Ekadasi

My mom has always been keen on observing the Ekadasi fast and I always pondered on why this was observed. So here is my quest. 

Lets get into the etymology of it first. The word Ekadasi means "Eleven" in sanskrit. It generally falls on the 11th day after the full moon day or the 11th day after the new moon day. There are 24 Ekadasis in a year. Each of the Ekadasi has a story behind it. 

Ekadasi is a time allotted to perform our sadhana to grow spiritually. The physical fasting just facilitates the detoxification process of the mind and body. Thus enabling us to have a clear and calm mind to contemplate and grow intellectually. 

In this post we will just look though the basic concepts and what the rules are while observing the fast. Then I will discuss about each Ekadasi in detail in a series of blogposts in future. In this post, we will just look through the basic concepts.

How is the fasting done? 

All Vedic scriptures strongly recommend observing complete fast on the day of Ekadasi (Nirjala Upavasa - Complete fast thereby not even consuming water ). Every one from the age of eight to eighty, irrespective of varna-ashram, gender, or any material consideration is recommended to fast on this day to make spiritual progress.
For those who cannot undertake the austerity of complete fasting, it is recommended that one can follow Ekadasi by eating once a day at midday, or eating once a day in the evening. However it is recommended that under no conditions should one eat grains in any form on this day. Our scriptures always instructs us to treat the body as a temple. So people who are challenged medically, are precluded from complete fasting and are just advised to indulge in activities promoting spiritual growth and to consume sattvik food.

Also Aandal in Thiruppavai quotes the same


 "...vaayinaal paadi manaththinaal sindhikkap.0 *
pOya pizhaiyum pukutharuvaan ninRanavum *
thIyinil thUcaakum ceppu ElOr empaavaay."

Meaning :-  sing HIS glory while thinking about one's Redemption, just love HIM with all your heart and mind. Never let any ill thought cross your mind . Let it be burnt by Devotion unto HIM. 

What can I eat? 


Consuming Sattvic food is advocated. Sattvic food includes fresh fruit and vegetables and freshly cooked food. I.e; Food prepared with natural ingredients in such a way that the natural nutrients are not lost. Basically this kind of diet detoxifies our body and thus the body is rejuvenated.

According to your health, there are 4 ways of Upvasa one can undertake. 


1. Health permitting, the strictest means is not to consume anything including water.
2. That not  being the case, one can restrict to the intake of water
3. If one cannot keep up with just water, phal aahara (fresh fruit diet) can be taken.
4. The least you can do is to stick to one light meal for the day which can include only the      following:  Water, milk products, cooked vegetables (no onions or garlic), nuts, sugar. Restrictions include all grains, spinach, eggplant, asafetida, and sea salt. 

The 1st step to contemplation is cleansing of the body which shall be achieved through this diet.  Then follows the cleansing of the mind and then the intellect eventually.

Anything consumed is a prasad from HIM. So offer it to HIM and then consume.


Also as I understand, it also gives the women folk, time off from the household to devote time for their spiritual growth. 

When does Ekadasi come ?

The basic understanding is thus. The actual calculation is quite complicated for me. So I will not get into more deeper than i've explained.

The lunar months are split into two pakshas of 15 days each. The waxing paksha is called shukla paksha, light half, and the waning paksha the krishna paksha, dark half.  A month has a Krishna and Sukla Paksha. 

Shukla paksha is first half of the month,  it starts with a new moon (Ammavasya) and ends with a full moon (Pournami)  

Krishna paksha is the second half of the month, it starts with a full moon (Pournami) and ends with a new moon  (Ammavasya) 

We get an ammavasya (new moon) and a pournami (full moon) in a month. So the day next to them is the 11th day observed as Ekadasi.  

With this I end this post. But I shall post the story and significance of each of the Ekadasis in more posts to come.

Lets dwell In Krishna Smriti.

Govindha Govindha Govidha

Often times, people prefer to ignore and be lazy in unearthing the true meaning or the core substance of a matter. Partly it is due to their lazyness to learn, partly due to their ignorance and partly due to their sub-conscious liking for a funny misnomer and to go with the flow. There are lot of things that have consistenly being loosing their true meaning and have been a object of mockery.

