The art of restraint

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

This entire post has been written in Telugu primarily to ensure the usage of correct words. If anyone needs English translation, please let me know and I shall be glad to provide the same.

ఒకానొకప్పుడు కుశుడు అనే మహారాజుకి నలుగురు కొడుకులు ఉండేవారు. అందులో కుశనాభుడు ఒక కొడుకు. కుశనాభుడికి వంద మంది అప్సరసల వంటి కూతుర్లు ఉండేవారు. వారు ఘ్రుతాచి అనే అప్సరస వలన కలిగిన కుమార్తెలు. వారు రోజు ఒక కొండ మీద కూర్చొని చక్కగా పాటలు పాడుకుంటూ ఆనందంగా గడిపేవారు. వారందరూ సుగుణాల రాసులు అందులో మహా అందగత్తెలు.

ఒక నాడు వారు అలా పాటలు పాడుకుంటూ ఉండగా వాయు దేవుడు వారిని చూసి మోహించాడు. వెంటనే వారి దగ్గరికి వెళ్లి వారితో అన్నాడు, “మిమ్మల్ని వివాహం చేసుకుంటాను. మీ అందరికి దేవతా స్థానులు వచేటట్టు చేస్తాను. నా మాట మర్నించి నన్ను పెళ్లి చేసుకోండి.”

ఇది విని వారందరూ ఒకే సారి తమ భావాన్ని వ్యక్తం చేసారు. “తండ్రి పంచన లేని అమ్మాయిలని ఇలా అడగడం మహా తప్పు. ఆడ పిల్లలు తమ తండ్రి ఎంచుకున్న వరుడిని పెళ్లి చేసుకోవాలి కాని ఇలా తమకి నచ్చిన వారితో వివాహం చేసుకోవడము సనాతన ధర్మం ఒప్పుకోదు. మా తండ్రి గారిని సంప్రదించక మాతో ఈ విషయం మాట్లాడినందుకు నిన్ను శపించగల సామర్ధ్యం ఉండి నీ పదవి నుండి నిన్ను తొలగించ గలిగిన నిన్ను శపించక వొదిలి పెడుతున్నాం. దయచేసి ఇక్కడి నుండి వెళ్లిపో.”

ఈ మాటలు విన్న వాయు దెవుడికి ఆగ్రహం వచ్చి వారి శరీరాల నుండి బయటకి వెళ్లి, అంగ వైకల్యం కలిగించాడు. దానితో అందమైన వారి శరీరాలు ఎండు తోటకూర కాడల్లాగ వేలాడిపోయాయి.

వారందరూ ఇంటికి వెళ్లి కూల పడ్డారు. అప్పుడు వారి తండ్రి జరిగిన విషయం అడిగారు. జరిగిన వృత్తాంతం విని తండ్రి అడిగాడు. “అమ్మాయిలూ! మీకు వాయు దేవుడిని శపించాలని అనిపించలేదా?”

“లేదు నాన్నగారు. మనుష్యులకి అన్నిటి కంటే అతి ముఖ్యమైన లక్షణం క్షమా గుణమని మీరు చెప్పారు కదా. అందుకని మేము ఆగ్రహించకుండా వచ్చేసాము.”

ఇది విన్న ఆ తండ్రి ఎంతో మురిసిపోయాడు. వారు చేసిన పనికి చాలా మెచ్చుకున్నాడు. ఓర్పుని మించిన గుణం లేదని చెప్పాడు.

కాని కుశనాభుడు తన పిల్లలకి పెళ్లి చెయ్యాలని నిశ్చయించాడు. ఇలాంటి అందవిహీనులని పెళ్లి ఎవరు చేసుకుంటారని బెంగ పడ్డాడు.

అదే సమయంలొ చూళి అనే ఒక మహర్షికి, ఊర్మిళ కుమార్తె అయిన సోమద అనే గంధర్వ స్త్రీ ఉపచారాలు చేసేది. అలా చాలాకాలం ఉపచారం చేశాక ఒకనాడు ఆ మహర్షి ఆమెతొ, “నేను నీకు ఏమిచెయ్యగలను?” అని అడిగారు.

అప్పుడామె, “నేను ఎవరికీ భార్యని కాను, కాని అపారమైన తపఃశ్శక్తి, బ్రహ్మతేజస్సు కలిగిన నీ వలన, శారీరిక సంపర్కం లేకుండా, మానసికమైన తపఃఫలంతో నాకు కుమారుడు కావాలి.”

