The Apsara Has Come to Earth

Like pearls upon her neck the morning dew glistened.

With the waist and gait of Urvashi she enchanted all she passed.

Piercing eyes like arrows shooting from the quiver she quieted all in her path.

Enchanting even ascetics who have given up the world her complexion that of Maneka.

Silk dressings barely concealed her youthful breasts.

As she walked the tinkle of anklets danced just as Rambha who enchants Indra himself. 

The Apsara has come to Earth.

Who Is Jagannath? Why Is He So Special?

The famous Puri Jagannatha

Who is this god who is so beloved by the people of Odisha; with large, bright eyes and ever open arms? Who has become famous all around the world? In this post I will try to explain just that and how he has truly gone abroad.

Jagannatha is unique among gods, he lives a full life in Puri. He and his siblings Subhadra and Baladev are born during the Nabakalebara, keep court and visit with devotees and eventually even get sick and die, only to be reborn again. Jagannatha is special for being so attainable and relatable to every day people. After all, if we see god himself go through trials and tribulations, we gain strength to do the same in our own lives.

In India there are many Jagannatha temples but out of all of them the temple in Puri is undoubtedly the first to hold the ever smiling face. Since times long since past he has been the pride and joy of the Odiya peoples as well as their courage at certain points in history.

Jagannatha in Sanskrit literally means the lord of the universe (Jagan= Universe, Nath= Master or lord). There is a legend (that I will not cover in it's entirety here) that a king wanting to serve the lord after not being able to see the famous Nila Madhava deity of Krishna (a deity lost but supposedly made of solid sapphire) had Vishvakarma, the celestial architect agree to make deities of Krishna, his brother Balarama, and their sister Subhadra  as well as the Sudarshan chakra from a Neem tree or Daru that had floated onto the beach in Puri. Vishvakarma asks that the temple doors are left shut for 21 days and he is not bothered while he crafts the wooden deities. The King becomes curious and intrudes on Vishvakarma after just 18 days. Who becomes upset at the disturbance and leaves the deities half finished. The King and Lord Bramha, with no other alternative, then consecrate them to be worshiped.

During the Mughal period, mostly between the 15th and 18th centuries, attacks on the temple in Puri forced the deities of the temple to be taken and hidden away a minimum of ten times and at least 18 times.

There are some legends that inside the deity of Jagannatha is a treasure from days past. Some say it is the preserved heart of Lord Krishna from his time on earth, some say a shalagram but no one is certain. The deities, being wooden, are replaced ever 12-19 years during the Nabakalebara rituals. During this time by law in Puri the entire city is put into blackness while the head priest of the Puri temple, who's eyes are covered and hands wrapped in clothe remove the "soul of Jagannatha" and places it inside the new deity. The last Nabakalebara in 2015 caused quite an uproar with corrupt officials and dayapati's not doing their jobs, rituals that have been done on time for hundreds of years being held up due to confusion and people clambering trying to see things no one is meant to intrude on. Thankfully the deities were not harmed in the process... but I fear we may have a price to pay for doing anything in the temple with corruption involved.

The Ratha Yatra (Literally Pilgramage of the Carts) is the most famous festival of Puri and has now began to be celebrated all over the world. Two months in advance craftsman build from scratch the beautiful 4 story Ratha's that will carry the holy trinity. I will do a post separately about only the Ratha Yatra and it's specific rituals.

The most famous festival of Jagannatha is the Ratha Yatra (Literally Pilgramage of Carts).

The Dance of Eternity

I look as the moon, both bright and full on the clear night shines over the wooded landscape. The golden reflection can be seen arcing over a calm lake. A heavy fog rolls in giving the landscape an ethereal feel. This is the time of magic, a time where legends and myth take form and where reality blurs into possibility.

From among the fog, shadowy shapes, swaying this way and that emerge. Girls in long skirts from a time long ago. Forlorn and pining they seem to search the endless mist covered landscape. One, with a bright and luminous hue to her skin as if kissed by the moon, sits in the grass awaiting her dark diviner.

The notes of a lone flute echo hauntingly over the scene. All at once he appears from nowhere and everywhere.  Wearing a crown of peacock feathers and holding the bansuri flute from which the enchanting notes in the deep of the night sing from. He  moves to stand next to his beloved Radha sitting in the grass. Krishna, his skin the dark hue of a storm cloud ready to burst with rain and wearing a yellow dhoti, he begins to play his magical song as the gopi’s begin to dance in this dreamscape. As he plays he dances with Radha, two souls merged as one. Dark and light, love and loved, earthly and heavenly they form a perfect balance. 