Of late, due to our mixing of languages, there are lot of instances where the original/true meaning is lost and something totally crazy displaces it. Take this phrase for instance, "Avan assaultaa pannuvaan" to convey the meaning "He can do a job with much ease". I was wondering at the word "asaaultaa". Is that Thamizh or English or Tanglish? Certainly Tanglish I would presume. Please let me know if this is found in Thamizh lexicon. But why would one use it that way? "Assault" in English means to attack. So does that mean "He does things by attacking others"? Certainly no. It was not the meaning the guy wanted to convey in the first place. He wanted to say "He can do things with so much ease". This is one such instance where English and Thamizh have been mixed to mean a totally new thing. The word has lost the meaning in a differnt language. This has a bit of relevance to this blog which is about the name Govindha.

Examples like "assault" can be tolerated to an exten. But when people misconstrue names of God, it is really disheartening to see, especially the name "Govindha". It really saddens me when I listen to this name being construed incorrectly in cinemas and medias. Srivaishnava sampradhyam has literally tons of meanings for this particular name. Let us explore the beauty of this name and try to see why people misunderstand the name and what we can probably do about it.

Significance of Govindha: This is one of the 12 main names of Sriman Narayanan that include Kesava, Narayana, Madhava, Govindha, Vishnu, Madhusudhana, Thrivikrama, Vamana, Sridhara, Hrishikesa, Padmanabha and Damodara. Etymologically, "Go" in sanskrit means cow and "vindh" is to find. So "Govindha" means "one who finds the cow" literally. Govnidha also refers to "protector of "Govardhana" mountian from Indra. From this prefix "Go", a lot of names has been derived. "Gopalan (protector of cows), "Gokulam (the clan of the cowheards, also refers to the city where Krishna was raised). Apart from "cows", "Go" also means "vedham", "vaaku", and "king". The thamizh equivalent is "Ko", from which we get "Kovil" (the house (il) of the King - The Supreme Lord).

Govindha in Vrindhavanam: When we think about the name "Govindha", the next thing that strikes our mind is a beautiful scene in Vrindhavanam. Krishna bids good bye to His mother Yashodha daily and sets off to forest with His cattle herd to graze them. He takes care of His cows and buffalos with utmost care. Whenever they are thirsty, He takes them to a nearby pond, He bends Himself down and licks the water and teaches them to drink. The cows immitate their Master's action. Andal sings in her Nachiar Thirumozhi about this in "Ittamaana pasukalai inidhi marithu neer ooti vittu kondu vilayaada vrindhaavanathe kandome". The Supreme being, the creator of the whole universe has no need whatsoever to come down to this profane world, mingle with each and everyone, steal butter and get scoldings from all households. If you stop for a second and think why would He even do all this, it is just to show that He is not the One who is "never reachable" and "never approchable".



Often times, we think of God as someone who is the "Highest, Omnipotent, Supreme, the most powerful , invincible and the most valorus". All the adjectives run into superlatives for Him. So, with all these qualities of Him in our mind, sometimes we get a doubt "If He is in that league, will a poor, ignorant human being like me be able to reach Him? Does all those superlative qualities of Him create a love for Him or just a respect for Him". So, to remove all these questions in our mind, the Supreme being had stepped down from His eternal abode "Srivaikuntam", entered each and every house, yearned and earned the name of a "thief" and at the same time was celebrated as their "special child". He is so approchable for everyone. Even if Krishna is not here as Krishna now, He is present in each and every thing, action, people and mind. The forms in which He manifests are different, but His presence is there in everything.

Parathvam: So all the superlatives qualities of Krishna that we saw above, can be categorized into one umbrella of qualities called as "Parthavam". "Par" is boundary and "Para" is transgressing or crossing boundaries. It signifes that there is no one greater than Him, nothing stronger than Him, nothing invincible for Him, nothing that is beyond His knowledge, nothing that He cannot create, nothing He cannot protect and nothing He cannot destroy. So these parathvam qualities talk about the highest and the infinite. There are some names that are associated with His "Parthvam". For example, Narayanan is one name that signifies that He is the one who supports and protects everyone, everybody, everything (living and non-living).

