SLOKA FOR THE MONTH- FEBRUARY 2011

“ Ethasminnanthare Vishnuhu Upayato mahadyutihi
Shankachakragadapanihi Peethavasa Jagathpathihi
Vainatheyam Samaaruhya Bhaskarasthoyadam yatha
Thapthahaatakakeyuro vandyamanaha Suroththamaihi”

The Avatharas of the Lord take place in order to establish dharma. Those who act against Dharma are the wicked and ignorant. They have to be destroyed, rather their cruelty has to perish. Those who follow Dharma are the sadhus. They have to be protected.. Thus in each and every avathar the Lord protects the sadhus, destroys the evil and re-establishes dharma. Besides these in avatharas like Sri Rama Avathar or Krishna Avathar the specaiality is that the Lord follows Dharma Himself and teaches the world an appropriate lesson.
The Devas were tormented by Ravana. Ravana was a rakshas belonging to the Pulasthya vamsha. He was mighty in his own right. Besides this he did penance and got a boon from Brahma that no deva or yaksha or gandharva can kill him. Hence it was such that Ravana could not be won by anybody. All the Devas met and decided to surrender to the Lord. But the Lord, the ocean of mercy appeared Himself. The Devas, did not have to go to the ksheerabdhi or any other place. The Lord Himself arrives mounted on Garuda. This sloka describes the beauty of the lord when he arrives thus.
The Lord holds the conch, discuss and the mace, beautifully clad in a yellow silken attire, effulgent as a crore of suns, wearing several ornaments full of lustre arrives on Garuda like a sun in the midst of clouds. The Devas prostrate at His feet.
Vishnuhu Upayaathaha: Vishnu means Sarvavyapi. Upayathaha means “ came”. The Lord who is sarvavyapi need not arrive ( come to a place) like an ordinary man. He can appear even from a pillar like he did so in the Narasimhaavathar. If he does so then the Devas would not be able to enjoy the beauty of the Lord on garuda. He hence came so only because he wanted to give the bliss of His darshan on the Garuda.

PAST EVENTS

BHAKTHA VIJAYAM PRAVACHANAM- MADURAI
From 9th January to 14th January Akhila Bharatha sadhu sangam, madurai organized Bhaktha Vijayam parvachanam by Sri hari Anna at Sringeri Mutt. The program was very well attended. The Sringeri mutt overflowed with thronging devotees and they were enlightened about the lives of several devotees.

EVENTS OF THIS MONTH - FEBRUARY 2011

I HARI ANNA'S PROGRAMS - FEBRUARY 2011

1) Sri Krishna Leela Pravacahanam- Chennai
Date: 7th Feb to 11th Feb
Topic: Krishna leelaigal
City: Chennai
Venue: Sri Krishna Gana sabha, T.Nagar
Time: 6.45 to 8.45 p.m

2) Srimad Bhagavatha sapthaham- Thiruvananthapuram
Date: Feb 16th to 22nd
Topic: Srimad Bhagavatha sapthaham
Venue: Sri Krishna Vilasam Place ( Levy hall),
City: Trivandrum
Time: 10 a.m to 12 noon and 4.00 p.m to 6.00 p.m

QUIZ ON SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM

QUESTIONS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2011
1) Which is the loka in Viratrupi’s nabhi?
2) Who is the devatha of the eys of the Viratrupi?
3) Why did Dattathreya get Dattha as a part of his name?
4) How old was Krishna when he killed shakatasura?
5) Who is Upendra datta?

ANSWERS FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2011
1A) Dravyam- Pancha boothangal
b) karma- The reason for the birth of the jeevan.
c) Kalaha: the kala of creation and destruction
d) svabhavaha: Prakruthi
e) Jeevaha: one who enjoys the vishayam ( material pleasure)
2) Ahankaram
3) Thamasaahankaram
4) Shabdam, Sparsham, Rupam, rasam, gandam- these are the gunas of bhumi
5) rajasaahankaram

WINNERS FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2011
1) Radhika Venkatrman------I-----60+10 points
2) Srinivasan Sujatha---------I-----84+10
3) Girija Seetharaman--------II----88+8
4) Karthik Venkatraman-----III----56+6
5) Padma narayanan---------III-----66+6
6) Sudarshana Sriram--------III------42+6

