Guest guest Posted January 13, 2003 Report Share Posted January 13, 2003 Sudharshan Swamin Namaskaram on this wonderful day. adiyen anandavalli dasan. Ivan perumaigal keep on increasing... just when the scientists are still busy trying to put a number on the extent of the known universe last week Science Times of the NY Times reports that a new universe has formed. The irony is that no one wants to touch and feel. they all accept it. Say something about Purusha then everyone wants discernible proof. Even more astounding is that of nature of dark matter. In this mostly void incomprehensible universe there is this dark matter and now some unknown energy which accounts for most of the universe. I do not know how they come up with a number for the mass of the universe. But there is. Even though everyone agrees there is this dark matter and yet no one has a clue about this. even science can be beyond our grasp at times. But it is accepted without debate. Religion and phil. lacks this faith. No one I know in any Physics department is trying to solve E = MC2 any more. It is given and it is taken. Something we can all take from science. adiyen being a physics student enjoyed your article (icing on the cake by Sadagopan Iyengar article) -- RK --- "Sudarshan M.K. <sampathkumar_2000" <sampathkumar_2000 wrote: > > tiruvengadam, > "sadagopaniyengar" > <sadagopaniyengar@v...> wrote: > > The Endless Entity > > > > All things we see in this world have an > end. This is a > universal law, applicable to all beings and things. > What is created, > be it man or material, surely has an end too, says > the > Gitacharya-"JAtasya hi dhruvO mrityu:" > > However, there IS somebody who is not subject to > these curbs and who > admits to no such fetters on His freedom. He is the > Cosmic Timekeeper, > who cannot be subjected to restrictions of place or > country, nor is > constricted by Visa formalities, and has no > restriction regarding > inhabiting a single shareeram at a time. > > > ************************************ > > Dear SrImAn Sadagopan Iyengar, > > It was very good reading your piece on the 'Endless > Entity'. It > reminded me of an excellent piece of commentary that > a favourite > author of mine, Sri.Eknath Eswaran, once wrote while > explaining the > 'nAma' "bhuta-bhAvana:" in the Sri Vishnu > Sahasranama. > > Sri.Eswaran's book "The Thousand Names of Vishnu" > (Jaico Publication, > Page 33) is a powerful work indeed and I am > reproducing below from it > just to give you a vivid portrait of the same > 'Endless Entity' of > yours which in the Sahasranamam goes by that > wonderful name of > "bhuta-bhAvana:". > > Regards, > dAsan, > Sudarshan > > ------------------------------- > > Quote: > > It is worth a few moments of reflection to grasp > what it means to say > that God has become all things ("bhuta-bhAvana"). In > an age that > tinkers with genes and specualates about the first 3 > minutes of > creation, we may forget to wonder about the world we > live in and how > little of it even our sciences can grasp. > > We know for e.g. that light travels at about 186,000 > miles per second. > We know that fact, yet it is quite another thing to > understand it. > Imagine, as young Einstein did, that you had a long > ray of light like > a commuter train, and that you could sit astride > this ray as you sit > on the 5:15 express and travel at the speed of > light. It would take > only a second and a quarter to reach the moon; one > blink of an eye and > you would be there. In 8 minutes -- the time it > takes to get to the > nearest supermarket -- you would reach the sun. Yet > you would have to > sit there on that magical ray for 4 years to reach > the nearest star, > and you could travel that way for 100,000 years and > never get out of > our same old Milky Way. Imagine the expanse! Then > for two million more > years it is just empty space -- no gas stations, no > Holiday Inns -- > until you reach the nearest neighbouring galaxy. > There are believed > to be 200 billion galaxies within the observable > universe, each of > them containing perhaps a 100 billion suns. It's not > even the whole > picture, yet we still can't grasp it; we can't > absorb what these > figures mean. > > One science writer suggests, that suppose you are > willing to work 8 > hours a day, 7 days a week, no days off to tend to > the yard -- and > begin counting at the rate of one number every > second. It will take a > month to reach 1 million, a relatively small figure > on our scale. If > you want to understand 1 billion, the writer says, > keep counting in > the same way -- no coffee breaks, no vacations, no > union slowdowns -- > until the end of your life. I said to myself, "Yes, > sir, I get the point". > > Most intriguing, perhaps, is why astronomers are > careful to say "the > observable universe". It doesn't mean only "That's > all we can see for > now", as if someday, with more powerful telescopes > in orbit beyond the > moon, we might be able to see it all. If Einstein > was right, as a good > deal of observation still bears out, then we can > never "see" the whole > universe. The speed of light itself limits us to a > kind of bubble of > observation in space-time, beyond which we simply > cannot perceive. No > messages can reach us beyond that bubble, and none > can be sent. But > that does not mean there is nothing beyond; these > are merely > restrictions on the delivery service. > > Worse yet, as soon as we start looking any > significant distance into > this bubble, we find we are seeing things not as > they are but as they > were. Wherever we look in the starry sky, we are > looking quite > literally at the past. One star appears to lie next > to another, but > actually we see each of them as it was when that > light set out on its > journey. One of those stars might have been > destroyed centuries ago in > the explosion of a supernova; we cannot know. We > devote special > attention to a star, analyse its spectrum to see > what it is made up > of, guess at its past and future evolution, and > while we are guessing, > that "future" has happened and the star may be gone! > If it is a 1000 > light years away, the news of its death would not > reach us for a 1000 > years. The Crab nebula represents the remains of a > supernova explosion > observed by Chinese astronomers in AD 1054, but the > actual explosion > took place about 3000 BC. Even the constellations > whose names have > come to us down the ages may suffer from severe > generations gaps: the > stars in them may be separated by thousands of > years, as we measure > from here on earth. Space and time, bound together, > inevitably limit > and distort the validity of what we can say about > the universe. > > But these dimensions do not apply to the Lord. In > the Hindu scriptures > we find the provoking statement that this vast > cosmos is merely one > thought of the Lord. That is as long as our universe > lasts: one little > thought! > > UNQUOTE > > (thanks to Sri.Eknath Eswaran) > --- End forwarded message --- > > > > Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2003 Report Share Posted January 14, 2003 Introduction of Makar Sankranti: Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious day for the Hindus, and is celebrated in almost all parts of the country in myriad cultural forms, with great devotion, fervor & gaiety. Lakhs of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar & Prayag and pray to Lord Sun. It is celebrated with pomp in southern parts of the country as Pongal, and in Punjab is celebrated as Lohri & Maghi. Gujarati's not only look reverentially up to the sun, but also offer thousands of their colorful oblations in the form of beautiful kites all over the skyline. They may be trying to reach upto their glorious God or bring about greater proximity with the one who represents the best. It is a day for which Bhishma Pitamah kept waiting to leave his mortal coil. Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God of Hindus begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. Sun for the Hindus stands for Pratyaksha-Brahman - the manifest God, who symbolizes, the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one & all tirelessly. Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial Wheel of Time. The famous Gayatri Mantra, which is chanted everyday by every faithful Hindu, is directed to Sun God to bless them with intelligence & wisdom. Sun not only represents God but also stands for an embodiment of knowledge & wisdom. Lord Krishna reveals in Gita that this manifested divinity was his first disciple, and we all know it to be indeed a worthy one too. No Sundays for the Sun, may be because one who revels in its very 'being', the very essence of his own Self, is always in the Sunday mood. The co-relation of cosmic events with individual life and values is one of the most astounding traits of Hindu Masters. Once this co-relation is brought about thereafter these cosmic events become instrumental to remind us the best which we cherish & value. Of all the cosmic bodies Sun is the most glorious & important, thus every sun-centric cosmic event became very i mportant spiritual, religious & cultural events. On Makar Sankranti day the Sun begins its ascendancy and journey into the Northern Hemisphere, and thus it signifies an event wherein the Gods seem to remind their children that 'Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya'. May you go higher & higher - to more & more Light and never to darkness. Astrological Significance: Makar means Capricorn and Sankranti is transition. There is a sankranti every month when the sun passes from one sign of the zodiac to the next. There are twelve signs of the zodiac, and thus there are twelve sankranti's as well. Each of these sankranti's has its own relative importance but two of these are more important - the Mesh(Aries) Sankranti and the most important, the Makar(Capricorn) Sankranti. Transition of the Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn, during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere is known as Makar Sankranti. From this day begins the six-month long Uttarayana, considered very auspicious for attaining higher worlds hereafter. While the traditional Indian Calendar is basically based on lunar positions, but sankranti is a solar event, so while dates of all festivals keep changing, the english calendar date of Makar Sankranti is always same, 14th January. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the Hindu Calendar month of Magha. There is another significance of this day, and that is pertaining to the equal size of day & night on this day. After this day the days start becoming longer & warmer, and thus the chill of winter in on decline. Religious Significance: 1. The Puranas say that on this day Sun visits the house of his son Shani, who is the swami of Makar Rashi. These father & son do not ordinarily get along nicely, but inspite of any difference between each other Lord Sun makes it a point to meet each other on this day. Father in fact himself comes to his son's house, for a month. This day symbolized the importance of special relationship of father & son. It is the son who has the responsibility to carry forward his fathers dream and the continuity of the family. 2. From Uttarayana starts the 'day' of Devatas, while dakshinayana is said to be the 'night' of devatas, so most of the auspicious things are done during this time. Uttarayana is also called as Devayana, and the next half is called Pitrayana. 3. It was on this day when Lord Vishnu ended the ever increasing terrorism of the Asuras by finishing them off and burying their heads under the Mandar Parvat. So this occasion also represents the end of negativities and beginning of an era of righteous living. 4. The great savior of his ancestors, Maharaj Bhagirath, did great Tapasya to bring Gangaji down on the earth for the redemption of 60,000 sons of Maharaj Sagar, who were burnt to ashes at the Kapil Muni Ashram, near the present day Ganga Sagar. It was on this day that Bhagirath finally did tarpan with the Ganges water for his unfortunate ancestors and thereby liberated them from the curse. After visiting the Patala for the redemption of the curse of Bhagirath's ancestors Gangaji finally merged in the Sagar. Even today a very big Ganga Sagar Mela is organized every year on this day at the confluence of River Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. Lakhs take dip in the water and do tarpan for their ancestors. We salute such a great devotee & benefactor of his ancestors. One who can express such gratitude to his ancestors, work with tireless resolve to redeem the pride, pledges & resolves of his forefathers, alone possess a personality, which the history reveals to be a true benefactor of the world too. A person who has severed his own roots gets soon rooted out in the flow of time. Moral of the story is to see to it that the roots of the tree of 'our' life are not only intact but nourished well, thereafter alone the tree blooms & flourishes. There is another spiritually symbolic aspect of this story. The 60,000 cursed son of Maharaj Sagar represent our thoughts, who become dull & dead-like because of uncultured & blind ambition. Redemption of such people is only by the waters of Gangaji, brought down 'to' & later 'from' the Himalayas with great tapasya. This represents dedicated hard work to get the redeeming Brahma-Vidya, which alone enlightens, enthuses & enlivens the life of anyone. 5. Another well-known reference of this day came when the great grandsire of Mahabharata fame, Bhishma, declared his intent to leave his mortal coil on this day. He had the boon of Ichha-Mrityu from his father, so he kept lying on the bed of arrows till this day and then left his mortal coil on Makar Sankranti day. It is believed that the person, who dies during the period of Uttarayana, becomes free from transmigration. So this day was seen as a sure-shot Good Luck day to start your journey or endeavors to the higher realms beyond. Culture & Festivities: This festival is celebrated differently in different parts of the country. Uttar Pradesh: In Uttar Pradesh, Sankrant is called 'Khichiri'. Taking a dip in the holy rivers on this day is regarded as most auspicious. A big one-month long 'Magha-Mela' fair begins at Prayag (Allahabad) on this occasion. Apart from Triveni, ritual bathing also takes place at many places like Haridvar and Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh, and Patna in Bihar. Bengal: In Bengal every year a very big Mela is held at Ganga Sagar where the river Ganga is believed to have dived into the nether region and vivified the ashes of the sixty thousand ancestors of King Bhagirath. This mela is attended by a large number of pilgrims from all over the country. Tamil Nadu: In Tamil Nadu Sankrant is known by the name of 'Pongal', which takes its name from the surging of rice boiled in a pot of milk, and this festival has more significance