అప్పుడు ఆ మహర్షి సంకల్పం చేసి బ్రహ్మదత్తుడు అనే మానస పుత్రుడిని సోమదకి ప్రసాదించారు. బ్రహ్మదత్తుడు పుట్టుక తోనే బ్రహ్మజ్ఞాని.

కుశనాభుడు తన నూరుగురు కుమార్తెలని ఆ బ్రహ్మదత్తుడికి ఇచ్చి వివాహం జరిపించాడు. బ్రహ్మదత్తుడు ఒక్కొక్క అమ్మాయి పాణి గ్రహణం చేస్తూంటే వారి అంగవైకల్యం పోయి, వాళ్ళు మళ్ళి పూర్వ సౌందర్యాన్ని పొందారు.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Significance of Gurubhakthi...

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

As mentioned in the first slokam above, Guru (teacher) is God personified. There have been innumerable incidents and examples as to what Gurubhakthi can make a Guru do to the disciple. Baala Kaanda of Sri Raamayanam has multiple incidents of how Brahmarshi Viswamitra bestowed Sri Rama with so many things, just because of the Gurubhakthi that Sri Rama has shown. Needless to mention, all of those have been passed on to Lakshmana who treats Sri Rama as Guru, amongst multiple other things.

But in this, I would like to mention couple of incidents related to Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya related to Gurubhakthi.

Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya is always seen with 4 disciples. Check out any of his photographs (non solo) and you would see 4 disciples seated around him. They are Sri Padmapaadaachaarya, Sri Sureswaraachaarya, Sri Hastamalakachaarya & Sri Totakaachaarya (not sure about the order). I would like to mention about two incidents related to these disciples.

Once Sri Padmapaadacharya was on the other side of a small lake (could be a river too) and Sri Adi Sankaraachaarya called him. Hearing his guru’s voice Padmapaadaachaarya without thinking twice, rushed towards his Guru in a straight line without thinking about the water separating them. Because of his great devotion to his Guru, wherever he stepped on the water a lotus flower sprung up supporting his feet. Padmapaadaacharya could cross that lake easily and reach his guru. Such was his focus and dedication, that he did not realize where he was walking. Because Lotus (Padma) supported his Paada (Feet), he was named Padmapaadaachaarya.

Amongst the four disciples of Sri Adi Sankara, Totakaachaarya was relatively less talented. But he always kept himself busy in doing great seva to his guru. The following incident is a small showcase.

Once a jealous, but learned, person cast a spell on Sri Adi Sankara to see him die. Because of that Sri Adi Sankara suffered from a problem similar to Piles (Hemorrhoids). Sri Adi Sankara knew about that and he was capable of getting himself out of that problem, but still he did not bother about it. When he used to sit for teaching, within half hour to 45 minutes, the cloth on the bottom part of his body (Dhoti) would become completely wet with blood. Immediately Totakaachaarya would get up, get a fresh Dhoti for his guru. Then he would take the soiled one, wash it, dry it and keep it ready for the next change. During this time, he was not bothered whether he would be missing his Guru’s lecture or not.

For the ones who are curious as to how Sri Adi Sankara got out of that - Padmapaadaachaarya when he came to know about this, he used his power and figured out as to who had cast this spell on his Guru and became very angry. He is a great Nrusimha (Narasimha swamy) upaasakudu. Immediately he ensured that the spell got reversed and had Narasimha Swamy kill that person.

Coming back to our main topic – Once the class was about to start and Totakaachaarya was busy doing something and the other three disciples were waiting for the class to start. But Sri Adi Sankara was waiting for Totakaachaarya before starting the class. The other disciples felt that a bit strange because Totakaachaarya was anyway not much talented and why is it that their guru was waiting for him. Realizing this, Sri Adi Sankara called Totakaachaarya and as soon as he entered, Totakaachaarya started reciting Slokas on Sri Adi Sankara. Hearing this, the other disciples were surprised.

శంకరుల అనుగ్రహం వల్ల అతను అది చెప్ప గలిగారు.

Even today to perform any pooja for Sri Adi Sankara Totakaashtakam is recited. Sri Totakaachaarya has been blessed so because of his Gurubhakthi. So, a Guru can give anything to the disciple, provided the disciple does service to his/her guru diligently.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Mooka Sankaraachaarya

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Once upon a time there lived a congenital deaf-mute person, by name Mooka Sankara. But this person was a great devotee of mother goddess. He used to spend most of the time praying the goddess in a temple. In the same village there used to be another bhaktha as well and he also used to spend lot of his time praying mother goddess.

