Going Republic ..........

Jai Gurudev !!

Happy Republic Day wishes to all !!

The Republic Day is one day which everyone looks forward to ....to watch the colourful Republic Day Parade live in Television . The kids can be seen more enthusiastic going to schools , participating in the Republic Day functions , flag hoisting etc.

Watching the parade is a prideful moment for every Indian . It evokes a sense of patriotism and a sense of oneness among us Indians , who are united in diversity.
Innovative ideas have been brought in creating and conducting tableaux year after year is an interesting factor .One tableaux displaying the Narasimha Avatar , instantaneously brings to mind , the need of the hour is one such avatar to pull out the corruption / tainted personalities in the leading posts of our country and bring a relief to us people.

We can see the arduous amount of work and plenty of time put in by huge number of people in making the Republic Day parade , a huge success.
Many prestigious awards given posthumously as mark of  valour and sacrifice brings tears to our eyes. Children bravery awards amazes us.

The Motorcycle batallions executing the migratory birds and Human pyramids in 9 motorcycles this year creating a Guiness record is an amazing feature , which makes us to move to the corner of the seat and sit erect .

The highlight of the parade , the airshow involving the aircrafts, helicopters, Jaguars is simply superb .
The trishul formation in sky has sought a huge applause from the audience.

 Happy Republic Day !!

Jana gaṇa mana adhināyaka jaya he
Bhārata bhāgya vidhātā
Pañjāba Sindh Gujarāṭa Marāṭhā
Drāviḍa Utkala Baṅga
Vindhya Himācala Yamunā Gaṅgā
Ucchala jaladhi taraṅga
Tava śubha nāme jāge
Tava śubha āśiṣa māge
Gāhe tava jaya gāthā
Jana gaṇa maṅgala dāyaka jaya he
Bhārata bhāgya vidhāta
Jaya he jaya he jaya he
Jaya jaya jaya jaya he!


Jai Hind !!




Love & smiles...

Hey Ram .....

Jai Gurudev !!

What effect does the continuous chanting of the name of a Guru or God  make ?Does it really have any sense ?An atheist would definitely say a "No !" ...Others would say , "Ofcourse yes, it brings a positive vibration !"

I do remember reading a story elsewhere sometime ago . 

The train was moving at a fast pace ...quite crowdy .One person was sporting a peculiar behaviour in that lot. He kept on murmuring to himself continuously . There was an young blood , sitting by the side of  him, who had seemingly got annoyed at this person's non stop lip movement . Further the  carefree attitude of that person tested the youth's patience even more. Unable to control himself , the youth interrupted him  ," Hey Mr , would you please stop that and keep quiet ? So Irritating !!

"Mr.Peculiar , slowly lifted his head up and looked at the youth , " I'm chanting the name of the Lord , my friend" , he said .

"What difference does it really make , Sir ? I guess , it's just a blind belief . " bounced back the youth .

Mr.Peculiar paused for a moment and started uttering  abusive words ....

The youth got wilder at this unexpected behaviour of Mr.Peculiar . Unable to control himself , he caught hold of his collars , " Hey you , what do you think of yourself man ? "

 

On this , Mr.Peculiar stopped his abusive language and resorted to his chanting of  "Ram ...Ram....Ram " in a soft rhythmic tone.

The youth visibly cooled down in few moments and quietly started to gaze outside through the window.

Mr.Peculiar smilingly said in a friendly manner , " What Sir, do you get to see the difference it makes on chanting the the name of the Lord ? Has it not brought a harmony in the mood and behaviour  of the persons around ? "

 A beautiful smile blossomed in the youth's face ,in response...

Infact , the Hindu Mythology has defined many divine characters to indicate numerous unique divine qualities , a man can acquire in his lifetime. 

Say for instance,  

*Ram * character depicts " Valour , Righteousness , Truth "

*Hanuman * character indicates " Supreme Devotion and Strength "

*Shiva * marks " Inner peace , Dispassion , Meditative powers "

* Shakthi " means as the name indicates "Power , Dynamism , Knowledge "
Hence by chanting the names of a particular deity , the associated divine qualities gets imbibed in the individual who does the chanting meticulously and with devotion .
The chanting of " Ram " makes a person shine with His characters of Righteousness , Truth and Valour .

