CULTURAL QA 01-2021-06 Being a compilation there may be errors
Q1 Why do Krishna devotees suffer? A1 Shree Keshava Updated July 16-2020 When Yudhisthira was crowned as king of Hastinapur, Lord Krishna saidthat he would now like to go to Dwarka. Kunti devi came to see Lord.LordKrishna said, “ I am very pleased by your bhakti, ask what you want?” Kunti devi said, “Oh my Lord!Please give me hardship, difficulties , challenges, poverty.” Lord Krishna said, “ People ask for easy life full of luxuries and pleasures,why are you asking hardships?” Kunti devi said, “My lord! The more luxuries and abundance we have, the more we turn towards materialrealm and forget about you. My ultimate goal is spritual enhancementrather than materialistic pleasure. So please grant me this hardships anddifficulties.” If you got everything but lost Lord Krishna , you lost everything. If youlost everything but got Lord Krishna by your side, you gained everything! Similarly, sufferings set by LordKrishna is for his devotees to grow. For materialistic person, it might seem like suffering, but for spiritualperson it is grace given by Lord to free him/her from attachments. Prahlad suffered, but hisdevotion led Lord Vishnu to take avatar. Meera bai suffered,and got merged to deity of Krishna. Arjuna suffered but got Krishna by his side. Sudama suffered and got LordKrishna crying and running for his meeting. Shabari suffered, and got Lord Ramain her house. Gopikassuffered, and got recognised as epitome of surrender, love and devotionto god. Draupadisuffered, and got Krishna as her friend. Hardships and obstacles are specialmercy of god to special devotees. You know, Lord Krishna's nature is different from worldly people. Worldlypeople are with you when you are happy, Lord Krishna is with you when you are sad. Your questionsare unanswered, because he wanted you to search for it. There is a famous proverb: “I once prayed to god for wisdom, he gave meproblems to solve so that I can become wise I prayed to god for courage, he gave me dangers to surmount so I becomecourageous I prayed to god for strength, he gave me obstacle s to solve so I becomestrong I prayed to god for love, he gave me down trodden and poors to serve, soI can develop love for them and I develop love. My prayers were answered not bygetting what I wanted, but what I needed” - Swami Vivekananda Source- Swami Mukundananda JAI SHREE KESHAVA! Q2 What are some of the unsolved mysteries of India? A2 Arya S-INDIAis a land of mysteries. Here is something that I came across today. Airavatesvara Temple is a Hindutemple of Dravidian architecturelocated in the town of Darasuram, near Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District in theSouth Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This temple, built by Rajaraja Chola II .Let'stake a look at how to decode ancient Indian Carvings. This just look like a male God with two flowers in hands. Experts decodes it as Sun GodSurya. Now within a distance of 10 feet ,on another side of thetemple we can see the same Sun God carved again. Its a wonder that same Godcarved within a small distance. We can say that may be for religious worship. But we can argue thatevery carving contains a particular purpose. Let's take a closer look ofthese.What did you find? The carving on the left has flowers which are juststarting to bloom. On the other hand in next pic the flowers are full bloom, lookat the petals. In ancient Vedic Texts,Sun God is shown with two lotus in his hands. Lotus will begin to bloom in the morning sun and remains wide open untilsun sets in the after noon.So the first one depicts morning sun and thenext one can be evening sun. But we have something more tounderstand. Here the Sun God is carved above the horse. But there is something carved below the horse too, which is invisible tocasual visitors. Who is he? Experts estimatesfrom his hair and the weapons he is holding, he can be identified as a Godnamed KAALA BHAIRAVA. Standard Explanations says that it is frightful form of Lord Shiva. But adeeper look says that kala means time and the word bhairava can be split into 3words Creation, Sustainance and Destruction. So it has a total meaning ofeternal time keeper.Whatall these possibly indicate? When we look at the entire picture, we cansee horses on either side of the temple , pulling it just like a chariot. Why are these wheels carved here? Just for decorations? Experts say thatthey may be sun dial .Where one wheel can be used in the morning and another inthe afternoon. Now we know why they carved morning sun above one wheel andevening sun above the other one .Historians says that the oldest sun dial in India is at Konark SunTemple But,100 years before Konark Sun Temple. All these shows that India is just not a country with uneducated peopleliving without any development in mud hut. All these carvings shows thatdeepest knowledge of Indians in Science ,Architecture and so on…Every IndianTemple has lots of hidden secrets. Let's take a look at this little guy who is directing the horse andchariot. ,in the morning.This guy has just started his day He is smiling, hishair perfect, his one leg in front of the other and he is looking forward.Under the evening sun he is tired and is weak. He is not looking forward, his smile is vanished, his hair is a mess andhis legs are wide apart , because his day is over.While welook under the horse of evening sun ,a big surprise…Its Buddha. Why isBuddha carved secretly under the horse in this temple. This hand signal whichis rare to find is called as Gyan Mudra ,which means symbol of knowledge orwisdom. Lets try to find it out yourselves. Note: These are not my findings. I came across the video of a guy namedPraveen Mohan,who is in search ofthese hidden secrets. I just want everyone to know more about these secretslaying inside our country itself. Q3 What are the best Lord Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu? A3 Shared by Akanksha Upadhyay Lakshi Mundargi May 19, 2020 Perur Patteeswarar temple Perur is an important Mukthi Sthalam (salvation temple) dedicated to LordShiva, having PiravaPuli (the unborn tamarind) and Irava Panai (the deathless palm) trees tosignify that a soul after reaching this place, will have no rebirth. A kshetram so powerful indissolving karma that the sacred tamarind tree has seeds that do not sprout -miracle of Lord Shiva which signifies moksha. It is an ancient temple whose history dates back to 11th century built byKarikala Chola.Lord Shiva has manifested himself as a Swayambhu lingam havingfoot marks of divine cow Kamadhenu. Legends related to the Temple: An interesting legend associated with this temple is that of Divine CowKamadhenu. This place was once surrounded by forest with Arasa trees and Patti (cowfields). Divine Cow Kamadhenu once performed severe austerities in order toattain the post of Lord Brahma, the Creator. It was offering milk (abhishegam) to Shivalinga hidden inside an anthill.It's calf, by name "Patti" while playing destroyed the anthillcausing hoof marks on Shivalinga. Appalled Kamadhenu soughtforgiveness from Lord Shiva on behalf of Patti. However the ever benevolent Lord Shiva was more than pleased withPatti.He readily became Lord Patteeswarar , bestowing his grace on devoteesseeking salvation thus turning Perur as Pattipuram or Kamadhenupuram. Lord Patteeswarar was also called asGoksheereswarar, as he accepted Cow's milk. Another folklore says, the footprints on Lord Shiva is that of divine cowKamadhenu for whom, Lord Shiva granted the creation boon at"Thirukarugavur".Thisplace is called as Mela chidambaram : Arudra darshanam at this temple is an important festival, next only toKanaka Sabhai at Chidambaram. Hence this place is also called "MelaChidambaram (upper Chidambaram). Goddess Maragadhambikai (Pachai Nayaki): The statue is made out ofMaragadha stone (green stone). Hence she is referred to as Maragadhambikai or Pachi Nayaki. The gopuram or Vimanam on the top is square in shape. Pachai Amman - Maragadhambikai Other Deities worshipped at temple : To the left of Amman sannidhi is Goddess Manonmani (consort of LordVishnu).To the right ofGoddess Maragadhambigai is Lord Varadharaja Perumal, where pooja is carried outin Vaishnava sampradaya. One can see similar deities (Lord Patteeswarar, Goddess Maragadhambikaiand Lord Varadharaja Perumal) at Marudhamalai Subramanyaswami temple. Naturally one could draw conclusions on how closely these temples areinterconnected. The two temples have been mentioned in Perur Puranam. Lord Anjaneya is carved out of wood. There is a special shrine for PattiVinayakar temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha. Temple architecture : This temple has several impressive towers and mandapams (halls withornamented pillars) - Kanaga sabhai.The Golden Hall with the Golden image ofNataraja the cosmic dancer (Shiva) is noted for its great beauty.Ten pillarshave carvings of the various manifestations of Shiva. The roof has a series ofstone chains. The trees which signify thatthis is place of salvation and there is no rebirth - The seeds of this tamarindtree does not sprout.Pic : Thesacred trees associated with temple are the Palm and Tamarind trees calledIrava Panai (The deathless Palm) and Pirava Puli (The unborn tamarind)· Q4 What are some biggest myths about India and Indian's thatothers believe? A4 Shared by Jitendra Gupta Manuj Singh pdated December 31-2020 There are many, but let me explain just one : Paan, also called as betel leaf.There are many,but let me explain just one : Paan, also called as betelleaf.it looks like : When we hear word paan , a constant image comes on mind as everyone who eat pan, will spit onwalls with typical red color, paan will have all typical tobaccos ingredientsand only some are exception which just have non tobaccos option. Here we all go wrong :These2 myths about paan is totally wrong. First : Paan is mentioned inour culture from centuries ,Paan should never have these tobaccos options,tobaccos paan was alteration after India was attacked by various foreignerPortuguese[Introduced tobacco] , British[introduced cigarette filledwith tobacco], before that Paan was only eaten as mouth freshener and digestiveoption. History and significance -Puranic Reference There is a reference in SrimadBhagavatam, that Lord Krishna chewed paan. According to Skanda Purana, thebetel leaves are said to have emerged during the Samudra Manthana or TheChurning of the Ocean. There is also a mention of betel leaves in Ramayana and Mahabharata.In Lalita Sahasranama, there is averse- “tambula purita mukhi” meaning, one whose mouth is full ofchewing betel. Betel leaves referenced in text The use of betel leaves is mentioned in Charaka andSushruta Samhitas, Astanga Hrudayam and Kashyapa Bhojanakalpa . There is also a reference in the ancienthistorical book of Sri Lanka- Mahawamsa written in Pali. The use of betel leaves for itsmedicinal properties dates back to 400 BC. There is evidence of use of betel leaves during Harappancivilization. The practice of chewing betel leaves after meals becamecommon during 75 AD to 300 AD. [1] Second myth : Spit after eatingpaan, Paan is treated as holy food which is treated as prasad (Sacred food), do you spit after eating sweetswhich is given as sacred food ? or do you spit after taking “charan amrit”(sacred water combination which is given to god) similar context is there for paan, in Ramayana also it is explained aboutpaan as “beeda uthana” ,they do not explained about other spices more than significance of paan. Most of places where you see typical paan having tobacco added and peoplespitting after having that is total non sense, this is adulteration due to influence of attackers inIndia. Half of such paan shop owner also use wrong kattha (Catechu) is chemicalmixed due to original kattha is costly , which is inflexed due to strong color. Significance of original paan is so much as still if any country headarrives in India postlunch or dinner he is served paan as mouth freshener (original one nottobacco or altered version) This is how typical sweet paan(non tobacco) looks like :and all thosetobaccos version which is altered by foreign attackers in India is total nonsense , same tobacco also gives cancer, where as paan is a excellent digestiveoption after food. Whensomeone ask or mentioned as a typical north Indian eats paan and spits, this istotal non sense due to cheap intoxication was given by attackers ofIndia to damage India at many levels. link :[1] Hindu Scriptures Edit 1:As one mentioned which foreign attacker and when , here you go:Next time if you get opportunity to eat paan by any chance like in festiveseason or any other place, do not think this is some random food product , use non tobacco version only, and pleasedo not spit after eating paan, this is sacred food. Edit 2 : I got questions for historical reference for paan in hinduculture so I will add here also same reference :first : for Gauri and Ganesh jiarati shloka 3.14 says “ एलादिचूर्णसंयुक्तं ताम्बूलं प्रतिगृह्यताम॥ translation : Offer betel leaf with cardamom, clove and betel nut.[thisis devoted to Ganesh ji] second reference : for lord Vishnu ji पूगीफलं महद्दिव्यं नागवल्लीदलैर्युतम् । एलादिचूर्णसंयुक्तं ताम्बूलंप्रतिगृह्यताम् ॥ Paan in Sanskrit is called ताम्बूलं translation : (O Lord, Please accept this Paan) With very divine Pugiphala (Areca Nut) added to Nagavalli Leaf (BetelLeaf), ...and adding powder of Ela (Cardamom) to it, I have prepared thisTambula (Betel); O Lord, please accept it.Link: Tambulam - In sanskrit withmeaning All the above QA are based onQuora digest to me on 9-1-2021. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers Compiled and posted by R.Gopala krishnan on 10-1-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1707728530.158628.1610239557254%40mail.yahoo.com.
