Narasimma Sastha

I heard about this temple, few months back - the name of the Temple is Narasimma Sastha. I was confused hearing the name. Later I remembered a temple in Kerala where Sastha demanded Primal worship from Narasimma and the ferocious Lion God actually admired the valor of Sastha and accepted to offer the first worship to Sastha and then to him.

But this temple located at Adipuram, Thuthukudi Dist is totally different... This temple is actually having two separate shrines for Narasimma and Sastha  

Forest at Sabarimala !

DEAR SHRI ARAVIND SUBRAMANIAM!

THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH US. FOR THE

COMMON FOLK LIKE US LIKE TO HEAR FROM PERSONS LIKE YOU. 

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION IS IMPROVING THE FACILITIES AT SABARIMALA? IN OLDEN DAYS IT WAS COMPLETELY FOREST AREA. IS IT NECESSARY THAT PEOPLE STILL SUFFER IN THE FOREST AREAS? 

WHY NOT WE MODERNIZE THE ROUTE AND MADE AS THAT OF OTHER TEMPLES?

Sundar,

Dubai

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Dear Sir,

Who am I to comment on this ?  Please understand that Only Ayyappan's Chitham will prevail in His poonkavanam...

Modernization at Sabarimala? The entire Poonkavanam is Swami's forest and He wants to be there in solitude...

Please understand that he has just given us a chance to offer our devotion to him...

In the name of facilities you cannot disturb his abode.. This is a greatest sin which most of the devotees are doing. 

If you are looking for facilities, you may get it.. But you wont get Swami then...

A true Ayyappa devotee sees pleasure in all the hardships of the yatra and Sabarimala is his home... Thats the reason most of the age-old devotees (Pazhamalakkaar) still prefer the "Long-Route" and strongly oppose laying roads and any other change in the forest.

I can recollect an incident which happened around Mid 1980s

Kanchi Kamakoti Peetadipathi Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal made his first visit to Sabarimalai. He, along with his group camped at Nambiyar Guest house. Many journalists of all important dailies were also present there to interview Swamigal.

In the midst of the conversation, Swamigal expressed that, "There should be better facilities at Sabarimala. Forests should be cleared off. Even the Neelimala path should be cleared and expanded."

When the talks were going on, a person from Sri Matam came running. He was perplexed and went near Swamigal and informed him that a member of their group was lying dead in the Marakkoottam area.

The Shankaracharyar was shocked and ended his talks abruptly... He remained in meditation for some time... He opened his eyes and came out saying "I have withdrawn all my statements"

He closed his room for a long time and came out only during the deeparadhana. He went in front of Lord Ayyappa; had his darshan and called "Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa" for a long time.

After this a special reception was arranged at the temple premises and the then Devaswom Board president enquired the Swamigal what reforms were to be brought about for the development of the temple. 

Swamigal gave an immediate reply "Ayyappa is very powerful ! His forest should be taken care of and maintained as it was".

Meera - The Epitome of Bhakti

When real life incidents are recorded in movie form, most of the time it fails to record the original feeling...

But this movie is something extraordinary, which depicts the real epitome of  Bhakti

Whatever be one's Ishta devata - one has to crave for such an immaculate bhakti like Meera

Mahaganapati Tarpanam

Dear Anna, I wish to know about the Ganapathy Tarpanam. When I met you at Sabarimali, You suggested me to perform this tarpanam for 41 days. You also gave me a picture for the Chatur Avruti Tarpanam

I took your words as upadesham and have started doing the tarpanam and completed 10 days and I could see the result immediately. So I want to know its greatness.

Krishnan, 

Mumbai

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This post is solely meant for Upasakas.. For some it may sound Greek and Latin. Anyway, even by reading this, I think we contemplate on Ganapati and Ganapati may cast his Kataksham on us... Since Vinayaka Chaturti is fast approaching I thought few of our readers may be benefited.

Ganeshas Tarpana Priyah: says Sasthram

So the easiest way to please Ganapati is performing the chaturavrutti tarppanam. 

A person can earn the grace of the Lord speedily by offering this 444 tarpanams. 

The water should be mixed with vasana dravyams like chandanam, cardamom, Saffron etc and this tarpanam is done with the moola mantram of ganapati along with the all his avarana devatas. This in turn removes obstacles, bestows us all good things in life

The qualification for this is proper upadesham of (28 lettered) Moola mantram of Maha Ganapati 

This may be done for Ganapaty yantram, or yantram drawn with turmeric or sandal. Or else some may use Sonabadra stone directly for doing the tarpanam. This changes according to one's acharam. 

Do the shodochopachara puja to ganapaty and after that pour the suganda jalam on the yantram/bimbam while chanting the prescribed Mantra and "Tarpayami namaha". Each tarpanam in repeated 4 times.

