Sunday 10 March 2013

Why the cumin seeds and jaggery paste

Sumuhurtham:

                In the hindu marriages at the sumuhurtam, precise auspicious moment, with the cloth veil still upheld, the bride and the groom place and hold a paste made of cumin seeds and Jaggery, over each other's heads (on the crown of the head where the opening of Sushumna nadi through which Kundalini enters) The cloth veil is then removed, unveiling the "new' life in holy matrimony. This is the first time the bride and groom look at each other. 



Why the cumin seeds and jaggery paste :

              Positive Electric charge emanates when cumin seeds and jaggery are combined and a paste made of it, as is happened when the glass rod rubbed with silk cloth (In the case of glass rod, electrons are loosely bounded compared to silk cloth and hence it loses electrons &get positive charge and it gets the ability to attract the nearby particles).  In the crown of the head, a subtle or esoteric aperture will be there.  When this paste is placed on the top of this esoteric aperture which remains closed, gets opened and the positive energy enters through this hole, it travels through Sahasrara Chakra reaches the Ajna Chakra and energizes it(centre of spiritual energy- placed between the two eyebrows otherwise called Bhrumadhya or Bhrukuti).



    The bride and groom when looks at each others Bhrukuti (when the veil removed/put down,) their brain wave lengths meet.  When the wave lengths of two persons coincide, they think alike and there is no chance of contradictions.  This gives them the pleasurable married life.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Secret behind Vishnu's Anandasayanam

We all are familiar with the ananda sayanam pose of Lord Vishnu. Actually its a pictorial representation of the secret of world's creation. The body temperature might be different for every individual based on vatham, pitham and kabam. Man consumes water and food and breathes air,and thus maintain the heat in the body.
Water is the second element representing blood, Secretions of glands, vital fluid etc.,In this Lord vishnu  represents vaatham. If a person has a large amount of vaatham in its body he'll be always lying. This is the reason for Lord Vishnu's Ananda sayanam position. This vaatham concept is related to birth giving. If a lady does not have the required percentage of vaatham in her body then she can't conceive. 


                             When the seed falls into the ground the most wanted one is water i.e moisture content.When it falls into the ground it needs a lot of moisture to rise from its sleeping period. After that it gradually develops and looks at the four directions.The sleeping period for the seed is the Lord vishnu's ananda sayanam pose. Vaatham content i.e the moisture is the body of Lord vishnu, the navel from where Brahma arises.  The Brahma, four headed man coming from his navel is the seed which looks at the four directions. This is the pictorial representation of the secret of the world's creation.

Where Brahma rises out of Vishnu's navel of greater interest to us is the concept of the Nabhi Kamalam and its connection with our lives today. The Nabhi Kamalam is the zone that activates the Nadi Gantham or nerve centers of the body. This has been beautifully depicted in mythology where Brahma the Creator is seen seated on a lotus that rises out of Lord Vishnu's navel, who lies down on Ananthasayanam in the cosmic ocean. Truly a beautiful depiction of a concept so close to us, of something so real, and of which we are least aware of! All our symbols and rituals are not fiction its fully a scientific way of life.

Thursday 7 March 2013

Why the groom tie a rope made of Dharbha around the waist of the bride

Why the groom tie a rope made of Dharbha (a kind of grass) around the waist of the bride?
                   The groom tie a rope made of Dharbha (a kind of grass) around the waist of the bride which represents that  whenever we get ready to do a hard job we tie a cloth around our waist, which gives us extra strength duly protecting the spine. Here the groom prepares the bride to take up the new responsibilities in their marital life with ease.

 He does this by reciting the following prayer.
Oh fire God; please give a stable and composed mind to this maid, who is going to join me and give her strength to take the extra responsibilities of the family. 

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Turmeric an ancient Hindu custom

The ancient mystics has contributed many customs and cultures to the Indians in India and thus brought many richness in Indians customs and culture. Indian traditions are not meaningless. There is no home in India which does not use Turmeric.Here we begin to explore some basic Hindu practices that have a scientific, logical reason behind them and are beneficial to us.


 
Applying turmeric on the front door  is an ancient Hindu custom, steeped in Hindu culture. It is extremely important to follow it.Ayurveda firmly establishes that turmeric is an extraordinary spice that has more than 20 benefits. One of the most important is that it contains anti-septic properties and it is also anti-bacterial. As many of us know, it is important to hang a green festoon on the main door to prevent small and visible insects from getting into the house. Turmeric is so powerful that it repels every such organism if applied on the front door and all other possible entrance routes into the home (large windows, French windows, etc.).
The custom of sprinkling turmeric mixed water around the house before prayers and after. Its known that turmeric has antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities. Ofcource, its helps more if its being consumed, but sprinkling it around the house helps prevent from bacteria to spread around. Its been widely used in Indian houses whom are pious. This practice is often said absurd because sprinkling turmeric water is said to be uncivilized, but apparently the houses whose houses have turmeric water sprinkled has less news on the people inside the house falling ill.