Sowlabhyam: The second category is "Sowlabhyam" qualities that glorifies the great qualities of making Himself available, approachable and to be able to easily mingle with one and all. It is this quality that is of utmost importance to us, because if not for this, there is no way we can love Him. If not for this, we can, at the most have a respect for Him and may be a fear towards Him, but certainly not love. However, the "Parathvam" qualities are also important because if not for it either, He cannot protect us in the first place. To remember the word "Sowlabhyam" easily, remeber that it means "ease". We know that "sulabham" means easy in Thamizh. One who is easy or sulabham is known as "Sowlabhyan" and thus that quality of his is "Sowlabhyam".





Day to day examples: To give an example of these two qualities in our daily lives, let us say I want to meet the Prime Minister of India, discuss all my problems in my city and get it solved. The reason I want to meet the PM is because only he has the authority to do it. But I cannot go, schedule and meet him as and when I like. He is not readily accessible. On the other hand, I can go and meet my neighbour easily, anytime of the day. But he is as hapless as I am. Though, he is available, the poor guy does not have any power to erect any change. Though the PM has power, he is not approachable. Translating this to the two qualities to sampradhayic parlance, the PM had "Parathvam" but no "sowlabhaym", whereas my neighbour had "sowlabhyam" but no "Parthvam". The one and the only place, these two qualites manifests itself in their highest order is with the Supreme Krishna.

Now, back to our Govindha name. This name is probably the best name that signifies sowlabhayam. Andal had sung this name three times in her 27th, 28th and 29th pasuram in Thirupavai. Andal has another name called "Godha". The name "Govindha" itself has "Godha" in it, take the first and last syllable of "Govindha", we get "Godha" (Kodhai in thamizh). "Godha" means one who shows us the Vedas, One who is the bestower of good speech (vaaku). In fact, Andal chooses "Govindha" name over His most prolific name "Narayanan", just because the name conjures up accessibility and protection by Him to us. She dismisses "Narayanan" name as a lesser name (siru paer). Going one step further would be to realize that more than the person who is being referred by "Govindha", just the chanting of name "Govindha" does more good than the real Govindha Himself. Draupadi got her sarees by chanting "Govindha". He is being referred as"Kurai ondrum illadha Govindha", which means "Blemishless Govindha" but now this name has been massacred by people and still continues to be the favorite object of mockery for many people.


Possible reasons for Confusions: "Govindha" also means that all our sins will be washed away and will be gone to a place of "no-return". I think this meaning was misintrepreted largely to mean that if we chant the name "Govindha", everything we have now will be gone forever, with "everything" referring to weatlh usually. Another reason for this misintrepretation is because of the prefix "Go" that has to do with "gone and not to be seen" connotation in English. This could be just a small factor but to create a confusion there is usually not one factor that stands out. Its a conjoined effort of many such factors. So, finally what is being left with people is the fact that "Govindha" is synoymous with "loser", "stuffs easily gone", "cannot get back". All the above three are true but that is true with sins (papas).

In Tirupathi, people tonsure their hair, offer it to God and become hair-free ("mottai" in thamizh). To the layest of laymen, Tirupathi, mottai, and Thiruman-srichoornam (or more popularly known as "naamam") is associated with loss of everything, starting from hair,wealth and thus their image. A person had hair before and did not wear anything on his forehead. He visits Thirupathi, does mottai and has naamam in his forehead. When he is seen like this, people ask "enna goindha goindha va? When something is being lost, people exclaim "enna pocha? Goindha Goindha va?" Also, when somebody cheats and steals money from people, the guy who is being cheated is asked the question "naamam potutaana"? Perumal Himself has manifested Himself unto us in Thiruman form. It is a mark that to keep reminding ourselves that we are His eternal servants, wearing a Thiruman is one of the most proud things that we can show off. We can definitely boasts ourselves that we are His servants and He is our Master. It is the basic lakshanam of a Srivaishnavite and we should be very happy that we got an opportunity to realize it and wear it.

