acceptance gives enormous strength

after prayers and circumambulations, in the temple, we are given prasadam, ofcourse little. which we take
 with out any second thought because  we acccept it. even if some objection come from small children
elders teach them not to complain, as it is prasadam. if acceptance is there, then our mind cooperates with us.
prasadam is not just what we get in the temple, even in our daily life we can get prasadam from every
day event, situation and people whom we come across. how?
acceptance keeps our mind calm. on the other hand if we react to every  situation  , people and event ,the
first victim is our own mind.just like pot with water shaking inside cannot be stable body cannot be stable
if the mind within is shaking.. events do disturb us how to control our mind .that is very important.
a peaceful mind in all circumstances is a gift.  as we come across changes that occurs we should  practice
acceptance little by little  this .can built up this enormous strength of inner peace. a conscious acceptance of one hour a day will train us to this state of mind. accept and do not quarrel with yourself during this time, what every may happen. you may not like the talk, situation, language .simply accept and be quiet !
big question here is how to accept a thing which you do not like? here acceptance means not  not  to respond to the situation. first accept it. this has happened .ok. then what needs to be done to clear things up.
there will be more clarity in your thought then and more power in your action. , only when it follows
unconditional acceptance and contemplating response.
in an argument, best way to disagree is to accept and move on. in peace, there is clarity of mind.
you can think  you are not disturbed, an upper hand in situation to take a better decision. nothing is lost
everything is gained in such acceptance. this is called prasada buddhi or intellect that is in peaceful agreement with what is can achieve wonders in this world.
contrary if we react to every silly person, unwanted situations that confronts, we can see how fast we lose.

source: indian express.     

story

a story in the upanishad says how important great masters are  in our life. with a simple example
one can understand how important it is to have a  GURU to  know who  we are. to take us in
the right path .to enhance our capacity to explore ourself.

AJA SIMHA -- THE GREAT LION.

A pregnant lion that was chased by a hunter, delivered her cub in the midst of the goats and
fled the place. the goat mother took care of the baby lion and it grew up among goats, bleating
and eating grass. many years passed by and the baby lion grew, happily spending its time
living like a goat.
one day a male lion came by, searching for its prey and all the goats began to run. the baby
goat lion also began to run along with its imagined brothers and sisters. the chasing lion forgot
the hunt as it had  more important work to do. it shouted after goat- lion and said, " listen , i
am not going to hurt you. I will show who you are.".
The baby lion shouted back in fear," leave me alone. i know who i am. i am a goat and you
are a lion and we are natural enemies. you will  kill and eat me ."
the chasing lion was frustrated and said,"please do not worry. listen to me. don't bleat like
a goat.Roar like a lion , like this."
The lion gave out a terrific roar. after a few sessions the baby lion learnt to make that sound
too,  to its own surprise. the master lion said , come here and look into the well. the little lion
saw its image in the water and knew it was not the face of the goat, but of a lion, like the
master.

just as water merges with water and none can tell the difference, Prakriti- nature or creation-
merges with the purusha and there is no difference between the two, says Sri Datatreya..

courtesy indian express.

THE FOURTEEN WORLDS OF EXPERIENCE

We often refer to couples who stay steady for a long time, stating that they were together in seven lifetimes. we also refer to fourteen planes or worlds of existence. these are the different classifications of life forms and our going to these planes of existence depending on our thoughts , words and actions in this lifetime.
the seven chakras, or wheels of energy in our body are as follows.
MULADHARA- this is the root and the abode of memory and human knowledge. our basic instincts of survival rise from here.
SWADHISHTANA- this in the sacral region, is also the home of intellect.
MANIPURA- this is in the naval, is the place where our will resides.
ANAHATA- this is in the heart, is the region of direct cognition and empathy for other life.
VISHUDDHI- this is in the throat , is the region where divine love is experienced.
AAGNYA- this is in the forehead, is the region of divine vision and clairvoyance.
SAHASRARA- this is in the crown of the head. , is the seat of illumination and godliness.

