Guest guest Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 , Eleathea Barraclough <eleathea> wrote: "Here's a little trick I sometimes use if I need to light a lot of ghee lights quickly. Sometimes ghee wicks take a little time to catch fire. You can take a little camphor, crush it into a powder, and put a little on each ghee wick. This will light very easily, and it adds a nice scent to the ghee lamp." Jai Maa, my wonderful puja sister Ektaji! i am so delighted to hear from you in this way! i am also grateful that the link for refined camphor has brought you happiness! You are such a bottomless well of practical puja info, that you never cease to amaze me! i bow to your beloved Guru a thousand times! The above trick sounds so wonderfully ingenious; i can't wait to try it! All i have to do is smell genuine camphor and my mind becomes cool and much calmer. i cannot praise it enough, and you are right, it hasn't always been easy to find food grade refined camphor. i remember many years ago, sometimes having to resort to those horrible synthetic blocks that they sometimes sell in the Drug Store. YUK! i discovered this wonderful camphor source about 6 or 7 years ago. They also carry a lot of other great puja tools like arati/ghee lamps and camphor lamps. Also blowing conches, etc. i really loved your story about Venkateswara! Really beautiful!i have always loved that form of Lord Vishnu. He always gives me goose bumps when i see a pic or murti of Him. Again, thank-you Ekta, my blessed sister! Your sister dissolving in Maa's Love, muktimaa > THANK YOU MUKTI MAA! I LOVE real camphor, but didn't know of any good source. > The camphor that is usually available is generally synthetic, I believe. It can > also contain ingredients other than the actual camphor. For this reason, it > should NOT be eaten. > > Real camphor, or refined camphor, is also called edible camphor, which > indicates that it can actually be eaten, since it is pure and natural. Parvati > already mentioned all the wonderful benefits of camphor. I have heard that in > Tirumala (in Andhra Pradesh), at the Tirupati temple (very famous temple with > millions of visitors each year), they have a special use for camphor. > > Each year, they take hundreds of pounds of camphor, cardamom, and sandalawood. > They grind this with rose water to make a watery paste. This paste then gets > painted on all the walls inside the temple. When you enter into the temple, you > feel like you've entered into another realm, because the aroma surrounds you > and transports you. It's meant to be cooling and calming, since thousands of > people must wait for hours to just get into the temple for a few seconds of > darshan. Sometimes people get a little emotional, as they are waiting with > intense longing to see Lord Venkateswara, so the camphor aroma helps to calm > them down and soothe the overheated mind. > > In this temple, the murti of Sri Venkateswara (a form of Lord Vishnu) has a > kind of covering over the eyes. This is unusual, because normally the eyes of > hte murti are considered most important for darshan. That is where the shakti > emanates from quite powerfully, so people always try to see the eyes of the > deity. Here, the eye-covering signifies that the Lord is not seeing any faults > in the devotees who come before Him. He is simply giving them His full > blessings without considering whether they "deserve" it or not. > > Here's the info from the krishnaculture page about camphor: Refined Camphor, > derived from the evergreen camphor tree (cinnamomum camphora), has medicinal > qualities as a stimulant, expectorant and diaphoretic. This is the highest > quality of refined camphor and may be added in small quantity to sweets and > sweet rice for special flavor. Camphor is used in ghee lamps for Deity worship > to purify the atmosphere and is the original natural insect repellant. > > Here's a little trick I sometimes use if I need to light a lot of ghee lights > quickly. Sometimes ghee wicks take a little time to catch fire. You can take a > little camphor, crush it into a powder, and put a little on each ghee wick. > This will light very easily, and it adds a nice scent to the ghee lamp. > > Jai Maa! > Ekta > > --- muktimaa <muktimaa@a...> wrote: > > > Jai Maa dear family! > > Here is a great source for refined Camphor. A little goes a long way, > > and it is in the very convenient form of small crystals. It is what i > > use, and it is the best i have found to date. here is the link: > > > > http://www.krishnaculture.com/cgi-bin/miva?\ > > Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=KC&Product_Code=CAM2 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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