Burn the incense to get the fragrance [1 Attachment]

[Guest guest]

Hari-Om

=======

 

Thank you Menonji.

 

 

 

Very interesting. When I was young, we had a block of Sandlwood at home and my

grandama would wet-rub the block on a flat stone ( chaana kallu) to make our

own sandalwood paste.

The same methods were used in all the temples. It was the kizhshanti's work to

grind the make the paste. It was tiring work, took hours of toil. That was then

; times have changed.

Grandma is gone, and I crossed the oceans in search of life's necesities..

Every one works like robots, love, bhakti, compassion , these all have become

alien words.Words such as Corruption, greed, bribery

have overtaken them. No wonder a few of the devotees get prefrred VIP

treatment at temples such s Guruvyur and Thirupaty.

Pay dollars and one can get ahead of thousands of devotees who had been lining

up for hours.

Contact the Poojari at Guruvayur and one can obtain the original chandana

kalabham used for kalabhabhishekam.

Go to shabarimala and we get factory produced , canned, Aravana payasam ,

pre-packed in plastic conatainers.

What next ?

May be soon these so-called prasadams will be displayed on the supermarket

shelves!

Krishna, is it not time for you to reappear ? How long will you be a silent

witness to all these?

May Bhagavan's holy naame be glorified !

 

jai shree krishna !

 

Achuthan Nair

 

guruvayur , ramachandra menon <ramachandramenon

wrote:

>

> Nairji,

>       It is amusing to read about your apprehensions.  The sandal sticks

(chandana thiri) are all made out of cow dung. This is a cottage industry in

Karnataka. Many poor families are engaged in this business. The take long strips

of bamboo and smear it with wet cow dung and dry it. They may be adding some

adhesive to it. Then they apply some perfume and sell it in the market. Sandal

is a scarce commodity because the bulk of it goes to make sandal oil for export

for making perfume. The sandal paste given as prasadam in many temples is just a

duplicate product.. Kalabham is also a duplicate product. In Guruvayoor temple,

the forest dept of Karnataka govt. allots certain tons of sandal wood and hence

the kalabham you get there is almost original. The the one which is used to

perform abhishekam to the Lord is pure sandal with Kesar added. This item is

seldom available outside. You have to approach the melsanthi to get it.

>  

> Ramachandra Menon

>  

>

> --- On Wed, 16/9/09, Udayabhanu Panickar <udhayabhanupanickar wrote:

>

>

> Udayabhanu Panickar <udhayabhanupanickar

> Re: [Guruvayur] Re: Burn the incense to get the fragrance [1

Attachment]

> guruvayur

> Wednesday, 16 September, 2009, 6:14 AM

>

>

>  

>

>

> [Attachment(s) from Udayabhanu Panickar included below]

Dear Achuthan Nair and Others,

>

> Earlier I tried to give the il effects of incense burning in one sentence. Now

I am attaching an article along with this for detailed information. As Mr

Achuthan Nair said we don't know what is used in those incense sticks.

Definitely there are toxic substance in them. If you can not get pure

chandanatthiri or similar pure non toxic substance, please do not burn them at

home. HE will understand, because HE never want HIS loved ones to get cancer.

>

> Thanks

>

>

> Sincerely,

> Udayabhanu Panickar

> aum namaH Shivaaya

> OUR BODY IS THE ABODE OF THE JEEVATMAN, WHICH IS IN FACT THE PARABRAHMAN. LET

US NOT MAKE IT A GRAVEYARD. LET US NOT EAT FLESH. LET US BE VEGETARIANS AND STAY

HEALTHY.  Animals are to be loved, not eaten.Eating flesh is good neither for

the mind nor for the intellect, not even for the body. It distorts the basic

character of human.

>

>

>

>

>

--- On Tue, 9/15/09, anair1101 <anair1101 > wrote:

>

>

> anair1101 <anair1101 (AT) (DOT) .com>

> [Guruvayur] Re: Burn the incense to get the fragrance

> guruvayur@grou ps.com

> Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 7:37 PM

>

>

>  

>

> Hari-Om

>

> In the olden days we burnt incence sticks , camphor etc in front of the

deities and it spread the frgrance all around creating an aura of divine

presence. In those days they were made of sandal wood paste and they were called

Chandanathiri. They were made by Karnataka Soaps and cosmetics. Only pure sandal

wood powder/ paste was used.

> At present Only God knows ( doubtful ) what these sticks are made of.

> But one thing is sure with commercialism, they do use a lot of cheap perfume

and harmful chemicals. So Beware !Inhale everyday and it might be a one way

ticket to heaven.

