QUESTION ANSWER DIVINE 03-2022-08 Dear friends,
These are information compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2004’s and stored in my computer. They are posted by very learnt members. BEING COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78,dated 08-03-2022 Q1 Is it correct that Ganga is born from Brahma’s kamandalu? A1 Onestory states that the sacred water in Brahma's Kamandalu(water-vessel) is personified as a maiden, Ganga Q2 What is the legend behind Patteeswaramtemple? A2 Patteeswaram got its name as,Patti, daughter (calf) of sacred cow Kamadhenu worshipped here. Accordingto legend, Parasakthi wanted to perform Thapas and was trying to locate apeaceful place. She found this place and started her Thapas. Knowingthis, Kamadhenu, senther daughter to be of help to Parasakthi during the Thapas. LordShiva, pleased with the Devi’s Thapas gave Dharshan to her here and assumed thename, Gabardeeswarar. On seeing this, Patti who washelping Devi for her Thapas, also installed a Shiva Linga and startedworshipping Lord Shiva here. Lord Shiva was pleased with her worship andblessed Patti here and hence the place got named after Patti as Patteeswaram. Patteeswaramis located near Pazhaiyaaraiwhere Raja Raja Chola was born and brought up. It is said that the Cholas before taking anydecision or before any battle, worshipped Goddess Durga here and proceeded. It is also said thatSage Viswamithra, got enlightened with Gayathri Mantra in this place andwas conferred with the title “Brahma Rishi” by Saint Vasishta. Q3 What are the special attributes of Sholingur Lekshmi Narasimhartemple? A3Sholingar, also known as Sholasingapuram or Sholingapuramis situated in theChennai-Bangalore railway line, 23 kms from Valajapet and 37 kms from Arkonam. It can be reached by bus from Tiruttani, Chittoor, Vellore andTiruvellore. The temple is 12 kms away from the Sholingar station. The sanctum sanctorum of the Prime Deity is atop of ahillock called Kadikachalam which is about 750 feet high with 1300 steps. The lion-faced Yoga Nrsimhar, in the yoga-sitting posture is facing east. Sholingarhas a traditional name ‘Thirukadikai’. The belief is that to stay at leastone ‘kadikai’ (about 24 minutes) in thisplace, sanctions ‘moksa’ or Liberationfrom the cycles of birth and death. The legend says that the Sage Viswamithra stayedand worshipped in this place for a‘kadikai’ and received the status of ‘Brahmarishi’. Sri Adi Sankara has composed a stotra with 17 stanzas celebrating Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha, (the Lord with His Spouse Lakshmi),called the Lakshmi Nrsimha Karavalamba Stotram. The stotram is called so because each of the stanza endswith a refrain ‘Lakshmi Nrsimha mama dehi karavalambam’ meaning ,’O Lord Lakshmi Nrsimha, pleaselend me your helping hand’. The Lord continues to give a helping hand even today when devotees offer their specialprayers to get rid of their mentalagony and physical pain, loss in business, conjugal problems and so on. Q4 Do bathing in the river Ganga givesalvation? A4 It is believed that bathing inthe river Ganga causes the remission of sins and facilitates the attainment ofsalvation or nirvana. This deep-rooted truth is proved bythe fact that people travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of theirkin in the waters of the Ganga at Varanasi or other places located on the banksof this holy river. Some of these sacred places,located on the Ganga, are Varanasi, Haridwar and Prayag (Allahabad).Jawaharlal Nehru, First PrimeMinister of India, born in Allahabad on the Ganges. Q5 Do we have followed any other smriti otherthan Manu smriti? A5 Manusmriti has no relevance for the present generation of Hindus. Similarly manyother law givers have codified at varous times. Apart from Manu smriti,Yagnavalkya smriti and , Parasara smriti were followed at different periods. Q6 If Adi Shankara could face his widowed mother is there a reason why thePontiffs of the madams that Sri Shankara established would think & actdifferently? Why and how did Kanchi Periyaval agree to not only see Mrs. IndiraGandhi but also had a long chat with her and blessed her? The head of a mutt established as sharadamutt to worship the feminine as divine could have set an example of seeing themother in every woman. Could he not see that? A6 To the best of my knowledge, themahaperiyavaa did grant darshan to widows who had shaved off their heads andcovered their head with saree.It is only women who did not follow this tradition ofshaving off the head were not allowed to have darshan of the paramacharya. There is norule that Dasanami Sannyasis should not see widows. My Guru who was a sannyasi(Tamil Brahmin and a Saraswathi) never objected to any widow seeing him. The dress code is practiced by thePontiffs of the two Sankara madams in the south. But it affects only Brahminwidows. Kanchi peiyava is viewed as the avatarof Shiva Himself. So, perhaps He was not the right person to look up forchanges in the customs of the society. Q7 Do Vaishnavas were not in favour oftonsure on becoming widow a woman? A7 Initially Vaishnavas were notin favour of tonsure, but the practice spread later on... I have been to DasavatharaSannidhi in Srirangam, where Azhagiyasingar (one of theJeers) performs daily pooja himself... and I remember widowed old paatis comingto the temple for the daily "thathi annam" or curd-rice prasadam...