The original meaning of the name was that He takes away all our sins, but we easily misintrepret to other non-sensical explanations and to make it worse, we stick to it. The worst part is that, people don't even care if there would be a real meaning to it, and even if they had, they are lazy enough to dig deep into its origin. So they just leave it the way it is and just enjoy the funny misnomers. On top of it, the cinemas and the medias, always make money by publicizing what is in vogue.

What we can do?: Finally what we have ended up now is with a shameless truth that a beautiful name is being spoiled continuously. Alteast, people who know it should stop using this name in a non-sensical way. Thats the least they can do. Going further, please educate people who are capable of learning and willing to change. Rumor, gossips and bad things spreads like a forest fire, whereas good-will, trust and hardwork takes a lot of time. So let us share it and spread the true meaning wherever we can and to whomever we can. If we understand the meaning then we would certainly not use it twice in a mocking fashion as in "Go-indha, Go-indha", rather we would be chanting His name thrice "Govindha, Govindha, Govindha", like how Andal did.

A little more details on prapatti

We read a bit about Prapatti . This is One question we all have.The practicality of following the karma...One of the readers of the blog shared this doubt. Since  I found this as a topic  

of discussion in itself I am drafting it as a post along with the answers I got from my father in law.

Here goes the question....

If an individual has done Prapathi at a age when he did not understand, but has never followed the five code of conducts and even after growing up he claims he has done it and still does not follow the code of conduct, then what is the purpose of prapathi for that individual or the family he or she represent or the acharyan who has performed this to the individual, do they all still go to vaikundham after their death, if so then what is use of Dharma here.

Devanatha perumal and Hemambujavalli Thaayar, Thiruvahindrapuram (Nadunaattu Thirupathi)

                                 Meaning of Prapatti is essentially that it is a direct means of attaining moksha. It requires the complete surrender of the individual to God and His mercy. The term prapatti is derived from the root words pra-pad. Pad means to move and pra implies in the best manner. In the context of upaya, the term implies total self-surrender to God as the sole refuge. A more appropriate Sanskrit language term for prapatti is atma niksepa or bharanyasa, that is, to place the burden of the protection of the self in the care of God. It is also known as saranagati, or seeking God as the sole refuge.

The Visistadvaita Vedanta holds that the two important sadhanas for attaining the Supreme spiritual goal (parama purusartha) are bhakti yoga and prapatti. Both of the means have been advocated by the Sruti and Smriti texts as alternative means of moksha which are to be adopted by people with different capacities and eligibilities. The Vaishnava treatises give greater importance to prapatti. The praptti can be followed by all classes of individual belonging to any creed and status unlike Bhakti yoga which can only be performed by a certain class of individuals. This is why the Vaishnava acharyas right from the time of Nathamuni have preferred prapatti as a means of moksha. Thus prapatti is of great significance in Vaishnavism. The doctrine of prapatti is very old and it has its roots in the Vedas. There are numerous statements in the Rig Vedareferring to the basic principle of saranagati, viz., that an individual pleading his inability to achieve a desired object seeks with fervent prayer the help of a divine power. 

The famous Rik hymn addressed to Agni which is reiterated in the Isavasyopanisad states, 

"O Agni, lead us along the auspicious path to prosperity, O God, who knowest the means of attainment, remove all the obstacles coming in our way; we shall offer unto Thee salutation with the expression of namah." 

