SRI KUMARIAMMAN, KANYAKUMARI (TN)
#bharatmandir #navratri2021

Created by Maharshi Parasurama and also one among the 108 Shakthi Peethas in the world. The name Kanyakumari stands for Kanya(Virgin) and Kumari(girl).
Devi took this form to vanquish the demon Banasura
@GunduHuDuGa

NAMAKKAL ANJANEYAR, TAMILNADU
#bharatmandir

Sri Anjaneya/Hanuman murti at Namakkal is 18ft tall and holds a japmala in hand and sword in waist.
Here, Anjaneya is closely associated with Narasimha and Ma Lakshmi.

Once, Anjaneya was bathing in Gandaki river of Nepal. He found a huge shaligram shaped like Sri Vishnu. He carried it with him. When he was passing over this place, he wished to bathe but shaligram cannot be placed on ground.
He, then, saw Mahalakshmi doing penance.

She wanted to see Prabhu as Narasimha, hence the penance. She agreed to hold the shaligram for some specified time. When Anjaneya could not come back within the given time, she placed it down. The shaligram became a huge mountain.
Vishnu appeared as Narasimha before Ma Lakshmi.

Anjaneya also stayed back. His Vigraha is carved out of a single rock.
The major festival here is the fifteen-day Panguni Uthiram celebrated during the Tamil month of Panguni (March – April) when the image of presiding deities are taken around the streets of the mandir.

THE KATHA OF SHANI DEV

Shani literally means the “slow-moving-one”. He is the son of Surya and Chhaya. When he was in his mother’s womb, she was engrossed in penance of Shiva in blazing sun and didn’t even care to have food. So, Shani Dev was born with dark skin.

Once when Hanuman was praying to Sri Ram, Shani Dev came to him and asked Hanuman to fight with him. Hanuman Ji tied Shani in his tail and tightened the coil. He, then, moved his tail in all directions. Shani Dev started bleeding and was in immense pain.
@SriRamya21

To relieve his pain, Hanuman ji gave Shani Dev some oil and sesame seeds. Since then, it has become a practice to worship Shani Dev with oil and sesame seeds.
It not only soothes his pain, but also makes him beneficent towards Ram and Hanuman devotees.
@swamy64
@VaishnavKrish14

Ravana,once, took all the 9 planets as captive. When Hanuman went in search of Ma Sita, he freed Shani Dev.

Shani Dev then said to Hanuman that the effect of Shani’s inauspiciousness will never affect him in any way. He also promised not to trouble anyone who was a Ram Bhakta.

Shani is also a Devta of justice. He is known to give one the fruits of his deeds in his present life itself. He keeps a faithful account of our previous Karma.
The Shani Mandir at Shingnapur (Maha) is the most famous Shani Mandir. Even to this day, people do’nt lock doors here.

RISHI BHRINGI AND ARDHA-NAREESHWAR SHIVA

Rishi Bhringi was a devoted bhakt of Mahadev. However, in his devotion to Shiva, he ignored Mata Parvati.

Once, he visited Kailasha along with other Rishis. All the Rishis did parikrama of Shiva and Parvati both except Rishi Bhringi.

The same situation continued whenever Rishi Bhringi visited Kailasha. Mata Parvati decided to teach him that Shiva and Parvati are one and inseparable.
So on one such visit, Mata Parvati sat on the left lap of Mahadev when Rishi Bhringi came.

Seeing this, Rishi Bhringi took the form of a bee(some say bird) and did pradakshina/ parikrama only around Shiva’s head and ignored Ma Parvati.
Angered Mata took away the Shakti from his body. Rishi lost his blood and flesh and was left with a bare skeletal form.

Seeing him in such a situation where he was unable to support himself, Shiva granted a third leg to him.
Shiva then fused one half of his body with that of Ma Parvati and appeared as Ardha Nareeshwar.
Rishi Bhringi finally realised that Shiv and Shakti are one and the same.
🙏🏻

DEVI KARUMARIAMMAN, THIRUVERKADU (TN)

Devi is worshipped here as both Swayambhu (self-manifested) and as Parashakti (with 4 arms holding skull,sword,trishul,udukkai/damru).

Here, Muruga got Vel from Devi to fight Suran. So the place was called Vel kadu which became Verkadu.

It is said that there was an anthill here long ago. Devi appeared in the dream of a devotee and asked him to build a shrine at that spot. When the anthill was removed, the swayambhu murti of Devi emerged. So Devi is called Karuvil Illadha Karumari ( not in the womb of mother).

Once, Devi went to Surya in the form of an old woman but Surya neglected her. Devi’s anger made Surya lose his brightness.
To appease her, Surya said that His rays would fall on Her directly twice in a year and touch her feet. Also, Sunday is celebrated as day of Devi Karumari.

There is also a wooden image of Devi (Marachilai Amman) here. Devotees offer locks to her in the belief that She would safe guard their houses.
Temple tank (Thiruchamber Poigai) is said to have been created by Subramanya. Taking dip in it is said to cure skin related disorders.

YALAGUR HANUMAN KSHETRAM, YALAGUR (KAR)
#bharatmandir

Also called Speaking Hanuman.
Once, Hanuman was asked by Rama to establish himself in 7 different places. So, swayambhu (self-manifested) murtis of Hanuman emerged and Yalagur is said to be the head of all these 7 murtis.