One day both these persons were sitting in the temple praying mother goddess silently with their eyes closed. After sometime mother goddess walked upto the normal person. She took out the remnants of betel leaves (taamboolam pidacha) from her mouth and gave it to him. He refused that (very surprisingly). Mooka Sankara kept his mouth wide open and the goddess dropped that in his mouth. Mooka Sankara immediately regained his voice and hearing power.

Right after that he recited pancha sati on mother goddess. A collection of 500 slokas across 5 satis, each sati containing 100 slokas.

Arya Satakam

Stuthi Satakam

Paadaaravinda Satakam

Kataaksha Satakam

Mandasmita Satakam

Goddess was so pleased with those, she told him to ask for a boon. He immediately told mother goddess to get rid off his voice again. Surprised with this strange boon, she asked him for the reason.

నిన్ను స్తుతించిన ఈ నోటితో ఇంకేమి పలకకూడదు

Don’t want to use my voice/mouth to utter anything else after the slokas about you. Mother goddess immediately made him dumb.

He became the 20^th Aacharya of Kanchi peetham and was known as “Sri Muka Sankarendra Sarawathi”

All the aacharyas of Kanchi peetham take up Sanyaasa aasramam directly from Brahmacharya aasramam.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

The Story of Upamanyu

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Few centuries ago in the kerala region, there lived a couple – Siva guru & Aaryaamba. The couple did not have children for a pretty long time. Siva guru got depressed because of that. At that point of time, Aaryaamba said, "Why are you worried? The solution is simple – Just go and do some penace. Request Lord Siva and he will certainly fulfill our wishes. Don’t you remember the story of Upamanyu?" Saying this she told him the story of Upamanyu.

“Once upon a time there lived a very poor widow with one son. They never had sufficient money to have even 2 full meals a day. One day the son, Upamanyu, was playing with his friends. In between the friends took a break, went home and drank milk and came back. They had milk moustaches. Seeing this Upamanyu asked them about that white thing on their faces. The children made fun of him stating that Upamanyu doesn’t even know about milk and never tasted the wonderful milk. Hearing this Upamanyu ran to his mother and said,

“All my friends are drinking milk and so even I want milk.”

Since there was no milk in their house, the mother mixed some rice flour in water and gave him. He drank that and went back to his friends with pride. His friends asked him to show the glass in which he drank milk and seeing that they ridiculed him saying that his mother gave him flour water and not milk.

Hearing this Upamanyu ran back to her mother and asked her to give him real milk.

Mother could not control her tears and said, “Upamanyu, we are very poor and I can’t afford milk. So, please don’t ask me for milk.” But Upamanyu, being a very small child and not knowing what poverty is, insisted that his mother gives him real milk.

After pleading with him multiple times, the mother gets vexed up and says, “Go ask your father. He is none other than Lord Siva. He is in that temple out there sitting inside.”

Upamanyu diligently goes and sincerely starts asking Siva for milk. He went on asking for milk for a long time. Seeing this Lord Siva appeared in front of Upamanyu and asked him to seek some boons.

Upamanyu says, “I want a glass of milk.” Lord Siva says, “Why milk alone? I will create an ocean of milk for u.” and created Ksheera samudram for Upamanyu.

For someone who wanted a glass of milk Lord Siva could create an ocean of milk. So will he not give us a child? Please go and do tapasya and I am sure he will heed to our prayers.”

Hearing this Siva guru left the house and did tapasya. One night Lord Siva appeared in the dreams of Siva guru and asked him whether he wanted a long lived normal son or a

లోకోద్దారకుడైన, కాని తక్కువ ఆయుర్దాయం ఉన్న కొడుకు.
Siva guru chose the latter.
ఆది శంకరాచార్యులవారు ఆ దంపతులకి జన్మించారు.
And as they say, the rest is history.

God always gives us more than what we probably deserve. Irrespective of our wants and needs, we can be assured that God has given us more than what we deserve and so should not worry about our wants/needs not being fulfilled.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Guest Treatment & Response - One small episode from Raamayana

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

When Hanuma started off to Lanka from Mahendra giri parvatham, in search of Sita Maata, he encountered quite a few hurdles (good and bad). He overcame all of those in an extremely tactful manner and these incidents have lots of lessons to learn.

