QUES ANSW DIVINE 04-2022-27 Dear friends,
These are information compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2014’s and stored in my computer. They are posted by very learnt members. BEING COMPILATION THERE MAYBE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, dated 29-04-2022 Q1 Who was sage Apasthambha: A1 Sage Apasthambha, was a nativeof Andhra, belonged toKrishnayajurveda School. He belonged to FIFTH CENTURY BC. Apasthambha’s teachings arecalled Apasthambhasutra or Apasthambhasmriti. My note- Reciting abhivadayaewhile performingsandhya vandan those belonging to Krishna yajur veda may be refer to his sutra . Q2 Who was sage Baudhayana: (Bodhayana)? A2 Baudhayana also belonged to KrishnayajurvedaSchool and was an inhabitant of Andhra region. Baudhayana’s teachings are called Baudhayanasutraor Baudhayanasmriti. My note- The recitation of mantras are slightlydifferent and more manthras for Baudhayana sutra Brahmins . I recollect separate batch is formed for performing rishi tharpanam etc during upakarma for Baudhayana brahmins. Q3. Do we have Hanuman temples in South Africa? A3. Yes. A reporting posting inthis regard by esteemedmember Sri Ravi Narasimhan -A historicevent indeed, the Largest Hanuman Murti(Idol) in Africa ,unveiled yesterday(20-7-2012) ... on its premises at the corner of Roads601 / 701, Arena Park ,Chatsworth. Durban, South Africa, Q4 Which are the interesting details of the flower calledBrahma Kamal ? A4 Brahma Kamal - Which blooms only once a year at night and dies by Morning Brahma Kamal : known as King of Himalayan flower.Botanical name is Saussurea obvallata. The Brahma Kamal is the stateflower of Uttarkhand,India. This flower is very sacred to Himalayan gods. It looks like bliss in theform of a flower. The story goes that once Lord Shiva was in Kailash and Parvati createdGanesha, which was unknown to Shiva. When Parvati went for a bath, she postedGanesha as a guard outside leaving a word not to letbanyone in and that momentLord Shiva tried to enter the house and Ganesha refused. In anger Lord Shivacut the head of Ganesha, so there was just the body without the head. On parvati`s request Brahma created brahma kamal,with whose help Shiva placed the head of an elephant on to the body of Ganesha. In Ramayan when the Sanjeevani herb was administered to Lakshman, hemiraculously revived. in celebration, god showered flowers from heaven, which fell to the earthand took root in the valley of flowers. So it is called Brahma kamal, which is The God's own lotus, far from theearth! There is a belief that the Brahmakamal should begifted, and not bought in the market. To grow the plant, a leaf is planted in the soil (and not a seedling orstem). This leaf then multiplies and becomes a plant to a height of about 4 to5 feet. The floweritself is around 4-5 inches in diameter and has a lovely fragrance.Flowers always grows from a leaf. Based on a posting by Sri : "Ravi Narasimhan Q5 Is there any mention of name sastha in theSkanda purana? A5 Yes. There is amention of the name SASTHA in skandapurana born out of the union of Shivaand Mohini Avatar and he was asked to protect INDRANI in the absence of LORD INDRA when he wentto Kailasam to pray to Lord Siva. Q6 What is the legend about Sri Sridhara Ayyaval bringing Ganga to awell? A6 Once Sridhara Ayyaval was preparing to conduct a Srardham for hisancestor. The meal was cooked already and the brahmins were given oil for bath.Sridhar Ayyaval was alsoreturning from Cauvery after his oil bath and saw a person “about to die”because of starvation on the way. In a diresituation, he brought that person to his house and offered the food that wasprepared for the Srardham to the dying person. He thought it is a play of the Lord Himself to test him (Normally, on a Srardha day, eventhe kolams with rice flour will not be put since the pithrus may come in theform ants and eat the rice flour and go away thinking that’s all was preparedfor them. Even the remains of vegetable waste will not be put away for the samereason till the Srardham is over). He then did the cleaning process as per vedic rules, cooked