It is said that a pujari had a dream to break open the stone he was performing puja on. When he did so, a murti emerged which was broken. Hanuman guided him to put the pieces together for 7 days in a place. The anxious pujari could not wait and opened the door on 7th day itself.

He found a hanuman murti complete on upper part but incomplete in lower part.
Later a shrine was built there and even today we can see the unjoined parts in Yalguresh murti.

There is a belief that Yalguresh can tell whether one will succeed in his task or not.
@GunduHuDuGa

The person is made to sit before the murti and speak out his wish. If the flower on the murti falls to his right, the person will succeed. If it falls on the left side, his task would fail.
This is why, Hanuman is called “Speaking Hanumantha” here.

My dad led an organization of over 300,000 employees.

When I took on my biggest marketing & events team to date (35 employees) I asked him how the *heck* he did it. Here's what he said and what helped me every day. 🧵

Remember you're leading all the employees under you, but you're not *managing* them all. You're managing your direct reports, which should be 5-7 individuals max. Focus on them.

When you interact with the employees you don't manage directly, get to know them as people first, that'll be the most valuable information in leading them. Remembering everything you learn about them is hard, but doing so will make you a superhero.

If you're not going to empower the managers under you, why do you have them? If you see room for improvement, let the manager know and let them make the change on their teams and come to you with questions/concerns. This will save you SO much time.

If you're the smartest person in any room - you're doing it wrong. As a leader, your job is bringing together the best people to get the job done - your skillset is identifying those people, not being one of them.

My dad led an organization of over 300,000 employees.

When I took on my biggest marketing & events team to date (35 employees) I asked him how the *heck* he did it. Here's what he said and what helped me every day. 🧵

Remember you're leading all the employees under you, but you're not *managing* them all. You're managing your direct reports, which should be 5-7 individuals max. Focus on them.

When you interact with the employees you don't manage directly, get to know them as people first, that'll be the most valuable information in leading them. Remembering everything you learn about them is hard, but doing so will make you a superhero.

If you're not going to empower the managers under you, why do you have them? If you see room for improvement, let the manager know and let them make the change on their teams and come to you with questions/concerns. This will save you SO much time.

If you're the smartest person in any room - you're doing it wrong. As a leader, your job is bringing together the best people to get the job done - your skillset is identifying those people, not being one of them.

My dad led an organization of over 300,000 employees.

When I took on my biggest marketing & events team to date (35 employees) I asked him how the *heck* he did it. Here's what he said and what helped me every day. 🧵

Remember you're leading all the employees under you, but you're not *managing* them all. You're managing your direct reports, which should be 5-7 individuals max. Focus on them.

When you interact with the employees you don't manage directly, get to know them as people first, that'll be the most valuable information in leading them. Remembering everything you learn about them is hard, but doing so will make you a superhero.

If you're not going to empower the managers under you, why do you have them? If you see room for improvement, let the manager know and let them make the change on their teams and come to you with questions/concerns. This will save you SO much time.

If you're the smartest person in any room - you're doing it wrong. As a leader, your job is bringing together the best people to get the job done - your skillset is identifying those people, not being one of them.

Science behind Gowtram Genetics - Do you know why every time you sit in a puja the priest asks you for Gowtra? What is Gowtram system? Why do we have this? Why do we consider this to decide marriages? Why should sons carry the gowtram of father, why not daughter?

How/why does gowtra of a daughter change after she gets married? What is the logic? In fact this is an amazing genetic science we follow.
Let's see the science of genetics behind gowtra systems.
The word GOWTRA formed from two Sanskrit words GAU (means cow) Trahi (means shed)

Gowtra means cowshed. Gowtra is like cowshed protecting a particular male lineage.
We identify our male lineage/gowtra by considering to be descendants of the 8 great MahaRishis (Saptarishis + Bharadwaja MahaRishi). All the other gowtras were evolved from these only.

Biologically, human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes (1 from father & 1 from mother) on these 23 pairs, there is one pair called sex chromosomes which decides the gender of person. During conception if the resultant cell is XX chromosomes then the child will be girl,

if it is XY then it is boy. In XY - X is frm mother & Y is frm father. In this Y is unique & it doesn't mix. So in XY, Y will suppress the X & son will get Y chromosomes. Y is the only chromosome which gets passed down only between male lineage. (Father to Son & to Grandson)

KADRI MANJUNATHESHWARA, MANGALURU (KAR)

Kadri Manjunatha is believed to be the oldest Shiva Shrine in Mangaluru.
It also has tanks with natural springs and laterite caves known as Pandava Caves.
The Kadri Hill has the biggest centre of Natha Pantha (cult) in South India.

After defeating and ending Kshatriyas, Parashurama donated all land to Kashyap. He, then, meditated upon Shiva.
Shiva told Parashurama that he would incarnate as Manjunath and asked him to meditate at Kadalivana (today’s Kadri).

Parashurama visited the new land and found a Kadalivana (plantain field) and one Rasakoopa (well). Shiva appeared in that Rasakoopa and later Vishwakarma created a shrine.
Ma Parvathi also settled here and Saptakoti Mantras settled here as Sapta Teerthas (7 ponds).

Much later, Kadri became a buddhist centre and after that the Natha pantha. The Jogis of Jogimutt still reside here and worship Manjunatha.
The place has a natural spring called Gomukha. It is said that water flows in it from Ganga in Kashi, hence called Kashi Bhagirathi Tirth.