QUESANSW DIVINE 03-2022-22 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 COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, dated 22-03-2022 Q1 How do annual ceremony differ in Hindureligion from others? A1 All religions in one way or the other observe annualceremony for the departed souls. But allof them do for the one dead ALONE, while in our Dharma one does not only for one's father,grand father and great grand father (or substitute mother instead of father) but for the entire " Kulam" means starting from the firstperson of the kulam. Q2 Which souls reach Vaikunta? A2 If 'Saguna Bhakti' was performed duringlife , a soul reaches Vaikuntamand if 'Nirguna Bhakti' was performedduring life , the soul reaches Kaivalyam, otherwise known as Jivan Mukti orliberation. Q3 Where do Darbha grows? Has it a nameViswamithra? How it has to be cut? A3 It only grows naturally at selective places andavailable almost in every state in India.Some learned scholars name it after Saint Vishwaamitra -hence Dharbham is known and called as Vishwaamitra. Dharbham cannot just be pluckedstraight or cut on any day; There is a specific Slokha that is to be recitedbefore cutting it; That too it can be cut only on the day next to Full Moon - known as Krishna PakshaPradamai. Q4 What are the attributes ofNanjundewara temple in Mysore? A4 Nanjundesvara is also called Srikanth -thesvara, has become a Karodpati. Nanjundesvara is a family deity oflakhs of people from old Mysore area andthese people make it a point to visit this temple ordinarily once a year; andbefore or after a marriage, housewarming and such other special occasions A unique feature ofthis temple is that it has devotees from both Vaishnava and Srivaishnava sects. The Nanjundesvaratemple is one of the biggest in Karnataka. It is a temple complex of various periods The smallsanctum (garbha-griha) was the earliest and built during the period of theGangas or the Cholas (about 11th Century AD). The frontal mantapa in which the devotees sit was alater addition during the Hoysalaperiod of the 13th Century AD. The next stage of construction took place during the Vijayanagara period. During this period, brick and mortar sikhara wasbuilt over the shrine. In fact, there is an inscription of Krishnadevaraya inthis temple. The Maharajas of Mysore used to be great devotees ofNanjundesvara. Jayachamaraja Wadiyar was a great devotee and used to visitthe temple on Mondays. According to popular belief, Tipu's elephant got afflictedby an eye-ailment and no doctor (hakim) was able to cure it. Somebody suggested thathe should pray to Sri Nanjundeshvara which he did. A miracle happened and theelephant's eye was cured and impressed by this, Tipu called the god Hakim(doctor) Nanjunda. He gifted an emerald Linga to the deity. Q5 What are all the Ashtasidhies? A5 “Anima mahima chaiva. Lakhima garima thatha. Ieshithvam cha vasithvam cha. Praapthi prakshya mevacha” (Amarakosam) Anima, Mahima, Laghima, Garima, Ishitvam, Vasithvam, Praptiand Prakashyam- these are theashtasidhies or eight powers, the Sanskrit thesaurus mentions. Anima is the power to shrink one’sbody to any size, even as small as an ‘anu’ or atom whereas, Mahima, is the opposite sidhi- togrow bigger and bigger and even expand to cover the whole universe. Q6Do cows have the ability to graze onherbals selecting them? A6 Yes . Actually, cowas an animal is gifted with theforesight to graze only herbals and other non-poisoneous plants and the cow-dung has medicinal properties andhence it was used in old days to purifythe entrance area and the kitchen cooking area. It is like ananticeptic coating. The dung is made into a ball and allowed to naturally dry. This dried cowdung is carefully heaped and put onfire during Sivarathri day and the ashes are preserved to be used as Vibhoothi Q7 Do temples are also awarded ISOstatus? A7 Yes. City templesvie for ISO status B Sivakumar, TNN, 12February 2010, CHENNAI: Cleanliness, they say, isnext to godliness. Taking the adage seriously, the three biggest temples in the city have applied forISO 9000:2008 certification. ISO officials have alreadyconducted inspections at theParthasarathy temple in Triplicane and the Dhandayudhapani temple in Vadapalani,and a team is expected to visit the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore thismonth. According to PR Shampath, commissioner, Hindu Religious andCharitable Endowments (HR&CE), thethree temples were selected following a recent announcement made by HR&CE