DIVINEINFORMATION PART 51 There are 1704 words in this posting counted by the computer.Approximately 170 sentences
Respectedfriends, 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 51, I am starting with 172th item in this posting. Kindly note the series is a compilation. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 05-07-21 172 Pradosha worship The Pradoshaworship is to be done in the evening twilight on the 13th day of each lunarfortnight. It is the worship of Lord Shiva of Parvati for victory and successin all undertakings and the fulfillmentof all your heart's cherished desires. One whoundertakes this Vrata has to keep vigil at night after the fast is over. One has to take bath an hourbefore sunset and has to perform theworship of Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Ganesha, Skanda and Nandi. After the Ganesha worship, LordShiva is invoked in the special kalashaplaced on a square mandala with drawn lotus spread over with darbha grass. After the formalworship has been completed, the Pradoshstory is read out. This is followed by the recitation of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra 108 times. In the endthe sacred Kalasha water is taken, thesacred ash is applied to the forehead and the sacred water which was used tobathe the Lord is drunk. A gift of a pot, a cloth and an image of God is given to a brahmin to conclude theworship. Myth I Repeatedlydefeated by demons, the Gods approached Lord Shiva to bless them with a leader who could not bedefeated. Godsapproached Lord Shiva on trayodashi ofboth the fortnight (Shukla and Krishna Paksha). Lord Shiva immediately granted themtheir prayerful request and the demonswere stopped from causing havoc. Myth II Sandilya Muni prescribed this Vrata to a certainbrahmin lady. She came to the sagewith two boys, her son Suchivrata and an orphan prince named Dharmagupta whose father wasslain in battle and the kingdom was conquered by enemies. Acting uponthe sage's advice, the woman and the boys performed the Vrata with greatdevotion. After four months, i.e. during the eighth Pradosh, Suchivrata obtained the nectar pot and drank the ambrosia. PrinceDharmagupta won the hand of a celestial princess and with the help of the celestial king Lord Shiva hisenemies were slayed and his kingdom wasrestored to him. Dharmaguptathen attained the Lord's supreme abode. 173 satyanarayana Vrata - Nov 15, 2005 Satyanarayanavrat is generally observed on the full moon day, particularly during theKartik, Vaisakh, Sravan or the Chaitra Purnimas and the Shankranti day. It can also be done on new moon days. Myth I It isbelieved that once Yogiraj Narad Muni reached Mrityulok (earth) and saw thehuman beings suffering immensely. Unable to see the pain of human beings, he went to LordVishnu and asked him what can be done to relieve the mankind from thesufferings. Vishnu told Narad that mankind should doSatyanarayana’s fast and puja in order to fulfilltheir desires and reduce their sufferings. To performthis puja one requires riped bananas, ghee, milk and choori (made with wheat flour, ghee andsugar). After theprayers, all devotees must have the prasad, sing, praise and chantmantras of Lord Satyanaryana. Five storiesare connected with Satyanarayana Vrat, which speak about the glory of LordNarayana and his grace. Myth II I There wasa brahmin living in Sunder Kashipur, who used to beg for his daily bread. One day when Lord Satyanaryanasaw him begging, he quickly disguisedhimself as an old brahmin. Lord, in his disguise, asked the brahminwhy was he sad. To which, the brahmin said that he wanted a way out to rid himself of thedifficulties of life. Lord told thebrahmin to undertake the Satyanaryana puja and fast. The brahminkept thinking about the fast and the prayer all night long and decided to perform the puja somehowthe next day. With the thought of performing prayer he went out for hisbhiksha. That day he got a lot of money with which he boughteverything necessary for the puja.He called his family and that evening he offered prayers to Lord Satyanaryana.By doing so, the Brahmin overcame all his sorrows and became rich. >From that time onwards, he used to do prayers every month without fail. Once thebrahmin was performing puja with his family, when a thirsty woodcutter passed from there. The woodcutterwent inside to quench his thirst andwaited till the brahmin completed his prayers. He then asked the brahmin all about the prayershe was performing. Brahmin told him all about the prayer and how hissorrows ended and he obtained peace.Woodcutter left after eating