Happy Krishnajayanthi 2011

Happy Janmashtami everyone. I love celebrating all our Hindu festivals, it is so endearing to me since i love doing pooja, decorating swamy idol & house, preparing food for them. This is such a wonderful task that I was bestowed with in my house and now even after marriage I continue the trend. There is something so satisfying doing these things.

Especially for this festival, drawing little krishna's feet is such a heart touching thing to me. Past few years had been even more interesting, becoz of my son Aran. WHen i finish drawing Krishna's feet, He will stand on the main Kolam where krishna's both feet is drawn and put his hand on his wait and would stare at me.... To me he looked exactly like Lord krishna has come to our house in his form. After all every child will appear like the God almighty, to their Parent.And im no different

Have a wonderful day.

5 Headed snake in India

I was so surprised to see this picture when a friend of mine sent it to me. This is a snake found in a temple at Karnataka.

Looking like a creature from mythology, multi-headed animals occur in real life as conjoined or parasitic twins. It is not just in mythology that creatures are given to have two or more heads. This condition where an animal or human which has more than one head is termed as polycephaly caused due to developmental abnormality during gene mutation.

Many mythologies like Hindu, Chinese, Greek,etc has references to such a 5 headed snake in their epics. We have so far read about such a snake only in historic stories and epics . Im sure it will be surprising to most of you as much as myself, to see such a rare species still being alive.

Visit to Temples - Part 1

Whenever I come to Chennai I never fail to visit temples and there are a bunch of them as my favourites. Apart from which i also visit few new temples if time permits....so this time I started with Thiruverkadu SriDeviKarumariAmman Temple & as usual Mangadu Amman Temple.

Thiruverkadu:
This is the first time im visiting this Thiruverkadu temple; although i have been meaning to visit this since very long time (say about 6 yrs).This is very close to Koyembed (Where i stay with my parents).The temple has a busy street filled with shops selling garlands,statues and picture of god & goddess, some devotional things that people believe in like a miniature craddle to tie it on the sacred tree meant for devotees who aspire for child, and the sacred threads to tie it on the sacred tree again thinking that it will fulfill their wishes. You can see such a cute petty shop in the picture below.

The whole street filled with beautifull petty shops that sells similar items.

On entering the main entrance as usual vinayagar welcomes you into the temple,seated beneath the peepal tree along with nagaar statutes both sides of him,now moving to to visit the main deity karumaariamman's gopuram(temple tower) is covered with gold.

Amman is seen as her body being submerged in the earth, and is covered with silver Kavach(kavasam in tamil) which adds more beauty to the goddess.Godess parvati as Eswari just above the head of karumari is seated with four hands. kungumam,viboothi,theertham along with lemon is given as prasadam for the devotees.
Adjacent to the temple a huge anthill is present were people worship amman in from of naaga valli(snake form) . But i didnt happen to see that .

MAangaadu:
This is my favourite temple i have been visiting this temple for the past 10 yrs. Its a great temple and one of the most powerful too. Like others, this temple has a great legend too, you can learn it by googling.

Kamakshi Amman is the main goddess of this temple. Amman is seen in standing posture in the moolasthanam with a Ardhameru sri chakram.Also you can see tapas Kamakshi in the same temple on the other side.

This is the praharam surrounding the moolasthanam fully built with marble which becomes very easy for the people who does Pradhikshanam around the temple.

I have never asked for anything to the Goddess when I pray as per my mother's advise, not to ask for anything to the God , but just her grace. And she will take care of everything about you. I cant really explain how true my mother's words were.

Picture of my parents and my little one standing in the praharam.

Mangadu Amman has showered her graceful blessing on me in many ways for which i owe her so much.

Mahashivarathiri

Today is Mahashivarathiri. Im not gonna explain in detail about it, as you can find plenty of results when you google .Whenever there comes a festival of Lord Shiva i can never forget my most beautiful experience at Tiruvannamalai,which is my mother's native place.

Tiruvannamalai,is one of India's most well known sacred places worth giving a visit. Ramana Maharshi,a saint, lived in a cave on the holy Mt. Arunachala for 17 years and taught the world from his experience of Self-realization. That is where you can find plenty of of foreigners residing to learn about yoga and meditation and seeking for peace and Mukthi Nilai. I feel really bad that why most of us fail to make use of our powerful & precious assets that we got.

