Different people of India celebrate Chaturmasya vrata as festival in different styles and on different dates, even though some of these are common for the followers of different faith. It is a very important achara, means performance of religious fast, for controlling self-emotions, and fulfillment of desires by controlling the nature and having the blessings of God at large for the benefit of family and self. In general, it is a holy religious fasting system.
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सत्यम्ब्रूयात् प्रियम्ब्रूयात् न ब्रूयात्सत्यमप्रियम् ।
One must speak truth since truth is the first principle for mankind .But one should not speak unpleasantly even though the matter may be truth. In this regards, old Indian writings emphasize too much. Shree Adi Shankaracharya always encouraged questioning the methods and systems involved in the Indian rituals. He travelled throughout India participating in shastrartha vagvada charchas, meaning hot debates, arguments like court trials, in the presence of the then rulers of the land.
Continue readingThe people of India celebrate various festivals in different styles and dates, even though some of these are common for the different believers. India supports multi lingual society, with followers of different faith. From the very early dates of history, it could be seen in India, people lived here having different aptitudes and liking with respect to the one in their near neighborhood.
Celebrating of different types of festivals in India has never caused any conflict but went on with mass happiness. Thus, in a neighborhood, people belonging to Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikh, or Jains, speaking different languages, live together happily. Out of their different festivals, some six are more important and hence recognized throughout India, but celebrated on different dates and in different styles.
Continue readingThere are six seasons in India. Generally, there are four seasons, universally known as follows: Spring (Vasantha), Summer (Grishma), Autumn (Sharath) and winter (Shishira). The additional two more seasons classified are Monsoon (Varsha) and Pre-winter (Hemanta).
The most essential commodity for human life is water and the nature provides it by showering rains on earth. Hence the rainy season of monsoon is very important and in India, it is marked as Varsha Ritu. Ritu means season in Sanskrit. Also, after monsoon but prior to winter, there is a phenomenon in the trees which automates falling of their leaves. Trees may be preparing to face winter season and this pre winter season is marked in India as Hemanta Ritu. The Indian classification is illustrated below:
| Indian Ritu | Seasons | Period | Lunar months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vasantha Ritu | Spring | 21st March to 21 May | Chaitra – Vaishakha |
| Grishma Ritu | Summer | 22nd May to 22 July | Jyesta – Ashada |
| Varsha Ritu | Monsoon | 23rd July to 22nd September | Shravana – Bhadrapada |
| Sharad Ritu | Autumn | 23rd September to 21st November | Ashvija – Kartika |
| Hemant Ritu | Pre-Winter | 22nd November to 20th January | Margashira – Pushya |
| Shishir Ritu | Winter | 21st January to 20th March | Magha – Phalguna |
The word Guru is used for a person in the sense of honour. It is associated with the field of education and means teacher in Sanskrit. Sri Kanapram Narayanan Namboothiri, from Kaithapram (Pin code – 670631), a place near Payyannur, deserves to be honoured with the word “Guru” since he served for the same in the field of Indian astrology. The author of this article actually used to reside in his residence as a disciple of astrology and has learnt various items related to the subject during the time periods from 5 p.m. till 9 p.m. in the years from 1983 up to 1989 approximately for six years, but in broken periods. He also provided food in that time and bed for overnight rest, similar to the Gurukulam system of learning.
Continue readingकूजन्तम् राम रामेति मधुरम् मधुराक्षरम्।
आरुह्य कविता शाखाम् वन्दे वाल्मीकि कोकिलम्॥
Ramayana has many good and exemplary characters beckoning holy nature. Varuna is the Charioteer and provides chariot riding services to the Sun God and is the brother of Garuda. Garuda serves Shree Mahavishnu providing self-body as a comfortable vehicle for his master’s satisfaction. Varuna one day desired to have a child and prayed to Sun God. God offered a male child immediately to Varuna but later, Varuna thought looking after a child with good care would become a problem while attending to his uninterrupted routine works of driving the horse chariot of Sun God.
धनमग्निं धनं वायुर्धनं सूर्यो धनं वसुः।
धनमिंद्रो बृहस्पतिर्वरुणं धनमश्नुते ॥
The Goddess of Wealth is Lakshmi as per Indian belief. If one desires to get more wealth and continuously worships Goddess Lakshmi, he faces problems only, since Lakshmi is never pleased by simply worshiping her alone .There are several angels serving the main one, the supreme God, and each angels are assigned universal obligations. Lakshmi being the main angel is none other than the wife of Vishnu, who is the Main Protector of this world, also called as Maha Vishnu. There are more than one thousand names to Maha Vishnu., widely known as Vishnu sahasranama. They are in Sanskrit verses form and anybody could sing the same with musical melody.
श्रुति स्मृति पुराणानाम् आलयम् करुणालयम् ।
नमामि भगवत्पादम् शंकरम् लोक शंकरम् ॥
The common Indian word for cultural activities as a whole is termed as Achara. Acharya means a person who adds, deletes or modifies suitable items to the cultural activity system and performs the achara or persuades his followers for the benefit of the society. Here in this article, one of the prominent persons is Shree Adi Shankaracharya, for our benefits. He is not the initial one in his line, but we treat him as prominent in his lineage. He propagated the forgotten Advaitha Philosophy of India. His Guru or teacher was Shree Govinda Bhagavad Pada Acharya. The previous known Guru or teacher of Shree Govinda Bhagavad Pada Acharya is Shree Gauda Padacharya. Shree Adi Shankaracharya is a great social reformer, writer in Sanskrit, founder of the great Advaitha peetha Mathas at four places of India, i.e., at Puri of Odisha, Sringeri of Karnataka, Dwaraka of Gujarat and Badarika of Uttaranchal, which are still functioning.
Birth and Childhood
Bhagavatha is a biography of Lord Krishna written by Maharshi Veda Vyasa in Sanskrit verses in the beginning of Kali Yuga or this era. The purpose of birth of Lord Krishna was to reestablish Dharma in India. It is a social principle which is a natural style of life for Indians as desired by God. In due course of time, human beings themselves get deviated away from this style of life, Dharma. Human being is provided with great freedom of thought by God and one can decide his own style of life by deviating from Dharma, it is permitted. Other people should not be hurt by the new style of life of that man, which means only a tolerable style is permitted by God. Sin is accumulated in a man’s life account if one deviates away from the tolerable way of Dharma. When most of the people, including the ruler of the land, become intolerable to the citizens following Dharma, then God himself takes birth and this happened in the case of Krishna. Therefore he is Lord Krishna.
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत
अभ्युत्थानम् अधर्मस्य तदात्मानम् स्र्जाम्यहम्
Srimad bhagavdgeetha
Shreechakra, or Sri Chakra, is a yanthra designed with circles and triangles containing manthrakshara in its own deserving places, drawn using Sanskrit tantric methods. It is also available in solid block model in meru danda form called ‘Bala Tripurasundari Nilaya’. The main purpose of Shreechakra is to submit the devotional rituals in the easiest methods as an alternative path of vedic homa to have enhanced output results. Concentration is the main required quality for Shreechakra method of worship, known as ‘Shreechakropasana’. People in the business field could not arrange fire rituals frequently. Due to time shortage, other forms such as tarpan, dwija bhojana and temple visits are not practicable simultaneously with business, timely attending of shops or factories and land cultivations.
