QUESTION ANSWERDIVINE 18 Dear friends, These are information posted by members compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2000’s and stored in my computer. At this date I have noinformation of the members posted. Being compilation there may be errors Posted by RGopala krishnan,78 ,on 11-10-2021 Q1what is veda? A1 The wordVeda means knowledge. There are four Vedas dating from the earliest period ofknown Indian scriptures; the Rig Veda, a collection of praises in the form ofhymns; the Sama Veda, also a collection of hymns; the Yajur Veda, collection ofcharms and magic formulas. Thetexts were developed over a long period, possibly beginning before the Aryansarrived in India (B.C. 1700-1200). The texts were passed down orally, being handed onfrom one generation of priests to another, syllable perfect in intonation andrhythm, from memory and by rote. An error in recital led to punishment andpenances; in effect, to hear a Vedic passage today is to hear the oralequivalent of a tape recording over three thousand years old. Itwas forbidden to write down the text, but about the 14th centuryA.D. some parts of the Vedas were transcribed but the entire text is still aguarded province of scholarship. Q2 what is the story of shanka chhoda A2 Shanka Chooda at that time had pleased Lord Brahmaby his Thapas and was given a Vishnu kavacha (armour) and a boon that unlessthe armour is removed from his body and till his wife looses her virtue(Pathivruthya), no body can kill him Q3 What were the boonsgiven to Tulsi? A3 Your body which you leave here will become a great river calledGandaki and your hair would transform itself in to a holy plant Thulasi. Thisplant would become the holiest among plants While going back, a part of you would remain in this world as a holy plantcalled Thulasi . Any worship which does not include worship with the leaves ofThulasi, would be incomplete and would not be accepted by Gods. Q4What is the mostimportant sacrement? A4 Of all the sacraments marriage is the most important. Ourscriptures accord a very high place to the Grihastha or householder. Those belonging to all the other three orders, namely, Brahmachaaris,Vaanaprasthas and Sannyaasins, depend on the householder for their sustenance Only a Grihastha is entitled to perform the rituals prescribed in theVedas, including Sraaddha to ancestors. There is an anecdotein the Rigveda describing the origin of the institution of marriage A god by name Soma desired to get married and sent the two Aswinidevasto Savita, the father of a girl named Sooryaa, to ask for her hand. Savitaagreed to give his daughter in marriage to Soma. Then the bridegroom Soma wentto Savita's house and was received there with honours. Sooryaa was given inmarriage to Soma with the god of fire as the witness. Our marriages have beenmodelled on this episode from time immemorial. In one of the mantras in this ceremony kanya danam the father (or whoever is giving the girl inmarriage) prays to Lord Mahavishnu that, by this gift, his own generation andten generations before him as well as ten generations after him may be blessedwith supreme bliss in Brahmaloka. Q5 Whether the vyasa who wrote Maha bharatham is 29thVyasa? A5 Yes, Our mythology speaks of many Vyasa; and it is said that therehad been twenty-eight Vyasas before the present Vyasa-Krishna Dvaipayana-tookhis birth at the end of Dvapara Yuga. Q6 Who were the parentsof the Vyasa? A6 Krishna Dvaipayana was born of Parasara Rishi through theMatsyakanya-Satyavathi Devi - under some peculiar and wonderful circumstances Q7Everybody knows about Mandana Misra .What are the details about his wifeBharathi? Who was sureswaracharya? In brief what are the incidents to bementioned in the defeating of Mandana Misra & Bharathi? A7 Sankaracharya was born in a very poor family in the year 788 A.D. in a village namedKaladi, six miles to the east of Alwaye. Evey body know about his Dig vijayam. Bharati who was the wife of Mandana Misra and whopossessed scholarly erudition was appointed as the umpire in the controversycase of Mandana Misra. The controversywent on for seventeen days. Story…The garland of Mandana Misra began to fadefirst. Mandana Misra accepted his defeat and offered to become a Sannyasin andfollow Sankara. Bharati was an Avatara of Sarasvati, the Goddessof Learning Once the sage Durvasa chanted the Vedas beforeBrahma and his wife in a big assembly. Durvasa committed a small mistake.Sarasvati laughed at it. Durvasa became enraged and gave a curse that she wouldtake birth in the world. Hence Sarasvati had to take birth as Bharati. Bharathi started contraversary with Sankaracharya.At last she found out that she could not defeat Sankara. She decided to defeathim by means of the science of Kama Shastra. Sankara asked Bharati to give him an interval ofone month for his preparation to hold controversy with her in the science ofKama Shastra. She agreed. Sankara went to Kashi. He separated his astralbody from his physical body by means of his Yogic powers and left his physicalbody in the hole of a big tree and asked his disciples to take care of thatphysical body. He thenentered into the dead body of Raja Amaruka which was about to be cremated. TheRaja rose up and all the people rejoiced at the astoundingincident…Sankaracharya lived with the queen and forgot of his mission itself. Once got reccognised of his mission he went to hisdisciples…story… By that time the messengers of