----- Forwarded message ----- From: 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <[email protected]>To: Iyer <[email protected]>; KeralaIyers.com <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>; Venkat Raman <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>Sent: Thursday, 24 June, 2021, 11:51:46 am ISTSubject: [iyer123] DIVINE INFORMATION PART 40 DIVINEINFORMATION PART 40
There are 1477 words in this posting counted bythe computer. Approximately 147 sentences Respected friends, While going through one of my external memorydevice, I came across some good information storedfrom websites. I thought of sharing interesting ones from them as aseries. In part 40, I am starting with 141TH item in this posting. Kindly note the series is a compilation. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 24-6-21 141 Introduction- Parvati Author - T.KeshavaBhat Consort of LordShiva. By rigorous penance she won over Shiva, himself a great ascetic. Motherof Shanmukha and Ganesha. By becoming the wife of Shiva she paved the way forthe spread of peace and felicity in the world. Goddess Parvati is the wife ofLord Ishwara. She has several names, each with a special significance. Since Ishwara or Shivais also called 'Bhava' his wife is known as 'Bhavani.' She is 'Parvati', being the daughter of the king ofmountains, Parvataraja. With the sameconnotation she hastwo other names - 'Girija' and 'Shailaja'. As she is the source of all good things to all those whohave faith and follow the path ofvirtue, she is 'Sarvamangala.'Sinceher childhood days she was a devotee of Lord Shiva. She would constantly engageherself in meditation and worship of Shiva, without even changing the posture. So her mother Mena would out ofexasperation say "Parvati, don't do this tapas (meditation)." InSanskrit ‘u’ is a word of address and 'ma' means 'don't' or 'not wanted’ Henceshe got the name 'Uma'. After she grew up,she performed a severe penance in the forest with the purpose of securing Lord Shiva as herhusband. Much moved by the hardship endured by her tender body, Mena frequently went near herfondly calling her "Uma", Uma." Who would not be thrilledby the story of the life of Parvati who, though born human, became, throughhard penance the consort of Shiva and became Mahadevi, the great goddess? Affection for and obedienceto the elders, loyalty to tradition, determinationsteady devotion to Shiva, kindness towards those in trouble, perseverant efforttill the completion of a good deed-these are the traits Parvati had. Her story is narrated inSanskrit by Vyasa in the Shiva purana. The great poet Kalidasahas narrated it in the poem Kumara-Sambhava.The Kannada poet Harihara has dealt with the story in Girija-Kalyana, a mixture of verse andprose. 142 Five krishnas On the banks of River Cauvery in Tamilnadu are 5shrines dedicated to Lord Krishna, known as “Krishnaranya Shetrams” which are part of the 108 holy shrines (Divyadesams) of Lord Vishnu. One of them is Therezhundur, the Birthplace of thegreat Tamil Poet, Kambar. Once upon a time, there was a King by name Uparisravasu. He was an ardentdevotee of Lord Krishna. But over a period, he became very arrogant, basking inself-pride and ego. To teach him a lesson Lord Krishna demanded thatthe king present him with 1000 vessels of butter freshly made on that day.Since he was a King, he thought that it was not a very difficult job and henceordered all the people to get him a vessel of butter made out that day. Though he tried very hard, he could not get morethan 999 vessels of butter. So hethought that he could keep one vessel empty and thought that Lord Krishna maynot notice it. He kept thevessels covered and presented 1000 vessels, all but one with out butter. But when Lord Krishna opened the first vessel, it was empty. And so were thesecond and third vessels. Thushe found all the 1000 vessels empty. The Kingfelt that it was the work of Lord Krishna and he realized his mistake and gaveup his self-pride. He realizedthat Lord had done this to correct him. This was supposed to have taken place on the Full Moon Day (Amavasya) in theTamil month of “Thai” (Jan - Feb) Since the King had taken bath in the holytank in the temple on Thai Amavasya and worshipped Lord Vishnu at Therezhundur, it is considered auspicious to prayLord Vishnu known as Amaruviyappan at Therezhundur on that day. 143Kierimukha Could