a harsh truth. now i missed my past 35years of joint venture of married life. her end came suddenly, she was just suffering from pneumonia and could not come out of it and passed away on 15th feb. i always remember her good nature in correcting others whenever they were wrong be it be  her relations friends or husband. her interest in children were exemplary she was highly respected as a senior most teacher by udyachal school of vikhroli. her reputation was known in godrej management and soonu bhen the director of godrej called me for  a meeting with her after her demise for 45 minutes, and told me about their concern in loosing one of their best teachers. well today  i remember her with a deep sorrow.somebody asked me hows  my life now? my answer was can you write anything without a paper or any medium whatsoever?------v.veeraraghavan

Brihadeeshwara temple-----1000 years- still strong

brihadeeshwara temple of lord shiva  was  built by Rajaraja chola of south India during the year  1010 A.D in Tanjore. brihat literally means big in sanskrit. eeshwara=the lord. thus brihateeshwara means the big lord(powerful and limitless lord.) this temple stood the vagaries of nature for more than one thousand years.this has been included in the category of heritage monument and unesco has undertaken project to restore north side of the temple giving   a face-lift  for the old structure. and the work is completed already. T[his Temple not only welcomed the powerful kings of the south in earlier days, but also attracted many poets and common men for worship of the powerful lord. this temple has a height of 215 feet and visible from any  area in Tanjore, perhaps the only temple having this characteristics. This temple also has the second biggest nandi(bull) in front of the temple tower.Archaelogical survey of india says the temple in it's purest form represents the Dravidian architectural  beauty. and it is in excellent condition, even after 1000 years.

the saffron cloth of sanyasins----a hindu tradition

saffron indicates the inner attainment of the goal which one wants to reach. it indicates one who is not interested in worldly  achievements.it is an open declaration that one is dedicated to lord and realization of the self.it means body and mind are consumed by vairagya[detachment] and one does not belong to any nation,caste or creed,sect, or religion.however cloth is only a symbol that indicate a state of non attachment.. the snyasin's inner change of attitudes that are important. in that state they do not expect or demand anything from anyone. in sanyas one should totally give up ones own ego. sanyasi is one who realizes. kashaya that everything is brahman(supreme consciousness). kashaya indicates pure knowledge that can burn down the ignorance. snyasi has to detach himself from relations. for him there is no sukha or dukha. he is free from dualities. not supposed to complain about hot or cold sanyasi either has to teach,or learn  from sastras everyday.he symbolizes the truth. sanyasi  cannot hurt anybody through mind,body, or actions. above all he should be nonviolent.there are various types of sanyasa like vidvat sanyasa, vivideesha sanyasa, apatsanyasa  e.t.c. since sanyasis have given up the worldly  attachments it is the duty of society to sustain them and take their  blessings, since they represent the real knowledge.

wisdom from life experiences-chapter93-verse no:1

bandhu sneham vijahyam, thava hee karunaya, thvayu paveshidhatma,   sarvam thyakthya chareyam sakalamapi jagadhveekshya mayavilasam.  nanathvadh branthi janya sathi kalu  gunadoshava bodhe vidhirva,  vyasedho va katham thou thvayi nihithamathe, veetha vaishamya budhehe:--verse-1-ch-93-----narayana bhattathiri who was the author of great work called narayaneeyam(bhagavatham condensed in 100 chapters ,- roughly around 1033 verses representing various school of thoughts, says: if thou be gracious, i shall abandon my love and attachment for all my relatives. with my mind merged in thee, i shall abandon everything and wander about, viewing the whole universe as an expression of maya thy mysterious power. the compulsions of the ought and the ought-not(vidhinishedas) of the scriptures are applicable only in the sphere of multiplicity born of false understanding. how can they govern one whose understanding has been merged in thee and has transcended  the consciousness of differences?

how to go beyond thoughts-- a view

thoughts are really inert. they derive their power from the Atman. our thoughts are our own creation.we make them real by co-operating with them. if we withdraw our support, they dissolve. just observe the thoughts closely, but don't label them. then you will see them gradually going away.mind has been accumulating thoughts and desires for ages, through different bodies to which we take birth. all these emotions are buried deep within.when you try to make the mind still through meditation,thoughts slowly come to the surface.it's like cleaning a floor or mirror, wherein dirt is collected over a period of time. keep cleaning the thoughts as the accumulate every day' gradually they will disappear. in fact i would    say even if they come up , once you see them it is easy to remove them. but here patience is very much essential. be persistent and keep performing  sadhana. in due course  one can gain strength to surpass them. anyway what is mind? it's just a collection of thoughts. nobody can locate the mind.so in   meditation we are just witnessing thoughts without identifying them.