And so with other names of the deities.

The peaceful vibration can be noticed in the atmosphere , when one chants the God's name. No doubt !!

Just give it a try and check for yourself !!

Love & smiles....

Puja - A Child Game ?!

Jai Gurudev !!

Normally we offer prayers to the divine daily , weekly or special Prayers during festivals. We call it as Puja or Pooja .

Pooja is a Sanskrit word meaning an action that comes out of fullness.

In the sense , Pooja is done as an act of gratitude arising out of fulfillment or contented attitude .

Whenever we say Pooja, the things that come to our mind are  cleansing with  Water   , Flowers , Fruits , Food items offered as Prasad , Incense sticks , Camphors , Aarti , the Bell sound etc.

And also what we can notice here is , the Puja , what we perform is an imitation of what Nature is doing us . Puzzling ?! 

Just bringing to our mind , recollecting our childhoos games , one would not miss out the game played with toys with such an involvement . Generally , a girl child imitates her mom and the boy child would love to imitate his dad.

The girl child will have a toy doll and it's a fun watching her play with it  . She gives bath to the doll , feeds her with a bottle , talks to her , dresses her up and does what all her mom does for her.

 She makes her sleep , nurses her carefully as though the doll baby has fallen ill .

    

    On the otherhand , the boy child would imitate his dad , his profession . He would play as a conductor or a doctor or any profession  . That's a lovely game which no one would have ever missed out in those days of yesteryears - childhood  games . Also , they play the game of the impressive characters , which they see in their daily routine as teachers, milkman, postman , thief, washerman , bus conductor, driver etc . The children would just love playing this imitating games . It's a common sight to watch.                        

If we take a closer look at the way we offer prayers or Puja , it is something similar to the kids game of imitating elders .

For instance , during a Pooja, the place is well cleaned , disinfected with naturally available items like turmeric, cowdung etc and a beautiful design pattern is drawn on the ground with various colours smeared on the patterns called as Rangoli .

Infact , the Divine makes our life colourful , providing us lots of entertainments and each one of our life is like a unique rangoli pattern .

And in that case , are we not imitating the Divine ? 

Then , during the Puja , we decorate the place with flowers , lit lamps , burn the incense sticks to spread the fragrance ,  offer flowers , fruits , various delicacies  , sing songs , play musical instruments and make aartis with Camphor . And then we bow down to God as an act of surrender.

If we observe  , the Divine Nature gives us flowers , fruits , vegetables, Cotton for clothes and literally everything to us .

The Nature causes the birds to chirp - multiple sounds produced by different birds , similar to the vocal songs and instrumental sounds.

 

And the Nature provides us the ample light and heat by making the Sun to move around us , rather makes the Earth move around the Sun

and makes the living on this planet earth a reality . Otherwise, no one can think of life on Earth at all. How kind is the Nature towards us ?!

This is similar to the aarti , we do , in response to the moving around of the sun , an act of gratitude towards the Sun and the Nature , in turn.  

So, do you agree with the fact that we offer prayers or perform Puja to God , as an imitation of  what the Divine Nature does to us , living beings with so much love and care ?!

Love & smiles.....



Yoga Beauties !!

Jai Gurudev !!

Shilpa Shetty, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Sridevi, Trisha Krishnan, Pop star, Madonna, Lara Dutta, Sonam Kapoor, Angeline Jolie, Kavita Kharayat …

Wonder why the names of the popular personalities are being listed out here ?

There’s something common in them . A common factor connects them all !!

It’d be quite surprising to note that all these beautiful blondes , maintain their figures slim and trim  inspite of their increasing age factor.

Though they might follow some strict diets , devoid of fatty substances  as part of their professional career ,  they seem to seek the help of our ancient methodology to achieve that and  to have a control over their body , which normal people generally fail to do so.

If you have guessed it right , yes they are all regular yoga practitioners says the reliable sources . Just read on the news about these celebrities and enjoy munching this goosip , ofcourse a healthy one !! 