According to the interpretation of Vedanta Desika, Agni in the hymn refers to the Supreme Being as its antaratma and the word namah signifies the act of self-surrender to God. Another hymn states explicitly that the person who offers prayer with the expression of namah (implying self-surrender) is to be regarded as one who has performed a good sacrifice (sodhvarah) almost equivalent to the formal sacrifice done in the consecrated fire by offering the faggots (samit) along with the recitation of the mantras. The interpretation of this hymn in favour of self-surrender (atma-nyasa) is upheld by the Ahirbhudhanya Samhita. The Vedic seers were fully conscious of the fact that none other than the Divine Being is capable of protecting man from bondage. God is regarded as a dear friend and near relative of all human beings. He is compared to the non-leaky boat that can safely take persons from one shore to the other, through the turbulent waters of life. The Vedic seers have, therefore, sought in all their prayers the grace of God for achieving their desired objectives. 

My humble opinion is this.... Going to Vaikuntam is not a physical concept alone..it is more of a psychological understanding of goodness 

Food for Charity

Once upon a time during Krishna’s childhood days, Krishna and Balarama went to a nearby forest place. They sat under a tree and rested for sometime. There were some kids already there who were playing around for a long time. The kids started to feel hungry and went to Krishna and told that they are starving badly for food now. Even Krishna and His brother were hungry and wanted some food. There were a few brahmanas performing yagnas. Krishna told the kids “Go unto them. Tell them that I have sent you. They are doing a yagnam. So they will be giving a lot of prasaadam. Get food from then and we can all eat”. The kids went happily running to the group of brahmanas.

Time was only 11’o clock in the morning. The brahmanas told the kids in a strict voice “No. There is no prasaadam now. It will be distributed only in the evening at around 4:00 ‘o clock. You guys go, play and do not disturb us”. The kids came back in disappointment and reciprocated the message to Krishna. Krishna told them “Oh! Is that what it is? Okay. That is fine. We are yaachakaas (one who begs) now. We should not be ashamed to go to the next source. So we need to find a different source to get some food immediately”.

Krishna tells a story to kids: To illustrate the point that the yaachakaas should not be ashamed and should keep moving, there is a funny story that Krishna shared with the kids. Krishna went ahead and told, “In a village, there was a yaachaka who kept begging for food. Daily, he used to go to various houses and beg for food. In some houses he got food and in some others he did not. One fine day, he reached a particular house. He did not get much food that day. A lady came from that house and asked him “What do you want”. He replied “I want food”. The lady lied to him by saying “No. We don’t have any food in our house”. The yaachaka, in a menacing tone, said “Well. If you do not give me food, I will do what I did in the previous house’s lady. This lady got really afraid and went inside immediately and got him lots of delicious food. He ate away without leaving a trace of it. He became a regular customer at her place. The lady was not happy but did not have the guts to tell him not to come from now on. However, at the end of the month, the lady gathered all her courage and told “You have been regular to my house. I cannot give you any more food”. The yaachaka told her “If you do not give me food, then I will do what I did to the previous house’ lady. The lady was now bold enough to say “Okay. What will you do?” Let us see”. The yaachaka replied “I asked for food in the previous house. She did not give me anything. So I moved to your house. So if you do not offer me food, I will go to the next house” and proceeded to the next house quietly.

Kids continue yaachakam: Krishna remarked at the kids, “Oh my dear kids!!! So the moral of the story was that a yaachaka should never be ashamed and keep moving. Do not get bogged down because the brahmanas did not offer you any food. Go to their wives. They might give us some food. The kids went and told their wives that Krishna sent them and they need food. The kids also told them that the brahmanas did not give any food to them. The wives were quick to realize that everything starting from yagnam, the havis and the agni is Krishna. But their husbands did not give any food to Him. They immediately came up with lots of food from their respective houses. Krishna saw the wives coming with food for Him and the kids. Krishna is habituated to eating at regular intervals. He had very little breakfast in the morning that Yasodha had given Him and Balarama. Because He did not eat for a long time, He began to sweat a lot. When a person is in hunger, the thought that they are going to be fed soon exacerbates the wait. Krishna felt the same here. Soon, the wives arrived with the kids and Krishna distributed the food to all the kids. All rishipathnis attained moksha as a result of them giving food to Him.

