#Hanuman Chalisa - devotional hymn composed by Goswami Tulsidas in praise of Hanuman in Awadhi language.

#Thread

#DoYouKnow - Tulasidas was captured &jailed as he refused to bow down to Mugal Emperor Akbar.Tulasidas composed Hanuman Chalisa in 40 days in Jail.

A #story from #Thiruvilayadal puranam- one of divine leelas of Bhagwan Shiva

#threadseries #madurai

Koodal Kaandam

Story 21 - it is about how stone elephant came to life and ate sugarcane - When Raja Abhisheka Pandyan met Ellam Valla Siddhar

கல்யானைக்கு கரும்பருத்திய படலம்

Raja Abhisheka Pandiyan went ahead to meet Ellam Valla Siddhar on the premises of the temple.On seeing the arrival of Raja, people surrounding Siddhar moved back. Abhisheka Pandiyan introduced himself to Siddhar &asked about his whereabouts.Also his purpose of visit to Madurai.

Raja asked why he performed magical acts, does he expect anything from him or people of Madurai.

Siddhar laughed & replied to Raja that he was from Kasi. He had heard a lot about Madurai in Kashi.Also told that this place is a Mukti Kshetram,so he had come to stay here.

Siddhar asked Raja if he has the capability &power to give anything that he asks for. Siddhar told King that he has power to do things even if he think of it.Siddhar asked King to ask whatever he wants & it would be provided, whatever these people had asked, they were granted.

Abhisheka Pandyan was shocked to receive such a reply from Siddhar,& he decided to test the power of this Siddhar. By that time, Raja saw a person in crowd having Sugarcane.

Raja took Sugarcane from that person.

Margabandhu Stotram - #Thread

"Shambho Mahadeva deva
Shiva Shambho Mahadeva devesha Shambho
Shambho Mahadeva deva...

By reciting this stotra one can have Bhagwan Shiva with them as Marga-bandhu(travel companion) written by Sri Appayya Dikshitar.

This stotra was written praising Sri Margabandheswarar, Virinjipuram,Near Vellore,TN - Magnificent &very ancient temple famous for its compound wall/ Madhil azhagu-has minute stone carvings all around.This place gets its name-Virinjipuram as Brahma(Virinchi)worshiped Siva here

It is said that ,Dhanabalan a pepper merchant lost his loads to thieves.He prayed to Shiva &,he came as a soldier on a horse & retrieved pepper loads but also accompanied Dhanabalan on his journey.Due to this he is called Vazhi Thunai Nathar in Tamil & Margabandu in Sanskrit.

As per sthala purana,Brahma was born as Shivasarma here in archaka family. When Shivsarma’s father died,he had to undertake pooja responsibilities as a small boy.Shivasarma’s mother prayed to Margabandeeswar.Shiva came as an elderly person & conducted Upanayanam Brahmopadhesam

Small boy was then paraded on an elephant with the holy water pot and the temple door opened automatically.While he attempted to do abhishek for Margabandheeswarar,as a small boy,he was unable to reach the head of the lingam,so he surrendered to Shiva stating his inability.

#DoYouKnow -The place where
Lalitha Sahasranamam -1000 names of Devi originated.

It is in Lalithambigai temple -Thirumeeyachur,Near Mayiladuthurai,TN

There is a Legend #story & it is related to this beautiful #sculpture of Kshetrapuraneswarar & Ambal Lalithambigai #Thread 👇

#Legend #story
It is believed that this is birth place of Kashyapa Maharishi’s sons, Arunan& Garudan. Arunan(charioteer of Surya)was physically handicapped.He was a Shiva devotee.Arunan wanted to visit Kailash to have Shiva Darshan,but Surya Dev denied permission.

So Arunan disguised as a girl & was on his way to Kailash.On the way Surya Dev saw this girl & outraged her modesty.Shiva was very angry with Suryan for misbehaviour & cursed him to get darkened. Whole world plunged into darkness.Surya Dev pleaded to Bhagwan Shiv to forgive him.

Shiva Bhagwan asked him to go to Thirumiyachur & worship him there. As advised, Surya Dev performed rigorous penance, placed murthi of Shiva& Parvathy on an elephant & took them to the clouds.Shiva in this temple is known as Meganathaswamy,Devi is known as Lalithambigai

Even after severe penance,Shiva does appear,so Surya Dev cries out in agony.Disturbed by his call, Parvathy protests.Siva pacifies her & offers relief to Surya Dev.The sculpture of Shiva pacifying Ambal shows her sullen from one angle &smiling from another.

Krishna & Paarijaata apaharana #sculpture #story #Thread

Parijata tree was in Indraloka which was one of gifts he received from churning of Ocean to obtain Amrit.

This beautiful #sculpture depicts Indra Dev chasing Shri Krishna for stealing parijatha tree branch from Indralok

📸- sculpture on outer walls of Hoysaleswara temple, Halebeedu,Karnataka

Krishna has 4hands with Shankha,Chakra,Mace&Lotus holding Satyabhama tightly,mounted on Garuda. Garuda has a beautifully carved Parijata tree trunk in left hand& a weapon in his right hand, attacking Indra.

Other side is Indra,riding on Airavata.Indra can be seen attacking Krishna with his Vajrayutham.Airavata is charging towards Garuda.Wife of Indra can be seen in pillion seat.Just look at the Detailing of Garuda & Airavat sculptures.

So what led Krishna to steal parijatha tree👇

Narada Rishi once returning from Indralok collected few Parijatha flowers&reached Dwaraka.There he met Bhagwan Krishna&gave the heavenly flowers to him.Narada explained the greatness of Parijatha flowers & also said that these flowers must be given to the most loved ones.

