HH Swamiji's talk at IIT Madras srI:
srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha:
Today (Nov 15), Chinna Jeeyar was in IIT Madras. He delivered a lecture on Indian culture and tradition. For over 2 hours, he enchanted the audience with his magnetic presence. A very general talk as to why we should believe in sampradaya. The hall (capacity of 500) was jam packed and many were sitting on the floor, many others standing. Jeeyar swami spoke flawless english, though in the beginning he claimed that his english is not so good. He touched upon various aspects of science and pointed out so many flaws and went on to show why the vedic science is the ultimate science.

Awesome talk. Since the talk was delivered in an institution like the IIT (which is a front runner in tech education), he spoke about technology. The audience were spell bound. I was not at all surprised that he was so clear cut with his points on Vedanta. Being a jeeyar, obviously he would be knowing all those. But his knowledge of the sciences and of the flaws in it, pointed out that he is an extraordinary personality. Above all, his mere presence was enchanting. For another one hour, people just surrounded him and wanted to be with him, though no one knew for what reason. Such was his tejas and attraction. Amazing. No words can describe him.

At the end, I just told him (in tamil): We are shocked and surprised that a great personality like him decided to cleanse a place like IIT by placing his lotus feet here. We have to say pallandu pallandu, like periyazhwar said to the Lord, since the Azhwar was scared that this dushta world could harm the Lord. Likewise, we say pallandu pallandu to swami. Swami said, "Oh, not at all. We can come another time also, if you so wish." He himself offered to deliver the speech and some of my vaishnava friends here made the arrangements. Is this what is called "nirhEduka krupai"??

va:zhi yatira:jan! va:zhi ulaga:siriyan! [:d]
adinAyEn,
varadha rAmAnuja dasan.

  ¶ 6:20 PM 3 comments

  Sri Krishna Jayanti I have never had so much confusion about when Krishna Jayanti or Krishna Ashtami or Janmashtami needs to be celebrated. In most of the temples in India and United States Janmashtami was celebrated this year on August 15th. Even I was about to start the Krishna Abhishekham on that day, when I was stopped by one of the email replies I read from Sri Swamiji. Many people had doubts as to when to celebrate Janmashtami and they had asked HH the exact date. To our relief HH explained clearly why Janmashtami needs to be celebrated only on Spetember 15th. By the way, Ashtami in US according to Livermore Temple calendar happened yesterday, so technically in the US yesterday was the right time to celebrate the festival. I performed the puja at night yesterday, so it was 15th morning in India and 14th evening in the US. I wonder sometimes why there is so much disparity in information from temple to temple and why Janmashtami was celebrated on August 15th even though the learned people knew that the month was polluted! Also, this is not a reasoning for just Iyengars - I believe it applies to one and all - take it or leave it! Its not that Krishna was born one month later for Iyengars and a month earlier for all others - pun intended! Wishing you all a wonderful Krishna Jayanti and may Lord Krishna bless you all with all prosperity and health. Here is the reply from HH:

KRISHNASHTAMI OR "SRI JAYANTHI " AS SRI VAISHNAVITES CALL IT, SHOULD BE CELEBRATED, ON A DAY WHEN THE SUN STAYS IN SIMHA RASI AND WHEN ROHINI STAR OR ASHTAMI THITTHI STAY WITHOUT ANY POLLUTION.

POLLUTION MEANS: BY SUNRISE, IF THAT PARTICULAR STAR OR THITTHI ENJOINS WITH THE PREVIOUS ONE. THEY ALSO CALL IT AS "VIDDHA".

TO CELEBRATE THE FUNCTION, OUT OF BOTH THITHHI AND STAR, WHICHEVER REMAINS LONG WILL ONLY BE CONSIDERED TO BE THE ONE FOR FUNCTION. IF THAT REMAINS UNTIL THE MORNING THAT IS ENOUGH, THAT NEED BE THERE DURING MID NIGHT. HENCE THAT DAY CAN BE TAKEN "PURE" FOR PERFORMING THE FUNCTION. IT IS BECAUSE THE KRISHNA'S JANM SLOKA SAYS

SIMHA RA:SOW ASITHE: PAKSHE: RO:HINYA:M ASHTAMI: THITTHOW |
CHARAMA:RTTHA PRADA:THA:RAM KRUSHNAM VANDE: JAGAD GURUM ||

NOW ON 15TH OR 16TH OF AUGUST, THE SUN'S ENTRANCE INTO SIMHA RASI HAS NOT OCCURED AT ALL. HE IS STILL IN THE KARKATAKA RASI. HE WILL BE ENTERING INTO SIMHA RA:SI ON 17TH IN THE EVENING AT 6.48 pm. SO PERFORMING HIS FUNCTION IN AUGUST, IS NOT PROPER.

