NIRMAL KATHA ON DIWALI NIGHT (edited n clear sound)

Nirmal Vachan NIRMAL KATHA ON DIWALI NIGHT BY HH MAHANT BABA RAM SINGH JI MAHARAJ OF NIRMAL ASHRAM.RISHIKESH

Reward For Humility

Lord Krishna enters Hastinapura as a messenger of the Pandavas. Knowing the purpose of His visit, the Kauravas are not ready to welcome Him. But Bhishma, Drona and others go to welcome Him. As Krishna passes through the streets, He points to each palace and asks as to whom it belongs. One is Bhishma’s, one is Drona’s, and so they tell Him . When He nears Vidura’s palace, He asks whose it is and Vidura says it belongs to Krishna’s. Best reply That indeed, is the best reply. For, does not everything in the world belong to the Lord? Everything comes from Him and it is our ignorance that makes us claim possession over everything. It is our pride that sees us as owners, when in fact it is the Lord who is the owner of everything. Vidura’s reply shows his humility and devotion and it is not surprising that the Lord chooses to stay with him. The Lord’s presence in his palace is the reward he gets for his humility, said C.V. Seshadri in a lecture. Vidura welcomes Krishna. He has appointed many cooks to cater to those who had accompanied the Lord. An overjoyed Vidura wonders if his house had once been the milky ocean. Is that why the Lord is so comfortable here? Or had this house once been Adisesha, the Lord’s serpent bed? Or had it been it once the leaf of a banyan tree on which the Lord Krishna reposed? One who has bhakti towards the Lord also is respectful to His devotees. Such bhaktas refer to their own houses as huts, even if they live in mansions. But if a learned scholar and devotee of the Lord lives in a hut, bhaktas refer to it as a palace. Such is the respect that is shown to great men. One has to be humble and remember that everything that we enjoy in this life has come from the Lord. We cannot claim anything as our own. Vidura knows this truth, which we tend to forget. So he refers to his palace as one that belongs to the Lord. His humility is rewarded by the Lord’s decision to spend the night in his palace, than in the palace of Duryodhana, whose heart is filled with pride.

Mahasivaratri 2010 @ Sivananda Yoga Ranch (pt. 1)

Clips of some early chanting and the first Puja from the February 2010 Sivaratri celebration at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch in Woodbourne NY with Swami Sadasivananda and Srinivasan.

Maha Shivaratri

M ahashivaratri Festival Mahashivaratri Festival or the ‘The Night of Shiva’ is celebrated with devotion and religious fervor in honor of Lord Shiva, one of the deities of Hindu Trinity. Shivaratri falls on the moonless 14th night of the new moon in the Hindu month of Phalgun, which corresponds to the month of February – March in English Calendar. Celebrating the festival of Shivaratri devotees observe day and night fast and perform ritual worship of Shiva Lingam to appease Lord Shiva. Legends of Mahashivratri There are various interesting legends related to the festival of Maha Shivaratri. According to one of the most popular legends, Shivaratri marks the wedding day of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Some believe that it was on the auspicious night of Shivaratri that Lord Shiva performed the ‘Tandava’, the dance of the primal creation, preservation and destruction. Another popular Shivratri legend stated in Linga Purana states that it was on Shivaratri that Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a Linga. Hence the day is considered to be extremely auspicious by Shiva devotees and they celebrate it as Mahashivaratri – the grand night of Shiva. Traditions and Customs of Shivaratri Various traditions and customs related to Shivaratri Festival are dutifully followed by the worshippers of Lord Shiva. Devotees observe strict fast in honor of Shiva, though many go on a diet of fruits and milk some do not consume even a drop of water. Devotees strongly believe that sincere worship of Lord Shiva on the auspicious day of Shivaratri, absolves a person of sins and liberates him from the cycle of birth and death. Shivaratri is considered especially auspicious for women. While married women pray for the well being of their husbands unmarried women pray for a husband like Lord Shiva, who is regarded as the ideal husband. To mark the Shivratri festival, devotees wake up early and take a ritual bath, preferably in river Ganga. After wearing fresh new clothes devotees visit the nearest Shiva temple to give ritual bath to the Shiva Lingum with milk, honey, water etc. On Shivaratri, worship of Lord Shiva continues all through the day and night. Every three hours priests perform ritual pooja of Shivalingam by bathing it with milk, yoghurt, honey, ghee, sugar and water amidst the chanting of “Om Namah Shivaya’ and ringing of temple bells. Nightlong vigil or jaagran is also observed in Shiva temples where large number of devotees spend the night singing hymns and devotional songs in praise of Lord Shiva. It is only on the following morning that devotee break their fast by partaking prasad offered to the deity.