Moral: When God Himself comes unto you, there is no need for rules. Azhwar says “Unnum soru, parugum neer, thinnum vetrilai, ellam kannan”. The food that he eats, the water that he drinks and betel leves that he enjoys, everything is Krishna with respect to azhwar. For gopika girls, everything was Krishna as well. They are so innocent that they don’t even know the difference between right hand and left hand. They don’t take bath daily; they don’t know shastram at all. But they don’t have the need to do because the motive of all these shahstrams is to reach GOD. If God himself makes HIM accessible, then there is no need for the rules. In other words, if we regard Krishna as everything, then HE comes to us, if HE comes to us on His will, there is nothing more that we need.

Origin of Beauty

Prelude: There is a place in Tamil Nadu called Mannargudi, also known as Raja Mannargudi. The name of the presiding deity there is called "Srividya Rajagopalan". The minute we think about Mannargudi and Srividya Rajagopalan, we think about the name "Gopalan", His cows, and His sowlabhyam (ability to mix freely with everybody and everything irrespective of species/caste/creed etc). The river in Mannargudi is called as "Haaridhra" that means “yellow”. Well, if the water is green like any other river, then why do people call this river as "Haaridhra"? This may be a common question. The answer dates back again to the dates of Krishna. Krishna came to this place sometime and played all sorts of games with the gopika girls in this very river. This would make the turmeric on their bodies fall inside the river. So the river would sport a yellowish tinge due to the divine touch from Peethambareshwaran (Krishna) and His girls.

Gopikas’ game plan to win over Krishna: One day, the gopikas thought of an interesting game which everyone was thrilled to participate. The motive of the game was for everybody to shed off the clothes they wear except the ones needed for taking bath. They should take bath and comeback to the shore for dressing up. The person who finishes the bath first, comes back to the shore and dresses perfectly with all His/her clothes and ornaments will be crowned as the winner. Everyone including Krishna agreed to the rules of game. There were judges too for the game to oversee the eternal overseer Krishna.

Game kicks off: The judges gave a green signal for the participants of the game. The gopikas and Krishna kept aside their regular clothes and changed to their bathing robes. Immediately, they dived inside the river and were relishing their baths. One by one were coming back to the shore as soon as they can, to change to their regular attire. The first two leading contestants were Krishna and another girl who was very fast (may be she listened to “Elle ilankiliye” paasuram where Andal says "Ollai nee podhaai. Unakenna verudaiyai"?). In fact, the girl was too fast for Krishna. It appeared that, had one more minute passed by, the girl would have won. Krishna, as we all know is Maayan, Manivannan. He always wants to win, that too He always prefers to win by flattery. That’s our sweet Krishna!!! Even when people know that He is a cheater, He flatters, He tells innumerable lies, everyone craves for Him just about that. The girl was now a 30 second away from the victory mark. Krishna knew He can’t win any more. So He thought "If I don’t win this, then even she should not win".

Krishna’s plan: So He hit upon a plan. The last stages of decoration were adorning the face with ear rings. Krishna's ear rings were "Kundalam" that is exclusively for guys. The girl had a regular ear ring for girls (thodu). Krishna usurped one of her thodu from her pair and started to adorn Himself with that. So the girl now was left with one thodu only, which meant she cannot win the competition any more. Krishna started to wear His kundalam in His other ear. So now, He was seen with thodu in one ear and kundalam in His other. Krishna was expecting the girls would make merry of Him and would tease Him nicely for His acts.

But everyone including the judge acknowledged Krishna as the winner. He was surprised and asked them "How can I be the winner. I do not have the correct set of ear rings". The girls replied "Hey Krishna! Our beloved! We thought till now that it would be beautiful only if we wear the correct pair of set. But this is the first time, we are seeing a person wearing a guy's ear ring on one ear and a girl's on the other. We thought that would be funny. But after seeing it on your face, we thought this is even more beautiful for You. You are not only the winner of this race but also for the winner of all our hearts.

