Describing MahaTripuraSundari...

This is an extract from a podcast I listen to regularly, Called Vedic Mythology, Music and Mantras.

In the Lalita SahasraNaam, She is described thus...

The young wife, passionately fond of her husband. She is a mother who takes care of her children, She is forever young, rosy in the morning sun, and the jewels she wears rival the stars in their splendor.

Her breath has the perfume of camphor, her voice is sweeter even than the Veena of Saraswati, and she has the fragrance of Sandalwood.

She is passionately fond of flowers and constantly wears them in her hair, she shines like the rose but is fonder of the flowers of the spirit.

She is the home of all the arts. She is the priceless pearl hidden in the depths of all the scriptures. The vedas bow to her, for she is their mother.

She is worshipped by all the Gods in Heaven, but is accessible by all even the poorest and the least educated. Her grace is easily won and requires no particular merit on our part.

The upanishads describe her as being the ultimate reality, above all tatvas and categories of thoughts, above all dualisms, the one indivisible spirit without qualities, without parts, ever free and ever pure, formless and timeless and without a cause, without a lapse and without a limit.

A very inspiring vision of the divine.

Some extracts of the Lalita Sahasranama goes thus...

8th Verse: Om Raga swarupa prasadayayey namaha, meaning I pray to she, who holds in her left lower hand a noose, representing the power of love. Not a ribbon, not a string, but the noose of love. There is a lovely irony there.

And at times she is described as someone who is wonderfully sensual. What else would you expect from the wife of Kameshwara.

Even though she is described as the wife of Kameshwara, she is also, among one of the verses described as she who has no over lord. So even though she loves her husband so much, she is not over powered by him or controlled by him.

The Male Female Harmony in Vedic Tradition...

As compared to other religions like Christianity and Islam, where they see one holy father as the great creator, in Vedic Mythology, it takes both the Divine Male and Female Entity for the creation of the universe. Shiva and Shakti, are required together for the universe to manifest, where Shiva is the pure being the existence itself, and Shakti the pure will to put everything into motion.

In one of my previous blog posts, I had written about Lalita Tripura Sundari. Lalita means the playful one or the one who plays. Meaning the creation, manifestation and destruction of the entire universe and everything that prevails is but the play of the divine Goddess. She is also known as the MahaTripuraSundari, or the transcendent beauty of the Three places. It could also be interpreted as the the divine beauty who has conquered the three lokas, dev loka, mrityu loka and danav loka. This Goddess is born out of Shree Chakra that is created by Lord Indra out of a Yagna. Even after being so powerful, she is destined to get married before she goes ahead to destroy the great evil Bhandasura.

So after being satisfied that her independence will not be harmed after marriage, she agrees and throws a garland into the air which lands around the neck of Kameshwar, the God of love and pleasure, one of the divine forms of Lord Shiva.

Later after the battle with Bhandasura is won, she goes to stay in Shrinigar, a city built for her by Vishwakarma, the celestial architect and Maya. She is described as sitting on a Sinhasana, the legs of which are Brahma, Vishnu, Eeshwara (The personal God) and Maheshwara. She sits on a blanket, which is Sada Shiva and finally she sits on the lap of her husband, Kameshwara.

This is wonderfully symbolic, the way it is described. Brahma, Vishnu, Eeshwara and Maheshwara as the base, and then Sada Shiva, the five faced ascetic form of Shiva and then finally on the lap of Kameshwara (he who has conquered pleasure). Meaning, in order to truly enjoy the full pleasure of life, material and spiritual, one must rise above material pleasure through spiritual means, but interestingly enough the end is not entirely ascetic, the end result is Lalita and kameshwara together.

Obviously with all this power, the battle with Bhandasura was nothing more than a tiny Irritation to the Devi.