than even Diwali. It is very popular particularly amongst farmers. Rice and pulses cooked together in ghee and milk is offered to the family deity after the ritual worship. In essence in the South this Sankrant is a 'Puja' (worship) for the Sun God. Andhra Pradesh: In Andhra Pradesh, it is celebrated as a three-day harvest festival Pongal. It is a big event for the people of Andhra Pradesh. The Telugus like to call it 'Pedda Panduga' meaning big festival. The whole event lasts for four days, the first day Bhogi, the second day Sankranti, the third day Kanuma and the fourth day, Mukkanuma. Maharashtra: In Maharashtra on the Sankranti day people exchange multi-colored tilguds made from til (sesame seeds) and sugar and til-laddus made from til and jaggery. Til-polis are offered for lunch. While exchanging tilguls as tokens of goodwill people greet each other saying - 'til-gul ghya, god god bola' meaning 'accept these tilguls and speak sweet words'. The under-lying thought in the exchange of tilguls is to forget the past ill-feelings and hostilities and resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends. This is a special day for the women in Maharashtra when married women are invited for a get-together called 'Haldi-Kumkum' and given gifts of any utensil, which the woman of the house purchases on that day. Gujarat: In Gujarat Sankrant is observed more or less in the same manner as in Maharashtra but with a difference that in Gujarat there is a custom of giving gifts to relatives. The elders in the family give gifts to the younger members of the family. The Gujarati Pundits on this auspicious day grant scholarships to students for higher studies in astrology and philosophy. This festival thus helps the maintenance of social relationships within the family, caste and community. Kite flying has been associated with this festival in a big way. It has become an internationally well-known event. Punjab: In Punjab where December and January are the coldest months of the year, huge bonfires are lit on the eve of Sankrant and which is celebrated as "LOHARI". Sweets, sugarcane and rice are thrown in the bonfires, around which friends and relatives gather together. The following day, which is Sankrant, is celebrated as MAGHI. The Punjabi's dance their famous Bhangra dance till they get exhausted. Then they sit down and eat the sumptuous food that is specially prepared for the occasion. Kerala: The 40 days anushthana by the devotees of Ayyappa ends on this day in Sabarimala with a big festival. Bundelkhand: In Bundelkhand and Madhya Pradesh this festival of Sankrant is known by the name 'Sakarat' and is celebrated with great pomp & merriment accompanied by lot of sweets. Tribals of Orissa: Many tribals in our country start their New Year from the day of Sankrant by lighting bonfires, dancing and eating their particular dishes sitting together. The Bhuya tribals of Orissa have their Maghyatra in which small home-made articles are put for sale. Assam: In Assam, the festival is celebrated as Bhogali Bihu. Coastal Region: In the coastal regions, it is a harvest festival dedicated to Indra. How to Celebrate: 1. Get up early in the morning, before sunrise, have bath and be ready with water & flowers for the sunrise. Worship the rising Sun, by offering water, flowers with both the hands & then pray with folded hands by chanting the Gayatri Mantra and pray for knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment to rise in the similar way to greater & greater heights. Pray for blessings to live a dynamic, inspired & righteous life. 2. Do tarpan for your ancestors. Offer water to the ancestors while praying for their blessings. Resolve to redeem the pledges & pride of your forefathers. Live life in such a way that wherever your forefathers may be their head is held high by the life & deeds of their children. 3. Have a special session of Meditation, wherein you bring about the awareness of the self-effulgent subjective divinity. Affirm the greatest importance of your spiritual goal very clearly, and pray to God to bless you with the capacity to constantly revel in your true self. May the graph of your rise like the Uttarayana Sun. May there be greater 'Love & Light' in your life & the world. 4. Prepare laddus or other sweets of Til & Gur and offer them to your friends & relatives. See to it that your 'Well-being Prayer for all' gets manifested in action & deeds. 5. Have the lunch of Khichiri. This stands for inculcating simplicity in your life & habits. 6. Give some Daan on this day to someone who truly deserves. 7. Visit your son at his place and give presents to the son and the daughter-in-law. If it is not possible to visit, then organize to send presents to them to express your love & affection to them. Work to properly cultivate the generation, which has to carry forward all the best you cherish & value. ============================================================================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.