SRI VARAHA NARSIMHA, SIMHACHALAM, VIZAG (AP)
#bharatmandir

One of the 32 Narsimha Kshetram of Andhra. It has a unique form of Narsimha, appearing like a shivlingam

It is said that Narsimha’s fierce nature is soothed by worshipping him with Varaha, considered a peaceful deity

ARULMIGU SRI PARTHASARATHY SWAMY KSHETRAM, CHENNAI (TN)

Divya Desha where Perumal appears with moustache of a Sarathi (charioteer) to conduct Arjun’s Rath in Kurukshetra war.
Here, Venkatkrishna-Parthasarthy is present with his entire family.

He is flanked by Sri Rukmini, Sri Balarama, Satyaki, son Pradyumn and grandson Anirudha.
It is said that on the request of Raja Sumathirajan, Sri Perumal appeared and stayed here as Arjun’s charioteer (Partha-sarathi).

He is without chakra as he had promised not to wield weapons in Mahabharata war.
The face has scars caused by Bhishma’s arrows on Arjun. Prabhu took the arrows on himself to protect Arjun.

The Naivedyam offered here does not have spices. Ghee is used in it to cure Prabhu’s wounds. Sarkarai Pongal is famous here.

It is said that Rishi Bhrigu found Devi Lakshmi (as Vedvalli) in Alli flower in the mandir pushkarini. Later, Sri Ranganatha came here to marry her.

SRI MOOKAMBIKA DEVI, KOLLUR (KAR)

There was an Asura, Kaumasura, who was doing penance to please Shiva and get a boon. To prevent him from asking for a boon, Devi Saraswati made him dumb (hence called Mookasur)
Later, Adi Parashakti slayed him and came to be called Mookambika.

It is said that Adi Shankaracharya had a vision in which Devi agreed to follow him provided he did not look back. He kept walking and was assured of her presence due to the sound of anklets. When he reached here in Kollur, he turned back as the sound of anklets had stopped.

So Devi stayed here and merged with the lingam. The place came to be called Mookambika Kshetram.
The linga has integrated on it’s left side MahaKali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswathi and on the right side- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

A swarna rekha (gold line) divides this linga into left and right portion. Adi Shakthi in this Udhbhavlinga form appears only here.
Devi sits in padmasana and has 4 hands.
Adi Shankaracharya installed the Sri Chakra in front of Devi and also composed the Soundarya Lahiri here.

GHATI SUBRAMANYA, DODDABALLAPURA (KAR)
#bharatmandir

One of the most important place for snake worship.
The murtis of Kartikeya and Narasimha are self-manifested.
There is an anthill which is opposite the shrine. Bhaktas pour milk on it as part of rituals.

Here Subramanya performed penance in the form of snake. He sought protection from Narsimha for Nagas from Sri Vishnu’s vehicle Garuda, known for his dislike towards serpents.
The Pushya Suddha Shasti is one of the biggest festivals here believed to be appearance day of Subramanya

It was in this region where Subramanya vanquished Ghatikasura, the demon. Hence called Ghati Subramanya.
Childless couples visit here to seek blessings for getting a child.
The installation of snake murtis near the shrine is believed to be an auspicious act.

The murti of Karthikeya with a seven headed cobra faces eastwards while Narasimha faces westwards.
To ensure that both are visible to bhaktas at the same time, a huge mirror is placed in the rear in the sanctum sanctorum.

VEERBHADRA MANDIR, LEPAKSHI (AP)

Constructed at Penukonda during King Achutaraya’s reign in 1530 by Virupanna Nayaka and Viranna, brothers who were Governors in Vijayanagar Empire.

This is one of the divyakshetras, (Shiva’s significant pilgrimage place) as per Skanda Purana.

Legend is that the mandir was built by Maharshi Agastya.
It is believed that Pakshi Jatayu fell here after battle with Ravana to rescue Ma Sita.
Sri Rama is believed to have said to the brave bird “Le Pakshi” — ‘rise, bird’ in Telugu. From this, the place got it’s name.

The mandir is dedicated to Veerbhadra whom Shiva created in anger after Daksha Yagna.

The mandir floor also has a huge footprint believed to be that of Ma Sita that was created when Ravana stopped here for sometime after abducting her. The footprint is always moist.

The monolith Nandi sculpted from a single block stone is positioned in such a way that it faces Nagalinga inside the mandir complex.

The Hall has the famous Hanging pillar that doesn’t touch the ground. One can pass thin objects like piece of cloth from one side to other.

MANAKUL VINAYAGAR, PUDUCHERRY

Earlier named Bhuvaneshwar Ganapati.
There was a pond (Kulam in Tamil) near the mandir that was full of sand (manal).
So people started calling Manal Kulathu Vinayagar (Ganpati near sand pond) that later became Manakula Vinayagar.

This Ganpati mandir is the only one across India which is covered fully with gold on its tower.

The murti of Vinayagar is also unique as he is seen standing on 3 legs.

Wedding festival of Riddhi and Siddhi with Vinayagar is unique since it is celebrated only in this mandir.

A legend says that the French tried to destroy the mandir and threw the murti in the sea but when they came back, they found the murti back in the mandir in same position.

There is a golden Ratha here. Around 7.5 kg gold was used in making it at a cost of around 35 lakhs.

IT WAS RISHI KANADA WHO GAVE THE ATOMIC THEORY & TALKED ABOUT THE GRAVITY OF EARTH, 2600 YEARS BEFORE AN APPLE FELL IN FRONT OF NEWTON'S EYES:

Scientists of the modern world credit an English scientist John Dalton (1766 CE -1844 CE) for the Atomic Theory.

And this is because, most of us are not even aware of an ancient Indian Sage named Kanada, who was the first to formulate the theory of atoms, almost 2600 yrs before Dalton and talk about earth's gravity.

Rishi Kanada was born around 600 BCE in Dwarka, Gujarat and he was the son of a philosopher named Ulka. He was fascinated with the minute detailing of the things right from his childhood. Once, when he was very young, he accompanied his father on a journey to Prayaga.

He saw plentiful grains scattered along the path leading to the shore of river Ganga. It's a tradition in Hindu families to scatter the grains for the ants and birds to feed on them. Suddenly, an ant caught his attention, who was feeding on a rice grain.

He was mesmerised by this very fact that how a small grain of rice becomes food for the ant but to satisfy the hunger of a person so many grains are needed together. This incidence made him realize the importance of a single grain of rice.

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.

You can lose 40 pounds of fat,

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· Preparation meets expectations

What do you expect to be feasible for you? Can you let go of the things that got you here?

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There's only ONE shortcut to get there faster: DO THE WORK!

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Get 90% of your calories from single-ingredient nutrient-dense

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· Never trust your gut

Weigh and track your foods. Timestamp your eating habits.
Compare prices between going out and prepping at home.

This will give you actual numbers and the right education to move forward from being unaware to being actually aware.

I've used Microsoft Excel for 20 years and these 10 shortcuts will make you an Excel Guru in 5 minutes & maximize your productivity 100x:

🧵 Don't use Excel without knowing these 10 shortcuts:

(1) Repeat the Last Action: Ctrl + Y

You have just applied a formatting style to a cell, use Ctrl + Y to quickly apply the same formatting to another cell.

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The AutoSum shortcut is useful for quickly calculating the sum of a range of cells without having to manually type in the formula

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When tracking the progress of a project, add the date each time a task is completed. Use Ctrl + ; to quickly insert the current date.