Despite knowing Satyabhama’s anger,Krishna gave it to Rukmani Devi.Narada Rishi then went to palace of Satyabhama. He narrated whole incident that had happened.Satyabhama turned furious on hearing that Krishna gave Parijatha to Rukmini.Then Satyabhama shows her anger to Krishna.

A #story from #Thiruvilayadal puranam-one of divine leelas of Bhagwan Shiva

#threadseries #Madurai

Story 9- it about how Shiva as Sundara Pandyan confluenced seven oceans in a pond/well in Madurai to fulfill wish of Kanchanamala
ஏழுகடல் அழைத்த படலம்

Bhagwan Shiva himself ruled Pandya Kingdom as Sundara Pandyan.Kingdom flourished well,all people there were happy.Many scholers,rishis visited Pandya kingdom to see Sundareswarar.Once Gouthama Rishi visited Madurai.After worshipping Sundareswarar,he went to meet Kanchanamala.

Kanchanamala,mother of Meenakshi devi welcomed Rishi Gouthama with all devotion&they were discussing about various things.She asked about ways& means to get rid of cycle of birth& re-birth.Gouthama rishi told her to be very fortunate&had done great penance in her previous births.

As a result, she has got Meenakshi devi as her daughter & Sundareswarar as her son-in-law in this birth.Rishi then told there are 3 types of Penance -namely Maanatham,Vaasikam & Kaayikam
Maanatham -involves doing charity,speaking truth,controlling senses&meditating Shiva namam.

Vaasikam -chanting Panchakshara matra-Om Na Ma Shi Va Ya,mantras from vedas, singing devotional songs/bhajans.

Kaayikam- doing daily pooja,going to temples,punya shetrams, helping physically in renovation &construction of temples,taking snan in ocean as all rivers merge there.

Please please please take your cyber security seriously even if you don’t consider yourself a high risk person. Here are a few easy things to start with. 1/n

Switch from WhatsApp to Signal and enable disappearing messages. Most of us cannot stop using WhatsApp entirely but at least turn off back ups to Google Drive or iCloud. 2/n

Do not have private conversations using the messaging service on any social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 3/n

Switch from Gmail to ProtonMail or any other secure email service provider. 4/n


Switch from Google Docs to CryptPad or RiseUp Pad.

Starting my 2nd thread on Sringeri Parampara. This will cover the Jagadgurus after Sri Vidyaranya to Sri Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati.

It is really very tough to match the brilliance and achievements of Vidyaranya. After whom came 15 - Chandrashekara Bharati [1386-1389].

The next Acharya was Nrisimha Bharati [1389-1408]. Harihara raya found a town for this Acharya - Narasimhapuram. Acharya helped the king by guiding him in political affairs. He also initiated the kind with mahamantras for spiritual development.

Subsequent Acharyas were
15-Puroshottama Bharati [1408 - 1448]
16-Shankara Bharati[1448 - 1455]
17-Chandrasekhara Bharati II [1455 - 1464]
18- Nrisimha Bharati II [1464 - 1479]
19-Puroshottama Bharati II [1479 - 1517]

20-Ramachandra Bharati [1517 - 1560]. Sadashiva Raya was emporer of Vijayanagara during this time.
21-Nrisimha Bharati III [1560 - 1573]
22-Nrisimha Bharati IV [1573 - 1576]
23-Nrisimha Bharati V [1576 - 1600]

24-Abhinava Nrisimha Bharati [1600-1623]. When he visited Malahanikareswara temple for first time he noticed there was no Vinayaka there so he took piece of turmeric and drew outline of Ganesha on a pillar and offered puja.

JWALAMUKHI TRIPURASUNDARI, UTHANAHALLI, MYSURU (KAR)
#bharatmandir

Jwalamukhi Tripursundari is believed to be the sister of Devi Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of Mysuru
It is also that she represents the flaming mouth of Jalandhara, the demon whom Shiva crushed to death.

When Devi Chamundeswari was fighting Mahishasura, she observed that from every drop of blood that spilled out of Mahishasura, another demon was born. So she created Tripurasundari to ensure that no blood dripped from Mahishasura.

Tripura Sundari means beauty of the three worlds.
The murti was installed during Wodeyar rule. An utsava murti made of pancha loha is kept in the sanctum sanctorum.
Another shrine here is dedicated to Siddeshwara / Shiva surrounded by a beautiful wooden Mantapa.
@GunduHuDuGa

Personal Prayer Walk Chronicles, 11th March, 2023...

I REALLY HAVE A ?? this mornin

Anyways, Woke up this mornin with so much energy(glory to God), at a time, I was considering walking from ABEOKUTA- Ibadan just to show that my frenemy, Pst. @Abel2goupOla that I was fitter.. 😂

Anyways, I set out early praying in tongues, which is my usual practice, but, midway, I decided to listen to one of the audio messages on my phone. The lot fell on Pst. E.A. Adeboye's message, titled, "THE CREATIVE POWER OF GOD'S WORD"

His Word can CREATE, CALL FORTH, CANCEL,

OBTAIN etc. It can serve in every capacity and can do all things, even d imagined stuffs can b brought to manifestation.
📌
Making time to study His Word is really underrated. Many today just glance thru & rush off. This will not help. We must make time in d midst of no time.
📌

Now, indulge me to ask you these simple questions.
📍
When was the last time you came to the altar of Prayer, just to guage your relationship with God?

Have you noticed or observed that, We monitor almost everything in our lives?

From the petrol in our car to that in our generators.

We monitor the money in our banks as well as that in our pocket....

#We monitor our performances at work and those of our subordinates...

#We monitor our health,

10 must-read books to transform your workday and boost productivity:

1. Atomic Habits

2. The Power of Habit

3. Deep Work

4. Essentialism