We actually lived there for some time during my very early childhood . That's like when i was in my 3rd or 4th grade. We were all staying at our grandmother's house; which use to be a huge one. Plenty of close friends and relatives around. The most popular Arunachaleswarar temple just very close by. We can even see the view of Tiruvannamalai,(Mt. Arunachala). It's fairly a medium sized mountain but it's a powerful place. One can really can feel the presence of GOD his energy radiating from this piece of the earth.

And when i think about the Arunachaleswarar temple, i still get goose mums.... as soon as I put my foot steps into the temple I will feel as though i have entered into a different world which is free from al the bad things that the world consists of. I can smell my peace of mind through the air... this is called the state of " Ekanta - Mukthi" which means - Dwelling in solitude & liberation of man, from the bonds of earth which frees from the birth & death .That will lead us to getting close to the Divinity, the glory of the Lord!!!!

I keep talking about my wonderful experience during my childhood days in Tiruvannamalai. One should definitely visit that place at least once in their lifetime.

Now , i hope you enjoyed the article as much as i did and also the pictures of Mahashivarathiri that we celebrated in a small & simple manner.

Happy shivarathiri to all of you.

Navarathiri Season

Navarathiri or Dussera is one of the most important festival in India and is celebrated all over india by various name ( yet will sound almost similar).

Navarathiri (or navratri) the period of nine days and nights when Goddess Durga fought the Asura is celebrated as Navarathiri in Tamilnadu. Its called Dussera in all over india especially in north india.

Goddess Durga is considered as the personification of courage, strength, and power and praying to the goddess, helps one to be blessed with all these qualities especially during Dussera.

Married ladies pray to the Goddess for the well being of the family and children by performing pujas and reciting Lalitha Sahasranamam. Especially the last 3 days of the nine day festival are very auspicious namely the "Aayutha poojai", Saraswathi Poojai" and the "Vijayadasami Poojai"

In Chennai Navarathri is known for Kolu, the festival of dolls . The dolls which are wrapped in dhotis and papers and stored in the attic are brought down at least two days prior to the commencement of Kolu. The doll makers at their best mind power try themselves to be innovative every year and really produces lot of different varities.
Women who are focused with thematic presentations go around ransacking the shops to collect dolls for their theme. To conceptualize any theme a person should be well versed with the epics, spiritual, social and historical facts. Many kolu buffs dish out novel themes like cricket Ganapathy, stone sculptures at Mammalapuram and Ravana durbar.

More to come....

Ganesh Chathurthi - 2009

Our Ganesh Chathurthi this year happened to be as simple as it could be as compared to the last year's celebration. We had been travelling a lot around the town . So coudlnt do much this time. But i am immensely satisfied with the fact that i did my own Ganesh Idol using the natural clay. Thanks to the companies that produces such a wonderful product which are so easy to play with and it really makes our life easy when compared to the real clay that we traditionally use. to make the idol. Anyways , hope u all enjoy the pictures .

Happy Krishna Jayanthi 2009

I had been meaning to post an article since a month , thats when i came back from my vacation. But someway or the other i got too busy with day to day life and kept going on with it. Also i wasnt sure what to write as my mind was totally blank. I didn't wanna post anything crappy , finally got hold of this beautiful day of Sri Krishna Jayanthi! The birth of Lord Sri KRISHNA PARAMATHMA!

I have always considered him as my dear one,cant really give a precise relationship as it would be lesser that wat i might express. I have had times which wasnt so pleasant , but i was able to go through it smoothly with the help of HIM. There has been many times when I have unknowingly hurt his feelings. But he has always brushed it aside acknowledging the fact that it was from a superficially insensitive but deeply sensitive person like me. Probably he knows that I never ever meant to hurt him .

I mostly communicate through singing songs and kirthis on Lord Krishna where i will always end up with tears of joy/sorrow/happiness all mixed up together. Thereby i will put down my burden at his lotus feet and he has never failed to take up my burden as his!On such beautiful day i present few pictures above. Happy Krishna Jayanthi you all!

