QUES ANSW 03-2022-07 Dear friends, These are information compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2004’s and stored in my computer. They are posted by very learnt members.
BEING COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, dated07-03-2022 Q1 What are the special attributes ofDRAKSHARAMAM ? A1 DRAKSHARAMAM- is 17 km from Kakinada, and 40 km fromRajahmundry. Draksharamamis considered highly sacred, next only to Banares, the holiest of Siva temples in the country. Located in theGodavari district, the temple here is one of the most important SaivaAramas There are two legends associated with theplace. Itis believed that sage Vyasa performed penance here and gave it the name Dakshina Kasi. One legendis that SapthaMaharshis (seven sages) toachieve the ends of their penance divided the akhanda (undivided) Godavari into seven streams at Draksharamam. There is Saptha Godavari Kundam (seven river pond) near the temple,where devotees bathe. Bharadwaja,Jamagagni and Viswamithra streams are known asAntharwahinis as they have gone underground. According toanother legend, Lord Siva's father-in-law, a king by name DakshaPrajapathi, performed a great yaga here.Parvathi attended the yaga uninvited andimmolated herself when illtreated. Hencethe place got the name, Daksha Vatikaand later became Daksharamam andDraksharamam. A number of rock edicts (sasanas) are engraved on the temple walls. Q2 When should a Brahmin take his food astold in epic Mahabharata? A2 pancame' hani saste va sakampacati svegrhe Anrni ca'pravasi ca sa varicaramodate If daytimeis divided into eight parts, the Brahmin may have his food only in the fifth or sixth part afterperforming all his rites. Q3 What is Srivatsa? A3 Srivatsa or Shrivatsa is Sanskritfor Endless Knot. It is a mark on the chest of Vishnu where Hisconsort Sri Lakshmi resides. It is said that the 10th avatar of Vishnu, Kalkiwill be bearer of the Sreevatsa mark on his breast. Srivatsa is also another name of Vishnuand is mentioned in the Vishnu Sahasaranamam. Q4 Do we have three bodies? A4 Yes. We actually have three bodies viz. Sthoola Sariram,Sookshma Sariram and KARANA SARIRAM. While Sthoola Sariram is physicalthe other two are metaphysical. They cannot be combined for the sake of argument. On waking stateall the three sarirams are present in us, while in dream state the sthoolasariram is absent and in deep sleep only the karana sariram is present Q5 What was the principle about Paramatmatold by Adi sankara? A5 Adi Sankara advocated thatthere was only one Paramatma or Parabrahman who could be worshipped as Shiva,Vishnu, Ganesa, Subrahmanya, Shakti or Soorya. The worshipof these deities were known respectively as SAIVAM,VAISHNAVAM, GAANAPATYAM,KOWMAARAM, SAAKTAM & SOWRAM Q6 Do Vedas were earlier called Keervaniearlier? A6 Eldersare of opinion that Sage Vyasa an incarnation of Lord Narayana divided theVedas and complied it into 4 vedas, before that Vedas are called KEERAVANI , there is nodistinction like Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas. Q7 Do all Hindus used to perform Sandhyavandan during epic Mahabharata period? A7 .YES.Even duringKurukshetra War the soldiers preformed Sandhyavandanam... instead of offeringwater due to non-availability, they offered sand we read. Q8 Do all Hindus used to perform Sandhyavandan during epic Ramayana period? A8 In Ramayana, Surpanakaplans to abduct Seetha during the early morning time thinking , Rama andLakshmana will be doing their Sandhyavandanam during that time. So Sandhayvandanam is performedfrom time immemorial - so too smartas heritage is time immemorial Q9 Why a lot of Veda patasalakal started? A9 Studyingof vedas is one of the many things that Mahaswamigal has asked brahmans to do.That is why he went about setting veda patashalas. Butunfortunately, suchconventional practices is not bringing in Mahalakshmi's blessings in term's ofwealth. Therefore families who like to enjoy material comforts leavesuch practices to people who are dedicated. Q10 What is the speciality of Eri katha Ramartemple at Madurantakam? A10 SageVipaandakar who lived there had a privilege of having the dharshan of the LordSri Rama, holding the hands of Sri Sita Devi, like a wedding posture afterRavana Nigraham. Hence, the