From the darkness of the night emerge forms to match each of the gopi. Knowing the hearts of the gopi’s sweet Madhava expands himself to be with each and everyone one. They dance ecstatically to the tones of the flutes. Each couple a perfect form of love. For hours this enchanting scene lasts until the moon begins to descend below the lake and the darkness of the night envelopes the clearing. Slowly the dancing couples disappear into the mists of time and history until only that original couple stands alone in the clearing. Eventually, even they fade into the mists of the mind and I am left alone again. Left alone with the sweet memories of the raasa leela. Left alone with the sight of Radha and Krishna in their most intimate past time. I see my Keshava everywhere but this is my most savored and cherished thought.

Who Am I?

Who am I?

A question so often asked by each of us. On this page I will attempt to give a short explanation as to who I am and how I became so involved in India, Indic culture and Hinduism.

I was born in Southern Ohio and adopted at birth to a family in a rural community. We were always well traveled for where we were from. As a child it was not uncommon for us to go to Puerto Rico, the middle east, etc etc during the summer holidays as my father was an electrical engineer for a company based in Cincinnati. Still, I spent most of my life on my families rather large farm. Roaming forests, hill and glen and having free reign in my natural world gave me a very interesting childhood.

My grandfather had lived in India before her partition and he, as well as other family members related stories to me about his life there. Stories of traveling through the seven sisters into Burma to stop advancing Japanese soldiers, and of him meeting tribal peoples and trading stories. These tales always intrigued me, He died when I was 14 years old and when I was old enough (sometime around 18 years old) I decided to go see the places where these stories took place.



Having a few friends in India already I decided to take a months trip and explore a few common tourists sites. The Taj Mahal, Red Fort.. nothing very far off the beaten path for my first trip. I ended up falling in love with India and her many cultures on that trip. On my way home I did become stranded in Bombay, now Mumbai, for about a week and a half. With very little money to my name and relying on the kindness of strangers I got to see a side of India that most never get to see. Though, to be honest I would not enjoy the experience if I were forced to repeat it.

After many more trips to India and much more studying I decided I wanted to take up Upanayana (the sacred thread) so that I could properly study the Vedas. An Iyengar family in Bangalore kindly allowed me to take their gothra (lineage) so that I could study traditionally. After several more years I took the final steps to complete my pancha samaskar (the 5 initiative rights) to become fully involved in Sri Vaishnavism (Vadagalai).

At this time, I am completing my training as a panchratric bhattaracharya under Sri U. Ve. Madhava Bhattar of Andavan Ashramam who studied under the Ashtalakshmi Kovil in Besant Nagar, Chennai. I also have a degree in Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics from the University of Cincinnati.

I still have much to learn, as do we all, but I am happy to share what knowledge I have gained so that everyone can have a greater understanding and appreciation of Hinduism and Indic culture as a whole.

Adiyen

Hinduism: A Primer (Part 2)

L-R Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhava, and Basava

 Hinduism; A Primer (Part 2)

The Great Philosophies

This is part 2 of my Hinduism primer series. This series is meant for those who are new to Hinduism or want to understand Hinduism in a larger context. In these posts I attempt to boil down the most important aspects to understanding Hinduism in a religious and historical context so as to not overburden the reader. I will go into greater detail on all subjects in subsequent blog posts. If you have yet to read part 1 please click the link below.

Hinduism: A Primer (Part 1)

Over the millenia India has fostered many philosophies and beliefs. Of these great ideas only a few have survived into the modern age. Most Hindu's will follow one philosophy or another even without realizing they are doing so. Traditionally there are six astika (orthodox; belief in Veda and in god as therein defined) philosophies of the Hindu religion though today only a few are still actively practiced by any large number of people. There are also several philosophies called nastika, or unorthodox philosophies. These nastika philosophies consist of today's Buddhism, Jainism, etc etc. Any philosophy that denounces the Vedas and the idea of a supreme soul or god is considered nastika.

For the ease of understanding, in this post I will only cover the philosophies of Vedanta (Adwaita, Dwaitism and Vishishtadwaitism) as well as touch upon Achintya Bheda Abheda as these are the ones most who are new to Hinduism will come into contact with. Yoga is also considered an Astik philosophy but I will write a separate post to understand the traditional view of yoga.

