Change - any time

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 is one of the stories by Sri Sri Sri Vidyaaranya Mahatheertha Swamy, guru of Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Swamy, the peethadhipathi of Sringeri Sankara peetham.

There used to be two thieves, who used to steal things in the surrounding villages and make their livelihood. Once they went into a house to steal things in the night and the people in the house woke up. The thieves started running and by the time they reached the outskirts of the village lot of villagers started chasing them. At some point, they parted ways and ran in different directions. After running for a pretty long time, they finally could have the villagers off their backs.

The first thief sat under a tree and slept for one full day. When he woke up the following morning, he saw few coins in front of him. He also saw some people saluting him. He understood that people have mistook him as a sanyasi. He felt that he should continue in that mode for some more days so that his livelihood is taken care of before he continues his robbing. So he wore a saffron robe and continued to sit under that tree with his eyes closed. After few more days, he started moving his lips once in a while. More and more started giving him money and food and he started to enjoy his new life style.

The second thief landed in a cemetery and slept there for a long time. He woke up and he saw few people in front of him. He got scared. They asked his help to get rid off the spirits around. He understood that people have mistook him as a maantrik (person who can drive away the spirits). He started clearing some things here and there in the cemetery and made people believe that he is taking care of the spirits. Soon the word spread around and he started receiving money and food. He was happy leading that new life style.

Once a Swamiji saw the first thief and the thief started becoming uncomfortable. The Swamiji sat beside him. The thief fell at the feet of Swamiji and confided in him. Swamiji asked him if he wanted to change and the thief was more than happy. Swamiji told him one mantra and asked him to recite diligently. The thief started reciting it sincerely and he found a major change in him slowly. He was happy and contended. He stopped worrying about people visiting him. After few months the same Swamiji passed by and noticed the change in the thief and he was happy about that.

The same Swamiji met the second thief as well and gave him another mantra. The Swamiji also taught him how to do poojas. By virtue of that the second thief also became a wise and good person. He went to the nearby village and requested the villagers to construct a small temple for him. He became a priest in that temple and start leading a very happy and contended life.

By this story Sri Sankara says that change can be brought in at any stage of life. Many a time we hear people saying that they are too old to change. But Sri Sankara says that one just needs to be open to learn and change and change for good can be brought in at any time. So, one should always be open to learn good things and unlearn bad things rather than blaming the god for creating him/her like that.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Gods Assistance and Interference

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 Kaikasi, who is a Raaskhasi, sought physical relationship with Visravaso Brahma, who is the son of Brahma. Visravaso Brahma is a great rishi and gnyaani. Kaikasi sought this during the sandhya time (evening time around the time of sunset. Sandhya time is the transition time between night and morning and so occurs twice in a day). The rishi warned her about the kind of children that would be born, but she ignored. But she requested for some consolation.

So, the rishi told her that out of the 4 children one would be a great guy, who would abide by dharma, whereas the rest of them would have a bad character.

So, kaikasi gave birth to Dasagreeva (one with 10 necks), Kumbhakarna, Vibheeshana and Soorpanakha. Out of these Vibheeshana was the Dharmaatma. Needless to say, Dasagreeva and the Kumbhakarna were the ones who knew completely know about dharma, truth etc, but never tried to abide by those principles.

All three of them set out for tapassu. They performed that for centuries together with great dedication and commitment. Lord Brahma, pleased by their tapassu, asked them to seek boons individually.

Dasagreeva: “I want immortality.” When Brahma mentioned that immortality boon cannot be granted to anyone, then Dasagreeva rephrased his request. “I should not be killed by Devathas or Gandharvas or Kinneras or Kimpurushas or Naagaas or Wild animals or wild birds etc. Human beings cannot kill me anyways.” Brahma gave him that boon.

Vibheeshana: “Kindly ensure that I always tread on the path of dharma. I should always take sides with people who abide by dharma. Irrespective of the situation I am in, I should not abandon dharma.” Brahma said, “Over and above that I will give you immortality.”

Before Brahma appeared in front of Kumbha karna, all the devathas ran to him and said, “This guy used to kill and eat people even before he did this tapassu. Now if he gets additional boons, there will not be any human beings left on the earth. Please make sure that you don’t grant him the boons which would make him more powerful.” Brahma then asked Saraswathi to influence the thoughts of Kumbhakarna.