Shilpa Shetty

The  slim  actress  has called yoga , a lifestyle choice and the most holistic approach to life she have ever come across' and with good reason -- she is said to have been suffering from a neck problem and chronic spondylitis before she took to yoga.

"I don't believe in starving myself to remain thin. I eat well, work out and practise yoga to remain healthy. If you want to get peace for the mind, body and soul, yoga is the only answer," Shilpa has been quoted as saying.

Jennifer Aniston

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"The yoga has helped her to get her body where she wanted it,"

Aniston has also confessed that yoga 'changed her life' and helped her 'quiet her mind'.

She told People magazine that her favourite poses are the child pose (balasana) and the tree pose (tadasana).

Kareena Kapoor

The Bollywood star, the size-Zero famous Kareena who lost oodles of weight for her film Tashan, is said to be an avid yoga practitioner, which helped her drop those pounds and gain them back in a healthy way.

Bebo is said to practice yoga religiously for at least an hour every day.

Her trainer Payal Gidwani has said that yoga has also helped Kareena calm down and has touched her 'soul and is her prayer'.

Rani Mukherjee

Mukerji's yoga trainer Payal Gidwani designed a two-hour regime for the star that involved 45 minutes of walking and an hour and 15 minutes of yoga.

Slowly but surely, the results began to show. Apparently, Rani is so taken with yoga that she continues to practice it regularly.

Kavita Kharayat

She is an amateur gymnast and has also run two marathons so far. Besides running, she performs power yoga to keep herself fit.

Kavita also does regular yoga, meditation and pranayamas to stay calm and de-stress.

Angeline Jolie

This Hollywood star was named the hottest yoga celeb in a contest on Youtube a couple of years ago.

Now it seems that Brad has also joined her, as the two perform yoga together with their Indian spiritual teacher Guru Ram Lalji.

They're said to be practicing Siddha yoga, which has helped them cut back on their drinking and has reduced their arguments.

Pop star, Madonna

The pop star was on her way to New York when her flight was stranded at Heathrow Airport . Not one to lose out on a single free moment, she decided to practice some calming yoga poses.

Wherever she may be, Madonna, we are told, practices Ashtanga yoga daily for over 90 minutes.

Sridevi

According to her trainer Manish Tiwari, Sridevi practices yoga for an hour each day, five times a week and reveals that Surya Namaskars and headstands are the secret behind her glowing skin.

Trisha Krishnan

The actress has said that she finds this form of workout to be most convenient when she is travelling for outdoor shoots, because she doesn't need to depend on any gym equipment or carry anything other than a yoga mat.

 LaraDutta , Anushka  and many other actresses have resorted to our ancient Yoga Technique to keep their body fit and fine !!

The world is moving towards the path of yoga slowly ...gradually !! 

How about you ? 

Love & smiles...

Right things in the Right Time !!

Jai Gurudev !!

"Is it mandatory that we need to ask for something , while praying ? "

The other day , a friend of mine  raised a question .

Approaching from a different  perspective , we can easily arrive at a suitable answer .

Lets assume , a child and its mom going for the shopping in a mall . They wanted to buy some clothing for the child.

The child , right from the time they started off to the mall , was very curious , asking for a specific type of dress . The mom said , "Yes darling , definitely I'll get one such for you !!"
All the way to the mall , the child did not keep quiet , kept on asking for it , though the mom had agreed to meet its demand . The child did not stop , until such time it got whatever it needed.

Immediately , the next moment , the child started off again with a fresh demand  and just kept on pestering for the same .The patient mom , out of her love for the child , tried her best to meet its' demands . 

But, the child did not stop with one or two demands . Next ...next...one more ...one more...

Just imagine the mental state of the mom . She finally would have got fed up of the ever growing demands of the child .

Sometimes her response would be " Okay , take it and get lost !!"

And sometimes, she would not bother to hear the child's demand at all .

Though at times , she would even go to the extent of scolding & beating the child to make it sit quiet and calm .



So, coming to our discussion ,
let's put our ownself in the place of the child  and
let's put the Divine or the God in the place of the mom and imagine such a situation as above .
Generally ,we call the Divine as The Heavenly Father or The Divine Mother as the path set by our  religions .

