Mar
14
A SYMBOL OF GOD
The idol is a substitute or symbol. The image in a temple, through it be made of stone, wood or metal, is precious for a devotee as it bears the mark of his lord, as it represents something which he holds holy and eternal. A flag is only a small piece of painted cloth, but to a soldier it stands for something that he holds very dear.he is prepared to give up his life in defending his flag. Similarly, the image is very dear to devotee. It speaks to him in its own language of devotion. Just as the flag arouses martial valour in the soldier, so also the image arouses devotion in the devotee. The lord is superimposed on the image and the image generates divine thoughts in the worshipper.
When you worship an image , you do not say: “this image has come from jaipur. It was bought by prabhu singh. Its weight is 50 ibs. It is made of white marbles. It has cost me rs,500.” NO! You superimpose all the attributes of the lord on the image and pray:”O inner ruler! You are all-prevading. You are omnipotent, omniscient and all –merciful. You are the source of everything. You are eternal, unchanging. You are the life of my life, the soul of my soul!give me light and knowledge!let me dwell in thee for ever!”
When your devotion and meditation become intense and deep, you do not see the stone image. You behold the lord who is pure consciousness. Image worship is very necessary for beginners.
Mar
13
GAYATRI JAPA DAY
The gayatri japa day is one such very holy and glorious day intended to remind all of the greatest and most glorious of all mantras, the sacred gayatri mantra. The gayatri is the life and support of every true hindu. It is the impregnable spiritual armour, the veritable fortress, that guards and protects its votary. In fact, that is the very meaning of The word- gayatri-“that which protects one who signs it”.
The gaytri is the divine power that transforms the human into the divine and blesses man with the brilliant light of the highest spiritual illumination. Whoever may be one’s favourite deity, the regular repetition of a few malas(rosary of a hundred and eight beads) of gayatri japa every day will shower upon one incalculable benefits and blessings. It is universally applicable, being purely an earnest prayer for light addressed to the almighty supreme spirit. The para brahma gayatri mantra is the most important of all mantras. For every Brahmin of any creed or order of life this has been prescribed as being as the sole transcendental guiding light. The brahmachari or celibate, the grihastha or householder, and the vanaprastha or one who is retired, must repeat this mantra every day, the sannyasin or renunciate is asked to repeat om intead of this mantra.
Each word each letter of the gaytri bears on its head the highest vedantic concept of the absolute, supreme truth. Do japa of the gaytri- it will give you the most excellent fruit, the fruit of immortality!
The mantra is as follows:
“Om bhur bhuvash svah
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dheemahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. “
Om: symbol of para Brahman.
Bhuh: bhu loka or the physical plane.
Bhuvah: the astral palne.
Svah: the celestial plane.
Tat: that , the transcendental paramatma, god.
Savituh: the creator.
Varenyam: fit to be worshipped.
Bhargash: remover of sins and ignorance, glory , effulgence.
Devasya: resplendent, shining.
Dheemahi: we meditate.
Mar
13
MEDITATION ON LORD SUBRAMANYA
“Shadaananam kumkumaraktavarnam
Mahaa matim divya mayoora vaahanam;
Rudrasya soonum sura sainyanaatham
Guham sadaaham sharanam prapadye.”
MEANING:
I always take refuge in lord guha (lord subramanya) of six faces, who is of deep red colour and infinite knowledge , who has the divine peacock to ride on, the son of lord shiva and the leader of the army of the devas.
Mar
13
WHAT IS THE TILAK- CHANDLO? WHY DO IT ON THE FOREHEAD, ARMS AND CHEST?
In Indian culture, when a woman marries , in joy of getting a ggod husband –a guardian, she imprints a chandlo on her forehead. In the bhakti movements of Hinduism, god is the swami (guardian) of the bhakta.on being fortunate to have a guardian, the jubilant bhakta also imprints a chandlo on his forehead. The red chandlo is the auspicious (saubhagya) fortune sign of god.
The head is the pride of an individual.an individual’s personality lies in his thoughts and intellect. To show respect to other’s a man bows his head. To those whom he deeply reveres, he bows his head right down to their feet. The bhakta, surrenders his head- himself at the lotus feet of god.
So, a bhakta with loving feelings of sacrifice and surrender, symbolically imprints the “feet “(charan) of the swami on:
I.His forehead– so that god resides in his intellect for inspiring auspicious thoughts. The centre point of all nerves is the place between the two eyebrows on the forehead. The rishis have therefore ordained for tilak to be done on his central area of the head to protect it.
II.His upper arms, symbols of strength – that god resides in them to inspire the bhakta to perform righteous acts.
III.His chest-site of the heart – symbolic of life,so that god resides is in to inspire noble feelings.
In this way , for thoughts, feelings and karma to become auspicious, the tilak is imprinted on these four parts of the body. The tilak is also imprinted in these four positions in smruti-rememberance of the four vyuha forms of god, namely vasudev, sankarshan, aniruddha and pradyumna.(arthadeepika- tika bhashya).
This is the tilak of the bhakti sampradayas. Each has its own way of doing tilak. The material used is also varied. Some make use of ash, use red clay whilst many use sandalwood paste.in the swaminarayan sampradaya, the latter is used. The chandlo powder used to be made from lemon juice and turmeric powder. Today it is made from chemicals. But the natural form is also available in the market.
TILAK-CHANDLO IS THE FORTUNE SIGN OF HAVING MET GOD AND OF SURRENDERANCE TO HIM.