There are 28 aksharas for the Maha Ganapati moola mantra. 

Ganapathy Tarpanam starts by doing tarpanam with all these 28 aksharas individually.

So 28 Moolam Tarpanam + 28 Aksharam Tarpanam = 56 x 4 times= 224 Tarpanams

In the same way, each the avarana devatas(along with their consorts separately) of Ganapaty are to be pleased by doing tarpanam .

1. Lakshmi - Vishnu

2. Girija and Haran

3. Rati and Kama

4. Mahi and Varaha

5. Mahalakshmi and Mahaganapati

6. Riddhi and Amodha

7. Smruthi and Pramodha

8.Kanthi and Sumuka

9.Madanavati Durmuka

10.Madadrava and Avigna

11.Dravini and Vignakarta

12. Vasudhara and Shankanidhi

13. Vasumati and Padmanidhi

For each of the above couples separate Tarpanam

So 13 x 2 = 26 

So 26 Moolam Tarpanam + 26 Devata Tarpanam = 52 x 4 times each= 208 Tarpanams

Separate Tarpanams for Maha Ganapati = 4 + 8 = 12

So 224 + 208 + 12 = 444 Tarpanams

Another notable feature followed in few schools of chaturavrutti tarpanam is unique. ie doing tarpanam with what are all moola mantrams one has got upadesham - through Mahaganapati. This inturn helps a lot in mantra siddhi and earn the grace of one's ishta devata.

After the Tarpanam one can consume the Tarpana jalam as prasadam and also give the same to 

all the people in the house.

When this is done for 41 days, this becomes a yagna and this process removes any obstacles in all the endevours, removes fears and gives success, gives mental clarity in thinking and blesses with all the aishwaryams. 

After this one can continue to do this every even daily or atleast on every Fridays.

Sri Adisankara has mentioned in Prapancha Saram, that all people irrespective of of caste, creed or religion can do it to seek the blessings of Lord Maha Ganapati.

Ayur arogya maishwaryam balam pushtir mahatyasha

kavitvam bukti mukti cha chaturavrutti tarpanaat

By doing Ganapati Chaturavrutti Tarpanam regularly one is blessed with Ayuh- a long life, Arogyam- good health, Aishwaryam - dharmic wealth, Balam - strength, Pushti - lasting eminence, Mahat Yashas-great honour and veneration , Kavitvam- Literary skills, Bukti - enjoyment of worldly life and Mukti - Moksha ie salvation and liberation from the cycle of birth and death. 

Anaimukhan Sodharane Sharanam Ayyappa

A Moment Called Ananda

A Moment Called Ananda

 the Laksharcha at Sabarimalai

Moksha is not anywhere else and not an unknown thing.  It is the nature of unsurpassed Ananda. Every human being, irrespective of his caste, creed and belief prays for Liberation and this eternal Moksha from the cycle of birth and death.  

 

With   this little preamble, let me dwell upon some of my experience regarding the Laksharchana we did to Lord Sastha at Sabarimala, who has been the Only God to me.

My great grand Father Shri CV Srinivasa Iyer – knowingly or unknowingly have had a great impact in modelling my life and activities.  I strongly believe that because of His sincere service to the Lord, I am gifted with a priceless gem called Bhakti towards Hariharaputra.

More than forty/fifty years ago, my great grand father Shri CV Srinivasa Iyer started the Laksharchana to Lord Ayyappan at Sabarimala. Over a period of time the puja grew to great heights (even to Ati Rudram) during his age and came to stand still after his demise. Many others had tried to continue this and some could and some could not.

When I grew up, the desire to do at least the same Laksharchana to Lord Ayyappan started developing in my mind. Right from my childhood I did have to face that temptation.

What I heard from all quarters was only discouragement… But at that age I was not ready to accept that “something good is not possible…”

I am of the firm belief that whatever we do with full faith in the Almighty, we will never be let down.  Only with this believe I ventured into our Sastha Preethi, my book Maha Sastha Vijayam, Sasthalaya Sevanam and now the Laksharchana.

Throughout my life there are numerous instances, where I had the experience of the divine play of my beloved and these has only enhanced my faith in Him. 

Everything Sastha gives us is auspicious, if we will only wait long enough, with faith, for the final outcome.

I and numerous friends tried a lot for the laksharchana. We travelled, wrote letters met the officers… But nothing happened and finally at one stage I left everything to HIM and kept quiet.... Believe me.. Only at this stage by the grace of Bhaktaparipala things started coming in order... Certain things started happening even without any effort....

As the name suggests - I must thank Shri Ganesh from Chennai - who took the initiative on my craving desire. The blessings of all the elders and my Gurus stood with me…

We waited and the Lord gave us the chance for doing a laksharchana after a long time...