Shanaishwarya / Shani

Since I brought up the subject of Shani Deva in my last blog, I thought of taking it a little further by narrating an amusing story of how Shani deva was born. The Sun God was very hot and his wife Aditi was angry with him because she used to get burnt every time she came close to hug him. So getting angry and annoyed with all the heat, she decided that she would take a break and go away to meet her father, the architect of the universe. But the Sun God wouldn't let her go. So Aditi made a replica of herself, "Chaya" and left. The Sun God, being a male, didn't find the difference until he had a son from Chaya. This son unlike all other sons, was "manda" or dark and did not possess the brilliance of the Sun. This was Shani Deva.

Later the Sun God went to his wife Aditi who asked him to let go off some of his heat. so he parted with some of his heat and brilliance and out of parted brilliance, he created the Sudarshana Chakra, Lord Vishnu's weapon, the discuss and Trishul, Lord Shiva's Trident.

What remained is the Sun that we see today.

Shani is depicted as dark, clothed in black, holding a sword an arrow and two daggers and riding a raven. He is depicted as ugly, old, lame and with long hair, teeth and nails. This is perhaps the cause of all the fear for Shani. It is said that nobody can escape Shani.

Once Shani went to Lord Shiva and told him that his Sade Sati begins the next day. To avoid Shani, Lord Shiva dived into the Ganga river and meditated for seven and a half years. At the end of it he came out and mocked Shani saying he couldn't affect Lord Shiva and said that he was under Ganga meditating. Shani smiled and said "Exactly my point" and left.

Lord Hanuman on the other hand handled Shani in a very different way. He asked Shani to meet him in the market place on Saturday and start of his tenure of 7 and a half years. Then he went to the market place on Friday and told the people that he is organizing a Puja on Saturday and that all the people in the market place can come and break coconuts on his head. On Saturday Shani came and sat on Hanuman's head to start off his tenure and the people broke all their coconuts on Shani's Head. Shani had no choice but to flee.

The moral here is that Shani cannot be escaped. He has to be welcomed and he can cause you no harm if you dedicate yourself to selfless service to others. It is the people's blessings (coconuts in Hanuman's case) that will Keep shani from harming you.

Shani affected Rama and caused him to go for a vanvasa and affected Ravana to make him foolish enough to kidnap Sita. He even affected Krishna when people accused him of stealing the Semantaka Gem. But that story in some other post...

Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu (The shadow planets)

Shani or Shanischarya the planet Saturn has great importance in the Vedic Astrology System called the Jyotish Vidhya. This planet plays the role of stripping maya / delusions layer by layer and showing us the reality. Shani usually takes away materialistic pleasures from you and motivates you to look towards your inner self. The Sade Sati or the period of 7 and a half years falls between the time period when the moon leaves or enters your chart.

The moon symbolizes your emotional and material self. Shani is a shadow on this which also signifies a process of growing mature. Understanding the importance of "Adhyatma" or spirituality.

After the Samudra Manthan, The Gods did not want the demons to have the nectar of immortality. They played a trick (as usual). Lord Vishnu took the form of "Mohini" and distracted the demons. While distributing Amrita to the gods, distributed "Piasam" A simple sweet dish that looks like Amrita to the demons.

One of the demons from the underworld was not distracted and so he disguised himself as a god and sat with the Gods. He did get some amrita. But Surya and Chandra, The Sun and Moon alerted Lord Vishnu who took his Sudarshana Chakra and cut off the head of the the Demon. Since he had already eaten some of the Amrita, he couldn't be killed. So the head of the Demon is called Rahu and the Body is called Ketu. Rahu was really angry with the acts of the Sun and Moon and hence he tries to Eat them up every cycle which is the Surya Grahan and the Chandra Grahan, the solar and lunar eclipses.

Rahu and Ketu are called the Chaya Graha in Jyotish Vidhya. Meaning the Shadow Planets. Even though they do not have a body, they are considered to be planets in Vedic Astrology. Rahu cannot be satisfied ever; since he doesn't have a body. So no matter how much he eats, he needs more. People who win the Academy awards or the Oscar awards are people who usually have a very strong Rahu in the Astrological Charts.