KSHETRA FOR THE MONTH - FEBRUARY 2011

Once upon a time sages led by Sounaka visited Brahmaloka to have the darshan of Brahma. Brahma who is the Vedaswarupi and Saraswathi bartha was approached by them all. They immediately requested Brahma that they were to perform a satrayaga for the sake of world peace. They wanted Him to inform an apt place for the same. Brahma contemplated and said atonce “ they are several sanctified places in bhuloka. Those places where vaidikas reside the Devas reside too. The very body of Brahmins knowing Vedas is a temple for the Devas. Hence it is important to worship Veda- knowing Brahmins who are Gods themselves. Now I shall create a wheel and rotate it myself. Wherever it stops you shall conduct the yaga there. That place will be a punya kshetra and teertha. He thus rotated his wheel and that wheel crossed all the lokas and fell at the banks of river Gomathi. Nemi means “ chakra- wheel” As the chakra fell it was named “ naimisham”. That forest ( aranya) thus came to be called “ naimisharanyam. At the place where the chakram fell a chakra teertha was formed. At this place if tharpanam ( ancestral offerings) are made then the ancestors get immense satisfaction. It was then that the sages conducted a deergasatra under the banyan tree. It is said that Sage Vyasa did penance along with his sishyas under this treein Dwaparayuga. Suthar did pravachanam of the eighteen puranas here. Here Swayambhuva manu meditated upon the Lord along with Shatharupa. The asuras came there and thought of eating up manu. Yagneswara Vishnu then seeverd the heads of the asuras with his chakra. It was there that a temple was built for yagnanarayanamurthi. It is said that Lord Rama did Ashwamedha sacrifice here. It was here that Lord Rama listened to Ramayana sung by lava and Kusa. Sita Devi proved her chastity here and enetered the bhumi. The teertha there was hence called SitaKundam.
Sage Dadichi also did penance here and gave his backbone to the Devas for the making of vajrayudham. Hence there is a dadichikundam here. Thus many important incidents took place here. In the Gita the Lord says “ among forests Iam Naimisharanyam”.

SLOKA OF THE MONTH- JAN 2011

Thasmin Puravare hrushta Dharmathmano bahusruthaha
Narasthushta Danaihi svaiahi svairalubdhaha sathyavaadinaha
Varneshtvagrayachathurtheshu devathatithipoojakaha
Kruthazhaascha vadaanyascha shoora vikramasamyuthaha
KShathram Brahmamukam chaased vaishyaha Kshathramanuvrathaha
Shudraha svakarmanirathaha threen varnanupachaarinaha

If a nation has to prosper it depends on its ruler and the subjects. Both the ruler and the citizens should be patriotic, righteous and hard working. They must always focus on developing the nation. The ruler too must be intent on routing out corruption and must not succumb to material pleasure. His aim must be to make live his subjects. The citizens too should not feel lazy and expect easy money. Sage Valmiki describes beautifully the citizens of Ayodhya.
Valmiki writes: “The people of Ayodhya were sincere and righteous besides being extremely intelligent. They were well read. It is indeed important to be literate so that people can choose the right leader. As the people were righteous obviously they were God fearing. Hence the pooja in the temples were conducted at right times. Hence the Gods blessed the nation and consequently the nation prospered. The people spoke nothing but the truth. Dasaratha gave up his life for the sake of truth. Rama sacrificed his kingdom for the sake of truth. The subjects were willing to sacrifice anything infact for the sake of truth. They were not greedy but were contended with their earnings. They were great donors and also warriors.
Kshatram Brahmamukam chaaseth: The Brahmins followed their dharma. They led lives as per the Vedhic principles. They were highly intelligent and also knew the science of missiles. If required they could even rule the nation. Still they led lives like saints allowing the kshatriyas to rule over. To cite an example vasishta was the one who prepared Rama and the rest as great warriors. When Dasaratha died he took over the rule of Ayodhya until Bharatha came back from kekaya desha.
Vaishyaha Kshatramauvrathaha
Business is the livelihood of vaishyas. The nation prospers because of exports. Also it is important that we have good relationship with other nations in order to have business contacts with them. Dasaratha was friendly with all neighbouring states and hence the business prospered greatly. Hence Valmiki says “ vaishyas followed Kshatriyas.

Shoodraha Svakarmanirathaha: It is the people of the fourth class who are really hard working. The development of the nation entirtely depends on them. The subjects of Ayodhya who belonged to the working class were totally loving and intent on their work.

PAST EVENTS

SRIMAD BHAGAVATH SAPTHAHAM- MULUND, MUMBAI

Dec 24th to 31st witnessed a grand assembly of mumbaites at Vani Vidyalaya, Mulund. More than 700 devotees attended the sapthaham conducted by Sri Hariji and Sri Rangaji organised by Mulund Bhajan Samaj. The rasikas enjoyed the pravachanams from morning 6.00 a.m to evening 6.00p.m. They lapped it all and yearned for more. Such was their devotion.