the prasad. He too decided that he will perform the puja and will buy the puja samagri with whatever earning he made. That day heearned four times more money than usual.He then comfortably performed the puja with his family after cleaning thehouse. Lord rewarded him and he became rich, had all the pleasures of life and in theend of his life he went to heaven. Myth III once there wasa merchant, who along with his wife prayed hard for Lord Satyanaryana. Lord got pleased with themand granted them a beautiful girl child, which they named Kalawati. Merchantpromised to perform Lord’s puja at the time of Kalawati’s marriage. At the righttime, the merchant got her married off but forgotall about his promise to perform the puja. And soon after hermarriage left with his son-in-law to the neighbouring kindgom of KingChandraketu for a business trip. The Lord gotangry and wanted to teach the merchant a lesson who forgot to keep his promise. One day somethieves robbed all the wealth of the king and hid it where the merchant was residing, who was ona business trip there. Seeing theguards following them, the thieves ran away leaving the loot there. When the guards reached themerchant’s residence, they found the king’s wealth there. They arrestedthe merchant and his son-in-law. Without listening to anything, King put bothof them in a dark cell and alsoconfiscated their personal wealth. Back home, the thieves robbed all their wealth and his wife and daughter hadto beg for their bread and butter. One day while begging, Kalawati reached abrahmin’s house where she heard Satyanarayana’s path anddecided to perform the prayer. Her mothermade all the necessary preparations and both of them performed the prayer. Lord Satyanaryana got pleased with their prayers and fast. As a result of which,they came in the dream of KingChandraketu and asked him to release the merchant and his son-in-law. The king released both and gavethem fresh clothes and restored themback with their wealth and additional wealth. Both the merchant and his son-in-law left homewards. Myth IV Before themerchant and his son-in-law could leave for home, Lord Satynarayana thought of testing them. Lord disguised himself asan old man and asked themerchant what his boat contained and asked some part of it. Merchant told theold man that there was nothing in he boat but hay and leaves. On hearing thisthe Lord got disappointed with themerchant and told him what he mentioned comes true. And everything in the boat turned hay and leaves.The merchant fainted seeingthis. Hisson-in-law advised him to give up his greed, find the old man and apologise to him. He heeded to the advise ofhis son-in-law. On finding the old man, he apologised to him for not recognizing him (the Lord).However, he promised to perform hispuja on returning back home. Both left home wards. As he was about to reachhome, the merchant sent a messenger to informhis wife and daughter of their return. His wifeLeelawati, had just finished praying to Lord Satyanaryana and asked herdaughter to perform her puja before coming to receive them. Kalawati in a haste, to receive herhusband, performed the puja but forgot to take the prasad. And hurried to receive herfather and husband. Lord got angry on her behaviour so hedrowned her husband with the boat. Merchantasked for mercy for her daughter to the Lord. The Lord told him,if she wanted her husband back then she must accept the prasad with due respect. On knowingthis, she ran back home accepted the prasad with reverence and ate it. After which she came back and met her husband. Myth V King Tungdhwaj, known for his generosity, went forhunting. While hunting, he got tired,he sat down under a tree to rest. There he saw a few villagers doing the prayer or Lord Satynaryana. But the King did not bow down in front of the idol ofthe Lord or offered any prayers. When the villagers gave him the prasad, he did not accept it and went away from there. When the king reached his kingdom, he saw thateverything was destroyed and all his 100 sons were lying dead on the floor. The Kingrealised that this had happened due to the disrespect he had shown to Lord. So,he immediately went to the place where the villagers had performed the puja.He got from there, prasadand charna amrita and put it in all hisson’s mouths. By doing so all his sons became alright. My note- I have just added the storiesconnected with the pooja. In no way recommending Satyanarayanapooja. Iwill continue in next posting -- 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/441647888.940121.1625499067379%40mail.yahoo.com.