below these seven are seven other regions, referred to as region of hell. that is what we refer to when we say."i fell down so deep in the ATALA PATHALAM". Atala is in the region of the the knees and the seat of fear and lust , emerges from the WORLD IS CALLED PUT. our knees wobble when we are afraid , right. VITALA is raging anger THE WORLD IS CALLED AVICHI , just beneath the knees .SUTALA in the region of the SHIN closer to the knees and that 's where retaliatory jealousy springs from.THE WORLD IS CALLED SANHATA. TALATALA is the mid-shin region in the legs and is the seat of prolonged confusion,THE REGION OF HELL IS CALLED TAMISRA . RASATALA is the shin closer to the ankles ; it is the region of selfishness and THE WORLD IS CALLED RIJISHA.
when a person thinks less before he works or has skewed thinking , we say he thinks from his feet. there is mahatala or consciouslessness or THE WORLD IS CALLED KUDMALA. and the lowest region of the hell which exists in the feet proper is PATALA which speaks of murderous malice. THE WORLD IS KAKOLA or the region of wickedness.
we have seven levels of rarefied state of consiousness above the sahasrara too. the highest is the cosmic sound. as all our nadis and subtle energy channels bunch up in the forehead and move into the cosmos through the sahasrara, our individual personality continues to experience these planes of experience relating to extra-sensory sounds, lights, subtle thoughts, revelations and realisations that ultimately cause a tranformation in our human consciousness.

THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS 18th dec 2011.

STORY OF WISDOM

A teacher and his disciple were walking through the forest. the disciple was disturbed by the realisation that his mind was in a constant state of unrest.
he asked ,"why are most people's mind restless and only a few possess a calm mind?what can one do to still the mind.?"
The teacher smiled and said,"i will tell you a story. An elephant was plucking leaves from the tree. small fly came,flying and buzzing near his ear. the elephant waved it with his long ear. then the fly came again, again the elephant waved it away.this was repeated several times. then the elephant asked the fly,"why are you so restless and noisy? why can't you stay in peace for a while in one place."
the fly answered:"i am attracted to whatever i see, hear or smell. my senses pull me constantly in all directions and i cannot resist them. but how do you stay so calm?".
the elephant answered ,"my five senses do not rule my attention. i can direct my attention wherever i want. this helps me to stay immersed in whatever i do, and therefore, my mind is focused and calm. now that i am eating i am immersed in eating. in this way, i can enjoy my food better."
the disciple saw the light," i understand. my mind will be in constant unrest if my five senses control it. if i am able to disregard sense impressions, my mind would become calm and i will be focused."
MORAL;
the mind is restless and goes wherever the attention is. control your attention and you control your mind.

18th dec 2011 THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS.
ADAPTED from inspiring stories by RemezSasson.

PANCHBHOOTHA STALAMS- 5 elementas of nature.

pancha means five- bhootha basic elements of nature- lord shiva is worhipped, in all the five elements of nature, in five different places in india in linga form.lord is omnipresent.in linga cosmic energy is concentrated.focusing attention on the linga will increase the concentration power.linga has three parts lower part brahma- middle part vishnu and upper most shiva or rudra.different kinds of linga are worshipped at temple and home, like quartz(spatika), black stone, maragadam(green stone) .


THIRUVANNAMALAI.-FIRE
this is situated in tamil nadu. here shiva is worhiped in fire form agni .siva is called arunachaleshwara.lord brahma and vishnu aruged on who is the greatest. shiva was asked to be the judge. shiva said one who can see the crown as well as his feet will be termed as greatest.so lord shiva emerged in front of them in the form of a jyoti colum of fire..brahma took swan and flew up in the sky to find the crown . and vishnu took the varaha(wild boar) avatara and went deep into the earth to the feet. he could not find the feet so he accepted the defeat. brahma saw a tazham poo falling from shiva's head. he asked the tazampoo about the distance. it said it had been falling for forty thousand years. brahma requested that flower to be the witness for having seen the head. the flower agreed. brahma told shiva he saw the crown and tazampoo agreed. shiva got angry and cursed brahma that he will not have temple anywhere. in shiva pooja tazam poo will not be used as a punishment for lying. where shiva stood as the `column of fire is thiruvannamalai. on full moon day of karthigai month huge lamp is lit on the top of the hill.on any full moon day thousands of devotees do circumumbulation of the arunachala hill bare footed