(readers correct me here, if am wrong). Q8 Can you tell about different concepts about widows in earlier periods? A8.Vyasa:- When herhusband dies a woman becomes a widow. If shestrictly follows the duties of a widow, she can attain comfort with her husbandin the next world. Widowsshould cut their hair.. Ifshe ties her hair, her husband in heaven will suffer. She shouldtake meals only once. She should not use scents. She could offer oblations toher husband daily using Gingelly and Durba grass. She should worship Lord Vishnu daily. Sheshould imagine that her husband is Vishnu. A widow whoobserves all this would live comfortably. Based on the above, if a widow doesnot cut her hair, then it is a sin as her husband, if in heaven, wouldsuffer... (forget about hell... as he would be suffering anyway). So, perhaps the widow who hasnot removed her hair is a sinner in the above context... Maybe the reason why theacharya refused to see widows... or fasted if he saw one? He was against men having westernstyle cropped hair style and wanted all to sport tuft (kudumi), stating that asper shastras after bath squeezing the water out of the tuft to the earthquenches the Pithrukal's (Departed souls from the family) thirst (in WhicheverLoka they are) and by not having a tuft we are not quenching their tuft. with respect to Sumangali womeninstead of men, when as a young boy, I queried her asto the way she looked different to other ladies. She said as she is not aSumangali but a widow, the water from her hair falling on earth will increasetheir thirst (like drinking salt water). Hence she had tonsured her head. ShriRamanujacharya was initiated into the mysteries of the Ashtakshari Mantra (OMNAMO NARAAYANAYA!!) by Goshti Purnacharya '. At the time of the upadesa theGuru told him that the Mantra is very powerful and is capable of breaking loosethe fetters of Karma of any individual who chants the Mantra. The Guru alsowrested a promise from him that he would not reveal the import of the Mantraindiscreetly to all and sundry. He also threatened Ramanuja that in case hebroke his promise he would go to hell. The next dayRamanuja collected all the people of the village before the village temple andpreached to them the hidden meaning of the Mantra. Goshtispurnacharya came toknow of this and Ramanuja was informed of the impending consequences of thisimpudence. Ramanuja replied thus: " having learnt the secrets of theMantra all of these people will attain Moksha after this birth - what if Ialone go to hell in the process." The Guru wasso impressed by this logic that he not only pardoned Ramanuja but also actuallyacknowledged to be his real Guru. Despite shriRamunaachaaryal's superlative explana -tion, Vaishnavas have many sub-divisionsor sub-sects like smartas=which proves diverse opinion with a set of logic, cancreate n-number of schools based on certain parameters of darshanas Adi Sankaraorganized the Dasanami sampradaya (organized, not founded) and established fourmathas - at Sringeri, Puri, Dwaraka and Jyotirmath. It can be said thatsmartaism became derived or was based on the older dasanami tradition. See aftertaking VOWS Bheesmaacharyar took several precaution to gaurd the vow, like nottalking to a woman in privacy, sleeping in a mat, taking only porridge etc... InfactAacharams are designed as a gaurd for vows. Bheeshma was raised to be a king...and hence he lived his life as a kshatriya... due to necessity, he took the vowof brahmacharya... that is not equal to sanyasam... In ShrimadBhagavat Geeta - Lord Krishna defines - Tamo Guna as the one which sees theTRUTH in inverted fashion. So far one afflicted by Tamo Gunam - A wrong becomesRight and a Right becomes Wrong. I do notthink anyone can find sanyasa vows and details of their various ceremoniesdocumented anywhere, either books or online. Because they are under a vow to maintain secrecy. But you canmeet sanyasis and get a fair picture. I have met sanyasis of the swami order.It is true that they regard all women as divine mother. Just go to theRamakrishna Mission and ask any swami there for a basic idea. Adi Shankara was seeing SaradaDevi in every woman. Sarasavani or ubhaya bharathi was travellingwith him and his group doing the cooking for them. Nobody's sanyasam comes under danger because ofa woman - married, widow, young or old . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/401130832.854081.1646753388581%40mail.yahoo.com.
