Jaya Guru Datta- Fourth Guru!!

King: Who is your fourth guru, sir?

Dattatreya: Wind is my fourth guru. The wind moves unceasingly, touching flowers and thorns alike, but never attaches itself to the objects it touches. Like the wind, I learned not to prefer flowers over thorns or friends over foes. Like the wind, my goal is to provide freshness to all without becoming attached.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Jaya Guru Datta- Third Guru

King: Your third guru?

Dattatreya: Fire. It burns everything, transforming it into flame. By consuming dead logs, it produces warmth and light. Thus, I learnt how to absorb everything that life brings and how to turn it into flame. This flame enlightens my life and in that light, others can walk safely.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Jaya Guru Datta- Second Guru!

King: Who is your second guru?

Dattatreya: Water it is a force that contains life and purity. It cleanses whatever it touches and provides life to whoever drinks it. Water flows unceasingly. If it stops, it becomes stagnant. Keep moving is the lesson I learned from water.

Krishnamachari Santhanam.

Jaya Guru Datta- First Guru

King: Twenty-four gurus at such a tender age ? Who are they ?

Dattatreya: Mother earth is my first guru. She taught me to hold those who trample me, scratch me, and hurt me lovingly in my heart, just as she does. She taught me to give them my best, remembering that their acts are normal and natural from their standpoint.


Krishnamachari Santhanam

Shivalyottam

Shivalayaottam – Running to Shiva Temples on Shivratri

Shivalayaottam is a unique ritual held to 12 Shiva Temples located in Kannyakumari District in Tamil Nadu on Shivratri day. The unique aspect of the Shivalayaottam is that those participating in the running chant Govinda Govinda – Vishnu Nama. Performing Shivalayaottam is considered highly meritorious. The visit to the twelve temples should be completed on the Shivratri day.
The 12 temples are located in Kalkulam and Vilavankodu Taluka in Kannyakumari District. The twelve temples are Tirumala, Tikurichi, Triparappu, Tirunandikara, Ponmana, Pannipakam, Kalkulam, Melamkodu, Tiruvidaykodu, Tiruvithamkodu, Tripannikadu and Tirunattalam.

The running to 12 Shiva Temple is associated with Pandavas, Sri Krishna and the Mahabharata.

Legend has it that Krishna wanted to invite Vyakrapada Muni as chief priest for the Ashwameda Yaga conducted by Pandavas after the Mahabharata war.

However, Vyakrapada Muni was a Shiva devotee and he had anger towards Vishnu. Sri Krishna also wanted to alleviate this hatred – which was ignorance.

Krishna asked Bhima to invite Vyakrapada Muni for the yajna. Krishna also gave 12 Rudraksha to Bhima and a piece of advice.

Bhima approached the Muni who was meditating at a spot named Munimarthottam. As advised by Sri Krishna, to garner the attention of the Muni, Bhima called out Gopala, Gopala.

The muni who was a Shiva Bhakta was angry with someone disturbing his meditation with a Vishnu chant.

The Muni dashed towards Bhima and fearing the curse of the Muni, Bhima started running.

When Muni was about to catch Bhima, he dropped a Rudraksha as directed by Sri Krishna.

Immediately a Shivling came up there. The Muni shed his anger and started offering worship to the Shivling.

When the Muni completed his worship, Bhima approached him again chanting Govinda, Govinda... The Muni got angry again and started chasing Bhima again. When the Muni was about to catch Bhima, he dropped another Rudraksha and a Shivling came up there. The Muni again performed puja.

This running and dropping of Rudraksha continued for another nine times.

Finally, the place where the 12th rudraksha was dropped Sri Krishna appeared as Vishnu before Bhima and as Shiva before Vyakrapada Muni. The spot where Sri Krishna appeared a temple was built and the deity worshipped here is Sankaranarayana.

Sri Krishna was thus able to convince Vyakrapada Muni that Shiva and Vishnu are One.

Vyakrapada Muni agreed to participate in the Ashwameda yaga.

Shivalayaottam is performed in memory of the running performed by Bhima. The temples in the Shivalayaottam are at those places where Bhima dropped the Rudraksha.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Cork!!

 Have you ever wondered where that cork in your bottle of wine comes from?
The answer is most likely to be Spain or Portugal, here over half of the world's cork is harvested.