Ketu on the other hand is prominent in the fields of Engineering and High Technology. Ketu is a body without any head so in the mythological sense, ketu is unpredictable. Ketu is also a symbol of Enlightenment. Since he has no head he also symbolizes the lack of Ego.

So while Jupiter and Venus give us things, Shani and Ketu them them away... Back and forth they go until we are stripped off of all deceptions. Sounds just like the churning process to bring out the nectar of immortality.

Samudra Manthan

Contd...

There were so many things that came out of the Samudra Manthan before Amrita, the nectar of immortality.

1. Sura, Goddess of Wine
2. Apsaras, Various divine nymphs like Rambha and Menaka
3. Kaustubha, the most valuable jewel
4. Ucchaishravas, the divine seven headed horse
5. Kalpavriksha, The wish granting tree
6. Kamadhenu, The wish granting cow
7. Airavata, The white elephant
8. Parijat, The divine tree
9. Chandra, The moon
10. Dhanvantari, The Doctor
11. Lakshmi, The goddess of wealth
12. Amrita, The nectar of immortality

Dhanvantari symbolizes the fact that material and spiritual success can be achieved only when the body and mind are in perfect state of health and harmony.

Amrita symbolizes the ultimate achievement of material and spiritual goal.

if you observe everything that came out of the Samudra Manthan before Amrita, was in a way to distract you from the final goal. Halahal, symbolizing pain and misery, Sura, the Goddess of Wine, Apsaras the ultimate object of desire, Kaustubha, symbolizes Wealth, and divine animals like the seven headed horse and the wish granting trees, etc.

It is only after you surpass every pain, misery and temptation, you achieve the ultimate goal.

Samudra Manthan

The Gods were not always immortal. And all the battles that they were having with the Demons, it was a bit of a problem. On top of that Indra was once cursed by Rishi Durvasa to be deprived off all his possessions and Laxmi. So they approached Lord Brahma, to help the Gods regain their supremacy. Lord Brahma Suggested the Samudra Manthan.

This is also representative of the fact that the oceans can be mined for natural resources and when the earth starts getting depleted. And that the ocean is a great resource.

Samudra Manthan is the churning of the Milky Ocean "Kshirsagar". It was churned using Mount Mandar as a pole, Vasuki, the king of the snakes as a rope, the Gods on the tail side of Vasuki and the Demons on the Head side, pulling the snake alternatively, causing the huge mountain to rotate.

This whole process represents many things. "Man" meaning mind and "Dhar" meaning in a line. Putting them together it means concentration, which should be like a mountain. Vasuki symbolizes desire. The demons and the Gods held their desires to seek immortality.

During the Manthan process, Amrita, the nectar of immortality was not the only thing that came out. In fact the first thing that came out was Halaa hal, the deadly poison that threatened to destroy all living beings from the planet. Lord Shiva drank this poison and Parvati held on to his throat which stopped the poison from going into his stomach, in effect not harming him. But the poison was so deadly, it turned Shiva's throat into Blue, and that's why he is named "Neela Kantha" meaning the blue throated one. The divine doctors as a part of the therapy advised the Gods to Keep Lord Shiva awake during the night. So to amuse Lord Shiva and keep him awake, all the gods took turns to sing and dance and entertain him through the night. This is what we now celebrate as "Shiva ratri".

Continued...

Hinduism & Quantum Physics

 

Hinduism & Quantum Physics

Hinduism and Quantum Physics...?

I generally avoid putting up links to other blogs and websites... Prefer writing about what I feel about God, Religions, and try to keep this space unbiased for any particular religion...

But I found this one so interesting... I just had to post it here...

http://www.hinduism.co.za/hinduism.htm

It is a little long... But it is a good read... Be a little patient and I am sure you will enjoy...