Moral: Whatever ornaments He puts on, it is beautiful because it is He who gives beauty to the ornaments and not the vice versa as people commonly think. When someone remarks “Today in our temple, Krishna looked dazzling in green hued vasthram, in reality, it is not the case. The green hued vasthram got its beauty because it went on to adorn Krishna”. Be it green, blue, orange or whatever color we can think of, whatever jewel we can think of, in whatever order we can offer to HIM, the cloth or the jewel or whatever the entity is attains divinity and thereby looks attains its beauty and looks beautiful in our eyes. So there is no question of male ornaments/jewels/clothes vs. its female counterpart.

The same concept can be seen in one more incident in Mahabharata. When Yasodha was pregnant, she and Nandhagopar were talking about what baby would they be begetting? Nandhagopar was confident of a baby girl and Yasodha was for a baby boy. They had a lot of arguments. Finally Nandhagopar pacified Yasodha by saying "The gender of the child does not really matter. We would raise the baby with same love and affection irrespective of the gender. Don't worry Yasodha. Yasodha replied "It’s not the love and affection I am worried about my Lord. I am worried because we need to make the right kind of a jewel. If it is a baby girl then we should ask the blacksmith to make an ear ring. If it is a baby boy, we should tell him to make a "kundalam". Nandhagopar thought for a while and remarked "Oh. Is that all your problem. Don’t worry, we shall make both, adorn the baby based on its gender and keep the other one as such". We all knew that they got a baby boy in Balarama. They had aptly decorated Him with "kundalam" and kept the ear ring in their safe.

After sometime, Yasodha thought that her husband might feel bad since he wanted a baby girl. Though they did not raise a baby girl, Yasodha at least wanted to use the “ear ring” for her younger son, our sweetheart Krishna. After when Krishna was born, she decorated Him with both ear rings as well as thodu. To her surprise, she found that whatever she jewel, whatever dress and in whatever order she decorated Krishna each day, every combination looked stunning and dazzling on Him. She realized that, when it comes to the Supreme, who now is her own son, the aforementioned differences doesn’t matter anymore, be it whatsoever.

Sakshee Gopal

Love Scene: Once upon a time, there lived a guy and a girl on the banks of a river in West Bengal. The guy was very poor and the girl was filthy rich. They were in love with each other and used to meet often in the river bank. Days passed by. One fine day, the girl’s father went to the nearby Krishna temple on the river bank. After finishing his prayer, he proceeded toward his house. But he could not move further. From foothills of the temple, he noticed the couple walking on the river sand. He was a typical rich father and called the guy immediately. The guy came running helter-skelter; shivering with anxiety as to what her father might say. The father told the guy that he will let him marry his daughter. Then he walked off without any questions. The poor guy was bewildered on one side but at the same time was on cloud nine. He was dancing his way to glory. After a few days, the poor guy went to meet his "would-be-father-in-law" to ask about his marriage. The girl’s father asked him who the hell is he and when did he agree to give her daughter to him. The poor guy replied "You had only told me some few days back". To this, the father replied "Did I tell you? Are you kidding me? Do you have any evidence for it"? The poor guy was shattered and had no clue for his evidence. He was pensive for a while and could not think of anybody who could have been witnessing the scene hitherto. So he was visibly upset and went to the river banks with a deep sense of dejection.

Entry of Krishna: Suddenly, something struck him. It was the fact that Krishna had seen this dialogue between these two and that he went ahead to ask Krishna if he could be his evidence. He went and asked Krishna "Oh! My Lord! I am in dire need of an evidence for the words that my sweetheart's father had given me. I believe, only you could have seen it. No one else was there around. So please come with me as my evidence to his house. Krishna appeared before him and told "Oh! My boy! Yes. I will come but on one condition. I will follow you towards his house. You walk front. I will follow you with a 10 foot distance between us. You should never turn back to see or check if I am following you or not. If you keep a check on me, then I would not come any further. If you agree, then I can be your evidence". The guy accepted it and was "leading" Krishna (Parthasarathy ke sararthyJ) Krishna used to wear something like kolusu (anklets) that made a jingling sound. He was following the guy from the footsteps. There were jingling sounds everywhere. Suddenly when they reached the river banks, it was full of sand. The sound of anklets was the only indication for the guy that Krishna is following him. But now since it was sand and that he could not hear the sound, the guy had a doubt if Krishna is following. But he tried not to turn back for quite sometime. But the question of insecurity overcame his belief in Krishna. So he turned back out of anxiety. To his astonishment he found Krishna still following. But Krishna was upset that the guy did not believe Him. So he stayed there itself as archa moorthy (statue form) and did not move an inch thereupon. The place where he stands is now a temple. The name of Krishna there is called "Saakshee Gopal".

