Pouring Milk In Snake Mould -- Blind Faith

It is widely believed in India that if we pour milk in snake mould during festival times then one will get Punya (there is no English word for it) or will bestowed with good luck, riches etc.

This is a purely a blind faith.

We should never pour milk into a snake mould. Reason is that it will do no good to the snake living inside mould. This is because, when you pour milk, protein in it invites ants and once ants occupy the place then snake will be attacked by them and killed. This will result in a sarpa dosha or serpant's curse according to shastras.

So please remember, never pour milk into a snake mould.

Agama Shastra

Coming up .....

Why Do We Do Milk Abhisheka To Idols?

There may be moments when you had pondered, why do we do milk abhisheka to idols. It's just a stone, why there is a need to waste so much milk on a piece of stone? 


Firstly, if we refer to Shastras, when idol is made, prana pratishta is done. That means, inviting the divine/positive energy to reside in the stone, in other words inviting god in to it. So, its no more a stone. Secondly, to retain the physical property of that stone it needs to be protected. 


Main problem with stones is that, they can easily develop fissures or cracks if left unattended. 


Cracks in stones can be caused by many different problems. A stone may begin to crack due to the soil underneath and around it settling over time. Moisture will be able to gather in this crack, and when the moisture freezes, the crack will be forced open wider. As more and more settling occurs, and the freeze/thaw cycle continues, the crack will continue to grow and become worse.


Milk has a protein in it which forms a protective layer on the surface of any body it is applied to, that's the reason most of the cosmetics are made out of milk, it protects our skin from getting dry. Similar goes for stones, by performing milk abhisheka, we pour milk on the stone and it creates a layer of protein on stone which prevents the stone from developing crack and fissures on it. 


This is the reason you see that stone idols in temples remain shining and appear new for hundreds of years together. Whereas if you see idols in abandoned temples, they are in bad condition with lots of fissures and cracks on it.


For more information, refer to Agama Shastra.

Urulu Seva, Kukke Subramanya (Faith or Blind Faith)

Recently there have been agitation by media channels that this ritual must be stopped. According to them it is just a blind faith and should not be followed.

Urulu Seve: This is a ritual involves people rolling on the plantain leaves left by other devotees after their meal. 


Belief: Devotees believe that by taking up Urulu Seva, they will be freed from diseases and dosha (sorrows).


Media: Media agitation is about stopping this ritual, as media thinks it has no meaning and is a pure blind faith.


As far as I know, according to Shastras (when I say Shastras I am referring to scriptures like Yoga Vasishta and other Upanishads) egotism creates bondage and it creates false notions and conditioning of mind blocking all the ways to liberation. Egotism takes the form when mind creates false notions such as "I", "This is mine", "I am great", "I am something" etc. So thing to understand is mind and egotism created by mind is the whole and sole reason of sorrows (both physical and mental). If we are able to break this ego or "I-ness" then we will be liberated and no sorrow can touch us. One who has ego or "I-ness" will never take part in Urulu Seva or rolling on plantain leaves left by others after their meal. His ego will never allow him to do that. But one who determines to do it, have to leave his ego and take part. Hence, Urulu Seve is a very smart ritual or custom that provides a way of breaking once ego, hence freeing devotees from sorrow and pain they suffer because of terrible goblin called mind.


I hope you have understood the subtleties that are encoded in this ritual. Hence, it is not a blind faith.

Before Eating Food

This post is just to revisit the ancient practice of chanting a mantra before having food. Following are the two mantras that can be chanted.


अन्‍नं ब्रह्म रसो विष्‍णु: भोक्‍ता देवो महेश्‍वर: ।
इति संचित्‍य भुंजानं दृष्‍टिदोषो न विद्यते ।।

Meaning: One who eats food with the firm belief that food (anna) is Lord Brahma, the taste of food is Lord Vishnu and the one who consumes it is Lord Shiva is not affected by the ill-effects due to casting of an evil eye.


One can also chant:

Aham Vaishvanaro Bhutva
Praninam Dehamasritah
Pranapana Samayukta
Pachamyannam Chaturvidham.