Adwaitism or Adwaita Vedanta was heavily propagated by Sri Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th-9th centuries during a period when Buddhism and Jainism had supplanted the traditional Vedic religions of India. This caused a reforming and Shankara is still seen as a savior of classical Hinduism. Adwaitism itself deals with the idea of Brahman (A cosmic primordial spirit that can be associated with all of creation and the vital life force of the universe) and the soul (called Jeevatma) and the connectedness of them both as a single entity. In Adwaita philosophy, simply put, the differences between ourselves and god and each other is an illusion (maya) and our goal in life is to realize this illusion. Adwaita is true non-dualism.

Dwaitism, propagated by Sri Madhavacharya in the 12th and 13th centuries followed quite the opposite path. Dwaitism is absolute dualism. It view is that man and god are two separate entities existing independently and while brahman may make up creation we are separate from each other in this ocean of Samsara (rebirth) and the only way to escape is to have faith and believe that god (in whatever form) will pull us out of this ocean. Dwaitism is important for many because even if it seems limiting to some it teaches the importance of love and devotion on which things like the bhakti cults (to be explained in a later chapter) are founded on.

Vishishtadwaitism was heavily propagated by Sri Ramanujacharya in the 11th century. Vishishtadwaitism bridged the gap between Adwaitism and Dwaitism (Non-dualism and dualism) by forming a philosophy on conditional non-dualism. In Vishishtadwaitism, god (Lakshmi and Narayana) are seen as being both aspects of brahman and are interconnected as noted in Adwaitic philosophy but all things are real and are not illusion and following the path of devotion (as in Dwaitism) you can eventually reach moksha (liberation from bondage). The Sri Vaishnava sect are the direct descendants of Ramanuja's original teachings and will most commonly follow Vishishtadwaitan philosophy.

There are several smaller schools of philosophy that exist that have borrowed parts of the larger philosophies. Such as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's bhakthi (Devotional) movement who follows a philosophy called Achintya bheda abheda which is a varied version of Vishishtadwaita.  

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Once again I would like to point out that this is just a quick introduction to the general philosophies. In no way have I come close to fully explaining any of the philosophies named above to their deserving exactness. Whole books have been written on each one; indeed many books. I have written this to be a simple and quick introduction so that those wanting to delve deeper may understand better where to look.

I would also like to point out that faith and philosophy are not interdependent. While it is true that most Vaishnava's will follow either Dwaitism or Vishishtadwaitism this not always true just as how not all Shiva or Devi worshipers follow pure Adwaitic Vedanta. Indeed, many people of faith may follow varieties of each of these or synthesis of them in their own personal faiths and philosophies. The wonderful plurality of Hinduism allows these variations freely.

A Lovely Sunday for Growing

Today while amidst my flowers and bee-hives I started to think about how much of our lives are a continuous journey. In truth we never stop moving or growing and the whole time we rarely realize it.

A plant starts as a tiny seed and eventually grows into whatever it's mature form may be. We often forget this, and to our detriment, when dealing with spirituality. I have had many friends and students jump into areas of spirituality, religion, and dogma that may be well beyond their maturity level to ever understand in the way it was meant to be understood.

This "jumping ahead" without a strong root base to hold you steady can often lead us to uncertainty and doubt within our particular faith and path. Several times, I have had friends who have become deeply involved in Hinduism, they may see the parts like deity worship that are exceptionally beautiful and try to jump into understanding it's finer details before ever letting their roots grow in the early philosophies and will sooner rather than later fall over and burn out entirely... usually deciding to move onto yet another path.

I have seen the opposite happen as well. People who grow strong roots but either are place in bad soil (in this I mean possibly a bad community) or who themselves stop their own growth and never try to emerge beyond pure philosophy. Eventually their roots bulge and burst and their faith withers and dies and they too move on to something different.

Faith, in any religion or path, must be handled carefully. One must nurture the seed with an understanding of the philosophies before you choose a direction and then you must let yourself grow (questioning and doubting are a part of growth but with a strong base to hold you stead fast this questioning often makes faith stronger than ever) eventually blossoming and then creating fruits and seeds that you and others can appreciate.