Though we may feel a bit uneasy to imagine  ,
the underlying fact is that  , that's what exactly is happening in our cases too .
We go to the places of worship or do the prayers , only to keep on placing one or the other demands to the God .
How disgusting would it be , if we are in the place of the divine !!

Inspite of the divine taking care of our every needs right before we are born , till we die , we never get contented with what we receive at all !! 

As the mom knows the needs of the baby well in advance , keeps the food ready even before it starts feeling hungry , nurses the baby during the times of illness , showers love abundantly on the child unconditionally  and takes care of the child's every need meticulously with dedication and love .

So, Will not the God or the Divine Mother/Father take care of  us and bless us with whatever we need in appropriate time ,  even before we ask for anything  ?!

What if the child  , having confidence in its mom , remains happy and relaxed/peaceful all the way to the shopping mall , enjoying the location , laughing and playing , singing and dancing with her  ?!

What if we , also have an unshakeable Faith in the Divine that our wishes will all be fulfilled in the right time , in the right way and .... move around in a relaxed and peaceful state of mind , enjoying every moment of our life ?!!

What if we say a word of thanks to God for whatever He is showering on us instead of placing demands after demands ?!







Love & smiles.... 

Why don't Lord Vishnu have any kids ?

Jai Gurudev !!


Just happened to face a question from a colleague of mine ,
 " When Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy have 2 kids viz. Ganesha and Subramanya , why don't  Lord Vishnu have any kids ?  "

Though the question brings a smile to our face , it makes us to really think about it .

In temples and places of worship , we  see the pictures of Lord Shiva along with His wife Parvathy , with their sons Ganesha and Subramanya  and worship is made to the idols with fervour and devotion . Mount Kailash is believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva .

Similarly Lord Vishnu is being prayed along with His wife Goddess Lakshmi . Tirupathi Tirumala is a popular temple down south for Lord Vishnu. But , nowhere we see or hear about the children of Lord Vishnu.

Contemplating on this aspect , we can say that ,
" All these Divine forms , which exists in Hindu Mythology depicts the different states of Consciousness , which a human being can witness in his spiritual journey !!

It can be put as : 

• The Deep meditative state represents the Shiva Consciousness .,

• The State of action or Dynamic power is represented by Goddess Parvati or Devi .

• A combined state of Meditation and the Dynamic action leads to the birth of two more  consciousness states  ; That means , a person who practises *deep meditation* and also engages oneself in * 100 % action*  would witnesses the birth of  *KNOWLEDGE*  and attain  a * state of Joy and Bliss * .

Here Knowledge represents Ganesha Consciousness , as Ganesha is the Lord of Knowledge. And the Joyful /Blissful state represents Lord Subramanya or Muruga . Lord Muruga is the bestower of Material pleasures and Joy .

• One who indulges himself more and more in meditation and remains in the path of Truth and Knowledge can witness the blossoming of one more Supreme consciousness called as Krishna or Vishnu Consciousness .

With the birth of Vishnu Consciousness , he starts to reach out to  people in multiple ways , and lifts the people up , liberating them from their worldy miseries by instilling in them the Knowledge of the Truth  .( We can recall here ...Baghavad Gita states as  Lord Krishna imparting Knowledge to Arjuna in warfield and also protecting his people in Brindavan from natural calamities , by lifting the Govardhan Hills in his little finger . Lord Krishna also mesmerises people by His Flute and His mere presence ).

We can see that whole humanity  gets benefitted by this consciousness. With the attainment of Krishna Consciousness , He starts to care for the world. The Earth  finds  it's caretaker in Krishna Consciousness .

• In Fact , the Inner Consciousness of Lord Krishna  is  Shiva Consciousness .
• And the outer consciousness of Lord Shiva is Krishna or Vishnu Consciousness .

And the Hindu religion  initaites one into the path of spirituality by making him familiar with the various consciousness as the first step . This has led to the construction of temples and formulation of customs /practises / stories associated with it  due to which the knowledge finds a way to get transferred from generation to generation easily and stays immortal in this world . 

Also go through Why-dont-lord-vishnu-have-kids-Part-II



  Love & smiles...