DURING SEPTEMBER, ON 15TH SUN IS IN SIMHA RASI, ALTHOUGH "PURE" ROHINI WAS ON THE PREVIOUS DAY, BUT ASHTAMI GOT POLLUTED ON 14TH. HENCE THAT DAY IS ALSO NOT GOOD - NOW WHICHEVER REMAINS TILL THE END CAN BE TAKEN, SO, ASHTAMI STAYS ON THE 15H ALSO AND THAT TOO WITHOUT ANY POLLUTION, THUS "15TH SEPTEMBER" WILL BE OUR "SRI JAYANTHI' DAY.

WE ARE SURE WE DID NOT CONFUSE YOU MUCH.

=chinnajeeyar=

  ¶ 10:58 AM 0 comments

  Importance of Mother This morning I get an email from Swamiji on the mailing group and it read as follows:

"Jai srimannarayana to all Bhagavad bandhus!

MAY 14TH IS MOTHERS' DAY. FOR US, EVERY DAY IS MOTHERS' DAY, FOR GODDESS LAKSHMI IS ALWAYS TAKING CARE OF US WHILE INTERCEDING BETWEEN US AND GOD. BUT FOR THE WEST IT IS ONLY ONE DAY THEY ALLOT FOR MOTHERS DAY. PITY FOR THEM. YET, WE ARE SENDING HEREWITH A PRAYER THAT REVEALS THE GREATNESS OF THE NAMASKARAM OFFERED TO THE MOTHER.

Thandri kante: kolachu daivammu kante nu
Gurula kante sarva surula kante
Talli pa:damulaku thalavanchi mrokkina
Kara thala:malakamu laraya sirulu

MEANING "PROSTRATING BEFORE MOTHER'S DIVINE FEET IS THE RESULT OF GREATER VIRTUES, FOR IT IS GREATER THAN PROSTRATING BEFORE FATHER, BEFORE WORSHIPPING GOD, BEFORE GURUS OR BEFORE ALL THE DEVATHAS. BOWING BEFORE MOTHER, SHOWERS ALL THE WEALTHS AT OUR DOORSTEP".

=chinnajeeyar="  ¶ 6:45 AM 0 comments

  Narasimha Jayanti Narasimha (Nrusimha), the 4th avatara of Lord Vishnu in the dashavatara series, incarnated to protect his beloved bhakta, Prahlada. Someone has very nicely said that amongst all the bhaktas of Lord Vishnu, Prahlada is the first - "Prahlada Naarada Parasara Pundarika Vyasa Ambarikeeka Shuka Shaunaka" so you can imagine to what an extent Lord Vishnu loved Prahlada and his devotion.

The story goes something like this: Jai and Vijay, the official gatekeepers of Vaikuntam, showed a moment of arrogrance and pride by not allowing the Sanakadhi Maharishis into Vaikuntam. For this the Maharishis cursed the two to be born on Earth and lead a life of human beings. They were given 2 choices to be freed from the curse - either lead a life as a Vishnu bhakta for 7 births OR lead a life of hatred against Lord Vishnu for just 3 births. Since Jai and Vijay wanted to be back to their abode as soon as possible, they chose the option to lead the life of hatred against Lord Vishnu. The first birth was that of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyapu. Of this the birth of Hiranyakashyapu is important for our discussion on Lord Nrusimha Avatara.

Hiranyakashyapu along with his brother began to wreak havoc not only on Earth but in the heavens too. All the Devas and other demi-gods approached Lord Vishnu seeking his help in destroying Hiranyakashyapu. The reason anyone else found it impossible to destroy Hiranyakashyapu was because of the "almost immortal" boon he had received from Lord Brahma - No animal, no man, no deva, no-one created by Brahma, no weapon, no not-weapon, no alive thing, no dead thing could kill him. In addition to this he could not be killed in the morning, night, inside or outside the house. That almost ruled out everything that could kill the demon. But then there is Lord Vishnu who always knows how to save his bhaktas. So when Hiranyakashyapu started to torment his son, Prahlada, to accept Hiranyakashyapu as the king of all the worlds, Prahlada sought refuge under the grace of Srimannarayana. Finally when Hiranyakashyapu forced Prahlada to show Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu happily fulfilled his bhakta's wish and granted mukti to Hiranyakashyapu.