In this, I mean no offense to anyone who has started on a particular path and moved on as we do all have our own path to make. Though, I have seen to often individuals becoming overly involved to quickly, being extremely fervent and suddenly fading out like a burnt out light bulb (or in this instance a dried up flower).

Making Perumal Teertham

This is something that I am surprised more people don't know how to do.

 So often I will finish the puja and offer the teertham (water) that is left over after being offered to Perumal (Vishnu) to the devotees that have come and someone will be surprised at the sweet taste of the water. You will find this same style of teertham in most Vaishnava temples.

The process is very simple. Before your puja mix  (depending on the size of your achaman cup):

• A few broken cloves of Cardamom 
• A few small stands of saffron 
• A Tulsi leaf or two 

The cardamom will give the teertham that signature taste while the saffron changes the color to that familiar yellow and we add the Tulsi because it is an offering to Perumal (Vishnu) and no offering is complete without a Tulsi leaf.

*NOTE- if like me you live in an area where it can become very cold and either you are unable to keep Tulsi plants or because the Tulsi plant has lost some of it's leaves in the winter months (which will come back in the spring) you can use Tulsi powder that can be bought at most Indian groceries. Just a single pinch into the achaman cup should be more than enough.

Narasimha Chaturdashi

Narasimha, the name of the ferocious aspect of Mahavishnu, protector of Prahalad and all Vaishnavas. His name, Nara-Simha can be literally translated to Man (Nara) Lion (Simha). His major legends can be found in several puranas; namely the Vishnu Purana, Agni Purana and Bhagavat Purana. The most commonly known legend associated with the great Narasimha is located in the Bhagavath Purana in which he saves the child devottee Prahalada from his demon-king father Hiranyakashipu.

In the legend the demon-king Hiranyakashipu had achieved a conditional immortality through boons granted by the god Bramha, After years of penance Bramha had appeared to the demon-king asking him what his desire was? To this Hiranyakashipu replied,

 O my lord, O best of the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you.

Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought about by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.

Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving created by you. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you in the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.  

In this way the demon-king insured that he could not be killed, at least in any simple way. 

After a few events in the story I won't go into the demon-kings son Prahalad is born in the celestial sage Narada's hermitage and becomes a great devotee of Vishnu. Over the years Hiranyakashipu tries over and over to convince his son that he is god. Finally in a last straw the demon king asks Prahalada where his god is and Prahlada replies the Narayana (Vishnu) is in the pillar next to him, the smallest twig and every space in between. In a rage Hiranyakashipu strikes the pillar near Prahalad and suddenly Narasimha arises full of ferocity from its remains. After a fight Narasimha carries the demon-king to the threshold (neither inside or outside) at dusk (neither day or night) and puts him on one of his knees (neither on the ground nor in the sky) and tears him open with his gigantic claws (not by any weapon). Prahalad calms down the angry Narasmha and worships him.





Narasimha worship is traditionally strongest around modern day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Particularly in Ahobilam where many ancient Narasimha temples dot the caves and jungle. Ahobilam is also revered as being the place where Hiranyakashipu's palace was actually situated and Narasimha first took form.

Narasimha worship has also become very popular with ISKCON (Hare Krishnas) who consider Narasimha as a protector of Vaishnavas. The Bangalore ISKCON, Mayapur ISKCON, as well as New Vrindavan in West Virginia all keep amazing Narasimha deities.

A short prose I had written after my first visit to Tirupati Venkateswara Temple..

  The bus rumbled slowly up the hills of Tirumala, the sun just beginning to rise above the landscape pierced the thick mists that had formed on the holy mountains. The air was electrified with devotion; my first sight of the holy temple of Tirupati was of a giant Shank and Chakra glowing in the morning on the peak of the mountain. My heart accelerated its pace and my mind leaped into a frantic want to see that most ancient image of god.

          

     We entered into the temple after an eternity of waiting. My heart and mind were exhausted but I still ached to have darshan of the lord. Before entering into the inner-sanctum I made the simple prayer and hope that I would be able to see the lord properly. The crowd behind and in front of me were relentless… the pushing was almost frightening. One could be caught and pushed in any direction without discretion and the simple mass of bodies all clamoring for a simple look into the golden doors was vast.