Friendship

Friendship is one of the most beautiful relationships ever. this has been depicted in the Hindu religion so many times. One of the beautiful examples is the friendship between Krishna and Draupadi.

Draupadi was the daughter of King Dhrupad. Hence her name "Draupadi". But her real name was "Krishnaa", meaning the dark one. Now Dhrupad wanted to marry his daughter to Krishna.

Krishna was a great statesman and the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Even though he was God himself, He used to keep minimum intervention and only manipulated the events to acquire the desired situation. He knew the future course of events of the Mahabharata and could not have gotten married to Krishnaa. So he talked to her and said you are Krishnaa and I am Krishna, that makes us siblings by name. Besides that, he promised her that they would be friends and that he would be there for her whenever she needed him.

Now there are 3 historic times when Krishna came to her aid. First time, the Draupadi Vastraharan incident. The second was during vanvas, when Durvasa came and there was no food. And by eating a grain of rice he filled the stomachs of the entire universe with one meal. And the third was when he took Draupadi to Bheeshma's tent in the enemy camp at night during Cease Fire and got her the boon of "Saubhagyavati Bhava" meaning may your husband have a long life. And later learning the strategy to defeat Bheeshma from Bheeshma himself.

Friendship sometimes is beyond all other relationships. It is chosen. All other relationships are either inheritance or maybe forced. But friendship can never be forced. We live it without malicious intent. We help our friends just for the pleasure of helping them.

Kriti Bhakti...

You can't really pay off what your parents have done for you... and it is the most compassionate relationship ever. They dedicate their entire life for you and they don't feel an ounce of pain or sacrifice. In fact after going through so much they end up feeling that they couldn't do enough for you and that they could have done better... How can you ever even up that feeling... As my friend Sarang puts it, even thinking about paying it back would be like a sin...

So I was thinking... can you ever pay it back... I was reading this beautiful book (I don't remember the name of...) long time back... and from that I realize that the only way that you can pay back is through Kritagyata or thankfulness. Because no matter how many materialistic pleasures you get them, they cannot be bought off... But just by expressing your thankfulness, you can make their life complete...

Just by being a good son / daughter, just by showing through your actions that you are thankful to them... just by making them feel that they are the best parents in the world... you pay back for all the sacrifices they have made... because you make them realize that it was all worth it...

I call this Kriti Bhakti... devotion through thankfulness... All my actions, everything that I do or say... is dedicated to them... I am an aethist and I do not believe in God... I only believe in what I see... I see them...

The Goddesses in Religion...!!!

whenever we hear of stories of the divine feminine, there this great sense of unconquerable power. Frequently we see Brahma or Shiva giving a boon and getting in trouble because it empowers the demon who in turn comes backs and torments the Gods and Demi-Gods with his new found power. We also hear Shiva or Vishnu having to win a battle purely by tickery or deception.

But with the Goddess it is difficult to think of an example of a mistake, with the possible exception of Sita's desire for the golden deer. The goddess is always right, always direct and she never loses a battle.

We all know the story of Parvati trying to woo Shiva after Brahma bestows upon an asura a boon that he shall only be killed by the son of Shiva. While doing so, Kamadeva helps Parvati to bring Shiva out of his meditative trance so that he can see Parvati in her beatiful form and fall in love with her and start a family. In the process, Lord Shiva burns Kamadeva into ashes for disturbing him in his meditation.

Now the story that we know, Rati the wife of Kamadeva comes and pleads to Shiva and he gives her a boon that he will be restored to life in the Dwapar yug. But in this version of the story, the shiv gana to help rati bring the ashes of Kamadeva and make a statue of a man out of it and after Rati's pleading, he instills life into that statue and teaches him a mantra by which he can gain half the power of his adversary instantly and also gives him the boon to rule over all the worlds for 60,000 years. And since he sent him off saying, "Bhanda, bhanda", meaning nice nice... he was named Bhandasura. Now since he was born out of the wrath of Shiva, he had the Ugra swaroop and turned into a demon, "Bhandasura"...