CHIDAMBARAM-AKASHA-ether
this is situated in tamil nadu. here shiva resembles akasha. only a curtain will be there behind nataraja idol with vilva garland.here lord shiva is worshipped in three forms . one as natraja-, second is in linga roopa-spatika linga and the third one is space.
once few munis after learning mantras and tantras became proud . shiva came as a beggar to teach them a lesson.their wife's threw snakes on the beggar . he took and wore it as an ornament. then they sent a devil apasmarapurusa, shiva killed him and did ananda thandava nrityam on him. that is one form of shiva - nataraja.here the dance indicates a continuous process of creation preservation and destruction. the damuru in the hands of nataraja indicates SHABDA, hence akasha.fire in one hand represents destruction . this place is called chitra sabha. there are five sabhas where he performed dance.
chidambaram-kanaka sabha.
thiruvalamgur -ratna sabha.
kutralam-chitra sabha.
madurai-rajatha sabha.
nallaiappar koil at thirunelveli-tamra sabha.

KALAHASTI:-AIR
this also considered as rahu ketu parihara kshetra.here shiva is in the form of air. we cannot see the linga. there is a lamp lit inside the main sanctum , which constantly flickers though there is no opening . air movement is there. out side linga ,is white in colour and is self existent..
STORY:sri-spider,kala-snake,hasti-elephant. =srikalahasti. elephant will bring water in its trunk and clean the place and worship. spider will make cob web around the linga to protect it. snake will place a precious gem (mani) on the linga. like this all the three were worshipping god sincerely. one day elephant brought water and cleaned the place , there were lot of cobwebs and manis,thinking that to be some miscreants work ,a war started between the three. snake entered elephants trunk and died. elephant hit his head on the shiva linga and died because of the snake's poison. on the process spider got killed .shiva appeared and gave moksha to all the three.and named this place as srikalahasti. shiva cursed parvathi of assuming human body so she penanced here to get rid of it. and siva glorified her body again and gave her panchakshari mantra.

KANCHIPURAM-PRITHVI
this is tamil nadu. this is called temple town. ekambareshwarar ,is the main deity .this is the prithivi stalam. parvathi worshipped a linga made of sand under a mango tree.tree is` still there..vegavati river flooded and parvathi protected the linga with both her hands. pleased shiva gave darshan and married her. she is worshipped along with shiva . the presiding god ekambareshwarar and kamakshi amman are worshipped separately. the mango tree bears fruits of four different tastes at different season. this is supposed to represent 4 vedas.

THIRUVANAIKAVAL-APPU water.
this is the place of pilgrimage in tamil nadu on the bank of the river kaveri. siva is called jambunatha.it is believed that this place was a forest of jambu tree.(nagapazam) there was a shiva lingam under one tree. since this place was always surrounded by water. this is popularly known as appu kshetram. goddess parvathi here is called akilandeshwari.
previously the lingam was under the jumbo tree. a spider and an elephant worshipped god. spider would make a cob web around the linga and elephant would clean it up and pour water and put flowers. one day both fought vigourously and died. pleased with their bakthi shiva appeared and blessed them. since it was worshipped by an elephant it is called aanaikaa.-thiruAANAIKAAval.

linga is the mark of lord siva ,as pancha bootha linga and the jyotirlingas. linga speaks in silence and raises us above the body conscious to spirituality.



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TWELVE JYOTIRLINGAS OF LORD SHIVA-4

SHRI RAMESHWAR JYOTIRLINGA.
temple of rameshwaram is situated in the southern part of india .sri rama with his sena came here to cross the ocean and reach sri lanka to kill ravana. before this he wanted to worship lord shiva and get his blessings .so hanuman left for kailash to get a linga.as it was getting late rama made a linga of sand and worshipped and got the blessings. shiva said he will reside here as rameshwar jyotirlinga . hanuman came with the linga and was disappointed that the pooja is over.sri rama kept that linga with the earthern linga and named it as hanumatheeshwar.this is one of sacred pilgrimage place. there are 22 wells round the temple which is considered sacred. devotees take bath in these wells and worship god people bring ganga jal from haridwar or gangaotri and offer that to lord shiva here, which is considered very sacred.