I entered the inner-sanctum and came face to face with the image of my lord. Balaji had heeded my prayer and I was pushed into a pocket directly in front of the ageless Srinivasa. Reality and time slowed to a stop, all noise for me was lost and nothing existed except for Venkateshwara and myself. I stood in awe of the grandness, the beauty and grace of the lord. It almost felt as if he was staring back at me, deep into my soul. With that single glance of the Lord my mind was in absolute bliss and I felt as if so many questions, so many confusions I had were all answered in that momentary look into the face of god. My mind was quieted and my heart beat with sheer adrenaline.

          
   After the darshan, that for me lasted an eternity, I was pushed from the face of my lord. I craned my neck for even one tiny look more into that most holy of holies. I exited the temple in complete calmness with the only aspiration of coming to see my lord again. I realized that tears had been flowing down my cheeks as I felt my face wet; I circumbulated the temple in parikrama, the names of God swirling in my mind. Everything, all I have ever wanted or thought suddenly made sense... all questions were answered leaving me with the memory of my visit to abode of Sri Srinivasa.

Varaha- The Avatar that Saved Modern Vaishnavism As We Know it

Varaha- The Avatar That Saved Modern Vaishnavism As We Know It

Indeed our religion has changed and developed greatly over the years to accommodate stresses and pressures involved from the contemporary culture of the day. Perhaps this ability to change is what has allowed Hinduism to survive the test of time when all of the religions which existed at its earliest beginnings have long since passed on into myth with the cultures they once serviced. There was at one time a real danger, and indeed the ripples are still being felt in the areas that were affected, of the end of not only Vaishnavism (the worship of Lord Vishnu and his Avatars) but of all Hinduism. This was a time of invasion, destruction and a time when one of the great Avatars of Vishnu once again rose to protect our way of life.

 The year was 1001 A.D. when Mahmud of Ghazni first entered India. In his eyes was the gleam of greed for all the riches held within the temples of western India. Gold and jewels, fine clothes, spices like pepper that were even more costly than precious metals were all given in these great temples. Under the guise of conversion of the heathens he pillages and ransacked the great temples. Destroying the great temple of Somnath in Gujarat and thousands of other pilgrimage sites he carried back the gold and jewels for himself and the broken idols to buried beneath the steps of the Kaaba in Mecca. This was only the first of the conquests into India that would take it’s toll on the religious and scientific cultures of the areas destroyed.

After several hundred years Turks and Afghans entered India to rule. Taking Delhi as their capital they extended campaigns ever further southward. Destroying the great Vishnvanath temple in Banaras and the temple to Sri Rama in Ayodhya that had existed since time immemorial. The Muslim armies finally came within sight of the richest and grandest of the great temples. The southern Dravidians had temples that stood so large they were as fortresses of stone; bound in gate after gate and covered in intricate carvings. The greed of the Sultinate was almost too much when they could almost taste the massive amount of precious things that dripped and gleamed in these places that honor gods they considered blasphemous.

  The famous hill shrine of Tirupati Venkateshwara stood shining atop the Saptagiri like a white pinnacle of Ivory. The only way to reach this temple was to climb the seven peaks of the Saptagiri range using the Alipiri footpath that is even today used by pilgrims. In the climb the armies left a swath of destruction until finally reaching one of the seven great doorways upon which was carved a great boar. Varaha, Vishnu's avatar who saved the earth on his tusk from a demon. Seeing what they considered an unclean beast the armies dared not cross the gateway and fled the temple gates in the process saving the temple and all preserved within.

  This story is common to many of the great temples in the south of India. If you hike to these areas you can see the broken carvings and walls until you reach an image of Varaha after which it seems nothing had ever taken place. No war, no destruction, and no loss of culture or knowledge.

 In modern times you can see a marked difference between the regions affected by these conquests. In areas most heavily affected like the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, etc etc, much of the lost knowledge has yet to be reclaimed. The general state of Hinduism for most locals there has become more of a superstition, even literacy is at an all time low in these places. In places like the south or in Bengal and Maharasthra where these conquests were fought against and pushed away it is easy to see the difference in even today's culture. In literacy, culture, knowledge of “Sanskaar aur Sanskruti” as well as why we actual perform certain acts is common knowledge.

   In writing this I do not mean to place judgment on modern Muslims nor on Hindus living in the states affected by the ancient conquests. I simply enjoyed the tales so commonly told in India and of the boogeyman still feared in much of Gujarat; the dark and frightening pillager that began it all, Mahmud of Ghazni and of that great Avatar that saved us yet again; Varaha, the great boar.