In fact it is the National Tree of Portugal. However, unlike other forms of forestry, the production of cork never involves the death of a tree.
Instead, they are gently stripped, leaving a strange but fascinating landscape of denuded trunks.
All of this takes some time.  Cork trees can live to over 200 hundred years but are not
considered ready for their cork to be removed until they are at least 25 years old.

Even then, the first two harvests do not produce cork of the highest quality.

It isn't until the trees are in their forties that they produce premium cork. Once the trees have reached the maturity necessary to produce high quality cork then they will be harvested only every nine years. A tree, in its lifetime, can be harvested (the process is known as extraction) about fifteen times. The cork must, however, be extracted from the trees without causing any lasting harm to them,
otherwise, 9 years later they will be useless. The poor cork which is produced as a result of the first two harvests is known as male cork.  Later extractions provide what is known as gentle cork which is what you will screw out of a wine bottle,the contents of which it helps to flavor.

The extractors must be skilled at their job.  They make two cuts to the tree. The first is horizontal
and is cut around the tree.  This is known as the necklace and the incision is made at a height
around three times the circumference of the tree.

Then a series of vertical cuts are made which are called openings or rulers.

This is the point at which the extractors must use the most strength but at the same time be at their
most gentle.  They push the handle of the axe in to the rulers and pry the cork away.
If you are a fan of badminton, then without cork you would no longer be able to play.  it is a vital
component in the manufacture of shuttlecocks.  More sports rely on it too the centers of baseball
and cricket bats are made of cork.

Cork is also a great material to use for insulation.  It is non-allergenic and easy-to-handle and if it does
catch fire, its fumes are not toxic like man-made insulation materials.
Also used for flooring, bulletin boards and catching sunfish! More amenable to a cork screw , as well.

Krishnamachari Santhanam.

Mahalaya Paksha Or Pitru Paksha and Halloween a comparison

Now my Friends I have posted two posts below. One on Halloween and another on Mahalaya Paksha- Both come in the end of October and both are festivals to feed the dead ancestors. See the similarity? Are gates of heaven really open for the souls to travel this time?


Mahalaya Paksha Or Pitru Paksha.

According to Hindu mythology, the souls of three preceding generations of one's ancestor reside in Pitru–loka, a realm between heaven and earth. This realm is governed by Yama, the god of death, who takes the soul of a dying man from earth to Pitru–loka. When a person of the next generation dies, the first generation shifts to heaven and unites with God, so Shraddha offerings are not given. Thus, only the three generations in Pitru–loka are given Shraddha rites, in which Yama plays a significant role. According to the sacred Hindu epics (Itihasa), at the beginning of Pitru Paksha, the sun enters the zodiac sign of Libra (Thula). Coinciding with this moment, it is believed that the spirits leave Pitru–loka and reside in their descendants' homes for a month until the sun enters the next zodiac—Scorpio (Vrichchhika)—and there is a full moon. Hindus are expected to propitiate the ancestors in the first half, during the dark fortnight. When the legendary donor Karna died in the epic Mahabharata war, his soul transcended to heaven, where he was offered gold and jewels as food. However, Karna needed real food to eat and asked Indra, the lord of heaven, the reason for serving gold as food. Indra told Karna that he had donated gold all his life, but had never donated food to his ancestors in Shraddha. Karna said that since he was unaware of his ancestors, he never donated anything in their memory. To make amends, Karna was permitted to return to earth for a 15–day period, so that he could perform Shraddha and donate food and water in their memory. This period is now known as Pitru Paksha. In some legends, Yama replaces Indra.

Halloween

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) and the day initiating the triduum of Hallowmas.
According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian root.

Though the origin of the word Halloween is Christian, the holiday is commonly thought to have partial pagan roots. Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain", which comes from the Old Irish for "summer's end".Samhain was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic (Irish, Scottish and Manx)  calendar. It was held on or about October 31 – November 1 and kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany). It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.
Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on Samhain. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them Lewis Spence described it as a "feast of the dead" and "festival of the fairies”.However, harmful spirits and fairies were also thought to be active at Samhain. People took steps to allay or ward-off these harmful spirits/fairies, which is thought to have influenced today's Halloween customs. In Moray during the 18th century, boys called at each house in their village asking for fuel for the Samhain bonfire. The modern custom of trick-or-treating may have come from this practice. Alternatively, it may come from the Christian custom of souling.


Krishnamachari Santhanam.