SHRI GRUMESHWARA JYOTIRLINGA.
this is also known as grineshwar. it is situated in the tank bed called shivalaya ,in ellora -maharashtra. the water in that tank is considered very sacred .
in olden days there lived a brahman called sudharma and his wife sudeha,both a strong devotee of shiva. they were not blessed with a child. sudeha had a sister named gushma. she too was a rigorous shiva worshipper . she worshipped daily 108 earthern lingas and immerse them in the near by tank. sudeha got her sister married to her husband. gushma continued her pooja daily. soon she was blessed with a son. out of jealousy sudeha killed gushma's son and threw him in the same tank. gushma as usual did her pooja next day and immersed the lingas in the tank . when she was coming back, her son also came with her. pleased with her pooja shiva appeared and blessed her with a boon. gushma requested her sister's act of jelousy be pardoned and bless moksha after her death. and she requested shiva to stay there for good of the people. so shiva became popular as gushmeshwar jyotirlinga. that tank is called shivalay.

the twelve jyotirlingas of shiva are self existing and has been worshiped since ages. time and again temples were demolished and reconstructed by the faithful devotees.

TWELVE JYOTIRLINGAS OF LORD SHIVA-3

SHRI TRAYAMBAKESHWAR JYOTIRLING.
this place is situated in nasik in maharastra. every twelve year, mahakumbha is celebrated on the bank of the river godavari. but kumba bath with out the darshan of god is incomplete.
it is believed that gowtham rishi with his wife ahilya, who was famous for charitable endowment lived here. gowtham rishi did tapasya . due to drought people suffered . Varun, pleased with the tapasya of rishi , asked him to make a hole and varun filled it with akshya water.again prosperity and happiness was there .other rishi's got jealous and started accusing gowtham rishi of go hatya (cow slaughtered ).gowtham rishi did tapasya again and worshipped one crore earthern shiva linga. pleased shiva declared him innocent. rishi's and devas requested shiva to reside there. so on that akshaya hole he existed as jyotirlinga. there are three small shiva lingas inside representing brahma, vishnu and shiva.godavari river water keeps flowing in that hole.

SHRI BHIDYANATHESWAR JYOTIRLINGA.vaidhyanatheswar.
this place is situated in devghar in bihar , became famous as baidhyanath dham. here linga is just 11finger tall.with a pressed impression on its head.
story of gokarna and this place is similar.ravana offered severe penanace to lord shiva.as he wanted shiva to stay in sri lanka. when Shiva did not appear, he started chopping off his head one by one. when only one was left and pleased by his determination shiva appeared and joined the head and body like a vaidya . so this place is called vaidyanath jyotirlinga.he requested shiva to come with him but shiva gave a jyotirlinga, to be taken with a condition that it should not be kept on the ground as it will get rooted. ravana felt uneasy and requested a young boy( lord visnu) to hold the linga in his hands and requested him not to keep it down.when ravna came back he got angry and tried to take the linga out. he could not.so he worshipped shiva and went back to lanka. in the process of pulling the linga out , he pressed his thump on the head of the linga ,still the impression is there. all the rishi's devathas came there to worship shiva . when they saw lord himself there they established it as jyotirlinga.

SHRI NAGESWAR JYOTIRLINGA
this is situated in dwaraka. this place was a jungle once and there lived a demon called daruk .he lived under the ocean with his men he stole the goods from the ship that passed by and took the passengers as prisoners. one of the prisoner was a merchant called supriye who was a shiva devotee. when daruk was troubling the passengers, he was worshiping god. so daruk ordered to kill him. scared supriye requested god to help him. immediately a hole was formed and lord shiva came and killed daruk and his men. on the request of supriye lord shiva stayed there as nageswar jyotirlinga.