Kojagari Pooja

KOJAGARI PUJA Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped today, the Sharat poornima day, the full moon day of autumn. Mother Lakshmi visits the houses of those who are awake late in the night and blesses them. She comes asking,”Ko Jagrati – who is awake?”and that is why the puja is known as “Kojagari puja”. This puja is widely performed in Bengal and in all branch centres of Ramakrishna Math. In the life of Chandramani devi, mother of Sri Ramakrishna we have an incident relating to this puja. That happened before the birth of Sri Sri Thakur. Once, Ramkumar, the eldest son of Chandramani, went to perform this Kojagari puja in a neighbouring village Bhursuo as a priest in a house. It was very late night and as he didn’t return, Chandramani came out of the house and was waiting for his return. Then a small girl with many ornaments came from the direction of the village. Chandramani asked her,’ Did you see my son, he has gone to that village for doing today’s puja? The child replied,” Yes mother, I am coming from that very house where your son has done the puja and he is also coming.” Then Chandramani invited the girl to her house,” In this dead of night, where are you going alone with these precious ornaments? Stay in my house night and leave in the morning?” The girl replied,” No, no, this time I will not be able to stay. I have to go different places. I shall come next time.” Saying so she went towards the house of Lahas. Chandramani seeing from the distance that the girl was not going in the regular path, chased her to guide her the right path but the girl soon disappeared. Then Chandramani realised it was “Mother Lakshmi Herself who had come in the form of young girl.” Returning home she narrated the incident to her husband Kshudiram and later her son Ramkumar and they also had confirmed it was Mother Lakshmi Herself. “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is filled with His oft repeated teaching that one should should be free from greed and lust. He Himself practised the sadhana of taking earth in one hand and a coin on the other and threw them both in the Ganga water so as to mentally imbibe the idea that both the things are of the same. When his chosen disciple tested Him by placing a coin beneath his bed, He sprang up as if stung by a scorpion. Then why this worship of Goddess of wealth? Goddess Lakshmi is the mother of all wealth. Scriptures allow men to have 4 types of wealth, viz. the wealth of dharma, the wealth of sensory pleasures, the wealth of pleasures of flesh and the spiritual wealth. But unfortunately, we identify Goddess Mother with 2nd and 3rd wealth (artha and kama) only and pray Her for those 2 types of wealth. Sometimes men resort to unrighteous means to have those 2 types of wealth though the scriptures permit only through dharmic means. But many do not know that Goddess Lakshmi is also the Mother of the wealth of spiritual knowledge. In fact the vehicle of Mother Lakshmi denotes the same. Owl is the carrier vehicle of Mother. Owl is seen as an ugly bird, known as partially blind and considered as inauspicious. But why the Mother who is beauty personified selected that bird as Her vehicle? Is it to indicate that man if he chooses only those two types of wealth, it will drain away all his physical and mental energies and he will look ugly, fit for nothing either of this world or the other? Is it to teach the man that those pleasures that are enjoyed in darkness will lead man to darkness only and he will be blind to the light of knowledge? Is it to warn him that if he is confining himself only to those dark room pleasures then inauspicious future moments are awaiting him? We shall have to think for a while as to the answers. In case if we choose to pray Mother to bestow Her spiritual wealth, then how to view the owl? In such cases, does Mother wishes to say that Her vehicle Owl is the symbolic message of Gita sloka no.69 of 2nd chapter, wherein Lord Krishna says the quality of a man of steady wisdom. The sloka says that for a man of steady wisdom, that which is darkness of night for men of ignorance, for a man of steady wisdom it will be daylight and that hectic day time wherein men exert for wealth for senses will be night for a man of knowledge? Choice is ours to pray the Mother either for the secular wealth or for the spiritual.

Deepawali And Kali Pooja

Kali Puja “My child, you need not know much in order to please Me. Only Love Me dearly. Speak to me, as you would talk to your mother, if she had taken you in her arms.” Maa Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess Durga. She assumed the form of a powerful goddess and became popular with the composition of the Devi Mahatmya , a text of the 5th – 6th century AD. Here she is depicted as having born from the brow of Goddess Durga during one of her battles with the evil forces. As the legend goes, in the battle, Kali was so much involved in the killing spree that she got carried away and began destroying everything in sight. To stop her, Lord Shiva threw himself under her feet. Shocked at this sight, Kali stuck out her tongue in astonishment, and put an end to her homicidal rampage. Hence the common image of Kali shows her in her mêlée mood, standing with one foot on Shiva’s chest, with her enormous tongue stuck out. Kali Puja is done to diminish the ego and all negative tendencies that hinder spiritual progress and material prosperity. Performed on the night of Kartik Amavasya , which falls in October/November, Kali Puja is an intense invocation to the fearsome goddess. The main purpose of the puja is to seek the help of the goddess in destroying evil – both in the outside world and within us. The legend goes that long ago the demons, Shambhu and Nishambhu, disturbed the peace of Indra, the king of gods, and his empire (heaven). After extensive and endless battles, the gods lost all hope and the demons became stronger. The gods took refuge in the Himalayas, the holy mountains, the home of Lord Shiva and Parvati. The shaken gods sought protection from Mahamaya Durga , the goddess of Shakti. Kali was born from Durga’s forehead as Kal Bhoi Nashini , created to save heaven and earth from the growing cruelty of the demons. Along with Dakini and Jogini , her two escorts, she set on her way to end the war and kill the devils. There was chaos all around. After slaughtering the demons, Kali made a garland of their heads and wore it around her neck. In the bloodbath, she lost control and started killing anyone who came her way. The gods started running for their lives. The only source of protection seemed Lord Shiva, Durga’s consort. Seeing the endless slaughter, Shiva devised a plan to save the world. He lay down in the path of the rampaging Kali. When the goddess unknowingly stepped on him, she regained her senses. The well-known picture of Ma Kali, with her tongue hanging out, actually depicts the moment when she steps on the Lord and repents. That momentous day is celebrated ever since. Kali, also called Shyama Kali , is the first of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of Durga. Kali Puja is performed essentially to seek protection against drought and war, for general happiness, health, wealth, and peace. It is a tantrik puja and performed only at midnight on Amavasya (new moon night) in November. Best Wishes For A Happy Deepawali to All the Readers.May GOD bless us with Prosperity All Around.