moolavar Sri Ramar gives dharshan in an unusual yetrare posture holding Sri Sita’s hand in the temple. Q11 What is the story of chingleput collectorconnected with Eri katha Ramar tempe at Madurantakam? A11 There was a Chingleput districtcollector by name Colonel Lionel Blaze (some say that his name is ‘Lionel Place’)during the period 1795 - 1798. Madhuraanthakam lake being one ofthe biggest ones in the district, threatened the natives during rainyseasons. The bund of the lake was weak and most of the times the lake brokeopened the bund and waters gushed into the village creating disaster to lives. Blazewho took up charge as collector of the district was worried about the lakeduring one such rainy season and had visited the village and camped there. He happenedto see this beautiful temple and visited it to know more about it. The priests at the temple told him about thehistory and legend of the temple. While going around in the temple, he foundhuge pillars and stone slabs piled up in one of the corners of the temple andenquired about the purpose of those slabs. The priests explained that they were meant for theconstruction of the shrine for Sri Janakavalli Thaayaar and were kept on hold due to lack offunds. Blaze now told the priests that if Sri Rama protected thevillage from the lake during the storms of the year, he himself would build theshrine for Sri Janakavalli Thaayaar at his cost. Saying this, he went back in a hurry without evenhaving dharshan of the deities. Colonel tried to strengthen the lake bund with his resourcesbut was not confident about the strength of the bund. The storms began to showin the village with heavy winds and strong pouring of rains. Rain continued fordays together without any signs of stopping. The water began to rise in the lake and on oneday reached up to the bund level. Blaze expected a calamity to occur. But as the collector of the district, hewent out to seethe water level of the lake so that he can take some precautionary measures. Hetook one of his servants with him holding an umbrella and went near the lake. Onseeing the water filled lake, he got worried about handling the calamity whichcould happen anytime then. While he was thinking worriedly, he watched two young, wellbuilt men going around on the banks of the lake with bow and arrows on theirhands. He patiently waited and saw these menwandering repeatedly on the banks. As it was night time, he couldn’t figurethem out, but pitied them as they were walking on the lake bund during thatdangerous night. He returned back to his place as he was already wet but was stillthinking of those two strange young men. The next morning Blaze woke up and saw thatthe rains stopped and the sun shining. Anxious about the status of the lake, hecame out and understood that there was no flooding the previous night and the bund withstoodall the waters. He was too happy and went rushing to thetemple to share the news with the priests. The priests were happy and welcomedhim inside the temple. This time, Blaze who was in a relaxed state of mind, peacefully entered thetemple and accepted the respects from the temple priests. During that time the sanctum wasclosed as the Alankaaram (decoration) was going on for the deities. Once the doors of the sanctumopened, Blaze was shocked to see the same two young men who were wandering withbow and arrows the previous night along the lake bund, being worshipped. He couldn’tcontrol himself and explained the priests what he saw the previous night. Thepriests were too happy to hear him and everyone realized that those two youngmen were Sri Rama and Sri Lakshmana only who have saved the village from thethreatening lake. >From thenonwards, people fondly started calling Sri Rama here as ‘Eri Kaatha >Raamar’. Blaze, as promised,immediately arranged to build the shrine for Sri >Janakavalli Thaayaar, which ispresent at the south western side of the temple. >Sri Janakavalli Thaayaaris so beautiful and is decorated with wonderful >ornaments. Madhuraanthakam is a beautiful place located about 75 kmssouth of Chennai. While traveling fromChennai, Madhuraanthakam lies on the GST Road after crossing Chengalpattu. -- 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/392040313.547310.1646666935309%40mail.yahoo.com.
