Deepam 2014

Karthigai Deepam is the festival of lamps celebrated in  Tamil Nadu (November – December).It is celebrated on the full moon day of the Tamil month of Karthigai. Different names - Malai deepam,Annamalai deepam,Vishnu deepam,Thirukarthigai. This year, Thiru Karthigai falls on 5th Dec  2014.

Karthigai Deepam -  Stories for Children

Legend of Siva

Once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were quarrelling and claiming themselves as "greatest". In order to teach them a lesson, Lord Siva appeared before them and asked them to find out the exact location of his head and his feet. Meanwhile, he transformed himself into a huge pillar of fire. Accordingly Brahma assumed the form of a swan and moved upwards. Vishnu transformed himself into a boar and started digging deep into the earth. Even after searching for many years, they were not able to find the ends of the pillar. Accepting their defeat, they prayed to Lord Siva that the blazing pillar should establish itself as a Hill.

Then Lord Shiva takes the form of a jyothi (light of fire) on the hill of Thiruvannamali. Therefore, this festival is also known as Annamalai Deepam. Here, a special torch is lighted every year on the zenith of the hill and it is believed that Lord Shiva's jothi will be visible on this day. 

Legend of Muruga

Karthigai Deepam is celebrated on the full moon day of the Karthigai month which coincides with the Krithigai Star. The month of Karthigai is of special importance to the Tamil people, which derives its name from the star “Krithigai”. It was in this month that Lord Siva created Lord Muruga from his Divine Light. Lord Muruga took the form of six babies in a lake called “Saravana Poigai.” On this day, all his six forms were united by his mother Parvathi, and he became “Arumugan” (the form with six faces). Special pujas are performed for Lord Muruga on this day. Lord Muruga is worshipped as the reigning deity of Tamil Nadu.

Deepam

During this occassion lamps are lit all over the house.The lamps are lit for a happy married life and for the well being of children in the family.

While lighting the lamp (diYa,) it is good to recite this.

"Deepam-jyothi para-brahma Deepam jyothi Janardhanaha Deepo Haratume Papam Sandhyaa deepam namo-stute" 

'I prostrate to the dawn/dusk lamp whose light is Supreme Knowledge which removes the darkness of ignorance and by which all can be achieved. '

Tamil song:

'Vilakke Thiru Vilakke ....... '
விளக்கே ! திருவிளக்கே ! வேந்தன் உடன் பிறப்பே!
ஜோதி மணிவிளக்கே ஸ்ரீதேவி பொன்மணியே
அந்தி விளக்கே அலங்கார நாயகியே
காந்தி விளக்கே காமாக்ஷித் தாயாரே
பசும்பொன் விளக்கு வைத்துப் பஞ்சுத்திரி போட்டுக்
குளம்போல நெய்விட்டுக் கோலமுடன் ஏற்றி வைத்தேன்

ஏற்றினேன் நெய்விளக்கு, எந்தன் குடிவிளங்க
வைத்தேன் திருவிளக்கு மாளிகையும் தான்விளங்க
மாளிகையில் ஜோதியுள்ள மாதாவைக் கண்டுகொண்டேன்

the lamps lit symbolically represent knowledge, victory and peace. Muruga as Kumaraguru is believed to have taught the meaning of ‘OM’ to Lord Shiva. Thus the lamps lit on the day are in remembrance of sharing the ultimate knowledge of ‘OM.’ The knowledge of OM helps in enlightenment and emancipation. 


Another legend associated with Karthigai Deepam is that King Bali surrendered before Lord Vishnu. King Bali attained moksha by surrendering all his wealth and himself before Lord Vishnu. Special offerings made from puffed rice and beaten rice is believed to be due to this legend.


Goddess Umadevi

In another episode, Goddess Umadevi once playfully closed the eyes of her beloved, which plunged the world into darkness. All living beings suffered in the dark. The universal mother felt for her folly and separated herself from her companion. Mother started worshipping Lord Shiva in the form of Linga to absolve herself of this sin and to reunite with him. Lord Vishnu, (or Adi Kesava Perumal, enshrined at Thiruchenkode, a unique Ardhanareeshwara temple) instructed Shakthi on the Kedara Gowri Vratam to be performed to unite with Shiva. 

When she reached Kancheepuram, Lord Shiva ordered her to proceed to Thiruvannamalai and do her penance. Likewise Mother Parvathi did penance at Pavalakundru with the help of Saint Gowthama. 

A demon called Makishasuran disturbed the penance of Mother Parvathi. The Mother took the form of goddess Durga Devi and destroyed him on the full moon day of the Tamil Month of Karthigai during the auspicious period of pradosham. 

LORD SHIVA presented himself in the form of FIRE ATOP THE HILL and merged Goddess Parvathi on the left half of his body. This day of Supreme merger is celebrated as Karthigai Deepam. To commemorate this event, every year during the festival of Annamalai Deepam, Lord Arthanareeswaramurthi presents himself as Jyothi Swaroopa to his devotees.


Choka Panai is burnt in Shiva and Vishnu temples on this day. 