Pongalo Pongal

This is one of the major festivals of tamilnad which is in south india. Since i hail from that place i wish to add few words about it. Pongal is such a sweet festival really as well as literally .It is very special to the farmers as it is mainly oriented to the harvesting. But every Hindu thanks lord "surya baghvan" which is the sun , for giving life to the plants and there by food to all the living being. We make a speciality dish called Pongal which is basically a slow cooked rice & jaggery and offered to god as a token of thanks.

My friend sent this is a picture of her office in chennai decorated for the festival of Pongal. The pots, sugarcane branches with leaves and flowers are traditional parts of the Pongal celebration. In rural areas of Tamil Nadu and northern and eastern Sri Lanka, the pots would be on an open fire with milk and traditional pongal food being boiled in them.

Happy Pongal to all of you.

My Diwali Day 2008

Deepavali (or Diwali) is my favourite festival. I donno why but it gives me a sense of happiness for no reason... I still remember my childhood days of celebrating diwali at my granparent's house with my brothers . My mother would wake us up early and ask us to shower and dressed up with new outfits. The sense of nativity, sound of crackers , the smell of breakfast and sweets and the loud talks of relatives and friends coming over, i would say that was my best diwali celebration ever in my life and i would never forget thos lovable memories. Its always nice to have people around especially during festivals. So is my husband. We both are alike in this issue.

Although its another day in a foriegn country :-)) we got up, took shower , dressed up with same old casual outfits... :-)) and did pooja , had breakfast(tea/bread) , and then................................. started watching suntv! :-)) As usual there were no good programs, except Dr.AbdulKalam's interview.

Wish you all a very happy diwali

Navratri 2008

Its Navratri season. This is one of the most famous festivals of the hindus. Naratri is a sanskri word, ‘Nav' means nine. ‘Ratri’ is made up of Ra, meaning night and Tri, meaning the Three aspects of our life: Body, Mind and Soul. So, 'Navaratri' means giving rest to all the three aspects of our life, for nine days! The tenth day of the festival is called 'Dusshera' in North India and 'Vijayadasami' in south india, is celebrated grandly which symbolises the victory of good over evil.
Although the concept of the festival is same, the way of celebrating this festival is different in North India and South India. The highlight of the festival is the “Golu”, which is the arrangement of dolls across nine( or any odd number of steps, minimum to be 3) steps at one home. Not all the hindus follow this tradition. Its the family who has this custom since generations would follow it. Neighbours and friends are invited to see their presentation, sing songs , and would have snacks and some gift . It is considered auspicious to do this, as its believed to bring more fortune to the house hosting the Golu
Its a feast for the eyes to see the arragement if the dolls in the 'Golu'. I miss all the fun happening in chennai. But i asked my mom to send some pictures of golu that she might happen to go. And she sent me few. I would like to share it with you all.

Arrangement of dolls on the steps:

Traditional tanjore dancing dolls(Thalai aati bomai in tamil)
Step 1 from top - Vishnu's 10 avatars ,

Step 2 - Bala krishna, Kamadenu, Ganesha, saraswathi

Step 3 - Ashtalaskmi

and so on.

Durga, Lakshmi wtih Narasimhar & Saraswathi
Durga :







Your comments are invaluable, pls feel free to inscribe your views.

Ganesh chathurthi 2008

This is ganesh clay-idol , on chaturthi day at our home this year. I made 3 varieties of Kozhukattais and some sundal and invited few friends in the evening , where all of us exchanged our savouries with each other and chanted ganapathy ashtothram , which was really contentful.

Your comments are invaluable, please feel free to inscribe your remarks below

Faith

Im not too orthodoxed but i believe and respect my relegion. Basically we do pooja or prayers to have self disciplinary routine in our life, and to control our mind. The meaning of festival in any relegion is, a celebration that we do in honor of our God/Goddess. We do it because it offers us sense of belonging to a particular religious , social , or a group. Through these festivals we get to hear stories and knowldge about the occassion through our elders, which we can pass it on to our next generation. And through these stories we would learn a moral to follow in our lives. I like to celebrate festivals. Therefore i like decorating idols during the fextival, although i dont have much of experience or knowledge abt it. I try to keep up the relegious ethics as far as possible. But mostly i do it , as i would dress up my own baby. So i enjoy doing it. And i feel contented. I have posted few pictures below .

KrishnaJayanthi 2008:

Varalakshmi Vratham 2008:

Your comments are invaluable, please feel free to inscribe your remarks below