minister KRPeriakaruppan in the assembly. "These are some of thewell-maintained temples in the city; so the department asked their officials to apply for ISO certificates," Shampath said. Recently, theSiddhi Vinayak temple at Gandhipuram, Coimbatore, was awarded the ISO certificate. ISO 9001:2008 is a world classquality management system for companies/ organizations who have an objective ofimproving their customer satisfaction. The International Standards Organization(ISO) has defined the elements of an effective quality management systemand calls it the ISO 9000 family ofstandards. The standards issued in 1994 were revised in December 2000, and again in November 2008. The three city temples haveincluded their fixed assets, accounts and strict adherence to rituals forscrutiny by the ISO. An official of Kapaleeswarar temple said, "The administration has included theKarunai Illam (students’ home), kalyanamandapam and the temple tank for assessment. We are expecting the ISO team to inspect the temple this week." Kapaleeswarar temple is among the richest in the city."Its annual income is around Rs 4crore and it has fixed deposits to the tune of Rs 25 crore. It earned Rs 17 crore from the sale of land forconstruction of the Mass Rapid TransitSystem," Shampath said. The cleaning and mopping of the Kapaleeswarar andParthasarathy temples have been outsourced to a private firm, which alsomaintains the Tirumala temple. A popular hotel chain maintains the Vadapalani temple freeof cost. The temple has included stores,administration, details of its premises, adherence to rituals, festivals anddistribution of free ‘vibuthi’ and‘kumkum’ for inspection by the ISO team. The HR&CE department has askedthe temples to spend from their resources in case modifications are suggested by the ISO authorities. "The Kapaleeswarar temple has not incurred anyadditional cost towards getting the ISO certificate. It has tillnow paid only the processing fee, whichis a small amount," the temple official said. When asked whether the Palani Dhandayudhapani and MaduraiMeenakshi temples would alsoapply for ISO certificates, Shampath said, "We will ask others to apply once the temples in thecity get the certificates. Q8 Dohell or heaven is eternal? A8 No. In Hindu thought,neither heaven (svarga) or hell are eternal, but only intervals between rebirths. Everyone mustfirst spend some time in hell (or a hell, as there are many) to pay for thesins of the most recent life. Yudhishthira had to experience hell for only amoment, because of his lie to Drona. Heaven is obtained by good deeds, but onlyfor a limited time until the accumulated merit runs out. Q9 What is Devi geetha? A9 The Devi Gita is comprised oftwelve chapters included within the Seventh Skandha, or Book, of the SrimadDevi Bhagavatam, from Chapters 29-40, Q10 Do inpoorvasrama Chandra sekhara saraswathi was a Kannadika Brahmin? A10 Yes. SRICHANDRASEKHARENDRA SARASWATI was born under the star of Anuradha” in a Kannadiga Smartha family inVillupuram (South Arcot district) as the second son of SriSubramaniya Sastrigal, District Education Officer. The child was namedSwaminathan, after the family deity, Lord Swaminatha of Swamimalai. Q11 While Sankaracharya has gone toMandana misra we know sraadha was going on for his father . Who were thesraadha Brahmins and what happened further? A11 Mandana misrasaw the learned person performing Sradham where the invited Brahmins were Veda Vyasa and his disciple Jaimini. Boththese persons welcomed Sankara. Mandanaseeing the Sanyasi intruding at this stage became enraged and there occurred awar of words between the Grihasthasrami and the Sanyasasrami. At this stage Vyasa and Jaimini whohad been invited as Brahmins for the sraadha intervened and suggested toMandana to treatSankara as Vishnu and invite him for meals in the third leaf of the Sradham. Sankara declined saying that he wantsvaadabhikshaa or a debate and not anna-bhiksha. “I am prepared to start the debate fromtomorrow. Let that day’s rituals beover. Let Vyasa and Jaimini be thewitnesses.” Both Vysa andJaimini knew that Mandan’s wife Sarada was an avatar of Saraswathi andsuggested that she be the arbitrator. Thenext day they assembled in the nearby temple where an assembly of pundits wasalso present. Sankaraproclaimed that he would win, but if he was defeated, he would throw away thekashaya robe and put on a white dress. -- 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/377310483.1064485.1647962843655%40mail.yahoo.com.