Long long time ago, mountains used to have wings. This means that they could fly and settle down wherever they want. This was found to be very problematic as people used to face problems because of this flying nature of the mountains. So, Lord of Devalokam, Indra, started clipping the wings of all the moutains. He could cut the wings of all the mountains except one - Mainaaka parvatham. This one has golden peaks and glitters wonderfully. Knowing that Indra is clipping the wings of all the mountains, this moutain gets scared and just forgets to use its wings to fly to a safer place. What is our strength today could become our weakness on one day. Hence we should never throw our weight because of our strength/ability/expertise, as that same strength could become our weakness or it would not come to our help when we actually need it. Seeing this, Vaayu devudu (Lord of Winds) offered to help Mainaaka.

So, he takes the mountain and drops it in the ocean. Mainaaka goes to the bottom of the ocean and settled there on top of a big entrance. This entrance was used by the Raakshasaas to enter earth from Paatalam every day. Indra knew about the presence of Mainaaka on the seabed. Realizing that Mainaaka has blocked Raakshasaas entrance, Indra leaves Mainaaka there as he knows that Mainaaka would not attempt at coming out, fearing him.

When Hanuma flies over the ocean, Samudrudu (Lord of Oceans) tells Mainaaka, "You should offer guest treatment to Hanuma for two reasons.
1. It was Hanumas father (Vaayuvu) who had helped you retain your wings. Its Payback time now.
2. More importantly, Hanuma is going on Raama Kaaryam. So, it would be a great thing to offer help on anything related to Raama Kaaryam.
So, even if it means that Indra cuts your wings when you come out of water, you should not bother. You come out of water, ask Hanuma to rest on your mountain. Ask him to have some fruits and honey, rest for a while and then continue his journey to Lanka."

Hearing this Mainaaka comes out of the water and requests Hanuma to rest on his mountain, have some fruits, honey, get some rest and then leave.

Hanuma promptly touches Mainaaka and says, "I am extremely happy with your guest treatment. Kindly dont stop me now. You can consider that you have given all the fruits, honey etc to me and that I have eaten all of those. I am extremely satisfied. I took an oath that I would leave like Raama Baanam to Lanka. And an arrow doesnt stop in between to take rest. It will keep going until it hits the target. Hence kindly let me go."

Once Hanuma leaves with that wonderful response, which leaves Mainaaka very happy, Indra appears. But Mainaaka doesnt bother about fleeing. Indra informs Mainaaka that he is not going to clip his wings because Mainaaka has offered to help some one who is on Raama kaaryam.

Will post the list of all of those who got benefited because of small contribution to Raama Kaaryam, soon.

Never shirk away from Atidhi satkaaram (Honoring guests) and never disappoint hosts. When something is offered to you which you dont like or which you cant consume then, you should touch it once and mention that you have taken what they have offered and explain why you cant take it then.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Pooja considerations, importantly special Poojas - 2

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Please read the post "Pooja considerations, importantly special Poojas" before reading this

So, during this time, the distractions should be completely avoided. Examples -

1. Calling someone to get some item which is not present at the pooja area.

2. Giving directions to your house to your guests over the phone. Telling Brahmin,
"కాస్త నెమ్మదిగా చదువుతారా మంత్రాలు? నా మాట అతనికి వినపడటం లేదు."

3. Checking about the status of the lunch
"భోజనాలు 12 గంటలకి తెమ్మని చెప్పాను. వచ్చాయా?"

4. "Thanx for coming. భోజనాలు చేసి వెళ్ళండి." to your guests.

5. Asking the Brahmin,
"ఇంకా ఎంత టైం పట్టొచ్చు పూజ అవడానికి?"

6. Someone has come in and so should receive that person, otherwise that person might feel bad. Hence getting up in between.

7. Someone has come in and has been there for a while, but you did not see him and so conducting discussions with that person in between.

8. Waving at friends and folks who walk in - Since you should not get up, doesn’t mean you keep saying Hi, Hello, "బావున్నారా sir. రండి కూర్చోండి.", to your guests, keeping God and his entourage in front of you.

9. Becoming restless because the Pooja has crossed the scheduled time and so putting questioning faces to the Brahmin enquiring when it would be complete.
“ఈ పూజ ఆపెలాగా లేడు ఈయన.” Kind of feelings.

MOST IMPORTANT:

There has to be a sync between the mantram being recited and the ఉపచారంbeing done.

Examples of above -
పురోహితుడు"దీపం దర్శయామి." అని అంటున్నప్పుడు మనం ధూపం చూపించడం. తాంబూలం అన్నప్పుడు నివేదన చెయ్యడం.

