Gokulashtami

Today is Gokulashtami. Birth day of Lord Krishna. Krishana was born in Mathura, for Devaki and Vasudeva to kill his uncle Kansa who was known for his cruel deeds . After birth he was taken to Gokulam, by his father to be brought up in the safe hands of Nanda and Yasoda.

The reason for that was Kansa was killing all of Devakis' children immediately after birth by believing the prophesy  that Devaki's 8th son will kill Kansa.

Krishna grew up in Gokulam along with his brother Balaram and returned to Madura to kill his uncle with the aid of his brother.

Celebrations:
Hindus celebrate Gokulashtami or Janmashtami by fasting and staying up till midnight(When Krishna was believed  to be born inside the jail). After midnight devotees share sweets and sing devotional songs. In some temples Bhagavat Gita will be read by Pandits.

In Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai and Pune Krishnashtami or Gokulashtami is known as Dahi Hundi celebrated with great enthusiasm. During his early child hood Krishna believed to take the butter and butter from the pots which were hung high by the Gokulam ladies. As the remembrance of that incidents young people form human pyramid to break the earthen pots(by the top most person) which contains buttermilk.    

In Manipur it is one of the most significant festival celebrated in two temples.

In Uttarpredesh where many places which are associated with Lord Krishna, like Mathura, Gokulam and Virindavan this festival is celebrated with great zeal. People from all over India came here to celebrate this festival at the birth place.

In Dwaraka(Gujarat) where Lord Krishna was believed to establish his kingdom, it is celebrated by visiting Dwarakadish temple.

In Odissa, Puri and West Bengal it is celebrated by fasting and reciting Bagavat Geeta.

In Kashmir during this day kite flying is one of the important occasion.

People all over India celebrate Krishnashtami with great enthusiasm, and most people go to ISCON Temples to celebrate this day.

Mother Teresa

Yesterday(26th August) was The great woman Mother Teresa's birth day.
"By blood I am Albanian. By citizenship I am Indian. By faith I am a catholic nun."
Even though she was small built, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was entrusted with the proclaiming God's love of humanity, especially the poor people. She was a soul filled with love for Christ. Her original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She lost her father at her early age, but brought up by her mother with love and care. She left her home at the age of eighteen to join the nunnery. She received education and was sent to India to teach. Her name was changed as Teresa and she was decided to help the poor in India. Mother Teresa and her helpers built homes for orphans, nursing homes for lepers, and hospitals for the terminally ill people. Her missionary was spread all over the world and help poured from the people all over the world.

She was awarded Padmashri Award by the Indian Government in 1962 and was awarded Nobel peace prize in 1979.

During the last years of her life, despite her poor health Mother Teresa continued to govern her missionaries which includes 4000 sisters spread over 123 countries with 610 foundations and respond to the needs of the poor and the church.

On September 5 1997, her earthly life came to an end. By late 2003 she was beatified, third step towards sainthood.

I hope I could follow at least 5%  of her love to the poor, service to the poor. 

Post which is so touchy

While I was going through face book, I saw one of my friend's post which is so touchy, I wanted to share here. I am writing this in my friends words.


"I was walking around in a Big Bazar store shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old..

The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. Then the little boy turned to the cashier and asked: are you sure I don't have enough money?''

The cashier counted his cash once again and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY.

I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God.. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister...''

My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly..

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''

'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'

Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.'

I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever...

The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

Please DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE."

Anger- damages it cause

This is the incident I read in a book about how anger damages one's live.

Father bought a new car, parked outside the house and went inside to call his wife. When both husband  and wife came out, the father saw that his child was scribbling something on the side of the new car. He got so wild that he stuck his child's hand with a stick. The blow was so strong that the child's finger got cut. Seeing that both the parents took the child to the nearest hospital. Since the traveling time is more between the house and hospital, the surgeon told the parents, they couldn't stitch back the finger, so the child lost one finger.
When the parents were allowed to see the child, the child asked the father, "Daddy, whether I will get back my finger?"  The father couldn't answer his child's question. He felt so bad  and left for home. After reaching home, he just gone near the new car, and saw the child's scribbling. The child had written on the side of the car, "Daddy, I love you". He started crying and just put his hand on the scribbling and saw that the letters were fading away. Then only he remembered that the car's paint was unscratchable.
He couldn't control his guilty feeling,  went inside and committed suicide.  The child lost both his father and finger.

This incident narrates us, how anger spoils one's life. This must teach every one of us what are the evil effects of anger.
The second lesson we learnt from this incident is, we should not end our life, for the mistake we did. We must live and face the damage, and try to rectify the life we changed.

