How a Hindu starts the day

Wake up with a fresh mind, look into your open palms and pray.

Karagre vasathe Lakshmi,

Kara madhye Saraswathi,

Kara parswe Parvathi,

Prabhathe kara vandanam.

With this we visualize Jagat mata in 3 forms. Goddess of wealth and prosperity, Lakshmi , Goddess of knowledge, Saraswathi, and Goddess of strength and power, Parvathi.

Then before stepping on the floor, recite this ….

Samudra vasane devi,

Parvatha sthana mandale

Vishnu pathni Namasthubhyam

Paadasparsham kshamaswame..

Salutations to Lord Surya, or Surya Namaskaram was a part of the daily ritual of ancient Hindus.

Today it is not possible in this fast life, for everyone. But anyone can start the day with salutations to the Sun God, with folded hands, chanting “Aum Suryaaya Namah….

Every mantra is rich in their meaning. Mantra is the powerful sound, when chanted repeatedly is Japam. Naama Japam is the key part of Hindu prayer.

Ettumanoor Temple

The small state Kerala in India has the majority of population, the Hindus. Kerala is famous with its colourful temple festivals. These annual festivals of every temple are elaborate and exotic. The main attraction at these festivals is the elephants. Each temple with its own legends & myths conduct an annual festival as a tribute to the presiding deity.

The ten day long festival called “Utsavam” is conducted almost with same rituals in most of the temples. The main idol of the temple is taken out of the sanctum sanctorum only during these days. On elaborately decorated elephants, with processions & music the idol is taken around. On the ninth day the idol is taken for an imaginary hunting called Pallivetta, in which people dress themselves as wild animals & give the surroundings a forest atmosphere. The next day is the famous “Aarattu” festival.

Ettumanoor is an important pilgrim Centre of Hindus. Ettumanoor is a small town famous with the Shiva temple, “Ettumanoor Mahadeva temple”. The temple building, with its gopuram and the fortress around it, have Dravidian mural paintings on the walls inside and outside of the main entrance. Myths have it that the Pandavas and the sage Vyasa had worshipped at this temple. Ettumanoor Mahadeva Temple is one of the oldest Kerala temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. The Araattu festival falls in February-March. This Arattu festival is popularly known as Ettumanoor Ezharapponnana. This temple is rich with its treasures. Seven elephants of the same size with 13 kilos of pure gold and one smaller in size forms the Ezharaponnana. There is a golden umbrella too in this temple which is also taken out for the procession during the festival.

Ezharaponnana or the seven and a half golden elephants represent the Ashtadwigjam - which are Airavatham, Pundareekam, Kanmudam, Ajnana, Pushpadantham, Supradeekam, Sarvabhauman, and Vamana. As Vamana is a short one, the eighth elephant is a short one of one foot while others are two feet high. The spectacular event of the Arattu festival with the Ezharapponnana is beyond any description.

Aarattu is the Holy dip given to the deity as the ten day long utsavam concludes. This is symbolic of purification and rejuvenation of the body and spirit after the festivities. After the previous day’s Pallivetta, the deity Sri Mahadeva at Ettumanoor is taken out in procession, with elephants & panchavadyam, and thalappoli, where the ezharaponnaana or the golden elephants representing the eight dik paalakas or the guardians of the cardinal directions wait at the specially decorated site in the north east corner of the temple. This makes the Ettumanoor aarattu festival unique.

Krishna

Krishna is God himself, the Absolute, the Brahman, the Supreme being, the complete incarnation of Vishnu, and the great exponent of the Bhagavat Gita. To his devotees, Krishna is the favourite philosopher, teacher and friend. In fact, Lord Krishna and the Lord who dwells in the heart of all beings is one and the same.
The Vedic “uttama sidhanta” which is Srimad Bhagavatham confirms Krishna as the “source of all Avtars and the cause of all causes.” Lord Krishna is the deliverer of the Bhagavat Gita. Krishna when he was on earth as an avatara protected the virtuous, redeemed the wicked by ending their worldly existence and established righteousness on earth.
According to the sentiment and faith of the worshipper the form of God- realization varies. Realization of Krishna by his Grace helps one come out of his ignorance. Doubts and confusion are dispelled, and one’s Karma is exhausted.
Bhagavat Gita, the words of Krishna discuss at length the paths of devotion, knowledge and action.The Lord advices to follow the path of action with special emphasis on devotion.
He who worships Krishna as his own self, becomes one with Brahma or the Absolute. Bhagavatam describes Him as this—“To those who regard him as absolute or formless, he is devoid of attributes or form (XII.3). To those who look upon him as qualified and formless, he is possessed of attributes though devoid of form. (VIII.9). To those who view him as almighty, all-supporting, all-pervading, all-surpassing, i.e, adorned with all excellent virtues, he is endowed with all noble virtues(XV.15) To those who hold him as embracing everything, he embraces all.(VII.7-12). To those who recognize him as possessed of form and attributes both, he reveals himself as such. (IV.8)”
Bhagavatham says- “ He who looks upon well-wishers and neutrals as well as mediators, friends and foes, relatives and objects of hatred, the virtuous and the sinful, with the same eye, stands Supreme” …That’s Krishna.
Krishna was born in the Dwarpara Yuga. He is embodiment of love and divine joy. Krishna is an instigator of all forms of knowledge and born to establish the religion of love. He came as the messenger of peace.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavat Gita mentions the merits of Knowledge with realization. The Sanskrit verse can be translated as; “This knowledge with realization, is the sovereign of sciences, and mysterious, and is, supremely holy, most excellent, directly realizable, very easy to practice and is imperishable.

Ganesh, the Vighneswar

Ganesha is the most widely worshipped deity of the Hindus. Ganesha is known by many attributes. He is easily identified by his elephant head. The other name by which he is known is Vighneswara, which means, the’ Lord of Obstacles’. He can remove as well as create obstacles in ones’ life. Today before any venture is undertaken, it is Ganesh who is invoked and whose blessings are sought

Ganesha is the Lord of intellect and wisdom. At the start of every puja, ritual and ceremony Ganesh vandan is done to honour him so that the functions go well without any obstacles.

Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati. He has a brother, Skanda. A competition between Ganesha and his brother was held as to see who could circumambulate the three worlds faster and hence win the fruit of knowledge. Skanda went off on a journey to cover the three worlds while Ganesha circumambulated his parents. When asked why he did so, he explained that his parents Shiva and Parvati constituted the three worlds and thus he won the fruit of knowledge.

Ganesha is also known as Ekadanta, referring to His one whole tusk and the other broken. Devotees say that his single tusk indicates his ability to overcome all forms of dualism. They also believe the single tusk is a symbolism to retain the good and throw away the bad. Devotees interpret his elephant head as indicating intelligence, discriminative power, and think big. The large elephant ears are said to denote wisdom and listen more. It is easy to please Ganesha. A handful of roasted rice would satiate Ganesha, if it were offered with humility and love.

The scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Ganesha is often shown riding on a mouse, it symbolizes Tamoguna, as well as desire.Desire unless it is controlled can cause havoc. ‘You ride the desire and keep it under control, and don’t allow it to take you for a ride’ is the message. Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum. Omkaraswaroopa is Ganesha which refers he personifies the primal sound ‘AUM’

Hinduism believes the kundalini shakti, the great spiritual potential, waiting to be aroused and brought back up to the source from which it originated, Brahman. Muladhar is a subtle abode of Ganapati. In Ganapati Atharvashirsha, it is mentioned that “one who worships Lord Ganapati would easily grasp the concept and realize Brahman.”