All our group members and Ayyappa devotees were in amazement thinking about the end result of our glowing hopes and expectations. But Iam a peculiar person (many call me alien to the present day trends... and a famous quote ???!!!  on me "a man belonging to previous generation with ideologies lagging behind 40 years") when I imposed a rule that anyone who is sitting for archana  should undergo 41 days vrutham - my fellow members, instead of being wonderstruck and delighted by this news, were outraged by it. "it is not practical.... You see we have office... etc etc "

I understand they must have been frightened off by something they'd find difficult to keep under their own control. At any rate, though there was an initial opposition... I said I would go along with it - even if we have 10 people.

But finally we had more than 60 people....  with more than 30 people ready for Archana with full Vrutham.

We started two days before the event and reached pampa by 5.00 Pm. The sky, which was clear during the day, and till that time, became suddenly and heavily overcast with dense dark clouds. Amidst heavy downpour, it should have been about 8 P.M. in the night, when our first batch reached Sabaripeetam after a very great difficulty. As is customary to, we paid our obeisance to the Sabaripeetam sought Samastaparadham by chanting Sharana Gosham…. After this some force started operating us… Shri. Hari started as if he were in trance and immediately I had the same feeling and we started moving and other came running following us… within 3-4 minutes we had reached Nadapanthal…

Immediately we saw the holy 18 steps and the Lord of the 18 steps waiting for us - It is because of his Karunyam we rise into His highest seat where we find waiting for us the Friend, the Beloved and Motherly Lord. This celestial joy is known as bliss. 

Since Bhakta paripala was also with us, we had a wonderful Sastha preethi next day at our Room. Enjoying the Lord by every means was indeed ecstatic and tears of happiness rolled from the eyes. This was truly a rewarding experience.

Throughout the yatra whenever we had few minor problems and hitches, the willpower and faith in the Almighty took precedence and took care of all the problems.

That evening we offered pushpabhishekam to the Lord – the Pushpanjali was a wonderful sight of life time… We had made a crown to the Emperor of the Universe… We did not have the exact size, dimension of the idol…. nothing… I just ordered it out of my own conviction and intuition. Many discouraged us that this is going to be very big…. But at the end of Pushpabhishekam when He was crowned– it was a perfect fit… In fact, the ecstasy got transformed into tears, when we saw the Majestic Lord accepting us in front of Him. I could understand that the entire clan of devotees at Sannidhanam had the similar experience… It was bliss emanating from the Lord and filling everywhere. The happiness is indescribable and beyond all conception and only the experience can tell.

The purpose of the human existence is God realization and we experienced it… Literally it took more than ten to fifteen minutes to realize that we have not been able to relinquish the links to the mundane part of life.

Next day was the laksharchana and when the pujas began, everybody felt themselves in a very elevated state. The young master - Lord of the universe was sitting majestically giving audience to everyone. We were right in front of Him. Literally every nama was roared in the divine presence and since the meaning of each Nama is understood, everyone enjoyed the majesty of the master.

The blissful state of mind was much more and I was getting lost and so held my mudra vadi very tight to control myself.

Sitting in front of the Lord and chanting his divine name is always a great experience and various visions come before the eyes at that time.  I have also had my share of the same

Finally the basmabishekam was made… The happiness and sense of fulfillment one gets with Ayyappan, after so much of ardor, effort, prayers, austerities, rigor and discipline are totally beyond description. 

Icing up this cake of Grace – the Lord accepted the Mudravadi for almost 4 hours with him – giving us an acknowledgement for the Laksharchana. When the Nada was re-opened there was a great revelation and tears of joy came to our eyes when we had the Darshan.

I can still enjoy the salubrious breeze with all herbal fragrance of the Lord which I could feel on the Vadi…

At Sabarimalai Sannidanam, we will never feel like asking the Lord for any boon, because, it is Place filled with nothing but Ananda.  On seeing Him, tears of Ananda surface and all thoughts get obliterated from the mind. Only Anandam prevails…

Gurum Poorna Lavanya Padadi Kesham Gareeyam mahat koti Surya Prakasham

Karamboruhanyasta Vetram Suresham Paranjyoti roopam bhaje Bhoothanatham

Naamasankeerthanam

Pranaams Anna

First of all, i would like to thanks for the great info sharing in Sanatana Dharma.i'm great fan of your blog.

what are your views on Namasankeerthana ?

Hope Iam not wasting your time

 

:)

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Why specifically about Namasankeerthana???

