#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 👇

Sri Sanjeevi Rayar Temple located in Ayyangar Kulam,near Kanchipuram,TN

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Ancient but beautiful temple dedicated to Hanuman. This temple is a legendary one. According to the Sthala Puranam of Sanjeevi Rayar temple,it is associated with an episode from Ramayana.

Legend story -Hanuman was flying from Himalayas to Lanka bearing Sanjeevi hill to revive Lakshmana during battle between Rama& Ravana, a piece of the Sanjeevi Parvat fell at this place.Many believe this legendary story & even today that no one here dies of any kind of poisoning.

From historical background of the temple it is known that temple was originally built by a great scholar &administrator Kotikanyadanam Lakshmikumara Tatacharya. Temple itself&village were named following name of great scholar Tatacharya, who was then popularly known as Ayyangar.

He was the royal preceptor of Vijayanagara emperor Venkata Raya who had his capital at Chandragiri in AP.Upon returning from a pilgrimage,robbers tried to attack Tatacharya at this place. Being a great devotee of Hanuman,he instantly composed a poem in Sanskrit praising Hanuman.

The bandits immediately ran away &Tatacharya decided to build a temple dedicated to Anjaneya at that very place.This Sanskrit poem is called Hanumad Vimshati, has been inscribed in Grantha script inside this temple.The huge temple tank called Tatasamudram, in honor of Tatacharya.

Heard about a Marathan run that is conducted as part of Maha Shivarathri celebrations -Shivalaya Oottam

Marathan run by devotees covering 12 Shiva Alayams/ Temples chanting Govinda..Gopala...

This practice is related to an legend #story of #Mahabharata

Do read this #Thread

Devotees dressed in khawi/safforn cloths,will run /walk to one Shiva Alayam to other,covering 12 Shiva Alayams in Kanyakumari district by foot & total distance is abt 88 Km.
First temple is Thirumalai Mahadevar Temple,Munchirai
During the run,they take holy dips in temple tanks.

Devotees who cover the distance by foot observe Vriddham for a week.During fasting they eat tender coconut,Nungu &Tulsi water.Those who cannot run this distance,visit all 12 temples in vehicles.
After darshan in Thirumalai temple,they go to 2nd temple Tikkurichi Mahadeva Temple.

Followed by darshan at Thirunandikarai Shiva Temple,Ponmanai Thimbilankudi Mahadevar Temple,Thiruppanri Bhagam Shiva Temple,Kalkulam Neelakanda Mahadevar Temple, Melangode Shiva Temple, Thiruvidaikodu Mahadevar Temple.Lastly to Thirunattalam Sankara Narayan Temple.

All these shiva temples,have separate sannathi for Vishnu.
Interestingly,in each of these temples,prasad is Vibuthi or bhasma & at Thirunattalam Sankara Narayan Temple the prasad is sandal paste/Chandan symbolic of unity of Shiva &Vishnu.

Legend #story 👇

Andhakasuravadha Samharamurti -#story #Thread
Sculpture of Bhagwan Shiva as the destroyer of the Asura Andhaka - Cave 29,Ellora caves

Asura Andhaka hangs on to a trishula held by 6-armed Shiva.

Once Parvathi & Shiva were relaxing in the pleasant gardens of Mount Mandhara.

Bhagwan Shiva sat down there to enjoy the happiness.Parvati closed the eyes of Shiva playfully & darkness covered the whole universe.Parvati was perplexed & her palms were wet with perspiration.A few drops of her sweat mixed with sweat from Shiva’s body& fell to the ground.

From this sweat,a fierce creature was born,it started to roar.Child was born blind as Shiva's eyes were closed so was named as Andaka.Andha means darkness&also ignorance.Around the same time Asura Hiranyaksha was performing rigorous tapas Shiva for a boon of powerful son.

Bhagwan Shiva was pleased by tapas of Hiranyaksha & blessed him with darshan.Hiranyaksha asked for a powerful son,Shiva told him that he cannot have his own son,but can adopt a blind child who would become very powerful later.Shiva gave child Andaka to Hiranyaksha.

Hiranyaksha returned to his kingdom with Andaka.Later after the vadh of Hiranyaksha, Andaka is said to have lived with his cousins.He was ridiculed,so dejected Andaka went to forest.He did severe tapas for over many years towards Brahma Dev. Brahma dev appeared before him.