Bhandasura attacked Indra and took over the heavens. Indra prayed to Tripura Sundari for 60000 years and she agreed to help him. She took her army and waged a war against Bhandasura. Now Tripura Sundari is also known as lalita meaning soft and beautiful. So Bhandasura laughed on her saying she is beautiful and soft and battle and war is not something that she should be doing.

The battle between Bhandasura and Tripura Sundari was most unusual. It wasn't a direct battle. Bhandasura created demons and Tripura Sundari created deities that destroyed the demons. Bhandasura created hiranyakashipu and she created prahlada and Narasimha. Bhandasura created Ravana and she created Rama. In fact the Vishnu's 10 incarnations "Dashavatara" are also known to be born from the 10 fingernails of the divine Tripura Sundari. Bhandasura created mahishasura and She created durga. The battle between Mahishasura and Durga has been beautifully described in the brahmana purana.

Then one of the generals of Bhandasura named Vishnukra used a yantra called the Jayavighna which takes away the will to be victorious from the armies of Tripura Sundari. The Generals of Tripura Sundari Manthini and Dhanapta informed this to Her and she just smiled. From her melodious smile was born Lord Ganesha, also known as the Vighneshwara. He weakened the force of the Jayavighna yantra and the armies got their strength back. Vishnukra slays Ganesha in this story using the Gaja astra and as a reward Tripura Sundari blesses Ganesha that he be prayed first in any puja henceforth.

Later in the story Vishnukra deploys the weapon called the trishna astra and the armies of Tripura Sundari become extremely thirsty. That's when Manthini suggests to call Sura Sindhu (The ocean of liquor) to quench the thirst of the entire army. This depicts that nothing in itself is negative or positive... even an element like liquor has been created by the divine and may have its own divine purpose at times...

Finally Tripura Sundari kills Bhanda and Rati, wife of Kamadeva or Bhanda pleads to her to restore his life. Because Kamadeva is the lord of desire and without him there would be no desire. So she in her infinite divinity and kindness restores the life back into Kamadeva in the Dwapara yuga.

The no. "3" is closely associated to Tripura Sundari. e.g. she is the icha shakti (will), gyana shakti(wisdom) and kriya shakti(action) in this entire eternity. Her other name is lalita which according to one script has 8 meanings: beauty, brilliance, manifestation, sweetness, infinity, energy, grace and generosity.

Women have been described as the manifestation of perfection in our own ancient scripts. They have been the source of all power the medium of creation. For example Saraswati is the medium between the Goddess Tara and Brahma. Brahma derives the energy to create from Goddess Tara and Saraswati is the medium.

More to come...

Do we really need God...?

I am not an aeithist... But I am not a believer either... You could say I am somewhere between an aethist and a believer... But very close to being an aethist... Let me put it this way... I do not believe in the existence of a personal God... I do not believe that if you pray feverishly, God will come and bless you with stuff that you want... I also do not believe in intelligent design of the universe. I do not think God designed and created this universe, even though I cannot yet explain how it all started... But I am sure science will some day come up with a theory and enough circumstantial evidence to prove the creation of the universe.

But on the other hand, sometimes when times are really hard, I do wish that there were a personal God or an angel rather who would come and rescue me... But it seems nothing like that has ever happened... every single time I was in trouble I have had to work my way through it...

So the point is if nothing in life is free and if you have to work for everything, if praying really doesn't help except giving you solace and perhaps increasing your patience, then is there really a need to believe in God...?

If we think that God created everything, and if we start assuming that God is the Cause and Effect of everything, If we truly believe in God then wouldn't we stop experimenting? If the answer to every question is God... wouldn't we stop asking questions?

The only reason why we doubt ourselves is that we don't have a satisfactory answer to our questions... If God is the satisfactory answer to all our questions, viz. the creation of the universe, the existence before the beginning of time, etc. wouldn't we stop exploring...?