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

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.