youplease tell me the inner meaning of the kiirtimukha? Rahu was once sent as a messenger toSiva to demand that the latter surrender His wife to the king. "Why does an ascetic require such abeautiful wife?" Siva got angry and from His anger arather fierce being emerged, with three heads, seven legs, and terrible fangs. The being rushed at Rahu in order todevour him, and Rahu dived at Siva's feet begging for protection. "Iam only a poor brahmin, sent as a messenger." he said,"please Siva, protect me !". On hearing the word 'brahmin' thebeing immediately left off his attack, and Siva allowed Rahu to return to thedemons. Thebeing, however, complained to Siva that he was hungry, and Sivatold him that if he were truly hungry he should eat his own hands and feet. The beingtook this as an order, and devoured his own limbs until only his head was left. Atthis, Siva became very pleased and called him "kiirtimukha" and badehim to protect the doors of his temples forever. Kiirti means fame, while mukha meansface. However, here, kiirtimukha refers to the terrible face one has, but a Heart which will obey Shivaeven without thinking about its health. We should all be like that. 144 Nandanar Nandanaris a saintextolled in the periyapurana, a saiva siddhanta scripture. In a village,engaged in the trade of selling the carcasses of the cow and tending hislandlord's farm was an unusual person. He had great love for Lord Shiva. He wasdesperate to visit a temple, Thiruppunkoor. This place is situated a mile awayfrom the famous vaidheeswaran temple, around a hour's journey from Chidambaram(Thillai). [Lord Shiva has kindly permitted me to visit this templemany times] However, his landlord would not allow him to go despitefrequent requests. Finally, one day in frustration, thelandlord said, 'If youcan till all the 40 acres of land in a single day, you can go.' This impossible feat was done by LordShiva itself overnight enabling Nandanar to visit the temple. Since Nandanar (who belonged to alower caste by birth) could not enter the temple and see the Lord, the Nandi moved a good 2-3 feet(which is seen as such to the present day). With the movement of the Nandi, hecould see Lord Shiva despite standing outside the temple. Sekkizharin periyapuranam says that Lord Shiva asked Nandi to move.The tank in the temple was built by Nandanar. The story of Nandanar attainingmukti is, however, a great tale. After Nandanar returned to hisvillage, he wanted to go to Thillai but he was caught up in his work. Heexpressed his desire for Thillai to everyone, and slowly people started askinghim every day, 'When are you leaving for Thillai ?' He used tosay 'Tomorrow I will go.' It is said that his name became 'Naalai' because heused to say Tomorrow every time. Finally, one day he decided to leave. Because of his lowcaste (parrayan), he used to go to the top of every streetin Thillai and stand and shout 'Varuhalamo' (May I come in ?) The high caste people would closetheir doors and stay inside till he crossed the street. Still, Nandanar was very afraid toenter the temple and stayed in the city. The song 'Varuhalaamo (May I come)' isvery beautiful. The second stanza goes, 'You are the treasure of thecompassion, are you not ? This parrayan, is he fit to pay you compliments ? Tosee your blissful dance, May I come in ? O Thillai Varadaa One who canextinguish my feverish longing (of seeing you) May I come in ?' Shiva taking pity on him came in thedreams of many brahmins and told them there was a superior bhakta.And that the brahmins were to construct a fire and Nandanar would enter andcome out unscathed. Therefore the Brahmins built a hugefire and called nandanar to cross the fire. The story saysthat he crossed the fire without any burns and entered the temple, but did notcome out of the temple,becausehe merged into the Lord Nataraja there. This story has not been told inperiyapuranam in detail but Bharatiyar brings the cruel situation of casteism /racism between peopleand shows how the Lord does not look for the jati but only prema. Suchis the Lila of Lord Shiva, who has no equal. I will continue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iyer123" 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/iyer123/466307330.2679591.1624515697287%40mail.yahoo.com. -- 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/28474419.2686154.1624516006229%40mail.yahoo.com.
