IMPORTANCE OF NAMA-KIRATANAM

   One of the things that we are asked to do when we worship God, is to do JAPA or repeating the name of Lord or chant BIJAMANTRA of out favorite God- ISTADEVATA . So Ishta-devata is the God that we develop some personal relationship.and we feel that it responds to our devotion.Ishta devata is SAGUN GOD, the God with form. The God is with no form but we for our own understanding  have a form. We have difficulty with formalness God for worshiping. Even the Abrahamic religions have some for to worship -Cross or Mary or praying in some direction where Macca is located  and then KABA etc. So we tend to repeat the name or a specific Mantra so many times - 108 is standard number. This story is related to the importance of this repetition. 

     When Seeta was abducted by Rvana, he knew that Lord Rama will come to fight . He needed all the help that he could get. So he woke up Kumbhakarna - who was his brother and used to sleep all the time. 

     When Kumbhakarna woke up and Rvana told him as to what he had done , he was mad and cursed Ravana  and was not very happy. So he asked Ravan if after abducting Seeta,has he been successful in getting Seeta ? Ravana answered No . So then Kumbhakarna suggested Ravana to play trick and change himself in to look alike of Lord Rama. The Ravana answered, "For me to change myself in to a different looking person, I have to concentrate on that appearance and get it in my heart. So when I tried to concentrate on the Lord Rama , i feel like I don't want anything . I don't even care about BRAHMADYAN . When I look at my own wife Mandodari , she looks like my mother to me - so thinking about Seeta in any other way is impossible.'

     So this is the principle of chanting or Japa  and when we do that we develop a relationship with the Lord  and that helps us in day to day behavior.

SUBJECTIVE AND OBJESTIVE

    We have seen in our life how we have a disagreements with friends and relatives and many a times unknown people. I was visiting one my my friends the other day. The current topic of tennis star, unvaccinated being detained by Australian government was the topic of our discussion. The opinion was he should not be allowed to play in Australia as he should be not an exception to the rule. 'Why should he have Privileges that ordinary person does not have it?' We all have  incidences when WE get the privileges and don't complain. Things like getting ahead in line as we know someone or getting tickets as we know some one . The point that I was making is that when we look at OURSELF or things that pertain to US our outlook is different. So this is a old story but different point than privileges.

    The story is from stories of Birbal and Akbar. There are many stories related to these two. One day King Akbar was walking through the city with Birbal his secretary of state. They had changed in such a way that none could recognize them. They came across a lady who had a child playing in dirt , The child was full of dirt and was also not very good looking . Something happened and the child started crying and the mother came out and picked up the child and started kissing him on chick. Akbar was surprised. He asked Birbal how stupid that lady is . The child is dirty and is ugly  and this lady is kissing the child. Birbal  told Akbar that I will explain you tomorrow. The next day he called the lady's husband to the palace . he told her that we want you to pick a best looking child in the whole city . So you can go to different places and find out one child that YOU think is best looking  and does not seem to have any fault . You have 24 hours and come tomorrow. The man went allover and every time he saw some child he felt that that was too fat or too skinny or too dark or too fair in complexion. At the end of the day he went home without selecting anyone. Birbal had sent a person who had followed him without his knowledge. The husband went home and the wife noticed that he was worried . So she asked him as to what was on his mind . He told the wife that the king has asked him to pick BEST LOOKING CHILD in the city and after going around the city he could not find one - EVRY CHILD HAD SOME FAULT. The wife told him not to worry and took him to the crib where their child was sleeping and asked the husband 'Do you think there is anyone more beautiful than their child?' 

    The next day the father took the child to the palace  and presented his son as the best looking child in the town. The King was surprised But Birbal was not . He gave them gifts and send them home . The moral of the story is we can not find faults with ourselves or people that we love ,but for every body else we notice smallest of the fault. .  

DON'T FORGET THE CIRCLE

      Happy New Year .

   I am sure that everyone has had celebration of the new year's eve  and enjoyed the party and are glad that 2021 is over. We all hope that the 2022 is better than 2021 and we talk of something else than mask and covid and vaccine and unvaccinated etc. But with time passing by all of us tend to forget that we are getting old. This blog is not to make anyone feel unhappy, but one must not forget the aging process. But it remind me old story. The Yamadoot - messenger of Lord Yama who is considered God of Death in Vedic religion came to take away the life of one old man, he asked them how come you don't give any warning . The Yamadoot answered, "what do you think was grey hair and receding hairline and loosing teeth and the wrinkles that you tried to cover with makeup ?" So on this first day of 2022 I want to say that we all do what we have to do. The old Kishorkumar song -translated in English, 'You lost childhood playing around - tou lost youth in sleeping and now in old age you are crying that the life is gone and there is no time. So I want to tell a old story and that may help to understand what I want to remind all. 

   In a family there was a couple was living with their son who was 7-8 years old. The father of the husband was also staying with them. One day the grandfather was bringing  a glass bowl from kitchen and it dropped from his hands and broke . The daughter in law was mad  and went out and brought a plastic bowl for him and instructed him to not use glass bowl and use only plastic bowl. In next few days was the husband's birthday. So everyone decided to buy gifts . There was a party arranged by the wife. As the husband started opening up the gifts, he noticed that he had a gift from his son. He decided to open that first and as he unwrapped it, he found out a plastic bowl. He was surprised and wanted to ask the son as to why he bought the bowl. The son told him that with this birthday he was older by one year and so he may drop the glass bowl ,so he decided to get him a plastic bowl which will not break even if it falls to the floor. The mother was speechless. The obvious fact that we tend to forget is that we are getting older and we must 'take care of the business' and I don't mean money or property etc. 

    ONCE AGAIN HAPPY NEW YEAR!