Bhakthadasi

  One day, a teenage daughter and father were walking together. Their topic of discussion was God. The teen age daughter said that she did not believe in things that she could not see. Emotionally balanced and patient father did not say anything against the young blood's belief in "chaarvaaka matham".   That night was a clear one and lot of stars decorated the beautiful sky. Father and daughter were standing on the courtyard and were enjoying the crisp night with the blue star studded sky. They talked about everything under the sun arguing and agreeing about many things. Next morning, after the sun rise, father took his daughter again to the courtyard and asked her: "Daughter, do you believe that stars exist, even if you cannot see them now?   Daughter was perplexed because the previous night, standing under the canopy of  star-decked sky, they had such a  long discussion about stars, big dipper, comets etc and th...

This is about a conversation between Brahma , Prakruthi or Maaya, Sanat kumaaraas and Saptharshis before the actual "srushti" or creation of ordinary humans. Earth is already formed from the Pancha bhootaas. It is important to note that Vishnu Bhagavan did not take part in this conversation. After he created Maaya and Brahma, he wanted to be only a witness.   So Brahma told Maaya and others: "I am going to create the first couple by dividing myself into two and then continue creation of  men and women through them. Vishnu Bhagavan's chaithanyam or power will give praanan or life to them and He will stay as witness for their actions. Now I do not want them to know the source of their power until they search for it through intense devotion and penance. Bhagavan gave me permission to hide Him where I think is the best place. So where can I hide that Paramaatma chaithanyam? What is your opinion?" So one of the saptharshis said: "what if we hide Him at...

We have noticed that Narada Muni never stays in one place. He was not like other chiranjeevis like Vyaasa Muni, Hanumanji or any other devotees and Rishis. He travels constantly in the universe chanting the namaas of Lord. There is a story behind Narada Muni's continuous world travel. The story starts with the second Daksha prajapathi who was the son of Prachetas. Daksha prajapathi married a woman called Aseekni. But they did not have children for a long time. So they did tapas and Brahma appeared and gave Daksha a boon for getting samkalpa puthraas or maanasa puthraas twice. This means that he can pray and wish twice to get sons and they will be created by Brahma through samkalpam and not through Daksha's wife. They came back to palace and Daksha prajaapathi prayed and and did samkalpam for sons to be born. Then immediately he got ten thousand sons who were called Haryaswaas. They were born in their youth form.So Daksha told them to go to the forest and do tapas to increase...

One day a man called Viswas went to a barber shop to cut his hair. The barber Aviswas  was a very friendly person and entertained his customers by talking to them about  various topics while cutting their hair. This time he started talking about God to Viswas. Aviswas said: I do not believe in the existence of God. Then Viswas asked the reason for his statement. Then Aviswas said: Sir, you just look at the world. Nothing is fair. I see many people get sick, so many people are poor, so many people are suffering. If God existed, how can He allow these things happen? If He is all powerful, can't He make a world with no distress or disease? Viswas thought for a while and when Aviswas finished cutting his hair, he paid him and came out of the barber shop. He started walking and he saw a man with long hair and untrimmed beard. After a few more steps, he saw another person with long beard and somewhat long unkempt hair. He walked back to  Aviswas's barber shop and showed Avis...

Kanchi Chanddrasekhara swagigal often quotes two  words of wisdom uttered by Lord Rama to show how foolish we humans are to go after transient pleasures even though we know that death is around the corner.   1." A frog is being swallowed by a snake. Even though it knows that it is going to die in a few minutes, the frog puts out his tongue in the hope that it will catch some flies or insects flying around. Similarly, a man is being swallowed by the serpent of Time or Kaalam, but he is still running after transitory sensual pleasures instead of remembering me ".   2. "A dog bites a dry bone thinking that there is some meat there. It goes on biting and during the intense biting, he bites his own tongue or hurts some part of his  mouth and starts bleeding. Stupid dog thinks that the blood is coming from the meat of the bone and bites the dry bone more and more. Similarly man foolishly thinks that happiness lies in external ...

If we make any mistake in chanting the naamam or Bhajans, will there be adverse effects? There are many different opinions about this. One opinion and explanation I read, appealed me and I would like to share that with all of you. Sishya or student asked Njaanananda Saraswathi: What if I make a mistake when I say my prayers? Is it enough to say samasthaaparaadham? Guru said: Whether you are saying prayers or samasthaaparaadham, your sincerity is that matters. Imagine a small baby learning to talk. Mother tries to teach him to call father as "acha", "appa", "dad" "pithaji" etc. Child tries his best and often comes up with some sounds, sometimes similar or sometimes not even similar. When the father listens to that, does he ever get angry at the child for not pronouncing it right? Never, instead, he is happy that he is trying and able to recognize and call him and he waits with love and patience .for that day when he can say it right. God is our...

I was reading a book called The Hindu Mind and the author's explanation gave me food for thought. So I would like to share the same with all of you. He says destiny and free wiill can be connected using an equation S= ExWxD, where S stands for individual success, E for individual effort, W for for Divine will and D for destiny or effect of prarabdha karma. So success is possible only with our effort E, God's blessings or will W and if the effect of our prabdha karma is favorable. God;s blessings is a must in any situation. Let us look at a few scenarios. As per the equation: 1. Even if our prarabdha karma D is favorable, if effort E is zero, success S will be zero. 2. Even if  we put in all effort E , if the effect of our karma D is not favorable, then also success S is zero. 3. Now effort E is superb, karma D is all positive, Success S should be proportionatley big. Now in all the three cases, the effect of God' blessings can change the situation. Nothing is impossible ...