> I all Krishna temples, they give as prasada, a lump of sndalewood paste and a

few thulsi leaves and flowers.

> I know some cases where the poojari gives out a paste msde FROM tiny tender

coconuts. Economy ?

> In the famous Pazhavangdi Ganapathy Kovil , Trivandrum, the shanthikaran will

give prasadam to only those who tip (dakshina ) him before-hand. This is true at

Kanyakumari, Kumarakovil, and so on.

> On the other hand the poojari at Neyyantinkra Sree krishna temple , trivandrum

dist,

> is a very honest and dedicated devotee of the Lord.

>

> when you break a coconut (at Pazhvangadi temple) the devotee is not allowed to

take a small piece from it but accept what the Contractor offers with his dirty

hands !

> In some temples they use recycled thulsi mala and thulsi leaves.

>

> jai shree krishna !

>

> Achuthan Nair

>

> guruvayur@grou ps.com, Lakshmy Prakash <lakshmygprakash@ ...>

wrote:

> >

> > Dear All,

> >

> > Hari Om.

> >

> > Forwarding what I received from Swami Chidananda of Varanasi.

> >

> > With Love & Pranams,

> > Lakshmy

> >

> > BURN THE INCENSE TO GET THE FRAGRANCE

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Mere words take you nowhere; live them and then you know the

> > great beauty of spiritual wisdom. Just as you have to *burn *incense sticks

> > to get their fragrant fumes, you have to *burn *the words in the flame of

> > actual living to feel their great power.

> >

> > " *bhuktaye, na tu muktaye* " said Shri Shankaracharya in his

> > Viveka-Chudamani, which means, " Verbal scholarship can only give some amount

> > of worldly enjoyment but not inner freedom " . Like singers, dancers and other

> > performers, speakers on spiritual topics become heroes in this mad world.

> > Masses see in these people *larger-than- life *figures; they almost become

> > living gods in the eyes of their fans and admirers. They suffer privately

> > from their human frailties. They can neither be comfortable in their role

> > (as it is not natural or normal for them) nor can they easily extricate

> > themselves from the artificial structures around them.

> >

> > One in a hundred, however, walks out. She intensifies her

> > efforts towards *living** *the core teachings. She stands guard, for

> > example, against her habitual tendencies to seek " reward, recognition, fame

> > and name " in all that she does. That is *phala-tyaga *of the Bhagavad-Geeta.

> > To let go of the urge for praise is more valuable than giving a hundred

> > discourses on one of those Geeta *shlokas* that talk about such

> > " renunciation of fruits of action " . She does not hesitate to cancel a public

> > talk if some difficulty arises in the organizing of it but takes extra care

> > not postpone her inquiry or meditation. She saves energy by withdrawing

> > from egotistic activities and invests it in actual, inner exploration. In

> > speech, food and sleep, she avoids excess and gently trains her body and

> > mind to come upon a natural state of harmony.

> >

> > Plenty of opportunities to do real *sadhana* come to us in

> > our privacy. No wonder Bernard Shaw remarked, " A man's character is to be

> > judged by what he does when he *thinks *nobody is watching him. " Real

*sadhana

> > *does not compartmentalize life into public and private domains. The earnest

> > seeker has no dual policies for these two spheres. If he likes to read some

> > magazines for half an hour, for example, he does so †" irrespective of

> > whether someone is watching him or not. His true values and understanding

> > determine his behaviour; the fear of being judged or the desire to impress

> > people does not. All this is possible if a certain inner cleansing has taken

> > place. This cleansing takes place when we give space to ourselves, to watch

> > and to learn. Much before the big question " Who am I? " could be asked, we

> > must ask, " What am I doing? What do I fear? Why am I compromising? " Rather

> > than going into a long, verbal analysis or commentary on our own behaviour,

> > we must inquire with a silent mind. It is not in elaborate thinking but in

> > simple, *direct* *seeing* that false fears flee. Contradictions disappear;

> > integration of personality takes place.

> >

> > Living the spiritual teachings thus is not about conforming

> > to some precepts or formulas. The core of the great teachings seldom

> > stresses on dos and don'ts. It rather asks us to find out what is right. The

> > light within us guides us. The silent mind †" free from personal likes and

> > dislikes †" is the springboard of right action. The best judgment arises

from

> > the non-judgmental state of mind.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Swami Chidananda

> >

> > Varanasi

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > www.j-krishnamurti. org (KFI, Varanasi)

> >

> > www.fowai.org( Fowai Forum)

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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