Faith in God

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 a pottery maker used to live in a small village near Srikakulam. This guy used to make his livelihood by making pots, more importantly used to sell them at a price with appropriate profit to ensure that the basic needs of his family are taken care of without being greedy. He was a great bhaktha of Lord Siva. In the same village there used to be a very old temple of Lord Siva. He used to go there frequently as well.

The couple was not blessed with a child for a long time. One day, the husband prayed for Lord Siva and took a vow that he would make a nice pot for the Lord, if Lord Siva gives him a baby boy.

Lord Siva blessed him with a baby boy few months later and the couple was extremely happy. With great dedication and gratitude, the husband started working on a pot. After few days he finally made a nice looking big pot and he was very happy with that and decided to give that to Lord Siva.

One fine day he took that big pot to the temple and wanted to put it inside the Garbha Gudi. He realized that the pot he made was bigger than the width of the door opening. He tried different ways to get the pot inside, but the pot was too big to be taken inside. After spending quite some time in trying to get that inside, he gave up. He became upset that Lord Siva was not accepting his gift. He left the pot outside the door and went to his home. He brought his new born son to the temple and put the baby in that pot. He looked at Lord Siva and said, “If you don’t like my gift and will not accept it, I will also not accept your gift. You take back your gift and after that I will take back mine.”

Saying this he left the kid in the pot and left the temple and went home. When asked by wife he told her that he returned Lord Siva’s gift as Lord Siva did not accept their gift.

When the couple woke up in the morning, they heard a baby crying outside their house. They opened the doors and saw their son at their door step. The husband picked the baby and went inside. When the wife asked him as to how the baby came back, the husband responded, “Lord Siva must have accepted my gift and took it inside and so gave our child back to me.” He did not even bother to visit the temple immediately to verify. Not surprisingly, the pot moved to a place behind the Siva linga in the temple by the time the priests opened the temple in the morning.

Even today, that pot is still present in the temple behind the Siva linga and it can be very easily observed that the size of the pot is bigger than the door opening. People who do not have children should drop something (I forgot what) in that pot with a sincere wish, coupled with faith, and they will be blessed with children.

This place is Sri Mukha Lingam in Srikakulam district. This is also called kotilinga kshetram. Apparently around one crore of siva lingas are present within a radius of some 8 or 10 km of this Sri Mukhalinga Kshetram.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

Sentence Framing and the order of speaking

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 goes to Lanka in search of Seetamma, after searching everywhere and not finding her anywhere gets disappointed. But then decides to search all over again with renewed determination and with a simple change of his mental set up, he immediately finds her under the sisupa vruksham in Ashoka vanam.

He gets down the tree and realizing that she is under great stress with no trust on anyone asks her the following question, knowing fully well that she is seetamma.

“అమ్మ! నువ్వు దేవతలకి చెందినదానవా? యక్షులకి చెందినదానవా?, గంధర్వులకి చెందినదానవా? వశిష్టుడు మీద అలిగి వచ్చిన అరుంధతివా? అగస్త్యుడు మీద అలిగి వచ్చిన లోపముద్రవా? నీ పాదములు భూమి మీద ఆనుతున్నాయి. కనుక నీవు దేవతా స్త్రీవి కావు. నీలో రాజ లక్షణాలు కనపడుతున్నాయి. క్షత్రియ వంశానికి సంబంధించిన ఒక రాజు ఇల్లాలి వని అనుకుంటున్నాను. నువ్వు కాని జనస్థానం లో రావణుడి చేత అపహరించబడిన సీతమ్మవి కాదు కదా?”

To the above question, seetamma responded in the following way.

“

1.    ఈ ప్రుధివిని పాలించిన గొప్ప రాజైన దశరథ మహారాజు కోడలిని

2.    విదేహ వంశ ప్రభువైన జనక మహారాజు కూతురిని.

3.    నా పేరు సీత.

4.    గొప్ప బుద్ధిశాలి అయిన రాముడి ధర్మ పత్నిని.”

The above conversation very simple and straight forward. But under the circumstances, there are lots of things to learn from the above conversation. Let’s look at Hanuma’s question first.

·         Talking politely to someone is very important, especially when the other person is under stress and suspicion.

·         By talking about great people like Vasishta, Agasthya, Arundhati etc, it would appeal to seetamma. Since last 10 months in Lanka, Seeta never heard of such things except about Raavana. Based on the appealing factor of the other person, conversation should be initiated so that the opposite person can gain confidence in answering to us.

·         Talking about Devathas, shows the knowledge levels of Hanuma, which would instill confidence in seeta that he is not just another Raakshasa (or Raavana himself) who knows only to flatter Raavana.