Kumbhakarna: “Please grant me a boon where I can sleep for long times and sleep continuously in my life.” Brahma grants his wish. Kumbhakarna gets into his sleep.

Similarly, Dasagreeva’s son Megahanaadhudu, who got Indrajit as a title from Brahma after defeating Indra, performed great yagnas and Lord Brahma appeared before him to grant some boons.

Indrajit: “Grant me immortality.” Brahma refused that wish and then Indrajit, “I got into this position of getting a boon from you because of my courage, strength and greatness as a warrior. So whenever I perform the Nikhumbila Homam and board a chariot, nobody should be able to defeat me or kill me.” Brahma granted him that boon.

There are two interesting observations from the above.

1.   For the persons who do not abide by dharma, god’s assistance is not complete. Both Raavana and Indrajit sought immortality and they were denied that. Vibheeshana did not seek that, but he was granted that. Seek gods assistance abiding by principles of dharma and you would get more than what you seek.

2.   All our words, thoughts, actions etc are not completely ruled or governed by god. God gives human beings freedom to think and act on our own for most of the time. Interferes occasionally. Brahma did not interfere in the thoughts of Raavana and others, whereas he made Saraswathi influence the thoughts of Kumbhakarna. So, attributing all our actions and thoughts as gods influence is not 100% correct.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Influence

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 have been tied up with few things over the last couple of months because of which I could not post anything... During this period, I compiled a small book on Krishna Yajurveda Sandhyavandanam. I got some copies printed as well.  

So let's get going with our post.

After Raavana gets killed by Sri Raama in the war, all the raakshasas run towards Lanka from the battle field. All the wives of Raavana start weeping inconsolably on hearing the news of Raavana’s death.

Vibheeshana starts weeping on seeing Raavana lying on the ground. He speaks about the bad things that Raavana had done, how he did not heed to his words, what kind of a life he had led, what kind of wars he had waged etc. Finally, he gets up and informs Sri Raama, that he wants to conduct the last rites for his brother.

Sri Raama reaffirms and says, “The enmity ends with the death. You should conduct all the last rites as per the shashtras without fail for your brother. He is a great warrior who died in a war. One should not weep for such people. Please go ahead with your plan.”

In the meanwhile, along with all the wives of Raavana, Mandodari comes to the battle field. Keeping Raavana’s head on her lap, she weeps inconsolably and did lot of talking about Raavana.

·         What a great warrior and king he was.

·         How he won over so many kings and kingdoms

·         How all the devathas used to shiver by his name

·       How he destroyed the lives of Rishis, pativratas (by killing their husbands), unmarried females etc.

·         About the pompous life that he had led

She went on to say, “Because of your misdeeds the entire lanka got destroyed. All the women of lanka became widows.

Sita is not greater than me on any front like beauty, knowledge, lineage etc. But your misdeed of abducting her when Sri Raama was not there, has led to your death.

You had suppressed your indriyas (sense organs) and did great tapasya. After that they have taken revenge on you by overshadowing you.

My brother in law (Vibheeshana) told you about returning Sita to Sri Raama. You never paid attention to his words. He took the side of dharma, whereas you did not.

You did not realize that Sri Vishnu himself took the avatar of a human being (Sri Raama) to kill u.”

She went on to describe various other bad things that Raavana had done all through his life.

After some time when she stopped, then Vibheeshana turns towards Sri Raama and said, “My brother had done so many bad things. He has troubled so many people in his life. I have now decided that I will not conduct the last rites for my brother. When the world comes to know that I have taken this decision, I am sure they will all appreciate it.”

Hearing this Sri Raama once again informs Vibheeshana that he should still conduct the last rites for his brother and why those are important. Hearing this Vibheeshana gets convinced and performed the last rites for Raavana.

If you observe the change in stance of Vibheeshana, it is clear that we get influenced and get carried away very easily. One should have the clarity of thought like Sri Raama so that we do not change our stance under any influence. You have to be firm when doing good things and be firm not to do bad things.