Many people have made up an opinion or they themselves have come to a conclusion about me that I have lesser interest in Naamasankeerthanam

Moksha is the ultimate goal of one's life and bhakti is a major lap in this.... and Shravanam and Keerthanam are important among the nava vidha bhakti

shravaNaM kIrtanaM viShNoH smaraNaM pAdasevanam |

archanaM vandanaM dAsyaM sakhyamAtmanivedanam ||

It is not the problem with the divine system called Naamasankeerthanam but the problem with human tendency involved in the divine system.

Iam very much uncomfortable with few practices that is being followed in the name of Bhajana Sampradhayam today.

The Dakshina Bharata Bhajana Sampradaya was formulated by the three Gurus Sri Bodhedral, Sri Sridhara  Ayyaval and Sri Sadguru Swamigal. An interesting point to be noted that all the Three are strong advaitis belonging to Shankara Sampradaya.

All the three acharyas used this bhajana sampradhaya as an easiest way for the public to attain this advaithic Gnanam(wisdom)... It is a marga - no doubt about that... But that doest mean one must leave his nitya karmas(bounden duties - both spiritual and family duties) and sing bajan

Non-performance of nitya karmas and duties in the name of bhajana is like performing Sahasrabojanam while your own mother is starving in the house.

Another main point is dancing in public...

Vishnor Gaanamcha Nruthamcha Natanamcha Visheshathaha

Singing and dancing to the praise of the lord Vishnu is prescribed...

So singing and dancing to the glory of the Lord by those who are in bhajana sampradhayam and doing deepa pradakshinam by way of dancing by bhagawathas is accepted...

Dancing out of ecstasy is a very noble state... but 90% of the people who jump for abhangs- dance for other's sake and for music and not by enjoying the meaning or enjoying the Lord.

And please understand Naamasankeerthana cannot directly grant you moksha... It will give the chitta shuddhi -which will further lead one to Moksha through spiritual advancement. So one must start enjoying the Lord by means of bhajanai - this habit should be enhanced by Naamasankeerthanam.

The main purpose of bhajanai is the momentary bliss you get... This comes very rarely - when you hear Prabho Ganapathe by Hairdhos Giri - you can literally feel Ganapathy Dancing in front of you... and on hearing Nrusimha Karavalambam by Balu Mama you will automatically understand how helpless you are and how the Lord Narahari is ever-ready to save you... "Adhwaitha Vasthuvai..." by Chellappa Mama makes you feel that you are right in front of Lord Ayyappan Himself...

Thus bhajanai helps in developing bhakti...   For developing this bhakti it doesnt require a star singer or number of musical instruments and pompous stage decoration and all of that sort... Once I heard a beggar in Anchaneya's disguise who came singing with a single thambura... by the merely listening to the his "Raama Bhadra Raa Raa", it took us to saketapuri....This is real Naamasankeerthanam

When this purpose is achieved at bhajanai hall, temple, your house, on road- that very moment is Naamasankeerthanam.

Kaalakshepo Na Karthavyaha Ksheenam Aayuhu Kashane Kashane

Yamasya Karunaa Naasthi Karthavyam Harikeerthanam

Japa at Night

Japa at Night

Can we do japam during nights? becoz some people say only day time is suitable for japam and there wont be any result if we do japam during night? some others say night is suitable only for evil spirits? 

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According to me I name all these theories with one nine lettered word

 "S-T-U-P-I-D-I-T-Y"

One can very well do the japam throughout the day.. A person shall do the Japa not only at night but all the time -  unless when you are not breathing.. So all times are suitable for Japam

This doesnt mean that one need not follow any achaara or shuddi etc... Thats a different subject.

One must follow nityaachaaram and complete atleast a minimum count of all his nitya karmas and japams and then comtemplating the japam in the mind throughout the day shall happen.

Japam is of three types 

Vachika - loud recitation - effective

Upamshu - soft recitation - more effective

Manasikam - within the mind - most effective. 

Whether one is physically clean or not, or is walking, talking, eating, sleeping, a true devotee should never stop reciting the bhagawan naama and an upasaka his ishta devata's mUla mantra. 

But Shuddi and achaara has to be maintained for the first two types of japam. These rules do not apply for mAnasika japa, the superior among the three. 

Please Note, This is done only mentally and not even a single letter is uttered openly... Ive met people of both extremes.... Not even uttering the name of the upasana devata loudly and also people who chant out moola mantrams loudly sitting on bed(just to show off)

Apart from all these... the sastra itself prescribes chanting of certain moola mantrams during night... 

One classical example is Varahi... "Diva Na Smaret Vaartaaliim" - do not remember varaahi during the day...

Devatas like Ucchishta Ganapaty, Pulindini, VanadurgA, Kiratha Sastha etc. can be chanted during the night.. 

And for a true upasaka there is nothing called "No Result" 

The sole purpose of japam is to remove the mental attachment towards "Result" and turn it towards the ultimate truth.

Shri Maha Sasthre Namah