DIVINE INFORMATION PART 2-8 Varaha Purana part 9
Postedby: "DILIP KUMAR RAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:29 am (PDT) TYPESOF SHRADDH Aperson performing the shraddh rituals should have his seat made of 'kusha'grass. After taking his seat, he should invoke the deities and make offerings of 'arghya' to them. Whileoffering 'arghya' to the deities waterand barley are commonly used along with other articles like sandalwood, incense, etc. During the entire course of shraddh rituals'yagyopavit' (sacred thread) should be worn in an inverse position-across the right shoulder and notacross the left shoulder as it isnormally worn. Whileperforming the shraddh of ancestors offerings of articles like sesame seeds, waterand kusha grass are normally made. SHRADDHMANTRA Itis customary to scatter sesame seeds near the place where Brahmins are havingfood in the shraddh ceremony. The performer of the shraddh rituals should imagine that the food partaken by themare actually satiating the ancestors. The chanting of 'Rakshodhnamantra' is a must. THERITUALS OF PINDA DAAN Oneimportant characteristic of the rituals connected with pinda daan is theofferings made to manes in the form of sesame seeds and water. Another important aspect is that'pinda' is offered on the 'kusha' grass which are kept facing south-first in the nameof one's dead father and then in thename of one's grandfather and other ancestors. BALIVAISHVADEVA The performance of Balivaishva deva ritualsmarks the end of shraddh ceremony afterwhich the person should sitdown along with all the invitedguests to have his food. Ancestorsbecome satisfied if shraddh is performed in their names and all the desires ofsuch a man are fulfilled. Threethings have great importance in shraddh rituals-black sesame seeds, the auspiciousmuhurta named 'Kutup' and grandson (daughter's son).Donating silver isconsidered to be extremely auspicious. A person performing the shraddh rituals shouldnot venture out of his house till thecompletion of the entire ceremony. Duringtretayuga,there lived a king named Prajapal. Once, while he was on his hunting spree, he entered into adense forest .He was delighted tosee a dear who started running for its life after hearing the noise. Prajapallet his horse loose in the direction of the running dear. Sage Mahatapa had his hermitage in that forest.While chasing that dear, Prajapalarrived at the hermitage of Mahatapa. Being curious, he entered the hermitage and saw sage Mahatapa.The sage treated his guest with all therespect and offered him fruits to eat. After the formalities were over, Prajapalrequested Mahatapa to describe the appropriate way of contemplating on the various forms of lord Narayan which gave salvation to a man. SageMahatapa replied-"The Vedas proclaim that all the deities owe theirexistence to lord Vishnu-Agni, Ashwini kumar, Gauri, Gajanan, Sheshnag, Kartikeya, Aditya Ganas, Durga, all the 64 matrikas, Kuber, Vayu, Yama,Rudra, Chandrama, Pitra Ganas, etc. have originated fromlord Sri Hari. All the deities although appearing to have distinct identity, are in fact inseparable fromlord Vishnu." Varaha Purana part 10 Posted by: "DILIP KUMARRAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:09 am (PDT) AGNI "WhenAgni manifested himself from Brahma's anger, he requested him(Brahma) to assign an auspicious day to himfor his worship. Lord Brahmasaid-'Since you have manifested first of all the deities, therefore the first day(pratipada) will bereserved for your worship. One who performs havan on pratipada would be blessed." ASHWINIKUMARS KingPrajapal requested Mahatapa to describe how both the Ashwini kumars manifested themselves. Sage Mahatapa narratedthe following tale-'Marichi was LordBrahma's son while Kashyap was Marichi's son.All the twelve Adityas are the sons of sageKashyap.One of the Adityas-Martand, wasmarried to Vishwakarma' s daughter whose name was Sangya .Martand (Sun) had two children from her and their names were-Yama and Yami. Beingunable to bear the extreme radiance of Martand, Sangya created her shadow identity and after instructing her to serve her husband(Martand) in bestpossible ways, she herself went to liveat Uttarkuru .Later on,when Martand came to know about the reality,he went to Uttarkuru and found Sangya in the form of a mare. He then changed his own form and became a horse.Both of them stayed there for a longtime. In course of time, Sangyagave birth to two sons who became famousas Ashwini kumars.' Martandinstructed both his sons to please lord Brahma with their devotion. Both of them engaged themselves inaustere penance. Finally, lord Brahmaappeared and blessed both of them by saying-'Your good-looks and knowledge ofayurveda will be unmatched in the world.' It was 'dwitiya'(second day) when lord Brahma had blessed both the Ashwini kumars. This is the reason why this particularday is the reason why this particularday is deeply attached with the worship of Ashwini kumars.' GODDESSPARVATI KingPrajapal asked Mahatapa about the reason why goddess Gauri-the epithet of power, had to take incaranation. SageMahatapa replied-"Goddess Gauri manifested from lord Narayan and wasoffered to Rudra as his consort by lordBrahma. Lord Brahma theninstructed Rudra to begin creation but Rudra being free from allkinds of worldly attachment refused to oblige lordBrahma and engaged himself in austere penance. Goddess Gauri then merged her identitywith Brahma, who later on created hisseven 'manas-putras' . In course of time, Gauri was born asthe daughter of Daksha Prajapatiand hence came to be known as 'Dakshayani' Once,Daksha Prajapati organised a grand yagya in which all the seven manasputras were assigned specificresponsibilities. Meanwhile, Rudra came out from his meditation and wasextremely furious to see the earth occupied by countless creatures. Hethought-'Brahma had requested me tocreate then who is responsible for all these creation? Who has dared totransgress my authority?' As Rudra stood wondering, suddenly he heard the sound of the mantras being chanted atthe yagya performed by Daksha. Now,Rudra's fury crossed all limits resulting into the emergence of numerous spirits and ghosts from his ears. Hethen went to the oblation-site accompanied by the ghosts and started destroyingit. Lord Vishnu tried to protest as aresult of which a fierce battle was fought between both of them. It wasonly on Lord Brahma's intervention that both of them stopped fighting. LordBrahma said-'From now onwards Rudra would become famous as 'Har' while Vishnu would be knownas 'Hari'. He then directed the deities to eulogize Rudra and give his due share of the yagya being performed byDaksha Prajapati.' Rudrabecame pleased by deities eulogy and blessed them. This way ,Daksha Prajapati was able to accomplish hisyagya with the blessings of Rudra. In course of time, Rudra marriedGauri-the daughter of Daksha Prajapati. Once,Gauri went to her father's place to attend a yagya ceremony against the wish ofher husband. On seeing her,Daksha Prajapati started cursing Rudra. Gauri was so enraged by herfather's attitude that she gave up herlife by jumping into the sacrificial fire meant for the yagya. Later on, she took rebirth asParvati-the daughter of Himalaya.Parvati did an austere penance to get Shiva as her husband. Ultimatelyher desire was fulfilled and she became the consort of lord Shiva. Thetithi of tritiya is very deeply attached with the worship of goddess Parvatibecause all the important events of her life (birth,marriage, etc.)took place on this day. This is the reason why tritiyais attributed to the worship of goddessParvati. A womanwho observe a fast on this day enjoys a blissful married life. One important ritual related with the austerity of tritiya is avoiding theusage of salt on this day. I will 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/1041625423.291112.1635984630229%40mail.yahoo.com.