the Srardhameals again and invited the Brahmins. The brahmins who were already very jealous of Sridhar Ayyaval refused toparticipate in his Srardham and excluded him from the caste (Jathi prashtam). Sridhara Ayyaval, then completed the Sradham by placing the Koorchams inplace of the Brahmins (it’s a process allowed when we are not able to get theBrahmins) and completed the Srardham. When the next year Srardham approached, Sridhara Ayyaval was unable toconvince the Brahmins in spite of several requests. Then he asked for someremedy (‘prayachitham’) for his act and the BRAHMINS SUGGESTED TO TAKE A BATH IN GANGA TOCLEANSE HIMSELF OFF FROM THE SIN. Since there were only a few days left for the Srardham and also hishealth didn’t permit, taking a dip at Ganga was an impossible task for him. SO HE SUGGESTED THAT HE WILLBRING THE RIVER GANGA TO THE WELL AT HIS HOUSE ITSELF. The Brahmins yelled at him andexpected that he will take a dip in the well water and say that he Ganga waspresent in the well. But Sridhara Ayyaval affirmed that he will bring the Gangato the well to the acceptance and full view of everyone but no one believed. Then Ayyaval went to the well in his house and sang the hymns of“Gangashtakam”. Therewas no surprise when the Ganaga responded when the avathar of Gangatharanhimself called her. THE GANGA FLOWED OUT FROM THE WELL AS A PRAVAHAM TO THE AGARAHARAM STREETAND THE WHOLE VILLAGE. Sridhara ayyaval told the Brahmins very calmly, “I have already taken the Gangasnan, why not you also? it will take time and money to go to Ganga but now is the chance to takeit at your door steps, come on..”. The Brahmins, understanding their mistake and the generated pralayam, APOLOGIZED TO SRI AYYAVAL ANDREQUESTED HIM TO STOP THE GANGA FROM FLOWING OUT IMMEDIATELY. Knowing the pitiful state of theBrahmins, Ayyaval sang a hymn and requested the Ganga to stay in the wellpermanently for the benefit of the people. This incident took place on the Newmoon day of the Kartigai month. Thiruvisainallur village around 8 kms fromKumbakonam. Based on a posting by raju_scm ([email protected]) Q7 Why is Navarathri celebrated with "Kolu" A7 When Devi went on war to destroy MahishASura, she used all sorts ofweapons, forms, creations to bring the end of the asurA.This took 9 days in which she hadthree forms, durgA, Lakshmi and SaraSwati, respectively, the three days from the beginningallotted to each goddess. TO REMEMBER THE great war, it was started to placethe images of all things and creatures around the goddesses on these nine days. Later, it became a habit to replace the images with dolls on 9 steps toindicate the war of 9 days, just to encourage the artisans who used clay tomake dolls and later metals. This also encouraged agriculture economy. That is why the idol ofGaNapati is also made out of clay like that of durgA. As it developed, as usual, there were pundits to to give meaning statingthat these dolls indicate the various stages of evolution and also the stagesto reach the highest divine stage. They advised to keep the animals of lowest intelligence as well asinanimate things on the first step, then according to the elevation due to acquiring more knowledge andintelligence they placed hum,an beings of various statuses. In the lastbut one step, sages, rishis et al werekept as if they attained the supreme knowledge better than an ordinary human being. On the ninthstep they placed all sorts of images of gods and goddesses. This is exactlywhat they had followed in the case of constructing a gOpuram in a temple withseveral storeys where the lower ones are reserved for animals and other thingsand as you go up you can see human beings with mean acts. Those who have pious acts, will be above these people and in the laststoreys you can see the idols of gods and goddesses. There is no document as to when this habit started and where since goluis followed in all southernstates and in Bengal they have it in the form of durgA pUjA. The QA is based on a posting by Srinivasan" -- 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/1739149168.1858935.1651190331948%40mail.yahoo.com.
