IMPORTANCE, ADVANTAGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BHAGWAT PURAN

It was Ved Vyas who edited the eighteen thousand shlokas of Bhagwat. This book destroys all your sins. It has twelve parts which are like kalpvraksh.

In the first skandh, the importance of Vedvyas

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVI BEEJ / BIJA MANTRA.

Once Suutji in his discourse with King Janmajeya repeated the words of Vyasji regarding the pronounciation of the word ऐ. Vyasji had heard the importance of this word in a meeting of all important saints at Naimisharanya.

There this story was discussed.

In that gathering of such great sages, Rishi Jamdagni asked a question to all the eminent luminaries. He wanted to know which diety is the most revered and gets satisfied easily with our prayers. So Lomash rishi replied that Devi

Bhagwati was one such diety. She will be satisfied and is ready to grant you a boon even if you just say the first letter of her beej mantra. In this context he narrated the story of Satyavrat. The story is as follows.

There lived a Brahmin named Devdutt in Kosal.

He was childless. He arranged for an elaborate yagya for a intelligent son to be born. He invited all the eminent rishi's to conduct this Yagya. Rishi Suhotra, Pael, Brahaspati Yagyavalka were assigned different tasks. Rishi Gobhil was asked to sing the Saamved.

He sang the verses very well, but he had to take respite in order to breathe between two verses. This angered devdutt. He spoke his thoughts to Gobhil rishi.

The rishi got very angry as devdutt did not realise the practicalities of singing. He cursed devdutt that

HOW TO DIMINISH THE ILL EFFECTS OF SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS OF SHANI IN YOUR HOROSCOPE / शनि देव की साढ़े साती का निवारण

The son of Raja Ajj was Dashrath ji from Raghukul. He was very friendly with Indradev. It was their routine to play together in the evenings at Alkapuri.

Indradev was informed that Shani or Shanaischar dev was going to pierce the Rohini Nakshatra. This was a great cause of worry for Indra.
He related this worry to Dashrath and elaborated that this deed will see the end of mankind if Shani dev is successful in his misdeed.

This would stop the rain. If there will be no rain there would be famine everywhere. People will die of hunger and thirst.

Dashrath ji immediately sprung into action. He attacked Shani dev. When Shani dev tried to dissuade Dashrath from war,

Dashrath took out his divine weapon to strike with warning Shani of its consequences of his actions.

Shani dev replied that he was satisfied with the courage of Dashrath ji who faced him otherwise people generally ran away from him knowing that if Shani glanced at them directly,

they would burn to ashes(Due to the curse given by her Wife as per Ganesh puran). He asked Dashrath to ask for a boon.

Dashrath said that on your particular day if people apply oil on his body, they would be protected till next day.

THREAD ON SHAKTI PEETHAS

Previously we read that Daksh insulted the divine Garland given to him by Durvasa and as a result he behaved negatively towards Shiva and Sati.

It was due to this negativity that Sati jumped into the fire.

This angered Shiva. His anger had a terrible impact all around. Virbhadra, Bhadrakali embarked on a destruction spree. Brahma and Vishnu had to intervene and had to stop the destruction.

But then Shiva carried the burnt body of Sati on his shoulders and

started roaming over the entire universe.
It was to stop the further destruction that Vishnu aimed his arrow towards Sati's body in such a way that it fell down into pieces. Wherever the pieces fell, it became a Shakti Peeth. Below are written the place the piece fell and

the name that shakti acquired.

Varanasi - Gauri.

Naimisharanya - Lingdharini.

Prayag - Lalita.

Gandhmaadan - Kamuki.

South Mansarovar - Kumuda.

North Mansarovar - Vishwakama.

Gomant - Gomti.

Mandrachal - Kaamchaarini.

Chaitrarath - Madotkata.

Hastinapur - Jayanti.

Kanyakubj - Gauri.

Malyachal - Rambha.

Ekamra Peeth - Kirtimati.

Vishvapeeth - Vishveshwari.

pushkar - Parhuta.