 Why Alzhimer's disease is so rare in India. Turmeric is frequently consumed in India and some other Asian countries as a dietary supplement, which allegedly cures stomach problems and other ailments. Earlier research has shown that curcumin, an antioxidant found in turmeric, can help prevent the formation of tumours.  
Uses in Himalayan Medicine System
For contraception, swelling, insect stings, wounds, whooping cough, inflammation, internal injuries, pimples, injuries, as a skin tonic.
Uses in Ayurveda and Siddha Medicine System
For Katu tikta rasam, veeryam, ruksham, varnyam, and in prameham, pandu, rakta-dosham, krimi, vranam, pinasam.For Inflammatory conditions including asthma, dysmenorrhoea (painful menstruation), psoriasis (an inflammatory skin disease), eczema and arthritis. For Hepatic and digestive disorders. For Prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases
Uses in Unani Medicine System
Removes liver obstruction, dropsy, jaundice; externally used for ulcers and inflammation.
 Internal Uses of Hald:
  • Sweetened milk boiled with turmeric is a popular remedy for cold.
  • Turmeric is given in liver ailments and in jaundice.
  • Juice of fresh rhizome is used as an anthelmintic (eliminating parasitic worms).
  • Root is usefully administered in intermittent fevers.
  • In doses of 15 to 20 grains twice a day it is given for flatulence, dyspepsia and weak stomach; it is used both externally and internally in skin diseases due to impurity of the blood.
  • Turmeric is also given internally with cow's urine in prurigo (itching papules) and eczema. Its powder is sprinkled on ulcers to stimulate them to healthy action.
  • Ghee mixed with powdered turmeric is given to relieve cough.
  • A paste of turmeric alone or combined with the pulp of Neem leaves is used in ringworm, obstinate itching, eczema and other parasitic skin diseases.  
     
     
    Turmeric helps increase bile flow making it a liver cleanser that could rejuvenate the liver cells and recharges their capability to break down toxins.
          Turmeric (Curcumin) blocks Brain tumour activity

  Turmeric as a cosmetic:

                       Turmeric has also been used in India as a cosmetic. People, especially the women-folk are advised to use it to get a glowing and radiant skin.It is also a common ritual to apply turmeric paste on the to-be bride and groom before marriage in the traditional Hindu ceremony. 



 So our traditional medicine system has strong and safe treatments for many incurable diseases. Use of turmeric is very old in Ayurveda for medicine.Use of turmeric as spices shows that our ancient people knew that daily use of turmeric is very effective against diseases for human body. Today India is facing a great problem, particularly relating to intellectual property rights. The grant of a patent to two nonresident Indian doctors in USA who claimed that they were the first to use turmeric (Curcuma longa) and its extract in powder form for healing wounds is a example of blatant plagiarism.Our ancestors had identified it's beneficial properties and made sure that it is both consumed on a daily basis and used for the specific ailment when required.

Krishna -multicoloured person

                      It is true that Krishna’s color has mostly been described as dark, and there are reasons for it. The dark color, it seems, is the symbol of his steadiness. It means that he is constantly changing, that changeability is the constant factor represented by varying shades of darkness. This country(India)  has some special liking for this color. In fact, white is never as beautiful as dark.
                      Generally, white skin is considered to be beautiful, because its gloss and glamor can hide many ugly features of the body, but dark skin never hides anything; it clearly shows every feature of the body as it is. That is why beauty is rare among dark-skinned people, while you can find any number of handsome faces among the white-skinned peoples. But whenever there is a really beautiful person with dark skin ke puts even the most beautiful white person into the shade. Beauty in black is superb; it is a rarity. For this reason we have depicted Rama, Krishna and other beautiful people in dark colors. They are rare. It is an ordinary thing to look handsome with white skin; it is very rare with dark.

                      There are other reasons for our preference for this color. White lacks depth. It is of course expansive. A white face is usually flat; it is rarely deep. But the dark color has a depth and an intensity. Of course, it is not extensive. Have you noticed that wherever a river is deep its water looks dark and beautiful? The beauty of a dark face does not end with the skin; it is not skin deep. It has many layers, layers of transparency. on the other hand a white face is flat; it ends with the skin. That is why when you meet a white person, you begin to feel bored with him after a little while. The dark color is enduring; it does not bore you. It has shade upon shade.
                         Currently all the glamorous women of the West are mad about suntans, tanning their skin by exposure to the sun. In scores you can see them lying on every beach under the scorching sun so their color gets dark. Why this craze for suntans? The fact is, whenever a culture reaches its peak, expansiveness ceases to have much significance for it, it begins to seek depth and intensity. We tend to think western people are more beautiful, but westerners are finished with appearances, they are now out to seek beauty in depth. Now the beautiful women in the West are trying to get darker and darker. White has the characteristic that many more people appear beautiful than in a dark color, but its beauty lacks depth and transparency; it is flat and dull.


                      That is why we opted for the dark color. I don’t accept that Krishna was really black; it is not necessary. Really, he was a man of many colors. He was a colorful man. He cannot be presented in a single color; he was really multicolored. The color of his skin cannot be more than one, but his life, of course, has all the colors of the rainbow. And a lot depends on the quality of the eyes with which you see him. In fact, you see him in the color of your own perception. But we saw him in a dark color; we ascribed this color to him. He was such a lovely person that we could not think of his being white. Maybe he was really dark.


 Krishna was a multicolored person, and he had such depths of being that we could not conceive of his being a flat color like white. It was a real joy to go on looking into his face and penetrating its beauty and beatitude.
Therefore, although one saw Krishna in many colors, we assigned a single color, a dark color to him. And we called him Shyam, which means dark or deep blue. Krishna means dark too. Not only did we conceive him so, we even named him so. Whether you say Krishna or Shyam or Sawalia, it means the same.