Kolaru Pathigam-Thevaram hymn composed by ThiruGnana Sambandar- #Thread

In Tamil Kol means planets,Aru means cut- set of songs in Kolaru Pathigam addresses all Navagrahas& last 2 lines of every song with end a plea to Bhagwan Shiva to reduce/erase the ill effects of Navagrahas

கோளறு பதிகம் - This pathigam was sung by Thirugnana Sambandar at Thirumaraikadu Kshetram -Vedaranyam,Tamilnadu

Thirugnana Sambandar & Appar(Thirunavukkarasar) travelled together to various Shiva Alayam to spread shivam & bhakti among people.They both reached Thirumaraikadu.

Thirumaraikadu(Vedaranyam) -
Appar & Sambandar were asked to enter the temple through side entrance.The main door was locked by Vedas many years ago.Appar&Sambandar sang devotional hymns praising Shiva, after which the gates opened & closed.After which main door opened for all.

After darshan of Bhagwan Shiva at Thirumaraikkadu,Sambandar received a message to travel to Madurai.
During that time, Samanam was on the rise in the Pandya Kingdom.The Pandya King converted to Samanam.The Queen Mangaiyarkkarasi was a staunch Shiva devotee and was upset.

Kularchirai Nayanar ,Chief Minister of Pandya kingdom was in agony by the turn of events.Queen requested Kulachirai Nayanar to escort Thiru gnana Sambandar to Madurai.Kularchirai Nayanar met Thiru gnana Sambandar at Thirumaraikkadu & requested him to visit Madurai.

NĀRADA & HIS BHAKTI-SŪTRAS :
Bhakti – Love Divine :-
Of Love Divine (Sūtra 1 to 6)

All our philosophical textbooks are written out by the great 'rishis' and 'thinkers' in the form of sūtras.
The term, ‘sūtra’, means ‘string’ – the string on which the arguments &
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thoughts are strung together to become an enchanting garland of ideas.
This is the philosophy of devotion, of love for 'Paramatma' stands today attributed to the Devarṣi Nārada.
He works everywhere as friend, philosopher and guide, to all devotees.
Let's begin the journey !

NĀRADA & HIS BHAKTI-SŪTRAS :
Bhakti – Love Divine :-
Of Love Divine (Sūtra 1 to 6)

Sūtra 1
अथातो भक्तिं व्याख्यास्यामः॥ १॥
Now, the doctrine of devotion we shall expound.
After having developed all the qualifications necessary for the practice of devotion (atha), the student

feels no spiritual satisfaction, and therefore (ataḥ), he must now diligently walk the path of devotion. According to Rāmānuja, the teacher of viśiṣṭādvaita, there are seven qualifications necessary in a seeker who plans to pursue devotion. They are:

(1) Discrimination in food (viveka), (2) Freedom from desire (vimukha), (3) Practice (abhyāsa), (4) Habit of doing good to others (kriyā), (5) Purity in thought, word and deed, non-violence, charity, and such other virtues (kalyāṇa), (6) Cheerfulness (anavasāda), and (7) Absence

The revelation of the mystery: BODY OF CHRIST

Ephesians 3:6 KJV
That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Gentiles have become heirs of God and ALL MEMBERS of the same body (Rom 8:17). Just like...

a human body is formed by God, each believer is 'put into' (baptized) Christ's body by one Spirit (Holy Spirit).
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 KJV

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ...

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

And this body is a NEW MAN, made up of Jews and Gentiles, reconciled to peace by the cross...

Ephesians 2:15-16 KJV
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; [16] And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross...

having slain the enmity thereby:

..of which Christ Jesus is the HEAD, and this body declared to be the CHURCH

Ephesians 1:22-23 KJV
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, [23] Which is his body,...

It has long been a custom in the Islamic world to compose collections of 40 Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad) for believers to memorize. Thread for the the era of Covid.

The most famous perhaps that of the thirteenth century Shafi’i jurist al-Nawawi, which I use in teaching.

Collections of Prophetic traditions also exist for specific subjects or according to specific transmitters. And, separately, since the beginning of Covid, Muslim jurists the world over have been handing down legal opinions (fatwa/fatawa) on how best to respond.

Most recently, and the first such collection I have seen since the spread of Covid, the South African Shafi’i mufti Taha Karaan published a collection of hadith dealing with epidemics along with his own extensive comments.

The collection is fascinating for various reasons, both for the degree that it builds on premodern hadith commentaries and that which it presents a new synthesis of premodern views. If you’re interested in the premodern stuff, check out my book.