Kedar - Sanmarg dayini.

Himvat prushth - Manda.

Gokarn- Bhadrakarnika.

Sthaneshwar - Bhavani.

Bilvak - Bilvpatrika.

Shrishail - Madhavi.

Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal #temple -Gunaseelam,Near Trichy,TN #Thread

Gunaseela Mahatmyam,a chapter of Bhavishyottara Purana describes greatness of this place.

Venkatachlapathi of Tirumala Tirupati appeared b4 Gunaseela Rishi here,so Gunaseelam is known as Ten(South)Tirupati

Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal is in a standing posture with 4 arms holding sankha & chakra in the upper hands.The lower right hand is in abhaya pose,blessing devotees &left hand is in kati hasta,resting on waist.

A sceptre(senkkol)rests on right shoulder,with which this murti is believed to cure people affected by mental illness.These patient stay here for a period-48 days& participate in poojas&most of them get relieved of their problems.There is a temple run Mental Rehabilitation center

#storytimethread -As per Sthala Puranam,existence of this temple is due to efforts of Gunaseela Rishi, a disciple of Thalpiya Maharishi.
Thalpiya Maharishi along with his disciple Gunaseela Rishi once went to Himalayas.On his way back, Gunaseela Rishi stayed back at Tirupathi.

He was so wanted to have darshan of Venkatachalapathy in Gunaseelam near his asharam & bless the devotees.

He came back, bathed in the Cauvery,took blessing from his guru &undertook severe penance here in his ashram in Gunaseelam.

#Ramayana #LecturesOnTheRamayana

In today's thread and perhaps some subsequent threads, we will start looking into Rama as a person. The author clearly tries to bring out the human aspect of Rama captured beautifully in some of the verses.

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Please note, the discussion is NEVER challenging the supreme divinity of the person, but tries to capture the nuances or the finer points of the Bhagwan.

Sri Rama had extra-ordinary merit - Unequalled, Unmatched merit. He always remained at his own highest level.

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He seldom fell below it at times, wherein one can spot the conditions that led to the decline. In these conditions, he did & said things that his own higher nature would never approve.

Sri Rama was indeed the guardian and embodiment in himself of Dharma.

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Some incidents bring out the very best in him where he is able to uphold his own moral ideal.

For ex, when Vibhishina sought asylum, he held a council of war with all eminent counsellors. Except Hanuman whose advice was considered weak, rest all including Lakshmana ..

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recommended him to reject Vibhishina, with a few even ordering killing him.

He listened to this charged conversation (a skill where we humans utterly lack today) & said the famous words:
" No man shall seek my protection in vain. No matter who, how undeserving, how wicked..

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'Tera mera rishta kya, hindu, hindu,hindutva' is a clear take on 'tera mera rishta kya,la ilaha illallah'. As much as Hindutva hates the monotheistic religions especially Islam, there's a strange wistfulness and subliminal need at display now, to BE that they hate. 1

Charlie Hebdo doesn’t come up as a cautionary tale now but rather 'why cant we be like that'?
Growing up, Hanuman was an adorable deity for us, who swallowed the sun, or who couldn’t figure out what was Sanjeevani booti so he picked up a whole mountain and came back with it. 2

Or he was loyal, admirable and when he cleaved his chest, you saw both Ram and Sita. Now we have a lot of “Angry Hanuman” stickers. Why is a cute childlike God angry? We don’t know. It's a convenient blank space where to paint all the angst of Hindu Khatre mein hain narrative. 3

The other strange thing that has started happening is pictures of Ram appearing sans Sita. “Jai Siya Ram” has become “Jai Shri Ram”. Some people disingenuously explain it as being the same thing - because Shri is a name of Lakshmi. Not really. Siya is an apbhransh of Sita. 4

Shri is a prefix of respect in this case. Hinduism is being militarised. A woman/Sita has no place in it. Even the militaristic Goddess that is Durga has no place in this conception of neo-Hindu divinity, as evidenced by Dilip Mandal wondering where Durga came from. 5