  

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Revenge and Justice

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

In Mahabharata, after Draupadi Vastraapaharanam (Disrobing of Draupadi) episode, she comes back to Indraprastha and locks herself in her room. The Pandavas return to Indraprastha as well and they knock on the door of Draupadi. Then Bheema tries to break open the door and it still doesn’t open. Looking at his shock, Nakula says, “Brother Bheema! Don’t be surprised. I know that you are capable of breaking large boulders and mountains with your strength, but you will not able to break this wooden door. This has been closed by Draupadi mentally and not physically. Considering the trauma that she is undergoing it will not be possible to open this door by physical means by anyone.”

Then Arjuna suggests that Sri Krishna is the only person who can open the door. When Sri Krishna comes in, he refuses to accept the greetings of the Pandavas and says “Unless Draupadi pardons you all, I can’t accept your greetings.”

He goes near the room of Draupadi and the door opens automatically. He enters inside and a wonderful conversation continues.

Sri Krishna, “I have come to share the woes of a dear friend of mine.”

Draupadi, “Please leave Sri Krishna. If you come near me, you will also become impure.”

Sri Krishna, “When people take bath in a river, they get purified, but the river doesn’t become impure. It just dumps all those impurities in the Sea/Ocean. Similarly, dump all your impurities in God. He is always ready to accept.”

Draupadi, “What bad Karma have I done that this has happened to me.”

Sri Krishna, “What you are undergoing is not because of any Karma that you have done. This is the result of the bad karma done by Duryodhana. One who does one small bad karma, that bad karma makes him do a bigger dushkarma (Bad karma). The one who does a small good karma, that karma makes him do bigger good karmas. Duryodhana has done a bigger bad karma today.”

Draupadi, “If he has done a bad thing, why am I undergoing this trauma and hell?”

Sri Krishna, “You don’t go through this hell. Just ditch it. Duryodhana is the one who should undergo through this, not you. So just forget that something bad has happened to you. The human being who embraces the sorrows of himself/herself is selfish. The one who embraces the sorrows of others and the world is a selfless person. So be a selfless person. Become free from your sorrows. Worry about the bad things that people of Hastinapur will have to undergo because of Duryodhana.”

Draupadi, “So are you saying that I should pardon Duryodhana and all those kauravas who have committed and witnessed this act?”

Sri Krishna, “Absolutely. Pardon every one. Don’t have revenge in your heart. Make sure that you fight for justice. Revenge can result in the adoption of adharma, whereas justice will always enable one to follow the dharma. When you fight against adharma and even if that means that lot of people lose their lives, it is still a dharma yuddham (war).”

Draupadi becomes much better and comes out of the room to the place where the Padavas are and pardons all of them. She goes through this route of instigating pandavas to do the needful to bring justice. Pandavas take an oath that if at all a fight ensues between Pandavas and Kauravas then they would kill different people in different ways etc. As they say, the rest is history.

In our lives we encounter many situations where we feel extremely hurt because of someone and feel like doing something to that person. The above conversation should help us in deciding on how our behavior and attitude should be towards the perpetrators of dushkarma, ensuring that we do not adopt/follow adharma.   

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Daanam and the art of it

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 Sri Krishna and Arjuna were walking along some farm lands. They saw one farmer trying to plough his land without bullocks. Sri Krishna gestured to Arjuna and both of them went to the farmer and took the plough on their shoulders and the farmer started ploughing the land. After some time they were done with that and Sri Krishna and Arjuna resumed their walking.

Arjuna said, "Krishna! Its a very good feeling after working hard." Then Sri Krishna responded, "Working hard alone does not give you the pleasure, but working hard for some one else gives you the pleasure."

The actual conversation in Hindi goes like this.

"Vasudev! Sram se kaafi sukh milta hai."

"Sram se nahin arjun! Sram daan se sukh milta hai."

When the Pandavas go to Vaanavrat, the Kauravas hatch a plot to kill the Pandavas. They make a huge house made of wax (lakka) and the plan was to light fire to that and kill the Pandavas. Pandavas escaped that bid.