the queen had foundout the physical body and had just begun to set fire to it. The soul of Sankarajust then entered his own body. Sankara prayed to Lord Hari to help him. There wasa shower of rain immediately and that extinguished the flames. Then Sankara returned to the residence of MandanaMisra. He resumed the old controversy and answered all the questions raised byBharati satisfactorily. Mandana Misra gave all his property as a gift toSri Sankara and Mandana was made to distribute it to the poor and the deserving. He then became adisciple of Sankara. Sankara initiated himinto the holy order of Sannyasa and gave him the name of ‘SureswaraAcharya’. Sureswara Acharya was the first Sannyasin who took charge of theSringeri Mutt. Bharati also accompanied Sankara to Sringeri and there she isworshipped even today. Q8What was the end of Digvijayam of Sankaracharya? A8 He went to the Himalayas, built a Mutt at Joshiand a temple at Badri. He then proceeded to Kedarnath higher up in theHimalayas. Hebecame one with the Linga in 820 A.D. in his thirty-second year. Mynote-There are different views about the death of Aadi Sankara Q9What is the importance of river Tunga? A9 The river Tunga-a branch of the riverTungabhadra-runs through the valley closely touching the walls of the temple atSringeri; and its pure and limpid waters are as famous for drinking purposes asthe waters of the Ganges are for bath ( Ganga Snanam, Tunga Panam) Q10Who was the first to to translate the commentary on the Rig Veda, written byVidyaranya? A10 It took thirty years for the well-knownSanskrit professor Max Muller to translate the commentary on the Rig Veda,written by Vidyaranya, also known as Sayana Q11Which are the four seats of learning established by Sankaracharya? A11 The Sringeri Peetha is one ofthe oldest monasteries of the world flourishing for over twelve centuries now. It is the first of the four seats of learningestablished by Sankaracharya, the other three being Puri, Dwaraka and Joshimuttnear Badrinath in Uttaranchal . Sankara placed his four eminent disciples(Sureswara Acharya, Padmapada, Hastamalaka and Trotakacharya) in charge of theSringeri Mutt, Jagannath Mutt, Dwaraka Mutt and Joshi Mutt respectively. Q12Do the alwars belong to Brahmins? A12 NO . The Alwars incarnated in South India tosave the people from such a crisis, rekindled the flame of Bhakti in SouthIndia. They sang the glory of Lord Hari.The Alwars came from all castes. Four of them were orthodox Brahmins. Two of themwere non-Brahmins. One belonged to thedepressed class Q13 what is jaanu vaasam? A13 The term 'Jaanuvaasam' puzzles most people. 'Jaanu' means, inSanskrit, 'knee' and 'vaasa' means 'cloth'. A Brahmachari is, according to theSastras, expected to wear only a single dhoti which reaches up to his knees.When he becomes a Grihastha, he has to wear 'panchakaccham' and an upper cloth. Theoccasion on which he wears the single dhoti up to the knees for the last timeis known by the term 'Jaanuvaasam'. Q14 what isSamaavartanam? A14 Samaavartanam (popularly known as Vratham).This represents graduationon the completion of studies by the Brahmachaari under a guru andis the prelude to the marriage. In ancient times this was performed by theBrahmachaari while leaving the gurukulam on completion of studies Q15 What is the Apaalaa(daughter of sage Atri)story connected with the yoke used during mangalyadharanam? A15 A miniature yoke made of wood is placed on the head of the bride.The thirumangalyam is placed near the hole in the yoke and water is poured dropby drop through the hole on the bride. This is based on an old story according to which sage Atri had adaughter by name Apaalaa. She had some skin disease because of which nobody waswilling to marry her. She did penance and prayed to Indra. Indra came andpoured water on her through the hole in the yoke of his chariot. She not onlybecame completely free from the disease, but also lustrous like the sun. The mantrasrecited in this context are taken from Apaalaa's hymns of praise in theRigveda. This rite is notperformed when the bridegroom is a Saamavedin. Instead, the bride is purifiedby the singing of some Saamaveda chants. Q16 What is the meaningof 7th step of sapthapati? A16 By the seventh step may Lord Vishnu bless that we may together perform all theordained Vedic rites successfully. May Indra bless the bride to become attached to her husband'shouse and family, to beget good children and to be prosperous May Agni bless her children with long life. May shehave happiness from her children. May she never have to shedtears. May she be protected on all sides by all the gods. May Varuna guard our lives Arundhati is the wife of SageVasishta and is the symbol of chastity.The idea is that the bride should be chaste like Arundhati Q17 Do Hinduisam wasprevalent in countires like Russia? A17 A recent report make us to think so. MOSCOW:An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village inRussia's Volga region, raising questionsabout the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia. The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-Xcentury AD. Staraya Maina village in MOSCOW: Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovskregion was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so farbelieved to be the mother of all Russian cities. -- 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/1402788814.952536.1633924867944%40mail.yahoo.com.