·         Though he clearly knows who she is, he still asks her if she is actually her. When we make people provide answers that we know it makes them more confident and they will know that we are not assuming anything on their behalf. This is a very important attribute while speaking. State assumptions, if you make any, rather than just assuming and speaking based on your assumptions.

Obviously that gave lot of confidence to Seeta about Hanuma and she gave her response. Look at the order of her response.

1.    A married woman should always first say whose daughter in law she is.

2.    Followed by whose daughter she is. (I am daughter/son of so and so. Not My father’s name is so and so)

3.    She then states her name, which is less significant than the above two.

4.    Finally, she states whose wife she is. Not who her husband is. Most importantly, it’s not about providing the name of her husband, but more importantly stating an attribute of her husband.

Framing of sentences, order of those are very important, which will make our speaking very pleasant and more importantly correct as per the sanaatana dharmam.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

The trait of Listening and Implementing

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 sita got abducted by Dasagreeva (Raavana), she used to live under the Sisupaa vruksham. Since she refused to live in the palace, Raavana made her stay there in Ashoka vanam. This tree has special medicinal powers by which one does not fall sick. So, Raavana wanted to ensure that Sita doesn’t fall sick so that whenever she changes her mind, she will be in good health.

Raavana used to visit her pretty regularly seeking her consent to abandon Rama. There is a reason why Raavana never tried force on Sita. This will be mentioned in another article soon. Sita always used to place a piece of grass between her and Raavana before responding/talking to him. Multiple explanations have been given for that act of Sita and let me not get into that now.

Anyway, so Sita asked Raavana,

“Don’t you have any one to give you good advices?

If there is someone to advise you, is your problem not listening?

If you listen, do you not attempt to implement those advices?

Where’s your problem?”

The above set of questions is very important for every human being. Unless we Get proper advice, listen to those carefully and understand, implement those, we will not be able to lead a righteous life. Lets look at couple of instances in Raamaayana.

When Sri Rama and Lakshmana realize that Sita is not there, once they return killing Maareecha, Raama goes through multiple feelings at the same time and one after the other – anger, depression, helplessness, hopelessness etc. After some time anger takes over him completely and he says,

“ధర్మం పట్టుకొని కూర్చున్నానని ఈ లోకం నేను చేతకాని వాడినని అనుకుంటోంది. సీత ఏమయ్యింది అని అడిగితే ఎవ్వరూ సమాధానం చెప్పటం లేదు. కొంత సేపు ధర్మం పక్కన పడేసి ఇప్పుడే నా ప్రతాపము ఏంటో ఈ మూడు లోకాలకి చూపిస్తాను. బాణ వర్షం కురిపిస్తా. లోకాల్ని నాశనం చేస్తా. చూడు లక్ష్మణా!”

If Sri Rama had actually done that everything would have been destroyed. Lakshmana got scared and started pacifying Sri Rama. He reminded Sri Rama of his greatness, his abilities and more importantly his virtues and importance of abiding by Dharma. After listening to Lakshamana, Sri Rama said, “Very well said Lakshmana. I should not leave Dharma aside and destroy the world.” Saying this he immediately got back to normalcy.

This is the greatness of Sri Rama. When he is told about his mistake, he gracefully accepts it irrespective of who tells him and attempts to correct that.

Now, lets look at another character – Raavana. He comes to Maarecha and tells him that he should help him in distancing Sri Rama and Lakshmana from Sita so that he can abduct Sita.

Maareecha is a strange bhaktha of Sri Rama. From the time he got hit by Sri Raama’s Maanavaastram he becomes scared of Sri Rama. He sees Sri Rama everywhere. He becomes a taapasi and lives in continuous fear of Sri Rama and doesn’t want to do anything cruel lest Sri Rama should come back and kill him.

He was the first one to describe Sri Rama with the famous phrase,

“రామో విగ్రహవాన్ ధర్మః”

Maareecha tries his level best to convince Raavana that he should not attempt at abducting sita. He reminds Raavana about his fate, 14000 raakshasas (including Khara Dooshana) who got killed by Rama alone, Taataki, Soorpanakha etc.

Raavana dismisses him saying that Maareecha is no more a brave Raakshasa and is in fact a timid person and that he would kill him if he doesn’t listen to him to do the deer act.

Maareecha finally yields to him because, he feels that it’s better to get killed in the hands of great Sri Rama than in the hands of Raavana.

Raavana immediately changes his stance and says, “You are a great minister of mine. Very brave and sincere. I am happy that you have accepted.” He is least bothered about the fact that Maareecha is going to get killed.

One should read Raamayana to understand how many statements were made by Maareecha, advising Raavana not to try the foolish act of abducting Sita as that would destroy his entire clan.

Making mistakes is not a problem. But attempting to realize the mistakes on our own or atleast when pointed out by others is an important virtue. Otherwise we will also be donning the cap of Raavana.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

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

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.