But before that incident happened, Sakuni discussed that plan with Duryodhana and his brothers in front of Karna. Karna did not like that plan as it was not right. He felt very disturbed about that, but he could neither disclose that to anyone nor prevent it. So he went to this parents home (Karnas father was the charioteer of Bheeshma). He made some statements indirectly hinting that some adharma was happening at Vaanavrat. He was so disturbed that he asked his father for a solution to reduce/divert the guilt feeling he was suffering from. His father told him to start giving alms (Daanam).

He said, "The act of giving is one of the best ways to find peace and happiness in life. Go ahead and give alms as if there is no tomorrow. Never say no to any Yachaka (the one who seeks), irrespective of what is sought."

As they say, the rest is history and Karna is known as "Daana veera soora karna". He went to the extent of even giving off his Sahaja Kavacha kundalaalu (armor and ear rings, he was born with) when asked.

Once Arjuna became jealous of Karna on the aspect of Daanam. He felt, whats the big deal about daanam. Giving something that you already have is a very easy thing. He went to Sri Krishna and expressed his displeasure of Karna having the title of Daana Veera. Sri Krishna told him that its not easy to do Daanam and advised him not to feel jealous of Karna, as thats a great attribute of Karna. Arjuna challenged Sri Krishna that he can also do Daanam the way Karna does.

Then Sri Krishna tells Arjuna that he will prove to him why Karna is greater than Arjuna on the aspect of Daanam. Sri Krishna gives a huge pile of money and gold and other ornaments to both Karna and Arjuna separately and asks them to donate to people. Arjuna invites lot of people and starts distributing the gold to different people in different quantities. He gets tired distributing and at the end of the day he goes to Sri Krishna saying that he has donated most of it, but there is still something left to be donated which he would do the following day. Sri Krishna tells him, "Karna called multiple people and asked them to take all of that and within a minute he left the place and he was done with that job."

Arjuna realizes the greatness of Karna and bows his head as an act of respect to Karna.

I am not sure how true the above story is, but it teaches us a great lesson that unless there is a real intention to help someone, it's not easy to perform that act to gain some respect or gain popularity or to please someone. You should give it as if it is not yours and without any expectations.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Banda Paradesi - Nityaannadaata vratudu

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

There used to be one pious person by the name Pangaloori Veera Raaghavudu(PVR) garu. He lived for 102 years. When he was around 70 years old, one of his maharashtrian friends commented that there are not many great andhra (Telugu) bhakthas. PVR got offended a bit and he took up the task of writing about andhra bhakthas. He compiled a small book of about 300 pages containing brief details of 76 bhakthas and dedicated/service oriented people from andhra. In this post I thought I will write about one of those. This is about a couple Banda Paradesi and Kamalaamba, who lived during the 18th century.

The couple were involved in serving food (Anna daanam) to anyone who would knock their doors irrespective of the time. They had such great dedication and commitment that they did not bother about their financial position either. There's a saying in Telugu. "Koorchoni tinte kondalaina karigipotayi." ('Even mountains of money get wiped out if you sit and eat' is the meaning). So by that saying they lost everything and they were literally left with nothing. They sold almost everything in their house.

One night they decided that it's better to be out of the house than saying No to the visitors seeking food. They moved to another village and on the way they rested in a choultry. In that choultry, which was a bit dark, they overheard a conversation by a mother to her kids."You eat these ground nuts and drink water and rest for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will reach Banda Paradesi's house and u can eat stomach full." Hearing this the couple felt very bad and returned to their village the same night. In the morning they saw the big stone pestle (rubbu rolu) in their backyard and decided to sell it off. They informed one local shop owner and sold that for some money, but asked him to take that home in the evening. With the money they got they bought items and made food. As expected apart from that choultry woman and kids others also had come and ate heartily.

In the evening that shop owner came to collect the stone pestle. When they lifted that they found a big jar with gold coins (Lanke binde). The shop owner took only the pestle and said the right owner of that jar is the couple. So righteous was this shop owner, that he refused to take inspite of the couple insisting that it doesn't belong to them.

The couple thought that this was god's decision and took that money and used it to continue their activities. They became so famous that the local king of that place was addressed as "king of Banda Paradesi's place". The king was such a great person that he used to feel proud on hearing that, than getting offended or hurt.

When we pursue and do good things, god will show a way to continue. There will be hurdles surely but our persistence without deviation in our path, will put the responsibility on the god to show us a way out.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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