The avatara of Lord Nrusimha is interesting and what is more interesting is the methodology that was adopted in killing Hiranyakashyapu. Lord came down as half man and half animal - he was neither man nor animal and Lord Vishnu is created by no one. Lord Nrusimha dragged Hiranyakashyapu to the thoranam (front entrance) of the palace and placed Hiranyakashyapu on his lap - neither inside nor outside the house. It was evening - neither morning nor night and Hiranyakashyapu used his nails to rip out Hiranyakashyapu. Why nails? - nails is neither a weapon nor not a weapon, is neither alive (if you cut it, it does not hurt you) nor dead (it keeps growing). Interesting! So this way Lord appeared as Nrusimha and killed Hiranyakashyapu and protected his bhakta, Prahlada.

In Livermore Temple, we celebrated Nrusimha Jayanti by performing the Nrusimha Mantra homam - "Ugra Veeram maha Vishnum, Jwalantham Sarvathomukham, Nrusimhmum Bheeshanam Bhadram Mrutyu Mrutyu Namamyaham" and also performed abhishekham to Lord Nrusimha. Here are a few pictures of the event. All the pictures can be located at the album: http://imageevent.com/jsny/narsimhajayanti



  ¶ 11:32 PM 0 comments

  Birth and Death - what should we do? Anil Kumarji asked the following question "What needs to be done and what should not be done during the time of birth or death in a family? What is the significance of following these rituals?"

Swamiji's reply was as follows:

"JAI SRIMANNARAYANA ANIL KUMARJI!

WHEN THERE IS BIRTH OR DEATH IN A FAMILY, THE WHOLE FAMILY GETS "A:SOUCHAM" WHICH MEANS IT GETS POLLUTED. THIS POLLUTION CONTINUES FOR ABOUT 10 DAYS OR SO. IT MAY CHANGE IN SOME CASES, WE DO NOT WANT TO GO TO THOSE DETAILS.

THE POLLUTION AFFECTS DURING BIRTH OF A NEW BABY TOO AND IS CALLED "JA:THA A:SOUCHAM", WHERE AS THE POLLUTION EFFECTS OF DEATH IS CALLED "MRUTHA A:SOUCHAM". FOR BOTH OF THEM ONE SHOULD OBSERVE THE A:SOUCHAM. MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT MRUTHA:SOUCHAM IS TO BE OBSERVED, BUT NOT THE JA:THA:SOUCHAM. BUT IT IS SAID THAT JA:THA:SOUCHAM IS MORE SEVERE THAN THE MRUTHA:SOUCHAM. HOW AND AT WHAT LEVEL IT AFFECTS, IS NOT OUR TOPIC OF DISCUSSION. AS YOU KNOW WELL THAT IF A TELEPHONE TOWER IS AFFECTED ALL THE CELL PHONES IN THAT AREA GET AFFECTED. THAT MAY BE TAKEN AS AN ANALOGY.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE SCRIPTURES (SA:STHRAM) NEVER GIVES EXPLANATIONS WHY TO DO. IT SIMPLY ORDERS WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO. GIVING EXPLANATIONS IS ONLY FOR OUR SATISFACTION AND IN OUR LIMITED UNDERSTANDING. THAT MAY BE CORRECT OR NOT. YET, THE DICTUM SHOULD BE OBSERVED AND FOLLOWED. OTHERWISE, IT SAYS YOU RECEIVE PUNISHMENT IN SOME OR THE OTHER WAY.
=chinnajeeyar="  ¶ 3:07 PM 0 comments

  Ramanujacharya Thirunakshatram Thirunakshatram is the spiritual word for birthday. May 2nd was the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. In Livermore temple we had weekend celebration of the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. The celebration included Ha:rathi to acharaya and veedhi utsavam. The Ghosti group graced the occasion to sing Pallandu and perform Sattramurai to the Acharaya.