In case the Brahmin is running like an express in his mantra recitation, you should stop him and tell him that you are still not done with the upachaaram/kriya associated with the earlier mantra.

Obviously, it is easy to say what to do and what not to do, without specifying how to achieve the above. The following are some guidelines.

1.    Ensure that the items required for performing the pooja are kept near the Mandapa and ensure that this information is provided to the Brahmin so that you don’t have to ask anyone.

2.    Appoint relevant and responsible persons for various tasks.

a.   Receiving guests, ensuring that they are comfortable.

b.   Providing information about special guests and how they should be handled

c.    Person to take care of the lunch, coffee and other such arrangements.

d.   Person to handle Mobiles and Phones for giving directions and other things.

3.    Ensure that you don’t have any time constraints and in case the scheduled time is crossed have the lunch and other things served if required so that the Pooja need not be abridged.

4.    Informing Brahmin upfront that he should not finish it off without any coordination between the mantra and your Upachaara/Kriya.

You have to feel that God is actually sitting in front of you and that you are doing all the upachaaras to him personally. For example, during Nivedana (Naivedyam), you should think that he is sitting in front of u and eating what you are serving him. So, don’t finish off the serving in 2 seconds as no one can eat anything in 2 secs. Take that kind of care and you will not realize the time that goes into the pooja.

If we do Pooja with all our focus and concentration on God, I am not sure whether that minister (if at all) would do you a favour or not, but God will CERTAINLY not let you down on your requests.

Note: When a couple is sitting in a pooja, you should never talk to them by going in between or hand over things by going in between them. Always go around them.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Pooja considerations, importantly special Poojas

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

 

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

 

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

I created this post based on the following

• One of the episodes of Brahmasri Chaaganti KoteswaraRao gaari pravachaanaalu.
• Inputs from a friend of mine.

We invite a very important person to our house. Lets say, this person is a minister. We are looking for some promotion or some contract which is in the hands of the minister. We know that if we take care of this guest well when he visits, our job gets done. On the day of his visit, we do all the following things.

1. We keep our house clean, provide proper sitting place with appropriate air circulation and lighting, with proper decoration.

2. We also keep ourselves neat and clean wearing some good dress. Since the minister is coming to our house, obviously our close friends and relatives also would want to have a look at the minister and if possible, give a shot to be noticed by the minister. So, we invite them as well. We give them clear instructions about the starting time so that they dont keep coming in whenever they want and are assembled much before the minister comes in.

3. Once the ministers car stops outside the gate, we rush out and with great respect get him and his family/colleagues inside. Make them sit in the designated locations.

4. We first give him Water, then coffee or some drink of their choice.

5. Then we start our program. We give a detailed introduction of our minister. We praise him and different members take turns to do the same (if at all we allow them).

6. In between if some of our friends/relatives walk in, we obviously would not leave the minister and his entourage and receive our friends. We put all our attention on our guest and his entourage and the rest of the guests are ignored, if necessary.

7. While sitting with the minister and talking to him and discussing things, we obviously will not ask him to wait there, while we go and conduct another discussion with someone else in between.

8. Then we make food arrangements and take so much care in feeding the minister to ensure that he gets to eat the things that he likes. We would have checked with the close aides of the minister abouts his likes and dislikes and our menu would follow that strictly irrespective of whether we like those or not.

9. We will put in all our efforts to ensure that the minister eats properly and feels contended.

10. We will make some arrangements for his recreation (mostly a TV these days) and provide him a place for rest for some time and once he is ready to leave, we thank him profusely for visiting our house and just before he leaves, we put in our request as well.

11. We provide a proper send off to him and keep looking at his car till it is out of sight.

12. Post that we will start paying attention to our guests who have assembled. We might then apologize to some of the bigger guests among them, stating the reasons for not being able to pay attention to them earlier.

Whenever we do Pooja, this is exactly what we do (rather supposed to do).

1. The minister is none other than God himself (Analogy, not that every Minister is a God).

2. Ministers entourage is none other than all the navagrahas and Indraadi Ashta dikpaalakulu. We keep placing betel leaves with Nuts, coins on the mandapa inviting each devatha (we keep saying ఆవాహయామి)

3. Shodashopachaara (16 upachaaras or activities) pooja, which is performed in every pooja that we do, is nothing but all the activities that I have mentioned above.

…To be continued

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.