Meaning: I am present in all beings in the form of digestive fire. United with the Prana (exhalation) and Apana (inhalation), it is I who consume the four kinds of food.

Ancient Memory Techniques

I would be interested to talk about various memory techniques used in ancient India. If possible I would also talk about indexing techniques etc of ancient India.

Coming up....

Should We Believe In Astrology?

Astrology is basically is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs and other "earthly" matters. Question is, is it just a belief or fact? 


How can planetary motions and positions affect our mental and physical state?


I recently came across an argument of whether relative positions of celestial bodies w.r.t earth affects human body and mind or not. According to Planetary Angular Momentum Theory which is a recent research topic in earth Sciences, according to which planetary configuration can affect the earth's gravitation. According to recent research it has been confirmed that, when two or more than two planets, Sun and Moon are aligned more or less in line (0 or 180 degree) with the Earth, then the Earth would be caught in the middle of a huge gravity struggle between the Sun and the planets. The gravitational stresses would change the speed of the earth in its orbit. When the speed of rotation of the earth changes the tectonic plate motion also gets affected. This results in earthquakes and high tidal calamities like Tsunami etc. For further scientific reference and results: http://www.esc-web.org/papers/potsdam_2004/sce_venkatanathan.pdf


Now simple thing to ponder upon is, when planetary motion can affect the whole earth's gravitation and we are part of the system being affected, won't it affect our body and mental state? The human body is constructed to exist in a gravitational environment; everything from blood flow to our sense of balance is influenced by the gravitational pull of the earth. Astronauts who spend protracted periods of time in weightless conditions suffer a number of physiological problems, from chemical imbalances and decalcification of bones to heart irregularities. 


Sages have studied and have meticulously recorded the relation between planetary motions and our planet and human body and mind. Basically they created a rule base using which we can map the planetary positions with recorded effects they create on us. 


Now, does astrology make sense to you?


Note: this post is not to make you believe in Astrology, instead my sincere attempt to understand it better.


References:

• http://www.esc-web.org/papers/potsdam_2004/sce_venkatanathan.pdf

Unity is Real, Diversity is Unreal

This is one of my favourite dialectical argument for the ultimate unreality of difference. This argument is given by Mandana Mishra.


Following is the argument:

• The self and the world are not different because difference is possible between two perceived entities and self is never perceived.
• Difference is not nature (svarupa) of different entities.
• Difference is neither a characteristic (dharma) different from the different entities.
• Whereas, Self is always present and cannot be negated. So neither negation nor difference is possible.
• The perceiving Self is of the nature of perception, hence its non-perception is impossible.
• Negation is of the nature of non-perception. Hence negation is impossible.
• Difference is of nature of negation, so difference is impossible.

more on this later....

Anushtup Chandaha -- Meaning?

We always read "anushtup chandaha" in the beginning of Sanskrit hymns. What does it mean?

By specifying this in the beginning, it is made clear how to read the given line. It gives a hint to the reader/chanter where or which word to stress more and where to not stress more while reading. This is way to minimize error in reading and to improve the effectiveness of the text which is being read.

• It actually means eight syllables in a quarter. 
• There are several metres defined in Sanskrit texts. For ex: 
• Metres with 4 syllables in a quarter are called "pratishta".
• Metres with 5 syllables in a quarter are called "supratishta".
• Metres with 6 syllables in a quarter are called "gayathri".
• Metres with 7 syllables in a quarter are called "ushnik".
• Metres with 8 syllables in a quarter are called "anushtup".
• Metres with 9 syllables in a quarter are called "vruhathi".

Let's take a simple example to understand the usage of this metric. Consider the following mantra:

vakratunda mahakaaya suryakoti samaprabah:

nirvighnam kuru me deva sarva karyeshu sarvada

Applying "Anushtup" Metre or Metres with 8 syllables in a quarter, we can read the above mantra as:

| vak | ra | tun | da | ma | ha | ka | ya| (8)

  | sur| ya | ko | ti | sa | ma | pra| bha| (8)

  |nir | vigh | nam | ku | ru | me | de | va (8)

  |sar | va | kar | ye | shu| sar| va | da | (8)