Ramanujacharya was born Ilaya Perumal to a brahmin family in the village of Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India in 1017 CE. Ramanujacharya was the chief exponent of Vishishtadvaita school of thought and was a great social reformer. Worshippers of Lord Vishnu as their supreme godhead are called SriVaishnavas and SriVaishnavas accept only the Ramanuja philosophy of Vishishtadvaita. Once Ramanujacharya imparted the sacred mantra (supposed to be the most secret imparting of a Guru to a Sishya,) his guru had revealed him, openly to the public announcing to the whole community which had gathered at the temple. On being questioned, Ramanuja declared that if by his going to hell so many souls could be saved, he would prefer that to his own salvation. Such was the greatness of this acharya. Ramanujacharya's famous works include the Vedartha-sangraha, Sribashya, commentaries on the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras (portions credit - Kamat's potpourri). Ramanujacharya's version of non-dualism differed from Adi Shankaracharya's because Ramanujacharya acknowledged the existence of differences, and believed that the identity of an object as a part was as important as the unity of the whole. The vaishnava theology espoused by Ramanuja propounds that Brahman is not devoid of attributes but is expressed as a personal God, full of infinite good qualities, as Narayana himself. Hence the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita combines Advaita (oneness of God) with Vishesha (attributes).

The ghosti group and the priests recited various mantras, performed naivedyam and sattramurai to the acharaya. May Perumal bless all!  ¶ 6:25 AM 0 comments

  Dreams - what are they? Sriman Bharath Radhe Krishna on the jetusa yahoogroups asked the following question to HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji: "Swamiji, why so dreams when we sleep? Why does the person feel the dream is real? What is the purpose of dreams created by Lord? Do dreams foretell the future? Do dreams convey any useful information to us? One day, I got the dream depicting Sri Ranganatha Swami and I had seen only his face and I am standing before him and I am looking very small. What does this dream tell me? The day before I got the dream, I had read a book about Srirangam."

Swamiji replied to this as follows:

"DREAMS ARE THE CREATIONS OF GOD, TO CONSUME OUR PAST KARMAS OF CERTAIN CATEGORY. KARMAS ARE DIVIDED INTO 3 CATEGORIES - BIG, MED AND SMALL. BIG ARE ENJOYED IN THE EXTERNAL WORLD, WHETHER THEY ARE GOOD OR BAD. ALL MED WILL BE SENT FOR STORE ROOM, FOR NEXT BIRTH. SMALL WILL BE ALLOWED FOR DREAMS TO BOTHER AND BE CONSUMED. THEY ARE NOT UNDER OUR CONTROL BUT UNDER GOD'S CONTROL. THEY ARE AS REAL AS THE EXTERNAL WORLD. THEY WILL CERTAINLY FORETELL ABOUT FEW THINGS, BUT NOT NECESSARILY AS WE HAVE SEEN THEM. YOU MAY SEE SOMETHING, IT MIGHT APPEAR IN SOME OTHER FORM IN THE WORLD. LIKE, YOU SEE THE CLOUDS AND IT RAINS LATER. THUS YOU PREDICT THAT CLOUDS ARE THE INDICATORS FOR RAIN. LIKE THAT, SOME SCENES YOU SEE DURING DREAMS, YOU EXPERIENCE SOMETHING, THEN YOU HAVE CONSUMED SOME PORTION OF THE KARMA. AS WE ARE NOT CREATORS OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD, AND ALSO THE INNER WORLD, AS WE CAN MANIPULATE ONLY SOME PORTION OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD, SO ALSO BY DOING SOME SADHANA, WE ALSO CAN MANIPULATE SOME PORTIONS OF THE KARMAS AND AVOID EVIL EFFECTS OF DREAMS. SOME DREAMS ARE TO BE CARED AND SOME HAVE TO BE IGNORED. YOU ARE BLESSED FOR SEEING LORD IN YOUR DREAMS. IT SHOWS THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET SOMETHING GOOD. BE HAPPY. WHEN YOU ARE SEEN SMALL, IT MEANS THAT YOU ARE UNNECESSARILY FEELING THAT YOU ARE GREAT, AND HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE REALLY NOT. APPLY IT TO THE EVENTS YOU ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE. OK!"  ¶ 9:38 PM 0 comments