Articles I read

Today  I read two ariticles in a Tamil magazine.  Eventhough it was a old magazine today only I had a chance to read those articles. The magazine name is 'Pudiya Thalaimurai'

The first one  is about the rescue work conducted by Indian army on Uttarakhand flood hit areas. The article described the situation at which the rescue work was conducted. The area is a hilly area, (the great Himalayas), due to the heavy flood the bridges were collapsed, roads were vanished. There is no proper route to reach the stranded people. But knowing that people are rendered homeless, without food and clean water for drinking, suffering by severe cold, the army people reached the suffering people (which is a himalayan task under that climatic situation) in minimum time, provided the people food and basic medicines and shifted them to the safest place. It was the one of the massive rescue work conducted by Indian army in the very bad climate. The army people least bothered about their life, (they lost choppers in the rescue work) saved more than 50,000 people. 

Hats off to the INDIAN ARMY.

The second one is about building a underground sand storage dam.  In Thiruvarur(Guruvadi village) the collecter had ordered to build a underground sand storage dam, which helps to improve the underground water level of that area.  The result is, the underground water level is increased to 5 feet.

In Tamil Nadu the underground water level is going down very drastically due to the very poor rain fall in the last year.  To improve the water level some measures has to be taken very urgently. Consulting agricultural department, water resource department, village administrative officers, the collecter had built this dam.' This is a starting one. Many such dams will follow ' says the officer.

It is a welcoming news, as frist step has been taken to preven the loss of underground water level.

The benefits of such dams are:

• The cost of building such dams are very less.
• There is no maintance cost for such dams.
• Since the dam is underground, evoparation of water is less.
• It can be build using sand and availabe cement storage bags.
• It is eco friendly.
• It helps to improve the underground water level.

Thanks to the magazine 'Pudiya Thalaimurai'.

Lakshmi Narasimhar temple, Parikkal and Bakthajaneswarar temple, Thirunavalur

On Tuesday my family visited the most famous and ancient temples near Villupuram.

The first one is Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Parikkal. Lord Narasimha is known for his anger, but here in this temple he is graceful, as both Swamy and Thayar are embracing each other. This is the only ancient Vaishnava temple in India, where both Swamy and Mother are embracing each other.

The devotees, those who are not having good health, for whom their debts are not returned by the borrowers, for those who are facing obstacles in marriage and those who are affected by black magic will come here pray the Lord.  It is a belief that their obstacles will be removed once they pray wholeheartedly at this sannithanam.
Devotees perform abishekam, once their wishes are fulfilled. They also offer vasithira(cloths) to the deities.  We feasted our eyes with the alankaram(decoration) on that day. Swamy and Thayar were looking like a newly married couple on that day. We couldn't express our feelings by words. The pattar (priest) who did the alankaram and archana did justice to his work.
The temple is open from 6.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.
History of the temple: The history falls back to 1800 years. It was built by Vasantharaja who ruled Viruthachalam. From the inscriptions on the wall we came to know about the contributions by Pallavaking Koperuchingan, Thiru puvanam Chakaravarthy Konerimai Kondan and Rajaraja Cholan. It was renovated by Pallava and Chola kings.


The second temple we visited on that day is Shiva temple at Thirunavalur. The name of the temple is Sri Bakthajaneswarar temple. This temple is just 2 to 4 km from Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar temple, Parikkal.

It is the birth place of one of the 63 Nayanar, Sundaramoorthy Nayanar.  It is one of the Thevara Shivasthalam. In this temple Lord Shiva is worshiped in the form of Linga. It is the temple for the star Pooradam.
The Ambal Manomani Thayar is very beautiful. It is belief that Ambal will fulfill the wishes of the devotees who prayed here wholeheartedly.
There is a separate Varadharaja Perumal Sannithi in the temple. 
We can see the inscriptions which denoted that the history of the temple falls back to 1000-2000 years. We can see the contribution by many kings.

The temple is open from 6.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.  and 4.30 p.m to 8.00 p.m.
The sad point is the temple needs more fund for renovation and maintenance.

Contra climate in India

India is suffering by the contra climates in its regions.  One side, northern part Uttarkand is facing heavy rains and on the other hand southern part Tamil Nadu is suffering by drought.
So far over 15000 stranded in Kedarnath and Govindghat, and the death toll is 150. Rivers Ganga and Yamuna are flooding above their danger level.  Many people left homeless, many villages remain under water.
Army has been deployed for the rescue operation.

Contrarily Tamil Nadu is facing drought. With less rainfall in the past mansoons it is facing acute scarcity of water. One of the main reservoir Mettur dam is having less storage of water (lowest in the last 23 years). Due to this Kuruvai sagubady (cultivation of short time paddy crop) will be affected. Most of the districts which are benefited by river Kaveri are facing very acute shortage of even drinking water.  Underground water level is also reduced dangerously.

What is the solution for these conditions?