The fire in choka panai symbolises destruction of impurity,bad evil and bad thoughts.It is believed that God destroy the darkness of ignorance and egoism in men and blesses them with the light of wisdom. 

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Lord Rama

Rama sound is formed from 2 Beejaksharas (the seed syllables) Ra and Ma. "Beejakshara" means the seed syllable which stores that, which is indestructible. Akshara means that which is indestructible.The Beejaksharam "Ra" is from the Ashtakshari Mantra: "Om Namo Narayanaya" and Beejaksharam "Ma" from Panchakshari mantra "Om Namah Shivaya"

Beejaksharam is the jeevan or life force of a mantra and if we remove that then that mantra becomes useless.From Narayanaya mantra if we remove Beejaksharam "Ra" sound then it will become Na ayanaya which means not good for chanting ,moksha etc.Same applies while removing Beejaksharam "Ma" from Namah. Namah Shivaya mantra becomes Na Shivaya which means not good for  Prosperity(Mangalam)The word Shiva means  prosperity which however is achieved only when liberation is attained from all bondage. When Ra is removed Knowledge (Jñānam) is lost and when Ma is removed Prosperity is lost.The Beejaksharams Ra and Ma together form RAMA and Rama sound represents Knowledge and  Prosperity. - JAGADGURU SWAMI SATHYANANDA SARASWATHI TIRUVADIKAL 

Three times chanting this powerful mantra gives the equal effect of chanting Vishnu  Sahasranama.

‘Sri Rama Rama Rameti Rame Raame Manorame;

Sahasra nama tattulyam Rama nama varanane!’

Ra means radiance, Ma means myself. Rama means ‘the light inside me’. Rama was born to Dasharath and Kousalya. Dasharath means ‘Ten Chariots’. The ten chariots symbolize  the five organs of perception (the five senses) and five organs of knowledge and action (For instance: reproduction, legs, hands and so on). Kousalya means ‘skill’. Ayodhya means ‘a society in which there is no violence’. If you skillfully observe what goes on inside the body, light dawns inside you. That is meditation. You need some skill to relax the tension. Then you  start expanding.

Lord Rama

You know you are here now, yet you are not. With this realization, there is a certain lightness that comes spontaneously. Rama is when the inner light shines through. Sita the mind/intellect was robbed by the ego, Ravana. Ravana had ten heads. Ravana (ego) was one who wouldn’t listen to others. He was too much in the head. Hanuman means breath. With the help of Hanuman (the breath), Sita (the mind) was able to go back to Rama (the source).
Ramayana happened around 7,500 years ago. It had an impact on Germany and many other countries in Europe and  Far East. Thousands of cities are named after Rama. Cities like Rambaugh in Germany, Rome in Italy have their roots in the word Ram. Indonesia, Bali and Japan were all influenced by Ramayana. Though Ramayana is history, it is also an eternal phenomenon happening all the time. - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 

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20 Most Popular Time Quotes

Time is precious because it is irreversible.Time is a dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future,and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals between them.

Time is success,time is life,time is love,time is everything.Time is the best teacher.Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

Great Thoughts about Time

1.     Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.Laertius Diogenes

2.     Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.John Randolph

3.     Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.Thomas Edison

4.     Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.Peter F. Drucker

5.     Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.Samuel Smiles

6.     Never let yesterday use up today.Richard H. Nelson

7.     The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.Carl Sandburg

8.     Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.Art Buchwald

9.     Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.William Penn

10. Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late.William Shakespeare

11. Time is the wisest counselor of all.Pericles

Time

12. Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.Delmore Schwartz

13. "Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time."- Margaret Bonnano

14. "Regret for wasted time is more wasted time."- Mason Cooley

15. The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: “I did not have time.”Franklin Field

16. "Time is the most precious element of human existence. The successful person knows how to put energy into time and how to draw success from time."- Denis Waitley

17. "A stone thrown at the right time is better than gold given at the wrong time."- Persian Proverb

18. Lost time is never found again. Benjamin Franklin

19. I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Richard II

20. Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed.CHARLES CALEB COLTON, Lacon

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15 Inspirational quotes of Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendra Nath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world and was credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late 19th century.

Born: January 12, 1863, Kolkata

Died: July 4, 1902, Belur Math

Quotes and Great Thoughts of Vivekananda

Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached.

1.Each work has to pass through these stages – ridicule, opposition,
and then acceptance.Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.

2.If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished—mountains can be crumbled into atoms.

3.All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.

4. Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourself. Therefore make your own future.

5.It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world, that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

6. Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing it can we know God? It is also a fact that the knowledge of God is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing God can we understand human nature.

7. What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless.

8.The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

Vivekananda

9.I have neither father nor mother nor brothers nor sisters no friends no foes, nor home nor country - a traveller in the way of eternity - asking no other help seeking no other help but God.

10.If you want to have life, you have to die every moment for it. Life and death are only different expressions of the same thing looked at from different standpoints; they are the falling and the rising of the same wave, and the two form one whole.

11.Experience is the only teacher we have.

12.The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves.

13.See for the highest, aim at that highest, and you shall reach the highest.

14.Things are not bettered, but we are bettered, by making changes in them.

15.Hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.

