Monday, May 23, 2011

Life History of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy - Series 4 - Bahlika Raja


The next incarnation of SanghuKarna was in Dvapara Yuga, born as Bahlika Raja. Bahlika Raja was the son of Pratipa and the elder brother of King Santanu (father of Bheeshma) lived during Dvapara Yuga. He is the grandfather to both Kaurava and Pandavas.

He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna, but due to circumstances beyond his control (associate with Kouravas in the Kurukshetra war because of his alliance with Bheeshma and Dhritharastra) he ended up fighting against the Pandavas . He wanted to die at the hands of Bheema and to challenged him to a fight, but Bheema was reluctant to hurt a devotee of the Lord. Bahlika begged him to kill him so that he could take future births and serve him ( Bheema or Madhvacharya ) with devotion.

Bheema agreed to do that provided Bahlika hit the first blow. When Bahlika did as directed, Bheema hit him gently with his formidable mace. Thus Bahlika got the death he wanted, a heart full of devotion towards Lord Krishna, and the divine sight of Krishna and Bheema at the time of his death.

In the next series we will see about the next incarnation, Sri Vyasarajar.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Life History of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy - Series 3 - Narashima Avatar


After the boon that Hiranyakashipu received from Lord Brahma, he went and tortured all the sages and asked everyone to recite his name instead of Lord Vishnu. As days go by, his torture were not bearable.During this phase, his wife Kayadhu became pregnant. Hiranyakashipu was very happy with this and he wanted to build his son in his roots to rule the world. However his wife was really not happy with the way how his husband is treating sages and people who recite Lord Vishnu name. In the meantime lets see why HiranyaKashipu was trying to kill Lord Vishu.

As mentioned in the previous series, his brother Hiranyakshan was ruling the asuras world and tortured the sages and people. In one stage he took the entire earth and placed it is a under the water which was not traceable. This is not the sea that we have in the earth. This is called a dark space in the universe.
When all the devas and sages went to Lord Vishu to rescue them, Lord Vishnu took the Varaha avataram and rescued the earth from the underwater and killed Hiranyakshan. Because of this Hiranyakashnu wanted to kill everyone who recites Lord Vishnu name.

In this phase, Naradha muni came before his wife who was very upset. In order to keep her cool, Lord Naradha muni started to tell the stories of Lord Vishnu and the power of reciting "OM NAMO NARAYANAYA NAMAHA". While Hiranyakashipu's wife heard these stories, the womb in her stomach affected by the transcendental instructions of the sage even at such a young stage of development.

As days went by, his wife delivered a beautiful baby boy. Hiranyakashpu was very happy and he was celebrating this with all his men. Days went by and the kid was named as Prahaladha. He was very calm and devoted to Lord Vishnu.At the right age, Hiranyakashipu wanted to put him under a guru to learn vedas and
other information to rule the asura dynasty. However when Guru asked Prahalada to recite Hiranyakashipu's name, he recited "OM NAMO NARAYANAYA NAMAHA". Prahalada never changed on what he said and guru became so tired and went and told this to Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu asked Prahalada to tell his name but he told only Lord Vishnu's name. This made him very unhappy and he ordered his servents to place Prahalada before elephant which will run over him. However when they tried this elephant stopped and bowed before Prahalada.

Soon after this, Hiranyakashipu ordered his servents to roll Prahalada from the mountain, again with the blessings of Lord Vishnu , Prahalada returned without any injury.This again made Hiranyakashipu very angry and he ordered his wife to give him a food which contains poison prepared by himself. Kayadhu was really worried and she was crying and struggling with Hiranyakashipu who never listed to her. She then went and asked
Prahalada to obey his father words. But with a smile, Prahalada told that Lord Vishnu is save guarding him and nothing will happen to him. He himself took the food and ate him. But poison never affected Prahalada. This made Hiranyakashipu very angry and he asked Prahalada that if Lord Vishnu is saving you show me where he is.



For this Prahalada told that Lord Vishnu is everywhere, He is in pillars, and he is in the least twig. When Hiranyakashipu heard this, he right away hit the pillar before him and Lord Vishnu appeared in the Narashima avarata. He was so furious that everyone afraid of him. Hiranyakashipu fighted with Lord
Narashima and at the end Lord came upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out), and placed Hiranyakashipu on his lap (neither earth nor space) and used his nails as weapons, he disembowels and killed him.

Even after killing him, no one ( including all the devas ) were not able to calm the lord. At the end Lord Brahma took Prahalada near Lord Narashima and finally Lord Narashima was calmed by prayers of his devotees and Prahalada.

The story of Prahlada gives
God prevails everywhere.
God will always save his devotees.
Devotion can be practised at any point of time. Age does not matter.
Constant faith in God leads to devotion.

In the next series we will see the other 2 incarnations of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Life History of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy - Series 2 - Hiranyakashipu


The list of Incarnations of our Baghavan are
SanghuKarna
Prahalatha
Bahlika Raja  ( Dwapara Yuga)
Vyasaraja and
Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy

There is also a saying there is one more incarnation between Sri Prahalatha & Vyasararaja namely Bahileka Raja in Dwapara Yuga, however I am trying to find more information on this. Once I get the details, I will update the series accordingly.

