QUES ANSW DIVINE03-2022-24 Dear friends,
These are information compiled as QA by me in1998’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 24-03-2022 Q1Which place is called city of temples? A1 Benares is the most sacred among the holyplaces. Also known as Varanasi and Kashi, it is the city of Shiva, having over twothousand temples and over half a million idols, most of them dedicatedto Shiva and his family. It is situated on the banks of the holy river Ganga. Q2What is the difference between Mathura and Varanasi? A2 Mathura, on the banks of Jamuna, near Agra, is the birth place ofKrishna. The atmosphere of Mathura isin direct contrast to that of Benares. Mathurarepresents the religion of the living, while Benares emphasizes the permanenceof death. Q3 What is the importance ofrituals in Gaya? A3 Gaya on the Ganges, once a stronghold of the Buddhists, is for theHindus connected with the death ceremonies of ancestors for which they visitthe place. After the rituals are performed at Gaya thesoul of the dead is supposed to attain salvation. Q4 What is the importance ofUjjayani? A4Ujjaini iscalled the navel of earth. Ithas the famous temples of Ganesha and Kal-Bhairav. During the time ofVikramaditya it used to be the capital of India. Two parts of the Skanda-Puranawere said to have been written here. Q5 What is the importance ofHaridwar? A5 Haridwar. It is another very important holy city of India. It is atthe foothills of the Himalayasand is the place where the Ganga enters the plains. It is also called the‘gateway of the Ganga’. Q6 Where did Saraswathi disappeared? A6 Theriver Saraswati was worshipped in ancient times when the Aryans lived in Punjab. The Saraswati changed its course in laterages and gradually disappeared in the deserts of Rajasthan. My note- I read recently in the course ofSaraswati still during rainy season water appears like a stream in some partsof Rajasthan. Q7What was the original purpose of carving Ganga and Yamuna in the entrance totemples? A7 Around the 4th century A.D. architects began to carve figuresof Ganga and Jamuna, in human form, on the two sides of the temple door symbolizing purity(Ganga) and devotion (Jamuna). This was to emphasize that only the pure and devoted could enter thetemples. At alater period it became a common practice to represent the two river goddesseson the two sides of the shrine door in both North and South India. Note- Myhome temple entrance has idols of two women on either side pillar, carved on it andholding lamps. Very late I understood they are Ganga and Yamuna. Q8What are the sacred trees? A8 The tree deity has been found in the stamp seals of the Indus Valley civilization. Trees sacred to Shiva are the famous Ashoka (Saraca Indica) with pointed leaves, Kesara(Mimusops Elengi), Champaka (Michela Champaca), and Vata amongst others. Lakshmi hasKamala (Nelumbium speciosum) while Parvati has Sri-phala (Aegle Marmelos) astheir representatives. The Kailaor plantain is sacred to one of the forms of Kali Tulsi(Ocynum sanctum) is a sacred plant of the basil family. Q9What are the stories and attributes of Tulasi? A9 Tulsi was one of Vishnu’s paramours. Out of jealousy his wife Lakshmi turned her into aplant, and the god became the salagrama stone to keep her company. In some versions of the story, Tulsi and Lakshmi are the same. The plant is about three feet is height. Everyday the ground near it is covered with a layerof cowdung and at night a lamp is lit near it. It is a common custom to place asprig of tulsi near the head of a dying person. The aromatic leaves are taken as a digestiveafter meals. My note- Itis a custom where ever Tulsi grows in a compound it is retained. In the Tulsithara, awell growing Tulsi should be there. Normally if the plant is about to dry inTulsimatam, we can see one or two tulsi plants spraging up somewhere near. It is planted in Tulsitharaafter removing the drying one. Q10What are the attributes of Kusa and durva? A10 In addition to the above, the Kusha Grass(Pao cynosuroides) and Durva Grass (Agrostis linearis) are also considered verysacred. The kushahas the quality of warding off evils. In all rituals, kusha is a must in someform or other. Durva is supposed to be very auspicious andis offered to Ganesha. Q11 What is shanmadasthapaka ? A11 Before Jagathguru Sri Adi Shankara, therewere huge confusion and misconception in `Bharatha desha' (India) onworshipping Hence, Sri Adi Shankara taken the Shastra as means and formulated 6ways to reach or realize the reality. Sri Adi Shankara thence called`Shanmdha sThapaka' viz (Saivam, Vainavam, Shaktam, Ganapathyam, Gaumaram andSowram). Note: For a Vedic person theworship is different, it is only nature and the elements, fire, water, ether,air and the earth, for a Vedic person every thing in nature is a `Devatha' andall the rituals are for Devathas only). Q12 What is the relation betweenY chromosome and sookshma sareera? A12 OurShastra says, Men carry the Jeeva (Sookshma Shareera), vitality, personalityand characteristics of the progeny in him in the form of Sukla (semen), Womencarry the influencing factor (genetical material) to grow limbs such us, spinalcard, skull, hair etc., of the progeny. Which means we carry the Jeeva and theY-C which is given by our Father and our Limbs (mostly all the main limbs)which was given by our Mother. Q13What is adi amavasai? A13According to which ’³ Shraddha ’³ rituals performed on the first Krishna PakshaAmavasya during Dhakshinayana period directly reach the Pitrus. InTamilnadu, Kartaka Masa Amavasya, known in Tamil as Adi Amavasyai is consideredas highly favourable for Samudra snananm andfor shraddhams. Q14 Do our earlier sages have retainedfamily after sanyasa or deserted? A14 Both. Ramanujadeserted his wife for ideological differences. She would not give up on the caste rules. Right or wrongis not the question. The lady certainlyhad guts. She stood upto Ramanuja's pretensions and did not shed tears for the breakup according toIndira Parthasarathy' s story shown onDD Podigai. Raghavendra Swami in the Madhwatradition was from Kumbakonam. He too deserted his wife fo sannyasa. The wife was distraughtand committed suicide by falling into awell. Her ghost haunted Raghavendra. His jeevan Samadhi (at Mantraalayam) was to escape the ghostly hallucinations Only Ramakrishna honestly faced his maritalcommitment and co-opted his wife in hisspirituality. Q15What is sala grama? A15 The Salagrama is a small stone, actuallyan ammonite, a fossil genus of marine cephalophod, and is considered byBrahmins to be a natural representation of Vishnu. It plays an important rolein the worship of a Brahmin, who is considered a living, earthly form of thedeity. -- 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/752287534.1553678.1648109318172%40mail.yahoo.com.
