[Jagannath] Eclipses and Graha Mantras

[Guest guest]

Namaste Kusa Devi,

 

> May I inquire for the mercy of Sri Narasringha Rao to benedict

> us with the

> details of Ugra Pooja?

 

(1) I see that some people (especially ISKCON people) change my

name. " Narasimha " is fine and it doesn't need any change. But

they call me " Nrisimha " or " Narasingha " . The first one is atleast

another form of " Narasimha " and it is correct and hence

acceptable. But " Narasingha " (or Narasringha as you wrote) has NO

meaning in Sanskrit. Some people pronounce " ha " as " gha " , but

this is not the correct pronunciation and it is only a corruption

that happened thru ages.

 

" Narasimha " , " Naarasimha " , " Nrisimha " etc are all valid in

Sanskrit, but NOT " Narasingha " or " Nrisingha " .

 

So please call me just " Narasimha " .

 

(2) I was taught by my father that eclipses are very good for

Navagraha pooja and pooja of Ugra devatas. At the time of

eclipses, I pray to all the nine planets with their mantras,

kavachas (most important), stotras and ashtottara sata nama

stotras. I then pray to Lord Narasimha, an avatar of Vishnu

representing Mars. My favorites are Narasimha's 108 names and 12

names given by Vyasa. Reading the latter (12 names) 1000 times is

supposed to bring relief from any disease. I also like " Lakshmi

Nrisimha Karavalamba Stotram " written by Adi Sankara when his

body was being burnt (he was in the body of a king then). It has

a makuta that says " O Nrisimha, give me your hand " .

 

I like reading " Rudra Krita Mantra Raja Pada Stotram " also. It

was said to Goddess Parvati by Lord Shiva. It has very superb

language and expressions and I like reading it. It gives a

special feeling if you know Sanskrit.

 

There are many other stotras on Narasimha written by Prahlada

etc. There are also some mantras. Jyotish News or an article by

Sanjay covered this a while ago.

 

You may select another deity, but just remember this: Praying to

an Ugra devata is the best thing to do at an eclipse time. Ugra

devatas can tame Rahu and Ketu. Also, pray to the nine planets.

 

In my family, we believe that any reasonable wish written down

after a long Navagraha pooja at the time of an eclipse comes

true. In 1995, I did a long pooja watching the lunar eclipse from

the window in my pooja room and wrote down my wish as getting a

child with Goddess Lakshmi's blessings with Virgo lagna, Jupiter

in 4th, exalted Venus in 7th and Sun & Mars in 6th. A year later,

my daughter was born with the same horoscope that I had written

down.

 

May Jupiter's light shine on us,

Narasimha