As per the punishment from Lord Brahma, SanghuKarna was born in Asura family in Kritya yuga. He was born in the Hiranyas family. ( Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha)

These two were born to Diti (daughter of Daksha Prajapathi) and sage Kashyapa. It is said that asuras were born to them as a result of their union at the time of dusk, which was said to be an inauspicious time for such a deed

As per baghavata purana, both these Hiranyas were once gate keepers for Lord Vishnu namely Jaya & Vijaya. There were ended up in the asuras family because of the curse from Lord Brahma's kumaras namely Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanatkumara.

These four kumaras are the highest of sages who were born from the mind of Lord Brahma.

Hiranyakashipu is one of the asuras who has ruled the asuras dynasty. He was very angry with Lord Vishnu and his only aim was Lord Vishnu. He know that he cannot do it without good boons. He went ahead and did a penance to propitiate Lord Brahma and gain a boon from him like other rakshasas. Lord Brahma was very happy with this and he appeared before Hranyakashipu and requested him what he want. He rightaway asked him that he should not have death. Lord Brahma replied that "whoever is born in the earth should face the death one day, so ask me someother boon".

Hiranyakashipu was waiting for this turn and he rightaway asked the boon that he had planned ahead of time. He asked that
"Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal. Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time"

Lord Brahma granted this wish to Hiranyakashipu. With this Hiranyakashipu was very happy and he went ahead and ruled the entire ausras dynasty. Evenone feared about him and this further added fuel to his thoughts

In next series we will see why Hiranyakashipu wanted to fight with Lord Vishnu.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Life History of Baghavan Guru Raghavendra Swamy - Series 1 - Deva SanghuKarna


With the blessings of Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy, I will start writing a series that covers the details of Baghavan's life history. I will post one series per week. I wish this series will help our devotees and all others to understand more about our Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy and will help them to lead a good life as defined by Puranas & Vedas and reach Guru's lotus feet which is the ultimate for ones birth on this universe. Here is the series.
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Our Guru is one of the Kamadhenu who lives in the hearts of his devotees and will be like a Kamadhenu who gives all the best things to his belivers whereever they are.

Before we get to know on our Guru's life history, lets try to understand his previous incarnations in brief.

Lord Brahma usually does a Pooja to Lord Vishnu everyday. In the Brahma Loka we have lot of Devathas who help Lord Brahma to do the Pooja for Lord Vishnu. One such Devatha is SanghuKarna. He does one of very important job of bringing the flowers to the Pooja. One fine day , SanghuKarna had a delay to bring the flowers on time and this has annoyed Lord Brahma as he was not able to perform the pooja on time. When Devatha ShanghuKarna came late, Brahma did not asked any question and punished him that he will be born in the Asuras family. SanghuKarna was really worried because of this punishment and he was Lord Brahma to forgive him however once the punishment has been given nothing can be done.

On that night devatha SanghuKarna was sitting outside and he was worried. When Nartha muni went that way, SanghuKarna asked him that why he has been punished by Lord Brahma so severely. Naradha muni said that do not consider this as a punishment. This is the blessing for the good work that you have been doing. Lord Vishnu wanted you to be born in the earth in asuras family which is going to be a main reason for Lord Vishnu for one of his incarnation.

When Devatha SanghuKarna heard this he was very happy that he will be one of the main reason for Lord Vishnu's avatara in the earth.

In the next series we will see as how SanghuKarna was born in asuras family and how this helped Lord Vishnu's avatar and how many incarnations that Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy has before he was born as as Raghavendra Swamy.

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Sunday, May 1, 2011

eSeva Portal for Mantralayam Guru Raghavendra Swamy

Dear Devotees,

Mantralayam Raghavendra Swamy Mutt has launched the eSeva Portal for Baghavan Raghavendra Swamy. Below is the link. You need to register it into the website to use the eSeva activities.


http://www.raghavendramutt.org/content/e-seva-portal-launched

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]

Manusmrti - Dharmasastra

Manusmrti also known Dharmasastra, the most important and earliest metrical work of the textual tradition of Hinduism known as the Laws of Manu. Manu became the standard point of reference for all future Dharmaśāstras that followed it.
According to Hindu tradition, the Manusmriti records the words of Brahma.By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an authoritative tone as a statement on Dharma.

The treatise is written with a frame story, in which a dialogue takes place between Manu’s disciple, Bhrigu, and an audience of his own students. The story begins with Manu himself detailing the creation of the world and the society within it, structured around four social classes. Bhrigu takes over for the remainder of the work, teaching the details of the rest of Manu’s teachings.

This Table of Contents Manu Smriti are

Origin of the World
Sources of the Law
Dharma of the Four Social Classes
      Rules Relating to Law
      Rules of Action in Normal Times
      Fourfold Dharma of a Brahmin
      Rules of Action for a King
      Rules of Action for Vaisyas and sudras
      Rules of Action in Times of Adversity
      Rules Relating to Penance

[ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம் ]