Moral: The moral of the story is never to check if God will protect us or if God is really helping us. He is there for us (Naarayane namake parai tharuvaan). He will surely come with us. Sometimes it is evident that He comes with us and sometimes He follows us subtly and sometimes he follows us in a totally invisible way. But in any case, He will always be with us. If not for us, who is He going to be for, after all?

Festival of Karthigai

Why is Karthigai celebrated by Vaishnavites?

This had been a doubt I always had. Mostly we see that in tamil Nadu, it is associated with the Thiruvannamalai Deepam. This is the latest discovery I made thanks to my Father-in-law. Thanks to Santhanam, I was able to explain more about Adhyayana Utsavam.

• Karthigai day is the day when Namperumal (Lord Sri Ranganatha of Thiruvarangam/Srirangam) orders His sri padam thangigal to go and bring Nammazhvar to Srirangam for conducting adhyayana utsavam.(Explained below)

• It is the birth date (tirunakshatram)of Tirumangai Azhvar

• It is the day when we burn the bad behaviors symbolized by chokka panai (I've explained about this below)

• It is the day when we light lamps symbolising blossoming knowledge

What is this Adhyayana Utsavam?

Adhyayanam means to memorise and recite correctly, with proper accents.

Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam was actually started by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar himself. It was said that, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar used to go from Sri Rangam to Azhwar Thirunagari and bring Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni to Sri Rangam. The day Swami Nammazhwar arrives at Sri Rangam was always the Sukla Paksha Ekadasi (Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi).

On this auspicious day, Swami Nammazhwar was adorned with Muthangi and Namperumal with Rathnangi. Starting from Ekadasi, next nine days, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar arranged to recite Swami Nammazhwar's prabhandhams in front of Namperumal.  After the days of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar, the practice was slowly stopped.

It was Swami Ramanujar, who started the practice again. (Some also say Sri Nathamunigal actually restarted this again.) Anyway, it was felt that bringing Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni from Azhwar Thirunagari was difficult and hence was decided to install a Thirumeni of Swami Nammazhwar at the Sri Rangam temple. Sri Ramanujar also added ten days before the Ira Paththu and called them Pagal Paththu, and arranged that during these ten days prabhandhams of other Azhwars should be recited. Because, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar started it, the day before the Pagal Paththu Uthsavam first day, Namperumal listens to ThiruNedunthandagam of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar. So, originally started as ten days festival by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar and was later modified as Twenty one day (+one day for ThiruNedunthandagam) by Swami Emberumanar.

Now come to the question, why we are not reciting Pranbhandhams during these days?

One of the reasons was during this time, Swami Nammazhwar was on transit from Azhwar Thirunagari to Sri Rangam. Therefore, our Poorvacharyas might thought, it was not appropriate for us to recite, as the entire 4000 Pranbhandhams was considered as the Pranbhandhams of Swami Nammazhwar (Nathnakku Nalayiramum uraithan vazhiye).

Second thing, Nalayiram is considered as The Dravida Vedam. For the Vedas, there is a specific period (during a year) called Adhyayana kalam and there is a time when you should not recite Vedas (Anadhyayana kalam). To give that samyam (equality), our Acharyas might have decided to have this Adhyayana and Anadhyayana kalams.

What is Chokka Panai?

During karthigai deepam mostly this chokka panai will be performed. The palmirah tree trunk will be made hollow and stuffed with charkol, umi, etc. and lit fire. the fire will spread in charkol and umi . that will be tied in a rope and swung around when the fire apark will fly in the air and give a garland look, sparks and a grand look