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Lord Rama : Stories for children

Whoever surrenders, Râma accepts

God is so merciful that He will come ten steps towards you, if you but take one step towards Him. Vibhishana , the brother of Râvana, inquired from Hanumânwhether Râma will accept his homage and take him under His protecting shade.


Vibhishana said: "I am the brother of His worst enemy, whom He has vowed to destroy; I am a member of the demonic race; I am unacquainted with the Vedas or Sastras or the rituals of the Âryans". Then Hanumân replied: "O you fool! Do you think He cares for ritual correctitude, or family status or scholarship? If so, how could He accept me, a monkey?" That settled the matter. Vibhishana was assured of grace. 

Lord Rama

When he went to Râma later, He asked the elder monkeys around Him whether He could accept Vibhishana into the fold. Of course, He did not need any counsel from anyone. He was never influenced by others. But, still, just to bring them into the picture, He consulted them and made a pretence of not having made up His mind yet. When Sugriva  said "no", Râmareminded him that he too had come to Him, first, giving up his elder brother! When Lakshmana said that the only treatment he deserved was to be thrown back into Lankâ, Râma said, "Yes! I am resolved to crown him as the emperor of Lankâ, after the demise of Râvana". 


Whoever surrenders, Râma accepts, on the spot, without reservations. When someone suggested that Vibhishana should not be promised a throne, for, Râvana may fall at the feet of the Lord and earn pardon for his iniquity, Râma replied, "In that case, I will hold both hands of Bharata and beg him to make Vibhishana Emperor of Ayodhyâ, our ancestral domain; we both, Bharata and I, will spend our time happily in the forests".

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Lord Krishna :Stories for children

Selfishness will never work in matters relating to God

There is a small story in the Mahâbhârata. With a view to get Krishna on her side,Satyâbhama,  one of his consorts, went to Nârada and requested him to tell her some way, a short-cut by which she can achieve her objective. Nârada knew that Satyâbhama was very selfish and that selfishness will never work in matters relating to God.

Nârada wanted to teach a lesson to Satyâbhama and said he knew of a method which would get Krishna on her side, a ritual in which she gives away her husband as a gift to someone and then buys him back by paying money, equivalent in weight to the weight of the Lord. Nârada said that Krishna will belong solely to Satyâbhama under all circumstances if she went through this ritual. 

Satyâbhama was lured into the plan. Therefore, she did the ritual of gifting Krishna to Nârada and then getting Him back. In one pan of the balance, she made Krishna sit and she put all her jewels in the other pan but it was no match to the weight of Krishna. Nârada saw an excellent opportunity in the situation and told Satyâbhama that since she is not able to give gold needed to equal her husband's weight, he was taking away Krishna and that from that day, Krishna would not belong to her; He would belong to him.
In that situation, Satyâbhama thought of Rukminî and went in search of her. She found her performing Tulasî puja. 

Lord Krishna

Rukminî went with a few Tulasî leaves in her hand. She was astonished to find that Satyâbhamawas trying to outweigh the Lord himself with gold. She knew that this would never be possible. She said that gold will never outweigh God and only God's Name can match Him in weight. Nârada did not agree with this and asked that since Krishna has a form which can be seen, He must be weighed against something which can also be seen. 


Rukminî immediately grasped the situation and she told herself that whether it is fruit, a flower, or a leaf or even a spoon of water, if given in full faith, God will surely respond. If there is any truth in this, she expected Krishna to respond to what she was going to do and in full faith, she placed a Tulasî leaf in the other pan of the balance, uttering the name of Krishna. It is only with affection, love and pure heart that one can get God. She won. 

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Lord Ganesh: Stories for children

Vinayaka - The leader of all

On one occasion, a competition was arranged among the gods for selecting the leader of the games (troops of demigods who are attendants of Siva). Participants had to go round the world quick and come back to the feet of Lord Siva. The gods started off on their own vehicles; the elder son of Siva also enthusiastically entered the competition. He had an elephantine head; his vehicle was a mouse! Therefore, his progress was severely handicapped: He had not proceeded far, when Narada appeared before him and asked him, "Whither are you bound?" The son was very much annoyed; he fell into a rage.

 Lord Ganesh

For, what happened was a bad omen, doubly unpropitious for those going on a journey. It is inauspicious if the first person you come across when you are on a journey is lone Brahmin. Though the foremost among the Brahmins (He was the son of Brahma Himself):, Narada was a bad omen! Again it is a bad omen if you are going somewhere and someone asked, "Whither are you bound?" Narada put him that very question! Nevertheless, Narada was able to assuage his anger. He drew forth from Siva's son the cause of his predicament and his desire to win. Narada consoled him, exhorted him not to yield to despair, and advised him thus: Rama -the name-is the seed from which the gigantic tree called the universe has emanated. So, write the name on the ground, go round it once, and hurry back to Siva, claiming the prize." He did so and returned to his father. When asked how he returned so soon, he related the story of Narada and his advice. Siva appreciated the validity of Narada's counsel; the prize was awarded to the son, who was acclaimed as Gana-pati. (Master of the Ganas) and Vinaayaka (Leader of all).

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